She didn't remember the dream she'd been having before the device on her wrist started vibrating. It had't seemed pleasent, but didn't leave her with the bone chilling damp of a nightmare. It was probably a memory from her life before Vulcan. Angela pressed her snooze button and blinked her eyes open, stretching slowly to get a few knots out of her shoulders. It had only taken two weeks rooming together before she and Jessica agreed on silent alarms over standard clocks. Like Vulcans she needed less sleep than most humans, Jessica was a normal human in late stages of adolescence and required the extra sleep.
It was her day off of classes, but she had a full docket anyway. She'd decided to stay in the introductory class with Gaila, not wanting to leave her first real friend in memory, but to keep her mind busy she had a once a week internship at the physics labs helping researchers three hours a day. It was boring a lot of the time, but she got to read everything she wanted and was securing some great opportunities if she wanted to become a teachers aide or a tutor in her fourth year. Ideally it would also render some great opportunities for her career in engineering or the sciences. Either way she wanted out into the universe.
Amanda insisted it was because she followed Spock, in reality her reasons went deeper than that. Angela herself did not fully understand, but it felt right and she had never questioned her instincts since that day Spock pulled her out of stasis. The keycard for her internship allowed her early access to the dining facilities, as the 24 hour shoppe was hardly an alternative for anything resembling food, and thankfully there was one or two replicators running that early for just those reasons. It was mostly other interns in the cafeteria this early, most professors had their own kitchens to cook in. They only knew her by sight, the gawky girl to young for her roles and successes. Her golden skin to oddly matched with her blue hair to be considered the Earthly standard of beautiful.
Angela was happy enough to grab her fruit smoothie, jelly pastry, and be on her way. She couldn't stay late today since Spock was back from his first assignment and she was going to meet him at the spaceport. It would be exciting to spend the whole afternoon with him again, not over subspace communications or written messages. They could talk about classes, he could meet Gaila, they could visit on weekends, and more over he'd just be there. No matter how illogical to think about things she couldn't change, she had missed her brother during their years apart while he was off getting awards and proving to everyone how awesome he was.
Spock wasn't twenty-five yet, though he would be soon, and already held the rank of Lieutenant Commander. No doubt he got his promotions doing something foolish Amanda would have skinned him for back home. Naturally, Spock would give her the glossy versions and keep all of his companions from allowing her access to the official reports. Then again, life wasn't fair. Angela swiped into her lab and quickly got to work on programming the three dimensional codes for the professor's designs. The stack of programming models was half way done when her communicator went off.
"Angela," she greeted, balancing the device against her shoulder while she typed.
"Hey, you free?" Gaila asked. "My plans fell through and I feel like doing something other than studying for an afternoon."
"Well, I'm going to meet my brother when his ship lands," Angela said, "We were just going to hang out at his place…"
"Ok, if you two end in time for dinner…" Gaila cut it.
"I want the two of you to meet anyway," Angela interrupted. "Save me the trouble of dragging him out and come with me."
"Meet him or meet him? Is your brother cute?" Gaila asked, her voice getting flirty.
"He's Vulcan remember, good luck with that one," Angela said, "Can I message you the information? I'm in the middle of coding models."
"Right, you're internship. Sorry. Message me and I'll swing by and meet you after lunch, see you after class." Gaila ended the call and Angela quickly sent her Spock's shuttle information so she could get any clearance she needed for the arrivals deck. Then it was back to coding in models so that when Makoss had to do meeting or project updates they were right at his finger tips. He was still pretty cool, some of the other interns had professors that made them get coffee and attended events they weren't supposed to and act as their assistances. Makoss didn't really care how and when she worked, as long as she got it done and ate lunch with him once a week for a status update. Yeah, she could have done worse.
Promptly at noon Makoss entered the computer lab after his morning lectures. "Angela, always working every time I'm in here. Shouldn't you be taking advantage of your youth and irresponsibly surf the internet during work hours?" Angela laughed. "You're done for the day, finish that code and let's get started. I know your brother's shuttle lands today so I brought take away."
"Thank you," Angela said, finishing up the code quickly for the new engine components. She couldn't wait until the components were more than three dimensional models so she could play with them. "What did you get?"
"I got Cha Gio, Bun Ga Nuong, and Mi Xao Don. Chop sticks or fork?" He unloaded the food on his desk, far away from technical equipment, and put out the go cups of tea.
"Sticks," Angela replied, packing up her supplies and typing up her weekly report with the other hand. "Do you know when the approval will come through for testing models on these designs?"
"Research presentations are in a few weeks," Makoss explained, "If we get approved they should be completed and ready for lab tests by the winter break. Do you know if you're going home?"
