Chapter 11 - Set Free to Fail on Your Own Merits

The midday officers' mess was busy.

Kirk tossed his napkin down. "I'm going ashore as soon as we dock. What time is it on base?"

Spock replied, "Oh nine hundred fourteen, Captain."

"Good, Ramos should be in his office then and had at least three cups of coffee. He'll be ready for me."

McCoy said, "And you really think you can just waltz in there and talk the man out of it?"

"I'm going to try." Kirk flashed his most charming smile.

Bones lifted up a hand to protect his face. "Turn that thing down. You could blind a man."

Kirk stood suddenly. "Speaking of which, there is someone I want to talk to."

"Before she leaves," McCoy finished for him.

"Right."

As Kirk reached the door. McCoy said to Spock. "Never seen that man crash and burn with an old fling as hard as he did with that moon woman.'

Spock crossed his arms. "There was a good reason for it."

"Was there? Do tell."

"Doctor, if you were to strap me down in your little sickbay of horrors and force nitrous oxide on me, I still would not tell you."

"Little sickbay of horrors?" McCoy grinned. "Spock, that was a joke! You told a joke." He sobered. "At my expense, but still."

Kirk found Sangelica in her shared quarters and refused to let her finish packing.

"It's not far to the arboretum," he said, leading the way.

"You are far more impulsive as a captain than as a cadet, Jim."

"I feel like I have less to lose now."

"That would be unexpected."

The arboretum was empty. He led her around to where the plants were thickest. Spock's experiments were still running, Kirk recognized the leaf sensors.

"It's a regular lovers lane in here," Sangelica said.

Kirk turned at that and looked around again. He shook himself. "I have a question for you and my ego won't let you leave until it gets an answer."

She crossed her arms as if she were cold and lifted her shoulders up. Kirk wondered if the higher gravity was tiring her out.

"I got a very different vibe from you when you first came on board. And then you chilled. Since I pride myself on how I come across to someone I'm interested in, I would greatly appreciate some feedback on what happened."

She blinked several times. "David, I mean, Admiral Diamond said- Did he lie?"

"Ah," Kirk said. "I see."

"He said you were already romantically occupied and that I wasn't your type. At all. I got the impression . . . I mean, it was funny because at the academy you were always so, well, aggressive might be the word, I don't mean that in a bad way, you saw what you wanted and arranged to get it is what I mean."

"But you believed Diamond, even with what you know about me?"

"Well, I thought that explained it."

"Explained what?"

"That you were putting on a show for cover. You wanted to be seen as a certain kind of man and a certain kind of leader and that was that. Whether that was your preference or not." She gave a helpless shrug and laughed lightly. "It explained it."

"I see." Kirk ran a hand through his hair. "I was hoping to catch up a bit more. You have been hard to pin down."

"I admit, you were always so cute. I was trying to guess who you were paired with."

"Please don't."

She laughed. It was bell like.

Kirk said, "I didn't like losing to Diamond for any reason."

"Oh, you didn't. He's a perfect gentleman."

"Yes, I bet he is."

"What?"

"Will you have any time at all during the summit?"

"I can try. Give me your private transmitter ID."

Kirk stepped close, ran his hands down her arms.

She said, "But I really have to pack. I can't miss orientation."

Kirk stepped back and held an inviting arm out to indicate she should pass.

"Jim, your life is crazy."

"It is less so when I'm actually in charge of it."

Commodore Ramos came out of his office to talk to Kirk in reception. "I can't by rights speak with you in private about this, Captain. Not the day before a hearing."

"What if we bring in a neutral witness and declare it not private?"

Ramos appeared flummoxed by this suggestion. Kirk waved at the officer waiting in a chair by the wall.

"Lieutenant, would you be willing to sit in on an open meeting between myself and the Commodore?"

The woman's brows rose. "Certainly."

The lieutenant stood at attention halfway between the commodore's desk and the visitor's seating. "I can discuss what I hear at this meeting, outside this meeting. Is that correct, sirs?"

"That's the idea," Kirk said.

