Being nearly eighteen and a commander would seem to be a huge accomplishment to any one that is human or alien. However River Tam found it to be stifling. She knew how much her fellow commanders envied and feared her abilities. Being unable to hide her psychic abilities, she had to tell the truth about them. At least she knew that they would value her instead of dissecting her brain before she took such a risk. Many were uncomfortable with the discovery however accepted her.

Although the rest of the commanders tired their best to stay away from her. She could guess that they feared that she would discover and steal their knowledge for any future projects or missions.

River was not interested in such trivial matters. If she wanted to figure out how to warp a shuttle the size of a house from Earth to the next quadrant, she would have done it. In fact she already did, however disregard in showing her findings. A shuttle would need to be built to stand warp speed first and she had no interest in making one. Kaylee would and the Captain would have demanded for one.

Smiling at her thoughts, she looked over to the next PADD of essays that she assigned for her class. Honestly, teaching Interspecies Ethics and Protocol was important work; however she wondered just how some of these cadets could even possible think about dealing with other species with crappy essays.

In dealing with a Klingon, shooting them before they get to you is not the correct answer. It was a good one, but not the correct one.

A ringing filled her ears and she looked up to see that she had a call coming in. Swiveling from her chair, she accepted the call and looked to see Captain Pike on the screen.

“Salutations and thanks, captain. What is your need?” she asked with expectations. Captain Pike was the only man she felt that was comfortable enough in her company and vice versa. He did not mind too much that she could read his thoughts and at times found her gift to be useful when he sent a silent joke to her without pissing off the headmaster or council during a meeting. While she could feel thoughts and emotions miles away at times, it was difficult to pinpoint the exact person from a distance. However her gut was telling her that Captain Pike needed her for something. Something that the other commanders would not deal with.

“Sharp as ever, commander. I need your help with a new commander.”

This perked her interest. She knew something interesting was going on in the academy that a change was heading, however she did not took the trouble to uncover it.

“I was unaware that we were getting new personnel. Do you need my special abilities to uncover something?” she inquired. She hoped not. Reading a person was boring if they think such mundane thoughts. With commanders it was always about being the top dog.

“Not really. I believe that the two of you would be good teammates since both of you are similar to each other in manner and intelligence. Please meet me in the West Dining Hall in Section A at 1200. That’s an order commander.” Captain Pike said with a teasing smile. She nodded at that and dropped the communication.

With six more essays to go, she zipped through them with cruel comments of their lack of finesse in handling the situation and left for her lunch meeting.

***

She was beginning to gain a headache when she reached the Dining Hall. The downside of being a reader was that she could hardly ever be surprised by anything. From the cadets to the commanders and other personnel, she already knew that Captain Pike was seen walking in the same direction just minutes before with a tall male who appeared to be humanoid. There were thoughts on the male’s pointy ears, his broad physic and his bowl head haircut. He looked like a nerdy version of Simon, her brother. Also from the expression she received from the images, he seemed to be a boob like Simon.

Entering the dining hall she took a quick look and headed towards the table with Captain Pike and his guest without hesitation. She saw that Captain Pike had ordered her meal from the replicator earlier and she wasted no time to reach him.

“Commander Tam. Thank you for joining us. I would like you to meet Commander Spock Grayson of the Vulcan sector. His father is Ambassador Sarek. Commander Spock, I would like you to meet Commander River Tam. She’s in charge of Interspecies Ethics and Protocol. She’s our youngest commander in the history of Starfleet.” Captain Pike stated for the introductions.

River held her hand up in the Vulcan greeting and spoke in a steady clear voice in the alien language. Keeping her eyes to his, Commander Spock returned the greeting and she sat down. The Vulcan was handsome in an intelligent way, like Simon. In fact he was so similar to her brother that she felt like rolling her eyes at him for being so serious over a lunch. The difference was that the Vulcan was not showing any outward signs of nervousness that Simon would have done. There was no extra blink in the eyes or a tight smile that was meant to be pleasant.

The Vulcan’s thoughts were interesting though. His thoughts were pretty organized about scientific facts that she knew and some she did not. It would be fun to learn everything this Vulcan has to offer without bothering him too much. She could sense curiosity about herself. He wondered about how a human so young was able to rise so high. How did the cadets feel about being taught by a commander who was technically their peer? He had many questions.

“I have amnesia. Took an aptitude test and passed it with flying colors. The cadets don’t seem to mind or if they did, they kept it to themselves. The Board here at Starfleet believes that if I enter as a cadet, it would cause discord among with the rest of the cadets.” She answered with a small smile. Taking a bite of her salad, she could barely detect a widening of the eyes and a shallow intake of air from her new fellow commander. Captain Pike gave a grin at the Vulcan sitting next to him.

