Chapter 15 - A Bitter Drink to Swallow

Kirk sat in the base officers' lounge holding a drink long-ago warmed by his hand. He had come here as an experiment. He fielded the jocular comments, the wagging of eyebrows, the acute disappointment, the estimations of the physical dimensions of the ensign likely involved. He had wandered the jungle of his colleagues' insinuations, and emerged into the sunlight as they bored with toying with him and moved on to their own concerns.

That was, until Rand stepped in and held out her padd.

There were a few hoots and a low whistle. They were quieter than expected. Rand's eyes gained an intensely annoyed edge.

Kirk let go of his drink and sat forward. In a tone of introduction, he said, "Yes, gentlemen, ladies, and others. My yeoman."

The padd was blank except for a set of coordinates on-base and a time noted about an hour hence.

"A meeting has been requested with you, Captain."

Kirk puzzled that while pretending to look over an imaginary report. "Farragut?" he mouthed.

Rand nodded.

"I'll be on the Enterprise in conference room 2 at that time. In case anyone needs to talk to me."

"Are you certain, Captain? Is that-"

"I'm certain I was clear, Yeoman."

"Yes, sir."

Ten minutes later, Spock entered the lounge. A few heads turned and looked away. There were no noises of any kind. Kirk grinned at the irony, then dropped the smile as the sting of misplaced trust hit him.

Kirk put on his fake smile and said, "Have a seat. Then have a galaxy blaster, Commander, I think you'd like it."

Spock remained as he was. "Do you think it wise, Captain?"

Kirk shook his head. "I'm not sure which of the things I just mentioned you are referring to."

"None of them."

Kirk pulled the other chair at his table over next to his own. "Have seat then."

Spock complied with an expression of long-suffering. "May I inquire how much you have imbibed?"

Kirk tilted his warm, nearly full drink. He made a face of evaluating for show. "None." He sat back and dropped his voice. "I'm trying to get accustomed to the idea of public exposure."

"As to the other topic, Captain. If it is revealed at the hearing that you attended said meeting, it puts us in a bad position."

"You are starting to sound like Areel Shaw, Spock." He longed to add, except I trust Areel Shaw, but he didn't. He needed to shake this or they were both doomed. He sipped his drink, it tasted exactly the way spilled nacelle coolant smelled.

Kirk said, "I want to talk to her." He sipped again. "I'll cop to having done so if need be. Talking to her is logical, Spock."

"Do you wish me to attend this meeting?"

Kirk took another sip. "No."

There was a long silence.

Spock said, "Am I dismissed, Captain?"

That hit the same place in his stomach the bad alcohol was settling.

"Yes."

Kirk was in conference room 2 five minutes before the hour. Farragut buzzed and Kirk hit the door trigger almost immediately.

"Bold meeting here, Captain," she said.

"Skeleton crew. Ship's as empty as she ever is. Sit down."

Farragut hesitated, then moved in a rush as if her courage might fail her. The pixie cut to her mousy hair looked freshly trimmed. She had changed into the base version of her uniform, with administrative styling that had a starburst on the breast. He hadn't seen her in that uniform before, but it now occurred to him this must be her usual one. It would make her seem sympathetic to others who wore the same, which would be half of those seated for the disciplinary hearing.

Kirk sat on the edge of the table and looked at his nails. "Tell me about yourself, Lieutenant."

"I'm a fleet brat. Always have been." She gazed fiercely at him, then looked away coyly.

Kirk put on a kindly tone. "You don't have to let others define you."

"I don't."

"At the moment, you're letting Admiral Diamond define you."

"He IS my superior, sir."

"That's a different thing."

This caught her off-guard. She grew interested. "Is it?"

"Yes, very much so."

She peered at him through narrowed eyes. "If your father had been famous, do you think you would be here now?"

Kirk pretended this question was expected and said, "I got a boost up from some influential people when I entered the academy. That was quite a bit of pressure. Not to the scale you are referring to, but an inkling of it. The ongoing sense that you aren't performing for yourself, but for someone else."

"Like a trained monkey."

"I wouldn't have put it that way."

Silence fell. She broke it by saying, "Don't you want to know what happened, Captain?"

"I know what happened," Kirk said.

He leaned down, tilted his head. "Why are you here, Farragut? Admiral Diamond or Commodore Ramos have considerably more power than I do."

"Do they?" She leaned forward eagerly, eyes locking on his. "I've read every mission log you've ever recorded, sir. This is child's play to you. What you did, asking Commodore Ramos to call this earlier hearing and luring the press with sordid tales to be sure they show up. It makes absolutely no sense. That's why I'm certain you're going to win."

"It's not a given. All I've done is created an environment where I have a fighting chance. I still have to perform and perform well."

"Like a monkey. But you are good at that." She sat back with a satisfied smirk, but her eyes never lost their weapon's lock on Kirk's.

"I'd prefer to be spending my time doing my job. You did a lot of damage, Lieutenant."

"It wasn't really me. He would have pursued it anyway. Found something else. He couldn't bear the idea that you could be what you seemed to be, Captain. It pained him somehow, that perfection you have. I gave him what he requested and saved time."

