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 Four: Shadows of the Bassen Rift
The
impact sent me flying backwards; smashing the back of my head into
the bulkhead behind me. I immediately fell to the floor, unable to
move. I opened my eyes to see that while we had stopped, the
nightmare had just begun; smoke started to fill the air, causing the
overhead lights to be dimmed slightly. The pain from my head was
intense, pounding like a jack hammer against my brain. I looked up to
watch as a shadow effortlessly moved through the smoke towards me,
the figure bent down over my head and began to talk. To me his words
came out as though I was underwater; slurred and distorted. Noticing
that I didn’t understand, he moved closer; close enough for me
to recognise him. Up to that moment I didn’t feel scared or
frightened, just confused. That changed once I looked into the eyes
of my Vulcan love. His face absent from emotion, but his eyes; his
eyes showed fear…
35 Hours Earlier...
“Hello
stranger,” I said while walking up behind H'Jan.
He
turned to face me, “Hey, I haven't seen you about in ages. I
thought you forgot about me.” He replied with a smile.
I
shook my head, “No, just been busy with work and stuff, you
know?”
He grinned, “Oh, busy playing with your new
toy?”
I assumed he was talking about the Interceptor,
I bet he was jealous that I've been inside it, “Yeah, she's a
beauty.”
He raised his eyebrows, “She?”
I
frowned, “Yeah, why? You think it's a boy?”
He
looked shocked, “We are talking about T'Luk, right?”
I
cringed inwardly, “Erm, I thought you were talking about the
Runabout.”
H'Jan laughed, “No stupid, I meant
T'Luk.”
I blushed, “He's not my toy!”
H'Jan
just smiled, “Uh huh.”
I rolled my eyes at him,
“What's that supposed to mean?”
He shrugged,
“Nothing.”
I took a look around main engineering,
there were quite a few people here considering the hour. It had just
gone 21:30 and after talking to Alex in my quarters for about an
hour, I decided that I would go and catchup with H'Jan. I hadn't seen
a lot of him recently, being on different duty rosters and
everything, but we adapted it. Back on the Bellerophon
sometimes we'd go days without hanging out properly or anything, and
we shared the same room!
“What are you doing here
anyway? It's quite late.” I asked.
H'Jan smiled, “Boss
wants me to fix the warp core.”
I giggled, “What?”
“I'm
giving you the dumbed down version, you want the details?”
“No
thanks. Why don't you get someone else to finish off 'fixing it'?
It's 21:30.”
“Naah, besides, these extra hours
will help me reach Lieutenant Junior Grade before you!”
“Oh
no! A Lieutenant Li, whatever shall I do?” I said
sarcastically.
“You won't be talking to me like that for
a start, and you'll have to address me Sir.” He grinned.
“Not
if I become a LT quicker.” I shot.
He laughed at my
challenge, “Good luck, Ensign.”
I grinned back,
“You doing anything tomorrow evening?”
He shook
his head, “Nothing in particular, why?”
“I
was thinking about all of us coming over mine or something, have
dinner and stuff.” I said.
“Sounds good, what time
you thinking about?”
“Is 19:30 a good time?”
I asked.
“Yep, not staying around here this long
tomorrow, that's for sure.” He replied with a yawn.
“Good.
Anyway, I'm out of here, I'll see you tomorrow,” I said,
turning to leave.
“Yeah, see ya.”
I left
main engineering and went up to my quarters. After cleaning my teeth
and going a toilet, I walked over to my bed and shed my clothes,
leaving me in my boxers. I crawled into bed and laid down on the
pillow, pulling my covers up over me. The Starfleet issue beds were
really comfortable, providing a perfect balance between being too
soft or too firm. Their quilts and pillows however, didn't seem to be
of similar quality. Sure they were alright and kept you warm, but
they were too thin, hardly the pillow or quilt I was familiar with.
The good part is that Starfleet have no problem with people wanting
to use their own bedding. This led me to rip off the old quilt and
pillow, and replace them with my own from Earth. The result being a
very comfortable bed reminding me of home. Lovely. As I laid there I
began to think about T'Luk sleeping. I bet he is curled up looking
all cute in those nasty Starfleet issue sheets, poor Vulcan. But
knowing him, he wouldn't care about things like that, it would be
illogical.
I woke up when I heard the door chime. I rolled
over and opened my eyes. The door chimed again.
