Spock runs.

He spent a long time feigning unconsciousness and listening, until he was sure: his shuttle was empty - the noise of the engine on standby was sharp and clear, no human sounds at all - and the other shuttle had docked alongside this one at the shipyard, and that the crew of both crafts had disembarked, half shepherded by armed terrorists, half springing voluntarily into the danger, unarmed and led, undoubtedly, by Jim Kirk.

And now Spock is in the echoing interior of the space dock and shipyard, racing to find Kirk and end this insurrection.

He reaches frequently for Uhura as he sprints from the shuttle onto the long metal walkway of the dock. She became aware of their contactless link before Harrison pounded Spock over the head, and she even used it to request clarification. She will expect explanation later (a complication of association with a human female) but for now Spock trusts that she will simply accept this new tool at her disposal and put it to good use.

There is a problem, however. He cannot hear her.

Fear grips him - fear for her, a new addition to his selection of wayward emotions. He sets it aside.

The dock area is empty. Suspicious. Harrison and his companions must have overpowered the staff here. But with three of them only to do so? Impossible. And the Academy students, though unarmed and under threat, outnumber the hijackers thirty three to one. Spock taught those young men and women. They would not surrender without a greater threat than three terrorists with guns.

So what is the threat? And what is the plan?

Spock sees the control room for the docking area: a glass box overlooking the vast hangar. He takes the stairs up to it two at a time. His weapon was removed by the scrawny Harrison (a great dishonor, but Spock was bound hand and foot at the time) so he must use a kick to open the locked door.

Inside are uniformed men and women with frightened faces. "Don't hurt us! We'll do whatever you ask."

Spock blinks. "I mean you no harm. I am here to stop Harrison and his accomplices in whatever they plan. Do you know what that is?" Head shakes. "Please contact Starfleet." He taps the comms deck.

"No way," says the dock commander. He is a weighty man with the launch of one who has not renewed his Starfleet fitness test for a long while. "These intruders are monitoring all comms."

Spock observes with scorn the man's sweating face and large belly. Also his stripes. Spock outranks him."Then perhaps your call will bring them back so that I can overpower them. Do it!"

As the call is made, Spock scans security video. And his mind is working.

The attack is focused on the new flagship Enterprise, that is certain. To destroy it, shame the Starfleet - all might be logical, at least in the minds of terrorists. But why involve the graduating class of the Academy? Harrison was a failure, his comrades too - is this some bitter attempt to tarnish the institution which found them wanting? If the rest of the cadets were apparently engaged in a plot against Starfleet -

Anyone who believed that to be plausible must be not only a criminal but also stupid.

Therefore the cadets are needed for some other purpose. What can Starfleet students do?

Spock barely needs to consider for a moment. Of course.

They can fly a starship.

"This is madness, Jim!"

"And yet you're still here." Kirk glances at McCoy and gives a wink. "Don't pretend this isn't more fun than some dried-up tour."

They are on board another starship in the space dock, the one nearest the Enterprise. The cadets crept through the dock with commendable stealth, Kirk leading, and Uhura to the rear, reluctantly impressed at his immediate command of the situation.

McCoy is wrestling with the unlock codes on this starship's engine. "Let me," says Uhura, and through a series of rapid deductions determines that the code is the proposed name of the ship they have boarded. "The security here is shameful! No wonder Harrison and his little band found it so easy to get on board the Enterprise."

"No need for big security," says Kirk. "There hasn't been a terrorist threat for twenty years."

"I think we can reset the counter today," McCoy says. "Stealing the flagship and plummeting towards the home planet probably counts as a threat."

"Online," says Uhura. She tries to focus on the job, and not on Kirk and McCoy's bickering.

"Engines fire," orders Kirk, and the cadets all around them leap to action.
The Enterprise, looming above them in the enormous grip of its docking clamps, is already online. Their classmates are operating it. And even before he arrived here, Harrison had issued a threat to those on Kirk's shuttle: keep clear or be blasted as the Enterprise leaves the shipyard. With state of the art weapons.

That was never going to win Kirk's co-operation, Uhura reflects. And it has not. Instead of complying with the request from the terrorists, Kirk led the cadets into the shipyard and entered the ship lying closest to the Enterprise. His plan is to block them, physically block them with the other ship, meanwhile sending warnings ahead to Earth.

There is only one problem with this plan.

This other starship is not finished.

"It'll never make warp speed," comes a lilting Celtic voice from the engine room. "Half the boosters are missing. You'll struggle to manoeuvre."

"I can handle it," says Kirk. McCoy looks incredulous.

"I think we need a new plan," says Uhura. "Is the transport room online?"

"Too dangerous," says McCoy, grasping her idea.

But predictably Kirk likes it. He leaves a fellow cadet at the helm of the not-finished starship and heads for the elevator.

