“So let me get this straight,” said McCoy, frowning at the three people in front of him.  “You're telling me that there's another universe, just like ours, but over a hundred years in the future, and Nero came from there.”

  “That is correct, Doctor,” said Spock.  It was the first time he'd spoken all evening; he had mostly listened, head bowed, seeming more than usually detached.

  “. . .right.  And some old Spock came from there too, and he used to be the Emperor.”

  “You got it, Bones.”  Kirk smiled.  He'd been doing all the explaining.  To hear him talk, everything was perfectly logical and obvious.

  “Okay.  So there's this future-emperor-Spock, and our Spock ripped his soul out and knows everything he knew, so now we can take over the Empire.”  McCoy snorted.  “And you actually believe any of this?”

  “Bones, I met the other Spock.  He's real.  With his memories in Spock's head -”

  “So what if he was real?  How do we know that he was really an emperor?  Or that he really knew as much as he said he did?  For that matter, how do we know Spock's actually got his soul?  I never heard of anything like that, have you?  Sounds crazy to me.  If you ask me Spock's just finally gone 'round the bend.  It's all in his head!”

  “It really isn't, Doctor,” Uhura said softly.  She laid her hand on Spock's arm, staring at McCoy.  “Trust me.  It's all real.”  And she looked at him steadily, and he had to turn away.

  He grumbled for a moment more, then turned to the man beside him.  “And you!  You say you knew about all this?”

  “Oh, aye,” said Scott.  “Well – that is, I knew that there was some vulcan from the future, but I dinnae know that he was our Mr. Spock.  Uh, or that he was some emperor.  Uh, nor that the commander had eaten his brains, neither-”

  “I did not eat his brain, Mr. Scott.  I simply removed his katra.”

  “-aye, that.  But, uh, I believe it.  Makes sense enough to me.”  He shrugged.  “If th' Captain says it's so, it's so.”

  McCoy scowled and stared at the floor for a few seconds.  He sighed.  “All right.  Suppose it's true.  Why tell us?  Scott and I, we're not in the command track.  We're not exactly powerful friends to make on your rise to power.”

  Kirk grinned smugly.  “Ah, but you are.  Spock and I may have plans for the admiralty and the Empire, but we have to start on this ship.  We'll be carefully shaping our missions, using our rewards. .  It'll be a lot easier to do that if we have the department heads backing us up.  A few extra requests here, a few altered reports there . . a chance to model some of the new policies we want to introduce . .”  He shrugged.  “Something this big, Bones, I really don't want you working against me.”

  McCoy was quiet, mulling all of this over.  Scott took advantage of the pause to ask, “Er, what I'd like to know is, what's in it for us?”

  “Why, Scotty!  I'm surprised you have to ask!”  The captain spread his hands wide.  “If you help me, you'll have my help in return.  You'll be able to run your departments without interference from some nosy bureaucrat . . or having to worry about ambitious underlings.  You'll get an extra share of the plunder from all of our missions, completely off the records.  And once we rule the Empire . . ?  Why you'll get whatever you want, of course.  The best lab in Starfleet, with no oversight?  All yours.  A permanent post on the most advanced ship in the fleet?  You got it.  The hardest part will be making up your mind.”  He turned to the doctor.  “Imagine it, Bones.  Anything you want.  Any one you want.  And all you have to do is sit back and let us work.

  “Are you in?”

  Scott and McCoy looked at each other for a long, silent moment.  Then the engineer turned back to Kirk, Spock and Uhura.  “Aye.  I'm in.”

  McCoy sighed.  “You better be right about this, Jim.”

  “Great!  You won't regret it.”  He stood up, grabbed a bottle and glasses from a cabinet.  “This calls for a celebration!” He passed drinks around.

  McCoy frowned as he took his glass, thoughtfully swirling the alcohol in his glass.  “Are you going to tell anyone else about this?”

  “I thought we might invite Sulu and Chekov to join us, once we're sure they can be trusted.  With them, we'll have enough of the departments covered that the whole ship will be ours.”  Kirk smiled, raised his glass.  “Everyone else? Well, they'll just have to wait and see what happens.”

  Uhura raised her glass as well, but in a toast.  “To opportunity.”

  “Aye,” said Scott, and the others joined in:

  “To opportunity.”