Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story


- Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:

Beta Reader: Jsilver2000

Summary: Lieutenant Commander Uhura was attacked by Mr. Scott and was saved by Semek. She cut of Scott's finger as a warning and a trophy, but Kirk's women want to question her about her intentions toward their man. The Enterprise is about to rendezvous with a ship connected to the attempted mutiny.
See the source imageSee the source image




Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


 

Collaboration

"Captain, I have a signal from an unknown ship; they state that they are ready for the exchange," Uhura said.

Kirk sat in his chair with a determined look on his face. He was using the Enterprise as bait. He wanted to meet the man who had tried to steal his ship; a sneer formed on his face as he waited patiently.

"Captain, I have a ship warping out of space at 751 mark 30; it has the configuration of a Klingon bird of prey." Spock continued to give data: "This ship is not on the Klingon Colonial registry; I surmise this ship has been stolen."

Uhura turned to the Captain with her earpiece in place: "We are being hailed on channel 4, sir."

"Can we get a visual of their bridge, Uhura?"

"No, sir. They are blocking us; it would take me five minutes to break it!"

"Do it while we talk."

Unknown Voice: "We received your message that you want to strike a deal. What do you propose?"

Kirk chuckled: "Exchange of information for the lives of your spies."

Unknown Voice: "Spies? Your communication spoke of no spies. I see we need to renegotiate our terms."

Second Voice: "SIR! WE ARE BEING BOARDED!"

First Voice: "Sound red alert. Shoot anyone that comes through that door!"

Kirk laughed as he heard his crewmen take over the ship. A few minutes later, the sounds of phasers firing and people screaming were heard. Then Lt. DeSalle reported: "The ship is secure, Captain!"

"Good job, DeSalle! You'll get your bonus. Now check those cargo bays and start transferring the cargo to the Enterprise. And bring their captain to me!"

Kirk turned to Spock: "Mister Spock will do the honors of checking and verifying the cargo."

"Yes, Captain." Spock left his station with his Padd and went to check on the captured cargo, with T'Pring trailing behind him.

Kirk snapped his console button: "Scotty, get aboard that ship. Take what you need and check for any new gadgets."

"Yes, sir! Right away!"

Kirk sat back with his legs crossed and smiled in satisfaction at his victory as he gazed at the disabled ship on the main monitor.

"Chief Sulu, once the ship has been ransacked, put our guests on it and set it adrift."

"Yes, sir!" Sulu said, leaving to carry out his orders.

When Spock returned with the manifest from the captured ship, Kirk was pleased. It was a raiding ship that would steal and sell merchandise, which Kirk distributed among the crew for the good job they did. Kirk had to share in order to keep the crew happy and loyal; he gave extra credits to those who went the extra mile like DeSalle. Then he interrogated the ship's commander to extract from him the source of his supplies-after he spent some time in the agonizer.

Kirk informed the Empire of the smugglers' base, earning himself more praise and privileges. Then he transported the smuggler commander and his spies back to the abandoned ship, which no longer had engines or food. The Enterprise warped back to its original location and continued its course to Omicron Ceti VII to secure the planet's rich mineral deposits for the Empire. After the Enterprise had warped well out of the vicinity of the smuggler ship, it exploded. Kirk couldn't leave them free to attack his ship again.


Later, Kirk celebrated with his two women beside him in the dining hall. The smugglers had been carrying rare alcoholic spirits and other intoxicants, illegal supplies, and their favorite wines. Marlena and Janice sat on Kirk's lap with their arms wrapped around his shoulders, laughing and kissing him. His two personal guards stood alert behind him.

Spock was there as well, sipping Altairian water with T'Pring standing behind him as usual with her stoic face.

Scotty was quiet, knowing he was still on Kirk's bad side for attacking Uhura. He was still nursing the stump of his missing finger, as well as a deep hatred for her. His henchman stood behind him with a bruised eye acquired during the attack; he glared at Uhura with hatred from behind lowered eyelids.

