They eventually dropped Peter Griffin off-ship in the system of Castor. It was the nearest world to their exit from the demilitarized zone that was capable of dealing with the odd case of Peter Griffin.653Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡASSRST1eKi
Not surprisingly, Brenda Chenowith asked to be transferred to the security detail that would keep an eye---several eyes---on the prisoner both prior to and after the trial.
Not surprisingly, Sawyer granted her request. He'd already come to the conclusion that if Peter Griffin/Whatever was absolved of wrongdoing in diverting the Esmeralda into the demilitarized zone---Sawyer had told the Plooran to plead compulsion---the presence of Brenda Chenowith would be the best thing for him.
It would probably also be the best thing for Brenda Chenowith.
He was mildly concerned that the Sebaceans might still try to make hay of the Esmeralda's incursion into the demilitarized zone, exhibiting their own damaged ship as evidence of the brutal Space Federation's unrelenting bellicosity.
As it developed, a number of things conspired to prevent this.
For one, there was the fact that the Esmeralda had encountered not one but two battle-ready, fully prepared cruisers. They'd badly damaged one and put the other to flight, though the Sebaceans would doubtlessly insist that the second had broken off the engagement only to go to the assistance of its injured comrade.
Far more influential was Spock's official report, with corroboration by Griffin, of continued Sebacean visitation to the mutually quarantined world of Ploor. Politicians handled this awkward situation in the usual way. A number of high-ranking officials quietly got together, shared a few drinks and dirty jokes, and decided to let the whole matter drop.
Meanwhile the Esmeralda lay over in Castorian orbit to take on supplies for the first part of the new year and to make a few much-needed repairs. Finn, for example, had a chance to go over his medical instrumentation with the testing facilities of a major ground-based hospital. And Gordon had help in repairing the deflector-shield links that Griffin had thoroughly disrupted.
Despite her extensive facilities there were still a number of minor components the Esmeralda required which the orbiting supply station couldn't provide. But nothing the ship couldn't get along without.
To obtain them Sawyer would have had to travel a fair number of parsecs to the major Fleet base at Alpha Talis IV. Instead, he chose to spend the rest of the holiday season orbiting somnolent, restful Castor.
While Castor was still something of a frontier world, its larger cities offered sufficiently sophisticated fleshpots to satisfy the more cosmopolitan tastes of certain of the Esmeralda's crew. And her rural attractions sufficed to assuage the nerves of the less adventurous.
In sum, it was an ideal stopover world.
Sawyer spent a week fishing at a magnificently clear, unpolluted mountain lake---relaxing, hiking, and letting his beard grow. At the end of seven days he found the open spaces oddly confining, the theoretical vastness of the mountain valley closing in until the surrounding peaks induced a sensation bordering on the claustrophobic.
A sure sign vacation time was up.
He returned to the Esmeralda. Two days later the last member of the crew had been rounded up, brought back on board, and either treated for accumulated cuts and bruises, formally bailed out, or sobered up.
While in space his crew formed a perfectly integrated, smoothly functioning machine. But they were a reservoir of human emotions and resentments. Every so often these needed to be drained to keep his personnel healthy. Depending on your point of view, Castor was the lucky (or unlucky) world that served as the requisite sponge.653Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkd3g3OQj2b
Once back in free space, Sawyer set the Esmeralda on a course that would bring it 'round in a wide swing to pass close by Carinus, one of the Space Federation's seven principle Fleet bases.653Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKSIbCceUul
