Chapter 45 - Resistance


The thrum of shields resisting weapons ceased as the fail-safe kicked in and lowered the shields before the system went critical. Selina withdrew completely from Allen's mind, wiping one damp lock of hair from his face as she broke contact. Blue-green eyes opened and regarded her with a calm, steady gaze. They had a plan, but he was content knowing Maldi would get nothing from him, even if it didn't work. Selina was not. And now that she understood how much reason Maldi had for vengence, she was all the more determined to see that he did not get it.

"I could not remove Erik. He has become too much of an alter ego. But I have placed a sort of compulsion against speaking of him or of what I have done. It will help you to resist."

He nodded. "Past time I retired..." He paused, concentrating, then smiled. "Hey, that's pretty good! A littlescary that you can do that," He widened his eyes at her. "but pretty good. You'll have to tell my dad. All these years he's been teaching that section on the geis as an element in ancient myth cycles, and here you can actually place one."

"You will tell him yourself, Faf, when you get out, but after you find a better cover." she said firmly.

"If I make it out, you can help me come up with a different persona - just no more barbarian Northmen, okay? And Fafhrd's okay, but could you stop with 'Faf'?" He raised his eyebrows imploringly. "It makes me sound your pet k'nurt."

"A deal. And you will make it out," She smiled up at him slyly. "Allen-a-Dale."

"Something better than that, please." He made a face somwhere between a grimace and a smile. "Unless you actually want to listen to me singing ballads."

The comm beeped. He caught her hand before she could switch it on.

"Now remember, you are just a diplomat who dropped in to visit Captain Morris and had the bad luck to take a shuttle with the wrong pilot, and if Maldi offers to exchange you for getting the Enterprise off his tail, and you are going go along." The comm beeped again and he glared at it, his face was set in an expression as stubborn as any Vulcan's. "Even if they beat me senseless right in front of you, you are strictly limited to yelling until they lock you away. I'm counting on your jail-breaking skills."

The comm beeped again, this time accompanied by the sound of disruptors clicking on outside.

"Jeez, Jack, keep your pants on." Sorenson grumbled and then opened it with a slightly manic grin. "Chuck's pizza, how can we help you?"

There was a pause at the other end of the comm.

"Forgive my pilot. The heat appears have affected his brain." Selina raised an eyebrow and gave Allen a look that said that she would do the talking. "I have conducted hostage negotiations before, albeit not with myself as one of the hostages, but I believe we can resolve this situation with a minimum of difficulty."

"We are well beyond the stage of minimum difficulty Ms. Chandri. That would have required not running your shields in my shuttle bay."

"Something I was powerless to prevent. I am a diplomat, not a technician. And while Mr. Sorenson does not appear to be quite himself at the moment," She glanced over at Allen who mimed a spacey grin. "he is a Starfleet officer and I was obliged to accede to his decision in the matter. I am only fortunate that he set a fail-safe."

"You are only fortunate that I know you are of some value to the Enterprise's first officer, so if you open the hatch and come out unarmed, I will allow you to speak to him so I can negotiate your return."

"What guarantee will you provide for our safety should we surrender?"

"The only guarantee I'll provide is that if you do not surrender things will go very badly for you," Maldi's voice thundered.

"I see," Selina answered calmly. "If you will ask your men to lower their weapons, I will open the hatch. I am willing to come out, but I may require some help with Mr. Sorenson, who appears to be suffering from a species of heat stroke."

"We'll come in and get him." The tone implied that they were not planning to be gentle.

Selina switched off the comm and looked at Allen. "You are supposed to have forgotten your own command codes because you are extremely dizzy and confused, not completely mental."

"Hey, let me have some fun. I always liked the comedy version of Hamlet."


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Captain James T. Kirk sat in his command chair, gnawing on his knuckle because he didn't have an apple and didn't want to leave to get one. The chronometer on the helm showed that it hadn't been that long, but waiting was not his strong suit. A glance around the bridge showed that he wasn't alone in that. Chekhov was obsessively checking sensor readings even though Maldi's ship had uncloaked. Sulu was stock still, except for making small adjustments to the helm, his hand gripping the control like a sword hilt pointed at an enemy's throat. Spock stood near Uhura's station where both seemed to be willing the console to signal a hail.

