Fic: Kings and Pawns - Chapter 16/22
Title: Kings and Pawns
Author: jlneveloff
Movie Adapted: The Count of Monte Cristo
Fandom: Star Trek (TOS Reboot)
Genre: Drama, Action/Adventure, Romance, Angst
Characters/Pairings: Spock/Uhura, Kirk, Pike, McCoy, Gaila primarily & Scotty, Chekov & Sulu to a lesser degree...Oh, also Nero, Spock Prime, Sarek and even Admiral Barnett has a part to play...So pretty much everyone.
Beta: slwmtiondaylite
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~3388
Warnings: Language, mild adult situations, violence and the occasional plot hole
Disclaimer: Star Trek and associated characters created by Gene Roddenberry. I own nothing at all. …which makes me all kinds of sad, ‘cause I really wanna borrow Spock for a while. Based upon the film The Count of Monte Cristo, written by Jay Wolpert (based upon the novel by Alexandre Dumas père) and directed by Kevin Reynolds.
Summary: In a Universe that has always known power and corruption, it is only a matter of time before the power takes over once again and innocent people are sacrificed. Spock/Uhura. Alternate MirrorVerse.
written for the LJ community reel_startrek, Round Two.
Author's Notes: This is my first...well, novel length story, so there is the chance that I may have plot holes...You have been warned ;)
This is also based on the film more so than the novel. I've never read the novel, but I am aware that the film diverted from it greatly.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
KIRK, UHURA, AND THE GOOD DOCTOR
As Captain Kirk attempted to intimidate the leader of the Halkan people, Uhura stood by his side, wishing she could be anywhere else. She was there primarily as translator, otherwise she would have been on the bridge, at the conn, awaiting the Captain’s return. They were on this planet, one of the most peaceful societies in the sector, to obtain dilithium to fuel the Fleet’s ships. The Halkan planet had an abundance of the natural resource and Kirk wanted it. Or rather, they were ordered to obtain it through any means necessary by Admiral Pike. Uhura didn’t know why they have to coerce it out of these people when the Admiral had access to one of the most prolific mines in this Empire, the prison mining colony of Rura Penthe, but orders were orders. Once they were finished here, they were to rendezvous with Admiral Pike at a remote moon for a meeting with a potential weapons seller, a thought that made her cringe inside.
After Spock had been arrested and Uhura was subsequently informed of his execution - her heart still ached if she dwelled on it - she left Starfleet. She ran, so desperately heartbroken that this institution that they had believed in so completely and that was supposed to change everything had betrayed them. Uhura ran and ran with no sense of direction. She had just needed to get away from San Francisco and everything else that reminded her of Spock - but she could never truly escape him, not with him so deeply engrained within and around her. After many months on the run, Kirk finally tracked her down in a run down town in the middle of nowhere on Earth. With much persuasion, he convinced her to rejoin Starfleet, that it was still a place of hope, and that they could one day find justice for what was done to Spock.
Uhura eventually agreed; she was so tired of running. She rejoined the Academy and flew through her remaining classes, graduating at the top of her class. Spock would have been proud; he had told her many times that she was the best student he ever had. Kirk had been serving aboard the Enterprise and was made Captain three years ago after Captain Sulu was declared missing; Starfleet was vague on the details surrounding Sulu’s disappearance but Uhura believed that he had been killed somehow. Once he settled into his new captaincy, Kirk took her to be his chief communications officer and, a little over a year ago, promoted her to first officer, even though she had felt unprepared for such a task. Spock was still first officer of the Enterprise in her mind. How could she ever hope to perform the job as well as he could?
Once she was in the ‘real world,’ so to speak, it became clear that it was all a lie. Starfleet wasn’t any better than it had been when she left. It wasn’t a place of hope; it was a place of despair.
Kirk was not the same man she had known in her Academy years, when he was Spock’s friend. He had changed. Gone was the flirty but annoyingly adorable man who had approached her in that bar in Iowa. He had lulled her into a false sense of hope when he convinced her to come back to the fleet. He had been replaced with a cruel, relentless bastard. His actions towards her and everyone else had made her grow to despise him.
Uhura wanted out. But every time she tried to leave Starfleet, Kirk would hold Spock over her head, threatening to tell Command that their secrets. Part of her wanted him to just go ahead and tell everyone, she wasn’t ashamed of it; she had no reason to be. But then she would remember that wasn’t what Spock would have wanted; he sacrificed himself to save her. She could not let that have been in vain. Someday she would be able to clear his name.
