Disclaimer: not mine, but I like to play with the characters.

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"Spock-" Jim started.

"Yes, Captain. On-screen." Spock interrupted, anticipating his captain's orders. Barely a moment passed before the screen came alive with a very unusual picture; Jim bit down on an inappropriate laugh by coughing loudly. The Klingon ship was, for lack of a better word, sparkling. The particles around the ship were twinkling merrily, a rather beautiful shade of sky blue. It was like someone had taken a tube of glitter-glue to the Klingon ship and it now had the cheaply decorated look of costume jewelry or a tacky sequined dress.

"Scotty?" Jim asked, stifling a grin. "Care to explain why this highly intimidating Klingon ship looks like a Christmas tree ornament?"

"Hey, we're operatin' with a new technology here!" Scotty said defensively. "There were bound to be some…unforeseen side-effects. Give me a minute."

As Scotty worked his magic, Spock spoke up. "The Klingon ship is closing, Captain. They'll be within weapons range in approximately four minutes."

"Understood. Do they know we can see them?"

"Unknown. But given the fact they are still cloaked, it is safe to assume that they are unaware of their visibility."

"Well!" Scotty burst out, grinning. "Believe it or not, Captain, the razzle-dazzle is actually a very good thing! We thought the pulse would light up the photons and then dissipate, giving our sensors just a brief flash of a cloaked ship. But the anti-protons have bonded to the photons on an atomic level. To get rid of the uh…shimmerin', they'd have to shut down the cloak and purge the tainted photons. We've just put a serious dent in their stealth technology, not to mention their street-cred. No one's going to be shakin' in their boots when the Klingons come 'round if they look like a damn disco ball!"

"Thank you, Mr. Scott." Jim nodded, crossing his legs and giving off an air of supreme confidence. "Uhura, open a channel to the Klingon ship."

"Channel open, Sir."

"This is Captain James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise. Klingon vessel, we are aware of your presence, just as you should be aware of our phasers targeting your ship." Jim nodded to Lana and she followed the order, getting a target-lock on their weapons. "Explain your presence in Federation territory or you will be fired upon."

A beat passed. "No response, Captain." Uhura informed him.

"Captain." Lana interjected. "Klingons respond much better to action than talk. A warning shot across their bow could do wonders in loosening their tongue."

"Do it." The red bolt of energy shot out, missing the Klingon ship by only a few meters.

The crew waited tensely. The tight silence was broken by a beep, followed by Uhura's voice. "They're responding."

"On-screen." The gaily decorated ship was replaced by a hulking Klingon dressed in full battle gear. Even more disturbing than that…he was smiling. Instead of inspiring trust and openness, though, it put the crew of the Enterprise on edge. His jagged, rotting teeth and stretched lips were menacing when combined with the deceit in his eyes. The Klingon clearly wanted to put them at ease (or lure them into a false sense of security), which became even more apparent as he spoke.

"Captain." The Klingon said. That one word was intended to convey a humble and flattering tone of respect, but the Klingon couldn't keep the hints of condescension and vague disgust completely out of his voice. Whatever his agenda, the warrior wanted Kirk to feel secure but was obviously repulsed at having to address a human with deference. "Your reputation precedes you. I am honored to meet such an accomplished warrior. Especially one with such…interesting technology."

"And you are?" Jim asked blandly, ignoring the questioning tone that came with the Klingon's mention of the pulse.

"Forgive me." The Klingon said with exaggerated humility. "I am Captain Koros of the warbird Batlh."

"What's your business in Federation space, Captain?" Jim asked amiably, standing and walking toward the screen. His hands were behind his back and Sulu recognized Kirk Smirk #8 on his face: the 'we're-playing-a-game-and-I'm-going-to-win' smirk.

"That is a matter of some delicacy. We represent a growing segment of the Klingon population, one dissatisfied with the current state of affairs. We feel the Council has stretched the Empire too thin by warring with any species we make contact with. In short, Captain…we are here to engage in a dialogue of peace." Koros finished, stretching that unnerving smile even further.

Well. That was unexpected. That thought echoed in nearly every Star Fleet officer's mind.

"That's a very noble purpose, Captain Koros." Jim nodded, not believing a word of it. "But as you might have heard, Star Fleet has a guiding principle called the Prime Directive. It forbids us from interfering with the internal affairs of other cultures. If we were to enter into talks with your movement, it could incite a civil war, one the Federation might get dragged into."

Koros huffed and blustered, obviously expecting humans to jump at the chance for peace. "Captain! Peace is the ultimate goal of your Federation! Will you not even consider my offer?"

