A/N: I am so pleased with the reviews! I was worried that killing Kirk might put people off. I do love him, but he is so much a part of Spock in our AU, that action pretty much establishes that this is not our Spock. This chapter is more background and character moments for Uhura and Spock before we move on to this Nero. Huge apologies for working slowly.
It is hazy.
Nyota tips her head up and squints into the hot African sun.
She has an ice-planet in her hand. It's pink ice drips down her arm and onto the pavement.
She turns and sees her sister laughing beside her; taller, curvier, much more beautiful than she. They see a lone bedraggled Tellurite. Imani clings to her hand and draws her closer, away from the likely un-papered stray.-
This is before she is discarded, before off-world gangs take what they know was an easy mark. No, her soul is still intact. She is still young. Both are. She has yet to begin what little shaping her body attains. They are both still untouched by the outside world, protected by their parents' credits and the privilege of being Terran. This power trumps even being female... for now.
Her home is still as it was. Nyota vaguely realizes that yes, this is a dream...but no, she must will herself to hold on to it.
This moment of sweet normality...
She tries to make herself forget that it's all gone-
She starts, dagger in hand, eyes darting around before rubbing them free of sleep in the low light of her empty cabin.
"...computer, time -"
-1400 hours.-
She curses because she can only blame herself for this. She asked Spock to give her space. It seems that once Vulcans are bonded it is difficult for them to be apart from their mates, '-mentally taxing' as he put it.
When he is in her bed she does not dream of past joys. These visions do not torment her with their distance, the impossibility of ever being reclaimed.
Now, she must settle for her alien lover. She shivers. Her dream is too fresh. She could almost still smell the sun.
And they ended it all.
Aliens. Like her lover.
Spock knows she resents him for being - not completely human. Their bond is such that she could not hide such a thing if she wanted to. And she in turn knows that he resents the human parts of him.
Both of them.
She saw how his mother, -Amanda was treated, taken prisoner in an attack. Once it was determined the Empire would not make deals for their lives, they were given over to service on Vulcan.
Spock had touched his mother's mind in his youth, curious as he was about his origins despite being raised by Vulcan nurses. So, she knew it was under shamefully similar circumstances that Amanda came to be bonded to Sarek.
He had found himself drawn to her, almost against his will in much the same way it began with her. Intrigued by this human female's delicacy, fragility, so he told himself. The roundness of their faces. The coolness of their skin, their moist mouths and eyes and frequent perspiration. Their flagrant emotionalism. It was fascinating to watch such delicate creatures stubbornly endure despite their own biological failings.
Another human male had interest in her. When it came to be his time... He simply disposed of the obstacle and claimed her.
Vulcans claim such superiority despite, -no because they were conquered by humans. -Convinced they are above the emotionally flagrant low creatures they believe humans to be and yet they are the ones beholden to their bodies' whims, to grip and rut and bite more than a Terran animal in heat, lest they die.
Nyota laughed darkly. She knew how much he needed it even outside of 'his time' as he called it.
Of course, he insisted it merely reinforced the connection, but she knew his desires. And how much it would hurt him to have her press the truth of it from his lips. And those desires would be considered perverse by many. This at least, she did not mind. Experiencing his surprisingly creative needs were far from unwelcome. Her mind being tied to his meant his pleasure was contingent upon her own. She would always have pleasure in the act.
Often he even tested her endurance of it.
Nyota wondered sometimes about Amanda, and about herself. If it were truly love that is part of this bond or if the Vulcan had tricked her into believing it as part of it.
She couldn't even muster true disgust at this possibility for the bond she felt.
She did know that Amanda was still his consort and she knew he felt something for his mother despite the imposed distance, knew she felt something for Sarek, now.
Nyota frowned at this last. Thirty years from now, where would she be?
Still his?
Her stubborn heart insisted no.
*
Spock sat unblinkingly in his cabin starring at the comm, glad of the space Nyota had afforded him this night. He played and replayed the message, it's encrypted specs unlike any he had seen before. Of course, he knew the origins. This was revealed right along with the message. Had it not been, it would have still been clear to him.
Logic dictated caution, that this could very likely be trap. But, the other part, the lesser part of him told him this was not.
Still, once this was done, it could not be undone.
It would be wise to be certain.
He sent the coordinates back through the encrypted channels to Nero.