Yeoman Mears served on the USS Enterprise in 2267 (Stardate 2821.5), which was under the command of Captain James T. Kirk. While the Enterprise was on a mission to deliver life-saving plague drugs to Makus III, the dark-haired blue-eyed Mears was the only female assigned to Lieutenant Commander Spocks away team to investigate the Murasaki 312 quasar-like formation. While investigating the phenomenon, turbulence forced the Galileo shuttlecraft, with its seven member crew, to land on Taurus II. The Murasaki phenomenon prevented the Enterprise crew from tracking or communicating with the shuttlecraft, leaving Mears marooned on Taurus II with Spock, McCoy, Mr. Scott, Lt. Latimer, Lt. Gaetano, and Lt. Boma. While on the planet, Mears worked with McCoy to strip the shuttlecraft of extra weight. Lt. Latimer and Lt. Gaetano were killed from attacks by the planets native inhabitants. Mr. Scott cleverly converted the power from their phasers to compensate for their loss of fuel. This power was used to reach orbit. When the Enterprise had to abandon the Galileo crew to continue their original mission, Spock made a last ditch effort to signal the Enterprise by ejecting and igniting the remaining fuel. Sulu managed to spot the burning fuel in time to safely beam out the remaining Galileo crew, including Yeoman Mears, before the shuttle burned up in reentry to the planet.