A/N: Thank you for all the Reviews. Seriously appreciate it. I will admit this little fic is outside my comfort zone. Had you hated it, I would have killed it faster than a red-shirted-nameless-ensign.

My first concern is I don't want this to be too cracky (a little crack is acceptable, I mean let's face it; even canon has some pretty wacked-out moments… Hippies in Space…)

Secondly, the fact that I broke my own rules and wrote in an OC (I seriously hate those, usually) has made me cringe a bit. So if you don't like him, tell me. If you do, tell me WHY.

I have attacked this mainly from Peter's viewpoint, but would you like to see Soral's more?

My last concern: not a ton of action. I admit that. That being said, I am also very good at incorporating random-out-of-blue danger. This is Star Trek. It is easy to do… "Oh look! Is that a Klingon? BANG!"

So what do you think? More action? Less action? Character Study? More Sarek/Amanda Flirting? Less? What do you like? I seriously want to know.

Thanks again!

"Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. IDIC is the basis of Vulcan philosophy, celebrating the vast array of variables in the universe. In the Vulcan language, the term for IDIC is Kolut-Shan."

Peter paused and looked a question at Soral.

"Kol-Ut-Shan" he corrected.

"Kol-Ut-Shan, Got it. Speaking of Infinite Combinations; I'm craving a Pizza. You want one? I could order you an all-veggie."

"The replicator should provide you with ample sustenance while we continue our research."

"But where's the fun in that?"

The comm. signal interrupted before Soral could respond.

"It's Spock, you want me to introduce you?"

Soral seemed... uncomfortable... by that idea. Peter logged that information away for later analysis… Analysis? Goodness, he was starting to think like a Vulcan!

"Hey Spock," Peter grinned.

"Greetings Peter. I trust sufficient time has past for you to have read the data I sent you."

"Yep, just going over it with Soral here. Soral, Come here and say "hi" to Spock."

Spock's lips twitched suspiciously as he watched young Peter leave the monitor and start whispering loudly at his companion. "Come on! He doesn't bite. Don't be shy."

"Vulcans do not experience bashfulness," he heard a voice reply.

Spock folded his hands and waited. He was curious if Jim's unique ability to get his way was hereditary...

Soral appeared on the screen, looking somewhat displeased.

...Apparently it was.

"Greetings," Spock began formally in Vulcan. Soral responded in kind.

Peter listened to the two rattle off complex Vulcan phrases at break neck speed. He was only catching bits and pieces of what they said. But logically -Sheesh "logically?" any minute now his ears would start forming little points—it made sense that they would be discussing what the two had researched so far.

He caught the word Kol-Ut-Shan and could tell Spock had posed a question by the slight tilt of his head.

"Ha" Peter responded matter-of-factly. Two sets of Vulcan eyebrows went up.

"What?" Peter said shrugging, "Uncle Jim's been teaching me some words. None of which would really help in this conversation, but if I ever see a cute little Vulcan chick… Look out!"

Spock made a mental note to talk with his Captain about the foolhardiness of teaching a young hormonal teenager anything related to… that subject. In Vulcan or otherwise.

"And Bones has been teaching me some stuff to. Those words probably shouldn't ever be repeated in mixed company, though."

Spock decided then and there that he would do a systems-wide analysis of the computer files to ascertain just how McCoy had learned those phrases.

An alarm sounded in the background.

"Fire drill," Peter groaned, "Sorry, will have to continue this later. I'll send you our rough draft tomorrow. Rom-halan"

Spock ended the transmission with a frown. Despite Peter Kirk's mischievousness reasons for learning Vulcan (another familial trait)… he had pronounced the phrases accurately. More accurately than most Human's could.

"Fire drills are a useless waste of time," Peter grumbled as he made his way out of the building.

"It does seem illogical to continuously require students to take a route which has only a 31.45% probability of actually being taken in the event of an emergency."

"You know… 67.83% of Statistics are made up."

Soral stared at him for a long time before finally raising an eyebrow and saying, "I believe the number is 68.83%"

Peter literally stumbled over a crack in the sidewalk. His mouth hung open for a full minute before he finally threw his head back and roared with laughter.

"That's going in our speech!"

