Nyota Uhura ( alternate reality ) Lieutenant Nyota Uhura was a Starfleet communications officer serving in the 23rd century . As requested by Captain , Uhura relieved , the chief communications officer of the , shortly before the destruction of Vulcan . She served under Captain Pike , acting captain , and then her classmate at , Captain . ( ; ; ) Early life . In 2255 , while at the bar near the Riverside Shipyard in Iowa , Uhura met an inebriated , who began flirting with her . Although annoyed by Kirk ' s advances , Uhura was surprised that Kirk knew what was involved in the study of xenolinguistics . This exchange led to a bar fight as four male cadets were displeased at the attention Kirk was giving Uhura . Starfleet career . Starfleet Academy . During her time at Starfleet Academy , Uhura specialized in xenolinguistics with tracking toward a communications officer . Commander served as one of Cadet Uhura ' s instructors and judged her performance to be consistently exemplary . In 2258 , Uhura was able to detect and translate a message from within Klingon territory indicating that a fleet of 47 Klingon vessels around the Klingon prison planet had been engaged and destroyed by an unknown Romulan ship . She returned home early that night , interrupting her roommate , at the time an Orion cadet named , and Kirk , who had been under the bed when she shared the information with Gaila . At Kirk ' s request , Uhura was present as communications officer during Kirk ' s third re - take of the " Kobayashi Maru " test scenario the following day . After Kirk corrected her , she called him " captain " sarcastically . At a subsequent hearing on Kirk ' s actions , seated in a row that Commander Spock , the programmer of the " Kobayashi Maru " test , had vacated and two seats over from an upset Gaila , Uhura was in attendance in the Academy Council chambers when Kirk was accused of cheating . Spock was in charge of the starship deployment assignments for the cadets of Uhura ' s graduating class , and had initially assigned Lieutenant Uhura to the , in spite of Uhura ' s stated desire to serve aboard the , the new flagship , in order to avoid any appearance of favoritism . Uhura confronted him about this choice , noting that she was more than qualified to serve aboard the " Enterprise " and that it was unfair to deny her an opportunity she would have gained had they not been romantically involved . Spock relented and assigned her to the " Enterprise " . Communications officer of the USS " Enterprise " . Stopping Nero . Aboard the " Enterprise " , Uhura was approached by Kirk , who had deduced the attack on Vulcan was Romulan in nature , following ' s description of an anomaly described as a " lightning storm in space " that had preceded the attack on the day of Kirk ' s birth . She accompanied him to the bridge , where she verified his claims by mentioning that she was the person who had translated and intercepted the report of a similar Romulan vessel in Klingon space . Captain promoted Uhura to communications officer because Lieutenant , the ship ' s prior communications officer , was not certain that he could distinguish transmissions in Romulan from transmissions in Vulcan . Uhura , by contrast , was fluent in all three Romulan dialects . After Vulcan was destroyed , Uhura privately comforted Spock in a turbolift . In an attempt to gain control of the " Enterprise " so he could attempt to defeat Nero , Kirk emotionally compromised Spock , causing him to relinquish command . After he left , Nyota approached Kirk and told him that she hoped he knew what he was doing . Again , she called him " captain " ; this time , she was hurt , but hopeful . Before Kirk and Spock beamed to Nero ' s ship , Uhura shared a tender goodbye kiss with Spock , who referred to her using her first name , and thus revealed their relationship to Kirk and . Kirk , who had repeatedly attempted to learn Uhura ' s first name to no avail throughout the years , asked Spock if " Nyota " was her first name . Spock responded , " " I have no comment on the matter . " " Although keeping her distance , she came to respect Kirk as captain of the " Enterprise " . After he gave her a command on the bridge , she turned to him , smiling , and answered , “ " Aye , Captain . " " This time , she called him " captain " sincerely . ( ) Nibiru . A year later , Uhura accompanied Spock to Nibiru before he was rappelled from a shuttle into a volcano , to prevent it from wiping out the Nibiran s . Ash from the volcano damaged the shuttle and snapped the wire , forcing Uhura and to leave him . Uhura swam back to the " Enterprise " , which was hidden underwater . She was distraught to learn ash from the volcano would prevent the " Enterprise " from transporting Spock back aboard , and to hear Spock explain he would prefer to die activating the cold fusion device than violate the Prime Directive . Kirk rose the " Enterprise " from the sea to beam him up , violating the Prime Directive but saving his life . Hunting down John Harrison . Later , when the " Enterprise " was tasked with hunting down terrorist John Harrison , Uhura expressed to Kirk in the turbolift that she and Spock were having relationship troubles . While