An Assassin Among Them Stardate 2259.85

No one on the ship had ever seen her fight before. Amara was fast and she was flexible and acrobatic. She never once hesitated. Hesitation was certain death...that was something the Romulans had ingrained into her. She looked over and saw James, Callista, and Nathan staring at her with stunned looks. James' mouth was hanging slightly open. Callista had never seen anyone fight the way she had. Amara acted like what had just happened was nothing out of the ordinary. 

"You better get him down to the brig before he wakes up," she told Nathan.

Jerik paced back and forth in the brig. Every once in a while he tested the force field. Kirk and Amara were there and Nathan was nearby. Spock and Crewman Salin were located and revived and Kirk called in all of the ships crew. Unfortunately they discovered that one crewman was missing and Kirk doubted they’d ever see him again.

“Why are you on my ship?” Kirk asked. Jerik paused to look at him. Even now he looked smug. “Why, to kill you Captain. That is my orders,” Jerik said. “Why me? Why now?” Kirk asked. “I don’t know those answers Captain,” Jerik said. “I’m a soldier, like you. I do what I’m told,” Jerik said.

Kirk looked at Amara. He was upset with her now but he decided that she was right about not discussing their personal business out in the open. It was that she had that affect on his emotions and drove him nuts sometimes.

Amara was still upset over her earlier discussion with James. She did want to marry James, but she wanted him to truly want to marry her and none of his answers had convinced her of that. However, now she was also upset about crewman Johnson's death at Jerik's hands and the fact that he had tried to kill James. "Well, you failed Jerik...again." It was then that she was notified that Sloan, the Section 31 Commander, was onboard. She stepped out to go meet him and James followed her.

Sloan was waiting in the ready room. Spock was at the con with Scarlett close to him, talking to him. Sulu was at navigation although the ship wasnt going anywhere. Scarlett and Spock stopped talking and Spock stood up. "Your ready room Captain," Spock said. Kirk waved at him. "Its alright Spock," Kirk said as Amara followed him. Sloan was sitting in his chair looking at his desktop screen. He stood up. "Ah, Captain Kirk. I've always wanted to meet you," Sloan said and moved to shake his hand. Kirk shook it.

"Agent Sloan, what's this about? We're quite busy," Kirk said. He was suspicious of Section 31 being so interested in what was happening. Unfortunately, that now carried over to Amara. 'Was there something she wasn't telling me?' He wondered. "Well Kirk, You have a Sulabon prisoner in your brig and I'd like him turned over to us," Sloan said. Kirk chuckled. "I bet you would. I'm not done with him, not by a longshot Sloan. And you can forget trying to portray him as just another Sulabon. He's some kind of Agent. An agent of some Cabal. Genetically Enhanced. My doctor has never seen anything like it. That kind of technology doesn't even exist yet," Kirk said.

"Well, that's why we want him, for study," He said. "And questions...a lot of questions need answers Kirk," Sloan said.

Amara stood there quietly as she glanced from Sloan to James. Amara had had to report to Section 31 what had happened, but she had not known that Sloan was going to be coming, although now that she thought about it she should have expected it. She knew that James was not happy about Sloan being there. She looked at Sloan, but she knew she needed to be careful here. "Jerik was taken prisoner on a Starfleet ship inside a Starfleet station."

"Well, there are larger concerns at stake Amara. Specifically who gives agents like Jerik his orders," Sloan said. Amara knew like he did that The enhancements were not possible from this time. The technology didn't exist. Section 31 theorized that Agents of the Cabal were getting their orders from someone in the future. Jerik was a higher level agent and Sloan knew he knew things. They needed to get their hands on him. Kirk grew suspicious by what Sloan was saying.

"Who do you think he takes his orders from?" Kirk asked. "If I knew that Captain, I wouldn't need to ask him that," Sloan said. "And besides that, he murdered a member of my crew and tried to murder me," Kirk said.

"Captain, Jerik is wanted for several murders. Justice for your crewman will need to take a back seat," Sloan said. "The hell it does," Kirk said.

"Captain," Sloan said in a tone like he was lecturing an impatient child. "One way or the other, Jerik is coming with me. I'd much rather it be with your cooperation than having to go over your head," Sloan said. Amara sensed Kirk was fuming angry. Kirk stepped up to Sloan. Sloan could waste him in seconds but he didn't move. "I'm warning you Sloan...You don't want me as an enemy," Kirk said threateningly. "Kirk, If you don't mind, I need to talk to...'my' Agent...alone if you please," He said. Kirk blinked at the audacity of the man. To dismiss him from his own ready room. Kirk looked over at Amara and saw the worry in her eyes. When she tried to forestall his departure he shifted away from her grasp and left them alone.

