The three officers barely made it out of the brig before Kirk spun around forcing Charlie to skid to a halt else she run into his chest. Kirk eyed her up and down before demanding, "What the hell was that?"
"Sir?" Charlie responded, playing dumb to Kirk's anger.
Kirk just stared her down as if he was trying to burn the answers out of her. Charlie sighed and quickly reorganized her thoughts and priorities. Obviously, Kirk and by Spock's raised eyebrow, Spock as well, were not going to let her walk away without giving them something. She knew some of Harrison's secrets and they knew it. The trick was to give them enough to satisfy them but not compromising herself in the process.
Charlie stood tall and looked Kirk straight in the eye as she answered, "That, Captain, was Commander John Harrison at his finest. He is an instigator, looking for points of weakness to exploit, whether it is emotions or a relationship to manipulate to his advantage. He will use anything… anyone to obtain his objective, damned be the consequences. And you just gave him exactly what he wanted, you fell for his bait and now he will analyze your reaction to learn your soft spots."
Kirk seemed to mull over what she said, she almost thought she was home free having deflected Kirk's attention off of her and back to their prisoner. She had forgotten Spock had been privy to her and Harrison's little exchanges as well, "What is your relationship with John Harrison?"
Charlie almost choked on her spit, for a half-Vulcan, half-human that supposedly suppressed his emotions, Spock certainly had a way with words in conveying his belief that she and Harrison were more than just colleagues. An awkward silence fell between the three and Charlie honestly couldn't think of a more uncomfortable situation that she had ever been in, and that was saying a lot.
She saw no way of avoiding the question as both commanding officers were clearly not going to let the matter drop. "Commander, if you are asking if I am or have ever had an intimate relationship with Harrison. The answer is no and though it is classified, I will tell you why I was assigned to be his handler and liaison."
She hoped she could salvage what little trust she had built between herself and the two men by being honest without being too honest, sometimes having most of your life classified had its advantages.
"Liaison between whom?"
"You obviously didn't miss the little exchanges between Harrison and myself. Harrison was trying to figure out my position and relationship with you, where I stand and how he might use it to his advantage. The reason I was assigned to him is he is probably the smartest being on this ship… hell probably on Earth, and I would be the second if you could compare our genius levels. Marcus needed someone who could keep up with him and still play well with others. So I was chosen as the go between Harrison and everyone else, since he obviously thinks everyone else is below him."
Kirk snorted, "Obviously. Do you know what is at the coordinates he gave us or why the torpedoes are so important?"
Charlie's first instinct was to refuse to answer as it would put her at a disadvantage sharing all her knowledge and theories, but she knew that if the coordinates housed what she thought it did they were all in a lot more danger than just having a tyrannical sociopath locked in their brig.
"It's classified, as in the blackest of black ops, so black that most of Section 31 doesn't even have knowledge of it… but," Charlie quickly added when she saw Kirk open his mouth to interrupt. "But what I can tell you is the torpedoes are a least three times the size they need to be for the size of their pay load. And as for the coordinates, pray to whatever god that will listen that I am wrong and Marcus isn't trying to start an intergalactic war. Because Captain, those coordinates contain death and utter distruction for any who stand in Marcus' way."
She let the words sink in, "Kirk, do you have someone you trust on Earth, who can get a shuttle and check out the coordinates without getting caught. If I am wrong, no harm done they will just find empty space, but I don't trust Harrison not to send us on a wild goose chase. I need confirmation before I can tell you anything more."
Kirk seemed to evaluate her and what she had said, "If I get you your confirmation you will tell us what the hell is going on?"
Charlie nodded, "Yes, you have my word."
Charlie trailed behind Kirk as he opened his communicator, "Scotty, its Kirk."
The pair stopped in the middle of a walkway between two sections of the ship, as the man in question answered. Spock having left them to check in with Chekov on their distinct lack of warp drive.
She could hear loud music in the background as the engineer replied, "Oh…well now…if isn't Captain James Tiberius 'Perfect Hair'….did you hear that I called him 'perfect hair.'
