Spock's History
Spock – whose full name was generally considered unpronounceable to Humans – was a Human/Vulcan hybrid who served with Starfleet in the 23rd century. As an instructor at Starfleet Academy, he programmed the Kobayashi Maru scenario. From 2258, he was first officer under Christopher Pike and his successor, James T. Kirk, aboard the USS Enterprise.
Spock suffered from the Vulcan equivalent of dyslexia as a young child, having what the Vulcans called L'tak Terai, which he had inherited from his mother. Realizing that Spock had learning disabilities, Amanda intervened early on to ensure that Spock was able to work past his disabilities. As part of her efforts to assist him with his learning disability, Amanda read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass to Spock.
As a young boy, Spock was often the target of abuse from his schoolmates because of his Human ancestry. On one particular occasion in which three of his classmates accused his father of being a traitor for marrying "that Human whore," Spock lost emotional control and was so angered that he violently beat up the lead tormentor, exhibiting such rage that, despite their advantage in size and numbers, the other two made no attempt to help their friend. Previously, he had counted that the incident was the thirty-fifth time those particular schoolmates had attempted to elicit an emotional response from him. When Spock then spoke to his disappointed father about his mother, asking Sarek why he had married a Human, Sarek coldly remarked that his decision to marry her had been the logical choice, given that he was an ambassador of Vulcan to Earth.
After completing advanced training which he began during childhood in the Vulcan Learning Center, Spock applied to both the Vulcan Science Academy and Starfleet Academy. He was also considering completing his training in the kolinahr – the Vulcan ritual of purging all vestigial emotions – and asked his mother whether she would think less of him for discarding emotion in that way. His mother simply remarked that she would always be proud of him, no matter what choices he made. He later was admitted to the Vulcan Science Academy, but declined the offer after the board remarked that his admission to the Academy was especially commendable considering his "disadvantage" of being half-Human.
Spock went on to attend Starfleet Academy, and came to be known as one of its most distinguished graduates. By 2258, he had attained the rank of commander, and acted as an instructor at the Academy.
Spock was in charge of starship assignments for the cadets. He initially assigned Lieutenant Nyota Uhura to the USS Farragut, in spite of Uhura having stated a desire to serve aboard the USS Enterprise, the new flagship. Commander Spock had served as Cadet Uhura's instructor and judged her performance to be consistently exemplary but, to avoid giving the appearance of favoritism as a result of her being one of his star students as well as being in a romantic relationship with him, he assigned her to the Farragut instead. Uhura later confronted him about this choice, noting that she was more than qualified to serve aboard the Enterprise, as had been confirmed by Spock on many occasions. After this conversation, he assigned her to the Enterprise.
Spock programmed the Kobayashi Maru scenario, the purposes of which were to allow cadets to experience fear in the face of death and, in confronting such fear, to enable them to develop skills necessary for command. When James T. Kirk was ultimately able to pass the test and defeat the scenario, Spock accused the cadet of inserting a subroutine into the program, changing the simulation to his favor, so he could win. At a hearing of the Academy board, Kirk asked for the right to confront Spock directly, and the two clashed over Kirk's actions.
The hearing was cut short by the receipt of a distress call from Vulcan, and Spock reported to the USS Enterprise as first officer under Captain Christopher Pike. En route to Vulcan, Spock once again clashed with Kirk, who had come aboard the Enterprise without authorization. Over Kirk repeatedly arguing that the distress call from Vulcan was the result of an attack by Romulans, Spock demanded that Kirk be removed from the bridge. However, when Uhura vouched for the accuracy of a crucial element of Kirk's claims, Spock decided Kirk was probably right, and as a result, Pike ordered the ship ready before dropping out of warp. Ultimately, arrival at Vulcan, which was under attack, proved that Kirk was correct, and contact was made with the Romulan mining vessel Narada, which was attacking the planet. When contact was established with the ship's captain, Nero, he appeared to know Spock, although Spock had never met the Romulan before. Pike, who was ordered to transport himself to the Narada, left Spock in charge as acting captain.
After the Narada's drill platform was disabled and Nero's plans were revealed, Spock beamed to the surface of Vulcan to at least rescue the Vulcan Council, including his father and mother. As the survivors were about to be beamed aboard the Enterprise, the disintegrating surface of the planet collapsed beneath Spock's mother, before the transport could be completed, and she died. She was one of almost six billion killed with the loss of the planet.
Struggling with the destruction of his homeworld and the death of his mother, Spock received comfort from Uhura. He decided to take the Enterprise to the Laurentian system – to rendezvous with the rest of the fleet – and engaged in a furious debate with Kirk, which led to Spock subduing the acting first officer with a Vulcan nerve pinch. Spock then ordered Kirk to be thrown off the ship, jettisoning him in an escape pod near Delta Vega.
