Disclaimer: Star Trek is in no way owned by me. I suppose I own the Sharks. Most of them, anyway.
I finally have a nice long chapter for you. Enjoy!
CHAPTER FIVE
"So, Mr.…Spock, was it?"
Spock nodded. "Yes."
"So, Mr. Spock, what's next on the plan?" Kirk asked. "Gonna give me the one about how it's better if I surrender and give myself up willingly? Believe me, I've heard it."
"Actually, I was planning to negotiate."
Kirk looked at him a trifle blankly. "Negotiate?"
"Yes. As I see it, we are in not dissimilar positions, and negotiating is preferable to continuing the battle, and potentially losing more lives."
There was a stirring on Spock's left. He turned to regard Chekov. The young man was red-faced with anger.
"Mr. Spock, ve cannot negotiate vith criminals!" he spat. "It is beneath our dignity as Starfleet officers!"
"Mr. Chekov, please try to remember that you are an ensign and act accordingly," Spock said icily. "Do not contradict me."
"Yessir," he muttered, chastised and sullen.
Spock turned back to the matter at hand. "As I was saying—negotiations rather than mutual destruction seem the best course of action."
Kirk shrugged. "What the hell, why not?"
Spock blinked, and tried to recall if he had ever heard these particular phrases used in similar context before. He doubted it. "Is that an affirmative, or a negative?"
"That's a yes. Your ship or mine?"
"Our briefing room seems suitable."
Kirk shrugged again. "Okay, works for me." He turned to the four flanking men behind him. A jerk of his head indicated that the two on the left should come. He gave a look and a nod to the two on the right. And then he paused, and sighed in resignation. "Alright, where is he?"
The other Sharks apparently knew who he meant. One of them, a man with plain features and an anything but plain scar stretching from his eyebrow to his jaw, grinned and shrugged. "He's down on his bunk swearing he's dying. He didn't appreciate that last spin we took too much."
Kirk laughed. "Figures. Too bad, he'd've liked this." He turned back towards the Starfleet crew. "Okay then, let's move."
As he started to walk forward the movement shifted his black leather jacket slightly, and Spock saw something he hadn't observed before: the phaser pistol at Kirk's belt.
"Weapons must be left behind," Spock said immediately.
For a moment he thought Kirk might object, but he didn't. "Observant, aren't you?" he commented, unclipping the phaser and flipping it behind him. One of the men not indicated to come caught it deftly. "That means you too," he added to the two who were coming.
They looked even more likely to object than Kirk had. Kirk locked gazes with them, and, grumbling, they passed over their several weapons.
"Now. Any other holdups?" Kirk asked.
"I can think of none. We should adjourn to the briefing room."
"Oh, by all means. Let us adjourn to the briefing room."
Actually, there was one more holdup. Spock sent Sulu back to the bridge, judging that he could be more useful taking charge there. Perhaps it would have been better to separate Chekov from the pirates, but Sulu was the higher ranking officer and therefore more suitable for being in command on the bridge while Spock ran the negotiations.
And then they adjourned.
* * *
Kirk dropped into a chair at the briefing table. He swiveled the chair once, turned it to the side, and swung his feet up to rest on the back of the chair next to him. He leaned back, elbow on the table, fingers drumming. Spock looked at him with an expression of faint disapproval, but refrained from comment as he sat down across from Kirk.
The table was split down the center, Chekov sitting on the same side as Spock, the two Sharks taking up positions sitting on either side of Kirk.
Kirk liked it that way. He could see his adversary. O'Riley and Carl (neither one had another name, or if they did they didn't give it) bore close watching as a general rule, but at the moment the Vulcan was the one he needed to keep an eye on. He hadn't known many Vulcans, but he had a hunch that there was more to this guy than showed. If not…well, this would be almost too easy then. As for the other one…Chekov, that was it, well, he might be worth watching too.
But one can analyze adversaries for only so long.
