Here goes, sorry for the long wait. Still not the end, but it's getting there.

Reference to "Catspaw"

o0o

"Spock to Captain Kirk." His first officer's voice suddenly came over the intercom, as Kirk guided Crewmen Langerman to sickbay's entrance with his flashlight. They'd found only a few people in the corridor, who then started a sort of search and rescue party, helping to open the doors to the various rooms and a few mildly injured people had been brought in, to who Chapel and Taylor were tending to at the moment.

Kirk hadn't given up the plan to reach the bridge over Jeffries tube 21C, and had ventured a bit towards its hatch, trying to determine what (or who) to take with him. Chapel had a point though, Kirk knew it, he could feel it, the headache that had formed, in the past 15 minutes or so, was getting worse, dulling his usually strong determination.

However, when the Vulcan's voice sounded over the intercom, the dark cloud of pain was suddenly lifted from him. First of all it meant that the bridge was still relatively intact, and at least Spock, if not all of the bridge crew, were alive and well.

Second it meant, that the intercom was working again, and although he'd told Scotty to work on repairing other systems first, he knew the ship's communications system was vital in a crisis like this. During the last five years Kirk had built up a reputation as Starfleet's, boldest, smartest and most cunning captain, but Kirk had always known that a captain was dependent on his crew, their loyalty, their courage and their skills, to execute his orders. So, without being able to communicate with his crew, Kirk was nothing more than a man with a strong will, but no arms or hands.

Finally, Kirk felt a relief in him that had nothing to do with the ships's status or his worry for the lives of his crew. Even as he reached for the comm button to answer Spock's call, he identified the feeling and immediately stacked it away, as he realized what it was. He had felt jealous of Spock because he was in command of his ship. Spock had ordered a change in course and speed, without finding it necessary to even notify him about that. And rightfully so, for he was on sickleave, had been in a coma only a day ago, but still, instead of feeling thankful to Spock for taking care of business, he'd felt jealous and left out. So when Spock addressed him first after repairing the intercom, he felt included in the game again. He knew for a fact that Spock did not strive towards his command, respected him as captain and commanding officer always, and without question, but Kirk's own possessiveness towards the command chair sometimes made him forget that. He wondered if Spock had sensed it, or why would he have sought the captain first who was being examined in sickbay when the power went out, and not someone else, who was on duty and of more use to get the ship back under control right now?

"Spock! What's going on up there?" he asked him, already completely focussing on the task.

"The bridge is undamaged, except that all systems have gone offline. Currently we have no knowledge about what caused the power failure, Lieutenant Uhura and I were able to activate the intercom with the help of a phaser's energy cell."

"Scotty is trying to get the scanners, shields and impulse drive online again. Spock, why did we change course?"

"We were attempting to reach a small unknown vessel sending out an automated distress signal."

Kirk pressed his lips together. It was a trap! Of course, it could also be, that whatever had brought that small ship into distress, was also causing the Enterprise's problems right now. Then he dismissed the thought for a moment, we'll find out sooner or later.

"Lieutenant Uhura, put me through shipwide," he said, knowing she could hear him. He needed to act and bring some control and order back on his ship. Reassure his crew.

"Aye sir, you may talk now," Uhura said, and Kirk could hear the signal from the speakers in the walls that preceded a shipwide announcement.

"To all hands, this is Captain Kirk. We are experiencing a partial power failure. Stay at your posts and remain calm. The problem will be cleared in a few minutes. Armed security teams are patrolling. I repeat: We are experiencing a momentary partial power failure. Stay where you are, and remain calm. Kirk out."

Another signal indicated the shipwide communication had been cut.

"Captain, you think we have intruders on board?" Spock's voice asked calmly.

Kirk smiled. Spock, of course would not only have immediately noticed Kirk's stretchings of the truth, the power failure was far more than partial or momentary, and there were no armed security teams patrolling anywhere, but he would have also deduced why Kirk chose to use them.

"I hope I'm wrong," he said. "We need internal scanners, and contact security!"

"I've tried, captain," Uhura chimed in again, she was probably talking and listening to dozens of people at the same time right now, Kirk imagined, "no one answers on deck 8."

"Security and - the brig," Kirk thought aloud. If they had intruders on board, deck 8 should be the safest place on the ship. At least almost everyone there was armed. But right now they were also probably blind, … . An uneasy feeling spread in his stomach. McCoy had been called to the brig, and was probably there too, right now.