Angela shook her head. "The Ambassador doesn't have his schedule that far out yet. Spock and I will make plans closer to November if we're going to travel back."
"I'm sorry, I remember you saying there was some family tension," Makoss said, "Take you tea and pretend I did not just put my foot in my mouth." He handed her a cup and she smelled the steaming beverage. "What are your plans for the weekend?"
"Mostly just hanging out with Spock," Angela said, "I have a research project due in a few weeks I'm going to work ahead on. Hopefully clear up some more time when these will get approved. My professor said he'll consider me to sit on the panels as long as I'm far enough ahead in my work and there's a lot of competition."
"I would say so," he said, chewing around his noodles. "You haven't mentioned much sight seeing since you've arrived on Earth. Spock will have to take you around, we have a lot of historical sites in the city you would be interested in."
"I've been busy with school, maybe after midterms we'll go out," she reached the end of her notes and sent them off. "There's my write up for this week, so far we're right on schedule and barring a massive server fail all digital models should be ready for the pattern makers after funding presentations."
"This is good work Angela," Makoss said, Angela shrugged, "No, really. This is good, not for a fourteen year old but the work itself." Angela looked at the older man, it was the first time he had spoken to her like this. "I know there are people who hold back on their praise, because of your age, but you're good at what you do and you have a talent for engines. One day some lucky officer is going to snatch you up and you'll be the one designing engines that'll put these to shame."
"Someday," Angela replied, looking at the clock and noticing the time. "Mm, professor, my friend is going to meet me so we can go get Spock from port, we're gong to need to leave to get through security."
"I know, it takes a while these days," he replied, pulling up the files on his screen. "I don't see anything wrong with these so get out of here and enjoy your night, hurry and finish you might not get out of there until dinner time."
"We know, there's a shopping trip on the way home for fresh food," Gaila said, walking into the room as punctual as usual. "Angela, introduce us."
"Professor Makoss, meet Gaila from my engineering class, Gaila, Professor Makoss," Angela said. "You want to meet someone who's name you want to know in five years, she'll be in the top ten."
"We'll get to know each other later," Gaila smiled, "Angela's told me good things about you. Now hurry up and finish your tea, I've got a transport for the day and it's waiting outside." Angela complied and quickly made her farewells before climbing into the spacious transport waiting for them. Traffic wasn't bad until they got closer to the port, most crew had families come to pick them up, even if not all of them drive in then it was still a ton of manpower moving through the gates.
"Angela, here to pick up Spock of Vulcan," Angela said, pulling out her credentials and showing them to the guard. He ushered them to the diplomatic lane. Still backed up, but at last not the couple of kilometers the regular line was.
"Naughty," Gaila admonished once the privacy screen was in place again.
"Consolation prize for my race being wiped out," Angela replied. "I was thinking something simple and easy for dinner, maybe do big this weekend. Steamed spicy rice with vegetables?"
"Sounds good," the red head replied, watching the traffic inch past. She pulled a small display out of her pack. "What's Spock's shuttle number again? I imagine he got a pretty good disembark schedule, the middle officers always do."
"He's shuttle 1138," Angela replied, leaning over to look at the display as her friend pulled up the information. "Should have left the hanger an hour ago."
"Looks like he's landing on time but he still has to go through planet-side security," Gaila said, "Professor Wang from aeronautics says it's always a bitch for deep space missions. They have to go through everything."
"So you should mail all of your extracurricular purchases home ahead of time," Angela said, "Let's hope Spock didn't get anything worth declaring."
"Vulcan's are fuddy-duddies, no offense," Gaila laughed. "He'll be waived right on through on account of he wouldn't buy anything out of regulation." Angela laughed and flipped through the commands to pull his disembarking information. "See, he's off the shuttle and being moved right through."
Angela lowered the screen. "Driver, how long until we reach the arrivals?"
"About another five minutes ma'am," he stated, "You should be there with plenty of time to spare."
"Thank you," she replied, smiling before she closed the screen. "What do you think of the finals for engineering? I'm a little surprised he decided to take a practical application rather than theory for an introductory course."
"I'm not," the red head replied, "He's a starship officer at heart…" The conversation continued until the two finally reached the arrivals exit and were able to move from the vehicle and stretch their legs. Hundreds of beings moved around them, greeting loved ones or moving on their own with heavy packs from months or years on the same ship.
"I'm never going to see him in this crowd," Angela despaired, mostly seeing the shirts of taller beings as they milled around.
"Over here," Gaila said, grabbing her hand and pulling the smaller female to a column they could climb on. "Come on, up you get. I don't know exactly what he looks like."
Angela accepted the hand up and rolled her eyes and she settled into place beside her friend. "He's going to be the only Vulcan in StarFleet uniform. How could you not recognize him?"
