Thanks kindly again to all the readers for their endeavor in putting up with my attempts here.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
Stepping out of the shower, Kirk grabbed a towel from the bathroom counter and began to dry himself in a hasty but efficient manner, all the while his mind continued whirling with the events of the last forty minutes. The entire astounding confrontation in Talmon's office between the Captain and Liberty was still resounding in his head when they had arrived at his new apartment.
He was still dealing with a mix of reactions to the confrontation that had gone on between Talmon and Liberty that, had in all, lasted three to four minutes but had made an impact on all three Star Fleet officers. In truth, he wasn't sure if he was more stunned or outraged at Liberty's highly tense advisement towards the Captain, even if he did agree with her general opinion of the man. Talmon warts, blemishes, rashes and all, was still a Star Fleet officer and due some respect especially while standing in his own office in Star Fleet Headquarters.
Yet he wouldn't deny the small amount of satisfaction at Talmon's obvious humiliation at Liberty's hands and words. Possibly, underneath it all a tiny spark of some dark pride at the whole image of Talmon dangling in the grasp of the formidable woman.
The rest of his emotional workout circled around Liberty herself. And now, even with a few hours to prepare, he still had no clue as to how he was going to respond towards her once they met face to face and alone. A woman he had never met before; and, if he was going to be completely honest with himself, never intended to meet in his lifetime.
He had been given a minor respite when once they had departed Talmon's office, and she hadn't uttered a word to either of them. If she had, he had his doubts it would have been anything in the complementary tone towards Star Fleet or any of those poor individuals that had come across their path in HQ's lobby on their way to the transporter room. The only time she did utter anything was when they arrived at the new apartment and made a beeline for the kitchen. A short rumble of frustration came the vicinity of the room was enough for both men to refrain from broaching any further subject right away.
Now, as he finished pulling on his shirt, Kirk sullenly faced that fact that he was going to have to break the ice when he walked back into the apartment. Unfortunately, he hadn't a clue of what to say, let alone how to say it with out visualizing her seeing how high he could bounce from this height on to the compact ground some ten stories below. He strongly suspected that his infamous charisma wasn't going to have any effect on this woman. Then again, he also suspected, from what had heard and read, that there wasn't too much of any known or unknown force in the universe would have too much of an effect on the woman.
Running a hand through his damp hair, Kirk gazed at his reflection in the partially steamed up mirror and released a breath that felt as if he had been holding it for decades. Perhaps he had been, he thought, as he closed his eyes and felt the last few drops of water run down the back of his neck.
As his eyes snapped open, he stared at the image in the mirror and smiled in his best, most captivating fashion. It froze there in place for a heartbeat, then melted away when a relic of a ghost floated through his mind. Grabbing the damp towel again, he pressed it hard against his face, holding it there for until he was forced to come up for air. Lowering the towel, he again stared at his reflection for another handful of seconds, then set a resolute expression on his face and tossed the towel back on to the counter.
Absently running a hand through his hair again, he made his way back into the living area of the apartment, appreciating the change of cool air from the mugginess of the bathroom. Pausing just inside the doorway, he heard before he saw McCoy snoring away on the short couch facing the windows that looked out at the fog shrouded Golden Gate Bridge. Walking up behind the couch, he stared at the multi-gray environment that had encased the city, then gazed down at the Doctor, who had partial curled up on to the couch his back toward the windows, clutching a throw pillow under his right arm, while his left arm was thrown over the back of the couch. Children, cats and Star Fleet surgeons were all known to be able to sleep anywhere, at any time, and apparently under any circumstances.
Looking back out the window, Kirk let a corner of his mouth slowly pull back into tight half smile, then jerked his gaze in the direction of the door that opened into far corner of the apartment. Again, he heard the beeping noise of his computer and followed the sound into the other room, where he stopped just a few feet away from the desk and silently watched the figure sitting at it.
