Consequences

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Star Trek characters or anything.

Summary: AU.  Hoshi deals with the consequences of her involvement with Terra Prime, and Malcolm is forcibly re-recruited by some old acquaintances. This is the sequel to “Mistakes”, and won't really make any sense if you don’t read it first.

A/N- Thank you to my beta, Dinah.

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Malcolm

The first thing Malcolm was aware of was how utterly dry his mouth felt.  He let his tongue roam over his teeth, searching for moisture.  His eyes drifted open to a room he didn’t recognize.  He scanned the small room, turning his head slowly from side to side.  The room was completely empty except for the medical cot he was lying on. 

No cabinets, no monitors, no instruments. 

Just him in a stark white room. 

And a door. 

With no handle. 

He was back. 

Malcolm sighed and closed his eyes again briefly.  He felt so tired that he could easily fall back into unconsciousness. His arms and legs felt like lead, and he briefly imagined he couldn’t move them at all.  He closed his eyes again and focused on moving his toes.  He was surprised to find them enclosed in shoes.  He opened his eyes to look down at his boots.  Not only was he still wearing his shoes, but he also had all his clothes on.

Malcolm lay still for a moment more, then pushed himself up on his arms.  Almost immediately he was forced to lie back down as the room swam around him.  He took a couple of deep breaths, then tried again.  This time he was ready for the dizziness that assaulted him.  He fought it as he pulled one leg over the edge of the bed, then the other. Just as he pushed himself into a standing position, Griswald walked into the room. 

“Sit back down before you fall over.” He lightly pushed Malcolm back towards the small bed, sitting him down. 

Malcolm opened his mouth to speak, but had to clear his throat to continue.  “What did you give me?”  He was surprised at the sound of his own voice.  He cleared his throat again.

“6B.” 

“Nothing else?” Malcolm demanded.

 Griswald shook his head and pulled a hypo from his pocket.  He reached towards Malcolm but was stopped as Malcolm clumsily swatted his hand away. 

“What’s that?” 

Griswald grabbed Malcolm’s wrist and quickly pressed the hypo against Malcolm’s neck.  “It’s for the headache.  Stop acting so goddamn jumpy.”  He put the empty hypo back in his pocket, “The drowsiness should wear off in a couple of hours.”

“Bloody hell, Griz…” Malcolm scolded as he rubbed his hands against his temples. 

Griswald shrugged.  “You had to have known…”

Malcolm moved his hands from his head to his neck as his fogginess receded.

“And if you didn’t at least suspect Harris was going to knock you out the first chance he got, you’ve got a few more problems than getting some extra shut eye.” 

Malcolm scowled at him.  “So I’m assuming this is the new facility.” 

Griswald took out a med scanner, then nodded.  “Yep, this is the new and truly improved base.”  He ran the scanner over Malcolm.  “Harris didn’t want you to know quite where we are until he has a better idea about you.” 

“So where are we?” 

“Why don’t you figure it out?  Isn’t that what you spy fellas do?”  Grizwald grinned at him.

“You’re not really an awful lot of help, are you?” Malcolm sighed deeply as the wooziness seemed to melt away, “I’m starving. Where’s the mess?” 

“I’ll show you”-- Griswald pulled Malcolm to his feet -- “but let me warn you first, it’s one of the few places that’s new but not really improved.” 

Malcolm walked towards the door.  “I don’t really care; I’m absolutely famished.  How long was I out?” 

“Two days.”  He smiled again, obviously waiting for Malcolm’s reaction.

Malcolm stopped and looked back at the doctor.  “Did you really go to university just so you could be some mad scientist for a shady organization?  Because you really do get entirely too much enjoyment from this.” 

Griswald laughed as he reached in his pocket for his ID card.  “I missed you too, Mal.”  He tapped his card against a reader and the door popped open.  “Now let’s get some food in you before you decide to kill someone.”

Malcolm’s face darkened slightly.

Griswald shrugged, “Poor choice of words.”  He slapped Malcolm’s back good-naturedly, “Come on, the food’s really not that bad.”

=/\=

Hoshi

Hoshi sat quietly as she picked over the food on her tray.  It wasn’t that she wasn’t hungry; she just wasn’t interested.  She looked up as someone set a tray in front of her.  It was always hard to find an empty table during meal times, but typically Hoshi could avoid sitting with the different groups.  Hoshi was surprised when she saw Kira sit down in front of her.  Hoshi waited for the woman to say something, but Kira just started eating with no obvious intention of making conversation.  Hoshi looked back down at her tray and spooned some potatoes into her peas.

“You cry in your sleep.” 

Hoshi glanced at the woman who was now focusing on her.

“You aren’t very good at starting conversations,” Hoshi countered.  She’d known her cell mate for just under a week, and they hadn’t yet had what Hoshi considered to be a normal conversation.  Hoshi herself stayed quiet mostly, while Kira would occasionally make abrupt statements. 

