Author's Note:

I finally figured out I can't use asterisks to separate scenes, because they don't appear here. See? I can be taught! Sorta. Sorry for any confusion earlier.

I don't own Star Trek. Gonna put it on my Christmas list.

Back on the ship, Jim checked in with Spock, Uhura, and Chekov, and learned nothing that would explain the strange goings-on.

And those damn requisitions still aren't done. He resigned himself to settling into his least favorite activity—paperwork—and headed for the officer's deck.

Carol was waiting for Jim in his quarters. The lights were low. Candles flickered. She'd poured wine for both of them. Oh, this is a much better idea, he thought.

He took Carol in from across the room. She was tantalizing in some… what did women call those things, anyway? It was shimmery—what little fabric there was. Still, he hesitated, unsure what it was that held him back. What the hell are you thinking, Kirk? Look at her! He shrugged off his uncertaintly and moved toward her.

"You're back," she declared, with a devilish smile.

He grinned and slipped his arms around her, caressing silky fabric and satiny skin. "Right now I have no idea why I'd ever be anywhere else. You are stunning."

He sucked in his breath.

She'd moved her hand beneath his shirt and lifted it, to plant soft, teasing kisses on his torso.

He breathed out a throaty laugh. "Carol Marcus," he murmured. He paused to let his tongue trace the hollow behiind her ear. "You…" He heard her sigh. "…are so damn fun."

"Mmm?"

He caressed the ridge along her shoulder. "On the bridge, you're cool and elegant and gorgeous..." His lips teased the side of her breast as she sighed and leaned into him. "And here…"

His hands slid along the shimmer of fabric to her hips. He cupped her against him, as she drew her leg around to bring him closer… closer. A low moan escaped him as his mouth sought hers, and…

His comm beeped.

"Jim! McCoy here."

With a dramatic sigh, Jim dropped his head against Carol's shoulder, while she threw back her head and moaned, "Oh, not again."

"Jim, you there?"

With a look of heartfelt apology, Jim released the beautiful blonde and walked over to address the comm.

"What, Bones?"

"I found something you should see."

"Um," his eyes pleaded with the ceiling, "now?"

Bones looked peeved. "Depends, Captain. Are you still running the show on this tin can or aren't you?"

Jim swallowed and nodded. "I'm on my way."

He flipped off the comm and took a long look at Carol. Softly, almost to himself, he said, "Are we f'd or what?" Then he kissed her and walked out, the doors of his quarters swishing closed behind him.

"Bones! Whatcha got?"

"Well, when yours truly was treating our our little patient on Kamali, I slipped in a workup."

"Meaning…"

"I took a blood sample."

"And?"

"Take a look at this." He pointed Jim toward a screen filled with data.

"Looking. Looking." Jim perused the screen. "Not seeing." Okay, maybe he was being obtuse on purpose, since he was pretty annoyed at having to forfeit his promising night. "Can ya just tell me?"

"Here, you infant. That's the reading for olominium in the blood."

Jim had no idea what the man was talking about.

"Yep. Yes it is. And…?"

"It's high, Jim. Off the charts high."

"Is that dangerous?"

"Not necessarily, no," McCoy stated. "But there's only one situation I know of that leads to olominium levels like that."

"What's that, Bones?"

"Dilithium in the food or water supply. That girl's been exposed to huge amounts of raw dilithium, Jim."

Jim was about to lose it. "Well she's from Plutus VII, Bones! Of course she's been exposed to dilithium! Her parents paid a fortune to get her away from dilithium!"

"That's what I mean, genius. Inside the body, olominium breaks down in a matter of hours. Unless that little girl just got off the proverbial boat from Plutus VII—and I mean, like, this morning—she's still exposed to dilithium. Daily. On Kamali."

Jim wrapped his brain around what McCoy was saying. "There's dilithium on Kamali?"

"I'd bet my best bourbon on it."

"Then why haven't we picked it up in our scans?"

"Don't ask me, Captain. That's your hobgoblin's department."

It was late, but with the planetary scans incomplete, Jim knew where to find his first. On the bridge, next to his station, the Vulcan was clustered with three other members of the science crew. One was Carol, who'd changed back into her uniform. As Jim approached the group he caught the tail end of Spock's direction.

"… find the origination of that pulse."

Two of Spock's team moved off, while Spock and Carol turned toward their commanding officer. "Captain," Spock said, "we have discovered a perplexing anomaly on Kamali that is inhibiting our sensor scans."

"Well that answers my first question," Jim breathed, with a heavy sigh. "I'm all ears, Spock."

"Captain, your features are not substantially disproportionate."

Jim stared at Spock blankly. Carol giggled.

"Wait," blue eyes fixed on the Vulcan, "are you making fun of myears?" Jim let his eyes roam from one side of Spock's head to the other… pointy tip to pointy tip. "… of my ears?"

"I would not 'make fun' of ears that are aesthetically… unfinished."

Jim shook his head while Carol let out a laugh.

Taking a breath, Jim blurted out, "McCoy says there's dilithium on Kamali."

