U.S.S. Enterprise: A Linguist's Proposal

Act II

Part 4

Nyota's shuttle broke apart puffy clouds as it passed into the atmosphere of Altamid.

She gazed out of the window and watched the mountains grow taller around her. Another few minutes passed, and she could see temporary headquarters set up at the bottom of a foothill. Grassless plains stretched out on one end, while the mountain towering behind it cast dark shadows upon the ground. It was so beautiful on Altamid, and so hard for her to believe the horrors that had taken place there.

The shuttle set down smoothly on the landing pad, and Nyota unbuckled herself from the safety restraints. Stretching, she let the few other passengers out before her. She paused, alone, and looked down at the floor.

A month ago, she never would have believed herself capable of returning to this place. The sight of her crewmates strung upside down and screaming flashed behind her eyelids. Ensign Syl calling her name drummed in her ears like a heartbeat. Could she still remember the look in Syl's eyes as she ran towards the glass?

Yes, she always would. But life moved on, and so now should she.

Nyota swallowed down the memories, smoothed her skirt, and stepped out of the shuttle. A crewman showed the Yorktown officers around the small facility, which he said was meant to be expanded in the coming months. Nyota dropped off her things in her quarters on the second level, but a buzzing noise at the door interrupted her as she put away her few belongings.

"Commander Uhura?" An Andorian crewman who looked around her age waited in the hall. Nyota stepped out of her room.

"Yes." She held out her hand, and the other officer shook it.

"I'm Foll," he greeted with a small smile. "I'm here to escort you to the communications center." He held his hand out, gesturing into the hallway, and she walked a step behind him as he led her into the turbolift. "I heard you recently transferred from Enterprise."

"I did," Nyota replied.

He pressed the button for the highest floor. "It's pretty different off a starship. How have you been finding Yorktown?" Foll asked. Nyota glanced sideways at him, thinking of a response and noting the way he wrung his hands together from nerves. Nervous of what? Her?

"Calm," she said finally when the turbolift doors opened. Keeping up a light conversation, Foll led her down another hallway where the lights flickered every so often and stopped at a door on the left. He scanned his ID and allowed Nyota to scan her own temporary one she'd received upon arriving.

"Smith!" Foll called out, drawing the attention of all five people in the communications center. It was a large, circular room. In the center, a large satellite protruded up through the ceiling. Arranged in a circle, computers connected to the pole and each of those were connected to a dozen or so work stations. A few were in use, with officers and crewmembers listening into different communications signals. Besides that, the room was a mess of spare parts, crates of what Nyota assumed were more computers, and empty food and drink containers. People working around the clock tended not to clean up after themselves, either from exhaustion or laziness or a lack of time.

An officer with an earpiece dangling from her head jogged over to them. "Hi, you must be Commander Uhura," she held out her hand, and Nyota shook it. She had an overly firm grip. "My name's Ensign Smith. Wow, it's so great to meet you." Smith had brown hair pulled back into a messy bun and circles under her eyes, but Nyota thought her smile looked genuine.

"It's nice to meet you, too." Foll said his goodbyes and left the room, leaving Smith to show her around.

It was a relatively productive day given the working conditions, and Nyota could tell that the small team of officers valued whatever advice she could give. It reminded her of the early days of the mission when she had been forced to improvise and cut corners and regulations just to send and receive basic orders to far off stations. By the time Nyota left the communications center, night had settled over Altamid.

She left the main part of the base but stayed within the gate surrounding the structure. The air nipped at her cheeks. Finding a suitable tree, Nyota sat down and settled her back against the bark. It wasn't the clearest of nights. A thick cover of clouds hid most of the stars, but right overhead, Nyota could make out one shining light. Was that Yorktown?

The air tasted fresh, and it smelled of pine trees, and it made her think of coming to the surface after being in the stale underground of Krall's caves. Of her crew upside down and screaming, and of Syl screaming, and of flying away on the Franklin, and oh, how Nyota wanted to just fly away -

"Commander Uhura."

