Freddey saw some pretty interesting things during their mission to the primitive planet of Nibiru. Jim had asked her to remain on the bridge in order to observe the reactions of the native beings on the planet below. She'd managed to pinpoint a sort of temple at the foot of a mountain that was ominously belching smoke from its summit. Several crewmembers called out scientific readings: atmospheric, biological, geological, especially seismological.

"Captain," Spock called from his station, "it appears the volcano is ready to erupt. According to the data we possess at present, I estimate its eruption will result in the total or near extinction of the native beings."

"Why don't they get outta the way?" Jim asked, stricken.

"They may not be aware of what's happening," Freddey supplied, "When Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, the Romans had no idea why. They had no concept of what a volcano was because they'd never seen Vesuvius erupt. Even the ancient Hawaiians, who saw eruptions far more often, attributed them to the actions of supernatural beings, like the goddess Pele. It was the same with various Native American tribes, with the Maori of New Zealand, with old Japanese folk tales-"

"Your point, Fred?"

"My point, Jim, is that they likely worship a deity or deities associated with the mountain. Following that line of thought, I believe they think they've done something to anger that deity or deities, and they're trying to placate them somehow."

"Mulcahy's logic is sound," Spock agreed.

That wasn't good enough for Jim. He started pacing along the bridge, muttering and wringing his hands. Freddey didn't like it, either, but rules were rules, and the one unbreakable rule was the Prime Directive. No Starfleet ship, crew, or officer was to interfere with the natural progression of a primitive species, not for any reason. She had to accept it, along with every member of Starfleet, no matter how much she didn't want to. Freddey stood by and crossed her arms, leaning against a bulkhead by Len, who had also been summoned to the bridge for an observation of Nibiru's inhabitants. They both watched their friend pace a wear pattern into the floor.

"I've got it!" Jim declared at last.

"What? Got what?" Len asked.

"I know how we can save the Nibirans from the volcano," he replied.

Len groaned and put his face in his hands, and Spock managed to look both confused and completely done, like he somehow knew exactly what Jim was thinking but didn't know why he was thinking it.

Thus began a long ordeal that started when the Enterprise was on the bottom of an ocean. Jim and Len hurried to distract the Nibirans, while Spock, Uhura, and Sulu went to drop a cold fusion device (whatever that was) into the heart of the volcano to keep it inert. Freddey remained on the bridge, along with Scotty and Chekov, just to keep herself informed. She may or may not have spent much of the time wringing her hands and biting at her lip. Scotty paced the bridge as Jim had done, though he refused to sit in the chair when he did pause. She only saw him even perch on the edge of the chair once.

"LCDR Scott, the captain and Dr. McCoy have returned to the ship," LT Patel stated, "and LTs Uhura and Sulu are on their way. They appear to have abandoned the shuttle, sir. There is no word from LCDR Spock."

"Where are the cap'n and McCoy?" Scotty asked, heading for the turbolift.

Patel told him, and he had one foot in the lift before he called to Chekov to take the conn. The three men returned to the bridge not long after and were shortly followed by Uhura and Sulu, who quickly took up their posts. Freddey watched as Uhura worked frantically to reestablish a line of communication with Spock, who was still in the volcano. As soon as communication was restored, Jim and Spock set to arguing. Spock was adamant they not be seen, even at the cost of his own life, while Jim steadfastly refused to leave Spock behind. Freddey recalled the old axiom about irresistible forces and immovable objects. They were both formidable, but only one could win out. It was only a matter of time before Jim's stubbornness would lose out to the volcano. Freddey's heart was pounding.

Jim ordered the Enterprise out of the Nibiran sea and over the volcano, refusing to leave Spock behind in spite of the fact that the inhabitants of Nibiru would be sure to see them. No one voiced any protest, however. When Jim and Len hustled to the transporter room to make sure Spock was alright, Freddey looked to Uhura. The lieutenant's mouth was set in a thin line, her hands shaking in her lap either from fear or rage (or perhaps a bit of both). It was confirmed as rage when she spat out a report to Jim that Spock's cold fusion device had been successfully detonated, then slammed down her earpiece on the console. Freddey couldn't exactly tell who Uhura was mad at, not when both Jim and Spock seemed to be likely candidates for her vitriol.

"Hey, Uhura," Freddey said cheerfully, approaching her slowly, "Y'know, we've never really had the chance to talk, and well… I think a little break from the bridge might do us some good right now. How does lunch sound?"

Uhura took a moment to consider her offer before agreeing to meet her in a little while. Freddey left the bridge and went back to her office to wait.

"Welcome to my little slice of paradise, Uhura," she stated, smiling, "Come on in. Now, I offered lunch, and my replicator is ready to go. Go ahead and have whatever you like."

Uhura thanked her, ordering a simple East African dish, likely comfort food, and a cup of coffee. Freddey ordered her own lunch, and she and Uhura carried on a light conversation over their meal, talked about their time at the Academy and where they were from. Freddey made sure to carefully skirt around her time on Tarsus IV.

"So, you seemed a bit… tense on the bridge earlier," Freddey mentioned casually.

"Unbelievably," Uhura replied, saying nothing more.

"That's understandable. It was a rough mission, so-"

"Who does he think he is?" she blurted angrily, "I mean, really? Who does something like that? It's like he doesn't even care about anyone else!"

"Who exactly are you talk-"

"Spock! How could he? He could've died in that volcano, and it was like he didn't give a damn! Do you know how that makes me feel? Pretty damn worthless! You just don't tell someone how much you care about them and then let yourself die!"

