AN: Usual disclaimer, the rights to Star Trek etc belong to someone else. The entire story is complete on my PC, and I'll try to load up a new chapter every few days. Please read and review – constructive feedback will help me finalise the remaining chapters.

Chapter 3

After what felt like only a few minutes an alarm buzzed, Uhura began to stir as Kirk quickly silenced it. He rolled onto his back and groaned; refusing to believe it was already time to get up. Pleased he was no longer alone; his arms invited Uhura in for a cuddle. Tentatively, she shuffled over watchful of those bright blue eyes sparkling with unknown thoughts. Unexpectedly, he rolled Uhura onto her back, and pinned both arms above her head dropping seductive kisses across her cheeks and down her chest. She forcefully jostled her leg, to draw his attention to her face. Looking over at their clock, he mentally calculated how late he could be, before smashing his lips down on hers. His hands pulling at her sleep shirt soon she was caught up in the frenzy, his pj bottoms were kicked towards the door. Hoisting up her legs, they gathered round his waist as he slipped into her. Finally speaking Kirk muttered 'I've really missed you', the sincerity in his voice led Uhura to beam back at him, slowly they began to move synchronised as one. The tempo gradually increasing until they reached mutual release. Sated and laying in one another's arms, they drifted back to sleep.

A noise startled them, a persistent buzz, buzz, buzz! Suddenly her brain processed the noise – Kirk's comm badge. 'Alright, alright...' His voice still shrouded in sleep, glancing over at his bedside clock it showed 8.43am. He was due on duty at 8am. 'Dammit Nyota! You're meant to stop us doing this stuff like this!' Kirk fell out of bed, looking around the room for his clothes. Uhura gave him a faux pout. 'Don't you think you should answer it…' She slipped out of bed and padded towards the bathroom, the hiss of the door signified her absence. She was not due on duty for another hour. 'Kirk here, I'm on my way-' hopping on one leg as he put on his shoe. Nearly toppling over 'fuck!'.

'Captain, Sulu here. Just wanted to make sure you were okay. You're not normally this late…' Sulu suppressed a grin, he could hear Kirk distractedly rushing in the background.

'I'm fine, I'm fine. On my way…Kirk out!', and the connection severed. He rushed into the bathroom, brushing his teeth he tenderly watched Uhura getting presentable. 'Now, I'm really late for my shift. I better go' sprinting out the door. Uhura watched the departing figure, dropping her hairbrush onto the side. She was still the same person, inside and out, so what had changed for him?

Dashing past his crew, calls of 'Captain' went by as he made his way to the bridge to relieve Sulu. Skidding into a turbo lift 'Bridge…quick', he tapped his fingers against the wall, impatiently imploring it to move just that bit quicker. He was sorry they did not have more time together this morning. He wondered if she felt the same. As he was about to step off onto the bridge he came face to face with an irate McCoy.

'If Mohammed won't come to the mountain, the mountain will come to Mohammed. Stop jerking off your physical, you jerk!' he thrust his finger into Kirk's chest pushing him back into the turbo lift. Off balance Kirk nearly fell to the floor, as his latest excuse he was shut down. 'Sulu, you okay to hang on for one more hour?', McCoy enquiry not really a request, as he glared at Kirk.

'Um, yes, I guess so…' he slowly responded. He knew better than to get in McCoy's way.

'Great, let's go Jim. Sickbay now!'

With just the two of them in the lift, McCoy stuck Kirk with a hypospray. 'Jesus Bones!' Kirk jumped smacking his palm against the impact site. Rubbing his arm, 'What crawled up your arse and died?', snapping at his Chief Medical Officer.

'Oh, I don't know. How about having to search you out like a dog looking for a bone every 6 months! For God's sake man, I'm too old for this nonsense', he groused at Kirk as he fingered the blood sample. 'Why can't you be a good Captain and just turn up when I tell you!'

As McCoy spoke, Kirk attempted to tune him out, it was the umpteenth time McCoy had cornered him and whined about his medical. They made their way towards sickbay where Kirk hopped onto a biobed. 'Let's make this quick, I have stuff to do before I leave tomorrow'. Kirk swung his legs like a child, watching whilst McCoy worked around him reviewing his vitals, ensuring he was fit and healthy.

Running a tricorder up and over Kirk's form, 'you getting enough sleep, enough exercise?'

Kirk exhaled loudly 'as much as this ship and my duties allow me to…' watching McCoy feeding information into the biobed database.

'Says here you've gained a few pounds…' McCoy smirked.

'What the hell…I have not…' Kirk exploded with indignation patting his flat stomach. Jumping down from the biobed he scowled at his southern friend, then stormed out of sickbay. McCoy enjoyed the small victory, he knew he would pay for it at some point in the future.

After checking in on her department, and catching up with reports, Uhura had agreed to have a late lunch with Spock. Before meeting him, she had comm'd Kirk. Everything was fine according to him, but he still seemed off. In the mess hall, they occupied a table near the window - the stars whizzing by as they ate. 'Is it strange being back?' Uhura shoved garlic bread into her mouth, before wiping away the remains of ragu from her chin. Spock's quizzical look questioned the speed at which she ate. 'What? I'm hungry', Uhura defensively replied.

'I do not believe I had proposed a question to warrant your response, and no it is not strange'. Spock spooned clear broth into his mouth. He had previously observed his friend acting strange when it came to food, normally prior to her period. He concluded this was why she was acting out of sorts. He then proceeded to ask her about her presentation at the conference, and she questioned him about how Christine was doing. Not one to make idle chitchat, they finished their lunch in comfortable silence before returning to their respective roles. Oblivious to the stares of various Enterprise crew who followed them out.

