A Vulcan's Love

 

 

The turbolift opened and we stepped in, I called out, "Deck 12" The turbolift began to descend.

T'Luk looked at me, "I thought you worked from the bridge."

"I think I will work from Astrometrics today," I replied with a small smile.

The doors opened and we stepped out, we walked along the corridor until we came to a large door to our right, we went inside to see that Lt Jones and Crewman Kara Foster were already there. Astrometrics was quite a large room, dominated by a large screen at the front, atop a platform with two consoles directly beneath it. There were a further four more consoles lined out in a small grid in the centre of the room; similar to that of a classroom, each had their own seat. Both walls leading up to the screen had their own control panels which can be used to regulate the various sensors/communications equipment onboard. Much of the design has come from the USS Voyager; however ours has been modified to take advantage of the extra space we have aboard the Titan, resulting in a room roughly twice the size of the one on Voyager.

 

Crewman Foster smiled at us as she walked out of astrometrics with a pad in her hand while Lt Jones walked over toward T'Luk, "Good morning and welcome to Astrometrics."

"Good Morning and thank you Lieutenant," replied T'Luk.

Lt Jones looked at me, "Don't you like working from my station on the bridge anymore?" She smiled.

I smiled back, "Not at all, I just thought I'd work from here today," I replied, while stealing a glance at T'Luk.

She stood back for a moment and glanced at T'Luk then back to me before a smile crept on her lips, "I can see why..."

I looked at her and then at T'Luk who had also turned to look at me, "What?" I asked her.

She continued to smile while shaking her head, "Nothing, in that case I will be on the bridge since it would be nice to see it every once in a while."

 

I grinned at her, "Ok, what's on the agenda?" I asked.

"Sometime last night we began to experience some problems with the dorsal sensor grid, a level 3 scan shows that it there is a fault along the adjacent EPS grid, I already have two people, three including Foster dealing with the problem, engineering have also spared a team to get things moving faster." She said, pausing for a moment,"Now you two have a special assignment. Remember that probe we sent into the Bassen Rift to collect telemetry? Well it has completed its initial flight plan and has had to exit the rift to transmit the data to us. What I want you to do is to collate the data, find anything of use which can be later analysed. I also want you to set a secondary flight plan for the probe and have it exit for transmission in 5 days."

She was right, this is a special assignment, it's not every day someone gets to chart an area of Romulan space, in fact I'm surprised that we were allowed to probe the area at all, T'Luk seemed to have the same thought, "How did we obtain clearance to perform a deep scan of Romulan space?" He asked.

"Before this mission, Starfleet asked the Romulan representatives if we would be allowed to scan the area, since a major engagement took place there, surprisingly they agreed," She replied.

It certainly was, perhaps there is some hope for the Romulan Star Empire yet, "We will get started right away." I said.

Lt Jones walked to the door, "I'll bridge if you need anything." She turned and left, leaving me and T'Luk.

*

 

We had been working for a little over 3 hours, and had gone through about half of the data collected from the probe, about 20% of the information was worth analysing, and the rest was deleted. During that time I had been talking to T'Luk, mostly it was me telling him stories about me and H'Jan at Starfleet Academy or our time on the Bellerophon, but not once has he shown any signs of being annoyed, unlike many Vulcan's I have come across. I decided to ask him, just in case he was hiding it from me.

 

"I'm not annoying you, am I?" I asked while tapping away on a console.

"I cannot become annoyed," he replied.

"Well whatever the Vulcan equivalent is or better put, would you like me to stop talking?"

"No, you are not annoying me and you may continue to talk."

See, that's what I am talking about. Any other Vulcan would have just told me they want to work in silence, or would have told me to shut up ages ago. But not T'Luk.

"You're different from other Vulcans," I said after a brief pause.

T'Luk stopped working and raised an eyebrow at me, "Different, in what way?"

I turned to face him, "Well, you don't get aggravated easily," I replied.

He was silent for a moment, "I have no reason to get aggravated."

"I've spoken to other Vulcans before, but not for more than 5 minutes before they get frustrated, let alone 3 hours." I responded.

"Many Vulcans find it hard to accept races who express their emotion."

"But not you."

He paused again, "I joined Starfleet to meet people from different races, it would be illogical to assume that they would be like Vulcans."

I smiled at him, "You are quite unique T'Luk and with that attitude it surprises me that you are a cosmologist." I said while beginning to work again.

"I did not always seek to become a cosmologist, when I was younger I wanted to be a diplomat," he replied.

"Oh? What changed your mind?" I asked.

He turned to look at me, "When I was 14 years old, my father took me on a tour of the museum of astronomy on Vulcan. I was intrigued by how everything had its own purpose, how it worked together to form something significant. It was then when I decided that I would study space."

