On the Good Ship Enterprise
"Oh, on the Starship Enterprise
There's someone who's in Satan's guise,
Whose devil's ears and devil's eyes
Could rip your heart from you!"
-TOS: "Charlie X"
"Lieutenant Uhura, you will accompany me to my quarters."
A shiver ran down Uhura's spine at the sound of Spock's voice and she looked up from the communications panel she had been closely monitoring with a startled gasp. Her nerves were already on edge ever since she and the others beamed aboard this godforsaken ship. And while Captain Kirk and the others were off somewhere doing gods knew what, she was left alone on the bridge holding things down by herself. She had already fought off Sulu's unwanted attention and endured the leers of the other male bridge crew. If one more thing happened to her while she was alone on this bridge she was going to snap. She could feel it. Her body had been in flight or fight mode since the moment she realized she wasn't on her Enterprise anymore. Her stomach was churning and her skin was flushed and she just couldn't get a handle on her fear. And now Spock was after her?
"Mr. Spock, have I done something wrong?" she asked in her sweetest voice, hoping he would just leave her alone. This Spock didn't seem as bloodthirsty as the others, but you never could tell what a man was capable of. Even her own Mr. Spock could be enigmatic and unreadable at the best of times. She had witnessed this Spock commit an act of violence already, she was taking no chances with him. She couldn't disobey the commander's orders, but there was no way in hell she would allow herself to be alone with him in his quarters.
"No," he answered calmly, but he looked down at her with impatience. His intense gaze was disturbing and the queasy feeling in her stomach increased.
"Then what, Sir?"
"We have business to discuss, Miss Uhura," Spock replied.
"What business, Mr. Spock?"
Spock's impatient look intensified. "It is a matter of extreme importance and it is of a private nature," he said as if his words hid another meaning.
"Mr. Spock, I can't abandon my post, I have orders from the Captain-"
"Lieutenant, are you challenging me?"
"Oh no! No, Mr. Spock. You know I would never challenge you." Uhura said beginning to panic. She could not leave her post. The Captain and the others were counting on her to distract Sulu. And yet she couldn't disobey Spock, she'd seen what he could do with that agonizer.
"Then you will attend me now," he said taking hold of her arm and pulling her away from her seat.
"No! I can't! Please, let me go!" she tried to resist but Spock's grip was unrelenting. This couldn't be happening, she had to get away from him.
"No!"
Uhura screamed as she awoke from her dream. She looked around her darkened cabin and sighed with relief. She was safe in her bed. For weeks now she had been having these dreams, some might say nightmares, about the ISS Enterprise and her crew in what they now dubbed the "mirror universe". Every night the dream was slightly different but they all ended with her and Spock in a struggle that often left her drenched in sweat and her heart nearly pounding out of her chest.
The dream started the same way, she was back on the ISS Enterprise trying to avoid molestation by Sulu and the rest of the rogues, including a bearded and dangerous looking Mr. Spock. Nothing on that mission had frightened her so much as when Spock's counterpart had attacked them all and threatened to prevent them from returning home to their own universe. She thought for sure she'd be trapped forever on that hell ship.
That other Spock had been their biggest threat and she knew it from the moment she materialized on that transporter pad and saw him sporting a goatee and uniform sash complete with a weapon at the ready. He looked like a pirate from an old Terran fairytale her grandma used to read to her. But Uhura and the crew had not landed in any fairytale, it had been a dark and brutal reality. And when that other Spock had 'disciplined' Mr. Kyle right in front of her she knew they were in trouble.
Luckily, she and the others had returned home safe and sound. Uhura had been debriefed and had filed a detailed report of the mission. She assumed only the Captain and Starfleet Command had access to her meticulous account of the incident. Starfleet wanted to know every detail of her experience including her dealings with Sulu and Spock. They considered the existence of parallel dimensions a security threat of the highest order. Uhura hoped that no one outside of Starfleet command, especially Mr. Spock ever read the things she had revealed about him and herself in that report.
She didn't want anybody to know just how unnerved she had been during that mission. It wasn't just that she was stranded in a parallel universe, but it was also that she didn't like herself or the way she behaved in that universe. With everyone in that reality being so brutal and vicious, she wondered what kind of woman was she there? What kind of woman did she have to be, what did she have to do in order to survive? Had she put that scar on Sulu's face? And what was the relationship between her counterpart and that other Spock? Why had Spock looked at her as if he could read her mind; as if she belonged to him?
Uhura could think of only one reason and it made her sick. That ship, that Empire was a vile and disgusting place where people murdered and raped one another casually. Honestly, she had been frightened nearly out of her wits when she saw Kyle's punishment. And that was not all she'd witnessed while on the bridge alone. She'd seen a man assassinated right before her eyes and his gear stripped from his body. It had disgusted her to see the disrespect and sexual harassment the female crew had to tolerate. And yet she had also felt... alive.
