Uhura

She’d made a friend for life today—not just a casual acquaintance—she could feel it.  When she’d first approached the new head nurse in the mess, it really had been with the intention of making sure she was doing okay.  As the communications officer on duty, Uhura had served as the liaison between the ship’s surgeon and the personnel office on Starbase 12 as they spent two hours trying to locate the missing orders assigning Chapel to the Enterprise.  By the end, Doctor McCoy was pretty mad—fit to be tied, in fact—and she wanted to be sure that his anger hadn’t spilled over—however unintentionally—onto the newly-assigned crewman.

She’d made an excuse to sit with Chapel and then carefully probed for information, diplomatically relaying the facts of their CMO’s “personality quirks,” and reassuring the young woman that any outbursts he’d had since she came aboard earlier today weren’t really directed at her, but at the circumstances—and bureaucratic red tape—responsible for the delay in getting her posted to her new position.

Unbelievably, they’d wound up chatting for over an hour, like old friends, over dinner and then coffee long since grown cold.  Christine had talked about her fiancé, and how she hoped to find him when the ship visited Exo III in a few months.  She also admitted that this was her first posting to deep space, something she found a little intimidating, truth be told.

Much to her surprise, Uhura talked about her love of languages, and how pursuing that passion pretty much guaranteed that a job in the cosmos was in the cards for her, but for her, that was fine—she’d loved space ever since she was a little girl and had seen the pristine beauty that was the Milky Way splashed across the night sky above her small village.  She’d even opened up about her family—something she hadn’t done with anyone else aboard—and how much she missed home, and her native tongue.

Christine excused herself then, saying she had to check on a patient, but not before Uhura had elicited a promise from Chapel to go with her to one of the rec rooms later that evening.

They arrived around 20:30, Uhura introducing the vibrant young woman to everyone present.  The nurse had been affable and outgoing, making a favorable impression on everyone there.  Before long, Uhura found herself in front of the room, fulfilling requests for songs.  She glanced at Christine, who had been drawn into a spirited game of poker, laughing and joking with the other players.

The two had promised to meet for breakfast in the morning, and Uhura intended to show Christine around the ship tomorrow after shift.

Yes, she admitted to herself, snuggling down into her comforter, there was just something about Christine that made her seem safe; made people willing to open up to her.  Uhura sighed contentedly.  It helped to know that she already had one true friend aboard.