As she translated Kirk’s demands for the dilithium to the Halkans, Uhura inwardly cringed. They were stalwart in their refusal. They didn’t want their resources to be used to fuel violence. While she admired the Halkan’s courage to stand up against the Fleet, she knew that no good would come from it either.
Kirk merely laughed at their leader’s resolute stance. “Okay, fine,” he said, smirking. “I have to say, your determination is quite refreshing. It’s nice to come across people every once in a while that put up a bit of a fight. Too bad it won’t last.”
Uhura translated, tossing in her own words of warning. She didn’t want to see them get hurt. But they ignored her, standing their ground.
Sneering, the Captain pulled out his communications device and called Dr. McCoy. “Hey, Bones,” he spoke into it. “You’ve been dying to test out your latest creation?”
Uhura heard chuckling in response. “Aren’t I always?”
Doctor Leonard McCoy; the man who claimed that he had physical proof that her mind had been warped by Spock, the man who, under his watch as well as orders from Starfleet, subjected her to a battery of psychological tests to prove that she had not been compromised by what they claimed Spock had done to her. As much as she detested Kirk, she hated McCoy more. He was twisted and as much as he played nice to the crew, she knew his real passion laid in the creation of his biological weapons. All in the supposed name of science. She feared what he was going to use on the Halkans.
Smiling sinisterly, Kirk told the doctor to prepare his ‘creation’ for immediate deployment on the Halkans’ homeworld. After McCoy acknowledged the captain’s request, Kirk summoned the transporter room to be on standby, awaiting his orders. Whatever McCoy had up his sleeve, apparently required that they leave immediately.
The Halkans were going to die.
Uhura’s eyes widened in protest as the realization settled in. Kirk waved to the Halkans, who watched in confusion, not understanding his gesture, and lifted his communication device once more, ordering the transporter operator to begin transport. As Uhura looked at the Halkans in desperation, feeling the pain at their incoming demise, she was surrounded in a sea of yellow as her molecules were ripped apart and reassembled back on the Enterprise.
Kirk wasted no time hurrying to the bridge and Uhura rushed behind his longer stride, struggling to keep up. Once they reached the bridge, Kirk ordered the science officer to keep an eye out for the life signs of the Halkans. He wanted to be sure when his job was done. He sat in the captain’s chair while Uhura returned to the communications station, keeping her back turned from the view screen. She didn’t need to see it to know what was going to happen.
“Bridge to Dr. McCoy,” Kirk said, pressing his intercom button on the arm of the chair.
“McCoy here.”
“Anytime you’re ready to fire the blast, go ahead,” Kirk replied.
“Copy that,” McCoy responded, the glee apparent in his voice.
Shortly after that Uhura heard the blast go off and it descend to the Halkans’ capital city. A few minutes later, the science officer confirmed to the captain that all citizens of the city were dead.
Uhura’s heart clenched and her breathing hitched. “Captain,” she said before she was able to stop herself. “Permission to leave the bridge?”
Uhura glanced at Kirk, feeling his eyes boring into hers, as he studied her. A moment later, “Fine, Commander.”
As Uhura was leaving the bridge, Kirk informed the crew that they would be back to collect the dilithium once the poison has dissipated from the air. He then ordered the helm to plot in the course to the rendezvous point with Pike.
**********
Later that night, Uhura wandered to the Captain’s ready room, wanting to confront him about his actions. It was fruitless and useless - nothing would change - but she could not let such actions go by without voicing her disagreement. It was the least she could do. As she steeled herself for the argument they were most likely to have, Uhura paced the hallway in front of Kirk’s ready room, feeling uneasy and nervous. She had been here many times and the room did not hold pleasant memories for her. Nothing on this ship did.
She took several deep breaths before raising her hand and pressed the keypad, asking for permission to enter. She heard Kirk’s authorization and the door unlocked, sliding open. She crossed the threshold cautiously and peered into the room, taking note of the room’s occupants. Kirk rolled his eyes at her presence, and sighed heavily. This wasn’t the first time she had been here, protesting his actions.
“Well, well, well, who do we have here?” A southern drawl came from behind her. Dr. McCoy was here; a fact that made Uhura’s skin crawl.
“Dr. McCoy,” she replied as politely as she could allow herself. McCoy stepped around her, staring down at her. As he moved back toward Kirk’s desk, the Captain stood and walked to her, hands on his hips, waiting for her to speak while his eyes raked over her body with lust.
