Title: After the Rescue
Part: NEW 58/73
Author: Karmen Ghia, karmen_ghia@yahoo.com
Series: TOS
Romance Code: S/Mc and then some.
Rating: NC-17
Appendices: http://members.tripod.com/karmen_ghia/atrappendices.html
See part one for disclaimers, etc.
At the table McCoy found himself seated next to Maja, who was examining him closely.
"Looking for warts, Master Ghet?" the doctor asked quietly.
"Not unless you've got magic warts that make stony hearts fall in love with you," Maja teased in an undertone. He was actually examining the fact that Spock was bonded to Kirk and not McCoy, as everyone thought. He found this extremely interesting and wondered how they all coped with it. They coped quite well, if Maja was reading the doctor's glowing and healthy telefield correctly.
"I would say that is your talent more'n mine, sir."
"How so?"
"Spock and his father fell in love with you, didn't they?"
Maja glanced at Amanda in conversation with Kirk before he answered. "The timing gods were with me in both cases."
"How so?"
"Sarek was in a jam and had, I thought, a weak moment. What's surprising there is that he still wants me."
"And Spock?"
"Well," Maja glanced at Spock conversing with Master Whilla. "I met Spock shortly after his pet Sehlat, I'Chaya, died and he was in mourning. I just fit neatly into the void, that's all." Maja smiled wryly. "You, on the other hand, appear to have swept him off his feet at the peak of his powers. How ever did you do it?"
"I was very mean to him and then we almost died together."
"How romantic," Maja observed.
"Well, that came later." McCoy paused to enjoy Maja's laughter. "You must still have 'it,' Maja, you were with him for three days."
"Oh, that was just nostalgia. Spock is hard for me to enjoy like this."
"Like how?"
"Successful, secure and contented." Maja said. "Can't help it, I fell in love with a wounded little half caste, not this StaFlet bravo." Maja looked deeply into McCoy's amused eyes. "By the way, thanks."
"For what?"
"For saving him, so he can be a StaFlet bravo."
"It was my pleasure, Maja." McCoy watched the half Mage lapse into abstraction. "The trial begins tomorrow, doesn't it?"
"Aye." Maja listened to his mind, felt his brothers and sister communing with him and he with them on the eve of Hobie Talljet's trial in Shirkar Federation Court #3.
* * *
Jir had once mused to Maja that there must be an archetype for courtrooms because they were similar all over the galaxy and down through time.
Shirkar Federal Court #3 was no exception. The Judges and witnesses faced the prosecution and defense. Lapham, Charbon and Sarfati sat at their table and Storen and Smig sat across the aisle from them. Next to Storen and Smig was the image of another table where Hobie and Jir sat looking on in three dimensional holo splendor. The court had decided that this was the best way to ensure that the powerful telephatic Talljets did not influence events in their favor. It was not the most perfect arrangement but it was better than nothing. Other than the judges, three bailiffs and the attorneys, the courtroom was empty.
The Terrans wore their Star Fleet uniforms, the judges wore black robes and the Vulcan attorneys wore gray robes. All the vulcanoids had shaved their heads, except Hobie, who had his flowing ebony locks neatly tied back and flowing tidily down his back. Captain Talljet was also wearing his prison romper - a smartly cut blue-gray jumpsuit that was unintentionally flattering and nicely set off by Hobie's tall buccaneeresque boots.
"Be seated. Prosecution, call your first witness." Lord Suqiet, as senior judge in Hobie's trial, opened it without ceremony.
"The Federation calls DveKrit," Lapham said.
A burly mongrel humanoid was brought in from a secure area and seated in the witness chair.
The bailiff moved to his side. "State your name to the Court," he instructed.
"DveKrit." A snarl.
"The penalty for perjury in a Federation court is five years for each count. Are you now fully aware of the penalty for perjury in a Federation court?"
"Yes."
"Proceed." The bailiff stepped away from the witness.
Lapham stepped forward: "DveKrit, have you given a sworn statement to this court that you witnessed Hobie Talljet murder a trader named Gatshira in the city of Mse on Fobda?"
"Yes."
"Please repeat your statement here for the record."
DveKrit cleared his throat: "I met Hobie in a bar in Mse and he asked me if I wanted to come along while he closed a deal with Gatshira. I said yes and off we went to Gatshira's office. When we got there, Gatshira asked everybody else to leave and then he and Hobie got in an argument over the price of whatever Hobie was buying from him and then Hobie grabbed the old man and broke his neck."
"And then what happened?"
"Then we left. And that was the last I saw of Hobie until now."
"No further questions." Lapham sat down.
"Defense." Lord Suqiet looked at Jir, who dutifully rose to his feet.
"DveKrit, what was the name of the bar you met Hobie in?" Jir asked.
