Chapter 46 - Rescue Me

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"We can beam her a sword?" Kirk asked. "How about a phaser? As good as she is at fencing, I think that might be more useful."

"I mean zat zhere is an imbalance in zheir aft shield modulation, pozzibly due to zhe interaction vith zhe shuttle's shields." Chekhov pointed to the data in front of him. "Until zheir system compensates, I beliewe zat it zhould be pozzible to beam a limited wolume into zheir ship and vithout being detected."

Spock scanned Chekhov's read out. "By my calculations, it should be possible to transport two individuals into their aft bay, if it is accomplished within the next 12.46 minutes."

"Excellent!" Kirk said, jumping out of his seat. "Spock, you've got the con. Bones, you're with me."

"Captain -" Spock began to protest.

"No, Spock." Jim said. "I understand, but if Sorenson's hurt, I want McCoy along. And if Maldi calls back, he's going to want to deal with you. You can explain that I'm working with Pak on getting the ransom, but I think he'd be suspicious if you weren't available."

Spock looked for moment as though he would argue, but then nodded fractionally.

"Don't worry, Spock." McCoy said. " We'll have them back before you know it."

"Doctor," Spock stopped him. "Please include in your kit something that could safely be used to render Selina unconscious. Mr. Sorenson would wish her to return, and should his rescue prove unattainable, it may be necessary to prevent her from doing something...unwise."

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Sorenson examined the restraints holding him to the biobed. Taking calculated risks with technical ideas had generally worked out well for him. When it came to physical confrontations,...not so much. Too many years of relying on his height to deter fights, and, in hindsight, taking on three guys with one hand wrapped in plas-skin had probably not been one of his better ideas. Still, once he'd realized his guards had gotten complacent thinking he was out of it, he'd had to try. Spock would have gotten away with it. All he'd gotten was a collection of bruises and probably a cracked rib for his trouble. He smiled to himself, at the least the guards being patched up on the other side of the room didn't look so good either.

Given the situation, he felt strangely relaxed. There was a remarkable freedom in accepting the fact that you were probably going to die. Grey would do her best, but once the shields fell, Maldi wasn't likely to leave him to be rescued. At least she knew now that he'd brought it on himself. He did feel a little bad about breaking a promise, even a slightly drunken promise, to David, but he'd done his best, and he figured he could count on Spock to make sure someone dragged her out and Ms. Uhura and the new fan club to make sure she didn't shut herself down again.

Maldi entered the room, looking smug, and angled the bed to look at him more directly. "You can't imagine how long I've been waiting to meet you in person, Erik."

Sorenson grinned at him. "Hi, Jack." Maldi's expression registered distaste at the name and Sorenson shrugged as well as he could under the circumstances. "I figured as long as you're going to make up a name for me, I'd return the favor."

"You are still being clever." he said coldly and signaled the doctor. "Have you given him the drug?"

The doctor came over. "Not yet." He glanced at the display above the bed. "Somewhat dehydrated, but no actual indication of heat illness affecting brain function." A hypo hissed against Sorenson's neck. "It will take a moment to take effect."

"You can't imagine my surprise when I learned that the same entity responsible for emptying a number of my accounts had tampered with the security systems in this little starbase casino." Maldi said. "Did you think I wouldn't notice?"

"Sorry, but what exactly does this have to do with me?" Allen raised his eyebrows, resisting the drug's initial influence with years of practice at feigning a look of 'politely confused'.

"I think you know." Maldi glared down at him. "Did you really think you could get away with stealing over 25 billion credits from me?"

Sorenson could feel the drug taking hold, pressing with an overwhelming demand to give an answer. "I don't know." He spat back. "Did you really think you could get away with selling a colony's defense codes?"

"We understand each other then, Erik." Maldi said with an unpleasant smile. "You took my money and I'm certain that you had help. Now, tell me who, and how to get it back."

"I can't tell you who took your money, Jack." Saying that had taken less effort than expected. Thanks to Selina, it was essentially the truth. Sorenson smiled. "I can't help you get it back either."

His smile widened at the look of consternation on Maldi's face. He was definitely going to die, but at least he might get to enjoy himself a bit beforehand.

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Jim stepped onto the transporter platform with Bones. "Okay, Scotty, this time try to put me somewhere in another ship without a dozen guys with disruptors standing around."