Charlie could already tell the man was inebriated and couldn't help but think they were all doomed if Kirk's solution was to trust a drunk Scotsman with an operation that literally could be life or most likely death.
"Where are you?" Kirk asked confused.
"Where are you?" the engineer mimicked back.
"Are you drunk?"
"What I do in my private time, is my business Jim."
Kirk glanced over his shoulder at Charlie, who had crossed her arms and was sure she had a look of pure disbelief on her face. "I need you to help me out with something. Will you take these coordinates down… 23…17…46…11."
There was silence on the other end of the line.
"Are you writing?"
"What you don't think I can remember four numbers," Scotty replied indignantly. "Oh… ho … you of little faith…. What was the third one?"
Charlie had run out of patience, they didn't have time for this, they were still under the threat of the Klingons finding them trespassing but the bigger threat was Marcus catching wind that Kirk had captured Harrison instead of killing him. Harrison would be more than willing to spill secrets if it suited his purpose, secrets Marcus would and probably had killed to keep silenced.
She grabbed the communicator out of Kirk's hand, "46… third number is 46 and Commander this is not a joking matter."
Silence followed her outburst from both Kirk and Scotty. The Captain gently took the communicator out of her hand while eyeing her up and down as if she was going to tackle him to get it back.
"Don't know exactly what you are looking for, but … I have a feeling you'll know if when you see it. You may have been right about those torpedoes."
"I… will consider that an apology… and I will consider that apology."
Both Kirk and Charlie knew the engineer had forgiven the Captain as soon as Kirk had admitted he had been wrong.
Kirk smirked as he replied, "You are the one who quit."
"You made me quit!"
"Mr. Scott? Scott?"
By the silence, it was clear the Scotsman had ended the communication. As Kirk moved past Charlie off to face the next crisis he saw the smirk on her face, "Not a word, Commander… not a word."
Their destination was the bridge, and they were met with a rather pissed off Chief medical officer.
"Are you out of your corn fed mind?" Bones questioned Kirk and then turned on Charlie. "And you, you are actually going along with this?"
Charlie was cut off by the rest of the doctor's tirade before she could get a word in edge wise to explain.
"You're not actually going to listen to this guy… he killed Pike… he almost killed you. And now you think it's a good idea just pop open a torpedo because he dared you to?"
Charlie opened her mouth but this time was cut off by Kirk, "Why did he save our lives, Bones?"
"The doctor does have a point, Captain." Spock had stayed quiet through most to the doctor's rant but now decided to voice his concerns about Kirk's plan.
"Don't agree with me Spock… it makes me very uncomfortable."
"Perhaps you too should learn to govern your emotions, Doctor. In this situation, logic dictates…"
"If I may…" Charlie tried to interrupt but was cut off by the doctor.
"Logic? My god, there's a maniac trying to make us blow up our own damn ship and you're talking…"
Bones was cut off by Kirk, "That's not it… I don't know why he surrendered… but that's not it."
Charlie just rolled her eyes, she didn't know how they got anything accomplished when they continued to talk over one another and argue.
"Look, we're going to open a torpedo. The question is how?"
"But Jim… without Mr. Scott on board who exactly is qualified to pop open a four ton stick of dynamite?"
Charlie had finally had enough, this little ring around the logic game was costing them valuable time that they were already running short on.
"I might be able to help with that."
All three men turned to look at her, seeming to finally remember she was there and had witnessed their bickering. "Carol Wallace."
Spock raised his eyebrow and then much to her surprise agreed with her. "The admiral's daughter appeared to have interest in the torpedoes and she is a weapon's specialist. Perhaps she can be of some use."
The smile that had graced Charlie's face at Spock support quickly vanished when she realized that Spock not only knew about Carol's true identity but he had also just announced it to the entire bridge. She quickly wiped her face of any emotion as both Kirk and Bones turned to Spock in question.
"What admiral's daughter?"
"Carol Marcus, your new science officer, concealed her identity to board the ship."
Kirk seemed to struggle for words, "Whe… When were you going to tell me that?"
