Chapter Six

Aftermath

In the day since the Survey Party had returned to the Enterprise, things had not returned to normal. Beyond the slight damage from the solar flares and their accompanying electromagnetic pulses, all of which had been minimal, the starship had weathered the storm virtually unscathed. The immediate trip to Sick Bay for the relief of various bruises and other injuries suffered by the team; Hoshi had been quite happy to be rid of that black eye; had not relieved her of her anxiety. Things were decidedly not normal.

Hoshi had spent an uncomfortable night, even though it had not been in her own quarters. The relief of tensions that she and Seamus had shared had done nothing for the anxiety that lingered in her heart. She knew she was on 'Report', and though she had done well in the end and allowed the team to make a non-violent and successful escape from the planet, she knew Tucker had not forgotten her insubordination, and she would pay the price for her actions on Declan IV.

All through the morning she could sense an unexpressed tension on the bridge. No one confronted her or expressed any problem to her, but the tension was there. It was there last evening in the way Tucker had pulled Archer aside in the Sick Bay for a private consultation. It was there in the way Archer's eyes had looked when she'd told him that evening that she'd logged her report about the mission. It was there this morning in his prolonged absence from the center chair.

He was on the bridge, she knew. He had arrived long before the start of her shift; as the Gamma shift Comm officer had reported when she'd relieved him at 0800; but he had not left his Ready Room all morning.

The other members of the Bridge Crew, Reed, T'Pol, Mayweather, Anderson, they all felt it but no one spoke of it. She could see it in their eyes (all but T'Pol's) but no one said anything. No one wanted to speak of the miasma that filled the bridge any more than she did. But it was there; palpable, almost physical, like a psychic pall over everything.

Finally, just before 1100, a light on her panel; the intercom to the Captain's Ready Room, flashed. She touched it. "Yes, sir?"

"Would you come in here, Hoshi?"

"Right away, sir." She was made more nervous by the grim tone in his voice than she was about the Summons itself. She had known the Summons would come, but there was something in her Commander's voice that made her even more apprehensive. She got up and crossed the bridge as quickly as she could, not wanting to delay him.

But when the inner door at the base of the three steps slid aside, she could almost feel the unease in the air like a physical thing. "You wanted to see me, sir?" The formal question sounded inane to her ears.

Archer was seated behind his desk, holding two thin square data modules in his hands, shuffling them absently. "Please sit down, Ensign."

"Yes, sir." 'Ensign'. That did not sound good. She took the seat as quietly as she could, as if she could be an unnoticed prey if she just kept still and quiet. Archer did not speak for several moments, and the grim look on his face made her more nervous by the moment.

"Ensign," he held up one of the two square modules, "I've received a detailed report from Commander Tucker regarding the events on Declan IV. I've also reviewed your report." He left it hanging, making it clear he offered her the chance to change anything that she wished to.

"Sir, I stand by my report."

"I was hoping you would. You were honest about the … incident cited in Commander Tucker's Charge."

Hoshi felt her heart skip, and suddenly her mouth was dry. "Charge, sir?" She felt as if a cold blade had cut her heart. He hadn't said 'Complaint', he hadn't said 'Reprimand'. He'd actually said 'Charge'.

"Actually, I should say 'Charges'. Commander Tucker was quite explicit about several of them." He picked up another thin module, displaying the three of them together to her. "Lt. O'Cathain substantiates the events as cited." He put the disks back down with an expression of disgust. "Have you anything to say?"

She swallowed; a painful motion of her dry throat. "No, sir. I realize my behavior was inappropriate, and that I deserve to be disciplined -."

"Disciplined?" He sounded like he couldn't believe she'd used the word. "I don't think you appreciate the seriousness of this issue."

"Believe me, sir, I do."

"I don't think so." He contradicted firmly. He held up the first module. "This contains some pretty strong recommendations. Frankly, I was shocked." He sighed, letting it drop onto the desk, hiding one clenched fist by his other hand.

