Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek, though believe me I wish I did.
Chapter One
Bones groaned as he looked up from his PADD to the face of his friend, Jim Kirk. "They just assigned me to the meet-and-greet squad of incoming cadets."
"Great chance to mess with the newbies, but the bigger question is: do you have a hot girl or some other person?"
"Take a look for yourself," he said, pulling up the picture of the person he was to escort.
The two looked at the picture of a tiny woman with pale blonde hair and the whitest skin either of them had ever seen, which was pulled back into a messy bun. Her eyes were amber, and there was a graceful if strange tattoo of two sloping lines connected to the inner corner of her eyes extended to her cheekbones all in silver. She wore a white, skin-tight shirt and light yellow leggings with very practical looking, grey shoes. Around her neck were two tiny, golden chains forming a chocker as they wrapped around each other. In the centre of it was set a tiny rose carved out of what looked like a ruby. Curling around it and the setting were little golden leaves.
"What planet is she from?"
"Tavelis-"
"The ice planet," he finished.
"Her name is Merisaerdri Varensa."
"How old is she?"
"...This can't be right! It says she's 31!"
"Actually, Tavelisians have a similar age span to Vulcans."
"Wait...How do you know that?"
"I took an Intro to Xenobiology class in High School," Kirk said with a shrug.
"I took a Xenoanatomy class!"
"Those only focus on the main Federation races and the biggest enemies."
"Well, she's going to be on the Enterprise," Bones said, attempting not to sulk.
"Calm down, Bones. All you need to do is show her around for a day. Besides, she's hot!"
"She looks like she's been in the deepfreeze, Jim."
"Then, I'll go with you and help warm her up a little."
"Stop it with the innuendo, Jim!"
"I'll meet you at the Mess Hall for lunch!" Jim said, racing out before Bones could argue.
MERIS-MERIS-MERIS-MERIS-MERIS-MERIS-MERIS-MERIS-MERIS-MERIS-MERIS
A young alien woman stepped off the ship, holding her large bag with a struggle. She brushed a lock of hair from her equally white face and looked through the crowd of arriving cadets. In the midst of this hustle and bustle, a uniformed cadet walked up to her, or rather came close enough to tower over her. He stood nearly six feet tall! His hair, skin, and eyes were all very dark, especially for what she was used to.
"Lieutenant Merisaerdri Varensa?" he asked, looking down at her uncertainly.
She nodded, attempting not to stare at the protrusion in the middle of his face, his nose.
"I'm Cadet McCoy. I'm here to show you around Starfleet Academy for the day and get you to know the grounds better," he said. He sounded like he was quoting his orders in his dialect.
Quite suddenly, he stopped speaking and asked, "I'm sorry. Can you even speak English?"
Meris snorted and said, "I speak multiple languages fluently. English is one of them."
"Sorry, Ma'am," he muttered.
At this, Meris laughed outright. As no one was nearby, she said, "Why don't you just call me Meris?"
"It's Leonard or Bones, whichever you prefer," he said gruffly, his true personality showing through, as well as his distinctly southern North American accent.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Leonard. Now, would you mind showing me where my dorm is? My arm feels like a Ferilat is chewing it off," she said kindly.
"Let me take that," Bones said, taking her bag from her. As soon as he had a grip on it, he laughed and said, "So you're about as strong as your size implies?"
"If by that you mean I have trouble lifting something like this, then yes," she returned.
"Anything else I should know about? He asked teasingly.
"I recommend not coming into my room once the temperature is set," she said.
"And why not?" he asked, bending down slightly to look at her.
"It will be set to 35° F," she said with a shrug.
Bones frowned in surprise and asked, "What planet are you from?"
"Tavelis," she provided.
"The ice planet," he said, nodding.
"Is that what people call it?" she asked.
"You haven't been off planet before, have you?" he asked.
"Never," she said cheerfully.
"Well, welcome to Earth."
"By the way, aren't you a bit old to be a cadet?" she asked.
"I'm only 31, perfectly fine for a cadet!" he insisted. "What about you? Why is a lieutenant so young?" he said.
"Actually, I'm 31 as well, still pretty young for a Tavelisian," she corrected.
"That's impossible! You can't be more than 20!"
