Disclaimer:

This story is based in the "Star Trek" universe. The use of anything related to "Star Trek" in this series is not intended to infringe upon the rights of Paramount
Pictures. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise.

All other content or otherwise are works of my own imagination. All events are fictitious in nature.

Any similarities to persons living, dead, or otherwise are purely coincidental.

This story contains strong themes of homosexual content, if this offends you in any way, please refrain from reading further. If you are not of legal age to read this, please leave now.

A/N: I'd like to thank TalonRider for editing this chapter. His unparalleled brilliance and tireless effort applied to my work is greatly appreciated. Thank you.



A Vulcan’s Love
-By Emulated




Chapter 26: Remnants


I looked over at Commander Johns, “I’ve sent you the coordinates of the cloak matrix.”

He nodded, “Got it. Quantum torpedoes ready, Sir.”

Admiral Hayes faced the viewscreen, “Fire!”

I looked up and watched as the blue, glowing balls of light exited from our ship and impacted against the hidden vessel, removing the cloak. I glanced down at the display in front of me, “The vessel is altering course to come about, Sir.”

Hayes nodded, “Helm, take us right at them.” He said, looking at Johns, “Target their warp drive and shields.”

*

Nine hours earlier

It will take us five days to get there.” I said, looking at the console.

Dad laughed, “Bet you miss the Titan now.” He said, “How long did that take? A day?”

I nodded, “Less if Alex put his foot down.” I replied, “Anyway, she’s still getting fixed, so it looks like we’re in the slow lane.”

Mum smiled, “That’s alright. At least it’d give us enough time to get the house clean for you guys.”

T’Luk raised an eyebrow, “It looks acceptable as it is.” He said, “Do not trouble yourself for my benefit.”

Mum beamed at him, “You’re too sweet, T’Luk.” She replied, “But don’t worry, it’s not that hard.”

He nodded, “If you insist.”

She looked at me, “I’ll have your room ready for you…”She said, “And I could get the guest room ready…if you’d like.”

I turned to T’Luk, lowering my voice, “Which would you prefer?”

He thought for a moment, “Your room would be fine.”

I smiled at that, turning back to his console, “Only do my room, please.”

My parents were silent for a moment, small grins on their faces. Now they really knew how close T’Luk and I had become over the past few months. “Ok, Kai. It’ll be ready for you guys when you arrive.”

“Thanks.”

“We’ll let you guys finish up packing then. See you in five days.” Said Dad.

I nodded, “Ok, we’ll see you then. Bye.”

“Bye.” They replied, before we closed the channel.

I turned to T’Luk and leaned across, placing a kiss on his cheek.

He raised an eyebrow.

I shrugged, “Just because you’re so adorable.” I said, “And because my parents love you.”

He thought for a moment, “They have only met me once.”

“Yeah, but they’ve seen you loads on all the hails we’ve done.” I smiled, “But most of all, they love you because I love you.”

We shared a look with each other for a few seconds, before T’Luk sat up from the bed, “We should continue packing. Our shuttle leaves in two hours.”

*

It has been increasingly pleasing to get to know you, Kai.” Spoke Volak.

I smiled at him, “Likewise. I am very honoured that T’Luk invited me home, to meet both T’Kal and yourself.”

T’Luk and I had about an hour before we had to leave. T’Luk was inside the house talking to his mother, while I was walking around the garden, speaking to his father. We sat down on a bench, under the shade of a tree.

“I must admit something to you, Kai.” He began, “When I first learned that T’Luk was…seeing someone of a different species, I found the idea…unsettling.” He turned to me, “Please do not take any offence as I do not mean that in a xenophobic manner. If anything, I was concerned for the individual in question.”

I cocked my head, “How so?”

“Vulcans are highly emotional, far more so than Humans. That wouldn’t pose a problem for the usual interspecies relationship, but because of T’Luk’s ‘condition’, I had been advised that a Vulcan partner may assist him.” He turned to me, “T’Luk does not have an aggressive nature, however, it is in our natural temperament to be aggressive. A Vulcan partner could help him further suppress those emotions, limiting the chance of them ever surfacing.”

“So you felt that, given a cause, T’Luk could ‘flip’?”

“In a sense, yes. That was why I had my reservations, I did not want someone to be…hurt. Not physically, but mentally, because of how he could have behaved.” He paused, “But when I come to hear of you Kai, those reservations were lessened. I began to contemplate that perhaps an interspecies relationship could work for his benefit.”