Uhura glared at the two men, who made no effort to hide their obvious appreciation of her beauty. She hated the mandatory uniform design Starfleet had recently adopted as it invited men to ogle the female officers without using much imagination. Female officers’ uniforms always had short skirts, but this particular style featured a skirt could not get any shorter if it tried, stopping just below the curve of her buttocks. The red uniform bared her midriff, which was wrapped in a golden belt, and the top portion bore no sleeves and had a neckline that was far lower than Uhura felt was professional. Even though she had more than her fair share of men’s gazes upon her in years past, Uhura had become uneasy with the appreciative looks lately and while she knew that no one would dare touch her - being the first officer did have some perks - she kept a dagger safely nestled in the top of her thigh high heeled boots.
Attempting to ignore Kirk and McCoy’s intense gazes, she spoke. “You didn’t have to kill them.”
Her words brought the two men out of their trance and they scoffed, laughing. “Sure I did, Edith,” Kirk replied.
She rolled her eyes at the name he had ‘chosen’ for her. Kirk still insisted on playing that stupid game, trying to figure out her first name, even after all these years. She had never told him. She had never told anyone. The only person who knew it in Starfleet was Spock.
Kirk stepped toward her. “If I didn’t, how else were we going to complete the mission and get the dilithium?”
“There are other dilithium mines in the sector!” Uhura exclaimed. “You didn’t have to kill them!”
McCoy sniggered behind the two of them, eagerly watching the action taking place before him. “Sure, I did, missy,” he said, “How else are we gonna know if the stuff’s effective?”
Uhura scoffed and whirled to face the doctor, an incredulous expression on her face. “Those were people down there! They were not one of your twisted lab experiments! They had lives, friends, family, and who knows what they could have accomplished had we not wiped them out!”
McCoy scrunched up his face in disgust. “Don’t go getting all sentimental on me. It’s survival of the fittest, sweetie, and clearly they weren’t the fittest,” he retaliated with a smirk.
As she made a move to McCoy, Kirk chuckled and placed his hands on her waist from behind, halting her progress. He brought his lips close to her ear. As his breath swept over her, Uhura suppressed a shudder. “Have I told you recently how fucking gorgeous you are when you’re angry?” he asked.
“Ugh!” Uhura groaned before shoving him away from her.
Undeterred, Kirk, along with McCoy, laughed at her actions. Kirk stepped around her, stopping right in front of her. “The Halkans made the fatal mistake of saying ‘no.’ No one says ‘no’ to me,” he whispered harshly, bringing his hand up to touch her hair. Despite her body’s protests to move away from him, Uhura stood her ground. “I would have thought you would have realized that by now.”
Uhura brought her eyes up to meet his defiantly. She was not going to let him get her down. “Touch me again, and I will cut you,” she warned, keeping her hand near her dagger. Ignoring Kirk’s chuckle, she continued. “You’re a bastard. They didn’t need to die,” she reiterated, her voice quiet, harsh and insistent.
Kirk sneered at her and tilted his head, considering her. “I’m starting to think that you’re not cut out to be the first officer anymore, Edna.” He looked over her shoulder. “What do you think, Bones?”
“I’ve been telling you that since you decided it was a good idea,” McCoy replied, his voice behind her. “See where it’s gotten you?”
Kirk shrugged. “She’s good at her job with that talented tongue of hers,” he replied matter-of-factly while smirking. “Plus it’s always nice to have a gorgeous woman to show off.”
“That’s just like you, Jim,” the doctor rolled his eyes. “Always thinking with your other head. Woman’s not good enough for being in charge.”
Uhura paid no attention to McCoy’s comment, continuing to stare at Kirk. “I’ll take this to the highest authority I have to. There has to be someone in Starfleet who hasn’t been corrupted, yet.”
McCoy butted in once more. “You’ve got that nasty little stigma of having been a Vulcan’s plaything hanging over your pretty little head. No one in Starfleet is ever going to take a word you say seriously.”
Uhura took a deep breath, attempting to ignore McCoy’s dig at Spock. Even though she had not been formally punished for the relationship she had with Spock, having Spock being labeled a rapist who had taken her mind from her was much worse than any punishment as far as she was concerned.
Kirk stepped even closer to her, if that was possible, and stared down at her, lust in his eyes. Uhura maintained the gaze, her gaze harsh. He sighed softly and brought a hand to her face gently, belying his cruel nature. He trailed his hand down her shoulder, her arm and to her waist once again and pulled her against him. Uhura remained stoic, unresponsive to his touch as he brought his lips to her throat, before whispering in her ear. “Maybe you would be better suited to being my woman.”
