Uhura was waiting outside her cabin, leaning casually against the doorframe, actually filing her fingernails, when Sulu returned to Jilla’s cabin to bring another load of the Indiian’s belongings home. “Well, well, fancy meeting you here,” the communications officer said.
Sulu stopped, turning to her with a rueful grin. “Let me have it, Uhura,” he said.
“Oh, I’m not the only one you have to worry about,” she purred, then stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly. As though by magic, from several opening cabin doors came Monique, Daffy, Pavel, Del, Scotty and Dr. McCoy.
“So the prodigal returns, does he?” Scott’s voice boomed out.
“You have to give the boy marks for bravery,” McCoy added.
“I’ll give him marks!” Daffy snarled, and Sulu noted that Pavel, instead of his usual reaction of stopping his always exuberant lover, simply folded his arms with a raised eyebrow and an evil little smile. Sulu braced himself for Daffy’s attack, and to his surprise, DelMonde grabbed the chemist’s suddenly lunging form around the waist.
“Non, cher,” the engineer murmured. “Don’ give th' li'l one reason to feel sorry for th' charogne.”
Monique giggled, then daintily stepped up to Sulu. She smiled. “Ah, but this won’t show,” she said, then slapped him soundly across the face.
“No fair!” Daffy wailed. “It was a figure of speech! Where I’m aiming is covered by his uniform, it won’t even bruise!”
“But it will hurt quite a bit, yes, Dafshka?” Pavel asked, then nodded to Del. “Let her go, Noel.”
“Bien,” Del said with a smile, and released her.
Sulu immediately backed up, “Daffy, please…” he began., then yelped as Uhura gave him a hard punch to the shoulder. He managed to grab onto Gollub enough to prevent the full force of her head-butt to his genitals. But Pavel had been right. It hurt quite a bit.
He gasped, doubling over, not even trying to stop the blows Daffy immediately began raining down on his head. She was screeching at him, a combination of Yiddish, Hebrew and Anglo, and soon added kicking to her attacks. After what seemed like an inordinately long time, Dr. McCoy and Scotty stepped forward.
“That’s enough, Miss Gollub,” McCoy said.
Daffy was breathing hard, but she stopped. “Hardly!” she snapped, then, with a final kick, added, “schmuck!”
Sulu looked up. McCoy was actually bouncing on his heels. Scotty had the expression of a father who’s just discovered some young man trying to get into his daughter’s bedroom. Uhura’s smile was bright and chilling. Monique was hanging onto DelMonde’s shoulder, both faces smugly satisfied. Pavel held his arms open to Daffy, who was returning to his side. Carefully, Sulu got to his feet.
“Okay,” he said slowly. “I was stupid, I was wrong, an idiot, a charogne, a schmuck. I don’t deserve Jilla’s forgiveness, I don’t deserve yours.” He straightened, glancing at each of them in turn. “But I swear to you, I’ll never do anything like this again. Ever.”
“And we’re supposed to believe…” Daffy began, and Pavel shushed her.
“Ask Jilla if I’m telling the truth,” was Sulu’s response.
“Aye, I will,” Scotty rumbled.
“I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt,” Pavel said, quickly adding, “for now,” as Daffy raised her hand to the back of his head.
“But we’ll be keeping an eye on you, sugar,” Uhura put in. “Let’s just hope you don’t do anything – suspicious.”
Sulu shook his head. “I won’t. You know Havens, Uhura. This is a iron-clad done deal.”
“It better be,” DelMonde mumbled. “I not let you hurt her more, nés pas?”
Jealousy rose in Sulu’s being and he glared at the engineer. “You just stay away from her,” he warned.
Monique snorted and DelMonde grinned mirthlessly. “I not come unless she call, mon ami,” he returned.
“She won’t,” Sulu stated coldly.
“Then it look like you got not'ing to worry ‘bout, non?” Del said easily.
“So help me, DelMonde…”
“That’s quite enough from you now, Lieutenant Commander,” Scotty interrupted. “You’ve hardly got call to take offense, have ye?”
Sulu took a deep breath, lowering his head. “No, sir, I don’t,” he admitted.
The Chief Engineer leaned over him. “And you know the lassie’d never have another,” he murmured.