"I'm coming with you," Uhura says. Kirk starts to protest and then plainly cannot be bothered. Uhura gives him a haughty nod as he ushers her off the bridge and into the elevator.

They stand necessarily close together during the descent, and Uhura senses that despite the blatant inappropriateness of the situation, Kirk is assessing her potential as a mate. She glares at him.

Spock. Where are you?

Nothing.

Hiding her despair, she races with Kirk to the transport room, where the youngest-looking cadet she has ever seen is waiting to beam them across to the Enterprise.

The dock security video shows the Enterprise online and preparing to depart. Spock exclaims in frustration. Once it is in free space, there will be little chance to stop it without risking the life of every cadet on board.

Then he notices activity elsewhere in the shipyard. Given that all staff have been rounded up and are now locked in a parts supply area, it can only be Kirk.

Another ship has come online. But it is only part-built. The shell is complete, and fitting has been begun, but systems are only partially installed.

Yet it seems to be preparing to depart. Insanity.

It cannot hope to chase the Enterprise, much less catch it.

Although... Perhaps it need not catch it. Perhaps there is another way.

As he sprints from the room, Spock catches the on-screen blink which indicates persons beamed from starship to starship. More of Kirk's impulsive bravado.

Spock's legs pump faster.

The transport room of the Enterprise is empty. The cadets must all be focused on the engine room and other vital controls.

"I guess they weren't expecting visitors," says Kirk.

"If we go to the bridge, Harrison will overpower us," Uhura says. "We need to be more subtle." She presumes this is a word known in theory to Kirk, if not in practice.

"What do you suggest, Uhura?" he asks.

She thinks. (Spock. Spock would know.) "How else can we cripple them?"

"They can't be everywhere at once," Kirk says. "Three of them. I imagine one of them has a gun to the Commander's head and everyone is obeying orders in that basis. Relying on cameras to confirm that everyone is doing what they're told." He frowns.

"Spock would incapacitate himself rather than be used in that way," says Uhura. Her stomach is churning. Is that why she cannot hear him? Has he sacrificed his own life in order to remove his worth as a hostage?

"In any case there's a hundred of us and three of them." Kirk dismisses her concerns. "Let's hit the engine room and persuade our classmates to mutiny."

Uhura hesitates. Spock. Spock! Nothing. "No," she says then. "That would guarantee a fight. Let's try to do this without killing anyone."

He is waiting.

"The medbay will be fitted," she says. "And Harrison won't know which shuttle we're from. Let's get close to him somehow and knock him out. Gas. An injection."

"Hmmm." Kirk considers. His face crumples in a frown. Then he brightens. "All right," he says. "Let's do both."

As a strategy Spock admires its nerve - whilst simultaneously condemning its stupidity. He is on the bridge of the half-made starship, and McCoy is co-ordinating efforts from the rest of the cadets to the sending of a secret message back to Starfleet. There has been no luck as yet, and no word from Kirk and Uhura who clearly plan somehow to overpower Harrison's team. "I confess I am disappointed in you, Doctor. That you would endorse such a scheme -"

"All right, so you got a better idea. Let's hear it." McCoy is even more defensive than normal.

"It is very simple. I plan to prevent the ship's leaving. Much as you would yourself restrain a patient who was a danger to himself or others." Spock allows himself a tiny smile at the comparison.

McCoy narrows his eyes. "Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?"

Spock tilts his head. "I do not know. That depends on-"

"All right, all right! Let's do it."

"And then I too will beam to the Enterprise. Kirk will need backup, and Harrison still has my phaser."

The Enterprise gleams. Every surface appears polished. Bright lights reflect off all the shiny fittings. The floors squeak, they are so new and fresh and untrodden.

Uhura and Kirk stand obediently on the bridge, hands folded behind their backs, at semi-attention as if awaiting orders from Harrison, who is sprawled in the Captain's chair, his expression full of arrogant scorn.

Harrison speaks. "Ok. Let's get this show on the road. This bird is fast and deadly. We'll have taken LA before Starfleet even notices." He chuckles and the cadets shuffle uncomfortably. If Harrison spots any insubordination he has promised to shoot a person a minute, starting with the women.

Typical chauvinism, thinks Uhura. Assumption of the weakness of one gender and the protective instincts of another. He better shoot the women, because now they are all ticked off and any one of them could take him down if he didn't have a weapon dangling carelessly from his right hand. Garrick is looking poisonous and Uhura knows she can rely on her friend to help if, when, things get violent.

Kirk edges closer to Harrison. Uhura sidles in too. Spock is not on board and she learned from cadets they met in their way to the bridge, that he was left unconscious on the shuttle. How badly hurt, nobody knows. Uhura sets worry aside and concentrates on her task: jabbing Harrison with the medbay microneedle, when the cadets from the engine room arrive en masse having overpowered Harrison's lieutenant.