“Just a
minute.” I called out groggily, while swinging my legs out of
bed.
“Computer lights, and what is the time?” I
called out, while putting on yesterdays shirt and trousers.
“The
time is 03:14 hours.” Replied the computer.
Damn,
this had better be good, I
thought to myself while walking toward the door.
I pressed the
button to unlock it, and it slid open. Lt Commander Jones was
standing there in full uniform looking quite awake. I straightened
myself out,
“Good morning, sir, is there something I can
do for you?” I asked.
“I can't go into it now, but
I'm on my way to Astrometrics, please report there when you're
dressed,” She replied.
Lt Jones wasn't usually this
vague, “Yes sir, I'll be right there.”
She nodded
and walked down the corridor.
I turned back into my quarters
and quickly got into my uniform, I put on my combadge and looked at
myself in the mirror. I could have done with a shower and a shave,
but they'd have to wait until later. I walked out of my quarters and
toward the closest turbolift. I summoned one and waited, suddenly
feeling really tired. The door opened and I stepped inside,
“Deck
12,” I commanded before I noticed T'Luk walk around the corner
toward me, “Halt turbolift,” I quickly called out, before
the doors closed.
T'Luk walked inside, “Thank you Kai,
Computer deck 12,” He said.
I smiled when I saw him,
even though he hardly showed it, I knew that he felt as
inconvenienced as me about being woken early.
“Hopefully
it won't take that long and we can go back to bed,” I said,
trying to stifle a yawn.
“Indeed.” He replied.
I
moved closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder. I inhaled and
I could smell him. Even though he hadn't showered, he still smelled
real good.
The turbolift stopped and I broke away from him
before we walked the distance to Astrometrics, finding Lt Commander
Jones, Lt Commander Clark and Captain Riker talking to a Romulan male
on the main screen at the front of the room. Captain Riker was
speaking to him as we walked over,
“I very much
appreciate your openness in the matter, thank you for your time
ambassador, Riker out.” He said, before closing the channel and
facing toward T'Luk and me.
“Captain, I wasn't aware
that you were aboard.” I said.
Riker glanced at Lt Comm
Jones before answering, “Yes, well there has been an incident
that requires my attention.”
T'Luk stepped forward,
“What kind of incident?”
Captain Riker pressed a
few buttons on the console and a map appeared on the main, there was
a coordinate readout at a point on the map, I recognised it
immediately. It was where we left the probe yesterday.
“20
minutes ago, sensors picked up an explosion originating from these
coordinates. As I'm sure you know, this is where our probe is, or
rather where it was.” He said, before continuing, “We
haven't been able to contact it since the explosion, leaving us with
the explanation that it was the probe that exploded.”
I
looked at the map and then back to the Captain, “Do we know
what went wrong?”
He looked at me, “No, we didn't
detect any anomalies in the surrounding space before and after the
explosion and neither has the Romulans. According to the probes last
diagnostic, there wasn't anything wrong with its systems.” He
paused, “However we have detected some debris left over from
the explosion. After speaking to the Romulans and getting their
permission, we are allowed to go and salvage what's left of it.”
“So
the Titan
is going out there?” I asked.
Lt Comm Clark answered me,
“No, while the Romulans said we can go there, they were clear
on the point that they didn't want us to send a large starship, but
we are allowed to send a runabout.”
“The
Interceptor?
Wouldn't it be dangerous to send such a small ship away from the
fleet?” I questioned.
“If the Romulans wanted to
attack us, they would have done it by now, besides, they wouldn't
achieve a lot from destroying one runabout, apart from declaring
war.” Answered Clark.
I nodded, he was right, they could
have attacked at any time, and I doubt they would risk war with the
Federation.
“Who will perform the salvage operation?”
Asked T'Luk, I think we both knew who would be involved.
Jones
answered, “I will be commanding the Interceptor, along with you
two, and Ensign Cauchon.”
I looked at T'Luk who was
giving me a sideways glance, “Ok, when do we leave? And where
is Ensign Cauchon?”
“We gave Ensign Cauchon a head
start so he can perform preflight checks while you two get ready and
pack your bags. It will take 27 hours to reach those coordinates at
warp 6, so pack enough supplies to last you for three days. We will
leave in 30 minutes, I will meet you in the main shuttle bay. Any
other questions?” She replied.
