Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. I know that you're all ecstatic that Chris and Amanda finally got it together. I do want to clarify that the couple, despite their lawyer's wishes, are not planning a quickie wedding. Like Amanda said, she wanted a date first. Exactly how engaged they are, will come out later in the story.

Okay, this is going to be another one of those crazy trippy chapters but at least this time, Spock is not having a really weird conversation with his human side, although that may make more sense than what actually does happen in this chapter.

Inspired by: Beam Me Up by Pink

Okay, this choice obviously breaks the fourth wall for the obvious Star Trek reference in the title, but I kept humming it the entire time.

"There's a whole other conversation going on/In a parallel universe/Where nothin' breaks and nothin' hurts"

"Saw a blackbird soarin' in the sky/Barely a breath I caught one last sight/Tell me that was you sayin' goodbye/There are times I feel the shiver and cold/ It only happens when I'm on my own/That's how you tell me I'm not alone."

Chapter 16: Even, I Think I'm Crazy Right Now

Spock rarely dreamed. On the few occasions that he does, he was positive it was James' influence because the dreams mostly involve elaborate fantasies of a sexual nature, complete with leather restraints, silk scarves, or their collection of sex toys. On less pleasant occasions, these dreams consist of broken memories of the Tarsus massacre, James' strange visit to a parallel universe where his counterpart was assassinated, or any number of missions where one or both almost died. The 'volcano incident' where James actually violated the prime directive to save Spock's life features quite commonly in James' dreams. Because of the message they received from Starfleet regarding Alexander Marcus' challenge to their custody of David, Spock expected Jim to dream of losing David.

This is a different type of dream because his subconscious self is sleeping next to Nyota not James. It was not that unusual for her to fall asleep in their bedroom due to movie nights and late-night planning sessions. However the fact that she was completely nude under the blanket was (James never succeeded in talking her into a 'threesome', but gave up trying once he realized that she was in love with Doctor McCoy. He said that doing that would be against the 'best friend code'.)

Spock leaves her for the bathroom. Considering that the three of them shared a bathroom up until last week, it was not unusual to find feminine hygiene products under the sink. Actually, it felt strange for those items to no longer be there, but here they were once again. Of course, David's rubber ducky was in there too. However, James' aftershave and body wash were missing. Also, the only razor to be found was purple.

He continued on with his morning routine as if he actually was waking up and finds himself staring at the closet, which is filled with command yellow tops that were mostly in his size, except for one in the back that he knows belongs to Jim. Nyota's uniforms are also mixed in. The vast amount of children size clothes inside is overwhelming. Also it contains some civilian clothes in Nyota's size, but all of James' vintage band T-shirts are missing.

Jim's antique collectibles are gone, even the kid friendly ones that they felt they could leave with David around and were not ready to pack yet. However, the coloring books and finger paint were right where he left them last night. In addition, there are twice as many toys covering the room.

There are pictures of Nyota with her sister Ivy scattered throughout the quarters. It's obvious to Spock that some of these are hand-drawn by his son. Considering that David has never met Ivy, this seems odd. The label underneath it referring to the woman as Aunt Ivy is also disconcerting.

In addition to David's drawing, there is a digital picture frame that flickers through various images. The first is of Spock and Jim on their wedding day. The next is a 3-D scan of David, while still in utero. The next unusual picture was of Jim with his hands on Carol's pregnant stomach. Spock has never seen his husband smile so much before. Next there is a picture of Spock holding David as a baby, but his eyes are dead. The image reminds him of his mother immediately following his father's death.

The next images are of a funeral and his mother standing beside him in black. She is crying. However, more bizarrely was the fact that Spock himself was crying. He does not cry. The only thing that would make him cry would be if he lost Jim or David. The fact that he nearly stepped on a toy car told him that David was very much alive in this bizarre dream. But he wondered about James, considering that the next image was of him and Nyota being bonded. Spock finds this the most disturbing, because the only explanation for something like that would be that James was gone.

