"Jim versus the force field. Round three." Kirk announced, and stretched his hands like a maestro sitting down in front of a piano. He carefully lifted the loosened electronics panel off of the wall, and looked at a clean and orderly assortment of wires. Everything seemed to be labelled, and in the correct place. Kirk couldn't help but think of Scotty's organizational skills. You either knew where things were or you didn't, and he wasn't about to label things so that people who weren't meant to fiddle around thought that they could. Apparently, the Cardassian engineers saw things a little differently.
He examined the guts of the force field and tried his best to figure out how the hook-ups related to the emitters. There was no guarantee that the system resembled Federation technology in any way. Still, Kirk knew that he had to try. He could only dupe the guards so many times before they began hunting Bones. Kirk reached forward and pulled out three of the wires. There was a quick singe of pain in his fingertips, and he quickly shook his hand and put them against his lips. He glanced over at the open doorway that contained the force field. It flickered with bursts of orange electricity, but it was still functioning. Rather than risk another nasty burn, Kirk pulled a big piece of what was left of McCoy's bicorder out of the equipment bag and threw it towards the hallway.
It ricocheted back towards him with a loud buzz, and he ducked to avoid getting hit in the face. There was a loud clang as it hit the back wall.
"What are you doing in there?" The guard's voice demanded, as the doors opened and he walked over to Kirk's cell.
"Me?" Kirk smiled, "I'm just testing the force field's integrity. I'm trying to disable it so that I can help take over your ship. It's not good for a captain to just sit on his ass, you know."
The Cardassian gave him a sceptical, appraising look. It was a very strange situation to him. Prisoners lied. All of the time. It was part of being incarcerated, you just started to lie in an attempt to gain your freedom. The human couldn't possibly be different. Nobody in their right mind would tell the truth about escape attempts and subterfuges. But…
"Where is Dr. McCoy?" The guard asked, rather cheerfully, peeking inside the cell.
"I don't know anymore. You were gone for more than ten minutes, by the way." Kirk said in a silly, scolding kind of voice while he wagged his finger.
"I had orders to attend to," The guard shrugged, "Your ship is paying your ransom."
"What ransom?" Kirk asked. Surely the Enterprise wouldn't give away anything dangerous, and if it was money the Cardassians were after, they were out of luck.
"Where's the doctor?" The guard countered.
"Tell me about the ransom."
"You're making demands? You're in a detention cell. Your entire ship thinks that we can kill them with the press of a button. You have no authority and no power." The guard scoffed.
Kirk looked at him for awhile. He still maintained that you could tell a lot about people by what they drank. And now he knew that Cardassians drank poisoned kanar, as well as regular kanar, but the poison really gave them away.
"I still have one card left to play."
"What card would that be, Captain?"
"I know, for a fact, whether or not the doctor has escaped. And you need that information," Kirk smiled, "Hey, do you guys kill failures? Or just eject them from military service? I don't know a hell of a lot about your culture."
McCoy held his breath as he opened the fifth door on the left. He was relieved when he found himself looking at a medical bay, and Spock. Who was sitting cross-legged on top of a biobed, his hands tented and his eyes closed. Quietly, McCoy stepped over the high threshold and into the room. He closed the door behind himself and looked around tentatively.
"Spock?" He whispered, "Are you alone?"
Spock's eyes opened and he looked silently upon his crewmate. He nodded.
"Good," McCoy sighed, letting his voice take it's normal volume, "I've been running around this damn ship like a fox lookin' for the henhouse. How are you?"
Spock raised an incredulous eyebrow at McCoy.
"That is to say, I heard you were being interrogated. Did it mess you up?"
"I will be able to assist you," Spock answered evenly, "Where is Captain Kirk?"
"Under lock and key two floors down from here…" McCoy explained his escape and adventures thus far, while Spock sat and listened. He remained silent the entire time.
There seemed to be something strange about the atmosphere around Spock. As though he simply didn't care about anything McCoy was saying. Like he was trapped in a bubble of indifference? Had the Cardassians got to him? Promised him something? It would be easy to betray humans if you weren't human. Maybe the Union could provide Vulcan II with resources, information, and technology. Maybe it all made sense in that cold, logical brain of his.
He waited for Spock to respond to his story. But the Vulcan didn't speak. He didn't even blink. He sat and waited, seeming to wait for something relevant to come out of McCoy's mouth. Like what had been said so far was unimportant to him.
"Don't you care about anything, you green-blooded son of a bitch?" McCoy grumbled, and Spock tilted his head to one side, "I'm telling you we're in trouble. The Enterprise is in trouble. Jim's in trouble. But you wouldn't care about that, would you? Because you don't have a single common, decent human feeling in that alien heart of yours. Do you, Mr. Spock?"
"Thank you for reminding me, Doctor," Spock stood up and straightened his uniform, "We will need to contact Mr. Scott. You will return to the detention area and release the captain from detainment. I would go myself, but I am confined by this device." He motioned towards the ankle restraint.