“No, mam.” I
said.
“No, sir.” Said T'Luk.
“Good.
Dismissed.” She replied.
I nodded and walked out of
Astrometrics with T'Luk by my side. We walked into the turbolift,
“Deck 7,” Called out T'Luk.
I turned to
face him, “Looks like we are getting our little romantic
getaway after all.” I said softly.
“Romantic?”
“Well,
its not what I planned, but it gets us away for a while.”
He
nodded.
The turbolift stopped and we walked to my quarters, as
T'Luk's are past mine. We paused outside mine as I opened my door . I
quickly glanced around the corridor, there was no one there. I leaned
forward and kissed T'Luk on the lips.
I pulled back, “I'll
see you in a bit, babes” I whispered.
He raised an
eyebrow at my choice of words, causing me to blush slightly.
“I
will meet you at the shuttle bay.” He said.
“Ok,
see you there.”
He nodded and walked down the corridor.
I turned and walked into my quarters, I noticed my bed looking all
messed up and so inviting. I sighed and walked over to my wardrobe
and retrieved a standard issue suitcase, it wasn't very large, but it
held enough storage for two days worth of clothes, but with the
replicator on board the Interceptor,
I wouldn't need to wear anything twice. I also packed a PADD and some
extra shoes, something a little more comfortable then the Starfleet
ones.
About 15 minutes later I was showered, shaved and
dressed in a new uniform. I had also sent a memo to H'Jan and Casey,
apologising for the change of plans regarding us meeting up later. I
attached my combadge, picked up my suitcase and walked out of my
quarters and headed down to the shuttle bay. Once I arrived there, I
noticed that the nacelles to the Interceptor
were lit up and a mild drone could be heard emanating from it. I
walked toward it and could see Alex through the front windows, I
waved to him as I walked around and entered through the hatch.
“Hey
Alex, enjoying yourself?” I remarked, noticing the large grin
on Alex's face.
He giggled, “Yeah, it's gonna be so much
fun piloting this thing, I can't wait.”
I smiled, “I
bet you can't, I'm just gonna go stow this away.” I said
raising my suitcase.
He nodded and swivelled back to face the
front control panel.
I walked into the galley, just behind the
transporter, which separates the fore and aft compartment and placed
my suitcase inside one of the racks. I noticed that Lt Comm Jones
suitcase was already here, so I knew that she'd be here soon. I
walked into the rear compartment and noticed there were two bunks
opposite each other on both sides of the wall, along with a fold out
table and four chairs that can be placed in the middle of the room.
The far end of the runabout had been turned into a makeshift bathroom
with a toilet, sonic shower and sink. It wasn't the largest of living
spaces, but it wasn't exactly too squashed.
I heard someone
moving behind me and turned around to see T'Luk effortlessly lifting
his suitcase and placing it above mine. He faced me,
“Hello,
Kai.”
“Hey, you ready?” I asked.
“Yes,
are you?”
“Yep, let's go salvage a probe.”
We
walked back into the fore section and sat down, noticing Lt Comm
Jones entering the shuttle bay. She walked through the hatch and
sealed both the outer and inner doors before sitting down in the free
seat at the front of the ship, opposite Alex. She swivelled around to
face all of us,
“Is everyone ready?” She
asked.
We all replied that we were.
She turned to Alex,
“Are we ready for departure?”
“Yes sir, all
systems are online and standing by.” He beamed.
“Good.”
She pressed a button on the console in front of her, “Bridge
this is Lieutenant Commander Jones aboard the Interceptor,
requesting permission to launch.”
There was a brief
pause before Lt Comm Clark replied, “Lt Comm Jones you have
permission to launch, have a good flight.”
The lighting
to the shuttle bay dimmed as a level 1 forcefield activated around
the large shutters which slowly began to open, revealing an inky
black background dotted with stars. Space. Once the shutters were
fully open, Jones turned to Alex,
“Take her out,
straight and steady Ensign.”
Alex grinned, “Yes
mam.”
He tapped a few commands into the console in
front of him and the gentle drone increased in volume slightly as the
runabout rose above the floor to a height of about two feet. We
hovered there for a couple of seconds before we started to glide
forward, increasing speed until we exited through the forcefield and
out into space. Alex bought the ship about which allowed us to fly
over the top of the Titan.