Nyota didn't jump at the voice, but she'd wanted to. Bell's expressionless face gleamed under the light of the base behind them. She started to get up, but he shook his head and instead sat on the ground a respectable distance away.

"Commander Bell," she greeted, settling back down. "How are you?"

He took a long time to answer, staring up at the clouds. "I am doing fine." Another stretch of silence passed before he spoke again. "How are you?"

"Good," she answered immediately.

"Good." Nyota tried not to stare, but he was Deltan. It was nearly impossible not to look at him. His skin was smooth, but that was no indication of his age. He could be twenty or one hundred and five. He looked at once solemn and wonderful. "Would you like to have dinner?"

"Yes," she said before mentally shaking herself. "That sounds fine."

"Fine," he agreed before getting up. His hand stretched out to help her up. Nyota grabbed it, willing her face not to heat up.

They walked together back into headquarters and down into a glass-domed cafeteria. Nyota's eyes darted around the room, seeing clumps of Starfleet jumpsuits and tired faces. Conversation buzzed in her ears, and as both she and Bell took their meals from the replicator, Nyota found herself increasingly uncomfortable with the noise.

She tried to shake off the unease as they sat across from one another at a tucked away table. Bell ate quietly, occasionally making a remark about the planet's climate or the progress of construction. In response, Nyota would nod or smile. Where before his natural charm had distracted her, her lack of control over it now grated on her frayed nerves.

"Being here is uncomfortable for you." Bell took a sip of his water as Nyota raised her eyebrows at him. Had she been so obvious?

"Forgive me," Nyota requested in embarrassment, "if I've been rude, sir."

Bell shrugged. "There is nothing to forgive. It's only that you appear distracted."

"It's been a long day." She hoped the excuse would lead to a change in subject. It didn't.

"In what way?" His eyes were unblinking as they stared at her.

She met his eyes dead on, expecting a challenge, expecting to defend herself. There was none. Her shoulders relaxed from a tension she hadn't noticed until then. "This is the first time I've been back here since Enterprise crashed. It has me somewhat on edge." The admission felt good. Talking through her problems had always been therapeutic for her.

Bell nodded, his eyes turning back to his dinner. "I understand." There was a lapse in conversation again, though Nyota now attributed it to Bell's pattern of speech, not awkwardness on either of their parts. When he spoke again, his voice was less monotone than any of their previous interactions. "Tomorrow, I'm going to the site of the crash. Would it be helpful to see it, or would you rather stay here?"

She had a choice.

"I'd like to see it."

For the first time, Nyota saw Bell smile. It was a small thing, but it helped.

"Good."


Dawn had just started to peek through her window when Nyota realized sleep was not coming. Her quarters were clinical and small, and in the early morning light, Nyota paced its floor. She had been unusually nervous since dinner the night before. The ship loomed large in her mind as she had laid in bed, and after hours of tossing and turning, a stimulant seemed the only option to get through the day.

Breakfast was a protein bar from the cafeteria before boarding a shuttle with Bell and a few mechanics over to the crash site. No transporter system had been established yet, as the planet's mapping staff had run into problems that ranged from inexplicable battery drainages to pockets of groups of escaped prisoners of Krall, like Jaylah, being spotted across the three continental land masses of Altamid. They tended to either object to Starfleet presence or required rescue and relocation to their home planets and families. No native population had yet been discovered.

Despite the inconvenience, Nyota enjoyed the time the shuttle ride gave her to prepare. She promised herself that it was not such a big deal and that it wouldn't be as bad as she was making it out to be. Then the shuttle landed, and she left it a step behind Bell.

There it was.

Rocky, dusty terrain surrounded the charred remains of a forest. Broken stumps, scattered dirt, not a hint of green anywhere. The Enterprise lay on top of it all, its hull ripped to shreds.