"Captain, I -." Whatever she would have said died in her throat when she saw the expression on his face.

"Ensign, several of the points raised by Commander Tucker take this entirely out of my hands. I have been in touch with Starfleet Command for most of the morning, and if they return the answer that I expect them to, it's going to mean a Special Court Martial."

Hoshi felt the blade of ice pierce her heart. She stared at him, unable to believe he'd said that. She'd expected a reprimand; maybe loss of privileges; a letter in her permanent file… Not Court Martial! "Sir?"

Archer held up his hand. "I'm hoping it doesn't come to that, but its Command's decision, not mine. I can only caution you that they view matters like this very seriously." He sighed. "I just wanted you to be prepared."

"Sir, I –."

"Dismissed."

She wanted to protest, to explain, to … to do something. Anything! But he'd already dismissed her and she was not going to risk disobeying him when her neck was already so near the noose. She stood up, feeling very cold, very scared; so scared she was starting to tremble, unable to think of what she could say. She almost felt as she had in her early days aboard this ship, when even a mild turbulence had her clutching the support bar beside her station in undisguised panic. She'd never wanted to return to those days ever again. She tried to fight it, to walk out of the room, to escape while the chill of fear rushed through her veins.

She made it back to her station, sat down, and could not think.

x

For nearly an hour her mind played and replayed every last, humiliating moment on Declan IV, looking for what she had done wrong, what she could have done differently, where she had screwed up. And the answer kept coming back to her in merciless clarity.

'Everything'.

The entire mission had been a farrago of disasters, and in the middle of it all was Hoshi Sato, mindlessly contributing her best efforts to making a bad situation worse. There had not been a single thing she had done right. They'd been lucky to come away alive. She had been completely out of control, and every time she'd opened her mouth she'd made things worse; hindering instead of helping. She could have caused a catastrophe for the inhabitants of that planet. She'd had to have been stopped, before she did something that would have had unimaginably horrible consequences for the very people she'd thought to protect!

And what had she done in response? She'd gotten into her Commander's face and practically accused him of being an out of control sexual pervert with lustful designs upon his own crew!

Practically? She couldn't even remember now what she had actually said, but she was sure that if she'd been a man…

And she decided she deserved it.

True, in the end she had 'redeemed herself', she'd thought, by what she'd thought was a truly inspired piece of initiative. Now she realized it was probably no such thing.

xxx

Lunchtime eventually came, and she was too sick with apprehension to eat. She went anyway, because every time a signal came in, no matter what it was, she had jumped. She had to get away from her board before she screamed.

She found her friends from Life Sciences, Elizabeth Cutler and Tia Anlor, at their usual table. She sat down stiffly, putting her barely noticed tray before her.

"On a diet?" Liz asked, capturing her attention.

"Huh?" She followed Liz's gaze to her tray. The plate and cup on it were both empty.

"I'm the one who's going to have to start watching my figure." Liz admonished playfully, patting her abdomen. It would be a few weeks yet before she started showing her pregnancy through her uniform, but she'd decided to get some 'mileage' out of it nonetheless. Hoshi murmured an indistinct answer. "What?"

Hoshi looked up from her plate into her friend's eyes, her chaotic emotions barely allowing her to keep her voice low. "I said 'they're court martialling me'."

Liz's arm fell to the table in limp shock. "Oh, damn." She breathed.

"Court martialling bad is?" Tia asked. Liz looked at her.

"Very, very bad."

"Oh." She looked at Hoshi. "Sorry I am."

"Why? What did – what do they say you did?"

Hoshi would always be grateful for her friend's support. In as calm a tone as she could, she gave a capsule version of what had happened on Declan IV. "Frap, that deserves a Reprimand, not a Court Martial!"

"Apparently Command sees it differently." She stared down at her empty plate before deciding, "I can't sit here. I'm too sick to eat. I have to go back to the bridge. I want to be there when…" She couldn't say it. She barely wanted to think it. "I'll see you later." She was half way out of her chair when Liz clutched her hand.

