Author's note:
Good morrow all. Firstly just to let everyone know that freddyburn's fic 'Rules' was not a intentional copy of this story, he has since changed aspects of that story to make it different so it is now all sorted. Now after that here is Rule 6 and some people have been asking for stories to rules I've already done so please check before asking. Thank you all who have been supporting this story and please enjoy.
I do not own anything to do with Star Trek or whatever else I reference in this story.
Rule 6-Puppy dog eyes are not 'standard Starfleet negotiation techniques'.
Things did not look good.
They were on a simple away mission and as per usual it had got a heck of a lot more complicated and dangerous than it should have. Currently Jim, Hendorff, Spock and Chekov were being held captive by a dangerous group of inter-planetary criminals who were using an uninhabited Class M planet as a hideout.
The criminals were trying to come to an arrangement with the Enterprise; they would exchange their captives in return for some Starfleet equipment. They had been negotiating with Nyota, who had been left in charge, for quite some time and were making little progress. Jim himself was trying to come up with a solution but although him, Spock and Hendorff were free to move about, they had several weapons trained on them constantly and Pavel was being tightly held by one of the criminals with a phaser held to his temple meaning that he had to come up with something exceptionally clever.
"You should take our offer or they'll all die."
It seemed that the leader was losing his patience and would soon make good on his threats.
"But we do not have what you are asking for aboard. It is not possible to give you the equipment you want." Nyota responded.
"Give me what I want or I'll kill the boy slowly and painfully in front of you."
"We don't have it, but we can exchange other technology." Though still appearing calm, Jim could hear the slight pleading tone in Nyota's voice.
Apparently the leader's patience was finished and he marched over to Pavel and snarled, "Then watch this boy die!"
"NO!" The three men in the room and Nyota on the screen all cried out at once as the man grabbed Pavel's throat.
"Then give me what I want."
Jim could see the desperation on Nyota's face, they didn't have what this man wanted and they both knew it. If he made a move he'd be dead in seconds and Pavel would join him soon after but they had to do something.
The leader made to tighten his grip on the boy's throat when Pavel suddenly called out. "Vait!"
The man faltered and Pavel took the chance and began to quickly talk. "Ve don't have vat you vant but zere ees somesing better on ze ship."
"What?" The man still had a hold of the boy's throat.
"Some wery special dewices. Zey are capable of opening any lock and bypassing any protection softvare on any computer system in ze entire federation."
The man looked excited at the prospect but was suspicious. "This could be a lie. There is no way such tech could exist."
Pavel looked terrified as he answered, "Eet's true. I helped Mr Scott our CEO to create ze dewices. Zey really do vork and zere ees eight of zem onboard ze Enterprise vich are all operational, ze Keptain can confirm eet."
All of this was news to Jim but he went with Pavel and quickly agreed. "He's right, I've seen them for myself and they all work perfectly. They were kept strictly confidential from the rest of the crew so Lieutenant Uhura did not know about them."
The leader looked ready to jump for joy at the idea of having such amazing tech and released his grip on Pavel's throat. "Very well then, we can trade them for two of you."
Pavel appealed to him, "Zey are wery special dewices. Just one of zem vould be vorth all four of us but ve can give you eight."
"I'll decide the conditions boy." The man growled at him.
Pavel still pressed "Us four for ze eight dewices ees a good deal, you vill be getting two dewices for one person. Hundreds of people vould give anysing for just one."
The man raised his hand most likely to strike the boy but faltered. Jim caught Pavel's expression and was amazed at what he saw.
Pavel was giving the man puppy eyes.
There was a tense moment when the leader stared at Pavel with his hand raised as the boy continued to give him the cutest puppy eyes Jim had ever seen. Then the man lowered his hand and spoke.
"The eight devices for the four of them."
From there the exchange went smoothly and eventually the four of them were back on the Enterprise getting a check-up from Bones in the Medbay. The criminals had long since escaped and Jim knew he would have to report to Starfleet soon but there was something he needed to know first. Looking at Pavel he spoke, "Pavel, I know that we haven't been making any super unlocking devices so where did you get that idea from?"
The boy grinned, "Me and Scotty have been vatching an old show called Doctor Who. I got ze idea from ze Doctor's sonic screwdiwer."
Shaking his head in amazement Jim then asked another question, "And when you were trying to convince that criminal to take the offer, did you actually give him the puppy eyes?"
"I vas just employing standard Starfleet negotiation techniques."
"Pavel, puppy eyes are not 'standard Starfleet negotiation techniques'."
When Pavel tried the puppy eyes a second time on a diplomatic mission Jim added Rule 6. Pavel still complains about it.
PS-There we go and please review and let me know what you think.