A/N:

Private citizens can make deals with foreign governments much easier than public entities can. I figure that at some point the Federation would just throw up its hands and ruled that private citizens could deal with whomever the hell they wanted to, as long as they didn't involve anyone else in it. 'Involvement' can include letting others know about said deals; therefore, citizens can deal with whomever they please as long as they hush up about it.

Rationalization: reasoning is figuring out why to do something, rationalizing is doing something and then, later, going back and making up a reason why you did it.

.bdobd.

"It is clear from the quality of both the sound and video that the tape was taken directly from the Enterprise's records. Either the computer was hacked after the file was saved, or the frequencies were intercepted while the conversation was in progress."

Spock paused the video and turned from his captain to face the security screens. "There is no other explanation for the superior clarity of the picture here," the Vulcan pointed to a pair of frozen Andorian antennae, where all of the individual segments could be seen, "and here," now pointing to a lock of blond hair, perfectly rendered.

Spock pivoted back to his captain. "The leak is one of the crew. A device capable of intercepting the frequencies utilized during the conversation does not exist in Federation space."

Kirk looked helpless, "Is there any way to tell who sent the tapes?" He sounded distressed and tired, which had been his apparent mental state for the entirety of the time that the tape had been released to the Federation Independent Press.

"No sir. They –"

"Jim. Not sir, not right now." The Vulcan flinched internally at the exhaustion present in the captain's – Jims' – tone. 'Highly illogical. I must meditate.'

"Jim. Whoever sent the records must have first loaded them onto an independent memory drive, negating the creation of any data trail, for one has not been found."

"Fuck." Jim sighed again and ran a hand through his hair. "What should I tell the Fleet then? They're out for blood."

"Illogical. An official search for a security breach does not preclude physical violence." Spock stared at the look of sympathy frozen on Jim's face on the security screen. "Starfleet Command will have seized the original file. I would recommend that they continue to examine that information."

"Jesus Christ." He'd smiled briefly at the 'illogical' statement, but was again distressed, "Mom's not going to accept that."

Spock pivoted to face him. "What does you mother's opinion matter in the investigation?"

"She'd the one who started it. Her Second and her former First chairs talking about her former Third… she's got a lot invested in this case."

"Does her familial relation to you alter the command structure?"

"No, but it's not that simple." Jim sighed and slumped heavily into a chair. It was a position totally dissimilar from his usual comfortable sprawl, "She knows how to… Express her displeasure with me without actually saying anything. She knows what buttons to push."

The Vulcan's lips thinned, "Is there any method to ensure that she does not behave in this manner?"

Jim seemed surprised, "Um, no. Not that I know of."

"Would you prefer that I report to your mother?"

"I – what?" He'd clearly not been expecting such an offer. "Isn't that against regulations?"

"No. The captain is the preferred liaison in ship-to-base contact, but not the only one. Senior officers may communicate instead, if the situation requires it."

"Oh." He looked to the floor, apparently attempting to see if the correct answer was written between his splayed feet. "That would… Actually, that'd be really nice." He refocused, suddenly, back on Spock, and smiled. "I'd really appreciate that."

"Then I shall go report, sir." Spock bowed.

Jim smiled broadly, "I know you'll do a great job."

Spock exited and tried to find a rational reason for his sudden relief.

.bdobd.

While Mrs. Kirk was not particularly pleased with Spock's unfortunately sparse report, she was understanding and cordial.

The media was not so forgiving.

The media became especially unsympathetic when another message, this one from the Vulcan High Council, was leaked.

.bdobd.

The Vulcans, as Kirk came to understand, had commed Barnett to offer their sympathy with the Commandant had encountered in "the situation revolving around former Councilwoman Tishri, former governor Thomas Leighton, and Ms. Arya."

The message had apparently been recorded a few days after the press conference, which was the real cause for all of the commotion. The message was characteristically devoid of political incorrectness, but the fact that anyone besides the recorder and the receiver know of that was rather disturbing.

Everyone had assumed that this person had only wanted to record the Kirk/Tishri conversation. But this tape showed that (s)he was still at it, and, since the transmission hadn't gone through the Enterprise, that this was a Federation-wide issue.

So when the Cardassians called Kirk about their deal, he was understandably nervous.

The Cardassians were, just as understandably, exasperated.

"Why do you refuse to discuss this? It is legal to make private deals with foreign governments, yes?"

Jim winced. "Yes, of course it is. And usually this wouldn't be an issue. But lately there've been leaks of confidential conversations inside of the Federation, if this were to be recorded and released, it would become illegal."

The Cardassian captain raised a haughty brow, "An inefficient and broken system, you use."

