1. Chapter 1

Prologue

He gazed at the rows of graduates. He had returned each year to watch them take their finals for each of their four years at the academy, to select the ones who would serve with him. A new captain, a crew that was primarily new as well. He singled out the science trainees, the ones who would serve with him. He named them silently in his head: Harris Showford, James Zwong, Lucia Connor. Another, a female with pointed ears, gracefully sloped eyebrows, and a darker complexion. Even in his short observation periods he had realized that she was an outcast, resented and scorned by the other students. While he disapproved of the human tendency towards violence and social isolation, he understood the instinctive dislike of one of her kind. The woman's name was Rosaria Juarez and he had chosen her to serve as a science lieutenant in the new crew of the Starship Enterprise.

Chapter 1

They came aboard by shuttles and gathered in the hanger bay. They were presented with their uniforms and assigned their quarters, then given some time to drop off their few belongings. Then they gathered once again in the hanger bay to meet their commanding officers. One by one they shook the new captain's (Captain James Tiberius Kirk) hand, the chief medical officer's (Doctor Leonard Horatio McCoy), the chief engineering officer (Montgomery Scott). They shook his hand as well. An uncomfortable ritual, however something he had grown used to after nearly 20 years of living among humans. She was one of the last to approach him, and, instead of shaking his hand, she held up her hand in an adequate Vulcan salute. He raised one eyebrow but mirrored the greeting. Fascinating. Now he thought about it, it made sense that she would not want to touch his hand. Romulans were notorious for their hatred of telepaths and empaths; perhaps some part of this was instinctual.

He spent the next few weeks accustoming himself to the new crew. His relationship with Dr. McCoy had gotten off to what Captain Kirk called "a rocky start." The doctor was illogical and to all appearances quite speciest. He complained about every aspect of having a Vulcan first officer.

"So they'll expect me to know everything about Vulcan physiology I suppose—" growled an irate Dr. McCoy.

"Doctor, that should have been part of you basic course of alien physiology. Did Starfleet Academy neglect to mandate this course in your education?"

Kirk looked back and forth between the two men, his eyebrows drawn together in a human expression of worry. "Gentlemen please! Commander Spock, I'm sure that Dr. McCoy simply means that it may take some time to review and accustom himself to operating on a non-Terran."

He noted that the Captain had diplomatically said non-Terran rather than alien. He nodded. "The Doctor should however be informed that my physiology is not entirely Vulcan. My mother is human."

Kirk and McCoy stared with open mouths. McCoy recovered from his surprise first.

"Well doesn't that just take the cake! The—"

Kirk quickly cut in before the man could finish his sentence. "I'm sure the doctor will manage, Commander. He is one of the best."

The three men were standing just outside of sickbay.

"Anyhow, Bones, I should be getting up to the bridge." Kirk began to walk away purposefully.

"Captain—" Spock began at the same time as McCoy said, "Now wait just one red-hot minute. You mister, promised me that you would give me the codes so that I could get someone to reprogram the medicinal drug synthesizer to give me those medicines I wanted."

"Ah, yes." Kirk nodded, "Mr. Spock, we'll need your codes too." Kirk nodded to Nurse Chapel as the sickbay doors swished open and the three men approached the computer. McCoy selected the materials that he wanted. "I'm sorry," said the artificial female voice, "some of those materials are dangerous and restricted by Star Fleet. Please request codes from: Captain, First Officer, Science Officer, and Chief Medical Officer." The codes were duly entered. The three returned to their customary positions, Spock and the Captain on the bridge and McCoy working on some sort of report at his desk down in sickbay.

The NCC 1701, The USS Enterprise had, obviously, its fair share of normal, and (to humans) boring days. But also had more than it's fair share (some on other ships joked that the Enterprise hogged it) of excitement and, usually at the same time, danger and damage. Even, well actually especially, on missions that were supposed to be routine surveys or explorations. This was destined to be one of those missions. The landing party was composed of Spock, two science ensigns: Juarez and her friend Chekov, and Scott (the chief engineer), under much protest, because both Kirk and McCoy insisted that, in light of Scott (or Scotty as they called him) virtually never going down to a planet when shore leave was offered, it would be healthy for him. The planet was class 'M' but marked uninhabitable because it was still relatively young, and seismic activity was both frequent and violent. Still, the geology of the planet, and the possibility of microscopic life in its restless oceans was fascinating. Chekov and Juarez would be working together to collect samples from the ocean, which they were beaming down next to, and Spock would be acting as a geologist. (The geology expert was on the ship, still recovering from an especially traumatizing experience with the condition caused by the substance from Psi 2000.) Scott was ostensibly down there acting as a security officer and to work with his team to make sure that the irregularities and unusual elements in the planet's atmosphere didn't interfere with communications. There was no one like Montgomery Scott for getting machinery to work.