The helmsman smiled gratefully. “Thanks, Scotty.”
“Just make my little one well again, that’s all I ask of ye.”
“You need any treatment for the injuries, Mr. Sulu?” McCoy asked, but from the tone of his voice, Sulu was sure that if he said yes, the doctor would only smile and growl ‘good.’
“No, Doc, I’ll be fine,” he said.
“Ooh, I must not’ve hit him hard enough!” Daffy squealed, then “let me go, you yutz!”
“Dafshka, that’s quite enough,” Pavel murmured.
“Not by a long shot, buster!”
Sulu took another deep breath and walked up to where Chekov was struggling with Daffy. “Hey, Daff, I’m really, really sorry,” he said, then to Pavel, “she can hit me all she wants.”
Daffy triumphantly smacked the back of Chekov’s head as he shrugged, letting her go. She turned, stomping on Sulu’s foot, then smacked the back of his head.
“What were you thinking, shande putz!” Daffy snapped.
“I wasn’t…” Sulu began.
“You got that right, schmuck.”
“Yes, I am.”
“You’re lucky we don’t keel-haul you!”
“I am.”
“If Jilla didn’t need it I’d cut your dick off and shove it so far up your ass…”
“And I’d deserve it.”
Daffy paused in her ranting, staring up at Sulu. “You’re taking all the fun out of this, you know that.”
“I’m sorry. Should I be arguing with you?”
Daffy frowned. “Shut up, vantz.” She turned, then haughtily grabbed Pavel’s arm. “Come on bubelah.” Chekov again shrugged at Sulu, but walked down the corridor with Daffy. Sulu thought he heard the chemist saying, “And just why are you giving him the benefit of the doubt?”
Sulu glanced around him. DelMonde and Monique had left the vicinity, Scott and McCoy were heading down the corridor the other way. He turned to Uhura. “I really am sorry,” he began.
“Oh, I know that, sugar,” she said, and reached toward him. He flinched, but she only caressed the side of his face. “Just don’t think we’re going to forget it any time soon.”
“I won’t, Uhura. I swear. Done deal, remember?”
“I’ll remember, Sulu. Let’s just hope you do. I’d hate to have to call on some big, strong Haven Security man to come and enforce the contract.” She smiled. “Now go on and get the rest of Jilla’s things.”
She turned and went into her cabin, and Sulu sighed, going into Jilla’s, very glad that he’d gotten off so easy.
Jilla was putting on her uniform as Sulu came in with the last of her things. He dropped them to the bed, quickly crossing to her.
“Hon, what are you doing?” he asked.
“There is much I need to…” she began.
Sulu frowned. “Dr. Han said you were supposed to rest.”
“I have not been attentive to…”
“Scotty gave you the day off.”
“I cannot rest any longer,” Jilla insisted sternly.
“Okay, then,” Sulu began again, taking her into his arms. “I’m sure I can think of…” She stiffened and he backed away. “Jilla?” He searched her expressionless face for a moment, then reached out, softly touching her cheek. “Honey, am I pushing too fast?”
A look of panic flashed swiftly across her features. “No, I did not…”
“I know I hurt you,” Sulu said gently. “If this is gonna be hard for a while, I can…”
“No,” she replied again. “There is nothing hard about loving you.” Sulu bowed his head. “I accept what I am and I love you no less. I am doing what I want to do, my beloved. I made my choice.”
He again looked at her. “I don’t deserve you, Jilla,” he whispered.
“I know,” she returned. “I do not deserve you. I suppose it is fitting.”
Her delivery was so dead-pan that it took Sulu a long moment to ascertain whether or not she was joking. Finally he sighed and smiled. “Okay, hon,” he said, and leaned forward, kissing her forehead. Her skin began shimmering and she leaned against him. “If Jade thinks I let you out of here without a good fight, she’ll have my –“ He paused, quickly reconsidering his next word. “- head.”
“Should I see her I will tell you I left while you were sleeping.”
“Since when can you lie?” Sulu snorted incredulously.
Jilla glanced up at him. “If you were to go to sleep, it would not be a lie.”
He smiled down at her. “If you were to exhaust me, I might be able to.” Her eyes lowered and she again started shimmering. “Come on, honey,” he whispered. She nodded and he cleared the bed with amazing alacrity.