I nodded as he continued.

“T’Luk shouldn’t be forced to suppress those feelings he experiences. He should be allowed to share them with someone who lives with emotion. You are the most logical choice.”

I smiled, “Thank you.”

He thought for a moment, “It has been a truly remarkable thing to witness. “ He began, “As I’m sure you are aware, T’Luk is very important to both T’Kal and myself. As Humans say, he is our life. He has always been a…satisfied person, but upon his first hail after having met you, it was evident that something else was beginning to emerge: love. He loves you Kai, in a way that is immensely rare for Vulcans.”

I turned and looked at the house, where I could see T’Luk through the windows, “I love him too. So much.”

He nodded, “I know.”

We spoke for a while longer, before we headed back into the house, so T’Luk and I could set off to the shuttle port.

T’Kal reached out and shook my hand, “It has been good to see you Kai. I hope you visit us again soon.”

I smiled, “Me too. Thank you for letting me stay here.”

Volak shook my hand, “You are most welcome, Kai. There will always be a place for you to stay on Vulcan.”

I beamed inside at that, “Thank you.”

I stepped back and watched as T’Luk said goodbye to his parents. Like Volak said, it was clear how much they cared for him, and how much he cared for them. I almost wanted to tell them that we’d never leave, just so that they could stay together. But once we raised our hands in the Vulcan salute, it marked the end of our visit. Our first visit to Vulcan.

*

I’m going to miss this place.” I said, looking at him as we sat in the shuttle terminal, “I hope we come back here often.”

He reached out and pulled me close, “I will bring you here as often as you would like.”

I leaned forward and kissed him, “I like the sound of that.”

An announcement came over the PA system, in Vulcan.

T’Luk collected his bag, and I done the same, before I heard the announcement in English; that our shuttle was ready for boarding.

We walked out of the terminal, and across the paved surface. We followed the trail of people heading to one of the small transports, which would take us up to the USS Robau. Seeing as we were in Starfleet, we had priority over the general public to have placement aboard a starship. As such, the small transport, full of Starfleet personnel, would take us up to the Akira-class starship, the USS Robau.

We stepped inside the transport ship, which was about the size of a runabout, but instead of having a transporter, or sleeping compartments, it only had rows of seating. T’Luk and I stowed our suitcases away and sat down. We began to make ourselves comfortable before I heard some shouting coming from outside. I looked towards the door as two Crewman in uniform ran onboard. One of them started checking through the suitcases, picking up ours, as the other one set his eyes on T’Luk and myself.

“Are you Ensigns Taylor and T’Luk?” He asked.

I stood up and nodded, “Yes, what’s go-“ I asked as they interrupted me.

The second guy, now with our suitcases tapped his combadge, “Harris to Vega, four to beam up, with cargo, energise.”

I looked over to T’Luk in confusion, but was quickly enveloped by a blue hue as I dematerialised from the transport ship, and rematerialised on a transporter pad. I glanced down at the two people in front of us.

Admiral Hayes tapped on his combadge, “We have them onboard, proceed to the last known coordinates, maximum warp.” He ordered, before he looked at Vice-Admiral Chun, “Go down to engineering, try to increase our velocity.”

“Aye Sir.” He replied, before he stepped out of the room. I heard a high pitch whine, before it disappeared, replaced by an almost inaudible drone. We were at warp.

I looked at the Admiral, “Sir, if you don’t mind me asking, what’s going on here?” I asked, the confusion evident in my voice, “And where are we?”

He turned to us, “You are onboard my flagship, the USS Vega. I’m sure it’s all confusing for you at the moment, but follow me and I’ll explain everything shortly.”

I glanced at T’Luk, before I reached over and picked up my suitcase, with T’Luk doing the same with his. We followed the Admiral out of the transporter room and through the ship. I wasn’t sure on the exact class of vessel until my eyes caught one of the consoles: USS Vega- Nebula class. That meant that we were on one big ship. One of the largest classes in the Starfleet.

We continued on our journey, up to the bridge, where we entered into the observation lounge, or the briefing room. I looked out of the windows, watching as the stars flew past.

“Please take a seat.” Ushered the Admiral, as he sat at the head of the table.

T’Luk and I sat next to each other, facing toward the window.

