Prologue

He gazed at the rows of graduates. He had returned each year to watch them take their finals for each of their four years at the academy, to select the ones who would serve with him. A new captain, a crew that was primarily new as well. He singled out the science trainees, the ones who would serve with him. He named them silently in his head: Harris Showford, James Zwong, Lucia Connor. Another, a female with pointed ears, gracefully sloped eyebrows, and a darker complexion. Even in his short observation periods he had realized that she was an outcast, resented and scorned by the other students. While he disapproved of the human tendency towards violence and social isolation, he understood the instinctive dislike of one of her kind. The woman's name was Rosaria Juarez and he had chosen her to serve as a science lieutenant in the new crew of the Starship Enterprise.

Chapter 1

They came aboard by shuttles and gathered in the hanger bay. They were presented with their uniforms and assigned their quarters, then given some time to drop off their few belongings. Then they gathered once again in the hanger bay to meet their commanding officers. One by one they shook the new captain's (Captain James Tiberius Kirk) hand, the chief medical officer's (Doctor Leonard Horatio McCoy), the chief engineering officer (Montgomery Scott). They shook his hand as well. An uncomfortable ritual, however something he had grown used to after nearly 20 years of living among humans. She was one of the last to approach him, and, instead of shaking his hand, she held up her hand in an adequate Vulcan salute. He raised one eyebrow but mirrored the greeting. Fascinating. Now he thought about it, it made sense that she would not want to touch his hand. Romulans were notorious for their hatred of telepaths and empaths; perhaps some part of this was instinctual.

He spent the next few weeks accustoming himself to the new crew. His relationship with Dr. McCoy had gotten off to what Captain Kirk called "a rocky start." The doctor was illogical and to all appearances quite speciest. He complained about every aspect of having a Vulcan first officer.

"So they'll expect me to know everything about Vulcan physiology I suppose—" growled an irate Dr. McCoy.

"Doctor, that should have been part of you basic course of alien physiology. Did Starfleet Academy neglect to mandate this course in your education?"

Kirk looked back and forth between the two men, his eyebrows drawn together in a human expression of worry. "Gentlemen please! Commander Spock, I'm sure that Dr. McCoy simply means that it may take some time to review and accustom himself to operating on a non-Terran."

He noted that the Captain had diplomatically said non-Terran rather than alien. He nodded. "The Doctor should however be informed that my physiology is not entirely Vulcan. My mother is human."

Kirk and McCoy stared with open mouths. McCoy recovered from his surprise first.

"Well doesn't that just take the cake! The—"

Kirk quickly cut in before the man could finish his sentence. "I'm sure the doctor will manage, Commander. He is one of the best."

The three men were standing just outside of sickbay.

"Anyhow, Bones, I should be getting up to the bridge." Kirk began to walk away purposefully.

"Captain—" Spock began at the same time as McCoy said, "Now wait just one red-hot minute. You mister, promised me that you would give me the codes so that I could get someone to reprogram the medicinal drug synthesizer to give me those medicines I wanted."

"Ah, yes." Kirk nodded, "Mr. Spock, we'll need your codes too." Kirk nodded to Nurse Chapel as the sickbay doors swished open and the three men approached the computer. McCoy selected the materials that he wanted. "I'm sorry," said the artificial female voice, "some of those materials are dangerous and restricted by Star Fleet. Please request codes from: Captain, First Officer, Science Officer, and Chief Medical Officer." The codes were duly entered. The three returned to their customary positions, Spock and the Captain on the bridge and McCoy working on some sort of report at his desk down in sickbay.

The NCC 1701, The USS Enterprise had, obviously, its fair share of normal, and (to humans) boring days. But also had more than it's fair share (some on other ships joked that the Enterprise hogged it) of excitement and, usually at the same time, danger and damage. Even, well actually especially, on missions that were supposed to be routine surveys or explorations. This was destined to be one of those missions. The landing party was composed of Spock, two science ensigns: Juarez and her friend Chekov, and Scott (the chief engineer), under much protest, because both Kirk and McCoy insisted that, in light of Scott (or Scotty as they called him) virtually never going down to a planet when shore leave was offered, it would be healthy for him. The planet was class 'M' but marked uninhabitable because it was still relatively young, and seismic activity was both frequent and violent. Still, the geology of the planet, and the possibility of microscopic life in its restless oceans was fascinating. Chekov and Juarez would be working together to collect samples from the ocean, which they were beaming down next to, and Spock would be acting as a geologist. (The geology expert was on the ship, still recovering from an especially traumatizing experience with the condition caused by the substance from Psi 2000.) Scott was ostensibly down there acting as a security officer and to work with his team to make sure that the irregularities and unusual elements in the planet's atmosphere didn't interfere with communications. There was no one like Montgomery Scott for getting machinery to work.

Samples were collected. Scotty was delighted to discover signs indicating a vein of the mineral containing dilithium ore. "It's perfect positioning 'tween Starbase 11 and Starbase 13, if we could just get the okay from Starfleet." He shot the others an apologetic grin. "Not, of course, if it would mess up the evolution of any little beasties you have in those sample containers."

"I believe that we are ready to beam up then." Spock replied.

Scotty nodded and flipped open his communicator. As their collection time had come in under an hour, when they would customarily check in with the ship, the only contact they had made was just after they had beamed down. The connection had not been strong, but it had been there. "4 to beam up, Lieutenant . . . Lieutenant?" Scotty frowned. "Come in Enterprise!" He paused. "There nae coming in sir." Spock flipped open his own communicator and attempted to establish contact. The sound of static filled the air like a raven with whooping cough trying to sing opera. "Uh, you might wanna turn down the volume on that, Mr. Spock sir," said Scotty uncomfortably.

"That was not my communicator Mr. Scott," the half-Vulcan replied calmly, "It appears that seismic of activity of magnitude approximately 5.66379 is about to occur due to—"

"Pardon me sir." Juarez cut in, "We need to get away from the cliffs, they're unstable." As if to prove her point, a boulder the circumference of one of the transport pads broke of the cliff and landed less than ten feet away from them.

"Mr. Scott, assessment of communicator situation," Spock's voice was raised just loud enough to be heard above the rumble of the cliffs as they broke apart.

"Sir, these cliffs are similar to the more famous ones on the planet commonly known as Escojior. They experience the geological phenomenon known as mettitesaxism, uneven rocking motion causing —"

"I am aware of the concept Ms. Juarez." Spock cut her off. He had done some background research of his own of course, although she had no way of knowing that; the procedure was not required, simply logical. He had already known the term and had been unsurprised to discover that the planet's cliffs exhibited it. Doctor McCoy had said, incredulously, "You mean the cliffs throw rocks at you?" A completely unscientific description, however visually apt.

"The situation is nae good sir. It'll likely be half an hour at the least before the dust and ash clears, if you agree with my estimate of the wind speed sir." Mr. Scott wheezed a little, the particulate matter in the air was making it hard to breathe, not to mention the strain of running and speaking at the same time. Spock ducked as a rock the size of a tennis ball whistled towards his head. Chekov gave a shout of pain as he failed to avoid a projectile of similar size. Juarez, making good use of her similarly superior reflexes deftly avoided a dip in the ground that would have sent her sprawling. She glanced up in time to see a rock the size of a cannonball hurtling towards Mr. Scott's head. Spock saw it too, but was ahead of them by a ways and unable to help. Juarez shoved Scott forward to avoid the collision that would have crushed his skull, and instead took a glancing blow from the rock on the side of her head. Spock saw green blood mingle with her dark brown hair and her eyes go wide and glazed with pain before she collapsed to the violently shaking ground.