Lia found the two in the Rec Room, playing poker with Chekov and Sulu. Allison looked up over the edges of her cards at Lia, and smiled. "Hey, I was wondering when Spock was gonna let you outta there." She gestured toward an empty seat. "Want us to deal you in?"
"No thanks, I'll just watch."
And watch, she did. And she just watched in astonishment as Allison won five rounds in a row.
"And you say you've never played poker before?" Sulu asked, throwing down his cards on the table and leaning back in defeat. "Pretty good for a beginner."
"Yes, how did you do it?" Chekov asked, curious.
Allison only smiled innocently and said, "Who, me?"
Michael shook his head. "That was not fair. I mean, even the TNG people played fairly compared to you." Allison shot him a glare, and he suddenly remembered where he was. "Whoops."
"Never mind, they probably don't have a clue what you meant," Allison said dismissively, shuffling the cards. She looked over at Sulu and Chekov. "Right, guys?"
"Definitely," Sulu agreed.
"Anyvay, I'm sure you didn't cheat," Chekov said to Allison. "After all, you are a Wulcan-"
"And I'm a telepath," Michael interrupted, earning a stern glance from the security chief. "So what's your point?"
Chekov only muttered something in Russian.
Sulu pushed back his chair and stood. "I think I'm done playing poker for today. That many losses in a row has me beat."
"All right Hikaru, have fun," Allison said. The helmsman nodded and wandered away. Allison looked over at Chekov. "Well, what about you, Pavel? Care to call it quits?"
"Yes, wery much so. I also do not care for losing." He nodded politely and left. Only the three time travelers remained.
Allison abruptly set aside her cards and turned to Lia, her face Vulcan-calm. "We've been waiting for you for a reason, Lia." She glanced at Michael, and he nodded. "Not here. Come to my quarters."
Puzzled, Lia followed Allison to her room, Michael in tow. The red-orange doors slid shut, and Allison engaged the privacy lock. Lia smiled nervously. "Must be important if you're locking the door," she joked.
"Trust me, it is," Michael said.
Allison dialed down the heat, and then turned around to face them. "Lia, tomorrow we arrive at the Preserver planet. Tomorrow, Captain Kirk is going to disappear, and the Enterprise will be forced to leave without him. Tomorrow, we will have to abandon him for two months. To leave him alone with those Native Americans, with no memory of how he got there, nor will he remember who he is."
Lia didn't like where this was heading. "Yes, I saw that episode, 'The Paradise Syndrome.' What are you saying?"
Allison nodded toward Michael, and he spoke. "Last night, I had a dream. A vision, if you will, of the three of us. We were all down on that planet, watching over Captain Kirk."
"And lately, I've been feeling compelled to go down to that planet," Allison finished. "Therefore, we must assume that someone or someTHING wants us down there. Who knows, maybe even the Preservers themselves. But either way, the three of us must go down there are keep an eye on Jim. He may need our help."
Lia's mouth dropped open in astonishment. "OUR help? With what?"
Allison shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe we have to keep Salish away from him long enough that he isn't discovered as a 'false god' until the Enterprise is almost back. Maybe we have to help him disguise the fact that he's a mortal. Heck, maybe we even have to be here to tell Spock and McCoy where to find him! Once the asteroid arrives, they will have to find him immediately." She gave them a look that could peel paint off a car. "Tell no one about what we're going to do. Not even the other time travelers. This is totally secret, do you got that?"
They both nodded, shocked at the sudden change in the Vulcan girl's attitude.
"Tomorrow, when we arrive, be ready to leave at a moment's notice," Allison instructed them. "Grab a communicator and some emergency rations, and get your butts down in the transporter room as soon as I call you. We'll have less than a half an hour to get down to the surface and find Jim. And don't let anyone know what you're doing, or where you're going."
"But we can't just waltz into the transporter room and beam down," Michael objected. "Someone will be bound to notice."
"That's why I'm going to tell one other person where we're going, and why," Allison said. "He'll understand, and he'll cover our exit. After all, with Captain Kirk missing, he'll be in charge anyway."
"You're going to tell Spock?" Lia asked, incredulous.
"You have a better idea, now's the time." She sounded suspiciously like she was quoting someone, but they didn't ask her to elaborate. "If there's no objections...?"
Michael and Lia looked at each other, and Michael shrugged.
"Good. Pack enough rations for two months. We're gonna be there for a while," Allison continued, moving toward a shelf. Grabbing a small black pouch, she began filling it with silver-wrapped emergency rations and other essentials. "Take only what you need, and nothing more. We'll have enough trouble sneaking this stuff down to the transporter room as it is."
~~~~~~~
"Tu ertau-tor, orensu ," Spock observed.
Allison hesitated. "Ha, zhel-lan . Khart-lan Kirk..." She couldn't find the right word in Vulcan, and so she lapsed back into Federation Standard. "I am concerned for his safety."
"Perhaps rightfully so," Spock agreed. "However, that is not all that is troubling you."
"Rai, zhel-lan . It is not." She paused, gathering her thoughts and wondering how to phrase what she was about to say. "I have felt strangely ever since we began to approach the planet. It feels as though I should go down there with you and the captain tomorrow, and stay. As I told you, the captain will not be on the ship for quite some time, and I feel he may need help. Michael has also felt this way, and has even had a vision, in which Michael, Lia, and myself are down on the planet. However, we do not want to risk being court-martialed for deserting."
Spock instantly grasped her dilemma. "You need someone of higher rank to authorize your beam-down to the planet, and you wish the captain to remain unaware of your actions."
"Yes, sir."
"And you wish that person to be me."
Allison wasn't sure if she was being tested or not. "Sir, you have been inside my mind and inside my soul. I trust you as I do no other. I know you will make the right decision."
But Spock had already decided.