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 Vulcan’s Love
-By EmulatedLove
Chapter Three: Who calls it love?
"Computer
activate sonic shower."
The computer chirped it's
response as I stepped up onto the platform in my bathroom. I turned
and leaned against the wall as the machine began to lightly hum,
sending invisible sonic waves to cascade over my body; removing dirt
and sweat accumulated over the past day. As I stood there my mind
began to flash over last nights events, namely the moment I shared
with T'Luk. I can still remember the feeling of his lips against
mine, the way his arms snaked their way around my body; drawing me
closer. The whole experience left me with a tingling sensation which
stayed with me until I fell asleep. I wanted to feel it again. I
wanted to be with T'Luk.
"Shower complete." Came the
computers voice.
I stepped out and walked over to my bedroom
and picked up my uniform. I placed the clothing in the replicator,
along with my shoes.
"Clean and fold this clothing,
computer." The pile of clothes disappeared and then reappeared
clean and neatly folded. I got dressed and made my way over to the
mirror. I was looking over myself, pleased with my appearance, when a
feeling of uneasiness swept over me. My mind was on the kiss again,
but instead of thinking about how good it felt, I was thinking about
how easy it
was. Don’t get me wrong I didn’t plan to end up kissing
him, it just happened, and sure I would have been happy with that but
it wasn’t the kiss that bothered me; it was who it was with; A
Vulcan. I have never known any Vulcan to portray any irrational
behaviour regarding relationships, but kissing someone after having
known them for a whopping 24 hours; that sets some alarm bells
ringing. Surely it would have been illogical to kiss me so soon.
Unless, maybe it had something to do with the Pon Farr, (not that I
knew much about the Pon Farr at that point, but my mind was thinking
about all possibilities). Perhaps he was just exploring human
sexuality and I happened to be the recipient, but he *did* say he
loved me and I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have said that
if he was attempting one of the ideas I had thought up. Instead of
speculating further, I decided to go see T’Luk to find out what
he had to say about last night. I picked up my combadge and walked
toward the door, which opened automatically as I stepped up to it;
revealing T’Luk standing on the other side. He regarded my
expression curiously he spoke,
“Are you alright, Kai?”
“Yeah,” I answered quickly, before adding in a
softer tone, “Could you come in here for a minute?”
The
Vulcan nodded and stepped in, with the door closing behind him. I
stood in the middle of the room, my back toward him. I waited for a
couple of seconds before I turned faced him,
“Why did
you let me kiss you yesterday?” I asked.
He raised an
eyebrow, “Should have I stopped you?”
“No,
but you’re Vulcan,” I said. “Wasn’t it
illogical?”
“Why would kissing you be illogical?”
he answered, seemingly confused with my question.
I sighed,
“Because we only met like a day before.”
“You didn’t show any signs of apprehension, why would I be any different?” He asked.
This
made me stop for a moment, “Umm, I just didn’t expect a
Vulcan to be so, in the moment.” I said.
He nodded,
“Then there are many things that you need to learn about
Vulcans.” He replied.
I smiled back at him, but
hesitated for a moment, “Did you mean it when you said ‘me
to’?”
He paused before answering me, “Vulcan’s
cannot experience love, but we do feel a sense of completeness, which
is comparable to love.” He took a step towards me, “Yesterday
when we were, kissing, I felt a completeness that I had never felt
before.”
I stood in front of him and looked up into his
eyes, “I feel completeness with you too.” I leaned in and
kissed him. It wasn’t as long or as sexual as the one we shared
last night, but it allowed us to show our feelings for each other in
a way we could both understand.
*
The
rest of the morning went like a breeze, now that everything was out
in the open, T’Luk and I seemed to be getting closer with every
passing moment, and I was enjoying every second. He was right, there
were many things that I didn’t understand about Vulcans, and
although our species made first contact over 300 years ago; I guess
some things are still “foreign” to both sides. But
whatever the case, I’m sure given time that we will both learn
a great deal about our different ways and customs which we weren’t
taught about at Starfleet Academy.
We
actually didn’t have a lot to do on the work front; the probe
was on a longer flight plan so it would take another two hours before
it was in communications range of the Titan.