"Of everything you've seen in this world, that is what you find most disturbing?" Spock hears a voice that he never expected to hear again, except in video files. "You know, one of those images was of you and your mom saying goodbye to your husband and the second guy that she's ever fallen in love with." Carol confirmed his suspicions as she materialized in front of him.

The person in front of him was not the young girl pretending to be a woman who he went to the Academy with. Neither did she look like the lifeless body that he found on NCX17.

"You are dead." He wondered if due to the stress of recent events, he was having another episode. However, instead of conversing with a human version of himself, Spock is dealing with his guilt personified as a vision of Carol. He did not save her when he should have. Why did he just let her walk away from him at the Academy? Why did he never question her story? He saw the bruises and he did nothing?

"Death is a relative state. In our dimension, I died protecting our son. In this dimension, our son is sleeping next to me on the other side of the bathroom door."

Because of her words, he walked over to the restroom and opened door to the other suite only to see another version of Carol with David wrapped around her.

"Really, you should be used to this." Carol says closing the door. "There's another version of you running around our dimension and several others. Although I wish he would have told me that in his home dimension, I got pregnant by your husband instead of you and kept it from him for reasons I don't even understand. I don't like that version of myself." She said, sitting on the sink. Spock realizes that this is the sink that was in the room before he and James destroyed it on Nyota's birthday.

"You did the same thing in our dimension." Spock shot back angrily.

"But I had a reason. I wasn't planning to keep him away from you forever, just until the rules were changed and David could live with you and Jim on Enterprise. I was already planning to send him to you." He did not entirely believe her.

"But that did not happen." He said simply.

"No, it did not and I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I kept David from you. I'm sorry that I lied to you. I'm sorry that I never told you I was pregnant in the first place. I realize that I made everything worse and you probably wish you never met me at the Academy." Sometimes he wished that, but that was before David and becoming truly aware of what was happening back then. Now, he wouldn't want to live in a world without his son, even if that meant going through the pain of his relationship with Carol.

"I've been to several dimensions like that." She says after he has been silent for too long. "I can honestly say that Jonathan Jackson completely fucked up my life, even if we got David out of it. Basically, if Jonathan Jackson never joined Starfleet and tried to make us his personal attempt at super soldiers, our paths would not have crossed for years." This was not new information for him after reading her diary entries previously. Also, when he and James were notified about the motions filed in court by Alexander Marcus, Spock received a copy of the information pulled from Jonathan Jackson's computer regarding the 'Super Vulcan soldier' project. He broke his PADD.

"In that dimension we did not meet until I snuck aboard Enterprise because I knew my father was doing something horrible." She said closing her eyes.

"Your father has done a lot of horrible things." Spock says without adding 'a part of me thinks that he is responsible for your death.'

"In both dimensions during his time as the head of Starfleet, my father slowly started moving the organization away from a peacekeeping and scientific entity to a more militarized organization. He turns section 31 into his own secret army. In addition he funneled billions of credits into weapons design. He even defrosted one of the most violent tactile minds of the 20th century to make weapons for him so he could start his war with the Klingons. According to Jaya, a majority of the atrocities contributed to him in the history books were exaggerated. I don't really care because the genetically engineered bastard sent me into premature labor in our dimension."

"I am aware of who triggered your premature labor." Spock said, shutting his eyes again as he remembered his conversation with his counterpart from two days previous.

"As bad as that was, it beats the alternative of him blowing up a secret Starfleet installation and crashing Alexander's great warship into San Francisco. Apparently you found some of the files I left behind for you in case this did happen. Although, I don't think you found the stuff related to Alexander's treason yet, otherwise you would not be that surprised about the USS Vengeance thing." Her voice was angry.

"We are unable to decrypt the files in the teddy bear." He answered, slightly afraid to ask her more questions related to this warship.