Out here it looked huge, it's hard to imagine over a thousand people
are inside it, most of whom are still sleeping. We turned away from
the fleet and sped up to full impulse, moving away from the
planet.
“Ensign set a course for the coordinates, warp
6.”
Alex tapped away, “Aye sir, course and speed
plotted.”
“Engage.”
A gentle whine
could be heard rapidly increasing in pitch until we accelerated to
the speed of light, mystical clouds of different colour flew past the
front window until the familiar view of the stars whizzing past
against the black background could be seen.
“Steady at
warp 6, ETA: 26 hours and 34 minutes.” Called out Alex.
Jones
turned around to face us, “Do any of you want to go back to
sleep? I know we got you up a little early.”
We all
shook our heads.
“Ok, I'm going to go lie down for a
while, I didn't get much sleep last night, ” She said, raising
out of her seat, “You have the conn, Ensign.” She said
addressing Alex.
“Aye, sir.”
She turned and
made her way into the rear section, with the door closing behind her,
leaving me and Alex with grins on our faces. T'Luk looked over at
us,
“What?”
Alex and I looked at each other
and then back to T'Luk, “It's just that we are in a runabout
and Alex has the conn, it's exciting.”
T'Luk raised an
eyebrow, “Do you not like Lieutenant Commander Jones?”
“I
do, I think she's great, but there's just this excitement you get
when you know that there isn't anyone looking over your shoulder.”
I replied.
He nodded, “I think I understand.”
We
chatted for about an hour before we retreated into doing our own
thing. T'Luk and Alex were both reading books on their PADD's, while
I performed a search of the Federation database on the keyword:
Vulcan. Suffice it to say that there were more articles and data with
that keyword that I could read in a lifetime, instead I chose to read
up on some Vulcan customs, the planet Vulcan and lastly famous Vulcan
people. I was looking through Ambassador Spock's article when I came
across a picture of him. It must have been taken over a hundred years
ago, as he couldn't have been over thirty years old. At first glance
I thought that he looked kind of like T'Luk, sure there was the
obvious differences, such as T'Luk's smaller nose and his slightly
darker skin tone, but they shared some similar features. I enlarged
the photo to fill the screen and tapped on Alex's shoulder, he looked
up to face me.
I handed him the PADD, “Does he look
familiar to you?”
He looked at the photo for a couple of
seconds before he looked over at T'Luk,”Yeah he does, who is
that?” He asked excitedly, handing back the PADD.
“That
is Ambassador Spock, taken over a hundred years ago, in his younger
years.” I said.
T'Luk looked up and over at me. I stood
up and sat down in the chair next to him, handing him the PADD, “What
do you think, look like anyone familiar to you?”
He
glanced at the photo for several seconds, “Intriguing. He does
seem to share some similar physical traits to me, which is unusual
considering he is half human.” He said.
I smiled at him,
“Yeah, although you're a lot cuter. All Vulcan.” I said
quietly.
He looked at me for a minute, before he lifted the
PADD so he could see it, he looked at the top of the screen and saw
my searching history.
“You have been searching for
Vulcan?” He asked.
“Yeah, I wanted to see what
information the database has, which is apparently a lot.” I
replied.
“Have you ever been to Vulcan?” He
inquired.
I shook my head, “No, never. Although I'd love
to go sometime.”
He studied me for a moment, “When
we acquire enough shore leave, I will take you there, if you would
like.”
I grinned, “I would like that.”
He
handed me back my PADD and I glanced at his, “What are you
reading?”
He reached over and gave it to me. I looked at
the screen. I smiled, he was also performing a search of his own,
only his search word was Human. He'd already looked through quite a
few articles from what I could see, including one on England.
“Have
you ever been to England?” I asked, handing it back to
him.
“No, San Francisco is the only place that I have
been to on Earth.” He replied.
“If we have some
time left after visiting Vulcan, I'll take you there, if you would
like.” I said, mimicking his offer.
He nodded, “I
would, thank you.”
I sat there listening to his reply
when I suddenly realised something, “T'Luk, say England.”
He
didn't hesitate, but raised an eyebrow, ”England.”
I
giggled.
“What is it? Did I say it wrong?” He
asked.
“No you said it fine, I only just realised that
you have this cute American accent.” I said, pausing, “Most
other races usually use the universal translator, which gives them a
species specific accent, but you don't.”