“Where are you going, hon?” Sulu managed around a deep yawn several hours later.
“Dr. McCoy needs the medical scanners in the new life support belts tested,” Jilla replied, once again fastening her uniform. Sulu reached out from the bed, taking her hand.
“Hurry back to me, Juliet.”
Her smile was faint and, to Sulu’s eyes, breathtaking. “As soon as possible, my love.”
He kissed her hand, then sighed, settling down into the blankets of the bed. Sleep came swiftly, and as he didn’t hear the hiss of the door before it took him, he knew Jilla’s veracity would remain intact.
Jilla stepped onto the Bridge with the results of the testing of the environmental belts just at the change of shift. Scott had been so overjoyed to see her that he hadn’t reprimanded her for working when he’d given her the day off. She had accepted his welcoming emotions, her tia drinking it in as though she had been starved. As, of course, you have been, she reminded herself, and accepted, too, the chastising disapproval from her beliefs. But it is different now, she told herself. Telmnor and zilmnor may feel.
She felt the joy, too, from the rest of the Bridge’s officers. Uhura was humming to herself at Communications and she nodded a greeting. The Helm stations were relaxed, Chekov and David Kelly, glancing up at the sound of the turbolift, smiling at her. Spock stood next to the con, speaking with the Captain and Dr. McCoy, who was positioned behind it; beyond them, Ruth turned from the Science Station, her eyes lighting up with pleased surprise.
“I trust you’re feeling better, Mrs. Majiir,” Captain Kirk said as he took the statboard from her.
“Much, Captain, thank you,” Jilla returned.
“Were you not to rest in your quarters, today?” Spock asked, his eyebrow rising.
“I am feeling well enough, Commander,” the Indiian told him. “And as the field testing of the new life support belts begins tomorrow, it was imperative that the laboratory testing be finalized today.”
“Surely Mr. DelMonde, Mr. Redford, and Lieutenant Mrraal could have completed that.”
“Now, Spock, sometimes work’s the best medicine there is,” McCoy put in, then turned a beaming smile to Jilla. “You just do whatever you feel up to, little lady.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” she replied faintly.
The turbolift door hissed open, and Monique stepped onto the Bridge, Daffy right behind her. “Jilla!” the French navigator exclaimed. “Back to duty so soon?”
“Or did the schmuck do something stupid again?” Daffy added.
Jilla flushed. “Daphne, I would appreciate it if…”
“Oh alright, mazel tov on the mishegas.”
The Indiian blinked. “I beg your pardon?”
“She said congratulations on the craziness,” Ruth said as she stepped down from the Science Station. “You, get to work,” she added, jerking her thumb at the chemist. “I'm off duty.”
“Yes, oh great and wonderful Mrs. Science Officer,” Daffy replied with flourishing bow.
The turbolift opened again as Ruth turned back to Jilla. “But really,” the Antari said, “where is Roy and why aren’t you eating?”
“He is sleeping,” Jilla replied dutifully.
“Shall we wake him for you?” Pavel asked cheerfully as he stood, allowing Monique to take his place at Navigation.
“I know just how to do it,” a silky, taunting voice suddenly put in.
Chekov’s face immediately lost its smile and Ruth’s warm violet eyes turned to purple lasers. LiLing was moving with feline grace and arrogant superiority past the Helm.
“I don’t think you’ll be getting the opportunity,” Pavel snarled.
The ensign trailed a hand up the Russian’s arm. “Don’t be too sure about that,” she purred. “One never knows when a second chance will come along.” She laughed. “They often turn up at the most unexpected times.”
“You!” Daffy shouted. “Keep your hands off him if you know what’s good for you!”
“Miss Gollub,” Spock admonished, at the same time the captain said, “I want off-duty personnel off the Bridge.”
“He means you, ya zona!” Daffy snapped.
LiLing glared at her and Ruth quickly grabbed Jilla’s arm. “Let’s get out of here, Jilla,” she whispered. The Indiian didn’t move, and Ruth repeated, “Jilla?”
Jilla stood, her left hand clenched, her eyes icy silver fire. “She will accept Judgment before another day is out,” she said. Her voice was calm, deadly, chilling it its determination, and without another reaction, she turned and left the Bridge.
