Disclaimer: Talk to Berman and Braga.  Not me.

Um…I have nothing to say here.  Wow, that's a first.  Right then.  I'll just let you get on to the chapter.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Directly after setting course, Kirk dictated off a somewhat cryptic message and sent it towards Romulan space.  It read:

"To: Romulan Commander—

My ship came in.  She's a starship.  Break out the ale and watch for her on your section of the neutral zone in the next week.

—Kirk

After that event, the uneasy peace continued into the afternoon as the Enterprise soared towards the Romulan Empire at warp six.  It was far more uneasy than before though.  Kirk was the recipient of looks of distrust, dislike and disapproval from three directions, and was being ignored by the fourth.  Spock was the fourth, and was occupied reading one of his endless supply of scientific articles.

After another hour of this, Kirk finally felt the first stirrings of boredom.  A mood of mild teasing seized him.  And he didn't have to go far to find someone to bug.

Kirk strolled to the back of the bridge, and looked over Spock's shoulder at his screen.  Spock shot him a look, which Kirk cheerfully ignored, as he read for a moment.

"My god, do you really read this stuff?" Kirk asked finally.

"As it is on my screen, the answer is obviously yes," Spock said dryly.

"A comparative study of the reactions of sub-atomic particles under varying forms of radiation?  Sounds fascinating."

"It is," Spock said.

"Beats me why.  Don't you ever get bored?"

"No."

"You never feel like picking up an adventure holonovel?"

"Never."

"How about a comic book?"

"Certainly not."

"What about—"

"This conversation is pointless," Spock said shortly.

Kirk grinned.  "Am I bothering you?"

Spock looked away.

"Feel kinda like pushing me out an airlock?" Kirk suggested.

"I do not believe in the taking of life.  I would, however, like to push you into the brig."

"Still think you did the right thing not killing me to begin with then?"

"Yes."

"And the negotiations?"

"They were the morally correct choice."  A pause.  "I failed, however, to take into account the low moral standards of those I was dealing with."

"Ouch," Kirk said and didn't mean it.  "Still going with the theory about how it's more logical to heal than to kill, I take it."

"The principle is unaltered."

"Y'know, I've been thinking about that," Kirk drawled.  "It's 'make love, not war,' right?"

"Essentially," Spock said cautiously.

Kirk grinned, eyes dancing mischievously.  "I get it now!  Surak was a hippie!"

"A hippie?"

"An extremist movement of the 1960s on Earth, they—"

"I am aware of the historical reference," Spock said sharply.  "While the theory may be similar on some levels, the hippies were a radical extremist group whose ideology was fraught with illogic and emotion to excess.  Surak was a great philosopher who embraced new theories of lifestyle, creating peace through logic and self-control.  He is directly responsible for ending centuries of warfare and bringing in centuries of peace.  Surak was not, by any definition, a hippie."  Spock stood up abruptly.  "Excuse me," he said, and strode off the bridge.

Kirk leaned back against the edge of the console and watched him go, an amused expression on his face.  "I think I ticked him off," he said to the bridge in general.

Chekov looked from the closed turbolift doors to Kirk, wide-eyed.  "No one ticks off Mr. Spock."

"No one," Sulu echoed, as Uhura nodded confirmation.

Kirk grinned at them.  "He does seem somewhat unflappable."

"Somewhat doesn't do it justice," Uhura said with an amused smile.  "All the emotional range of a rock."

That brought a ripple of laughter.

"No one bugs him," Chekov repeated, then reconsidered.  "Vell…except Dr. McCoy, sometimes."

Sulu murmured agreement, but Uhura didn't jump on that bandwagon as quickly.  "True, but he gets so upset doing it that it hardly counts."

"Yeah, Mr. Spock always bothers Dr. McCoy more than Dr. McCoy bothers Mr. Spock," Sulu mused, an accurate if somewhat convoluted statement.

"Guess it's easier for a pirate."

It was the wrong thing for Kirk to say.  He might just as well have slammed a door shut between himself and the Starfleet crew.  Their faces hardened and the brief moment of fellowship ended.  They returned their attention to their stations, turning their backs on Kirk, who shrugged his unconcern.  He couldn't have been quite as unconcerned as he acted though, as he left the bridge himself less than ten minutes later.

*  *  *

McCoy was not exactly overjoyed when Kirk walked into his Sickbay.  He folded his arms over his chest and gave Kirk a rather unfriendly look.  The rest of Sickbay looked on with covert interest.

"Are you back again?" McCoy snapped.

Kirk very carefully maintained a perfectly straight face, and raised one eyebrow.  "As it should be eminently clear that I am present in Sickbay, your question is not logical, Doctor."  Kirk's teasing mood had not passed.

McCoy rolled his eyes.  "Please, one Spock is enough.  More than enough.  Let me rephrase.  Why are you back again?"