Samples were collected. Scotty was delighted to discover signs indicating a vein of the mineral containing dilithium ore. "It's perfect positioning 'tween Starbase 11 and Starbase 13, if we could just get the okay from Starfleet." He shot the others an apologetic grin. "Not, of course, if it would mess up the evolution of any little beasties you have in those sample containers."

"I believe that we are ready to beam up then." Spock replied.

Scotty nodded and flipped open his communicator. As their collection time had come in under an hour, when they would customarily check in with the ship, the only contact they had made was just after they had beamed down. The connection had not been strong, but it had been there. "4 to beam up, Lieutenant . . . Lieutenant?" Scotty frowned. "Come in Enterprise!" He paused. "There nae coming in sir." Spock flipped open his own communicator and attempted to establish contact. The sound of static filled the air like a raven with whooping cough trying to sing opera. "Uh, you might wanna turn down the volume on that, Mr. Spock sir," said Scotty uncomfortably.

"That was not my communicator Mr. Scott," the half-Vulcan replied calmly, "It appears that seismic of activity of magnitude approximately 5.66379 is about to occur due to—"

"Pardon me sir." Juarez cut in, "We need to get away from the cliffs, they're unstable." As if to prove her point, a boulder the circumference of one of the transport pads broke of the cliff and landed less than ten feet away from them.

"Mr. Scott, assessment of communicator situation," Spock's voice was raised just loud enough to be heard above the rumble of the cliffs as they broke apart.

"Sir, these cliffs are similar to the more famous ones on the planet commonly known as Escojior. They experience the geological phenomenon known as _mettitesaxism,_ uneven rocking motion causing —"

"I am aware of the concept Ms. Juarez." Spock cut her off. He had done some background research of his own of course, although she had no way of knowing that; the procedure was not required, simply logical. He had already known the term and had been unsurprised to discover that the planet's cliffs exhibited it. Doctor McCoy had said, incredulously, "You mean the cliffs throw rocks at you?" A completely unscientific description, however visually apt.

"The situation is nae good sir. It'll likely be half an hour at the least before the dust and ash clears, if you agree with my estimate of the wind speed sir." Mr. Scott wheezed a little, the particulate matter in the air was making it hard to breathe, not to mention the strain of running and speaking at the same time. Spock ducked as a rock the size of a tennis ball whistled towards his head. Chekov gave a shout of pain as he failed to avoid a projectile of similar size. Juarez, making good use of her similarly superior reflexes deftly avoided a dip in the ground that would have sent her sprawling. She glanced up in time to see a rock the size of a cannonball hurtling towards Mr. Scott's head. Spock saw it too, but was ahead of them by a ways and unable to help. Juarez shoved Scott forward to avoid the collision that would have crushed his skull, and instead took a glancing blow from the rock on the side of her head. Spock saw green blood mingle with her dark brown hair and her eyes go wide and glazed with pain before she collapsed to the violently shaking ground.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi. Thanks to those who have followed this already. I just wanted to make clear that this is not meant to be a romance (or at least if it is, it's not going to involve Spock.) Sorry if that's disappointing (although you could still theoretically look at it as one :) **

**Anyway, this comment from the author thing, isn't really going to be a thing, just saying that I'm good (actually great with constructive criticism.) I would love to receive some. I'm trying to make this cannon, so if anything (including my characterization of TOS Characters) seems off, please tell me. Also, just thought this was a good time to mention that, no, I do not own any of Star Trek's characters. So far, Rosaria Juarez (and some of the science personnel I named in the first chapter) is the only original character. (Also, she won't be feinting all the time in the next chapters. Sorry about that)**

**Unfortunately, I probably won't update this too frequently, I'll do my best, but twice a month would probably be the best.**

**Thanks again for following!**

Chapter 2

"Keep going Mr. Scott," said Spock, in the same calm voice, "And you, Mr. Chekov"; this as the young ensign paused looking worriedly at his friend as rocks hurtled into the ground around her prone figure with enough force to embed themselves three feet into the rocky ground. Spock's voice was sharp, not meant to express frustration, just to impress upon the human the importance of obeying his order. He nodded to Chekov as he lifted the lieutenant from the ground, hissing in pain as a small rock hit his forearm with the speed of a hummingbird. He leaned over her as he was running, angled away from the cliff to shield her from the rubble. He looked up, towards the place where the cliff leveled off a little, where they could get around a shoulder and be free of the hurtling rocks that were threatening them now.