Sloan was an arrogant asshole. Or so Natasha had said. based upon how upset Kirk was. Amara's difficulties with Kirk just got alot more complicated. Kirk had warned her of this happening and now it was. "What do you see in him Amara?" Sloan asked. "He doesn't respect the chair, he's reckless and inexperienced," Sloan said.

Amara of course knew that this whole situation with Jerik was far more complicated than it seemed. They couldn't just kill him. Amara was in a place she didn't want to be. She was stuck between Section 31 and the man she loved...a Starfleet Captain and seeing the look in James' eye and the way he walked away from her crushed her. 

She shook her head and looked at Sloan. "James happens to be the most caring and selfless man I have ever met. He would lay down his own life for any member of this crew...no matter their rank. He has heart...something you're lacking. You may think that makes him weak, but it actually makes him stronger than you'll ever be. He's the man I love...the only man I will ever love and I won't be put up against him. I'll take my own life first," she told him and she meant it.

Sloan looked at her and grinned. "Oh come now Amara. I'm not asking for much. He'd escape from here eventually. I don't think you and Kirk want me to get Starfleet Command involved. Talk to him, change his mind, and everyone goes home happy," Sloan said. Amara knew what Sloan could do. He could ground Enterprise, have Kirk brought in for questioning, have Kirk remanded to a desk job. "You think that it's just you with something to lose. You're a Section 31 agent. And you'll do what you're told like a good, little girl. I'm going to get Jerik, one way or another. I can get him easy, or real easy...you're choice," he said then got up and left.

Amara didn't leave. She just stood there for a moment before she sank down into a chair. She put her head in her hands. She heard someone walk in and she knew it was James before he even spoke. "I don't know what to do James, but I can't do this. My only choices now are to leave you and never see you again, or stay here and continue to let them manipulate me against you just like the Romulans did to me. I never should have gone with Natasha, but she made me believe it was my only choice."

Kirk looked at her when he came in and noticed how upset she was. "Amara, I doubt you were that naive. I know I wasn't. I am certain, because we know you're an Agent, that your use to them is limited. What does he want? Jerik?" He said. "If I give him up, what then? He may be a criminal but he doesn't deserve to be treated like some lab rat. They'll find ways to coerce you into doing what they need so you might as well tell me what they are coercing you with. Is it me? My ship? My career?" he asked. When she nodded Kirk thought about that. "I can do something Amara, but I won't unless you ask it of me. You made promises to them and to me and you're going to have to figure out how to dance on that edge. i want to feel sympathy for you and to comfort you right now but I can't," Kirk said. "I won't be manipulated by you or by Sloan," Kirk warned her.

Amara felt tears start to stream down her cheeks. She was suddenly right back where she had been a year ago. Nothing has changed except that she was now being manipulated by someone else. “I only started working for them because I was told you and I could still be together. That was my mistake James. I should have just let Starfleet kill me. I knew deep down that this was going to happen, but I hoped I could find a way. Clearly, I failed at that. I cannot continue with this and have you look at me the way you did before. You deserve better than me James. I’m sorry for all the pain I’ve caused you. I refuse to be the monster any more.”

She got up and walked past him out of the ready room. Her intention was to turn herself over to Yorktown guards. This was no game she was playing to manipulate James.

Kirk followed her into the turbolift. When she started it up he stopped it and the grabbed her by her upper arms. He was angry. "They wont leave you be Amara and I wont let you go. Starfleet won't help you but I can. You just need to tell me how. I'm willing to work with you but you need to ask. If we married you'd still be beholding to them. And if you go, Sloan just might mothball my career anyway. "Is that what you want? Me to be thrown out?" he said and shook her. "Is it?" He asked her.

Amara was extremely upset and she shook her head as tears continued to stream down her cheeks. “Of course not. I love you James.” She looked down and she clenched her fists as she worked up the will to just say it. “You need to turn Jerik over to Sloan.” She felt sick to her stomach saying it and she turned away from James. “I just to be in control of my own life. My entire life I’ve been manipulated and used. I can’t remember the last time I actually felt free or didn’t hate myself.”

