Ace Up His Sleeve
Nyota Uhura chuckled to herself as she left the transporter room. She'd access the ship's records later to get shots of Kirk's and McCoy's faces. Mr. Suave Ladies' Man was not going to live this down anytime soon and Christine was going to take her breaks without anyone grumbling about it for the foreseeable future.
She almost regretted not getting to go along. She had even suggested that she and Selina could probably stage a pretty good cat fight to create a diversion. However, Spock had informed her, somewhat pointedly, that as he had broken up bar fights Selina had had no intention of starting, he had every confidence that she could provoke a brawl when she did intend to do so. So she and Christine had helped to make the job easy for her. In that outfit, she probably wouldn't even need to use her 'background music'.
Now there was one more thing she needed to do to help out. She grinned and headed toward the computer center. Kirk and McCoy might get to play at gamblers, but her Spock was the one with an ace up his sleeve.
.
After they transported to the station, there was a brief scuffle as Jim and Bones both tried to take Selina's arm as they walked toward the casino.
She turned to face both of them. "In order to allow you to sneak upstairs, the plan is for me to create a diversion by provoking a fight," she said lifting an eyebrow. "However that will only work if the fight is between two other men." She spun and walked ahead of them.
Jim fell back next to Bones. "Well, at least we can appreciate the view," he whispered.
"Just because I am human does not mean that my hearing is poor," she said over her shoulder.
McCoy bit his lip to keep from laughing. He figured she'd probably heard a few choice comments from Vulcans who thought her hearing was sub par. She was going to make Jim pay for that one for sure.
"Sorry." Jim said, catching up as they reached the casino entrance. She paused just long enough to nod acknowledgment of his apology, which was all he needed. As Bones moved ahead to hold the door for her, he took her arm and strutted in, grinning for all he was worth. Now that they were inside, she'd have to play along.
"I believe the entrance to the offices should be somewhere along the rear wall," she whispered through a clench-toothed smile.
"Whoa there," Jim said quietly, holding her back. "We can't just make a beeline back there and start looking around. We've got to spend a little time looking like normal clients while we get the lay of the land. Plus the employees probably know where the offices are. Maybe you can pick someone's brain."
"That is ...a surprisingly logical proposal."
He looked around. "The dabo table's in the center of the room. We should start there."
"Well, if we're gonna fit in, we ought to get some drinks," McCoy growled. "I know I'm gonna need one."
"Get me a Bud Lite," Jim said, leading Selina toward the dabo table.
Bones shot him a look. "Fine." He turned to Selina. "Anything for you, m'dear?"
She looked uncertain. "Would tonic with lime appear enough like an actual drink?"
"I'll make them put a little umbrella in it," he said with a wink and headed off toward the bar.
.
Nyota entered the computer center and quickly identified Cmdr. Sorenson based on Spock's description. Given the beard, he was pretty hard to miss, although slouched down in his seat with his head bouncing side-to-side, he didn't look to be either the height or age described. She knocked softly on the desk beside him. He removed a pair of tiny earbuds and looked up at her.
"Sorry," he said. "Old habits. Somehow hacking is easier with the right tunes. I take it you're Ms. Uhura?"
"Yes. Spock told you I'd be by?"
"Yes. Very pleased to meet you," he said offering his hand with a smile.
"And you," she replied. "They transported down a few minutes ago. Are you to be able to get in?"
"Able?" He raised his eyebrows. "Surely Spock has more confidence in me than that. They've got a better firewall than I expected for a little starbase casino, but my worm should finish burrowing in any minute now."
"Spock was pretty sure you'd manage it. He just wasn't sure you'd get in time." She watched him check his screen, which displayed a flashing icon of a Viking longboat.
He noticed her curious look. "My dad's from Minnesota and my mother's from Iceland," he explained. "When I hack, I go by the handle _EriktheRed_." He grinned and rubbed his beard.
"When you hack?" she asked. "That seems kind of odd, given that your specialty is computer security."
"Takes a thief to catch a thief." He shrugged. "Plus, there are occasions when SI needs to get into someone else's computer - like now."
The console beeped. "And we're in!" He rubbed his hands and hit a few key strokes. The screen filled with a mosaic of tiny images from every security recorder in the casino. "Computer," he said. "Transfer data feed to main screen."
The large screen on the wall displayed the images and Nyota scanned them, looking for familiar faces. "There - camera 12." She pointed to a view of the dabo table.
"Computer, select and enhance feed 12." The screen filled with an image of Kirk with Selina and another woman watching on either side of him. "Well, I wouldn't have figured the guy I met this morning for a Bond wannabe, but there he is - women and all." Sorenson laughed. "Must be nice to be Captain. I take it both of them are really Starfleet security?"