on a K ' normian trading ship to Qo ' noS , where Harrison was hiding , Uhura and Spock got into an argument , in which she accused of him of being too ready to sacrifice himself for a mission and not caring how she would feel if he died . Spock acknowledged that , since his mother ' s death , he had been closing himself to such thoughts about how she would feel since he had experienced those feelings , specifically because he did care . Suddenly , the ship was attacked by Klingon s . Kirk tried to lose them but the away team ' s K ' normian vessel was surrounded and forced to land . Uhura counseled Captain Kirk that she be allowed to perform her role as communications officer , rather than try to fight their way out of a situation they could not win . She went out of the ship to negotiate in Klingonese , requesting the Klingons ' aid in finding Harrison . The leader of the Klingons she spoke to grabbed her by the throat , and pulled out a knife , prompting Spock and Kirk to go on the offensive . After Harrison showed up and violently began causing a distraction , Uhura grabbed the Klingon ' s knife and stabbed him with it , causing him to drop her . Once Harrison dispatched the Klingons and surrendered himself into Kirk ' s custody , Uhura and Spock shared a reconciliatory kiss . After Harrison revealed he was Khan Noonien Singh , Spock asked Uhura to contact his older parallel universe counterpart on New Vulcan for information . Uhura managed to make contact although the ship was outside of normal range of communication with his location . As the old Spock warned he would do , Khan betrayed them . When the damaged " Enterprise " fell to Earth , Kirk reactivated the warp core to prevent it crashing , at the cost of radiation poisoning himself . Uhura came and she , Spock and Scott wept . Uhura encouraged Spock to beam down to execute Khan , who had crashed the into San Francisco . However , Doctor discovered a blood transfusion from Khan could heal Kirk , so Uhura beamed down and fired several shots to stun Khan , saving Spock from having his head crushed by Khan . Spock used the opportunity to gain the advantage in the fight and was set to kill him . Uhura was able to stop Spock by informing him they needed Khan alive to save Kirk . Spock then knocked him out instead and took him to sickbay . When Kirk awoke to his friends Spock and McCoy in a hospital , he acknowledged Spock saving him , whereupon McCoy reminded Kirk that he and Uhura had also helped . The five - year mission . Almost a year later , in 2260 , Uhura attended a memorial service for the victims of the conspiracy , which was presided over by Kirk , who was now healthy again . She continued serving on the repaired " Enterprise " as it embarked on a five - year mission . ( ) Final voyage of the " Enterprise " . In 2263 , Spock and Uhura had ended their relationship after Spock began considering leaving Starfleet to help his endangered species . Though he intended to discuss it further with Uhura on Yorktown , the news of the death of Spock Prime stopped him . During their relationship , Spock gave Uhura a necklace that once belonged to his mother as a gift and Uhura attempted to return it . Spock refused however . When Kalara arrives on Starbase Yorktown for help , Uhura accompanies the " Enterprise " into the Necro Cloud to Altamid . To the crew ' s shock , they are attacked by Swarm ship s , crippling the " Enterprise " . Uhura remains on the bridge for most of the battle but realizes that Kirk must be in trouble due to the amount of time he is taking to perform a saucer separation . Uhura travels to Engineering where Kirk is fighting Krall and finishes the saucer separation herself . However , Uhura is trapped in the secondary hull with Krall and is captured by him . Altamid . Uhura was taken to Krall ' s base where she refused to back down in the face of Krall , telling him that his actions were an act of war against the Federation and Kirk would show no mercy when he came for Krall . Krall was unafraid , stating that he looked forward to Kirk coming after him . Uhura then witnessed him drain two " Enterprise " crewmembers . Uhura and Sulu briefly escaped , discovering that Krall used a captured Magellan probe to hack Starbase Yorktown and gain access to its archives . Uhura attempted to send a distress call , but Krall recaptured the two and alters the coordinates of the distress call . Krall was later able to force Ensign Syl to turn over the Abronath by threatening Sulu and Uhura . She then witnessed Krall test the weapon on Syl . As Krall dragged Uhura to his ship , Kirk attacked on a motorcycle as part of a rescue plan , creating enough of a diversion for Uhura to escape his grasp . Uhura saved Spock who was able to use the necklace he gave her to track the crew down from a Swarm drone and they were beamed safely to the . On the " Franklin " , the crew repaired the ship to go after Krall , dropping the " Franklin " off a cliff to achieve terminal velocity and liftoff . Arriving at Yorktown , the crew found it under attack , and Uhura warned Kirk that she ' s detecting distress calls from Yorktown on all frequencies . When Spock suggested that the Swarm had a cyberpathic connection