On his way back to the bridge, Kirk considered his role during the intervention. His paced slowed until eventually he came to a standstill. As crew members swerved around him, he could not help but wonder why the Enterprise was chosen for this mission. There were other ships with vastly more experienced negotiators. He needed answers, 'open a comms to Starfleet and patch it to my ready room', he pressed ahead looking to find answers from his good friend Admiral Pike. With a quick tap to his chest, 'computer change of plans, patch the call to my quarters'. He wanted absolute privacy; on his way he accessed his PADD and sent Uhura the updated data regarding their mission. His fingers hesitated, unsure about sending the second message he had typed, taking a deep breath, found himself deleting it instead.

'Commander, there is unusual chatter originating from the planet...', Ensign Jacob had his hand to his headset, listening intently to the snatches of sound - long beeps, followed by a quick succession of shorter high pitched whirls. It was not the normal background noise. Uhura strode over to his terminal and leant over grabbing the headset to listen in. Her eyes were shut, and her face serene. She had learnt a long time ago the more relaxed she was the easier it was to decipher what she was listening to. She shifted position, and fiddled with the controls trying to filter out extraneous sounds. As clear as she could make it, she was still not any closer to understanding what she could hear. Dropping the headset back to Jacob, 'send that to my terminal', she ordered with a generous smile. He returned back to scanning his allocated frequency. She straightened up, and observed her team hard at work - a group congregated around a teaching terminal animatedly pointing to the screen. She could not see what they were looking at, but knew they would call her if she was needed. She weaved through the tight gap left between the chairs occupied by people listening away for communications and deciphering texts. She was about to sit down, but saw Getta aggressively berating a member of the team.

'You've misheard. There is no message here...'. His hand moved fast to hit delete to remove the offending file, when Uhura's looming presence cast a shadow on the screen he suddenly halted and shied away. Aware of Kirk's concerns about Getta, she thought it best to investigate.

'Is everything ok crewman...' she was not familiar with the crew mate with Getta.

'Behan', came back the feminine voice. 'I was trying to explain to Officer Getta that I had intercepted a strange hail. Listen...'. She thrust the headset into Uhura's hand and watched Uhura give her the signal to play the recording. Initially she could not hear anything, but faint in the background, a crackle followed by a lone sentence 'we have the artifacts...'. The communication seemed to be degrading. She could not understand what had spurred Getta into declaring nothing could be heard.

'I can hear something. Where is the origin of this comms?'. Uhura handed the headset back to Crewman Behan, Getta hovered in the background trying not to draw attention to himself. Behan triangulated the position of source, 'I can't pinpoint it exactly, it's somewhere on Perpetous. Definitely male. Give me time, and I can narrow it to an area on the planet'. Uhura nodded her head in approval, then faced Getta before she could question him he deferred to Behan 'Crewman, I apologise. I must have only heard the end of the recording'. He carefully tapped Behan on the shoulder before retreating to his designated area. Behan looked bemused, for 15 minutes Getta had been adamant there was nothing to hear. However, she returned back to her task and once again listened out for anything unusual. Uhura watched Getta tapping away at his terminal. She left Behan to it, and finally made it back to her terminal to continue her work.

'...I don't understand why Getta is part of this crew?', Kirk perplexedly posed the question to Pike. It was to be a quick conversation, he has caught Pike at a busy moment.

Pike had turned off screen to answer an unheard question from his assistant 'yes, yes, tomorrow at 14.00. I'll be there...', he returned his attention back to Kirk. He looked at his friend, regarding the new level of maturity in him. He wondered if it were the steady influence of Uhura. 'He is connected, far higher than my pay grade. What can I say, at least he is somewhat functional...', Pike gave a conciliatory shrug.

Aware he was not going to get any further information, Kirk switched tact. 'Why the Enterprise? he asked as he wandered around his quarters. He was thumbing his baseball, paying particular attention to the worn seam. In times of uncertainty he would hold it, sure it had mystical properties, which would help him see the way to salvation. Lately, he seemed to be holding it all the time.

Pike recognised the nervous action. 'Actually, Starfleet were intent on sending the USS Victory. It's newer, faster and Dr Shanay is amongst the crew...' Kirk gave a who is that face. 'She is one of the best, if not the best at conflict resolution. However, the Prime Minister's second in command on Perpetous insisted the Enterprise be the one to lead the intervention...what can I say, your reputation precedes you'. Pike continued, as he was handed some important looking documents to sign 'thank you' he mouthed. Kirk stopped pacing and gave a withering stare to his friend. It has been a long time since his crew had been involved in anything that would raise their profile. His 'reputation' needed to take a holiday; he was quite happy being boring for a while.

'Well...why is Dr Shanay not here now on the Enterprise, she's obviously more experienced in this matter', Kirk threw back petulantly, it now bugged him his ship and crew were not first choice for the mission.

'Don't worry, she will be. At the moment she is otherwise indisposed and will join you in 48 hours. In the meantime she has prepared some notes for you and your team to review. I'm sending these over now.'

The tell tale light of a received file emanated from Kirk's PADD. He casually brushed his hand over the tablet, before returning his attention back to Pike. 'After this, I'm formally requesting some shore leave. I have something I need to do.' He hoped Pike did not enquire what, he was not ready to discuss the matter with anyone yet. Distracted, Pike nodded and sounded in the affirmative to agree to Kirk's request.

'Good luck tomorrow. I am sure everything will go as intended', Pike gave a comforting smile before disappearing off screen. Kirk collapsed back onto his bed and pondered Pike's words, the intervention and what he needed to do about he and Uhura when all this was over.