“Didn’t I warn you she’d cause trouble?” Ruth was ranting. “Didn’t I say she was going to upset people? Didn’t I tell you she’s not worth the aggravation?”
Spock sat at his desk in his and Ruth’s quarters, fingers steepled against his lips.
“She’s not going to let up,” Ruth continued. “Jilla’s vulnerable and that little bitch is too damned good at pointed remarks. And whatever he promises, Roy’s not that strong. Hell, who’s strong against a goddamned steamroller! Spock, if you don’t transfer her…!”
“She is a competent officer…” Spock began.
“And I don’t want to hear it!” Ruth blazed. “We don’t need her! The whole damned Science Section is full of competent officers!”
“…and as such, perhaps a transfer will not be harmful to her career.”
“Like I care what’s harmful to –“ Ruth abruptly stopped. “Wait. What did you say?”
Spock looked up. “I believe, my wife, that you are correct. Ensign LiLing clearly presents an unavoidable problem in morale. Her continued presence will be difficult, perhaps more so now than if Sulu had not come to his senses.”
“What do you mean?” Ruth asked. “Not that I don’t agree with you…”
“Jilla would never have deliberately made anyone’s life unbearable,” Spock returned. “Ensign LiLing is, I believe, all too capable of it.”
“I told you so,” Ruth said triumphantly, but there was an edge to her voice, an almost frantic undertone to her concern. It worried him. As did the fact that while she was pacing, her right hand was clamped around the wrist of her tightly clenched left.
“The environmental belts will be tested in actual working conditions tomorrow,” he said as he rose from his chair. “I will assign Ensign LiLing to be one of the subjects. While she is so involved, I will speak to the captain and recommend a transfer in the strongest possible terms.” He moved toward his wife, taking her hands, careful to avoid pointing out their unusual configuration. “With expediency, dei’larr’ei, Jilla need never see her again.”
Ruth sighed, leaning her head against his chest, placing her arms around him. “Zehara kol,” she sighed, then added. “I’m sorry you didn’t get a chance to yell at him, Spock.”
“I am certain I will have ample time should I feel the need,” Spock replied. “Come, wife. You need rest.”
She grinned up at him. “Well, I most definitely need to get to bed,” she returned with a leer.
Spock merely shook his head in tolerant amusement.
Del noted Scotty’s grin when Sulu walked with Jilla into Engineering the next day. His own thoughts were slightly less charitable. You t'ink she need help t’ find her way, Kamikaze?
Non, he just bein’ attentive, makin’ up fo’ his stupidité.
He got a lot to make up for, I be t’inkin’
It her business if she fo’give th' fils d'une chienne.
He realized he was staring at the Indiian, then realized Sulu was staring at him. He let a slow grin come over his features, quite pleased to be a source of irritation to one who so richly deserved it.
When Sulu strode away – after giving Jilla a warmly loving kiss – Del headed over to his fellow engineers. Scott was discussing the testing of the medical inserts in the life support units. Del was about to offer to station himself at the transporter when, quite unexpectedly, he felt an aversion, almost furious in its intensity. Before he could clear the sudden thunder in his head, Jilla had accepted their Chief’s suggestion to remain at the station herself. Del glanced at her and realized ruefully that the discomfiture he’d felt was her reaction to his presence. The emotional rapport between them was too intimate, too inviting now that she again belonged to another. The thought reminded him too strongly of Ruth, and he quickly shut it down.
On the Bridge, Spock informed Ensign LiLing of her duties for the day, participating in the test of the life support medical scanners. She nodded curtly with a proper, “yes, sir,” but Spock noted that her gaze lingered on the Helm – and Lieutenant Commander Sulu. As she stepped to the lift, the door opened, Ruth getting out of the car. His Antari wife bowed flamboyantly, gesturing to the lift. Vulcan hearing clearly picked up the ensign’s hiss, “Bitch,” and Ruth’s retort, “Whore.” Lieutenant Uhura stifled a chuckle, and Spock noted but did not call attention to Sulu’s suddenly lowered head.
“Spock, about the transfer…” Ruth murmured as she moved across the small space to the Science Station.
“I will discuss it with the captain as soon as he arrives,” Spock assured her.