"You're going to need that information. My father being a war mongering bastard seems to be a universal constant. According to my pretentious guide, who goes by a letter of the alphabet, I'm deciding what version of myself I want to fold into. I pretty much found it impossible to find a dimension where my father was not completely evil. I'm probably going to have to settle for spending eternity in a version of myself from a dimension where Jonathan Jackson did not join Starfleet. At least in those dimensions, Alexander is dead and can't hurt me anymore." The tone of her voice and her facial expression made Spock wonder exactly how much her father had hurt her in her lifetime.

"Where we lovers in that dimension?" He asked instead of asking her about her father's abuse directly. Considering that question was the alternative, Spock was well aware that he would rather remain ignorant to the true depravity of Alexander Marcus. Otherwise he may be tempted to rip the man in half when they finally meet in court.

"No. Actually, you hated me, or rather were jealous of me because you thought I was going to take your James away from you." She said with a laugh. "This was especially absurd considering you were dating Lieutenant Uhura at the time, even if it was obvious that you were in love with your Captain."

This revelation does not surprise him because, if he was not so jaded from his experiences with her, Spock would've been more receptive to Nyota's advances at the Academy. At the same time being in love with James Kirk seemed to be another universal constant.

"Of course you don't realize that you're in love with him until he dies in front of you. But don't worry, in these dimensions, Dr. McCoy is alive to bring him back using the same technique that Jaya used to revive David." Spock's mine instantly remembered the research they found regarding rejuvenating antibodies in augment blood.

"Dimensions?" Spock questioned, picking up on her use of the plural. It seemed like she would be more willing to clarify this point then anything related to the procedure done to revive David.

"My guide allowed me to see three different versions of this dimension, one where you completely deny your feelings for your Captain and carry on with the Lieutenant as if nothing happened. That was not a very happy place for those of us who were serving on board. Then there was the version where you ended up cheating on the Lieutenant with your James, again not a great place for any of us working under you to be. Then there is the happy dimension or at least happy for you and your future husband considering Rebecca died before we even met during the battle of Vulcan. The lieutenant convinced you and Jim that you are in love with each other and to try a threesome and I ended up with Dr. McCoy." Spock just gives her a strange look.

"I don't know how it happened, but it seems like a nice place and he seems like a nice guy. He did bring your James back from the dead. If I can't find a place where Rebecca is alive and well, I might end up there."

"Is that this dimension?" As soon as he asked the question, Spock remembered that James was dead in this dimension and that David was sleeping in the next room.

"No. I told you earlier that Jim died here. You're bonded to Lieutenant Commander Uhura because you refused to be with anyone your grandmother tried to set you up with and Uhura promised a dying Jim that she would take care of you." James would do something like that.

"How did he die?"

"Do you really want to know that?" Carol asked cautiously.

"Yes."

"See in this dimension, I told you that I was pregnant with David at the wedding because your other self talked me into it. Instead of hanging around London where I could monitor Alexander's warmongering, I was assigned to Enterprise as a science officer with Rebecca in engineering. Alexander wasn't happy and set things up to make you and Jim lose your commission. Actually, he did that in a lot of dimensions. The difference was that things went to hell in London a month later without me there. For some reason, Jaya was not around to help control John and he decided to blow up the place. Okay, I think that happened in some of the other dimensions too."

"You keep referring to this Jaya. Who is she? There was no one at the research facility by that name." Spock questioned.

"That is Dr. Jane Jackson's real name. She is the woman who saved David's life. Her husband is an absolute Dick who screwed with us, but she is a sweetheart. It's not her fault. She has absolutely horrible taste in men."

"He was murdered recently." He told her without inflection.

"That's nice." Carol actually said with a smile. Spock just gave her a strange look.

"I'm sorry that she lost her husband, but he was a bastard. He set us up. He was like a father to me, and he turned you and me into some sick lab experiment. I love David. I died for David. But that does not mean that Jonathan Jackson had a right to do what he did. It was rape. He raped both of us. We had no control over what we did and he wanted to use David. He wanted super soldiers, ones that he could control." Her statement just confirmed the information he received from Christopher Pike earlier.