"I might have." Jim said, the #8 smirk slipping from his face. "Except you approached my ship while cloaked, made no attempts to communicate with us even after we hailed you, and I've heard of no such movement within the Klingon Empire. And, on top of all that, I just plain don't trust you."

The Klingon leaned back in his chair and gave Kirk an appraising look. After a few moments of silence, he leaned forward again. "Captain Kirk, do you understand the weight of a Klingon's word?"

Jim looked at Uhura, who shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. He looked at Lana, who explained the concept. "A Klingon breaking his word is the ultimate disgrace. He would damn himself in this life – the punishment for breaking a Klingon Word of Honor is exile – and in the next. His soul would be stained with heavy dishonor and he would spend eternity in Gre'thor, their version of Hell."

"Your woman speaks the truth, Kirk. I give you my Word of Honor as a Klingon that I, too, speak the truth when I say we desire peace. I ask permission to beam a diplomatic contingent aboard Enterprise so that we might convince you of our true intent." Koros said, a look in his eyes that none of the Star Fleet officers could identify.

Jim thought carefully before answering. "I need to discuss this with my crew."

"We will be here." Koros replied, ending the transmission.

"Lana, Spock: my ready room." Jim ordered, walking across the bridge and into his office. Once the doors shut behind his second- and third-in-command, Jim jumped into it. "Thoughts?"

"I don't like the idea of Klingons on this ship, Captain." Lana said heatedly. The intimate air that had surrounded the couple for the past few days was gone, replaced by an all-business attitude. "Besides, to beam them aboard we'd have to lower our shields and that's just not going to happen."

"I cannot say I approve of it either, but this vow of honor does not sound like something that we should take lightly. It was certainly not given lightly." Spock countered.

"But do you think they really want peace?" Jim asked. His gut told him that, despite Koros' word, peace wasn't what they were after. But could he afford not to pursue any chance of peace with one of the greatest threats to the Federation?

"The offer did seem insincere at first, but in essence, Captain Koros is willing to risk his soul to make us believe that this prospect is genuine. Logic dictates he would only make such a solemn vow if his offer is true as he claims."

"Or if he knows his soul is already going to hell, with or without a broken Word of Honor." Lana argued. "Captain, Klingon honor is highly subjective. Yes, it's honorable to keep one's word, but he may find it more honorable to destroy the flagship of the fleet and its legendary captain in one fell swoop! He wouldn't be the first person to sacrifice a core principle in pursuit of a higher goal."

Spock's eyes stayed on her face for a moment and then the Vulcan turned to Kirk. "Commander Andre's logic is sound. Perhaps we should contact Star Fleet with this development and proceed according to their judgment."

"It's our lives on the line, not theirs." Jim said. "But at the very least, they can tell us what they know about Captain Koros and this Anti-Council movement, if it exists."

Jim opened his communicator, telling Uhura to contact Admiral Pike and route the transmission to his ready room. There was a pause and her voice crackled back over the line. "Sorry, Captain. The Klingon ship is having a slight engine problem. Nothing serious, but highly ionized warp particles are being vented. It's interfering with our communications array."

Flipping his communicator closed, he shot his two officers a look. "Score one for you, Lana. What are the odds that they'd have engine trouble that would prevent us from contacting Star Fleet?"

"Approximately one in-" Spock started.

"That was a rhetorical question, Spock." Jim rolled his eyes. "They're using a poor man's jamming signal and disguising it as a core malfunction."

"So what's the plan?" Lana asked.

"Well, it's a good bet that these guys are responsible for the Yashiro and the Resolute. If it weren't for the pulse, they could have decloaked right on top of us and opened fire before we even knew they were there."

"But we detected them before they could, so they improvised. To their credit, I never thought Klingons could think so fast on the fly." Lana added.

"At some point, though, they will discover that their ruse has failed." Spock pointed out. "When that happens, it is likely they will attempt to destroy us. Their tactics will simply change from a stealth attack to a more conventional battle."

"So…what? We run?" Lana asked, clearly not liking the idea.

"And let them find another Federation vessel to target? I don't think so." Jim responded. "We need to take them down and quickly, but I don't like the idea of firing first. It could exacerbate our tense relations with the Empire."

"Just tell him no deal." Lana shrugged. "Klingons generally have short, explosive tempers. By turning down his offer, we're insulting his word; them's fighting words. When he fires on us, we'll be more than ready to fire back."