She smiled and briefly touched two fingers to his arm. His eyes grew soft and he returned the touch. Then, with the Science Station in capable hands, he strode to Life Sciences to monitor the tests.
Leonard McCoy stood behind the chair of the lab technician who was monitoring the output of the medical scanners from the landing party.
“Any problems, Lieutenant?” he asked.
“None so far, Doctor,” Logan replied. “All data is being received and all lifesign variables are within normal range.” The technician turned, grinning . “The scanners are all functioning perfectly.”
McCoy grunted, pleased. He’d pushed for the incorporation of med scanners into the newly-designed environmental belts for months. There had been too many times with the old-style suits when things had gone wrong and precious minutes had been lost in location, transportation and diagnosis. With the scanners in place, the proper treatment equipment could be waiting in the transporter room or beamed down on the spot, if conditions warranted, and the very output from the scanner made both location and diagnosis instantaneous. And the problem of a careless officer removing part of his suit was lessened dramatically with the close-fitting environmental belt. The technology was based on the Valjiir cloak, almost an inversion of that principle; the belts allowed energy to pass from the field created by the tiny generator, but not into it, making it a perfect barrier against radiation, toxic atmospheres, and other environmental dangers. Adding an oxygen recycler created a nearly invisible, eminently portable, personal environment.
McCoy turned and a warning chime suddenly erupted from the monitor. Lieutenant Logan was already on the intercom. “Transporter room.”
“Transporter, Lieutenant Majiir,” came the immediate response.
“Medical emergency, beam up Ensign LiLing, coordinates 14-37-28.”
“Coordinates confirmed, 14-37-28”
“What’s her condition?” McCoy snapped.
“Heart rate up, skin temperature dropping, breathing labored. Looks like a life support malfunction,” Logan read off the monitor.
“Thank you, Lieutenant.”
McCoy hurried out the door. He grabbed a medical pouch and raced down the corridor to the transporter room. The door hissed open. At the console, Jilla was working the controls, frowning. Nothing was happening.
“Lieutenant…” McCoy began.
“Malfunction, Doctor, I’m trying,” the engineer responded curtly. She adjusted dials and switches and tried again.
“Mrs. Majiir, the life support belt is failing. Over ninety seconds’ exposure to the atmosphere of Beta Coral II is fatal.”
“I am aware of that,” Jilla replied tightly. More adjustments, still nothing. A voice came from the intercom. “Lieutenant Majiir, thirty seconds to critical,” Lieutenant Logan’s voice sounded worried. The transporter room door opened and Scotty came rushing in.
“Lassie, what…” the Chief Engineer began.
“I don’t know!” Jilla nearly shrieked.
Scott knelt, tearing open the panel at the base of the console. Jilla energized once more and got golden shimmer.
“Thank God,” McCoy mumbled.
When Jade heard it was Ensign LiLing whose belt was malfunctioning, and that Jilla was at the controls of the transporter, she rushed to the transporter room almost in blind panic. She didn’t take the time to identify the cause of her reaction, but the dread inside her was cold and too logical. She can’t! screamed inside her head. She’s telmnor herself, she can’t!
The door opened and Jade raced into the room. On seeing McCoy she stopped short. Jilla was at the controls, but Mr. Scott was kneeling at the open panel at the base of the console. The hum of an active beam filled the small room, but it was fading, not solidifying.
“Lieutenant?” the voice of the medical technician, Lieutenant Logan, demanded anxiously from the intercom.
Jade watched as the Indiian frantically worked the controls, then dropped to her knees beside Scott. The controls were tried again but shimmer didn’t return.
“Have you got her?” Logan asked from the com.
“No.” It was McCoy who answered.
There was a short silence. “Neither do I,” Logan said. The implication sank in heavily.
“Never mind, Jilla, Scotty,” McCoy murmured hoarsely.
Jilla rocked back on her heels, looking up at the doctors. “I tried,” she said, but there was no anguish in her tone, nor regret, nor guilt.
Jade swallowed, seeing the incredulous reaction on McCoy’s face. No, she thought. You saw her. She did all she could. It was an accident…
Scott was putting a comforting arm around Jilla’s shoulders. “Aye, lass, I know ye did,” the Chief Engineer murmured.