I smiled again, trying to imagine a young T'Luk fascinated with all the exhibits.

 

"I bet he was cute," I said aloud.

T'Luk looked at me, "What?"

I blushed and looked back at my console, "ermm, nothing." I stammered. I could feel T'Luk's eyes on me as I started to work. Damn. The least thing I want is to make "this" Vulcan uncomfortable.

T'Luk stood up and walked over to the replicator, "Would you like something to drink, Kai?" he asked.

I stood up, "Yes, that would be great. Why don't we travel up to the mess for a quick break? We've done half the work." I suggested.

He thought for a moment, "Ok, a quick break."

We walked out of Astrometrics and took the short trek up to the mess hall. There were only a couple of people there when we arrived, I walked over to the replicator but paused when I wasn't sure what I should get. T'Luk stood next to me and requested camomile tea, "Does it taste nice?" I asked.

He looked at me, "Yes, it does."

I decided to chance it, "Camomile tea, hot."

 

I took the drink and followed T'Luk over to the right of the mess hall where there were comfortable lounge chairs, rather than the ones next to the tables. We sat next to each other, facing the stars flying past the window. I tried some of the tea,

"You're right, it is good," I commented, while turning to look at the Vulcan.

T'Luk nodded while drinking some of his own. I watched as he bought the cup to his thin lips and sipped down some drink. He was so perfect. Just looking at him gave me a rush of emotion through my body. I loved everything about him; from his long fingers to his smooth face. I wanted nothing more then to pounce on him here and now. He turned and looked at me, his eyes setting on mine. I was in bliss, as though we were the only two people who mattered in that instant. The moment passed and we both turned to look out of the window. We sat there for a couple of minutes in silence, simply enjoying each others company. I may have known T'Luk for less than 24 hours, but it seems like I have always known him, like he has always been a part of my life.

I suddenly remembered what Alex had said this morning, about T'Luk joining us on the holodeck. But rather than ask him right out, I decided to do a bit of detective work.

"What do you do when you're off duty?" I asked.

"I go to my quarters to meditate or read."

"Sounds like fun," I replied.

"I find it quite satisfying," he said.

I turned to look at him, "I was joking T'Luk. Come on, there must be a part of you that wants to do something a little more...exciting."

"I cannot experience excitement."

"I bet you can," I challenged.

 

He looked at me, "What do you mean?" he asked.

I took a breath, "There's this ancient Earth sport called kite surfing, well I was playing it yesterday on the holodeck and its real fun." I paused for a moment, "I wondered if you would like to join us tonight," I asked.

He raised an eyebrow, "Us?"

I filled him in, "Yeah, me, Alex, H'Jan and Casey."

He opened his mouth to speak but I cut him off, "At least come along to see what it's like."

He was quiet for minute, "What is kite surfing?" he asked.

I grinned to myself, Yep, I have the Vulcan hooked; now all I have to do it keep him interested until this evening. I was about to answer him when I heard the sound of the warp drive coming offline. I stood up and looked out of the window to watch the stars as we came out of warp, one of the stars were visibly larger than the rest; indicating that we had arrived at the Romulan star system. Due to the extreme speeds of warp travel, it is standard procedure to exit warp just outside the solar system and to continue the journey on impulse speed; meaning we should be in orbit of Romulus within 5 minutes, less if Alex puts his foot down.

T'Luk faced me, "We still have much work to complete, we should go back to Astrometrics."

I nodded, "Ok, and on the way, I'll explain the basics of kite surfing."

By the time we reached Astrometrics I had managed to get T'Luk to go to the holodeck with us. It seemed that he was a little hesitant on how I could teach him basing it on that I have only been once, but I told him that there would be an instructor there to teach him. Lt Jones was waiting for us when we walked inside and seemed rather pleased about something,

"The problem with the sensor array has been repaired ahead of schedule, I almost thought it'd take a couple of days to get everything working again," she said happily.

I stepped forward, "That's good news. We've got through about half of the data collected, but there really isn't a lot there worth analysing." I replied.

"I didn't expect there to be anything great, but if Starfleet wants to scour the data, they are free to do so," She said. "Anyway I didn't come down here to check on you two; I just wanted to inform you of what is to be expected during our proposed two week stay at Romulus." She paused, "Captain Riker along with Commander Caves and Commander Troi will be going down to the planet to conduct the peace talks, along with the other starship captains in the fleet, Admiral Ross and some diplomats. During this time, Lt Commander Clark will be in command of Titan. Any questions?"

"No sir," said T'Luk and me in unison, prompting a smile from Lt Jones.

"Good, I'll leave you two to finish up here," she said and walked out of Astrometrics.