While on that ship every sense was heightened, and she was aware of everything and everyone around her. If she didn't want to be prey, she had to take on the role of predator. She'd stood up to that Sulu, held down communications station in a hostile environment while the Captain, Scotty, and McCoy were somewhere securing their escape, and she had outwitted Mr. Spock.
That Spock was nothing like her Spock. That Spock used logic as a weapon. That Spock could destroy her with the power he exuded and the thinly veiled threat of menace he presented. Even physically, that other Spock had been intimidating. His eyes had seemed more piercing, his stature was more muscular, and his voice was deeper and more penetrating than her own Mr. Spock. That Spock was the man she warned female astronauts to be wary of in her songs. That Spock had shaken her equilibrium.
Uhura had flirted with 'her Spock' plenty of times in their universe, but she had never taken it seriously. She told herself she was only playing around to get a rise out of him, but Spock never rose to her bait. However parallel Spock, well... In her dreams, Uhura found herself back on the ISS Enterprise facing that Spock, challenging him, baiting him, and then getting caught in her own trap. And when the dream was over, when she lay awake in the cold quiet of her bed before she drifted back into a fitful sleep, she wondered what would have happened if they hadn't escaped, if she hadn't made it back, what might she have done?
It would mortify Lieutenant Uhura to know that Commander Spock had indeed read her Halkan report, however, he was not at all surprised by the details. He knew Uhura well enough to know that she would have been frightened in that situation, but that she would have pulled herself together to accomplished the mission that Captain Kirk had assigned her. It was no surprise to Spock that she had performed admirably under pressure.
One thing that did surprise Spock was how different in tone her report was from that of the others in her landing party. Unlike the gentlemen in the party, Uhura reported on the atmosphere of danger and the constant threat of violence directed towards women and lower ranking crewmen. Her report on Mr. Sulu's behavior towards her on the bridge was eye-opening as apparently sexual violence was common and not frowned upon by the Empire. Some, like the Captain's woman, used their sexuality to garner favors, rank, and protection.
It also did not surprise him to read that she had glanced over her interactions with his counterpart on the other Enterprise. He was somewhat mollified to know that Uhura did not learn anything about that other Spock and that she did not know of the relationship between that Spock and the other Uhura. It was highly illogical, but he did not want Nyota to know about 'them'.
However, Uhura's report did give Spock further insight into the people who had materialized on the USS Enterprise while she was trapped in their universe. Spock had written his own detailed report on the events that occurred on the Enterprise during that time, and like Uhura, he hoped she never read the details of his report which outlined the behavior and conversations he had with her counterpart.
The people who materialized on the transporter pad of the USS Enterprise were nothing like their counterparts and Spock knew they were imposters right away. They looked the same but they were savage and violent counterfeits and he could sense it even before they began raving their displeasure with their rough beam up from the Halkan Council.
He immediately called security to inform them of the intruders and he even had to subdue Kirk with a neck pinch before the group could be herded away. Once he had them in the brig they were like wild animals beating against their restraints, willing to offer him anything including money, power, and even Uhura for their release.
While Spock worked with Sulu, Kyle, and Chekhov trying to figure out what happened to their Captain and fellow crewmen, the 'prisoners' were busy scheming and trying to figure out a way to take advantage of their circumstance, perhaps not realizing he was monitoring their every move. Uhura was elected by the men to talk to Spock and try to seduce him over to their cause.
She asked if she could speak to him privately and playing along to humor them, Spock agreed. He needed as much information as he could gather if he were to get his own captain back. Once escorted into the briefing room Uhura wasted no time in pleading her case. Spock took a seat at the conference table while Uhura perched herself on the table top and crossed her legs slowly in front of him. Did she really think that would sway him?
Leaning back on her hands, she stared at him a long time, head tilted to the side, calculating. "You're nothing like him," she said finally. "I think I could take you myself."
"Is that your proposition?"
"Proposition? Oh, honey, we both know you can't proposition a Vulcan. The flesh is willing but the spirit is weak, n'est-ce pas?" she laughed at her joke.
Spock was intrigued, this was not what he was expecting her to say. "Indeed? And who is he?" he asked though he suspected he knew.
"He who is my husband... Spock," she said in Vulcan.
Spock received her words like a punch to the gut though he never let any sign of his shock show on his face.
"You are bonded to Spock? In the Vulcan manner?" Spock asked in formal Vulcan as well. The Uhura he knew had yet to master the formal Vulcan dialect and it was fascinating to hear her counterpart speak it so fluently.
"Yes, of course, we bonded during his um, Time," she replied still speaking Vulcan.
"Fascinating," Spock said for once at a loss for words.
"Mmm hmm. He burned for me. He desired me above all others. He has even killed for me." She raked her eyes up and down his length. "I do not believe you could," she said dismissively.
