Consequences- Part 5

Consequences

By Samantha Quinn

Rating: Right now: PG-13. Will be R later, Romance
All disclaimers in part 1

****

Part 5

Intermission

A/N: To those of you who don’t know-when conducting science experiments using acid and water, the rule is “Add Acid.” If one adds water, bad explosionary events occur.

*Vulcan Security Headquarters*

There was a moment of reflective silence in the conference room following Sumarek’s retelling of the story he himself had heard for the first time less than twenty-four hours ago. Seated in the room in front of Sumarek were two justice department members: Suvan and Tovor; two ambassadors: T’Ling and Sporik, and five representatives from governmental positions: T’Pau, T’Mir, Solan, T’Val, and T’Lal.

Had they been humans, it could have been said that the ten most powerful beings on the planet were gathered in the conference room. They were certainly amongst the most influential members of Vulcan society.

“As a child, I was simply taught to believe melders were unacceptable because they represented a lapse in emotional control,” supplied Suvan. “There was no mention of such a complicated history.”

“Surely, you have heard mention of Sovik before, Suvan?” T’Lal asked. “He was the most well known of Surak’s students.”

“Yes, I am aware of that fact, T’Lal,” replied the younger Vulcan man. “And I am aware of his accomplishments as well as his turn away from Surak’s teachings late in life. I am also aware of the prince in question, Salek. What I have not heard before is the story of their interaction.”

“What is causing me difficulty,” interjected Sporik “is if this story is true, why are not all of us familiar with the events?”

Sumarek was pleased at Sporik’s question. He himself had been contemplating the same question.

T’Ling had also been contemplating the question as well. As the secondary ambassador to Earth, along with Soval, she had been encountered a vast knowledge of human history and felt compelled to draw parallels. “In my travels,” she began, “I have encountered a history of bigotry and distrust amongst humans. In their case, there seemed to be racial divisions as sharp as our own melder and non-melder divisions.”

“To object to another because of an excess of melanin is illogical,” commented T’Val. “No Vulcan would do such a thing.”

“Lately, some of our allies disagree with you, T’Val,” Sumarek remarked. “It would appear they see similar bigotry. Please continue, T’Ling.”

“In the human histories I have studied, at times when racial hatred was at its highest, the majority of humans gave abstract reasons for disliking one of the other races. For example, a human of Anglo-American descent may have stated, ‘I do not like African-Americans because they are criminal.’ A small percentage of humans, however, would cite a specific reason in distant history. One might say ‘a slave on my father’s forefather’s farm brutally murdered his master, thus, African-Americans are criminal and dangerous.’”

“There are parallels to be drawn,” Sumarek mused.

“I do not believe so,” objected Tovor. Sumarek suppressed his feeling of agitation. Tovor and T’Lal were both staunch supporters of the status quo of restricting melders. It was not surprising he could not see the obvious similarities in the stories. Tovor continued, “The humans were engaging in the barbaric practice of slavery. We do not subject melders to slavery. They are free to live their lives as they see fit-"

“As long as they do not meld?” Interjected Sumarek.

Both Tovor and T’Lal arched an eyebrow at Sumarek’s comment. *A lapse in control on my part?* Sumarek wondered. *No. If anyone is making emotional lapses, it is certainly the anti-melding faction.*

There was a slight pause following Sumarek’s remark as the remaining Vulcans contemplated his words. “A single Vulcan?” asked T’Pau finally. “A mistake of a single Vulcan was seen as reason to terminate an act practiced peacefully by the rest of the population?”

“Most illogical,” commented Solan.

T’Mir’s comment was not as understated. “Exactly how was it decided that the actions of the few should dictate the punishment of the many?” she demanded.
Sumarek could feel a slight tug at the corner of his lips. T’Mir was still young, by Vulcan standards. Having only recently achieved her thirtieth birthday, T’Mir had not yet learned to conceal her emotions as much as was appropriate.
“We must remember that at the time of Sovik, Vulcans were still new to the ideas of logic. The Vulcans alive at the time of Sovik remembered the days of Vulcan prior to Surak. Sovik’s behavior threatened to return them to that lifestyle. Indeed, it threatened the very ideals of logic upon which Vulcan society was being based,” Sumarek remarked.

“Anyone who possibly posed a danger to the logic would have been eliminated,” T’Pau agreed with a slight shake of her head.