that helped them coordinate their movements , Uhura helped him explain this to the rest of the crew and come up with a plan . She then aided Scotty and Jaylah in hooking up the " Franklin ' s " music player to the communications console and warned Kirk that they have to get very close to the Swarm for the disruption signal to work . Once they were close enough , Uhura broadcast the signal which destroys most of the Swarm . On Kirk ' s orders , Uhura sent the signal to Yorktown which also broadcasted the signal , destroying the Swarm . After the destruction of the Swarm , the crew chased Krall through Yorktown , using the " Franklin " to intercept Krall ' s three remaining ships . Uhura checked out one of the hull breaches with Kirk and spotted a victim of Krall ' s energy transference . As the two crossed through the ruined mess hall , Uhura saw a recording of the original " Franklin " crew and recognized Captain Balthazar Edison as Krall . Uhura watched the footage with Kirk and Scotty as they determine the history of Edison / Krall and rushed to the bridge to warn Yorktown to turn off their atmospheric processor until the situation was over . After Krall ' s defeat , Uhura attended Kirk ' s thirtieth birthday party where she rekindled her relationship with Spock . Like the rest of the " Enterprise " crew , she was reassigned to the brand - new USS " Enterprise " - A to continue their five year mission in a new ship . ( ) Relationships . Romantic relationships . Spock . Nyota Uhura and had a relationship that was established prior to the start of their careers on board the " Enterprise " . When she was assigned to the , Uhura openly confronted Spock about her having received that posting even though she was qualified to serve aboard the . She presented him with a logical argument for her placement , to which he admitted he had been trying to avoid the appearance of favoritism . She eventually persuaded him to reconsider her assignment , though . While Spock was preparing to depart from the " Enterprise " and transport to the surface of Vulcan in an attempt to rescue his parents and the Vulcan High Council , Uhura took an interest in where he was going , calling him by name and not by rank . She was also visibly upset that he was leaving . When Spock returned after Vulcan was destroyed and his mother was killed , Uhura at one point followed him off the bridge and into a turbolift . Alone in the lift , she comforted him with a shared embrace and kisses . When Spock and Kirk about to beam onto Nero ' s ship , Uhura and Spock kissed on the " Enterprise " s transporter platform and shared a heartfelt goodbye with promises offered to each other . Though Spock usually called her by her surname during their professional interactions , Uhura ' s first name , " Nyota " , was used by him on that occasion . Once Kirk and Spock returned to the " Enterprise " after the ship had been repaired , Uhura visibly lit up when Spock strode onto the bridge ; they shared a look , as he passed behind her station to reach his own , and she smiled . ( ) On a mission to Nibiru , Uhura helped Spock get into his suit . She kissed his helmet and gave him encouragement . Later , when it was time to release him into the volcano , she was visibly upset . However , she did not try to dissuade him from his duty . When his line was broken and he fell into the volcano , Sulu apologized to her , and told her they would have to try something else . Once she and Sulu made it back to the bridge of the " Enterprise " , Uhura was visibly upset when Spock announced he would have to remain behind to die , although her sadness didn ' t stop her from responding to Kirk ' s command . After the mission to Nibiru , Uhura was clearly upset with Spock , although she seemed to be giving him the silent treatment . Uhura ' s assignment to participate in the away mission to Qo ' noS prompted Spock to give Kirk a look as if he wasn ' t pleased with that decision . In reply to Kirk asking if they could work the mission together , Uhura said they could , then Spock watched her return to her station and responded that he was unsure . " En route " to Qo ' noS , Uhura revealed to Spock that she believed his behavior on missions was too risky . She admitted distress at him willing to sacrifice himself without caring about how it would effect her if she lost him . Spock confided that , because he had experienced such profound grief and despair following the loss of Vulcan and the death of his mother , he closed himself off to the thought of those he cared for experiencing such emotions ; this revealed that his problem was not a lack of caring , rather quite the opposite . Later during the mission , Uhura volunteering to face the Klingons alone evidently upset Spock , although he didn ' t try to stop her confronting them . Uhura ' s interaction with the Klingons was carefully observed by Spock , and he later protected both her and Captain Kirk . After taking Harrison into custody , Uhura and Spock reconciled with a kiss . When Admiral Marcus first warned the " Enterprise " crew he was going to kill them , Uhura was joined by Spock , at her station . When the admiral caught up to the " Enterprise " aboard the " Vengeance " and the " Enterprise " crew fully expected to die , Uhura walked to Spock and held his hand . Uhura later spoke priivately with Spock at her station , when Spock wanted her to contact his older counterpart . Without him clarifying who he wanted to speak to , she intuited precisely who it was he planned to consult . Later , while Spock chased after Khan , Uhura remained on the " Enterprise " . After Dr . McCoy informed the bridge crew that Khan was needed alive to possibly save Kirk , both Spock and Khan were moving too quickly for the transporter to be locked onto either of them . Learning someone could beam down , however , Uhura offered to do so and beamed onto a moving garbage barge where Spock and Khan were battling each other . Phaser in hand , she intended to help Spock bring Khan to the " Enterprise " without killing him . Even though Spock was furious with Khan for having killed Kirk , Uhura was able to calm Spock enough that he ceased his attack on Khan , who was then taken into custody . At the memorial service in 2260 , Uhura was seated directly beside Spock . ( ) By 2263 , Uhura and Spock experienced a time - out in their relationship as a consequence of Spock ' s increasing beliefs that he ought to be helping his people rebuild on New Vulcan , and thus leave Starfleet . ( ) . When Uhura got to Starbase Yorktown with the rest of the crew , she tried to give Spock back his mother ' s " vokaya " necklace that he had gifted her ; however , Spock declined the offer , insisting she kept it . At the time , as Spock later confessed to , he had wanted to further discuss his doubts about leaving with her , but his plans were halted by the news about Ambassador Spock dying . When the " Enterprise " was destroyed by Krall ' s attack , Uhura was captured and imprisoned at his base , along with Sulu and the rest of the " Enterprise " crew that couldn ' t escape from his soldiers . During this time , while aboard the , Spock realized that if Uhura was still wearing his vokaya amulet , Chekov could track its unique Vulcan mineral through its ( harmless ) radiation emissions and find her and the rest of the crew at Krall ' s base . When the group made a plan to free the crew , an injured Spock insisted on participating to the mission because Uhura was at the base too . In spite of his condition , both Kirk and McCoy allowed him to go with them acknowledging their friend ' s need to be there due to his relationship with the Lieutenant . Once Spock got to the base as planned , he went looking for her alone after Hikaru Sulu informed him that Uhura had been taken by Krall shortly before him and McCoy got there . However , weakened by his injury he was attacked by two Swarm soldiers only to get saved by Uhura who helped him stand up and asked what he was doing there . When Spock answered that he clearly was there to rescue her ( noticing the irony of the situation ) , Uhura smiled pleased by his care for her and his efforts . Later on , while the finally left Altamid , Uhura shared a look of relief with Spock . Afterwards , as the group tried to make a plan to stop Krall from destroying Yorktown , Uhura helped Captain Kirk understand Spock ' s technical explaining of his plan to defeat the swarms ships . When Spock volunteered to pilot one of the Swarm ships himself , Uhura expressed worry over him being still hurt for his injury to which Spock replied he respected and appreciated her concerns . After defeating Krall , Spock changed his mind about leaving Starfleet thus giving him and Uhura the chance to rekindle and continue their relationship . Uhura , who openly wore Spock ' s vokaya ' s necklace again , participated to a party for Jim ' s birthday with the rest of the crew . While there with Spock , she teased him saying that she thought he had a mission report to make to which he replied that he indeed did , but he thought that being with her would be more pleasing ( implying he put work aside and went to the party to spend time with her ) . Later , Spock , Uhura and their friends look at the new " Enterprise " in construction . Friendships . James T . Kirk . Uhura ' s relationship with Kirk began when he hit on her in a bar in Iowa . She rejected his advances , giving him only the name " Uhura " , although she did flirt with him a bit . Later , at the Academy , Kirk continued to try to discover her first name . While hiding under her roommate ' s bed after Uhura had interrupted them , he overheard her talking to Gaila . Kirk told Uhura he was interested in the distress call she had intercepted . She put him out of their room , his clothes in hand . It was at Kirk ' s request that Uhura acted as the communications officer for his third attempt at the " Kobayashi Maru " test , though she only sarcastically called him " captain " as he wasn ' t taking the test seriously . While attending Kirk ' s hearing for his solution to the " Kobayashi Maru " , Uhura appeared to be disappointed in him . Later , while on the mission to Vulcan , Uhura confirmed that Romulans had attacked a Klingon fleet and she backed Kirk up when he tried to convince Captain Pike of the possibility of a trap . Accompanying Kirk resulted in Uhura being promoted to the " Enterprise " s communications officer and Kirk was proved to be right , causing Uhura to have helped save the ship . When Kirk provoked Spock , Uhura was upset , but didn ' t intervene , even though she was furious with the way Kirk became acting captain . She was the first to refer to Kirk as " captain " on the " Enterprise " , though with obvious reservations . Kirk finally learned her first name when Spock called her by it , but continued to call her " Uhura " afterwards . After Kirk ' s actions saved Earth from the " Narada " , Uhura officially became his communications officer on the " Enterprise " and happily called him " captain " , having grown to respect him . ( ) One year after the " Narada " attack , Uhura and Kirk seemed to have grown closer and developed a close friendship . When Kirk was upset with Spock , he confided in Uhura . She also confided to him that he wasn ' t alone in his anger towards Spock and talked to him about her relationship problems with Spock . When Uhura and Spock later argued , they did so in front of Kirk , with Uhura telling Spock that Kirk was on her side of the disagreement , a fact which Kirk later confirmed . Uhura was able to convince Kirk to allow her to try negotiating with the Klingons when fighting would not work , despite it putting her in mortal danger . While respecting her wishes , Kirk , when she was in danger , didn ' t hesitate to rush to her rescue . When they discovered they were going to die and Kirk apologized , Uhura comforted him with a squeeze to the shoulder . Uhura witnessed Kirk die after sacrificing himself to save the ship , and broke down crying over the death of her friend . Later , Uhura , still tearful , advised Spock to go get Khan , furious about Kirk ' s death . She also helped save Kirk ' s life when she prevented Spock from killing Khan . ( ) Memorable quotes . " " For a moment , I thought you were just a dumb hick who only had sex with farm animals . " " " " Well , not " only . " " " An alternate reality ? " " " " Precisely . Whatever our lives might have been , if the time continuum was disrupted , our destinies have changed . " " " " I sure hope you know what you ' re doing . . . captain . " " " " So do I . " " " " We ' re outnumbered , outgunned . There ' s no way we survive if we attack first . You brought me here because I speak Klingon . Then let me speak Klingon . " " " " I am here to help you . With respect , there is a criminal hiding in these ruins . He has killed many of our people . " " " " Why should I care about a Human killing Humans ? " " " " Because you care about honor . And this man has none . " " " " Go get him . " " " " What he ' s saying is that if we disorient the swarm , we can kick its ass ! " " " " Precisely . " " Appendices . Background information . Nyota Uhura was played by Zoë Saldana . When first introduced in the script of " Star Trek " , Uhura was described as having a " gorgeous , dignified face . " Between the release of and taking part in the filming of , Zoë Saldana missed her character of Uhura . The actress later recalled , " " I missed how different she is , and how important it is for her to do her job well . I missed how diligent she is [ . . . ] That ' s one thing I love about Uhura , that she doesn ' t argue with anyone . It ' s , ' What do you need next ? What needs to be done ? Let ' s get the hell out of here . ' She ' s done just that . " " ( " Star Trek Magazine Movie Special 2016 " , pp . 44 & 46 ) Apocrypha . According to her biography on the " Star Trek " movie app , Uhura was born in 2233 to Alhamisi and M ' Umbha Uhura . She has two siblings : a sister , Makena , and a brother , Kamau . She graduated with honors from the Institute for Advanced Mathematics in 2255 where she then enrolled in Starfleet Academy . She also spent two academic quarters serving aboard the USS " Ahriman " as a junior communications cadet . The official site of the 2009 movie stated , in her , that Uhura is proficient in 83 % of official Federation languages and regional dialects . She also was the Academy aide for Advanced Phonology ( one of the courses that , according to his dossier , Spock was teaching at the Academy ) and Advanced Acoustical Engineering courses , as well as being the vice president of Starfleet Academy Chorale Ensemble . In the " " video game , she and Spock discuss his failed attempts at cooking dinner for her . She assures him that she loves him for trying anyway . The IDW comic " The Voice of a Falling Star " tells the story of how , as a young girl , she saved herself and her parents from a damaged shuttle . She was encouraged by her uncle Raheem , who fell to the planet below after attempting a spacewalk to fix it . Uhura told this story to Spock in a mind meld months after their relationship began . In " Parallel Lives , Part 1 " and 2 , she has a male counterpart who is also in love with Spock ' s female counterpart . Uhura is pictured on cards # 54 " Cadet N . Uhura " and # 99 " Communications Officer N . Uhura " of the virtual collectible card battle game " " . In the of IDW ' s " " comic series that is set after the events of , Uhura and Spock take a sabbatical from Starfleet and they visit Spock ' s father , Sarek on New Vulcan .