Star Trek and its characters are the property of Paramount. This not-for-profit piece of fan fiction is not intended to infringe on that ownership. The author's copyright applies only to the creative content and her original characters.
This story is one in a series about the relationship between James Kirk and Suzanne Brandt. The Kirk-Brandt Chronology lists all the stories, both in order of occurrence and order of creation.
Note
This story takes place five days after the events in The 1000th Woman.This one's for Raku who got me thinking about the consequences of Kirk and Brandt's activities. Still waiting to read hir take on the same subject.
/God, I hate the first day back./
Captain Suzanne Brandt frowned at the list of messages and reports displayed on her computer screen and wished she were still on leave. But Captain Kirk had beamed back to the Enterprise early that morning and it would be god-knows-how-long before they saw each other again. She smiled and even blushed a little, warmly remembering the pleasures of the past week.
Her reverie was interrupted by the entrance of Commander Jack Wallis.
"Thank you, Commander. Anything interesting going on?"
He handed her a comm disk. She slipped it into the computer slot, and the message ID was displayed.
"This is addressed to you, Jack."
He turned the screen towards himself and said, "Identification Commander Jack Wallis."
The computer performed the retinal scan. Wallis turned the screen back to Brandt as the face of Commodore Lorne Fielding came into focus.
"Commander Wallis. Please deliver this comm disk to Captain Brandt personally as soon as she returns from leave. Fielding out."
The computer requested a retinal scan from Captain Brandt.
"Identification Captain Suzanne Brandt."
Commodore Fielding's face reappeared. "Captain Brandt. I have asked your exec to deliver this to you personally because I didn't want to trust it to the network. Please review the attached immediately. Then contact my office to arrange an appointment. Fielding out."
"Jack, what's Commodore Fielding's current posting?"
"He's in charge of security on Spacedock Earth."
"Computer. Display the attachment."
They watched as a new image appeared--Captain James Kirk in the command seat on the otherwise empty bridge of the Enterprise. The doors behind him hissed as they opened. Brandt's stomach tightened sharply as she saw herself enter, wearing the short-skirted uniform of a yeoman.
"Computer, stop playback!" The image froze. "Jack, you're dismissed," she said curtly.
She turned to him, wordlessly reinforcing the command.
"Aye, sir," he responded quickly and left.
When the playback finished, Captain Brandt slumped forward and rested her head in her hands.
/We are truly and royally fucked./
She was certain she had rigged the security computers so that the events of that night would *not* be recorded. But here it was, visual and sound, right down to the last moan.
/You *had* to show off. 'Sure, I can fix it so we don't get caught.' Clever Captain Brandt. Clever soon-to-be ex-Captain Brandt./
She wondered about the reaction of her partner in crime. /Say, JT, did you enjoy our little escapade on the bridge? Was it everything you ever wanted? Good, because they don't allow conjugal visits in the brig./
Her mind worked feverishly. The recording was less than two minutes long--ending when she knelt in front of Kirk and opened his pants. Which didn't mean there *wasn't* a recording of the rest of the evening's events.
The memories that she had been reviewing so happily only minutes earlier came rushing back in lurid, humiliating detail. Bending over the back of the command chair...Jim pushing her down so her legs came up and she had to spread them to keep her balance..."Have you ever been fucked up the ass, yeoman?" "Yes, sir." "By your CO?"...That final, crushing orgasm, so intense that she'd screamed and fought against it...
No doubt that would be reviewed when she met with Commodore Fielding.
Commodore Fielding. She imagined facing him and saying, "You see, sir, Captain Kirk had never gotten laid on the bridge of his ship so I thought--"
/Truly, royally, and cosmically fucked./
"Have a seat, Captain Brandt."
"I assume you've seen the recording."
/Comments? Uh, I'm glad those short skirts are no longer required for women?/ "No, sir."
"It pretty much speaks for itself, doesn't it?"
The commodore pushed a data disk across his desk.