So instead of sitting around waiting for it, we began to implement
some sensor improvements that Starfleet had sent us. The improvements
were not for the Titan,
but for the Interceptor.
The Interceptor
was a Danube class
vessel which is faster and more equipped than a shuttlecraft, but
less than double the size. The Titan
is fortunate to have one of the newest variants which include:
enhanced shielding, more efficient phasers and most impressive a
cruise speed of warp 6. The Interceptor was docked inside the main
shuttle bay, up on deck 8, so T’Luk and I took a little trip up
there to perform the improvements.
The doors to the shuttle
bay opened and we stepped inside, I quickly looked around the large
room. Directly in front of me about 30 metres ahead was the large
shutters which are closed unless a shuttle is leaving or returning,
to the left there were two class 9 shuttlecraft parked side by side,
and on the right on its own was the Interceptor. It was a thing of
beauty, its hull lightly reflected the overhead lighting, creating a
white sheen that is exclusive to brand new vessels, which to H’Jan’s
dismay, quickly dissipates over use. As we walked toward it, our
reflections could be seen in the large front windows, another sign of
its young age. Instead of moving toward the entry hatch, I decided to
do a quick circle around it, inspecting every part of its outer
structure. I looked over at T’Luk who also seemed to be
somewhat interested in the ship, “Its lovely isn’t it?”
I remarked.
He turned to me, “Its design is very
impressive.”
I smiled at his choice of words, “You
can say it looks cool T’Luk, I won’t tell anyone.”
I said while walking toward its hatch.
T’Luk raised an
eyebrow, but chose not to reply and instead followed me toward it. I
walked up to the hatch and removed the covering for the keypad which
opens the hatch and is part of a new security system unique to this
variant. I looked at the PADD in my left hand and keyed in the entry
code, the computer then asked me for my authorisation code. “Taylor
5 Alpha 10 Lambda.”
The
hatch unlocked and began to open, “Code accepted.”
Once
the hatch opened fully I stepped back and ushered T’Luk to go
in first, he led the way and I followed him inside. Only the basic
systems and lighting had turned on since our entry, but that was all
we needed as we wouldn’t be doing any flying today or using any
of the other advanced systems. I took a quick glance around the
forward section before venturing into the aft and doing the same. The
interior of this ship were the same as the older variants; in fact
the only difference I could notice was that the seats had a more
streamlined look and that the computer systems were running the
latest software. I walked back into the forward section and sat down
in one of the front two seats, with T’Luk sitting in the one
next to me. The update which we had to perform was relatively simple.
All we had to do was download the new data into the runabout’s
computer and then recalibrate the sensors, about an hours worth of
work. We worked out a plan which would enable both of us to work at
the same time and should speed things up, my job was to remove the
old data while T’Luk updated it from Starfleet, and then we
were going to calibrate the sensors together. I started to tap away
on the console, “When we’re finished here, do you want to
go off on a romantic flight?” I asked.
I didn’t
expect T’Luk to take me seriously, but instead he played along,
“Where would you like to go?”
“What about
Romulus? I hear it’s quite nice this time of the year.” I
answered.
“Perhaps you should ask Captain Riker for
permission.” He replied.
“So you would come with
me?” I grinned.
He turned to look at me, “If
Captain Riker gave you permission to take this vessel on a romantic
flight to Romulus, then yes, I would accompany you.”
I
laughed at his reply, “Well it wouldn’t be very romantic
on my own.”
“Indeed.”
We continued
with this off topic chitchat for a good part of an hour, it was
usually me asking T’Luk about how he would react to certain
metaphorical events. Most of the time he would reply with something
that I would expect from a Vulcan, but sometimes he would make
something up for my benefit. For example, I asked him what he would
do if I started to kiss him on the bridge in front of the Captain;
his response was that he wouldn’t stop me and would continue
until security took us away, or they beamed us down to our quarters.
That one had me laughing for ages, and I’m sure that if he
could, he’d be laughing too. That led me onto my next
question,
“Have you ever laughed T’Luk?”
“I
am unable to laugh.” He replied.
