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McCoy stepped into the Brig area, not even looking at the person on duty as he spoke to them,
"Leave. Come back in ten minutes."
"Sir?"
Turning, McCoy snapped at them.
"Do I need to perform surgery on your ears, Lieutenant? Out!"
A chuckle came from the holding area when the Lieutenant practically ran out of the area. McCoy turned and gave a long clinical look over Khan. Then he walked over to the barrier between them, pulling over and expanding what he always thought of a port hole. Before he could say anything to Khan, the Augment leader's hand shot through the hole and latched onto McCoy's uniform.
Scowling, McCoy's hand reached over to the port hole's edge and the hole closed until it was as tight against Khan's arm as a tourniquet. Then McCoy spoke.
"You can let go of me, or I'll close that hole the rest of the way and get the samples I need from your amputated arm. Your choice."
As expected, Khan made the attempt to draw his arm back through the portal, but wasn't able to budge. Not that McCoy had harbored any worries on that account. These cells were designed to hold creatures many times stronger than Vulcans.
Khan's grip lessened. McCoy jerked himself free, then immediately turned to draw a blood sample from the trapped arm. Only after he was completely finished did he loosen the hole enough for Khan to retrieve his arm. Once Khan had, McCoy fully collapsed the hole and moved the device off to the side.
The physical approach having failed, Khan went for the mental one.
"You are a doctor. You should be siding with me and my people to bring peace. To fight the Empire."
A snort was McCoy's initial response before he looked up from the blood sample to Khan.
"You and your people are the reason the first Emperor was able to take charge in the first place. You don't like how things are? Tough - you're the asshole that made things this way."
Turning for the door, McCoy started to head out when Khan tried again.
"It would be in your best interests to release me, doctor. You have a mole aboard your ship."
McCoy didn't go back, but he did turn around.
"Even if I believed you about the mole - and I'm not saying that I do - how would letting you out do anything but make a bad situation worse?"
"I know who they are and what their mission is."
Standing there, studying Khan for a moment, McCoy made his decision. He took two steps toward Khan's cell, then turned around sharply and headed out.
"Thanks for the heads up. We'll figure it out ourselves."
The lieutenant on duty was returning and McCoy indicated the room where Khan was ranting.
"No-one is allowed to see or speak with the prisoner except for myself and the Captain."
There was a brief pause as McCoy considered, then he added.
"And Mister Spock. Understood?"
"Yes, sir."
As he walked away, McCoy's brain began to churn over what had been said. A mole onboard and one who had a mission. Obviously something to do with either an assassination attempt or sabotage. If Khan knew them, then the mole was most likely from Marcus. In McCoy's considered opinion, that eliminated the majority of the crew. In fact, the most likely suspects were those four that had been added to the crew just before they departed. One of them or all of them?
A grim smile formed as McCoy headed for Sickbay. He had ways of ferreting out the truth. Besides, he'd learned a couple of new tricks from Thopok that he was dying to try out.
The ISS Enterprise dropped out of warp and the Klingon ship joined them seconds later. The Romulan ship was waiting on them and initiated contact.
"I am Commander Rh'vaurek of the IRW Kenek. We have not picked up signs of any unauthorized vessels in this area, but that does not mean there are none present. The emissions from this system's star make sensor readings highly unreliable."
"Captain Kirk of the ISS Enterprise. Might I suggest then that we make a slow circuit as a unit for a visual inspection of the system?"
"That is acceptable. Our ship will lead the way."
The Klingons offered no objections or alternatives, so the three ships began make a the sweep. Kirk's senses were on high alert, waiting for the shoe to drop. It began with a message from the Romulan ship.
"We have spotted what our sensors first took to be an asteroid, however -"
Whatever else Commander Rh'vaurek had intended to say was cut off when the Romulan ship was hit. Kirk got to his feet immediately.
"Full shields now, Mister Sulu! Mister Chekov, find out where those shots came from. I want a visual on our opponent."
When the image of the ship came onto the viewscreen, the Bridge crew fell silent. The ship was huge - twice the size of the Enterprise. There wasn't time to study it for long because it fired - first at them and then at the Klingon vessel.
Having decided which one of the four newcomers was the most likely to not only be a saboteur, but a successful one, McCoy had focused his efforts on them. With the right combinations of drugs, pain and questions, he soon had the basics and hit the intercom.
"McCoy to Engineering - I need to speak with Lieutenant Commander Scott immediately."
McCoy had already started filling Scott in on the problem when the ship rocked and the red alert lights began flashing. Almost immediately afterward, the power on the ship noticeably dipped. Cursing in unison, Scott headed for the warp power drives as McCoy latched onto his prisoner and headed for the Bridge. Thankfully, the emergency backup power came on before he reached the turbolift. Wrestling his unwilling companion through the Jeffries tubing would have been arduous, to say the least.
Uhura turned from her panel, an unreadable look on her face.
"Captain, Engineering reports loss of warp and impulse capabilities."
The unfortunate term 'dead in the water' ran through Kirk's mind as Uhura continued.
"Sir, we're being hailed by the attacking ship. They are identifying themselves as the Vengeance."
Kirk lowered himself back into the command chair.
"Put them on the screen, Uhura."
It was no surprise to any of them when Admiral Marcus was the face to appear on the viewscreen. He looked incredibly smug.
"I see they gave you back the Enterprise, Kirk. Shame you won't be keeping it long. You have some things of mine that I want back. No need to rush with your response - you aren't going anywhere. I'll get back with you once I've taken care of your amusing little pair of escorts."