“I don't
see the need to use it as I can speak it fluently. With my cute
American accent.” He said.
I laughed aloud at his
humour; he's so perfect.
The next 24 hours were pretty
uneventful. Lt Comm Jones made it clear to us that she wanted us to
relax and not to feel on edge for the whole journey, after all, it
was an away mission. We shared all main meals with each other and
generally had fun. I also learned a bit about Lt Comm Jones, or Maria
as she made us call her. She had been serving in Starfleet for most
of her adult life, she had served aboard four different starships
before joining the Titan.
She was also married to a Bajoran engineer who worked on Bajor, so
she didn't see him as much as she liked. When she told us that, I
looked over at T'Luk. I didn't know back then what the future would
bring, but I knew that should we ever get married, I wouldn't want
him to be so far away. T'Luk and I shared bunks over to one side of
the ship. Just before I went to bed, he walked over to me and kissed
me goodnight. I slept really well that night, which I put that down
to me being close to T'Luk. Hopefully once we get back to the Titan
we can spend some time together, and I don't even mean to be
intimate, but to just spend some time alone with each other would be
nice.
We were all awake when we arrived at the coordinates
specified. All we had to do was perform a short range scan for
anything worth salvaging, notably the storage devices, and beam them
aboard. The Interceptor
was inside the Bassen Rift, so that when you looked out of the front
window all you could see was its green clouds of dust. Every now and
then you could just look out and be mesmerised by its appearance. We
had been here for about an hour, beaming aboard some items, before we
tracked a smaller piece of debris that had drifted away from the
explosion, we set an intercept course and caught up with it. The
object continued to move however, as it was still running on its
inertia from the explosion; and as space is a vacuum, it would
continue to move until it hits into something. I started to scan it
and found that it appeared to be part of an optical sensor. I told
Alex that I was going to beam it aboard so he could bring us to a
stop.
The Interceptor
came to a stop as I acquired a transporter lock onto it, I was about
to beam it aboard when something odd happened. The object stopped
suddenly and then slowly drifted back to us, as though it hit into a
wall. I looked on the sensors, but there was nothing there. I stood
up and walked to the front window, sure enough, there was nothing in
front of us. Nothing that I could see.
I turned to Lt Comm
Jones who was busy writing a report on the objects we had recovered,
T'Luk was assisting her with identifying the debris, “Maria, is
your console picking up anything in front of us?” I asked.
She
tapped away and shook her head, “Nope, nothing apart from your
object, why?” She asked, turning to face me.
“It
just hit into something.” I replied, “It was travelling
on inertia from the explosion, but then it hit into something ahead
of us.”
Alex turned to face us, looking alarmed, “A
cloaked Romulan ship?”
“Well it's really close if
it is, about 100 metres.” I said, sitting down at my console
and looking across at T'Luk, who was staring out of the front
window.
Maria turned around in her seat and faced the front,
“Alex, bring us about and engage full impulse, move us out of
the Rift.” She replied quickly.
Alex nodded and relayed
her commands into the console, turning the ship around and moving
away.
“Computer Red alert.” Called Maria, putting
us on guard. “Alex perform evasive manoeuvres until we exit the
Rift, then set a course for the fleet,”
The lights
dimmed and red lighting began to flash, along with an alarm which
briefly sounded.
I briefly looked ahead out of the window long
enough to notice a Romulan warbird – D'deridex class, begin to
decloak in front of us.
“Alex avoid that ship and take
us to warp, we have to get a message to the fleet,” She
said.
“They're firing torpedoes,” Called out
T'Luk.
The Interceptor violently rocked to the left, almost
knocking me from my seat, “Shields at 76%,” I called
out.
I could hear the nacelles beginning to charge, signalling
that we were about to jump to warp, but we were hit again.
“Fuck!
We've lost warp drive!” Cursed Alex.
Maria began to tap
away quickly on her console before it became apparent as to what she
was doing, “I'm going to launch a distress beacon, hopefully
the Romulans won't detect it and the fleet will come to help
us.”
The ship rocked again and I looked across to T'Luk.
We both shared the same thought, even if the fleet left Romulus this
instant, it would still take them at least 20 minutes to get here,
and there was no way that we could hold out that long.
T'Luk
turned back toward his console, “Returning fire.” He
said, before the phaser array could be heard firing.
