Leonard McCoy hated space. No amount of time spent here would change the fact that space was disease and danger, wrapped in darkness and silence. He said it the first day of his life in Starfleet, and he still believed every word of this sentence. He later found out that space was also a place where crowds of lunatics wanted to kill him, torture him, or destroy his planet, and this didn't win space any points either. Why space attracted so many living beings escaped him.

Slavery was new though. At least, there was some diversity, McCoy thought grimly, watching Lee's tensed figure.

Fucking assholes. Jim would probably come up with something, but how many people they would lose in the process of getting rid of the slave traders, that was a number McCoy wanted to know. He was so tired of losing their people. Couldn't it just stop?

"Thanks for the compliment, Laguz, but I don't think I can give them to you. I kinda need them," the leader of the pirates said in a firm voice that left no room for further discussion.

These words stunned McCoy completely. Was she refusing the offer? Was she refusing the offer from a small Orion armada?

The Klingons around him apparently shared his bewilderment.

"Tora," Utrar started, but she silenced him with a single glance.

"It was nice to talk to you, really, but I have nothing for you today, so you can keep on moving to your previous destination," Lee continued.

The Orion stared at her in shock.

"Sweetheart, I don't think you understand how many credits I'm willing to pay you for these people. My offer is one thousand for everyone on this ship and fifty thousand for Kirk."

"No, Laguz. They're not for sale."

"Two and one hundred thousand."

"No."

"Two million for the whole crew."

It was ridiculous. Two million credits was an insane sum. Even the most dangerous criminals had a lesser bounty on their heads. But the Enterprise was indeed a ship full of dangerous people. They were quite a catch, and McCoy didn't understand why Lee didn't accept the offer. Maybe, just maybe, she would take what she wanted and let them be?

He tried his best to understand what she was thinking, but she was as closed off as ever while shaking her head.

"Still no. Sorry, Laguz, I'd love to chat, but I have stuff to do. So…"

She made a move to end the connection. The Orion frowned, not a hint of his previous friendliness now.

"Hold on, sweetheart. Don't send me away like this. I want these people to be mine."

"And I want them too. So go wherever you were going. I'm not giving them to you," was a sharp reply.

Complete silence followed.

"I can take them myself, you know," Laguz said casually.

The helmsman's computer beeped, and McCoy saw an alarm of other vessels pointing phasers at their ship.

Lee gave the trader a smile that made McCoy shiver.

"Try to do it, and you'll lose your beautiful ships."

"You can't harm me, standing on this ship."

"And I can easily appear at yours. Don't bitch with me, Laguz, or you'll end like Kost."

The Orion winced.

"I still think ripping his limbs off wasn't necessary, sweetheart."

"Yes, it was. It was a demonstration of force so that you motherfuckers could see who you're trying to screw up."

Lee's cruel smile widened and McCoy had to turn away. He would deny it forever even to himself, but looking at her at this moment scared the living shit out of him.

He wasn't the only one averting his eyes: the Klingons were looking away too, no one daring to voice their disapproval or express their protest again.

A heavy silence followed her outburst. Lee was the one who broke it.

"Come on, Laguz. We are old friends, are we not? Friends don't point guns at each other."

The spell was broken, and she looked like an ordinary human again, all savagery in her gone. The Orion huffed, clearly annoyed.

"Fine. Let it be your way."

Something chimed, and McCoy glanced at the computer. The other ships were lowering weapons.

Unbelievable.

"Don't try to fool me, dear," Lee warned, not looking at the status update but sure as hell being aware of the danger going away.

"Never dreamed about it," Laguz scowled and ended the connection.

Without changing her posture, Lee glanced at the computer. But McCoy caught the slightest sigh of relief and an almost invisible tremor of her hands before she firmly grabbed the edges of the console in front of her.

Klingons seemed to forget how scary she could be and were murmuring something in the not very friendly voices.

"What the fuck was that?" Utrar finally burst out, "And why did you reject his offer?"

Lee watched the Orions' little armada disappearing into darkness, unclenched her grip on the console and turned to the pirate.

"Enough," she quietly said.

"Enough of what? You've just thrown away a great deal. What..."

"Enough!" Lee yelled, and Utrar shut up.

