Acclimation (working title)

A/N: Okay, so I lied. I will be putting up a couple more chapters. Mostly because the "rates" I got made me happy...I still want a review, at least. In any case, Berry hasn't reached Vulcan yet. Chapter three starts there, but this is just one more chapter of setting up her character, I guess.

Chapter three still hasn't been beta'd, and chapter four is still being written, so...who knows when next I'll be able to post a chapter? In any case, enjoy. :)

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In a few minutes, the shuttle would be taking off for its mother ship up in space, and Dr. Berry Slater would be on her way to New Vulcan, to a new job and new life. She was notably jittery about the journey, which would take a maximum of six days, but that was at half the speed the Federation transport was capable. Even at max, however, it would give Berry entirely too much time to think back on her decision to accept the position and head to the colony with a minimal amount of her personal belongings. Time had been of the essence, as the transport starship that would be used to ferry the new project personnel from Earth to New Vulcan would have left before Berry could have had half her things boxed. Her mother had offered to box Berry's things and send them to her at a later date, but the younger woman had declined; Berry was able to carry what little she would need at the colony on board with her, and anything else was of minimal sentimental value.

The man next to her shifted in his seat, grimacing as he tried to find a more comfortable spot on the seat. When Berry smothered a halfhearted laugh, he turned and gave her a halfhearted glare. "These seats aren't very comfortable, are they?"

Still trying not to giggle, she replied, "They are, but we're only going to be on the shuttle for as long as it takes to reach the transport."

"Even so," he said, making another face. This time, Berry did laugh out loud, and the man quickly grinned at her. He held up a hand for her to shake, "The name's Byron Wolfe. I'll be working on the agriculture side of the project."

She clasped his hand, giving it a firm shake. "I'm Dr. Slater. I'll be working in genetics."

Byron let out a low whistle as she released his hand. "Wowie, I'd have never guessed that such a pretty lady as yourself would hide such a brain."

Looking at him askance, Berry chuckled. "I don't know if I should be flattered, or hit you for that remark."

He laughed, holding up his hands in a way of placating her playful anger. "Kidding, kidding. I'd already heard that the Federation had hired a xenogeneticist by the name of Slater. However, I haven't heard your given name," he said slyly, waggling his eyebrows.

Berry laughed again, but shook a finger at his antics. "And you won't. Though we'll be colleagues, I'd rather you call me by my family name, Wolfe."

"Oh, Ron, please," he insisted, hiding his disappointment behind a silly grin. "I've never really liked my name."

"I can share those same sentiments," she admitted. "But I'm still not telling you."

"Damn," he laughed.

Before they could continue with their conversation, the rest of the passengers boarded the shuttle, followed by the pilots and the official that had personally sought Berry ought. The next few minutes were spent getting everyone situated, and explaining flight procedures, before they actually lifted off.

Aboard the transport ship and settled into her temporary quarters, Berry went through another mental checklist, playing delicately with the charm at her neck. The cut she'd had on her palm had healed for the most part, but the scab still pained her a little, distracting her momentarily from her list.

Shaking her head, she lowered her hand and sat on the bed. The clothes she'd brought with her were suitable for the hot, arid climate of the colony, but hardly suitable for working inside a laboratory. Thankfully, the official had assured her that she would receive a uniform to wear during working hours, despite the fact that she was technically a civilian under Federation employment. Along with the clothes, she'd made sure to bring along some of her personal collection of books. They were hardly proper reading for a xenogeneticist, being trashy multi-species romance novels, but they were a guilty pleasure of hers. That, and they served to remind her that love could span just about any gap, be it personality, time, or race. Then, of course, she had made sure to bring her portable music unit, for the times when she really didn't want to hear the quiet, or the cacophony of human voices, pressing in on her.

Nodding her head as she came to the end of her list, she rose off the bed and left her quarters, walking along the corridors until she found the arrow pointing to the mess. Berry figured that she would grab a bite to eat before she returned to her room and got some sleep. The next couple of days would be spent in mental preparation for having to be away from her home, and she was sure that some homesickness would crop up with nothing to do. Which is why she had promised herself that she would spend time with the other passengers, if just to avoid feeling down about being separated from her mother by however many lightyears.