Nyota tried to picture the ship in space dock when she had seen it for the very first time. She remembered, with some amount of guilt, Gaila's excitement at being assigned the same ship, the Farragut. She remembered the gratifying victory at convincing Spock to change her assignment. She remembered the other cadets, all nerves and jitters, climbing into shuttle seats. The sound of the buckle snapping into place. She had been humming a song she could not now place.

The rest was a blur.

It didn't matter what was before because now it was broken. Flipped on its head, all that remained was the saucer. A makeshift shuttle yard had already been set up over a neatly cleared patch of land to the left of the Enterprise's entrails.

"Uhura?"

Nyota turned to the sound of Bell's voice and saw that he was waiting for her to catch up. Tearing her eyes from the ship, Nyota walked down and listened as Bell spoke to one of the mechanics about the project to recycle the ship's salvageable parts before a team of geologists, engineers, and terraformers would replenish the damage the Enterprise had left on Altamid's landscape.

Hearing that Starfleet was scrapping Enterprise, Nyota felt equal parts infuriated and defeated. Of course there was little to save, but history had been started on that ship, and the consequences of the Enteprise's missions would be echoing in the Federation for years to come. Surely it deserved more respect than to be taken apart and melted down?

Gaining Bell's permission to observe the site on her own, Nyota walked down the open air structure and overheard conversations about the strength of structural beams and the latest news in Starfleet and an oddly themed birthday party planned for next week. It gave her time to decide that she wanted to go inside the ship one last time. Approaching a passing mechanic, Nyota asked who was in charge. She was pointed in the direction of a pair of bickering engineers at the end of her path.

"Excuse me?" Nyota interrupted. The one on the left huffed before gathering up some blueprints and storming away. The engineer left in his wake cursed under her breath and more politely asked what Nyota needed. "Could I go inside?"

The engineer shrugged, eying the Lieutenant Commander stripes on Nyota's collar. "Inspection?"

"No," Nyota answered, but the suspicion in the engineer's eyes remained. "That was my ship." Understanding replaced the suspicion, and before she knew it, a mechanic was leading Nyota down to a nearby storage area for safety gear. The mechanic, Kelly, shuffled through a large metal container before looking thoughtfully down at Nyota's feet. Then after a minute more of searching, he pulled out a pair of mag boots and placed them in Nyota's arm. They were surprisingly light.

"Check the charge on those. Don't want those to go dead when you're in there." Nyota looked at the side of each shoe, thankfully remembering some of basic training. It read at eighty five percent for each. "Good," Kelly nodded when Nyota told him. "Now, do you have a communicator?" Nyota set the boots on the ground and grabbed the communicator from her belt. Kelly turned the dial on the side, listening until a particular tone played. He handed it back. "That's tuned to our local channel. You can access Altamid HQ's channel by flipping this once," he pointed to a switch on the other side.

Nyota followed Kelly to another section of the shuttle yard where someone was getting treated for a burn to their side by an exasperated medic. Grabbing a hypo, Kelly asked permission before injecting it into Nyota's neck. "That's for radiation, and this," he said as he injected Nyota with another hypo, "is so we know where you are in case you lose your communicator or mag boots. It can come out when you're done. Now to the ship."

There was a makeshift ramp leading up to an interior hall of the Enterprise. He showed her how to adjust her mag boots, in case the auto-adjust failed. Then he handed her a small chip with a button on the bottom. Nyota pressed it, and the same hologram that she'd seen earlier of the ship floated in front of her.

"You're here, next to -" Kelly pointed.

"Medbay," Nyota finished absently, glancing up into the hallway.

He stared at Nyota in surprise. "Yeah. Anyways, good luck. Comm in if you need anything. Commander."

When the mechanic had gone, Nyota took a deep breath and ascended the ramp. She flipped her boots on and entered her ship. Immediately, she walked up the wall and onto the walkway so that she saw things right side up.

