Klacha Por'sen by WikedFae

Chapter Nineteen: Found That Life Was Duty

It felt good to breathe, Uhura realized. It didn't matter that the air throughout the ship had taken on a stale quality since the circulation filters malfunctioned. It still felt good. Staring unseeingly down at the cycling Reman symbols on her PADD, she leaned against the wall of the empty turbolift and let a soft smile play across her face. The gentle whir of gears pervaded the enclosed space, coaxing her into a contemplative state. Breathe in, breathe out. The motions were the same, but the invisible burden she'd carried for years had seemingly evaporated. Breathe in, breathe out. Relief. Breathe in, breathe out. Freedom. Breathe in—

"Now there's something you don't see every day," came the quiet exclamation next to her ear.

Startled, she whipped around and came face to face with the unexpected interloper. Kirk grinned back, unashamedly. Recognizing the triumph in his eyes, she humored him and smiled demurely.

Feigning shock, Kirk stepped back. "I don't believe it. The elusive Uhura smile, thought until recently to be extinct—and I'm lucky enough to see it twice," he jested. "What are the odds?"

She quickly composed herself and watched as his face fell along with hers. "Darn, I knew that'd jinx it," he muttered good-naturedly.

"I didn't expect to encounter you on this part of the ship, sir."

"Can't say the same for you. I stopped by your usual haunt just a few minutes ago. Surprised you weren't there."

"No, I took a break from that today." She didn't bother elaborating any further.

Kirk's smile returned slowly; she, in turn, stared back, the unspoken dare glistening in her eyes. "I take it it's safe to assume progress has been made in dealing with a certain crewmember?" he asked.

"You of all people should know, Captain, how dangerous a quality like presumptuousness can be," she shot back.

"Eh," he quipped, "the risk pays off eventually." With that, he leaned back and glanced at her with nonchalant expectation. "So?"

"Are you asking out of personal or professional interest?"

"Let's assume it's the former."

"In that case, I'll tell you that the first steps have been taken. We're going about this in a very pragmatic manner and have decided to proceed with caution."

"And I wouldn't have expected anything less from either of you," he said, straightening and turning to face the doors of the lift.

Examining him out of the corner of her eye though, Uhura knew the inquiry was far from over—the slight furrow of his brow would attest to that. "…And if I were to assume your asking was due to the latter?" she probed.

Instead of being rewarded with an answer, she watched as the captain stopped the lift at the next deck and motioned for her to accompany him out. "That's a discussion best had in a place with more discretion than can be found in a turbolift," he said quietly.

Concerned, Uhura fell into step slightly behind her captain. "Sir?"

Kirk threw her a look and had to do a double take, quickly saying, "Jeez Uhura, try not to look like I've just told you the ship has a bomb about to go off next to the warp coils—you do see the crewmembers in this hallway, right?"

Interpreting that to mean neither the ship nor the crew was in imminent danger, she tried to rearrange her features into something less anxious. An undignified snort came from Jim's direction.

"You don't have to look like someone's just died, either."

Giving an indignant huff of her own, she half-heartedly swatted his shoulder before returning her attention to the still unidentified, but serious situation her captain had brought up.

They walked onward in terse silence until they reached his office where she preceded him into the chambers. Turning around to face him, she asked grimly, "What's happened?"

Wordlessly, Kirk motioned for her to hand over her PADD. Relinquishing it, she watched as he transferred a new file onto it from the console at his desk. "Our Andorian allies relayed this message to Starfleet Command a few days ago."

Glancing down at the display of her PADD as he handed it back to her, she couldn't hide her bewilderment. Instead of the few symbols she'd been picking at for weeks now, the screen was inundated with hundreds of pictographs. Tearing her focus away from the mental onslaught, she looked at Kirk for an explanation only to find him offering her a seat.

As he sank wearily into his chair behind the desk, Uhura could only wonder just how bad this was going to be.

"Apparently, this is the collection of over three months worth of chatter. An Andorian station started picking up these weak signals and managed to back trace the origin. Someone on Remus has been quite busy the last few weeks. What we'd originally intercepted was just the tip of the iceberg, or so it seems."

Mulling this over, she asked, "Why haven't specialists on Andoria started working on a translation if they've had this information for so long?"

Kirk scoffed. "They've stated they would rather not get involved. It was pure coincidence their ball of gas was orbiting in the right place at the right time to catch the signals rolling off the far side of Remus, anyway." The look on his face told her in just how low a regard he held the Andorian Empire, even with their role in the Federation. He continued, "Seeing as we were the lucky bastards to intercept the original messages, headquarters have forwarded the bulk of the information on to us, but they've also got their own translators trying to break these pictographs wide open. I was hoping you might have had some luck with the first few doodles."