“Two hours ago, we received word that one of our top research engineers had been kidnapped from his home in Portugal, Earth.” He said, handing me a PADD.

I looked at the Admiral, bemused, “Kidnapped?”

“Yes. All evidence points to the terrorist cell.”

A shiver flowed down my spine.

“The man who was kidnapped is Duarte Morais. He holds the rank of Commander. You might be aware of who he is.”

I shook my head, “I’ve never met the guy.”

“Commander Morais works at one of our top secret installations.” He paused, “The same installation as your mother.”

“Oh? She never mentioned anyone with that name.”

He nodded, “They work on separate projects, but they would still be close colleagues.” He said, “Anyway, it was Commander Morais and his team who developed the anti-cloak generator.”

I felt that shiver flow down my spine again, I could see where this was heading.

“We can only assume that they’re going to use him to try to stop our generators from working.” He paused, “In fact, our Earth based generators even failed to detect them properly. They kept on showing up as random interference. Clearly the cell have figured out a way to mess up our sensors.”

“What? They’ve figured out a way around it?”

He nodded, “In effect, but we were able to compensate slightly, just enough to get a heading and speed as they left the system.” He looked at me, “But now they have Morais, they might be able to stop the generators from working at all.”

I thought for a moment, “I don’t think Morais would willingly help them.”

“No, but he does have a wife and children. They could prey on that.”

“Are they safe?” Asked T’Luk.

“Yes, they’ve been moved to a safe location, but Morais isn’t aware of that.”

T’Luk looked at him, “Do we know what type of vessel they used?”

“No. It could be a shuttle for all we know.” He said, “What we do know is that they were heading in our direction when they left Earth. Now they may have changed course, but we’ve got ships moving in from all over the quadrant.”

I nodded, “So everyone’s been called into active duty?”

“Not everyone.” He replied, “I personally asked for you two because of your familiarity with the generator. Now I’m not expecting you to do magic, but you’ve had a pretty good track record with the units so far. We’d just like you to see if there’s anything you can do to boost the effectiveness of the generator.”

I glanced at T’Luk, and then back to Hayes, “We did make a few adjustments to the generator on Titan, I can try to replicate those here.”

“Good. You both have full access to the ship and it’s systems.” He said, “And you will report directly to me, understood?”

“Yes, Sir.” We replied in unison.

He smiled slightly.

*

The terrorist cell? I thought the Romulan Government finished cleaning them up weeks ago.” I mused, as I lay next to the anti-cloak generator, changing the isolinear chips.

“Evidently they missed this rogue ship.” Said T’Luk, as he typed in new commands into an adjacent console.

I sighed, “Yeah, so here we are again doing this job.”

“Indeed.”

I replaced one of the chips, “I wonder if we’re ever going to get to do some exploration.” I said, glancing at him briefly, “It’s what we signed on for, you know.”

He simply raised his eyebrows at that, clearly he wasn’t too pleased with our current assignment.

“I’m telling you, T’Luk. We gotta start doing something good, otherwise I’ll be moving to Vulcan. I’ll get a job with your dad.”

“To Vulcan? Why not on Earth?” He asked, without looking up.

I shifted on the floor, freeing my arm, “Because then I’d be close to you.” I began, looking at him, “Assuming you’d leave too.”

He handed me a new chip.

“Thanks babes.” I replied, as I lay down again, “But then of course, they have us with the biggest bargaining chip.”

He looked at me expectantly.

“These wondrous starships.” I shook my head, “I enjoy life on the Titan too much. The idea of being self-sufficient. The levels of command. All the discipline. It all appeals to me, and it’s something that I wouldn’t get if I worked with the Vulcan Museum of Astronomy.”

“Indeed. It is those qualities that appeal to me too.” He cocked his head, “Would you ever contemplate to leave Starfleet soon?”

I looked up at him again, flashing him a look as I shook my head, “Not a chance.” I replied, as I tapped in a command into the console next to me, “Like I said, it’s not just the job, it’s the life that accompanies it. Job wise, it could be better, but as a whole package, the whole deal, you wouldn’t get me doing anything else.”

T’Luk nodded, “I understand your point, and I agree.” He looked at me, “We are very fortunate to have Starfleet as a career choice for us.”

“You’re not kidding.” I replied, before I paused, “Mind you, everyone’s fortunate to have Starfleet, I mean, they employ virtually anyone. Any career you’d want, there has to be something going in Starfleet.”