Kira smiled, and just like any other time she did, it gave Hoshi the chills. 

“Why?”

“Well, because you do that… You just say something without any pretext.”

“Why do you cry?”

Hoshi sighed tiredly and set down her fork.  It wasn’t worth pretending she was going to eat something anyway.  “Why are any of us here?  I made a mistake.”

That seemed to answer Kira’s question, as she remained silent for the rest of her meal.  As soon as the buzzer sounded, Hoshi got up and threw away what was left on her tray. Then she walked out to the yard designated for recreational time.

Usually during this time she would sit on the bench across the yard. 

Alone. 

In fact, Hoshi spent as much time as she could alone. She didn’t want to talk to anyone, or answer questions, or convince anyone that she wasn’t guilty.  She was. And she knew she was.  And so did everyone else on the ship.  Hoshi sat down on her bench. 

They had all seen what she was at her trial.

*

Hoshi stood up as the presiding judge walked into the room.  She felt a stab of dread shoot through her as her situation became painfully real.

“Be seated. Counselor, are you ready?”

 A woman Hoshi recognized as Counselor Thatcher stood up. “Yes, Your Honor.”

Thatcher had been an activist against Terra Prime ever since the incident on the moon base.  Since that time, she had dealt almost exclusively with cases against Terra Prime.  Hoshi both admired and envied her.  She’d had the good fortune to pick the right side.

Judge Mason turned to Hoshi, “And Ensign Sato, you have refused counsel, correct?”

Hoshi nodded.  “Yes, Your Honor.” 

“Alright, then. Let’s begin.  This hearing today is to determine the guilt or innocence of Ensign Hoshi Sato.  Ensign Sato has been charged with the attempted murders of Commander Tucker and Commander T’Pol, aiding the terrorist organization known as Terra Prime, and murder in the third degree of the hybrid child Elizabeth as a result of her participation. Lieutenant Thatcher, you may begin.

Thatcher walked from behind her small desk, glancing over to Hoshi.  “Your Honor, I call Ensign Hoshi Sato.”

Hoshi walked to the chair to the right of the judge.  She sat down and put her hand on the scanner to her right.  The scanner chirped then blinked green, verifying her identity. 

Hoshi looked up and out to the crowd.  This was the first time she had really gotten a look at the building they were in.  It looked very much like the conference hall they had used for the Alliance Peace talks, and it was filled with people.  Almost a hundred people occupied the seats in front of her.  Hoshi scanned the group for a familiar face and found only Archer among them.  She caught his gaze, but almost immediately looked away, opting to look at her hands instead. 

“Ensign Sato,” the tall blond woman began, “When did you first become involved in Terra Prime operations?” 

“I was involved for a brief time, almost two years ago.”

“So you do admit to one time being a member of Terra Prime.”

“Not formally, but yes.”

“And what was your function?”

“I was supposed to run masked transmissions of information files given to me by Ensign Masaro.” 

“And that was it?”

“Yes.”

“So you transmitted the DNA of Commanders Tucker and T’Pol to Terra Prime.”

“Yes.”

“Which ended in the death of a genetically engineered child, correct?”

Hoshi tried to swallow the growing lump in her throat, “Yes.”

“And what message was this supposed to bring?”

She looked into the crowd of people watching her for a moment, like maybe she could find the answer there, Hoshi found nothing,  “I don’t know.”

Thatcher crossed her arms, “But you participated… You didn’t even know what you were participating in?

“It was supposed to prove that different species shouldn’t mix.”

“Is that how you feel, Ensign Sato?” the woman asked accusingly.

“Absolutely not.”

“Then why did you help these people?”

Hoshi just shook her head, it seemed so long ago.  She searched herself for a sufficient answer but came up short. “I was confused,” she confessed.

Thatcher nodded her head sharply, “Were you confused when almost a year later you tried to kill two fellow officers while they slept?” she demanded.

At this, Hoshi looked back at Archer then met the counselor's gaze.  “I had nothing to do with that.”

“You used the terminal that the virus was downloaded onto.  You had the virus file in your communications log from an unregistered comm line.  The virus was made by Terra Prime, with whom you had relations.  Do you have any evidence that you didn’t participate in this?”

“No.  Only that I have no reason to lie.”  Hoshi pushed on.  “I admit to everything else.  But I didn’t try to kill my friends, my colleagues.  Whoever did this is still on the Enterprise, and that means the crew isn’t safe.”

“But all we have to back that up is your word, Ensign Sato.” 

“Yes.”

“And really, if we look at your record when it comes to honesty, your word isn’t really worth a lot, is it?”

Hoshi gazed at the woman, then looked back to her hands in shame.  “No, I suppose it isn’t.”

Thatcher, assured that she had made her point, nodded her head sharply. “That will be all, Your Honor.”

=/\=

TBC