The two Amandas turned to look at each other, a questioning look mirrored between them. Sarek pulled his Amanda closer to him, and frowned up at Kirk. "Did they say anything else that would allow us to guess what their motivations are?"

Kirk shook his head somberly. "I'm afraid not. All that he said was that he knows we have both Amandas on board, and he wishes to speak with the two of them, alone."

Sarek shook his head immediately. "Absolutely not."

Ptl Amanda pulled away from him, and put her hands on her hips. "What makes you think that it's your choice?"

Spock decided to speak up then. "Despite his emotion ridden response, Sarek is correct in that it would be illogical to allow any private meetings with the Brokers when we do not know what they want."

Ptl Amanda rolled her eyes. "Geez, I thought you were supposed to be smart. We already know that they want me… us… me… because the whole time travel thing. There's no way that they've suddenly changed their mind."

Sarek sighed. "Then that would make it very unsafe for you to meet with the leader. He most likely has a plan that will allow them to capture both of you."

Ptl and Ftl Amanda both shared a look. They weren't going to let their Vulcans stop them. Amanda was a very independent person, and she could look after herself. Ptl Amanda cleared her throat. "Captain, take us to the room with the transmission in it. Please."

Kirk glanced at his First Officer, trying to gauge his reaction. But even he knew that ultimately, it was Amanda's decision. That wasn't going to stop him from trying to keep her from going, though. "Mother. You have just returned after an absence of three months. I believe that it would be… illogical for you to be put into a situation that you potentially cannot walk out of again."

Ftl Amanda hesitated, then sighed and nodded her agreement. "I know that what you're saying is that you don't want to lose me again after just getting me back. And you should know that I also don't want to be taken away from my family again. I'll stay."

Ptl Amanda got a really determined look on her face. "Well, at least one of us should go and see what the man… thing… wants. And if it's not going to be you, then I guess that only leaves me."

Sarek shook his head. "But we've only just been reunited."

Ptl Amanda frowned. "We were only apart for a day." She looked at Kirk. "Lead the way, Captain."

Sarek grabbed his Amanda's arm. "Please don't go. Or at least let me go with you."

Amanda pulled her arm away. "Sarek, I love you. And if you love me enough to want to bond, then you have to trust me, okay?"

The Vulcan only nodded after a few minutes had passed, and even then it was reluctantly. Amanda grabbed his hand in a brief Vulcan kiss, then pulled away, and followed Kirk as he led her to the room where the Epoch Broker's leader was digitally waiting.

Kirk watched the teen step inside the room, and he closed the door behind her. He was waiting right outside in the hallway, ready to jump in if anything happened. Amanda stared up at the ugly orange thing on screen. "Sorry, but my counterpart is currently unavailable. Is there anything that I can assist you with?"

The Broker smiled strangely. "Yes, as a matter of fact, there is. When my men infiltrated your ship, one of them had a duty that involved avoiding the entire scuffle. He located the key points around the Enterprise, and placed a special explosive at each one. We were planning on just blowing up the ship and taking your corpses, but that would be so unpleasant. All of those unnecessary innocent lives lost, and the only living cruxes would be dead. So I've decided to offer you a deal. You hand yourself over, and everybody lives."

There was a muffled thump in the background, and the leader turned around to see what was the cause of the distraction while he was in the middle of such an important negotiation. Amanda's eyes widened when the newcomer came into the same room as the leader, entering the viewpoint of the camera.

It was a familiar face. He was younger, much younger than Amanda recalled, but that made sense, since the Brokers could time travel and could have snatched him from any point in time. It was Vincent, the librarian from Sarek's building in 2218. He was kicked down by the Broker behind him, and ended up sprawled in an undignified heap on the floor.

He looked up, and it took a few moments, and Amanda couldn't see any flash of recognition run through the young man's eyes. He couldn't be any older than eighteen or nineteen, and Amanda was afraid that the next sound she was going to hear would be the sound of fresh new bones snapping in half.

The poor boy looked terrified, and he obviously had no idea what was going on. Amanda put on her best stern face. "What the hell? He has nothing to do with any of this!"

The leader shrugged. "Even once you're in my possession, there is still the chance that you will try to rebel and escape. This boy is my insurance policy, because I know you wouldn't leave, knowing what that would mean for this perfectly innocent man that you actually know. So, what do you say?"

Amanda looked down at the ground, and tried to think about everything. She knew that Sarek would be pissed, and probably Spock and Ftl Amanda too. After all, she was about to do something that was completely reckless, and further proof of her youth. But she wasn't going to let hundreds of people die simply because she was stubborn.

She finally looked up, after a couple minutes of contemplating. "Fine. I'll go with you. How exactly do you want to go about this?"

The Broker smiled victoriously. "You know, we wanted your older self, since she seems to be the stronger crux between the two of you. But I have to say, she would not have been this easy to convince. I wonder what happens in your life to make you so cynical later on? Ah, no matter, though. Just put the command to lower the shields into that computer."

Amanda reached forward to comply, but then stopped. "Wait a minute… you can't do anything to this ship while the shields are up! You're such a fake!"

The Broker growled. "I may not be able to attack that ship, not directly through the shields, no, but I can kill this boy right in front of you, and it'll be completely your fault, no one else to blame. So what do you say about lowering those shields?"

Ptl Amanda reached forward, but then stopped again. "I uh, I don't know the codes. They didn't have any ships like this in my time, and I haven't had nearly enough time to learn everything there is to know about this particular model. Why don't you just tell me what they are, and we can get on with this?"

The Broker narrowed his eyes. "You'd better not be lying to me, you lousy human. I just can't stand liars more than anything else." He turned to the young Vincent. "Well, is it true that there are no ships like this in your time?"

Vincent shrugged, a miserable look on his face. "I don't just know random things, I never had any interest in space travel, so I never bothered learning about that kind of stuff before. I swear, I have no idea."

Amanda rolled her eyes. She wanted to hiss that he was being such an idiot, and that he should have just gone along with whatever she might have said in order to keep them both alive. But she couldn't do that without looking very suspicious, so she settled for giving him a good glare, and an eyebrow raise. He gulped, realizing that Amanda was angry. The Broker had no such intuition, however, and he chuckled. "Well, this is about to get real interesting."