Spock had touched humans before. He had found it necessary in his nearly twenty years in the "human" world. His mental walls were sufficient to block out all but the strongest emotions, which he still only felt weakly. His human attributes made it easier, ironically for him to make a telepathic connection with humans, although they made it much more difficult to achieve a full mindmeld. None of this was considered by Spock as he, Chekov, and Scott rounded the shoulder and scrambled up a steep slope to an overhang of stable rock, where they were sheltered, for now from all danger but the increasingly thick particulate matter which left all of them coughing.

He glanced down at Lieutenant Juarez. She had not revived yet, but her eyelids were straining to open. Suddenly they snapped open. _Pain, fear, hate, desperation, fear. _Her emotions, broadcast through the slightest contact he had with her were much stronger than those of any human. Her face, for one moment, showed the terror echoed by what he was sensing. He almost dropped her but she flipped upright first. "Thank you, Mr. Spock," She said, somewhat breathlessly. She glanced around, her face relaxing into a relieved smile as her eyes fell on first Chekov, then Scott. She frowned and reached up to her temple, where a trickle of green was visible. She swayed slightly.

"Why don't ya sit down, miss," said Scott quickly, gesturing to a boulder.

She smiled and nodded, then looked dizzy. She caught herself on the boulder and sat down quickly. "Thank you, Mr. Scott."

"Well, then," Scott's eyes crinkled as he smiled. "The way I see it, it's me as should be thanking you. You saved ma life. Yer a good crewmember to have about, Ms. Juarez."

"I'm glad you think so Mr. Scott," She turned to Spock. "And, I, in turn, owe you some gratitude, Mr. Spock, it is unlikely that I would have survived unconscious out there."

"It was only logical, Ms. Juarez," Spock said, raising an eyebrow.

They waited for, as Mr. Scott had predicted, approximately 45 minutes, periodically checking to see if the communicators were functioning yet.

"Landing party here. Mr. Scott. Come in Enterprise," the rehearsed tone fell away from Scott's voice as a voice scratched out from the communicator.

"Scotty? Thank the stars! We didn't know what had happened to you."

"Are you alright? Never mind that. Uhura, tell the transporter room there's for to beam up."

The familiar tingle of the transporter claimed them, and they were standing in the transporter room. Kirk and Doctor McCoy were both standing there, looking worried.

"Good, everyone's in one piece," said McCoy, scanning them sharply. "That's a nasty cut, Lieutenant, are you all right?"

"Fine, sir," she replied calmly, and promptly passed out.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

It was a regular occurrence at this point, though not a pleasing one to anyone aboard, that a member of the landing party would come back bruised, or scratched, or with a strange illness, or any manner of other things all equally or more unpleasant. Rosaria Juarez had gotten off easy, but you wouldn't have thought it from the way Doctor McCoy yelled at Spock and Captain Kirk.

"Oh, yes! You think it's perfectly all right to send crew members down to a planet where the cliffs throw rocks at you."

"Doctor," Spock cut in, "the cliffs do not throw rocks at you. They simply —"

"Don't lecture me about those cliffs. I know what they do! They leave lumps the size of goose eggs on the heads of our crew and then I'm expected to mend them!"

"Bones, that's enough," Captain Kirk said sharply, "I resent the implication that either Spock or I was negligent in our handling of the situation."

Doctor McCoy seemed to realize that he'd gone too far. "Sorry Jim. Just promise me that you'll send medical personnel down with the landing parties after this."

"Doctor, I have the required medical training —"

Doctor McCoy's head snapped around. "Then why in heavens name didn't you . . . "

Kirk sighed and followed the two men up to the bridge.

