Crouched down in my place of concealment, I felt good. For the first time since this nightmare began, the path ahead of me was clear. Janice would be arrested and taken to the brig and I would resume my place in the captain's chair. Oh, there would be mutterings at first about me being a woman but I wasn't, not really. Despite my outward appearance I was still James T. Kirk, one of the most experienced of the Empire's starship captains, and by far the best. That should outweigh any misgivings about my apparent gender, and give me the freedom to seek out a way of restoring Janice and me to our proper bodies. One thing I would need, though, was a way of neutralising the bio-collar that was still limiting my ability to speak of these matters.
Spock, Uhura and I were in the captain's quarters. As Janice's trusted personal yeoman, Uhura had unfettered access to them and had let us in. She had finally turned on Janice, and Janice had no one to blame but herself. That was the mistake she made when she first turned Coleman into Uhura, and then made Uhura her personal servant. However servile they might appear, there's only so much humiliation you can heap on anyone before they turn on you. I had seen it in Uhura's eyes after the fight with Marlena and her appointment as Janice's personal yeoman, and I had stoked her resentment when she visited me in the brig. That effort had now borne fruit. Janice was going down. Now all we needed was for the captain herself to make an appearance.
We did not have to wait long.
When the door whooshed open, Janice strode in leaving her guards outside. She was greeted by the sight of Uhura setting a table for her evening meal.
"Good evening, Captain," said Uhura, "how was your day?"
"Very productive," said Janice, clearly in high spirits, "we only had to announce our presence to pacify the uprising on Callisto III. As soon as they knew the Enterprise was in orbit above them all resistance crumbled. The rebel leaders are being rounded up as we speak and the first executions are scheduled for tomorrow. We've been invited along to observe. I'm looking forward to it."
"I am afraid you won't be attending," said Spock, emerging from his own place of concealment. He was holding a phaser.
"What is this Mr Spock?!" said Janice, looking both worried and outraged. "You've always said you had no desire to depose me."
"Not so. I said I had no desire to depose James T. Kirk. Despite appearances to the contrary, you are not he."
Janice glared at Uhura accusingly.
"What lies has she been telling you?"
"Not lies, the truth!" said Uhura.
"Indeed, and easily confirmed with a mind meld. The mind of Arthur Coleman now resides in the body of Lt Uhura, just as that of Captain Kirk resides in the body of Janice Lester."
This was my cue to step out of the shadows.
"If she's really Jim Kirk, let her tell you so herself," said Janice, stabbing her finger at me. "She can't because she isn't."
"She cannot because of the bio-collar you fitted her with," said Spock calmly, "but as with Lt Uhura, a mind-meld revealed the truth of the situation."
"So what now? Are you going to have me take her place in the brig?"
Janice was beginning to sweat profusely.
"First, I need you to give me that wristband you are wearing."
"So she told you about the Tantalus Field, too," said Janice, removing the wristband and handing it over to Spock.
"I have known about the Tantalus Field for many months. I simply chose not to do anything about it."
This was news to me, and it made me uneasy. Was Spock playing some longer game here I didn't know about?
"Computer, turn on all recording devices in these quarters," said Spock, "and broadcast images ship-wide."
"Recording devices on," said a mechanical voice.
Good. He was going to formally record her arrest and confirm to the crew that I was Captain Kirk. I couldn't afford to damage that body too badly, but before we dumped her in the brig she was going to spend some quality time in the agony booth, something I was going to watch with great pleasure.
"You are unfit to run the Enterprise," said Spock, "and are hereby relieved of command."
He then fired his phaser, disintegrating Janice where she stood.
I heard someone cry out. It was a second or two before I realised it was me.
"The challenge has been recorded for all the crew to see," said Spock. "Having eliminated my predecessor, James T. Kirk, I will be assuming the position of Captain of the Enterprise. In consequence of this, Lt Marlena Moreau is promoted to Commander and will be assuming my former position as First Officer. Lt Jamie Lisa will be the ship's new communications officer. All these changes are effective immediately. That is all. Computer, cease recording."
"Recording ceased," replied the computer.
I was stunned by the death of Janice and the destruction of my true body, but I also knew what Marlena's new promotion meant. I shook myself out of my shock and turned on Spock angrily.
"So it's true; you no longer believe in the Prime Directive?"
"That all civilisations shall be made a part of the Empire using whatever force is necessary? No, I do not. Nor does Lt Moreau. We have learned of a better way."
"Then my suspicions were correct," I said, "the two of you have suffered cultural contamination."
"If you wish to call it that, then yes."
