"Captain's log, stardate 2407-34" said Captain Kirk. "Progressing with patrol along the neutral zone, investigating the new Klingon star base reported by the Anjin-maru."

"Sir, picking up signals in Klingonese, ordering the dispositions of ships in a battle group," saidUhura, urgently.

"Hell!" said Kirk. "If there's a battle group amassing, we should alert Starbase… Uhura, what intership chatter can you pick up?"

Uhura frowned slightly and her slender brown fingers danced surely over her keyboard.

"I'm not picking up any intership chatter, Captain," she said, sounding more uncertain than was her wont.

"There must be," said Kirk. "Even if it's only computers exchanging information about garbage dump points. Try again; they may have a new secure frequency."

Uhura tried again.

"I have no chatter," she said. "I'm sorry, Captain, I just can't find it."

"Captain," said Spock, "Though I have been unable to collect much data on this new star base, I have located a Klingon-design listening post and data collection drone in this sector."

Kirk stared at him thoughtfully.

"If I reported back the existence of a battle group to Star Fleet, they would almost be required to answer that by amassing a fleet here," he said. "Where would be the most logical place for those ships to come from, Spock?"

"Sector Alpha-17, sir," said Spock, promptly.

"Sector Alpha-17? Why is that familiar?" mused Kirk.

"Sector Alpha -17 contains several experimental colonies with high-yield, highly adaptive food grains and microclimate manipulation technology, sir," said Spock.

"Ah, yes, of course," said Kirk.

"Sir, it's a Maskirovka exercise!" cried Chekov, almost quivering in excitement. "A disinformation and misdirection exercise, to make us think something entirely different from the truth! They want to invade Sector Alpha-17! It was invented in Russia, hundreds of years before space travel! Which of course was invented in Russia," he added.

"I'm afraid, Captain, Mr Chekov is entirely correct on both those facts," said Spock, dryly. Chekov looked smug.

"Open hailing frequencies to Starfleet, Lieutenant Uhura," said Kirk. "use code C which I believe the Klingons have only just broken."

"Hailing frequencies open, sir, code C it is," said Uhura. An officer appeared on the screen.

Kirk smiled.

"Oday T'noay redirect the vessels currently in Sector Alpha-17 to deal with a large potential invasion force at the new Klingon Star Base. Do you understand, Oday T'noay?"

The officer looked startled.

"I – yes, very well, Captain Kirk, it shall be done," he said.

"Kirk out," said Kirk. "Uhura, prepare a coded message to send as tightly as you can as soon as we are out of the range of Mr Spock's listening drone. Mr Sulu, warp factor 8 or better directly backwards."

"Warp 8 backwards, aye, sir," said Sulu.

"Captain," said Spock, "I fail to understand. You may know that young officer by name, but I failed to see any way in which you managed to warn him that the message you sent was not to be obeyed. Unless the act of using code C was sufficient?"

"I don't know if they yet know at Starfleet that the code has been broken," said Kirk, "but I warned him in a way that anyone who has been to a human High School would recognise; because I used backslang. I have no idea what that officer's name might be, but if I fooled you into thinking that the backslang of 'do NOT' was the name Oday T'noay, then I should think I have fooled the Klingons too, shouldn't you?"

"Indubitably," said Spock with a raise of one eyebrow.

"Aye, sir, it was worthy of a Russian!" said Chekov.