Character/Pairing: Uhura, Spock
Rating: T
Summary: Uhura is found. The question is--by friend or foe?
Warning: Violence! Swearing! UST! Italics!
A/N: Winner of the 2009 first annual Halloween contest at the LiveJournal spock_uhura community!

Gasping in surprise, she tried turning around, but was pinned firmly against a hard, lean body. The communicator was dropped to the ground and the man behind her stomped on it, crunching it under a heavy boot. She looked down at the arm around her waist, a blue sleeve with a commander's braid. Spock!

She was about to protest, when his hand clamped over her mouth and he lifted her up bodily. He smoothly carried her into a back room with a recessed door that led to god knows where. She closed her eyes, frozen with fear and prayed that there was nothing wrong with him. He could snap her like a twig.

The back of her head was resting against his shoulder, her feet dangling in the air. She was completely immobilized. Uhura wanted to ask him what the fuck he thought he was doing, but he simply stood there, with her in his arms, not moving a muscle. She could smell him. His body was very warm, like a heating pad, and he smelled faintly of aftershave. It was as though an eternity went by, and between his hand over her mouth and his firm hold around her waist, her eyelids were getting heavy.

She must've dozed off when she felt him move back, pressing into the corner of the recessed doorway, hiding them in the dark shadows. She kept her eyes closed, listening, trying to hear what he was hearing. Who was out there?

After a few more minutes passed, his breath was warm and soft in her ear, 'I am going to let you down. You will not make any noises if I do so?' She shivered as his lips moved, the plosive sounds tickling her ear. He waited until she nodded and he removed his hand from her mouth.

He lowered her to the floor and she felt light headed from being held tightly for so long. She turned too quickly and swayed as she shook her head clear of the sleepiness. Instinctively, she reached out and clutched his forearm for a moment to steady herself. Uhura looked up at him questioningly.

Spock whispered, 'Are you well Lieutenant Uhura?' He looked so stern with his furrowed brow and his shadowed face. He really had that demonic air about him.

She shook her head and whispered back, 'I was attacked, Mr. Spock. When I beamed down, a woman came from behind and attacked me...'

'With what?'

'Well, with a hypospray, then she collapsed. I went to get help, but there was no one. I hailed the ship....'

'You were able to contact the ship?' He seemed faintly surprised.

'Yes, but only very briefly, before the signal faded. I managed to tell Scotty that I was attacked, but I don't know if he heard me.'

'Have you seen the captain?'

She was about to answer him, but stopped, 'First, you tell me what exactly is going on here.' This felt suspiciously similar to the way the captain had pumped information out of her.

At that, Spock's eyebrows climbed into his bangs, then he stepped forward into her personal space and leaned over her, 'Lieutenant, I am giving you a direct order to answer my questions.'

Though they had carried on the conversation in hushed tones, Spock had no problem conveying his authority.

Startled at his nearness, she backed up only to hit the other wall. But she didn't break her defiant stare, 'Commander, I need to know that you are who you say you are.'

After a few beats, he relented and shifted back upright. Though he was still unnecessarily close to her. His slitted, obsidian eyes glinted down at her as he waited for her to ask.

'Why isn't the captain with you?'

'When we beamed down, we were greeted by Dr. Grant and his colleague Dr. Perry. Captain Kirk went with Dr. Grant, presumably to inspect the specimens that were to be transported up to the ship.'

'And then? Why didn't you go with him?'

'Dr. Perry insisted on giving me a tour, as it were, of the facility. It was a rather flimsy pretext to separate and disarm us, but I had no reason to suspect otherwise, given the captain's long standing friendship with Dr. Grant.'

'You know that for sure? That they captured Kirk? Why would they do that?'

Spock reiterated, 'Have you seen the captain, Lieutenant?'

'No, I haven't. I raised him once and told him where I was and that I contacted the ship to tell them what happened. And that I wasn't sure if they heard me. That's it. He told me to wait. That someone would come get me.' She hugged herself, 'I didn't think he'd actually try and get me.'

'Indeed. We will contact the ship. The communications room is on the other side of the facility...'

'Wait, Mr. Spock. What happened to the captain? And how did you find me?'

'I was monitoring your presence. The captain was also tracking you by your communicator transmissions.'

'And you...you got to me first....' Afraid again, she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, imagining that Kirk was now infected like that woman.

'Yes.'

'What happened with Dr. Perry? How did you escape him?'

'I imagine that the woman who attacked you expired much in the same way as Dr. Perry.'

Uhura canted her head and frowned, 'You saw her body?'

He nodded and continued, 'Dr. Perry attacked me, but I subdued him rather easily. I went to examine the body when it rapidly decomposed...'

'And mine sprayed something on me...'

'It did not make contact with your eyes or mouth...?'

'No, no, it didn't...' She thought back for a moment again, just to be sure.