"When it became relevant… as it just did."
If she wasn't so focused on trying to figure out a way to protect Carol from the backlash, Charlie would have found it funny at Spock's nonchalance of keeping the pretty weapons specialists secret from his captain.
Bones looked between the three of them and threw his hands up in surrender, he knew that Kirk had made up his mind and Charlie watched as he made his way to the transporter, mumbling about getting them all blown up.
"Spock have one of the torpedoes removed from its firing tube and prepared for Lt. Wal… Marcus."
Spock nodded and moved off to follow the orders. Kirk moved to his chair an opened a comlink, "Kirk to Lt. Wallace."
A few moments went by before Carol's voice came over the comlink, "Wallace here. Captain what can I do for you?"
"What is your current location?"
"Engineering."
Charlie could hear the confusion in Carol's voice as to why the Captain was asking where she was.
"We'll be right there, Kirk out."
Charlie was the first one to spot the blond in all the hustle and bustle of engineering. Carol was hunched over a screen, in deep discussion with Chekov over the read outs from the warp core.
"Mr. Chekov, you wouldn't mind if we borrowed Lt. Marcus for a moment would you?" Charlie asked. She had called Carol by her true name, it was the only way she could think of to warn her that Kirk knew who she was.
Chekov didn't even look up from the readings and simply nodded, completely oblivious to the deer in the headlights look the Lieutenant was giving their superior officers.
"Lieutenant," Charlie called as she motioned the woman to follow her and the Captain out of engineering. "What have you found out about the torpedoes?"
Carol glanced at Kirk before answering, "Not much, there is heavy shielding surrounding the core and blocking most of my scans. Why?"
"We need you to open one up."
As soon as the words left Charlie's mouth, Carol took off like a shot, both Kirk and Charlie had to jog to keep up with her.
"Are the torpedoes in the weapons bay?"
Kirk threw a bewildered look toward Charlie as he answered Carol, "Loaded and ready to fire. Spock is having one moved. What are they?"
Carol glanced back at Charlie and then Kirk, "I don't know, that's why I forged my transfer onto your ship to find why."
Carol quickly spun around forcing both Kirk and Charlie to skid to a halt, "I do apologize for that, by the way. If I caused you any problems, I am sorry. I'm Carol Marcus."
"James Kirk."
Charlie just rolled her eyes at the two and cleared her throat, reminding the two love birds of the reason they were rushing down the corridor.
Carol gave Charlie a sheepish look, "Right torpedoes," and then rushed off, leaving a stunned Kirk in her wake.
Charlie just shook her head at the blond and made her way down the corridor, knowing Kirk would follow.
Carol was entering the shuttle bay by the time they caught up with her. They made their way toward a shuttle as Carol explained her reason for investigation into the torpedoes.
"My father gave me access to every program he ever saw. Then I heard he was developing these prototype torpedoes, and when I went to confront him about it, he wouldn't even see me. That's when I discovered the torpedoes had disappeared from all official records."
"Then he gave them to me."
Carol smirked at Kirk, "You're much cleverer than your reputation suggests, Captain Kirk."
"I have a reputation?"
Kirk tried to act surprised but failed miserably as they climbed the steps into the shuttle. Charlie just stayed out it, knowing Carol could hold her own against the charismatic Captain.
"Yes you do, I'm a friend of Christine Chapels."
"Christine… yes…how is she?"
Both the women could tell Kirk had no idea who Carol was talking about.
"She transfer to Alls Frontier to be a nurse. She is much happier now."
Kirk gave an uncomfortable chuckle, "That's good."
Carol had no problem calling Kirk out on his bullshit, "You have no idea who I'm talking about do you?"
Kirk opened his mouth to deny her claim but at both Carol's and Charlie's raised eyebrows he quickly though better of it and switched topics, "What are we doing in here?"
Carol decided to drop the subject of her friend and turned back to the task at hand, "Is this shuttle prepped to fly?"
"Of course it is."
Carol opened one of the storage containers and threw something at Charlie, before turning to Kirk.