Kirk intentionally relaxed, sending a signal counter to his words. "Did you like that little bit of power yourself?"

She shrugged. "If you won't tell anyone . . . I will tell you what I liked."

"Lieutenant, we aren't even supposed to be having this meeting. For all I know this is part of some other trap you're setting."

She sat straighter. "You think that highly of my abilities?"

"You've caught me off guard once already. I can't discount it."

"Well, in that case. You know what I liked? Really liked?"

She waited, but Kirk didn't move. She said with relish, "I liked watching the hero he thought you were . . . die."

She smiled and sat back with a satisfied sigh. "It was crazy. He asked for proof. I gave it to him. Then he didn't seem to really want it. You know what I mean? It was as if he wanted so badly to believe he put it all at risk so he could believe even more. But then he got what he asked for." She put out her bottom lip as if sad for the admiral.

Kirk nodded, for no other reason than to do something.

She went on, "It really devastated him. Especially because it was the Vulcan. It just squicked him"

"He's spent the entire journey talking with Ambassador Sarek. I don't think he has an issue with Vulcans."

"The Ambassador's not in Starfleet, and he has power the admiral can get into. It's always just about that, you know, deep down. This other thing tapped into something primal but the admiral's a strong guy, he took all that energy and directed it at taking you down. It was fun to watch. Especially since you are still going to win."

She fell thoughtful. "Are you still going to call me up at the hearing?"

Kirk shook his head. "I don't think so."

"Really?" She smiled a smile full of teeth. "Why not?"

"You are like an out of balance warp core. I don't know what you are going to do next."

"Oh, is that all?"

"That's sufficient."

"See, you even talk like a Vulcan. I actually might be disappointed that you aren't calling me up. I lie really well. But the truth tester catches me some of the time." She dropped her gaze and looked at him through her eyelashes. "Not like you, sir. Who has no trouble with it at all."

"That's because I'm telling the truth."

"As you understand it." She smiled distantly, she seemed to be having a grand time getting an audience. "Vulcans used to be dangerous. Imagine if they secretly decided to be dangerous again. How long would it take to figure it out?"

"Considering many humans are still suspicious of them, probably not very long."

"Maybe a good thing, those suspicious ones. We give them such a hard time for it, too."

Kirk put his knuckle to his lips and looked off through the bulkhead to recover from her gaze.

She said, "You know, you and the Vulcan are weirdly close. Especially for a Vulcan with their minds of steel. It didn't take much. One photo. Some really badly munged data off a botany sensor. You know, when you come up with evidence, it's better if there is something wrong with it. People trust good honest crappy evidence more than good honest quality evidence."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"But really, how did you get that close to a Vulcan of all things? I've observed a lot of command relationships. They can be pretty brotherly love. You know, save a few lives here and there, experience some unholy alien terror together. But this one is off the scale. Like you crawled into his head and didn't leave."

She turned her drilling gaze aside finally. "I was hoping to see him snap someone's neck if someone threatened you. But alas. You have him on a short leash."

Kirk sat back, thinking.

"You keep not reacting."

"I don't need to," Kirk said, throwing out a random truth like tossing chum in the water. "I'm just here to listen."

"You're trying to figure out what to do with me."

Kirk sounded bored. "Actually no. You aren't my problem. I'm thinking about the hearing. But now that you mention it, it occurs to me that Admiral Diamond gave up information he didn't mean to."

"What's that?"

"He accused me of having a sealed sociopathy profile. But I think you're the one."

"Of course it's sealed."

Kirk nodded. He glanced around, put his hands on the table on either side of himself as if to push off and stand straight. "Anything else you want to talk about?"

"That's it?" She sounded mystified. "You aren't angry?"

"If your reasons for your actions are that you function differently from most personnel I surround myself with, then that isn't actually very interesting."

Her gaze held his, unwavering. "That's a very interesting way to put it."

Kirk tried to match her unnerving stare through his entire speech. "I suspect you are tired of where you are right now. Otherwise you'd be more careful talking to me, or perhaps you've been holding back too hard to keep Diamond fooled and had to cut loose. But I'm afraid you'll have to repeat this performance for the Admiral sometime when its convenient for you. I'm not going to play."

She smiled crookedly and stood up. "I knew you were the best, sir."

Kirk stood straight. "So people tell me."

"Do you believe them?"

"Not really."

"People told me that, I'd believe them. That's the biggest difference between you and me."

"I imagine that it is."

Spock was waiting in Areel's office. He rose as Kirk entered and stood at ease.

"We're not calling her up for questions," Kirk said.

"Jim," Areel said, "Why not?"

"We're simply not. I don't want you questioning her on the record."

"What if someone else does, can I cross-examine?"

"No."

"Jim, as your lawyer-"

"No. You're working for me and I get final say."

Areel shook her head and dropped into the chair at her work table.

Spock said, "Any orders, Captain?"

Kirk shook his head. "I should send a message to Commodore Stone telling him he can send me admirals anytime, but if he's going to send me a Farragut, he better attach a warning."

Spock's left brow rose, but he didn't ask more.