Thank you so much for both the reviews and the subscriptions! Both the feedback and kind words are appreciated! This is the first multi-chapter story I am really taking notes with and planning out with, and I hope it works well.
Sorry guys! Would have updated sooner, but I just started beta-ing a few new stories. :)
Happy Fourth of July!
I tried to make even an OOC Spock be somewhat in character, but I don't know if I succeeded. If you have any feedback about my view of his character, feel free to put it in your review. Trust me, I'm working on it.
I felt my body materialize into the disorderly camp, the stretching sensation strange but familiar. Even after stimulations at the Academy and the past few months experiencing it first hand, I still was unused to the strange sensation of being in one place and, in the next moment, being in a completely different place.
When I opened my eyes, I was met with the familiar scene of ripped, overturned tents and scattered belongings. I didn't look at Spock or Chekov as I moved toward the center of camp, trying not to look at the scene before me - it was one thing seeing it in the dark, but in the harsh light of day the chaos that obviously ensued only hours before was much more poignant.
Spock followed me to the center of camp, bending over the long gone-out fire. This gave me a lovely view of his backside. At another time I might have been playful, testing his calm, steady facade, but now... Overwhelming guilt squeezed the air out of me, guilt from the realization that, as my Captain and fellow crewmates were being taken hostage, I was fucking the first officer safely back on our ship.
"Lieutenant Uhura, please recite your knowledge of Niburan Terrorist Groups," Spock ordered me, as if something in the ashes before him were whispering answers to him.
I quickly obliged, stealing a glance at Chekov as he moved to the edge of camp, looking for anything that could help us figure out what had happened.
I saw Spock pick up a communicator, tossed meaninglessly behind the fire. I recognized the duffle it was lying next to as the Captains. I wavered in my information. Before he could say anything, however, Chekov called to us, "Sir, I have found some sort of tracks." He was standing at the edge of the forest. I looked over and quickly recognized them.
"It's from a car. The Captain's stepfather used to collect some. I recognize the tire marks from the police report filed when he was a child," I told them, pulling out my PADD. I felt the corners of my lips trying to pull up, imagining a little Jim Kirk driving a car over a cliff edge.
I bent down to examine the tracks more closely, comparing them to those on my screen. I could have taken a picture and used a cross reference program, but it was easy enough to find on my own.
"I thought I recognized them," I said after a few moments of deliberation, "The tracks are from a type of car usually used to drive across sand, most suitable for planets with large deserts."
I stood up, tucking my PADD back into my pocket.
"The plus side is only Niburan Extremist Groups use these, because they are so opposed to modern technology, so they are the likely culprit. The downside is that these tracks are heading east - towards the desert. We won't be able to follow these tracks," I continued.
"Why is that?" Chekov asked, bending down to study the tracks as well, as if there was some kind of message waiting there for him.
"Because sand would have covered the tracks by now," Spock finished for me. I nodded my agreement, thinking back to my childhood in Kenya and the wind that would blow the sand in the roads.
Niburan's bright, white sun was still low in the northern sky but the longer we took, the hotter it would get. Hopefully, the crew was safe from its harmful and suffocating rays. Another wave of guilt washed over me, and I swallowed it down.
"Could this vehicle be giving off a radio signal?" Spock asked me, his eyes meeting mine for a moment before I quickly dropped them. It was getting harder and harder to be on professional terms with him.
"No, Sir. If the culprit is who I think it is, they would not use such technology - they are extremely apposed to such means," I explained to him softly, eyeing the sky carefully. The sun was moving overhead at an alarming rate - if we didn't leave soon, we could be in danger.
"If we don't leave now, the heat combined with the chemicals released in this atmosphere could kill us," I told them both, pointedly gesturing towards the sky. They needed no explanation and started gathering the supplies that could be ruined by the gases that will soon be released in Niburan's strange atmosphere.
- -
We all sat in the bridge, there not being enough crew members to watch the bridge in order to have a proper meeting in the conference room.
"Examining the camp earlier, I found few things of interest - the crew was most likely taken in the early hours of the morning - the time most people would be asleep, especially considering how much most of the crew was drinking the night before," Spock started.
