a/n: Hello all you Spock and Nyota lovers out there. In season with the winter weather and coziness and such I thought I would write a short fic about our favorite pair. This fic will assume Spock and Nyota's relationship pre-movie has not been established yet and cover their first few months of acquaintance. It starts out rough, but eventually things get patched up right?
And also I don't own star trek.
Settling into the large hive network of residences on Centauri E16 had been serious work for Nyota, but given that this would be her first long term research assignment she couldn't help but exude energy that should have been dead hours after she had arrived on the planet with Professor Cam, Professor Spock, and five other specially selected cadets. Centauri E16 had been an unmapped planet mere years ago and the sheer amount of data to be compiled on the unique race of beings living here was so large that they made the perfect research topic. Everything was so fresh and new, Nyota practically pinged with excitement at the two month long venture. It had occurred to her that she and her peers were five out of thousands at the academy and an untold number from other institutions that would want a chance to study the people.
Fortunately a rare opening in the facilities established by early researchers allowed the academy to send two groups of their best and brightest in the fields of xenolinguistics and in the case of Professor Spock a mixture of physics and xenobiology. Her thoughts settled back on her initial meeting with him at a briefing for this exact trip several weeks ago. Nyota wanted to be interested in the Vulcan-Human hybrid child prodigy, but whether it was the fact that everyone else seemed excited enough for her or that she simply already was fluent in Vulcan, Nyota found little compulsion to even bat an eye at the professor. He barely registered on her radar until the day she witnessed how full of himself he was at the meeting. It was appalling how rude he was to the poor presenter. Yeoman Feinstein was an assistant to one of the higher ups in the department of xenolinguistics and while Nyota did find her lacking in detail on occasion she found no reason for Spock to point out every t uncrossed or dot missing in the poor yeoman's report. Not only that, but it was an initial briefing that was traditionally supposed to be casual and more of a get to know your group mates than anything. Nyota had bristled at how aloof the professor had been until it came time for criticism. It was obvious that he was a loner that could not be bothered with boosting morale. After the yeoman's near meltdown under the Vulcan, Nyota had had to take her to a seat and give her some water as she wiped her red eyes with the sleeve of her uniform.
Perfectionist that she was Nyota still understood that the Yeoman was probably working on vague details that had yet to be solidified because the date was so far in the future. In fact, yeoman Feinstein had been far more engaged than necessary for a meet and greet. Nyota would have to find a way to give the professor a piece of her mind. All involved left with a bad taste in their mouths while the professor had merely given a curt nod and some succinct statement about it being the scheduled time to take his leave. Everyone in the room had been ruffled by the treatment of the Yeoman and a few had even ventured to come to her defense. In all his rebuttals the Vulcan had been equally unmoved. Nyota had been so mad she couldn't form words for his behaviour. But Nyota was a professional. She was nothing if not aware of the appropriate time for retribution. It did not need to be swift and exacting to be.
The next few days on Centauri E16 proved to be just the challenge Nyota had hoped it would be. Since everyone involved had sacrificed their traditional winter break to be here, Nyota was glad she wouldn't be missing out on the holiday season for nothing. Nyota was helping to catalogue data on a particular dialect of the language that was isolated to a group of Centaurians that live in a region made of criss-crossed rivers. Grabbing her padd to her chest, Nyota was gushing internally at all of the information she had uncovered during her four day trip down to the river people, as she had translated their name to mean, and walked unwittingly into a private performance. Nyota had meant to use one of the rooms reserved for study to read and edit her notes on the language and listen to some audio recordings before turning in her findings to Professor Cam, but she was greeted with a melody that seemed to possess her from the base of her spine and wind up until it seized the thought from her. Unreal music that had just threatened to unhinge her with its intensity was pouring from one corner of a room she realized too late was occupied.
One foot stepped back over the threshhold before a voice Nyota would swear was irritated froze her, "Cadet I believe I have indicated that this room was to be reserved for the research on Centaurian life processes." Of course Nyota thought belatedly, she had flipped through two unopened memos, planning to read them in the room. Nyota took a deep breath attempting to hold her cool. But wait what did music have to do with any life processes? Nyota snapped back, "Respectfully commander may I ask what relevance music has to Centaurian life processes?" There was only a second for Nyota to feel vindicated before Spock retorted, "Centaurian biology is unique in that a culture than has been in the absence of music for several millenia has somehow retained an affinity on the cellular level to have real change affected to life processes by the playing of music. It has long been legend among Centaurians that their ancestors banished the great waves because of the power it has on their physiology and psychological state. Surely you have read the epic contained in the Centaurian mythos available in their central place of learning." Nyota blinked as if she had been slapped in the face and replied lamely, "I have not had the opportunity as my data collection started the day after we arrived." Professor Spock locked eyes with the cadet before replying, "I believe a trip to the place of learning and not standing here would remedy that. While there you might look up information on how the nonmusical society affected change on the languages available. There are several articles that might be of use to you before you begin data collection on any other regions. It might prove beneficial to have a more complete understanding of the people before making assessments of their language. Dismissed Cadet." Thoroughly embarrassed at her commanding officer's words, Nyota stalked stiffly out of the room certain that if possible smoke would be pouring out of her ears at the dressing down she had just received.
A/N: So what do you guys think about our Spock and Nyota interactions so far. Because a little tension is nice.