Spock's eyebrows raised, while Carol let out a quiet "Oh!"

"When he treated that little girl he picked up an element in her blood that's consistent with dilithium in the environment."

"Olominium?" both science officers asked in unison.

Jim rolled his eyes. Science geeks. He nodded.

Then it was Spock's turn to share what his team uncovered. "Captain, we have discovered an electronic pulse coming from the planet that disrupts our sensors. We believe it is also obfuscating data on traffic patterns. The pulse does not seem natural in origin."

Jim swallowed. "Not natural, as in someone's trying to hide dilithium from our scanners, or hide the fact their ships are passing by?"

"Both are quite possible."

"Could the colonists have created it?"

"The system appears intricate, Captain, and would require extensive technological skill. I am not aware of a colony member with that degree of training."

"And it's too expensive," Carol added. "The colonists can't possibly have the resources to create something like this."

Jim Kirk's brain often connected the dots before most people realized there were dots to connect. This time, though, given where they were, and what was at stake, the conclusion was all too clear.

"Klingons," Jim asserted. "It's a cloaking device."

The Vulcan raised an eyebrow in confirmation. "A high probability, Jim."

"Go to yellow alert, Spock. Give Scotty a heads up that we'll have to evacuate the colonists." In full command mode now, Jim called to the communications officer on duty. "Ensign Arlo! Get a message to Starfleet Command updating them there's evidence of Klingons in Kamali's neighborhood. We'll want backup."

"Yes, Sir!

"You're scanning for any and all unusual activity, especially Klingons, Mr. Arlo. Report anything noteworthy to Mr. Spock."

Carol frowned. "Where will you be?"

"I'm going back to the planet," Jim responded. He turned to Spock. "It's time to make sure the colonists know who the real enemy is."

He caught up with Katie Tallis as she finished closing the children's center offices for the night.

"How's our patient?"

"She seems fine. You'd never know she had a fall." She eyed the captain. "You didn't beam back down to ask me that, though."

"No." He waited a beat to continue, matching her brisk pace as she walked. "So… there's dilithium on Kamali."

Katie shrugged. "Bingo," she mouthed. As soon as McCoy stepped in this afternoon, she knew the discovery of Kamali's secret was inevitable.

"That's why you didn't let us examine anyone. You knew about the connection to olominium blood levels."

"Everyone knows about the connection to olominium blood levels."

"Well, not ev… Whatever."

She looked at him, momentarily confused.

"Katie, you need our help."

"Look," she kept walking. "I get what happened this afternoon, but Kamali will NOT become another dilithium mine."

"No! Stop." He grabbed her shoulders so she'd face him. "There's more." The setting sun gave her hair and eyes a golden sparkle. He wondered why he noticed such a thing, at a time like this.

She shifted her weight and looked away, biding time like a pissed-off teenager.

He continued earnestly. "It's not just Starfleet that's hungry for dilithium. The Klingons want it too."

That got her attention. This time, though, he felt no sense of victory. Her work with the refugees was precious to her, he knew. He was about to blow it all to hell.

"Someone's devised an electronic pulse to keep our scanners from picking up dilithium. I'm guessing that wasn't a colonist."

She shook her head no, eyes serious now. "I don't know what you mean," she said.

"Given where we are, we think the Klingons designed a cloaking device to hide the dilithium and throw visiting ships off the trail." He saw her nod in understanding. "If that's true, they won't stay away for long. And when they come back, they'll take what they want. You won't be able to stop them."

She swallowed hard. "What are you saying?"

Her hair was still wild, fighting its way out of the clip that struggled around it. This time, he wanted to smooth it down—anything to calm her, to take the edge off the what he was telling her.

"You need to leave Kamali."

She let loose a mirthless laugh. "No! No way. We're doing good work here, and we're not going to stop so you and your frenemies can plow on in and fight over who gets what toys in the sandbox. No!"

"It's not like that." He kept his voice quiet, soothing.

"Not gonna happen, Prince Starfleet. Nope…"

"Katie…"

She yelled. "We were fine before you showed up!"

"You were not fine!" he yelled back. "They've been surveying! They must have been. If you stay here they'll kill you, along with Patik, and Anli, all these kids, and everyone in this colony!"

She clamped her mouth shut, eyes shining in the growing dark.

"We can't fight them and protect you at the same time." He needed her to understand that her beloved camp would soon be a battlefield. "If you're onboard the Enterprise—you, the colonists, all the kids—we can focus our power on driving the Klingons away."

She dropped her voice to a low, ominous tone. "You don't know that's who set up the pulse. You don't know whether the Klingons even know we're here," she said. "Not really."

He sighed. "We know enough."

She rubbed her hands along her face and up, into her hair. "I need to think."

"I'm not going to leave you here like this. There's no way."

He could see her trying to gather herself, hugging her arms to her chest as if to hold herself together. She didn't meet his eyes. "Please go," she whispered.

Then she turned and walked until the last of her white cotton shirt disappeared in the dark.