The crew had set up a new string of lights to guide the way. Nyota didn't know what she was doing there, or where she wanted to go, so she just followed down the hall. Medbay would have been to her right, Nyota thought, as she passed an open space. Dirt and a bit of rust covered the walls. Had it rained a lot? Still, the directory signs were readable. She turned and came across a fork at the end of the hall. One way led to a few common areas and a turbolift. The other would have led to the comm center, if it didn't end in a gaping hole halfway down.

Using the meg boots, Nyota scaled up the wall. Her perspective changed, the wall becoming the floor. She stepped up and up, passing by a mechanic who didn't look at her when she passed. Looking up and down, she could see a hypnotizing set of walkways, railings, and winding passages. It felt surreal. Less than two months ago, she'd been sailing in space right in this ship.

Nyota knew where she wanted to go.

Her boots helped drag her up near the top of the ship. With a careful step, she changed so the her feet were once again on the ground. Her head spun a bit from the change. A few deep breaths later, Nyota strode down the hallway. At the end, she saw the turbolift doors opened almost all the way. Two doors would be on either side of it, she knew. Her heart beat faster and faster in her chest. Even a small smile of hope graced her lips as her feet carried her faster down the hall. She turned to the right of the turbolift and saw -

Nothing.

Their quarters, Spock and Nyota's quarters were just -

Gone.

The ship had collapsed in on the space, which echoed down with debris and rubble. Her chest turned cold. Her stomach clenched with disbelief.

"No," she whispered, her palm resting on the button beside the door.

She adjusted the collar on her uniform. Sweat pricked on the back of her neck. "It's a little hot in here, don't you think?" Nyota teased, watching as Spock became aware of her presence. He had been engrossed with something at his computer, and his shoulders jumped ever so slightly at the surprise. She must have been really sneaky to have evaded his notice. Pride made her grin, but his eyes looking into hers made her smile.

He had such beautiful eyes.

"Nyota, I was unaware you would be here until later this evening."

"So was I," she said, leaning down to unzip her boots. "But the department head said she didn't me."

"You are the department head of communications." She glanced up at him through her eyelashes, tugging the other boot from her foot.

She made a pretend surprise face. "You don't say?" As she straightened her boots and set them in the small closet beside the door, Spock turned in his chair to fully face her. He had his arms crossed and looked decidedly confused.

Knowing it was all an act, Nyota just shook her head and let him have his small bit of fun.

"I find it difficult to believe that you were not aware of your own position on our ship," Spock claimed. Nyota scoffed and approached her set of drawers, opening the top one and looking for more comfortable clothing. She was not planning on leaving their quarters until her next shift tomorrow.

She sighed dramatically and pulled her uniform dress over her head. "Well, you know us humans, Spock. Our minds are just so cluttered and disorganized." She got dressed in the T-shirt she had stolen from her sister on their last visit to Earth. Looking for shorts, Nyota tried not to laugh as Spock answered.

"While I agree that humans are, generally speaking, cluttered and disorganized, I still cannot find your statement plausible in regards to your supposed forgetfulness." She slipped the shorts on, leaned one hip on the drawers, and faced Spock. He looked tired behind the playfulness.

"Okay, I lied," Nyota held up her hands in mock surrender. In a more serious tone, she asked, "Do you mind if I turn down the temperature a degree or two?"

Spock uncrossed his arms. "I do not mind." Nyota reached to the panel above their bed and adjusted the temperature to somewhere between both of their preferred levels. Appraising the rest of the quarters, she noticed the Vulcan tapestry on the wall beside a poster from a choral performance she had been in at the Academy. The patterned rug on the floor had been a gift from her mother, and the bed sheets were a practical gray. She had let Spock pick them. There were holos on the walls, and though most of them were hers, some belonged to Spock.

Somewhere between what she wanted and what he wanted.

"Come to bed," she said, lying back and staring at the ceiling, trying to get the communications static out of her head.

"I am working," he replied.

"Bring a padd."

Nyota could almost hear him debating the efficiency level of working at his computer dock as opposed to a padd on their bed. There was no question of which one was better for completing research or scheduling or writing up reports. There was no question of which one he'd rather choose if he had been alone.

