Hello!

Thank you so much for taking the time to check out my first story. I have always been a nerd and proud of it, and this is my way of expressing that.

Reviews would be welcome, along with feedback to help me improve my writing. However, please offer constructive criticism rather than just complaining. Flamers gonna flame, but the words still hurt.

I picture Erica as looking like Bernadette on The Big Bang Theory with short hair and a less nasal voice.

Disclaimer: I did not create Star Trek. If I did, Carol Marcus wouldn't have stripped down to her underwear in front of the Captain, and it would actually pass the Bechdel Test.

Enjoy!

Chapter One: Wallflower

The tall, elegant, dark-skinned cadet in a red dress walked into the club with an elegant smile on her face, casually greeting her friends. Nyota Uhura was in her element.

The shorter blonde trailing behind her was not. Erica Reed preferred books to bars and would really rather be working up an engineering schematic or experimenting with deflector protocols. Nyota had had to bribe her with the promise of a new multitool to get her into the Riverside watering hole. Adjusting her glasses, Erica scurried through the crowd, wincing at the loud music. She didn't know how her best friend handled these things. Being an engineering cadet, Erica was no stranger to loud noises, but this was insane!

Nyota had already started to order for her friends by the time Erica managed to grab a seat next to her. "Hi, I'd like a Clabnian fire-tea, um, 3 Budweiser classics, 2 Cardassian sunrises, and a…"

An attractive blonde boy leaned over to look at Nyota. Erica stifled a giggle; it looked like Nyota had another admirer. The men flocked to her like bees to honey. Nyota hated it. "Try the Slusho, it's good."

Nyota nodded graciously. "A Slusho mix, thank you."

Erica piped up on her other side, looking up from the warp core diagnostic she was studying. "And can I have a chocolate soy milkshake?" Nyota rolled her eyes.

"Erica, do you ever stop studying? I brought you here specifically so you could clear your head!"

"I do have fun sometimes! Violin, reading…."

Before Nyota could deliver a friendly rebuke, the drinks arrived and the blonde boy spoke up. Erica pretty much tuned out the conversation; she had more interesting things to think about. "That's a lot of drinks for one woman."

Nyota brushed the comment aside. "And a shot of Jack, straight up."

The boy smoothly moved in. "Make that two. Her shot's on me."

Nyota turned to look at him for the first time, and Erica snuck a glance. Grey T-shirt, black leather jacket- just another Midwestern pretty boy. "Her shot's on her. Thanks, but no thanks."

Pretty Boy got a put-out expression on his face. He looked like a cute little puppy dog. "Don't you at least want to know my name before you completely reject me?"

Nyota laughed and shook her head. "I'm fine without it."

Erica stifled a giggle as Pretty Boy came back with a cheesy pickup line. "You are fine without it. It's Jim, Jim Kirk." Jim Kirk paused for a bit. "If you don't tell me your name, I'm gonna have to make one up."

Nyota sighed. "It's Uhura."

Kirk grinned. "Uhura? No way. That's the name I was gonna make up for you." Yeah, right. "Uhura what? Who's your friend?"

"Just Uhura. That's Erica Reed. She doesn't talk much, so don't expect her to be interested."

"They don't have last names on your world?"

Insert sarcastic glare here. "Uhura is my last name." Kirk moved over to sit between Nyota and Erica.

"Excuse me, buddy. So, you're cadets, you're studying. What're your focuses?"

Erica just waved her warp core schematic at Kirk. Nyota shrugged. "Like I said, she doesn't talk much. She's in engineering. I'm in xenolinguistics, and you have no idea what that means."

Kirk flashed what he hoped was a charming smile. "The study of alien languages. Morphology, phonology, syntax. Means you've got a talented tongue." Erica sincerely wished they would change the subject.

Nyota raised an elegant eyebrow. "I'm impressed. For a moment there, I thought you were just a dumb hick who only has sex with farm animals." Yuck, Erica thought.

Kirk scrunched up his face in thought. "Well, not only." At that moment, Erica privately wished she had some brain bleach.

Just then, Cadet Hendorff and his burly bunch came up to the group. "This townie isn't bothering you, right? What's Reed the Recluse doing here?"

Erica barely looked up. "Reading." Then she went back to doing just that.

Nyota laughed lightly. "Oh, beyond belief. But it's nothing I can't handle."

The irrepressible boy smiled winningly at Nyota. "You could handle me. That's an invitation."

Hendorff grabbed Kirk's shoulder, roughly turning him around. "Hey, you better mind your manners."

Kirk just sauntered on by, slapping the other man in a comradely fashion. "Oh, relax, cupcake, it was a joke."

Hendorff grabbed Kirk's shoulder, and the cadets surrounded him. "Hey, farm boy, maybe you can't count. But there are four of us and one of you."

Kirk just grinned an arrogant grin. "So get some more guys and then it'll be an even fight."

Erica didn't even notice as a bar fight exploded around her. The warp core schematic was much more interesting. There had to be a way to increase the matter-antimatter intermix rate without risking an uncontrolled reaction…

Then, she gasped in horror as a cadet's stray elbow knocked over her chocolate soy milkshake. "Hey! Watch it, you bleedin' idiot!" She grabbed a nearby table and pushed it into the group of cadets that was currently beating up on Kirk. Despite the farm boy's ego, he was getting the stuffing beaten out of him.

Erica couldn't stand an unfair fight. So she waded in, trying to pull the cadets off Kirk. He was currently spread eagled on a table, repeatedly getting punched in the nose. "Guys, stop it! Enough! He's had enough!"

A screeching whistle filled the air, and Erica froze, her head stuck in someone's armpit. It seemed that trouble had arrived. Captain Christopher Pike's cutting voice filled the air. "Outside. All of you. Now." Erica gathered her things and scurried outside.

Nyota met her with a grin. "So, what did you think?"

Erica sighed. "Nyota, this is why I don't do bars."

As Erica strapped herself into the shuttle to take her back to the academy, an arrogant voice filled the air. Jim Kirk's arrogant voice. "At ease, gentlemen."

Nyota groaned. "We're going to have to put up with that idiot for the next four years?"

Erica nodded with a grimace. "Heaven help us."

Speak of the devil. Kirk walked by and nodded at the duo. "Never did get that first name. Nice meeting you, Velma."

Erica just frowned in confusion. "My name's Erica, not Velma."

"I know." And Kirk walked off while Erica looked at him, confused. This was why she didn't do social stuff.