Rush stood outside the brig, his arms folded. Turhi was standing inside, rather than sitting. Rush hated to admit that he was somewhat impressed by this; he could tell from the semiglazed look in Turhi's eyes that the Centauri was fighting off ripples of pain and residual dizziness. He could just as easily have been seated, but something about him----pride, determination, arrogance, stubbornness---prompted him to be on his feet.
"Feel free to sit," Rush invited.
"I wish to remain taller than you," replied Turhi.
Inwardly, Rush smiled. Outwardly, all he did was glance at Johansen, who was standing at his side for a reaction. She rolled her eyes in a manner that simply said, Men. Of course, that might have applied equally to Rush.
"I am Lord Vito Turhi," Turhi said archly
"Captain Nicholas Rush. Would you care to tell me why you stowed away on my vessel?"
"How did you know that I had done so?"
"I ask the questions here," Rush said sharply.
Unperturbed, Turhi replied, "No, I ask the questions, Captain."
Jakar Thul was standing nearby, his massive three-fingered hands on his hips, watching the questioning. "Sir, break him in half would I if order it you will," he said. There was no eagerness in his voice, nor trepidation. It was just a matter-of-fact statement.
Rush gave it a moment's thought. "Proceed, Lieutenant. If nothing else, it'll cure him of his annoying standing."
Thul nodded and reached for the button to deactivate the field so that he could enter the brig and fold Vito backward. Johansen looked from the expressionless Rush to Thul to Turhi, who looked slightly disconcerted by the abrupt direction that matters were taking. She turned so that her back was to Turhi as she whispered to Rush, "Captain! With all due respect, you can't do that!"
"I'm not," Rush said reasonably, making no effort to keep his voice down. "Lieutenant Thul is. Lieutenant, go ahead. Break him in half. Or a sixty/forty split would suffice. This isn't an exact science."
Johansen stared intently into Rush's eyes---and then understanding seemed to dawn. She turned back to Turhi and said, "I tried. I tried to talk him out of it. He won't listen to me. If it's of any consolation, I'll be sending a stern report to Fleet in regards to this heinous treatment. If you'll excuse me," and she started to walk away.
Thull shut off the forcefield and stepped in, immense fists flexing.
"Wait!" Turhi said, taking an unsteady step backward. Then he cleared his throat, trying to regain his composure. "Wait," he repeated, far more calmly this time. "I seen no reason that we need to be adversarial about this. I---need passage back to my system. Back to Centauri space."
In quick, carefully chosen phrases, he laid out his situation for them. Who he was, his desire to turn home, his need for protection that only a starship could provide.
"And you felt that sneaking on board was preferable to simply approaching the captain directly?" asked Johansen.
"I had already broached the notion to his superiors," Turhi said. "They had refused me. To encourage a subordinate officer to take actions counter to the sentiment of his superiors---even though they were sentiments that angered me---would have been dishonorable."
"But that's what you're doing now, isn't it?" Johansen countered. "You're asking him to countermand those orders."
"I'm already here," replied Turhi. "It's a different situation. I'm giving him no choice but to countermand them and accept me as a passenger."
"So it's all right to force someone to help you, but it's not all right to just ask them," asked Johansen. Turhi made no reply, but just gave a small shrug.
"I can toss you out of the ship right now. Leave you to fend for yourself. In fact, I can simply throw you bodily into space right now---and nothing could stop me!" Rush pointed out. Johansen knew damned well that, for starters, Fleet regulations would stop him. But she said nothing since she didn't want to undercut her captain---and besides, one never knew with Nicholas Rush. Johansen was 99% sure that he wouldn't take such an action, but it was the remaining 1% that made her hold her tongue.
Unaware of what was going through Johansen's mind, Turhi replied, "But you won't. For you would be wasting precious material. One does not become a leader of men by wasting material and opportunities when they present themselves." Turhi looked and sounded utterly confident. Whether he genuinely was or else was just putting on the act of his life, Rush wasn't wholly sure.
"And just what is it that makes you 'precious material?'"
"I can be a goodwill ambassador. I can be your connection to what once was in the hope of building that which will be. I can guide you through areas of space that are unfamiliar to you."
Rush snorted skeptically. "Why don't I just make you ship's cook while I'm at it?"