To: The Lady Amanda,

The items of use you sent have been utilized to our advantage. (Sorry I'm still getting the hang of this High-Vulcan stuff. I'm sure that sentence is wrong somehow. What I mean to say is: Thanks for the care package. Soral ate all of the Plomeek soup so I didn't get to try much, but the sip I had was pretty good. I really liked the biscuit things.) Your concern honors us.

Our Study Project is proceeding on schedule. Soral and I have been delving into the Enterprise Mission Logs in order to illustrate our hypothesis that we have incorporated into the presentation. (Goodness, this is exhausting. Vulcan sure is a wordy language isn't it?) We have encountered some difficulty as the Enterprise Mission Logs are often classified at a level beyond ours. Captain Kirk enabled us to achieve a Level 2 Security Clearance. This should accelerate our research greatly.

Your communications have been a great asset to us. If both you and the Ambassador Sarek are amenable, we should like to quote you directly in our speech. (Oh, Soral just looked over my shoulder and told me I worded that all wrong. I'd change it, but this part literally took me an entire hour to write. So this is what you get.)

Your assistance has been prized. (Soral just shook his head. Oops. How come there isn't a simple phrase for "Thanks we appreciate it"?)

From: Peter Kirk son of George Kirk of Earth

(P.S. That makes me sound important doesn't it? I kinda like this language. Although if the look on Soral's face is any indication, I apparently massacred this letter. Sorry!)

Sarek's meditation was interrupted by the highly emotional racket coming from his wife. "Giggling" was the term generally used for that sort of noise. It was not an unpleasant sound in itself, but he did not appreciate his meditation being disturbed by it.

He arose and found her reading the letter from Peter Kirk. She handed it to him as she wiped a tear from her eye.

After examining the contents, he could see why a Human might find it an amusing communication. Peter Kirk had used some rather… unique… wording in some places. The Earth Standard that was dispersed unevenly throughout added to the peculiarity of the correspondence.

"Peter Kirk shows a remarkable ability to pick up the essence of the Vulcan language, although his vocabulary is deficient," Sarek finally said.

"It reminds me of your first love letter to me," Amanda snickered with a twinkle in her eye.

"I do not recall ever having written a "love letter" as you word it. I had merely sought to make clear my intentions towards you. As we were a considerable distance apart, and were both distracted by our duties at the time, it seemed only logical to communicate through writing."

"Oh so that was the reason. Well, as I recall, you had some difficulty with the Earth Standard wording."

"Perhaps your memory of the event is somewhat unclear."

"Perhaps," Amanda smirked as she made her way towards their room, "Why don't we read it? I still have it, you know."

Sarek frowned. Only a Human would keep something so trivial. Judging by the unseemly laugh that drifted out from the bedroom, the Lady Amanda hadn't kept it only for sentimental reasons.

To: Peter Kirk Student Number: 8765592; Soral of Vulcan Student Number: 9982374
From: Security Clearance Administration, Starfleet Command
Re: Level 3 Clearance.

At the request of Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan, you have been granted Level 3 Security Clearance for all Mission Logs connected with the USS Enterprise, furthermore you have been granted full access to the Vulcan Historical Database for the purpose of Academic Research.

Be aware that the information you uncover is classified and can not be shared with any third party without first writing to-

"Blah Blah Blah they basically don't want us selling this stuff to the Romulans, but seriously! Can you believe it? We got access to some pretty Top Level stuff!"

Soral had to acknowledge that the unexpected authorization would be of benefit to their project.

Peter's smile faded for a moment, "I guess that means I need to send a communiqué to the Ambassador to… acknowledge that we are utilizing his endorsement. Did I say that right?"

Soral nodded then added, "It is not obligatory to send a communication to the Ambassador… however, it would be morally praiseworthy."

"In other words, it'd be nice."

Soral considered that before finally agreeing.

"Well you write it. I've made a fool of myself in front of the Ambassador one-too-many times!"

Kirk read over the list of questions that he had been sent. When he had agreed to fill out a questionnaire for his nephew's Research Project, he hadn't imagined that the questions would be quite so… difficult.

#1 Why did you first befriend Spock?

That was a topic meant for a 6 volume novel! Kirk rubbed his forehead and groaned. There were 20 Questions and he was already stumped by the very first one.

He was not surprised, moments later, to see a puzzled-looking Spock enter his quarters with a similar list.