Uhura finally moved. Her hand quickly moved to the dagger at her thigh, grabbing it and jerked her hand forward, cutting Kirk’s chest lightly. In surprise and pain, he jumped back, hand moving to the wound. She held the dagger up, pointed at the captain. “Never,” she avowed, her voice hard.
She turned on her heel and began to move to the door, sidestepping the amused McCoy, but was quickly pulled back against Kirk’s chest. He spoke harshly in her ear. “Just keep reminding yourself that because of me, you haven’t ended up in prison like your boy Spock. I’d hate to imagine what would happen to you if I accidentally let your secret slip.”
Attempting to ignore his comment, Uhura jerked away from him and left the ready room.
**********
Gaila knocked on the door Spock’s quarters. It was late morning. Typically he would be awake by now, but she supposed the events of the past few days had drained him. She couldn't possibly imagine how it felt to see and speak to the man who had sent him to prison after so many years. The restraint he showed when she was sure he wanted to rip his throat out -she sure did - but he was Vulcan after all, the very epitome of calm.
Not hearing a sound, Gaila overrode the security code to his quarters before quietly and slowly entering. Perhaps he was deep in meditation, which could explain why he didn’t answer; there had been several times when such had occurred in the past. Her eyes scanned over the living area and, not seeing him, she moved towards the bedroom. The door was closed and she cracked it open, peering in. He wasn’t on the bed. “Hmm, that’s odd,” she whispered to herself. Where was he?
Gaila walked fully into the room and searched the room for a hint, something to tell her where he was. She had information that she knew he’d want. There was a soft rustling on the other side of the bed, on the ground, and she walked in the direction of the sound, peering around the edge of the bed. Spock was on the ground, sleeping.
“Spock?” Gaila said his name quietly, stepping toward him.
He stirred at his name. He turned his head in the direction of her voice and she spoke his name once more, trying to wake him further. His current lethargic state told her that he did not sleep well last night. Gaila knew that Vulcans don’t require as much sleep as say, a human, or even her, an Orion, but he had been awake for days preparing for the Admiral’s appearance. His mind must have been going at a thousand miles an hour contemplating his plan now that it was finally here.
“Forgive me,” he said, his voice drowsy and he lifted himself to his elbows and rubbed his face. “I had difficulty sleeping.”
Gaila shook her head. “It’s no problem,” she reassured him. “I was just wondering if you were okay.”
He nodded. “I am well.”
Gaila looked from him and to the bed, finally unable to keep the question in, she asked, “Why are you sleeping on the floor?”
He followed her gaze to the bed and gave a slight shrug. “I have found that after many years of sleeping on a stone slab, I cannot seem to become accustomed to anything else.”
She nodded, feeling slightly guilty for bringing it up. Spock slowly stood and walked towards his closet, completely unmindful of his nudity. And why should he be? She was Orion after all; it’s not like she would have been offended. But Gaila did gasp when she saw his back, which was completely covered in scars upon scars, crisscrossing across his skin. Her gasp caused him to look at her, wondering what the matter was. She pointed towards his back. “What….the hell happened to you?”
He closed up immediately. “It is none of your concern.” She sighed, and crossed her arms over her chest. That was code for ‘it happened in prison.’ She knew that she would not get a more substantial answer so she clammed up and waited for him to get dressed. Finally, he turned to her. “What is it you need, Gaila?”
Eager to move past the awkward moment, Gaila took a big step toward him and smiled at him. “I was able to remotely connect to the computer on the Admiral’s ship and I learned something quite interesting about Kirk.” She paused for dramatic effect but Spock glowered at her, urging her to continue. Sighing, because he always managed to suck what little fun she had away, she continued. “It seems that Kirk was stuck at Lieutenant Commander for like ten years under Sulu. It was only in the last three years that he finally was promoted to Captain. And only because Sulu went ‘missing.’” she finished, making air quotes with her fingers.
Spock’s interest piqued and she saw his brain working overtime, theorizing on the scenarios that could have happened to Sulu. Personally, Gaila had her own theory, but since it was not her revenge, she kept quiet, wanting Spock to figure it out. “I have my suspicions on what happened to Sulu,” Spock said after a moment. “But I believe it would be best to attempt to investigate as we can from here. Questioning Kirk would be a good place to start.”
Gaila nodded and smiled. “Well, you’ll get your chance to do that because the Enterprise arrived a few minutes ago.”
