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Special thanks to Beta Notes from the Classroom for reading this TWICE. Check out her latest, "Crossing the Equator" in my faves for Spock/Uhura goodness!

This chapter is when we take off in new directions...just hang in there through the first few paragraphs!

3 Years Later

Noyoto hit the power button on his PADD. The tiny device dimmed as he stood from his seat in the lecture hall. Behind him someone said, "Yo, Uhura, Kirk - you going to study with us?"

Noyoto smiled. "I'd love to." It was a lie; Jensen and Kwai weren't keeping up in this History of Xeno Civ Level IV course. Studying with them was a waste of time. "But," he added, "I have to report to the long range sensory array."

"I'd love to, too," said Kirk with a leer and a wink, "but I have an important date." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Noyoto repressed the urge to roll his eyes. Kirk had been pulling this stunt for the last three years. But Kirk was still the best study partner Noyoto had ever had, even if he did give Noyoto shit for not being on the command track. Noyoto was more interested in the languages, cultures, histories and technologies of new civilizations to want to be burdened with the bureaucratic crap that went along with command, and he was man enough to know it. He was also man enough to beat Kirk in hand to hand combat, could outrun him, and except in computer science and advanced mathematics, held his own against genius farm boy.

"Figures," said Kwai bitterly.

"It's not fair that you never study, Kirk. At least Uhura works hard to blow the curve," said Jensen.

Winking, Kirk sauntered up the aisle, but he did look back once at Noyoto.

Narrowing his eyes, Noyoto mouthed the words "You are an ass," over Jensen and Kwai's heads.

"See ya," said Kirk, saluting to Noyoto.

Six hours and about fifteen minutes later, Noyoto half jogged, half walked into the reference section of the library. Knowledge of what he'd just heard in the lab making his feet feel like lead and his skin feel cold and clammy as he made his way deep into the stacks. Tucked away there were two seats and a low table he'd discovered in an unobtrusive nook.

Kirk was already there, reading glasses on, hair askew - Kirk never could keep his hands out of it when studying. He was bent over a PADD-like device of alien design. A stack of PADDs and books of non-human origin were strewn haphazardly on the table in front of him.

"You're over an hour late," he said without looking up.

"I sent you a message. Didn't you check your comm?" said Noyoto, sitting down and compulsively straightening the reference materials on the table.

Looking more like a befuddled professor than a command track cadet, Kirk looked over the edge of the chair. "Oh, that's why it was beeping." He reached to pick it up.

"You're going to command a starship? Are you going to ignore the Klingons when they're beeping too?" said Noyoto.

"I perform better under stress," said Kirk looking at his comm. "Holy shit!" He looked up at Noyoto. "This for real?"

Lowering his voice Noyoto said, "Yeah, that's why I'm late. I'm the best Romulan speaker, so they kept me in the lab."

"A whole Klingon armada destroyed, by Romulans?" said Kirk. "This is a lot more than just a few missing Klingon and Federation ships."

Noyoto nodded. Kirk was one of the only people who was following the goings on between the Federation and the Klingons in the neutral zone as deeply as he did. For years ships from both Empire and Federation had been disappearing. Both sides blamed the other, but there was very little evidence to implicate either. In fact, there was very little evidence at all. It was creepy, and exciting, and irresistible.

"Any idea who did it?"

"Well there were Romulans there," said Noyoto. "I don't know if they were affiliated with the Empire though."

"Why not?" said Kirk blue eyes boring into him.

Looking down Noyoto clenched his teeth and tried to forget about the bitter argument he'd just had. "Lieutenant Soto says they have to be part of the Romulan Empire because only the Empire could have that sort of fire power, but -"

"No one understands Romulans like you," said Kirk, his voice firm with conviction. "You were the guy who discovered that a Romulan visited Earth in the 20th century. You rewrote history books."

Noyoto's theory on the Romulan visitor 200 years ago had proved correct, despite T'Spock's doubts. His work with T'Spock had made his career, put any posting in Starfleet within Noyoto's grasp...

T'Spock...better not to think of her.

Glancing up, Noyoto found Kirk's eyes meeting his own. They were so bright with faith and conviction - faith and conviction in Noyoto; they practically burned.

