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“Intelligence? That’s a misnomer if you truly believe things are so black and white.” The young scientist shook his head, quietly laughing. “Unbelievable. This is exactly what they accused us of wanting to do. It’s the reason they conquered Earth. It’s the reason Kruge killed my father, and tried to kill me.” He pushed back his chair and stood up from the table. “And I won’t be a party to it.”

Across the table, Admiral West stiffened sharply, and his voice thundered out. “Son, you can’t just up and leave here. Not now.”

David laughed in defiance. “Why not? Am I your prisoner here?”

West tapped the intercom panel on the table before him. “Security to council chamber four-two-seven. We have a young man who needs to be taken into temporary custody.”

Back at his home, hundreds of miles from ShiKahr, David Marcus lay awake on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, which was dimly illuminated by the glow of street lamps that pierced the warm midnight air outside his window. Nearly two weeks had passed since he was summoned to that fateful meeting in the capital, yet the pain and bitterness would not subside-not while he waited for the other shoe to drop, not while he awaited the news that the attack had been carried out, using his own invention as a weapon of cataclysmic destruction.

He had fought himself these past two weeks, trying to keep five years of carefully woven emotional security from unraveling. Healing from his trauma at the hands of Kruge had been a struggle, but nothing had ever threatened to upend the very foundations upon which his recovery had been built.

For the first few weeks following his rescue from Klingon imprisonment, he had struggled through the stages of recoil-the anger and confusion as he attempted to make sense of the violence inflicted upon him, and the impulsive act of defiance that took his father’s life. Thankfully, despite being stranded in the unfamiliar environs of Vulcan, he had received excellent care. A young male counselor from Betazed-a world of telepaths newly admitted to the Federation-had taken special interest in his case, and expertly guided him on his way to recovery, confronting the demons that filled each fallow moment of his life with fear.

Understanding the nature of fear was the key. As David fought a victim’s natural tendencies to blame himself for the wrongs he had suffered, he came to understand the motivations of Kruge and the Klingons under his command-actions motivated by irrational fears that the Federation would seek to exterminate their race. And with that understanding came freedom from David’s own fears of retribution for the creation of Genesis, and the ability to forgive the offenses against him.

Only now, five years later, after all of the healing was done, did he see the truth. The fears of his Klingon captors weren’t irrational at all. They had been right all along. David had spawned a doomsday weapon, and his captors had acted justly to protect themselves. David’s whole system of values, of good and evil, so painstakingly reconstructed in the wake of his trauma, had come crashing down around him. And the faces of his dead tormentors, newly empowered, threatened to plague his dreams once again.

So be it. If he wasn’t going to be able to sleep, he would find his peace another way. He would find absolution. He rose from his bed and headed out the door. At least he was still a free man. He likely had Thelin to thank for that. The meeting they’d attended two weeks ago could have ended quite badly…

“Security, stand by!” Thelin shouted into the intercom before the security channel closed. He rose to his feet, and faced Admiral West. “Patrick, please. Tensions are obviously rather high. I have known David Marcus since he was a child, and I will personally vouch for his integrity. Before we venture down this path, I believe we owe it to ourselves to listen to what he has to say.”

Frowning, the commander in chief considered Thelin carefully for several seconds, then spoke into the intercom. “Security, stand down. Close channel.” With