The screen went blank as Marcus cut the communications. The turbolift doors opened then and Kirk turned his head just enough to spot McCoy.
"Not a good time for you to visit the Bridge, Bones."
"I'm not visiting, Captain. I'm bringing you the saboteur that screwed with our power. Come on out, sweetheart - don't be shy."
Reaching back into the turbolift, McCoy pulled out Carol Wallace, looking a bit worse for wear after her session with McCoy and her wrists in restraints in front of her. Kirk's eyes narrowed and the look in them didn't speak well for her life expectancy.
"Lieutenant Wallace?"
"Not Wallace, Captain. Lieutenant Carol Marcus. Daughter of that son of a bitch, Admiral Marcus."
All eyes on the Bridge were now focused on Lieutenant Marcus and none of them were friendly. Least friendly was Kirk himself. As was often a habit of his when irritated, Kirk had his phaser in his hand.
"So that's how he knows that we can't move. So - which are you? Khan's whore or Daddy's puppet?"
Before Carol could respond to that, Chekov called out.
"Captain! Both the Klingon and Romulan vessels are pulling away!"
Kirk cursed himself internally. It wasn't that he had trusted the Klingons and Romulans too much - it wasn't even the size of their opposition. He should have done . . . something different. He couldn't think of what though. But everything was falling apart and it was going to cost him both his ship and his crew. The screen came back to live as Admiral Marcus overrode the communications panel.
"Looks like your escort lost the heart for this battle, Kirk. Ah - and I see you've brought up one of the things I was looking for. Time to come home, Carol."
Her slight smile as she felt the beginning sensation of teleporting shifted to one of panic as Kirk brought up his phaser and fired.
"Give Daddy my best regards, bitch."
At the reaction of the Admiral when was remained of his daughter materialized, Kirk smiled grimly, sitting straight backed in his chair.
"Bones - Uhura - Sulu - Chekov - Spock? As Bones said to me once, at least it hasn't been dull."
The face of Admiral Marcus filled the screen. He looked as if he would like to reach through the screen and strangle Kirk himself.
"I was planning to leave you to be taken by the supernova, but I'll take the pleasure of killing you for myself now. Lock all weapons! Fire!"
Thirty seconds later, Kirk let out the breath he'd been holding. Marcus was shouting and livid again, but this time, it was directed at his own crew.
Chekov was staring at his panel, then looked over to Kirk, puzzled but pleased.
"Captain? Someone has activated the emergency protocols. The saucer section of the Vengeance has separated from the main section of the vessel."
A smile bloomed on Uhura's face.
"Captain! Incoming transmission, sir."
"On the speakers, Uhura."
The distinctive voice of Scott came across.
"That portable bugger came in handy just as you said, sir. I did a wee bit of volunteer work on the Vengeance, Captain. Also I took a bit of liberty on asking the Klingon and Romulan ship to pull back in case of difficulties. Permission to come back aboard, sir?"
A smirk formed on Kirk's face as he relaxed slightly.
"Permission granted. We've got work to do to get our girl moving again."
Sulu spoke then.
"Captain, the Klingon and Romulan ships have both moved back into position and are firing in the main section of the Vengeance. The saucer section is starting to be pulled in by the star's gravitational field."
Then a jolt ran through the Enterprise hard enough to knock both Spock and McCoy off their feet. All protocol went out the window so far as McCoy's reaction was concerned.
"What the hell was that, Jim?"
It was Sulu who answered.
"The Vengeance still has some auxiliary power. She's has locked a tractor beam onto us and is pulling us into the star's gravitational well with her."
"Dammit . . . Sulu! You have the conn!"
With that, Kirk ran to the turbolift so quickly that no-one was able to get in it with it before he was gone. He was already on his personal communicator speaking to Scott.
"What did Carol do to our ship, Scotty?"
"She did something that's caused the housings to misalign. There's no way to reroute the damn power with them in that condition and whatever she did wrecked the automated system for manipulating them."
Kirk was running into the room where Scott was even as he said the last.
"Could the housings be forced back manually?"
"Aye, but that would be suicide. The radiation levels are so high, I'd be dead before I could reach the housings and get back out."
Without giving Scott any warning of what he was about to do, Kirk shot past the startled Engineer and entered the warp chamber.
"Captain's lock. Seal this door on my vocal signature."
A minute later, he was gone from Scott's sight. Another minute later, McCoy was entering the area.
"Where's the Captain?"
Scott didn't answer, but following where the man's eyes were fixed was answer enough.
"Oh hell no!"
He attempted to open the door, but found it was no use.
~Door is sealed under Captain's authorization. Entry prohibited.~
At the Helm, Sulu and Chekov were desperately looking for anything that they might use to break them free of the Vengeance's tractor beam. Sulu called over to Uhura.
"Any luck contacting the Klingons or the Romulans?"
"Negative. Something about the beam has all of our external communications blocked."
Then there was another lurch as power suddenly flooded back to life.
"Chekov! Ram a few photon torpedoes down their gullet and see if that makes them turn loose of us!"
While Chekov sent a series of torpedoes at the center mass of the saucer, Sulu quickly laid in a course to pull them back to the edge of the system. As soon as another lurch heralded their freedom, he engaged the program, breathing easier when it worked.
In the middle of the celebratory feelings on the Bridge, Uhura frowned and turned.
"Mister Spock, Mister Scott has requested your presence in Engineering. He says it's urgent."
Since Sulu already had the conn, Spock merely acknowledged Uhura's words and headed for the turbolift. When the doors shut behind him, he allowed a small frown to form. He hoped Mister Scott wasn't pulling him away from the Bridge for something trivial.