"So, what's the plan?" Kirk asked, slouching in his chair.
Spock sat ramrod straight, in sharp contrast to Kirk's sprawled position, as he addressed the question. "I assume that you are knowledgeable regarding our mutual circumstances. Having just come from battle, both our ships are damaged, which effectively equalizes us."
"Except that we have phasers and you don't have shields," Kirk pointed out.
"Nine percent."
Kirk blinked. "What?"
"Our shields are at nine percent."
"And does that really make any difference?"
"Only in the pursuit of accuracy."
A noble pursuit, that," Kirk said dryly. "You coming up on a point any time soon?" He was half hoping to get a rise out of Spock, but wasn't surprised when he didn't.
"As we are in equal circumstances, and forced to remain so until repairs can be completed, it does not seem unreasonable to suggest cooperation."
It seemed unreasonable to at least one person at the table.
"Mr. Spock, ve cannot cooperate vith…vith crooks!" Chekov said hotly.
"Maybe you're overestimating my terribleness," Kirk suggested.
"You are a pirate!" One would have thought 'pirate' was a curse the way Chekov flung it out.
Kirk noted that Spock hadn't made any move to stop the younger officer. Maybe he was equally interested in Kirk's response. Kirk couldn't blame him.
Kirk swung his feet down to the floor, straightened in his chair, and assumed a position of injured innocence, palms flat on the tabletop. "Well, yes, that's true. But there's pirates and there's pirates. You've got your Captain Hook, and then you've got your Sir Francis Drake. One fought Peter Pan, the other one was knighted by the queen. I like to think that I can identify more closely with the latter."
If he'd thought this would convince Chekov, he was dead wrong. Chekov wasn't buying it for a second. "You prey on defenseless merchant ships!"
"Well, yes, that's true too," Kirk admitted. "But it's not exactly my chosen career. It's a tough galaxy out there. You've got it easy in Starfleet, but it's not an easy galaxy. When push comes to shove, I'd rather raid than be raided." He paused, then added, as though it were an afterthought which it wasn't, "Wouldn't you?"
Chekov glared at him. "Vhat I vould prefer is not the point. You attacked us and damaged our ship."
"I'm sorry about that," Kirk said sincerely. "She's an impressive ship."
"And Captain Lowell is in a coma in Sickbay!"
"I'm less sorry about that," Kirk mused. "He doesn't seem like a very impressive captain." He shrugged expressively. "After all, doesn't say much when he's got this ship behind him and he still can't win the battle. Doesn't say much for the crew either," he added thoughtfully.
Chekov started out of his chair on that one, and Spock finally intervened.
"Enough," Spock said sharply. "Now is not the time for this. Try to stay on the topic at hand."
"Of course," Kirk agreed with exaggerated pleasantry. "Cooperation, was it? An exchange of engineers, maybe?"
"A simple agreement to a cessation of hostilities for a period of time to allow repairs should be sufficient. More than that does not appear viable," Spock said dryly.
"A truce while we repair? And after we get our ships back together you go back to trying to catch me and drag me off to a penal colony, and I go back to either fighting or running for it?"
Spock nodded curt agreement. "Essentially. Unless you prefer to surrender at once—"
"I knew, I knew it!" Kirk said triumphantly. "It never fails! What, is it in your mission directive to ask for surrenders?"
"It is advised by Starfleet."
Kirk's lip curled at the mention of Starfleet. "Well, they're not getting me, not today." He inhaled, and went on in a calmer tone. "The truce isn't an entirely bad idea though."
Carl, a giant of a man whose every appearance simply proclaimed 'thug,' was apparently paying some slight amount of attention to the conversation. "You mean I can't kill 'em?" he rumbled.
Kirk shot him an exasperated look. "Don't you ever think of anything else?"
Carl smirked. "Sure, but there ain't any hot dames around."
O'Riley guffawed, while Chekov glared at Carl. "Cossack," he muttered.