Author: jlneveloff
Movie Adapted: The Count of Monte Cristo
Fandom: Star Trek (TOS Reboot)
Genre: Drama, Action/Adventure, Romance, Angst
Characters/Pairings: Spock/Uhura, Kirk, Pike, McCoy, Gaila primarily & Scotty, Chekov & Sulu to a lesser degree...Oh, also Nero, Spock Prime, Sarek and even Admiral Barnett has a part to play...So pretty much everyone.
Beta: slwmtiondaylite
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~3388
Warnings: Language, mild adult situations, violence and the occasional plot hole
Disclaimer: Star Trek and associated characters created by Gene Roddenberry. I own nothing at all. …which makes me all kinds of sad, ‘cause I really wanna borrow Spock for a while. Based upon the film The Count of Monte Cristo, written by Jay Wolpert (based upon the novel by Alexandre Dumas père) and directed by Kevin Reynolds.
Summary: In a Universe that has always known power and corruption, it is only a matter of time before the power takes over once again and innocent people are sacrificed. Spock/Uhura. Alternate MirrorVerse.
written for the LJ community reel_startrek, Round Two.
Author's Notes: This is my first...well, novel length story, so there is the chance that I may have plot holes...You have been warned ;)
This is also based on the film more so than the novel. I've never read the novel, but I am aware that the film diverted from it greatly.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
KIRK, UHURA, AND THE GOOD DOCTOR
As Captain Kirk attempted to intimidate the leader of the Halkan people, Uhura stood by his side, wishing she could be anywhere else. She was there primarily as translator, otherwise she would have been on the bridge, at the conn, awaiting the Captain’s return. They were on this planet, one of the most peaceful societies in the sector, to obtain dilithium to fuel the Fleet’s ships. The Halkan planet had an abundance of the natural resource and Kirk wanted it. Or rather, they were ordered to obtain it through any means necessary by Admiral Pike. Uhura didn’t know why they have to coerce it out of these people when the Admiral had access to one of the most prolific mines in this Empire, the prison mining colony of Rura Penthe, but orders were orders. Once they were finished here, they were to rendezvous with Admiral Pike at a remote moon for a meeting with a potential weapons seller, a thought that made her cringe inside.
After Spock had been arrested and Uhura was subsequently informed of his execution - her heart still ached if she dwelled on it - she left Starfleet. She ran, so desperately heartbroken that this institution that they had believed in so completely and that was supposed to change everything had betrayed them. Uhura ran and ran with no sense of direction. She had just needed to get away from San Francisco and everything else that reminded her of Spock - but she could never truly escape him, not with him so deeply engrained within and around her. After many months on the run, Kirk finally tracked her down in a run down town in the middle of nowhere on Earth. With much persuasion, he convinced her to rejoin Starfleet, that it was still a place of hope, and that they could one day find justice for what was done to Spock.
Uhura eventually agreed; she was so tired of running. She rejoined the Academy and flew through her remaining classes, graduating at the top of her class. Spock would have been proud; he had told her many times that she was the best student he ever had. Kirk had been serving aboard the Enterprise and was made Captain three years ago after Captain Sulu was declared missing; Starfleet was vague on the details surrounding Sulu’s disappearance but Uhura believed that he had been killed somehow. Once he settled into his new captaincy, Kirk took her to be his chief communications officer and, a little over a year ago, promoted her to first officer, even though she had felt unprepared for such a task. Spock was still first officer of the Enterprise in her mind. How could she ever hope to perform the job as well as he could?
Once she was in the ‘real world,’ so to speak, it became clear that it was all a lie. Starfleet wasn’t any better than it had been when she left. It wasn’t a place of hope; it was a place of despair.
Kirk was not the same man she had known in her Academy years, when he was Spock’s friend. He had changed. Gone was the flirty but annoyingly adorable man who had approached her in that bar in Iowa. He had lulled her into a false sense of hope when he convinced her to come back to the fleet. He had been replaced with a cruel, relentless bastard. His actions towards her and everyone else had made her grow to despise him.
Uhura wanted out. But every time she tried to leave Starfleet, Kirk would hold Spock over her head, threatening to tell Command that their secrets. Part of her wanted him to just go ahead and tell everyone, she wasn’t ashamed of it; she had no reason to be. But then she would remember that wasn’t what Spock would have wanted; he sacrificed himself to save her. She could not let that have been in vain. Someday she would be able to clear his name.