With the Enterprise now at warp, Spock was surprised when Kirk and Montgomery Scott were able to beam aboard the ship, and demanded to know how they had been able to transport during warp. Kirk, who had by now met with a version of Spock who had traveled back in time with Nero, had also been told that in order to save Earth, he himself had to take over command of the Enterprise. The older Spock had asked Kirk to sufficiently provoke the younger Spock, in order to show everyone that he was too emotionally compromised to be in command. Kirk made several unsuccessful attempts to insult and cajole Spock, until finally a jibe about whether Spock had loved his late mother made the Vulcan snap, attacking Kirk and coming extremely close to killing him. He was only stopped by his father and, quickly realizing what had happened, he stepped down from command. Returning to the transporter room, Spock was comforted by the words of his father, who admitted he actually had married Amanda because he loved her.
After a brief cool-down period, Spock returned to duty, accepting Kirk's command, and approved of Pavel Chekov suggesting they could hide the Enterprise in Titan's atmosphere. Spock then volunteered to beam to the Narada, noting that the similarities between Romulan and Vulcan language and culture would help him in locating Captain Pike and determining a way to destroy the vessel. Kirk, now in command, agreed, and accompanied Spock aboard the Narada. On the Romulan craft, Spock and Kirk engaged in a brief phaser fight with the Narada's Romulan crew. Mind melding with an unconscious Romulan crewmember, Spock was able to locate the Jellyfish and Captain Pike.
On board the Jellyfish, the computer recognized him as Ambassador Spock; when Kirk made an obviously sarcastic show of "surprise" and the computer stated that the ship had been built 129 years in the future, Spock realized exactly who Kirk had encountered on Delta Vega.
Attacking the Narada from the inside, Spock escaped into Earth's orbit, and was able to destroy the drill platform as it dug into San Francisco Bay. Ultimately, an artificially created black hole, with assistance from the Enterprise's weapons, consumed the Narada and Nero, who had refused humanitarian assistance. Spock, angered over the destruction of his world, took the non-logical path for once, telling Kirk that, while it was logical to offer help, this time he didn't want to do it.
Back on Earth, Spock finally met with his older counterpart, who explained to him that he had wanted to make sure that Spock and Kirk became friends and shared the kind of friendship he and the other Kirk from his timeline shared: something which would ultimately define them both and was a crucial aspect of their lives. Spock had planned to resign from Starfleet and help rebuild Vulcan society, but the elder counterpart urged him to remain with Starfleet, put aside logic once in a while and do what felt right. About to join the surviving Vulcans himself, the prime Spock chose not to offer his alternate self the traditional Vulcan salute, noting that it would have seemed self-serving; instead, he wished him good luck. With Kirk now in command of the Enterprise, Spock offered his services as First Officer, which Kirk gladly accepted.
A year later, Spock was on Nibiru trying to prevent a volcano from causing the extinction of all life on the planet. From a shuttle piloted by Sulu and Uhura, Spock was rappelled in an environmental suit with a cold fusion device that would prevent the catastrophic eruption. The heat damaged the shuttle, snapping the wire and forcing Sulu and Uhura to leave Spock. From the Enterprise's bridge, Kirk was informed that ash from the volcano would prevent them from transporting Spock away before the device detonated. Spock requested his captain leave him to die, as getting the Enterprise in range would expose the ship to the primitive Nibirans and violate the Prime Directive. Kirk did this anyway: Spock found himself in the transporter room and could only express concern over his captain breaking Starfleet's main rule.
Because Kirk covered up what happened in his captain's log, Spock filed a more truthful report when they returned to San Francisco. The Admiralty chose to return Kirk to the Academy and return the Enterprise to Pike, although Pike convinced Alexander Marcus to alter the decision to make Kirk his first officer shortly. Spock was transferred to the USS Bradbury under Captain Frank Abbott. That evening, Spock attended a summit at Starfleet Headquarters regarding a bombing at the Kelvin Memorial Archive in London. The perpetrator, John Harrison, appeared in an attack vehicle and opened fire. Spock tended to the wounded Pike, attempting to comfort him with a mind meld, and felt the life depart from his body.
The next morning, Scott informed them Harrison had used the confiscated transwarp beaming formula to flee to Qo'noS. Marcus gave the vengeful Kirk permission to hunt down Harrison, and allowed him to reinstate Spock as his first officer. Spock objected to Marcus's orders to execute Harrison from orbit with 72 experimental photon torpedoes, deeming it immoral to kill him without trial. Kirk listened, and decided to arrest Harrison instead. Spock was also suspicious of the weapons specialist Marcus appointed to the Enterprise, Carol Wallace, and found no records of her serving on any ship.
Spock and Uhura joined Kirk's away team in a shuttle to Harrison's location. When they were attacked by a Klingon patrol, Harrison appeared and singlehandedly killed them all so he could be taken into Kirk's custody. In the brig, Spock and Kirk questioned Harrison, who only responded that they examine the torpedoes, as well as a set of coordinates. In the meantime, Spock learned Wallace was actually Marcus's daughter, who was using her mother's maiden name as a cover, and informed Kirk before he ordered her to examine the torpedoes.
