Chapter Two

Illegitimus non Carborondum Est

Liz and Hoshi are still talking for more than an hour, trying to work out plans and strategies for the upcoming trial when the outer door slid open again. They look toward it with a measure of apprehension – the cell door is still open as Liz had left it.

But though Security Officer Jim Cien is at the door, he is not alone. When he catches sight of the open cell door, his eyes lock on Liz's and there was a wealth of communication in the silent gaze they share. By the time the outer door slides shut again, Liz is considerably subdued.

Hoshi, on the other hand, was thrilled to see her 'guests'. In fact, by this point, she would have been thrilled to see a Klingon.

However, it is not a Klingon that stands just inside the outer room, but Reverend Patricia McCabe OSJ and Tia Anlor.

x

McCabe had been assigned by the UESPA to Enterprise a little over a month ago as their Chaplain; part of a program to place personnel on all Starfleet ships for the purpose of seeing to the spiritual needs of a crew on long space missions. It is a pilot program which is meeting with mixed results throughout the Fleet.

McCabe is an Episcopal Priest assigned to assist with the spiritual counsel of eighty one humans of varying backgrounds and faiths, a Denobulan, a Vulcan and an Auran. Her greatest asset to the crew is that she, at least, has something few of her fellows have, an extensive background in Psychology and Psychiatry. In terms of the diversity she had to deal with, these disciplines actually put her in better stead than her Ministerial training, though the other is actually her primary purpose and focus.

Another real advantage she has with this crew is a very personal relationship with a key member of it. For most of her life she had known, and had at one time been engaged to be married to, Lieutenant Malcolm Reed.

McCabe is in her late 30's, though the most specific she had ever been was that she was 'as old as Malcolm', which was not very revealing considering the reticence of the Armory Officer to discuss anything personal – most especially his earlier or current relationship with the Priest.

She had grown up barely a kilometer from him, so their accents were distinctly similar. Hoshi could place them to particular streets in their home city just by listening to them speak. She is 5'9", with long chestnut hair and piercing brown eyes that seem capable of seeing into one's soul. She wears, as she always does 'in public', her Clerical 'uniform' consisting of black trousers and a royal blue shirt that buttons up the back, leaving the front smooth.

The collar of the shirt is a stiff band of white an inch high, and from a cloth 'collar' of the same shade as the shirt and occasionally lost against it hangs the red, white and gold cross of her Order; a red Roman cross behind which the eight white arms of a Maltese cross shows, while in the vertex is a black Temple cross upon which is a red banner with a slanted gold cross. The small emblem therefore conveys the combination of several 'faiths', conveying also the multiple disciplines of her Calling.

x

Beside her stands their friend Tia Anlor. A refugee of the conquered planet Aura, Tia had been found months ago, the only survivor of a derelict vessel that had been used in a desperate attempt to flee the forces controlling her world, only to be hunted down by them. The other fugitives had been killed, but Tia had survived – barely – and since her rescue had been living on Enterprise.

The Auran had numerous differences from her human friends, but the vast majority of these were internal. The one visible and notable external difference between their races was that Tia's had evolved on a planet where gold was as plentiful as iron was on Earth, and had become the principal element of life. Gold does not carry oxygen, that is true, but in a trimolecular bond that only Phlox and Tia and the others in Life Sciences really understand, it does the job. Thus, her blood and skin pigments are hues of gold, tinted as much as a human's is tinted in varying shades of red; her long hair is more golden than blonde and even the irises of her eyes are golden.

Commander Trip Tucker had taken one look at her and his heart had been completely lost to the young refugee; as much as hers to him. They were the 'hottest couple' aboard Enterprise, and Hoshi knows there are several clandestine pools in existence speculating on when the man was going to wise up and ask her to marry him.

x

Hoshi's reaction on seeing both these women is vast relief. "Thank God! I thought no one would ever come."

"What do you mean, child?" McCabe asks, taken aback by the enthusiasm of her greeting.

"I haven't seen anyone all afternoon. At least, no one but Liz here." She says, including her friend seated next to her. "I don't know – I really thought someone would come to see me in my last hours." But then her high spirits die, and she looks down. "I guess I don't know people like I thought."

"How did you get in?" Liz asks.

"I'm a Priest visiting a prisoner. They can't keep me out. I think they realize I'd immediately contact the Chaplain-Admiral's office."

"How'd you get Tia in?"

"I just told her to follow me."

They realize she could have come up with any kind of outlandish excuse, but anything of the kind would be lying to one of her flock, and that was something she would not do. But by simply leading Tia in on her own authority, she gave the guard an 'out' should anyone complain. If there were repercussions, she would accept the 'heat'.

x

McCabe steps into the cell, Tia joining her in the now considerably crowded smaller room. "How are you, my child?"