He shut off the computer, grabbed two padds, and laid beside her on the boring, gray sheets. When she rested her head on his shoulder and started to hum, he didn't say a word.

Nyota lifted her head and hand, spun around, and was ready to sit against the wall and lose herself in memories until she saw that the captain's quarters were still intact. Across from their room, the door to Kirk's had stopped working or had fallen off, permanently open for all to see. She glanced around, debating whether or not to go inside. It wouldn't be her first time seeing them. Nyota had been many times to Kirk's quarters to sit in on chess games, give a report or two, even just to stop in and see if he was alright or if he knew where she could find Spock.

Never once had Nyota entered Kirk's quarters without permission or while he wasn't there. And yet, as she creeped forward, inch by inch, she just couldn't help herself. Was it curiosity? Homesickness? Had the sight of the ship torn to bits and her room blown out of existence driven her slightly too close to an edge? Surely it wouldn't hurt to just look around?

Nyota walked through the doorway, mag boots dragging across the floor. The computer dock sparked up once at her presence before spluttering out with a lonely buzz. Most of the furniture in crew quarters had been bolted down, so the desk, separating screen, and bed were all firmly planted, even if they tilted up around thirty degrees. Nearly everything else had been smashed, littering the wall and floor.

Maybe she could find something to bring back to Kirk.

Nothing looked worthy of salvage, but she checked through it all anyways. Approaching the desk, Nyota noticed all but one drawer opened and emptied of contents. The shut drawer was locked with a passcode, but after trying to punch in a few combinations that Kirk preferred, she realized that the lock had stopped working. The drawer was only jammed. She tugged at it hard, once, twice, and on the third time it opened. Peering inside, she saw a few smashed padds, a 3-D puzzle, and a stash of candy that practically spilled onto the floor.

Nyota stifled a laugh. What else?

Abandoning the candy and puzzle, Nyota searched the rest of the room. Mostly it just felt good to look around and know that something had survived the crash. She could feel a smile begin to form on her face from all the good memories.

And then Nyota opened the closet.

It wasn't as though Kirk hid body parts or weird holos or anything that screamed strange or scary. But as she held the light up to look around at what she thought would just be dusty uniform shirts, Nyota saw things she was sure Kirk wouldn't want her to.

Like a stash of rotten food rations in the back that could last a month at the least if they hadn't spoiled. Like a badly torn childish drawing of a starship signed Sam -with the S backwards - in 2233 that was tucked inside a boot. Like a padd that when she flicked it on just had a list of names, a few of which she recognized and the last of which made her heart hurt. Geoffry M'Benga. The first was George Kirk.

Almost immediately, Nyota's blood began to boil. What was she doing in here? She had no right. Furious at herself, Nyota threw the padd back into the depths of the closet and shut the door. Then she paused, reopened the closet door and grabbed the drawing. Smoothing it out so very gently, she stared down at the paper. What if something ever happened to Kamau or Makena? She couldn't exactly leave the elder Kirk's drawing behind. If the situations were reversed, she'd want Kirk to bring it.

He would know what she'd seen.

Yes, Nyota supposed, but then why put a lock on the candy drawer and not on the closet?

With her decision made, Nyota started to walk out but then caught sight of another drawer hanging ajar from behind the bed. Placing the picture down on the desk so that it wouldn't fall, she circled around the bed frame and crouched down to investigate. Light held aloft in her left hand, Nyota reached into the built-in compartment with her right hand and pulled something rectangular out with a bit of effort.

It was a box labeled in faded, black letters: 'Property of Jimmy Kirk'. Nyota couldn't help a smile at the childish scrawl. Maybe she shouldn't have opened it, maybe it wasn't right to, but Nyota had already crossed a few lines that day and wondered if one more really mattered.

She pulled off the lid, though it stuck stubbornly to the box it concealed. Placing the top aside, Nyota glanced inside and assessed its contents.

