Star Trek belongs to Paramount and Gene Roddenberry. Anything you don't recognize is mine, all else is theirs. Lucky...

Also... Leia Organa isn't mine either... The name's just awfully pretty.

Intro.

Leia Adler trembled as she took leave of her parents at the door to the shuttle. Her hands shook as she reached to embrace her mother and father one last time, and afterwards she abruptly pulled away and climbed in. That's it; she was on her way.

Leia was a Terran, 17 years old, and on her way to Starfleet Academy, where she was to study scientific research and computer dynamics. She was small, diminutive, with long reddish hair and large brown eyes. Starfleet had contacted her the year before on the subject of her high intelligence and definite potential - she had been accepted with full scholarship.

Leia settled in her chair on the small shuttle. Around her sat an assortment of others, all going from Earth to Starfleet Academy. Some looked to her to be professors, there were one or two workers, and a few parents going to visit their children. Leia knew her parents were important diplomats on Earth and would probably not be able to find time to visit her any time soon. She sighed, and settled into her (rather gloomy) thoughts.

Far too soon for her liking, noises from the shuttle's engines told her they were approaching. She stretched and got up, and disembarked. Looking around, she found herself in a large airy hall, with high ceilings and soft glowing lights. Starfleet Academy.

Ch. 1.

Leia took in her surroundings with wide eyes. A sign directly in front of her read "Cadets" and pointed to the right, into an adjoining room. She turned, and with a deep sense of "well, here goes nothing", entered the room. Inside were a number of young persons, both male, female, Human, Vulcan, Betelgeusian, Arcturan, Deltan, and many other types which she didn't know the name of.

She sat quietly in the corner and waited until a senior officer came in and separated the throng into their divisions. "Sciences division to the right, Operations division to the left, Command division," - these were already in uniform and seemed to be a number of years older than the rest - "come with me."

Leia obediently went into the right room with 3 others, and they all sat down in the front row of a series of seats, facing a podium. She sneaked a look at the others - one was a lanky blue-eyed Deltan boy; the second was a Human Chinese girl; the third was a tall Vulcan. She smiled to herself - this was going to be interesting.

Suddenly a door burst open on the side of the room. A youngish looking officer entered, looking flustered. "Pardon me," she said breathlessly, "I was held up. My name is Lieutenant Commander Saria, I'll be in charge of you for your first few weeks at Starfleet. Let me just get your names straight," she smiled in a friendly manner, "And we can get started. Hmmm... Let me see now..." She consulted a paper on her clipboard. "Who here is Lorin?" The Deltan stood up.

"Your first name?" she queried.

The boy smiled shyly. "Sah, Lieutenant Commander Saria."

"Very good...No need for the formality, though. And... Chang?" she smiled at the girl.

The girl stood up. "Emily, ma'am."

"Lovely... Sareku?"

The Vulcan stood. "That is my patronymic, ma'am. My surname is unpronouncable by Humans."

Saria rolled her eyes, playfully. "Yes, my boy, that's why we used the patronymic in the first place. Your name, please?"

"Spock," he said matter-of-factly, and sat down.

"Lovely... And you must be Adler," said Saria.

Leia stood, gulped, nodded, and breathlessly gasped out, "Leia's my first name." She was still very excited and nervous.

Saria smiled. "Leia? Like the Alderaanian princess?"

"I was named after her," Leia mumbled.

Saria clapped her hands once, and grinned. "Well, looks like we're off to a good start! We've decided to put you four together since you're all approximately the same age, studying the same thing, and coming new to Starfleet - it wouldn't be fun to room with someone twice your age, rank, and experience, would it?" Her eyes twinkled. "I'll take you to your quarters - you have a few hours to get yourself set up, refreshed, and mentally ready before I take you to your first class. Come along!" She swept out of the room, and the 4 followed.