“Yes, there are many possibilities.”

I reached for a hyperspanner to unscrew another covering on the generator, “Can I ask you something, T’Luk?”

“Of course.”

“If there’s one place that you’d like to visit, where no one has gone before, where would it be?”

He thought for a moment, “That is quite a question, Kai.”

I smiled, “I know. So, where would you like to go?”

“Perhaps visit another galaxy. I am not sure.”

“Andromeda?”

“If it were possible, yes, I would like to go.”

I grinned, “Perhaps one day we’ll be able to.”

He looked at me, as though I held the solution.

I giggled, “I don’t know how to get there personally, but I think we’ll manage it. At least during our lifetime. Well, mine to be precise.” I looked at him, lowering my voice, “And in the words of Captain Riker, I plan to live forever.”

T’Luk looked at me, “Quite an aspiration, Kai.”

I nodded, “I think so.”

A soft ‘bleep’ was heard from the generator. My job was done.

“Alright.” I said, as I stood up. “Lets recalibrate this baby and see what we have.”

“Computer, what is our current distance from Earth?” Asked T’Luk.

“Thirteen point seven light-years.” Replied the computer.

He turned to me, “We have travelled two point three light-years since we left Vulcan. Providing that the Romulans were travelling at a slower speed, I’d speculate that they would have travelled at least two light years.”

I nodded, “So they’d still be out of the generator’s range, even if it was working.”

“Indeed. However, we still need to complete the other necessary modifications.”

“Yeah. Ok, how about we grab a quick drink from the mess, and then we can continue working afterward?”

“That will be fine.”

We packed up our items and placed them next to the generator. The crew had been instructed to leave the generator to us, because we were apparently the experts, so we left our stuff there. I’d never been on a Nebula class starship before, and neither had T’Luk, so we had to ask the computer as to where the mess was, which it referred to as, ‘Ten Forward’. So after a short journey, we found the right place. It was located on the bottom side of the saucer section, and faced the front, giving a lovely view of the stars whizzing past. On the opposite side of the room was a bar, with a few barmen standing there, and on the side of the wall were some replicators.

“I thought we had the newest ship in the fleet.” I said, “So how come we don’t have a bar?”

“Do we need a bar?” He asked, “They appear to be using the replicators as we would.”

I nodded, “Yeah, but look at those other drinks in those bottles. I bet they’re not replicated.”

“Hello there, gentlemen.” Came a female voice. I looked to my left and watched as a female Trill walked towards us, “I’m Commander Tucan. Welcome aboard the Vega.”

I reached out and shook her hand, “Thank you Commander.” I replied, “I’m Ensign Taylor.”

“And I am Ensign T’Luk.” He said, as he shook her hand.

She nodded, “Our resident generator experts I believe.”

I shook my head, “We’re not experts, Commander. We’ve just had quite a bit of luck with our own on Titan.”

She smiled, “Nonsense, Ensigns. We’re all aware of what the Titan has accomplished. Quite a feat for such a new ship.”

“Thank you, Commander. We do have a great crew over there.”

“That you do.” She said, “So can I get you guys something to drink perhaps?”

“You don’t have to do that, Commander.” I said, as we walked more into the room, “I was just admiring your bar.”

“Yes, it’s a feature that’s been overlooked on the most recent Starfleet vessels.” She said as we walked over, “But well worth it.”

I nodded and watched as she ordered a drink, but was called over the comm system.

“Please excuse me, Ensigns. I’ll try to see you again later.”

I nodded, “You too, Commander. Thanks.”

She nodded, before she walked off, drink in hand, out of the mess.

“So what will it be Ensigns? We have quite a selection here, all fresh, none replicated.” Said the barman, an Andorian.

I looked at T’Luk, but he gestured that I ask first, “Erm, do you have anything Vulcan?”

He laughed, “We have lots of Vulcan stuff here. We’re well stocked up after our little stay.” He replied, “What kinda thing you after?”

“Some juice would do fine, please.” I said, “But not Gokund. I’ve drank far too much of that recently.”

He nodded, “Lets see what we have.” He replied, as he turned and looked at his selection.

“Something Vulcan?” Whispered T’Luk.

I faced him, “Yeah. I’m trying to keep the illusion that I’m still there.” I replied.

The barman appeared and presented me with a pinkish liquid, “There you go. If you like Gokund, I’m sure you love this.”