Rosaria had been better for eight days when the Galileo 7 incident occurred. Spock was resolved to determine the reason for his lack of logic. Obviously he had lacked logic. Otherwise, crew members would not be dead. It had been illogical of him to assume that all creatures would act logically; hadn't nearly twenty years among humans taught him that much? Kirk did not blame him. McCoy didn't really either, if Spock was reading the irritable doctor correctly. However this was inconsequential. Spock blamed himself. He had misjudged the situation, and men were dead because of it. It was illogical, but sometimes Spock severely disliked his human half. A full vulcan would not have made such a mistake.

In a different area of the ship, a spirited argument took place between Juarez and one of her friends (which although not numerous were loyal and funny and on good terms with each other, which was better than having many friends).

"It has to have been an alien species, Juarez, there's no way that microbes, even microbes that were the same as each other would have evolved so similarly in such different ecosystems. Whereas, if they had been engineered by a much more evolved species to take a certain form as they evolved—"

"Yeah right, and we could all be living in a computer simulation that some mega–intelligent aliens are running for their own amusement," the young woman interrupted, apparently uninterested in what it would mean if the microbes had been engineered. "See, here's where we differ. The ecosystems are not that different. With the right building blocks, say this hypothetical asteroid had a microbe with certain DNA, which somehow wasn't crushed in splitting up and banging into planets, unlikely, I know, but bear with me, life forms could have evolved from it which were very similar.

The other shook his head. "Not this similar. Most of these life forms are carbon based, oxygen breathing, ridiculously like humans. Close enough to reproduce," he gestured to her, "Besides, your theory ignores epigenetics, which would be enough on their own to debunk it."

"So does yours, Carter," Juarez pointed out, somewhat smugly, "They're basically the same theory. Yours just assumes god-like aliens, whereas mine doesn't."

"So what about the similarity of our societies, huh? All these humanoid societies look pretty similar when you analyze their root motivations."

"Hmmm." Juarez still looked unconvinced.

Spock had given up trying to meditate, an unusual occurrence. The thought kept recurring in his head: a full vulcan would not have made such an error. It was my human half that caused this error. He got up, intent upon visiting the science labs, to do something useful, which would also conveniently distract him from his current illogical train of thought. It was not useful or logical to dwell on something that was in the past and from which he had gleaned all the possible experience and knowledge. As his doors swished open, he caught the sound of receding voices, raised slightly above the level of normal conversation.

"We're not all that different from them, Juarez. Your romulan half might be too proud to see it but I know your human half can."

Juarez's tone was filled with exasperation, and a little bit of hurt. "I'm not saying we are. And how many times do I have to tell you, Carter, do I look like I'm divided in half? I'm not cleanly half romulan and half human. I'm myself. Do you think Spock thinks of himself as half and half? Do you think anyone does. Of course not. You're not divided in two, just because your mother was in the military and your father wasn't . . . "

Spock raised an eyebrow as he continued towards one of the science labs. An interesting theory. And, now that he considered it: quite logical.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi all, sorry that it took me so long to update. This chapter is very short, but I should have another, longer one up soon. **

_Chapter 4: Flashback_

_Rossie's bare feet clanged along the hallway of the cargo ship. She had to find her mother. Anna Juarez was the last person in the world who meant anything to her, really. If her mother was gone . . . She kept running, hoping desperately that her decision to come out of the cargo hold had been right. Her mother had told her to stay there, but the sounds of fighting had frightened her and when she had called out, sometime after silence had settled back over the ship's halls. She kept slowed and stopped, and her heart sank as she heard heavy footfalls approaching from an intersecting passage way. Before she could turn, a group of men rounded the corner. Rossie froze in surprise. They all looked like her father. _

_ "Well, well what have we here?" The Romulan was easily understandable for her. _

_ "Go away." The child's voice was strong suffused with ancestral pride that would not allow it to tremble. "This isn't your ship. Go away."_

_ "It talks," said another distastefully. His Romulan was different somehow, more learned, and less natural. "In Romulan."_

_ "Come here little girl. We'll take you to see a bigger ship than this one."_

_ Rossie glared. Her mother was not a Star fleet security officer for nothing, and she had given her daughter some knowledge of strategy. "You won't catch me that easily. I have the tactical advantage here. You may not catch me for hours." With that she turned and ran, back down the long hallway, sprinting desperately for the door to the storeroom where she could slide down into the quadrotriticale storing area and hide. _

_ One of the other Romulans smiled and put a hand to his belt. "Dhat lloi," said another sharply, "just stun her." _