'Good, if it had, I do not know if you would be saved from infection.'

She pressed her hand to her forehead, 'Ok, wait a minute, please tell me how you found me.'

Spock held up something that looked like a modified communicator, 'I took this from Dr. Perry and tracked you to the living quarters, it may be faulty though, as I lost your signal for several minutes, then you surfaced in the cafeteria...'

'I was in the storage area, Mr. Spock. Why couldn't you find me, what if the captain had found me first, what would he have done to me? And how did you know that they were tracking us by our communicators?'

Spock flipped open the cover of the gadget, 'Here, you see? It marks where your signal was last broadcast, in the cafeteria. This is why I destroyed your communicator. I believe someone else was tracking you as well, but lost you in the living quarters. Where were you hiding?'

'I don't know, I just lucked out, it was some kind of storage area with these big black boxes. It was odd that they would store equipment there. It certainly didn't look like it was for personal stuff.'

'Interesting.' He frowned and folded his arms, looking downward, deep in thought.

'Mr. Spock? Does that mean something?' She watched as his hand stroked his jaw, noticing the fine, black stubble.

'Perhaps. The captain spoke of transporting specimens up to the ship. Perry and Grant were heading up top secret research in tissue regeneration.'

Startled, she asked, 'Tissue regeneration? That's it? Isn't that kind of commonplace? People get skin and fingers regenerated all the time....'

He cut her off, 'This was more complex. They were regenerating whole organisms...'

'Like cloning?'

He shook his head, 'No...not like cloning. Regenerating damaged tissues and organs after brain death.'

Astounded, she drew back, 'Whoa. What?! This is a fucking zombie factory?!'

Spock drew himself up stiffly, 'No, Lieutenant, there are no zombies here. Starfleet has committed considerable resources to this facility in order to help sustain the life....'

'No way, Mr. Spock. I know what I saw in that transporter room. That wasn't a woman anymore, that was a thing masquerading as a human. And there's nothing altruistic about this, this goes beyond just squeezing extra life from 'fleet personnel, for godssakes. This is completely unethical.' She tried to shutdown the surging fear and adrenaline in her, but the clipped conversation she was having with Spock was only making her incredibly tense.

'You have not seen the research...'

'And you have?', she shot back. 'You're willing to say that after Perry tried taking you out?'

'I am not defending their actions, nor was I privy to their true intentions, I am merely pointing out that their research was not intended to generate zombies. It is also pure speculation on your part that they are so-called zombies.' He arched his eyebrow at her. 'And yes, I have seen the research in Perry's lab. Though the captain and I were completely unaware of its nature until we beamed down.'

'So just what exactly were you supposed to bring back with you to the ship?' Her hands were on her hips now.

He frowned openly, 'Are you interrogating me, Lieutenant?'

She felt a prickle go down her spine at the bass in his voice, 'No, Mr. Spock. I am merely trying to get up to speed. I don't like being kept in the dark. I don't like surprises. I don't like people trying to kill me. And I don't like fucking zombies. So help me god, I will shoot the next thing that moves against me...'

'You will do no such thing, Lieutenant. Our first priority is contacting the ship. Besides, you do not have your phaser....'

'I'm pretty handy, Mr. Spock.' Her bravado rang hollow, even to herself and she folded her arms back across her chest.

'I also notice you do not have your tricorder, which are required tools on away missions.'

'You'll also notice that I'm not Ensign Ortiz either. She got sick and I had to take her place. And while I usually bring my tricorder and phaser with me on all my away missions, I was told that these would be optional. We were coming down to a Federation facility not some unexplored planet.'

'That is no excuse for forgetting...'

'It's been an all around crappy day, Mr. Spock. Believe me, no one regrets my forgetfulness more than I do. Now, are we going to get some phasers and find out what happened to Kirk? Or are we going to stand around here and debate all day?'

He actually stared at her for several seconds and although she was mildly shocked at her own temerity in this terse tete a tete with a superior officer (after all, she'd been the one to insist on the details), she was angry about the situation. Then, she remembered the hypospray. Uhura reached into her toolbag and brought it out, holding it towards him.

'This is the hypospray, Mr. Spock. Whatever was in it discharged and I breathed some of it in. Was this similar to what Perry used on you?'

Spock took it from her and brought the nozzle of the hypospray to his nose and sniffed delicately. 'Interesting, it could be a neuromuscular blocker.' He picked up the tricorder that was hanging at his side and took a reading. 'Yes, you were quite fortunate that she did not inject you.'

She thought for a moment, 'It's a....it's for paralysis?'

He nodded, 'Yes, and not a tranquilizer either. Apparently, they needed you unable to move, but still conscious.' He watched her for a moment, 'You said you breathed this in?'

'Yes, why?'

'What are you feeling?'