Noyoto wasn't Jim's best friend, not by a long shot. That dubious distinction went to Bones, the grumpy older man who'd sat next to Jim on that first shuttle ride. But Jim could make you want to be his best friend. The way he took interest in your interests. The way he could believe in you. Noyoto wasn't sure if it was all genuine or if it was calculated. But it was disarming.

Slightly embarrassed, Noyoto looked down again. "Their accents were wrong...that's why the Universal Translator was thrown off. It was calibrated based on contact we've had with Romulan diplomats and military. The Romulans Starfleet deals with tend to be very formal. These guys, they were rough -"

"Any reports of a lightning storm in space before the attack?" Kirk said.

Noyoto resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Kirk thought that every unexplained incident in the galaxy somehow related to the Kelvin. They guy was obsessed. "No," he said.

"You sure there wasn't one?" Kirk asked leaning closer. "You said they were Romulan but not affiliated with the Empire..."

Noyoto took a breath. Kirk actually had a point. For once. The Romulan Empire explicitly denied on numerous occasions that they had any hand in the Kelvin incident.

"There could have been a lightning storm, but all the information we got was fragmented. The Klingons don't exactly share information freely with us."

"Any way to find out?" Kirk said.

"Not without hacking Starfleet's spy network," said Noyoto.

Kirk tilted his head.

"Oh, no," said Noyoto. "You can't -"

A familiar feminine voice rose from the aisle. "Jimmy? Jimmy you there?"

"You told your flavor of the month you'd be here?" he said trying to bite back his annoyance. It looked like he wouldn't be studying for his History exam with 'Jimmy' this evening.

With surprising vehemence Kirk whispered, "Gaila's not a flavor of the month."

Noyoto blinked. Well, that was new.

"Hey, Noyoto," said the familiar voice. Noyoto turned and waved at Gaila, but her eyes were fixed on Kirk. "Jimmy, you going to study for the Kobayashi Maru with me?"

Noyoto rolled his eyes.

"Yep," said Kirk standing up. He looked down at Noyoto. "I hear your girlfriend's back and will be overseeing the whole thing."

Narrowing his eyes, Noyoto said, "She is not my girlfriend." The words came out angrier than he meant them to.

Kirk smiled as Gaila put an arm through his.

"Sure," said Kirk. "You're just friends, going to scholarly events together, discussing the latest xenolinguistic research together -"

"Sounds like Vulcan dating to me!" said Gaily brightly, her red curls bouncing.

Noyoto did not dignify them with an answer. As far as he knew he and T'Spock weren't even friends. Not anymore.

After the bar room brawl they had spent a lot of time together. Part of it was the push to decode Kalanel's transmission, but it had been more than that. Or at least Noyoto had thought so. A new Andorian restaurant, they simply had to try it out as a matter of cultural exploration - never mind that T'Spock's near vegan dietary restrictions made her shun nearly three quarters of the menu. A sunny day? Well, they had to go for a walk.

It had been pathetic really. Absolutely pathetic.

And yet...

The thought of the threat to his career had kept him in check. Allowed him to actually get to know T'Spock in a way he wasn't normally accustomed to. Normally Noyoto liked to get to know women between the sheets.

He'd convinced himself she was perfect, smart, quietly funny, and her oddness - well, she was quirky. It was endearing and kept him on his toes.

There had been nothing physical between them, but Noyoto had fallen for her harder than any woman before or since.

Well, almost nothing physical. On a couple of occasions her fingers had ghosted over his knuckles when she wanted to catch his attention. That simple, chaste act always sent a current of electricity through Noyoto stronger than any sexual advance he'd ever received.

And then the day that they'd presented their findings about Kalanel, the Romulan who visited Earth. He'd still been recovering from that bout of Andorian pneumonia, and she had to know how he got that...Not that he'd cheated on her. There was nothing explicit between them. And he probably half had that fling with the Andorian girl to get T'Spock out of his mind.

He shook his head. Just put it out of your mind, Noyoto. He began straightening the PADDs on the table again.

"Come on, Jimmy," said Gaila, tugging on Kirk's arm.

"See you tomorrow when I beat the Kobayashi Maru," said Kirk.

"No one beats the Kobayashi Maru," said Noyoto, his voice laced with a bit too much venom.

"Exactly," said Kirk with a wink. "And someone needs to fix that."

A/N:

And that's where we blasted off in a new direction!

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