Hoshi looks up at the Priest, trying to keep her emotions from stealing her voice. "I'm scared. You're the only visitors I've seen. The Court Martial is set for 1500, less than an hour away, and I still haven't seen – or been assigned – an Advocate."

"That alone should be grounds for dismissal." Liz insisted.

"I wish. But do you really see them doing that? Let a Starfleet ordered Court Martial fall through on a technicality?"

"This is one hell of a 'technicality'!"

Hoshi turns to McCabe. "What about you? You offered to be Tigat's Advocate."

The woman shakes her head. "That was different. She was going to commit professional 'suicide'. I was obliged – obligated – to try to help her; to prevent her from throwing the rest of her life away. It was a desperate measure, but one I was using only to stall the Hearing until she could come to her senses, or we could reach Starbase Two and she could get the services of a real Advocate.

"The fact is; I'm a Psychiatrist and a Priest; I am not qualified as an Advocate. The laws I know are of 'right' and 'wrong'." She watches sadly as the hope dims in Hoshi Sato's eyes. "I'm sorry."

Hoshi looks up at the Priest, imploringly. "What chance do I have?"

"As far as I see it," Liz, seated next to her on the bunk, maintains, "you can fight this on the grounds that you have no legal representation."

Hoshi sighs. "Starfleet will order me held in here until we get to Earth. Either that or they'll send someone."

Liz sits back against the wall with an equally heartfelt sigh. "This is madness."

x

"I'm really not going to get out of this one." Hoshi declares, feeling depression trying to take hold.

"I know you're worried." Liz commiserates. "But what was that old expression you taught me once? 'Illegitimus non carborondum est'."

Patricia chuckles softly.

"What that is?" Tia asks. Normally she had enough trouble keeping English straight. Hoshi motions for Patricia to answer.

"That's from an archaic language known as 'Latin'. I didn't think anyone outside the Church – other than Hoshi – would even be familiar with it. Broadly translated, it's 'don't let the bastards wear you down'."

"Did you have to study Latin in the Seminary?"

"Oh, yes. We can't get along without it – the ancient texts are still there for us. And I remember some Seminarians could be holy terrors, as it were. It does wonders in 'diplomatic situations', as long as no one has a UT. You can say absolutely anything you want to someone and have it come out sounding elegant."

"They say tact is the ability to tell someone to 'go to Hell' in such a way that he'll look forward to the trip."

"Exactly."

"But I guess you haven't had much cause to use it here."

"Only with Malcolm."

x

But the laughter lasts too short a time when the outer door slides open again. Hoshi's hopes peak; then fall when she sees that her visitor is Crewman Mark Simon. He is a good man, true; but he is not a lawyer, nor highly enough ranked to get her out of this.

He is holding a folded bundle in his arms, and stops in the outer room as the door slides shut behind him. "Ensign Sato?" He asks diffidently, seeing the 'crowd' of visitors in the small cell.

"Yes?" Hoshi asks, standing up.

"I brought you your dress uniform." He extends the bundle to her. It is very familiar indeed. The uniform is of the same design as the blue one she wears, but the cloth is much finer, with a definite sheen. She does not make a move to take it.

"Why?"

"Er, I was ordered to, Ma'am. Lieutenant Reed … he thought you'd probably make a better impression in it than …" The younger man's voice trails off.

Hoshi can see how uncomfortable the man, barely more than a boy, is; and she does not want to appear difficult. Her problems are none of his doing. Reaching out, she takes the bundle with a small smile. "Thank you."

"I just wanted to say …" he continues as he relinquishes the uniform, "…to say that I hope you … that is …"

"Thank you."

"I'm not allowed to stay. I just wanted you to know how I …" He reaches the end of what words he can find.

"Thank you." She repeats, a little more visibly grateful to the young man.

"You really will make a better impression." He tells her, trying his best to be supportive.

She gives him a smile that she can not keep from being laced with sadness. "I can hardly make a worse one."

x

When he is gone, she turns to her friends. "My dress blues; suitable for Admirals, Ambassadorial Functions and Executions."

"Now you just get that out of your head!" Liz exclaims, standing up. "You're not finished yet."

Hoshi looks at the chronometer on the wall. 'Stupid place for a clock.' She thinks. 'Who wants to know the time in jail?' "If not now, I soon will be." She looks at her assembled friends, trying not to give in to her dismal feelings. "It's getting late. I'd better change."

Liz yanks her into a sudden, tight hug. "Hang in there. You've got friends who will fight for you."

"I shall speak to Malcolm." McCabe says. "I have some influence with him." Hoshi grins at the vast understatement.

"And I Shar-les appeal with will." Tia promises.

"And I'll …" Liz begins, "I'll talk to …" She tries to think of something. She shrugs, lost. "I'll talk to Jim." Hoshi laughs softly. "Maybe he can slip you a cake with a file in it."