A Fair Fight

Because if you find yourself in a fair fight, you didn't plan your mission properly

Lt. Jerry Roberts was beginning to think his CO was losing it. Okay, Roberts knew Giotto's win record and obviously the guy was a good tactician, but he was also way the heck out here on leave. Why was Murdock so worried? Jerry had tailed Giotto and his traveling companion (not a nurse, but definitely in the non-essential personnel category for war games) around the island all day. Most of that time he'd sat at a pier side coffee shop while they'd snorkled, wind-surfed and then lounged around at lunch getting toasted on free rum drinks. He hadn't even had to get up until they went for a long walk on the beach. The only remotely suspicious thing going on was that they seemed to be having an affair and since their captain had to have approved both leaves, it probably wasn't even illicit.

Roberts glanced unhappily at the dusk-darkened sky. Just his luck to draw a CO who was completely mental when it came to the competition. While the real action was about to start just outside the star system, he was stuck here watching a couple take a romantic stroll down the boardwalk. They were so absorbed in each other that they hadn't even noticed they were being followed. It was pathetic really. How could Murdock possibly be worried about these people?

Oh great, they were stopping in another shop to look at trinkets. Jerry stepped around the corner to grab a drink from a vending machine, all the while morosely resolving to eat the business end of a phaser before he ever let himself get stuck with this type of assignment again.

Just as he bent down to retrieve his drink he was yanked backward with someone's wrist bone jammed so hard into his larynx that he couldn't breathe. The attacker twisted him off balance before he could kick or strike back and shifted his hands to where one sharp twist would snap Jerry's neck.

"Don't try anything and I won't hurt you ...much," his assailant growled. "Who are you and why are you following us?"

Frak. Jerry suddenly understood why his boss was a little paranoid. Giotto looked like he was just waiting for an excuse to hurt him a lot. "Lt. Jerome Roberts, USS Potemkin. Cmdr. Murdock ordered me to follow you."

"Honestly Sam," the woman stood at the shop's side delivery door. "We come all the way out here to get a real leave for a change and work literally follows you."

.

"Direct hit!" Chekhov crowed.

"Their aft shields are at 10%," Spock reported.

"Answering fire," Sulu warned. "Starboard shields at 60%."

"Excellent," Kirk lean forward in his command chair. "Thread the needle Mr. Sulu and bring us around. Mr. Jenkins alert boarding parties. Where can we send them?"

A ship's diagram came up on tactical. "The obvious target is engineering, but Murdock knows who trained me, so the first team will hit a secondary target: the phaser control room. That'll be expectedly unexpected enough to keep them from being suspicious. We'll send the second group simultaneously to try to confuse their sensors, dropping the main force into the lounge."

"The lounge?" Sulu looked over in surprise.

"Empty during a red alert and right next to their communication center. Once we control shipwide communications they are totally screwed," Dan beamed a grin and bowed slightly to Uhura. "Especially since we did a little magic with voice recordings from the pre-game conference."

"We'll fire to further confuse them. On my mark, Mr. Jenkins," Kirk nodded with a broadening smile. Adm. Thompson had taken command of the Potemkin for these games just to prove he could out-maneuver the Enterprise's 'stripling upstart' of a Captain, but the smug look Thompson had gotten when they'd 'admitted' that Giotto had been 'forced to take medical leave' was going to be the last one he'd ever dare to show around the Enterprise crew. ('Hardly seems fair to best them without even one experienced officer on their side' Ha!) Murdock at least had looked suspicious to the point of paranoia, and those at-odds reactions were undoubtedly causing some friction in that command team.

It was about to get worse. "Now," Kirk ordered.

They dove and swooped up, targeting the weakened shield to bring it down, then slowed only slightly to thread between the Potemkin's nacelles where answering fire would be suicidal. Both ships shuddered as their shields brushed. It was a dangerous move - something not one in a million pilots would even try. Fortunately Sulu was one in ten million.

"Boarding parties away," Jenkins reported.

"Punch it," Kirk ordered and Sulu accelerated into a wide spiral that would force the Potemkin to come about to engage. "Fire at will Mr. Chekhov. Let's see if we can bring down any more shields while their phaser crew is occupied."

.

Potemkin Chief Engineer Ramesh Bhanjee watched the computer display grateful that this was all simulated attacks registering mock damage. Otherwise his systems would be taking a beating.

"Mr. Bhanjee," the admiral's voice came across comm. "Cut engines."

"Sir?"

"Kirk's not the only one with tricks. We're going to play dead and lure him in."

It seemed like a strange order. With the aft shields down, they were likely to have a boarding party storming engineering whether they played dead or not, but who was he to question an admiral (especially one who didn't take well to questions)?

"Aye, sir."

.

Adm. Roger Thompson clenched his fists. Kirk was a mad man and his helmsman must be descended from kamikazes.

"Forward shields at 40%, starboard down to 20," Lt. Green reported.

"Hard to port," Thompson ordered.

"Helm not responding, sir."

"Damage reports coming in from all decks." The comm officer touched his ear piece. "Heavy casualties in engineering. Mr. Bhanjee says there's damage to the impulse engines and they've had to seal off the lower main section."

"Tell him to get those engines back on line! Apply thrusters Ms. Turan. Get us to a position where we can return fire."

A voice came over his chair comm. "Position won't do you any good, sir."

"What? Who is this?"

"Lt. Jessica Hanlan sir, USS Enterprise," she called back proudly. "We've taken phaser control and sealed off the room."

Roger slammed off the comm channel. "Ready photon torpedoes."

"Sir! Torpedo room reports they are under attack by boarding parties."

Damnation! "Where the hell is Murdock?"

.