Kirk blinked and loosed his grip on her. She had saved his life. He had to remember that. He owed her and he didn't like owing anyone. "Take him then," he said and he let her go and flipped out his communicator. "Lt. Nathan Quinn," he said," "Quinn here," He said. "Nathan, put Jerik in a stasis pod. Amara Novak is on her way to take possession and to make arrangements with Agent Sloan to take him," Kirk said as the turbo lift resumed. "He tapped on the turbo lifts voice controls. "Take me to the Brig," He said and then moved and kissed Amara, deeply. He tasted the salt from her tears but felt her kissing him back. The turbo lift opened and he used his thumbs to wipe her tears from her cheeks.

"Go do what you need to do...Jerik's all yours," Kirk said. Kirk wasn't happy at all about this, but they were in a pickle and they needed to play ball, one way or another. Who's fault it is and the reasons why didn't really matter anymore. Not if they wanted to remain together.

Amara’s hatred of herself only grew in that moment. She didn’t want to do this, but she had to. She stepped off the turbo lift and met Quinn. She made the arrangements with Sloan to take possession of Jerik. Jerik was placed into a stasis pod and Amara guarded the pod as it was loaded into Sloan’s ship. Amara said nothing to Sloan. She was angry at the situation she was in. She watched as Sloan left. It was late by this time and Amara was hold that James had gone back to the hotel. She wasn't sure what they were going to do, but she loved him and she wanted to try...something...anything. She still believed James deserved better than her, but if he wanted her then they needed to make this work. 

She walked back to the hotel and hesitated a moment before she opened the door and walked in. She closed the door behind her and she looked at James. She didn't need to tell him that Jerik was gone, he knew that already.

Kirk had been waiting for Amara. He held up a glass of...something reddish in color with an ice cube in it. He had one half gone in his other hand. Kirk had had time to think. It would be better for his career if he had never met Amara but thinking of letting her go now. Of never seeing her again made his chest ache and bile rise up into his throat. Nope, that's not going to happen. It can't happen because his heart would not allow it. It didn't matter what his mind tried to tell him. 'That she's trouble and difficult and complicated'. And yet he wanted her badly. He wanted her lips on his and her body against him. he wanted to feel her warm breath in his mouth and her hands on him. He wanted the scent of her to fill his nose. He wanted to be inside of her most of all. To feel her body yielding to his. Amara was an abyss of love and desire and warmth and pleasure that he wanted to wrap himself up in like a blanket forever. 'What is wrong with you man!?' He wondered. He was James T. Kirk and he could get any woman he wanted. But, everything he was kept coming back round to her.

He could tell that she had been crying. Kirk was still in his uniform. When she took the glass he saw her tip it up and take a healthy swallow. It tasted like a strong, sweet Bourbon or whiskey. It burned her throat on the way down but left a pleasant, spiced after taste in her mouth. "I'm glad you came back. It saved me the trouble of having to find you and drag you back here," Kirk said. His tone was neutral. Not angry, not sad, not happy, just neutral and his face could go either way in its expression.

"I keep asking myself if all of this is too much for me. But I don't ask you the same question. You're the one that has to live it. I can compromise Amara. And I can keep secrets. I think I've proven that. I know this is going to be hard on you but if you want me in your life. Well, lets just start with that, do you want me in your life?" He decided to ask, He knew his answer already.

Amara desperately needed a strong drink and she was relieved when she saw James had already poured one for her. That right there showed her just how much he knew her and knew what she needed. She took the glass and took a big sip. It burned a little, but the warming effect was nice and she already felt herself starting to relax. She heard what James said and she looked over at him.

"James, you are the only good thing in my life...you've been the only good thing in my life. Without you I would have no reason to continue on. I don't deserve you...I'll freely admit that, but yes, I want you in my life...I need you in my life. You're the closest thing to a family I have. You're the only person who has ever really and truly cared about me...at least that I can remember. You've never tried to manipulate or use me. You just want to love me and because of that you make me a better person. So, yes...I want you to always be in my life."

Kirk looked at Amara as she spoke. Her vivid blue eyes looked sad and tired. "Well that's a good start. I've been...busy while you...tied up that loose end," Kirk said and he had been busy. Kirk wasn't a gambling man though he had bluffed, taken chances and bet against the odds. Amara was a gamble as well. But that made this that much sweeter in his opinion.

He shifted and took her drink and together with his own he set them down on the coffee table and reached into his pocket. "Then marry me," Kirk said as the ring he had just picked out was held between his fingers for her to see. He thought it would fit her finger and he tried to anticipate what she'd like. He doubt she'd wear it often, none of his married crew wore such things unless they were off duty. It was an old, earth custom, this exchanging of rings but it felt right. His father had done it this way to his mother so why shouldn't he?

