Kirk’s slender figure was at odds to the size and bulk to Koloth’s warrior physique, but she used reasonability and openness to curtail Koloth’s anxiety to leave.  “If you’re infected then you could harm your house, your family.  Isn’t it better to make sure one way or the other, before we decide on a course of action?”

Koloth nodded, but was loath to say the words.  “I will go along with your…recommendation…for now.”

“What can we do, Dr McCoy?”  Spock asked the Enterprise’s chief medical officer.

Bones looked at Spock.  “I’ll need blood samples, I’ll have to do a full physical work up, it’s the only way to be sure.”

“You will instruct my first officer, we will conduct our own tests and share the results with you.”

Kirk interposed, before Bones could say anything.  “I understand, captain Koloth, we respect the sovereignty of the Klingon Empire.  This is not a time for any hasty actions; we must work together and trust each other.  Dr. McCoy will instruct your officer on the necessary techniques and guide him through the first test, on one of your crewmembers, after that he should be able to cope on his own.”

“That is acceptable, but the first test will be on my self.”

Kirk and Chapel went to a side room where they began testing each other.  They stripped out of their uniforms and Chapel showed her captain how to do administer those tests she could not perform on herself.  “The blood test is the easiest, just put the tip of the sampler over the vein.”

Kirk did so and pushed the button until the capsule was filled with Christine’s blood.  “We’ll be alright Christine; I have a suspicion that this organic compound has two forms.  It’s been years since I studied basic medicine at the academy but I’m sure you’ll agree that we’ve found two forms of this compound, one lethal and the other safe.”

“Of course, we just set up the medical tricorder to emit a warning when it detects the harmful variation, we can set it to scan at a specific perimeter.  I should tell Dr. McCoy the news.”

“Don’t you think you should put your uniform back on first?”  Kirk asked and threw the blue medical uniform over to her friend, before picking her own yellow/gold uniform up and pulling it down over her own body.  “I must say that swab test was the least comfortable test.  I had something similar back at Starfleet HQ and they recommended another one in a couple of years time.”

“Cervical smears are a necessary evil, luckily though we can analyse them straight away, back at the turn of the second millennium we’d have had to wait weeks for the results and even then they were sometimes wrong.”

“Yes, I remember reading something about that.  My sister in law had a scare just after Peter was born.  Sam was so worried, we talked every other day.  I’d better contact Scotty, give him a report.  He worries far too much for a command level officer.”

“No more than you do.”

“I’m the captain; it’s my job to be worried.”  Kirk sometimes wondered if she was turning into a mother hen, or if she’d been one all along and was only now starting to realise how broody she was getting.  The smear test had got her thinking that she could get pregnant, she could start a family, she could have children, she was starting to put that more and more into the front of her mind.  It wouldn’t be impossible, she could take a year out for the birth and then take a job on a cargo ship, become a boomer.  No, this was the life she wanted and if she had a family then she wanted them here as a part of it.  This was the best job in the universe as far as she was concerned.

McCoy, Spock and Raj waited for the ladies to return and started talking about the situation.  Bones was nervous, he hoped Janice…the captain…was alright.  He could never admit his feelings to her but he’d be devastated if he lost her.  “What’s taking them so long?”  He said out loud.”

“They will be here as soon as testing is complete.”  Spock said calmly.  “There is no need to be emotional doctor.”

“Humans worry.”  Bones retorted.  “Isn’t that right, crewman Raj?”

“I just cannot believe how so many people were killed so quickly.”  Raj said after a moment, trying to be tactful.

“Whatever it was it acted fast, so fast that they could not react.  If something was to happen I doubt we would have any time to notice.”

Bones thought for a second.  “You know, it strikes me that we’re going about this the wrong way, we’re looking for symptoms and not the cause.  We know there’s two types of particles, we’ve detected them.”

“You wish to establish a device for the neutralisation of the hostile configuration?”  Spock asked.

“Bang on the money.”  Bones replied.  “We create a device to turn the hostile form into the safe one; you’re a genius Mr. Spock.”

“There was never any doubt.”  Spock replied.

Chapel knocked and entered the room.  “I hope you boys are decent.  The captain and I are both clear.  I do have an idea though.”

“So do I.”  Bones said to Chapel.  “You go first.”

“We set up the medical tricorders to scan for the hostile particle and emit a warning when it passes a set perimeter.  We can then have advanced warning before one of us suddenly vanishes into a pile of less than dust.”

“A most logical suggestion.”  Spock said to Chapel.  “You have a fascinating mind.”  He wandered over to the medical tricorder.

“If only you saw the woman that the mind’s inside.”  Chapel said to herself.  She looked back at Dr. McCoy.  “So, what was your idea, doctor?”

“Oh just an idea Spock and I came up with.  To create a device to neutralise the hostile form of the particle.”

Raj looked at the others.  “Could the two ideas be combined?  A passive/aggressive system that detects then neutralises the particles?”

Spock looked at the junior officer.  “That suggestion may just earn you a promotion crewman.”  He was about to say more when crewman Raj simply collapsed and vanished.  “Out of the room, avoid the area about where crewman Raj stood.”

Chapel couldn’t believe it; two men dead in just two short hours and their deaths were so meaningless.  “The sooner we come up with Raj’s device the better.”

Bones looked at Spock.  “We could call it after crewman Raj I suppose.”

“Such frivolity is hardly expedient at this juncture.”  Spock opened the office door just in time to see the captain in the arms of Koloth and they were kissing!

“I can explain.”  Kirk said to the others.  “We were fighting, arguing and then throwing things at each other.”

