Before I joined starfleet I was not well traveled, to say the least. I had never seen any reason, or been given any opportunity to venture much further beyond the confines of my home city. For a start, I had only been on two planets in my existence and the second of these two I did not travel to until I was joining the organisaton star fleet to 'broaden my horizons' if I was to borrow the human phrase.
I was born in Shi'Khar, Vulcan, to two Vulcan parents and I endured a very Vulcan upbringing. My mother T'prai was a theoretical physicist employed by the Vulcan Science Institute and my father Sivak was a member of the Vulcan council, an ambassador to some small planet or another and I was the second of two children they had together. My older brother Stuak was born 2 years before me and was, like my mother a physicist.
I believe it was a deep need to rebel that had me studying chemistry and biology at the science academy. Well, a deep need to rebel from my family coupled with a deep interest for chemical medicine, my major.
I was always a rebel. I joined star fleet when my parents disallowed it, I was a born female when my mother wanted another son and my most magnificent rebellion to date, I was blonde where my race had dark hair. A genetic mutation somewhere along the line the doctors had decided had created me, the blonde haired, blue eyed Vulcan.
"Did you get any of that?" The ensign, whose name I had never bothered to remember cut into my thoughts.
"I apologise, I was not aware you were talking to me."
"I was asking you a question about these sodium compounds." The man, boy? Who knows? He certainly was young but then again so were a lot of people on the starship enterprise. Despite only being aboard the ship half a week and mostly keeping to myself it was impossible not to notice a large portion of the crew was under the age of thirty and the ensign and myself were no exception. He was tall, spoke with a thick accent and was not the most proficient at chemistry I had gathered. "You know, cause you're the superior science officer here, lieutenant."
"If you give me a moment I'll help you."
"No you won't." Chimed a cheery voice as the door of the lab slid open. "You promised you'd come for lunch and meet the guys today."
Lieutenant Nyota Uhura was one of my few 'friends' on the starship enterprise. She was athletic, striking and rather very intelligent and also very insistent that I branch out and make friends with the crew.
"Sorry, I can't help you right now. I appear to have promised myself to someone else at this time."
"But what do I do?" The ensign whined and I opened my mouth to reply before being dragged out of the room by Uhura. "I swear if you get back and the entire labs up in flames it all your fault!" The ensigns yelled after me as. Despite my deceptively lithe frame, I was far stronger than the communications office dragging me along the corridors but I simply allowed myself to be lead.
"Where are we going?" I questioned as we navigated clean, white corridors and turned corners while Uhura powered on ahead with a vice like -or as vice like as a human could manage- grip on my wrist. "Lunch." She shrugged.
"I meant geographically."
"The mess hall." She said turning round and flashing me a smile. "Are you Vulcans not supposed to have like, super logical reasoning skills?"
"That's the rumour." I deadpanned, shrugging and she let out a peal of laughter.
"I can see us getting along great, T'aitlu."
She had now ceased dragging me by the hand and had fallen back a step to link her arm in mine as we approached the mess hall. It was relatively quiet, perhaps due to the fact it was an in-optimal time to consume ones lunch, I reasoned. The mess hall was mostly occupied by pairs or groups of three sitting at a table chatting quietly and the table we were heading towards wasn't although too different apart from the ear splitting laughter let out by the man with the tawny hair and the golden shirt, the captain I believed. Sitting next to him was Spock, an old 'friend' of mine.
Spock and I were about as friendly as Vulcans got, which was by human standards not very, however our fathers were acquainted and we were in attendance at the same school although the commander was a year or two older than me. Similar circumstances in life helped to forge a bond of friendship however, regretfully, our correspondence had been fairly limited since he had joined starfleet but it had been enduring.
The last man at the table was from the medbay I reasoned as he wore a blue shirt and I had not seen him around the science department, although it was totally plausible I had missed him in my short time aboard the enterprise. He had dark hair, a strong jaw and an enchanting smile as he laughed along with his friend.
"Hey guys." Uhura said sliding onto the seat at the end of the table next to the captain and nodded at the seat next to the mystery medic in an indication I should copy her. "This is T'aitlu, she's pretty new here."
"Ah, yeah!" The captain exclaimed turning to smile at me. "We met really briefly a couple weeks back when you came aboard but we didn't get a chance to chat, which is really a shame."
"Cool it, Jim." The medic said with a rather intriguing southern drawl. "Ya barely know her."
"Yeah, I know that Bones." The captain groaned and Uhura laughed slightly. "I'm trying to fix that."
"I'm Dr Leonard McCoy but call me Bones." The doctor said with a smile turning towards me in his chair. "And that's Jim, you get used to him."
"Bones?" I enquired. "Is that because you're a doctor?"
"Never thought of that one actually." He laughed. "It's because my ex-wife cleaned me out in the divorce. Left me nothing but my bones."
"Ah." I replied. "Clever."
"This is Spock." Jim said nodding to the man I already knew to be Spock. "I guess you guys have probably already met, science officer stuff and all that."
"We regretfully haven't had a chance to talk properly since you joined us T'aitlu."
"And here's me thinking you were just avoiding me." I retorted. "How have you been?"
"You know me." He said, the hint of a smile ghosting over his lips oh so briefly. "Same as ever."
"You two know each other?" Uhura asked, the confusion evident in her features.
"You're focusing on that?" Bones asked, eyebrow raised. "You're not hung up on the fact this lovely lady right here, this Vulcan, just made a joke?"
"Shall I try not to take that as an insult, Doctor?"
"Please, take it as the highest praise I can give. I mean, funny Vulcans? Definelty a step up from the ones too serious to take a piss."
"Shall I try not to take that as an insult?" Spock cut in and Bones laughed.
"You take that one however you want to pointy." Bones laughed. "So, T'aitlu? Yeah?"
"Yes." I nodded. "T'aitlu."
"Sorry, I don't mean to be rude I just thought I might be mispronouncing it or something." He laughed. "Where'd you get a Vulcan that cracks jokes?"
"Shi'Khar, personally." I shrugged. "I cannot atest to any other members of my species."
"I don't think any other members of your species crack jokes, you really must be truly special."
"Again, I shall try not to take offence doctor." Spock said with an eye roll.
"So, is it just T'aitlu then?" The captain asked, leaning on his hand and staring intently. "Like name wise I mean. No other names to go with it?" He laughed at that and Uhura rolled her eyes.
"Honestly Jim, for a well traveled star fleet captain you can be pretty dumb."
"What? It's a good question." He said in protest. "You never here of any Vulcans with surnames it's all monikers."
"That's a big word for you." The doctor said under is breath, quiet enough only I and possibly Spock could hear and I quirked an eyebrow at him and revived a grin in response.
"Yes Vulcans have family names." I begun to explain. "You just can't pronounce them."
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It's only chemical || Leonard McCoy fanfiction
Fanfiction"Love is only chemical." He shrugged, looking at the couple and then back to me. His blue eyes, the blue of a human sky, of the colour of the shirt he was wearing, seemed to be able to read me like a book, or like the telepath I was supposed to be...
