Her extremities tingle and involuntary spasms afflict ground zero on her back, but Nyota still finds it very short sighted of Scotty to simply restrain her wrists. Sure, his naked Orion is now examining her appropriated dagger but Nyota has other skills, one of which she demonstrates as the Chief Engineer laughingly leans forward to caress her exposed thigh--"Ah luv, di'ya fancy yeself up for me?"--only to receive a boot to the chin. It was not as hard as it should have been, not hard enough to save herself in an unfair fight—which this obviously is with Nyota prone on the floor and a nude woman currently straddling her upper body, cheek stinging from a revenge slap and head knocked akimbo, her arms positioned painfully underneath her—but Scotty complains as if she had just broken his jaw.

With his uninspired vocabulary Nyota wishes she had.

It is the Orion she must worry about and is quickly reminded by the sudden appearance of blood-red nails resting threateningly against her pressure-curled eyelashes.

"Why did you hurt Monty?" she purrs, eyes as sharp as any Nyota had seen in Starfleet. "Were you planning a seduction first? Were you going to tempt my man with those luscious lips? He likes lips you know." Nyota refrained from rolling her eyes. He looks the type. "Then, after he had climaxed in your body with all those interesting Terran colloquiums spilling from his mouth, would you have used that dagger on him? Slit that sweet little torso neck to navel and bathe in his blood? Are you tired of having to say 'Sir'?" As the Orion's nails ran deceptively gentle down once-declared sculpted cheekbones Nyota finally felt free to breathe, but didn't blink.

"I'm after his expertise, not his sex or his death. Frankly I find the idea of either is too much work at the moment."

The Orion's eyes glimmer and she quickly stands, giving Nyota quite a view of her shaved genitalia. Her hair is a beautiful tousled red wave and she looks over her shoulder with a spectacular grin.

"Sounds like we won't have to kill her Monty!"

Nyota is lifted off warm metal and placed almost civilly in a comfortably used chair. She tries not to imagine what her superior and this startlingly lovely green-skinned alien have done to each other exactly where she is sitting and instead, rather than come up with a reasonable lie that would clarify her presence, calmly explains exactly what she hopes to find by way of Scotty's computer skills. And pretends to ignore the whiff of musk. Apparently the thought of possible treason and staff liabilities—not to mention the public discovery of whatever it is the two of them do down here—is an aphrodisiac. She does not mention Kirk. She does not mention a medical officer by the name of Leonard McCoy. Some. . .secrecy must be maintained. As it is, with divulging Captain Christopher Pike as a believed antagonist it will not be long before those names are brought up in conversation between the pair and that's when Nyota will truly have to watch her back. Her mother would be disgusted.

She is pleased to return to her cold corner without any blood on her hands and two conspirators to do her ground work. They restored her weapons however. They did not name a price.

12

For someone who has always depended on perfection and professionalism is it becoming more difficult for Nyota to remain indifferent and austere. Kirk and Len's cryptic messages have become an obsession and she needs answers as badly as she needs to breathe, as badly as she utterly longs for a marathon session with hot water or a surging power source or some actual intelligence to translate to keep her highly trained cerebral cortex from turning into a frozen mix of slush and juices. She has begun to hate the milling Andorians, with their blue flesh and rusty-razor teeth and bowing subservient nature that as far as her fresh paranoia is concerned is akin to a hungry wolf lying in wait. There have been murmurs and her behaviour has been noted.

Fucking great. The Empire is not a fair place, Nyota has never believed such fairy tales; but she does demand her due and this banishment of her skills will not be allowed to remain fallow. Whatever the result she will find her answers.

Nyota is awakened by a quick kiss to her forehead and a firm pressure upon her wrists, all that keeps her legs from flailing or teeth from gnashing the Orion's distinct scent and female form. The men she's stationed with wouldn't be so stupid, Nyota vaguely ponders, giving this 'Gaila' a withering look. "It's the middle of the night."

"No smile for me, pretty?" the woman grins. She is wearing a paltry bikini but hundreds of goose bumps criss-cross along her green skin. Even with thermal sleepwear Nyota's still cold and she doesn't know how Gaila stands it. "You know, it's always night in space." Nyota is being watched so intently that she finally thinks the Orion intends to kiss her. She pushes against the hold.

"Get off me Gaila."

"You don't like me very much," a dancer's set of legs undulated across Nyota's bed sheets.

"I don't like what you're offering."

"And what would that be?" Gaila whispered, practically projecting a hardcore fantasy with her large eyes and full pout. Nyota shoves her off but with a grudging smirk. This was no time to make undue enemies and the woman is delightfully exasperating. Of course some lessons must be taught and Nyota purposefully draws forth the dagger hidden beneath her pillow.

