Chapter 2
Preliminary Investigation

"Where in the hell is he!?" Mendez thundered. "He cannot simply have vanished!"

"Specialist Swenson has reported that Captain Kirk was inquiring about shuttle availability," Lt. Piper reported, "and Swenson says he directed Captain Kirk to the Port Master. Port Master Gussell confirms, however, that Captain Kirk has not attempted to requisition a warp-capable vessel, and that no warp-capable vessels would be available to him even if he did so."

"And Captain Kirk has deactivated his communicator?"

"Apparently so, sir."

"And no one else has seen him nor spoken to him since he stormed out of here?"

"That is correct, sir. Per your orders, sir, all personnel have been instructed to notify this office if they see him or if they have any contact with him. "

"And he has not sent any transmissions, of any kind, to anyone?"

"That is also correct, sir."

Commodore Mendez tried to calm himself. "Well, he was right here in this room, I saw him," Mendez declared with unshakable conviction. "And you saw him, too! He wasn't an illusion or a delusion, was he? He was here! And he cannot have departed this planet! So where in the hell is Captain Kirk? And what in the hell is Kirk trying to do?"

Even though Mendez did not know exactly what had happened, he was totally certain that this entire affair was a catastrophe. First, the Enterprise had shown up at Starbase 11, supposedly in response to a transmission from Captain Pike. Yet Pike could not possibly have sent any message, and starbase logs had confirmed that there had been no communications of any kind directed from the starbase to the Enterprise. Then Pike had suddenly disappeared, and the Enterprise had abruptly warped out of orbit. All attempts to contact the Enterprise had been ignored. The Enterprise seemed to be heading for Talos IV.

And now Captain Kirk had disappeared.

The news then got even worse. Base security reported that someone matching the description of Kirk's half-Vulcan first officer had clandestinely entered the base's secured computer operations area, and had transmitted some sort of false classified directives to the Enterprise. Kirk's first officer had also physically assaulted Chief Humboldt, who was on duty at computer operations, leaving Humboldt for more than an hour crumpled on the floor, unconscious and battered.

Mendez swore. Sending false classified directives could mean only that Spock was planning something flagrantly illegal, and he needed a way to give orders to the Enterprise without having those orders questioned. And Kirk would have had to supply verbal confirmation for those orders, so Kirk was likely in on the plan as well.

Mendez resolved that he was going to have Kirk's head. And that half-Vulcan's head, too.

As he tried to sort it out in his mind, an emergency alert appeared on his display. Mendez tapped the response controls. "Mendez here! What is it? What?"

A deep voice responded. "Lt. Landau, Commodore; Base Security. We have Captain Kirk in custody, sir. He was spotted inspecting shuttlecraft and was detained as he tried to make his way to the Port Master's office."

Mendez tried to keep his voice even as he ordered, "Throw him in the stockade. Maximum security. Do you read me? In the stockade!"

"Acknowledged, sir," Landau's voice responded. "Captain Kirk will be escorted to the stockade."

Mendez closed the communication channel and scowled. Damn Kirk! After Pike had disappeared and the Enterprise had sprinted away, Kirk had tried to disappear as well, and apparently got caught while trying to arrange his own escape. He must have been part of the conspiracy with his first officer all along. But a conspiracy to do what? To kidnap Captain Pike and hustle him to Talos IV? For what possible reason? But... if Kirk was a part of that conspiracy, why did the Enterprise leave him behind? Why not transport Kirk to the Enterprise when abducting Pike? It didn't make sense. None of it made sense!

Kirk's and his first officer's careers were finished, of that Mendez was certain. The charges to be leveled against them were undeniably serious. Log falsification. Conspiracy. Assault. Kidnapping. Mutiny. Barratry. And those were just for starters. Disobedience to General Order Seven was also a very distinct possibility. Even if they were spared the death penalty, both officers would have no future in Star Fleet.

Mendez also wondered whether the plot may have involved others, besides Kirk and Spock.

Indeed, the immensity of it all made Mendez start to wonder whether his own position was secure. What should he have done differently, if anything? Is there any way that someone might make a case that he ought to have paid more attention to the warning signs? Might someone think that he was a part of this plot as well?

Mendez strode to the door of his office. "Miss Piper, I am going to speak with Chief Humboldt, and then I will be at the stockade. Oh, do we have an updated ETA from the Exeter?"