"Right! I can get that off!" McCoy snapped his fingers and began looking for the tri-laser connector. He presumed that since Federation hypos looked like Cardassian hypos, then there shouldn't be too much difference in other simple tools. Thankfully, he was right.
Spock watched as McCoy opened and closed drawers, shuffling around a medical bay that wasn't his, but acting like he owned the place. Dr. McCoy was a very good example of what it was to be human. And Spock knew that he had next to nothing in common with the man. It refreshed his viewpoint, and reminded him of who he was. Who he had always been.
"I didn't have much luck with the computer system," McCoy said, setting the connector to maximum power, "I don't suppose you're any good with deciphering hieroglyphs?"
"Did you recognize the writing system as logographic?" Spock enquired as McCoy applied the device to his restraint. The cuff fell to the floor. Despite the lack of physical weight to the device, its removal seemed to lighten Spock. He couldn't explain it.
"Uh…" McCoy considered the question, "Not particularly. I just couldn't read it."
No need to mention that he was guessing what logographic meant from context. Which wasn't fair, by the way. He never threw around fancy medical terminology. On purpose.
"It is unfortunate that we do not have Lt. Uhura with us to help decipher the Cardassian language." Spock mused, making his way to the nearest computer station.
McCoy decided to leave that mess alone as well. He wasn't one of those people who could employ stupid high school humour when everyone's lives were in jeopardy. That was Jim's department.
"Fascinating." Spock decided, and began to press buttons.
Cardassian appeared to be phonetic, contrary to the doctor's speculations. That actually made things a little trickier - not only would he have to decipher the letters to their corresponding sounds, he would have to translate the combinations of those sounds into a language he understood. Spock was confident that he could, indeed, do that. But he would need somewhere around five days before it yielded any useful results. No, he was going to have to try something a little more dangerous.
"Computer?" He enquired.
The computer answered in an unfamiliar word and a smooth, masculine voice.
"Translate all display screens in the medical bay into the Vulcan language." Spock was speaking in said language. He had not done so since he had joined Starfleet Academy. But the likelihood of the Cardassians having a greater familiarity with Vulcan than with the Human language was high, and he wanted to increase his chances of gaining access as much as he could.
The computer beeped rather angrily and said something else in Cardassian.
"I guess that means unable to process your request," McCoy shrugged, "Still, it was a good…"
"Repeat. In Vulcan." Spock demanded of the console, completely ignoring Bones.
"Clearance authorization is required to affect this change." The computer told him. It's Vulcan was heavily accented.
"Can you tell me what is currently displayed on this screen?"
All of this was making McCoy feel left out. He didn't speak Vulcan or Cardassian and he had no idea what anybody was saying. So he decided to wander around the medical bay, reload his hypospray and maybe steal a new purse. Equipment bag. Damn it.
"This is the standard medical program. It can display life signs, scans and other information received from several devices in the medical bay. Access is restricted."
"Can I access other systems from this station?"
"You require level three clearance codes to do so." Somebody else could access whatever they wanted, but Spock couldn't. He was obviously some kind of saboteur.
"Here," McCoy handed him a large hypo loaded with something blue, "Shoot it into the base of the neck. Try to do it as little as possible, you might kill somebody."
Spock glanced at the hypospray and put it down on the table. If he could get close enough to shoot somebody with a hypo, he could get close enough to nerve pinch them. That was faster, cleaner and safer.
"Are there any areas that I am currently allowed access to?" Spock asked the computer.
The screen of the medical station changed. It displayed an elderly Cardassian gentleman sitting at a desk with the symbol of the Union behind him. He was smiling.
"Greetings prisoners of Cardassia! You have attempted to access our computer systems, which was a very foolish decision. The doors to your current location have been sealed, and security personnel have been informed of your activity. No doubt several guards have been dispatched and are on their way to vaporize you. We are all very glad that you may realize the strength of Cardassia and its wisdom before you die. Please enjoy whatever backwater version of the afterlife you believe in."
And the screen reverted to its previous display.
"Son of a bitch." McCoy observed.
"Sir?" One of the bridge officers addressed Manon, "Security reports that unauthorized access to the system has been attempted in the medical bay."
"Mr. Spock must be regaining some of his confidence," Manon grumbled. It was so difficult the whittle away at the Vulcan mind. You had to bombard them at a very constant rate, "Nomar, take a few guards and investigate. Under no circumstances is anyone to speak directly to the prisoner, understood?"
"Yes, of course." Nomar nodded, stood from his station and left the bridge.
"You must calm yourself." Spock instructed.
"Goddamn it! Didn't you hear the part about vaporizing us?!" McCoy was livid and ranting. He kept throwing his hands up and walking back and forth along the same stretch of floor.
"That is not the logical outcome. The message was pre-programmed," The science officer explained, "I am supposed to be alone. It will be considered likely that I would try to access the computer system. They will not be expecting your presence, even if they are aware of your escape. Though you have stated that you believe that they are not. We have an advantage over them."