Chapter Seven
Black
It was ten minutes to Zero, the changeover between Beta and Gamma Shifts. Crewman Tony Cavaluzza waited in the corridor outside D/52, where he had been since awakening an hour ago and hearing the devastating news.
He'd gone in search of Dina Samuels, only to find she was 'unavailable'. Now as he waited, knowing she must inevitably return from her private meeting, he thought intently.
He'd first met her months ago, prior to the ship's leaving Space Dock. Their duties had at first thrust them together, hers in Life Sciences and his in Environmental Control. It did not take more than a few weeks of working fairly closely in adjacent departments before he realized he was looking forward more and more intensely to seeing her each day. When he'd realized he'd started making excuses for 'visiting' her that had nothing at all to do with either of their duties, he decided it was time to stop 'kidding' himself.
He found he had not been fooling her for an instant.
x
Their relationship had not been overt, more the mutual liking of each other's company. Occasionally she accepted his invitation to sit with him on the Tuesday 'evening' movie nights. Sometimes, then more often, they would meet for his breakfast and her dinner – though actually for her it was a 'late night snack' as she had been off duty for nearly eight hours.
He'd stopped waking up at 2300 and had started doing so at 2200.
It was when he'd started getting up at 2100 that he decided – again – that it was time to stop fooling himself – again – about his feelings for her.
He found he had not been fooling her for an instant.
x
When he'd left his quarters he'd heard the devastating news and had set out immediately to find her. He'd been frustrated to find her quarters vacant, and had no idea where she was until he'd run into Lt. Seamus O'Cathain from Astrometrics, who'd told him about the 'meeting' in the Mess Hall.
He realized it was best to wait, not to disrupt an event where there would be absolutely no privacy. He decided the best thing to do was to wait. Eventually she would return here. It was just that there were ten minutes left.
No, he corrected, looking at his chronometer. There were eight.
When he saw her coming down the corridor, accompanied by the ship's new Chaplain, all these thoughts vanished from his mind. As she saw him waiting outside her rooms, there was a look of profound relief on her face. She sped her pace away from the other woman, stepping up to him as they embraced. "I'm so sorry." He whispered into her ear. "I wish I had known; that I could have…"
She shook her head, not wanting him to continue. She did not answer, just held him tightly.
x
Dina tried with all her will to cast aside everything that had torn at her this day, everything that had shattered her world. Right now, she just wanted to be held.
A moment later she felt her stomach clench. She pushed back, but tried to fight it, embracing him again. As she clung to him her stomach cramped even harder and she pushed back, leaning away from him as her stomach rebelled, and she pushed away in earnest, fighting out of his arms and turning away to her door, hand clamping over her mouth as she desperately pushed the control button.
The door barely slid open fast enough; she shoved through as soon as it was partially aside, running for her inner room, hand clamped tightly over her mouth as she ran a race she feared she was going to lose.
The sound of retching filtered out into the corridor before the outer door slid shut.
Tony Cavaluzza turned to the Priest, his hands held helplessly before him.
xx
Security Officers Brennan and McLain stood a quiet post outside D/149. Normally Gamma Shift, now over two hours old, was the quietest. The twenty six crewmen and women who worked the 'graveyard' seemed to take a cue from the subdued lighting of the ship which simulated 'night', and were a quiet lot.
Nonetheless, though they did not believe anything would happen, they were as on alert as were their fellows of Alpha, particularly when guarding a prisoner, most especially a prisoner such as they now had confined.
Thus, they were aware of the approach of a crewman by his footsteps long before he came into sight. When he rounded the near junction, Brennan gave a tiny nod to McLain, acknowledging the debt the other had asked.
"Hello, Tom." He said casually as the crewman approached. "Taking a break?"
It was oh-two-thirty-six, and Gamma routinely started taking time out around oh-four-hundred.
"Yeah. Figured I'd take a walk, you know?" The man answered with forced casualness.
"Walking's good." McLain agreed even more casually. He didn't exactly imply that Cavaluzza should keep walking. It was just there.
"I like getting out from time to time." Brennan said. "Must get pretty cramped down in Environmental Control."
"Can be." He agreed, looking past them at the sealed door.
"Cramped enough that I'd think you wouldn't want much more on your belt than you need." McLain said pointedly, noting that a technician did not normally carry a phase pistol.
"I think you'll feel a lot lighter without that extra weight." Brennan agreed. "Why don't you let us return that thing for you?"
Tony most assuredly did not want him to. That was no part of his plans. But given the time to reconsider, with two to one odds, against friends he did not want to fight and then dealing with the inevitable consequences, he decided his covert visit to the armory had not been a good idea.
Reluctantly, he pulled the holster off, handing everything to the man. Brennan pulled the gun from its fitted receptacle and lowered the setting from 'kill' to 'stun'. "Have a good walk."
Frustrated and angry, Tony knew he was being given the chance to walk away clean. He did not want to take it, but did. But as he walked away, Brennan called to him. He turned, seeing something in the man's eyes.
"If it means anything, I'm as tempted."
"Ditto." McLain agreed.
Cavaluzza just nodded and continued back to his post.
xxx
At 0700 a very reluctant Ensign Hoshi Sato stood before the door to the Captain's quarters. She had decided the best time to approach him was before the stresses of the day – especially this day – became acute. Taking a deep breath, she tried to mentally prepare herself, put on a false smile and reached for the annunciation button.
Before she could touch it the door slid open and Archer was halfway out before he saw her. She looked up, as startled as he was, but then she saw the look of barely contained rage smoldering in his eyes. She took a step back, to get out of range of that anger. "Captain?"
