Let No Man Put Asunder

"I will accompany you to your meeting with the Admiral," Spock said as they had dinner together in Uhura's quarters. They had been holed up in there for three days now. No one was allowed in and they were not allowed to leave per McCoys orders after he had to contact Vulcan. Spock did not object. He was determined to see that their bond was solidified and that Nyota never suffered from Plaktow ever again. He also wanted to keep an eye on her until the healers on Vulcan could examine her and explain how she got the Fever in the first place.

They had been on their way to Vulcan when the word came that instead the Enterprise and crew had been ordered to Starbase 6 for an unscheduled layover. Diverting the Enterprise away from Vulcan after T'Pau had diverted it earlier could only mean one thing. It was a power play by Komack and the fight was on.

"No," Uhura said.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I said no. I've got this. I'm a big girl you know? I'm a Starfleet officer and I've been summoned by my Admiral. I'll handle Komack. Alone."

"This is not about you Nyota, Komack is obviously after me," Spock pointed out as if she were dense.

"Yet he summoned me," She said sarcastically.

"Nyota-"

"Spock, what is your real given name so I can arrogantly say it while trying to bully you?"

"Humans cannot pronounce it. Spock will suffice. And I am not trying to bully you."

"You could've fooled me. Spock, have some faith in me. I can handle Komack. You're the only man I can't handle." She grinned.

"I think you handle me quite well, my wife. It is I who cannot handle you."

"You can handle me anytime and anyway you want," Uhura said and she suddenly thought of all the ways she'd like for her husband to handle her.

Spock picked up on her emotions and groaned. She was incorrigible.

"Aduna I think we should go to bed," he announced.

"Are you sure? Shouldn't we discuss this Komack situation..." she asked sweetly.

Spock held out his first two fingers to her. "My wife, attend."

Uhura hesitated a moment and then she sprang from her seat and joined her fingers with Spocks. There was the familiar spark she always felt when they touched bare skin to bare skin. She knew now that he was able to feel her on a higher level and it thrilled her.

Spock pulled her into his lap.

"Aduna, I do not want you to confront Komack alone," Spock said earnestly.

"I do not want you to be there. I am your matriarch remember? Let me handle your business like a good Vulcan wife."

"I do not want a good Vulcan wife. I want you."

"Hey! That didn't sound like a compliment," Uhura pouted.

"Nyota if I wanted a Vulcan wife I would have married a Vulcan woman. I have told you before, I only want you just as you are, warts and all."

"That's not a wart, its a mole."

"What are you talking about?" Spock asked losing the thread of the conversation.

"On my butt. The little black dot, it's a mole."

"Nyota?"

"Hmm?" she said snuggling into him and squirming on his lap.

"Show me this mole," Spock said giving up on the conversation.

"Well, if you insist..."

"I do." Spock picked her up and carried her back to her bed, and Komack was once again forgotten.

/*-/*-/

Admiral Komack had had it with the Enterprise, her crew, and the VIP family members of said crew members. The Enterprise, and especially that half-breed Vulcan first officer Spock, were a royal pain in his neck. Once again Commander Spock had managed to divert the Enterprise from her mission. First, the Enterprise had been delayed on Argelius to collect crew stationed on leave. Kirk claimed it was a routine layover but Komack knew about the diplomatic incident involving Spock and his wife Lieutenant Uhura.

Once again the Vulcan council had swept the incident under the rug claiming Spock and wife had diplomatic immunity. Just like last time when Spock had stolen not only a shuttle but also abducted a fellow crew member and whisked her off of the ship to Vulcan for a so-called 'elopement'. It was supposedly very romantic. Not! Spock should be clapped in irons, not sitting in the first officer's chair of the flagship of the fleet. And now Vulcan had managed to get the Enterprise assigned to Vulcan gain. Well, not this time. This time Komack had put his foot down and the Enterprise was headed here instead.

Komack didn't know who these Vulcans thought they were or who they thought the federation was, but neither the federation, her ships, nor her crew were at the beck and call of any member planet, least of all the Vulcans. Yet somehow every time Commander Spock managed to screw up, start a brawl, commit mutiny, hijack a vessel, catch a cold, anything at all, Vulcan's council demanded inquiries, pushed its weight around, and defended their golden boy to infinity and beyond. And Starfleet brass always managed to find a way to accommodate them, pardoning Spock of treason, mutiny, insubordination, and a litany of other charges to boot.

As far as Vulcan and Starfleet were concerned Commander Spock was Teflon. Until now. Now Komack had him. Kidnapping, theft of an interplanetary vehicle, and the worst of all, sexual assault... try as they might Starfleet could not sweep this under the rug forever. Vulcan could not claim diplomatic immunity for the golden child of Ambassador Sarek, could not claim that he was acting in the best interest of Pike, or Kirk, or even Lt. Uhura. This time Commander Spock had fucked up and Admiral Komack had him. This time he had a witness! The victim herself.

