Survivors - Jean Lorrah [19]
And then he was assigned to new missions with the starship Copeland, and later the Seeker, and Yar did not see him again until the day of her testing for degree candidate. In her delight at his sudden reappearance, she forgot for the moment that how she had performed would determine whether she was sent off to some other institution to complete a university degree, or whether she would be privileged to complete her final term at the Academy, and graduate as a Starfleet Officer.
Dr. Forbus said, “You must both be tired and hungry. Why don’t you go eat, catch up on old times, and then get a good night’s sleep? Cadet Yar, your interview will be tomorrow morning at 0900.”
“Yes, Doctor,” she replied, a sinking feeling in her gut. She had never reached a decision about Priam IV. They must have allowed her the allotted time, and then wakened her. Did that mean she had failed? Was she too indecisive? But what was the right answer? How could any human being decide between letting intelligent beings be carried away into slavery or breaking the Prime Directive?
There would be no answers tonight. If Dare knew them, she knew he wouldn’t tell her. She might as well forget the test, and enjoy his company while she could.
Dare shed the rest of his Orion disguise, emerging in Starfleet uniform. The first thing Yar noticed was that he was now a full commander, the solid third pip new and shiny. “Congratulations, Commander Adin,” she said, then laughed at the incongruity of Dare’s playing an Orion. His promotion was due to the role he had played in the Seeker’s breaking up an Orion cartel operating secretly on several outer Federation worlds.
He pulled off the heavy boots of the Orion trader.
And was suddenly short!
No-not short, but just above medium height for a human male, still well above Yar’s petite stature.
But she remembered him as a giant of a man.
She had grown taller in seven years, she realized. Her hero was no longer larger than life … but he was still her hero.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. “Leave between missions?”
“Refresher course,” he replied. “Whilst I’ve been out on the other side of the galaxy, Starfleet have been developing new security techniques. So, I’m here to learn all the latest before being given a new assignment. I’ll be on campus all term.” He smiled, that wonderful warm smile that turned his potentially threatening features not just handsome, but beautiful. “I’ll be here to see my protégé graduate. I’m so proud of what you’ve done with your life, Tasha.”
Yar felt herself blush. “Don’t speak too soon,” she warned. “I might have failed the Priam IV test.”
“What makes you think that?” he asked curiously.
“I didn’t know what to do!” she said in frustration. “Dare, I couldn’t make up my mind. Some Starfleet officer I’d be, unable to make a decision-“
“Hush,” he said. “Leave it for now-we’ll talk about it in the interview tomorrow morning. And stop worrying. If you’re still the little workaholic I used to know, you got this far by hard study-and that means you were ready for everything Starfleet could think of to throw at you.”
He was right, as it turned out. The next morning Yar found out that her ethical dilemma was precisely what the Priam IV test was intended to induce. After she recounted her thinking after her escape from the Orion slaver, Counselor T’Pelak said, “You considered every clue, even down to your own illness. Cadet Yar, you have fully assimilated the philosophy courses which once troubled you so, and incorporated them into the practical applications at which you have always excelled.”
“I don’t understand,” Yar said blankly, looking toward Dare, who was in on the interview because he had been part of the scenario.