Chapter Six
Lingering torment
"Absolutely not!" Captain Archer replied firmly when he'd heard all Rev. Mother McCabe had to say. "Crewwoman Tigat will be transferred to Starbase Two where she will stand Court Martial for her crimes."
Archer had responded to the Priest's request for a meeting, though it was well into Beta Shift and over an hour after his dinner. He'd returned to the Ready Room off the Bridge, meeting her there. Now he was sorry he had eaten such a full meal, feeling it starting to congeal in his stomach.
The woman had stopped briefly in her quarters only long enough to remove and hang up the purple stole, and to make her request to Archer. Now she sat in a cushioned chair opposite him, hardly a picture of repose. Her own tones had conveyed what she thought of this. "I agree that her request is ill advised, but -."
"Mother McCabe, how can you possibly sit there and ask me this? This crew still hasn't recovered from the incident with the Capellans; Ensign Samuels has certainly not done so! You're counseling her; you know how long it will take. This entire crew has been affected by that incident, and I know she will be months in trying to recover.
"Now on top of that, this happens! I have a ship full of crewwomen who are this close –" he held up two fingers virtually touching, "to organized violence. I'm afraid to have her on this ship any longer than I have to because I can't guarantee her safety long enough for her to reach trial. And in spite of all this, she wants a hearing in a public forum?"
"Can't you have a 'closed door' Court Martial, with only people you -."
"There is no such thing as a 'closed door' Court Martial! A Court Martial is a public forum just so there cannot be any unfairness. No one can be unfairly sentenced in front of a roomful of people. Except for considerations of size of the room, I cannot legally keep any interested party out, and only the Mess Hall could possibly contain even a fraction of the 'interested parties'.
"And even if I were insane enough to consider having it here, where would I find an impartial Board? Every person on this ship is mad at her. And while I've plenty of Prosecutors to choose from, where am I going to find an Advocate?"
The question hung in the air, unanswered.
x
Archer shook his head, standing up. "The matter's settled. She will be put off when we rendezvous with the 'Horizon' en route to Starbase Two twelve days from now. She will be tried there. That's the only way it can be." He stepped around the desk, crossing the small room and stopping by the door, his meaning clear. McCabe turned to look up at him.
"I'll be her Advocate."
Archer stared at her, unable to believe what she had just said. For a long moment he could have heard a pin drop two levels below.
"Mother McCabe, what qualifications do you have as an Advocate?" He did not remember reading of any in her official file.
"Not much. I admit I may well be getting in over my head, but if she insists upon this unwise course, I am obligated by the rules of my Order to provide as much assistance as I can. I cannot let her go before a Board undefended."
"And if your in … inexperience," he had almost said 'incompetence', but bit the word back hard, "results in a conviction? I have to tell you that inability of an Advocate to present a case is not grounds for dismissal or holdover. She will not win a reprieve that way." He could see that her confidence was very much shaken by this fact. If she had been hoping for something in favor of her 'client', she now knew this was not the way. It could only work against Tigat.
McCabe could not back down. "I have to do something. I'm obligated to do something."
"Despite what was done to you? Do I need to remind you that over eighty nude pictures of you have been displayed throughout this ship, both of you alone and with Malcolm Reed?"
She drew herself up, and her voice was cold. "No, Captain, you do not have to 'remind' me; and it was quite crass of you to have done so."
"Well, I'm sorry. But this crew has been through a lot; tempers are high, patience is gone … and I do apologize. It was crass."
"I forgive you." She stood up. "So you'll arrange the Court Martial?"
Archer tried not to give vent to the frustration he felt. "I don't know which of you is more insane."
"Definitely me." She said with heavy irony. She started to step toward the door, but he raised his hand to halt her.
They were just inches apart, neither of them giving another.
x
"The request for a shipboard Court Martial is denied." McCabe drew a breath to protest, but he cut her off. "There is no way, on this ship, that she can obtain a verdict other than 'guilty'. Seeing that she wants to plead guilty and throw herself on the mercy of the Court, I have to conclude that she wants to commit suicide.