“The humans have a saying ‘better safe than sorry’. I believe that is what our Vulcan ancestors were following when they outlawed melding,” T’Ling proposed.

“We are not humans, T’Ling. We do not behave the same,” Tovor reminded her.

“Yes, but are we behaving like Vulcans?” Sumarek countered.

Again, there was a silence. But only briefly.

“Yes, we are. If we take the story to be true, then we can see that the melders are dangerous,” Tovor stated.

“And what evidence is there that the melds are beneficial to Vulcan thought or philosophy?” T’Lal offered. “I would not be willing to support changes in our laws unless there was an undeniable reason to believe mind melds have some benefit other than being an emotional outlet for Vulcans unable to control themselves.”

“Is that what you propose we tell our allies?” Sporik asked.

“What occurs on Vulcan and our government is not the concern of outworlders. Perhaps you should tell them that,” retorted Tovor.

*Is it any wonder the humans believe us to be arrogant?* Sumarek speculated.

****

*Mess Hall, Lunch Time, Enterprise. . .*

Lieutenant Hess sat wearily down into the mess hall chair. She was so exhausted that she wasn’t sure if getting back up would be an option. *It’d better be. I have a feeling that if I were to drop dead of exhaustion at this point, Commander Tucker would personally come to the afterlife and haul my ass back here to work on the engines.* Hess grinned to herself. *Then he’d put me to work scrubbing the engineering floor spotless as punishment for having the audacity to die while on duty.*

“Well, that’s a particularly evil look,” Hoshi Sato commented as she squeezed into the seat across from Hess.

Hess flashed the friendly woman a brief smile. “You would not believe the day I’ve had, Hoshi,” she replied.

Hoshi gave her a sympathetic look. “Yeah, the last encounter with the Suliban really tore up our engine room, huh?”

“Yep-it’s the only part of the ship to get totally screwed, but getting the Warp Engines back up to Warp 5 isn’t the hardest project in Engineering these days,” Hess replied, taking a large bite of her grilled cheese sandwich.

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” Hess lowered her voice. “It’s a close second. But first prize is project ‘stay the hell out of Commander Tucker’s way.’ “

“Hold on just a sec,” Hoshi said to the woman. Seeing Travis and Malcolm scanning the very crowded mess hall for somewhere to eat Hoshi waved them over.

“Hey, Travis, Lieutenant Reed,” Hess greeted.

“We’re at lunch, woman. I’m pretty sure you can call him ‘Malcolm,” Hoshi laughed at the engineer’s formality.

“With the way today is going, I think I’ll refrain from that, Hoshi. As easy as it’s been to piss off certain officers, I think I’ll just call everyone by their rank from here on out. In fact, I may start calling you Ensign Sato,” came Hess’s reply.
Both Malcolm and Travis looked at the woman questionably. Hoshi filled them in briefly. “Hess was just getting close to telling me all sorts of great, juicy gossip about Trip.”

“Well, we joined you just in time then,” Travis remarked. “What’s going on with Trip?”

Hess cast a nervous glance in Malcolm’s direction, not certain exactly how proper it was to gossip in front of the man in charge of ship security. Sensing her friend’s unease, Hoshi hastily assured her, “Don’t mind Malcolm. Contrary to popular opinion, he does like to have fun on occasion.”

“Yeah, he even has a date with Sub-Commander T’Pol tonight,” chimed Travis.
“I most certainly do not!” Malcolm protested.

Hess regarded them curiously. She didn’t know Sub-Commander T’Pol that well, but the woman had spent enough time in engineering over the past two years that Hess had gotten a fairly good indication of the Sub-Commander’s personality. She did not seem like someone who would date anyone.

“Well, I guess you’re right, Malcolm,” Hoshi admitted. “T’Pol didn’t seem too interested in dating.”

“Nah, she’s ready to skip ahead to the physical,” Travis responded.

Hess choked on her lemonade. After a few good slaps on the back from Malcolm, she was finally able to formulate a question. “Do I even want to know what that was about?” she asked.

“We’ll tell you all about it, as soon as you spill the gossip about Trip,” Hoshi assured her.

“It’s nothing major,” she informed them. “It’s just that usually, working under Commander Tucker is fairly pleasant. You do your job, and you do it well and you’ll be fine.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Travis remarked.