Maria hit
her display, “I've lost computer control, the beacon will need
to be launched manually,” she called out.
I was the
closest so I stood up, “I'll take care of it.” I shouted
over the sound of the various alarms that had begun to wail.
I
ran into the aft compartment and suddenly realised how difficult it
had suddenly it had become to walk, evidently the inertial dampeners
had taken a hit, along with the anti-gravity systems that seemed to
make me feel too light. I crouched down next to a panel on the wall
and pried it off with my fingers, I pulled the lever which released
the panel in the floor, which contained the system manual overrides.
I looked for the right system and removed the isolinear chip and
pushed it into the active slot. I heard the sound of the beacon being
launched and I made my way back to the forward section. The control
panel I was working on earlier had exploded and was now on fire, half
of the displays was no longer working and the ship was shaking about
all over the place. I looked out of the front window and noticed that
we were heading into what looked like an asteroid field, I remember
thinking that hopefully the Romulans won't be able to chase us in
here, and that maybe we'd get away. They fired at us again.
The
impact sent me flying backwards; smashing the back of my head into
the bulkhead behind me. I immediately fell to the floor, unable to
move. I opened my eyes to see that while we had stopped, the
nightmare had just begun; smoke started to fill the air, causing the
overhead lights to be dimmed slightly. The pain from my head was
intense, pounding like a jack hammer against my brain. I looked up to
watch as a shadow effortlessly moved through the smoke towards me,
the figure bent down over my head and began to talk. To me his words
came out as though I was underwater; slurred and distorted. Noticing
that I didn’t understand, he moved closer; close enough for me
to recognise him. Up to that moment I didn’t feel scared or
frightened, just confused. That changed once I looked into the eyes
of my Vulcan love. His face absent from emotion, but his eyes; his
eyes showed fear.
T'Luk had something in his hands and was
waving it over me. He was then holding something else which he
pressed to the side of my neck. I felt a cool sensation before the
world around me faded away. Everything went black.
*
When
I opened my eyes I found myself looking into the eyes of T'Luk. His
appearance left something to be desired as his hair was all messy and
sticking up in places, along with patches of black dirt was plastered
across his face. I tried to speak, but found that I didn't have the
power to. I felt his hand softly stroke the side of my face as I
started to feel my body waking up. I could see T'Luk's lips moving,
but I couldn't hear anything. I wasn't quite sure what I was doing
laying there on the ground. I remember feeling confused, but at the
same time comforted my T'Luk's presence. After a couple of minutes I
started to feel more conscious and could now hear sounds around me. I
remember hearing someone, a guy, talking in an unfamiliar tongue. I
knew the voice, but why was he talking like that? It wasn't T'Luk, he
was just looking at me, I opened my mouth,
“T'Luk...”
I croaked out.
He leaned closer to me, “It's ok Kai, I'm
here.”
I tried to sit up, but felt a searing pain sweep
through the back of my head as I tried to move.
“Don't
move, you are hurt.” He said softly.
I looked past him
and noticed that I was staring up at a blue sky. I stared at the
white clouds overhead for a minute, trying to take it all in before I
tried to speak again.
“Where...” I said slowly,
before I started to cough. T'Luk put a bottle to my lips and squeezed
some water into my mouth, I swallowed and things felt better.
He
pulled it back and looked around, “We are on a planet, we're
safe here.” He replied.
I tried to sit up again, “What
happen-” was all I got out before T'Luk held me on the ground,
refusing to let me move.
He shook his head, “You can't
move Kai, you are hurt.”
I relaxed my muscles, and T'Luk
let go of me, “What's wrong with me?” I asked.
He
paused for a moment, “You have suffered a severe head trauma,
you will be ok as long as you remain still.”
I tried to
nod, but found that even the slightest movement gave me a lot of
pain.
I heard that other voice again, “Who is that?”
I asked T'Luk.
“It's Alex.” He replied.
I
tried to laugh, “No it isn't. Alex doesn't talk like
that.”
T'Luk looked over to my left and called out,
“Alex, come over here.” He said.
I heard some
footsteps approaching before I saw Alex's blond hair over me. He sat
down by my side and smiled, before he started to speak in a language
I couldn't understand.
I looked at him, “What are you
saying?”
He stopped for a moment, “Oh, sorry I
thought you could understand me.” He said in a strong French
accent.