"I'm sick of everyone's questioning my orders. If I'm saying that I need these people, it means that it'll benefit us more than just selling them off. And this is the last time I'm explaining anything to anyone. Is that clear?" Lee said it without raising her voice, but when she finished, the Klingon didn't look so confident and threatening. He nodded, "As you wish, Tora."

She rolled her eyes and looked at McCoy.

"Are you done here?"

He reluctantly confirmed it.

She gave him a long look, then addressed to her people.

"I'm going to take dilithium and taking the Doctor with me. He's a guarantee that our captives wouldn't try to escape. You'll contact me every five minutes. If I don't answer, you know the drill."

She turned to Jim.

"I'm taking your friend with me. If you try something, Utrar will make sure I understand it, so I'll know you've taken them down. Don't make stupid decisions if you want your CMO back."

She looked at McCoy again.

"Come on, Doctor," she said, holding up a phaser and pointing it on him, "After you."

He gave her the best glare he could muster but entered the turbo lift first.

"To the back wall," she ordered, and he obeyed.

She stepped in too, and the door slid shut.

"Send it to Medical."

He arched an eyebrow.

"I thought we are going to Engineering."

"Just do it," she said, rubbing her eyes with her free hand.

He pushed the button and looked at her. There were so many things he wanted to say to her, but was it really necessary? Would it really help? It would only ruin the reminiscence of his self-esteem if he actually voiced the pain and betrayal that he felt. She was just playing her game, and that was it. He had to accept it and move on.

She leaned heavily on the opposite wall and closed her eyes. Then she lowered the phaser.

"Don't afraid of me at all, huh?" he bitterly asked and was annoyed to hear the clear pain in his voice.

"Stop the lift," she said without opening her eyes.

He gaped at her.

"What?"

"I said stop the lift."

He huffed but did as she told.

When she finally looked at him, he saw Lee he knew. The one who shared his lonely nights in his office, the one who was glowing every time she saw him and the one who kissed him with everything she had.

"I staged the whole thing," she said in a small voice.

"What?!"

"I staged all this hostage and robbery thing. I did it to get you guys out of the Orions' hands."

McCoy realized that he was staring at her with his mouth open and closed it.

"I don't understand…"

"When you gave me that PADD," she interrupted, "You gave it to one of the best hackers in the whole damn Universe. So I hacked your ship, just because I always do it. Me on this ship," She waved her hand, "It was a coincidence. I was in a shitty adventure, and it brought me to this shitty bar. It wasn't planned, Leo. I never intended to get here."

She shifted from one foot to another.

"But it was a habit to check every place where I'm staying. So I've checked you guys and was monitoring everything that was happening on this ship and near her, incoming signals including. Just in case.

Everything was peace and quiet until yesterday. But yesterday… I've picked these Orions' transmissions."

She sighed.

"You guys were out of warp for too long. They've found you and made the right conclusion: one ship, moving slowly with no planets near it, so it must have been damaged. An easy catch. The signal said there were two ships though, not five. And I am actually surprised they let us go."

"Why didn't you warn us?" McCoy asked. His voice was too rasp for his liking.

She humorlessly smiled.

"It wouldn't make much of a difference. You couldn't go to warp, and as for fighting… You're not equipped for a direct fight against heavily armed ships. They were fully capable of taking you down without much of an effort."

"So you've decided to show them it's your ship," he said blankly.

"Yes. But it had to look real. They wouldn't believe me if there wasn't a crowd of Klingons behind my back."

"And you've called friends."

"Yeah. It was actually these guys who left me behind, so I've got caught and received all these burns you've treated just recently. Figured I can as well pay them back."

He remembered her damaged skin and shuddered. At least she finally admitted she'd been tortured.

"So you're a fucking pirate," McCoy concluded.

She looked down at her feet.

"Something like that."

"Great," he huffed, "Just peachy."

"I couldn't warn you, Leo, I'm sorry," she whispered, still not meeting his eyes, "But now we have to get rid of Utrar and the other boys. And we have to do it on our own."

He stared at her in disbelief.

"Why? You can just let Jim and the others out. They'll take care of this."

She shook her head.

"No. Your friends don't have weapons and there are too many of them. Easy targets. Someone's going to get killed. And this barrier - it seals them, but it also protects them. So no, we have to deal with it ourselves."

