Author's Notes: Thanks for everyone's continued support of my previous couple of Spock and Nyota stories. There have been requests for more, so your interest inspired me to do a third one. I've had time to create another 'fill in the blanks' style story, this time dealing with lead up to their intentional violation of the Prime Directive with their study of the pre-warp people of Nibiru. This provides the opportunity for some fun for our favorite young couple along with serious storyline. I hope you all find this scenario plausible for justifying their violation of Star Fleet General Order 1. This story might get posted slower than the others, as I am writing as I go, rather than have it all written first and just publish.
Going Native – Part 1
The senior staff of the Enterprise gathered in the Captain's Ready Room at 1000 hours. Sitting and waiting for the Captain to get off his classified communication with Admiral Marcus in his personal office, Nyota and Spock still carried the afterglow of their exciting intimacy in the morning coming back from New Vulcan, and even though Spock suppressed the feeling, it was nonetheless still there. While Spock was ever the stickler for rules and protocols, when Nyota offered him her hand secretly under the table, he took it without hesitation, and further Spock put their interlaced hands together on her knee. She gave him a slight grin that the other senior staff didn't notice.
"Ruler breaker!" she thought to him in their instant connection that no one had any idea about.
"'Living life dangerously' does have exhilarating benefits," he responded.
They did drop their grip on each other instantly when Captain Kirk entered the room.
He smiled at the entire senior staff, "First, let me congratulate all of you for a very well-executed and successful mission in relocation of the Vulcan remnant. You cannot imagine the degree of relief the Federation has for the completed relocation of the Vulcans and the extent of appreciation of the Vulcan Council for our flawless planning and execution. And as Commander Spock can attest, Vulcans are not normally predisposed to give any gratitude for any action, even when efforts are conducted on their behalf. I told you that you all had the capability to far exceed your own expectations. Commander Spock, we are most grateful for your extensive coordination with the Ambassador and your father on the Council to make this happen."
"Acknowledged, Captain," Spock said in a very low key manner, and appreciated that the Captain did not use Spock Prime's surname, which although they all knew who the Ambassador was, and it avoided the obvious awkwardness.
"And Lieutenant Uhura?"
"Yes Captain?" She asked expectantly and sat up ramrod straight in her chair.
"Admiral Marcus wants me to note a special citation of appreciation from the evacuation fleet on the communications execution. It was one thing to coordinate the comm relays between sixty ships, and quite another to conduct those comms – and translate for many of the ship's captains simultaneously - in 16 different languages."
"Seventeen, sir," she corrected sheepishly.
Captain Kirk grinned continued, "Yes, Uhura. I stand corrected. Seventeen. But Spock and Uhura are not the only ones to be recognized. I have good news for everyone. We each have gotten a commendation from Admiral Marcus, the Federation President, and the Vulcan Council that will all go in our permanent records. Meritorious Awards of Service are to be added to your list of professional recognitions and awards."
There were general murmurings of satisfaction over that. Receipt of that award was unheard of for young officers.
Kirk got a wry grin as he noted, "However, that comes with a price. Our reward for great performance is the expectation that we will continue great performance."
"Isn't that 'no good deed goes unpunished', Jim?" joked Bones. The good doctor never followed protocol with titles and surnames.
Everyone laughed.
Kirk rolled his eyes at the earthy doctor's irreverent – but accurate – remarks but stated emphatically, "I can assure you this next mission is anything but punishment, Bones. In fact, the successful completion of our next assignment puts us on a very short list to be the lead ship for the first Five Year Mission."
There was stunned silence. The Five Year Mission was the 'dream' mission for the selected Star Fleet ship and crew, and it would guarantee instantly successful careers and notoriety across the Federation. It was the first real mission that would reestablish the roots of for Star Fleet and the Federation – exploration and interplanetary alliance - that began with the legendary Captain Archer and the NX-01 Enterprise crew. Archer's efforts and the beginnings of the Federation created an alliance of worlds connected in the spirit of joint commerce, exploration and friendship, much like the forebears of the early settlers of North America. It would be fitting that the current Enterprise could be the ship to carry the expeditionary torch. That fact was not lost on any of them and on Star Fleet leadership. The Five Year mission would be a welcome relief for a conflict weary Federation in its tension with the Klingons and Romulans.