"Captain," said Turhi, taking a step forward. Jakar growled warningly low in his throat, and it sounded like two asteroids crunching together. Taurhi stopped where he was and wisely took a step back. "You're entering my home. My backyard, as you would call it. Quite simply, it would be the height of stupidity to toss aside any potential resource. The question becomes: Are you a stupid man?"
"Your tone you shall watch," Jakar Thul warned him.
"Now, if you wouldn't mind, Captain, considering my candor---how did you know that I had smuggled myself aboard in that cargo?"
"Mislabeling, really. Several bills of lading had been misplaced, and technicians were using tricorders to run quick scans on cargo contents. Saved us having to go through them box by box."
"Clerical error. I see."
"I'll be discussing this with my senior officers," Rush told Turhi. "You are to remain here until the decision is made. Understood?"
"Your sentiments seem clear enough. And Captain..."
"Yes?"
"Thank you for your consideration. And thank you, Commander," he said to Johansen with a small smile, for not allowing me to be broken in half."
"Don't mention it," she told him generously.
Jakar Thul stepped out and reactivated the forcefield as Rush and Johansen headed down the hall. As soon as they were out of earshot, Johansen told him with confidence. "I'm feeling a little bit better."
"Are you?"
"Yes. Because although our three years together gives us a degree of emotional baggage, it also means we can be in synch on some things without a lot of preplanning."
"Such as?"
"Well, just before. When we slipped into that 'good cop, bad cop' routine."
He stopped and stared at her. "What are you talking about?"
" 'Cop.' Old Earth slang for a law-enforcement official. When they would question someone, two of the law officials would work in tandem, one being threatening, the other conciliatory, in order to manipulate the person being questioned. Good cop, bad cop."
"Never heard of it." he stared to walk away but she put a hand on his upper arm, stopping him.
For a moment she felt the hardness of his muscle and though, Well, he's certainly kept working out. Out loud, though, she said, "You weren't really going to have Jakar break him in two."
Rush smiled in a manner so mysterious that even the Mona Lisa would have been hard-pressed to find fault with it, and then he walked away, leaving Johansen shaking her head before heading to the bridge.
"So he 'covered' for me," Soleta said. It was not a question; it was as if she knew ahead of time.
"You don't sound surprised," Rush said.
"I try never to sound surprised. In this instance, though----I simply am not."
Soleta, Rush and Johansen were in the captain's ready room. Rush was leaning slightly back, his feet up on his desk. "Why not?" asked Johansen.
"His desire was to get aboard the vessel. He accomplished that. There would have been no advantage at all in informing you of my duplicity. Alleged duplicity," she amended.
Johansen looked to Rush for an answer that she already knew. "So Soleta came to you with her dilemma, and you approved her 'sneaking' him aboard."
"That's correct. Problem with that?"
"Several, the most prominent being your not telling me beforehand. But putting that aside---I'm going to make the educated guess that you intend to let him stay aboard."
"It is a logical assumption," Soleta agreed. Although the remark was addressed to Johansen, her gazed stayed fixed on Rush. "After all, I warned the captain before we loaded the hidden Vito Turhi onto the ship. We could just as easily have left him behind." Rush inclined his head slightly to indicate his concurrence with her astute observation.
"All right, then,"
Johansen said readily. “That being the case, why in the world did you go through all the subterfuge? Why did you act surprised? Why did you go through this whole song and dance?”
Rush draped his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. “I know Turhi’s type, Commander. Hell, I’ve fought his type. The first and foremost consideration is ego. The second is pride. He’s part of a ruling class, and is accustomed to doing things his way, even if that way is tremendously complicated. In a way, Commander, you should be able to appreciate his point of view.”
“How so?”
“Because he cared about two things: the chain of command, and settling a matter of honor. He did not wish to undercut superior officers, but he felt that Soleta owed him a favor since he helped save his life back on Centauri Prime years ago. And you, Lieutenant, were right to come to me with this situation.”
“I saw no logical alternative. Basically, he was right---I did owe him a favor. By the same token, I owe my allegiance to Fleet.” She paused for a moment. “Do you know that he knew I’d go to you and ‘arrange’ for him to sneak on, knowing all the time that it would be a setup?”
“Lieutenant, you can lose your mind if you try to think these things through too much.”