“Thank you.” I replied, as I picked up the glass, and sampled some of it, as T’Luk ordered his drink. “Mmm, it has a kind of banana essence to it.”

T’Luk nodded, “It is called Roudlan. It’s formed from the leaves of a Roudlan tree.”

I smiled, “It’s quite interesting.”

The barman appeared, with a deep red drink for T’Luk, “There you go, Ensign.”

“Thank you.” He replied, as he picked up the glass.

We turned around and headed over towards the seating area, found two spare seats and sat down.

I looked at T’Luk’s glass, “What is it?”

“Red wine.” He replied.

I laughed at that.

“What?”

I giggled a little, “It’s just funny how you can have alcohol while on duty.” I replied, “I know why you can, but it’s a little odd.”

“Yes, perhaps you should have ordered some chocolate milk. Then we’d be equal.”

“Yeah.” I said, but then smirked at him, “Anyway, what happened to my little idea to let you taste some chocolate?” I asked, “I like how you avoided that.”

“I didn’t avoid it, Kai.” He replied, “That was before we had the battle on the Titan.”

I nodded, “Yeah.” I smiled again, “But when we get back. I’m going to replicate you the biggest bar.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Why do you wish to see me intoxicated, Kai?” He asked, perhaps a little louder than I would have liked.

“I said a little bit of chocolate.”

“Then why replicate the biggest bar?” He asked. Yep, he was turning the logic up to 11.

I tried to think of something to say but he had me there, “It was just…a figure of speech.”

He gave me that ‘sure’ look of his again, so I just narrowed my eyes and shook my head at him.

“Kai?”

I nodded, “Yeah.”

“I love you.”

I blushed slightly at that. He just caught me off guard. “I love you too, babes.”

*

Earth, San Francisco

If we extrapolate its last known trajectory and plac-“ Began the Lieutenant, before Admiral Ive stopped him.

“Lieutenant, all I want to know is; what is the predicted location of the Romulan vessel?”

He nodded and changed the image on the screen, “We believe it is somewhere in this sector, Sir.” He said, pointing on the star chart, “Somewhere between our ships departing from Earth, and those departing from Vulcan.”

“What is that ship in the lead? The one closest to the predicted location?”

The Lieutenant looked at the ID for the ship, “That’s the Vega, Sir. Admiral Hayes’ flagship.”

“How far away are they from the predicted location?”

“About ten light-years, Sir. Perhaps less if the Romulans have increased their velocity.”

Becker moved closer, “So we have about two-hours before they’ll be within the generator’s range.”

“Indeed.”

*

USS Vega – Two hours later

You’ve completed the upgrades?” Asked the crewman.

Once we’d finished with the upgrades, or better put, the modifications to the generator, T’Luk and I headed down to Astrometrics, where we could monitor both the generator, and its output.

I nodded, “Yep, they’re all done. Now it’s the fun part where we just have to wait.” I said, before my console started to bleep. “Or not wait.” I looked over at T’Luk, “I’m receiving something, it’s very faint.”

“Yes, I’m attempting to acquire a fix.”

I looked at the crewman, someone who Engineering had sent to us, “Can we increase the output?”

“We’re already at two-hundred percent.” He replied.

“Take it up to two-hundred and five, but just for thirty seconds. Once we get the fix, then we know what we’re dealing with.”

He nodded, “Yes, Sir.” He replied, as he made the adjustment, “We’re at two-hundred and five percent.”

I turned to T’Luk, “Anything.”

“Yes, it’s coming through now.”

We waited for the generator to do its thing.

“Ok, we have it. It is a Romulan vessel, but it is not a warbird. It’s about a quarter of the size.”

I stood up and walked over, “That makes sense. It’s probably why it was so hard to pick it up.” I said, as I headed to the door, “I’ll monitor it from the bridge, like the Admiral instructed.”

He nodded, “I will remain here, to monitor the generator.”

“Good, I’ll see you in a bit.”

*

Three hours later

Sir, they’re not changing course. They’re ahead, coming in our direction.” I called out, looking at the Admiral.

“They probably think that either we can’t see them, or that Morais can fix the cloak for them in time.” He replied, “Helm, keep us on the same course, do not directly intercept them. Make it appear as though we’re going to fly right by.”

The woman at the helm nodded.