"Right now, though it may be unpleasant, she is in 'protective custody'. Only certain people are authorized to approach her. If by some miracle of law she were to win over these charges, she would be free to move about the ship and to interact with the rest of the crew. I am afraid within a very short time someone will find the opportunity to exact revenge. I will not put that temptation out there for some ill-advised action, nor will I assist in her self-destruction."
"But –."
"Even ignoring the 'collection' she amassed and her motive for doing so – if such a thing is possible – she is charged with dozens of counts of invasion of privacy as well as accessing Security systems without authorization for the purpose of spying on members of this crew for no legitimate reason. Those systems are installed for emergency use; such as when it is necessary to check on conditions following a cataclysmic accident or attack, or to locate an injured crewman who might not otherwise be found in time. Other than that, not even Lt. Reed can use those systems without a good and compelling reason, which I must approve.
"Conviction on these charges will result in imprisonment as well as a Dishonorable Discharge from the Service. She is what, twenty-eight, twenty-nine?"
"Twenty-eight."
"Regardless of the length of her incarceration, what do you think her chances will be of securing employment anywhere following a Dishonorable Discharge? I can assure you they are pretty damned slim!" McCabe's protest died, for she could not deny the truth of this.
"I will not condemn anyone to a life of hopelessness, no matter what they have done or why. The request is denied."
x
Patricia was silent for several moments, her left hand touching the cross she wore. She looked down at it, seeking strength, seeking steadiness, seeking … something. "I knew it had to be. I thought it was a horrible idea, but I was obliged to try."
"I know."
"I told her she was committing suicide – I even told her I thought she was insane. Maybe she should even use that as her defense, though I did tell her I doubt it will wash against her psych profiles."
"That's up to her and her Advocate, not us."
"I know." She looked up into his eyes, trying to fight down the stab of guilt she felt over her own 'judgment'. "What of this other woman?"
Archer sighed, deep sadness in his voice. "When I approved Kathy McMahon's transfer request two months ago, I had no idea what was behind it. She had since been assigned to Starfleet Command, where she works as a Computer Operations Technician. She has already been taken into custody by Starfleet Security on an initial charge of Sabotage. Every computer system she has ever had access to is going to be rigorously inspected. Tigat will not be the only one standing Court Martial."
He stepped past her, returning to his desk, thoroughly tired. "And now, Mother McCabe, if there is nothing more…" He looked up, even his expression dismissing, but she did not move. She could see that there was more than dismissal in his expression, something far deeper; something far more painful.
"I didn't realize until just now how much this hurts." She said softly. Her words hung in the air for a long moment; then he nodded.
"On top of what happened last week to Ensign Samuels, which is horrible enough in itself, two members of my crew who I trusted have destroyed their careers; there is a woman in Sick Bay in critical condition from attempted suicide; fully a third of the crew is traumatized and betrayed by someone they trusted, and let's not forget the many men who have emotional ties as well." At his words, her thoughts flashed to Malcolm and the reaction he had had when he finally got off duty and was free to vent his own feelings.
"Yes," he sighed feelingly, "there is more than enough hurt to go around." He looked up at her. "You're the psychologist, the Priest. What can you do?"
Mother Patricia McCabe OSJ had asked herself that question countless times since Hoshi Sato and Elizabeth Cutler had first come to her seeking her help, and now it was hours later and she realized she only had one answer. Whether Therapy or Ministry or Religious Counsel was to be the method, she had only one answer she could give him.
"I can try to help."
x
Before he could answer, there was a signal from the annunciation button at the outer door. Archer touched the intercom. "Come." Archer said, wondering what more could go wrong.
Lt. Malcolm Reed entered; his expression grim. "Captain. Reverend." He greeted them. Patricia McCabe glanced at him as he entered, but then she blinked and looked away, unable to meet his eyes for more than a moment.
Archer watched the brief, silent exchange with regret. It had lasted less than a second, but was far too indicative of a much wider and worse problem which was probably being repeated, to a greater or lesser degree, throughout the crew.
It was true that, publicly, he addressed his former fiancé in formal terms, but Archer knew their relationship and they had been on at least first name comfort with each other before him – until this incident.
