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༄ chapter thirty four
-ˋˏ MORALS OR DUTY?ˎˊ-
ADMIRAL Marcus demanded Khan be released into his care.
Vera was there when the admiral's face - a face she had grown to resent for his consistent lies and the militarization of a federation she had just begun to see as home - had appeared on the bridge, his voice loud and clear as he threatened violence in exchange for the lack of return of the criminal.
Vera was there when Kit rushed up to the bridge from security detail, grabbing onto her shoulder as Marcus spoke and asking if they could talk in private later, to which she immediately agreed.
Vera was there when Kirk, face scarred from the Kronos mission, tried to cooperate and reason with his superior, to no avail.
Vera was there when Spock got unreasonably close to her as he practically pressed his chest onto her back, but she couldn't say she had minded it.
Vera was there when her morals and ethics were placed into question once again with the mention of the torpedos and what lie within them.
And, as much as Vera hated Khan for everything he had done to her - stolen her godfather and mother, further pushed her away from her brother and sister, forced her to make herself comfortable with the young boy seemingly thrust into her care through her own volition - there was a gut feeling there, one that told her that, no matter what Khan had done to affect her, Admiral Marcus was the one in this situation that was not to be trusted under any circumstance.
It seemed Kirk had readily agreed with her criticisms of Marcus after the discovery of the innocents trapped within the bombs, and had quickly instructed that Sulu keep the shields surrounding the USS Enterprise intact, directing his questioning over the intercom as he spoke to engineering, "Mister Chekov, can we warp?"
The small voice of the young Russian sounded warbled over the commotion downstairs, yet Vera was able to pick through the accent and background noise to decipher what he said: "Sir, if we go to warp, we run the risk of seriously damaging the core."
"Can we do it?" Kirk pressed.
Chekov sighed, "Technically, yes, but I would not advise it, Captain." Vera immediately felt uneasy at the situation, her eyes scanning the bridge, looking for one of her friends to latch onto, to ground herself and make the situation seem like reality, rather than the strange dream it had seemed to be.