All parties involved had submitted detailed reports of the incident including on-duty security officers, Kirk, McCoy, and even Spock himself. They had all issued reports with conflicting details. Spock's report was the most thorough but even he had conveniently left out crucial details like how he and the Lieutenant ended up bonding in a Vulcan marriage ceremony despite the fact that several security officers reported she did not leave the ship voluntarily. Or how said Lieutenant was on the sick/injured list for several days while on Vulcan with only Vulcan healers signing off on her illness. All very convenient for Spock. But the Vulcans had not been thorough enough this time. The pieces of the reports submitted, put together, all fit into a narrative that would lead to charges for Commander Spock. Especially since Komack had it on good authority that Lt. Uhura was not happily married to Spock. In fact, Uhura and Spock had never publically acknowledged their marriage and were openly living separate lives. And there was something else Komack had just learned.

Now all his star witness had to do was cooperate. She just needed to corroborate the sworn testimonies already on file and Komack would take care of the rest. He would make sure Spock went up on charges of assault and see him drummed out of the service for good. Yes, Spock had an impressive record, but he also had a number of blemishes that could be argued established a pattern. A pattern of instability that made him unfit for duty. Goodbye Spock and good riddance.

/*-/*-/

Lt. Uhura sat across the room from Komack and his assistant and calmly looked around nervously. She understood the importance of the situation, she had been summoned and required to wear a formal dress uniform and everything. She wasn't wearing her sexy dress uniform either. She was taking this seriously so she wore the most conservative uniform she owned. Komack was after Spock she knew, and it seemed he was going to try to use her to do it. He must think her a complete fool but he was going to learn today.

Lately, it seemed she was little more than a pawn in the plans of everyone in her world. Well no more. She was her own woman and she was not going to be bullied by some blowhard admiral looking to strike a blow for humanity against the Vulcans. Sulu had warned her that there were those who would be more than pleased to see Spock fail for no other reason than his race.

"Now Lieutenant, I want to once again thank you for your taking the time to meet with us today. I understand the Enterprise is granting leave on our station to the crew and that this is taking time from your...recreation. So we'll try to do this quickly and get you back to your life." Admiral Komack said to her smiling from behind his desk as if he wasn't the one who ordered the Enterprise here. There was a lackey standing to his side taking notes too, Uhura observed.

"Well, Admiral you intimated in your "invitation" that it was a formal inquiry?" Uhura said cooly.

"Yes, yes it is. I want to help you, Lieutenant. I understand that some time ago you had a run in with Commander Spock on Vulcan?"

"A run in?" she asked innocently. She did not intend to give anything to this man.

"Yes. Now I understand that this is a delicate subject and that you may have been...persuaded to uh...to... forgive and forget... But I have it on good authority that there was an assault committed against you on Vulcan?" Komack seemed genuinely nervous as he went into his line of questions. But no matter, he was barking up the wrong tree.

"An assault you say?" she said playing dumb.

"Yes, now I don't want to bring up unpleasant experiences but I have been going over the sworn testimonies filed by the Enterprise crew regarding the unscheduled 'visit' to Vulcan. And the conclusions I am coming up with are alarming. That a Starfleet officer was assaulted in her own cabin, abducted, and forced... forced into a so-called 'marriage' in an alien ceremony-"

"Now just a moment Admiral! I don't see how any of this is your concern-"

"You don't see how? Lt. you are an officer under my command. The Enterprise is under my command. Everything that happens to that ship and its crew is my concern. If there is an unstable element on one of my ships I need to know about it and stop it." Komack was visibly agitated but he managed to rein in his anger to continue.

"Now as I stated, I understand that this is an upsetting situation, maybe you are afraid to come forward with the threat of the Vulcan government-"

"Admiral, you forget yourself. Vulcan is a founding member of the federation hardly an unknown alien race. Their customs and culture may be different from that of Earth but that doesn't make them illegitimate. And I was not forced to do anything while on Vulcan. In fact, Vulcan is soon to be my home, I am a Vulcan citizen." Uhura said her voice rising through her speech.

Komack was taken aback by the passion coming from the Lieutenant. He had expected her to be meek and cowed in the face of all that had happened. He had heard that she was not on speaking terms with Spock and had not acknowledged their union to the rest of the Enterprise crew. There were rumors she was flat out hostile towards him and in fact, she already had a human lover. She did not seem likely to defend him or Vulcan yet she was doing just that.