"No," Nyota said. "I don't know who the one on the right is. The one on the left..." she paused thinking that Selina might not want anyone she might run into later to know that was her, "is a friend of mine. She's the one who's going to provide the diversion."
"Very diverting indeed," he muttered to himself. He looked up at her hopefully. "I don't suppose she's single?"
"Well, yes, but ...um..."
"That's okay." He blushed and looked away sheepishly. "I understand. I get that a lot."
.
Spock sat at his makeshift command post in the hotel offices. The management had been quite accommodating once the possibility - and consequences - of terrorists hiding in their establishment had been properly explained.
His communicator beeped, signaling an incoming message from the Enterprise.
"Spock here."
"Spock." Nyota's voice came over the device. "We're in and we've got eyes on them. If you have your portable on, we can transmit a live feed to you."
Spock had been 'listening' for Selina since beaming down and had been picking up primarily a growing sense of barely suppressed irritation. While that would certainly facilitate initiating a brawl should she choose to project it, he was not at all certain that it would be conducive to his working relationship with either the Captain or the Doctor to observe the reason for that irritation directly.
"I do not believe that would be wise, given my current position," he responded. "Have you been able to access the rest of their system?"
There was a pause. When she answered, there was hint of laughter in Nyota's voice. "'Erik the Red' says to tell you that the plunder of their storehouses lies open before him."
"I see." Despite himself, a corner of Spock's mouth twitched upward. "Please, inform Cmdr. Sorenson that after he deals with the office locks, I would appreciate receiving transmission of useful 'plunder' as he obtains it. Spock out."
.
Jim Kirk was enjoying himself. The rescue mission was dead serious, but he had every confidence he could carry it off, and, in his experience, as soon as you started taking things way too seriously, that's when stuff went wrong. So, for the moment he was going to bask in the fact that he was racking up chips and the envy of every guy eying the woman standing right next to him.
And another woman had been edging toward him on the other side, and he decided to give her a friendly smile. Maybe Selina would be a bit more interested if she noticed someone else checking him out? He'd used that angle to his advantage before.
The other woman touched his shoulder. "Hey, Jimmy."
Uh-oh. It was the woman he'd picked up his first time here. What was her name? Something with a 'C' and an 'i' - Candi?Condi?Cassi?Carli?Calli? - Calli!
"Hey, Calli."
"So who's your friend, Jimmy?" she said with a small pout.
"Oh, uh, this is -"
Selina leaned over with a big smile. "Leena. And Jimmy here is just a friend of my brother's," she said patting his cheek, perhaps just a little harder than necessary.
McCoy pushed in between them juggling three drinks. "For you, darlin', little umbrella and all," he said, handing a drink to Selina. "Bud Lite for you, Jimmy." He tossed the bottle to Jim and then took a swallow of his own bourbon.
"Just a friend?' Calli asked, noting Jim's body language.
Selina put a hand on McCoy's chest and laid her head on his shoulder. "Jimmy is all yours," she said with a mischievous smile.
Bones grinned ear to ear. "Nice to see ya'll won't have to play third wheel anymore Jimmy," he drawled, draping an arm around Selina's shoulders.
"Yeah. Nice." Jim glared at him. Great, not only was Bones never going to let him forget this, but he was going to have to find a way to ditch Calli before they could sneak upstairs.
"Come on, Len," Selina said. "I am tired of listening to this wheel spin. Maybe we could try the tables in the back?"
Jim turned to follow them, but Calli put a restraining hand on his arm. "Sorry, Calli, I have to go. I kind of promised her brother I'd look after her."
"She looks old enough to look after herself," Calli huffed.
He thought fast. "I know, but, Len drinks too much and she has these episodes." He waved a hand vaguely around the side of his head. "And, frankly, if I let anything happen to her, I'm pretty sure her brother will rip my throat out." He may have said that last bit with a little too much conviction, because Calli dropped his arm, looking a bit taken aback. Jim took the opening and went off after them before she could recover and ask anymore questions.
Note: SI = Starfleet Intelligence
Okay, Nyota missed the scene in the bar, so I had to let her watch this one and she needed someone with a sense of humor to watch it with. Since I work on computers all the time, I have gotten to know a lot of programmers and IT guys and have a certain fondness for the breed. Given how easily he cracked Starbase 11 and the Enterprise's computers in the TOS episode The Menagerie, Spock must have known a bit about hacking himself. And in AU he is in charge of a team of programmers at the Academy. I figure those are the humans he probably got along best with. Sorenson is a composite of several of my favorite computer geeks, plus a bit of my family (I often dress up as a Valkyrie for Halloween because the look fits me so well).
Kirk fast-talking his way out of a situation is another aspect of the harebrained idea theme.
You know Spock doesn't want to see this. I watched the new Harry Potter movie, and Spock's reaction here is pretty close to Ron's when it comes to seeing his sister Ginnie with her boyfriend.
