"Well, this isn't awkward or anything." Sam Kirk said breezily as they beamed down to Qo-noS and quickly sought shelter from a passing patrol.
"Be quiet." Nyota hissed, deeply regretting the fact that all his molecules had managed to reassemble themselves. If there was anyone who deserved a painful transporter malfunction it was Sam.
"I'm sensing some latent hostility here, Nyota." Sam flashed her a bright smile. On Jim it was charming, annoyingly so. On Sam it was downright unnerving. It was their eyes, she thought. Jim's eyes could be cold sometimes, especially when he was angry or hiding how upset he was, but most of the time they were vibrant and sparkling, lit with that dangerously devilish magnetism of his. Sam's eyes were always cold. She'd seen them reflect the emotions of others, but never anything good that was genuinely his own. It was the one thing that set them apart the most.
"It's Uhura." She said, resisting the urge to throttle him. She didn't like the way the conversation made her think of the first few years of her acquaintance with Jim. He'd delighted in the game of guessing her first name, and she'd often wondered why she'd allowed it to continue on as long as it had. There was no possible way he'd gone through three years without ever having learned her given name, but he carried on with the charade right up until Spock made it impossible to do so. He'd irritated the hell out of her in the process, but she'd begrudgingly admired his tenacity, and there was something incredibly flattering about his attention. She'd never been short of admirers, but none of them had ever stuck it out as long as Jim had.
And yes, she'd been attracted to him. Begrudgingly so, exceedingly begrudgingly so, but he was a handsome man and not in the least bit shy about keeping his clothes on. She knew she could have had him if she'd wanted, he'd made that clear. Despite all that, he'd never actually pushed outside of her boundaries. He flirted and he teased, but he'd never actually made her feel uncomfortable.
Sam, on the other hand…
She knew what he was doing. It wasn't about lust or attraction, it was about keeping her on edge. He did it with everyone. He pushed McCoy and Spock into rages, he taunted Sulu and Scotty and he flirted excessively with her and Carol. He usually toed the line when Jim was around. She wasn't sure if that was out of sensitivity or common sense. There was no way in Hell Jim would tolerate it and, misplaced sense of chivalry aside, he'd never have asked her to beam down with Sam if he'd have known.
She still wasn't one hundred percent sure she was the right person for this job anyway. She was supposed to be his translator, but five minutes before they were set to meet the Klingon High Council he pulled her aside and gave her a different assignment. One, he said seriously, that she had every right to refuse.
She hadn't, of course she hadn't. There wasn't much she wouldn't do if he asked her to these days and she could see the weight of the responsibility that rested on him. She assured him she could do the job. Now she just needed to convince herself. If everything went according to plan, she wouldn't actually have much to do herself.
Lenore Karidian had found the McCoys on Qo-noS. Jim had been able to establish her exactly location by tracing back the comm she'd clearly not made any attempt to scramble. He'd also made a leap and guessed that Sam's son Peter was not with them based on what she said.
He'd gone one step further and told her that he didn't trust Lenore not to try and screw them over, something she could have deduced on her own. She was Chief Communications Officer on the ship. There wasn't any inbound or outgoing communication she didn't know the contents of. That was her job. Of course she had been monitoring Jim's conversations with Lenore, he'd not asked her not to.
She supposed she should be flattered that Jim was actually sending her to do what he clearly wanted to oversee himself, but really it was only ever a choice between her or McCoy, and he wasn't about to drop the doctor in a situation like this. Their last time on Qo-noS had changed his perspective of her. He'd always considered her competent, capable, same as all of them really, but when it came down to taking the risks, to putting lives on the line, he had stubbornly refused to share the burden. He'd have gone into the volcano on Nibiru if he'd have had a hope in hell of not incinerating, and he should never have been the one to go over to the Vengeance with Khan.
It was proof, perhaps, that Jim Kirk had finally grown up, and she wasn't about to let him down.
"So what's it like, fucking a Vulcan?" Sam inquired casually as he drew his phaser and advanced on the location they had pinned Lenore down to.
"None of your damn business." She snapped irritably, mirroring his movements.
"None of your…really? That's your answer? Come on Nyota, I'm trying to bond with you here! Build a rapport."
"I'd rather build a rapport with the Klingons."
"Well hopefully my little brother's doing just that," Sam said, "or this is all going to be pointless."
"He'll do it." Uhura said with certainty.
"You got a lot of confidence in him."
"He's earned it." She glared. "You on the other hand have done nothing but mess up everything you come into contact with." She followed him into the industrial building on the outskirts of the city, long abandoned and hopefully lacking in scouts.
"Well we can't all be perfect now can we?" Sam said mildly.
"You could be honest." She said. "You let us grieve for him for six weeks. Was it fun for you? Seeing us suffer?"
"Little bit." He shrugged.
"Bastard."
"And proud." He short her a small smirk that was all for show. "The apple never falls far from the tree. Just remember that. All those tricks he knows, those brilliant little schemes? He learned them from the kind of people who'd cut your pretty head off without a second's hesitation."
She didn't let him rattle her. She trusted Jim. She didn't trust Sam and she didn't trust Lenore.
Which –
"Sam Kirk, well now I wasn't expecting to see you." As they rounded into the main segment of the building they came face to face with Kodos the Executioner's only daughter.