Carl jumped out of his chair, outraged. "You take that back," he growled.
"Take it easy," Kirk said languidly.
"What'd he call me?" Carl demanded.
"A Cossack, weren't you listening?"
"I ain't neither! What's a koss-ack?"
"Oh just sit down," Kirk told him. "Kill him on your own time, I've got better things to do with mine.
Disgruntled, Carl reclaimed his chair, which had been knocked over when he got out of it.
"Trying to talk truce and you want to murder someone." Kirk shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder…anyway, we were agreeing to a truce?"
"We were." Spock's tone, though subtle, very clearly indicated that he did not approve of the many distractions. Kirk suspected that most meetings of ambassadors to declare truces didn't go much like this one.
"All right, truce it is," Kirk concluded, extending a hand across the table. "Shake on it?"
Spock's eyebrow rose. "Vulcans do not shake hands."
Kirk was more amused than otherwise. "Somehow, that doesn't surprise me. How about you, you want to shake on it?" he asked Chekov.
"No."
Kirk shook his head. "Honestly, a guy tries to prove his veracity—"
The comm unit buzzed right on "veracity," and a voice that somehow didn't sound Starfleet came over the line. "Uh…control room to briefing room…are you sure that's how this works, computer systems I know, comm systems lose me…Well, Kirk, y'there?"
As soon as the voice had begun the atmosphere in the briefing room had changed. O'Riley and Carl had become truly interested in the proceedings, possibly for the first time. The Starfleet officers had grown tense. But the biggest change had come over Kirk. Since coming into the room his attitude had clearly been one of casual half interest, from his nonchalant tone to the way he lounged in his chair. That had changed.
Within seconds of the comm signal Kirk was on his feet, alert and ready for action. And his hands weren't open or empty. His right hand, extended to shake on a truce agreement just a moment earlier, was holding a type-1 phaser that had appeared from the inside of his jacket, and pointing it directly at Spock.
"I advise you not to move," he said quietly. Gone was the casual man who had agreed to negotiating with the simple reasoning of "what the hell, why not?" This was a criminal leader, who knew exactly what he was doing. He stepped over to the comm unit, neither his eyes nor his phaser wavering from Spock, and deftly thumbed on the comm. No one thought to wonder how he knew how to use it. "Yeah, Reeves, I'm here," he answered. "You did it?"
Reeves' low whistle of admiration came over the comm link. "You wouldn't believe the security on these things! You'd think I was hacking into Fort Knox!"
"But you did it," Kirk persisted.
"I'm the best there is, remember?"
"That means you did it?"
"Yeah," Reeves confirmed. "That means I did it. The door's wide open, the preliminary codes are in, I'm set for your final codes whenever you want to input 'em."
"Reeves, you're a miracle worker," Kirk said sincerely. "I'll be down soon. Kirk out." Kirk flipped off the comm, turning his full attention back to the briefing room.
"What have you done?" Spock asked in a low voice.
Kirk didn't answer the question. "Haven't had much experience with crooks, have you, Mr. Spock?" Kirk said conversationally, as he regarded his phaser thoughtfully. "We never carry only one weapon."
"What have you done?" Spock repeated, tone precisely the same.
"Well…you could say I turned the tables, but I don't think I was too far behind to begin with. I seized the moment, grabbed my opportunity. Those two guys who didn't come with us? They've been following the plan I didn't expect to have the opportunity to implement but had in the background anyway. They stunned the guards you left in the docking bay, infiltrated your ship, got into a control room, and Reeves hacked into your system. And made a few changes. Your computer relies heavily on voice commands and codes. Well…it answers to me now. And my codes only." Kirk smiled, a pleasant smile with an unpleasant edge. "I think we can declare the truce officially off."
"You were agreeing to a truce while instigating a plot to control the ship?" The absolute treachery and audacity of it had Spock taken aback. "You agreed to peace, while planning for war?"