Cmdr. Murdock looked suspiciously at the four Enterprise officers standing in the phaser control room. They'd caused a moment or two of havoc, but he'd had security waiting. This was exactly the sort of thing someone would expect from an amateur like Jenkins who'd only had a year to shadow Giotto - and that was what worried him. That and the fact that there were only four of them. There should have been at least six.

"Which of you is in charge?"

The largest of them came to attention. "Lt. Warren Grossman sir."

"Where's the rest of your party Lieutenant?"

"I'm sorry sir, but we can't answer you." Grossman smiled smugly and pointed to his vest. "According to game rules, we've all been stunned or killed while engaging your forces. None of us can do or say anything until it's over."

Murdock nodded. It had been worth a try. "Mr. Zhiaxing, take them to holding. The rest of you, fan out and look for the others."

This had the feel of a trick and Roberts hadn't checked in before the games started. Damn but he wished he knew what Giotto was up to.

.

Lt. Roberts struggled, testing his bonds, but it was hopeless. Giotto's mistress was apparently really good at tying knots (a fact Jerry resolved not to think about any more than absolutely necessary). Being found bound and gagged in a hotel room was going to be embarrassing, but all things considered he'd gotten off easy. Giotto could have KO'ed him and dropped him in a dumpster, which is what he'd have been tempted to do if he'd caught someone stalking him and his girlfriend on a romantic getaway.

Combat in space tended to be over in a matter of hours if not minutes, especially when both ships were confined to a given battle zone, and Jerry resigned himself to waiting. Even if he could get free, it wouldn't do much good now to tell Murdock that his rival's cunning plan was to disappear and let the Enterprise crew prove that no one should assume they were too young and inexperienced to handle things on their own.

If Roberts ever made it to Chief, he was going to make a point of remembering Rule 3b.

.

"Security to lateral sensor array! Intruder alert!"

Murdock smiled. That made sense. This Jenkins was following Giotto's playbook after all. A few people against the squad Ed had waiting there was going to be a short fight, but there was no use taking chances. He signaled his squad to go and headed to his office at a run.

There hadn't been any other intruder alerts, but Giotto had gotten him last time by slipping a second boarding party in while the sensors were strained. This time he had a countermeasure for that. It wouldn't help much in a real battle where the number of KIA was in flux, but it wasn't technically cheating to count the number of life signs on the ship and it would only take the push of a button on his computer.

Murdock keyed open the lock to his office and his vest flashed, signaling him a casualty. A young man sat with his feet up on the desk, pointing a laser-tag gun at him. "Hello, Cmdr. Murdock. Lt. Phil Groesner, USS Enterprise, pleased to meet you sir."

"How did you get into my office?"

"Vulcan Science Officer," Groesner held up a small padd. "We haven't run into a piece of technology yet that he couldn't crack, but just to fine tune things, we spent a couple days having Mr. Giotto try to keep us from breaking into his office." The young man smiled amiably. "You might want to ask for some pointers after this over - yours was easy."

Murdock ground his teeth. "I knew Giotto wasn't really on leave."

"But he is sir. In fact, there's a message for you." Groesner rose, allowing Murdock to take a seat at his terminal. The screen showed a picture of a sunny tropical beach. At the bottom was a message:

'Hi Ed,

Greetings from Awani, Lt. Roberts wishes he wasn't here. When you get a chance, he's waiting for you to pick him up. Room 3, Balamalu Hotel.

-Sam'

.

"Admiral, we're being hailed by the Enterprise."

Thompson looked around the bridge. They'd lost aft, starboard and ventral shields. The engines were down. Boarding parties were apparently in control of phaser and torpedo bays and his Security Chief was MIA.

"On screen."

"Admiral," Kirk sat in his command chair looking like a cat happily digesting canary. "Your ship is severely damaged and we have a clear shot at your exposed belly. I can fire until your ship is listed as a total loss, or you can surrender and we can all just head back to the starbase for a few beers."

"This is supposed to simulate a real battle, Captain. You wouldn't fire; you've got too many boarding parties on this ship."

Kirk pursed his lips. "Well, I could send more to overwhelm you, but that would take awhile and it'd be easier to just beam back my 20 people and then blow you away."

Roger felt his eyebrows climb. "20?"

"Mr. Giotto could probably have done it with 12," Kirk tapped his lips trying to disguise a grin. "But Mr. Jenkins wanted to play it safe. I'm sure once he gets a little more experience, he'll have more confidence in the excellence of our security officers."

Schooling his features to careful formality, Thompson straightened. He hadn't missed the reference to the man Kirk had defied him to retrieve or the not-so-subtle dig. However, while Roger certainly did not like losing, he was capable of admitting when he'd been bested in a fair fight and doing so graciously.

"Very well, Captain, I concede defeat. Is Mr. Jenkins present?"

"Here, sir." The sandy-haired young man appeared by the Captain's chair.

"My compliments Mr. Jenkins, I confess that I underestimated you. Whoever captains the Farragut will have a fine Chief."

"Thank you, sir. I was trained by the best," Jenkins stated proudly. "But the real credit goes to an outstanding Captain and crew."

Thompson nodded acknowledgment, shifting his attention to Kirk. "Captain, I believe it's no secret that I have questioned the wisdom of your rapid promotion. I do so no longer."

"Thank you, sir. I had the advantage of the best crew in Starfleet, and for the record, you gave us a good fight."

"Thank you. It should take an hour to return to standard ship operations." Roger smiled. "Then we can rendezvous at the starbase for those beers - and remember, Captain, the winner buys."

.

AN: Rule3 is that no one should underestimate an opponent because he has gray hair. But age and fame can lead to the same arrogance as youth and strength, hence the need for Rule3b.

For reference, Lt. Grossman is Cupcake. (And Denise learned to tie knots on her parents' sail boat, so get your minds out of the gutter. ;D)

Please r&r