A Touch of Diplomacy, Part One

by J. Rosemary Moss

Genre: Slash Fan Fiction (Star Trek; Kirk-Spock-McCoy)

Rating: R

Summary: Kirk and Spock have a bad habit of underestimating Bones...

~

The seven officers stared at the map laid out on the table before them—a map that represented, primarily, Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century, before World War I. It was a work of art, this map, and an elegant rendering of boundaries, provinces and supply centers.

"Well, gentlemen," Kirk began, "do we all understand the rules of the game?"

"Yes sir," Sulu piped up. "Each one of us will represent a world power—and each of us will attempt to take over the world by wiping everyone else off the map."

Some laughter greeted that summary. Kirk grinned as he answered. "Correct, Mr. Sulu. But don't forget that a joint victory of however many players is possible. Say Scotty and Uhura here teamed up and wiped the rest of us off the map—they could agree to claim the win together.

"Or one of them can choose to stab the other in the back," Chekov pointed out.

"Precisely," Spock agreed. "One must choose one's allies carefully—hence the game is called Diplomacy."

"Captain," Uhura said, slanting her eyes at him, "this game seems designed to bring about hard feelings."

Bones grinned at that and put a comforting arm over her shoulders. "Why, Lieutenant, it's a game that encourages lies, intrigues and betrayals—how could that possibly lead to hard feelings?"

More laughter followed that remark—from everyone, Kirk noted, except Spock.

Apparently the Vulcan believed himself above 'hard feelings.'

"Are we ready to draw our countries?" Kirk asked. "Remember, this is the only random element in the game. After this, everything depends on your strategy and powers of negotiation."

A round of nods followed. Kirk stepped up to his first officer and held out a small, black velvet bag to the Vulcan. Spock put his hand inside it and drew a marker.

"France," he said. Then he looked down at the map thoughtfully.

Kirk turned to McCoy next. "Doctor?"

McCoy drew from the bag. "Russia," he said, grinning apologetically at Chekov, who looked crushed at the thought of someone else controlling his beloved homeland.

Kirk, meanwhile, turned to Mr. Scott. "Scotty?"

The engineer drew a marker and then stared at it eagerly. "England!" he exclaimed. "That means I control Scotland," he added with a note of pride.

Kirk smiled and turned to Uhura. "Lieutenant?"

She closed her eyes as she put her hand into the bag. "Austria-Hungary," she said, opening her eyes again to examine her draw. "I suppose we'll just call that Austria to keep it simple."

Sulu was next. "Germany," he said, after drawing. Then he furrowed his brow at the map.

Now it was Chekov's turn. "Italy," he said—but he couldn't disguise his disappointment. He was still sore about Russia, it seemed.

"Well, that leaves me with Turkey," Kirk said, glancing at the map. "Very well, gentlemen, we all have our countries now. We know what provinces and supply centers we control. Now our negotiations will commence. We'll meet back here in twenty-four hours, at which point we'll reveal our orders for our fleets and armies. Any questions?"

Everyone shook their heads. Kirk nodded, satisfied. The game had begun.

~

Kirk stepped into his quarters, tugged off his gold uniform shirt, and ordered the computer to pull up a copy of the map. As the computer complied, Kirk frowned at the screen. He liked his draw—Turkey would be an interesting country to defend and expand—but it presented certain difficulties.

For starters, he was far from Spock. That was a damn shame. Spock was likely to be his chief rival in the game—or his closest ally. Kirk had hoped either to wipe him off the face of the map in the early turns, or to make an immediate collaborator of him. But Spock was too far away at the moment for Kirk to try either approach.

He wasn't close to Sulu either—and Sulu would probably turn out to be his next most dangerous opponent, after Spock. Again, he could neither wipe Sulu off the map nor make a friend of him…not in the early turns.

Kirk sighed. He had three immediate problems: Dr. McCoy, Uhura and Chekov. All three of them would be squabbling with Kirk—and each other—over the unclaimed provinces to the west of Turkey.

Of those three, Dr. McCoy was the least dangerous. Bones just didn't have what it takes to succeed in a game like Diplomacy. He wouldn't be able to set his compassion aside for the sake of winning the game—he just wasn't ruthless enough.

But, ironically, Bones was Kirk's biggest headache right now. Bones was the only one who could attack him directly. The doctor could send a fleet from Sevastopol to attack Kirk in Constantinople, Ankara or Armenia. So Kirk would either have to make an ally out of Bones or he'd have to destroy the good doctor as soon as possible.

But it seemed a shame to destroy someone who would prove such a weak opponent in the long run. He wasn't risking much by letting Bones hang around for now—it'd be easy enough to eliminate him later. And, besides, Bones might prove a valuable ally in the early stages of the game.

As if on cue, Kirk's door slid open and McCoy stepped in unannounced. He smiled at his captain as he walked up to him, slipped his arms around Kirk's waist and kissed him soundly.

Kirk pulled Bones tighter against him and opened his mouth to him. Then he deepened the kiss as he explored the doctor's mouth—and then felt himself growing hard as the two men drew even closer together, pressing against each other.

Bones was just as aroused as he was. Kirk couldn't have planned this better. He could forget the game for now and make love to his partner instead—but he could bring up an alliance when they were both satiated and basking in the afterglow.