As she translated Kirk’s demands for the dilithium to the Halkans, Uhura inwardly cringed. They were stalwart in their refusal. They didn’t want their resources to be used to fuel violence. While she admired the Halkan’s courage to stand up against the Fleet, she knew that no good would come from it either.
Kirk merely laughed at their leader’s resolute stance. “Okay, fine,” he said, smirking. “I have to say, your determination is quite refreshing. It’s nice to come across people every once in a while that put up a bit of a fight. Too bad it won’t last.”
Uhura translated, tossing in her own words of warning. She didn’t want to see them get hurt. But they ignored her, standing their ground.
Sneering, the Captain pulled out his communications device and called Dr. McCoy. “Hey, Bones,” he spoke into it. “You’ve been dying to test out your latest creation?”
Uhura heard chuckling in response. “Aren’t I always?”
Doctor Leonard McCoy; the man who claimed that he had physical proof that her mind had been warped by Spock, the man who, under his watch as well as orders from Starfleet, subjected her to a battery of psychological tests to prove that she had not been compromised by what they claimed Spock had done to her. As much as she detested Kirk, she hated McCoy more. He was twisted and as much as he played nice to the crew, she knew his real passion laid in the creation of his biological weapons. All in the supposed name of science. She feared what he was going to use on the Halkans.
Smiling sinisterly, Kirk told the doctor to prepare his ‘creation’ for immediate deployment on the Halkans’ homeworld. After McCoy acknowledged the captain’s request, Kirk summoned the transporter room to be on standby, awaiting his orders. Whatever McCoy had up his sleeve, apparently required that they leave immediately.
The Halkans were going to die.
Uhura’s eyes widened in protest as the realization settled in. Kirk waved to the Halkans, who watched in confusion, not understanding his gesture, and lifted his communication device once more, ordering the transporter operator to begin transport. As Uhura looked at the Halkans in desperation, feeling the pain at their incoming demise, she was surrounded in a sea of yellow as her molecules were ripped apart and reassembled back on the Enterprise.
Kirk wasted no time hurrying to the bridge and Uhura rushed behind his longer stride, struggling to keep up. Once they reached the bridge, Kirk ordered the science officer to keep an eye out for the life signs of the Halkans. He wanted to be sure when his job was done. He sat in the captain’s chair while Uhura returned to the communications station, keeping her back turned from the view screen. She didn’t need to see it to know what was going to happen.
“Bridge to Dr. McCoy,” Kirk said, pressing his intercom button on the arm of the chair.
“McCoy here.”
“Anytime you’re ready to fire the blast, go ahead,” Kirk replied.
“Copy that,” McCoy responded, the glee apparent in his voice.
Shortly after that Uhura heard the blast go off and it descend to the Halkans’ capital city. A few minutes later, the science officer confirmed to the captain that all citizens of the city were dead.
Uhura’s heart clenched and her breathing hitched. “Captain,” she said before she was able to stop herself. “Permission to leave the bridge?”
Uhura glanced at Kirk, feeling his eyes boring into hers, as he studied her. A moment later, “Fine, Commander.”
As Uhura was leaving the bridge, Kirk informed the crew that they would be back to collect the dilithium once the poison has dissipated from the air. He then ordered the helm to plot in the course to the rendezvous point with Pike.
**********
Later that night, Uhura wandered to the Captain’s ready room, wanting to confront him about his actions. It was fruitless and useless - nothing would change - but she could not let such actions go by without voicing her disagreement. It was the least she could do. As she steeled herself for the argument they were most likely to have, Uhura paced the hallway in front of Kirk’s ready room, feeling uneasy and nervous. She had been here many times and the room did not hold pleasant memories for her. Nothing on this ship did.
She took several deep breaths before raising her hand and pressed the keypad, asking for permission to enter. She heard Kirk’s authorization and the door unlocked, sliding open. She crossed the threshold cautiously and peered into the room, taking note of the room’s occupants. Kirk rolled his eyes at her presence, and sighed heavily. This wasn’t the first time she had been here, protesting his actions.
“Well, well, well, who do we have here?” A southern drawl came from behind her. Dr. McCoy was here; a fact that made Uhura’s skin crawl.
“Dr. McCoy,” she replied as politely as she could allow herself. McCoy stepped around her, staring down at her. As he moved back toward Kirk’s desk, the Captain stood and walked to her, hands on his hips, waiting for her to speak while his eyes raked over her body with lust.