Jim was worried about his first officer. It had been less than six months since he'd lost his mother and his world. Now he was facing the prospect of losing two of his oldest friends, which, in Jim's opinion, was more than the universe ought to ask of anyone, even a Vulcan (or maybe, especially a Vulcan, since he knew now just how strong their emotions could run if not controlled). Still, it was Bones who was actually fidgeting and almost radiating impatience, since he had no station to attend to on the bridge, but couldn't bring himself to leave. Jim was beginning to consider asking him to go get him an apple.

"Bones..."

"Dammit! How long are we supposed to just sit around like this?" McCoy exploded.

Spock turned and regarded the doctor with a puzzled look. "Until we receive further response from Mr. Maldi. There is little logical alternative."

"Can't you contact Selina?" Kirk asked. "At least find out their status?"

"I have been listening for her, but my own telepathic abilities extend only a limited distance. In our present circumstances, I must wait for her to contact me." He looked down, seeming to study the deck. "That she has not indicates that her concentration is required elsewhere."

At almost the instant the hail signal flashed, Uhura hit the receive control. "Incoming message."

"Put it on screen," Kirk ordered.

Maldi's face appeared. "Captain Kirk, I will make this very simple. A ransom of 10 million credits will be placed in the New Zurich account number encoded with this message. Then you will release my ship and instruct the station and the other ships present not to interfere or pursue it. You will follow us to a point near the system's sun, where we will release your shuttle. While you pull it out of the sun's gravity well, I will depart. If any other ships follow you, I will fire on the shuttle destroying it."

"I don't happen to have 10 million credits just lying around," Kirk said. "That will need someone else's approval and for that I'll need proof that you have our people and that they are unharmed."

"It should be within Ambassador Pak's powers to authorize the ransom." Maldi replied. "As for proof..." He signaled to the side and the screen switched to Selina seated in what appeared to be a holding cell, her face a mask of near-Vulcan equanimity. "Is your first officer present?" Maldi's voice dripped contempt. "I believe he should be able to confirm that this is Ms. Chandri."

Spock stepped forward smoothly. "I am Commander Spock. While I observe a person exhibiting a remarkable likeness to Ms. Chandri, I can confirm nothing without speaking with her."

"Very well, but keep it short." On screen Selina's eyebrows rose slightly, in polite attention and her eyes focused on the screen. "Spock, I am instructed to confirm that I am well," she said dispassionately.

"And are you in fact well?" Spock inquired.

"Yes, currently, although my pilot was not when we were separated. I advise you to require that we speak again before paying, as I have been given no guarantees." Her attention shifted to Kirk with a barely discernible smile. "Capt. Kirk, I would not be separated long from my t'hy'la. Should Ambassador Pak have difficulty securing the ransom, Capt. Taggart may be of assistance."

Selina's image was cut off, replaced by Maldi's face. "That should be enough to confirm her identity and state of health."

"Ms. Chandri's, yes," Spock replied. "However, we have received no such assurance of Cmdr. Sorenson's status and she has implied that he has come to harm."

"Sorenson's only problem is that he is being difficult. If he decides to cooperate, Starfleet can negotiate for him later."

Kirk glanced at Spock, whose eyebrows had elevated slightly, but his expression was otherwise unreadable. Jim turned his attention back to Maldi. "I don't care what your beef with Mr. Sorenson is, we will not accept leaving him in your hands. You may have them, but we have you and you are going nowhere until we get them both back."

"I have business to settle with Sorenson." Maldi's voice was harsh. "He is not part of the deal."

"And I'm under orders," Kirk growled. "Either I get them both back, or I destroy your ship."

"You are bluffing, Captain." Maldi sneered.

Kirk glared into the screen. "Try me."