"Maybe we oughtta answer each other's instead," Kirk said wryly.

"An interesting suggestion, Captain, how would you explain the reasons for me befriending you?"

"Because I'm so charming."

Spock gave him a you-are-so-high-on-yourself look before saying, "Aside from the obvious difficulty of explaining why I never thought of befriending you -because Vulcan's do not seek out such relationships; I then have to explain why I did befriend you… despite the illogic and paradoxal nature of that attachment."

"I don't suppose we could just write "I don't know" as an answer?"

"Hardly an in-depth analysis, Captain."

Kirk sighed, "Okay… why did I first befriend you? Well… for one thing, everybody talked about you as "the Vulcan" and "the Scientist" but I wanted to know you. Who is Spock? I can't really think of one specific reason I wanted to get to know you, but I just did. Maybe subconsciously I knew you would be good for me. You were someone I could trust implicitly. Or maybe it was because you were as alone as I was."

Spock steepled his fingers and pondered the weight of what Kirk said. It was a difficult concept to even comprehend, much less put into well chosen words to be used in a Senior Project that would be broadcast to Vulcan.

Something from long ago, a quotation from an Ancient Earth writer, worked its way into his thoughts. Without a word Spock wrote in the answer for each of them:

I can say no more than because he was he, and I was I. ~Michel de Montaigne

Peter couldn't help but feel an incredible sense of… pride… as he watched the recording of Spock testifying his very firm belief in Captain Kirk's innocence.

"Human beings have characteristics, just as inanimate objects do. It is impossible for Captain Kirk to have acted out of malice. It is not his nature."

As the events unfolded he was awestruck by the loyalty the entire crew showed.

"Mechanically, the computer is flawless. Therefore, logically, its report of the Captain's guilt is infallible. I could not accept that, however."

Soral had actually seemed surprised at that revelation. The fact that Spock basically disregarded logic because *something* told him that Kirk was innocent. ("His heart" Peter later wrote, which erupted into an hour long debate about figurative hearts vs. physical ones 'til they both agreed to differ) Whatever the cause, it didn't change the fact that Spock had essentially tossed logic out the air-lock in favor of Kirk.

Peter picked up his data-pad which was now brimming with information that he'd probably never sort out in his mind. It was one thing to watch a Vulcan and Human interact well together; it was another to do it yourself. Despite that fact that he was definitely starting to understand his roommate (or at least was getting pretty good at knowing which buttons he could push to annoy him or get his way) there definitely wasn't anything remotely like "friendship."

This whole report was going to be an absolute failure. He could handle a lousy grade, but the fact that all of Vulcan would be watching him squirm wasn't much comfort.

He glanced up at the monitor where Soral had pulled up the next Mission Log. Deneva.

"Hey uh…" he stammered, "I uh… am gonna go get some fresh air. You can go ahead and watch that without me… I already know what happened."

Soral gave him a slightly puzzled expression. Then said, "As you wish."

Peter left the room hurriedly. It wasn't so much that he couldn't watch all that again. He hadn't had a nightmare about the place in quite some time, and according to the Psych tests (not to mention his own self-diagnosis) he had effectively "moved on" from the trauma. It was just… he didn't want to share such a personal time with someone… well with someone like Soral. Deneva was something you shared with someone you were close to. Someone who would understand and sympathize and not ask endless questions.

Peter kicked a rock out of his way. Stupid really. He was a Kirk! He ought to just sit and watch the thing with a stiff upper lip and prove that he wasn't some sniveling-emotional-wreck of a Human. He could answer Soral's endless string of questions without blinking. It wasn't like he would be the first Vulcan who ever got him to talk about it…

In the end, though, Peter simply texted Samantha. She quickly responded with an invitation to go out to a movie. He didn't have to think twice…

Peter snuck through the hallway. He knew he had been out past curfew.

Reason #38 on his "Top 100 Reasons my Roommate Drives me Berserk" List:
Even if nobody else sees you sneaking in past curfew, he will STILL mention it and WILL report it. No use trying to convince him otherwise.

Peter was surprised to enter a completely darkened room. Normally Soral would still be up studying. He shuffled his way blindly forward, hoping he didn't step on something important, before he finally flopped on the bed.

"Peter?" Soral's voice whispered.