A pair of large, plain white socks, unworn. A small, transparent pouch filled with a million tiny shards of glass. A holo that brokenly projected a young man in a decades outdated, golden Starfleet uniform who smiled Jim Kirk's smile at the viewer. A separate holo of Carol and David in the hospital where he was born. A final holo of what Nyota thought must have been Kirk's mother, brother, and himself when Kirk was a toddler. A crimson colored feather the length of her hand. An orange speckled rock, smoothed around the edges. A salt shaker shaped like a starship. A black King chess piece that had a sizeable chip in his crown. A small piece of plain paper folded up into fourths that read in messy scrawl: 'Sorry. Leaving. Love you.' An empty brown bottle that had a peeling sticker on the front: Scotty's Finest. A miniature periwinkle flower preserved in some kind of liquid, encased in a clear test tube with a quark to top it. A bracelet braided together with strands of golden and silver thread.

Lastly, she picked out a small handbook, the bindings worn. "Diplomacy for Idiots". Nyota had presented that to him after a long string of failed diplomatic missions, long before the five year mission had even started. It had been a joke, something she'd written to pass the time and to cheer them all up. The paper alone had cost a lot more than she could afford, but it had been worth it.

Spock had helped a lot.

Feeling too much, Nyota flipped to a random page. Rule 34: Never look anyone in the eye, unless that species views eye-contact as a sign of respect. And then do. But if not, don't. How will you know? You won't. Preferred course of action: keep eyes closed at all times. This will, of course, lead to other problems. In the best case scenario, stay on the ship. All the rules she had written ended with the suggestion that he just stay on the ship.

And Kirk had kept it, all this time.

Sentimental idiot, Nyota thought. McCoy had always been right about him. What a fool Jim Kirk was.

She didn't know when she had started to cry. A tear dripped off her chin and onto the page, smudging the ink. Closing the book caused some dust to waft up into her nose, and she sneezed. Rubbing her nose with elbow, Nyota put the book back inside the box and covered it with the lid. Wiped her tears. Tugged the box into her lap.

She knew the reason she had come into Kirk's quarters.

Because she missed him. And she missed Spock. Missed Sulu and Chekov and Scotty and Keenser and McCoy. She missed Longo and Vinn and Yvette and Giotto. Hell, she'd give anything to see Waters, even if she was just a forgotten ghost somewhere outside. Anything. Anyone from their ship. Her family when family was far gone on a blue planet a galaxy away.

But wasn't this what she wanted? To be on her own?

Yes, and already Nyota was becoming accustomed to her new norm. So she took one last take of Kirk's quarters and made sure her face was dry. As she left, the sight of her and Spock's quarters in pieces left her wondering. Was he was pleased to turn the temperature up without her complaints? Did he enjoy the solitude in his free time, able to meditate and sleep on his own schedule? Or would he even be alone?


A group of unfamiliar aliens stood at the entrance of the cave.

Bell and Nyota exchanged one last nod. They carried no phasers, no tricorders, only communicators in order to contact HQ if necessary. Those were the terms agreed on by both Starfleet and the Ghozgada, the species that had made contact with Yorktown after Krall left Altamid. They were humanoid, bipedal, and very much like other Federation species. Observing them now, Nyota found that they were all at least as tall as Bell. Their skin was an almost translucent array of purples. They had flat noses and smaller mouths than most humanoids. To Nyota's wonder, their eye color changed constantly. She wanted to sit and stare for hours into their eyes, just to see if she could name every shade, every variation.

"Hello," Bell spoke first as he and Nyota stopped about two yards from the Ghozgada. They wore a uniform that was not dissimilar in style to the practical jumpsuits Starfleet stations employed, although the colors of the material were considerably more vibrant.

One of the aliens stepped forward and addressed Bell. "Hello. I am Li Leisel of the planet Gorad. Behind me is Hi Jada, Hi Valrad, and Ki Loran." Leisel stuck out their hand, which like both Bell's and Nyota's had five fingers. Unlike theirs, all but one were the same length. "I have been informed that Federation greet with a shake of hands."