"Not usually, but every government has its highs and lows."

"Accepted," she nodded. "Now, what are you to do about our deal?"

"I'll get on it right away, I'm genuinely sorry it's taken me this long."

The alien paused for a moment. "…Accepted."

Kirk sighed internally. "I have an unrelated query."

The Cardassian blinked. "Ask it, and I shall answer."

"How'd you know Spock and I were with the Zedakitians?"

"You were forced to record a video, what was judged to be a false confession. That is against the Cardassian Code of Conduct. We saw your testimony on our channel and traced it to its source."

Kirk was taken aback. "Channel? What channel?"

The other Captain seemed surprised, "Our channel between ourselves and the Zedakitians. They must have forgotten its existence when they were transmitting the video."

"… How long's this channel been open?"

"Oh, many years. There was never any reason to close it."

.bdobd.

Pike did not seem to aspire to the other captain's theory. "They kept an open frequency even after they left the Empire?"

"So they say. 'Never any reason to close it,' according to their captain."

"Never any –! That's a direct violation of application laws! No contact with opposing governments!"

Jim shrugged, "I know. I think they did to, to be honest."

"Why those…" Pike turned his head away from the microphone pickup, but his tone was pretty telling.

Eventually the Admiral turned back to the screen. "Hey, what were you doing calling the Cardassians, anyway?"

"I was wondering when you'd ask that. I made a deal with them to get them to drop Spock and me off: I lobby the Council for them, we get to steer the shuttle."

"Lobby for what?"

"Ships. The Klingons can't attack us or the Romulans, so they're invading Cardassia. They didn't prepare."

Pike seemed amused. "The Federation being attacked by the Romulans would make the Klingons go after the Cardassians."

Jim grinned. "I know, right? Anyway, so they want me to lobby the Council."

Pike frowned, "Captains can't lobby until they're three years out of the line of combat."

Jim rolled his eyes. "Well don't tell the Cardassians, for god's sakes. They never said when I had to start lobbying. Exactly."

"Ah. I see."

"But I feel bad about not doing anything, I thing they actually really need those ships."

"Humm. I could try to get a Convention set up, bring some negotiators together."

Jim beamed, "That'd be fantastic! Could you mention it at the next meeting?"

"Sure, no problem."

"You better believe it. Hey, I've been meaning to ask: how's your mother been?"

"Mom?" Not a question he'd been expecting. "She's ok, I guess. Keeping busy. Keeping others busy."

The Admiral smiled nostalgically, "Yeah, she's always been good at that."

Jim tilted his head to one side and stared for a moment, making Pike self-conscious.

"What?"

"You want her private extension?"

"What?"

"I'm sure she'd like to hear from you, she's always complaining about how no one ever comms her."

"Kirk, you can't just give out your mother's number, who know what could –,"

"I'm sending it now."

"Kirk! That's totally inappropriate!"

"And…Receiving… Aww, you accepted it, you hoary old codger." Jim was grinning again.

"Oh, shut up." Pike groused, "Never let a woman's number go to waste."

"That's the spirit!" Kirk chirped, "Good luck."

"Good luck with what?" Pike asked, confused. Kirk flapped a hand in a manner eerily reminiscent of his mother.

"Oh, you'll find out. Kirk out."

"Arrogance is a bad thing, Kirk. Pike out."

.bdobd.

To Jim's great relief (and surprise), the two messages involving the Cardassians were not given to the reporters. Instead, it was good old-fashioned investigative journalism that revealed that 41 Beta's application had been a ruse by the Cardassian Empire to learn Federation secrets. In a fit of temper, the Council cancelled both the membership application and the Convention plans.

This, of course, sent the politicians into a frenzy, this one supporting the move, this one against it, the majority of them screaming, and almost no one of them saying anything of any real substance, because almost no one of them really understood what the hell was going on. Those that did understand were roundly ignored.

Two of the loudest screamers were Leighton and Arya. Leighton was all for pulling the application, while Arya was completely against it. As is the nature of such disagreements, the two 'adults' almost immediately turned to calling each other names, which prompted a groan from the Starbase XI staff and a collective head-desk from the Starfleet Admiralty.

The Admiralty had been hoping for people who didn't know jack shit about an issue to own up and get out of the way of those who were actually trying to help, but this clearly was not going to happen, as was customary.

The Cardassians became rather huffy about the whole thing, saying that "it is not our concern if the Federation fails to check the communications of a member applicant. The Zedakitians could have terminated the channel at any time." This statement was so categorically true that the Federation Council became wildly offended and asked the Fleet if it could please send some ships over to the border, just to piss the Empire off.

No one had really expected the Cardassians to respond. There were wrong.