"I can't remember."
"How did you and Hobie go to Gatshira's office? On foot or by vehicle?"
"I don't remember."
"At Gatshira's office, what floor was it on?"
"I can't remember."
"Did you take the stairs or a lift?"
"I don't remember."
"What was Hobie trying to buy from Gatshira?"
"I don't know. I wasn't listening to them."
"Why not?"
"It was none of my business. I was just waiting for Hobie to finish."
"Finish what?'
"His deal."
"What deal?"
"I dunno."
"Objection. The witness has stated he did not know what Captain Talljet and Gatshira were discussing." Lapham rose.
"Sustained. Get on with it, SaJir." Lord Suqiet was brusque.
"Yes, sir." Jir suppressed an urge to brush his non-existent hair off his shoulders. "DveKrit, was Lii with you when you claim you saw Captain Talljet kill Gatshira?"
"No, he came in afterward."
"Where was Gatshira's body when Lii came in?"
"On the floor."
"Face up or face down?"
"I don't remember."
Jir looked down at his notes: "You said just now that 'Hobie grabbed the old man and broke his neck'. Did you see him grab him?"
"Yes."
"Where were you standing?"
"By the window."
"Were you watching Captain Talljet argue with Gatshira?"
"Yes."
"But you don't know what they were arguing about?"
"Objection. The witness has answered this question twice already," Lapham said.
"Sustained. Make your point, SaJir," Lord Suqiet growled.
"Yes, sir. DveKrit, where were Captain Talljet and Gatshira standing in the office?"
"I don't remember."
"DveKrit, you say Captain Talljet 'grabbed the old man.' Was it from the front or the back?"
"From the front."
"And then what happened?"
"Hobie snapped his neck like a twig."
"And then what happened?"
"Then we left."
"What happened after 'Hobie snapped his neck like a twig' and before you left?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"SaJir." Lord Suqiet warned.
"Your Honor, the witness just stated that Lii came in after Gatshira was dead but before he and Captain Talljet left the room. Now he says nothing happened before they left the room. Which is it?"
Lord Suqiet stared at Jir for a moment: "Phrase your questions as yes or no answers."
Jir, knowing Suqiet well, was ready for this. It was the old man's favorite ruse to move things along. He turned back to DveKrit.
"Did Lii come in after Gatshira was dead?"
"Yes."
"Was Captain Talljet still holding the body when Lii came in?"
"No."
"Was it on the floor?"
"Yes."
"Did Captain Talljet take anything from the room before you left?"
"No."
"Did you and Captain Talljet leave with Lii?"
"Yes."
"Did you take the lift or the stairs?"
"I can't remember."
"Did you and Lii and Captain Talljet separate inside the building?"
"No."
"Outside?"
"Yes."
"On the street?"
"Yes."
"Was it raining?"
"I don't remember."
"On your way out of the building, did you see anyone?"
"No."
"So. You, Captain Talljet and Lii left Gatshira lying dead on the floor of his office and exited the building?"
"Yes."
"I have no further questions." Jir remained standing, a signal he was not finished, while DveKrit was lead back to his cell.
Jir turned to Smig who rose in the courtroom. "Your Honors, the Defense would like to submit a Verified Mseian Police Report that states the victim was found seated in a chair in his office and had been strangled to death." Jir paused while Smig handed up one data chip. "I would also like to submit another Verified Mseian Police Report that states the victim was shot to death on the steps of his office building." Smig handed up another chip. "I would further like to submit one last Verified Mseian Police Report that the victim drowned and fished up out of the harbor three days before there is any record of Captain Talljet even arriving on Fobda." Jir watched Smig return to his seat while he waited.
"The Court will take these conflicting verified reports under its consideration," Lord Suqiet growled. "Counsel, if you had these reports, you had no need to waste this Court's time in cross examination of that witness."
"I request the Court disregard the witness and his testimony as unreliable and now unverifiable." Jir said with a touch too much timing.
"SaJir, if you waste this Court's time discrediting witnesses in cross examination that are already discredited otherwise, I will forbid or severely limit your cross examination time." Lord Suqiet said evenly.
"Yes, sir." Jir cursed his inner prima donna and hoped he looked 'serious' enough. "In that case, in light of these new and conflicting Mseian Police Reports, I request that the Court disregard the next witness, Lii, as his testimony was only a corroboration of DveKrit's."
"No. We will hear the witness. Call him." Lord Suqiet turned to the bailiff.
Lapham rose: "Your Honor, we'd like a thirty minute recess."
"No. Call your witness. Now." Only those that knew Lord Suqiet well could tell he was irritated.
"Prosecution calls Lii," Lapham said dully. He was shocked he couldn't get a recess.