Then McCoy turned and marched to the com.
“McCoy to Bridge,” he stated curtly. “We have a casualty, Captain. Ensign LiLing.”
Jim had just taken the con, Spock approaching him with a “Captain, if I may…” when the report came from Medical, Engineering and Life Sciences nearly simultaneously. A malfunction of one of the environmental belts, energizing in process, medical monitor functioning. Spock immediately went back to his scanner. The Bridge fell silent, tense expectancy filling the air. It was double-edged; satisfaction that the medical scanners were obviously working and useful, a loathing of the way it was being proven. But there was no real worry. Beam-up was already in progress. Then, the disaster: Scott reporting the transporter malfunction, Logan the time to critical exposure to the atmosphere of Beta Coral II, Spock turning from Life Sciences to report one life form fading – and lost. Then McCoy’s heavy voice.
“We have a casualty, Captain. Ensign LiLing.”
Stunned silence, closing eyes and lowered heads – and the shock was broken by Sulu’s choked words.
“God, Li…!”
Jim gazed down at the helmsman. The young man’s reputation was well known; he had always cared for those he’d slept with, regardless of any other factors. Jim realized that, despite the details of this situation, it was very likely still true. And even awkwardness of such a magnitude would be put aside in the face of the death of a fellow officer.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Sulu,” Jim said.
Sulu managed a hoarse, “Thank you, sir,” and Jim sighed and spoke to McCoy.
“Have we got a body, Doctor?”
“No, Jim. Mrs. Majiir says the malfunction scattered the atoms all over this system.”
Jim heard but paid no heed to Ruth Valley’s gasp, nor did he notice Sulu’s sudden glance at the com. “Mrs. Majiir?” the captain said.
Jilla’s voice sounded calm. “Yes, Captain?”
“Can the malfunction be corrected? We’ve got five other people down there.”
“Mr. Scott and I are working on it now, sir.”
“Good. Get it fixed.” Jim paused. “And Lieutenant, I’m sure it wasn’t your fault.”
“No, sir. Majiir out.”
Jim sighed again and the Bridge was quiet for several minutes. Then he turned to Spock. “You had something to discuss with me, Mr. Spock?”
Spock cleared his throat. “Unnecessary, Captain. It concerned a transfer for Ensign LiLing,”
Jade waited in the transporter room while McCoy returned to Sickbay to make out the death certificate and Jilla and Scott worked on repairing the transporter malfunction. The problem turned out to be deep in the wiring, but relatively simple to fix once traced. The doctor did a quick hand-scan of each member of the landing party as they turned in their environ belts to Scott, then turned to Jilla.
“If you need to take some time to…” Jade began.
“Unnecessary, Doctor,” the Indiian returned expressionlessly.
“Lassie, the doctor’s right,” Scott put in. “To have such a terrible thing happen when you’re just recoverin’…”
“I am quite well, thank you, sir,” Jilla said, her voice a little gentler. Scott frowned, but he turned to Jade with a shrug.
“She can be as stubborn as a Rigellian mule,” he said, then flashed Jade a grin. “Beggin’ your pardon, Doctor.”
Jade nodded, taking the reference to her home planet in stride. Still, she waited until the Chief Engineer left the transporter room before returning her attention to Jilla. Then she took a deep breath.
“Jilla, I know it was your right, but…” She searched the grey eyes. “I need you to tell me I’m wrong.”
“Concerning what, Doctor?”
“Tu carosi al mnorundea i Aema,” Jade said. She used the Indiian legal phrasing to insure Jilla would not claim to have misunderstood her question. It was usually translated “the acceptance of Aema’s judgment,” but Jade was well aware that ‘carosi’ was a verb form of the word for death.
Jilla’s gaze didn’t waver. “As far as I am aware, doctor, “ she said, “Ensign LiLing was neither Indiian nor married.”
“That doesn’t answer…” Jade began.
“And so could neither accept such judgment nor stand before Aema,” Jilla went on as though Jade hadn’t spoken.
Jade bit her lips. Was that a non-answer, or Jilla’s discomfort over the entire subject – particularly because it concerned the woman Sulu had been unfaithful with? “Jilla,” she tried again, “you know what I’m asking.”
“And I have given you my answer,” the Indiian returned. “Logically, you should accept it.”