"Goddamn, girl, I'm a doctor, not a martial artist. I'm not here to fight!" He snapped, "And that's insane. What if we lose? The ship will be in their hands."

"We won't lose," she said firmly, "And you can fight, can't you?"

He scowled. Oh yes, he could fight alright. Rather eventful youth, three years in Starfleet Academy with compulsory drunk brawls every weekend by Jim's side, and finally several years out in the black made a decent fighter out of him. But it didn't mean he liked.

"I don't like it," he voiced his last thought.

She gave him a weak smile, "Of course you don't."

Her comm. buzzed, and she flipped it open.

"Tora, is everything alright?" Utrar wanted to know.

"Yes, you?"

"We're good."

"Great, contact me in five minutes."

She ended the comm. and smiled at him. Yes, he was right. This smile would definitely get him to hell.

"I don't trust you," he pointed out what worried him the most. "How on earth do I know that it isn't another game? I bet the possibility of you using me for throwing your guys under the bus and just running away is quite high. I doubt it's below you."
Her smile faded, and she sighed heavily.

"You can't trust me. I understand. But you have to make a choice, Leo. To risk it and give me another chance or to stay away from this. And you can do it, you really can. After all, I've seen worse odds against me. I can handle them myself."

McCoy really hated her for that. She could manipulate him so easily and justify it with such perfect logic that made his objections pointless. Even now, when he saw what she was capable of, he desperately wanted to believe her words. And she was right, damn her to hell and back. She was right. It was either standing behind and watch her fighting the crowd of Klingons or help her to not get killed. And there he was, no chances against her again.

"What's the plan?" he asked.

The mischievous spark in her eyes blinked, and McCoy momentary forgot where they were, what situation they were in and fought back a desperate urge to kiss her.

But she was talking again, and he had to pay attention. She explained the plan, and of course, he didn't like it. Still, did he really have a choice?

"But first of all, you have to patch me up a bit," she said with exhaustion in her voice that was clear now, when he paid it more attention, "I feel like shit."

He remembered the tremor of her hands and frowned.

"What's wrong?"

She sighed.

"I feel tired… It's like I don't have enough power to even lift my hands, let alone fight. You have to fix it."

McCoy shook his head in disbelief.

"And you are going to fight Klingons on your own?! Are you nuts?"

She grimaced.

"At any other time, I would do it myself, and I wouldn't even need your help. It's not very hard, you just have to be fast, but now… I know I can't. And we don't have a choice, we have to fight. So just hypo me with something that will give me enough energy for just fifteen minutes. We'll deal with the situation and then you'll treat me as much as you want. Later I'll do everything you'll tell me to do, I promise, but at this moment I need to be in top shape. Can you do that?"

McCoy was watching her, confused. This was not the girl he knew again. But it was neither Tora. Here stand someone else entirely, the person who knew what had to be done and who would do it no matter what. She wasn't his sweet Lee as she wasn't the cold-hearted pirate he saw on the bridge. The woman who was standing in front of him was a walking determination and a force to be reckoned with. Her eyes were hardened steel and her words were an order you couldn't disobey.

So he nodded, and her lips twitched up slightly.

"Good. But first, we have to deal with the guys in sickbay," she stated matter-of-factly.

All his awe was gone in a second.

"You sent these bastards to my sickbay?!" he roared.

He could push aside everything she did to him, but he would not tolerate violence against his staff. He was the only one who was allowed to threaten them, damnit.

"Shhh, are you insane?" she hissed, "And no, it wasn't me. Utrar did that, I have no idea why. But they promised to be good kids."

"Good kids my ass," he muttered.

"Don't worry, everything's gonna be fine," she said with an expression on her face he'd usually seen on Jim seconds before hell breaking loose and McCoy spending several frantic hours in surgery, trying to save as many lives as possible, "Let's just get this shit done. Start the lift," she lifted her phaser again.

He did it and met her eyes. His Lee was fading, Tora coming on her place.

A/N: Well. She was indeed forced into this. Kinda. And now she'll have to deal with the consequences of revealing who she is...

Anyway, thank you for reading! Tell me what you think.

A huge thanks to JularaVon who betaread this. Your help means a lot to me.