Portia sighed. “Look. Nothing against you. You were good to me, and I liked flying with you. But I don’t care about the Academy. None of us felt at home there. Rakatheema didn’t deserve to die, but he was wrong to make us go there. It would never have worked.”

“Then what is it that you hope for?”

She let out a tired laugh. “I don’t really know, Mister Sulu. I just want the freedom to search for it. To find my own purpose to fight for, instead of someone else’s agenda.”

Sulu gestured toward the room. “How do you expect this to lead to that, Portia? Think about it. Remember what I taught you. Consider the path ahead of you carefully. See the best way to reach your destination.” He shook his head. “Can you see any way this path you’re on will end up with you anywhere but in a penal colony? Or worse?”

“Maybe not,” she admitted. “But this is all I have left, thanks to the ones who framed me. No one will ever trust the Warborn now. So if we have nothing left to lose, then at least we can choose to fall on our own terms, fighting our own battle. I would be happy with that.”

When Sulu reported back to Kirk and sh’Deslar, he finished by saying, “Admiral, I don’t think Portia killed Commander Rakatheema. Doing this… it doesn’t make sense if she’s trying to cover up her guilt. It just makes things worse for her and the others.”

The admiral nodded. “I’m inclined to agree. This isn’t the action of a guilty woman.”

“Unless she’s just psychotic,” sh’Deslar pointed out.

“She isn’t,” Sulu insisted. “I’ve seen madness—more times than I care to think about. Portia’s totally lucid. And she sincerely believes she’s the wronged party.”

“It’s possible that someone disguised themselves as her,” McCoy observed. “Hell, it could even have been one of the other Warborn. They are hard to tell apart at a distance, and one of them could’ve faked her ID colors.”

Kirk didn’t seem pleased by McCoy’s suggestion. “One Warborn or another—it’s just as bad for the program either way.”

“With all due respect, sir,” Sulu said, “I’m not as concerned for the program as I am for Portia—and for the hostages. If she really was framed—”

The admiral nodded. “Then proving who really did it would be the best way to resolve the situation without violence.”

Kirk took in Sulu and McCoy with his gaze. “I want you both to go over all the evidence again. Look for signs that Portia was framed, and if so, who could have done it.”

McCoy stared at him. “Jim, Ashley’s up there! I should be here for her.”