Jade sighed in relief, nodding. Jilla had just told her quite plainly both that there was nothing more to be said, and that the intimation her reply had been less than truthful was insulting. The Vulcan construction was reassuring, and Jade firmly put her former suspicion out of her mind.
“Jim, I’ve been thinking about this for several hours now, and the more I think, the less I like it.”
“Like what, Bones?” Jim asked. The doctor had called him to Sickbay, and Jim had assumed he was going to get a report on what went wrong with the environ belts. Though the malfunctioning belt was now only scattered atoms, he’d been hopeful that the flaw could be detected by an examination of the other prototypes. But McCoy’s manner was clearly uneasy, not irritated, as it would’ve been had there been no progress, nor grimly satisfied as if there had.
“Well, I was in the transporter room when we – lost Ensign LiLing. Lieutenant Majiir was the officer in charge, and – “ McCoy turned, pacing away from Jim. “Now I’m no engineer, and I don’t like to second-guess someone who knows what they’re doing, but…”
“Oh yes you do,” Jade Han’s voice suddenly interrupted. Jim turned to the doorway. The lovely doctor stood there, her arms folded, one eyebrow arched in annoyance.
Jim hid a smile. The expression was not only familiar, a reminder of the work Jade had done with Vulcans, but it carried with it an indication of the truth of her statement. He cleared his throat.
“What are you getting at, Bones?” he said.
McCoy glared at Jade, then scowled. “Just that it seemed to me that Mrs. Majiir took the death awfully easy.”
“What did you expect?” Jade returned with a scowl of her own. “The woman nearly destroyed her marriage. You can’t blame her for feeling a little vindication.”
“It’s not vindication I’m talking about,” McCoy countered.
“Leonard,” Jade intoned carefully, “if you’re accusing her…”
“She had one hell of a motive,” McCoy pointed out stubbornly. “You just said so yourself.”
“Do you mean to tell me, “ Jim interrupted, “that there’s reason to think Mrs. Majiir was negligent – “ He paused. “Or worse?”
“Jim, I’m just telling you what I saw,” McCoy replied. “She seemed to have done all she could, but – when Logan reported the death, she glared up at me and said, ‘I tried’ and… Damn it, Jim, it sounded like a challenge!”
“Bones, do you know what you’re saying?” Jim asked intently.
“Captain, you can’t take this seriously,” Jade rejoined.
“She had motive, and plenty of opportunity,” McCoy went on. “She did the last check on the belts. And as far as means – she is half of Valjiir and Scotty’s assistant.”
Jim studied McCoy carefully before speaking. “Are you making official charges, Doctor?”
McCoy flushed. “Well, no, Jim, but I thought – I can’t very well let a thing like that go, can I?”
“You could have asked her,” Jade commented coldly. Jim silenced her.
“Do you want an investigation?” he asked McCoy.
“I’d sleep better,” McCoy admitted.
“Very well, Doctor. I’ll have all the relevant parties meet in my office in half an hour.” Jim turned, leaving the office, and Jade gave McCoy a hard slap on the arm.
“What’s the matter with you, Leonard?” she snapped angrily.
“Jade, anything less and I’d say Mrs. Majiir was justified, you know that, “ McCoy answered grimly. “I have to be sure in my own mind that I wasn’t an involuntary accomplice to murder.”
“She’s incapable of it,” Jade stated.
McCoy shook his head. “That’s where you’re wrong, Jade,” he muttered. “And where I hope I am.”
Jilla faced her accuser calmly and with no enmity, Jim noted. He had explained to those concerned – Scott, Spock, Jilla herself, and, unbidden but not unexpected, Jade, Ruth and Sulu – that this was to be an informal investigation. Dr. Han was still fuming, Ruth just as angry. Scott was almost amused, Lieutenant Commander Sulu understandably ill at ease. Spock, of course, displayed only correct formality.
“You’re daft, McCoy,” was Scott’s first reaction. “I’ll grant you, if anyone could do such a thing, Jilla could...”
“She couldn’t murder!” Ruth broke in stridently.
“Aye lass, I know,” Scott returned. “I’m talkin’ about the technical end. What McCoy’s sayin’ couldna be done.”