Uhura glared at the two men, who made no effort to hide their obvious appreciation of her beauty. She hated the mandatory uniform design Starfleet had recently adopted as it invited men to ogle the female officers without using much imagination. Female officers’ uniforms always had short skirts, but this particular style featured a skirt could not get any shorter if it tried, stopping just below the curve of her buttocks. The red uniform bared her midriff, which was wrapped in a golden belt, and the top portion bore no sleeves and had a neckline that was far lower than Uhura felt was professional. Even though she had more than her fair share of men’s gazes upon her in years past, Uhura had become uneasy with the appreciative looks lately and while she knew that no one would dare touch her - being the first officer did have some perks - she kept a dagger safely nestled in the top of her thigh high heeled boots.
Attempting to ignore Kirk and McCoy’s intense gazes, she spoke. “You didn’t have to kill them.”
Her words brought the two men out of their trance and they scoffed, laughing. “Sure I did, Edith,” Kirk replied.
She rolled her eyes at the name he had ‘chosen’ for her. Kirk still insisted on playing that stupid game, trying to figure out her first name, even after all these years. She had never told him. She had never told anyone. The only person who knew it in Starfleet was Spock.
Kirk stepped toward her. “If I didn’t, how else were we going to complete the mission and get the dilithium?”
“There are other dilithium mines in the sector!” Uhura exclaimed. “You didn’t have to kill them!”
McCoy sniggered behind the two of them, eagerly watching the action taking place before him. “Sure, I did, missy,” he said, “How else are we gonna know if the stuff’s effective?”
Uhura scoffed and whirled to face the doctor, an incredulous expression on her face. “Those were people down there! They were not one of your twisted lab experiments! They had lives, friends, family, and who knows what they could have accomplished had we not wiped them out!”
McCoy scrunched up his face in disgust. “Don’t go getting all sentimental on me. It’s survival of the fittest, sweetie, and clearly they weren’t the fittest,” he retaliated with a smirk.
As she made a move to McCoy, Kirk chuckled and placed his hands on her waist from behind, halting her progress. He brought his lips close to her ear. As his breath swept over her, Uhura suppressed a shudder. “Have I told you recently how fucking gorgeous you are when you’re angry?” he asked.
“Ugh!” Uhura groaned before shoving him away from her.
Undeterred, Kirk, along with McCoy, laughed at her actions. Kirk stepped around her, stopping right in front of her. “The Halkans made the fatal mistake of saying ‘no.’ No one says ‘no’ to me,” he whispered harshly, bringing his hand up to touch her hair. Despite her body’s protests to move away from him, Uhura stood her ground. “I would have thought you would have realized that by now.”
Uhura brought her eyes up to meet his defiantly. She was not going to let him get her down. “Touch me again, and I will cut you,” she warned, keeping her hand near her dagger. Ignoring Kirk’s chuckle, she continued. “You’re a bastard. They didn’t need to die,” she reiterated, her voice quiet, harsh and insistent.
Kirk sneered at her and tilted his head, considering her. “I’m starting to think that you’re not cut out to be the first officer anymore, Edna.” He looked over her shoulder. “What do you think, Bones?”
“I’ve been telling you that since you decided it was a good idea,” McCoy replied, his voice behind her. “See where it’s gotten you?”
Kirk shrugged. “She’s good at her job with that talented tongue of hers,” he replied matter-of-factly while smirking. “Plus it’s always nice to have a gorgeous woman to show off.”
“That’s just like you, Jim,” the doctor rolled his eyes. “Always thinking with your other head. Woman’s not good enough for being in charge.”
Uhura paid no attention to McCoy’s comment, continuing to stare at Kirk. “I’ll take this to the highest authority I have to. There has to be someone in Starfleet who hasn’t been corrupted, yet.”
McCoy butted in once more. “You’ve got that nasty little stigma of having been a Vulcan’s plaything hanging over your pretty little head. No one in Starfleet is ever going to take a word you say seriously.”
Uhura took a deep breath, attempting to ignore McCoy’s dig at Spock. Even though she had not been formally punished for the relationship she had with Spock, having Spock being labeled a rapist who had taken her mind from her was much worse than any punishment as far as she was concerned.
Kirk stepped even closer to her, if that was possible, and stared down at her, lust in his eyes. Uhura maintained the gaze, her gaze harsh. He sighed softly and brought a hand to her face gently, belying his cruel nature. He trailed his hand down her shoulder, her arm and to her waist once again and pulled her against him. Uhura remained stoic, unresponsive to his touch as he brought his lips to her throat, before whispering in her ear. “Maybe you would be better suited to being my woman.”
