"Thank you for coming, Dr. Samandak." Captain Kirk greeted a young, smiling psychologist in the transporter room.

"Thank you for allowing me on board, captain!" She replied, stepping down off of the transport platform. Kirk was beginning to understand what Captain Endear was talking about when he said "an odd sight". Samandak had the physical appearance of a Vulcan, while carrying herself like a very likable human.

"Do you have bags?" He asked.

She shook her head. "No, just this." She motioned toward her backpack. "My clothes and papers are in here, that's all I need."

"Alright, I would like you to check in with Dr. McCoy, and then Ensign Daren will show you to your quarters!"

"Oh, captain?"

"Yes doctor?"

She smiled, blushing a green blush that just showed more of her Vulcan physiology. "I know this may seem like a silly request at first, but...your first officer is Vulcan, am I correct?"

"Commander Spock?" Kirk was a bit confused, she should be quite aware of all of the ship's personnel. No matter, he thought. "Yes, he is."

"Do you mind keeping my heritage...I don't know, low profile? Don't bring it up."

"Your...heritage?" He didn't know much about the girl, just that she had a very mixed, confusing, and unlikely family tree.

"Yes. My...abilities...well, they are not welcome on Vulcan. I'm sure that your first officer is much more tolerant, but I believe he would accept me better if he did not believe that I was in touch with his mind." Samandak didn't look like she wanted to be deceitful, but it would be difficult to do her job correctly if his fist officer didn't trust her.

Captain Kirk pondered this for a moment. "Of course."

Samandak smiled. "Thank you, captain. I should be able to find your sickbay with ease, the layout of the Enterprise and that of the Traveler are quite similar." If it weren't for that smile, she'd sound exactly like...

"Captain," Mr. Spock was in the doorway, standing stark-straight with his usual serious expression on his face, hands clasped behind his back. "May I have a moment of your time?"

"Be right there, Spock." Kirk nodded to him, and then turned back to Samandak. "You may start first thing tomorrow. I'll have a yeoman bring you the list of what order I'd like you to go in. But go on, get settled in."

Samandak's face had faded into a dull expression as well when Spock entered the room, and she nodded in a sullen fashion. "Thank you, captain. Commander." She threw him a glance, and then made her way from the room.

Samandak had been requesting a starship job for years, and when she finally obtained her degree in psychology and had been on the ground for a while, Starfleet sent her to travel from ship-to-ship evaluating each ship's personnel. She was never anyone's favorite person, but she was the best at her job. What Captain Kirk had been told about her strange heritage had been completely true; her grandparents were from four different planets. Her father was half human, half Vulcan, just as Mr. Spock, but he had chosen not to live like other Vulcans. It was what gave Samandak her ability to be emotional and proud at the same time. Her mother's father was a Betazoid, able to read people's minds and emotions. Her mother's mother was an Empath from a planet in the Manerian star system. Her mother and father's chance meeting had been one in a million, and Samandak and her sister Atii had resulted. While Samandak took after her grandmother Santelk, eyebrows and ears ending in sharp points, Atii took after her grandmother on her mother's side, Jewel. She couldn't speak, but had an amazing way of making people feel good, thanks to the Betazoid blood. It was a strange mix indeed, and had made them both very unwelcome on Vulcan. Though the Vulcans were too dignified a race to turn them down outright, it was always obvious that they were frowned upon. Mostly, they lived on Earth-founded colonies, though from time-to-time they would stay on Gramma Jewel's planet. Though the empaths couldn't speak, they provided a very pleasant atmosphere. Samandak and Atii were very welcome there.

"Dr. McCoy?" Samandak rounded a corner into sickbay, glancing around. A blond nurse sat at a desk, and smiled up at her when she entered.

"Yes?" A wrinkled, grumpy face appeared as the doors to the next room over slid open.

"Dr. McCoy, I'm Dr. Samandak. Captain Kirk sent me to you, he told me that--"

"The psychologist." McCoy said. "Yes, I was just informed. Come with me. Christine?"

The nurse looked up from her desk. "Yes doctor?"

-----

Safe now, in her own personal quarters, Samandak threw her backpack down and sighed with relief. She was glad that the captain had given her until tomorrow to start work, she was still exhausted from her work on the Traveler. Captain Endear had been most unkind and impatient, and Samandak could still feel his mistrust shaking her bones. When she'd met Captain Kirk, however, he'd emanated nothing but an excitement for welcoming a new person aboard. And kindness. She didn't know that kindness could be an emotion, but she could still feel that, too. It made her feel good and relaxed.

She unzipped her backpack and started packing her clothes into the small dresser that had been provided her, then flipped through her papers.

There was a buzz that alerted her to someone's presence at the door, and she startled. "Come!"

The doors slid open, and a lieutenant was standing right behind them. "Captain Kirk requested that I relay you a list, ma'am." She said.

"Oh, thank you!" Samandak stood up and walked over, taking the digital tablet gingerly in her hands. She was afraid to start the whole 400 person list over again, it took months to psychologically evaluate that many people. The lieutenant stood there, waiting to be dismissed. Samandak looked up, and flashed a smile. "You can go now." She sensed her nervousness, and figured she must be one of the newest crew members. Once the doors slid shut again, Samandak brushed a loose black lock of hair out of her face, and sat down on her bed with the list. She would read it once tonight before she went to sleep, and start at the top the next morning.

-----

"Spock, it's just standard procedure, everyone on the ship is undergoing the psych evaluation!" Captain Kirk was trying desperately to convince his first officer that it was nothing personal.

"Nevertheless, captain, I do not feel that my current condition warrants investigation." Spock, on the other hand, was determined that he didn't need any kind of therapy session. He felt just fine, he'd told the captain repeatedly. And he did! There was no reason for a nosy doctor to go digging around in his subconscious and writing her little notes. He knew his captain was relentless, but that didn't change his stand on the subject.

"Look, I put you as one of the first on the list," Jim assured him. "You'll be done before you know it!"

"There is still no reason to--"

"Spock, that's an order."

He knew he'd pushed the captain a bit too far, rejecting Starfleet protocol. Granted, it really wasn't much like Spock to resist this kind of thing. Then again, it wasn't like Spock to have a mental breakdown, either. Or any Vulcan, for that matter. He did find this doctor a bit odd...she, like him, was part Vulcan, but appeared to act like any other human on the ship. Extremely loose and comfortable, with no respect for the kind of discipline it took to keep a starship in good working order.

Then Spock realized that he was glaring at the captain, and quickly erased all emotion from his face. "Yes, sir."

Kirk nodded, satisfied, and made his way back to the bridge.

Spock resisted the very human urge to grumble and stare after him, and made his way down to sickbay to fulfill a promise to help Nurse Chapel with an experimental serum.