.bdobd.

Kirk stared grimly at the Cardassian warships. "Science. Report."

Spock was peering down at one of his numerous terminals, "There is no energy being directed towards the ship's phaser or photon torpedo banks. Their shields are at maximum, but otherwise they using their engines for life support, shipwide communications, and to hold their position."

"That makes no sense." Captain Mahor of the starship Illustrious was on conference call, as benefiting a fellow member of a temporary troop. "What reason could they have for just… Sitting there?"

Captain Pachek, also on call, gloomily responded. "The same reason we're here. To look scary."

Mahor seemed offended, "We are here to guard the borders, not to 'look scary'."

Pachek groaned, "Defend against what? There was no original reason to be out here, no one knew the guys even had these ships!"

"Well then it's a good thing we came, isn't it."

Spock, who'd moved so stand next to the captain's chair, raised and eyebrow. Kirk fought a grin. If there was anything the commander hated, it was rationalization. "Come on, let's not argue. We're in a crisis, whether or not we agree on how we got into one. Now. What do we want to do?"

"I say keep shields up and don't shoot. They haven't do anything to us, I won't be the first to fire," Mahor quickly answered.

Pachek nodded, "I agree. I say, let them make the first move."

"I'm with you guys. Our shields are stronger then theirs anyway." Kirk turned to Uhura. "Tell Engineering to keep shields at maximum, but to stop phaser and torpedo charges."

Uhura nodded a quick, "Yes, Captain," and swiveled back to her station to relay the order.

Pachek spoke again, "What are we to do in the meanwhile? We could be here for days."

Kirk didn't quite shrug, but the sentiment was there. "I'm keeping to yellow alert. No reason to worry the crew unnecessarily."

"I am in agreement. Commander Tikaihl, Yellow Alert." Pachek's Communications officer set to work.

Mahor seemed concerned, "Is this all we can do? It feels lacking in some way."

Uhura motioned to respond, and Kirk let her speak. "Our team is working to decode the Cardassians' communication and cloaking frequencies right now, we should break through in about five hours."

Mahor nodded, mollified, "That is acceptable. Best wishes to you and your ship, Captain Kirk."

Kirk nodded, "To you and yours, Captain Mahor."

"We will be closely scanning the Cardassians' fuel supply, they may be fueled by Rigellian dilithium."

"Alright, sounds good. Best wishes to you and your crew."

"To you and yours, Captain."

Then connections were cut in unison. Kirk slumped and stared out at the disturbingly still warship. Spock was the first to break the silence. "I had not known that Rigel was again being mined illegally."

Kirk swiveled to face the Vulcan. "Nothing official, but there've been rumors. Rigel's always under suspicion, though."

"Indeed." Spock turned to look out at the Cardassian ship. "I believe this vessel to be the same one that picked us up from planet 41 Beta."

"Really?" Kirk zoomed in on the ship's hull from his chair's camera controls. "Well, what'd you know. How interesting."

"Sir," Uhura had a hand to her earpiece as she spoke. "Communications reports having broken the Cardassian cipher. The ships' transmitting something now sir."

"Put it on audio, translated."

There was a brief crackle of static, then a computer's voice jerkily started speaking. It had to pause several times as it worked out the translation over the loudspeakers.

"Attention, crew of the Journey. We are facing the Federation Empire's fleet. They have not moved to attack. As they still have the ability-potential-prowess-smugness potential power to harm us, we are still at Alert Level Three.

"Also: Remember: Do not use replicator 4. Replicator 4 is broken. Do not attempt to repair replicator 4 yourself. We will send Engineers-Technicians-Plumbers-Gynecologists Engineers to fix replicator 4. Do. Not. Use. It. It begets a situation that is unpleasant for the rest of the crew.

"Finally, for all dwellers of the South-Western hemisphere, have a satisfactory –" the computer's voice was suddenly replaced by the native speakers – apparently it couldn't find a suitable translation, "K'Lay'Tawhr," the computer's translation returned, "Celebration. Consequences for overindulgence will be swift and unpleasant. That is all."

The bridge was dead quiet for a full minute. "Lieutenant," Kirk finally said, "what time is it on the Cardassian clock?"

"0700 hours, sir."

"So… Those were the Cardassian morning announcements?"

Uhura peered closely at the typed, untranslated version of the original message. "It would… appear so, sir."

.bdobd.

It took three days for something interesting to happen. A Klingon cruiser dropped out of warp just outside the Vulcan Colony's standard orbit. This was classified as 'Red Alert' level interesting.

The Enterprise got contact dibs because her first officer was Vulcan – which was an admittedly dubious reason, but it convinced Pachek, so hey? Why complain. It didn't take long to establish a channel.

