I'm a bit disappointed they didn't give her a (more obvious) linguistic-badass moment akin to Chekov's mad dash to handle the transporters, or Scotty taking Spock Prime's notes and using it to beam Kirk and himself back to the Enterprise while it was traveling faster than light -- since, well, Chekov and Scotty and McCoy all got to be awesome at their professions. (While Kirk, Spock and Sulu got to kick ass.)

The Wiki reminds me that she was the one who found and translated the Klingon comm traffic that prompted Kirk to realize what trouble could be waiting for the fleet at Vulcan, but I wish more of a Big Deal was made about that, rather than her mentioning it to her roommate after the fact while Kirk is hiding in earshot. We're told she's a polyglot who, in addition to speaking Klingon, can also tell Vulcan from all three different dialects of Romulan, and is damn good at her job, but I would have liked to see it.

But, damn straight Uhura doesn't need to hit people or shoot a phaser to be a badass. Star Trek is full of frighteningly competent people who prove their competence by saving the day with technology (and technobabble)!