I looked down at my console, in about twenty seconds, we would come within twenty-thousand kilometres of them as they passed by. I wasn’t sure about the Admiral’s tactic, but it was clear that the Romulans didn’t see us as a threat, given that they were going to pass so close to us.

“Sir, we’re going to pass by in ten seconds.” Called out the helmsman.

“Keep us on the same heading.”

I looked on the display, counting down; four, three, two, one, and then we started moving away from them.

“Leave them for a moment, let them believe that we missed them.”

I counted another fifteen-seconds before the Admiral changed his tone.

“Bring us about, standby all weapons.” He said, looking over at Vice-Admiral Chun, “Open hailing frequencies.”

“Hailing frequencies open, Sir.” He said, but no image appeared on the viewscreen. Evidently it was audio-only.

“Romulan vessel, this is Admiral Hayes of the Federation starship Vega. Following your acts of terrorism and kidnapping, you are hereby ordered to drop your cloak, drop out of warp and prepare to be boarded.” He said.

There was no reply.

“I say again, drop out of warp and prepare to be boarded. If you do not act accordingly, we will respond with force. This is your only warning.”

Once again, the communication channel remained silent.

Admiral Hayes turned to me, “Overlay the image of the vessel onto the viewscreen.” He said, “And find the location of the cloak matrix.”

“Aye, Sir.” I replied, as I tapped away on the console. “The image is up, and I have the location.”

He nodded, “Very good.” He said, as he looked at the ship on the viewscreen, “Transfer the coordinates to Commander Johns.” He said, “Standby to launch quantum torpedoes.”

I looked over at Commander Johns, the Chief tactical officer, “I’ve sent you the coordinates of the cloak matrix.”

He nodded, “Got it. Quantum torpedoes ready, Sir.”

Admiral Hayes faced the viewscreen, “Fire!”

I looked up and watched as the blue, glowing balls of light exited from our ship and impacted against the hidden vessel, removing the cloak. I glanced down at the display in front of me, “The vessel is altering course to come about, Sir.”

Hayes nodded, “Helm, take us right at them.” He said, looking at Johns, “Target their warp drive and shields.”

I watched as another volley hit their engines, causing their warp field to distort.

“Their dropping out of warp.” Called out the helmsman.

“Stay with them.”

Both the Romulan ship and Vega dropped out of warp. If it wasn’t for some quick and smart manoeuvre, we would have ended up colliding with the ship, but we avoided that and came about, as they fired on us, targeting the bridge.

“They’re targeting the bridge.” Called out Johns.

Admiral Hayes stood up and turned to me, “I think we’ve found the right people, don’t you, Ensign?”

I nodded, “Yes, Sir.”

The ship rocked again.

“Shields at eighty-six percent.”

“Are their shields down yet?”

Johns tapped on the console, sending another barrage of torpedoes into the ship, puncturing through their shields, “Yes, they’re down now, Sir.”

He looked at the Conn station, the one next to the helm, “Do you have him?” He asked.

Before we had entered the battle situation, the Admiral had tasked the Conn officer with one duty: to beam Morais out of there at the first possible moment.

“Just a moment, Sir.” Called out the male Denobulan, as he tapped away madly on the console.

“Sir, the vessel is approaching on a collision course.” Called out the helmsman, “They can out manoeuvre us Sir, I don’t think I can avoid them.”

I looked ahead and watched as the ship approached us at a frightening speed, seconds away from us.

“Sir, Morais is aboard in sickbay.”

“Helm, get us out of here, maximum warp.” Ordered the Admiral, as he took his seat.

She nodded and brought us about at a quick speed, before I heard the nacelles charging. I looked at the viewscreen and watched as we began to accelerate, but a large explosion knocked me from my chair. It wasn’t so much a sound, but more of a deafening vibration. I tucked my head toward my chest, bracing myself. Panic began to grip me, but it quickly subsided, seemingly T’Luk was stopping that. T’Luk! I thought of my baby, and instantly tried to get up. The lights overhead flickered multiple times, and the floor felt like there was an incline. Through the slightly smoke-filled air, I looked at the viewscreen, to see the stars streaking around in all directions, as though one was on a rollercoaster on a holodeck. I had to avert my eyes.

I tried to walk forwards, stumbling my way over to the turbolift. On the bridge, people were picking themselves up from the floor, while one person was battling a fire, but other than that, everyone was ok. At least they were here. I noticed a PADD and snatched it up from the side, activating it as I entered the lift.