Jim nodded seriously. "When I give the order, hit them with everything we've got."

"Understood, Sir." Lana nodded back.

Spock and Lana followed Jim's lead as he walked back onto the bridge. He gave a short nod to Uhura, who reestablished communication with the Klingon vessel.

"Have you made a decision?" Koros asked, his gruesome smile back in place.

"I have." Jim stated. "You are correct; peace is the highest goal of the Federation. But if we achieve peace with the Klingon Empire, it will be through proper diplomatic channels. I'm not willing to put my ship and crew in jeopardy solely on the word of a single Klingon captain."

Koros was literally shaking with rage. "You doubt my word, you human p'tahk?"

"You've given me plenty of reason to." Jim shot back.

The Klingon growled, baring his teeth. "Then may the screams of your dying crew follow you to Hell!"

With that, Koros broke communications and Enterprise shook as weapons fire rained down on the hull. Jim stumbled to his chair and yelled, "Now, Lana!"

Lana's finger was already flying over the tactical console, sending a full spread of torpedoes and firing phasers at every critical system on the enemy ship.

"Shields down to 68 percent, Captain." Spock yelled over the din. "52 percent!"

"Casualties reported on all decks!" Uhura shouted.

"Andre to armory!" Lana said over the comm., still firing at the Klingon ship. "Load two of the high-yield torpedoes and target their weapons! Fire on my order!"

"Can't!" Cupcake screamed back. "That last shot took out the targeting scanners!"

"Then do it manually!" Lana ordered. The seconds passed by interminably slow, as Spock reported the loss of their shields and damage across the ship.

"Ensign Chekov!" Spock yelled, urgency in his tone. "Your console is overloading! Move-"

Time stopped on the bridge. Lana blinked, the simple movement seeming to take minutes. The sparks from damaged equipment flew up in front of her eyes; sound faded into a white-noise buzzing and her vision tunneled on her brother's back. She blinked again and then he was being thrown backwards by the ball of fire that used to be his console. The smell of his charred flesh assaulted her nostrils and the thud of his body smacking lifelessly against the floor echoed in her ears. She could see the mouths of her crew moving slowly and knew they were yelling at Pavel's prone form, but couldn't make out what they were saying. Sulu dove out of his seat and was at the teenager's side in a second, shaking his shoulder and yelling at him. There was some horrible, screeching scream filling the bridge and only her lungs burning for oxygen made her realize it was coming from her.

"Commander Andre!" Cupcake's voice cut into her hazy perceptions. "Waiting on your order!"

"Then for fuck's sake, fire!" she yelled, her voice hoarse. She watched as two torpedoes cut across space and impacted with the Klingon ship. Their weapons were disabled and the firing stopped. But that didn't mean that their firing had to stop. Pressing the comm. button, she asked roughly. "How many torpedoes do we have left?"

"Only two, ma'am."

"Target their engines and fire." she said with deadly resolve.

There was a pause. "Yes, ma'am."

Two more torpedoes deployed and struck in rapid succession, only meters from their warp core. Their ship didn't explode, but it certainly wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. As eager as she was to see those bastards light up like a bon fire, part of her was glad; this meant she could kill them all with her bare hands instead. Much more satisfying.

An eerie silence came over the bridge; though the firefight had lasted only a few minutes, they'd almost gotten used to the deafening noise. As always, the captain was the first to recover.

"Get him to sickbay." Jim said to Sulu and Scotty, nodding to Chekov's unconscious body. Pressing a button on his chair-side console, he spoke with authority and calm. "All hands: this is the Captain. All departments: submit damage reports in 30 minutes. Sickbay: send me a casualty report. Senior officers: conference room in 30 minutes. All crew: report to critical sections for damage repairs. That is all."

Lana watched, frozen and helpless, as Scotty and Sulu carried her brother past her station and into the turbo-lift. His face was almost unrecognizable. He was covered in burns and seemed to be bleeding all over. Only the shallow, wheezing breaths escaping his parted lips let her know he was still alive. The turbo-lift doors closed, removing Pavel from her sight. Her eyes drifted back to the view-screen and rage so strong it was almost tangible rose up in her body. The Klingon ship was severely battle-damaged and smoking in several places, but it wasn't enough. They hurt her brother; they hurt him, nearly killed him. Her eyes darted over to Jim and moved up and down his body, visually checking him for injuries. He seemed to be fine. And – she squared her shoulders in determination – he was going to stay that way. With that, Lana made her way over to Spock.

