Chapter 42 - Shoes Dropping

Having been chased out of sickbay on the threat of sedation, Captain James T. Kirk sat on the bridge feeling restless to the point of fidgety. Normally he might have felt somewhat better, or at least justified, given the fact that his Vulcan first officer also seemed somewhat more tense than usual. Right now, however, as Spock took last minute readings before a planned rendezvous on the station, the tautness in the Vulcan's movements only contributed to Kirk's sense that a shoe was about to drop.

Nearly on cue, Uhura announced that they were being hailed by the Aldrin. "Put her on screen." Jim said.

The stern face of a woman roughly 15 years Kirk's senior appeared on the screen. "Capt. Kirk, this is Capt. Morris of the USS Adrin." she said. "One of my shuttles has vanished en route to the station. We believe the cloaked ship you identified to be the most likely cause, but previous sensor parameters for it show nothing there."

There was no need to ask who was on that shuttle. Jim glanced toward Spock, noticing that he was facing the screen, standing stiff enough to be at attention except for the fact that his hands were locked behind his back. Jim returned his attention to the Aldrin's CO. "We lost the ship's signature a short time ago. My people have been trying to reacquire it. Can you give us the last location for the shuttle?"

She nodded curtly. "I am transmitting last known coordinates for the shuttle now. I assume you know who was on it. I would appreciate any assistance in their retrieval."

"We intend to get them both back safely." Jim said, willing his words to be a statement of fact. "We found that ship before and we'll find them again." He glanced at Chekhov, who nodded affirmation that the data was received and he was on it.

"I have also contacted Mr. Betz of station security." the other Captain continued. "The access links to the casino systems went down almost as we were speaking. Do you still have mirror access on the Enterprise?"

Spock turned and checked his console. "Negative. It would appear Cmdr. Sorenson's intuition was correct in that regard."

"Station security plans to continue with the raid as scheduled. If nothing else, they may be able to obtain prisoners we can use for a hostage exchange." she reported. "I do not think that our interloper has left station space. Please keep me informed. Morris out."

Kirk stood almost as soon as the screen went blank and moved to look over Chekhov's shoulder. "Whatever took them was large enough to swallow a shuttle, but small enough to maneuver close to station space. Any indications of something like that?"

"Our last sensor sweep shows a short energy signature in the area prior to the shuttle's disappearance. It was not flagged due to its similarity to a tractor beam." Spock reported from his station.

"I vill calibrate for anomalies in ze zurrounding space." Chekhov replied.

"Good." Kirk said. "Spock, I think you might as well stay here...Spock?"

The first officer had looked up, but seemed to be staring blankly. Then he sat down and closed his eyes.


Selina picked herself up from the shuttle floor, cursing - once again! – whatever idiot had determined that seating restraints were an unnecessary encumbrance in small space shuttles. She looked out the viewport. They were clearly in a shuttle bay. Allen was pushing himself up from where he'd fallen against the control panel, cradling his right hand, which looked a bit singed.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I am undamaged." she replied, coming over to examine his hand. She lifted her eyebrows. "You, however, have looked better."

"That's not saying much." he deadpanned.

She frowned and grabbed the first aid kit, pulling his hand toward her. He winced. "You have a terrible bedside manner, you know that?"

"So I have been told." She answered with a slight smile, spraying nanoemulsion and plas-skin over the burns.

"Welcome shuttle Apollo." an oily voice said through the still-open comm. "According to my sources, we will be receiving two visitors: one Cmdr. Sorenson and one Ms. Chandri. I have a number of questions for each of you. If you will open the hatch and come out unarmed, we can avoid any initial unpleasantness."

Selina listened with more than her ears and so heard more than what was said. "Jaco Maldi" She mouthed to Allen. He frowned and brought up a display indicating six life forms in a semi-circle a few meters back from the shuttle.

"Come now," the voice said. "We would like to avoid having to cut a hole in your shiny new shuttle." The dots representing life forms moved further back, presumably to be at a safe distance if the order was given to make that hole.

Allen looked at Selina and read her determination to fight. "Good thing I'm left-handed." he commented as he carefully ran that hand across the control panel and keyed a sequence. A sound like the galaxy's largest bug zapper, accompanied by yelps, curses, and one solid scream, came from without. Allen looked very pleased with himself. Selina smiled, turned off the comm, and raised an eyebrow. "What exactly did you rig up this time?"

"Nothing. I just adjusted for perimeter and turned on the shields."

Both of her eyebrows shot up. "You what?! You cannot engage shields inside a shuttle bay!"

"I just did." he said smugly.

"But -"

"Don't worry. We've got" He looked at the computer read out. "1 hour, 32 minutes before we over-heat ...more or less."

"More or less?"

"Depends. They might try to wear our shields down with whatever they were going to use to cut a hole in the door." He grinned. "Either way, in a bit it'll build up a nice big energy signature. Should test their cloaking device enough to give Spock something to pick up and unless they want to invite a hull breach, they won't be able to go to warp."

She leaned over and tugged on the edge of his beard. "You are completely insane. It is no wonder that I like you so well."

The comm beeped. They exchanged a look. "How's your range?" he asked, tapping the sensor read out in front of them. "Any chance you can pull a Jean Grey and clue Spock in on what to look for?"

"I shall try. It will buy time if you can keep Maldi talking." She pulled out the earplugs. "Perhaps I can get some use of these yet." She took a seat, put the earplugs in and closed her eyes to concentrate.

Th comm beeped again and he turned it back on. "I am trying to decide if you're being clever or suicidal." Maldi's voice said. "But let us be reasonable. If you cooperate, I will release you once I have I want. I am a businessman after all, and both of you would be worth something in ransom. Perhaps even enough to pay for the losses you've caused in this local venture."

