Lieutenant James T. Kirk really didn't like the brig, especially when he was locked up in it. He was bored out of his mind and rather angry at this situation. Someone with serious hacking skills had been stealing Intel and selling it to groups that Starfleet really didn't want getting their hands on it. Several perpetrators on various ships had been arrested, and somehow, evidence appeared to show that Jim was one of them.
He had protested his innocence profusely when Spock and the Captain showed up in engineering with several security officers.
"You know I wouldn't do something like that, don't you?"
He looked desperately at Uhura. She sighed. "Starfleet's ordered me to take you into custody until the investigation is concluded. They aren't taking any chances on this. I'm sorry, Jim, I don't have a choice."
She looked like she was fighting for control. "Whoever did this, they went to a lot of trouble to make you look guilty. It's not looking good."
Jim felt sick as the handcuffs snapped around his wrists.
"Ugh," He complained, trying to downplay how scared he was, "I really didn't want to be handcuffed under THESE circumstances."
"Are there Circumstances in which you enjoy being restrained, Lieutenant?" Questioned Spock, one eyebrow going up.
"Now is NOT the time, Jim," sighed Uhura, exasperated and distressed. "Trust me, Spock you don't want to know."
Jim looked back at the first officer as he was ushered out of his domain, Scotty gaping in shocked horror at his good friend being taken away in cuffs.
"Spock," he looked imploringly at the Vulcan, "you'll find the truth. I know you will."
"I will endeavor to do so, Lieutenant," assured the commander calmly.
And so, they'd hauled him off and locked him in the brig. Bones was furious when he found out and nearly got nerve-pinched before he calmed down. Jim had sat there for a week now, enduring heavy interrogation from Star Fleet Intelligence officers and brooding about spending the rest of his life behind bars-forever separated from the love of his life. Bones had visited when he could, but an outbreak of Andorian flu had kept him very busy.
The evidence against Kirk was indeed, damning. His alibis had been erased with the security tapes. The perpetrator had struck while Kirk was working alone, so no one could confirm his alibi. Spock was diligently searching for evidence to prove his innocence, but was not having much success. Jim could only hope the real spy would make one move too many and reveal the traitor. He was pondering his future court martial, when the cell opened and Uhura stepped in.
"Jim, how are you doing, honey?" she asked, sitting down beside him on the bench. He looked up, scooting over next to her.
"Pondering my future on a prison colony," he said glumly. "Spock told me to seek legal counsel. This guy's woven the net pretty tightly against me."
She sighed and wrapped her arm around him. "Don't give up hope, yet, Jim. We've got Admiral Pike in your corner and Scotty and Chekov are analyzing everything with a fine-toothed comb. I'm not giving up on this." She ran her hand down his rather stubbly face. "Got a bit of a beard going there, babe. I kinda like it," she said in a low voice.
Jim grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips. "I'll have to go without shaving more often, then," he said, mustering a smile. "You're a sight for sore eyes, beautiful."
"Do you think they'll put me in solitary? Hard labor? Chain gang?Executed, maybe? Treason's still a capital offense in some cases." Jim mused to himself.
She shuddered and pulled in in for a hug. "Don't talk like that, Jim. It almost never happens. And they certainly wouldn't do it to the Kirk who helped save the planet. Spock would say you're being very illogical right now with that kind of talk. If they did try it, I'd storm the gates and break you out. There's a whole ship of eager crewman who have already volunteered to join me."
"Except for one person who wants me there," Jim said soberly.
They sat in silence for a bit, wishing they had answers. She gave him a comforting kiss before she left with promises to "sniff out that coward" and get Jim cleared. It wasn't easy to sleep with a charge of treason hanging over his head, but Kirk managed to get some shut eye on the uncomfortable cot in his cell. He had rather disturbing dreams of standing on a gallows with a noose around his neck and woke feeling relieved that this was the twenty third century and such practices had gone out of fashion.
But after he had eaten his rather pathetic breakfast, good news came in the form of an excited Russian. Chekov knocked loudly on the cell door.
"Lieutenant Kirk, I have discovered the real traitor!" Kirk stood up, very alert now. "How? Who is it?" He practically shouted.
"Lieutenant Blasmore, Mr. Kirk! He walked right into the trap we laid for him! It was perfect!"
He bounced up and down in glee.
"How did you trap him?" Kirk asked. "The Keptain announced you had been taken back to Starfleet headquarters for further questioning and we "modified" the security tapes to make it look like your cell was empty. He was caught rummaging in your quarters with a data chip of stolen intelligence. He had planted it there earlier and had come back to retrieve it to send to his buyers. Commander Spock got him to confess. He can be wery scary."
Kirk let out a freeing laugh. "You're right, Chekov. There are few things scarier than an angry Vulcan."
"Except a ticked off Admiral," came a voice from behind the ensign. Chekov whirled around and jumped to attention. Kirk stood up straighter at the sight of Admiral Pike standing there beside Uhura and Cupcake...er...Hendorff.
"Hello, sir. I hear you caught the spy. I have never been so relieved."
"So am I, Kirk," sighed the Admiral. "Thanks to the persistence of Engineer Scott and ensign Chekov the truth came out. Komack was ready to nail your hide to the wall."
"I'm not surprised, sir. He's never liked me. Mad that I didn't take after Dad, I suppose." Kirk sighed.
"You'd think the scars would speak
for themselves about my loyalty to the Federation."
He pointed to his chest, where he still bore the reminders of the alien interrogation.
"You'd think so," agreed Pike, shaking his head, "But there's no reasoning with some people, especially when the evidence looks so bad. Hendorff, let him out."
He motioned to the security chief, who nodded and opened the door.
"Brig life doesn't suit you, Kirk," Pike added as Jim came out of the cell a free man.
"I knew that glass made me look fat," Jim joked. Uhura rolled her eyes, but smiled brightly, overjoyed to see her man vindicated.
Kirk thanked Spock, Scotty and Chekov profusely and informed them he would be back on duty very soon. Before she cleared him, Uhura called him into her ready room. They met in a very relieved, emotional embrace.
"You guys were amazing, the way you pulled together to crack the case," Kirk murmured. "No one wanted to see an innocent man shipped off to a prison planet, especially you. You've got lots of friends on this ship," she replied gently. "I've really missed you."
He kissed her hair. "Me too, Ny. We'll have to make up for it after shift."
He did that thing with his eyebrows. "Sounds good, Jim baby." Uhura smiled and leaned in kiss him. Jim went back to engineering a few minutes later whistling a romantic tune.