Chapter 44 - Need-Not-to-Know

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Sorenson wiped sweat from his face and glanced over at Selina. "You know, you could at least take your jacket off."

"It is still not as warm as even spring was on Vulcan." she said, but removed her jacket to avoid rubbing it in. She could still recall wearing layers of sweaters in Toronto when everyone else was in light shirts. She smiled over at him. "You could take your shirt off if you are hot. It is not as though I have never seen you without it."

He leaned back in his chair, listening to shields hum against the disruptors trained on them, and looked up at the ceiling, shaking his head. "I think I'd prefer to be fully clothed when they break through."

"Meditating would help."

He looked over and raised an eyebrow. "I don't see a pool or a rock wall in here, do you?"

"I could help," she offered. "if you would let me."

He looked back up and rocked his head against the rest. "The only way you could really help..." He bit his lip and raised his head, staring off into the middle distance; then nodded once to himself as though he'd made a decision. He turned toward her, but looked down into the space between his knees. "I... that is,... Spock told me once that he could make me forget, take specific memories away." He peered up at her. "Did you learn that too? Can you do that?"

She was stunned. "Did he -"

"I never took him up on it." Allen answered swiftly, looking away. "I prefer to remember my ghosts...and my mistakes."

Selina watched him pull at his sleeve, at the Commander's stripe he'd earned saving a colony but not a ship, and understood what Spock had offered. She reached across and laid her hand on his sleeve. "I have learned the technique. I can do it." She brushed his temple, waiting for him to meet her eyes before continuing. "Memories cannot truly be erased, only buried deep in the subconscious. The procedure is...invasive."

"I understand." He nodded slowly. "Special circumstances. There are agents' names, access codes...a lot of things 'Erik' knows that I can't let Maldi have. If someone is going to invade my head, I'd rather it be you." A crooked smile creased his beard. "At least I have some prior experience with that."

She pursed her lips. "You do realize that last couple times we have broken this half of our argument it has been at your behest?"

"No need to point out the irony." he answered dryly.

"I was merely noting a certain asymmetry."

"Right." he said with a tight-lipped smile. "Well, if you get me out of this, I'll owe you one."

"I will need a moment to prepare." She squeezed his arm. "It will be easier if you are not so tense. Lie back and try to relax a bit - it is not as though I have ever hurt you."

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Telepathically."

He nodded. "Just promise me you'll only bury the stuff that's need-not-to-know. Leave my ghosts alone."

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"On my mark..." Kirk said. "Now!" Sulu switched to full stop and at the same moment Chekhov engaged the tractor beam, catching Maldi's ship across the starboard side of its aft section.

"Got Zhem!" Chekhov exclaimed.

Jim smiled. "Reel them in."

Chekhov began drawing the ship closer with the tractor beam, strengthening its hold before the other vessel could try to break away.

"Open hailing frequencies." Kirk ordered.

"Hailing frequencies open, Captain." Uhura reported. "No reply."

"Right. Transmit a message anyway." Kirk leaned forward, glaring at the trace of the ship on his screen. "Attention not-so-well-cloaked vessel, this is Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise. Drop your shields and prepare to be boarded." Jim grinned to himself. He'd always wanted to say that. Getting to say it this scumbag was icing on the cake.

"Incoming message." Uhura reported.

"On screen."

A man's square face, framed by gelled silver hair, appeared on the screen projecting the self-important confidence of someone used to getting his own way. Jim would have disliked him immediately even if he hadn't known who he was.

"What is the meaning of this outrage?" the man demanded. "This is a peaceful merchant vessel and you have no right to detain, let alone, board us."

"A peaceful merchant vessel, operating cloaked on the outskirts of a Federation starbase?" Kirk scoffed. "I could board you just on suspicion of smuggling."

"There is no law against using a cloaking device, Captain." he huffed. "It's practically a necessity since Starfleet takes little enough trouble to protect merchant vessels, despite how much we pay in taxes to support you."