"Indeed, you are correct madam."
"You're weak, but you're stronger than the others on this vessel. Why do you not take this ship? Your captain is gone, you are in command now. You could become captain and with the Enterprise, you could reclaim the Empire for Vulcan!"
"There is no Empire. Vulcan and Terra are mutual allies."
"Gah!" she tossed up her hands. "You cannot ally with Earth, they are relentless and aren't to be trusted, they will destroy you and enslave your people, it cannot be that different here?"
"It is different. You are Terran, does your husband trust you?"
"Of course sugar," Uhura said leaning forward, "with his life. We are of one mind. He would kill anyone that threatened our bond or dared to harm me. Together we work to free Vulcan and the Empire from Terran rule."
"Admirable."
"It's more than admirable, it is crucial! I cannot do anything here. I need to go back to my world, to my husband. Besides, what about your wife, don't you want her back?"
"I have no wife."
She looked at him in shock. "What? What happened to her? Did perhaps Sulu-"
"I have not married, but I assume you mean Lieutenant Uhura who is presumably on your ship while you are on mine."
Uhura sighed with relief.
"My Spock will see she comes to no harm, I am sure. Although," she thought aloud, "he better not touch her, and she better not touch him."
"What do you mean?"
She smiled lasciviously, "You really are nothing like him. You care about her, don't you? There is no bond between us yet even I can feel your strong emotions when I speak of her. Why do you deny yourself the pleasure a woman could bring you? You are a Vulcan!"
"We are friends-"
"Friends? Vulcans don't have friends, just allies or enemies and the latter are usually dead." Uhura laughed.
"Now," Uhura jumped down from the table and landed in Spock's lap, "I'm supposed to use my ample charms on you to coax you into releasing the others. Then Kirk will kill you and take command of this ship. But I promised to never betray Spock in word or deed and I never will. You are nothing like my husband but you are Spock. I want to go home to my husband. I don't care what happens to the others but I need him, I need my husband and he needs me." Uhura pleaded as she looked into Spocks eyes.
Spock knew she was telling the truth, he could feel her seeking out a mental bond with him as a bonded mate would. She was weak and unskilled in the mental arts, but he could feel her reaching out to him with her mind searching for a link that never existed between them. This Uhura seemed to have some telepathic abilities. Did his Uhura have them also?
"Mrs. Uhura, we are working on getting you back to where you belong," Spock said as he picked her up and deposited her back on the table top. "Now, Is there anything you can tell me about your mission that would be instrumental in achieving that goal?"
"We beamed up from the Hulkan council. They refused to give us their dilithium. We were ordered to destroy them if they refused. We were also ordered to destroy them if they cooperated. There was an ion storm and a turbulent beam up and poof here I am baby." Uhura said her confidence back.
"I see," he said thinking. "Perhaps if we reverse the procedure replicating the conditions and beam you back down to the Halkan council-"
"What!" Uhura jumped from the table again. "You haven't destroyed the council yet?!"
"Mrs. Uhura," Spock said trying to calm her down and seat her once more.
"Don't you dare touch me! You haven't the right! You are not my husband, you don't even have the guts-"
"I beg your pardon madam. Please excuse my breach of etiquette?" Living among humans for so long, Spock had forgotten the serious offense of touching another's bonded bride.
"That's right, beg. My Spock would never beg, and our child will not beg either, I will see to that. You are more Terran than Vulcan, I see that now. You're better off alone!" Uhura raved and her words struck a sensitive chord in Spock.
"I don't think you can handle a woman like me. I actually pity her, my other self. She doesn't have much to come back to-"
"Mrs. Uhura, I understand your frustration, however, these outbursts will not bring us closer to our goal of returning you to your world and my friends to mine. Please accept those facts. We have an unknown window of time in which to come up with a plan to restore you to your reality. We do not know if your counterparts in your universe are capable of working towards the goal of reversing the accident that bought you here. I suggest you control your passion and channel your energy towards the task at hand. If you do not have anything constructive to add to my efforts I will return you to the brig."
"No! Please don't. I can't be in there with them. If I return without gaining their release, they will...they will not be pleased; especially the Captain. I can't be alone with him."
Spock stared at her a long moment before nodding his head once.
"Then please cooperate. And no more emotional outbursts."
Uhura straightened up and came to attention at his commanding words.
"I will. I'm sorry Spock. You know how I— Nevermind, no you don't.
What do you need from me?"
"I have to assume if they have not been injured or held in the brig, that my captain and crewmates are working in your universe to return here as well. The most logical course would be for them to work on reversing the beam up procedure. I posit that if we also work in tandem and beam your group back down at the precise moment that the other group is beaming down that we can return things to their rightful order."
"That sounds very logical," Uhura said smiling at Spock.