She grabbed Spock's arm and dragged him to the conference room without so much as a by-your-leave. When he tried to shake her loose, she merely tightened her grip and looked at him. The look in her eyes, more than her iron grip, made him follow. The doors shut behind them and Spock calmly took a seat as Lana paced like a caged animal.

"I know you don't like me." Lana started, not even sparing him a glance. "That's fine; I won't be buying you a friendship bracelet any time soon either. But we do have one thing in common: we both care for Jim. Right?"

"I do not claim to know your feelings toward him, but I have developed a respect and…fondness for the captain." Spock agreed.

"Good. Then I need your help to keep him from doing anything stupid."

Spock raised an eyebrow. "Clarify."

Lana continued to pace. "Jim has a tendency to put himself in unnecessary danger. But if he puts himself in that situation again, between the two of us, we can stop him."

Spock gave Lana a sharp look. "I will not go against the captain."

"I'm not proposing mutiny, you idiot!" Lana barked, rolling her eyes. "I'm just saying if we form an alliance and stand firmly against whatever suicidal, moronic plan he comes up with, then he'll be less likely to go through with it. The captain shouldn't be going into dangerous situations anyway; it's against Star Fleet protocol."

"Captain Kirk has never been a great follower of rules…nor of logic. I fail to see how we can convince him."

"Between your logic and my threats-slash-feminine wiles-slash-ability to psychologically torture him, he'll cave." Lana insisted.

Spock stood and approached Lana. "I do not believe our attempts will work. However, I am willing to try."

"Good." she said, abruptly walking away and leaving the room. Spock merely quirked an eyebrow and followed her onto the bridge.

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Jim was in his ready room, looking over the damage reports. The battle had ended in mutual annihilation; both ships were severely damaged and it was now an old-fashioned space-race to see who could repair what systems before the enemy did. He'd been sending orders to every department of the ship and determining how best to use their man-power when his door chimed.

"Enter." he called.

Sulu entered and Jim set down his PADD, focusing on the helmsmen. "Sulu, how's Chekov?"

Sulu swallowed tightly, looking at the floor. "Critical. McCoy's doing everything he can, but…"

"He'll pull through." Jim said, trying to convey confidence. "Pavel's strong; he may not look it, but he's a fighter."

"I'm not here about Chekov, Sir." Sulu said, not wanting to dwell on Pavel. "I'm here about Lana."

"What about her?"

"She's going to do something rash. Something stupid. You need to stop her."

"Sulu, what are you talking about?" Jim asked, completely baffled.

"Look, I don't know what's been going on between you two and it's really none of my business anyway. But you've been spending a lot of time with her and you might think that you know her. You don't. The Lana you've been getting close to isn't here anymore; this is Wartime-Lana and even worse, Emotional-Wartime-Lana. I've never seen her like this, but Trelvik has and he said it wasn't pretty."

Jim leaned back in his seat and nodded. "Go on."

"Five years ago, before I knew her, the man who recruited her into the MACOs was killed. He was more than a mentor, he was her own personal savior. They were overrun on Kessik V by Klingons who were terrorizing the colony. They were outmanned and outgunned and he was killed. Her rage was the only thing that kept that battle going until reinforcements got there; that's how she climbed the ranks so fast, by carrying the remaining soldiers and winning that battle. It's happening all over again, but this time it's Pavel she's out to avenge. She's going to try and take these Klingons on by herself and you can't let her."

"She can't take on an entire ship." Jim said, shaking his head. "It's not possible."

"Maybe, maybe not. But Lana's going to find a way. This is what she does; this is who she is. She's a soldier and a killer, Captain."

"I've killed people too, Sulu." Jim said softly.

"Exactly!" Sulu burst out. "You've killed people, I've killed people! But Lana's a killer. Believe me, there's a difference."

"It doesn't matter what version of Lana I'm dealing with; I care about her. I'll let her do her job by protecting this ship, but I won't let her do anything reckless."

Sulu heaved a sigh and nodded. "That's all I ask. Just…look out for her. Pavel is hurt and she's not stable right now."

"You think she still loves him?" Jim asked.

"Of course she does." Sulu said simply. "You can't help but love him, even when you hate him."

With that, Sulu walked out the doors and left Jim with an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

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Lana returned to her station on the bridge, fire and unrestrained anger in her eyes. No one on the bridge paid her much attention and that's exactly the way she wanted it. Accessing the sensor array, she ran a brief scan of the Klingon ship, noting the damage of their enemy. She read over a list of damaged systems and a vicious grin broke out on her face as a plan for revenge formed in her mind.

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