Work Text:
Even though I am aware that others may resort to quoting protocol as a last ditch effort to cover their own backsides, I know Malcolm's intentions have always been purely selfless. This incident, with perhaps the exception that it will be the last, is no different from any other to him.
We do not have time to waste on a recitation of something we are both fully apprised of, however. No matter what Starfleet regulations state, I will not trade his life for my own and I will not listen while he offers to sacrifice himself in my place. I am the one to do this, and no one else.
The clock is ticking and I have to go. There is no time to say a proper goodbye. To regret the debt that I now know I will never have a chance to repay, or to tell him what I should have told him months ago.
He has what I have asked for and our eyes meet briefly while we make the exchange - as I take what I need from him for the last time, and then turn away.
End