Chapter Text
Lieutenant Nyota Uhura frowned at her console, tapping at the controls with increasing frustration. The Universal Translator was acting up again—the third time this week. She'd filed a maintenance request, but with the Enterprise on the outer edge of charted space, non-essential repairs were lower priority.
"Lieutenant, I require your assistance with these transmission logs," Commander Spock said, approaching her station.
"Of course, Commander. Just give me a moment to—" She was interrupted by a sharp crackling sound from her console, followed by a brief shower of sparks. Both officers stepped back reflexively.
"Keft-ka," Spock muttered.
Uhura turned to him with wide eyes. "Commander, did you just curse in Vulcan?"
Spock raised an eyebrow. "I spoke Standard English, Lieutenant, as I always do."
"No, you definitely just said—" She stopped herself and lowered her voice. "You definitely just used a Vulcan expletive."
"Fascinating," Spock replied, his expression betraying the slightest hint of concern. "wuh wat k' wuh ek'mesukh-stari-vel "
This time, Spock's eyebrows both shot up when he realized his words had not been translated.
"The Universal Translator seems to be malfunctioning," Uhura translated for him. "I believe it's affecting your speech patterns specifically, Commander."
Captain Kirk chose that moment to enter the bridge, his usual energetic stride carrying him straight to the command chair. "Status report, Mr. Spock?"
Spock turned to face his Captain. "T'nash-veh, ang'jmizn. Nash-veh ri tor— " He stopped abruptly, realizing what was happening.
Kirk tilted his head. "I'm sorry, what was that?"my
"The Universal Translator is malfunctioning, Captain," Uhura explained quickly. "Commander Spock appears to be slipping into Vulcan without realizing it."
Kirk's eyes lit up with interest. "Really? I've never heard you speak Vulcan before, Spock."
"Ri k' t'nash-veh dvel, " Spock replied, then looked momentarily frustrated.
"He said it's not by his choice," Uhura translated, trying not to smile.
"Can we fix it?" Kirk asked, looking between them.
"I'll need to run diagnostics on the main translator matrix," Uhura replied. "It could take several hours."
“Kaiidth, " Spock said with resigned acceptance.
Kirk's face broke into a delighted grin. "Whatever that was, it sounded... fascinating. What did he say, Lieutenant?"
"Just 'what is, is,' Captain. A common Vulcan phrase."
Kirk's smile only grew wider. "Well, this should be an interesting few hours. Carry on, Lieutenant. And Spock—" he gestured to the science station, "—maybe limit your reports to what's absolutely necessary for now?"
"Ha, ang'jmizn." Spock replied with a slight incline of his head.
As Spock returned to his station, Kirk watched him go with undisguised fascination. Something about the musical, precise sounds of the Vulcan language coming from his First Officer was unexpectedly captivating.