Uhura finally moved. Her hand quickly moved to the dagger at her thigh, grabbing it and jerked her hand forward, cutting Kirk’s chest lightly. In surprise and pain, he jumped back, hand moving to the wound. She held the dagger up, pointed at the captain. “Never,” she avowed, her voice hard.
She turned on her heel and began to move to the door, sidestepping the amused McCoy, but was quickly pulled back against Kirk’s chest. He spoke harshly in her ear. “Just keep reminding yourself that because of me, you haven’t ended up in prison like your boy Spock. I’d hate to imagine what would happen to you if I accidentally let your secret slip.”
Attempting to ignore his comment, Uhura jerked away from him and left the ready room.
**********
Gaila knocked on the door Spock’s quarters. It was late morning. Typically he would be awake by now, but she supposed the events of the past few days had drained him. She couldn't possibly imagine how it felt to see and speak to the man who had sent him to prison after so many years. The restraint he showed when she was sure he wanted to rip his throat out -she sure did - but he was Vulcan after all, the very epitome of calm.
Not hearing a sound, Gaila overrode the security code to his quarters before quietly and slowly entering. Perhaps he was deep in meditation, which could explain why he didn’t answer; there had been several times when such had occurred in the past. Her eyes scanned over the living area and, not seeing him, she moved towards the bedroom. The door was closed and she cracked it open, peering in. He wasn’t on the bed. “Hmm, that’s odd,” she whispered to herself. Where was he?
Gaila walked fully into the room and searched the room for a hint, something to tell her where he was. She had information that she knew he’d want. There was a soft rustling on the other side of the bed, on the ground, and she walked in the direction of the sound, peering around the edge of the bed. Spock was on the ground, sleeping.
“Spock?” Gaila said his name quietly, stepping toward him.
He stirred at his name. He turned his head in the direction of her voice and she spoke his name once more, trying to wake him further. His current lethargic state told her that he did not sleep well last night. Gaila knew that Vulcans don’t require as much sleep as say, a human, or even her, an Orion, but he had been awake for days preparing for the Admiral’s appearance. His mind must have been going at a thousand miles an hour contemplating his plan now that it was finally here.
“Forgive me,” he said, his voice drowsy and he lifted himself to his elbows and rubbed his face. “I had difficulty sleeping.”
Gaila shook her head. “It’s no problem,” she reassured him. “I was just wondering if you were okay.”
He nodded. “I am well.”
Gaila looked from him and to the bed, finally unable to keep the question in, she asked, “Why are you sleeping on the floor?”
He followed her gaze to the bed and gave a slight shrug. “I have found that after many years of sleeping on a stone slab, I cannot seem to become accustomed to anything else.”
She nodded, feeling slightly guilty for bringing it up. Spock slowly stood and walked towards his closet, completely unmindful of his nudity. And why should he be? She was Orion after all; it’s not like she would have been offended. But Gaila did gasp when she saw his back, which was completely covered in scars upon scars, crisscrossing across his skin. Her gasp caused him to look at her, wondering what the matter was. She pointed towards his back. “What….the hell happened to you?”
He closed up immediately. “It is none of your concern.” She sighed, and crossed her arms over her chest. That was code for ‘it happened in prison.’ She knew that she would not get a more substantial answer so she clammed up and waited for him to get dressed. Finally, he turned to her. “What is it you need, Gaila?”
Eager to move past the awkward moment, Gaila took a big step toward him and smiled at him. “I was able to remotely connect to the computer on the Admiral’s ship and I learned something quite interesting about Kirk.” She paused for dramatic effect but Spock glowered at her, urging her to continue. Sighing, because he always managed to suck what little fun she had away, she continued. “It seems that Kirk was stuck at Lieutenant Commander for like ten years under Sulu. It was only in the last three years that he finally was promoted to Captain. And only because Sulu went ‘missing.’” she finished, making air quotes with her fingers.
Spock’s interest piqued and she saw his brain working overtime, theorizing on the scenarios that could have happened to Sulu. Personally, Gaila had her own theory, but since it was not her revenge, she kept quiet, wanting Spock to figure it out. “I have my suspicions on what happened to Sulu,” Spock said after a moment. “But I believe it would be best to attempt to investigate as we can from here. Questioning Kirk would be a good place to start.”
Gaila nodded and smiled. “Well, you’ll get your chance to do that because the Enterprise arrived a few minutes ago.”