"So that's why you staged your coup now after years of claiming you didn't want to be captain. You need the Enterprise as a power base, a stepping stone on the way to positions of greater authority where you can put those fanciful notions into play. You're aiming for Starfleet Command, maybe even the Council itself."
"Correct. If I wish to alter the culture of the entire Empire, the logical place to start is with the culture of this ship. There was also another reason I did not make my move earlier. You would not understand but I am a Vulcan, with Vulcan codes of honor and loyalty. Killing you would have violated those codes. Fortunately, the current situation presented me with the means to kill Captain Kirk without actually harming you."
Logical. Chilling, but logical.
"So because I'm not...because I...damnit!"
"Fascinating," said Spock, raising an eyebrow. "In spite of everyone present knowing the mind of Captain Kirk resides in your body, the bio-collar will still not let you allude to that fact."
"What happens now?" I asked.
"Captain Kirk is dead. His death was witnessed by the entire crew. Which leaves us with the problem of what to do about you, Miss Lester."
Miss Lester. So that's how it was going to be.
"The code that would not let me kill you also would not see you deposited on a planet without any means. As a civilian you have no official position on this ship, but it has been your home and I would prefer not to deprive you of that home. Your lack of any military status means all sensitive areas are closed to you, but there still needs to be a reason for Janice Lester to remain on board. Fortunately, Yeoman Uhura has a solution to that problem. Yeoman?"
"Thank you, sir," said Uhura, stepping forward. "Mr Spock has given me the file you'd assembled on Janice over the years, a file that would see her - now you - either executed or spending the rest of her life on some hell-hole of a prison planet. He's left the decision on what to do with it up to me, a decision that depends entirely on you."
"What do you mean?" I said, not understanding.
"Being a yeoman's woman will not be as prestigious as being a captain's woman," said Spock, "particularly for a civilian, but I believe you will find it a comfortable life if you accept it."
Uhura smiled, and gently ran the back of her forefinger down my cheek.
"When I met Janice it was love at first sight. She's gone, but here you are, and that face and body I fell so hard for is now your face and body. She was never very nice to me, but you will be. Eventually, you might even come to love me. I'd like that."
So that was it. I either accepted the position of yeoman's concubine or I was off the Enterprise and facing Empire justice.
"Well played," I said, forcing myself to smile, "you've put me into a position where I have no choice but to accept. I respect you for that."
And I did. It might be grudging respect, but having schemed and fought to achieve my own goals I could appreciate that skill in others. Uhura had made a deal with Spock, and I was the price for her cooperation.
"Good," said Uhura, grinning triumphantly. "You must have had fantasies about what you'd like to do with Uhura, just as I had fantasies about what I'd like to do with Janice. Now we'll get to explore those fantasies together."
The finger that had been stroking my cheek now lifted my chin, as she leaned in to kiss me softly on the lips. I offered no resistance as she slid an arm around my waist, pulling me closer. When, predictably, she turned that soft brush of our lips into a full-on kiss I responded in kind. I would bide my time and play the part Uhura wanted me to, would be her woman and even derive what pleasure I could from it, but I would never lose sight of my ultimate goal. My real body might have been destroyed, but I know where to find a replacement. In that other universe I briefly visited last year there is a second Captain Kirk. Somehow, I'm going to find my way back there, and take his body from him.
I'm now a concubine, unable to tell anyone who I really am, and not even a member of Starfleet, so it isn't going to be easy. Long odds then, but I've beaten worse and I'll beat these. Why? Because my name may be Janice Lester...
...but I'm Captain James T. Kirk.
The End.
Note:
1. I've always wondered how adventures in the Original Series might have played out in the Mirror Universe, and since I've been riffing on 'Turnabout Intruder' that was the logical one for me to explore. In the case of, say, 'A Piece of the Action', the difference is fairly obvious - what was subterfuge for our Kirk would've been the real thing for mirror-Kirk, and the Empire would've taken 60% of the action, not 40%. As for other encounters...well, I chose to explore the much disliked 'Turnabout Intruder'. Perhaps I'll have a go at the equally derided 'Spock's Brain' next. It's always more interesting to me to take the road less travelled.
2. The sexism of the original 'Turnabout Intruder' has always been problematic. In 'The Second Life of Janice Lester' I came up with my own explanation of how to square this with the more liberal attitudes displayed in the ST shows set either side of the original series. In the case of the mirror universe this is less of a problem because of course that's going to be a more sexist and misogynistic society.
3. Yes, the final lines of this tale are almost identical to those of 'The Second Life of Janice Lester'. It's almost as if I had a larger plan in mind.