"He wouldn't have changed to civilian clothing for the trip home?" Gaila asked, she was usually looking for an excuse to ditch the mini skirt/long sleeve jacket look she was being forced to don most of the day.
"Mr. Stickler? I doubt it, he'll consider himself off duty until we get back to his apartment, which of course will be to spacious for a single occupant." Angela laughed at the thought, he only had two boxes of belongings when he left from Vulcan, one of which had been clothing. It was unlikely his collection of objects had expanded much besides his instrumental purchases to replace those still at their ancestral home. "Wait, I think I see him." Sure enough, there was a tall, pointy eared frame walking through the archway separating customs from the main population. "Spock," Angela called, taking off through the crowd of people. "Spock!"
The taller male, anticipating her next action, smoothly set his bag on the ground and caught the girl as she threw her arms around his neck. His companion was surprised at the gesture, but Angela ignored Spock's ranking officer in favor of greeting the man in her arms. Her voice was barely a whisper in his ears, but he could tell the depth of her emotion. "I missed you sa-kai." He lowered her to the ground, but placed his forehead to hers in the traditional familial greeting of her culture, their forearms locked against each other.
"You are looking well ko-kai," Spock greeted in return, turning to the human he had been conversing with. "Commander Lipton, meet Cadet Angela." He was interrupted by a tall, leggy Orion making her own way through the crowd, calling out to Angela. "And you are Cadet Gaila?"
"Commander," she greeted, raising her hand in the traditional Vulcan greeting. "We have a transport waiting to take us to your quarters."
"Well Spock, you told me you had someone waiting for you," Lipton commented, "You didn't mention it was two very beautiful cadets. Ladies."
"Commander," the two greeted in unison. Gaila continued. "It's a pleasure to meet you, did you work with Spock in the Science division?"
"Yes," Lipton replied, "I served at the senior science officer, Spock shares my rank now but I'm under sworn oath not to breath a word of his promotion to you Angela."
"Commander," Spock replied, "You seem to be mistaken, I did not ask you to…"
"It's an expression Spock," the older man smiled, "You said it would worry your sister."
"Now I really don't want to know," Angela replied, "We were going to stop by the grocery on the way, pick up something for dinner while you unpack."
"I will not turn down the opportunity," Spock replied, "Commander Lipton, I will see you at debriefing." The older man nodded and Angela pulled Spock off towards the transport.
"Can you tell me anything of your previous posting?" Gaila asked, "I'm thinking of tracking towards the sciences myself, but the research on a planet or station seems so much more stable than on a starship?"
"It is difficult to compare the two," Spock explained as they loaded his bags, and then themselves, into the hover car. "There are pros and cons of both, stability is scarified for new and fascinating data. Unfortunately the constant influx of information does negate the ability to have long term projects and expansive research."
"Some of the professors here have been working and refining ideas about the fleet for more than twenty years," Angela commented, "Makoss has single-handedly headed all the research projects updating and securing our warp cores, safety measures have gone up because of his lab work."
"It is much easier to fake a core emergency in the lab than in the field," Spock commented dryly, "It is easier to evacuate a building than a star ship, the threat to life is much less when the exterior will bot boil blood in most bipedal creatures venous systems." Gaila laughed, not used to the literal formality of Vulcan speech.
"He means it seriously but we can discuss Spock's lack of humor later," Angela interjected. "Spock, what do you want for dinner, we're going to the World's Market on the way home."
"We were thinking vegetables with spicy rice," Gaila said, "Simple, quick, and filling?"
"An agreeable suggestion," Spock replied, "Does the driver have the correct destinations?" Angela nodded and the rest of the trip passed quickly. Spock directed each of the girls to get separate things for dinner while he picked up more substantial things to last him through the week until he could truly settle in.
"What a sight we must make," Gaila commented in the checkout line when she saw the looks they were getting. Spock raised an eyebrow. "A green girl with red hair, a gold girl with blue hair, and a Vulcan, all in Starfleet uniform. I feel like we're a walking punch line."
"Woldn't we need to be entering an establishment the traditionally serves overpriced alcohol instead of a food vendor?" Spock asked.
"True," Angela commented, double checking her ingredient list versus what was in the basket. "We've got everything we need right? I don't want anything interrupting us later, tonight's about good food and company."
"Nerts to that," Gaila said, also looking through the basket, a man behind them ogled her legs and short skirt.
"Do those legs go all the way up?" He asked, making a crude gesture towards the younger woman. Angela looked insulted and Gaila rolled her eyes.