"Specifically, the recording of the activities on the bridge of the Enterprise last Sunday night."
"Captain Brandt," the commodore continued patiently, "the security computers analyze all events as they take place and they're programmed to immediately report *suspicious* activities. Security officers were not summoned because your actions didn't fall into the categories of sabotage, espionage, or a coverup for those things. However, your presence was noted in the daily summary."
/Oh great. I can't wait until that's read aloud at the court martial. *2300 hours. Captain Brandt administered fellatio to Captain Kirk for one-point-six minutes.*/
The commodore handed her a printout and directed her attention to a highlighted entry. It read, "Captain James Kirk and Captain Suzanne Brandt present on the bridge." That was all.
"This report is distributed to the entire security department, but no one can view the recordings without my authorization. I'm the only one who's seen this recording, and I have seen only as much of it as you have."
"Once it became obvious that you and Captain Kirk were onboard the Enterprise for benign, albeit flagrantly unconventional purposes, I concurred with the computer analysis and stopped the playback.
"You are here, Captain, to explain why you and Captain Kirk were recorded only on the bridge. Not in the transporter room, the shuttle bay, the corridors, the turbolift, or any other part of the Enterprise."
Brandt stared in disbelief, her mind reeling.
"In other words, Captain, what happened to those recordings?"
She tried to speak calmly. "I don't know, sir. We shouldn't have appeared on any recording at all."
"Is this off the record, sir?"
Brandt swallowed hard. "I hacked into the security computers--"
"Those safeguards are unimpeachable!"
"Begging the commodore's pardon, but there's no such thing, sir."
"How many levels of security did you override?"
"Four. Are you aware, Captain, that our top experts have never gotten beyond three? And that they were detected immediately?"
"Hmmph. Perhaps their reasons for the break-in weren't as compelling as yours," the commodore said pointedly.
Brandt looked away and shifted in her chair.
"I programmed the computers to ignore our presence that night, sir. I used a global command based on the Enterprise prefix code. I couldn't have missed the bridge monitors."
"Between 1700 and 1800 hours, sir."
"How did you know the Enterprise prefix code?"
"I got it from the Fleet security files, sir."
"Are you sure Captain Kirk didn't tell it to you?"
She met his gaze steadily as she replied, "Quite sure, sir."
A beat. Brandt was sure he could hear her heart pounding.
"Very well, captain. When you were hacking into the computers, did you happen to notice that the Enterprise prefix code was due to be changed?"
"Yes, sir, but it was scheduled for later in the week."
The commodore nodded. "That explains it. Thanks to Chief Engineer Scott, the maintenance work progressed very quickly. The bridge prefix code was updated at 1545 last Sunday. The other systems were changed the next day."
Brandt blinked slowly as the implications of his words sank in.
"Thank you for your assistance in this matter, Captain Brandt." The commodore rose to his feet and she quickly followed suit.
"I intend to regard this as a test of our security measures, captain. You have demonstrated very effectively that our current safeguards are inadequate. Thank you."
"You will, of course, complete the exercise. During the next four weeks, I expect you to dedicate one hundred of your off-duty hours to helping my people close the holes you slipped through."
"Very well." He handed her the data disk. "This is yours, Captain. There are no copies, and the original has suffered irreparable damage."
Brandt turned the disk in her hand, feeling its weight. "Commodore?"
"May I ask--have you spoken to Captain Kirk, sir?"
"I see no reason to. Captain Kirk has the right to visit his ship at any time. So unless there's something I don't know about--"
"Very well. Dismissed, Captain."
Brandt turned and forced herself to walk steadily to the doorway. Once out in the corridor, she slumped against a wall, fanning herself with the disk.
The disk. It was absolutely imperative that she destroy the disk. She set off at a determined pace, then slowed thoughtfully.
/But not until Jim and I have watched it./
She grinned mischievously as her steps quickened. Hacking through four levels of security was child's play compared to this latest challenge--how to share the recording with Jim without revealing how it had come into her possession.
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