"This is Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise, what the fuck are you doing in our space?" Alright. So, it wasn't regulation. But fuckit, it worked. The Klingon seemed unimpressed.

"We are the ship Victory. I am Captain Tahn. The Vulcan High Council asked us to appear. For… protective purposes." He smiled nastily. "Apparently, they don't feel safe, with only three of your ships here."

"What? What are you getting out of this?"

"Joint use of Starbase XI, split Federation/Klingon use equally."

"WHAT?" Kirk looked sharply to Uhura, "Contact Starfleet, see what they know."

The Klingon was clearly relishing the confusion his arrival had caused, "Really, an Admiralty not communicating with its ships is –"

"Sir, the Admiralty wants a conference call, now," Uhura interrupted urgently.

"Do it," Kirk ordered, and then turned to Spock, "Your father's on the High Council, right?"

"Captain, I an assure you, I had no information relating to the possible appearance of a Klingon cruiser communicated to me at any time."

Commandant Barnett suddenly opened a connection, "What the HELL is going on?" He caught sight of the Klingon Captain, "And who the fuck are you?"

Kirk started talking before the two began fighting (more), "He's the captain of the Klingon cruiser that popped up behind the Vulcan Colony, he says the High Council asked for his protection."

Barnett looked apoplectic, "What? Three constitution class starships weren't enough protection for them?"

Spock motioned to speak, but Kirk waved him down, "The captain," he nodded towards the now huffy Tahn, "says that the Vulcans promised equal inhabitation rights to Starbase XI."

"WHAT?"

"Well, not Starbase XI specifically," the foreign captain added, "any one of our choosing."

"Kirk, I want you to open this channel to the High Council, and don't take no for an answer."

Kirk nodded, "Uhura?"

"On it sir."

Everyone waited tensely (excepting Tahn, who was doing the Klingon equivalent of smirking and twisting the end of his non-existent mustache) for a few minutes while Uhura coaxed a council member to speak with a furious commandant, a confused Kirk, and a smug Klingon. Eventually, an old Vulcan man was bullied into opening a frequency. "I am council member Nevak. You require information."

"A deal? With the Klingons?" Barnett hissed.

Nevak seemed resigned, "We felt that the Colony would be put in jeopardy if a fight were to begin. We attempted," his tone wasn't accusatory, his words did that work for him, "to have Starfleet to send us a guardian ship, but our request was refused. We next went to the Klingon Empire, and found them willing to negotiate a deal,"

Kirk was now just as angry as Barnett, "So you sacrificed a Starbase? You can't do that, that's illegal."

"Only now that you know of it."

"No. Actually." Kirk was speaking through gritted teeth, "Actually, as you are a public governmental agency, it was illegal LONG BEFORE we knew of this."

"We offered a Starbase. We signed no agreements." The emotional emphasis was probably for the benefit of the humans in the room.

"Oh, Jesus Christ." Barnett's head was in his hands. "Why do you guys need your own guardian? We sent three starships, that's already one more than necessary."

"If a conflict were to begin, all three would enter it. We requested a ship independent of the conflict itself. We were refused. The Klingon Empire accepted."

"But –!" Kirk was stopped by a gentle tap on his arm. Spock, of all people.

"Captain, I believe I can be of some use in this situation."

Kirk looked over to the viewscreen, then back to Spock, "If you think you can help, then go ahead."

The commander stepped forward, and Nevak's words suddenly seemed supremely, insufferably arrogant, "I do not expect those capable of low emotional control to be able to understand the council's inherently logical actions –"

Spock interrupted, "You have proven that you have little additional information to offer. You have not answered the commandant's previous query. You made an illegal bargain with a foreign government, meaning that you are either ignorant of the laws agreed upon in the Federation Constitution or that you simply do not care what those laws say."

The hybrid's voice lowered, "Yet you feel that you are superior to all those present? It is most unfortunate that my Captain must persist in conversing with you."

Kirk was stunned. Spock had never sounded so – disgusted before. Sounded so… emotional before.

Nevak apparently thought the same thing. "Your outburst is fueled by illogical impulses that you are clearly unable to control. I see no point in –,"

"All I have done is to point out the fact that you have reveled no further information regarding the issue at hand since the beginning of this conversation 2.462 minutes ago. Why do you persist in speaking?"

Nevak somehow managed to sneer without moving any of the muscles of his face. "I persist because –,"

"Do you have any additional useful information regarding the issue of the High Council's illegal deal with the Klingon Empire?" This was spoken with clear exasperation.