"Would you please turn around?"
Kirk eyed the suit in Charlie's hand in confusion, "Why?"
Carol paused in grabbing her own suit, "Just turn around."
Kirk turned his back on the women but that didn't stop Carol from carrying on their conversation.
"It's too dangerous to try an open one of these torpedoes on the Enterprise..."
Charlie who was helping Carol unzip the back of her uniform and interrupted, "Eyes forward Kirk."
Carol continued on as if nothing happened, "…but there is a nearby planetoid… but I will need some help…"
Charlie looked over her shoulder, having turned her own back to slip into her suit, as Carol trailed off mid-sentence, to find Kirk couldn't have helped himself and was now eyeing the blond, who was only in her underthings, up and down.
Carol didn't seem to be fazed at all, "Turn around. Now!"
Charlie couldn't stop the snort that came out at the opened mouth fish face Kirk was giving Carol, as he quickly turned around.
After zipping up her suit, Charlie moved to the front of the shuttle beginning its pre-flight check, and called over her shoulder, "Doctor McCoy."
Carol and Kirk both responded, "What?"
Once she was sure the shuttle was in its pre-launch sequence, Charlie turned back to explain, "Doctor McCoy would be the best help with this. We need a pair of steady hands to disengage the detonation controls from the warhead, before we can take the torpedo apart to examine it.
Charlie was the first one off the shuttle after she had landed it on the barren planetoid Carol had located not far from the Enterprise. It was beautiful in its own way, clear skies, with large rock formations jutting out to the ground in the distance. Once she was far enough away from the shuttle she opened communications to the Enterprise.
"Archer to Enterprise."
"Enterprise here, Commander."
"We've landed safely, I am transmitting coordinates now."
"Understood."
Charlie watched as the torpedo materialized several feet in front of her. She quickly moved to begin her own examination, trusting her two companions to unload the equipment they needed. She had left the communication channel open as the Enterprise needed to know their progress as well as a safety precaution and Kirk took full advantage of being able to tease McCoy.
"Bones, thanks for helping out. Commander Archer and Doctor Marcus asked for the steadiest hands of the ship."
"You know when I dreamt of being stuck on a deserted planet with two gorgeous women, there was no torpedo."
"Doctor McCoy, may I remind you, you are not there to flirt."
Both women skillfully ignored the banter that was going on between their Captain and Chief Medical officer. Charlie knew Kirk was just trying to distract McCoy from the task that he was about to perform, that could kill all three of them in the process if he made one wrong move. As for Carol, she was just too focused on the torpedo and the chance to open one up to care what the men were talking about.
"So how can these legendary hands help you Doctor Marcus?"
"Bones." Kirk half-heartedly reprimanded.
Carol didn't even look up from the sensor read outs as she answered, "To understand how powerful these weapons are we need to open the war head. To do that we need to access the fuel compartment, unfortunately for us these warheads on these weapons are live."
Charlie looked up to see McCoy's reaction and was pleased to see except for a small pause in his stride toward them, the doctor didn't seem to be outwardly affected.
"Sweetheart, I once performed an emergency C-section on a pregnant Gorn. Octuplets… and let me tell you, those little bastards bite. I think I can work some magic on your missile."
Charlie rolled her eyes at the doctor's attempt at flirting. What was it with men and the need to flirt during dangerous situations? She opened the panel that would allow them access to the wiring, she checked for any traps or defense systems that would prevent tampering. When she thought it was safe and the torpedo wouldn't blow them up as soon as they meddled with its insides she turned to her companions, "You're up kids."
Carol knelt down next to the torpedo and began examining the complex network of fiber optic wiring, it took her several minutes to familiarize herself with the lay out. She didn't take her eyes off the missile when she spoke to McCoy, "Alright Doctor, you will need to access the wiring through the open panel."
McCoy moved into position waiting for her signal.
"Archer to Enterprise, we are about to being the disarming sequence, stand by."
"Standing by."