Entering the mess, she was momentarily startled when Ron called out to her, "Dr. Slater! Come eat with us, huh?" She noted the other occupants at the table, and smiled to show her agreement. Moving to the replicator before making her way to the table, she ordered up a simple salad and took it with her to the only available seat, which was oh so conveniently by Ron.

"Dr. Slater, this here's Dr. Kevin Vaughn, his wife Professor Regina Vaughn, Jiang Li, and Cyrille Gray," Ron introduced them, pointing to each occupant. "Everyone, this here is Dr. Slater. She hasn't told me her given name."

They all laughed at his added commentary before Berry leaned across the table to shake each hand in turn. "It's a pleasure to meet you all," she said. "I hope we'll get along during the length of the project."

Cyrille, a young woman only a few years older than Berry herself, leaned forward and winked. "I'm sure we will, just so long as you don't have an annoying habit, like not working." Though the words were said in jest, the underlying threat was palpable.

"Don't worry, Miss Gray," Berry assured her. "I'm rather like a workaholic when I'm not on vacation. I love work that much."

Satisfied, Cyrille sat back and took several bites of her food as the conversation at the table moved to the various departments they would be working in. During the meal, Berry found that the only one who would ever visit her department was Kevin, who would be taking care of the human workers of the project as they got used to living among the Vulcans. It was a good thing, since Berry was pretty sure that both Cyrille and Ron would have a hard time adjusting to the environment.

After the meal, they each said farewell to each other before they returned to their respective quarters. Berry returned to hers, not entirely unsatisfied with her colleagues. However, the mere fact that she had yet to meet anyone who would work in her department was somewhat unsettling. Of course, it was more than likely that her coworkers would be Vulcan, seeing as how the repopulation project was mainly run by Vulcans, since it was for them. If that were the case, then she would more than likely need to cultivate her friendships with the other passengers on the transport, if she was to have any semblance of a private life. Berry didn't think she'd be able to stand the quiet, serene environment otherwise.

With a sigh, she sat on her bed, laying back to stare at the ceiling. It really was quite an amazing opportunity, especially since it had been offered to her and not a Federation xenogeneticist. They had to have had the best and brightest in the universe, but they had picked her... It made her wonder exactly what had drawn them to her, to her thesis paper, in the first place. It wasn't as if she was a 'special' person: she didn't have connections, her IQ wasn't extraordinarily high, and her work ethic was only mildly workaholic.

But they had chosen her. Or, at least offered her the position. Maybe they had offered the role to another xenogeneticist, but they had turned it down in favor of a different job? If that were the case, then Berry certainly had a few choice words to give to those people! Abandoning an entire race of people in their time of need... Okay, so it wasn't really abandoning them. The majority of the race were scientists, after all, so they had to have geneticists working around the clock to help them achieve their goal of repopulation.

"Urgh," she sighed, turning over as she forced the topic out of her mind. The more she thought about the whole thing, the more depressed and homesick she was likely to get. Berry had a job to do, and her own personal doubts and worries had to take a back seat, whether they liked it or not.

With another sigh, she crawled underneath the thin standard issue blankets on the bed, shut off the lights, and closed her eyes. Within minutes, she was fast asleep, exhausted from the excitement, worry, and wonderment of the journey she was undertaking.

Over the next couple of days, Berry spent little time by herself. She was either in the rec room playing chess with Cyrille, practicing Tai Chi with Jiang, or laughing and sharing stories with the others in the mess. Cyrille, after the hostility she'd displayed that first day, had proven to be a sweet, kind hearted person after all. After talking with Berry during their first chess game, she had apologized, admitting that it was a pet peeve of hers whenever she saw someone with an important job not doing their work to the best of their ability. Berry, of course, had already forgiven her, and no more was said of that first day.

Unfortunately, Ron had seemed to take a liking to Berry, and tried to stick to her side like glue. But, when she had first begun to play chess with Cyrille, and practicing Tai Chi with Jiang, he had quickly become bored and moved on to go pester the Vaughns, who didn't do much beyond sitting and chatting about anything and everything under the sun. Though Berry liked Ron--he was a funny guy, after all--she really didn't appreciate his enthusiasm for getting closer to her than the others.

