Captain Awesome indeed! He doesn't go for half measures, that is for certain!

To answer a question I have had about Uhura, and women in general: Uhura is fierce and I love her. Winona is fierce and I love her. Carol (can be) fierce and I love her. Gaila was fierce and I loved her. In short, one of the great things about the Trek universe is the abundance of kickass female characters. There will be no bashing found here, or in any of my other stories. And if a female character I depict as batshit crazy and a total bitch (Hi, Mrs Kirk) then it will because she wants to be, has the total right to be, and god help anyone stupid enough to try stop her. And if she wants to do it in a crazy short hemline, more the power to her!

Sorry. This rant brought to you by a lack of coffee and a day spent with two misogynistic jerks at work. I now have ice cream and am beating up Jim, so all is right with the world again. For those of you waiting on the whumpage, you've got a few more chapters to go, then it's a free for all!


Nyota threw her arms around McCoy the moment she saw him. "I'm so sorry, Leonard." She whispered, holding him tightly. He held her back for a moment, his shoulders shuddering with the force of his anguish. When he stepped back, she slid her hand into his. Jim joined them, standing next to Spock outside the hanger bay he'd called them all to.

She couldn't help but feel a great swell of anger at the universe, one that was swiftly followed by sympathetic hurt. She loved these men and it hurt her to see them suffering once again.

Jim's death had hit them all hard, and in its own way his recovery equally as much. She'd thought now, with Jim all but healed, they'd be able to move on from the pain of the last year and try and build something better and brighter. Spock was opening up more; McCoy had lost that haunted look in his eyes; Jim had grabbed onto his new lease of life with a solid determination to leave the past where it couldn't hurt him anymore.

And now this.

Just the thought of that sweet little girl alone in the middle of all that terror was enough to bring tears to her eyes. Uhura had spent a lot of time with Joanna while she'd been in town to see her father and Jim. When Jim had been sleeping, which had happened a lot, Uhura had taught her how to braid her hair and how to talk to Spock in Vulcan just to irritate McCoy. She'd seen Jo work miracles with Jim, who didn't know how to accept kindness from anyone without looking for ulterior motives, but who looked at Jo with the utter devotion of a man completely besotted.

And anyone could see how fiercely McCoy loved his daughter. She'd saved him from drowning in his attempts to keep Jim alive, pulling him back into the word when nothing else would.

After slowly starting to get back on track, seeing the utter hopelessness and pain in McCoy's eyes again was devastating.

"Doctor." Sulu and Chekov arrived a few moments later, sharing their own sympathy and support in the slightly less demonstrative way men did. They were all dressed in civilian clothing and carried small bags for the trip. McCoy nodded gratefully, his expression watery and broken.

"Captain." They greeted Jim, who looked ready to keel over already. She had no idea how he'd passed his physicals and imagined he'd cheated. He done far more reckless things for far less reason.

"Barnett lost his shit." Jim said by way of greeting. "Starfleet aren't giving us anything." He held up a hand before the spark of outrage could ignite. "But it's okay, I got us a shuttle anyway."

"Got?" McCoy asked gruffly.

Jim hesitated. "Kinda."

"We're stealing a shuttle?" Sulu asked incredulously, reading between the lines as Jim led them into the hanger. His eyes landed on the beat up hunk of space junk sitting in the middle of the space. "That shuttle?"

"Of course not." Jim said as if the very notion was absurd. "We're borrowing that shuttle." He pulled on Sulu's shoulder until he could see around the scrap heap to the practically palatal shuttle behind it.

"Not that I'm doubting you or anything, Captain," Sulu said hesitantly, "but am I right in thinking that belongs to the President?"

Jim nodded. "She's in town for the press conference. It's the fastest long range vessel I could get at short notice." He said, oblivious to the stunned faces surrounding him.

"The President of the Federation is loaning us her private shuttle." Uhura concluded. "Kirk, what did you do?" She clearly wasn't the only one who was suspicious because McCoy looked half a second away from exploding.

Jim's attention returned to them and he flashed them those blue eyes of his, not a single sign of the evil genius she knew lurked beneath the surface. "Why does everyone assume I did something bad?" He protested.

"Experience." Sulu said dryly, unmoved by the glare Kirk sent his way.

Jim looked at Spock for help. Spock merely raised a customary eyebrow. "I asked nicely!" Kirk huffed, leading them all inside the exquisitely designed shuttle.

"Bullshit." McCoy shot down. "You said you were calling in favors."

Jim led the way to the shuttle. "And I did."

"You expect me to believe the President of the goddamn Federation owes you a favor?" McCoy scowled at him.

"Believe it, don't believe it." Jim shrugged. "All the same to me. Sulu, watch the port thrusters: apparently she corners like a drunk Ferengi. Chekov, get us an ETA to Cerberus and see if you can't hunt down what other vessels are in the sector. Uhura," just like that, Jim went from joking to business and they all scrambled to obey. She followed Sulu towards the cockpit of the shuttle and chose the seat that was most out of the way. Jim, Sulu and Chekov needed to be at the center of the action. She and Spock flanked them on either side of the small space. "I need you to put out a call to anyone not currently engaged in action – let's see if we can't get a little more assistance here." Jim took his seat and strapped in. "When you've done that, I need you to get a message to the Peer Gynt."

Uhura paused, her fingers hovering over her console. "That's not a Starfleet vessel." She said, wracking her brain and coming up blank.

"No," Jim sighed. "It isn't." He agreed, not offering any more explanation.

"Their location?" She asked. Her console was not as advanced as the one she had on the Enterprise, but it wasn't far behind. The shuttle itself was the height of luxury and she hoped that they'd at least be able to return it in one piece.

