Chapter 12 – Beginning of the Trek

Yawning, Tara wandered through the corridors to her room. She gotten back from the party in the early hours of the morning and had slept in a friends' room. They'd talked for almost two hours about anything and everything before sleeping until the sun rose.

Now she just really wanted to get back to her room for a shower. Hopefully Zia had had an uneventful night. Tara unlocked the door and opened it, only to shut it and lean against the wall in shock.

Uneventful indeed! What she saw was her roommate lying in bed with Professor Spock's arms around her! Thankfully the two had been clothed, so she hoped a certain event hadn't happened that night. Oh man, she should just go get some breakfast and leave them alone.

How had that even happened?

o.O.o

Zia woke slowly from the best sleep she'd had in ages. Mmm, she was so warm and comfy… Did she get new blankets? She didn't remember getting new blankets. But she must have. Smiling, she snuggled in further, and the blanket stroked the back of her hand.

Her eyes flew open. That was no blanket… it was Spock.

"Good morning," he murmured.

She leapt onto the other side of the bed and pulled the sheets up to her neck. "Wh-wha- what's going on? How did you get here? What happened?" Her PROFESSOR was in her BED.

"I apologise for this position." His voice lost its gentleness and took a cold edge. "You experienced an episode last night, and when I came to calm you, you refused to let me leave."

"Oh." She could only stare as he cast the blankets aside and stood. She'd never seen his manner that rigid. "Um, th-thanks."

"You are welcome." He took one step away and her hand acted of its own accord, grabbing his before he had a chance to go further. "Miss Abbott-"

"Professor, it's okay." She put everything she was feeling into her voice. "I'm sorry, I was just surprised." His eyes met hers and words escaped her. Those soft brown orbs didn't belong to an emotionless Vulcan. Everything seemed to swirl in their depths, anger, sadness, hope, happiness, love. Wait, love?

He smiled for the first time, and she couldn't help but think how beautiful it made him look.

"Zia…" It was the first time he'd ever spoken her name and she felt struck dumb. An invisible force seemed to pull them together and she stretched upwards while he leant down… Was this happening? Was this really-

BANG!

They jumped apart and looked at the door. A male voice cursed. Undoubtedly some boy trying to sneak out of the female dorms before he got caught.

"I, um…" Zia flushed.

"I must go." His mask descended, and he pulled his hand free.

"Do you, um…" She was being stupid. He wouldn't want to have breakfast with her, no way. "Never mind." His mask softened.

"This does not change my desire to help you, Zia." Oh god how her heart raced when he said her name. "I will see you Monday night at seven o'clock."

And then he was gone. The door hissed shut and Zia's breath came in short pants. She pressed her hands against his chest and all she could feel was his touch. All she could smell was him. Did he like her that way? Did she even like him that way?

Yes. Oh, god yes, she did.

The door opened again, and Tara came inside. "Okay, spill! What happened with the professor?"

Once the door shut, Zia put her head in her hands. "I don't know! I went to sleep alone and when I woke up he was there! He said he came to help me and I wouldn't let him leave and I don't remember, and I don't know what's going on, but I think we nearly kissed and oh my god aren't professors not allowed to have relationships with students and-"

"Zia!" Tara grabbed her shoulders. "Calm down. If you guys didn't do the deed, then you're fine. It was perfectly innocent."

Zia took a few deep breaths to compose herself. "I'm sorry. I just… he's my professor. I shouldn't have let him stay last night, no matter how much I like him."

"You like him?" Tara gaped.

"No, wait, I mean-"

"Zia, you could do way worse, trust me. Professor Spock really cares for you and you guys would be so cute together!"

The Vulcan shifted uncomfortably. If he did care, then what did that mean?

o.O.o

"Cadet Abbott!"

Zia glanced around and saw a redshirt running toward her.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Commander Spock requests for you to come to Hanger 1," the redshirt panted.

"Lead the way," she replied. She sent an apologetic look to Tara and raced after the redshirt, crossing the entire campus to Starfleet Headquarters. Hangar 1 was the biggest of them all and bustled with activity. Zia spotted Spock talking with Uhura and thanked the redshirt before heading over, dodging between countless shuttles and groups of cadets. She smiled at Uhura and looked questioningly at Spock.

"We intercepted a distress signal from Vulcan," he told her. "I am First Officer aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise and will be leaving to assist. As a fellow Vulcan, you are within your right to accompany us and I request that you do so."