“Deck fifteen.” I called out, as the lift began to descend.

I rest my back against the wall of the lift and slid to the floor, my fingers shaking slightly as I tried to look at a damage report. I looked at the display, but it wasn’t making that much sense to me. It took me a few seconds to realise the graphic was upside down. I flipped it and looked at the display. My eyes caught the red outline of the starboard nacelle, with an adjacent system flashing red, before the ship shook again. An emergency oxygen tank had just ruptured. Then I noticed that the warp core began to flash purple. I tried to tap on the overlay, showing me what purple meant. My fingers kept missing the button on the screen.

The lift came to a stop, as I cursed at the device. I stood up and wandered out of the door, before I managed to hit the button. But it didn’t matter anymore, because the warp drive was now falling through the ship, evidently they had ejected it. I glanced at the device again to realise that the Romulan ship had been destroyed when it collided with the nacelle. Luckily they hadn’t managed to take us with them. I put the PADD in one hand as I started to jog through the ship towards Astrometrics. Fortunately, the damage in that section was quite minor, and I had yet to find someone who was badly injured.

I picked up my pace.

“Kai!” Called out someone.

I turned around to see T’Luk running towards me.

“Are you ok, Kai?” He asked.

I nodded, checking him over, “Yeah, are you?”

He pulled me into a hug, “I am fine.”

“Good.” I pulled back, looking at him for a moment, before I handed him the PADD. “The whole of the starboard nacelle has been destroyed. And they’ve ejected the core. I don’t think it’s going to explode or anything. But I don’t know.”

He took the device and tapped on it, “No, it is returning to an acceptable level.” He replied, “The damage isn’t that extensive, except for the nacelle. So casualties should be few.”

“Yeah. We should head down engineering and see what we can do to help.”

“Indeed.”

*

Forget about that, crewman, we need to focus on controlling ou-“ Began the Chief engineer, before he was interrupted.

“Commander! Over here!” Called out someone else.

T’Luk and I reached main engineering to see people moving about madly.

“Hey, you two!” Called out the Commander, “Get over here!”

We headed over to hear him talking to a Lieutenant, before he turned to us, “Ensigns, I need you to help out here.” He began, “Our first priority is getting us on the straight and level. Right now we’re in an uncontrolled lateral, clockwise spin. If it weren’t for the inertial dampeners, we’d be stuck against that wall.”

“What do you need us to do, Sir?”

He indicated to the Lieutenant, “Go with Smith, he’ll need your help.”

*

Ninety minutes later

Once the other ships arrived, and beamed over some more engineers, we were quickly able to stop our spin, which let everyone else concentrate on other matters. As a whole, the ship wasn’t that badly damaged, like T’Luk suggested. But high warp was out of the question. With only one nacelle, warp 5.6 would be the fastest velocity the Vega could manage. This would also mean that it’d take about eight days to return to Vulcan, for repair.

T’Luk and I, seeing as we were guests, were transferred off the
Vega, and onto another ship, which poetically happened to be the Bellerophon. So after a short talk with the Admiral, where he mentioned that he’d be ‘seeing us soon’. We resumed our course for Earth, where our journey would take six hours instead of the five days I’d told my parents. But the Captain of the Bellerophon wasn’t going to maximum warp for T’Luk and I, no, we were also carrying back somewhat of a hero: Commander Morais. Eager to see his family, and for them to see him, we were galloping back to Earth to make that possible.

T’Luk and I spoke very briefly to him, actually he thanked us, but in turn we thanked him, reminding him that it was the invention that had gotten him kidnapped that had also saved his life. The anti-cloak generator. He was a very kind man, but the whole situation only caused me to wonder about things slightly. Not about the terrorists, or any singular event, but rather how dangerous a career in Starfleet could be. Earlier that day, we had spoken about the joys of Starfleet, but I guess with the joys, there must also come the opposite reaction, the lows and really lows. Sure, there was a risk that came with the job, but being kidnapped from your home by terrorists…that crossed a line.

But with the members of the terrorist cell either dead or behind force fields, with both Starfleet and the Romulan Government
sure about that this time (if they can even promise such a thing), it really felt as though it was over. That whole chapter of ‘chasing the bad guys’ was finally over. And with that, it was time to turn our attention to more pressing matters. Such as that party in San Francisco…




I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter of A Vulcan's Love.

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Emulated