If Jim hadn't hated him enough to begin with, that topped things. "Well the rest of the Federation is going to get good value for their money when I haul your sorry ass into a detention center. Now drop your shields or face the consequences."

"Consequences! You dare to threaten me!" the man blustered. "Unless you can show just cause for detaining me, I demand that you release my vessel at once. Otherwise, I'll have your command for harassment. I have friends in high places in the Federation."

"Really? And how many of them would be willing to face charges of aiding and abetting in the abduction of a Federation official?" Kirk asked pointedly.

The man's nostrils flared slightly, but otherwise his composure remained undisturbed. "I will have to add charges of libel to harassment. You have no grounds for making such an accusation."

"I have the energy signature lighting up your shuttle bay like a Christmas tree. And I'll have the shuttle itself after I peel your ship like a Denebian pod fruit - unless you return its passengers immediately and unharmed." Kirk narrowed his eyes and leaned forward. "And when I say unharmed, I mean they better both look like they just spent a day in best spa in the sector."

Maldi looked to the side at someone off screen and nodded once. The veneer of ruffled big-shot slid away, replaced by a malicious sneer. "Unharmed in any sense will not be achieved unless you decide to be more cooperative, Captain. I will contact you shortly with my demands. This interview is at an end." The screen went blank.

"That sonovabitch!" McCoy exploded. "Hippocrates be damned. If I get my hands on him, I'll show him what harm looks like!"

Uhura gave a curt nod affirming that sentiment, but Spock appeared somber. "The energy signature in the ship's aft section is diminishing rapidly." he reported woodenly. "The shuttle's shields are failing."

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The ship rocked and Sorenson caught Selina's shoulders before she was thrown into him. The link was not a meld, but deep nonetheless, so the sensation was almost like being caught by a shadow of her own arms.

Now that could have hurt. The humor that was Allen's own mental shield washed through her mind as long arms drew her protectively against his chest. He held her there. It was an awkward position anyway, and it's not like you need to use contact points like a Vulcan.

She did not object, but let him sense her surprise. There was an answering smile, both in his mind and in muscles where her hand still rested against his face. Didn't realize I could still surprise you, especially now.

I have been concentrating on the task at hand, not 'reading over your shoulder'.

Good to know. The ship rocked again. I think the Enterprise has finally found us. An image of the cavalry coming over a hill toward a burnt out homestead played across his mind.

Do not be such a cynic. They will find a way to extract us - and just when I was nearly finished! Now I will have to unbury everything.

Our shields are nearly gone and Maldi will play at negotiations to get the time to try to wring me dry. He's going to be plenty hacked off when he gets nothing. The thought was accompanied by a sense of smug satisfaction, mixed with resignation. Just finish so you can move away. I don't want him to think he can use you against me. The arms around her tightened for a moment and then dropped away. Besides, you're too hot.

She smiled, catching a faint memory of blankets being tossed aside. I could help with that too.

Lights flickered in the shuttle as the shields began to fail. In another minute or two it won't matter.

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Kirk is at his best when he's in the command chair playing hardball with a bad guy. (I don't think he ever got to say 'Drop your shields and prepare to be boarded!', but I'm pretty sure he wanted to. I can imagine both Shatner!Kirk and Pine!Kirk enjoying that line.)

In TOS, Spock's ability to reach another mind seems to be limited to the people in the room or guards on the other side of a prison wall. If he could reach further, he and Kirk would have had a lot less trouble getting out of several tight spots. Selina can reach further, but requires time and undivided attention to reach as far as another ship. Right now, she's pretty occupied scrambling Allen's memory look-up tables.

That Spock can make a person forget certain things is shown in the TOS episode Requiem for Methuselah when he helps a heart-broken Kirk forget Rayna. Spock uses something like a mind meld to make Kirk forget in less than a minute of time at the end of the show. One assumes it is something Vulcans, and probably Vulcan-trained telepaths, can do and that it doesn't take all that long, although Sorenson has a longer list of things that need to be forgotten.