The captain exited his Ready Room, a look of grim determination on his face. He tapped his comm-badge, "Security, send three teams to the Bridge." Security acknowledged the order.
"Sir?" inquired the chief of security, Lt. Ivanovna.
The captain merely shook his head and went over to a panel in the wall. He touched a couple of buttons on the control pad, and a panel slid open, revealing hand phasers. He took them out and tossed them to his Bridge officers. "Be prepared, but take no action unless I order it. Understand?" Everyone on the Bridge acknowledged.
The security teams arrived in two different turbolifts and rushed on to the Bridge. "Captain?" one of the security officers said.
The captain pointed at one team, "Take Emissary R'Dalla and confine her to quarters."
The team moved over and grabbed the Emissary. As she started to object, the captain put one hand up. "Don't embarrass yourself any further, Emissary," the captain said, mocking her earlier chastisement of him. "You're in enough trouble already. I had a very interesting talk with Admiral Lowery, and it sounds to me you'll be lucky to be the Special Emissary to the Federation Supply Depot orbiting Onyas Three after all this is over." Her face paled as she was led away.
Yilaan was smiling broadly, "You enjoyed that, didn't you Captain?"
"A little too much perhaps," the captain replied. He then addressed the remaining two security teams, "Assume a defensive posture, and take no other actions unless I order them." They all acknowledged.
"You have a plan, I take it?" Yilaan inquired of Captain Freeman.
The captain merely smiled at Yilaan, and, turning to Lt. Ivanovna, said, "Lt., get me a channel to the lead ship."
Lt. Katrina Ivanovna did as she was ordered and K'Tang's face again graced the viewscreen.
"Captain K'Tang, we cannot merely turn K'Tarran over to you. To do so would set an ugly precedent. I'm afraid if you want him, you must take him from us," Captain Freeman said, speaking as if he were reading his speech off of a card somewhere.
"Very well, Captain. Your bravery in the face of certain death is quite admirable. Screen off," said the Klingon captain. His image then faded.
"Captain, they're powering weapons," Ivanovna reported. "Our shields have been partially restored and are now at 33%."
"I can give us about warp four if necessary, Captain," Commander Jevor reported from his post at the Engineering panel at the back of the Bridge.
The captain nodded. "Drop shields, Ivanovna," he said.
"Sir?" Ivanovna said with a note of alarm. Everyone on the Bridge turned to look at the captain.
"Do it!" Freeman snapped. "Before K'Tang carries out his threat!"
"Aye sir, shields down," Ivanovna said. After a moment, she added, "Their weapons are powering down sir, but I detect evidence that their transporters are in operation."
The captain nodded. Moments later a dozen Klingons began to materialize on the Bridge.
"Intruder Alert!" Ivanovna called out over the intercom. "Security, send additional teams to the Bridge. Initiate anti-intruder protocols. Sound 'General Quarters'."
"Belay those orders! This is the Captain!" Freeman snapped over the intercom. Then, as Ivanovna, Reiv, Yilaan, Jevor, and the security teams drew their weapons and took steps towards the dozen Klingons, Freeman shouted, "At ease! All of you, take no action!" Everyone froze in place, their weapons trained on the Klingon boarding party, who likewise had their weapons trained on the Bristol's Bridge crew.
A tense moment or two went by before Freeman spoke again, "Get what you came for, and get off my ship."
Two of the Klingons nodded and moved to where K'Tarran was sitting, hoisting him up roughly.
"Captain!" K'Tarran began to complain, as he struggled futily against their grip.
"Remember what you said to me in the Brig," Captain Freeman reminded him.
K'Tarran regained his composure and nodded. The two Klingons restraining him pulled him back towards the boarding party. One of them activated a communications device and yelled into it, "Gitan! Joh-nichu!" The Klingon boarding party dematerialized.
A few minutes later, K'Tang hailed the Bristol. "Interesting choice Captain. I look forward to our next meeting....as allies," K'Tang said, sitting back in his chair.
Captain Freeman nodded, and K'Tang's image disappeared. The Klingon fleet warped away, heading back for their own space.
"Captain, I don't understand," Ivanovna said over his shoulder, from her position at the tactical station.
"Taking him into our protective custody was wrong, no matter what the good intentions. Protecting him in general would've served a good purpose, but nothing would've been served by sacrificing the treaty and all our lives. Releasing him freely after we'd gone to the trouble of putting everything at risk to get him, might've made us look weak," Freeman said. Ivanovna nodded and turned her attention back to her station.
"Helm, get us to Starbase Ten. Ahead warp four," the captain ordered.
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