"I know of much –,"

"You know of more details concerning –,"

"Concerning the Klingon Empire's bargain, yes," now they were both irritated.

"Then, as you have not communicated these details, in response to direct questioning, I may correctly assume that you are withholding information from senior Federation officials." Spock was clearly, subtly smug.

Nevak froze. He was stuck, and he knew it. If he said that he know nothing, he would be charged with lying to a senior Federation official. If he said be knew anything, he would be convicted of withholding valuable intelligence. "I…"

The Commander's next comment was delivered in his normal tone of voice, which was jarring to hear right after all of his previous comments. "As a Commander of Starfleet, I hereby accuse Nevak, son of Kawan, son of Nishtal, of treason in the third degree."

Barnett, who'd been silent for the duration of the argument, suddenly spoke up. "I second the accusation."

Nevak seemed to have turned to stone. "I… see. I will… inform the rest of the High Council of your decision." He nodded unsteadily to the captain and commandant, "… Good day."

His use of the lower class, human farewell did not go unnoticed by the commander. "Long life to you, Nevak."

Nevak cut the connection without deigning to respond. The Klingon captain – Tahn? – hummed softly.

"The traditional salutation is 'Peace and long life', correct?"

Spock turned to Kirk for permission to respond, which was given immediately. "That is the most common response, yes."

Captain Tahn grinned toothily, turning to Kirk, "I never thought I'd see a Vulcan spitfire!"

Kirk was fighting a proud grin, "We're rather fond of him."

Barnett responded before Tahn Could, "Yes, and Starfleet is lucky to have him. Now what are we to do about the Base?"

Tahn seemed insulted by the question, "Well, I think it's very simple –,"

"Yes, I had a feeling that you did," Barnett interrupted. "Kirk, can you talk to your mother about the situation?"

Kirk nodded, "Yes, sir."

"Good, and assign a liaison to deal with the Vulcans while you're at it." He nodded to Spock. "You have my official suggestion."

Kirk smiled, "Yes, sir. I'll get right on it."

"Excellent, Report back tomorrow. Barnett out." The connection was cut.

Tahn raised an eyebrow, "Can I be assured that the Victory will not be attacked? A Federation member planet did request my presence."

"You won't be targeted as long as you're in orbit around the colony. I can't promise you anything else."

Tahn nodded. "That is acceptable. Cut connection."

"Kirk out." The screen cleared to show the alien cruiser slowly descending closer to the small red planetoid.

The bridge was silent. Spock sat back down at his station and began to scan the Klingon ship's engine output. Kirk sat quietly for a while, sending updates to the other Starfleet captains to make sure he didn't freak when they saw a Klingon vessel orbiting the colony of an endangered species.

After a while, that was finished, and if there was anything Kirk hated to be, it was bored. So he wandered over to the Science station to bug Spock, as was his custom in these sorts of situations.

The commander seemed to steel himself for the captain's approach, a fact Jim decided to ignore. "Can I be of some assistance, Captain?"

Jim leeaanned over Spock's shoulder, "I was wonnddering…" he drawled, "what you were thinking when you were destroying Nevak earlier."

"'Destroying' is an inappropriate term."

"You're dodging the question."

Spock turned his head to answer and nearly broke his own nose. "I was wondering whether my imitation of your persuasion methods were accurate."

"My –!" Jim did a double take, "My persuasion methods?"

"Whom did you believe me to be mimicking?"

The blond blinked. "I was thinking Bones, actually."

"No. I was imitating you."

"Oh. Alright then," Jim made to leave the bridge. "Oh, almost forgot." The commander swiveled cautiously.

"Yes Captain?"

"Will you be liaison to the High Council?"

Spock nodded. "Yes sir."

"Won't be too awkward for you, will it?"

"Awkward, but easily overcome."

"Ah." Kirk looked slightly guilty. "Sorry." The bridge doors opened, and he was nearly blinded by Yeoman Rand's hairdo.

"Oh my gosh, Captain! I'm sorry, I didn't –!"

"It's alright, Yeoman. I'm not hurt."

Physically restraining himself from making any untoward comments about the height Rand's hair had grown to, Kirk argued with himself as to what would constitute 'improper comments about personal appearances or behaviors' – one of those strictly forbidden and hopelessly vague terms hidden within his Captain's Guide – all the way down to his quarters.

Finally he found himself sitting in front of a comm unit, trying to explain the situation at hand to the woman who, in her words, 'labored for eighteen grueling hours' to bring him into the world.

When he was a kid he'd always wondered if those much referenced hours she was talking about were the ones of her actually going into labor or the sex that was required beforehand to procure the child necessary for that situation to exist.

Aforementioned woman was not buying his story.

.bdobd.