"Okay," she nodded. "Where do I go?"

"Follow me." He led her to a shuttle a short distance away and nodded to the officer standing outside. "Sit here," he told her. She sat where he instructed and watched as other cadets boarded the shuttle. To her surprise, Uhura entered.

"What are you doing here?" Uhura asked as she sat beside her.

"Uh, Vulcan's in danger and I'm within my right to assist?"

"Ah, right. So, you're probably the only first-year here. The rest of us are third- and fourth-years. Just stick with me."

"Thank you!"

The last of the cadets boarded and the shuttle took off. Zia panicked for a moment. This was her first time in space, and she hadn't told Tara or her parents that she was going. Oh no, Tara! She was probably flipping out right now! All thoughts were pushed from her mind when she saw the Starships. There were seven of them docked at a space station, shuttles flying to each of them. The Newton, Odyssey, Farragut, Wolcott, Endeavour, Antares, and Enterprise were the seven Starships that would travel to Vulcan. It was a magnificent sight. She took a second to realise the importance of the mission. Now she wasn't an individual struggling to overcome emotional scarring, she was part of a team that was going to travel to Vulcan. Her presence there was complete and utter luck. If she was like any other cadet, then she wouldn't be here right now. She'd be eating breakfast and talking about plans for the spring holidays. They'd just started, she remembered. Her parents were expecting a call tonight, only they wouldn't get one.

Their shuttle docked on the Enterprise and they unclipped their seatbelts. "Come with me," Uhura whispered.

"Who's the Captain?" Zia asked, as they joined the throng heading through the Shuttle Bay.

"Captain Pike," Uhura explained. "Come on, we need to change."

Uhura led her through Engineering and to the women's locker room, right near the Bridge. Inside there were uniforms of different colours and sizes, and countless other women changing into these Starship uniforms. Uhura grabbed a red uniform and handed Zia a blue one. After a quick glance around the room, Zia panicked as she saw that there were no change rooms. This was going to be embarrassing. She took a deep breath and pulled off her cadet uniform, displaying the scars that peppered her torso for all to see. The stares burned into her as she pulled on the short-sleeved blue shirt and skirt, pushed her hair behind her ears and left her Academy-issued boots on.

Once they were both ready, Uhura went onto the Bridge with Zia in tow. "Sit here," she whispered. "This is the subspace anomaly console."

Zia sat. "How do you know?"

"I studied the blueprints for this ship," Uhura grinned. "It's been my dream to serve aboard the Enterprise for ages." She sat to Zia's left at the console beside her and examined its contents. Reasoning that she should be doing the same, Zia glanced over the information on the console, seeing it to be a map of the Vulcan system. So, this was the planet where her biological parents had grown up on. It was very orange and dusty-looking, just like Utah.

The turbolift opened and Spock came towards her, dressed in a new blue uniform. He met her eyes briefly and sat at the console on her other side. She understood. If Vulcan was in danger, then he would be worried. His parents were there after all. Now was no time to question about his feelings.

"Mister Spock," Captain Pike said.

Spock glanced at his console. "Captain, engineering reports ready for launch."

"Thank you," Captain Pike said, heading for his chair. "Ladies and gentlemen, the maiden voyage of our newest flagship deserves more pomp and circumstance than we can afford today, but her christening will just have to be our reward for a safe return. Carry on." He sat down in the command chair and pressed his intercom. "All decks, this is Captain Pike. Prepare for immediate departure."

As everyone prepared for Warp, Zia leant to Spock. "Thanks for letting me come," she whispered.

"It is no problem," he said, all business-like. "I could not allow you to remain at the Academy when your home-planet is in danger." He frowned. "Why are we not at Warp?" He spun in his chair and listened to Captain Pike talk to the helmsman.

"Is the parking brake on?" the Captain asked in amusement.

Hikaru Sulu, the helmsman, half-laughed, "Uh, no… I'll figure it out, just uh…"

Spock interrupted. "Have you disengaged the external inertial dampener?"

There was a pause and then Sulu pressed a few buttons. Zia hadn't known that Spock knew a thing or two about ships. Well, he did teach engineering classes, so of course he was knowledgeable about ships to some extent. She believed he bordered on genius by human standards.

"Ready for Warp, sir," Sulu said. He had the grace to look embarrassed, but that didn't dampen anyone's excitement.

"Let's punch it," Captain Pike declared. Sulu pushed down the lever, and the U.S.S. Enterprise jumped into Warp.