“In order for Mrs. Majiir to have engineered this alleged crime, “ Spock put in, “it would have been necessary for her to a) know in advance of Ensign LiLing’s assignment to this duty, a factor I did not decide until late last night; b) know which life support belt the ensign would be given, a factor that was neither preplanned nor predictable, c) arrange to sabotage that and only that belt, which in itself requires knowledge of the prior random factors, d) arrange to be assigned to the transporter station, which is always at the discretion of the Chief Engineer, e) arrange for the transporter to malfunction exactly at the moment of the belt failure, again requiring all previous conditions to have been met, and f) have the malfunction be such that Mr. Scott’s best efforts would fail to correct it in time.” He faced McCoy with a bland expression. “While I will concede, Doctor, that one or two, or perhaps even three of these factors are within the realm of possibility, however remote, I would place the odds against all of them being known and successfully accomplished during the relevant time period as…”
“Please don’t,” McCoy grumbled.
“Besides which,” Jade added, folding her arms, “I asked her, which is more than Leonard did.” She glanced apologetically at Jilla. “Given the strength of her motivation, it was logical. She answered me in such a way that I know she was telling the truth.”
“She had every reason to, sir,” Sulu said quietly. “But she couldn’t have. Not if she said she didn’t.”
“She didn't!” Ruth repeated insistently. “Bones, how can you even accuse her of such a thing?”
“Because she had every reason!” McCoy burst out.
Ruth sighed in annoyed exasperation, her folded arms unintentionally mirroring Jade’s stance. “This whole thing is ridiculous!” she snapped.
“Ladies, gentlemen,” Jim broke in, “please, a little order.” He turned to Jilla. “Lieutenant Majiir,” he said. “You’ve served on this ship for two and a half years. In all that time, I’ve never known you to willfully tell a lie, or even to distort or exaggerate a fact. You’ve heard the evidence presented against you. It’s all circumstantial, but enough for me to convene a hearing, if not a court-martial. I have no desire to do so, but I do have an obligation to see this thing through. I’m going to ask you now, on your oath as a Starfleet officer, on your Vulcan sense of honor…” he paused. “…and on your Indiian vows to tell me the truth, and then the entire matter will be settled one way or another.” He took a deep breath, carefully not looking at Sulu’s closed eyes, or Ruth’s anguished expression, or Jade’s angry frown, or Spock’s raised eyebrow, or McCoy’s guilty unease or Scott’s burgeoning offense. “Lieutenant Majiir, did you, through negligence or willful intention or by any other means murder Ensign LiLing?”
Jilla’s eyes met his. They were clear, open, with no shame or guilt or deceit. “No, Captain,” she said. “I did not murder Ensign LiLing.”
Despite the protestations earlier, Jim was certain everyone in the room breathed a collective sigh of relief. Sulu took Jilla into an embrace, both reassured and reassuring. Scotty grinned fondly, informing Bones that there’d be no hard feelings. Ruth and Jade glared vindication at McCoy while the good doctor apologized profusely; which Jilla accepted with grace and calm dignity. Jim smiled, and noted Spock’s unperturbed satisfaction.
Sulu lay awake, staring at the ceiling. Jilla was curled next to him, her body warm and comfortable against him. His body was still tingling with the satiation she’d given him. “Never again, my Juliet, I swear it,” he whispered to the sleeping figure. Tears welled up behind his eyes as a bitter voice said, Bets?
Call it, damn it!
How?
Jilla’s hand fell away from his chest, and in the dim light of the cabin he could just barely make out the dark line of scarring across her palm. Something clicked in his mind and he struggled to identify it. Something about her scar. It was tangible evidence of the vows she’d taken, proof that she was Selar’s wife… or somebody’s wife, at least, he countered. In fact, it was the only evidence an Indiian would accept.
Proof. Tangible evidence. Wife. ‘I called you…’
He slipped out of bed and went to the intercom, quietly calling Engineering. Judy Miller’s voice answered, and he asked her a series of questions, almost after every word asking her to stop muttering, “it’s about time, schmuck.”
Sulu didn’t say anything. Neither did Jilla. Neither did anyone else. But everyone noticed the wide band of silver Sulu wore on the fourth finger of his left hand.
Lover's Cross by Jim Croce
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