oOo

"Lieutenant, I believe you had something you wished to show me."

Moreau looked up, startled; she hadn't heard Spock enter the lab. She dismissed the ensign on duty with a glance. The young blonde gave a knowing smirk as she sauntered into the other room, no doubt to relay what she would perceive as the latest gossip to her cronies in other departments. Moreau tossed her head. No matter; even if she didn't end up in Spock's bed, she was still his most important ally at this time. "It's in the quarters I shared with Captain Kirk," was all she said. "Shall I take you there now?"

Spock nodded, then waited until she closed down the file she had been working on and made her way to the door at the far end of the room. Neither spoke as they traversed the corridors leading to what she still thought of as "her" quarters. Never mind the smaller accommodations that had been made available to her; to Moreau, they were only temporary. She'd had a taste of the good life being Kirk's Woman, and a glimpse at the possibility of a better life dangled before her by his counterpart. She knew that sticking with Spock was her best option no matter how he decided to handle that Kirk's challenge.

When they arrived at the door, Spock's guards came instantly to attention. "Has anyone been inside since you came on duty?" It wasn't necessary to ask, as Spock fully intended to check the scanners, but he asked anyway. The acting Captain of the Enterprise was nothing if not thorough.

"No sir." The guard hesitated, and Spock became, if possible, even stiffer. "During the Klingon attack, Collins was injured, sir." A trickle of sweat made its way down the guard's temple. "I took him to Sickbay. But I checked the sensor logs, sir. No one came in here during our absence."

"I will of course be checking those logs myself." Spock's voice was the coldest Moreau had ever heard. "As for your dereliction of duty, if nothing is amiss I might be inclined to overlook it." He glanced over at the second guard. "You were summoned here while Styles and Collins were away?"

"Yessir. I arrived just before Styles returned, sir." The second guard didn't even look at Spock, just kept facing straight ahead. Moreau was frankly surprised he wasn't trying to make Styles look bad, but sometimes camaraderie formed in spite of the competitive, if not downright lethal, culture Starfleet cultivated on its ships.

"Very well." If Spock was surprised by the man's attitude, it didn't show. Then again, nothing ever did. "Lt. Moreau and I are not to be disturbed short of another attack by the Klingons, or an emergency of similar urgency. Am I understood?"

"Yessir!" both guards barked out at the same time. As they passed through the doorway, Moreau thought she caught the second man smirking, but when she whipped her head around to stare him down, his eyes were front and center, his mouth a tight line without a hint of humor. He'd better keep it that way or Spock will have his hide, Moreau thought as she stepped back into the quarters she and Kirk had so recently shared.

"Where is it?" Spock stood, hands behind his back, waiting. Moreau moved toward the innocuous-looking Tantalus Field, hesitating for a moment before touching it. It was a secret she and Jim had shared, and she still felt like a traitor. Only the promise of a better future for the Empire, the promise that other Jim Kirk had dangled before them, kept her fingers steady as she pressed the buttons and powered up the screen.

"A monitoring device." Spock's voice remained neutral as Moreau brought up a picture of the Brig. This time it was Sulu she focused on.

"Not just a monitor," she corrected Spock. "This is how Jim Kirk's enemies so conveniently 'disappeared' just when he needed them to." She was about to explain how it worked, but stopped, peering closely at the dials. Her face drained of color. "Impossible!"

Spock immediately came to her side. "A problem, Lieutenant?"

She turned slowly to face him. "It's impossible, but someone's switched out the machine. This is a fake!" Panic flared in her eyes as she took a step back. "How did he do it?" she whispered, half to herself as she realized who must have taken it. She was shaking; if Spock thought she was lying, he would force a meld onto her without compunction. It would show that she was telling the truth, but it was an experience she did not look forward to. "He must have told someone else about it, that's the only explanation." She risked a look at Spock. "I swear, I didn't help him, I didn't take it. You have to believe me!"

"I do." Spock's words were spoken in the same level tone he'd used since bringing her here. "I should have anticipated something like this since the moment the replacement Kirk hinted at the power it held. But I allowed myself to be distracted by the return of our own crew, when I should have made this a priority. I do not believe you are to blame." He reached out suddenly and grasped her arm, yanking her close. "But if I discover that I am mistaken in this belief, you will regret it."

He pushed her away and strode out of the room. All Moreau could do was watch him leave, rubbing her arm. There would be a bruise, a reminder that, in spite of the other Kirk's promises and pledges, she was still living in the same brutal universe she always had been. Spock might be the agent for change Kirk predicted, but his methods were still grounded in their shared reality.

Whoever did this, whoever stole the Tantalus Field, I hope you blast them into insanity, she thought as she glared at the fake monitor. With a snarl of frustration, she snatched up the nearest breakable object and hurled it at the screen. The bottle of Saurian brandy and screen both shattered in a satisfying manner. Ignoring the glass shards crunching beneath her feet, she stepped forward, intending to do further damage, when something caught her eye. Dangling from one of the protruding edges of the now-ruined fake was something that looked suspiciously like a miniature spying device. Moreau leaned forward, reaching out to catch it delicately on the end of one fingernail.

"Gotcha," she said softly, a triumphant grin curling her lips. Only one person on this ship was capable of creating such a thing, so tiny and yet so dangerous. She closed her hand around the miniaturized equipment, careful not to do any more damage to it. She would show it to Spock, and he would understand its significance immediately.

Uhura was going to pay for this treachery.