"Exeter is still at maximum warp and currently estimates arrival in just under twenty hours. Captain Chang says the ship's engines are operating well and that the Exeter's Chief Engineer believes maximum warp can be maintained until arrival. However, sir..." Piper paused.

"However, what?" Mendez asked with trepidation.

"Captain Chang has reported that the Exeter's Chief Engineer will need at least a day to inspect the engines after Exeter arrives, and may require more time than that for maintenance and repairs. Exeter is not going to be able to chase after Enterprise."

Mendez acknowledged the status report with a nod, then exited the office. He went straight to the infirmary, and told the physician on duty that he wished to speak to Chief Humboldt.

"I'm sorry, Commodore, but I have released Chief Humboldt," the physician reported. "His injuries were not as severe as we had feared. Aside from some ecchymoses near the base of his neck, the chief had no injuries requiring treatment. And even the bruising was not serious."

Mendez was puzzled. "But, Doctor, I thought you'd reported that Chief Humboldt's condition was consistent with suffering from that disabling pinch maneuver that some Vulcans can do."

"Yes, and that is still my opinion."

"But Chief Humboldt was unconscious for more than an hour! And it was my understanding that the Vulcan pinch maneuver can disable a person for only a matter of minutes."

"All I can say, sir, is that Chief Humboldt reported that he had been engaged in some sort of a struggle, and apparently he had been; but he experienced no significant trauma as a result, and he suffered no head injury. He was incapacitated by a maneuver that inflicted temporary neurological malfunction and temporary loss of consciousness. I have no explanation for why he was rendered incapacitated for a time period longer than would be typical."

Mendez then paid a call on Chief Humboldt. who was resting comfortably in his quarters.

"It was the Enterprise's second-in-command, no question about it," Humboldt recounted. "A Vulcan. He was doing something at the secured operations console. He claimed to have security clearance, but as far as I knew, no authorization for use of that console had been granted. When I tried to see what he was doing, he physically assaulted me. Perhaps I should have activated the alarm and summoned security, but I chose to make an effort to stop him before he could do whatever it was he was trying to do. And then he knocked me out or something, and when I came to, I activated the alarm."

"Lucky you weren't seriously injured, Chief," Mendez commented.

"Yeah, yes, sir. This Vulcan officer was very strong. I thought he'd banged me up quite a bit, but apparently he hadn't; though I'm sure he could have really hurt me if he'd wanted to. Sir, do we know what he was up to?"

Mendez took several seconds to respond. "I'm not certain that we do know what he was up to," Mendez said blankly; then he had a thought. "Say, Chief, you're pretty close to Captain Pike, aren't you?"

"Yes, sir," Humboldt acknowledged, surprised that the commodore would mention it. "I was on the team that was working to help him after his... his accident, sir."

"I know you've read stories to Captain Pike."

"Yes, sir, I did. I've spent a lot of time with him."

"You're close friends, then?"

Humboldt nodded. "I think we are close, yes, sir; but I should explain that the stories, sir, are a part of Captain Pike's therapy."

"Oh?"

"Yes, sir. Sir, Captain Pike and I had known each other for several years. Following his accident, I worked closely with Dr. Jess to try to develop a computer interface by which Captain Pike might be able to communicate. As you know, sir, there were a number of challenges. As Dr. Jess explained it to me, Captain Pike was unable to control the movement of his head or his eyes to communicate. He could move his chair to a degree, but could not control the movements sufficiently to communicate reliably. Dr. Jess explained that the part of Captain Pike's brain that converted intentions into actions was 'shorted out' or something like that. Conventional brainwave analysis wasn't getting us anywhere, and we weren't confident that anyone would be able to find a way, any way, for him to communicate with us. It took a lot of testing and analysis just to identify physiologic responses indicative of the basic concepts of affirmation and negation."

"In other words, you eventually did find a way for Captain Pike to say yes and no."

"Correct, sir. And I was working on ways to help Captain Pike reliably express other elementary concepts, such as 'I need something' or 'I don't know or understand.' Part of my job was to try to correlate measured physiological responses with intentions. To make a long story short, sir, I would read Captain Pike short mystery stories, by various noted authors, to engage his brain actively and to identify what physiological signals might indicate a lack of knowledge or understanding. For what it is worth, Commodore, I asked Captain Pike at several points whether he enjoyed my reading mysteries to him, and he repeatedly affirmed that he did enjoy it."