"Boredom.  I can sit on that bridge for a long time, but after all day I get bored."

McCoy blinked.  "It took you all day before you got bored?"

"So I like starship bridges," Kirk said lightly.  "So what?"

McCoy shrugged.  "So nothing."  He turned back to the counter where he'd been cataloguing supplies.  Kirk showed no particular interest in leaving, and straddled a nearby chair that was turned backwards.  "So why are you here?" McCoy asked.  "Why not hunt up the Sharks?"

Kirk laughed.  "Because I know what they'll be like today.  Lots are still asleep, and the ones who aren't are holding their heads and swearing they're dying.  So I figured I'd drop by and talk to you, Bones."

"It's McCoy.  Dr. McCoy."

"Yeah, I know."

McCoy gave him an irritated look and let it pass.  "So if you're doing a Spock impersonation, stay on the bridge and talk to him," he suggested, picking up a bottle of pills to check.

"I could, except he left the bridge before I did."  Kirk grinned, the grin of someone sharing a very good joke.  "He stormed off after I called Surak a hippie."

McCoy's head snapped up from the bottle of pills to stare at Kirk.  "You called Surak a hippie?  Surak as in the great Vulcan philosopher?  As in the one Spock thinks holds the answers to all life's questions?  That Surak?"

Kirk nodded, eyes dancing.  "That would be the one."

"Why didn't I ever think of that?"

"Seems natural to me.  Make love, not war."

McCoy was beginning to harbor much pleasanter feelings towards Kirk.  "What'd Spock do?"

"Gave me a lecture on the accomplishments of Surak and the emotionalism of hippies, claimed they weren't at all alike, and left."

McCoy grinned.  "I love it.  Rattle the old computer a little."

"Don't get along well with him, do you?" Kirk observed, mindful of comments of the bridge crew.

"Let's just say we view the galaxy a little differently," McCoy said dryly.

"I dunno," Kirk mused.  "He strikes me as kind of a good guy.  The logic gets a bit much and don't ask me about the subcellular particles, but it took some guts to try to nervepinch me yesterday.  I think he's okay."

"But you call Surak a hippie?"

Kirk grinned.  "I only tease people I like."

"Well, you're entitled to your own opinion," McCoy said doubtfully, checking the label on another bottle.

Kirk rested his elbows on the back of the chair.  "Y'know, you've got an interesting batch of characters up on that bridge," he said idly, thinking out loud.  "There's Chekov who objects to everything I do or say just on principle, and then there's Spock who only objects if logic dictates an advantage.  Both reacted very characteristically when I set the course for the Romulan Empire."

McCoy very slowly set down the bottle of tranzanite and very slowly turned to face Kirk.  "We're going to the Romulan Empire?" he said in a low voice.  All pleasant feelings towards Jim Kirk had just died a sudden and violent death.

Kirk looked at him.  In the space of one sentence the tone of the conversation had changed, and Kirk adjusted accordingly.  At once he was more serious, more careful, and far less open.  "You hadn't heard that," he observed.

"No, I hadn't heard that!" McCoy snapped.  "How would I know what was going on on the bridge?"

Sickbay in general, who had been half-listening all along, was paying close attention at this point.

Kirk shrugged.  "Always figured doctors knew everything that happened on a ship."

"I'll tell you one thing I don't know, I don't know why we're going to the Romulan Empire."  That was a challenge, and they both knew it.

"I have a contact there and I have some business with him," Kirk said guardedly.

McCoy was no fool.  "You're going to sell our data to the Romulans?"

"Close, but no."

McCoy's eyebrows shot up.  "You're not going to sell us?"

"Hey, I'm no slaver!" Kirk snapped, insulted.  "This is simple business!  I'm just selling your ship."

"You're selling the Enterprise?"

Kirk nodded.  "Yes."

McCoy was outraged.  "You can't do that!"

That got to Kirk a little, fresh after the slaver comment.  "Why not?" he challenged.

"Because…because…" McCoy spluttered, "because don't you know what that means?  Don't you know what'll happen in a few years, when the Romulans incorporate our technology, and Starfleet has to—"

Kirk's eyes narrowed.  "Starfleet?  Starfleet?  Why should I give a damn about Starfleet?" he demanded.  "They never cared anything about me."  Kirk stood up.  "You know what, to hell with 'em.  To hell with Starfleet, and to hell with the Federation too.  I used to think that way, that I should care about Starfleet, but I wised up.  I've got one loyalty, and that's to Jim Kirk.  The rest of the galaxy just better watch out for itself."

With that, Kirk turned on his heel and stormed out, leaving McCoy to wonder what nerve he had hit.

And now we know why it's rated PG.  Though the language isn't too bad.  Anyway, while McCoy is wondering, let's move on to the next chapter and find out what nerve was hit, shall we?  We shall.  No…wait…hit "review" first!  Or just review the second one and reference both chapters, whichever works for you.