M ' Ress Lieutenant M ' Ress was a Caitian Starfleet operations division officer who served aboard the under Captain James T . Kirk during the final two years of a historic five - year mission he led . Starfleet career . M ' Ress ' primary role on the " Enterprise " was that of the relief communications officer , a role she fulfilled in the absence of Lieutenant Uhura . Her duties included activating intership and intraship communications , as well as the activation of any alert signal s ordered by the Captain . Occasionally M ' Ress , as with Uhura , also acted as temporary science officer when first officer Commander Spock was part of landing parties or on away missions . In 2269 , M ' Ress operated the communication channels for Captain Kirk when he was contacted by a Romulan commander whose battle cruisers had intercepted the " Enterprise " for violating the Neutral Zone . ( ) During the " Enterprise " s visit to the Shore Leave Planet , later that year , M ' Ress was key in coordinating between Captain Kirk ' s landing party and the duty officer , Lieutenant Commander Scott . Among the messages she coordinated was a notice to the crew that all shore leave s were canceled until further notice , when it was determined that the planet ' s master computer had malfunctioned . During the attempted recovery of Uhura , who had been taken hostage , M ' Ress arranged for the transport of a phaser bore . As the rescue attempt continued , M ' Ress coordinated between the shuttlebay and Scott , relaying notice of the emergency rescue party ' s attempted shuttlecraft launch . When it was finally realized that the planet was somehow responsible for the ship ' s malfunctions , M ' Ress became concerned about the change in the planet ' s behavior – from providing fun and amusement to hostility . When Scott tried to maneuver the ship from orbit , he requested a printout of the guidance computer ' s last orders . In reviewing the orders , she noted that something was very strange , and that the only reason why the new orders were not being carried out was because Lieutenant Arex had had all the engine controls manually locked . As the " Enterprise " crew continued their attempt to rescue the landing party , M ' Ress reported that communications remained jammed . Once the situation on the surface was resolved , and communications were restored , M ' Ress passed along word from Kirk that shore leave was to commence immediately . ( ) She was again on duty on the bridge when Harry Mudd was taken aboard the " Enterprise " from Motherlode . She monitored ship - to - shore communications with the rescue party after Mudd had taken Christine Chapel hostage . When Spock beam ed down to the surface of the planet to help Kirk find Mudd and Chapel , M ' Ress also manned the main science station , for Spock , to keep track of the whereabouts of Spock and Kirk . ( ) During the " Enterprise " s visit to Lactra VII , M ' Ress was stationed on the bridge when a Lactran youth , who had been inadvertently beamed on board the ship , came onto the bridge . M ' Ress was initially startled by the creature ' s sudden appearance . She then inquired what she wanted everyone to do after the Lactran had picked Scott up . She and the rest of the crew left the bridge while Scott attempted to communicate with the creature . ( ) M ' Ress continued duty as the relief communications officer in 2270 , where she was stationed when Uhura was temporarily in command of the bridge during the " Enterprise " s mission to Delta Theta III . ( ) M ' Ress was again on the bridge later that year , when the " Enterprise " s computer fell under the influence of an energy field . As the crew of the ship fell victim to numerous practical joke s , M ' Ress noticed fog emerging from the turbolift door . When she pointed out the anomaly , Kirk – who suspected her observation was another practical joke – told her , " " Really , M ' Ress , you ' re going to have to be a little more clever than that . " " M ' Ress later reported McCoy , Sulu , and Uhura were still in the recreation room and not responding to the captain ' s call to stations . ( ) Personal life . In 2269 , upon hearing Spock ' s passion - filled request to accompany an away team to rescue Christine Chapel , she responded to Montgomery Scott ' s surprised reaction , " " Spock ? In love ? " " by agreeing with the engineer ' s disbelief : " " I can ' t imagine . " " Shortly after this , M ' Ress had a brief romantic interest in Scott , while the ship was under the influence of Harry Mudd ' s love potion which had inadvertently spread through the ship ' s ventilation system . M ' Ress ' interest in Scott came in response to a joke he had made , to which she replied , " " You ' re funny , and very attractive for a Human . " " Once the effects of the potion wore off , and Scott began to complain of a " " hangover to shame all previous hangovers , " " M ' Ress snarled , " " Not so loud , you fool . " " In response , Scott snapped back , stating , " " Yeah , well , all of a sudden , I don ' t like you much , either . " " ( ) In 2270 , M ' Ress shared lunch in the mess hall with Arex , who invited Scott to join them , but Scott declined because he was just going to grab a sandwich and get back to work . At the time , however , the ship ' s computer was under the influence of an energy field , which caused the food synthesizer to go haywire . Observing the resulting effect , a mountain of food piling up at Scott ' s feet , M ' Ress began to laugh , apologetically , before Scott accused the two of causing the practical joke . When Arex defended himself and M ' Ress , Scott told them to tell that to the captain , because he was going to put the two on report for the incident . ( ) Appendices . Background information . In the final draft script of , M ' Ress is described as " a felinoid female , delicate , sleek , reminding one of an Earth Siamese or Abyssinian cat . " The same script goes on to say , " " Her fur is a soft cream color ; her voice has a distinctive purr in it . " " The was provided by Majel Barrett . According to M ' Ress ' Lincoln Enterprises biography , she graduated from Starfleet Academy " three years ago " , specializing in communications and computer translator systems . She quickly rose in rank to lieutenant in a mere two years after graduation . Prior to her assignment on board the " Enterprise " , she had served aboard a scout and the . The same biography states that M ' Ress was close friends with Uhura and Nurse Chapel . In her spare time , she pursued her interests in Federation and galactic planetary histories , including the areas of anthropology and archaeology . Her artistic interests included writing free - form poetry and performing in the ship ' s small theater company . Apocrypha . In the " " novels , her full name is given as Shiboline M ' Ress . M ' Ress appeared in the Peter Pan Records story entitled " Passage to Moauv . " However , in the comic that accompanied the record , she was shown with green hair , blue skin , and no feline features . She also appeared briefly in the novels " The Galactic Whirlpool " and " Provenance of Shadows " . She later made several appearances in the first volume of DC ' s Star Trek comics , which was set after and , after a time jump into the 24th century , became a regular character in the " New Frontier " novel series . In the comics " The Stars in Secret Influence " - " Haunted Honeymoon " , Hikaru Sulu and M ' Ress have a brief relationship . The novels and comics provide the following information about her family : She is briefly referenced in " The Face of the Unknown " as being Uhura ' s trainee , indicating that her assignment to the " Enterprise " predated Arex ' s , as his transfer was imminent but hadn ' t happened yet by the end of the novel .