oOo

Kirk and Uhura whirled to face the door, phasers at the ready, relaxing only when Lt. Kyle slunk into the room. Uhura tossed her head. "Took you long enough."

"Yeah, well, I had to make sure I wasn't seen; you sure you took care of the surveillance scanners?" Kyle sounded nervous, but not overly so, and his hands were steady as he reached for the transporter controls.

"All taken care of, not a thing for you to worry about," Uhura assured him. "And the codes for the credit transfer are right here." She pulled a data wafer from her bodice and dangled it before Kyle's greedy eyes. "You just make sure to wipe the transporter records after we leave, and I'll leave this," she waved the wafer before Kyle's face, "on the pad so you can grab it."

"Remember," Kirk chimed in, " you'll only have a few seconds after we leave to get out. If Spock catches you in here," a slow grin spread across the erstwhile captain's face, and he made a slashing motion across his neck. "Be sure to be gone before he arrives. Which I'm sure he'll do soon."

"Right, let's get this over with." Kyle moved in front of the transporter controls, his movements quick and assured.

"And remember this, too," Kirk added, catching the other man's gaze with his own. "If you betray us, you'd better hope we're killed before we can implicate you. Because we will. If we go down, you go with us."

Kyle paled slightly, but his gaze remained steady. "Right, got it. And you remember this; if that data wafer doesn't have the credits I was promised, I will make sure Spock finds out through an anonymous source exactly what happened to you two."

Kirk slapped Kyle on the back with a bark of laughter. "Good. So we both understand each other."

Uhura had moved to the transporter pad, laying the wafer on the edge as promised and watching impatiently as Kirk strolled over to join her, hefting the duffel bag containing the Tantalus Field--and a substantial amount of hard cash and untraceable credit wafers--in one hand.

"One last thing." The two fugitives stared at Kyle. He jerked his head at Uhura. "You promised. It's part of the deal."

After only a moment's hesitation, Uhura nodded and stepped lithely off the transporter pad. "This will only take a second," she said, while Kirk scowled and shifted his feet impatiently.

Kyle licked his lips as Uhura slinked her way toward him; even in her oversized rags and without makeup, with her hair pulled back and grime deliberately smeared across her features, she was still the sexiest damn woman he'd ever seen. He darted a quick glance at Kirk, still scowling but remaining in place on the transporter pad, then pulled Uhura into his arms for an impassioned embrace. Kirk's scowl deepened, but he held his tongue; Uhura had told him this might happen, and this one time he was going to have to sit and watch while another man pawed at his Woman. If this insured their escape, he could put up with it. This time, and this time only.

Uhura allowed Kyle free reign over her body, not stopping his hands from roaming while she pressed herself against him and returned the kiss with as much passion as she could fake. She knew what he really wanted, but there was no way she was giving him that, not in the time-frame allowed and definitely not in front of Kirk.

After a minute she pulled gently away, running her fingers across Kyle's features and smiling, just the slightest bit. He was flushed and breathing heavily, and as she turned to go he grabbed her wrist and yanked her coverall open, exposing her breasts. She allowed him the final liberty of sucking greedily first at one nipple, then the other, then shoved him away and closed her top. "That's going to have to be enough, Lieutenant," she said. "Now do your part and get us the hell out of here." She backed toward the transporter, never removing her gaze from Kyle's panting form.

His scowl now matched the one Kirk was still sporting, but he nodded curtly and manipulated the controls with practiced efficiency. With a jerk, he pulled the last lever. "Ten seconds and you're gone, with the memory wiped. It'll show what Scott did and nothing after that."

"With the money we've given you, you can buy a couple of Deltan slaves; they should be able to help you out where I couldn't," Uhura called as he stepped back from the controls. She blew him a kiss; it was the last image he had of her, and one he would treasure the rest of his life.

Even before the sparkle of the transporter effect faded, Kyle was in motion, scooping up the data wafer and heading for the doors. He poked his head out cautiously; seeing no one, he dashed out of the room and ducked down the next corridor. Now would be the hard part; the waiting.