Nodding, Bell clasped his hand with Leisel's. "You're correct. I'm Commander Noman Bell of the planet Delta IV, a member of the United Federation of Planets. This is my colleague, Lieutenant Commander Uhura." Bell nodded to Nyota, and then Nyota shook hands with Leisel as Bell had.

"Nyota Uhura from the planet Earth, another Federation world." She matched the grip of Leisel and decided to keep eye contact as opposed to looking away. Over the course of many first contacts, Nyota had gained an instinct for what was acceptable body language and what was considered offensive. Trusting those instincts, she added in a small smile as she said, "The Federation is always happy to make a new friend."

Leisel quirked their lips in return. "Gorad feels likewise." Looking around pointedly at the terrain, Leisel added, "It is especially cause for celebration in this time, as the creature who ruled on this planet is now gone from our plane of existence."

"You knew of Krall?" Bell asked. Leisel nodded.

"Ghozgada once considered this planet holy ground, a place of the gods. It has been many centuries since this belief was abandoned by our society, and yet when the creature you call Krall came to Altamid and desecrated the drones left behind by the khalada, it angered many of our people. We could do nothing without destroying the drones, and such an action is taboo. For a century, we have waited for Krall to perish."

Nyota had many questions for Leisel, but Bell spoke first. "Who are the khalada?" His voice stumbled over the word.

"They are the ones who came from Altamid," Leisel answered.

"Why did they leave this planet?" Bell asked. Nyota watched in surprise as Bell showed unbridled curiosity. She was unused to seeing such interest from him.

Leisel shook their head. "You misunderstand. Ghozgada never knew the khalada. It is what we call those who once lived here. They left behind many signs of their society. The drones, the caves, the drawings. But if they left, they did so long before Ghozgada had taken to the stars. When we finally arrived to Altamid, we found only relics and ruins." Leisel sighed and rubbed their hands together. "They are a curious mystery to us, as they have always been."

Nyota glanced around the cave they had agreed to meet at. The entrance was dark and eerie. "Why was destroying the drones taboo?"

"All unprovoked violence is restricted," Leisel tilted their head, "and though we did not prefer Krall on Altamid, his actions were always confined to Altamid alone. Altamid was a neutral, uninhabited planet. We had no right to intervene according to our laws." Leisel considered the pair of them. "Apparently, Federation laws differ from ours."

Straightening her spine, Nyota defended against the implication. "Krall was once a Human, like me. He came from Earth on one of our earliest warp capable ships. He was our responsibility."

"Was he typical for your species?" Leisel asked.

"No." Nyota didn't even need to think about it. Krall was a murderer, a liar, a man obsessed. Humans had outgrown such men, and rightly so, Nyota decided. The universe outside of her native system was too large, too beautiful, and too unknown to accommodate the more violent tendencies her species had once commonly displayed.

Leisel nodded. "That is good to hear. Now," Leisel stepped aside and motioned at the cave's entrance, "we wished to show you something that holds great significance to Ghozgada." As Bell, Nyota, and the other Ghozgada followed Leisel into the cave, she listened to Leisel's voice echo along the cavernous walls. "This was near the site of the first landing of Ghozgada on Altamid. The Ki who landed here is said to have led a small crew into these very caves. Their name was Ki Vocala. Vocala kept contact with the ship through much of the crew's investigation. But on the third day in the caves, the ship stopped receiving communication from Vocala. A rescue team went in to find them, but after a week of careful searching, Vocala and their team were never found."

Nyota shivered as the air in the caverns turned damp and cold. They descended ever deeper into the cave, making a number of twisted turns. She kept note of them all, determined not to get lost should she need to find her own way out.