On the last day before they would reach the colony, the captain of the transport gathered them all together at the captain's table in the mess, giving them a fancy speech that they were doing good work. Alcohol was served, making voices and laughter much louder and sharper than usual. Berry declined the drinks, and kept to water. The only times she would ever drink alcohol would be in the privacy of her own home, and that was mostly because she was a rather, err, affectionate drunk.

Quickly, though, the others at the table were becoming too loud, making it harder and harder to concentrate on eating. Of course, Berry tried to block out the cacophony of noise, but it did little good. Thankfully, the Vaughns retreated to their rooms, and after they left the others quickly followed suit. Grateful to the older couple, she hurriedly finished her meal and retreated to her own room.

"Hey, Dr. Slater!"

Someone called her name just as she reached her door, and with a quick twitch of annoyance, she turned and gave Ron a small smile as he drunkenly wavered over to her from where he had been slumped against the door to his quarters.

"Dr. Slater," he slurred, leaning down over her, bathing her face in the scent of alcohol. "We're gonna reach New Vulcan tomorrow..."

She nodded, her back pressed against her door; she really didn't want to deal with Ron when he was drunk. Drunks were notoriously hard to put off once they got it in their heads to go after someone. "Yes, what about it?"

He grinned, his eyes dilated. "All I'm saying... is why don't you and I, you know, get acquainted before we have to be separated?"

A sick feeling jumped into the pit of her stomach. "Sorry, Ron, but we're already 'acquainted,' and I have no plans to get further acquainted," she told him quickly, reaching up to push him away. His hands grabbed her wrists, holding them together above her head. The situation was quickly becoming worse, but keeping a level head was her prime concern. Freaking out would encourage him to be more forceful. "Ron, let me go, NOW."

Ron laughed, his brown eyes twinkling in drunken mirth. "I don't think so, little miss pretty butt," he chuckled, reaching around with his other hand to give her posterior a squeeze. "You've been avoiding me these past few days; the chase was sweet, but I think you should just give in now before we have to separate."

Looking to the side, Berry took a few deep, calming breaths, her ire rising. Her arms immobile, she only had her legs to defend herself, and since she didn't wear high heels, couldn't deliver that much damage otherwise. Counting to ten, she turned her green eyes up to him, vicious warning burning like twin green flames in their depths. "Release me, Byron."

"No," he said simply.

With no other warning, she lifted both her legs, planting one foot in his stomach and the other in his crotch, and pushed, hard. Grunting, his hands fell away from her wrists, dropping her to the ground with no support. Quickly, before he could recover, she slammed her hand on the scanner, squeezing in through the door before it could slide open completely. Closing it quickly, she sighed in relief just as it shut before Ron could rise and chase her into her room. That didn't deter him, obviously, given the pounding that followed on the door, but after a minute or so, the pounding trailed off and his heavy footsteps walked away.

Her legs suddenly like jelly, her breathing burning and labored, she stumbled to the bed. She was shaking, now that she had managed to get out of the situation. The food she had eaten sat heavy and leaden in the pit of her stomach, and a cold sweat broke out on her skin. "I'm safe now," she whimpered, clutching her midsection as she tumbled onto to the bed to lay on her side, facing the door, just in case Ron somehow managed to break through the steel door. "I'm safe..."

She fell asleep after her breathing and shaking calmed, but it was hardly a restful sleep. Her dreams were plagued with nightmares of Ron breaking into her room, having his way with her, and she couldn't do a thing to stop him. Berry woke up several times during the course of the night, and eventually had to keep her light on, but finally the night passed. After so many nightmares during the night, she was sweaty and grimy, and quickly took a sonic shower before dressing in her best clothes, a nice blue shortsleeved button down and grey slacks. Hurriedly packing, she let out a sigh of relief as the captain came on over the comm, announcing their arrival at the colony, and to prepare for departure. She finished packing, tossed her bags over her shoulder, and departed her room.