A tall swarthy VrsiliCheq swaggered into the witness box, stated his name was Lii and affirmed his understanding of the Federation's perjury law.
"Please repeat the contents of your sworn statement for the record, Lii," Lapham asked once his witness was settled.
"I came in looking for Gatshira and I saw Hobie break his neck. Hobie let him fall to the floor and was standing over his body when I came in. DveKrit was there and we all three left together." The VrsiliCheq cast a furtive glance at Hobie, who was looking on with mild interest.
"No further questions, your Honor." Lapham hastily sat back down.
"Defense." Lord Suqiet looked at Jir.
Jir stood. "Lii, where was DveKrit standing when you came in?"
"By the desk."
"Do you remember what he was doing?"
"I think he was looking at some papers."
"Do you know what papers?"
"No."
"Do you remember what time it was?"
"Afternoon some time."
"When you were coming to Gatshira's office, was the door open or closed?"
"Open. I could hear them arguing."
"Who arguing?"
"Hobie and Gatshira."
"About what?"
"Money. What else?"
"Can you be more specific?" Jir was intrigued by this embroidery. He glanced at Lord Suqiet to see how he was taking it but his face was unreadable.
"Gatshira wanted more for something than Hobie wanted to pay, I think. Hard to remember now."
Jir nodded. "One last question: when you three left, did you take the stairs or the lift?"
"The lift because DveKrit was limping."
"Limping from what?"
"It was raining that day. He'd slipped in a puddle earlier in the day, he said."
Jir thoughtfully inhaled. "I have no further questions, your Honor." He remained standing while Lii was led out. He nodded to Smig, who rose and warily approached the bench with a data chip. "Your Honor, I wish to submit a blueprint of Gatshira's office/warehouse. It does not contain a lift."
"Is this the only blueprint of Gatshira's office/warehouse, Counsel?" Lord Suqiet snarled subtly.
"It is, your Honor," Jir said solemnly. "The only one we could find."
* * *
"You will accomplish nothing provoking Lord Suqiet, Jir," Storen warned late that afternoon in Jir's office.
Jir rolled on his bed and adjusted his loin cloth. A trail of gray robes led from the door to the duvet. "It's hard to control myself. All I want to do is pirouette around the room and laugh."
"That would be magnificent, Jira," Smig said. "But this is Vulcan and you must play your part."
"All right, all right. I get it." Jir leaned into his intercom and asked when their dinner from Strivasa, the best restaurant in Shirkar and the law firm's usual caterer, would arrive. Sobora told him very soon. "It's my first day, I'm nervous - yes! I admit it! - I'm nervous but I'll be in better form tomorrow. Today went better then I expected."
"Unreliable prosecution witnesses and conflicting police reports usually bode well for the defense, Jir." Storen was a realist. "Tomorrow you will need all your wits and perhaps more."
"Aye," Jir agreed. "Ibri Adniz. I met her once. Six years ago. Incredible woman. Tall, serene, graceful. Reminded me of T'Pau on a good day. I had to resist curtseying to her. Hobie said he has the same problem. She's vicious, 'tho. I saw her shoot down one of her own crew that didn't move fast enough. I heard about the Miska system, she wrung every bit of juice out of it before Star Fleet ran her off. Whole planets were stripped for slaves and raw materials. The one planet that resisted, Qinpia, was fried as an example to the rest. After that, no resistance. The system lost forty percent of its population and the ecosystems of six planets are on the critical list." The food arrived and he paused while it was laid out on the table by the window. "And this is to whom the Federation offers immunity so they can nail Hobie."
"She will be a formidable witness," Storen said.
"Then we must be formidable attorneys." Jir turned his attention to his meal and asked after Smig's mother. It was not the firm's custom to discuss business at meals.
* * *
'Catalogue of works offered for sale from the private collection of the Sa family.'
Amanda looked up from the Shara Auction House prospectus on her viewer and a question at MajaKhat.
"The Masters decided that there would be less objection from the Church if the paintings did not seem to come directly from the Commune. We are, in many respects, considered property and therefore do not really own what we produce. However, we are allowed to give non-commissioned work to whomever we please and if they choose to sell it and give us the money, no one has ever really objected." MajaKhat shrugged.
"How many are your paintings?"
"Five. Three from my collection and two that I gave Gozine."
"I'm sorry you must give them up, Maja."
"Yes, me too. But I am glad that I'm alive to be able to give them up. I owe the Talljets this much, if not more."
Amanda scrolled down to two impressive landscapes and a portrait of Tien grinding pigment in a huge pestle and daydreaming when he was twelve by Master Whilla.