She was planted firmly in the leather chair, legs stretched out to the corner of the desk and crossed at the ankles, while a toe of a cowboy boot tapped lightly on the side of the computer monitor. The leather jacket carefully draped over the back of the chair, while a couple of beer bottles sat on the nearly empty desktop, the light from the screen reflecting off the reddish brown glass. A thin trail of white smoke emanating from the end of a half-spent cigarette made its way toward the ceiling, adding to the growing haze overhead. All in all, it was quite obvious to the nettled Admiral that Liberty had easily made herself comfortable, not just in his apartment, but seemingly into the folds of the whole situation.
Aware of the studious introspection from the doorway, Liberty shot a look in Kirk's direction, then gazed back at the computer screen. In the quick motion, the corner of her lips twitched in a shadow of an unreadable fashion.
A mix of disappointment and annoyance swept over Kirk at her initial reaction. Even if he hadn't been able to hazard a guess to what her attitude was going to be towards him he had been prepared for something atleast. The computer flying passed his head would've been better than absolutely nothing. Deadly, but it would atleast have been a reaction.
With the shadow of a scowl tracing along his face, Kirk moved towards the desk, his eyes darting from the empty beer bottle on desktop, to the half full one in her hand, to the interlaced Celtic knot tattoo band on her upper right arm and finally the steady, vigilant turquoise stare. For a moment, he returned the startling gaze unsure if he had really noted the deep patience behind the rigidness.
Finally breaking away from the visual exchange, Kirk walked over to the windows, his gaze shifting upward watching the rain streaking down the glass. Behind him, the computer beeped again, followed by the sound of leather creaking as Liberty shifted in the desk chair.
"He went to sleep as soon as he plunked down. So, I figured I'd let him sleep until we got ready to move." She broke the silence as if this was just another day and another mission as if they were just two ordinary people. "Considering what he went through already this morning."
Half turning from the window Kirk contemplatively gazed at the back of the chair, then glanced at the computer screen, and finally back out the window. He didn't like this. The way she was playing this whole awkward situation rubbed him the wrong way. Then again, he calmly reminded himself, that he was the one who had wanted her to come and she was probably expecting him to explain himself. Well, it would have to wait for now, even if he had some words that would've made sense.
"I take it by that parley with Talmon that you two have had the opportunity to meet before." He quietly said, his eyes following the trail of a raindrop as it made it's down the window.
A strange low rumbling came from the desk. "Oh yea. In fact, I'm probably the reason Talmon is always so eager to express his wrathful admiration to you."
Starting to turn his head to glance back at Liberty, Kirk stopped and reflectively blinked, then did look in her direction. "What do you mean?"
The chair shifted enough for Liberty to gaze back at the Admiral. "He should've been given command of a starship when he became Captain, you know. And I sort of prevented that from happening."
Taking a step away from the window, Kirk arched an eyebrow at the admission. "Prevented it? In what way?"
"He's not good under pressure. He has the tendency of getting those under his command killed for absolutely no reason. I pointed that out to the Head of the Promotions Board when his name came up. Right after an incident on Kalster XI, where half of his landing team was killed and the others had to be rescued. By then, however, he had already buttered up enough buns to still get the promotion, but someone with a few gray cells prevailed long enough to give him a position where they could keep an eye on him. Head of Security for the Academy. They hadn't figured there could possibly be a crisis here that would put Talmon in gung-ho heat and too many innocent people's lives in danger. In the meantime, Talmon ferreted out the report that put him here and found out it was that cemented his station in life. He apparently got it into his head that I didn't want him in command of ship, atleast not quite yet. It seems he believes I sent the report out of loyalty. Nice joke isn't it?"
The eyebrow rose even higher at the explanation as Kirk took the few steps towards the desk with incredible languidness. If what she said was truth. it would then elucidate Talmon's hostile attitude toward him since the two had laid eyes on each other. But the man hadn't apparently dug deep enough to discover the lack of any bond between the two Kirk's other than blood.
"You'll have to straighten him out one of these days." Murmured Kirk as he slid up to the edge of the desk, his eyes drawn back to the computer screen that was now bringing up what appeared to be a map.
