Distraction

Gary Mitchell was not happy, he sat in his quarters searching through the disk he had stolen from Spock, it just contained data about Ion storms, there had to be something he was missing. Kirk had never been so secretive before, sure there were a few instances where Kirk had told him to ‘butt out’ but after about an hour he would relent and tell Gary what was on his mind, it was usually quicker if alcohol was involved. Together they would then come up with a plan and execute it. It certainly worked that way with Pike, they had worked together, assassinated him and now they were happily working together at the top. Well Gary wasn’t completely happy with being a mere First officer anymore, who would be with the Captain’s chair right there. True Kirk usually found the most lucrative way to do things and Gary had amassed a lot of credits in the time spent with him but it was time for a change. It was time for him to be at the head of the Flag Ship, but he needed allies ‘Keep your friends close but your enemy’s closer’ Pike had always quoted that one but now Gary was beginning to see its application.

The door chime interrupted his thoughts, “Come in” Sulu stepped through the door, “You wanted to see me, sir” Well the ‘sir’ definitely sounded added as an afterthought. “Yes, have a seat” Sulu glanced around as if expecting an ambush the settled himself in the seat keeping his hand near the blade on his belt.

Gary smirked at the lack of trust and leant back in his seat, “I have an offer for you, I propose an alliance as it were” Sulu tilted his head but didn’t say anything “The Captain has been a little…off lately, ignoring orders, running round with some secret plan. I trust you have seen the latest orders I have received from Starfleet” Sulu blinked but showed no other signs of being uncomfortable “Why would I have seen orders that were classified for the First Officer eyes only?” Gary smirked and lent forward over the desk clasping his hands in front of him “We wouldn’t be having this conversation if you hadn’t.” He smiled as Sulu nodded “You’re aware I’m to kill Kirk if he doesn’t comply with their orders and assume command of the Enterprise.”

Sulu leant back in his chair he knew Gary wanted something and felt a bit safer with this knowledge “And what do you need from me…sir?”

“Why an ally Mr Sulu, just think with Kirk gone there will be a First Officer post open”

Sulu smiled “and would I be a worthy candidate for that role?” Gary smiled “You help me out Sulu and I’ll give you anything in my power to grant” Sulu couldn’t help his thoughts going to Uhura and it must have shown as Gary leant further forward “Anything”

Sulu smiled “I look forward to it…Captain”

Montgomery Scott made his way to the engineering section, he had already been mentally cataloguing all the changes and power transfers that needed to be made, he made his way to the doors saluting the guard as he approached. The guard returned the salute but didn’t move “Can I help you sir?” “Yes laddie…” That was as far as he got before the guard slumped sideways due to the sedative McCoy had just injected into his neck. Both men grabbed the guard before he could hit the ground. “That ought to hold him for about six hours.” McCoy grunted as they dragged the guard to a nearby storage locker and shoved him inside. They glanced around, the engineering staff hadn’t noticed anything so they made their way to the quieter upper level.

McCoy leant against one of the far terminals keeping watch. Scotty accessed a terminal and inserted the data chip Spock had given them, he started moving the programs and code changes to the correct systems so they would be ready to run when needed. As he was moving them he noticed that a few of the calculations were time specific, he looked through the data and realized why. He pulled his communicator out “Scott to Kirk.”

“Kirk here, how’re you doing?”

“Well I’ve managed to upload the programs no problem, when they start running though they’ll get quite a bit of attention.”

“Well hopefully we’ll be out of here before they noticed too much”

Scott sighed “Aye sir, but that’s not the only issue, we’ve got a deadline” there was a pause from the communicator “Explain.”

“The two-way matter transmission affected the local field density between the universes, and it's increasing. We've got to move fast.”

“How fast?” Scott grimaced as he looked at the screen in front of him “We’ve got two hours at most”

Kirk looked at the communicator in his hand he knew he didn’t want the next answer “and if we miss?”

“We couldn't get out of here in a century.” Kirk sighed “Well we’ll have to make sure we don’t miss then.” Scott nodded in agreement “Aye, Sir. We're ready to bridge power from the engines to the transporter. You’ll have to get down there and free the board so we can lock in. I've got to complete a few more computations. Give me about ten minutes.”

“All right. I'll be in the transporter room in ten minutes. I'll meet you in Sickbay afterward.”

“Aye Sir” Scott closed the communicator then shared a grim look with the Doctor before continuing his work.

Sulu returned to his post almost whistling though he refrained he didn’t want to show anyone anything out of the ordinary though he couldn’t help pausing to admire Uhura as he past, he stared at the expanse of thigh on show as she sat working at her terminal. Sensing being watched she turned to face him then glared as she followed his gaze. She tugged the skirt ineffectively down and turned fully back to her console. Sulu grinned, if only she knew.