"Aye, sair. Ah'll try." Scotty said. "But ye might want to have yer phasers ready, just in case."

Chekhov ran a final check on his calculations and nodded to Scotty. "Energize."

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Selina had located the person on the other side of the cell's security feed. Only one. She almost felt insulted. For the last several minutes she had been very carefully inserting a growing sense of unease, a certainty that the prisoner was up to something, that he needed to check on her, and that he would be praised and rewarded for his diligence. She smiled to herself when she sensed the decision in his mind to go look in on her personally and knew that he had left his station.

She moved to flatten herself against the wall just beside the cell door, and waited. Within moments she heard two sets of quickly approaching footsteps. Her watcher had some sense after all, but it would not be enough to help him. The force field was switched off and a man stepped halfway in through the door. She spun, slamming the heel of her hand up sharply under his jaw while grabbing his weapon and sweeping the leg of the second man who moved to help him.

Len fell to the floor with a thud. "Don't shoot! It's us." he said. "We, um, came to rescue you." Somehow that sounded less-than-valiant given his current position: sprawled on the floor, holding his hands up in surrender.

"Apologies, Len." She helped him up and they turned to Jim, who was leaning against the wall, shaking his head. "Holy shit." Jim said, moving his jaw gingerly to make sure he still could. Reassured, he flashed a trademark grin and winked at her. "You're good. If you don't want a job in sickbay, how about security? You could be-"

"If your next words out of your mouth have anything to do with a personal bodyguard, I shall hit you again." she warned.

McCoy chuckled. "No wonder Sorenson hides from you, darlin'. Where is he by the way?"

"That is what I was about to determine." she replied, and then held a finger to her lips. Footsteps were coming down the corridor. She pointed them both into the cell and turned on the force field, before stepping into the empty cell opposite.

The guard rounded the corridor and looked into the cell Selina had recently occupied. Jim smiled, held up a hand and wiggled his fingers in a little wave.

The man gaped. "Who are -"

Selina tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around, and in one fluid motion she punched him, caught his head and brought his face down hard into her knee. There was sound that suggested the need for reconstructive surgery, and he fell to the floor like puppet whose strings had been cut. She calmly disengaged the force field, before returning to relieve the guard of his weapon.

Jim beamed. "I think I'm in love." he whispered to Bones. " If I told her, do you think she'd hurt me?"

Bones rolled his eyes and shoved Jim out the door. "If she didn't, I would."

"Where is the rest of your detail?" she asked as they dragged the unconscious guard into the cell.

"Just us for now." Jim explained while stripping off his shirt. "We could only slip two in through the chink you guys made in their shields." He started to undo his pants.

Both eyebrows arched across Selina's forehead. "What, may I ask, are you doing?"

"I'm going to change clothes with the guard so it'll be easier to move around the ship." He flashed a cheeky grin. "Feel free to watch."

"Ignore him." Bones advised, ushering her into the hall. "I'm here because you said something was wrong with your friend. What happened to him?"

"My words were for Maldi's benefit. Faf," She stopped herself. "I mean, Fafhrd, was playing at suffering heat stroke to delay interrogation. He is not a very good actor, so the ruse has undoubtedly been uncovered by now. I am glad you are here, Len. Maldi has reason to hate him, so you may be needed."

"We kinda got that impression." Len noted an uncharacteristic emotion in her face and took her hand, patting it in his best country doctor manner. "Don't you fret, m'dear. I told Spock we'd have you both back safe before he knew it and you know how I can't stand to let him catch me getting something wrong."

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AN: Spock frequently used telepathy to get guards to open the door and check on the prisoners, except of course, he needed the guard(s) to be standing just outside the door to get to them. Somehow jail breaks in TOS always had a bit of a comedy element to them. In Patterns of Force, they even managed to make breaking out of a Gestapo prison after being flogged amusing. After all the times he's used the hiding-beside-the-door routine to take out a guard, you'd think Jim would be a little more cautious. But this is a young Jim, he'll learn.

Yes, Selina could have held onto Jim's phaser and used it, but (a) ship's internal sensors might register weapons fire onboard (at least the Enterprise did in TOS), and (b) after the night she's had so far, taking the guard out personally probably felt good.