"Hoshi?" He'd recovered quickly from his surprise, and tried his best to force an attitude of patience. It was a thin veneer at best. "Is there something I can do for you?""Sir, I…" She hesitated, but then decided the best thing to do was just to push ahead – and hope. "Sir, I wonder if I might have a minute?" He breathed deeply, clearly trying to get his feelings back under control. She knew it was only to a fellow bridge officer, one who knew him well and had seen him in all sorts of situations and moods; that he would allow himself to openly show the effort he was using to control his thoughts and feelings. She was honored that he would trust her, would regard her, that much. But now was the time to push ahead.
Hoshi decided she would not be out of line by asking what was; under any circumstances, a cosmically stupid question. "Is anything wrong, sir?"
The question did serve its purpose, to focus him. At least, whatever he was angry about, he would not take it out on her – not that he ever would. "Everything's wrong, Hoshi, but none of it is …" He bit what he was going to say back between lips pressed together so tightly they almost turned white. Finally, some moments later, he was able to ease that pressure.
"Yes, come on in." He led her back into his quarters, and when the door closed he turned to face her. His normal placid expression was painted on his face like a mask; a mask she recognized. She had seen it many times before. She knew when to believe it, and knew this was not one of those times. "What did you have in mind?"
"Captain, you know I would do anything rather than lay one more problem on you, but under the circumstances –."
"Yes, yes." He said with waning patience. "Hoshi, I really would just like to hear it."
"Yes, sir. Last night, sir, all the women crewmembers – with the exception of T'Pol – met to express their deep concern about what happened to Dina. They want you to know about their concerns, about their apprehensions, about their …" She decided she just had to 'bite the bullet' and say it. "Well, sir, they passed two resolutions."
"Resolutions?" He asked, not sure if he'd heard her correctly. This was a Starship, not a Parliamentary forum.
"Yes, sir. Unanimously." He sat down in the chair behind his desk; certain he was not going to like this at all.
"Go ahead."
"Well sir, the first is that under no circumstances shall any of their responses to what happened to Dina in any way conflict with or violate Starfleet regulations, discipline or the Code of Military Conduct."
"Well, that's good to know. And the other shoe?"
"Sir, they demand … well, that is to say…"
"Yes, go on. They demand…"
She swallowed, trying to break her hesitation. "Sir, they demand that we, that Starfleet, respond appropriately to the Capellans." He didn't change his expression in the slightest. "Sir, they're scared." She explained desperately. "I know how they feel. I'm scared. We all signed on knowing there were risks, but this … this is different! They're convinced that Starfleet, in the interests of getting its topaline, will look the other way. I told them they were wrong, but this has undermined their confidence – our confidence." She amended, pointedly including herself. "They feel if Starfleet does not take a stand, they are not going to be backing us up. If Starfleet looks the other way with topaline, what about the next treaty? What about the next diplomatic -?" She stopped as Archer raised a hand, halting her rush. Hoshi took a breath; then continued more levelly. "They want to know that Starfleet; that their crewmates, will …"
"Will back them up when it comes to the individual versus what Starfleet wants – or needs."
"Yes, sir. I told them they were wrong. I told them! But their confidence …" She finished helplessly.
x
For a long moment Archer sat silently, seemingly not seeing her. Finally, when he looked at her directly, his manner was carefully controlled. "En – Hoshi, about twenty minutes ago I received a message from Starfleet." He activated the monitor as she stepped around his desk so she could see the screen. It had emblazoned upon it the Starfleet emblem. When the recording started, she recognized Admiral John Black.
"Enterprise from Starfleet Command: We have received and reviewed your report regarding the incident involving your crewwoman and a member of the Capellan delegation presently aboard your ship.
"Command expresses its deep concern and regret about this incident, and its hopes for the recovery of your officer.
"However, Captain, as you know, the deposits of topaline contained on planet Capella IV are essential to the life support systems of all our ships, starbases and colonies. There is no other world known to possess such vast quantities of this indispensable material.
"Your orders are to continue using all necessary diplomatic means to secure a mining treaty with the Capellans. As a gesture of diplomatic good will, your prisoner, the Maav Saal, is to be released from custody and remanded to the Teer Akaar. Starfleet out."
The screen blanked off.
x
Archer turned to look up at Hoshi, who was standing beside him, mouth hanging open in disbelief.
"'Command expresses its deep concern and regret about this incident'?" She repeated, stunned. "'Hopes for the recovery of your officer'?"
"I know." He said, answering her tone.
She shook her head helplessly, unable to believe what she had just seen. "I assured them. I swore to them!"
"If it had been Admiral Forrest, instead of Black…"
"He didn't even bother to use her frigging name!" She stepped away, just reaching a chair before her legs gave out. "If you let him out, if they see him walking the corridors as if nothing has happened…" Hoshi's voice trailed off as she contemplated the horror of this development. She looked up at him, her eyes haunted. "They are not going to tol – to accept this."
"No, say it. They are not going to tolerate this, and I don't blame them one bit." He clenched his fist. "They have the right to expect that they will be backed up by their crewmates. They'll probably think Starfleet would throw them to the wolves when it suited their own needs."
"Almost their exact words." She admitted. The silence drew on. "What are you going to do?"
For a long moment he did not answer. Then he looked up. "Would you excuse me, Ensign? I have a lot of work to do."
"Yes, sir."
Hoshi stood up and left, not knowing what was on his mind. All she was certain of was that the Captain would not turn his back on his crew.