After what Leia considered to be miles of unnecessary hallways ('After all,' she thought, 'We're exhausted enough after all the introductions and sortings and what-nots, so why did the rooms have to be so far?'), Saria came to a stop in front of two doors. One said "cha'Sarek + Lorin", the other "Chang + Adler". "Here are your quarters - be in the hall at 1400 hours, I'll be waiting there." She then turned on her heel and hurried off.

"Well," said Emily slowly, "I suppose we should check it out."

"Yeah," said Sah. He pushed open the boys' door and, beckoning, entered the room. The others followed.

After he looked around the room and took peeks into the closets and the bathroom, he nodded his approval. "It is clean, and nice and roomy. More so than I expected," he said.

"It is only logical that Starfleet would take passable care of us," said Spock with a raised eyebrow. Emily and Leia sighed. Vulcans... They knew the type. They could be incredibly annoying sometimes.

After a similar tour and inspection of the girls' quarters, the four split up and went to organize their belongings. Leia flopped onto her bed.

"Say, Emily... What think you of the boys?"

"The boys?" Emily giggled. "They seem nice enough." Suddenly she sat up with a grin. "Poor Sah - stuck with that uptight ol' Vulcan... What're the odds he'll go mad in a week?"

Leia grinned. "About 70 percent. 90 if you make it two weeks." The girls collapsed, laughing the stress off. After pulling themselves together (which did take a while), they dressed in their new uniforms, and went outside to wait for the boys.

Emily looked distastefully at her uniform. It was a short mini-dress made of silvery material with shorts underneath. It had a blue symbol on the left side, and was worn with knee-high black boots. "These are horrific," she said explosively, "I don't wonder any guy walking past us will make a pass at us in this!!"

"Make a pass at you?" said Sah from behind her. She jumped. He tilted his head appraisingly. "I see nothing to merit that."

Emily frowned. "I didn't ask you, Deltan."

Sah grinned and swatted at her shoulder. "I'm kidding. You look lovely." He offered her his arm, and she accepted it, still half-grumbling but very pleased. After all, Deltans were known for their intense attractiveness, and Emily wasn't about to complain.

Leia sighed. She wasn't too crazy about the Vulcan guy. But Emily and Sah had already turned the corner so she resigned herself to walking with him. "Hi... Spock, wasn't it?" she asked.

Spock inclined his head. "Yes. And you're Leia." It was more a statement than a question.

She nodded. He offered his hand and she shook it. He could almost see the question mark above her head, but didn't address it. "So... what are you studying here?"

"I would like to be a science officer. It sounds...interesting. I'll study whatever is needed to achieve that," said Spock, a look of what could almost be called "toned-down excitement" coming into his eyes.

She smiled. This she could deal with. "That is cool!" she exclaimed. "I always was interested in research and probing."

"Oh?" said Spock, tilting his head and raising an eyebrow.

"Mmhmm."

"Fascinating." He thought a moment. "Do you know what the others are studying?"

"Emily signed up for training as a nurse, so we won't be seeing much of her. I don't know about Sah." She laughed. "At least we're together... Something tells me it'll be good to have you around."

"Indeed...?" said Spock, trying to understand what she meant.

"Well," Leia explained, "Vulcans are known for their intelligence. I won't mind a study partner who can run circles around me. I can learn from you that way."

Spock looked even more confused. "Why would I want to run circles around you?" He stopped her with an outstretched arm and then proceeded to jog around her a few times. "How does that help?"

Leia laughed again. 'Hey, this Vulcan isn't so bad after all!' she thought. "It's a phrase... it means that you'll be academically so much more ahead that in order to let me keep up, your brain can run metaphorical circles around mine while waiting for it to catch up."

Spock was silent for the rest of the way, which, Leia now saw, wasn't all that far after all. She was vaguely disappointed, wanting to hear his Vulcan, logical comments about what she had said. As they approached the classroom, he turned to her and without any preamble said, "Yes. I think I understand your Human phrase now. Fascinating idea." He then walked in to the room. She stood outside, her mouth open. 'Maybe he isn't all that wonderful... but I'll definitely be able to live with him and his weird thoughts."