"Captain, I believe we should consider the possibility that Commander Tamulok might be behind all this."

Tamulok? Hadn't he excaped to Romulan Territory? "What evidence do you have for that?" Kirk demanded, becoming even more uneasy, but also furious at that Romulan's audacity.

"None, Captain. However, this morning Tamulok's ship was found in Federation territory, it caused great damage to the Columbia, which called many Federation starships to come to her aid. Tamulok was not found. We do not know where he is at the moment. However, if he decided to free Velal, now would be an ideal moment."

Free Velal? Kirk thought. The last time he'd seen the Romulan Commander, he'd threatened to kill his Romulan friend. Tamulok knew Velal had betrayed him, but of course that didn't mean he wouldn't want to free her, if only to make a point, to take revenge on her. That man was truely mad.

"Captain, security officer O'Shea for you," Uhura announced.

"Kirk here," he pictured the sturdy redhead that was one of his security officers before him. A walking brick wall, he was.

"Sir, I'm … deck eight, Intruders … Romulan ... disruptor."

Kirk could hear he was in great pain, gasping, bearly able to get out the words. His heartbeat quickened, so there were Romulans on board!

"O'Shea, listen to me. How many of them are there and where are they headed?"

"They … came out of … the dark. Couldn't see. Killed, … Osborne and Collins, I c-couldn't ..."

Kirk punched the wall in frustration. O'Shea was badly injured, suffering from a disruptor wound, which were always agonizing. He needed medical help, and soon, still, Kirk needed to know …

"Ensign O'Shea!" he bellowed, "Listen to me! Where are they now?"

"I don't … they … went after the … doctor." he whispered in between harsh breaths.

"And that's where?" Kirk pressed, so McCoy had been there, but where was he now?

A hollow thud ended the report, O'Shea had probably dropped to the ground. Kirk couldn't raise him again.

"Captain, if one wants to escape intruders on deck 8 during a power failure, the logical route to take is through Jeffries tube 8," Spock provided from over the intercom.

"The logical route, Spock?" Kirk echoed, trying to get the Vulcan to find the snag in his assumption. McCoy wasn't always the most logical guy, as Spock was usually so fond of pointing out.

"I should rephrase that, Captain," Spock acknowledged, "it is the only possible route. Nonethelss, it also opens the possibility to trap the Romulan intruders, that is – if one is aware of the layout of Jeffries tube 8!"

Kirk nodded. Jeffries tube 8 was epecially long and unsually winded. Eventually it lead up to cargobay 1 on deck 7, but it also connected to cargobay 2 which was on deck 9. It was possible to transfer goods from one cargobay to the other via the last part of the Jeffries tube which was steeply sloped at its end. At the foot of the slope there was an opening. A rather sudden opening if you didn't expect it and if you fell through, you'd fall several meters. It could make an ideal trap for Bones' pursuers, however, Kirk wasn't sure if Bones knew anything about it.

"Captain, our internal sensors are online again," Spock's voice interrupted his train of thoughts, "it appears Doctor McCoy and Velal are about 28 meters ahead of the 3 intruders, who are heavily armed."

Kirk bit the inside of his lip, "Do you suppose Bones knows about the opening in the ground ahead of him?"

"He's 15.3 meters away, Captain. Considering the pace at which he and Velal are currently going, I don't believe they are aware of the chute."

Kirk closed his eyes. "We've gotta warn him then."

"Captain, any warning we could give Dr McCoy would also warn Commander Tamulok."

Kirk nodded, but said: "Maybe not. We've gotta phrase it so that only Bones understands."

o0o

McCoy had been crawling on his hands and knees for only a few minutes now, but he hurt all over already. However, the prospect of being hit by a disruptor promised even more pain, much more actually, so he just kept on going as fast as he could. When he'd heard the sounds of the phasers and disruptors, as well as the agonized moans coming from at least two of the security officers in the corridor, his first instinct had been to turn around.

Disruptor wounds were nasty, if they didn't kill you right away, they caused enormous pain, and McCoy believed they'd been even designed for that purpose. He shuddered. Romulan (and Klingon) mentality in that way was so far from what was considered to be human. "Are human phasers not designed to kill, doctor?" Spock had once asked him, to remind him that every weapon, no matter who the designer was, ultimately had only one prupose, still, to be killed by a disruptor, was a hell of a way to die.

