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[commodore_69]

Tandy was getting a headache, and the seven cups of coffee she'd had so far since lunch weren't helping. This de-aging thing was causing all sorts of complications. First among them, because it affected her so personally, was that she was all of a sudden acting as guardian to an extremely weird and somewhat difficult child. And where was Spock,

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[axe_kicker]

Martha straightened the hem of her cleanest, sharpest tunic, and tried to ignore the faint pounding in her skull. Probably psychosomatic.

What on earth had made her think it would be a good idea to punch a prisoner anyway?

Other than his damn smirk.

She knocked on the wall beside the open door, and stepped in, saluting. "Ma'am?"

[commodore_69]

Tandy normally would have suppressed her sigh of mild irritation, but this seemed like a good opportunity to go ahead and let it happen.

"Come in," she said. "And don't bother sitting down."

[axe_kicker]

Martha tried not to flinch. "Ma'am, in the matter of assaulting the prisoner known as Leo, I accept all responsibility," she said firmly.

Best to get that out of the way, before anyone asked why Paul hadn't stopped her.

[commodore_69]

"I should imagine so," Tandy said, with a touch of her usual dry humor. "Since he wasn't in any condition to provoke such an attack."

She sighed again. "Ensign, your record up to now has been spotless. Even the unofficial notations in your file about the usual sort of academy pranks and foolishness show that you're not given to irresponsible behavior. Now why would you strike an injured, unarmed man who was already in custody?"

[axe_kicker]

Couldn't the commodore just get to the part where she was reprimanded and punished and received a permanent note on her record which would mark her as unreliable for all future positions? Martha didn't really want to think about why.

"I don't have an excuse, ma'am," she said, then added, reluctantly, "He seemed to think that my being alive was some sort of favour he'd granted me, rather than noting my condition as something that might never have occurred without his involvement in criminal activities. I resented that."

[commodore_69]

"A natural reaction," Tandy acknowledged. But then she sternly added, "But I expect my security staff to behave professionally no matter what their personal feelings are on any matter."

This was more important than it had ever been before in Tandy's command history, with the Romulans on the station. There was no room here for rogue justice.

"I'm issuing an official reprimand. Don't do it again."

Tandy paused. And what about a punishment? Technically, the reprimand was enough, but she'd always favored a more informal deterrent, as well, to really bring the lesson home.

Hmmm. The problem was Landon's inability to control her reaction to this particular individual. Being shown very firmly that she must do so would be just the thing. And no one liked doing shifts guarding holding cells. It was boring.

"And I'm assigning you to guard duty in the brig, until further notice. I don't want to hear about any further acting out on your part, no matter the temptation."

[axe_kicker]

Martha had never considered hitting any other prisoner, no matter the provocation - she couldn't think that she would repeat the performance. She nodded, thankful for the leniency.

And then the commodore issued the final part of her decree, and Martha could feel her face turning bright red. Damn throwback genes.

"I- Yes, ma'am," she choked out. "Won't happen again."

[commodore_69]

"I'm glad to hear it, ensign." Tandy hid her amusement well. Sometimes the job was pretty entertaining. "Dismissed."

[axe_kicker]

Martha stumbled out. She was on medical leave for the next two shifts, which meant she could head straight for the bar.