"Enough to keep me from my shift at oh six hundred." That seems to placate her and she bounces up and down excitedly within the constructed darkness, poking a rising Nyota happily in the shoulder, untroubled by the blade. The communications officer pushed the annoying hand away. "Is there a reason you've entered my quarters illegally?" Gaila made a satisfied noise and stretched.

"Oh pretty, you know all the right words." An exaggerated gesture of palming her breasts later and Gaila presents a shiny new data chip from the confines of her poor excuse for a bra. "And you'll learn I never disappoint." Nyota watched the little black square for all of a nanosecond before snatching it away, barely restraining herself from popping it immediately into her data console. Raising an eyebrow she purses her lips and turns the dagger's hilt in gentle circles within her grasp.

"What is it?" She doesn't ask how the Orion procured whatever information the chip contains as Scotty was more than willing to expound on the glories of Gaila's immense talents—both in and out of the bedroom. A technological genius schooled by the very same Empire sadists who abducted her from the Orion home world. Brilliant. The redhead leaned forward conspiratorially, beaming.

"I have noooo idea, some curly-cue and stamped gobbledy gook—"

"Hard copies?"

"Ya huh! Annnnnd also a few disintegrated possibly scrambled vocal transmissions that I knew my linguist princess would just love to get her ears on." Gaila wiggled purposely where she sat. "And maybe her tongue around?" Nyota ignored the remark. She wouldn't be distracted. This was possibly a gold mine of information but it would be unwise to show any overt gratitude or pleasure in front of the alien female.

"Could you read it?"

"You know I can't," Gaila purred her disapproval, clicking her sharp nails together. "Why would I be here if all the work could be done between Monty and myself?" Nyota nodded slowly. Ah. Here was the crux of the matter. Gaila wanted to collect her due and was not so subtly pointing out that she found Nyota's part to be the lesser of their burdens. Perhaps. But Nyota's pride was rocked all the same, her gaze becoming decidedly unfriendly; instead of asking another politic question she went directly to the meat of the matter.

"You want off this moon."

"We want off this moon." Gaila's shark-like smile of glee—however infectious—didn't temper the linguist's mood. Three. . .beings involved instead of two. And even Scotty could have been taken care of if the situation called for it. It was the way of things, how the hierarchy worked in the Empire. Montgomery Scott and this alien Gaila were already traitors, and if Nyota was the one to present the intell she would probably be rewarded for the service. They would deserve whatever punishment the Emperor prescribed. Nyota lowered her voice considerably, a deep feeling of resentment present. She had been stupid to involve these outsiders and even moreso to suddenly have a guilty reaction to the idea of their torture and subsequent death at the hands of Empire security. Nyota knew nothing of them! She wasn't putting her own person in an agonizer booth for these strangers! She had spent four years in a psychological hell proving herself worthy to fly the skies and she refused to be tarnished It was—

It was stepping in to trip that bitch yeoman-track cadet all over again.

"And how do you expect me to accomplish the decampment of two Empire officer's and an alien sex slave?"

Greeted with silence, Nyota watched as Gaila bristled then turned her head away, her lovely cold shoulders dropping minutely before being shoved back almost violently.

"Since I don't exist here the question of my sudden disappearance should be moot." When she finally returned Nyota's bitter gaze her eyes were glassy and angry in her own right. "It's not as if I've ever mattered to your kind."

Fucking great.

Nyota palmed the data chip, resisting the urges to either heave a sigh or pound the red head's perfectly symmetrical face into a bloody pulp. As if sensing her internal rage debate the Orion stood but Nyota placed her dagger on the floor behind her.

"If we were to start a fight we would make enough noise to call down the whole crew and I don't want any of those Andorians near my bed." It was enough to bring forth a giggle and Nyota didn't roll her eyes. She held up the chip. "I'll review the information and then the three of us will discuss payment, agreed?"

"Sounds good," Gaila folded her arms. "You're being watched you know." Nyota jumped up, knees snapping up and flexing as if a phaser beam had just been fired in the area of her ass. The dagger was in it's proper place, in her determined grip. The Orion laughed huskily at her preparedness. "Not right now, pretty! Not by anyone but me now! But those Andorians. . ." She tsked and shook her head, magnificent locks bouncing. "They don't appreciate your Empire's occupation." There was an ironic laugh, then she regarded Nyota quizzically. "But I think it's more than that." Nyota lowered her blade. Her intuition had been correct. She wasn't going to share her concerns.

"How did you get in here?" She didn't expect the resulting emergence of incredulity.

"You have a door you know!"

"And it has a very strong security lock."

Gaila winked.

"See how useful I am."