Chapter 1
"Have you ever seen a vulcan woman in your life?" Sulu asked Chekov, after he overheard Spock speaking with Kirk about the new Engineer. Rumors said that she was Vulcan, as the first officer Spock.
"No. Do you think she looks like Spock with boobs?!" Chekov joked and send a broad grin over the console to Sulu. In that moment the Turbo lift door opened and a young Engineering officer stepped out of it. Her black hair was tied to a neat, shiny bun and her neatly cut Pony reached barely to the tips of her arched eyebrows. Her observant, dark eyes took a short look to the interior and the people at the bridge, than she went straight to Captain Kirk and his first officer Spock. The first thing Sulu noticed was, that she wasn't wearing the usual Uniform dress, but the more for men usual black uniform pants and a red Engineers Uniform Shirt. Another thing Chekov noticed first was that she was of rather short height, nearly one head smaller than Kirk and Spock.
"Captain, report ready for Duty" she said in a low, melodic tone and stood straight for a moment.
"At ease Ensign…", "Sura, Sir" she answered when the Captain struggled with her name.
"Yeah, welcome to the Enterprise", "Thank you, sir. May I have a short talk with you, in private?", "Of course! Just follow me!" She followed him into his office.
"Well, she seems to be vulcan", "Yes, she is vulcan" Chekov confirmed and turned around again. "Fascinating!" Sulu murmured and turned around, as well.
"So, what is it?" Kirk asked and took a seat in his big boss chair behind his desk.
"May I speak freely, Sir?" Sura asked and folded her hands behind her back.
"Of course, if you come a bit closer". Sure stepped quickly from the doorframe to the opposite site if Kirks desk. "Captain, I do not wish to be preferred in any way, just because of my heritage!" Sura said as fast as possible.
"Which heritage do you mean?" Kirk asked back and folded his arms in front of his chest "Because of your vulcan or because of your…", "Because of both". Kirk nodded slowly.
"You can be sure, that you will not be preferred by anyone just because of your heritage, nor because of your gender. You were chosen for this mission because of your skills and nothing else. Mr. Scott has great confidence in you!" Kirk answered Sura's question and stood up from his chair.
"Do you have any more questions Ensign?" Kirk asked and stepped forth to Sura. "No", "So there's nothing more to do for me than wishing you a good first shift". Sura tilted her head a little "thank you, Sir". Then she left the Captain's office. Kirk set on his Desk and smiled after her.
"Ah, Ensign Sura! I was desperately waiting to meet you. Your theories are very remarkable! I can't wait to discuss some of them with you!", "Thank you Mr. Scott. I appreciate your theories, as well, especially your Transwarp-beaming theory". Scotty grinned broadly and began to show Sura around.
"She's a very well formed young lady, our Enterprise", "Although I am not able to understand the human habit to personify objects, I appreciate it. It makes the human way to work more…efficient." Scotty laughed heartily.
"What makes you assume that?!" he asked her and leaned against a wall and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You feel more connected to your ship, so you are more concerned about it, what leads to a bigger interest, so you work harder and with that, more efficient." Scotty laughed again and turned around to resume his guide tour through the Enterprise's machine room.
"Your usual place of work will be at my side. You will be my assistant as the second chief engineer, respectively my substitute.", "I already know that Mr. Scott. I want to thank you for your confidence in me. Normally only Lieutenants or higher ranks get second chief engineer. It must have been difficult to appoint me for this position.", "No, not as hard as convincing Commander Spock. He was a bit worried about you!", "What do you mean?", "He thought it would be difficult for the crew to be on a five year mission with two vulcan under them!"
"Commander Spock!" Sura called down the hall. Spock stopped immediately and turned around.
"Yes?", "May I have a word with you, Sir?", "Sure Ensign, what is it?".
Sura cleared her throat, "I heard that you proposed against my appointment to the position as the second chief engineer of the Enterprise and wanted to ask you, if this is true", "Yes, at first I was against your appointment, but as you can see, I changed my mind."
"May I know the reason?", "I do not think this is the right place to discuss this matter Ensign!", "Enlighten me, Sir", "This is a confident matter", "No, it is a matter that is about our work on this ship, so it is not private. And on the other hand it is a matter between you and me, so it is not confident. I want to know the reason now!", "Don't lose the control over your Emotions, Ensign Sura!" In that moment Sura realized, that she was breathing heavy and that her hands were sweaty.
"But as you are so pushy, I will answer your question. I don't think it is good for a ship and its crew, if there is a female and a male Vulcan on it. As you know, you and I will come to Pon Farr and there are a lot of other things in the vulcan culture human and other Species do not understand. So I think one vulcan is enough", "So it is not because of my romulan heritage?" Spock shivered nearly unobservable.
"It is not because of your romulan heritage. If you would excuse me, I have other important things to do!", "Thank you Commander Spock" Sura kept standing in the hall for some minutes, before she turned around to leave. Or better, tried to leave. Before she could react properly, she found herself lying on the floor.
"Excuse me, I am so sorry! I didn't meant to bump into you!" A young Lieutenant was sitting the opposite direction of her, his things covering the floor around him. "No problem, I am all right. Are you injured?", "No, I don't zink so" The young man helped her to stand up and began to gather his things together. Sura stood a bit uncomfortable in the hall.
"Can I help you?" the young Lieutenant looked up immediately and smiled at her.
"Oh no, it is not so much, I can handle zis alone!" She thought about something to say. Should she excuse herself for not being attentive enough? Should she try to have a little 'small talk' with this young Lieutenant? But it seemed like the young Lieutenant took the decision away from her.
"I am Pavel Chekov" he beamed at her, holding his books tightly to his chest
"I am Ensign Sura", "Oh I know! I zink everyone on zis ship knows your name", "What do you mean?", "You are zhe first female vulcan officer in Starfleet. Zere are many crewmembers, who never ever saw a female vulcan, so you may excuse zeir curious looks!", "You may be sure, that I am used to curious looks" An uncomfortable silence was hanging in the air.
"You play 3-D Chess?" Sura asked after assessing Pavel's books in lack of anything else to do "Yes, I love it! Can you play 3-D Chess?", "Yes, I used to play it with my father", "So maybe we can have one match, or more?"