"Now I think we need to get this right. Doctor Czacheck, you have been on many beam-downs to known and unknown planets and have encountered both hostile and friendly receptions. Do you believe there was any real and justifiable reason to suspect hostilities with the Jubiline Five security ?"
"As I saw no weapons of any sort being held by any of the officers who started to approach us, nor within easy accessibility of them, I saw no reason to suspect their actions were either hostile or in any way life threatening. It appeared to me that they had encountered Captain Pellon before and that the meeting might not have been the most amicable."
"You are not the captain of a starship. You do not know," Pellon stopped as he turned from glaring at Czacheck to look at the panel, "I meant no offence as I know Doctor Czacheck is one of Star Fleet's leading doctors yet he has no training nor any experience as a captain. He does not know what to look for, he has no real experience in,"
"Captain Pellon, what do you know of Doctor Czacheck's experience prior to him being assigned to your ship as a relieving doctor?"
"I know he is one of Star Fleet's leading doctors but he is NOT as experienced as I am in such situations. He is not experienced in,"
A man Kirk recognized as one of the most senior officers on the panel, a man he knew had been out, like himself, there exploring further away from the known, stood and Kirk did not know if it was fury or total disbelief in the look the man was giving Pellon, "Doctor Czacheck, Captain Pellon, has far, FAR MORE real first-hand experience than you will EVER have. You clearly know nothing of his record although he was part of your crew. It is the duty and responsibility of the captain of any ship to know the record and the abilities of their crew. It is especially important if not vital for a captain of a starship to know the record and abilities of their crew as they may, at any time, need to have a crewman from one area work in another area that one would not usually expect that crewman to know anything about how to fully function in a very different area than the one they are most skilled in. Your obvious failure to know even the basics of a crew member's history and abilities makes me, and possibly others on this panel, question the wisdom of you being the captain of a starship let alone any ship in the fleet." Kirk had heard something in the way the man had said "starship" that he knew only a being who had captained a starship out there and had encountered those moments of internalized hell when having to make decisions that would have an impact on far more than just himself and his crew but millions, possibly billions of other lives of lifeforms known and unknown. He kept looking at the man and knew that while he did not know the man he knew of him.
In the momentary silence another member of the panel spoke as his colleague slowly sat down, "Doctor Czacheck's experiences are well known by the panel and as they not what this hearing is about they not up for discussion. Your actions and answers are a clear and most alarming indication of your astounding lack of understanding of the expected essential knowledge of a captain of a starship. Had you any knowledge of his experiences you would know that it is because of his many experiences he was able to tell us that he detected no threat to the landing party. What is up for discussion is your answer, or rather your lack of an answer, to the question why you left First Officer Spock's body on Jubliline Five. Could you please answer that now?"
"As I stated, Sirs, I took the only practical and logical action I, as the captain and commanding officer, could take considering I had no idea what the Jubliline Five intended to do, I ensured the safety of the living."
"There is just one more question for now, Captain Pellon, before we have our two guests enter. You still have to fully explain WHY you left First Officer Spock's body on Jubliline Five and not have it transported aboard as well? There is no report by you of what happened to his body. You do recall it is expected that the body, or any remains, of a fallen senior officer be transported back to their respective ships, do you not?"
"I am aware of that. At that time, without knowing what the Jubliline Five intended to do, my main concern, as I have said, was to get the survivors to safety. Doctor Czacheck pronounced First Officer Spock dead and I saw the Jubliline Five security officers start to move towards us so my first thought was the safety of the living. I was not willling to risk the safety of the living and the ship for the sake of a dead body."
The five on the panel seemed to look at each other and Kirk tried to maintain his expression as he internally smiled at how Pellon was starting to appear uncertain as to what was going to be asked next. It was clear the man had not thought of all the questions that he could be asked.
"You stated that your main concern was the welfare of the survivors and the safety of the living."
"That is expected of a commanding officer and the captain of a starship."
"And yet that your concern about Captain Kirk seemed to end once he was on your ship as you sent him unaided, in an obvious state of deep shock and disorientation, to his ship."
"I was certain there would be no trouble in transporting him and that he would receive immediate and excellent attention from his own crew."
"Did you ensure he had his phaser with him when you transported him?"
"Of course. We knew that his security team would be best equipt to deal with it and want to full examine it."
"As most senior officers in Star Fleet know just how loyal and dedicated Captain Kirk's crew is did you not think that, in order to protect their captain from what any investigation might find that by doing that, they could easily erase all trace of him actually handling the phaser?"
"I am fully aware of that and I believe his crew to also be of such high morals that they would not do that. There is also the fact that Kirk would neither expect or allow that."
"Then you believe that we must accept, with the only evidence presented, that Captain Kirk did, in fact, fire his phaser and kill Science Officer Spock?"
"You have the evidence and our testimony that that is what did happen."
"Well, before we officially enter that on the record we should hear the reason that Engineer Sarah Reynolds and Science Officer Lloyd Daven obviously feel that they have something important to say as they state it is to do with Doctor Czacheck's requests and must be discussed at this hearing. Show them in."
