Years before he came to be known as the best first officer in the fleet, Spock was a conflicted young ensign, serving on the Starship Enterprise™ under Captain Christopher Pike. Struggling to reconcile his many obligations -- those forced on him by his Vulcan heritage, and those chosen by him upon his enrollment in Starfleet Academy -- Spock must also balance the desires of his own heart.

Those conflicting demands intersect during a mission to retrieve one of his world's most sacred artifacts, a relic of Vulcan's ancient past -- the search for which will reveal dark and deadly secrets, forever altering the course of Spock's life and defining the man he became.

A classic tale from D. C. Fontana, one of Star Trek®'s original producers and the writer of such classic episodes as "Journey to Babel" and "This Side of Paradise."