"Lt. I understand that this is an emotional issue for you", he tried again. "And I have no intentions of dragging you into any long investigation nor do I want you to feel that you would be involved in an interplanetary incident. The investigation is already complete. All you need to do is corroborate the findings. Your sworn incident report along with those of your fellow cremates tell the whole sordid story."

"And what story is that?" she asked angrily. She had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that Komack was going to say something nasty.

"Look, I am trying to spare your feeling Lieutenant. But if you want it spelled out for you here are the facts.

Fact: You were in your private crew quarters on stardate 86753.09 when Commander Spock, who had escaped from the sickbay, while under heavy restraints mind you, entered your quarters illegally and assaulted you mentally and or physically and carried you through the ship to the shuttle bay where he further assaulted a bay maintenance worker and stole the Galileo shuttle with you unconscious and in tow.

Fact: on the planet of Vulcan you were forced to 'bond' with Commander Spock in some kind of barbaric Vulcan marriage ceremony where parties have been known in the past to be killed in duels to the death.

"Oh yes, in spite of Vulcan's best efforts to keep these practices secret we have our ways of finding these things out. We know what goes on out there, what they're ashamed of letting others know. We know they're powerful touch telepaths though they try to play that down too, they don't want us to know they are reading our minds. For all their supposed logic they're just barbaric animals like the rest of us. They say Vulcans don't lie but they sure do bend the hell out of the truth. And that's what I want from you lieutenant the truth!" Komack said forgoing his mister nice guy routine.

Komack slammed his hand on his desk making Uhura jump in her seat.

"What truth Sir? It sounds to me like you are not looking for the truth, just some dirty titillating tale to take back to Starfleet command and have Spock and I mocked, ridiculed, and expelled from service."

"This isn't about you Lieutenant-"

"This is everything to do with me! No sir, I won't corroborate your sordid story. Yes, Spock and I are married under Vulcan and Federation law. And you should know as his wife I cannot be compelled to testify against my husband. I would think you of all people would know the law. And you can ask anyone on the ship about Spock and me. We've been seeing each other for years, we just hadn't made our relationship public since we're both bridge officers. But since Star Fleet is so concerned about our relationship then let me make it perfectly clear. I am Spock's wife and bondmate in every sense. Whatever we did on Vulcan is our own business. Now Admiral, may I be dismissed?"

Komack stared hard at Uhura and tried to gauge how far he could push her. She was right about a few things. She was now a citizen of Vulcan and a member of Ambassador Sarek's family. She now had the same immunity as Spock. Damn it! Those Vulcan were good. Just what had they offered her to go along with this phony marriage in order to cover up her abduction and rape Komack wondered? No matter, he had one more card up his sleeve.

"Ok Lt. you say Spock never assaulted you. Fine. Have it your way. That just leaves one more matter to clear up," he grinned.

"And what is that?" she asked angrily.

"The matter of your domestic abuse against Commander Spock. I understand you broke his nose in front of witnesses." Komack leaned back in his seat with a smarmy smile.

"What! That was an accident!"

"So you do admit it?"

"What! No! What are you trying to pull?" Uhura hadn't expected this.

"I'm not trying to "pull" anything. I am trying to help you if you would just let me. I understand you were only trying to protect yourself and you have every right as a Terran woman to defend your honor. I told you this isn't about you. You won't be charged if you just sign this complaint against commander Spock. I'll handle everything after that."

"No! Never! I did hit him. I confess. So charge me. But I am never going to sign that filthy report!"

"I don't want to charge you! Lieutenant, don't you understand I am doing this to protect you? To protect other Earth women and all of humanity from-

"Admiral Komack, I don't see how an Earth woman marrying a Vulcan male constitutes a threat to humanity. I'm not even the first woman to do so. Spock is only half Vulcan after all, his own mother is Terran. I will never betray Spock or Vulcan so charge me and be done with it."

"I don't understand you, Lieutenant, I don't know what the Vulcans have over your head but it's your problem now. You're on your own. Just remember I tried to help you," he said defeated. "Go back to your ship and your Vulcans. You're dismissed."

/*-/*-/

Uhura was quite shaken as she left Komack's office, though she didn't dare allow him to see it as she walked away. With her back ramrod straight she stepped through the sliding door of his office into the reception area. She only released her pent up breath once she heard the door swish closed behind her. Standing out in the breezeway she faced the floor to ceiling windows that graced her with a magnificent view of space and tried to steady her nerves. It took a moment for her to realize that someone had been sitting on a chair beside the door she had just come through. He stood when she had exited and now he was standing just behind her.

"Are you all right Lieutenant?"

"Spock, what are you doing here?" She had told him she could handle this alone.

"I came for you, my wife."

