Guilt and Disgust
Present time
Lee was again ensconced in his sick bay bunk and sedated while Doc worked out how to help the Captain deal with the mental anguish that discussing his experience had caused.
Nelson and Chip were conferring and had agreed that none of the details they had learned of Lee's experience would go past the two of them. Anything beyond that was up to Lee to disclose.
"Lee didn't say much. He asked after Maria. He seemed worried about her." Nelson hesitated but knew he had to tell Chip the rest of what Lee said. "He said he felt everything that Krueger did." Nelson paused again then spoke quietly, reluctantly the distaste evident in his voice and bearing. "Krueger had sexual relations with Maria. Lee knows that."
"Oh no, sir." Morton stopped appalled.
Nelson struggled with his own disgust before continuing, "It distresses him."
There was a long silence as the two men struggled with their thoughts. Eventually Chip shifted uneasily in agitation. He hesitated not too keen to contemplate what he was thinking but he was a young man with a young man's concerns. "Admiral I may be implying something I have no reason to not knowing the exact circumstances … " he hesitated, " … but, what if she's pregnant?"
Nelson, a seasoned bachelor, remembered how anxiety reigned in his younger days before birth control was as easy, tidy, and effective as The Pill. He tipped his head with a questioning expression furrowing his brow. "Ah, Chip. Good question." He paused for thought before speaking. "That could be quite a paternity issue couldn't it? Maria considers them to be two different men but … biologically … "
Nelson got up and started pacing restlessly as he put a hand in his pocket and the other to his chin. His inner rage redirected momentarily from himself to Krueger. He was keenly troubled by the whole idea of fatherhood by rape as he was by any parenthood by rape, but this was Lee, someone he knew well and … cared about, if one could call trying to kill a person caring. "Mm hmm, Chip let's cross that bridge if and when we get to it."
"Aye, sir." Morton paused again wanting to say more but his thoughts were highly disturbing and he visibly hesitated.
Nelson still pacing in perplexed thought impatiently stated, "Something else, Chip? Out with it."
"Sir, were you thinking what I was thinking? That Krueger was Maria's … " He stopped unable to say what was so profoundly troubling.
"Mm, hmm. That thought crossed my mind if you mean … " Nelson didn't want to say it either. He shook his head in distress and took a deep breath. "No, Chip. Let's not ponder that. What's done is done. At least if that happened that offence is not at Lee's door. Thank goodness."
As Admiral Nelson recounted the gist of the conversation the two men realized that Lee's distress seemed to have arisen on his recounting of what his body did while possessed. He had been able to sit through Nelson's account without being prostrated. Perhaps they could use that information to assist and help Lee while resolving the current question of how to proceed regarding the Admiral's criminal offence.