“I mean when you
were younger, before you mastered your emotions?”
He
paused for a moment, “I had achieved basic control over my
emotions at a young age, so I cannot remember. But before then I can
assume that I did.”
I stopped working and looked over at
him, “Have you always had control of your emotions? I mean,
have you ever once just stopped?” I asked.
He was still
tapping away, “Yes I have always had control, and no I have
never stopped, to do so would be illogical.”
“Could
you stop, I mean do you have to constantly be suppressing your
emotions, or is it a subconscious ability?” I asked.
“It
has now become a subconscious level of control, so I do not know if I
could stop it, sometimes it requires some conscious control, but most
of the time I need not intervene.” He replied.
“So
like if something gets you distracted, you need to concentrate
harder?”
“Yes, however even at that stage, the
emotions are still suppressed enough for me not to exhibit
them.”
“Do I distract you?”
“Sometimes.”
I
smiled, “Yeah? What do I do?”
He
glanced at me, “You kiss me.”
I blushed, “I
hope its not too much trouble,” I giggled.
“It is
not.” He replied before quickly adding, “I am able to
control the emotions elicited.”
“Good.
I wouldn’t want you to get too dominant, I like you being
submissive.”
“I am not submissive.” He
replied.
“But you’re not dominant, unlike me.”
I said while deepening my words.
Instead of replying he gave
me this look that sarcastically said ‘sure’.
“Hey!”
I called out, “Don’t give me that look.” I
smiled.
“What look?” He replied.
I shook my
head, “I’m almost done here, how are you doing?”
“I
have nearly finished uploading the last data packet.” He
replied.
We finished the update and began to calibrate the
sensors, the computer did most of the work, but we had to specify
targets or objects at different distances in order to get accurate
readings. We picked one of the shuttle craft in the shuttle bay, the
USS Venture, a Galaxy class starship that was part of the Federation
task force and the planet Remus. All we had to do now was wait for
the results.
After replicating two glasses of Bolian tonic, I
swivelled my char around and faced T’Luk, who had done the
same. Seeing him sit there calmly made me think back to yesterday and
the kiss. I smiled at the thought and then remembered something I
wanted to question T’Luk on. “You lied pretty easily
yesterday for a Vulcan.”
He raised an eyebrow, “What
do you mean?”
“Yesterday in the holodeck, you told
the other guys that we had to take turns in the shower, that’s
why we took so long.” I explained.
“Indeed,
however it was unsuccessful as it was evident from their body
language that they had known what happened.”
That
surprised me, “What?”
“They were trying not
to smile and kept looking at each other.” He responded.
I
let out a breath, “That doesn’t mean they know what
happened.”
“The structure of the changing rooms
seemed to suggest that only ours were connected.” He paused,
“When they inquired about our delay you blushed and didn’t
answer them.”
Now I remember the blushing part, but I
didn’t notice the changing rooms; I just assumed they were all
like that. I haven’t seen any of them this morning, even at
breakfast so I’m not sure if they knew. Mind you even if they
did somehow know it isn’t exactly a bad thing as they all know
that I fancied him and I didn’t deny that. But it did bring up
a bigger question, are we dating? I’m pretty sure we are, but
do Vulcans date? All the other Vulcans I know all have prearranged
marriages, most of which haven’t seen much of their other half
at all, let alone date them. When I thought about the prearranged
marriages, I almost slapped myself on the head. Damn. I still don’t
even know if T’Luk has an arranged marriage. I remember Alex
bringing it up yesterday and I remember T’Luk not saying much,
but after the kiss I just assumed that he didn’t have a one
planned for him.
I started to feel uneasy again, but managed
to calm myself somewhat to ask T’Luk before I got worked up,
“T’Luk, do you remember the conversation we had with Alex
yesterday, the one about Vulcan marriage?” I asked
quietly.
T’Luk nodded and I continued, “Well you
said not all Vulcans have arranged marriages.”
“Yes,
some do not.” He replied.
“Why wouldn’t they
have one?” I asked.
“There are many
reasons.”
This was going to take all day at this rate so
I decided to gamble it and make a guess, “Why don’t you
have one T’Luk?”