"I don't know what this is going to accomplish, Jim," Ramos said as he sat behind his desk. "But go ahead."

Kirk said, "I wanted to warn you how embarrassing this hearing is going to be for Admiral Diamond."

Ramos wove his fingers together and stared across them. "Why would you want to warn me of that?"

"Because while I have no difficulty with going ahead with this hearing, it is putting a lot of strain on my relationship with a particular officer."

"I imagine."

The lieutenant moved just her eyes to look from Ramos to Kirk and back again as they each spoke.

"Why are you agreeing to this hearing, Commodore? You must know this isn't a good use of anyone's time."

"I do know that." He held a hand up to the lieutenant. "We're going private for a moment. Forget what you are about to hear." He turned back to Kirk. "Jim, the man called in a favor. I was going to insist he organize his own hearing, but I'm a man of my word. I get called to repay a debt, I don't back down. And if there is nothing to it, a hearing shouldn't be too much of an issue. I'm sure you can understand that. Okay, we are back online."

Kirk had foreseen this as a purely an administrative decision. He stalled to think of a new strategy. "Why was Diamond assigned to my ship in the first place?"

"Scuttlebutt was that command expected you to straighten him out a bit. He's a good man, but badly in need of a dose of reality."

"Me straighten HIM out?" Kirk pointed at himself. "Commodore, I am utterly defeated by that man."

"You of all people, Jim?" He sounded honestly disappointed.

"Some tasks in this galaxy are impossible, Commodore. Giving Admiral Diamond a dose of reality is definitely one of them."

"I'll inform the proper people of your defeat."

"Well, I appreciate that, I suppose." Kirk shook his head. "But as to the admiral's fraternizing allegation. Really, Commodore, you know me better than that. I'm not the type to take advantage of those under my command." A deep, unsettling twinge stopped this line of argument. He straightened and tried again.

"I've never slept with anyone in my crew. Let alone the officer he thinks I have. Think about it for a just a minute and it's obviously a mistake."

Ramos said, "I was trying not to be overly impressed."

The lieutenant's brows went up. Kirk felt himself being reappraised by her.

Kirk said, "I'll take a truth test, if you'd like me to."

Ramos said, "I'd like to see that, actually. I'll have a unit brought in."

Kirk returned to his ship and found his officers in the mess, still sitting around long after lunch. With the ship on a skeleton crew while docked, they could all have been off on leave.

Kirk stepped into their midst and turned to Spock, then away, thinking to not draw attention to him.

"I was certain I could get Commodore Ramos to cancel the hearing. But he wants to go ahead."

A few eyes rolled. McCoy snorted.

Mr. Scott said, "Ya did point out how embarrassing this was going to be for the admiral, Captain?"

"Yes, I did. I let the computer measure the truth of my statements while denying everything, as well. Neither convinced him to call off the hearing."

McCoy said, "Maybe he wants to embarrass Diamond too."

"Ya gonna be all right, Laddie?"

Kirk turned to his chief engineer. "Yes, Mr. Scott, I'll be fine. I admit, I thought I knew Ramos better."

McCoy said, "Maybe he needs a distraction, say . . . like watching an admiral squirm. Maybe he's just bored."

"Which makes me wonder why you are all here," Kirk said.

Scotty said, "We'll not be going anywhere until we know your fate, sir."

"Thank you, Mr. Scott. Some of you are probably called to the hearing. I apologize for not getting this nonsense stopped."

McCoy said, "I'm everyone's doctor. I know everything that's going on on this ship. They didn't call me."

"To everyone's relief, Bones."

"I got called," Yeoman Rand said, hand raised. "Am I allowed to say that?"

Kirk said, "Yes. You can disclose your own participation. But not anyone else's."

Rand said, "At least Admiral Diamond will not rejoin the ship after this. Right, sir?"

Kirk rubbed the corner of eye. "I sincerely hope not. If so, we may have to resort to one of Dr. McCoy's creative suggestions."

McCoy held up his hands. "I didn't say anything. No one heard me say anything."

While the rest were smiling and joking, Kirk turned to Spock. "I need to talk to you."

Spock rose and followed.