"Now you just hang in there. We'll be pulling for you."

"Daai."

"Thanks, you two. I …" She couldn't even think of what to say. She was so touched, but her mind was a maelstrom of emotions. "I'll see you later."

xxx

Hoshi enters the bridge, finding it unchanged yet alien. Things and people are exactly where they should be, but her apprehension lends an air of strangeness to everything. It feels like all eyes are on her as she crosses to her station. She glances at Ann Anderson manning the Situation Room, but the woman averts her eyes, then looks back guiltily, embarrassed at having done so. But though she tries to smile, it is lackluster at best. Hoshi is unpleasantly surprised to find Crewwoman Grace Winters, her Beta Shift relief officer, seated in her place. The blonde woman looks up. "Captain wants to see you."

Those five words drive an icy blade into her heart. She looks across the round bridge at the door to the Captain's private sanctum. She tries to stiffen up her courage. She'd know nothing until she went in, and maybe a miracle has happened and she has been forgiven.

She crosses the bridge in front of Travis, and the sympathetic look in his eyes is hard to bear. Instead, she tries to not notice if anyone else is watching.

The fear that had been her constant and unwelcome companion and tormentor over her first months on this ship has come out of hiding to ambush her.

She stops outside the door, trying to keep her finger from trembling as she reaches for the annunciation button. "Come." The voice coming out of the intercom is faint, but still too loud. She can not pretend not to have heard it. Pressing the other button, she steps through the sliding door, going down the three steps and keying the inner door.

She couldn't come further in as the door slid shut half an inch behind her back. Jonathan Archer is seated exactly where she'd left him only a little more than an hour before. He holds a thin square data module in his hand. She tries not to read anything into the fact that it is black.

He sets it down and looks at her, his expression grim. "You're Relieved of Duty."

x

Hoshi opens her mouth. She wants so say something. Anything. She tries so hard but nothing comes out.

He stands up, as if he can not sit still either. "I'm sorry. By Starfleet Order, you are confined to the brig pending Special Court Martial."

She tries to speak. To plead. To … to … anything! He comes around the desk, taking her arm gently and turning her toward the door. She needs his help getting out of the room. He escorts her onto the bridge, and she prays she can wake up.

"Your attention please." Archer says, grasping everyone's attention. They look at their Commanding Officer, mildly surprised to see him gripping Hoshi Sato's arm. His next words transform their surprise into shock. "Per Starfleet orders this date, Hoshi Sato is hereby Relieved of Duty as Ensign in charge of Communications for this ship. She is remanded to the custody of ship's Security and ordered to be held in the brig pending Special Court Martial. Hearing is to convene at 1500 hours today. Lt Reed?"

The Tactical Officer / Chief of Security looks at the pair, unable to believe what his Captain has just said. "Sir?"

"You will escort the prisoner to the brig immediately, and leave her under guard."

"Yes, sir." Reed replies, monumental disbelief in his tone. It all seems too familiar. It had been a little more than a week since he had taken Mary Tigat, from his own Security Division, off the bridge. He comes around his station, taking Hoshi's arm, waiting for Archer to say 'just kidding'.

But there is no such reprieve.

x

Hoshi feels like she is moving through a nightmare, her body unresponsive; her mind unable to function, unable to deal with the surreal scene. She is under arrest. She is really under arrest. She is about to be pulled off the bridge in disgrace and locked in a cell.

This can't really be happening.

It can't!

Reed's gentle tug on her arm gets her legs moving, but her mind works no more for her than does her body. She keeps hearing her thoughts repeat over and over in her head; 'Wake up. Wake up. Please, somebody – let me wake up!'

When Reed has to turn her around in the turbo lift, she sees her friends staring at her in varying degrees of shock. It is on that tableau that the door closes.

Concludes in 'The Court Martial of Hoshi Sato'.