When McCabe had come on board barely a month ago, the taciturn Armory Officer had not been particularly welcoming of his old flame, but over the successive four weeks their relationship seemed to be restoring itself to a reasonable normality.
In public they were consummate professionals, and none who were not privy to it had any clue to their history or what was going on in their personal lives. Publicly they addressed one another as 'Lt. Reed' and 'Reverend Mother'. When among friends with whom they could be comfortable, it was 'Malcolm' and 'Patricia'. Archer had heard that in more personal settings even those names became far more intimate, but that was certainly none of his business.
He certainly knew their first days back together had been stressful. After all, she was the primary suspect in a murder investigation he had been pursuing, but that was the past. Over the past three or four weeks he had seen their relationship coming back on track to whatever it had been when they had known one another for so many years in England, and had planned to be married.
In intense privacy, however, things seemed to be improving as well, if the evidence Archer had seen forcibly displayed on his own Ready Room monitor had been any indication. He vowed once again that they would never know that he knew of that exposure, and that he would use his best efforts to forget that which he had never wanted to see!
But that very 'evidence', circulated generally and unreservedly throughout the starship, was in itself a cause for new, added tension. Their private lives had suddenly become very, very public – along with those of the rest of the crew!
It would be months before this crew recovered. Privately, and glumly, Archer wondered if they ever would.
He particularly hoped that the two before him could find some resolution. They had been so close, and for this to drive a wedge between them would be … he could not think of an adequately strong word!
x
"Yes, Malcolm?" He asked, hoping his hesitation had not been as long as it had felt, and that he could also distract the pair from their own discomfort in being together in front of him.
"Sir, I …" Reed stopped, and Archer could see him forcibly gather himself enough to speak. "We've managed to eradicate the virus, and to delete the pictures contained in all its various permutations. I felt it best not to delete the original images, so that they can be used as evidence in her Court Martial, but I have encrypted them so no one will be able to view them without authorization."
He had forcibly avoided looking at Patricia when he spoke of not deleting the original incriminating photos, but now he kept his eyes firmly locked on Archer's, willing himself not to look anywhere else.
"I hear a 'but' in your tone, Malcolm, and I already know I'm not going to like it."
"Yes, sir. We've found indications …" He forcibly gathered himself, not looking at Patricia. "… that while the files were being displayed, they were copied … onto removable media." He finished glumly.
Archer broke the staring lock first, unable to not do so, his eyes flicking to Rev. Patricia, whose face was visibly draining of blood.
x
Far from the incident being over, far from the women on this ship being safe or saved; there were now copies of those revealing files in the hands of some one or more unknown and unknowable persons, available for use, viewing and illicit circulation.
Mother Patricia McCabe looked back at Archer, her face white, her breath barely under control as she strained to keep it from shuddering. For many moments no one said a word, and finally she could stand it no longer.
"Permiss – Permission to be excused, Captain?" She whispered. She did not try to speak aloud, knowing if she tried, she was either going to cry or give in to the scream welling up in her.
"Granted." As she took a step, Malcolm reached out solicitously, almost touching her arm, but she drew away, passing by outside his reach. She was almost to the door when Archer stopped her. "Mother McCabe."
She stopped, and then turned very carefully. "Captain?"
"Until we can correct this, and we will do so, tell no one there are any files out there. That's an order."
"I didn't even want to know." She turned away and opened the inner door, but then stopped. When she turned back, there was no longer the sickening fear in her eyes. "If directly asked, I will not lie." She said determinedly, but lest it sound like an outright refusal to obey his order, she added "But I won't volunteer it either."
For a long moment their eyes locked, and each gauged the other. Finally, after a time, Archer nodded. "Then that's all I'll ask, except that you keep me informed."
"Yes, Captain."
"Dismissed."
She left gratefully, but not before exchanging a quick glance with Malcolm. The look took barely a millisecond, but even Archer could see there was a significant communication between them before she was gone.
x
The two men were left alone in silence, one that neither of them was willing to break. Archer sat back down and regarded his Armory Officer, but it was a long moment more before he trusted himself to say anything. "I think I'm really beginning to understand you, Malcolm." He told the man grimly.
"Sir?" Reed asked carefully.
"Right at this moment, I would really love to find something to blow up!"