Uhura stood looking at him for a moment then she began to shake.

Spock looked into her eyes and saw the tears swimming there, once again caused by him and his failure to protect her.

He drew her into his arms to comfort her just as she fell apart and a flood of emotion overwhelmed him. Love, tenderness, and fear. Spock decided he would never let her down again, to finally be the man, the husband she deserved. He scooped her up into his arms effortlessly just as the beside them opened. Admiral Komack stood in the doorway and looked at the two of them with an ill-concealed expression of distaste. Spock, already in an emotional state because of Uhura, felt anger roil through him.

This man had attacked his bondmate, and threatened their bond! The primitive emotions coursing through him could not be disguised as he stared at the Admiral for a long hard moment. Spock could not address him now, now he must attend to his wife. But Admiral Komack would be made to regret the harassment of a Vulcan bondmate.

Nyota didn't know how she had ended up in Spock's arms but she was glad she was there because she didn't think her legs could hold her. Since bonding with Spock, her life had become a roller coaster ride and she just wanted off. No mission, not even the most life-threatening situation, had been as stressful as this marriage so far. Missions ended but this marriage was forever and it wasn't off to a promising start. It was really sinking in what it meant to be married to Spock and to be of Vulcan. Spock had enemies, and therefore she now had enemies. People who would try to destroy them simply because they were different.

As she felt herself calm down she realized something else was wrong. Spock was angry. She could feel it spilling through their bond. He was murderously angry.

She looked up into his face to see the same calm expression he always wore but she could feel the burning anger seething within him and his eyes looked as cold as ice. Just then he reminded her of the other Spock sans the goatee. But though that dark Spock had frightened her with his predator expression, this Spock, her Spock bore no such expression, and yet he seemed the more dangerous of the two. He may be controlling his emotions on the surface, but he was feeling them. That was her fault too, his loss of equilibrium.

"I'm sorry Spock," she said and reached up to touch his face. "Please don't be angry."

"You did nothing for which to be sorry."

"I hit you. That's what started this."

"I started this. And I will attend to it," he said as he stared at Komack.

That didn't bode well for Komack but fuck him, Nyota thought.

"Well, you can at least put me down. I was a bit shaken but I'm fine now."

"No," he said pressing her tighter against his chest.

He seemed very determined to protect her and at that moment it did not seem wise to argue with an angry Vulcan.

Spock turned abruptly away from Komack and marched purposely down the breezeway. Nyota didn't even bother to ask where he was taking her. From now on she would just follow him. No matter what. "Yeah, this is my life now," she thought as he carried her away.

/*-/*-/

"So that's it? We just let him get away with it?" Komack's aide asked.

"No. No, I'm not done with Spock yet. I see now that getting the Lieutenant on board with our plans was a long shot. She's in too deep with him now. Notice Vulcans don't say they are married? They're 'bonded'. There is some kind of Vulcan bond that we don't know about, and it can't be broken. Everyone who gets mixed up with those Vulcans falls under their spell."

"Yes, they do seem to breed loyalty in their colleagues."

"Hmmm. Not everyone falls for it though. There are some people still loyal to humanity in the fleet." Komack said stroking his chin.

"But who? And how does that help us in this instance? Everyone on the Enterprise supports Spock and Uhura. The testimony and log entries alone won't convict Spock of his crimes."

"There is somebody on that ship willing to tell the truth," Komack said. Someone had tipped him off to the domestic violence incident and Komack intended to find out who.

"We've interviewed everyone involved with the incident. Spock, Uhura, McCoy even Captain Kirk. They all stick to the same story. Spock and Uhura were married while Spock was on Vulcan being treated for his illness," the aide said.

"Illness?" We both know there was no illness. The Vulcans are hiding something. Something about their species that they keep well buried. I've heard the rumors about mysterious fevers, Vulcans losing their minds and hasty trips to the home planet for more mysterious treatments. And they have the Federation covering for them too. Passing laws and rules to protect Vulcan secrets written into the very articles of our constitution. But they don't fool me and they don't fool a lot of us loyal humans. They should have never let those aliens into our fleet." Komack pounded his fist on his desk.

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"First, we have to take down Spock."

"How?"

"I want you to go over those logs and affidavits with a fine tooth comb. Talk to our people, find out everything you can about the crew of the Enterprise. There is somebody on that ship who knows something, somebody saw something that implicates Spock. And it doesn't have to be about Spock alone. Dig into Uhura as well. She's hiding something too. What do the Vulcans have on her? I gave her a chance to get out of it. She wants to stay with Spock so she can go down with him."

"Yes, sir." Komack's aide scrambled out of his office to do his bidding.

"I'm going to get you, Mr. Spock. You and your whole damn planet."