His eyes snapped open. He had never heard Soral use his first name like that. (Despite the fact that he had asked him to do so a million times)

"Yeah?"

"I grieve with thee."

Peter swallowed hard, "…Thank You."

"I don't know what the big deal is," McCoy said as he took a swig of coffee, "I answered all of Pete's questions in about 20 minutes flat."

"We were endeavoring to be accurate in our answers, Doctor," Spock intoned heavily.

"Perhaps you could share your words-of-wisdom with us, Bones, since you are the expert," Kirk grinned.

The three were taking a leisurely breakfast in the Mess Hall before the next Cargo Run (although "cargo put-put-in-granny-gear" was a better description of what they'd be doing)

"I don't mind sharing my insights," Bones said casually. He pulled out a data-pad and began punching angrily at it until Spock carefully took it from him and accessed the correct file:

#1 Why did you befriend Spock?

What makes you think we're friends?

#2 Why did you befriend Kirk?

Would you REALLY want him as an enemy?

#3 What qualities do you see present when Spock and Kirk work as a team?

They're both accident-prone danger-magnets.

#4 If you knew a Human who was planning on moving to Vulcan, what advice would you give him?

Don't.

If that didn't work, I'd say: Bring lots of sunblock, a bottle of Jack Daniels, and a big ol' crate of chocolate.

Kirk choked on his coffee, and began to giggle to the point that crewmen on the other side of the room were turning to stare. Even Spock looked *slightly* amused.

"Poor Peter!"

Peter and Soral hadn't mentioned the events of the previous night. When Peter accessed the Mission Logs he saw that every detail of the Deneva Incident had been thoroughly gone over, but everything had been closed so that he wouldn't have to read through it.

They continued on to the next set of Missions without another word on the matter. He was grateful that he hadn't been asked a lot of questions.

Truthfully, Soral had seriously surprised him that night. He'd learned enough about Vulcan culture to know what that phrase meant. It wasn't something you said lightly like "Sorry" or "Pity" it went much deeper…

Maybe… he'd misjudged them both. He had been doing exactly what Soral had said all those weeks ago… he'd been basing his analysis of friendship on a Human schema.

Peter defined a "friend" as someone who would go places and do things with you. Someone who liked the same stuff you liked, and would help you out when you needed it. That was a Human ideal. He had never really asked what the Vulcan one was.

Course, that wasn't an easy question. He had already figured out that the initial response was, "Vulcans do not seek friendship." But even in that sentence he had missed something critical. "Do not seek" not "Do not have." There was an answer there. He just had to ask the right question…

"Soral… if you were given the ability to create a being who would be your companion for life… I mean someone who'd travel with you, or study with you, or do whatever it is you'd like to do… What sort of qualities would you create? What kind of personality would you make?"

"You mean if I had the ability to create a "friend" for myself?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"I have no desire or need for one."

"That's not my question. I asked if you could create one, and you were going to, what would that person be like?"

Soral closed his eyes (the Vulcan version of "hang-on-I'm-thinking")

"Loyalty. Trust. That person would logically need to have efficiencies that counterbalance my deficiencies."

"Woah hold it! You admit you have deficiencies?"

"All species and individuals do."

"What are yours?"

"… I… have difficulty understanding Humans… but in this regard you have helped me tremendously."

"I have?"

"Yes."

"Oh…So… do you trust me then? I mean to a point."

"… I would not trust you to arrive back here before curfew…"

Knew he'd bring that up. #39 He never forgets ANYTHING

"However… you have also shown by your actions and attitude that you have… higher standards… than I had initially anticipated… you have never given me any reason to not trust you."

Oh…

"And… do you consider me to be… a loyal guy?"

"… Affirmative. Your Starfleet record indicates you have strong moral principles that you are dedicated to."

"So what you're saying is… I have qualities that counterbalance your deficiencies, you trust me, and you know I am loyal. By your own definition then… I am… your friend."

A very long pause followed before Soral finally said, "I wouldn't put it in quite those terms… but your conclusions are essentially… correct."

"I think… we're finally… on to something here."

Nerd Note: Vulcan words are from the net. Argue with those peoples if you dislike em. I admit "Ha" seems a weird way to say yes. Closest thing to hearing a Vulcan laugh though... Hmmmmmm...