"I am only dissatisfied at his death for the mere fact that I did not get to directly participate." His inner pre-reform Vulcan craved Jonathan Jackson's blood for hurting all those close to him, including Carol.

"That doesn't surprise me. In this dystrophic dimension we are currently standing in, you killed John Harrison with your bare hands because he killed Christopher Pike, and then his actions resulted in the death of Dr. McCoy, my Rebecca, and your James. The only good thing he did was kill my father. See, like in those other dimensions, I told you about Jim sacrificing his life to save everyone on board the ship, but here, there was no Dr. McCoy to bring him back because he was already dead. The only reason why you and I are still alive is David." He understands her words. If Spock were to lose James, he would not want to go on, but he would for David and only David.

"Why am I here?" As he spoke, he wondered why he did not ask that question earlier. He doubts that this is really a dream.

"So we could talk and I can make peace with everything. Also I need to convince you to stop second-guessing yourself. I don't regret dying because David is safe and in your arms with James by your side. Despite all the drugs and manipulation, I really did love you and all I wanted was for you to be happy." She said, giving him a sad smile. Spock never heard her say those words before, but it felt almost painful to hear them now after he was unable to save her.

"I am." He answered simply.

"No, you're not." She shot back. "If one more bad thing happens, David will be visiting you in the psych ward." Considering Spock wonders if he is having another psychotic break, she may have a very valid point. "Spock, stop blaming yourself for not seeing what was going on. You have to let go of the road untraveled, thinking that it was some beautiful place where everything is wonderful. If you don't let go, you're going to end up like that guy down the hall in your dimension."

"I believe he is currently engaging in carnal relations with Gaila," Spock quipped.

"That's one of the few things he is letting himself indulge in. He's buried under a ton of guilt. I don't want that to happen to you. Promise me that it won't." She literally begged him. She seemed on the verge of tears, but she has been for the majority of this bizarre conversation.

"Also, you may want to show him the teddy bear, because I used his encryption key. In addition to the files containing lots of information about the dirtiest little secret in Starfleet, I left a message for David." That would explain why the encryption used resembles his system.

"Of course," He answered simply.

"Don't be too hard on your other self for sleeping with her. You have the Jim of your world wrapped around your little finger. The rest of us just have to find the next best thing."

"Was Rebecca your next best thing?" He asked curiously.

"She is-was the love of my life. She's the reason why I keep looking for another dimension where we end up together. I'm not as lucky as you; it seems like almost every dimension, you end up with Jim in some capacity."

"Not in this one." He said looking back into the bedroom where a naked Nyota was pretending to sleep. He was aware they were being watched.

"Even here, you had his heart. He died for you. You're easy to love." She said grabbing his hand pressing their fingers together. "Take care of our son. Keep him safe."

"Where are you going?" Spock asked as she pulled away from him.

"I can only stay here for a little while once I realize I can't be at peace here. I'm trying to find a world where I can find both Rebecca and David. I'm going to a dimension where you and Jim did not meet until the Kobayashi Maru incident, but ended up getting 'married' before my dad decided to kill you." She told him giving him a watery smile.

"Your father tried to kill me even in a dimension where we did not have sex?" Spock asked perplexed.

"My father is a bloody moron in any dimension. You and your husband better keep him away from David. Yes, Jim, I'm trusting you with my son," she said, turning to Nyota or at least the person Spock thought was her, but now he is uncertain. "I know you will be a good dad. Plus, I owe you for what that cow version of me did to you. I don't care if you drop my last name, but let him keep Rebecca's name." For a moment he felt Carol's lips on his cheek, but then she disappeared.

Moments later, his eyes blinked open to see David resting in his arms, James wrapped around their son's other side wearing one of his barely appropriate and not at all regulation vintage concert T-shirts. He was back home with Jim.