“Why would you assume
that?” He asked calmly.
“I’m right though
aren’t I?” I insisted.
He was quiet for a while
before answering me, “Yes, you are.”
Alright
that’s one down, one to go. I took in a breath, “Is it
because you’re gay?”
He looked at me again,
“Yes.”
Now that I knew that he didn’t have a
wife waiting around for him I could at least breathe a little easier
now. A lot easier actually. I also know that he’s gay; not that
I didn’t already know that but I can now rule out him being Bi,
curious or anything in between.
I looked at him, “Don’t
gay Vulcans have arranged marriages?”
“They can,
however most arranged marriages are arranged when the person is
young, but they cannot be sure of their sexuality until a later age,
at which time there are fewer people available to be married to. So
the parents leave the decision to the child.”
“But
you decided to choose a partner for yourself?”
He
nodded, “I thought it would be best for me to choose a partner
rather than my parents.”
“How old were you when
you told your parents?”
“I was 13 years of age
when I told my parents that I no longer required an arranged
marriage.”
“Yeah? I was the same age when I told
my parents.” I replied, before continuing, “Did you ever
meet the woman who you were paired with?”
“I did,
she is the daughter of one of my mother’s friends. We have
remained friends since we met as she has also chosen science as a
career path; however she works on Vulcan, rather than in
Starfleet.”
“That’s good. But what happens
to her? Does she get another partner?”
“Her
parents found her a suitable partner after they were informed.”
I
nodded and took a sip of my drink.
“Do Vulcans date?”
I asked after a minute of silence.
“Vulcans
who do not have arranged marriages do perform something similar to
dating.” He replied.
I looked over at him, “What
would you say if I asked you to share a meal with me in my quarters
this evening?”
“I would say that I’d like
that.” He replied.
“Then it’s a
date?”
“It’s a date.”
For
the next 10 minutes or so, I asked him about various human foods and
what he thought of them, trying to find a dish that he hadn’t
tried but might like for this evening. I was just about to question
him on desserts when the computer inside the shuttle started to chirp
loudly and erratically. I quickly turned toward the console to find
out what was wrong. Apparently the sensors had finished recalibrating
some 5 minutes ago and were simply remaining idle until an explosion
was detected and had alerted us.
“The sensors are
reading an explosion, I’m trying to localise it.” I said
to T’Luk. “It is the USS
Venture, an
explosion has occurred on the lateral side on its saucer
sec-.”
T’Luk interrupted me, “Kai.”
I
turned to T’Luk who had acquired an image of the Venture
using the Titans
optical array and was displaying it on a panel between us. The
Venture
was located to the aft of us and slightly below which meant that the
explosion was within our view. T’Luk zoomed in toward the
affected area; there was a hull breach, about half the size of its
bridge and just above the main phaser array. I turned to the console
in front of me, and tapped away, sensors detected two bodies in space
which appeared to have been jettisoned from the hull breach. I would
have made a transporter lock, but there wasn’t much left of
them after the explosion. I looked back at the panel between us and
noticed that there was a planet in the background, behind the
Venture.
Romulus. I quickly froze up in that instant when I remembered where
we were. It was also in that second when the lighting of the shuttle
bay dimmed slightly and the voice of Lt Commander Clark came through
our combadges,
“The ship is at yellow alert, all
personnel report to yellow alert stations.”
T’Luk
stood up but looked back to me still sitting there, “Kai, we
have to go.”
I looked up at him and stood up on my shaky
legs, “Ok.”
I followed him out of the Interceptor
and the shuttle bay and into the corridor, heading toward the
turbolifts. Fortunately there was one half full when we got there and
we rode down the four decks to astrometrics. It was during this time
that I noticed that nothing had happened. The ship wasn’t
shaking from side to side or jumping about which meant that we wasn’t
under fire from anyone. Yet. We arrived in astrometrics and found
five people in there working on the consoles; I noticed that a
Lieutenant was issuing orders to everyone so we walked over to
him.
“Do we know what caused the explosion Lieutenant?”
I asked, with T’Luk next to me.
