His Pointy Ears are Ringing

Chapter One

Christine Chapel shook her head as she spoke to Nyota Uhura. "I still think this is ridiculous, Ny, but if it's important to you, I guess it's important to me."

"Thank you Christine," Nyota said calmly. "Let's get this meeting started." She loaded up the interstellar software program and signed in as host.

Christine snorted. "Meeting! More like a bitch-fest. I mean, I'm over him, what's the problem with the rest of you?"

Nyota sighed. "It's not a question of 'being over' anyone. It's more that, well-I think we could all benefit from some kind of closure."

"I just don't get it."

"There's a lot out there about Spock that I think bothers a lot of women who know him. Maybe stuff we all need to get off our collective chests. It's not about him, really, it's about us. I don't know about you but I've had it up to here with the gossip. It follows me wherever I go.

"Now they are starting to write psychological histories and I want to know the truth, or as much of it as I can, so that there's some accuracy in the official accounts. I also wanted all of us to just…let it out. Get him out of our systems. Surely you would understand?"

"I. Am. Over. Him. So over him," Christine huffed.

"But…don't you think it would be good to find out why we all fell for him? I mean, we are an amazing group of women."

"So you did fall for him!"

"In a way. Nothing ever really happened although I admit I wondered for a long time if anything could happen. I was curious-"

An electronic blip interrupted them. "T'Pring has joined the meeting," an electronic voice announced.

"It really does sound like you," Nyota commented. Christine rolled her eyes.

A small square popped up on the viewscreen, showing an immaculately groomed and perfectly made-up Vulcan female.

"Greetings, T'Pring," Nyota said, holding up her hand in the Vulcan greeting.

"Greetings, Commander," the Vulcan responded, returning the salute. She still looks like a knockout, Nyota thought to herself. She nudged Christine.

"Oh. Greetings, T'Pring." She tried, and failed, to display the Vulcan hand salute.

T'Pring's eyes flickered for a moment. "Christine Chapel."

"That's me."

"T'Pau told me about you."

"Nothing to tell, honey."

"That may be what you believe."

"Ladies," Nyota interrupted. "Let's wait for the rest to join us. And please, try to keep it civil."

What the hell did you expect? Christine wondered.

Another ping. "Leila has joined the meeting."

Nyota and Christine looked at each other. "Oh boy," Christine said under her breath.

"Be nice," Nyota muttered back.

"Hello, everyone," Leila Kalomi breathed out as her square appeared.

"Hi, Leila," Nyota and Christine said in unison. T'Pring raised an eyebrow.

"Oh Nyota! And Christine Chapel! You two look so lovely!"

"Thank you Leila," Nyota answered. "You look very nice, as always."

Christine remained silent. T'Pring just blinked.

"Leila, this is T'Pring. Spock's former fiancée," Nyota introduced.

"His what?"

"This is why Nyota wants us to all talk, to try and own the whole narrative thing," Christine explained. "It seems like there are lots of sides to Spock that none of us know entirely."

Leila lowered her eyes. She looks sad, Nyota thought.

Another ping. "Droxine has joined the meeting."

Oh God, Christine thought. That airhead. She had a strong sense that Nyota, in spite of her efforts to be "civil," was probably thinking the same thing.

A square popped up featuring yet another lovely blonde woman. "Hello," Droxine said tentatively.

"At least she's covering more than just her boobs," Christine muttered. Nyota let a grin slip.

"Hello, Droxine, I'm glad you could join us. I know you travel quite a bit."

Droxine nodded. "I don't believe I have met any of you in person."

"We will introduce ourselves," Nyota reassured her. "A lot of you don't know each other, although I suspect we've heard of one another," she added, her voice trailing off slightly. Maybe Christine was right. Maybe all this was too awkward.

Another ping. "Alice 5000 has joined the conference." A final square popped up. "She looks exactly the same!" Nyota whispered loudly. Christine looked at her. "Ny, she is an android."

"Good afternoon," the android said pleasantly."

"Uh, hi, Alice," Nyota answered. "I trust you were able to complete the research we talked about?"

"Of course," Alice answered. "Two of my doctorates are in the history field, one with a subspecialty in extinct civilizations."

"Very good," Nyota said. She took a deep breath. "Let's all introduce ourselves. I am Nyota Uhura. I served with Spock on several missions as a bridge officer, including the initial five-year Enterprise mission. I can tell you, I have absolutely no romantic history with him, but we did kinda flirt."

Kinda? Christine almost said out loud. She took a deep breath. "Hello. I am Dr. Christine Chapel. I served with Spock on a few missions, including the first Enterprise one Nyota mentioned. I admit, I had a crush on him for a while and he came on to me once but it turned out it was pon farr and not real. But I am over him. Totally-"

"T'Pring, would you go next?" Nyota interrupted her.

"I am T'Pring. Spock and I were once intended to be bonded but I chose another."

Nyota and Christine looked at each other. "OK, thank you T'Pring. Um, oh, Leila, could you introduce yourself?"

"Hi everyone, I'm Leila Kalomi…I'm a botanist…Spock and I sort of had a thing going a couple of times, it was..complicated…" Her voice caught. Tears threatened to fill her blue eyes.

After a few awkward moments, Droxine cleared her throat. "I am Droxine. I was still a teenager when I met Spock, when the Enterprise visited my birth planet. We talked a lot, about a lot of things."

More than talked, or so I heard, Nyota thought to herself. Jim told her about how Spock flirted with the teenager during their visit in the city in the clouds.

"That leaves me, Alice 5000. Commander Uhura commissioned me to conduct research on Zarabeth, a woman who expired during the Ice Age of the extinct planet Sarpeidon. She and Spock met when he went back in time." She paused. "One of my predecessors met Spock on Harry Mudd's planet. He made her head explode."

"Really?" Droxine asked. "I'd love to hear more about that."

"I don't believe Spock would do such a thing!" Leila cried out.

"Thank you, everyone," Nyota hurriedly interjected. "Let's get started. Who would like to speak first?"