“A potent seduction technique on Quo’nos.”  Koloth said with a laugh.  “Once we declared our love for each other I had to take her as my woman.”

“I’m his woman.”  Kirk said sharply to the others and glared at them, so they knew it was a deception.  “Now give us some privacy, will you?”

“Crewman Raj is dead.”  Spock said to the Captain and wondered why she was rubbing the Klingon officer’s chest with her hand, searching him for weapons perhaps?

“We have a possible solution, for the problem.”  Bones said sharply.  “But we’ll have to return to the Enterprise to build it.”

“I’ll stay down here.”  Kirk said to the others.

“We should return to our ships.”  Koloth said and patted the human female’s fleshy buttocks.  “I shall contact you once you’re off duty.”

“I’ll be waiting.”  Kirk smiled seductively at Koloth and battered her eyelids at him.

“Four to beam up, Mr. Kyle.”  Spock said into his communicator.

They were beamed up and Chapel looked sharply at the Captain.  “You didn’t need to lay it on with a trowel you know.”

“He had to be sure that I was falling in love with him.  I knew he was watching me as I was speaking to Scotty.  He’s not that light on his toes.”

“That was a deception?”  Bones asked Spock.

“Apparently so.”  Spock replied.  “It certainly fooled Koloth.”

“Koloth isn’t the problem, although his hands were getting awfully close to my…anyway that device you mentioned, how quickly can you get it built?”

Spock looked at McCoy.  “With the assistance of Dr. McCoy and Mr. Scott I estimate no more than 3.7 hours.  Less if they don’t pause for one of their many rests.”

“Make that your first priority.  I’ll be on the bridge.”

“You might want to stop by your cabin on the way there captain.”  Chapel held up a mirror so that the captain could see her smudged lipstick and bird’s nest hair.

“Right, I’ll freshen up first.”  Kirk grabbed Chapel’s arm and shooed her in the direction of her cabin.  “His kiss was like a cross between a mountain lion and an octopus.  I didn’t know whether he was trying to feel my tonsils or bite my tongue off.”

“Sounds like you had your hands full.”

“He certainly did.”  Kirk giggled.  “Another minute and I’d have had to accidentally open the door with my foot before he tried to get me out of my uniform.”

“Maybe he will, next time.”  Chapel giggled too.  “You’d be going where no woman has gone before.”

“Koloth seeks to use seduction as a tool to access Federation secrets, but I do not share secrets and confidences in the bedroom, pillow talk is the first thing a captain learns to avoid.”

Koloth looked at his tactical officer.  “Can this device be constructed and installed before the Enterprise can create their own version?”

“It’s a larger ship, with more resources, but we are Klingons, we shall create this device.”

“Very well.  I trust the humans to tell the truth but I do not trust them to share their secrets with us.  I do not want to rely on a Federation protection for my own vessel.  The female succumbs easily to my whims; I shall use her to supply Federation secrets until she presents no further use.  To think I once thought Kirk a worthy opponent, she is easily defeated with a show of affection and tenderness.”

Scotty stood up as the captain walked onto the bridge.  “It’s been quiet captain, we’ve nae heard a peep out of yon Klingon ship.”

Kirk nodded.  “Very good Mr. Scott.  Spock and Dr. McCoy asked me to ask you if you wouldn’t mind lending your expertise in work shop three.”

“Oh, the device, aye, I wouldn’t mind a go at that.”  Scotty left the bridge.

Kirk sat down in her chair and waited for Yeoman Sumner to bring her the duty log.  “Captain’s log, star date 6015.9.  The mystery of Gemini has raised more questions than it’s provided answers.  But in the interests of safety I’ve instructed the creation of a device to neutralise the strange particles responsible for the deaths of two of my crewmen.  I may be playing a long game with the Klingons too, but if I can get them to trust me then perhaps it will further peaceful contact between our two governments.  I just hope that any Romulan involvement is coincidental.  I would hate for this to be the beginning of a new offensive against out two societies but if so then it may be the cause to bring our two ways of life closer together, could we make good allies?  I’d rather leave that question to future generations but if we go to war then I’d rather have the Klingon Empire as ally than enemy.”

“I’d rather have the Klingon Empire as ally than enemy.”  Koloth listened as Kirk’s words echoed around the bridge of his ship.  “She’s a crafty one, this female.  She speaks the truth though; I too would rather have the Federation as friend than foe.  They fight with honour, even if they do not always live with it.  I was right to plant that espionage device upon her person and to think she thought I was showing affection towards her.”

“Information is necessary to win a war.”  Targ said to Koloth.  “We know the face of our enemy now, the deceitful cowards of the Romulan Star Empire.”

Koloth nodded.  “This time tomorrow we shall be at war.”

Kirk wondered if the Klingons heard her words, her speech had been designed to appeal to the warrior mindset, talk of war and ally and respect but backed up with self confidence and assuredness.  Now all she had to do was prove the Romulan threat to the Federation, before the Klingon ambassador demanded that they accompany the IKD into war.  If they weren’t prepared then they would refuse and the Klingons would take that as a greave insult and declare war on the Federation to.  Klingons did not leave friends behind when they went off to fight, that was what Koloth has said while he was nibbling her ear.  Well biting it actually.  Hopefully the teeth marks would fade in time but for now her hair covered them up and that was enough to hide her little romance with the Klingon leader.  Now if only her heart hadn’t fluttered and pounded when they kissed then she could believe that it was just a spur of the moment thing that didn’t matter, could it be that she was in love with a Klingon?