“Alex...What's wrong with your voice?” I
asked.
He grinned, “Nothing, you've always heard the
translator speak for me, this is my voice when I speak English.
Usually the translator converts my French with little accent, but the
translator isn't working.”
“Oh. I didn't know, I
always assumed you talked like that normally.” I replied.
“I
just find it easier, besides, I have quite a strong accent
otherwise.” He said.
I looked at T'Luk, “How come
you aren't speaking Vulcan?”
“I told you earlier,
I don't use the translator.” He said.
I remembered that,
we were on the Interceptor
and we were on a mission with Lt Comm Jones, but where was
she?
“Where's Maria?” I asked.
“She's
trying to fix the subspace radio.” Replied T'Luk.
“What
happened after I...passed out?” I asked.
During the next
5 minutes, T'Luk and Alex filled me in with what had happened while I
was unconscious, this is their story:
Lt Comm Maria Jones
turned around to see T'Luk was caring for Kai who had just smashed
his head during the last attack. She turned back to watch as the
Interceptor
entered the asteroid field, which was too dense for the larger
warbird to follow.
“Move us behind that large asteroid
and all stop, Alex.” She said, before standing up out of her
chair and moving toward Kai.
She watched as the Vulcan
tenderly held the Human in his arms as he guided a dermal regenerator
over a cut on his forehead. She knew that these two were together
ever since she first saw them working down in Astrometrics, but their
feelings for each other were clearly evident on the Vulcan's face as
he cared for his loved one. She knelt down next to him.
“How
is he?”
T'Luk looked at her, “He's sedated, but he
hit his head hard on the wall. He needs to see a doctor.” He
said, sounding unsure.
She looked down at Kai, “We'll
get him home soon. Are you alright T'Luk?”
The Vulcan
nodded before leaning down and kissing Kai on the forehead, “I'll
get you home soon.” He whispered.
Maria stood up and
walked back to the front, “How are you doing Alex?” She
asked.
He kept looking straight forward, “I'm ok, Why
did they attack us? Do you think we're at war?” He asked.
She
turned to look at him, “I'm not sure Alex, but we should
concentrate on getting us out of here. I'll see if there's somewhere
where we can put down.” She said, before searching the local
star charts. “Here, a star system with one class M planet,
about 0.2 ly from our current position.”
“Without
warp drive you can forget about that, sir.” Replied
Alex.
“Let's see how badly damaged it was,” She
said while tapping on her console, “It seems to be intact, the
computer shut down the core after an overload was detected in the EPS
grid. I'll try to bring it back online.”
A gentle hum
could be heard, indicating the drive was back online, “Alex
move us out of the asteroid field and we will go to warp.”
Alex
bought the Interceptor around a large heap of rock before engaging
the warp drive, “We should be there in about 10 mins, but the
subspace radio is out, so even when we leave the rift, we can't call
for help.” He said, before continuing, “There's no sign
of that Romulan warbird, maybe we lost them.”
Maria
Jones nodded and sighed, let's
hope we make it that far, then we'll worry about the radio,
she thought.
10 Minutes later, they dropped out of warp and
quickly entered orbit of the class M planet. Maria programmed the
computer to set a course toward the fleet and instructed the
emergency radio, which had limited range, to transmit their
coordinates on an encrypted Starfleet channel. Once the computer was
set, they beamed down to the planet along with some supplies and the
broken subspace radio. The Interceptor
then broke orbit and headed toward the fleet at warp speed. They had
been on the planet for 3 hours before Kai woke up.
My account
continues from here:
“You lot were busy then,” I
said.
Alex nodded, “You could say that. We were just
lucky really.”
I heard someone else approach, “How
you doing Ensign?” Asked Lt Comm Jones.
“I'm doing
alright sir. How's the radio?”I replied.
She smiled, “I
think I've managed to fix it. It's relaying an encrypted distress
signal which should be heard all the way into the Neutral zone. I
guess we'll find out soon if it works.”
We talked for
the next 2 hours, each of us speculating about what had just
happened, but we ended up with more questions: Were we at war? Was
the fleet ok? Would someone come looking for us? After a while we
became quiet. The sun started to set, and from what I could see
overhead, it looked beautiful. A gorgeous red haze filled the sky,
with the blackness of space peeking through from behind, and the
small beads of white being stars. T'Luk had never left my side and
was now laying next to me, his fingers laced with mine.
