The Tiptoe Thief

DarthOddish

2008

It was just a few days after a dangerous mission, and the bridgecrew was sitting relaxed at their stations. Everything was quiet and routine, and that was just what they needed. Captain Kirk was just signing some delayed paperwork when they Doctor came storming out of the tubolift. " Jim!" he called when he raced to the captain's chair. " There has been a terrible crime! Some slime devil stole my liquor!" The Captain look at his CMO. " Are you sure Bones?" he said, trying not to smile. " You damn sure I am! It's my best bottle. The finest in the quadrant!" " Calm down Bones, let's take another look, maybe you just moved it" The Captain stood up and walked to the lift with a grumbling doctor right behind him. " Mr. Spock, you have the con." He said just before the went to the lower decks. Spock stood up from his panel and sat down in the captain's chair. He was pretty pleased with himself, although he wouldn't show it. He just got enough information to plague the good doctor for months.

When Spock walked into the mess hall to have dinner that afternoon, he saw Kirk and McCoy in a corner. When he approached them, he noticed the doctors bad mood. " Ah, Spock" Kirk said by the means of a greeting. He was clearly troubled, so Spock decided not to ask about the missing liquor. They all ate their lunch silently. " Spock, can you set up an investigation?" Kirk said when he snapped out of his gaze. " Regarding what, captain?" Spock said, he had been somewhere else with his mind. He just received a package from his mother which contained some rare tea blends, which he was planning to try when he got off duty. " There have been reports for missing personal items from around the ship. Including chairs, rare glasses, decorating material and ... some liquor." When that word was said, McCoy grumbled something. " Off course captain. " Spock said. "Here is the list with missing items." Kirk said when he handed over a PADD. " I will start immediately" Spock said when he stood up and walked to the doors of the mess hall. The tea had to wait.

Spock decided to begin with ensign Chapman. He was the one on top at the list and was the owner of the most strange item on the list; a brown rocking chair with flower printing. When he was almost in front of the ensign's cabin, he was almost being thrown over by a furious mr. Scott. " The capt'n said we had te report missin' items to ye, mr. Spock." He said. Spock grabbed his PADD to add the items. " Me best scotch whiskey has been kidnapped and they got me scottish flag too!" He turned red when he thought about the culprits who committed such a crime. " Do you have any reason to believe there is more than one thief, mr. Scott?" " No, but I will get that killer!" When he said that, Scotty went on to grief with his beloved engines. Spock watched him leave the hall and carried on his investigation.

"Spock, wait a minute!" Spock turned around and saw the captain running towards him. Although it was not showing, Spock wasn't happy with this. He was just on his was to his cabin for the well-deserved tea. "Do you already have an idea about the missing items case?" Kirk said when he reached Spock. "not yet captain, although I have teams searching the cargo bays." " May I ask why, Spock?" " There have been so many reports of stolen items, the thief must have a great amount of space to store it, if he stores it together." " Good thinking, Spock. Well good luck. I see you tomorrow. " He walked further with a last stare from Spock. When Spock walked into his quarters and laid down his PADD, he noticed something odd. His CARE package was 5 inch from the place he left it. He stood up and walked towards it. His worst case scenario was true. He was robbed too, the stack of rare vulcan teablends was gone. If vulcans could be annoyed, there was one here.

The next day Kirk got a call to meet Spock in front of Shuttlebay 2. Since his favorite picture of the enterprise in flight was stolen too, he was happy to comply, with a still sober McCoy on his tale. " Why are we here?" He said when they arrived at the shuttlebay. " I have reasons to believe the culprit keeps his stolen objects in the shuttlebay." Spock said, while checking his PADD. He had been up all night to get more information. " How did you get that intell?" McCoy said. He was very curious and anxious to get his bottle back. " I personally checked every room on the ship that is big enough to contain every item that has been stolen. And there is only one crewmember that is classified enough to enter all the chambers were items have been stolen and who hasn't been robbed himself." "who is it?" McCoy said eagerly. "I believe we will see in a few moments" Spock said. He was still in the mood to hustle with the doctor. " Let's go then!" Kirk said and he walked into the bay. Shuttlebay 2 was used for the storage of reserve shuttlepods. There was also an experimental type. The first thing they noticed was that all the pods were lined up.When they got closer they saw that someone had linked them together. They proceeded to the first shuttlepod door and opened it. What ever they expected, this wasn't it. Inside the linked shuttlepods someone had built a quiet impressing bar. There were chairs, a bar itself, shelves with many kinds of drinks and even an artificial fireplace. There was someone behind the bars whistling a song. " That's the Russian anthem!" McCoy said after the silence. The whistling stopped and Pavel Chekov emerged from behind the bar. When he saw the captain, his face turned white. " Ensign, what do you think you are doing?" Kirk said. " Vwy ar you here, keptin? The opening is not until tomorrow!" When he had said that, he was stared at by his superiors. " I believe I forgot to zend the invwitations." Came the answer to their unspoken question." " I believe we would like to know why you have stolen so many items from this vessel's crew." Spock said. He had already spotted the rocking chair and his tea. " I didn't stole the items, mr. Spock. I borrowed them to let evweryone enjoy this new russian bar. It is a gift for the keptin's birthday." " I believe we can keep this place a secret for two days." Said McCoy. For the first time in 24 hours he looked happy again. " I agree, it is not logical to make profit of this without the rest of the crew." Spock added. The captain looked around and at Chekov who was a bit nervous. " I believe this can wait." He said after a silence. Chekovs face lit up. " But I believe there has to be done some more, music or something. I will let you download some from the main computer." " Thank you, sir." Chekov said with a smile. " Now we would like to have something to drink." McCoy said with a smile to Chekov, who was still standing behind the bar. " yes sir." He replied and turned to get their drinks.

THE END

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