McCoy was the second happiest at the table; he was enjoying the rare treat from the smugglers, Saurian brandy. He watched the crew celebrate their victory with a winning smile. He grabbed a yeoman by the waist as she walked by with a tray of food, and she giggled at his advances.

Even Chekov was participating in the festivities with his favorite vodka. He shot an occasional resentful glance at Tina, knowing he couldn't retaliate against her; in fact, he had to protect her because if anything should befall her, his life would be forfeit. He was trapped.

Chief of Security Sulu was in rare form. He chugged his drinks and often stared at Nyota. He too wondered if the rumors about her and Kirk were true; he was still hoping for an opportunity to engage with her.

Nyota sat with her legs crossed, leaning back in her chair and slowly sipping her drink while observing the men in front and maintaining her usual game face. Tina stood behind her quietly, remembering her duty to protect Nyota and focusing on the mission at hand.

Noticing Uhura, Kirk broke from his romancing and smiled.

"Lieutenant Commander Uhura, I give a toast to you for breaking the codes to give us control of the smuggler's ship!"

The crowd gave a hooray. Then Kirk looked at her guard stationed behind her and smiled again, raising his glass.

"I see you have a new friend; she's so small, I wonder what she can do?"

Tina came to attention and gave Kirk a thousand-yard stare, trying not to feel insulted by the comment.

Nyota swirled her drink and gave Kirk her own thousand-yard stare:

"It seems better than her last position; rumor had it that she was working for unsavory, unappreciative bosses. I think she likes her new job much better."

Chekov blushed as Kirk shot him a glare, saying, "I see what you mean."

Nyota turned to Kirk and slyly smiled: "You've heard about small packages, Captain?"

Kirk leaned back and laughed as he held his two women firmly. The both of them were sizing up Uhura and how she spoke to their man. They would still seek information on her, but the way Jim was speaking to her was not looking good. So his women intensified their efforts to return his attention to them.

"I like that, Uhura," Kirk said, before turning to Spock and lifting his goblet:

"Spock, the plan was flawless; a toast to you for making the Empire wealthier!

Spock inclined his head in acknowledgment of the compliment and then replied, "Captain, the efforts of the crew contributed greatly to our collaboration and the successful execution of our plan."

Kirk looked behind Spock to his female guard and chuckled: "Planning to get married, Spock? I see your new friend is always with you."

Spock arched a brow and said, "Her duties are none of your concern; her allegiance lies with me."

T'Pring felt insulted, knowing that all present were assuming she serviced Spock sexually-outside the sanction of marriage, which she had been promised by both families. Now she had been demoted to a bodyguard. "It must be a test," she thought, "a test that I must not fail." Although her face did not betray her, she eyed her rival with bitter enmity, mentally dismissing the little girl guarding her, who looked helpless.

Kirk was a bit offended by Spock's retort, but he knew it would be dangerous to push him too hard. The Vulcan didn't have any sense of humor. Instead, Kirk raised his glass again, giving the traditional toast: "To the Empire!"

Everyone in the room responded: "To the Empire!"


Meanwhile, as the rest of the Enterprise crew was celebrating their victory over the smugglers, the female crew were still celebrating the crushing of the prostitution ring. Many were relieved, but some couldn't believe they were actually free of forced prostitution.

In one of the ship's lounges, three women were talking about it:

"I can't believe it; I still can't believe it. I'm actually a crewman and not a slave!" Crewman Lola Sanchez said, shaking her head in disbelief

"You can say that again!" Crewman Ashley Boyle said.

"I wonder who finally gave those two scumbags the treatment? They were sickening and disgusting," Crewman Diane Polanski said.

"They made my life a living hell!" Ashley said.

Eve Brody sat back, nursing a drink while she listened to their conversation. Then she got an idea; she would need Tina to convince the women.

"Want to know who did it?"

The three women turned to Eve, and Lola spoke: "You know something, Brody?"

"Only if you're interested."

"I'm game!" Diane said excitedly.

"Me too!" Lola added.

"Count me in!" Ashley said.