"I would, but I hate wasting my breath." She replied, dropping the cigarette butt into one of the empty beer bottles. "That's why I stay far, far away from here."
Shifting his gaze over to the woman's face, Kirk frowned as he watched her drain the last of the beer, set the empty bottle beside it's twin, then retrieved their sibling from the knee hole of the desk. With a quick twist, she removed the cap and tipped the bottle in Kirk's direction in a silent offer, which he just as soundlessly refused with a shake of his head. Rolling a shoulder, she took a healthy swig, and then, with bottle firmly in grip, let it settle on the chair's arm. She settled her waiting stare on Kirk's face.
"But you, J.T., have my complete attention." She gave him a small smile that had anything but amiableness in it as she settled farther into the chair. "So tell me what you want."
"Liberty, I really didn't expect you to come to San Francisco, and I sure as hell didn't expect you to get me cleared of the charges." Kirk finally said, his eyes now scanning the scant items on the desktop before meeting the woman's gaze again. "What I wanted was you and McCoy to find out what Dalcrom's actual plan are. Find some type of evidence and bring it back to Headquarters."
Head suddenly cocking to one side, Liberty gave the Admiral a hard, skeptical look. "Do you honestly believe if I dragged this Rossenber in to Star Fleet Command with ever shred of proof there was to this in my hand, do you honestly think that even the custodial crew would believe me?"
"Cartwright believed you." Kirk pointed out.
"Cartwright believes in keeping his admiralty stars and ass out of any indelicate situations that crop's up at Headquarters, which means he's usually smart enough to stay on the side that has the biggest stick and most clout. Talmon has neither." Liberty replied, her free hand reaching up behind her and fumbled around the inside of her jack and pulled out the silver case cigarette case. "The Judge Advocate and Star Fleet Council sleep very close to one another."
This comment earned her a harsh scowl from Kirk as he had leaned forward to get better view of what was the computer screen. He had made up his mind that if she was going to stick it out, he would do his best to keep a halfway civil tongue in his head. Even if it killed him and the Doctor.
"Let's just say right now, the three of us are all we have. A frightening notion in some aspects and not the kind I believe you wanted." Slipping a cigarette from the case, Liberty had been careful to refrain from snapping out the first thing that came to mind when spotting the Admiral's expression.
"Not exactly." Agreed Kirk, jerking his eyes back to the computer screen.
"Well J.T., wait till I get warmed up. I've been known to be intimidating to a few in my time." Liberty said, tossing the cigarette case on to the desk, then began poking about in her jacket for the lighter.
The smile barely reappeared on the Admiral's face. "I got that feeling from Bones."
"Considering everything, I can't help but like the guy." Hesitating just long enough to light up the cigarette, she puffed twice until the tip glowed a bright red-orange, then gazed back at Kirk through the white haze. "Fight tooth and nail, or does a fine imitation of it, for friend and kingdom, even when he doesn't have a clue as to what's what. But then who of us does."
Glancing back over at Liberty, Kirk's eyes narrowed a millimeter. "Why did you really come?"
Exhaling a long stream of smoke into the air, Liberty nearly smiled in a lethal manner. "A: I don't appreciate too many strangers showing up on my island to begin with, and I sure as hell don't overflow with gratitude when they show up trying to kill me for reasons unknown. It tends to tick me off a bit."
"I know the feeling." Murmured Kirk, louder than he intended, his mind wandering to the more than couple dozen times he'd been that familiar position.
"B: If you were taking a chance to send the Doctor to find me, there had to be something much bigger going on other than your incarceration." Continued Liberty as if she hadn't heard, although her eyes had shifted a fraction to catch the reminiscent outline of the Admirals face.
