Months earlier, the Enterprise
Personal log of Chief Communications Officer, Lt. Uhura, Stardate 2260.103
Negotiations with the Deoraíochti have broken down in the wake of a misunderstanding between Captain Kirk and Taoiseach Granuaile's consort. The Taoiseach has requested that the Federation persuade my mother to participate in further talks.
In the mean time, the captain is recovering from his injuries in a medical facility on Tír ar Deoraíocht. Doctor McCoy was allowed to examine the captain and has determined that he would receive better treatment onboard the Enterprise.
The Taoiseach will not allow us to retrieve the captain without a guarantee that we will not simply leave the sector once he is with us again. She asked me if I would be willing to stand as hostage in Captain Kirk's stead. As I know Deoraíochti culture well — Kirk could have avoided the fight had he paid heed to my briefings — both through of my mother's many stories dealings with them and from several visits I made to their Tír ar Deoraíocht as a teenager, I agreed. There is little danger that I will make any missteps with these people.
Cmdr. Spock does not agree.
He has ordered me to remain on the Enterprise, in spite of (he says because of) the threatening noises the Taoiseach has been making since she learned of the commander's opinion of their intentions.
According to Starfleet Regulation 533.77, subsection 23, in the event of an emergency, an officer may disregard the orders of a superior if obeying said orders will unduly endanger a significant number of other crewmembers, civilians and/or other "friends of the Federation and Starfleet."
The regulation is rather imprecise, I realize, and my application of it is vaguer still, but I believing that getting the captain back so that he can receive adequate treatment and a shielding a crew of 433 other souls from the possibility of a bombardment of Deoraíochti armaments should fit the "significant number" requirement.
Earlier today, the courtroom
Nyota tried to swallow her nervousness as Spock finished delivering his clear, strictly factual testimony for the prosecution and her appointed representative, Lt. Emma Hargrove prepared to cross examine him.
"Is it possible, Cmdr. Spock," the defender began, "that you ordered Lt. Uhura not to continue negotiations with the Deoraíochti because you, her former betrothed, who admittedly did not break off your engagement because of a loss of esteem, were afraid for her life? Did you order Lt. Uhura not to return to the planet's surface after Captain Kirk was injured in spite of knowing that she might be the only person on hand who could prevent them from destroying the USS Enterprise, thereby inciting a war with the Federation?"
"At the time, I did not believe that the Deoraíochti posed such a danger to the Enterprise," he answered.
"You did not answer the question, Cmdr. Spock. Did you make an emotional decision when you told your former lover she was not allowed to complete the job Starfleet Command, at the request of Taoiseach Granuaile, specifically her sent to Tír ar Deoraíocht to do?"
Spock did not answer right away. Nyota held her breath throughout his silence.
She had argued against her defender using this line of defense. She had not wanted to be the cause of Spock's shame.
"So, you'd rather go to prison for twelve years than cause him a little embarrassment?" Hargrove had countered.
Protests that for one who followed the path of Surak even an implication that he had abandoned logic in order to follow his emotions would cause more than "a little embarrassment" had been useless.
"We're talking about your freedom here, Nyota," Hargrove had argued. "We both know he could have handled this on the ship. Everyone knows you Enterprisers don't always go by the book. Breaking the rules is practically the rule on your ship. And this time, by breaking the rules, you saved hundreds, and possibly thousands, of lives. Where does his 'path of Surak' stand in contrast to that?"
"I did not wish for the lieutenant to needlessly endanger her life," he said at last. "My decision, while not entirely devoid of the influence of my regard for her, was logical. Captain Kirk had already been severely wounded during our initial encounter with the Deoraíochti. It was reasonable to expect Lt. Uhura might suffer a similar fate if she changed places with him."
"Was the word of the Deoraíochti Taoiseach insufficient guarantee of Lt. Uhura's safety, Commander Spock?" asked Lt. Hargrove. "You were aware, were you not, of former Under-ambassador Uhura's work with the Deoraíochti? Were you aware that their favorable dealings with the under-ambassador were the very reason the Enterprise had been entrusted with this mission?"
"Lt. Uhura is not her mother," he replied, his steady gaze never wavering from the defending lawyer, "and fragile alliances often break down amid circumstances such as those we found ourselves in. I was not willing to risk the lieutenant's well-being on the memory of a tenuous relationship formed with a woman who left the Diplomatic Corps nearly twenty-five years ago."
Hargrove studied Spock intently before moving in for the kill.
"Commander Spock," she said quietly, several beats after he had finished speaking, "would you have had the same reservations about continuing negotiations had the Taoiseach requested the presence of any officer other than Lt. Uhura?"
Nyota held her breath as Spock's silence stretched on again.
"No," he said after what felt like hours had passed. "I would not have."
Nyota exhaled.
Right now
"You can't just tell you're going to wait for me," she told him, feeling something like a mixture of anger and desperation and, unaccountably, joy pushing against the inside of her chest.
"You cannot prevent me from telling you my intentions," he countered. "You do not have to accept me back into your life when the time comes, but I cannot unsay what has already been said. I will wait for you, Nyota, whether or not you wish for me to do so."
She wanted to be able to say that she did not want him waiting, that she didn't want to know he was waiting. It would have been a lie, and he would know it was a lie, so she didn't say anything at all.
Staring at the unadorned grey (to match her prison gear) wall to her left, she missed seeing him reach across the table to cover the hands she pressed against the hard synthetic surface. There was not time to prepare herself. The moment she felt the love and concern he projected through the temporary link, felt him attempting to sense what she was feeling, she tried to snatch her hands away.
He was too quick for her, of course. Too fast and too strong. Her hands were as imprisoned in his as the rest of her was in the Starfleet penitentiary.
"Neither of us has ever pretended we stopped loving each other," he pointed out. "I see no reason for you to be surprised to receive confirmation of my continued regard."
Her eyes met his and she knew they had to be bright with anger. Even if he couldn't read them, he would definitely feel her rage through the link. When she tried to pull away again, he let her.
"That's not what I meant!" she rasped, unable to raise her voice through the storm of conflicting emotion that battered her core. "It's one thing to believe you love me while knowing I still love you even though there's no chance for us — because that's something that I can get past; it's something I was getting over. Why do you think it's fair to make me go through all that again?"
His eyes never changed. The release of her hands was the most reaction she had been able to get out of him.
"It was not my intention that you should have to relive my past transgressions," he told her quietly. "This time, I will not abandon you."
She hated knowing that part of her — the larger part — wanted to take him at his word, trust that no obstacles would crop up, preventing him from doing as he intended. She'd been hurt, but not angered, by his decision more than two years before. And she'd understood why he'd made the choice he did.
This, she didn't understand. The hope welling up in her was frightening.
"Guard!" she called.
When the friendly, sandy-haired man wearing a uniform that consisted of a tunic in a slightly darker grey than her jumpsuit, and trousers that were slightly lighter, she stood.
"Commander Spock is finished here, Geoff," she told him. "I'm ready to go back."
Geoff gave the still-seated half-Vulcan a genial nod, and then led Nyota back to her cell.
Author's Note: Special thanks to TeaOli for letting me to re-imagine what happened after Spock told Nyota he was leaving at the end of the first 5-year-mission. This story takes place in a version of her Once and Future (/s/5293456/1/Once_and_Future) world.
Find a history of Nyota's mom at her profile (/u/1992023/TeaOli), though I think M'Umbha Uhura (the name, at least) is quasi-canon.
Disclaimer: I do not own any Star Trek concepts or characters nor I am receiving compensation for using them in my stories.