Uhura caught a glimpse of Sam's confused face. He'd only encountered Lenore twice. Once on Tarsus, where she'd been one of a dozen children, starved and scarcely recognizable as human. The second time when she'd donated a blood sample after Jim's abduction by her father. To him she was just a pretty face, a bitter ex-girlfriend with questionable genetic roots. "Lenore?" He frowned, his sharp memory putting a name to a face, "what the hell are you doing here?"
Jim had been very careful to keep her involvement from his brother, and she needed to do the same.
"Did Jimmy send you for the brat?" She asked, a frown pulling her pretty face into something ugly and dangerous. Uhura used her distraction to try and spot Jo and shivered in relief when she spotted the little girl cowering against the wall.
"Where's my son?" Sam snarled, pointing his phaser at Lenore. Just as Jim hoped, Sam was assuming Lenore was betraying him and worked for Winona. He was counting on Sam's short temper and Lenore's ego to keep the confusion lasting long enough for Uhura to do what she came down to do.
"What son?" Lenore frowned. "No one said anything to me about a son. Wrong hostage situation, maybe?"
Sam was not in the mood to be trifled with. "Tell me where my son is!"
"No idea what you're talking about." Lenore frowned. "And please stop pointing that thing at me, it's awfully rude."
"I'll give you more than rude, bitch. Where is my son!" Sam snarled, advancing until he was only a few feet away from Lenore. The two predators in the room had only eyes for each other as Lenore moved quickly, raising her own phaser to fix on Sam.
Quietly, Uhura slipped away.
She hugged the edge of the room, keeping close to the wall and staying in the shadows until she was at Joanna's side. She held her finger to her lips and pressed a communicator into the girl's hand before triggering a silent signal up to the ship.
A moment later, Joanna was beaming back to safety. It was all so damn easy she scarcely believed she'd pulled it off.
The movement caught Lenore's attention and she spun around wildly.
Uhura didn't hesitate. She fired directly at the woman's chest and Lenore went down cold.
"Nice shot." Sam's expression didn't match his tone. There was murder in his eyes and he advanced towards Lenore, clipping his phaser and reaching down for the unconscious woman.
Uhura fired again. Seeing Sam's body hit the ground hard wasn't the most satisfying thing she'd ever done in her life, but it sure as hell was up there.
Spock was waiting for her in the transporter room, a full contingent of security with him, as well as several medical staff.
The first thing she saw when she beamed back was Leonard on his knees, his arms wrapped around Joanna as he rocked her back and forth. She continued to watch them, aching with relief that father and daughter were reunited as the pile of unconscious bodies she'd recovered were swiftly tagged for transport down to the brig. She'd got them all. Sam, Lenore, and the men who worked for Winona Kirk, all of who were still unconscious when she'd found them – Lenore did some vicious work and they'd all require medical attention.
"Are you alright, Lieutenant?" Spock asked softly, his professionalism because of their location doing nothing to hide the concern in his eyes.
"Not a scratch." She assured him, more worried about him. She knew what Jim had asked him to do and it was all part of his endgame. "You?"
"As well as can be expected." He answered, which was all she would get until they were somewhere more private.
Not pushing, she glanced back and McCoy and Joanna. "How is she?"
"Well, I believe."
"I didn't find her mom or Leonard's, and there was no sign of Sam's son either." She said, still troubled greatly by their absence.
"Mrs McCoy and Mrs Darnell are on Earth." Spock assured her. "We received word only minutes ago that they had been picked up in a transfer site in Prague. They will undergo medical assessment but both women were reported to be largely unharmed."
"Thank god for that." She breathed a sigh of relief. "And the boy?"
Spock shook his head. "That is something I must discuss with the Captain on his return."
"Any word?"
"None as of yet."
She nodded and ventured over to McCoy and Joanna. "Hi." She said softly.
McCoy looked up with bloodshot eyes. Joanna stayed where she was, huddled in the comfort of his arms. "Thank you." He said, his voice choked.
Nyota shrugged her shoulders awkwardly. "It was Jim's idea."
"He should have told me." McCoy muttered, his hands shaking as they carded through Jo's hair. "I should have gone down with you."
"It doesn't matter." She said, knowing that there was already strain between Jim and Leonard and not wanting to add to it. "Jo's safe, that's the main thing."
"Speak o' the devil." Scott said from the controls, beams of light on the pad indicating an incoming transport. Moments later Jim and his security detail were back. His eyes immediately landed on the three of them and his shoulders slumped in relief.
"Thank god." He muttered. Jo looked up hopefully at his voice, then glanced to her father for permission. McCoy nodded, tucking her hair behind her ear, and a second later she was running towards the pad and jumping into Jim's arms, crying hysterically. "Hey, hey!" Jim soothed, bending down to catch her and holding her tightly. "You're safe now sweetheart, it's alright."
He stepped down off the receiver with Jo in his arms and stood next to McCoy, who couldn't stop himself from fussing over the both of them.
Uhura took the chance to step in line next to Sulu, who looked out of place in the red uniform he'd worn for the diplomatic trip. "How'd it go?" She asked.
"Still trying to decide if what he just did was brilliance or madness." He said in his usual matter of fact way.
"They haven't shot us out of the black yet," Scott put in helpfully.
"That's something I guess." Sulu didn't sound all that convinced. "Silver linings, right?"
She looked over at Joanna, now back in her daddy's arms, and at McCoy, who had shed the air of utter desperation that had been following him around. She looked at Jim, who met her gaze squarely, gratitude clear in his eyes and his tentatively given trust validated. "Silver linings." She agreed.