“So what do we do, Captain? Do we let him stay?” asked Johansen.
“Of course we let him stay. As Soleta pointed out, I wouldn’t have allowed him on, subterfuge or no, if I didn’t intend to let him stay put.”
“But why?”
He leaned back in his chair. “Because I’ve heard good things about him through the grapevine. Despite his position as part of the ruling family, he was---is---a man of compassion. One doesn’t encounter many of those, and if nothing else, I’m intrigued enough to want to study him close up. I figure that he may give us some degree of insight into the Centauri mind-set, if nothing else. The bottom line is, he may be an officious, arrogant ass, but he’s a well-regarded officious, arrogant ass. So I reasoned that he might as well be our officious arrogant ass.”
“We can’t have too many, I suppose,” replied Johansen.
He opened his mouth to continue his train of thought, but the train was abruptly derailed as Johansen's comment sunk in. "Meaning?"
"Nothing, sir," deadpanned Johansen. "Just an observation."
"Mm-hmm." He didn't appear convinced. But he allowed it to pass and turned to Soleta. "All right, Lieutenant. Seeing as how he's your pal and all...."
"Pal?" She turned the odd word over in her mouth.
"....go spring him from the brig, on my authority. Coordinate with James and get him set up in quarters."
"Diplomatic?"
"Hell no. Crew quarters will suffice. We wouldn't want him to get any more of a swelled head than he's already got. Inform him, however, that he's on parole. We'll be keeping an eye on him. If he tries anything the least bit out of kilter, he's going to wind up as smear marks on Jakar Thul's boots. That'll be all, Lieutenant. Oh, and Lieutenant," he added as an afterthought, "schedule some time for department heads to meet. I want a scientific overview of Centauri Prime. I intended to make that our first stop."
"Straight to the homeworld?" Soleta raised an eyebrow. "Do you expect trouble with achieving that rather incendiary destination?"
"Expect it? No. Anticipate it? Always?"
She nodded, an ever-so-brief smile playing on her lips and then quickly hidden by long practice, as she exited the ready room. When she was gone, Johansen folded her arms and half-sat on the edge of Rush's desk. "May I ask how you think Admiral Hammond will react to this development? He was the one who originally forbade Turhi from joining the mission."
"Obviously he'll be quite angry."
"And out of a sense of morbid curiosity, was the anticipated reaction part of your motivation in allowing Turhi to remain?"
"A part? Yes. A major part? No. The good admiral caused me grief in the past, and I certainly don't mind tossing some aggravation his way. But if I didn't think Taurhi could be useful on this voyage, I wouldn't have allowed him on the ship just to annoy Hammond. That's just----" He paused and then, for lack of a better word, he said, "----a bonus."
Vito Turhi surveyed his quarters with a critical eye. Soleta and Jakar Thul stood just inside the doorway. After what seemed an infinity of consideration, Turhi turned to them and said, "I assume your captain didn't give me diplomatic quarters because he didn't wish to aggrandize my sense of self-importance."537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNBSDYY7esS
"He didn't put it quite that way, but that is essentially correct."
Turhi nodded a moment, and then he looked at Thul. "I'd like a moment's privacy with Soleta." Thul's gaze flickered between the two of them with suspicion. "Thul, you'll have to leave me on my own sooner or later," Turhi reminded him. "Unless you're planning to make guarding me your life's work."
"My life it be," Thul replied.
"We'll be fine, Jakar," said Soleta, placing a reassuring hand on Thul's arm. Thul leaned slightly forward and Turhi realized that that was how Thul nodded, since his neck wasn't the most maneuverable. The Malon stepped back out of the room and the door closed.
"You and Thul seem to share a certain familiarity with each other."
"We studied together at Fleet Academy."
"And study was all you did?"
"No. We also saved each other's lives on occasion. You see the world rather oddly, Vito. May I ask why you wished to speak privately?"
"I," and he cleared his throat. "I wanted to thank you for helping me."
"You're welcome."
"I hope I didn't force you to compromise yourself in any way."
"It's a bit late to be worried about that," Soleta told him.
"That's valid enough, I suppose. Still I," and for a second time he cleared his throat. "I would like to think that maybe the two of us could be....friends."
"Yes....I am sure you would like to think that." And she turned and left him alone in his quarters.
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