He got to his post and ran through a few system checks, Mitchell had asked him to look for anything out of the ordinary, he had picked up on some unusual activity in the Captains quarters a few hours ago but before he could investigate further it had stopped. He had monitored the Captains terminal a while longer but nothing much had happened, shortly after ‘Spock’s’ terminal in the holding cells had come online, only the Captain could unlock that, what was Spock doing for the Captain?

He messaged Mitchell with his findings also pointing out the current activity he could see in engineering, a message came back saying to monitor the activity, he was heading to the holding cells to get some answers. Sulu smiled, Spock was in for a rough time.

Kirk made his way to the transporter room, luckily no-one was in there, the lights were off so it looked like it had been temporarily de-commissioned after Kirk ordered the circuits checked.

He made his way to the console and opened the panel on the underside, ready for Scott’s command. A few seconds later his communicator chirped, “Kirk here” Scott’s voice came through “We’re almost ready for the transfer sir, should be another few minutes” “Ok I’ll let Uhura know.” He opened another channel to Uhura “Yes, Captain?” “Scott's signal should be coming through any moment. You know what to do.” Uhura’s lip quirked as she glanced to the security station “I've got a pretty good idea, sir.”

“Just keep Sulu's attention off that board for as long as you can” Uhura sighed “I'll do my best.”

Uhura took a deep breath and removed her headset, she stood, straightened her clothing then sauntered towards Sulu making her movements as obvious as possible. He turned in his seat and followed the sway of her hips as she walked past. She ran a hand lightly down his arm then leaned in close to him “You aren't very persistent, Mister Sulu. The game has rules. You're ignoring them. I protest and you come back. You didn't come back.” He reached out, his fingers gripping tightly into her waist as he pulled her towards his lap, smirking “Now you're making sense.” She leant in close to his face seemingly about to kiss him “I was getting bored.” She saw the light flashing on Sulu’s console out the corner of her eye and smiled to herself then moved her face away “Of course this isn't the time.” His hands gripped tighter “Any time's a good time.” She laughed as she leaned backwards his grip lessening, she then slapped him hard across the face backing up against the safety rail waiting as he released her. Sulu turned rushing forward his arm raised to teach her a lesson but she was ready, the moment he had stepped out his chair she kicked him hard in the solar plexus completely winding him, he slumped back into his chair coughing. Uhura could hear the other bridge staff chuckling she was glad she hadn’t gone too far, apparently this was more entertaining than being a punishable offense. She took the dagger from the top of her boot and while Sulu was catching his breath she moved in, pressing it lightly against the left side of his face morroring the scar on the right side, he looked up warily.

She smiled predatorily at him “I'm afraid I changed my mind.” He swallowed as the dagger pressed a little harder “You take a lot of chances, Lieutenant.”

“So do you, Mister.” She pressed just hard enough to break the skin before moving way. Slowly she made her way to the lift keeping the dagger raised as a threat and her eyes on Sulu, he hadn’t moved but she could see him wanting to. As she got to the doors she met the amused gazes of the security officers and smiled at them, they let her pass then moved together to stop Sulu following her. The last thing she saw as the doors closed was Sulu’s angry face over the guards shoulders. She let out a breath and opened her communicator “Mister Scott, all clear. I’m on my way to Sickbay.”

Scott had made his way into the Jeffries tube with McCoy and had managed to re-wire a few of the power couplings, he didn’t dare bring them online though until he was sure Sulu was distracted. He sent the signal to Uhura then hoping she had provided a distraction turned the couplings on. He didn’t realise he had been holding his breath until his communicator chirped and Uhura’s voice came through, both men sighed in relief then McCoy Spoke “Now it's up to the captain.” They carefully made their way out of the tube then closed it up, checking no-one had seen them they then left for Sickbay.

Sulu was furious at Uhura, she had made him look like a fool, he could still feel amused glances from the other bridge staff, he would make them pay. He noticed a warning light on his console, it was showing unauthorised activity in transporter room 3 that was supposed to be offline, Kirk had ordered the circuitry to be checked, maybe he should go investigate himself.

Kirk had waited patiently for the power levels to change in the console and had been pain-staking work to re-wire all the circuits, he just had a few more to do when the desk went dead. He pressed futilely at the controls, he went to grab his communicator when Sulu and a guard entered, both were armed with phasers. “Well Captain, fancy seeing you here, taking repairs into your own hands?” Kirk stood and shot him an annoyed look “What I do is my own business” he gestured to the phaser “You going to kill me?” Sulu shook his head “No someone else has that pleasure in mind” Sulu motioned to the door then followed Kirk out the guard trailing behind them.