With her medium complexion he went with gold and one large, radiant cut diamond in the center with 2 smaller radiant cut diamonds on the sides with a platinum setting. He didn't give her time to think he just slipped it onto her finger.

Amara actually gasped and she could see a small smirk on James' face that told her that he liked her reaction. After everything that had happened that night she hadn't expected him to actually still want to marry her. However, clearly she had been very wrong about that. She wanted to argue with him and try to ensure that this was what he wanted as well, but as she looked into his eyes she could tell that it was. Amara was not one to cry, but tonight had been an emotional roller coaster for her and fresh tears came to her eyes. However, unlike the ones before, these tears were happy tears. "Yes, I will."

Kirk smiled a confident smile. "Well that's good because its happening tomorrow morning. Spock, Elyse, McCoy and Scarlett will be at the Admiral's office at 0900," Kirk said and the look on her face only made him smile more," he said. "I figured you'd need something to wear. I had Yeoman Bates transport them to the Hotel. Their hanging up in the closet. I also have something else to give you," He said and pulled a small box out of his pocket. He opened it to reveal Lieutenant pips for her uniform. "I'm giving you your old rank back, its official now and logged. Its only a field commission, Starfleet would not accept my recommendation but aboard the Enterprise, it will be as nothing is different," Kirk said as he touched her face. "Now, I think I deserve a smile Lieutenant," he said grinning like a school boy. All he had seen were tears thus far. He wanted to see her smile now. As she flung her arms around him and kissed him he pulled her back.

"Whoa whoa whoa, There's one more thing to clear up!" he said. "Am I still a stupid, stupid man?" He asked. Before she could answer though he put a finger on her lips. "Well, maybe its best you keep that to yourself," He said and then replaced his finger with his lips. They ended up with her curled up in his lap and they had refreshed drinks in their hands. She had taken off her jacket but she still had on her shirt and they were just talking and planning. She was definitely smiling now as if the tears hadn't fallen just a little while ago.

"Amara Kirk, I kinda like it," Kirk said.

To say that Amara was completely overwhelmed by what was happening would be the understatement of the century. A year ago, she never would have imagined that they would be a this point...but here they were. James' trust in her meant more to her than she could have ever expressed. She just didn't know how she would ever pay him back for everything he had done for her. 

They kissed for a while before she settled down onto his lap. There were no more tears now...only smiles and kisses. She grinned a little as she thought about the name. "I like that too." She took a sip of her drink and then looked at him. "How did you pull all of this off?" she asked in regards to the ring and the wedding plans.

"Well, I called in a couple of favors and I have an entire crew to work with," Kirk said. "I picked out the ring myself though," Kirk said. "The wedding rings...Spock has those," He said. "I've asked Chef to enlist help into doing a reception for us on the ship tomorrow evening. Then its 2 days of shore leave for everyone before we get back in the saddle," Kirk said. He liked Amara like this. Hopeful and happy. And she felt very nice in his lap. He liked how she touched his inner thigh casually like there wasn't a part of him that was off limits to her. He had his left around around her waist and her hair dangled down onto his shoulder.

"I...found another Vulcan Spa. Its actually a chain of them I think. I scheduled us for an afternoon the day after tomorrow," Kirk said quite pleased with himself. Bates took care of that too but Amara didn't have to know that. "You should have seen Elyse's face when I told her what I was planning," Kirk said.

Amara was quite impressed with everything that James had put together. She looked down at the ring again and smiled. The ring was extremely beautiful and it meant a lot to her that he had picked it out himself. She knew that not a lot of married people wore rings anymore, but she didn't plan to take hers off unless she had to. She knew that she and James had a lot that they needed to discuss and figure out, but right now she just wanted to focus on something happier. 

She laughed a little when he mentioned the look on Elyse's face when he had told her about what he was planning. "I can only imagine." Took another small sip of her drink and then smiled at him. "Do you remember when we first met at the sim at the Academy?"

Kirk paused as he thought about what she asked. Then he smiled. "Yes I do. As I recall, you had quite the chip on your shoulder. But I think I put you sufficiently in your place. I changed the mission so you'd have to do something other than what you were trained to do," Kirk said.

Amara laughed a little and looked at him. "I thought you were cocky, overly confident, infuriating...and extremely handsome. I think that infuriated me even more. So...not a lot has changed," she teased with a grin.