Author's Note: Chapter 11 represents the second of a multi-part flashback series taking place during Uhura's first year as a cadet. This section primarily features Uhura and Kirk. I promise to get back to Uhura and Spock, shortly. Hopefully, the payoff will be worth the wait. As always, your comments are always welcome.
Strapped into her seat of the personnel transport, Uhura awaited the starship's departure for their four hour trip to the training site. The transport contained few amenities to help pass the time away. Designed for warp speed travel taking eight hours or less, the ship had ten passenger levels with one long center aisle way dividing rows of seats on either side. Each squad was assigned seats in close proximity to its team members.
For the most part, members had paired up or formed trios to converse with during their voyage – Uhura with Gaila, Kirk with McCoy, Parker with Shinning Elk, Tsu with Jorgensen and Randolph, and squad leaders Oum with Bautista. Of their squad, Uhura noted Moretti appeared to be a solitary figure on a ship full of vocal cadets. He sat very still, staring blankly ahead of himself. As a linguist, Uhura was trained to pick up on nonverbal cues as an important indicator of mood and state of mind. Something about Moretti troubled her, but she did not know why. She decided she needed to make it a point to speak with him once they arrived at their destination.
"Hey!" Uhura exclaimed as she felt Gaila jab her with an elbow.
"Check out Kirk. He's in trouble, again." Uhura looked across the aisle and saw Kirk handing over an earpiece to Oum. "He knew musical and personal communication devices are against regulations on these training exercises, yet, he had one in his ear for anyone to see."
Uhura watched Oum pocket the earpiece and retake his seat several rows behind them. Kirk's smile could not have been broader as McCoy beamed at him with pride. Unimpressed, she catches Kirk's eye as she gives him a mock yawn. He blows her a kiss, which she snatches from the air and acts disgusted while whipping it back to him.
"I tell you, Uhura, I just don't understand him. I can't believe how Kirk can just play it off as though he hasn't done anything wrong."
"Oh, he knows what he's done all right. He knew one of the squad leaders would be waiting for him to break that rule, so he gave them what was expected. Believe me, he has one or two more earpieces in his pocket which I assure you he will find a way to use with much more discretion."
Although Uhura seemed to convey disapproval of his antics, Kirk more often intrigued her. He often took on the role of the class clown, but his academic performance told a different story. A voracious reader, he often took on both required and recommended readings for each course. His ability to recall and provide insightful critical analysis of the material impressed both his peers and the faculty. He easily would have earned the top grades in his class, if it were not for his penchant to challenge those few faculty members who failed to stay current in their discipline. Kirk had no patience for these instructors who he contended, "They're only at the Academy, because they outgrew their usefulness on a starship. I don't understand why Starfleet is punishing us by keeping them in the classroom?"With his disdain for them no secret, the instructors found ways to mark down his work based on subjective measures that could hardly be substantiated. Yet, Kirk never complained or filed a grievance as he willingly accepted the grade reduction for the freedom to speak his mind.
Uhura also recognized how Kirk excelled in military training, always eager to master the latest tools and tactics of the field. A student of military history, he enjoyed the time he and his mentor, Captain Pike, engaged in enthusiastic discussions about strategies used in battles fought long ago. A superb pilot, he helped Uhura overcome the only challenge she thought would keep her from meeting her Starfleet career objectives.
Anyone who aspired to be a bridge officer must learn how to pilot a Starship. Using a simulator, Uhura had little trouble understanding the computerized controls of the ship if operated under normal conditions. However, when complications arose that required greater skill, she failed to meet the challenge no matter how much coaching she received and practice she undertook. One Saturday, Kirk found her nearly in tears as she once again failed to safely pilot the virtual ship into a planet's atmosphere. Frustrated, but refusing to be beaten, she gave the command for the simulator to begin the exam program, again. As she readied herself, she suddenly heard a familiar voice cancelling the initiation sequence.
Uhura glared at Kirk as he entered the simulator room and plopped down in the trainer's seat next to her. "So, what's up?"
"Listen, Kirk, I'm in no mood for your games, today."
"What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm trying to pass the damn pilot's exam. I get one more chance to take it on Monday and if I fail this time . . . "
"You will fail if you continue to waste your time practicing on this simulator."
"Was that supposed to cheer me up?"
"I'm just trying to help you. After all, if you don't pass this test you won't be able to serve as a bridge officer on my ship."
"On your ship? Do you really believe Starfleet is going to give you a commission to captain a starship?"
