Saavik

"Any suggestions, Admiral?"

- Saavik, after her Kobayashi Maru test.

Saavik was a protagonist introduced in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

She was initially portrayed by Kristie Alley in Star Trek II, then by Robin Curtis in subsequent films.

Saavik, whose name meant "Little Cat" in Romulan was a half-Vulcan half-Romulan hybrid. The product of a rape of a Vulcan by a Romulan, she spent her early years living a hellish existence on the planet Hellguard before being rescued by Spock, who took her back to Vulcan and arranged for her to be cared for by his parents Sarek and Amanda Grayson.

In 2281, Saavik followed in Spock's footsteps and joined Starfleet. Her Romulan heritage made life at the Academy difficult, however she perservered and in 2285 held the rank of Lieutenant (JG). She took the Kobayashi Maru test and failed it just as nearly all other cadets did.

Soon after her test, Saavik served on the Enterprise under then Admiral James T. Kirk as the ship went on a three week cadet cruise. The ship came under attack by Khan Noonien Singh, who had recently escaped from Ceti Alpha V. By the time Khan had been defeated Saavik's friend Preston was dead. Khan's attacks also apparently cost the life of her mentor Spock when he sacrificed himself to save the Enterprise from the Genesis Wave. She did strike up a friendship with Kirk's son David Marcus after he and his mother Carol were rescued from the Regula I planetoid.

Saavik transferred with David over to the USS Grissom. During their time on the ship her relationship with David became physical. The ship soon returned to the Genesis planet, where they found the regenerated body of Captain Spock on the surface of the planet, with his mind blank. Grissom was lost just after they discovered Spock, a victim of an attack by the Klingon warlord Kruge.

Meanwhile Spock was rapidly growing into an adult as the Genesis Planet also aged rapidly. When Spock began experiencing pon-farr, Saavik slept with Spock to help resolve the condition. The Enterprise arrived a short time later. When she was disabled during combat with Kruge's ship, Kirk tried to bluff Kruge into surrendering, but Kruge decided to have one of the three Federation citizens killed. The Klingon warrior chose to kill Saavik, but David sacrificed himself to protect her and Spock.

Kirk blew up the Enterprise, taking out the Klingons who boarded the Enterprise to take her over. He then defeated Kruge in hand to hand combat on the surface of the disintegrating Genesis planet. By then Spock had reached the age that he was when he had sacrificed himself. Boarding the Klingon ship, Saavik and the other survivors raced to Vulcan, where Spock's living soul was transferred from Leonard McCoy back into Spock's body, restoring Spock to life.

Saavik remained on Vulcan for the next several months. During this time she kept her distance from Spock as he recovered from his experiences and retrained his mind. Saavik did record and send a statement to the Federation Council in support of Kirk. When Kirk and the Enterprise crew left Vulcan to return to Earth to face the consequences of their actions, Saavik remained behind on Vulcan with Amanda.

Returning to duty in Starfleet, Saavik eventually served on the Enterprise-A full time. She eventually transferred off the Enterprise after disagreeing with Spock over his new protégé Valeris - who she thought was arrogant and bigoted. Her concerns turned out to be correct when Valeris was exposed as a traitor after the Khitomer conspiracy.

The friendship between Saavik and Spock in the coming years continued to develop, and in 2329 the pair became engaged in a betrothal ceremony attended both by Admiral McCoy and a young Lieutenant Jean-Luc Picard. The pair were finally formally married in 2344.

Saavik was a Captain in Starfleet by the 2370s, and commanded the USS Alliance. During the Dominion War she was wounded during ship to ship combat and spent several months recuperating on Vulcan. One of her former first officers sent her a get well cactus, which Saavik termed a "a superfluous xerophyte." Saavik returned to duty, and continued to command the Alliance following the war.

Trivia

 * Saavik was originally slated to return as one of the members of the Khitomer Conspiracy in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. However Kristie Alley declined to return, and concern over the fan reaction to Saavik being a traitor led the producers the shelve those plans, and instead introduce the character of Valeris as the traitor on Kirk's ship.


 * The Star Trek: The Next Generation producers were originally going to make Saavik the first officer of the Bozeman in the episode Cause and Effect, however the scheduling could not be worked out for Alley to appear on the show.