"Come with me," Eve said, leading the women out the door and then to her station a few moments later. When they arrived she secured the door and said with a smile:

"I was the one who put those two scumbags in Sickbay, ending the prostitution ring," Eve said, taking full responsibility to protect the others.

"What?" the three women chorused, followed by expressions of deep gratitude.

Then one of them asked her, "What can we do to help?"

"First, you mustn't tell anyone about what I just said; I could become a target."

The three women looked at each other in agreement: "Of course not! We understand."

Then Eve explained the basics:

"The plan is to unite the women on the ship to demand equal pay for our work, plus demand respect. But mostly to make sure that we are treated well and that we have leverage with Kirk."

"How will that work?" Diane asked

"We need to be inconspicuous. Mostly, we need to look out for each other," Eve said. "We'll have each others' backs, as long as no one betrays the Empire. It's protection with no strings."

"Now that I can live with; I am always living in fear," Lola said.

"Yeah, it would be nice to sleep at night and not wonder," Diane said.

"I hear that! What do we do first, Eve?" Ashley asked.

"Retrain yourself in self-defense. I will help you. Learn everything you can in your department and learn everyone else's job as well. Study everything about their positions and the functions of this ship."

Lola looked confused and asked, "Wow, why so much?"

"Have you forgotten you're in the military? You need to know more than your peers. Now for the tough part," Eve started to say.

Folding her arms with some doubt, Ashley asked, "What's the catch?"

"No hooking up with men, at least not for now. They could be spies. If we are compromised, then we all get the agonizer."

Ashley nodded her head in agreement: "I see."

The others nodded their heads in agreement too.

"No drinking, or limit yourselves to one drink. You know what drinking does?" Eve asked.

"Yeah, you end up spilling your guts!" Ashley said, chuckling.

"Once I see how you carry out my instructions, we'll go from there. But if you see other women being abused, let me know, and we'll handle it together."

"Now that sounds like a plan!" Diane said.

"So are we all in?" Eve asked.

"Yes!" Ashley, Lola, and Diane responded.

"Starting tomorrow, you are all in the Sisterhood!


At the same time in Engineering, Lieutenants Charlene Masters and Mira Romaine were speaking quietly in Masters' office.

"How can you stand by and let that lowlife Scott steal your thunder, Charlene?!"

Charlene looked at Mira as she calculated her fuel consumption figures. "His hankering for glory will be his downfall. He's lost something already."

Mira chuckled. "You mean his finger? I loved it. Lieutenant Commander Uhura is my idol; she did me the biggest favor by doing that!"

"I found it interesting that she took his middle finger! Letting everyone know not to f$ck with her!" Charlene said.

Mira doubled over laughing, and Charlene joined her.

"Uhura is bad ss!" Mira said.

Charlene was curious to know how Mira would fit into the Sisterhood:

"So, I was wondering, Mira... We are the only women working in the Engineering department. If anything should befall our beloved Chief Engineer, what should we do?"

"As far as I'm concerned, you should be in charge. Command is not my thing; survival is. Things are bad down here. We do all the work and get none of the credit. The men down here are dogs and make us-mostly you-do all the work. Scott has you trapped in that room creating and inventing stuff, with him getting the credit. I wish I could help you."

"In fact you can," Charlene said. "How about you and I form an alliance and support each other down here."

"Yeah, why not? Nothing is working for me. I have half of the technicians down here trying to bed me, and the other half making me do their work."

"Good to hear! With my brains and your ingenuity, we can run Engineering without the men. Plus, like you said before, if anything should happen to Mister Scott, the Captain would need us more than Kyle and Brent."

"Hmm, this sounds good, Charlene! What do we do first?"

"Let's cross-train each other and then learn whatever those guys know, but do it discreetly. Then we share what we know and store the info on our secret Padds that we can access through the main computers. I can arrange them to give us instructions through hidden earpieces. Then we will be the smartest two engineers in the room."

Mira grasped the idea and smiled at the thought: "I love it! It's a deal!"

"So let's get to work and look out for each other."

 












Enter the security code shown below:
Note: You may submit either a rating or a review or both.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.