But the cadets do not arrive and now Harrison is firing up the Enterprise's engines.

Uhura is wondering how she will cross to Harrison without attracting his suspicion when the bridge doors swish open. Spock stands there, his face set.

"Spock!" cries Kirk, and as Harrison turns in surprise, Kirk darts forward to grab the terrorist leader's weapon. "What are you doing here?"

"Providing the distraction you so obviously required," says Spock. He and Kirk restrain Harrison.

Uhura takes one second to lock eyes with Spock - one second to know, to share that he lives and loves her and she is here and loves him - and then steps to the comms deck to update Starfleet. As her hand touches the switch a judder shakes the Enterprise and throws her sideways.

Kirk's grip on Harrison slips as the bridge pitches under them. "Impact!" cries a cadet in confusion as klaxons sound through the ship.

The engines scream.

Harrison flails, and scrambles away but Uhura lifts her arm and sticks him with the needle. He staggers, aiming punches at her which she ducks.

"Somebody shut the engines down!" barks Kirk. "And what was that impact?"

Harrison, stumbling, says, "You can't shut it down." He gives a drunken laugh as another massive jolt shakes the ship. "You might have me but we're leaving anyway. This ship is programmed - and it's heading to Earth on a direct course for the Academy!"

"We will stop you," Uhura tells him. Cadets swarm around him and his associates, and start applying handcuffs. Kirk punches controls on the captain's chair but the Enterprise does not respond.

"You're too late," Harrison slurs as the drug kicks in. "Only I know the override code -" He drops like a stone, his eyes already closed, and his head hits the corner of the comms desk. He lies spreadeagled on the floor of the bridge with his head at an angle, showing a nasty cut. There is blood, a great deal of blood, and when Uhura bends to Harrison to check him, he is dead.

Kirk exclaims. "Now what do we do? Spock, I'll have to try to hack the autopilot - will you help?"

"Your willingness to acknowledge the value of others' skills is a welcome development," said Spock, bowing his head, "but there would not be time to reprogram the ship before it reached its destination. However, do not fear. It may not be the optimum outcome, but I have already ensured that this ship cannot leave space dock."

"Spock, the engines will be at full power in another ten seconds," says Uhura. "How can you say the ship won't leave?"

"We will have to destroy it," says Kirk. "Let's get back to the other starship and see if the weapons are online -"

"There is no need," says Spock. "Although evacuation would be a good plan. This ship cannot be taken offline, but also it cannot leave dock."

"Why?" demand Kirk and Uhura in unison.

"Because I have manually fastened the docking clamps," says Spock calmly.

McCoy organises the cadets back onto the Colfer and Horowitz. "Get 'em fired up to go," he says grimly. "We need everyone on board before this place rips itself to pieces."

"The dock crew are on their way," Uhura calls. He smiles at her and she at him.

The Enterprise is straining at the clamps which keep it in dock. Soon it will break free, but it will never complete its journey. The clamps are locked tight all around and while the engines might power the heart of the ship towards free space, it will crack and splinter before it ever flies.

Kirk carried Harrison in board and he lies wrapped in a sheet on the bridge of the Colfer. Uhura contacted Starfleet command, and they will take charge from the moment of the shuttles land. The destruction of the Enterprise and space dock is to be classed an accident, the hijacking and treachery by former Starfleet cadets is to be kept secret. It is obvious to everyone that Harrison's name will never be heard of again.

"I believe we should leave, Captain," Spock says to Kirk, glancing at the large monitor. "Immediately and with some speed."

"Don't encourage him," mutters Uhura.

They assume stations, and as Kirk gives the order to undock, Spock's mind bumps Uhura's. She is there, but without touch he feels only the vaguest of responses from her. She cannot detect him. The swirl and swim of her thoughts are reacting to what she can see and hear and feel, and not to the touch of his mind.

Loss swells within Spock. His injury. The blow to his head. It has snapped the burgeoning bond between him and Uhura.

She turns to him and smiles.

"Good work today, Cadet," Spock says. His face is neutral and calm.

"Thank you, Commander."

She glances around and Spock knows she is checking that they are not observed. Then she reaches out as if to adjust a control on the deck in front of Spock, and her wrist rests over the back of his hand for a second.

Love bursts between them in gold and silver blooms, petals springing from within petals until their vision is awash with bright flowers. The flowers fade to white, the brilliance of silky blossom dappled by Peruvian sunlight...

Spock moves his hand and frowns at the screen.

Uhura makes a tiny adjustment to the comms. "Is there a problem, Commander?"

Their elbows brush. It is crowded on the shuttle with more than the normal number aboard. Personal space has shrunk almost to nothing.

Spock's mouth and jaw remain stern, but his eyes gleam and he is sending Uhura, Spock, together, very soon.