"Even today, though we now have extensive maps of many of the cave systems of Altamid, no remains that match Vocala's records have ever been found. When the Ki first went missing, some Ghozgada said it was a sign from the old gods, warning us to stay away from this planet. They were a minority at first, but many tragedies have occurred on Altamid. Many deaths. Too many, some said, to be coincidence. Our tools and machines would not work for no clear reason. Our attempts at colonization failed. Eventually, as the faith in the gods waned, even the pilgrimages to this planet stopped. Research halted, and our attention turned elsewhere. But the mystery remains."

Leisel's eyes glowed yellow in the dark, stopping in their journey and turning to face the group. "This is the last place Vocala was ever heard from. The first Ghozgada to step foot on Altamid." A bright beam shot out of some device at Leisel's hip and illuminated the cavern. Nyota thought the tool handy, and wondered if she couldn't get Bell to broker some kind of trade. But as the light filtered over the walls to her right, Nyota became distracted.

Symbols carved into the rock stretched from floor to ceiling in inticate, swirling patterns. Nyota barely made out two figures in the center with arms outstretched to its viewers. Leisel spoke near Nyota's ear, jolting her from the sight. "It draws one in, does it not?"

Nyota smiled with ease that belied her nerves. "It's fascinating. Tell me, Li Leisel, has anyone ever deciphered what this says?" Nyota reached forward and let her hands caress the carved symbols at eye level. "It's not translating for me."

"I'm afraid Ghozgada have never found a way to learn the khalada written language. Without a key to match their words to ours, there is no way to know what they have said." Leisel turned their head down. Frustration. "I admit that I feel personally drawn to this planet. I always liked a good mystery."

"A good mystery is one that can be solved. Without a key, this can't be."

Leisel looked up. "All questions have answers. All problems a solution. Only circumstances prevent us from them."

Nyota shook her head, finding herself disagreeing. "Maybe." She saw Bell engaged in conversation with the other three Ghozgada, before turning back to Leisel. "You said you had maps of the caves?"

"Yes," Leisel said. "They were made by hand, as our devices tend to malfunction when we descend too far below ground, so they are not as accurate as they could be. Does Federation want these?"

"I imagine they will interest many people," Nyota admitted, "but if you want anything in return, you need only ask."

"Friendship and knowledge, for now, is enough for Gorad. There is much we can learn from one another."

Nyota smiled, and she came to the startling realization that this was the happiest and most comfortable she'd been since the Enterprise had first come to Altamid. "I agree." The tour of the caves continued for another hour before the group returned to the surface. Nyota was grateful, but she was also pleased to find herself less claustrophobic than she thought she might be. Instead, the caves had proved fascinating, the artwork and language mysterious, and the Ghozgada very hospitable. As far as first contacts go, Nyota considered this one a success.

As Bell and Nyota returned to headquarters, Bell received an incoming transmission on his communicator. He spoke in hushed tones, and Nyota did him the courtesy of turning to face the window in the shuttle and humming a new song she had heard while in Nairobi recently. When the conversation had finished, Bell tapped her knee. She looked up from the forest, confused.

"Yes, Commander?" Nyota prompted.

Bell grinned. The day was full of surprises. "Starfleet's been looking into the cave systems. Three Enterprise crew members were found deep in the one nearest HQ. Alive."

Alive?

"Who?" was the first word out of Nyota's mouth after she regained the ability to speak.

"They identified themselves as Petty Officer Florence, Engineering department, Ensign Covington, another from Engineering, and Ensign Power from Science Department." Nyota couldn't help but feel a small flicker of hope die as neither Vinn nor Waters's name was among the rescued. It caused a surge of guilt to rise in her gut. She should be happy that anyone was found at all. "That leaves nine more unaccounted crew from Enterprise. Recognize any of the names?"

All of them. She knew all the names of her crew. It had been her job.

"Yes."

Alive.

It was good news, and once again, Nyota couldn't help but match Bell's smile.


A/N: Thank you for reading, reviewing, favoriting, etc! And sorry for the sporadic updates. Hopefully the length of the chapter makes up for it. This is also the end of act 2, so get excited for some new themes and adventures, and a change in attitude from our leading character :)