The face on the screen smirked. "I will give you one hour to contact Starfleet and confirm your orders. You can find out how much they are willing to offer for Sorenson, but he is worth considerably more than 10 million credits to me." His lips formed a cruel smile. "Just don't be too stubborn, Captain, or the next time your XO sees his lady, she will look considerably less comfortable."

"If you so much as harm a hair -" Kirk snarled.

The screen went blank.

Jim slammed his fist on his chair with a short gutteral curse. "If I get hold of that guy, I'll tear that smile off his face and his lips with it."

Spock raised an eyebrow. "The sentiment is appreciated Captain. However, at the moment there is a larger security issue. Mr. Sorenson is classed an A-10 computer expert with a specialty in security. What he might be forced to divulge under interrogation could indeed be worth far more that 10 million credits. He will of course attempt to make extracting the information difficult, but the means Maldi might employ could make such efforts futile."

"God, Spock, don't tell me I'm gonna wind up picking bits of some creepy-crawly out of another person's brain stem," Bones said.

"That creature is found only deep in Romulan space. The the odds against Maldi obtaining one are 36487.2 to 1. It is far more probably that he will use a more readily synthesized, if slightly less effective, agent for compelling truthful responses."

"Right," Kirk said. "Well, he's expecting us to contact Command anyway. Uhura send a message in standard encryption explaining the situation in bare bones terms. Let him think we're playing along." He turned to Spock. "Do you think Selina will, um, tell you what's going on soon?"

"If I am interpreting her other remarks correctly, she does not know if she will have the opportunity to contact me again, but she intends to take action to reunite with Cmdr. Sorenson and render the issue of ransom moot. There is only one thing I do not understand. There is no Captain Taggart in Starfleet." Spock turned to Jim, his head tilted slightly to the side. "Perhaps you understand the reference, as it was directed to you?"

"Yeah," Jim said with a tight, determined smile. "Maldi might have her, but she hasn't surrendered and she expects we aren't going give up either."

"Just wish I could beam her a sword." Sulu remarked.

Chekhov at his readings. "I zhink I zee a vay zat ve could do zat."


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Selina sat in a holding cell, which she examined with semi-professional interest. It was well constructed with little possibility of tampering with the force field across the door (although she imagined that Fafhrd might have found a way). She hoped that he was alright. The guards had been rather rough pulling him out, but he had winked at her begun whistling 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life' as they dragged him away. She was not certain if that was meant to be reassuring. After all these years, she still sometimes found his sense of humor a mystery.

She checked the corridor outside her cell. No guard had been posted, as they did not seem to consider her much of threat, which was fortunate, if inconvenient. However, there was video surveillance and that would have had to be dealt with anyway. It would take a little longer, but once she located that watcher's mind, she would be able to kill two birds with one stone.

Now that Maldi had shown her to Spock and seemed uninterested in questioning her immediately, she had a little time, but only an hour at best. She regretted that she could not afford to take the time to contact Spock first, but there seemed little likelihood that he could do anything before she got out and disabled the shields. Undoubtedly, they would notice and react quickly when that occurred and she was certain that they had understood her. She settled into a meditative state and opened her mind, searching for the mind or minds that were watching her.


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AN: A k'nurt is basically a Vulcan bunny rabbit and Allen-a-Dale was the minstrel among Robin Hood's merry men (Q put Geordi LaForge in that role in one of the TNG episodes). A geis is a sort of compulsion or taboo. It's primarily found in Celtic mythology, but variants are found in other mythologies. It's also usually placed by a powerful woman. ('Chuck's pizza' is the way my dad used to answer the phone to throw off telemarketers.)

Captain Taggart is a reference to GalaxyQuest, which Jim and Selina discussed in Ch. 23. As I said then, the TOS/AU universe needs a Star Trek stand-in from this century, and that parody of Star Trek seemed perfect. Naturally, I expected the ST of today to be a classic in ~250 years.

Lastly, 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life' is from Monty Python's Life of Brian, and more recently Spamalot. DH and I went to see Spamalot for our anniversary this year and if people aren't still enjoying it in the 23rd century, there's something wrong with the future.