"And C: I can not come up with a feasible reason of why you would want to murder the girl. I can come up with a couple hundred other notions of what you would've liked to have done, but not murder. Star Fleet seems to have forgotten, that underneath it all, way down in your militaristic trained soul, in the depth's of your very soul, you are forever a lover. Everybody else in the galaxy is quite aware of the fact, by the stories, lawsuits and limericks I've overhead in passing, of course. And I tend to listen to half truth's of the universe riffraff more attentively than I do anything that dribble from most Star Fleet members. In other words, under any circumstances, I can not believe you killed the Finnegan girl."
The smile grew on Kirk's face when he glanced back at Liberty. "With you, that makes three of us who believe that."
"For now. I may change my mind later on."
The unappreciative glare made it bluntly clear that Kirk was not in the mood for her ugly humor, even in this short amount of time. Sensing that annoying voice in the back of his thoughts on the verge on it's own sharp reply he stood up from his perch, shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and began to circle around the desk.
Easily sensing his discomfort, Liberty took a moment to drain a couple of swallows from her beer, then a long drag from the cigarette, all the while purposely keeping her dark gaze averted from the Admiral.
"The Doc says you found my name in an article from a year ago talking about Talenton wanting to sell his company to me. If you think he's involved with this, forget it." Sliding the cigarette from one of corner of her mouth to the other, her eyes shifting up at Kirk when he came up beside the chair. "The man was one of the spineless wonders of our solar system. If he was trying to cut a deal with this Rossenber, then I can guarantee that he's probably been dead for the last year."
Turning sharply at the last words, Kirk's eyes narrowed in a moment of careful thought. "Saying something like that, I take it you've dealt with Rossenber before then."
Head tilting slightly to glimpse the Admiral from the corner of her eye, Liberty allowed a corner of her lips to twitch again at the shaded suggestion. "You sound as if you're suggestion you believe I have dealings on the seamier side of the universe."
"I think riffraff was the word you used." Kirk pointed out as he soundlessly moved around the chair until he could view her shadowed profile.
This comment did earn him a faint, barely amused smile. "Yes. Yes I did, didn't I. Well, atleast I admit to what I have to deal with everyday."
The glimmer of repugnance returned to the Admiral's hazel stare. "That doesn't answer my question Liberty."
Hearing the stern tone in the man's words, the dark gaze narrowed a fraction as she scanned his face and pursed her lips gently before hesitantly answering. "No. No, I have never crossed paths with Mr. Kasper Rossenber, in any fashion. Nor do I care to. The word that I have heard drifting through the stars from here to the Klingon border is that the man is good at whatever he chooses to try his hand at. And I do mean everything; but, considering the delicate ears in the apartment, I won't go any farther. But, he is also known to be one of the most deadliest. Dozens upon dozens of individuals have had the misfortune or stupidity of crossing the man and then seemingly are swallowed up by the night or their own greed or idiocy for their blunder. There were the odd one or two who were scathingly innocent, that were in the wrong place at the wrong time, but Talenton was far from being categorized as such. He was, as I said before, a spineless wonder who would've sold his soul to the devil and managed to skip with the money, intact soul and probably the devil's, if he could, before Old Scratch knew what hit him."
"And you think that's what he was trying to do with Rossenber when he sold his company to Dalcrom?" Murmured Kirk, his gaze shifting as he mulled over what Liberty had said and what she hadn't, which lead basically to the same path with the same end. Nothing.
Tapping a short amount of ash into an empty beer bottle, Liberty was silent as she continued to watch the Admiral from the corner of her eye. She was trying to make up her mind if she should be allowing herself to feel the first smidgens of irritation towards the man, or let it pass for the time, considering the crisis the usually overly-chivalrous jackass had managed to tangle himself into.
And if those first smidgens did ignite, which would she blame it on. His offhanded manner of giving the innuendo that she may have personally done business with the more sordid side of the universe? Not that she hadn't. Once or twice. And not that he hadn't either. But that wasn't the point. Considering how many time the pair had run into one another in her lifetime, he was hardly in the position to be making any kind of hints, suggestions, or flat out slur's. Especially when she wasn't the one who was just up on murder charges. Not that a few hadn't tried. But that wasn't the point either.