Carol zeroed in on the wire, "Doctor McCoy, there's a bundle of fiber optic cable against the inner casing. You'll need to cut the twenty-third wire down. Whatever you do, do not touch anything else, do you understand?"
"Right… thought never crossed my mind."
Charlie looked up from her tablet where she was monitoring the readouts from the missile when she heard the hesitation creep into his voice. She could see that the reality of the situation was setting in for the doctor as his face paled slightly at Carol's request.
"It's just like any other delicate surgery, Doctor. Steady hands, don't over think it, and you'll be just fine."
McCoy shot her a look of disbelief and took a deep breath before slowly letting it out. He seemed to move more confidently as he stuck his hand into the guts explosive device. Obviously, Charlie knew this wasn't like anything surgery he had done before, most of his patients wouldn't blow him up if he made one wrong move. Carol was so in the zone that she didn't seem to notice that her assistant was having a mini panic attack, so it was up to Charlie to reassure and boost his confidence and she was more than willing to do it if that meant she would live to see the Enterprise again.
"Doctor McCoy, wait for my word… I'm rerouting the detonation processor." Carol quickly picked up her own tablet, double checking the read outs when she was confident she asked, "Are you ready?"
"And raring," was the doctor sarcastic reply.
"Good luck!"
The torpedo reacted the moment the doctor cut the wire, the panel slid back, pinning the doctor's arm in place. McCoy gave a yelp of pain and tried to yank his arm out.
Charlie heard Sulu call over the com channel that the torpedo had armed itself as she tried to help the doctor remove his arm.
"It will detonate in thirty seconds."
"What the hell happened, I can't get my arm out." McCoy yelled, as he and Charlie still struggled to remove his arm.
Carol disappeared from Charlie's side and ran to the other side of the torpedo.
Charlie could hear the crew on the bridge frantically trying to save them, Kirk ordering an emergency transport, "Target their signal, beam them back right now."
"The transporter cannot differentiate between Doctor McCoy and the torpedo… we cannot beam back one without the other…." Spock informed his Captain.
"Doctor Marcus, can you disarm it?"
Charlie having giving up trying to the free the doctor, vaulted herself over the torpedo and landed next to Carol, as the woman finished removing the protective panel.
"I'm trying….I'm trying…" Carol answered back as she and Charlie frantically tried to trace the network of cables trying to find the one that would stop the count down.
"Jim, get them the hell out of here!"
Carol looked up to argue, "No! If you beam me back he dies! Let me do it!"
"Ten…nine…eight…"
"Not helping!" Charlie called over the torpedo, not looking up from the blinking panel.
In the background they could hear Sulu, "Ready to transport Marcus and Archer on your command sir."
"Four… three…" McCoy continued his countdown.
At five, Charlie knew there was nothing to be done but a good old fashioned mechanical shut down and Carol seemed to realize it too as she cursed, "Shit!"
They both reached for the control circuit at the same time and yanked as hard as they could, falling back on their asses as the circuit came loose.
Charlie stared at the sky for a moment, contemplating that she wasn't dead and that she would need to update her ways not to die list with this latest near death experience, "Well… that was fun."
Sighs of relief could be heard over the com channel as Spock spoke, "Deactivation sequence successful, Captain."
"Thank you Captain Obvious," Charlie grunted as she rolled to her knees. She could see Carol already getting to her feet and Doctor McCoy's head appeared on the other side of the torpedo as he stood and checked to see if all his limbs were intact.
"Doctor McCoy, are you alright?"
As Charlie dusted off her uniform, she noticed a panel had opened on the top of the torpedo. All three officers moved to take a look and what they found was nothing that Charlie had ever expected, "Son of a bitch."
"Bones?" Kirk asked again.
McCoy looked up double checking that he wasn't crazy and his two companions could also see what seemed to be impossible. "Jim, you're going to want to see this."
I am back! For those who have stuck with me in my long absence thanks... and for those who are just now finding my story, I hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think.
Updates will be a soon as I can, but with three jobs its a little hard to find the time to sleep let alone write. So please stick with me and will see where the rest of this adventure take us!