Captain Kirk switched on the viewer showing a Class M world unlike any other they'd seen before. The planet was more water than land, but all the land was an intense ruby red to magenta coloration, "This is Nibiru. Our mission will is to study a primitive humanoid society with what appears to be strong religious beliefs about their future. The Federation knows little else about the planet except that the flora is unique with its striking overall red coloration. We need to learn everything over the next few months. We will be graded on our ability to sense and collect quality data without being seen or observed, or influence their society in any way. As a result we will be scored on our ability above to not violate the Prime Directive."
Kirk punched the display and the next slide flashed on the viewer:
Star Fleet General Order One - Non-Interference Directive
The Prime Directive is the embodiment of Starfleet's most important ethical principles: noninterference with other interstellar cultures and civilizations.
At its core is the philosophical precept that all covered Star Fleet personnel should refrain from interfering in the natural, unassisted, development of societies, even if such interference was well-intentioned.
The Prime Directive is fundamental to Starfleet that officers are sworn to uphold the Prime Directive, even at the cost of their own life or the lives of their crew.
"Just as a reminder… Everyone in this room is 'covered' as senior officers. Is there any question on this, people?"
There was dead silence in the room.
"OK, let's prepare for our Nibiru observation mission. We need to be ready to embark on the journey in a week. Give your requirements based on your assignment to the Star Fleet Headquarters Quartermaster as soon as you can. Where we are going is in a very remote Sector, four days flight at maximum warp, so if you forget anything we you will have to do without it for the duration of the mission. Scotty, can you give me that kind of performance?"
"Aye Captain. My wee bairns are singing like Scottish bagpipes."
Sulu quipped, "I've never thought of bagpipes to be all that melodious Mr. Scott."
"All in the ear of the beholder, Helmsman. Need I mention your Shamisen?"
"Point taken," responded Sulu with a grin.
The crew snickered. Kirk loved the increasing amount pf quips and banter between them all, a sure sign of the ship's officers bonding into a close-knit team.
"Bones, you have exobiology. I want to know if Nibirans bleed red or pink or green – or bleed at all - what they eat and why, whether they get colds, and how many times they have to take a leak every day."
Bones complained, "Oh great. I have the opportunity for primitive exo-biological plagues to be contracted by the crew and transmitted across the Federation. It'll be the end of life as we know it."
There were snickers. Bones already had the reputation for considering the 'end of the world scenario' in just about everything. But then he delivered miracles every time. Kirk learned long before to just let the good doctor just blow off steam, knowing it actually focused him. It tended to be more entertaining to the officers that way anyway.
"That's why we have you as the ship's doctor, Bones. To prevent such a thing from happening. Besides, we're going to do this remotely, Bones. We have the best sensor suite and probes in the Federation already installed on the Enterprise. They'll never know we've ever been here."
Bones accepted his assignment, but had a doubtful look, although on the other hand, he always had a doubtful look.
"Lieutenant Uhuru?"
"Yes sir," she perked.
"Their language is your assignment. Oral and Written."
"I'd be delighted, sir."
"If they're telepathic and can sense us and violate the Prime Directive just by our mere presence, I want to know about it immediately. Work with the First Officer on that. He kind of knows about telepathy," Kirk grinned, knowing it would put the two together, and whenever he did that, they worked at their peak efficiency.
Uhura could not suppress a smile that everyone saw, "I believe that I have a good working relationship with the Commander, sir. We will ascertain their mental communication abilities, and any risks or threats from that ability to us as quickly as we can, sir."
As the Enterprise's only 'married' officer team – by Vulcan tradition at least – the gentle ribbing about their professional camaraderie when working together was always entertaining to their colleagues. That off duty relation never affected their professional duties though. Everyone was always impressed with their ability to separate their professional and private lives whenever the Enterprise's performance and safety was at stake.
"Lieutenant, I want you to be able to recite the Gettysburg address to them in their language and have them understand every word of it. Understood?"
"I'll try my best, Captain."
"Commander Spock."
"Yes Captain."
"You have the overall science of the planet, its geology and environment, and interactions with that huge star that shines down on them. I want to know anything and everything that has made them what they are and how they think and interact since the Nibirans appeared on the planet."