"Unfortunately, no," she sighed. "I've compiled a few lists of repeated characters, but so far this is beyond my comprehension. There's some tangential relationship to Romulan, but let's face it. Their language is relatively new to our databanks and Remus is a hidden world in comparison to Romulus. I, personally, don't remember a single lecture at the Academy about their culture, society or political structure—only a mention of their importance to the mining industry of their twin planet. Speaking of which, the Romulan authorities must have some idea what this is about, right?"

Kirk strafed a hand through his hair distractedly as he answered, "You would think they would, but Starfleet didn't indicate in the affirmative. Romulus has slowly been opening up to the Federation in terms of an intergalactic relationship, but their internal affairs are kept closely guarded. I'm not one for tip-toeing around an issue like this, but right now I'm inclined to follow orders—for once." He shot her a wry grin that faded all too quickly. "We'll do our own quiet investigating, and if it turns out to be nothing, hey, I mean, at least you get a chance to expand your linguistic repertoire."

Uhura didn't need her time on Betazed to realize the expression on Kirk's face meant he doubted this whole thing would turn out to be nothing. Things like this rarely ever turned out to be inconsequential. For now, though, she'd have to start working before any more answers came to light.

Clearing her throat, she said, "You want me to bring Spock in on this, don't you." There was no question in her voice.

He seemed disconcerted for a moment and fidgeted a bit before answering, "I'm not going to ask you to. And I'm not going to tell you to. You're under no obligation to go to him. I, in no uncertain terms, told you you two needed to work your personal relationship out, but extra pressure is something I'm sure won't be missed. It's good you've gotten somewhere. Bit of a relief, too, because I felt like such a Denebian slime devil needing to bring this Reman stuff up. Especially when I'd hinted to him the pictographs might be a good conversation starter."

"That was you?" she gasped. Silence filled the office for a beat before she burst out with a sharp laugh. "Oh, that just added another item to my list of why we never would have worked!"

He had the sense to look a little abashed before a sarcastic smirk usurped his features. "But honestly," he said, returning to the task at hand, "If you don't want to bring this to him, I understand. It's just a suggestion for if you get stuck. I know Leonard and I will be of no help, but whatever Starfleet sends me, I'll forward on to you."

"So does this mean I'm no longer listed as Inactive Reserve?" she asked, slightly hopeful.

He considered for a moment. Then, "…No."

"Oh," she said, faltering for a second.

Her slight disappointment must have shone on her face, because Kirk said, "You know I can't do that. Just because the two of you haven't killed each other yet doesn't mean anything. These messages are the only work-related information you'll have access to, until further notice." He bent his head slightly to catch her eye. "I'm sorry, you know."

"No, I understand. It's probably better this way anyway—nothing else to get in the way of my concentration," she said, collecting herself again and staring at the hundreds of symbols streaming across the display.

"I didn't give you this side assignment as an excuse to stop whatever you truce you've made with Spock, and I don't think I need to remind you the only way you'll get back onto active duty is by establishing a functional working relationship with him at the very least."

She shook her head, indicating no reminder was necessary.

"Good," he said. "That's about it from my end, I think. If anything else crops up, I'll find you. Any new communiqués from Starfleet Command regarding this matter will be available for you at a secure console in Communications."

"Thank you, sir." Getting up from her seat, she waited patiently while he shuffled through the digital papers on his desk.

He waved her off with a casual, "Dismissed," seconds later and she made her way to the door.

"Uhura," he called, looking up as the door hissed open.

"Yes?" she asked, doubling back.

"Nothing, it's just good to see a smile back on your face again," he said.

Gracing him with said smile, she nodded and left. Once out in the hallway, however, her expression slid into one that spoke of serious concentration. She took a breath. Breathe in. Breathe out. Somehow it didn't feel the same anymore. Ruing the absence of that tenuous freedom, she squared her shoulders and made her way back to her quarters, her mind full of new linguistic questions and her heart weighing the consequences of the actions she was about to take. Perhaps it would be better to wait a bit before broaching this topic with Spock.

A/N: I LIIIIIIIVVVVE! I, like Uhura in this chapter, found that life was indeed duty. But I'm still here, trying to crawl out from underneath the Ligorian dragon-sized mound of dung Real Life decided to drop on me back in January. My most profound apologies to you, my lovely audience. Inspiration finally struck the right vein (i.e. NOT the one labeled "Thesis") and I've been sitting here spastically typing away. I'm sorry for any grammar typos, misspellings, etc. Sadly, I can't guarantee another chapter in two weeks as not a single word has been written yet, but I hope to not keep you all dangling another seven months…oh for the love of…no. That's just unacceptable from me as a writer. *Will try to do better next time!*