'Master Brij Gozshedrefreingin Whilla
1. View of the Tossarian Gates at twilight. (Oil on treated mylar) 3M X 4.5M
2. Portrait of Tien Gozshedrefreingin baMajaKhat. (Oil on canvas) 2.75M X 5M
3. Strand of trees on Rovirin. (Oil on canvas) 3M X 6M'
"I remember him painting these trees on Rovirin," MajaKhat said. "We had almost finished the garrison but had not started the cathedral and so Whilla, the structural designer, was at a stop. He was bored so he set up an easel to amuse himself. Brij never amuses himself. He ate and slept next to that easel until the painting was done. It turned out to be a great painting. I was totally impressed; I didn't know he had that much technique."
'Master Uzqin Gozshedrefreingin Dhec
1. Casting bronzes in the Gozshedrefreingin Commune. (Oil on canvas) 2M X 4M
2. Master Ghet and his apprentice selecting marble. (Oil on canvas) 4.5M X 7M
3. The shore and hills at Lokka. (Acrylic on mylar) 3M X 5M'
"'Master Ghet selecting marble' was made to win a bet that the bronze sculptors could paint as well as the painters. They can; they won. They paint fast, too, they had this done in two days. Master Dhec also wanted to make a point that one could take as mundane a subject as selecting raw marble and make it dramatic by painting it in the style of a religious subject. He was right about that - Gozine and Hraja look like saints in this painting. Amazing a bronze sculptor can paint this well. I'm so glad he prefers to work in metals."
Amanda smiled and scrolled down to Maja Talljet's work.
'Master Gozine Gozshedrefreingin Ghet
1. View of the scaffolding on the Tossarian Gates. (Oil on canvas) 2M X 3M
2. Sleeping youth (Hraja Gozshedrefreingin baMajaKhat) (Oil on canvas) 2.5M X 5M
3. Western view of the city of Nakfrin. (Acrylic on mylar) 2M X 2M
4. Drawing class in the Gozshedrefreingin Commune (Tien as figure model) (Oil on canvas) 3.5M X 4M
"Gozine has trouble sleeping so he paints. He thought the scaffolding on the Tossarian Gates was especially wonderful and painted this to honor Master Whilla. Scaffolding can be the difference between living and dying on a project like that, you know.
"I've never liked this painting of Hraja, he looks like a harem boy in it.
"Kalzat will not be happy to have a nude of Tien floating around in the art world but what can you do? This is very much how a drawing lesson looks in the Commune."
"Yes, I know. I've modeled for them."
"That seems like a long long time ago, doesn't it?"
Amanda nodded and scrolled to the last set of images.
'Master Maja Gozshedrefreingin Khat
1. Master Ghet and his young children (Oil on canvas) 4M X 4M
2. Gozine the Confessor (Oil on canvas) 3M X 4.5M
3. Tien, Hraja, Farro and Kalzat playing under their tree (Oil on canvas) 3M X 4M
4. Tien and Kalzat (Oil on canvas) 3M X 3M
5. Master Ghet and his children (Oil on canvas) 5M X 5M
"No wonder you don't want to give them up." Amanda said quietly.
"I painted this first one when Farro had just learned to walk. It was a hell to get him to stay in the group.
"This portrait of Gozine the Confessor was commissioned by a Haat general who died before it was completed.
"They loved this tree when we lived on Zatichket so much they wanted to live in it. They were jealous of it and wouldn't let the other children play under it. It was their obsession so I painted this so they would have a memento of it.
"I didn't realize it when I was painting them, but I think Tien and Kalzat had just fallen in love."
"They look it."
"Don't they? They were about fifteen then. They still look at each other this way. Love; it's utterly amazing.
"And this is the hardest to give up. I finished this just before Gozine ... just before he left Rovirin. I like the composition of Gozine seated and the children standing around his chair. Gozine has his hammer and chisel in his hands with the runes on the back of his hands facing up. The children grouped around him, Tien holding a palette, Hraja with a hammer and chisel, Farro with a small bronze, each indicating their métier. I couldn't put Kalzat in directly but if you look in the mirror, there he is."
"Was this a commission?"
"No. I made it for me. It turned out to be the last time we were all together as a family."
Amanda nodded. "Perhaps you should withdraw it."
"Well, actually Amanda, this is a copy. I still have the original."
"Well, that's good." She smiled. "When is the auction?"
"In three days. Gozine is making sure certain wealthy Klingons hear about it. KmordriYhet for one."
"Does Master Ghet realize how much Hraja suffered from that Klingon?"
"No. What Master Ghet realizes is how little, in his opinion, Hraja suffered from that Klingon. What concerns me is that Master Ghet might try to manipulate that Klingon with Hraja."
"Would he?"
"If he thought he could, he might. Master Ghet has much in common with my mother."
* * *
end of part 58
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Appendices: http://members.tripod.com/karmen_ghia/atrappendices.html