Okay, Nyota is obviously still dreaming because another version of her was staring at her in bunny slippers and a really big T-shirt. The last time she ran into another version of herself, the woman was captain of the ISS Enterprise and a bearded version of Spock was her 'concubine'. That was a really strange place. That incident also involved an ion storm and having to be beamed up at the worst possible time due to a mission going to hell.

Then again, maybe this was her own personal nervous breakdown. She has been trying to do Spock's job and her normal job for the last week. Jim Kirk sitting can make anybody go slightly crazy.

"You're not having a nervous breakdown. I'm also not some figment of your subconscious." She heard this other version of her say.

"Do you have Spock as your concubine?" She asked, even though she doubted it because it seems unlikely that evil Nyota would own bunny slippers even if they made them in that twisted dimension.

"Okay you ended up in that dimension too. No, he's not my sex slave, we're just bonded." This other version of her doesn't seem happy about it. Maybe she realizes that her husband is completely in love with Jim Kirk; but unlike human marriage, Vulcan bonding is permanent. In hindsight, Nyota is glad that Spock fell in love with Jim first. It would have been a disaster if it happened the other way around.

"So you're from a world where I managed to get with Spock before Jim came along?" She asked and her other self just frowned.

"No, I'm not. I'm you." Okay, she wasn't expecting to hear that. It can't be true because this woman looked almost the same age as her except more wary.

"No, you're not." She retorted.

"Yes I am, almost. Our lives were exactly identical until the day of Jim's wedding. That's when our timeline diverged, because older Spock forced Carol to tell our Spock about being pregnant with David." Other Nyota told her this in a way that seemed 100% believable.

"Not again." She groaned. "I really hate alternate timelines. But wait, how can I be…" She stopped speaking abruptly once she realized that the only reason why she would end up with Spock now would be if Jim…

"Jim is dead in your world?" The other version of herself just gave her a sad look at the question. "Are you here to give me some dire warning?" Because she could see herself crossing the dimensional divide to make sure that didn't happen. Spock would be miserable without Jim. She would do anything in her power to keep that from happening, even violating the time travel Prime Directive.

"Yes, but not about Jim. The event that took his life has already passed in this dimension." Her voice was sad as she spoke.

"Considering how many near-death experiences Jim Kirk has had, I am not even sure I can narrow it down." She mumbled to herself, literally.

"Because of certain choices made in your timeline, that event did not happen in this reality at all." Other Nyota explains with half a smile.

"And you ended up with Spock?" She asked again.

"He is my best friend and he would've ended up in an arranged bonding otherwise." Considering some of the choices that Spock's grandmother brought by in hopes of one of the Vulcans becoming Jim and Spock's gestational carrier, she could understand why Spock would consider this option.

"What about…" That's when she realized she was about to ask her other self why she wasn't with Leonard. She stopped speaking, instantly. She refused to acknowledge what that really meant.

"Leonard is dead." As other Nyota said the words, her eyes went dead. There was no life there whatsoever, she seemed broken. She wanted to ask if Leonard died when James did, but she couldn't bring herself to ask that question. It was just too painful.

"Is that what you're here to warn me about?" She asked instead.

"Yes and no." Other Nyota answered cryptically.

"That was helpful." She responded as sarcastically as possible.

"Do you know that it's the worst feeling in the world to realize that you're in love with somebody as they take their last breath?" Now she understands that haunted look from earlier.

"Shit!" Because really, what else can you say to something like that.

"That's why I am married to someone who can only see me as a friend; we are both in love with dead people."

"I'm not…" She tried to argue, but other Nyota stopped her.

"You can't lie to me because I'm you. It's impossible to lie to yourself, even if you do try. The whole purpose of me being here is to get you to stop lying to yourself."

"I'm not lying." She said in her defense. But other Nyota just rolled her eyes.

"Only to yourself and again it's not very effective. Once upon a time we were the same person, but we were too afraid to move on. I lost my happy ending and I'm stuck with just getting by. You're not. You still have a chance." Her other self pleaded with her.

