Please insert disclaimer here And thanks for the reviews everyone! In future I'm going to try and do a chapter per week.
"A problem with Uhura?" said James Kirk, looking tolerantly at his two best officers and friends. "I haven't noticed anything. Her work seems fine."
"But there's too much of it," McCoy said heatedly. "It might be all fine and dandy now, but what happens when she burns out? Perhaps in the middle of a crisis?"
"You think she could burn out?" asked the Captain, looking a little more concerned.
"There is that possibility," said Spock quickly before McCoy could say anything more. The condition of the doctor's patient had deteriorated overnight, causing him to be more snappish than the situation would have warranted. Spock ignored McCoy's glare at him at continued.
"Lieutenant Uhura has been working almost constantly through her scheduled rest shifts. She has been sending the Ensign she has been training off duty early on a regular basis and then completing the shift herself."
"About Ensign Stevens," interrupted McCoy quickly, "she's not happy with the situation either. She feels, and I think rightly, that she's getting no experience. Uhura does everything for her. Stevens has been talking about asking to be switched to another assignment."
Kirk nodded as he listened. The Enterprise was one of the most desired and highly contested postings, and it said a lot that the Ensign was willing to swap ships to get out from beneath Uhura's shadow. And looking back, it was true that every time he had been on the Bridge recently Uhura had been there, but Kirk had assumed that showed nothing more than dedication and maybe some coincidence.
"So I suppose you want me to order her to take a rest break?"
Bones and Spock exchanged a quick look.
"We've already tried that Jim," said the doctor, "I ordered her off the bridge on medical grounds." Kirk raised an eyebrow at his friend's heavy-handed method. McCoy looked offended.
"Oh, I took her aside first, naturally. I'm not such a green…"
"The material point is that the Lieutenant followed the exact wording of the order," interrupted Spock, "but did so in such a way as to defeat its purpose. She simply went to her quarters and continued working on the same system modifications she been experimenting with on the bridge."
Kirk frowned, opened his mouth to say something and was interrupted by the beep of the intercom.
"Go ahead."
"Sir," came the voice of Lieutenant Chekov, "you are needed on the bridge. We have an unidentified vessel approaching."
"With me, Mr. Spock," started the Captain, and then he caught the expression in McCoy's eye.
"On second thoughts, you go on ahead Spock. I'll be up in a minute." Spock nodded his agreement. As the doors slid shut behind the First Officer, Kirk rounded on the ship's doctor.
"Out with it Bones, and quickly." McCoy nodded curtly, realizing that the Captain wasn't often called to the bridge unnecessarily.
"There's one more thing, Jim. This may sound foolish, heck, I'm not sure if…my point is, when was the last time you heard Uhura sing?"
Kirk looked puzzled for a second. He knew the Lieutenant had a musical bent, and often sang in the lounge accompanied by other off-duty crew, but couldn't see how it was in the slightest way relevant to their current difficulties.
"Doctor, we'll have to discuss this later," the Captain said in his best no-nonsense voice.
"Oh, I know you think I've gone off my head, and maybe I have. Just… something inside tells me it's important."
Kirk looked at him quizzically as he headed out the door.
"Hearing voices Doctor?"
"Just think about it Jim," McCoy replied tiredly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Report Mr. Chekov," snapped Kirk efficiently as he strode on the bridge.
"The vessel is approaching along the same bearing as we have been traveling. It is too far away to identify."
Spock turned from his science station to face Kirk.
"Captain, I believe the ship has been tracking our warp coil emissions. They are tracing our previous route exactly."
Kirk's face tensed.
"Coincidence Mr. Spock?"
"Highly unlikely Captain."
Kirk sighed. He had assumed as much, but it would have been nice to be proved wrong. He turned to the Communications station where Lieutenant Uhura was sitting, dark circles visible under her dulled eyes.
"Any contact yet?"
"No sir."
Kirk thought for a second. Well, if their mysterious shadow had wanted to go unnoticed, it had failed. He hoped their ship had been designed with stalking rather than fighting in mind.
"Slow to half impulse Mr. Chekov. Bring us around. Let's get a front on look at what we're facing. Lieutenant Uhura, call Mr. Sulu to the bridge. We'll have a little surprise prepared for our friends when they get here."
Kirk settled back in his chair and grinned wolfishly. No shadow was going to catch him unprepared.