I turned to T'Luk, "Let's get cracking," Clasping my hands together.

"Indeed."

*

 

We finished going through the data at around 15:00 and had uploaded a new flight plan to the probe which should take it 12 hours to complete. Since then we have been going through the data we saved and sending it to the various departments of Starfleet for deep analysis. We then helped to realign the sensor grid which had been repaired earlier in the day, which is now working at peak efficiency. We have been busy to say the least, and I for one have been looking forward to our leisure time in the holodeck.

 

It was 19:00 which meant that I just got off duty along with T'Luk and Alex. The holodeck was booked for 20:30, which means that H'Jan and Casey have enough time to get ready as they don't get off duty until 20:00. Seeing as it was only us three we decided to go have dinner in the mess.

"I can't eat another thing," groaned Alex after devouring a large, very tasty looking quarter pounder.

I grinned at him, "I guess being a starship pilot must be more physically demanding than I thought," I joked.

"It's better than programming a probe to have all the fun!" he replied.

I poked my tongue out and looked at T'Luk who had just eaten a not so tasty looking Vulcan meal, "How about you, are you full?"

He looked at me, "Yes, are you?"

I had opted for a chicken stir-fry which had tasted really good, "Yep, just right." I replied.

Alex turned to T'Luk, "Are you a vegetarian or do you eat seafood like some Vulcans?" He asked.

"A majority of my diet consists mainly of vegetarian cuisine, however on occasion I do eat some species of fish." He replied.

 

"No meat?" Asked Alex.

T'Luk shook his head, "Very few Vulcans eat meat as we can obtain the same nutritional ingredients from a vegetarian diet."

Alex smiled, "I don't think I would be a very good Vulcan. I need my meat."

I laughed at that, even T'Luk seemed to show some sort of amusement.

"Do you guys want to come back to my quarters for a bit?" I asked.

T'Luk and Alex agreed and we made our way to our quarters, with Alex telling us about some crewman he found cute.

"I'm telling you, she winked at me," said Alex as he walked into my quarters, followed by T'Luk.

I giggled, "Maybe she had something in her eye."

Alex sat down on the sofa and shook his head, "No she was looking at me, I swear it."

I smiled as I walked over to the replicator, "You guys want something to drink?"

"Naah, I'm good," called out Alex.

I looked over to T'Luk who had perched himself on the opposite end of the sofa, "I will have some Bolian tonic." He replied. This prompted a round of laughter from Alex which earned him a glare from T'Luk.

"What?" Asked T'Luk

I replicated two glassed of Bolian tonic and handed one to T'Luk. "Alex here believes that Bolian tonic is for grumpy old men and Starfleet Admirals pending retirement" I replied before continuing, "I guess he's just surprised to find someone else our age who likes it," I said while taking a large gulp to emphasise my point to Alex.

Alex began to tell me and T'Luk about this crewman that he was talking about and somehow the conversation moved on to the subject of marriage.

 

"Now with Vulcans," began Alex while looking at T'Luk, "Vulcans have it easy, they get their marriages arranged for them, nothing to worry about," Said Alex.

 

NO! That point had completely gone past me. Most Vulcan's have arranged marriages, which means that chances are some Vulcan female out there already has T'Luk. My T'Luk.

It was quiet for a moment, until T'Luk spoke, "Not all."

"How does that happen exactly? Because I thought that they were arranged when the child is young," Asked Alex.

"Yes, it is arranged in a child's younger years, but under certain circumstances it can be wavered," He replied.

Alex's eyes shot at mine as though we shared a similar thought. I'm pretty sure that gay Vulcans would fall under that category, unless the child requested a mate of the same sex but I wasn't sure if that was possible, and I sure as hell wasn't going to ask T'Luk that.

"Hey Kai, are you guys ready for the holodeck yet?" came H'Jan's voice through my combadge.

I tapped it, "Yeah, are you and Casey already there?" I asked.

"Yep, we're just waiting for you three, so hurry up!" He said.

"We're on our way, Kai out." I replied.

It would have been inappropriate for us to walk though the ship in nothing more than our swimwear, so instead we used changing rooms that were part of the holo-program. We each had our separate changing area with our own equipment and clothing; all replicated by the computer. While kite surfing can be done at different locations around the world, this particular program was located in the Caribbean on a small island called Grenada. The weather and scenery are perfect. Clear blue skies, white sandy beaches and with an average temperature of 26 degrees, it's great for kite surfing.

I finished getting dressed and headed out with my board and kite to set it up on the beach. Casey and H'Jan were already there, gliding through the water waiting for us to arrive. I waved over at them while I began to set up my kite and board. Alex came out a little while later with T'Luk not far behind.