"Not a damn clue." Jim said brightly, leaning back in a chair that looked far more comfortable than his own.

"Of course not." She muttered.

"Thirty seven hours to destination, Keptain." Chekov chimed in from the navigation station.

Jim hit the internal comms. "Bones, you strapped in?"

"What happened to 'two hours away', Jim?" McCoy growled.

"On the Enterprise at maximum warp, sure. We're kinda having to make do."

"Just get us the hell out of here." McCoy responded irritably. Jim rolled his eyes.

"Yes sir, Captain Bones." He quipped, trying to ease the tension. Uhura bit her lip to keep from smiling but her amusement quickly dropped when she switched on the console and a message was immediately patched to them.

"Sir, I've got Admiral Archer here." She said as professionally as she could. Jim winced. She did not envy his position at all.

"Aw crap." He said resignedly. "Okay, patch him through."

She and Sulu shot him identical looks of sympathy. Archer was terrifying and he didn't seem all that fond of Jim, as indicated by the clipped growl that sounded through the cockpit the moment she authorized the connection.

"Kirk!"

"Admiral." Jim said, polite tone in defiance of the tension Uhura could see in his shoulders.

"If you ever go over my head like that again, I'll remove yours from your body." Archer snarled through the connection.

Jim cringed. "Yes sir. Understood. In my defense though-"

"Save your damn excuses, boy. I know exactly why you did it. You're as bad as your mother."

"Thank you, sir." Jim said.

"That wasn't a compliment."

"Er, right." Jim said, cringing again. Uhura had no idea what to make of Winona Kirk. On the one hand, she had a lot to answer for in the way she'd raised her kids, but on the other…well, it was hard not to admire a woman that half of Starfleet Command had clearly been terrified of.

"Well, get on with it, then." Archer snapped. "And for the love of god, Kirk, try not to cause an intergalactic incident."

"I'll do my best, sir." Jim promised, his shoulders relaxing when it became clear that Archer wasn't going to make things difficult for them. "Thank you."

Archer ended the call from his end, not bothering to restrain himself from a growl of irritation. She wondered what was angering him the most – that Jim had gone over his head, or that they were potentially losing one of their key tactical assets.

It was something she and Spock had discussed in length after the incident with Marcus. A war was coming, she knew that. She, like Spock, also knew that Jim was going to be at the very heart of it. They talked about retiring from service, of leaving the danger behind, and both agreed it wasn't in their nature to hide. Nor, now they had found it, did they believe in abandoning family.

It was why they were there without having to be asked. McCoy had called her and they'd come running. The only person who hadn't been able to join them was Carol, who had been summoned that morning to Paris. Since the city served as the headquarters for the Federation President and his attaché, Uhura couldn't help but wonder if she'd had anything to do with Jim 'borrowing' the most secure shuttle in the system.

"Alright then." Jim settled back down. "Sulu, we good to go?"

"Aye sir." Sulu said from the controls. "Engines prepped and ready at your command."

"Spock?" Jim turned to his First out of habit rather than necessity. Since the ship was so small, Spock had no official duties and had busied himself instead with compiling as much information on the situation on Cerberus as he could.

"Captain." Spock nodded calmly. It didn't matter that this was an unofficial mission, that it was not Starfleet business or that Jim had not even asked them to be here. He was their captain and Spock would address him as such. Jim had always been informal with them when he could and Uhura had fallen into the habit of being informal in return, especially with all the time they had spent together socially.

"Okay then," Jim nodded. "What are we waiting for?"

"That would be us." Uhura turned in her chair and smiled as Scotty and Kevin Riley entered the cabin, slightly out of breath. Jim opened his mouth to comment – to no doubt say he needed Scotty at work on his ship – when the chief held up a hand and scowled down at him. "You really think you're leaving me behind again ya crazy wee bastard?"

Jim's mouth closed with a snap and for a second Uhura saw something young and broken in his eyes. He shook his head wordlessly. "Aye," Scott grumbled. "I thought no." He then spun on his heels and marched down to the engine room, muttering decidedly unflattering things under his breath.

Jim then turned to Kevin. Uhura could see the conflict in him and shared his concerns.

"You're not coming, Kev." Jim said softly.

The young man crossed his arms stubbornly. "I went back to Tarsus for you, Jimmy." He said, talking to the boy he'd known in that hellhole, not his captain. "And I'd go back again for Doctor McCoy."

Jim rose out of his chair and stepped closer. "I can't let you do that." He said regretfully. "I'm sorry, but you're not coming with us."

Uhura felt for the kid, she really did, but then Kevin proved he was just as tough as he'd shown himself to be before. He squared his jaw, eyes hard, and stared Jim down. "Lenore." He said stubbornly, as if the word made a lick of sense.

It must have done to Kirk, because Jim blanched, his jaw dropping. "You wouldn't."

"Try me." Kevin said darkly.

Jim stared at him in silence before shaking his head in dazed wonder. "Jesus, I have to stop teaching you guys my bad habits. Was that supposed to be blackmail or bribery?" He asked Kevin, who had sat himself down in the last seat available.

"Both, I guess." He shrugged.

"Lenore, Captain?" Spock queried.

Jim shook his head. "Don't even go there, Spock." He shot Riley a dirty look out of the corner of his eye. "Not cool."

"I learned from the best." Riley shrugged, smiling wryly.

"Why the hell are we still here?" McCoy's angry voice cut through the conversation, killing the dark humor.

"Good question." Jim muttered. "Mr Sulu, take us out."