"Thanks, no. We're still hoping to cause some more losses. But if you spit us out like Jonah, you might still be able to make a run for it." Allen replied.

"It is going to become very warm in there in considerably less than three days time." Maldi warned. "I understand Starfleet trains its people to endure a variety of conditions, Mr. Sorenson, but will your lovely companion manage as well?"

"The 'lovely companion' walked across Vulcan's Forge when she was 15 just to prove she could do it. I'll be passed out from the heat before she even breaks a sweat." he scoffed. "Nice try though."

"I have heard that she is the Vulcan's woman." Maldi replied. "I wonder what he might be persuaded to give for her return?"

Allen laughed. "If you paid anything for that information, Mr. Businessman, someone seriously ripped you off."

"We shall see, Mr. Sorenson. When you finally give up this foolishness, you will tell me the truth of that matter and a great deal more."


Nyota had come to Spock's side, but Jim was slightly ahead of her. He reflexively put a hand on the other man's shoulder ...and heard Selina's voice.

Jim, I had not expected you to join us. Her tone was dry and he sensed Spock bristling slightly.

Sorry, he thought, I didn't realize... how?

Spock can explain later. At least this will save some time and that is of the essence. I just told Spock that we are well but have been drawn into a cloaked vessel.

S'lina, where are they holding you? Spock's question was straightforward, but Jim 'heard' more concern than he thought Spock would have allowed in his real voice.

We remain in the shuttle. We are in a standoff as Faf has engaged our shields.

HE WHAT?! Jim immediately felt them both recoil.

Captain, Spock reproved, it took some degree of concentration for us to establish this link, but now that it is made, there is no need to shout.

I reacted in the same manner. There was something like a chuckle from Selina. However, it seems Faf is insane only in the manner of the fur-bearing mammal he most closely resembles.

In this odd rapport, Jim felt his mind sync with Spock's in understanding. Using the shields was dangerous, but Jim had to admire a play like that. He hoped he would be able to tell the man so in person.

Jim, if we get out of this, please do not. Selina admonished. He does not need to be encouraged. Now, I have memorized the last sensor data. Do you see it?

The image was clear. Jim felt as much as heard Spock's acknowledgment. At least they'd know what to look for, although it was too soon to know if they'd see it in time.

There are two more things you must know. They have somehow obtained Starfleet standard transmission codes. It is how they knew we would be on the shuttle. Selina's tone hardened. And our captor is Jaco Maldi. No matter what he says, he has no intention of releasing Faf. If it becomes impossible to extract us, do not hesitate to destroy the ship.

An objection sprang in Jim's mind, especially feeling - feeling? - Spock's resistance, but she cut them off firmly. No. There are yet options remaining to me, but if this becomes a Catch-22, I will count taking Maldi with me as a victory. Now, Jim, if you will please let go of Spock and recall in the future to avoid grabbing him when he lowers his shields? There was the mental impression of an eyebrow being raised.

With some effort, Jim forced his hand to drop from the Vulcan, catching just the edge of something akin to an embrace that he had no right to be part of. He sat back against the console and shook his head, only to be immediately dragged away by Uhura.

"Idiot!" she said. "If your head hurts, you deserve it. What's going on?"

"They're okay for now." Jim told her. Then, reoriented, he clicked back into command mode. "The bad guys have our transmission codes. Find some Klingon code we've broken and alert the station and the Aldrin." He crossed to Chekhov, punching the data still burned into his head into the navigator's console. "They're trying to signal us through the cloak. This is what to look for." He hit the comm button on his captain's chair. "Mr. Giotto, I want everything we have about a Jaco Maldi and I want it yesterday." Kirk barely waited for acknowledgment before closing the comm. He took a breath. It felt good to be able to do something, even if it was just telling other people what to do.

He looked over his shoulder to see Spock standing, nodding to Uhura, who was already busy at her station. Then the light on the bridge suddenly seemed painfully, overwhelmingly bright and Jim staggered into his chair and sat down, covering his face.

"There is a reason other than courtesy for the convention against touching Vulcans unbidden." Spock's voice was close by, but soft despite the rebuke. "Migraine is not an uncommon side effect in a non-telepath who 'barges in', as Ms. Chandri would put it. Shall I call Dr. McCoy to the bridge?"

Jim nodded weakly. Even a hypo would be better than this.

Spock pressed the key to signal sickbay, then spoke quietly. "Thank you for handling Selina's information so efficiently, Jim."

'Jim' Kirk would have smiled, if he weren't afraid it would make his head explode.

AN: While the technology behind shields has never been adequately explained, as an engineer my feeling is that anything forming a sort of energy barrier against weapons must produce a good deal of heat. In the absolute zero of space, it would be easily dissipated, but elsewhere it could quickly become an issue (this is one possible reason that there are no portable shields, or even projected shields, for use on dangerous away missions). And, having worked in crashworthiness, I had to take a shot at the lack of seatbelts in ST.

As I told Canna, Selina said before that her range is better than Spock's, so there are individual limits to how far telepathy can extend (for which most telepaths are grateful - blocking out the thoughts of those around you is bad enough, who needs to deal with the whole galaxy?). Selina can reach pretty far given the right circumstances, but to get Spock to respond she would also presumably need to get his attention so he'd drop his mental shields. (And yes, the Jane Grey reference may be an anachronism. But then again, X-Men have remained popular for nearly half a century now… and it's another reason for Allen's nickname for her).

I've had a few migraines myself. Jim may think twice about touching Spock randomly after this, but then again, he did finally get Spock to call him 'Jim' on the bridge.