"Yes sir."
"Any questions, people?" Kirk asked.
Seeing none, he said, "Dismissed."
A few days later, the Enterprise at prelaunch was filled with scientific exploration gear to a degree never seen before. After the terrible encounter with Nero and the precautionary high state of military alert for the Vulcan relocation, it was a pleasure for everyone on the Enterprise to actually feel like scientists and explorers.
While en route, Spock organized an orbital observation center for the Nibiru mission in one of the lesser used briefing rooms. The room was covered in large displays, and a wide array of sensors would be trained on their world.
As they approached, Nibiru filled the view screen. It was even more striking than the fuzzy long distance picture shown a week ago. It was like a gigantic round ruby jewel, with all shades of red to magenta that dominated. There was not a single leaf of green vegetation. it made the deep blue oceans that more of a contrast. Water was water everywhere in the universe.
All officers were on the bridge with the approach, and all looked up in silence and awe at the amazing world they were charged to explore. Kirk broke the silence by ordering, as required, "Non detection protocols - engage."
"Aye Captain," said Spock and Sulu in chorus.
Thus began a series of complex maneuvers that were not normal orbital mechanics, and would require continuous active control from the helm to maintain orbit for the extent of the mission. The Enterprise entered a retrograde orbit to always keep them, as far as the Nibirans were concerned, at the solar zenith in the center of their sun's disk, a place so blinding that even if the Nibirans could withstand looking directly into the sun, they would never been seen as anything but a speck against the disk. They might only be seen as that speck at dawn or dusk. Nirbiru would pass underneath the Enterprise's array of scientific sensors as the planet rotated in its daily cycle of about twenty hours. That gave them a good 10 hours of observation per day.
What that prevented was the ability of the Enterprise to get nighttime observations of the people, but they were hoping to place camouflaged probes on the surface or put sensors on a shuttlecraft that would orbit always in the planet's shadow to remain in darkness, so that those possible Nibiran astronomers or astrologers would never see a new bright star in their night sky. It was Spock's hypothesis is that the Nibirans were like most primitive races, so that they feared the night and only followed the cycle of their sun.
A sweating Sulu announced after about twenty minutes of nonstop work with the controls in coordination with Spock's sensor calibrations, "Captain, sun synchronous orbit achieved, sir."
"Very good Mr Sulu and Mr Spock," grinned Kirk.
Kirk punched the full ship intercom.
"Good evening crew. We are in a stable, invisible orbit around Nibiru. I want everyone to get a good night 's sleep. Tomorrow we start to get acquainted with our Nibiran friends, without them knowing it. Kirk out," and he clicked the off button.
"In the twentieth century that had a nasty connotation, Captain," quipped Bones in a snide side comment to the Captain.
"Remind me not to put 'Nibiran Peepers' at the top of my report, Doctor," teased Kirk.
The bridge crew had a good laugh and it gave them a good start on their mission.
...
In their nightly pillow talk after another exhilarating session of intimacy, Spock and Nyota, touching foreheads, looked lovingly at each other, and Nyota had a firm grip on the back of Spock's neck to maximize their emotional sharing along with their telepathic connection. Nyota thought to Spock his Vulcan first name, her term of endearment for her Vulcan husband, and continued, "This is going to be exciting. I feel like a real explorer, don't you? This is what we trained so much for."
"I completely concur, Nyota."
"What if they are telepathic, Spock, what if they do sense us? How do we meet the Prime Directive precepts then?
"Policy and interstellar law has heretofore not established codes of conduct in that regard. Perhaps we will be 'pioneers' in establishing that protocol with telepathic primitives."
"You always have it all thought through, Spock."
She spoke rather than thought, "That's why I love you so much."
"And I love you too, Nyota," Spock said with confidence and conviction. His father's admitted love for his mother had forever removed any reticence at Spock being able to say that to his beloved Nyota.
They had made a promise to speak their 'I love you's' to each other whenever possible. Speech took more effort and more commitment to form the words than thought.
They snuggled closely in their post-intimacy glow, in a total body experience of touch that permitted joined thought and affection that no human experience could possibly equal, and slept soundly as usual, ready for the big adventure tomorrow.