The Great Shipmaster attitude. It was steadily creeping back into his demeanor, without skipping a heartbeat, after being literally handed the preverbal blindfold and cigarette less than an hour ago. And that in itself was just barely tolerable on her scale. What wasn't was the automatic assumption that she was one of his tireless, genuflecting junior crewmembers, students, and whatever else leapt at his words. Something that would, if he planned on continuing, come to a uncomplicated, abrupt, and possibly bloody halt if he genuinely wanted her to stick around. She would stomach it for the time being, but another fifteen to twenty minutes of it would necessitate a meeting of the Kirk minds.
"It wouldn't surprise me a bit if that were Talenton's original plan." She answered with a sigh between drags from her cigarette. "Like most of us at this end of the galaxy, he hadn't ever dealt with Rossenber. Probably figured he'd play him the game and make a run for the nearest planet without any extradition laws or any way to communicate with the rest of the universe. However, being the gray matter underachiever that he was, he underestimated Dalcrom. While they, on the other hand, were more than aware of what he was."
For a moment, Liberty hesitated as she recalled Talenton's message from over a year ago in reference to buying out his company. It was unusually quick and to the point. The scant few she had received before were filled with enough snake oil to lubricate half the Fleet's ships as well as their crews. But the last had only a few sentences that lacked the usual tone of cunning con-artistry she had expected, and instead had the tone of being rattled.
The length in the Liberty's pause caught Kirk's attention as he refocused his sharp gaze back to her, and was silently stunned at the hostility that lingered in the stare that was partially lost in another train of thought. It wasn't so much that the resentment was there; he had expected it from the beginning when he had made his decision to send McCoy to find her. But what he hadn't anticipated was the intensity that boiled there even if only half fold at the moment.
"You think Dalcrom and Rossenber planned on using Talenton's company from the beginning?" He slowly said, deciding to overlook what could've been keg of gunpowder waiting for someone ignorant enough to throw a match in its direction.
Sitting farther back into the chair, Liberty blew another thin stream of smoke into the air while sliding her gaze back to the computer screen. "I think they picked Telcron because it had what they wanted at the right time. An owner that could disappear without anyone being shocked, considering Talenton's reputation. A location that was here on the planet, they could silently absorb. And a contract with Star Fleet and the Federation."
"In other words it could have been any company they decided to merge with. Telcron, itself, wasn't the specific target." Murmured Kirk, his mind fleetingly returning to the image of Toni Finnegan's body crammed into a moving crate, then just as quickly, he pushed it back behind all his other boulders of worry and guilt.
"I don't think any business, organization or network was specifically targeted when they sat down and began planning this." Studying the nearly extinguished tip of the cigarette in her fingers, Liberty considered what she was about to elaborate on, especially if the Admiral choose to press her. "I'd even go so far as to say that they truthfully could've cared less what it was that Telcron or whomever it was they decided upon actually did business wise. All they wanted was a place to set up shop here on terra firma without raising any scent, and an established agreement with Star Fleet. Or, at least a company on friendly terms with them. If that's possible. Making Talenton disappear and keeping their money was just gravy."
Circling around the desk, Kirk's expression more than hinted at his dubiousness at her words as he absently ran an index finger along the edge of his lower lips. "That's a big risk. There would be too many factors that could go wrong, or simply not happen."
Liberty made a snorting noise that made it clear of her opinion of the Admiral's conclusion. "Think about it. They spent over a year setting up this whole plot once they did decide on the route that would worked best for them. That takes a lot of patience. Tells me that they plan on making sure that this whole venture works exactly as they've been plotting. And that in turn tells me that they would also have the fortitude to take as long as they needed to dig around and find the right greedy, brain cell deprived dupe for the job. Enter Talenton. I mean, that pimple was made for the job. But right now, that's beyond the point."
"And..." Kirk began taking up a stance a few feet behind the computer monitor and stared over the top of the screen at the woman. "..I ask hesitantly, what is the point?"