He wasn't sure, but he thought she was humoring him.
With his plan in place, Spock escorted Uhura back to the transporter room and called for security to bring up the other members of her party from the brig.
"I have one question about Him," Spock said as they waited in the transporter room for the others to arrive.
"What is it?"
"How did you and he... come to be married?"
"Well, he ordered me to quarters one evening," Uhura said remembering fondly. "Then he told me he was in urgent need of a wife and that it was imperative because of his uh...Vulcan biology." Uhura whispered so that the others could not hear.
"I see," Spock said. "And obviously you agreed."
"Well, it seemed the logical thing to do at the time," she said with a cheeky grin.
There was one thing that had perplexed Spock regarding Vulcan/Human relations. He understood the Vulcan males biological needs during the Pon Farr. With Vulcans being many times stronger than humans, a human female would be no match for a Vulcan male in his prime, lost to his primitive passions. How had Uhura survived her Pon Farr with his primal counterpart? It was a subject he dared not broach to either of his parents but one that he was burning with curiosity to know. How did a human female and Vulcan male successfully mate?
"Ms. Uhura?"
"Mrs. Uhura," she corrected.
"Mrs. Uhura, Spock said again. "I am quite curious about a matter of some delicacy."
"And what is that Mr. Spock?"
Time was growing short and he may never have another opportunity to get the answers he sought. Yet Spock could not bear to ask such a deeply intimate question.
"Perhaps it is better left alone."
"Ooh, now you've piqued my curiosity," Uhura said noticing his pointed ears turning green at the tips. "Just what is going on in that Vulcan mind of yours to cause this blush?"
"I do not believe I can articulate it in words."
"Would you like to share thoughts?" she asked quietly.
"Would you be willing to do that?" he asked hopefully, knowing it was an invasion of her privacy.
"Of course, we do it all the time... well my Spock... Besides, it's the least I can do for you if you're going to get me back to him. I don't think he would mind."
"May I?" he asked, lifting his fingers to her face.
"Go ahead," she said closing her eyes and leaning forward as if this was a common occurrence.
He touched her psi points and silently chanted "your thoughts to my thoughts..."
What he saw in her mind fascinated him. He had not suspected that a Pon Farr could be like this. He had always imagined that when he lost control of his emotions during the Fever, he would become as brutal and as violent as the men currently in the brig. He imagined himself being rapacious and unstoppable. He thought only a Vulcan woman could fulfill his needs. But he had been wrong, this Uhura had done it. Still, he could not bring himself to imagine his Uhura agreeing to it.
And his mother? She had survived it too. Of course, Sarek would have done everything in his power to safeguard his mother's safety. Was this how he had accomplished it?
Spock wanted to know so much more but he had to break the meld before it went too far. Besides the others were now waiting on the transporter pad.
"Thank you," he said simply when he had regained his composure.
"We come to serve," Uhura replied in Vulcan.
"One more thing, what of T'Pring?" Spock asked.
"T'pring?" Uhura wrinkled her nose in thought. "Oh, his 1st wife? She's dead."
"How?"
"She had a lover who challenged Spock. Stonn lost and so did T'Pring. My Spock does not tolerate betrayal. Now he has me."
"And you approve of such violence?" It surprised Spock to hear Uhura speak of murder so casually.
"It is the Vulcan way, you know this. But now I'm curious; if you have no wife, then what of the T'Pring here? Did you also kill her for her betrayal?"
"T'Pring is married to Stonn."
Nyota shook her head. "You let them live? This world is madness. How did you survive?" she asked with disgust.
Spock started to explain but Uhura cut him off. "No, I don't care. Do yourself a favor, Mr. Spock. If your Uhura returns to you, marry her. Save yourself further humiliation."
"I will take your recommendation under advisement."
"Yes, you do that. You're still a Vulcan even in this crazy universe. You require a wife and I'm a catch if I do say so myself." Uhura sashayed up on the transporter pad.
Spock smiled inwardly in spite of himself. This bloodthirsty Uhura was still just as charming as her counterpart.
Captain Kirk, Scotty, and McCoy arrived from the brig and were placed on the transporter with Uhura. Before Spock could give the final command to beam them back Uhura leaned forward and kissed his cheek, shocking him. "Your Nyota is a lucky woman." She said as she wiped her lipstick from his face. "And I bet she loves you as much as I love my husband. You grab her before someone else does. Show her what I showed you and I'm sure she'll come around," She grinned.
"I have my doubts."
"I don't. Do as I say or I'll come back and kick your ass," she said as she stepped back on the pad.
"May you live long and prosper," Spock said in high Vulcan dialect giving her the Vulcan salute.
She returned the salute.
"Now Mr. Kyle," Spock said as he watched her and her party dematerialize back to where they came from and his own Uhura appear before his eyes where she belonged.