She was on her feet now, pacing the length of Freddey's office, and continued, "He was gonna let himself die! You heard him! He told Kirk to leave him behind!"

"You and I both know that Jim was never going to leave him behind."

"He couldn't know that. How could Spock know that?" Uhura asked.

"Anyone who's been on this ship for more than a day or two knows Jim won't abandon anyone, the rules be damned. I think Spock was operating under the false assumption that Jim would follow the rules, but I think a part of him always knew Jim wouldn't."

Uhura's pacing slowed to a lazy stroll, her arms swinging like a little kid's.

"Look, I get it. You love him, and you almost lost him," Freddey told her gently, "That's rough on anyone, but if you're gonna keep goin' with Spock, you're gonna have to be prepared for more incidents like this. He's not gonna sit by while other people do the heavy lifting."

"I know, I know," she muttered, dropping into the chair once more, "I just… I wish he would show he cared as much as I know he does."

"Vulcans don't do that easily."

"I know," Uhura repeated.

"Well, there's an old saying about tigers and their stripes. No matter how much you care for each other, he can't change who or what he is, half-human though he may be. I'm sure he shows his care in his own way."

"But he didn't care!" Uhura retorted, "He didn't care that he was dying! You heard him. He told Kirk to leave him there and let him die!"

"He was probably just trying to be logical when his emotions threatened to overwhelm him. I'm sure he was upset about dying. Most sentient beings aren't exactly thrilled about the knowledge of their own mortality and eventual demise. Knowing your own demise is imminent isn't exactly a great feeling, but sometimes logic can override emotion in order to try and find a way to survive, to help you think your way out of a fatal situation. Now, I don't claim to be a psychologist or an expert in Vulcan psychology, but Spock's been through a lot in the last year or so. Plus, being raised on Vulcan, he's not used to showing such emotions openly."

"I know that, too."

Uhura didn't look up, picking at the hem of her skirt idly. Freddey waited for more.

"I just-… it's so different, dating him," she said at last, "He's so different from anyone else I've ever had a relationship with. Everyone else was very open about their emotions and what they wanted from our relationship, but Spock… Spock is just so different."

"That's to be expected."

"Well, you know what I mean. He's so closed off that I can't always figure out what he's feeling because he doesn't want to admit to feeling anything. It's confusing, honestly. I can't figure out if he's happy or not because, well, no one can."

"Well… what about you, Uhura? Are you happy?" Freddey asked.

Uhura blinked at Freddey, who continued, "You seem very concerned with whether or not Spock is happy, but are you happy? Right now, it doesn't seem that way. What I'm hearing is that you're often hurt and confused by his behavior."

Uhura flushed a deep pink.

"Look, I'm not a relationship expert. I can't tell you what will or won't work here, only what I think will work," Freddey explained, "I would say you should talk to him about what's bothering you, the things that irk you, maybe what's confusing you. If he won't sit down and talk to you, send him to me and I'll set him right, although that says a lot if he isn't willing to talk this through. Worse comes to worse, you can come see me together so I can mediate the conversation."

"Sounds good," Uhura said with a soft smile, "Say… Thanks for getting me to open up. That really helped."

"You looked you needed to vent, and I'm pretty good at listening to venting."

"I appreciate it. I really do, Freddey," Uhura replied earnestly, checking the chronometer, "Oh, I should get back up to the bridge. I'll see you later."

"Yup, see ya!"

Uhura headed out into the corridor, and Freddey heaved a sigh. She was glad that relationship stuff sounded alright to Uhura because she'd had trouble believing it herself. This was the girl, after all, who'd never been in a romantic relationship with anyone for any period of time. This was the twenty-four year old virgin. That was not to say she was naïve. No, she knew about what went where and how everything worked. She just wasn't interested in any of that. It seemed like a lot of work and lot of mess for such a simple feeling. She'd figured out long ago that sex and relationships weren't for her. There were, of course, people interested in her, but she never returned the affections, instead buried herself in her studies and religions and languages.

Freddey sighed again, deciding to head back up to the bridge once more. Jim was all but lounging in his chair. Uhura was at her own station, monitoring the subspace channels and pointedly not looking at Spock. Spock, however, looked comfortable, unaware of Uhura's apparent emotional issues with him. Len was hovering near the captain's chair, as he was wont to do whenever he was on the bridge. One of his hands rested on the back of the chair. Sulu and Chekov monitored their own feeds, keeping an eye on the ship's speed and direction and making adjustments as needed. Freddey cast her gaze over to the Engineering station, a station currently (though not usually) occupied by Scotty.

She couldn't help but watch as his fingers flew over the buttons and switches and a keypad, swiftly maneuvering to input some kind of information. It probably had to do with making sure the ship was flying smoothly after hiding on the bottom of an ocean. He'd not been happy when Jim told him to do that. She watched him work for a bit, then decided to go find her nurse of a best friend about that fluttering in her heart.

She was not thrilled to hear Kahliya bust out laughing and proclaim, "Girl, you're so funny! You ain't gonna die! You've got a crush!"

That was a ridiculous notion. Freddey had never had a crush on anyone in her life, and she certainly didn't now. Surely, there had to be another reason, some kind of rational explanation for occasionally seeing the chief engineer in her dreams.


For lack of an occasional expression of love, a relationship strong at the seams can wear thin in the middle. ~Robert Brault