Hess groaned. “It is. . . except today he’s been anything but reasonable. He’s snapped at everyone at least twice, and sent poor Ensign Ross to run a level six diagnostic-“

“Level six?” Malcolm asked in astonishment. “That will take-“

“Forever,” Hess finished for him with a nod. “And then of course, he threatened to have Lieutenant Hanson hauled off to the brig for ‘insubordination.’ all because the poor man had the misfortune to smile while Commander Tucker was ranting about the imperativeness of completing the repairs in time.”

“He wanted to put someone in the brig because they smiled?” Hoshi asked incredulously.

*No bloody way am I sending someone to watch a crewman for that type of infraction* Malcolm thought to himself.

Hess nodded. “Then he told Ensign Thomas she was going to keep him company five minutes later because she some type of comment about Sub-Commander T’Pol’s outfit.”

Hoshi thought of Trip’s reaction to T’Pol earlier in the day and grinned. “What did Ensign Thomas say?”

“Oh, she just made the off handed comment that she didn’t see why T’Pol didn’t wear a real uniform. She was working the entire time she was talking. You know, we have to converse while we work down there-some of us have been down there for two days straight.”

Her company nodded in sympathy, feeling both guilty and extremely relieved that the engines were the only part of the ship that had been damaged in the last attack.

“Well, anyway, Thomas just remarked to hmm…I think it was Gabin, that she thought T’Pol’s outfit was a bit. . . unprofessional and if she was second in command, why couldn’t she wear a uniform?”

“She’s not a Starfleet officer,” Malcolm reminded her.

“Yeah, but that suit-oh, you’re a guy, you probably appreciate it,” Hess rolled her eyes.

“What does that mean?” Malcolm demanded.

“Yeah-I think I’m offended,” Travis offered.

“Ignore them. Continue with your story,” Hoshi instructed.

“Well, defying the laws of physics and the speed of sound, Commander Tucker heard her say it all the way across the engine room, and completely laid into her. Told her and I quote: ‘Sub-Commander T’Pol is a Vulcan and sometimes Vulcans do things that don’t make any sense to anybody, but if you question them they’ll just tell you it’s none of your business so you should mind your own and stay out of theirs.’ He then proceeded to remind her that the Sub-Commander was second in command and Thomas’ words against her bordered on mutiny.”

“Mutiny?” Travis asked.

Hess nodded. “The poor woman was practically in tears. She tried to tell him that she hadn’t meant it that way, and he told her not to add insubordination to her list of offenses.” Hess shrugged and stood up. “I hope you’ve enjoyed the gossip today, ladies and gentlemen. But if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to engineering before Commander Tucker comes up here and drags me back by my ear.” With that she left.

“Drags her back by the ear?” Malcolm asked in confusion. “Why on Earth would he drag her by the ear?”

Hoshi laughed. “She didn’t mean it literally, Malcolm.”

“Nah, she was just making a comment about Trip’s crankiness,” Travis told the security officer. Then thoughtfully, he added, “You know, it’s really not like Trip to act so unprofessional. Laid back, sure, but so mean? It just seems out of character.”

“Yes, but who is acting in character on this ship these days?” Inquired Malcolm. “I’m beginning to wonder if we aren’t all being infected with type of virus.”

Travis’ eyes lit up excitedly at that. “Maybe-did you ever see any of those cheesy old sci fi movies produced in the late twentieth century?” At Malcolm and Hoshi’s nods, Travis continued, “The crews of their space ships used to run into viruses all the time.”

“Yes, but they usually got viruses that made them want to have sex or kill people,” Hoshi protested.

“Yes, and if it is a virus, why are only T’Pol and Trip being affected?” Malcolm countered.

Travis rolled his eyes. “You guys aren’t any fun at all.”

“Nah, it could be a virus that only affects Vulcans. After all, we know why Trip is behaving so oddly.”

Malcolm and Travis just exchanged confused glances. “We do?” Malcolm asked.

Hoshi nodded. “He’s jealous.”

Another confused look passed between the men. “Just how did you come up with that theory? And who or what is he jealous of?” Travis wondered.

Hoshi sighed exasperatedly. “Didn’t you see it this morning on the bridge? It was so obvious. Speaking of which, what did T’Pol want to talk to you about this morning, Travis?”

Travis shook his head, still not really believing it. “She wanted to talk about my childhood.”

