Unscrupulous

Chapter Eleven

Rasmussen was the first to depart. He soon realized that as boring as his life had been in the twenty-second century, he had actually missed it. He knew that it would be a long time until he would see another extraterrestrial and he was glad. The ones he had encountered on Nimbus Three were usually not very friendly and some, like the Andorians and the Klingons, were downright hostile. He closed his eyes as Mr. Seven operated the controls on his time transporter. A few moments later, he felt blades of green grass tickle his shins. He opened his eyes and looked down, sighing as he realized that he was standing in his back yard and that the grass would have to be mowed. He looked up at his old brownstone apartment building where he lived. Things looked as they should as he walked into the building through the back door. Using a key card that he kept in his wallet, he opened the door to his apartment. Suddenly concerned about the time and date, he activated his video screen. To his relief, even though he had actually been gone for over a decade, it indicated to him that he had only been gone a day. With relief, he sat down on his couch, briefly wondering how he was going to explain to everyone why he looked ten years older. However, there was a more pressing concern. He opened his duffel bag. The newly replicated cash was still there. Smiling with relief, he realized that he would be able to pay the land lady her rent with no problem. He withdrew a wad of cash out of the bag to examine it. To his dismay, he found that the year on the currency was two years in the future. Enraged, but unable to do anything about it, he cursed and threw the money across the room. Nothing ever went right for him. Suddenly, there was a flash of light and the Q appeared.

"Hello, Burl. Why the temper tantrum?"

"Hello yourself, Q. The money that Chekov replicated is no good. I won't be able to use it for another two years." Rasmussen growled unhappily.

"Oh, have your little friends on the good ship Enterprise made an error in time? How delightfully fallible of them." The Q responded in obvious amusement. He waved a hand and the scattered cash floated back into the bag. "There, Burl. It should be the right year now. Enjoy it. I'm off to bigger and better things."

"Wait, Q!" Rasmussen said. "How am I going to explain why I look ten years older than I did the day before?"

"You could say that you have been under a lot of stress." The Q responded, looking him over. "On the other hand, that might not work. You do look like an old man." With another wave of his hand, the Q erased the signs of aging on Rasmussen's face and body, making him look ten years younger. "See you around." With another flash of light, the Q disappeared.

Miss Lincoln switched off her little radio as she was introduced to Mr. Chekov and Mr. Christopher. The latter was both amazed and amused that she too was a real person and not just a fictional character from a long dead television show. At first, she was a little nervous, but the young Russian quickly set her at ease. Seven explained that the Russians were not the evil monsters the government wanted people to believe they were, even in this Cold War era and that she would probably be seeing him often during her training as an MIB agent. The young man was very pleasant and she noticed as he shook her hand that he was wearing a gold and black Starfleet uniform.

"Nice to meet you, sir. What starship do you command?"

The young Russian smiled in amusement as Seven replied instead.

"He's an ensign, Miss Lincoln. He is wearing command gold because he has recently been promoted to head navigator on the Enterprise for saving Kirk's life."

"Wow, congratulations."

"Spasibo, Miss Lincoln. Mr. Seven. I really should be getting back to the ship. The crew are frozen in suspended animation. By the way, you did not tell me that that would happen."

"Sorry about that, Pav. We are still working out the bugs in the system."

"I see..." He paused in thought for a moment. "Well, I guess there will be no harm done. Will you be all right, Mr. Christopher?"

"Yes, I suppose so. Mr. Seven here told me that my pension has been reinstated. I am still mystified as to what happened to those items that Rasmussen swiped." Christopher responded carefully, unwilling to let on that he too had taken something off the ship.

"Don't worry about it too much, sir. Security probably confiscated them." Chekov said. "Mr. Seven, when I return to my own time, I will let you know if there are any significant changes to the time line. However, I anticipate no problems." He looked back at Miss Lincoln with a warm smile. "So long for now, Miss Lincoln. It was a pleasure meeting you and I will look forward to our next encounter."

"As will I," Roberta responded, returning the smile and watching as the young Russian stepped into the transporter alcove made to look like a walk-in vault. She looked on with amazement as Seven operated the controls and the young man in the Starfleet uniform dissolved in the blue haze of the transporter effect. She then looked at Seven. "I don't know if I will ever get used to that."

"You eventually will, Miss Lincoln. The novelty will wear off in time. By the way, have you told your fiance about all of this yet?"

"Not yet, sir. You told me that I was a security risk. He still thinks I work for a firm that manufactures and sells encyclopedias. I figured the less he knows about what I really am doing for a living, the better."

"Good thinking. I will tell him myself. He might not believe you anyway." Seven turned to Christopher. "It's your turn. John. Step into the vault."

Christopher complied, somewhat eager to return home to the twenty-first century. He watched as Seven set the controls for his era. "Ready to energize now. Good luck, sir."

As Chekov materialized on board the Enterprise, the first thing that he did was return to the briefing room so that there would be no questions asked. He shook his head in amazement at the sight of his superior officers, who were still frozen in time. Quickly, he activated his servo and they became aware of things around them again. Suddenly he was startled as he noticed that both of them were now wearing gun belts that were holding type two phasers in their holsters. However, he did not let on that there had obviously been a change when he was gone.

"Mr. Chekov, you have been called to the briefing room because we want to know if the cloaking device is in good working order. As you know, we have recently repaired the doomsday machine and are going to use it on the Romulans in retaliation for their unprovoked attack on our Federation outposts." Kirk said, puzzled by the look on the young man's face. Then, he shrugged it off, knowing that the young Russian was fairly new to the Enterprise.

"We are planning on destroying them, sir?" Pavel tried valiantly to mask his shock and dismay.

"Yes, Ensign. We will be obliterating their home world, implementing General order Twenty-four."

"Sir, with all due respect...we are supposed to be a ship of peace and exploration."

"Obviously, Ensign, you have been misinformed." Spock said, raising an eyebrow. "We are the Federation's law enforcement officers and a crime has been committed against us. We at war with them. This attack we have planned will also send a clear message to the Klingons and other hostile species that we will not tolerate any further unprovoked attacks within Federation space."

"Well, Ensign? Is the cloaking device in good working order?"

"I will have to check with Mr. Scott, sir."

"Very well. Do so and report battle readiness to me and Chief of security Sulu."

"Aye, sir." Pavel half-whispered, aghast, watching as his two superior officers went back to the bridge.