_ "You may have the tactical advantage little girl . . . but we have the guns."_

_A flash of light reflected off the cheap metal siding of the ship's hallway and the girl crumpled to the floor. _


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi. It's been a while since I've posted, so sorry about that. Apparently I can't stick to any kind of update schedule, but I had some extra time and ideas over winter break, so here is a small update. Thank you again to those who have followed! **

**Due to the fact that Rosaria is half Romulan, this story doesn't quite fit the cannon of TOS. This scene is based a bit on the episode "Balance of Terror" but without the idea that Romulans haven't been seen by humans and vice versa (It changes the plot quite a bit, but bare with me). **

Chapter 5

"Ms. Juarez," Spock held up a hand to stop the woman as she scooped up the small drive that contained her part of a summary presentation on their most recent discovery.

She looked up, surprise evident in her dark eyes. "Yes, Commander?"

"I wanted to address Lieutenant Stiles's behavior during the . . . incident near outpost 4."

Rosaria's expression went blank. "I'm afraid I don't know to what you are referring, Commander."

_Juarez was pretending to focus on the computer which she had been summoned to fix, but it wasn't working. She continued to glance nervously between the Captain and the empty view screen._

_"Picking up a communication. It's from their ship." Uhura frowned, twisting another of the knobs on her control pannel._

_"Pipe it in," Kirk replied calmly._

_Uhura shook her head. "Sounds like code, sir. Cryptography is working on it."_

_"Give it to Mr. Spock," Lieutenant Stiles said snidely. _

_"I didn't quite get that, Mr. Stiles." The captain's tone went from calm to icy in a manner of seconds._

_"Nothing, sir." Stiles subsided, looking mutinous, but not entirely ready to challenge the captain._  
_"Repeat it."_

_"I was suggesting that Mr. Spock could probably translate it for you, sir." Stiles' gaze fell on Rosaria. She had stood up, and was clenching the rail of the bridge tight enough that her knuckles had gone white. "Or better yet that half-blooded bi-"_

_Stiles was cut off by a loud snapping noise as the railing actually cracked. Spock turned to observe the damage. He was reminded suddenly of the flash of emotion he had felt from his brief contact with Ms. Juarez on the unexplored planet several weeks ago. A being of superior strength (to humans at least) and that much emotion made for a dangerous combination. That's what they were fighting. He could see the woman shaking slightly, apparently with anger. _

_Kirk stared at the broken rail for a moment, and finally collected himself enough to talk. His tone grew a spectacular few degrees more frigid as he addressed Stiles. "I assume you're complimenting Mister Spock on his ability to decode."_

_Stiles didn't take the hint. "I'm not sure, sir."_

_Spock was impressed in spite of himself as Kirk made a massive effort to remain in his chair and keep his tone even. "Well here's one thing you can be sure of, Mister. Leave any bigotry in your quarters. There's no room for it on the Bridge."_

_"But sir that woman is-"_

_"Do I make myself clear?" Kirk roared._

_"You do, sir." Rosaria's cheeks tinged green and she spun back to the computer, typing furiously. _

"Ms. Juarez, you are aware it is against regulations to lie to a superior officer?"

She tensed and looked at him warily. "Mr. Stiles said something inappropriate. The captain addressed it. I see no issue, sir."

"Good. I wanted to address any lingering discomfort about that before addressing the more serious matter. You modified the programming of the Bridge computer."

Rosaria went pale. "Sir?"

"I did not do it, the captain did not do it, and you are one of the few other people with the computer skills. The only one with opportunity. Your modifications were against regulations. Explain yourself."

Rosaria frowned. "The modifications I made were meant to collect data from the Romulan ship. I hoped to help with the decoding. That is all."

Spock nodded. "That would be an appropriate explanation, were it not for the fact that the data was sent directly to private files you have locked with a security code usually reserved for commanding officers and traveling diplomats. Which leaves the question: what are you, a half Romulan, planning to do with the data from a Romulan ship that you cannot share it with your captain or even make him aware of the fact that you have it? You can appreciate that it appears suspicious."

**And that's all folks. Fun to write, I certainly hope I'll find some more time in the rest of winter break. Just to rehash, I don't own the lines I stole from "Balance of Terror" or the characters I stole from Star Trek in general. Happy Holidays whatever you celebrate!**


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