"That's right."
"Aren't you the same guy who doesn't think twice about pissing off faculty members who are responsible for writing evaluations used to place cadets on the commanding officer's track?"
"I don't need them to get what I want."
" Kirk, you never seem to play by the rules, but for me it's the only way I know to achieve my goals." Straightening her posture to ready herself for the exam run, "You should leave now, so I'll have time to try this, again."
Turning her chair toward him, "Listen Uhura, playing by the book has worked well for you, thus far. But, there are times when the best course of action comes from within. Piloting is like that. Ninety-nine percent of the time you'll rely on what you learned from the flight manuals and training officers. However, there is still that one percent which requires you to trust your intuition."
"How can I trust what I cannot see?"
"You've got to have faith, Uhura." Smiling, "You of all people ought to understand that."
Kirk's words resonated within her, yet, more doubts came out of hiding. "I don't know if I can find what I need."
"Then, I'll show you."
"You may be wasting your time with me."
Kirk pulled her up out of her seat and commanded, "Let's go."
After transferring twice on a SkyBus line, within 90 minutes the two cadets were high up in the mountains at a lodge. Kirk asked Uhura to wait, while he retrieved a hoverbike.
"How did you get that?", she asked.
With his usual I'm up to something boyish grin, he answered, "Got it from a friend who owes me a favor." Straddling the bike, he told her, "Get on."
"Isn't it against the law to ride one of these things without a helmet?"
"Get on."
Uhura straddled the bike behind him not because he told her to do so, but because she was curious as to his strategy. "All right, now wha - AH – AH – AH – AH – AH!" Before she could complete her question Kirk gunned the engine, sending the bike speeding down the curve-filled mountain road. She barely had time to grab him around the waist, holding on for dear life. At first, she closed her eyes and pressed her face against his back. Kirk responded by taking such sharp turns around the curves that she had to open her eyes to see what he was doing. However, doing so almost made her pee in her pants with fright. Closing her eyes, she buried her face, again, and dug her knees into his thighs in an effort to stay on the bike.
Then Kirk purposely dove off the road and flying down into a ravine sending her stomach up into her throat. Uhura finally garnered the nerve to lift her head to scream, "KIRK! WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!
Raising his voice over the roar of the bike, he told her, "I'm teaching you how to fly!" Although she did not think it would be possible, when the bike touched down on a road, below, Kirk sped the vehicle even faster than before.
"YOU'RE SCARING ME TO DEATH!"
"Good!"
"GOOD?! ARE YOU INSANE?!"
"Now you can start to live!"
"KIRK! YOU'RE GOING TO KILL US!"
"Loosen your grip!"
"I CAN'T!" A piercing scream followed as Kirk made a loop in the air with the bike.
"Loosen your grip!"
Unwilling to bear another aerial trick, Uhura somehow managed to take a breath and offered a quick, "Help me, Jesus." But, then . . . with her head against his back . . . she unexpectedly found comfort in the sound of Kirk's heartbeat. The organ throbbed at an accelerated pace, but for some strange reason it calmed her as she focused on it. Listening to his rhythm gradually relaxed her body and awakened her senses.
The warmth of his body . . .
The feel of the perspiration trickling down from his neck . . .
His strong, alluring scent . . .
Conscious of the way her bio-rhythms now matched his.
The ways his body welcomed and eagerly responded to the adrenaline rush . . .
Her body responding to his . . . .
Her grip loosening around his waist and thighs . . .
Finding her faith . . .
Her eyes were opened.
Uhura lifted her head and placed her lips close to his ear. Her whispered, "Thank you," incited another aerial loop from Kirk. However, now she laughed and dared him, "Do a double loop this time!"
Two and a half hours into their journey to their training site, Gaila fell asleep leaving Uhura to her own thoughts. Across the aisle, McCoy left his seat to use the head.
Uhura could feel Kirk's eyes on her.
Kirk was the man whose impressive intellect was matched only by his immense confidence in his own abilities.
Kirk was the man whose seemingly insatiable sexual appetites sought relief in the beds of her classmates, as well as, the arms of a woman nearly three times his age.
Kirk was the man who never saw a rule he could not ignore.
Kirk was the man who taught her to how to fly.
His eyes on her . . . his eyes on her . . . his eyes on her . . .
But, Uhura could not return his look, because . . .
Kirk was not the man of her dreams.
Author's Note: The next chapter will be up within the next seven days. Thanks for following along.