He nodded, “From
what we can ascertain, the explosion was an accident, a power conduit
leading to the phaser relays exploded. We’re not sure why yet,
but it’s not a vital system so I think its safe to assume that
the Romulans aren’t behind this.”
An Ensign to the
left of us called out, “Sir, I’m receiving a hail from
the surface. It’s Captain Riker.”
“Route it
to the bridge priority one.” He ordered and looked at me and
T’Luk, “I want you two to scan the Titan’s main
systems for any signs of neglect or sabotage. I’m sure security
are working on it, but you two know the systems better than they do.
Report directly to the bridge if you find anything.”
*
We
completed a comprehensive sweep of the Titan’s systems but
didn’t find anything, in fact no ships in the task force found
anything questionable following similar searches. An independent
investigation onboard the Venture revealed that the explosion was in
fact an accident caused by an incompatible subsystem that had been in
place since the Dominion war. With that in mind, any built up tension
that the crew and I were feeling was put to ease, as we were no
longer in a direct link to danger. It was confirmed that two people
lost their lives; I knew neither of them but found out that they were
both my age and both human. A service was going to be held at midday
tomorrow in the mess aboard
each ship. The time was 20:00 and
I was going to my quarters to change out of my uniform and put
something casual on. Both me and T’Luk decided that we would
postpone our date this evening, given the recent events that
happened, and would make arrangements at a later date once things had
settled down a bit. To say I was disappointed would be an
understatement, but I would rather spend the evening together on a
day with a happier tone than one like today. We also didn’t
have enough time to analyse the latest data the probe sent us, so we
let it stay outside the rift until we downloaded the data tomorrow. I
turned down the corridor and was about 10 metres from my door when I
noticed that Alex was waiting outside, I walked up to him,
“Hey
Alex,”
He turned around, “Hey Kai, do you have a
minute?” I could tell from the expression on his face that
something was affecting him.
I opened the door and ushered him
inside, “Sure, come in.”
He walked over to the
sofa and sat down. The doors slid shut as I walked over to the
replicator, “Would you like something?” I asked him.
He
looked up, “No thanks.”
I decided fancy anything
so I walked over to the sofa and sat down next to him, “So,
what’s wrong Alex?”
He remained quiet for a minute
before answering, “I knew one of the people killed in the
explosion.”
I immediately wrapped my arm around him,
“I’m so sorry Alex.”
He looked at the floor,
“I hardly knew her actually.”
“Who was she?”
I asked.
He looked at me, “Her name was Shannon, I used
to date her ex boyfriend.”
This
was new; I had always assumed that Alex was straight, “Oh. I
didn’t know you were interested in guys.”
He
nodded, “Yeah, I’m bisexual.”
I smiled,
“Cool. Was her boyfriend also bisexual?” I asked.
“No,
I think he was just curious or something, because I was the only guy
he dated.” He replied, “After me he went out with
Shannon.”
I pulled him closer, “I’m
sorry.”
He smiled, “It’s ok. It’s just
that I know her in a weird way, that’s all.”
“I
can imagine,” I replied.
“Brad, the guy I dated
really liked her. But they didn’t stay together for that long.
Perhaps I’ll write him a letter or something to let him know
what happened.” He said.
“I’m sure he’ll
be grateful for that.”
After a minute of silence, Alex
leaned his head against my shoulder, “So what’s going on
with you and the tall, handsome one?”
I grinned, “Well
we’re officially dating now.”
Alex smiled again,
“I’m glad, it’s clear that you really like
him.”
“I do and I’ve never felt this way
about anyone before.” I replied.
“I guess love at
first sight does exist out there sometimes.” He said.
I
smiled to myself. Indeed it does, Human and Vulcan alike.
Thank you for reading the third chapter of A Vulcan’s Love.
Any comments and constructive criticisms are greatly appreciated, even if it is just to say, “I want chapter 4!”
E-mail me at: emulatedlove[at]gmail.com
Discuss this story with other readers at: http://www.gayauthors.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=20578
Visit my blog at: emulatedlove[dot]blogspot.com for news about future chapters and story updates.
Thanks Again!
EmulatedLove