Distress

I own nothing and this story has no Beta, so bear with me. Also, it's intended to have 9 ways that Spock meets Uhura, so if anyone has any ideas, I've only come up with six really different ways to do it. Please help me out!

He had been traveling for fourteen hours and though it would be illogical to feel impatience or frustration when this was the fastest means of transport available to him, he could understand how other beings might experience those emotions. He had boarded already, though it would be fifteen minutes before the transport launched, and was patiently waiting as the ship filled to capacity. There was a sudden disturbance near the rear of the transport, Spock heard it from his position near the front, but was determined to politely ignore it. Other curious species clustered closer to the action, craning their necks for a view. Suddenly there came a yell from one of the officers.

"We have a lost Vulcan child here—does anyone here speak Vulcan!?"

The man's tone sounded harassed, which was odd. Surely one child could not be causing too much trouble? Perhaps it was the delay that upset him, though with humans it could very well be completely unrelated to the current situation. Nevertheless, Spock immediately stood and made his way towards the crowd of people at the back—politely excusing himself as he passed through.

The scene on the other side was chaotic. The child—obviously female and no more than six years of age—was bloodied and dirt-encrusted from the bottom of her dusty shoes to the tips of her pointed ears. She had a small knife and was snarling as she menaced the much-larger crewmen. So far, the officers were hesitating to stun her, but phasers had been drawn. Then they noticed him.

"Oh, thank God! Do you know this girl?" asked one distressed female officer.

"No, but I will attempt to communicate with her," Spock informed her, his voice controlled. Humans often responded well to calm tones, something he took advantage of often. The officer visibly relaxed, stepping respectfully aside to give him access.

He moved into the circle and made eye contact with the child. "What is your name?" he asked, slipping easily into his native tongue.

The child gave a piercing scream and cringed away from him, shouting almost unintelligibly. Still, Spock was very nearly an expert in Xenolinguistics, and it was definitely Romulan—the high dialect, he suspected from the pronunciation of the word 'schelec.' That made sense, as a Vulcan child would have to be severely mentally handicapped to behave in such a disturbing way.

He kept his distance and tried again, this time in Romulan. "Child, what is your name?"

More screaming—mostly profanity and threats—this time she accompanied it with some overt gestures with her knife. Spock raised an eyebrow and took a step forward—perhaps he could disarm her…

A slim brown hand touched his wrist gently. He glanced up into a pair of warm human eyes and blinked. The woman leaned forward and said in a low tone. "She's frightened of men, see how she aims the knife at the male officers and ignores the females? Let me try."

"You speak Romulan?" he asked, surprised and intrigued.

"All three dialects," she replied in High Romulan, shooting a smile at his raised eyebrow.

"Impressive," he conceded. "Please proceed."

She gestured for the others to give her some space and then she squatted down on the floor—heedless of her skirt—and began to talk to the child in tones too low for even Spock's Vulcan ears to catch. The little girl seemed hesitant at first, then finally Uhura reached out, very slowly and took the knife from her. The child collapsed into her arms, sobbing and rubbing her bloodied face into the woman's blouse. She continued to rock her gently, telling her that everything would be all right now and other meaningless but comforting phrases. The conflict resolved, the other officers left to their stations to prepare the transport for launch. Spock and the female officers remained behind.

The woman spoke quietly so as not to disturb the child, who had dissolved into hiccups and soft sniffling. "Her name is Impalma, she was taken by a group of men whom she cannot identify, though I find it likely they were Romulan as well. Her dialect suggests she is from an upper caste and her mother is someone important. I can get more information from her when she calms down."

"That may not be necessary," Spock said, his voice equally quiet. "Most Romulan children are implanted with an identification chip in their hand before being taken off-planet, especially children of high rank."

"Can you scan for that, Ensign?" the woman asked, shifting the child in her arms. The girl must have weighed around sixty pounds; perhaps she was getting tired.

"The document reader can probably pick it up, but if it's in Romulan we won't be able to read it."

"I will assist you so that Miss…" he paused, looking questioningly at the woman.

"Uhura," she replied firmly.

"Miss Uhura can stay with the child," he continued solemnly.

After that everything fell into place. The identification chip revealed the name of her mother, Urel Selen, the head of the Uhirianu family and a high-ranking diplomatic officer. A message was promptly set and they had a reply within minutes. A carefully composed Selen asked to see Impalma and then calmly arranged a rendezvous, somehow giving them the impression that she was doing them a favor. An hour later, an Andorian vessel approached, they dropped out of warp, and Selenek beamed aboard.

Impalma ran to her mother the moment she was set down and threw herself into her arms. Though she was forced to maintain her decorum in front of so many aliens on the less-than-private transport, Spock was sure he perceived an unfathomable depth of relief in her eyes. Selenek nodded to both of them and beamed back to her ship.

"Well," Miss Uhura said, sounding a bit nonplussed. "That was exciting." She moved over to a vacant seat and seemed to be settling in for the rest of the ride.

"It was certainly more eventful than I expected this trip to be."

"Where are you headed?" she asked, her tone open and friendly.

Spock sat next to her and strapped himself in. "Earth, to Starfleet Academy. I have been visiting my parents on Vulcan."

"Are you joining Star Fleet then?" she asked.

"I will be teaching actually: Basic Xenolinguistics, Advanced Vulcan, and Advanced Romulan courses, Astrometrics, Interstellar Tactics, and Tri-dimensional Physics."

"Wow. You're pretty impressive yourself," she conceded with a smile.

He allowed his lips to twitch upwards—the same smile he gave his mother. "Are you headed for earth as well?"

"I've been visiting my brother on Deep Space Two. It was a present from my parents when I was accepted into Starfleet. I'll probably see you in class."

"Will you be majoring in Xenolinguistics then?" he asked mildly. She had already demonstrated an incredible ability.

"Double majoring—I want to be a Communications officer."

"A worthy goal, Miss Uhura."

She turned and locked eyes with him before giving him what he could only describe as a coy smile. "Please, call me Nyota."