McCoy and Marcus opened a torpedo and found a man held in cryogenic stasis. Harrison revealed he was Khan Noonien Singh, revived and forced by Admiral Marcus to design ships and weapons for war with the Klingon Empire, and he had tried to smuggle away his fellow Augments but was forced to leave them after being caught. Marcus arrived in the USS Vengeance and demanded Kirk hand over Khan, but Kirk refused, wanting Khan to stand trial and expose the conspiracy. During the confrontation between the two ships, the Vengeance's weaponry was deactivated by Scott, who was on a leave of absence and had boarded the ship after investigating the coordinates given by Khan. Kirk decided to board the ship with Khan, given his knowledge of its design, but Spock protested, distrusting Khan. Kirk countered he was desperate and needed his help.
While Kirk and Khan boarded the Vengeance in thruster suits, Spock contacted his older counterpart on New Vulcan, asking for information on Khan. Although the older Spock had sworn not to further interfere with history, he warned Spock that Khan was the most dangerous adversary the Enterprise's counterpart had ever faced. Spock ordered McCoy to remove the stasis chambers from the torpedoes, before Khan appeared on the viewscreen, revealing he had murdered the admiral and taken control of the Vengeance. He demanded the torpedoes in return for Kirk and Scott, so Spock obliged, but Khan began firing on the Enterprise. An unsurprised Spock had the torpedoes detonated, crippling the Vengeance.
The damage sustained to both ships caused them to fall to Earth. Spock strapped on his seat belt and ordered all emergency power to life support, demanding the crew evacuate, but they refused, wanting to go down with their ship. However, the Enterprise's engines reactivated, preventing it from crashing. Scott asked Spock to come to the warp core, where he found Kirk had repaired it without putting on a suit to shield himself from radiation poisoning. Kirk said he wanted Spock to know why he'd saved Spock from the volcano. Spock brokenly replied "Because you are my friend." As Kirk died, Spock lost his Vulcan demeanor and screamed, "KHAN!"
He beamed down to San Francisco where the Vengeance had crashed, and pursued Khan with the intent of executing him. The two fought on automated floating barges, but neither the nerve pinch or mind meld had any effect on Khan. Uhura beamed down and fired several shots to stun Khan, while explaining they needed his blood to cure Kirk. Spock finally knocked out Khan and brought him to sickbay, where McCoy performed a blood transfusion.
Two weeks later, Spock greeted a conscious Kirk and McCoy in a hospital room, where he expressed gratitude "Jim" was alive. Nearly a year later, Spock attended a memorial service for those killed by Khan and Admiral Marcus, and then stood by his captain as the Enterprise embarked on a five-year mission.
Three years into the mission, Spock was present for the diplomatic mission to Teenax, placing the alien artifact known as the Abronath in the ship's archive vault upon its vehement rejection by the Teenaxi Delegation.
After the Enterprise arrived at Starbase Yorktown, Spock, who was already questioning whether his place was with the Vulcans or in Starfleet (which caused a rift between him and his girlfriend Nyota Uhura), was greatly affected by the news of the death of his counterpart which further persuaded him to resign his commission to focus on continuing the elder Spock's work of rebuilding Vulcan society.
Before Spock could inform Starfleet or Captain Kirk of his decision to leave, the Enterprise was dispatched to the Necro Cloud ostensibly to rescue the crew of Kalara – in secret an agent of Krall. As the Enterprise was attacked and boarded, Spock and McCoy left the bridge to investigate and repel the invading force. Witnessing Krall obtain the alien artifact Abronath, Spock was pursued by the invaders, escaping into a turbolift with McCoy. As the Enterprise was severely damaged in the battle, the turbolift containing Spock and McCoy was ejected into space and captured by a Swarm ship. Escaping the lift, Spock and McCoy commandeered the Swarm ship and crashed on the surface of Altamid as the Enterprise was destroyed.
Severely injured in the crash and suffering from massive blood loss, Spock was treated by McCoy as best the doctor could under the circumstances. Finding an alien structure, Spock recognized markings indicating Altamid was the origin of the Abronath, a super weapon hunted for by Krall. In the structure, Spock again experienced a loss of emotional control, alternating between mortal fear, hopelessness, and giddiness when interacting with McCoy.
Finally located by their fellow Enterprise crewmates aboard the wreck of the USS Franklin, Spock was immediately taken to the ship's mess where McCoy began emergency surgery. As the doctor repaired the hemorrhage, Spock assured Kirk they would "find hope in the impossible" and later assisted in locating the rest of his shipmates by using the ship's sensors to track the vokaya necklace he had given to Lieutenant Uhura.
After assisting in the rescue of the Enterprise crew from Krall's encampment, Spock volunteered to once again board a Swarm ship to prevent Krall from unleashing the Abronath at Starbase Yorktown. Once again joined by a reluctant McCoy, Spock helped pilot a Swarm ship as the Franklin used radio signals to disrupt Krall's swarm. Pursuing a single ship piloted by Krall into Yorktown's internal structure, Spock and McCoy assisted in the destruction of Krall's ship before rescuing Kirk as he fell from Yorktown Headquarters.
Following the defeat of Krall, Commander Spock was given the few belongings which Ambassador Spock brought from the future, including a photograph of himself with his crewmates circa 2287, which moved Spock to reverse his decision and remain with the Enterprise crew when they were assigned to a replacement vessel: the USS Enterprise-A.