A ripple of an unreadable reaction moved almost invisibly over Liberty's lips as she shifted in the chair, keeping her thoughts under extremely well practiced control before she choose the second to reply.
He wasn't liking this. He didn't like the fact that she wasn't jumping at his officious timbre. He didn't like the way she accommodated herself so smoothly into his surroundings, here and back at Headquarters. He didn't like her reaction to the situation at hand. He didn't like the way she was countering his thoughts. And he didn't like the way she was nipping away at the edge of Star Fleet and it's engendered integrity. And he didn't appreciate her too much period. Not one bit. And it broke her heart like a Gilbert and Sullivan opera brought a Klingon audience to their sobbing, melancholic knees. Probably less so.
"The point is, Admiral, in my opinion this has nothing to do with some mercurial terrorist group trying to make some ugly point. Or some adverse government bent on taking over the galaxy by cutting out the middleman. This has nothing to do with politics or power of any kind. This has to do with hatred. Whoever is behind Dalcrom has put a lot of time, sweat, and other people's blood into this. And from what the Doc tells me..." She hesitated for a moment to drain the remaining beer from the bottle she still held, then set it along side the rest of the family on the desk. "...That all of this comes down to one simple thing. There's someone out there with a powerfully personal grudge against Star Fleet."
When nothing more came forth right away, Kirk gave Liberty a look that appeared to teeter between disbelief, disappointment, and annoyance as he shifted weight slowly from one foot to the other. Waiting another full five seconds without any further comment, he made a noise that would've been nearly inaudible to anyone else, save for Liberty and a one time Vulcan first officer. He began to move around the desk again, only to pause once more on the opposite side of the desk.
"In your opinion." He slowly said, unable to completely hide his skepticism from both his voice and his face. "A rather well erudite sounding opinion, Liberty, although it does have a heavy trace of unlikelihood to it. I can't believe any one individual would go through such lengths, not to mention chances, to attack Star Fleet because of some obscure grudge that may or may not have footing in reality."
Lips tightening into an inflexible line, Liberty kept her flinty stare on the disparaging Admiral, while dropping the dead cigarette butt into one of the empty bottles.
"The idea that someone would take two years out of their lives to plan and scheme this whole campaign to dismantle Star Fleet, and then possibly the Federation, just for kicks. Then, drag some girl into this, who 'surprise', can be connected back to a certain Admiral, that winds up dead in same said Admiral's apartment for no other reason other than to humiliate you in the eyes of Star Fleet and put your glorified ass on the executioner's block? I suppose that you could possibly conceive that scenario, right?"
The room's tension level went up to the equivalent of yellow alert within the suddenly smaller room as Kirk stiffened at the icy words. His head came up a number of centimeters as he watched the towering woman jerk her feet off the desk and let them hit the floor with a thud, then stood up while whipping the leather jacket off the back of the chair in the same movement.
"Considering everything involved, I like to think I have advantage of experience in the greater percentage of these situations." Kirk quietly replied, his own hazel gaze riveted to Liberty's face as she slipped the jacket on in a single flourish.
"Oh yea, that's right I keep forgetting." Came the instant shot back as she straightened out the jacket collar under the thick auburn-copper mane before aiming an equally seething stare at the Admiral. "You're the only one who's had any experience in anything that counts in star ships, Star Fleet, and life in general. Real success stories there, too."
"I never said that." Kirk snapped back, ignoring the small goading voice in the back of his head while trying to keep in place a heavy restraint that was trying to maintain some hold on his temper. "What I was doing was suggesting that Star Fleet is going to be a little harder to convince with a theory like that. After this many decades, it's a little difficult to swallow the possibility that there is a lone individual out there who can plan out and push forward the action of exterminating any force as large as Star Fleet. There has to be more to it than that. And I don't recall using one damn word that pertained to taking this whole farfetched situation personally!"