Uhura says, "We will all be needing some R and R after this. It turns out a tour can be pretty tiring. I could lie down right now and just sleep." Not a chance, is in her head.

"Rest would be logical," Spock replies, but he is thinking, I can defy logic should I wish.

The Colfer launches away into free space and heads for Earth, the Horowitz close behind. The space dock, empty now, might not survive the incident, but meanwhile it is clasping starships in its arms, silent and incomplete starships except for one, the brightest one, which is roaring like a caged animal and hurling itself at its bonds. Already the sparkling white hull is cracking, as the engines urge speed and the docking clamps resist.

Spock and Uhura wear serious expressions and have eyes only for the comms deck.

Behind them, the Enterprise tears itself slowly apart. On the shuttle the cadets are edgy and relieved. And Uhura thinks of logic and love, and ducks her head down over her work, and smiles.

Landing manoeuvres have begun and soon members of Starfleet high command will board and take over, but for now the Colfer is still their ship.

Uhura watches Spock from across the bridge. Kirk has control, and oddly this feels right. Spock stands at Kirk's shoulder, not hovering, merely observing. He is ready to intervene at the first sign of a violation, but thus far Kirk is playing it by the book and has given Spock no chance to step in.

McCoy is close by too, commanding the manoeuvres, and looking at Kirk as if amazed that Kirk has even seen the book long enough to be playing by it. Kirk pulls a face at him. Spock ignores that and tilts his head to one side. Kirk rolls his eyes and makes a slight adjustment to their course.

This is communication, Uhura thinks, watching them. In her ear, many voices and languages compete as they weave through Earth space, crossing the new equivalent of international waters. Just as she can pick out the relevant stream of words to guide them home, so Kirk and McCoy and Spock can, when they choose, distinguish from each other's body language enough data to hold a full conversation, and run a ship.

There is no need for telepathy. Or rather, in this moment, telepathy is here, on the bridge, and they all have it.

She misses the intimacy of true exchange with Spock and looks forward to the moment when they can be close again. But now she knows that once again Spock has made a wise choice, in her, because she is strong, and she can contemplate long separation from him, as their jobs require, with pain but without regret. There is a bond between them, no longer of the mind, but of the heart, which will last until one of them chooses otherwise. If neither chooses, then it will continue until death.

In their work, as Spock reminded her before they left for this tour, early death is the most likely outcome.

"Right, we have to live for the moment," she'd replied laughing, little knowing how soon that ideal would be put to the test as Spock lay unconscious and she faced a life without him.

"Every moment is infinite and every moment is already passed," Spock said.

She had sent him, then, her image of him, of them, serene and content, in his office that very first day. It was a perfect moment, and in it he was fixed and solid and everything swirled around him and formed into the moment they were then sharing, alone in his quarters.

He was correct, she thought as they entwined on his bed. Every moment is now, and the past accumulates in the moment and the future is forever being born. "Spock," she said, as he dimmed the lights with a flick of his slender fingers, "I love you too much to think about forever. I want to just - be here, with you, right now. I realise that's not logical."

Spock glinted at her in the twilight. "Love is not logical," he said, "and yet still it exists."

And as they tangled together in contented comfort, it was clear that Spock was right.

Uhura smiles at Spock now, on the tiny bridge of the Colfer, while Kirk is frowning at his console and McCoy is scowling at the high-handedness of their superiors. Spock meets her gaze with tranquil blandness. She smiles more. She has seen behind his mask of serenity, and knows the passion he keeps locked down with meditation and logic. When he looks calmly, innocently at her now, she must consider that it is in direct opposition to the amount of feeling he is suppressing. And poised beside the captain's chair which will one day be his, Spock looks very, very calm.

Logically their association cannot remain secret. Simultaneous absences will be noticed. Deductions will be made. Their liaison will be out. Emotionally Uhura wants that, wants to tell the world about her love for this amazing man. How can she conceal his perfection?

For the moment, though, this is their decision, that Uhura will adopt a Vulcan attitude in public, and Spock, a human one in private. Given their cross cultural, cross species relationship, this is entirely logical. Uhura thinks she should probably protest at being dictated to in this matter of the heart, by pure logic. But then she looks at Spock, and what they share, and she understands, as she has always understood when it comes to him: sometimes logic, after all, is a sign of love.

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Author's Note. Thank you all so much for your follows, favourites and reviews. I hope you have enjoyed this and like the ending. I had to go with the classic, in which you need a new ship at the end of any adventure... if you liked my Spock try my Sherlock in A Vintage Heart for how another logical and reasoning man handles love for a strong and independent woman...sequins, murder and vintage music abounds. Meanwhile there may be more Trek, as I have greatly enjoyed writing all of these characters! We'll have to see. Thanks again for all your feedback. -Sef