Velal had dragged him away from the hatch and into the Jeffries tube. "We must flee!" she'd whispered in his ear, and of course she was right. He didn't know how many Romulans were out there, but even if there was only Tamulok, which he doubted, then it was Tamulok with a disruptor, and they were completely unarmed. So they needed to flee. A few minutes later, they heard the hatch being opened again and people crawling inside.

Velal who was close in front of him, and was becoming more agitated again, with each passing second, had confirmed McCoy's worries: "Tamulok, he's following us."

McCoy cursed himself for not having studied Enterprise's Jeffries tube system more elaborately. If Jim were in his place, he'd not only know where he was going, but also how to set up a trap for that Romulan that was following them.

Suddenly, he heard Jim's voice over the intercom, making a shipwide announcement.

"... Stay where you are, and remain calm. Kirk out."

Funny, Jim, he thought sarcastically, feeling Velal's gastrocnemius muscle under his hand tremble uncontrollably. Her pants were soaked with sweat. He was certainly not calm and relaxed himself, but the state Velal was in was ridiculous. Also, he could hear the grunts and panting of the Romulans following them from behind.

Tamulok hollered after them, something in Romulan, which made Velal scream and kick behind her, almost hitting McCoy in the face.

"Hey!" he hissed at her and pushed her further into the tube, "use your energy to move a little faster, instead of trying to knock me out!"

She muttered something back that McCoy couldn't understand, and although it didn't exactly sound like an apology, she concentrated on quickening her pace, for which McCoy was grateful. They'd been crawling straight ahead for some time now, and he just hoped, Tamulok would not round the corner about now and shoot his disruptor down the tunnel.

McCoy considered briefly stopping at the intercom to contact Jim, but the prospect of being hit by same disruptor let him move on.

It seemed though, he didn't need to stop to communicate with Jim, for suddenly the captain's voice came over the speakers again, in another shipwide announcement:

"To all hands in the Pyris Seven section: access deck 9 through the Jeffries tubes! The dust and cobwebs make it right!"

McCoy blinked, what was that supposed to mean?

Pyris Seven was the name of a planet they'd visited about 3 years ago. Spock, Kirk, and he had encountered three witches warning them to turn around and leave. Spock had commented on their bad poetry, and they'd all been quite puzzled about the earth manifestations of Halloween decoration, complete with a black cat and an old castle. As they'd proceded along the hall of the castle, McCoy had also commented on the dust and cobwebs, before they'd all …

"Stop!" he hissed at Velal, grabbing hold of her calf fast.

"What?" she ground out.

"There's a hole somewhere ahead of us!"

o0o

Spock kept one eye on the internal scanners that showed the progress of Doctor McCoy, Velal and the three intruders within Jeffries tube 8. One of the intruders was most likely a Romulan, the other two were probably of a different species. McCoy and Velal had picked up their pace, and now quickly approached the abyss.

As he heard the captain's shipwide announcement, he immediately understood the underlying warning, 2 point 7 years ago, McCoy, Kirk and he himself had fallen through a hole in the ground in that castle on Pyris Seven, just after McCoy had commented: Dust, cobwebs, Halloween is right. The question was: Would the doctor also make the connection in time?

"They've stopped," Chekov, also reading the internal scanners from his post, commented.

Spock nodded, observing the internal scanners out of the corner of his eyes now, while he roamed over the readings of the external sensor readings. He informed the captain: "McCoy and Velal have stopped moving abruptly, Captain. I believe he understood. Now., they're very slowly approaching the chute," even as he drew conclusions about the cause of their power failure.

"Good! Spock, the scanners, what do they show of the outside? Where are we?" Kirk was multitasking. He couldn't help Bones any more from here, but there were other things that needed his attention.

"It seems we've grazed a quantum filament, Captain, a rare and extremely hard to detect, but natural astrophysical phenomenon. It has very likely caused our power failure."

"You believe it was an accident?" Kirk asked incredulously.

"Not necessarily, sir. We also …," he stopped, briefly averting his attention to the internal sensor readings again, "Captain, Dr. McCoy and Velal have overcome the hole in the ground. They are now moving up the slope to cargobay 1."

Kirk breathed a sigh of relief. "You also …?" he prompted.