She shrugged, 'I feel okay. I'm not nauseous or dizzy or anything. Why?'

'Side effects are generally fear, irrationality and paranoia.' He waited expectantly.

She gave him an annoyed look, 'Well, I guess in normal situations that would be cause for concern, Mr. Spock. But within the scope of human responses to a screwed up situation, mine are well within the accepted range.' She raised her eyebrow at him and asked again, 'Did Perry try to use the same thing on you?'

'No, he did not, but he died before I could ascertain the reason for his attack.' He broke off and looked around the corner of the door for a moment, extending his other arm to push her back into the shadows.

Quickly, he looked back at her and silently motioned her to open the door. They slipped through quietly and Spock stood at the door he left cracked open, listening.

They were in another lab, a small one though. She looked at the equipment and the empty chairs. It was so innocuous and so utterly impossible that every single researcher, technician and staff person would simply up and disappear. She looked around for weapons.

Then, she felt Spock's hot, dry hand envelope hers and she looked up at him startled. Of all the things she knew about Vulcans, and particularly this Vulcan, is that they never initiated physical contact, especially skin on skin. Touch telepaths were very sensitive and it was in fact, generally taboo to touch one. She was about to ask him what he was doing, when he brought a long, tapered index finger to his compressed lips in a shushing gesture.

He turned and calmly led her through the maze of lab equipment and work spaces. She followed his lead and matched his quick pace, careful not to catch her toolbag on anything when they turned corners. His knowledge of the space was impressive and she was momentarily envious at his ability, since she was struggling to recall the layout. Occasionally, he would stop and consult the gadget, but seemed satisfied that they weren't being followed.

She wanted to ask him just how long this game of cat and mouse could go on. Surely, by now whoever had Kirk would realize that she had not been injected by the dead zombie woman. And that Perry had failed in subduing Spock for whatever nefarious purposes were at work here.

But she refrained from speaking, as they had emerged from the lab onto another long, white corridor. She stood behind Spock, peeking around his shoulder. They quickly crossed the hall and continued into another lab. Uhura wondered if he was re-tracing his steps and knew where to find the open doors.

As it was, she could only grip Spock's hand tighter and jog to keep up with his long-legged strides. She tried not to notice his lean hips, muscular thighs or the way his black pants hugged his tight little butt. She never thought she'd ever get this up close and personal to the Vulcan. While she had served with him for about a year, she never saw him around on the ship in social situations.

Spock was an impeccable science officer, fair to be sure as CO, but also a little feared by the rest of the crew. She had tried being friendly with him once, flirting with him on the bridge and trying to get him to talk about himself and his experiences with Captain Pike, but he was very standoffish. Later, McCoy told her that even Kirk didn't really know what to make of him, that Spock was a very private person.

Not as though that ever stopped other women from trying. She definitely noticed how her new friends, especially Christine Chapel, had taken to checking him out and gossiping relentlessly about him. Surely someone as handsome as he would be aware of his effect on the opposite sex, that is, if he even swung that way, and there were some speculation on that too.

Uhura bumped into Spock when he stopped abruptly and turned to her, whispering, 'Across the hall is security. We get two weapons each. Choose wisely as we have to carry these everywhere. Make sure they are fully charged. You have three minutes and then we move on. Ready?'

She nodded up at him and let go of his hand, getting ready to run again, but he only grabbed back her hand and ran so quickly, that he almost dragged her across the hall. But she understood his intention, she needed to keep as close to him as possible, as it would be detrimental, especially for her, if she were to get separated from him. They got into a good rhythm though, for every running step he made, his pull on her body increased the length of her stride.

And they were in. It was an easy decision too. Like picking out dessert. She pulled two phaser rifles off the wall and slung one across her back so it nestled alongside her toolbag. She waited as he picked out a phaser, then grabbed a bag and filled it with the rest of them.

Taking her hand again, he led her out of security. Uhura was starting to think that maybe Spock was forming a plan, but she couldn't exactly ask him to share it with her just now. They were running and she could only follow blindly.

When they stopped, she was breathing hard and getting tired. 'Where are we?'

'We are north of the transporter room, near communications.'

After she caught her breath, 'Don't you think we should find the captain first? Just what exactly is the game plan? And how do you know we're not being tracked 'cuz of that gadget you got off of Perry?'

'I do not know if we are or not. The plan is to complete the original task you were called for, upgrading the communications. Once you have finished, we will call the ship and send for a security detail.'

'Spock, we're running out of time. Pretty soon the powers that be are going to figure out that we've joined forces to throw a wrench into their evildoing and then they're going to come for us....'

He shot her a look, 'Then, I suggest you begin your work now, Lieutenant.'

A/N: My wordpress homepage that's linked on my profile has some great pictures posted with this story. When you get to the wordpress page, just look for the title under the chronology of stories. Thanks again for reading! :D