"A chance for what?" She asked curiously.

"To be with the real love of your life in this dimension, Leonard. You need to let go of what 'stupid boyfriend' did to us. You need to stop letting the stupidity of our father ruin our happiness. Not everyone's like Dad. He's not even like that anymore." Nyota did not think that was possible at all.

"Any other words of wisdom you wish to impart?"

"Forgive our father because he may not have that much time left." At her other self's words, she heard the adjoining doors swish open.

"Sorry, you forgot to activate the privacy lock." She was about to make some snide comment about the fact she would have done that if she wasn't in the middle of the weirdest conversation ever with her other self, but the man in front of her had the power to put her on an involuntary hold. The fact that he isn't asking her about the other version of herself in the room means that she is losing her mind. Then she saw that other her was no longer there.

"It's okay. I used to share a bathroom with two men who never activated the privacy lock. Also, you got me before I had time to do anything." She responded, trying not to think of the words of whoever she was just speaking to.

"Well, at least you're talking to me again. I'll just let you be. Let me know when you're done." He said, walking back into his room.

"Okay. Also I never stopped talking to you." She told him.

"No, but you sure hold a grudge." For some reason her other self's words came back to her even if she was talking about her father at the time. She doesn't forgive very easily. Jim has already forgiven her for not telling him about finding his brother's body. Yet it's been decades and she still hasn't forgiven her father for what happened with her mom. Why is she holding onto that?

"I've been told that before." She gives him a slight smile.

"Yes, usually in relationship to your father." He sighed.

"Very true. It's your personal life, I just- really need to pee." She finished not exactly knowing what to say but that got him out of the bathroom fairly quickly. Okay, she was upset at finding out that her female best friend had sex with her—oh fuck!

That's when she realized that her other self (or possibly some very strange figment of her subconscious) was completely right. Somehow she had fallen in love with Leonard McCoy. She really is losing her mind.

Okay, he and Spock have had a lot of weird joint sex dreams during the course of their 3 ½ years together. Usually they involved fishnets, leather restraints, and a toy called the Pleasure Seeker 9000, but this was the first time that he has been in someone else's body. (He really doesn't want to think about the meld-like data dump where he saw a vision of Bones and himself dying that happened the moment he woke up in said body.)

Also, it doesn't really count as a sex dream if the majority of the time you're watching your husband have a really weird conversation about parallel universes with his dead baby's Mama (which is a shame because he always wanted to know what it would be like to have sex as a woman). It is definitely not a sex dream where said baby's Mama tells you that despite all your personal insecurities, she completely trusted you to take care of her child and not turn into the monster that buried your brother under the barn.

The child custody case really was getting to him. If this was his mind's way of reassuring him that he's not going to completely screw up, the situation was dire. They're not even going to arrive back on Earth until late tomorrow and Marcus was already dragging their asses into court. Even worse, most of his greatest screw ups were public record where they could not reveal most of the worst things about Alexander Marcus due to Federation security reasons.

"Okay, I just had the weirdest dream where I was stuck in Nyota's naked body. That had some really good sex potential, but instead I watched you have the weirdest conversation ever with your ex-girlfriend." He groggily tells Spock, who is not giving him a 'you are absolutely crazy' look. That probably means that this was one of their shared dreams. That makes sense because Spock knows Carol so much better than him.

"She also told me that she thought I would be a good father and apologized for another version of herself. Did that just happen?" James asked in bewilderment. Spock's response was to place a quick kiss on his temple.

"Yes, that did happen and I am uncertain it was a dream."

This is not the first time he has been exposed to an alternate dimension (not counting Other Spock). Last time, due to an ion storm, they ended up in a dimension where he was dead, an evil version of Nyota was Captain, and Spock was her sex slave and she was trying to convince him to join her. Carol running around trying to find a dimension where her girlfriend was alive and David existed wasn't that strange in comparison. At least this time, Spock was there.