She shook her head and said, "Believe it."
The two continued to chat all the way to her quarters. However upon seeing them, Bones asked, "Why don't you have to share a room?"
"A little something about climate and lieutenant," Meris said, turning back to him from the temperature controls. "Could you please set the bags on the bed?" she said, returning her attention to the console.
Bones did as she asked before asking, "So what's your focus?"
"Surgery and Pathology."
"You'll be in Medical?" he asked, perking up.
"Yes. And you?"
"I was a doctor before my wife divorced me."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Don't be. She was a harpy."
She chuckled as she continued, "Well, in light of that, do you know what ship you'll be on?"
"The Enterprise, once they finally finish it. Assistant CMO."
"Really? I'm going to be the surgeon on the Enterprise."
"Well, isn't that just ironic."
"Actually, it's a coincidence."
"Or the higher ups planned it."
"That's true," she said, stopping at the door of a building.
"Y'all ready?"
"Cadet!" a sharp voice called suddenly from behind them.
Both of them turned to see a grey haired man in an officer uniform striding toward them. "Captain Pike," Bones said, both for her benefit and for decorum.
"Is this the new lieutenant?" Pike asked.
"Yes, Sir," Bones said.
"Hello. I'm Captain Pike. I'm assuming you are Lieutenant Merry-saar-dry Van-elle-wah," the man said, looking down at her kindly with his hand out to shake.
"Yes, Sir. Pleasure to meet you, and its Merisaerdri," she said sincerely, reaching up to shake his hand.
"Merisaerdri," he repeated. She nodded.
"Well, is it true that your species have two hearts?"
"Yes, Sir," she said simply.
"Fascinating. Good luck with human anatomy."
"Thank you, Sir," she said with a genuine smile, for the first time showing her fangs. This alarmed both men.
"Well, have a good day, Lieutenant, Cadet. Welcome to Starfleet Academy," he said honestly before walking away.
"He seemed friendly," Meris said once the Captain was gone.
"More than he was with the new recruits," Bones said, raising his eyebrows for a second.
"Yes, well, I'm not exactly new. I only have to take three classes before I graduate."
"Really? Damn! I'm almost done with a year of required classes. Why do you get to skip ahead?"
"It was a part of the terms under which I was commissioned."
"Why were you commissioned?" he asked with a frown.
"I'm the first Tavelisian in Starfleet," she said simply.
"And you're a surgeon?" he asked, not seeing the continuity between the two.
"Yes," she said as though it was obvious.
"Why?"
"I've always had a passion for helping people. I was thrown into surgery on a trip out to the Caves of Nareithalen with my brother when an icicle fell from the ceiling and pierced one of my brothers' wrists. I removed the pebbles from his wrist and stitched his hand back together."
McCoy winced. "I just liked anatomy. Medical just made sense after college."
"What is 'college'?"
"Post-secondary education?" She shook her head. "University?"
"Oh."
"How do your people learn?"
"We have community schools. Most start by age twelve. I started four years early."
"Why?"
"The incident with my brother, actually. The Council thought I showed initiative and let me begin early."
"How early can you start?"
"Ten, normally."
"Why so late?"
"We mature later."
"So you have puberty at twenty?"
"Eighteen, but you get the idea," she said with a nod.
"Okay...and what about that necklace? That mean something?"
Meris touched her hand to her choker. The white crystals formed a single row that wrapped around her neck only once. "It's a Jivalna vine, one of the fourteen varieties of fruit that grows on Tavelis. My brother made this for me when I finished school."
"He made it?"
"Yes. He carved it out of ice and coated it with Lersvanya."
Bones frowned in confusion.
"It's a chemical that prevents ice from freeing at up to 212° F," she explained briefly.
"How have I not heard of this before?"
"We won't sell it."
"Why not?"
"My planet is already one of the wealthiest. We have no need to. Plus, our source isn't very large."
"How do you make it?"
"Maliut fruit juice and three naturally occurring chemicals. All of our cities are built out of ice, then coated with it. It allows the vines between the buildings to grow."
"You have whole cities built out of ice?"
"Yes. They stretch up over half a mile into the sky at the Capital."
"How does it not collapse?"
"Our buildings are made very differently from yours."