He smiled as he broke apart from Bones. "Spock won't be off duty for another couple of hours—which means I have you all to myself for a change."

Bones grinned. "It's been a while, hasn't it? We'll add this to our list of things we didn't think about when we became a threesome—scheduling. A pedestrian concern, perhaps, but a necessary one."

"True. How do we ensure that I get enough time just with you—and you and Spock get enough time—"

"And you and Spock get enough time," Bones finished for him. Then he favored Kirk with a mischievous grin. "You don't think working around scheduling conflicts makes us too ordinary and bourgeois, do you?"

"I think once you're involved in a three-way relationship, you're forever exempt from the bourgeois label," Kirk assured him as he began to kiss Leonard's neck.

He felt Bones tugging at his black t-shirt and allowed him to pull it off and toss it aside—and he returned the favor by stripping off the doctor's uniform shirt and t-shirt. Then Kirk ran a trail of kisses down Leonard's chest, lingering on each nipple…and then down his stomach…until the good doctor's trousers were noticeably in the way.

But it was easy enough to fix that. A frantic minute later the trousers were dispatched and Kirk was kneeling in front of Bones as Bones clutched his shoulders.

Kirk teased him with his tongue, forcing Bones to shudder as his fingers dug into Kirk's skin. But the captain was determined to take his sweet time—and if that tormented the good doctor so much the better.

But he couldn't torture Bones forever. With a deep feeling of personal satisfaction, Kirk allowed his lover to climax. Then the pair of them somehow made it to the bunk, where Bones all but tore off the rest of Kirk's clothes.

"Jim," he whispered as he began to reciprocate. Kirk closed his eyes and gave himself up to it—this was one time when he didn't need to be in control.

A few minutes later both men were drenched in sweat, fully spent. They lay entwined on the bunk together, just enjoying the scent and the warmth and the nearness of each other.

"I've got a bit of strategy to discuss with you," Kirk said as he nestled his head against Leonard's shoulder.

"Please don't tell me you were thinking of the game all this time," Bones warned him.

"I wasn't," Kirk promised. "I was thinking about it before hand, however. And, ah, I hoped you'd be nice and mellow by the time we got to talking about it. Bones—what you need is a strong ally."

"And you think you should be that ally?"

"Well, otherwise, I'll be forced to attack you. I can't have your fleet pointed straight at my provinces."

"I can appreciate that, Jim-boy. But I'll tell you something—I'm not sure I wouldn't be better off with a different ally."

Kirk frowned at that. "Who's approached you so far—and what did they offer you?"

"Well, let's just say that there are some folks who'd like to see you taken out early, O Captain, my Captain. For their own peace of mind, you understand."

"Traitors," Kirk said, smiling appreciatively. "But just think of it, Bones—if you and I ally ourselves against Uhura, we can divide the unclaimed provinces to my west and then carve up Austria-Hungary between us."

Bones stifled a yawn. "Somehow I don't think Uhura will go down without a fight."

"She won't," Kirk admitted. "She'll ally herself with either Sulu or Chekov—maybe both. But, if we make the right deals, we can ensure that Sulu and Chekov both have other problems to worry about—we can keep them too busy to ride to Uhura's rescue. Come on, Bones. What do you say?"

"I'm not sure yet, Jim. I can't help but think that I might be a little safer if you were out of the game."

"Nonsense," Kirk said. "You'll last a hell of a lot longer with me as your ally. Sulu would turn on you in a second. Ditto for Chekov. Hell, you can't even trust Uhura past a few rounds. And Spock and Scotty are too far away from you to do any good."

Bones was silent for a moment. "I'll last a hell of a lot longer with you?" he said, repeating Kirk's words. "Why do I get the feeling, Jim, that you don't think I can win this game?"

Kirk swore silently at himself. "I didn't mean to imply that—it's just that, well, look. Spock and I are probably the most dangerous players, followed by Sulu."

"How can you tell?" Bones demanded. "None of us have ever played this game before."

"But we've played plenty of other strategy games," Kirk pointed out. "It's always come down to me, Spock and Sulu."

"None of those other games focused on diplomacy, though," Bones retorted.

"True," Kirk owned. "And I don't seem to be doing very well on the diplomatic front right now. Tell you what: ally yourself with me and I promise that we will remain allies until we've eliminated both Uhura and Sulu—at which point we'll renegotiate our alliance. I won't strike you or vice-versa until after that renegotiation."

Kirk paused significantly and stared up at his lover. "Come on, Bones. I'm offering you half the unclaimed provinces to the west of me and half of Austria-Hungary—plus an alliance that'll last a large part of the game. Have you got a better offer than that?"

"No," Bones admitted. "Providing we can pull this off—and providing you keep your word."

"We can pull this off," Kirk insisted, as he gave Bones a peck on the lips. "And I'm trusting you to keep your word too."

Which was a fairly safe bet, Kirk added to himself, considering that Bones wasn't ruthless enough to turn on him. At least as long as Kirk did nothing to annoy him or to spark some righteous indignation in him.

Bones rolled his eyes. "All right, Jim-boy. You've got your alliance."

"Shall we shake on it?" Kirk asked, holding out his hand.

But Bones shook his head. "No," he answered, grinning. "I think we can come up with a more interesting way to seal the deal…"

LINK TO PART TWO