Mendez quietly mused over whether Humboldt may have been part of the conspiracy to abduct Captain Pike. Perhaps Kirk's first officer and Chief Humboldt were acting in concert for the benefit of Captain Pike, and they staged a fight in order to protect Humboldt from being suspected as a participant in the plot to abduct Captain Pike. Mendez decided not to jump to that conclusion, but he also decided not to reject it, either.

"Sir," Humboldt asked hesitantly, "does what happened to me have something to do with Captain Pike?"

"Yes," Mendez sighed. "I might as well tell you now: The Enterprise abducted Captain Pike. The assault upon you was part of the plan to take Captain Pike without authorization. There will be formal proceedings, and you will be required to give testimony."

Humboldt was thunderstruck. "The Enterprise kidnapped Captain Pike? Why!?"

"That's what we're going to find out, Chief."

"Well, sir, forgive me for saying so, but the motivation must have been to help Captain Pike."

"Why do you say so?"

"May I have permission to speak freely, sir?" Humboldt asked. After Mendez nodded, Humboldt continued: "Sir: they must have been trying to help him because there is no way that they could hurt him any more than he has already been hurt. Sir, I am not a doctor, but I cannot imagine a person being in a worse state than is Captain Pike. If the Enterprise people had decided to kill him, that would be helping him, in my opinion."

Mendez scowled, for he himself had thought the same thing. If it were him in Pike's chair, Mendez felt that he would rather be dead.

"Sir," Humboldt continued, "if a Vulcan is a part of some plan to abduct Captain Pike, there must be a logical reason for doing so, and the logical reason must be to help Captain Pike. And speaking freely, sir, if that is indeed the intent, then ... I applaud the efforts to help him." Humboldt's voice cracked as he spoke. "I consider Captain Pike to be my very dear friend. It has been one of my personal disappointments that I have been unable to help him any more than I have. If the Enterprise thinks it can do something for him, so that he can once again enjoy life, then..." Humboldt was too emotional to finish the thought.

All Mendez could say in response was: "I understand."

After leaving Humboldt's quarters, Mendez walked to the stockade. Presently he stood in front of a sparse cell, facing Captain James T. Kirk. Kirk was seated on a cot, and seemed to be staring at the floor.

"Jim," Mendez began, "I don't think I need to tell you how much trouble you and your first officer are in at this moment."

Kirk took a deep breath, but said nothing.

"You have been advised of your right to counsel, haven't you?"

Kirk said nothing.

"Do you wish to have legal representation?"

Kirk said nothing.

"Jim," Mendez pressed, "we've known each other a long time. And I think I know you well enough to say that you never do anything without reason." Mendez paused. "If you have any rational explanation for what has happened, I am prepared to hear it."

Kirk looked up from the floor and stared at Mendez, but said nothing.

Mendez continued: "USS Exeter is on its way here. Once Exeter arrives, we are going to commence formal legal proceedings."

Kirk spoke abruptly. "Why wait?"

"Come on, Jim," Mendez grumbled. "You know the formalities. There's no action I can take on my own except to lock you up in advance of a board of inquiry or court martial. Once Exeter arrives, we will will have three command-grade officers, and we will begin expedited official legal proceedings against you. We will build an evidentiary record pertaining to what has happened. Unless, of course, you or your counsel object, but all that would do is delay the inevitable."

Kirk grinned subtly. "Why would I object?"

"Because I am one of the officers who would sit in judgment upon you, and I am also a potential witness in the case, of course! Any lawyer of any merit would object to that, as a conflict of interest."

"Have you appointed a special counsel to help you put together a case against me?"

"No, bringing in a special counsel would only delay things. Our tribunal will be making factual inquiries, as well as judging you. You could object to that, of course, as a conflict of interest. But understand this, Jim: we will get to the bottom of this. And the more quickly we get to the bottom of it, the better it will be for everyone."

Kirk stood and faced Mendez. "José, I am going to make it easy for you. I waive my right to counsel. And I waive my right to object to the composition of the tribunal I must face. I waive objection to the tribunal serving as prosecutor and as decision-maker. You don't have wait for the Exeter to get here before formally arraigning me, do you? Get me on the record, and I will repeat what I just told you."

Mendez shook his head. "Why, Jim?" he pleaded. "For the love of all that is holy, why? Why do you seem to be so eager to throw away your life's work, your career?"

"Get me on the record, and I will tell you."

"Man to man, I'd really like to hear it from you, off the record, and I'd like to hear it right now."

Kirk smiled, but his smile connoted regret rather than mirth. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."