A/N: So far, still on track. Enjoy!
Justice
He had asked Jim for an armed guard. The captain hadn't seen a need- no one from Ceretta was aboard the Enterprise, they would be making no stops between there and Starbase 18, and if and when Chancellor DeGlycin came to he was restrained in Sickbay and could be moved to the brig.
But McCoy wasn't as sure as Jim that it was that open and shut- it rarely was. The whole affair was too easy, too straightforward, as horrific as it was, but on the Enterprise there was always some kind of complication.
He took over Gamma shift and gave M'Benga the night off. Chapel would sic Jim and Spock on him for it in the morning, but he needed to stay in Sickbay. He felt it in his Bones… something was going to happen.
DeGlycin was in a private room so that most of the medical staff could give him a wide berth unless needed. McCoy check in on him throughout the night… still out cold, but recovering steadily. They had literally pulled him out of the hands of a lynch mob and McCoy always felt uneasy around the guy, even unconscious.
He circled around Sickbay and the labs once again, still feeling agitated. On his way back through the main ward, he frowned.
A stylus was out of place.
McCoy always had the habit of haphazardly setting down his PADDS and styluses on the nearest available surface, such that sharp, organized angles were rare to result. The stylus was now perfectly parallel to the table's edge, as if someone had bumped it and put it back.
He turned and headed straight for DeGlycin's room.
The sound of the door sliding open alerted the intruder to his presence. McCoy folded his arms and stepped inside.
"Lt. Marigold. He's not worth the effort."
The lieutenant clenched her fist around a hypo- and how did she get that, McCoy would have a word with his staff about securing inventory- and pressed her lips into a thin line.
"He must be stopped."
"He is. That's why we're extraditing him to Starbase 18."
She shook her head. "Not good enough. He has connections, he has credits, influence. This psychopath can charm his way out of anything, you just haven't seen it yet."
Personal history. Great. Maybe Marigold had a relative on Ceretta? Jim was so going to get an earful about this.
"I doubt even he could defend his crimes of Ceretta," McCoy said softly. "There's damning evidence and too many bodies."
Marigold shook her head. "Even life-long imprisonment is too great a risk. He could escape. He could bribe for parole. He needs to be stopped permanently." She inched closer to the biobed.
"I agree," McCoy said carefully. "But this isn't justice. He'll get what he's got coming on Starbase 18." He took a step forward. "You don't need to do this."
"Are you going to stop me?" she challenged.
"I'm a doctor, not a bodyguard," McCoy answered. "But right now he is my patient. I would like to keep the number of murderers in the room to one."
Marigold paused at that. She looked down at the chancellor, sleeping peacefully, and her face contorted. "I hate him," she whispered.
"That's fine," McCoy said. "But what are you going to do with that hate?"
He was tense, ready to spring at her, when she at last sighed and dropped the hypo. She rubbed her brow as McCoy stepped forward and guided her away from the biobed, swiping the hypo up as well.
"I think I hate being the bigger person," she muttered as they left the room.
"It certainly isn't easy," McCoy agreed. "I'm proud of you for doing the right thing."
"Yeah, well…" McCoy could still see the bitterness on her face. "Starbase 18 had better hit him with everything in the book."
Jim, a word of recommendation to you on behalf of what I told you would happen… "I'll see to it myself."