Lip faintly curling in sarcasm, Liberty charged around the desk like a mad mustang heading for open land, then paused between the Admiral and the door. For a moment, she glared into the other room, her gaze flitting over the barely twitching form of the still sleeping McCoy, then whipped back to face the now visibly piqued Kirk.
"Right now, Star Fleet would just as soon touch a Romulan flagship loaded with contaminated photon torpedo's and carrying the Veltronxian plague than even consider acknowledging your serial number, rank and existence in their Dewey decimal system, let alone your former command of a Starship. If you think they're going to sit up like eager puppies to listen anything that comes out of your mouth, you're crazier than hell. In their eyes, you are pure poison from the bottom of your lacquered boots to the tips of your equally varnished hair. They didn't believe you before and they don't believe you now, or there wouldn't be someone one watching both your apartments. They sure as hell aren't going to believe you any more an hour from now if you walk in there to hand them whatever explanation you decide to give them. You, Admiral, are on your own until you make one slip, and then you belong to who ever gets to you first."
"I'm not going to stand by and do nothing when I know Star Fleet is in danger, even if I'm regarded in a less favorable light at the moment. I'm still an officer, and I still have my responsibilities to Star Fleet." Kirk threw back his irate stare narrowed a fraction as he digested the thought of being watched by the very administration he was now defending.
Choking back her first response, Liberty let her weight shift to her back foot while giving Kirk an unreadable look. "Well, I wish you good luck J.T. I hope you enjoy spending the rest of your life in a mental rest and recreational home. If you live that long."
"Where the hell do you think you're going!" Barked Kirk following Liberty out into the sitting area as she stormed towards the door.
He had barely been able to stop himself from adding the tag line of being dismissed as he entered the sitting area and was grateful he had when Liberty stopped on her heels and spun around to face him from the other side of the room. Even from that distance, he was well aware, judging from the menacing expression on her face, that she had sensed his near mistake and more.
"Home. You don't need me. Or should I say you don't want me here to help if you're going to reject every suggestion I give you. And I sure as hell don't have any other reason to stay here. So I'm going home, where I can watch the fall of your brave little organization with the knowledge that it could've been stopped except for a loyalty that bit them in the ass."
Behind Kirk, McCoy suddenly sat up on the couch and glared groggily from Liberty to Kirk. "What the hell is going on with you two! Is my sleeping bothering you two that much? Would it be better if I curled up in the bathroom sink, or would you two rather have me stick around and referee?"
The less than humored glare that he received from both Kirk's confirmed his first half asleep thought. It would have been wiser to just continue to pretend he was asleep and let the pair kill each other. At least he would've been out of the line of fire for a change. His medical instinct was getting the better of him again.
Giving the Doctor a warning look from the corner of his eye, Kirk turned back towards Liberty, who was now less than two feet from the apartment door. There was a single infuriating second when he would have happily watched her dart out the door and never lay on eyes on the fractious maverick again. But it just as quickly subsided, although it didn't completely disappear, and was replaced with a small amount of disgruntled consideration that was being fueled fervently by the small, exasperated noises in the back of his mind.
"You've gotten something else you want to add to this, so why don't you do it. I haven't stopped you yet. You started it, you might as well finish it." He said, the tone surprisingly tempered as he slowly folded his arms in front of him and leaned against the back of the couch.
From his spot on the couch McCoy glanced up at the Admiral, an eyebrow cocked at an angle indicating that he thought it was possible the man had finally gone off his onion.
Also raising an eyebrow, Liberty took a half step to the right to move her weight and give Kirk a cautious scanning. She didn't like the way he smoothed down his feathers so quickly, and slipped easily back into high suspicion mode as her hands slipped into the back pockets of her jeans.
"Okay, but you're not going to like it."
"He hasn't sounded to thrilled with the first of it." Murmured McCoy, pushing himself to the edge of his seat and slowly getting up.
The eyebrow rose a scant centimeter or two more as Liberty shot a look past Kirk at the Doctor, then leveled the nearly impenetrable dark turquoise stare on the Admiral again.
"Someone in Star Fleet is involved."
TBC