“I forgot to mention this Spock. Commander Tam has telepathic abilities. I believe they differ to what your people are capable of.”

Commander Spock took a moment to chew a bit of fruit before speaking.

“It would have benefited me to learn of this before hand, captain. I understand how tiring mind reading abilities can be to my species and I would have prepared myself from giving Commander Tam any grievances.”

“Don’t worry. It wouldn’t have matter if you did. There are over a thousand people here and none of them can keep their thoughts to themselves. I’m use to the traffic.” River assured the Vulcan remembering with bitterness on why she had to get used to it. “I understand that your species have similar abilities to mine but you need to physically touch them. I’ve been curious on what would happen if you attempt to do that on me.”

The subject on telepathy gave them common ground. Soon it broadened to mythology between humans and Vulcans to other species. When they reached to the science of the hyper drives that are being created, Captain Pike excused himself and left the two in their conversation. He took the time to watch the two for a couple of minutes before smiling at the scene.

River Tam was lively enough if the person could hold her interest. However he had the feeling that with her telepathy, it made things difficult for her to communicate with others. He had seen how many of the cadets shy away from her and the commanders avoid her as much as possible. River was like perfection both in intelligence and in physical ability. No one could match her when it any subjects-no one that was human. Maybe the half-Vulcan who chose Starfleet then the Science Academy could reach her and vice versa.

Spock was close enough to her age and River was sociable enough to make him feel welcomed. Goodness knows that boy needs that when he puts up his curriculum for the Vulcan studies course and the xenobiology course. Those poor cadets will be dropping like flies to get out of it.

***

River found that she liked Spock. He was definitely like Simon in intelligence and manners. He was also a huge boob. Lusty thoughts of Spock kept jumping in from the female cadets who passed by with a look that would have made men feel confident in their egos. She knew man ape Jayne would have been strutting around and whistling at the more curvy ones.

Spock failed to understand why the female cadets were blinking two times the average human or why their eyes lips were rested half way. He found it illogical since good vision is important to their career in Starfleet. And why was that one licking her lips? She had adequate amount of lubricant for her lips and her saliva would not give extra protection from dryness.

River rolled her eyes at his thoughts and placed a hand on his arm. She could feel him tense at the touch but did not remove her hand.

They think you’re attractive, you boob.

Earlier, River and Spock experimented on their telepathy to each other. River found that she could access into Spock’s mind easier and that she could simply concentrate on his alone when they touch. Spock, however, found that her mind was a mess of strong emotions and odd memories with no sequence. There were memories that were illogical to him and gave him pain to access. He wondered if this mess came from the amnesia that the young commander was suffering from and that her mind blocked these memories. He proposed that they should not connect for long periods of time or do a mind meld which was more intense than what they were currently experimenting. There was one positive result from their exercise.

River was able to send her thoughts to Spock when she touched the Vulcan. It was a good thing since she could communicate to him without speaking out loud and embarrass him.

She could feel him questioning the word boob and why he was one.

It means you’re a fool and I say so.

“Have you been to San Francisco before, Spock?” she asked, changing the subject. She felt his annoyance before he followed her conversation.

“As my father is the Ambassador for Vulcan, I assure you that I have been to some of the sites in the city but not all.”

“Me either. I’ve been stuck with course work and catching up with everything about Starfleet. Discovering alone is boring. We’ll need to schedule an outing between the two of us. I’ve heard Chinatown is interesting.” River said with a smile.

“That would be acceptable. I still need to complete the syllabus for my courses and the academy has asked me to create a new stimulation for the final exam in Starfleet.” Spock replied. River took the time to read his memory of the request and giggled.

A no-win exam? One where the cadets have to experience death and failure? That’s silly.

Spock gave her a look and she read his confusion on why she thought it was silly. He felt that it was logical for the academy to give the cadets a situation where they would be able to understand what they would experience in the field. Her reply to him had a cold hard edge what made him understand that she knew what death was.

Because a simulation is nothing like the real thing. I think you should understand that concept better than anyone else.

A memory of his childhood played out and he knew what she meant. A concept that is known does not apply to all and he did know that better than anyone else.

Quit moping you boob. Let’s look over the current syllabus of your courses and see if you can use any of it.

When Spock gave his affirmative, River felt like she was hanging out with her brother. He always did what she wanted and agreed to her superior knowledge – dinosaurs or not. Plus Simon was such a boob like Spock, only she had a feeling that Spock’s love life was going to be worse than her brother’s.

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I hope that you guys like this meeting between Spock and River. Did it sound like how River and Spock would have met and talk?