"Computer activate instructor," I called out, which caused familiar old Blake to appear.

I have to admit I had my reservations on how much T'Luk would participate in this activity, but after only a short amount of time he had already understood the basics and was beginning to glide quite confidently. Of course being on a holodeck also helped as we could manipulate any variable we wanted to make it easier, but he just took to it like it was something he'd done many times. Like last night, we had 2 hours worth of time allotted, which meant we had about 30 minutes left. I glided over toward T'Luk and stayed alongside him. I let my eyes roam his nearly nude body. He had an amazing tanned look all over, which was a natural characteristic of some Vulcans. His chest was perfect; he had just the right amount of muscle tone, not too much, but definitely enough. Whenever he pulled the kite, his six pack would show itself and like the rest of him, it was totally lickable. His legs were slim and beautifully defined and like most Vulcans he had very small amounts of hair over the rest of his body. I think the computer was reading my mind when it came to selecting T'Luk's swim shorts as they clearly showed off his manhood very nicely. This didn't help my growing hardness, which I had to adjust before T'Luk looked at me.

"You feeling any excitement?" I called out.

He looked at me, "I can understand why humans would find this exciting," he answered.

I smiled at him, "That's good enough for me."

 

I was just beginning to get into the mood when Casey shouted over at us, "We better get moving you guys, our times almost up."

I shouted back that we heard him and made our way toward the beach. One good thing about using a holodeck is that you don't need to clean up or pack things away after you, so when we got to the beach and got off the board with one simple command they all disappeared. We still had about 10 minutes left so we decided to have a wet shower in our changing rooms. I walked into mine and retrieved my towel and walked into the shower room, still wearing my shorts. It wasn't until I stepped in there did I notice that T'Luk was also in there; fortunately he was also clothed.

"Oh, sorry T'Luk, I thought these were separate." I stammered.

He seemed surprised to see me as well, "I also believed that they were separate."

 

"I'll wait until you finish," I said while beginning to move outside.

"You may remain here...If you prefer." Said T'Luk, not taking his eyes off mine.

I decided that it wouldn't hurt to stay here like the Vulcan suggested,"Ok, thanks," I said while moving to the other shower head and turning it on.

I sighed in the feeling of the hot water running over my body, washing away any sand stuck to me, "This feels nice," I said while looking at T'Luk.

He nodded, "Yes, it does."

 

I noticed that somehow a small piece of seaweed was stuck in T'Luk's hair, "You have something in your hair," I told him, while gesturing toward the area where it was.

 

He reached up and tried to grab it but he kept on missing it, I walked over to him, "I'll get it," I said while reaching out and removing it from his hair.

I threw it onto the floor but kept my hand next to his face. I looked up into his eyes and once again we became locked in this hypnotic trance. I reached up and ran my hand across his cheek; I moved down to the back of his neck and let it rest there. He didn't do anything to stop me or show me that he was uncomfortable with that I was doing, so I didn't stop. I moved forward, closing the distance between us, the light spray from the shower flowing over both of our faces. I inched in further and placed my other hand on his slim waist and I pulled his head toward mine while closing my eyes. My parted lips lightly touched his, before I leaned in; locking us together. I felt him move against me as his arms snaked their way around my waist while his lips began to move with mine. We pulled back, looked briefly at each other's eyes and then moved back in again, with more passion. My tongue found its way inside his mouth as I had my first taste of T'Luk. His tongue started to respond, dancing with my own. I was in ecstasy. His movements were so gentle and so soft, so very perfect. I felt his hardness grow against mine as I humped into him, never wanting this moment to end. I moved my hand to the back of his head and pulled him against me, wanting more, needing more. We both suddenly broke apart when we heard H'Jan's voice in the distance telling us to hurry up. I looked back at T'Luk and quickly stole another kiss from him, before grabbing his hand and leading him out of the shower.

We both got dressed and went to join the other three who were waiting there impatiently.

"What took you so long?" Asked Casey.

I immediately blushed a deep red, but T'Luk came to my rescue.

"There was only one shower, which we used separately." He responded in his usual voice, without any hint of deception.

They looked at each other, trying to stop grins from breaking out on their faces.

"Computer, end program," called out Alex, which caused the entire world around us to disappear, leaving us with the grid like structure of the holodeck.

We stepped outside and decided to go to our quarters as we were all pretty tired. While the others dispersed I stayed with T'Luk long enough to tip toe up to his ear and whisper,

"I love you."

I stood back, but not before T'Luk leaned down next to my ear. He paused for second before whispering, "me too."

I looked into his eyes and wished him goodnight and waited as he walked away around the corridor, away from my view. My T'Luk. My Vulcan love.