Fanfic Short Stories

Star Trek AOS: The Late Ambassador Spock

Story description: In the days following Star Trek: Beyond, Spock is grieving and McCoy worries about him.

"Firstly, logic is not a verb."

A/N: AO3 Chocolate Box exchange gift for fullmoon02. This story is set in the days after Star Trek: Beyond, with spoilers for that movie. The title is inspired by the box Spock opens at the end of the movie.

The Late Ambassador Spock

Spock and late only went together when combined with a word like never.

McCoy and worry went together more easily. So when Spock was late for the lecture on tricorder advancements, McCoy fretted.

He told himself that maybe this was a good thing. It was obvious that Spock and Uhura were back together. If she had convinced him to do something as human as sleep in and forget a lecture, McCoy thoroughly approved.

He loitered at the entrance, half-listening to the speaker's opening remarks while deciding whether he should check up on Spock. He glanced into the corridor once more, and saw Uhura in the crowd walking out of another lecture hall. So much for his theory that she was distracting Spock.

In the back of his mind he could hear Spock explaining that it had been a hypothesis, not a true theory.

"That's just typical. Even in my imagination he's pedantic." McCoy strode out of the room and made his way to the quarters assigned to the crew of the Enterprise. A few minutes later he was knocking on Spock's door.

He expected that Spock would be in civilian attire. Most of the crew were out of uniform while they waited for their new ship to be ready. He hadn't expected to see the First Officer in black, silky pajamas. He wondered if that was standard sleepwear for Vulcans, or a gift from Uhura.

"I thought we were to meet at the lecture hall," Spock said.

"We were. Fifteen minutes ago." In other circumstances, he'd feel smug over Spock's look of surprise, but not today. He walked into the room, aware that it was a breach of etiquette. Spock rarely invited people into his cabin on the Enterprise, and had made it clear many times that he valued his privacy.

The crew's temporary quarters here on the Yorktown base were utilitarian. Not many personal belongings had been recovered from the Enterprise, and therefore personalization was limited to the settings for wall color and lighting, and items people had picked up in Yorktown shops or replicated. As expected, Spock's quarters were particularly spartan and dark. McCoy could make out a box labeled "Property of Ambassador Spock" on the table, and near it was something that looked like it belonged in a lab.

"Is that a Bunsen burner?" he asked, walking up to the table.

Spock followed, and the door to his room closed. "The candle I used for meditation was not recovered from the Enterprise. Now that there are so few Vulcans to request such items, the candles are not widely available."

"You could replicate one," McCoy suggested. The candle in Spock's quarters on the Enterprise had been one of the few personal items on display. It seemed wrong to replace it with something as sterile as a laboratory burner.

"Having an open flame in my quarters requires special permission. The Yorktown officials prefer this, as it automatically deactivates if the inertial dampeners go offline. And..." Spock trailed off.

"And what?"

"The one on the Enterprise was made on Vulcan. A replicated candle would not have the same connection to my culture."