"Are you aware sir," Spock commented to the human. "There are places in the universe where it is considered rude to talk about the physical attributes of another beings female companion?" Said female companions looked at the older male in shock. "I would suggest you find another line or I will report you to store security." The man nodded curtly and backed away to find himself somewhere else to stand.
"You watched those old vids I sent you?" Angela asked.
"The plot was stimulating and it's historical accuracy lent to a fictional yet appropriate study of the time," Spock replied, "I adjusted the quotation so it was more applicable to the situation at hand." He pulled out his credit chip. "Scan that so we may be on our way, it would be prudent to avoid the evening traffic." WIth that they quickly boxed up their purchases and loaded them in the trunk with Spock's luggage. Their driver took them to the Starfleet Officers Quarters and helped them bring their purchases to Spock's new apartment, his things from storage were already waiting for him.
Gaila whistled appreciatively. "Is this what all officers get? I have to accelerate my study plan."
"I will be planet side for at least the next four years, I have accepted research and teaching positions at the academy effective next semester," Spock said, "These type of billets are reserved for such stays."
"So we can visit whenever we want to?" Angela asked, pulling out the new tin of tea and locating the appropriate storage container for the kettle. "Fantastic, I can tell you all about the research internship I got."
"It's all she ever talks about," Gaila said, "She loves all the new shiny."
"Hey Spock, you focused in Computer Sciences, maybe the two of you would like to discuss programming…" With that Angela was blissfully out of the conversation for a few seconds while Gaila took over and she could just appreciate Spock being there and listening to him ramble about his work. Unpacking all of the food took almost no time and she moved on to pulling the opaque transport covers off furniture. She paused when she came to the one resting in the corner of the living area.
"Spock," Angela interrupted, pulling the cover off a beautiful piano, "Play for me. Please, I'll get everything for tea." There had been little Spock could have denied her in the first place, such a small request was easily agreed to. Gailia watched, surprised as Spock quickly wrapped up their conversation and took his place on the bench. His fingers moved gracefully over the keys, playing Angela's favorite song as she brewed the tea and set out three cups for them on the table.
"I would never have guessed he studied music," Gaila said, "It seems far to emotional."
"The mathematical properties of harmonious notes is a fascinating study," Spock replied from the bench, never missing a note. "Each exact note must be precisely delivered for the preceding and following notes to match it in a logical progression."
"It's one of the things the whole family could agree on was our enjoyment," Angela said, "Amanda insisted we both learn to play piano and Sarek had us learn the Vulcan lute in addition, though Spock plays a mean guitar if I say so myself."
"A musical instrument is an inanimate object, it cannot have a personality or emotions of any kind," Spock replied.
"The tea's ready," Angela said blandly, rolling her eyes to Gaila and handing a cup to the guest.
"That was well played Spock," she said, sipping the spiced beverage. He gave no acknowledgement of the comment, but replied with a question on her experiences in computer sciences. The rest of the evening passed in pleasant conversation and good food. Angela was so happy when Spock showed them to the door it almost felt like she was floating above the ground rather than walking on it.
"I will contact you about this weekend," Spock said, the warm glow from the living room framing his taller stature as he bid a good night to the two cadets. "We will see each other."
Angela threw her arms around him again and held him close. "I'm so happy you're back," she said before letting him go and stepping away to join Gaila.
"Thank you for an enjoyable evening Commander," she said, lifting her hand in the Vulcan salute. "Live long and prosper."
"Peace and long life cadet," he replied, returning the farewell.
Gaila slung her arm around Angela's shoulders. "And don't fret, I'll get this little one home safe and sound for you." Spock nodded his head and the door closed behind him, the two cadets practically skipping down the hall with leftover energy. "And I thought I'd be bored hanging out with the fuddy duddy all evening."
"I'm so glad you like him," Angela glowed, dodging past several faculty. "I was worried the two of you wouldn't get along."
"Get along, I'm going to steal him every chance I get," Gaila said excitedly. "Ugh, I can't wait to show him some of my ideas and get feedback. Is that against regulations?"
"Ask him when we all go out for coffee Sunday," Angela said, "Spock's taking me to a museum after lunch and you're coming along." The two bounced past other officers down the stairs and quickly walked back to their dormitories to rest before their weekend.
As this chapter is posted on Memorial Day 2013 for the US: A thank you to all men and women who have served in the armed forces around the world.
Hello all - sorry for the long break in updates….life happened and I give no other excuses. Please trust me when I say it was important to be there for the people I love when they needed it. Thank you everyone for sticking with the story and with me, I hope you enjoy it's continuation.
~Verya
P.S. Don't worry, I will change the later plans to incorporate Into Darkness as this world would be a darker place without Benedict Cumberbatch. (Good God man - if I didn't already love you…)