"I guess that means we should share the teddy bear with your other self." James said, pulling Spock's hand to his lips to kiss gently.

"That would be most prudent." Spock responded simply.

"Also, just to make sure we don't end up in a psychiatric ward, we don't tell Dr. Margarita anything that happened." He said after a moment, because he wonders if they both need an extra dose of sanity in a hypo.

"Agreed,"

There are some days, like right now when he has to represent a man as vile as Alexander Marcus that Shawn Caraway really wonders why he went into private practice instead of joining Starfleet like his mom wanted him to. His current client is a monster. Shawn would not even let the guy take care of a baby kitten, let alone a two-year-old. Yet, here he was, working with his associates at three in the morning, trying to find dirt on Commander Spock Kirk and his husband, Captain James Tiberius Kirk for the sole purpose of ripping a child away from his biological father. Shawn wanted to be a child advocate, not this.

Shawn knew why Marcus chose this firm other than the fact that they were good at what they did. If his lawyer was the head of the San Francisco chapter of the Society of LGBPT lawyers, people will question his deceased daughter's characterization of the man as a homophobic bigot who despised her partner and was angry that they decided to start a family via in vitro and therefore she did not want her child raised in that environment. That's why she subsequently chose her Academy 'friend' and son's biological father in the event of her and Rebecca's simultaneous death.

Shawn didn't want to have anything to do with this case, but he couldn't argue with the partners. He hated being used, which was why he was looking for dirt on his client instead of the biological father like he was supposed to. He justifies it by telling himself that it was easier to prepare for the defense, if you knew what they might possibly bring out (like the fact his client was trying to pass off a year in a psychiatric hospital as a 'spiritual retreat'). Shawn knew that there was a more complex story going on than what either side was saying.

What he discovered was that the man was good at making anything bad about him disappear. Back when he was in charge at Starfleet, anybody who questioned his decisions would end up on Delta Vega or someplace much worse. The man also had a history with the San Francisco Department of Child welfare and several equivalent departments throughout the Federation. There were at least six separate complaints registered, but none were given more than a cursory investigation if that. The guy had enough influence to make anything go away.

He probably thought that he could do the same this time except Alexander Marcus was not dealing with a scared little girl. This time around, he was dealing with a war hero and the son of a high ranking Vulcan diplomat and victims' rights advocate who has a history of ripping her enemies to shreds. Considering what she had to work with, his client really did not stand a chance.

Shawn was halfway ready to tender his resignation and anonymously notify the other side of Alexander Marcus' history with child welfare when his assistant walked into the room and handed him a PADD.

"What's this?" Shawn asked.

"Another reason why no matter how much money people are paying we should never take clients that are obviously guilty as sin."

"Tell that to the senior partners." Shawn quipped.

"A new organization, referring to themselves as 'The Rising Tide' just released a ton of very classified Starfleet documents." His assistant said smirking.

"And let me guess, they were all about our client?"

"I'm not entirely sure yet. However, one document alleges that Alexander Marcus misappropriated billions of credits to build a warship and weapons without authorization. Also, there's evidence that he also paid the now disgraced Admiral Jackson a hundred thousand credits to get his daughter's former boyfriend kicked out of Starfleet."

"The Kobayashi Maru trial?" Shawn asked, remembering the incident that triggered the 'Starfleet purges' three and half years ago.

"Yes."

After 15 minutes of reading, Shawn was already tendering his resignation. If a fraction of this stuff turns out to be true, then it proved his suspicions that Alexander Marcus had no business anywhere near that child. He was a good lawyer, but contrary to very popular belief, lawyers have consciences too. There's no way Shawn could defend this guy. Maybe the DA's office was looking for new people. Anything would be better than this.

To be continued

Are Spock, Jim and Nyota losing their minds or is something else going on?

Who leaked the Starfleet files?

Also, bonus points to anybody who can point out the Easter eggs that I put in this chapter from some of my other stories. There are several.