Kirk seemed to consider the matter carefully. He nodded. "Yeah, I think that about sums it up."
"The entire purpose of the negotiations was to prevent—"
"The negotiations were purposeless and pointless right from the beginning," Kirk said bluntly. "We were in a battle an hour ago and you expect to just up and declare peace? Where did you even get that idea?" By now, Kirk was deliberately trying to see how far he could push Spock before he got a rise out of him.
Apparently, a long way. Spock was giving him the Vulcan equivalent to a hostile stare, but he remained the epitome of self-control. "The teachings of Surak," he said quietly. "When in situations of war, there are alternatives. Continuing the cycle of violence, or making overtures of peace. Surak's convictions towards the latter were most profound. Early emissaries were killed, but with continuing effort success could be achieved. Surak taught that, with work, peace could be achieved in any circumstance, regardless of—"
"The man didn't live in the real world, did he?"
The muscles in Spock's jaw tightened, the only outward sign of any reaction to this casual disregard for his planet's most revered philosopher. "Surely it is more logical to heal than to kill," Spock said evenly.
Kirk shook his head in mock sadness. "I'm afraid that kind of logic doesn't apply here."
"That is precisely why we should not fight."
"That is precisely the attitude that got you in this little mess to begin with," Kirk pointed out. "This whole peace junk hasn't gotten you very far, has it? You'd have been better off just shooting me when I first stepped into the docking bay. Come to think of it," he mused, "I was rather surprised when you didn't."
Spock's eyebrow rose. "In that case, why did you come into the docking bay?"
Kirk shrugged. "It was a risk. Risks are part of the business. And thanks to you, this one paid off. The 'negotiations' got me onto the ship and distracted you from the matters of real importance. It really all worked out better than I could have hoped."
"I knew you could not be trusted," Chekov growled.
"And you know something? You were completely correct," Kirk agreed, grinning broadly. "I can't be trusted. I'm a pirate. I prey on defenseless merchant ships. Hell, I wouldn't trust me as far as I can throw me!"
[smiles sweetly] Are we just a little disturbed yet?
A few general notes: I'm glad multiple people want to see how Kirk became a pirate. We'll get into that, I have some flashbacks planned. And as for Kirk in a leather jacket, give me your e-mail and I will be delighted to send you a picture!
Wedge: Lowell as a pirate leader…now there's a thought. I find Kirk as a pirate much easier to imagine. Hopefully by the time we get to the end of this you'll be able to see him as a pirate too! : )
Whatshername: That's a very good point! Leather jackets would be more durable! Heehee.
Silverfang: Yeah, I can't help but write a little humor in occasionally. ^_^
Kiri: Oh good, I won you over! Glad you like!
RadarPLO: I find it so fascinating that you like Kirk and Spock being on opposite sides…well, you'll be enjoying the next several chapters then.
Bug: I also find it fascinating that you find him cooler as a pirate. I guess he is, kinda.
Namariee: True, Spock probably will have some difficulties. And y'know, I've never even seen West Side Story. News to me that there's Sharks in it. Complete coincidence, I swear.
Mzsnaz: You guessed by the line about luck? And I was so careful to avoid mentioning risks… Spock as a pirate. That's harder to picture…
Samantha Quinn: Transporter split, I believe that's "Enemy Within." A very good one. And true, it's very like the Romulan Commander. And no, no one's too concerned about Lowell!
Beedrill: I enjoyed writing the description of Kirk, I'm glad you liked! Yeah, sorry about the cliffhangers…kinda sorry.
Katharos: It wasn't quite lying…'nuff said. The confrontations should be fun…
Emp: There'd be a problem if you were dying of laughter, since I wasn't trying to make anyone laugh. But you like it, so that's the main point, thank you!
I'm actually going to be gone for a week…and then school starts… : ( But still, I think I can pretty well guarantee the next chapter in about a week. In the meantime, review!