"... detect the scout ship that sent the distress call we were attempting to answer in our immediate vicinity. They may have brought us here on purpose."

"Tamulok's ship?" Kirk asked.

"It's hull shows traces of trititanium."

"Orions!" Kirk concluded. They'd encountered a small Orion scout made of trititanium during the Babel mission.

"It would seem so, Captain," Spock nodded, "they're apparently still allied with Commander Tamulok."

"Where's he, now?" Kirk asked Spock, trying to imagine what it meant for the Federation, if Tamulok had really found allies within the Orion Syndicate, and was in possession of a biological weapon that could help control thousands of Romulans – and Vulcans. The scenarios he came up with were abhorrent.

"Aproaching the chute at a constant velocity," Spock said, his attention once more focussed on the readings.

Kirk tensed, then remembered something and shouted into his communicator for Scotty: "Scotty, the shields, do we have them?"

"Just a minute, captain," Scotty sounded far away.

"Spock, prepare to get the shields up, as soon as they're available. We don't want Tamulok to be beamed away this time."

"Yes, Captain," Spock said, already watching over Sulu's shoulder, who had a finger on the shield controls.

"Mr. Spock!" Chekov sounded excited, pointing at the readings, "the intruders have fallen through the chute into cargobay 2!"

"Lifesigns?" Kirk asked.

"Yes, Captain. They appear to be …," Spock halted uncharacteristically, never a good sign, and Kirk suddenly knew what it meant.

Without waiting for Spock to finish his sentence, he shouted at Scott again: "Scotty! Tractor beam, phasers, engines we need them now!" He knew how he sounded. Almost all of the ship's systems were dead, and he demanded the Enterprise to be ready to detain, destroy and pursue an Orion scoutship all at once. Tamulok just couldn't escape once again!

He heard a low, familiar thrum, that told him the ship's shields had gone up, probably only a few seconds too late, and even before Spock announced to him that the three intruders had been transported away, he knew they'd lost the Romulan again.

"The Orion ship has gone to warp, Captain," Spock reported after another slight pause. That was it, they'd lost him, probably for good now.

He hit the wall once again, as he saw Chapel approaching him in the dim light of his flashlight.

"Captain? I'm glad to see, you didn't attempt climbing up that Jeffries tube," she said, smiling slightly.

He nodded, at her, absently. Well, even if he'd done that, it probably wouldn't have changed anything.

"Captain? Dr. McCoy for you," Uhura barely had time to warn him before he heard Bones' angry voice hollering:

"Jim, when are you thinking about setting up a decent search and rescue service? People may be hurt. We're stuck in cargobay 1, which is completely empty and, ..."

"BONES!" Kirk shouted to get in a word. He was relieved that Bones was still alive and well, but also didn't have the energy at the moment to deal with his enraged CMO. That he was bitching like that only showed him, that he really was okay. So there were other, more important things, he needed to do at the moment, to take a painkiller for that headache, for example.

"Bones, we're doing all we can. We'll get you out in no time, I swear, just … try to get comfortable," he said, rubbing his forehead tiredly.

"Comfortable?" Bones sounded … panicked? Kirk felt some worry forming inside him, what was wrong?

"Bones, you're okay?" he asked.

There was the sound of commotion, as if clothes were being ripped apart. Was he bleeding? Or Velal? Was he trying to make a bandage?

"Okay?" McCoy sounded exasperated, then suddenly, he sobered. "We're okay, Jim. Just, before your rescue party comes to pry open the doors, give us a warning, would you?"

Kirk frowned. "Why?"

"Just do. McCoy out."

He looked at Chapel, who was standing in front of him, a frown on her face that mirrored his own. She shrugged it away and raised her hand to reveal a hypo. "Here captain, it should ease your headache!" she explained.

Kirk nodded in acceptance. Christine had been right, it was a good thing, he hadn't attempted to reach the bridge through the Jeffries tubes. Even from the intercom in the corridor in front of sickbay, he had been at least able to find out what was wrong with his ship. They'd also gotten rid of Tamulok. He scratched his head that was beginning to clear from the pain again.

What had he wanted? He asked himself. Was it all about taking revenge on Velal? His mind wandered back to the beginning of this cirsis. Bones had been called to the brig, because of her, hadn't he? He still didn't know the reason for that.