The next morning, Dr. Leonard McCoy returned to sit in the well. Behind him, the assembled officers were in near uproar. Amidst the din, he caught a few less than kind comments aimed at himself. But he gritted his teeth and held his peace - he would have his time to talk soon enough. He forced himself to face forwards, staring at the old officer overseeing the hearing.

A sharp bang cut through his thoughts as she called for quiet.

His ears rung as the crowd fell silent. He could barely hear the machine reading off his credentials - a short list compared to Mr. Spock.

As soon as the machine finished, Mr. Spock stood from his own seat by the overseeing officer, at a slight angle so she could keep an eye on him while they both watched the proceedings. "I request a dismissal of the matter on the basis that, as Dr. McCoy admitted, there is no solid evidence in this case, only personal conjecture and surmise."

"Request denied," the commanding officer answered him - and he nearly fell back into his seat with a muffled word of thanks - "This is a hearing on the matter of your competency, not the circumstances of Captain James T. Kirk's death. Psychological evidence stands." - she turned towards the center of the well - "Dr. McCoy, could you explain the basis for your conclusion?"

"Mr. Spock has indicated a complete disregard for human life since the captain's death," Dr. McCoy declared, "While we - in sickbay - were trying to revive Jim- Captain Kirk with all we had, he made an announcement to the entire crew that Captain Kirk was dead and declared himself captain. We were still working and hadn't said a thing that could possibly have indicated that he was dead.

"Some time later, as a last resort, I called Mr. Spock down to sickbay to use his Vulcan mental abilities to determine if Captain Kirk's mind was still functioning, and he could therefore be salvaged. I've seen him do it before, but he outright refused when he was Jim's last hope! All he could do was insist that the captain was dead and didn't even give any sort of explanation of how he was so sure.

"Those two incidents alone show how eager he was to be done with Captain Kirk and declare himself captain. Jim has seemed to die or been on the brink of death many times before. Despite his Vulcan upbringing, Mr. Spock was always the most worried while the captain was in danger and the most relieved when he came out okay. But this time was different and based on what I've seen, I believe he's become unhinged, so eager to name himself captain that he lost what little remained of his humanity in the process!" Dr. McCoy took a long pause, forcing himself to calm down as what he had said sunk in to those listening.

Finally, he continued, "Not even a day after Jim's death, I saw Mr. Spock rummaging through the captain's belongings, trying to find Captain Kirk's final orders to secure his place as captain of the Enterprise. We had both heard the orders before, when we had previously thought the captain dead. When I asked him about it, he said that he didn't need my trust, just Starfleet command's.

"Last, but not least, until the hearing yesterday, he refused to explain the circumstances of Captain Kirk's death to a soul - yet he even used the funeral speech to call for support in his bid for the captaincy. The explanation he did give didn't even include the crime Jim was executed for or any attempts at escape that you'd think they'd have tried to make under the circumstances. He's hiding something, I tell you, and it can't be good. Vulcans don't lie - unless they feel they absolutely have to." He shot a final glare at Mr. Spock and left the well without waiting to be dismissed.

Through all of it, Mr. Spock sat stony-faced, staring through Dr. McCoy as the accusations seemed to barely grace his ears.

"Any response, Mr. Spock?" the commanding officer asked as soon as she finished writing up her notes.

Mr. Spock nodded - a strange gesture for a statue - and went to sit in the chair in the well. For a long moment he sat in silence.

"Go on." she said.

"To answer the first accusation," he said suddenly, nearly cutting her off, "I had already attempted a mind meld with the captain as soon as I was given access to the body after the execution and found the captain's mind gone with the rest of him. I attempted to indicate as much, but the message did not get across into your emotion addled brain," he was not talking to the officer in charge of the hearing, but answering Dr. McCoy directly.

"What you described as an eagerness to replace him as captain is merely a sense of duty. Before his death, Captain Kirk ordered me to 'watch out for the Enterprise for him' as its captain. As his last act, he entrusted me with this duty and I will do whatever I can to carry it out. There is nothing unhinged about it."

"You said both you and Captain Kirk were to be executed, correct?" the overseeing officer asked - Mr. Spock nodded - "Why, then, did Captain Kirk assume you would survive to captain the U.S.S. Enterprise in his absence?"

"The Enterprise returned before I was to be executed and I was able to escape." Mr. Spock reiterated shortly.

"But you give no indication that Captain Kirk was aware of that before being executed - for what exactly?"

There was a long pause. Mr. Spock closed his eyes and took in one deep breath after another. The moments dragged on…

"Mr. Spock-" she began.

"Not long after Lieutenant Uhura called down to say the Enterprise was being called away, we were surrounded by several locals," Mr. Spock said, his voice flat, "They appeared to be a threat and so, to defend the captain, I fired on them. Stun had no effect, so I turned my phaser to kill and killed them all. There were witnesses and I was to be sentenced to death for their murders, but Captain Kirk volunteered to be executed in my stead.

"I insisted that he was needed on the Enterprise, I had committed the crime and would take the penalty, but it had no effect. He insisted that I had killed them for him and he trusted me to captain the Enterprise in his place. We attempted to escape many times, but we were overpowered. It is his final wish that I have been attempting to fulfil."