First contact

2252, StarFleet Training Academy,

San Francisco, Earth.

0830 hours.

Spock stepped on to the paved path and started walking briskly. It was an overcast day but it looked unlikely to rain. The Academy grounds were particularly crowded today. The next new batch of cadets were arriving and groups of people huddled everywhere. Older cadets exhibited high energy as they surveyed the incoming fresh ones. As he made his way through the campus grounds, he reflected back on the past two years.

He had arrived on Earth 830 terran days ago, and began his Starfleet science studies and cadet training. His first year had been spent in learning all aspects of humans, and life on Earth, which were significantly different than the Vulcan's. During this period, he was stationed away from the campus grounds. It was deemed necessary to keep him secluded since the onslaught of being surrounded by humans would have shocked his system.

After the first year of slow immersion, which StarFleet designed for him specifically, he had started his regular Academy training successfully on campus. He had learnt to acclimatize to the water rich atmosphere. On the rare days, when it was sunny and dry, he was reminded of his home planet Vulcan, but he did not reminisce about it long. When he had applied to the Academy, the first ever Vulcan to do so, he was met with enthusiastic response from the humans. This was in stark contrast to the Vulcan Science Academy, where his decision was met with cold silence and his father's refusal to respect his choice. In true Vulcan fashion, there were no heated arguments, and no emotional outburst of course but Sarek had nevertheless stopped all means of communication with Spock.

Spock noted that the incoming humans were mostly of 17-19 years of age, considerably younger to Spock who was 20, at the time of joining. A Vulcan at 20, however was mentally equivalent to a fully grown mature human adult. As such, he found most of his peers severely lacking in control over their emotions. He observed, as families were saying teary-eyed goodbyes to their children and brothers and sisters for the next five years. He watched with fascination, parents hugging and displaying affection openly. There had been no such farewell for him, and he had arrived alone, much to the astonishment of his classmates a year back.

This same human quality had also caused much suffering to his fellow trainees. In the first few weeks, a number of humans exhibited symptoms of restlessness, grief and distress, as they had adjusted to the rigors of training without the benefit of family support. In the following months, some left the academy permanently unable to cope up and of the remaining, many found themselves distracted from their studies by events in their personal lives - particularly of romantic nature.

He had arrived with nothing but few personal items and embarked on a journey, where no Vulcan had gone before. StarFleet had shown much compassion and understanding, in particular an officer called Pike. Pike had taken the young Vulcan under his wings, as the terran phrase went, and saw to it that Spock was assigned a private room in spite of shared quarters being the norm for trainees. Due to his Vulcan background and on grounds of required privacy for daily meditation, Pike had convinced StarFleet to let Spock have a room to his own. Spock was deeply grateful for this gesture - a place to go where he found solitude after daily exposure to human emotions was paramount to his mental well being.

At first, Spock wasn't accustomed to the human ways of communicating, and therefore frequently failed to express adequately, in matters involving his personal life. Humans had tried inviting him to parties, girls had approached him showing romantic inclinations, and men had challenged him to wrestling matches and pick up sports. When he had made it clear he was not interested in any of them, they left him alone. He was however, not oblivious to the fact, that this was their way of welcoming him and he acknowledged this human concept of friendship though unable to reciprocate.

He did not need much beyond basic needs and in academia, there were no problems in communications, as his precise and scientific mind was already sought after.

Lost in his thoughts, Spock let his gaze wander around. There were no classes today, the day had been declared as "orientation day" and Spock was not dressed in his uniform. Spock was however on his way to the Science lab, where he planned to continue working on his project.

His eyes fell on a young man with blonde hair, bright eyes and a tall muscular frame. The man was hoisting his single luggage on his shoulders as he got off the bus next to the grounds. He was dressed in the red cadet uniform and Spock stopped in his tracks for no logical reason. He observed the cadet taking in the scene before him - the sprawling grounds filled with a sea of red uniforms. Curiously, he had no family with him, no one that Spock could see had accompanied him. This spiked Spock's curiosity. Unlike the others, he also had just one piece of luggage. Most fascinating.

Spock made a decision and turned away from his intended destination and instead approached the Cadet.

"Do you require assistance?"

The young cadet looked up with eyes which seemed to almost burn with intensity. Spock was taken aback for a moment. Schooling his features back to their normal calm arrangement he waited.

"Are you Vulcan?!" the man counter questioned with a smile.

"Indeed. " Spock waited for the answer to his offered assistance.

"And a Cadet?" Another question.

"I am. "

"What year?" The cadet had started walking and Spock found himself following.

"Second year, accelerated track. "

The cadet glanced at him sideways, he was just a little shorter than Spock who was taller than most humans. The young man could not have been more than 18 but there was a quiet determination in his movements. He didn't display any signs of the usual distress or nervousness, that Spock had grown accustomed to from new cadets. Spock wasn't sure anymore if the Cadet required his assistance after all. He decided to proceed back to his Science project.

"Have you had a chance to go into space yet?" fired the blonde before Spock had a chance to speak his changed mind.

"I have not. First year cadets are not assigned starship duty." Spock found himself explaining more than he intended. Interesting.

"Why not?"

"I presumed that was the norm after taking into consideration the amount of skill, experience and maturity required of space assignments, that first year cadets were found to be lacking in all three".

"One must not presume anything," was the first non-question the human had spoken so far. And it was quite a declaration from someone who had been on the Academy grounds for precisely 7 minutes.

Spock raised an eyebrow and read the man's face. He had spoken in an easy manner, betraying no defiance or agitation. A smile which radiated warmth was directed at Spock and those bright eyes continued studying him.

"It appears you require no assistance from me. I will then take your leave and allow you to become familiar with your fellow trainees." Spock spoke politely and got ready to walk away.

"Didn't I just say, one shouldn't presume anything?" laughed the young man.

"I am Kirk," and surprising Spock yet again, he didn't extend his hands in the customary earth greeting. Instead he stood tall and waited for Spock to respond.

"I am Spock," and he slowly raised his hand in a ta'al - a gesture he had not made in two terran years - and realized the significance of this young man's awareness.

Kirk mirrored his ta'al and broke into a full smile. The thought of his beloved Vulcan sun flashed in Spock's mind.

"You look good in that jacket." Kirk said with a twinkle in his eyes and before Spock could recover from that statement continued, "Care to show me around?"

Spock found himself incapable of a response for a few seconds. His jacket? He looked down to see his black faux leather jacket.

The cadet seemed completely capable of finding his way around, and judging from the few minutes of conversation, was probably capable of finding his way to space as well, but Spock and his jacket seemed illogically wanting to help.

"Which building have you been assigned to, Cadet Kirk?"

"Building A, room 1015. Aren't all first years assigned to building A?" came back the inevitable question.

"I was told not to presume," Spock replied with a raised eyebrow.

That earned him a golden laughter with a head thrown back. Spock found he was pleased with himself. The next moment he was horrified. Did he just attempt terran humor?

"Lead away Mr. Spock!"