“When
we go to Vulcan, can I see your home?” I asked.
He
turned to me, “I will take to see anything you want.” He
replied softly.
I squeezed his hand, “I love you.”
He
squeezed back, “I love you too.”
After a couple of
minutes, Alex called over, “I've got some lovely tasting
rations for you.” He remarked sarcastically, while throwing a
pouch to T'Luk.
“Thank you Alex.” He said before
facing toward me.
“Kai, do you want me to help you to
sit up?” He asked.
“Will it be safe for me to
move?”
He picked up a tricorder and scanned me, “The
swelling has gone down. I will give you an analgesic for the pain. It
should be safe for you to move.” He pressed a hypospray against
my neck and injected it.
“Ok, can you help me up?”
I asked.
He nodded and moved behind me, gripping me under my
arms, “Are you ready?” He asked.
“Yeah.”
T'Luk
pulled me up steadily as I sat up. I didn't feel any pain, thanks to
the fresh dose of analgesic. Once I was in a sitting up position,
T'Luk pulled me back toward him so I was resting against his chest.
He was resting against the emergency supply kits so we didn't fall
backward.
T'Luk gave me the contents to a rations pack which
he opened for me, I gripped the long and chewy snack and took a small
bite. It didn't taste of much, but on a whole, it was edible. Now
that I was sitting up, I looked around the makeshift camp that we
had. We were on a grassy hill, a tree lined valley could be seen in
the distance below. Alex and Maria were sitting about 10 metres away
with some other containers and the subspace radio. It was a
comfortable temperature and not very windy, we were very fortunate,
as there are many places which are much less habitable. T'Luk started
to eat some of his rations as well. He had one arm wrapped around my
waist, keeping me close, and his other was holding his food. Just
sitting here in his embrace made me feel safe and loved. I could feel
the gentle exhale against the back of my neck when he breathed out,
it was a comforting feeling.
After we finished eating and
having some water, the sun had almost become non existent; leaving us
with a clear view of space and the stars above. I was laying down
again, but this time I was laying with my head on T'Luk's chest, with
a blanket covering us. We linked hands as we stared up above. Laying
there on his chest, I could hear the rapid beating of his heart, much
faster than my own. Even though we'd been through such an ordeal, I
felt surprisingly calm as I looked out into the vast gulf. I was
looking for any astral objects that I could identify when I noticed
something. Several small dots flashed above us in the sky, appearing
for only a second before vanishing. Something had just dropped out of
warp. Someone had found us.
“Did you guys see that?”
I said, loud enough for Alex and Maria to hear me.
Maria stood
up, “Alex, T'Luk, grab your phasers. We don't know if they are
friendly.” She replied, reaching down into a bag on the floor
and retrieving hers.
T'Luk moved from underneath me and
grabbed his own, before crouching down and taking a defensive posture
over me.
Everything was silent for a few seconds before a
bright light appeared a metre off the ground and started to
intensify. Someone was beaming down using a Starfleet transporter.
Four security officers, along with Commander Caves rematerialised in
front of us. T'Luk remained still for a second before he put down his
phaser.
“Commander, it is good to see you.” Said
Alex in a relieved voice.
“Likewise, you gave us a scare
when we detected the Interceptors
distress beacon.” He replied, taking a quick look around before
walking over to me.
“Hey sir,” I called out.
“Hey
Ensign, how are you feeling?” He asked, looking down at me.
“A
little sore and tired.”
He nodded, “Don't worry,
we'll get you to sickbay straight away,” He said before tapping
his combadge and requesting a beam out.
T'Luk knelt down next
to me and held my hand. I looked up into his eyes as we
dematerialised on the planet and rematerialised moments later aboard
the Titan.
I
smiled at him. We were home.
Thank you for
reading Chapter Four of A Vulcan's Love.
Thanks to everyone
who emailed me for previous chapters, but
I didn't get ANY emails
for the last chapter. AT ALL!
Please send anything, even a
simple 'Hi!' would be fine.
Tell me if I'm doing a good job, or
tell me if I'm messing it up.
I want to know if YOU are enjoying
this. Tell me if you want to see a Chapter 5.
E-mail me at:
emulatedlove[at]gmail.com
I really enjoy writing this story,
so please send me a message.
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