Chapter One
Romi DiValdi was many things, but unsure was rarely one of them.
While it was morning in Iowa, it was still colder than Romi was used to. She pulled down her knitted cap over her ears, careful to not catch it on one of her piercings. She took a moment to stand and really look at the incomplete Enterprise, the new flagship, and a really pretty gem in the Federation's crown. Right next to it was a shuttle headed straight for Starfleet Academy. It was why she'd decided to take a detour here instead of headed straight for San Francisco.
Or perhaps, and extra stop to give herself an out, if need be. The necessary paperwork was in her pocket, and she carried a backpack in case something happened to her personal effects in the transit from Milan.
After graduating with honors and a few PhD's from the University of Milan, she'd decided to see the stars. Starfleet was the natural choice. Yet, why this sudden hesitation and doubt? This is what she'd wanted, right? To go out, to explore the universe, to learn as much as she possibly could instead of being cooped up in some lab planet side. There was nothing but her family tying her to earth, to Italy. Some would say that was enough, but Romi felt it was more than time to leave the nest. When she'd been filling out the application everything had just felt so right. Like things were falling into place, though she had no idea where that feeling as coming from. She could say it must be destiny or fate, if she believed in such things. Her father had told her to trust her instincts, the family would always support her, and her mother had told her to forge her own path.
Romi knew she had a small likelihood of meeting anyone she knew at the Academy, and she would be well and truly on her own for the first time since starting college, which was only two hours away by bus should she feel homesick. And there really wasn't much to feel besides homesickness whenever she stopped to look up from her studies and realize she was alone. No other plans and no one wanting to do them with her anyway, besides her famiglia. What assurances did she had that the academy would be any different? A person could only take so much loneliness.
Better than attention. A traitorous little voice in her head whispered. Attention brings insults and tiny torments and your parent's silent disappointment. Attention was what made you snap so long ago, and that didn't end well for anyone.
Romi shook the thoughts off. That was a long time ago, things have changed. Taking a deep breath, she walked up the ramp and into the shuttle.
After putting her bag away, she peered around for a seat. Well, she would, if a rather attractive, scruffy looking man wasn't currently arguing with the flight officer.
"I suffer from aviophobia—it means fear of dying in something that flies!" He argued, his Southern US accent vaguely interesting her, but Romi said nothing. Instead, she looked for a way to walk around the two of them without having to get involved. Unfortunately, there was none.
"Sir, for your own safety, sit down, or else I'll make you sit down!" The shorter woman warned him, her expression stern. Romi was certain she would make good on her threat, and so did the aviophobe, as he reluctantly nodded and went to go to his seat. Romi followed behind him silently. "Thank you." The woman snapped before walking away.
A voice came over the intercom. "This is Captain Pike, we are cleared for takeoff." Romi was buckled into one of the only seats left open, the one that just so happened to be acrosse from the scruffy guy, and a blonde man in a leather jacket.
Okay, it was a two hour flight to California, and she couldn't very well just boredly twiddle her thumbs the whole time. Think of what your Auntie taught you. Aviophobia right? Tell him the actual statistical likelihood of anything going wrong. It might help!
"I may throw up on you." He saved her from having to fill the blank space—by addressing the blonde, but still. Well, at least she won't be bored.
"I think these things are pretty safe." The blonde tried to assure him, though he admittedly looked a bit confused.
"Don't pander to me kid, one tiny crack in the hull and our blood boils in 13 seconds.. Solar flare might crop up, cook us in our seats." She wasn't going to laugh, it would be inappropriate to laugh. "And wait until you're sitting pretty with a case of Andorian shingles." Romi totally wasn't going to laugh. "See if you're still so relaxed when your eyeballs are bleeding. Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence." She could admit it; she was a weak, weak woman.
Romi laughed. She tried to keep it down to a quiet chuckle or a snort, but one loud enough and long enough to have both men staring at her, though the blonde looked more interested than perturbed.
"What?" The aviophobe challenged, defensive. She paused, looked, then kept laughing, albeit a little quieter so as to not draw too much notice. "It's not funny." He deadpanned, frowning.
"It actually is." She then composed herself. "Besides, you have a better chance of making out with a Vulcan than getting into a shuttle accident, let alone dying in one." See, there! You can socialize.
"Doesn't mean it still can't happen."
"And I hate to break this to you, but Starfleet operates in space." The other guy told him, keeping a good lid on his own amusement. His attention was then caught by the flask the other man pulled out.
"Yeah, well, I got nowhere else to go; the ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce. All I got left is my bones." He had crazy eyes for a moment. Romi couldn't decide if that made him more or less attractive, while the blonde looked unsure of whether to smile or frown until the southerner handed him the flask.
"Jim Kirk." The blond introduced himself, taking a quick drink.
"McCoy, Leonard McCoy." He told—well, he was looking at Jim, but Romi decided to ignore him ignoring her and introduce herself.
"Romi DiValdi." She offered, giving a sincere smile. Jim smiled back. Feeling the hat start to get scratchy, she pulled it off, revealing her short blonde hair. Jim and Leonard suddenly stared at her.
"Wait, you're a Vulcan?!"
Hello! As you may have seen in the summary, I am going to be doing a re-write of Romi. As I feel my writing style has improved in the past year, I'll be changing some things I don't like, adding lots of new content and sub-plots, as well as better fleshing out our favorite Italian! I look forward to re-doing this, and I hope you look forward to re-reading this.