The captain and several others were gathered in the ship's gymnasium. There was a game of Parisi Squares taking place, somewhat as scheduled, between Lieutenant Ivanovna and Commander Jevor. Captain Freeman was sitting next to Doctor Giovanni, along with several others, on one side of the small playing area's transparent walls. Commander Yilaan was sitting with some of her friends on the other side.
The crowd oooo'd and ahhh'd as various feints and stabs were made by the two opponents at each other. The captain noted with a small bit of smug delight the worried expression on Commander Yilaan's face as her favorite in the match, Lieutenant Ivanovna, was down by two points.
"So, you're not comfortable with the solution to this crisis with the Gorn are you Captain?" the doctor was saying.
"Is it that obvious, or have you been hiding some secret blood kinship to my first officer?" the captain said, half-jokingly, and half with irritation at the fact that his feelings were always so transparent. "No, I'm not happy with it at all actually, Doctor," Freeman told his chief medical officer. "I keep getting this nagging feeling that something just doesn't ring true about what's come of this. Something isn't right, and we may well all live to regret it."
The doctor shrugged and they both returned wordlessly to watching the match. During their short conversation, Ivanovna had scored two quick points, and it was tied. The next point by either opponent would propel that person to victory, and give either the captain or the first officer enough paperwork to complete that they'd likely spend the rest of the voyage back to the starbase in their quarters.
"C'mon Katrina, he's yours!" shouted Yilaan encouragingly to Lieutenant Ivanovna. The captain smiled, but said nothing.
Jevor swung his weapon around, and caught Ivanovna off-balance. She fell with a loud thud, but managed to roll away as Jevor was about to score and finish the match. On one knee, she swung and caught Jevor on the side of the knee. He groaned and crumpled, lowering his defenses for the split-second that Ivanovna needed for her return blow to score the winning point.
Ivanovna pulled off her helmet, exposing a wide smile. "You fight well Jevor," she said, out of breath. "I look forward to a re-match."
"As do I, Lieutenant," Jevor nodded and shook her hand, labouring for breath and trying to stand on his hurt knee.
"I should probably have a look at that Commander," said the doctor, going over to Jevor.
"Good effort Commander," said the captain, also coming over to greet Jevor. "You'll get her next time."
"I should hope so, sir," Jevor replied, with more than a little wound evident in his pride.
Meanwhile, across the court, Ivanovna and her supporters were exuberant. The captain came over and offered his congratulations to Ivanovna. "Superb match, Lieutenant!" Captain Freeman said, shaking her hand.
"Thank you Captain," she replied, smiling.
"Well, Captain," Commander Yilaan said smugly, "It would seem you have the rest of this journey well-planned. Let me know how all the paperwork goes."
The captain's face grew sour and he grumbled under his breath as he turned to face the monotonous task ahead of him. Even as he arrived at his quarters and faced the mound of forms to fill out and reports that needed writing, Freeman found something else nagged at him. The captain's mind was filled with doubt as to the resolution of the Gorn incident, and he began to wonder if indeed that Gorn commander would come back to haunt him some day.
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