Standing on the platform waiting was, if Spock were to acknowledge his Human half, annoying him to an almost anxious state. The transmitter was, for its size, working remarkably well and he silently hoped that Lieutenant Uhura was recording what was being said. He knew she had said she would not be listening but, having worked with her and known her for as long as he had, he oddly believed that she would be recording it on some non-official device. So many times he had seen that trio seem to be adhering to the regulations while also doing something that would prove to be of great assistance to either Jim, McCoy or even himself as well as also, as the Humans would say, go out on a limb for others. Mister Scott standing by the controls, looking at him, ready to transport him as soon as he gave the sign was, clear physical proof of the very unique bond the seven had.
If they were all wrong about what they thought so many careers would be ruined. Surely the others knew, as well as he did, that when they had quickly tested Jim's phaser before sending it, as per Star Fleet orders, to the Dakota for more intensive inspection, it showed that it had been fired on kill, it was still set on kill, and the only DNA and fingerprints on it were Jim's. Without real physical evidence to counter that there was the likelihood the panel, even when they saw he was alive and that Jim was himself, would remove Jim from the Enterprise and have him committed to the special facility where he would be fully examined, tested, and restricted to what ships he could command. As they had no proof as to why Jim had reacted as he had and the duration of his trauma induced stupor lasted: he would not return to the Enterprise. Although he had not been at the inspection of Jim's phaser Chekov had been able to attend and had, thanks to Uhura and Sulu, able to send him both visual and audio of what was going on with Sulu feigning great interest and being able to get closer to the phaser and slowly "examine" it so that he got a good view of the weapon. The presented facts were irrefutable. Irrefutable yet impossible as there was no way Jim Kirk would ever have his phaser left set on kill.
As he stood waiting Spock realized that with those two other officers beaming in there could be complications as they would be Pellon's crew. It was also clear that Czacheck was trying to figure out when the get him down and there was a possibility with him knowing the two officers that he would know exactly when to give the word.
Kirk struggled not to show any expressions as he saw the two young-looking officers walk towards the panel and announce themselves and asked to deliver their findings to Doctor Czacheck. When they had been given permission Engineer Sarah Reynolds had started, "As per Doctor Czacheck's orders I ran full scans of the transporter for any indication of either tampering with the system itself or the introduction of foreign substances. In all I ran a total of twenty-one scans to test of a variety of substances that could easily be introduced into the actual transporting matrix as well as reversed should an officer have the time and means to do so almost immediately before or during use."
"And your findings were?"
"If I may, before we hear the findings,"Doctor Czacheck started, "I would like to point out to Captain Pellon that while he and others might have thought that when I reached out to Mister Spock's body it was not in the form of any religious significance as I do not believe in what is termed a benediction."
"Now, Mister," Spock said "Scott" as he materialized in the alcove Scott had described and there was a female officer who nodded as he heard the slight click to indicate a complete and successful beaming. Not sure what to say as he knew she had placed her career in jeopardy being a part of this as it would be easy of the powers that be to find out this was not a test transfer as it was logged. He held out the bag and she smiled as she took it, "Thank him for me." and pointed to a door. He knew he would thank Mister Scott for more than them as he had to thank him for his almost instantaneous reaction to the word 'now' when he returned to the ship. His arrival and that of the two officers was clearly causing the confusion he had calculated it would.
For a moment it seemed to Kirk that there was total chaos all around as the panel looked from one another to the two young officers Czacheck had asked for, to Spock who had walked to stand between Czachek and himself, to Pellon, and then back to one another. While Pellon was glaring at his security officer he was acutely aware of the look of reassurance his Vulcan friend was giving him and the supportive grip on his arm his so very Human friend was giving him.
"I must apologize for my abrupt arrival, gentlemen," Spock looked at the five panel members, finding it strange that he could remember the name, rank, and main events in each panelist's past yet still not know what was so significant about Czacheck and Twindell. "It seemed only logical to be here to find out what Officers Reyolds and Davan discovered with their investigations and inspections. As you are now aware I am not dead, Captain Kirk did not kill me, and that clearly the circumstances under which the attempt on my life was staged were all orchestrated by Captain Pellon. I also found it my duty to point out to Captain Pellon that his actions were neither practical nor in the least way logical."
"That's a lie! Why would I want you dead?"
In a very clear, if somewhat initially loud, voice Engineer Reynolds continued as though totally oblivious of all that had just happened and been said, "What was discovered was that in two transfers of Captain James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise there were traces of a strong banned hallucinogenic with the first transfer being of a more potent rating than the second transfer. The second transfer of Captain Kirk also indicated a strictly controlled drug that nullifies the hallucinations of one exposed to the original contact and inhalation of that banned hallucinogenic. It is most unusual that Captain Kirk was the only person being transported at both times and to different locations and that there was a seventeen point one eight minute delay from them beaming aboard the Dakota with Captain Kirk and him being beamed to the Enterprise. There was also a noticeable twenty-three seconds hesitation, or delay if you like, during the transfers. "
"Is there any significance to the twenty-three seconds?"
A/N Thanks for reading. Almost there. Enjoy. Take care and HAVE FUN!