"Excuse me, Commander," I tried interrupting politely, "The climate here was similar to that of a desert, meaning that the early morning was the coolest part of the day - the sun wasn't out and the heat would have seeped out of the ground by then. That would also back up your theory."
They all looked at me and I averted my eyes. Sometimes I wish things didn't occur to me faster than they do others.
"Thank you, Lieutenant," He said to me before continuing on, "Also, judging by the condition of the tents, their captors were in some hurry. All communicators and other objects giving off a signal were left behind, the reason why we weren't alerted to their abduction."
"How do you suggest we proceed, Commander?" Sulu asked, turning to Spock from his place at the helm. My eyes gazed at the screen over his head, the small planet Niburan staring back at me almost cruelly.
"After weighing the possibilities, I have come to the conclusion of alerting their authorities. They are not yet part of the Federation, so we have no say in how they should proceed. Because Lietenant Uhura is the only person on this Starship who can speak the language, she will schedule a meeting with their Head of Domestic Relations. A party consisting of her and a handful of others will then beam down," he told us all.
I picked up the tiny, silver earpiece with care after nodding my consent and placed it gently in my ear. I watched as he continued giving orders to the others, his uniform skintight and moving with every action he took. I knew I was allowing myself to become distracted by him, but it was easier to give into those urges than have to deal with my raging emotions that left my internal self a mess.
After communicating with the representatives from Niburan, I swiveled my chair to face the center of the bridge.
"Commander, they will be expecting us in Abrigon, the capital city, tomorrow morning. They will give us cover during the harmful part of the day, of course," I told Spock, almost surprised to see how the bridge had cleared out since I had communicated with the planet before us. Sulu was replaced by McKenna, who we had picked up once he had recovered his lung worms. Chekov was also still on his shift, because I often insisted he had a full night's sleep because he was still just a teenager.
He nodded, turning his gaze back to the planet before us, as if it were going to disappear into thin air.
"It's not going anywhere, Spock," I told him softly, although it sounded more like I was trying to convince myself than I was him.
If Niburan somehow vanished, I didn't know how I would live with myself.
- -
My hands combing through his hair, my lips puckered against his. Tongues dancing, temperatures rising...
I came up for breath, burying my face into his shoulder gasping for oxygen that suddenly seemed to dissipate. "I can't do this right now," I told him apologetically, my voice coming out weak and panicky. My dark hair fell around my face, offering me some cover from his steady gaze.
I felt his long, white fingers dancing up my spine to rest comfortingly on my back. "We all feel a certain - "
"No. You weren't supposed to be kidnapped with them, you were supposed to be up here. I, I was..." I drifted off, hot tears stinging at my eyes. I tried to blink them back, not wanting to appear so weak in front of him. I was strong. I had to be strong.
Would he still want me if I wasn't strong?
"Why is it you feel so responsible for this happening?" he asked me gently. I felt his hesitation - he was a Vulcan, trained to hide the emotions that I was so openly exhibiting. It came to my mind that I must be a complete pain in his butt, and that made me feel even worse.
I didn't respond to his question. He started stroking my hair again.
"How would it have helped if you were there? Your intellect couldn't have stopped whoever it was from taking them, Nyota. You and Dr. McCoy were most likely the only two sober people there. It would have helped nothing if you had been caught with them," he told me. I wasn't convinced, though.
I was supposed to be there. How could I betray them like that?
"It doesn't matter. I was supposed to be with them. And instead I was..."
He saw my eyes shift to the wall and took my face in his hands.
"Look at me, Nyota," he told me, his calm facade falling away ever so slightly, showing something deeper, "Do you have any idea what they could be doing to you right now if you were caught? You would have been the only woman held captive, and I don't think I have to tell you about the treatment of Niburan women."
I didn't want to admit that I knew he was right.
He looked into the semi darkness over my head. "Even under the horrible circumstances, I cannot help but feel a sense of relief, even happiness, that you were not captured," he told me, something in his tone almost making it seem like it was hard for him to say this.
I reached up softly, tracing the logo on his blue uniform that marked him as part of Star Fleet.
Our responsibility, our duty was to get them back.
Not one of my best chapters, but the plot is thickening... Kinda... Soon to thicken...