Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or any of the characters therein.
Taurik, Jack discovered, had a memory he envied and a penchant for punishment he didn't. He furrowed his brow at the PADD the Vulcan had handed him, which held a near-perfect re-creation of Vesta's exercise roster. Taurik, arms crossed, watched him expectantly.
"Let me get this straight. Our lovable Andorian doesn't want your help."
Taurik nodded shortly. "Correct."
"In fact she doesn't even know you have this information."
"Correct."
"And she would blow an antenna if she knew you had it."
"Also correct."
"But you want me to help you cook up a scheme to help her anyway?"
"If by "cook up a scheme" you mean devise an alternate therapy regimen, then yes. It is not so devious as you make it sound."
Jack leaned back in his chair. "She's still going to kill you if she ever finds out, right?"
"Correct."
Jack squinted one eye at his friend and looked him over. "This is very strange behavior for a Vulcan, you know."
Taurik raised an eyebrow. "Indeed." Jack knew he wouldn't get any more out of the engineer. If Taurik was doing this, then he must believe there to be some logical reasoning behind it.
The Observation Lounge was nearly empty as it was close to 0100 when the two finally decided on a reasonable course of action. It was pretty good, Jack had to admit. For a people that claimed they did not lie, Vulcans sure could be sly. There was just one tiny little hitch that needed to be worked out before they could proceed…
"I will speak to her," Taurik told him, seeing his friend's dread. "I have known her longer and she will be more likely to listen."
Jack rubbed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "No, no, I'll do it. She'll come to me anyway since we're both working on it, so I may as well cut out the middleman. She won't suspect anything if it's me."
Taurik nodded. It might not be wise, but he supposed it was logical. "That is likely. Do not put it off too long."
"And delay the inevitable at the hands of the Borg Queen? You know what they say: resistance it futile."
Jack smiled to himself. So far the plan was going perfectly. Of course, so far all he had done was hand a PADD to Una. She hadn't even said anything yet…
"What are you smiling at?"
"Huh?" He snapped out of it.
Una was staring at him, head cocked to one side, hands on her hips. "You're grinning like an idiot and staring off into space."
"Oh…uh…I'm just happy to have that draft of the plans for the new blinds out of the way," he told her hurriedly. "It's a relief to be ahead of schedule."
Una nodded and turned to a nearby console as an ensign tapped her on the shoulder. The communications lab was humming more than its normal mid-morning activity. Like many lab areas on the ship, it contained a pleasant mix of both Starfleet and civilian personnel, today a double shift of both were working. Jack had specifically chosen to bring the blueprints to Una while the linguists were completing a difficult upgrade of the Universal Translator—the more distracted she was, the better.
Just as he was preparing to make his escape—er, exit, Una turned back and waved the PADD at him.
"This is over a week early, Jack. What gives? Got a hot date you want to clear your schedule for?"
"Who me?" he gave her a flip grin and headed out the door as the ensign called her attention to the screen again. Hmm. Maybe that was a good idea, actually.
She frowned and watched him leave before turning back to Ensign Lovatz. What was he up to? She was sure there was something going on here.
Oh, it's nothing, a little voice inside her head laughed at her. Maybe he really does have a hot date.
Her frown deepened.
"It won't work."
Well, that didn't take long, Jack thought. He was standing in the field testing lab discussing how to increase tricorder sensitivity over long range scans with Lt. L'Diya Nakeet.
L'Diya was a new transfer aboard the Temura and one of the only Orion women in Starfleet. Despite the fact that she wore her hair in a blunt cut and her uniform a size too large to hide her figure, she was beautiful. Like many Orion women she took pheromone suppressants to minimize the effect she had on males, but the look on Una's face told Jack that whoever came up with that idea hadn't taken the female reaction to L'Diya into account.
Una scowled at the young woman. "Lovely to see you, Lt. Nakeet," she said in a tone that made Andoria seem positively tropical.
"What won't work?" Jack asked politely. He was a little miffed. He had just about decided to ask L'Diya for a drink after their shift was over. She was a nice kid and she made him laugh…unlike some people. Trust Una to barge in at just the right—or make that wrong—moment.
"I think I'll let you two discuss this," L'Diya told no one in particular, and scooted off as fast as her long legs would take her. Jack's eyes followed her out the door.
Una snapped her fingers. "Earth to Jack." He focused his eyes on her. She let out a disgusted sigh. "So predictable."
"What?"
"Nothing," she shook her head and raised the PADD again. "This design won't work."
Easy now, easy now… "Whaddya mean it won't work?"
"I mean it does not outline a functional structure. On the PADD it looks okay but in real life there are flaws."
"It was only a first draft," Jack defended it. "Of course there are flaws. We can work them out."
"No, the whole thing needs to be redesigned." Una was adamant.
"So what's wrong with it?" Jack baited, hoping she got it right.
"I know it looks like it will work, but when implemented in rough terrain it won't be stable. It's a security risk."
Bingo. Jack took the PADD from her hands and flipped through the data as incredulously as he could. "Looks fine to me."
"I'm telling you, it's defective. Did you run a simulation of it yet?"
"Not yet, but I'm telling you, this will work. I mean, I am an engineer, you know."
Her nostrils flared slightly. "I realize I am a mere mortal in the face of greatness. You'll see it's not viable when you run it through the sim."
"Whatever you say," Jack smirked.
Una left in a huff. Jack exhaled sharply and leaned against the computer. He tapped his communicator.
"Anderson to Taurik."
"Taurik here," his friend answered through the ether.
"Borg Queen on the move, the bait has hooked the fish. Repeat, the bait has hooked the fish."
Taurik was silent on the other end.
"Did you copy that?"
"I heard your communication, yes. I do not, however, know what you said."
Jack sighed. He had to get that Vulcan some spy novels!
"Sorry. Una was just here. She looked over the schematics and found the problems with it. The ball is in your court, fly package to port, repeat, fly—"
"I heard you the first time. Thank you, Lt. Anderson." The comm went abruptly dead.
In engineering, Commander Arima regarded Taurik curiously as he slapped his comm badge silent.
"Problem, lieutenant?" the chief engineer inquired.
"No sir. My apologies."
Arima nodded, wondering what the two of them were up to.