“Your childhood?” Hoshi laughed.

“Yep.”

“Well, perhaps she is conducting a psychiatric experiment on the crew,” Malcolm offered.

“If so, Malcolm, you’re her next guinea pig,” Travis retorted.

Malcolm paled slightly at the thought and decided to change the subject. “So, Hoshi, you think Trip has feelings for T’Pol?”

***

Elsewhere on the ship, one of the objects of their conversation sat quietly attempting to mediate.

*Such behavior is thoroughly and completely un-Vulcan*, T’Pol chastised herself. *Purposely provoking emotional response instead of controlling them. . . *

*I am controlling them*, she countered to herself. *I have not allowed myself to show any emotions.*

At best, T’Pol knew, this was only half true. While admittedly she had not displayed any emotional response verbally, there was no denying her behavior had changed.

The humans had definitely noticed. Being such emotionally open creatures, humans expressions of emotion were very easy to read. Her fellow crewman’s reactions to her experiment had been very apparent. Most obvious had been Ensign Sato and Lieutenant Reed’s surprise and confusion at T’Pol’s suggestion that they engage in joint activities.

*Are they more aware of how a proper Vulcan behaves than you, T’Pol?
It is a science experiment. The time spent with humans is as necessary as mixing substances to provide a chemical reaction.

No*, T’Pol admitted. She had a hypothesis on how the experiment would turn out. She was simply hoping she would be wrong.

****

*Soval’s Quarters, Vulcan Ship*

Soval picked up the PADD and willed his hand to meet the surface. He was gratified to discover he still had control enough to control the shaking.

*It consumes nearly all my concentration* Soval remarked to himself.

*It does not matter. By the time of the signing, I will not need to concentrate on anything but the signing of the treaty itself.*

If Vulcan High Command knew, they would replace him. *I will not be denied the opportunity to do this work because of an inconvenience.*

It would be the culmination of a life worth’s of diplomatic work. The time would not interfere. His life had been devoted to communicating with other cultures. It had been most rewarding, even amongst the irrational humans. Having seen other Vulcans give up their calling to diplomacy, Soval felt a decidedly un-Vulcan pride in the work he had achieved thus far.

It took certain types of Vulcans to do the work of an ambassador. Most Vulcans could not understand the logic in using deceptive techniques when required and when the needs of the few would correspond to the needs of the many although it would not be immediately apparent.

*Not every Vulcan can understand such principles while still maintaining control of themselves.* Soval believed he could.

*She could have as well.* came the unwelcome thought, but Soval pushed it away. It was best not to think of T’Pol at this time. Soval’s emotional state was already fragile; he need not complicate it with thoughts of the Vulcan woman.

Soval’s thoughts were interrupted by the chime of his door and he fought to suppress the overwhelming anger within him. *Another sign of the time* he thought.

Rising and walking to the door frame, he opened the door but did not invite the visitor in. “Doctor Ventik, I left specific instructions not to be disturbed until we rendezvoused with Enterprise.”

The Vulcan doctor nodded. “I am aware of that, Soval. However, procedure requires you to have a physical before interaction with the other species.”
*Had I forgotten that?* Soval wondered. *How? It is standard Vulcan procedure.*

Still, Soval knew he could not allow a physical to take place. *They would know.*

“Now is not an opportune time, Doctor,” he told the physician. “I will come to sick bay before contact is made, but there are other events which require my attention at the present time if the treaty is to be successful.” Giving the doctor no time to respond, Soval stepped back into his quarters and closed the door.
In the corridor, Ventik raised an eyebrow. *It would be most logical for him to arrange to have the physical now and have the rest of our travel time un-interrrupted.* Still, Ventik decided not to press the matter with the distinguished Ambassador and returned to sickbay.

Inside his room, Soval felt his hands shake of their own accord. Summoning all of his Vulcan strength, he tried to cease the action. It would not.

“No,” he whispered. “Not yet.”

***

Please R/R: It helps feed the muse. Also, it helps make certain I keep my stories making sense. Writing two entirely different plots, sometimes I think I make something clear and I realize it isn’t. As some of you may have noticed, I incorporated certain questions into the actual story. So, I hope some things have been cleared up, although most of you probably don’t know what’s going on with T’Pol or Soval. (Keep guessing though-I do know and I like the guesses! They’re fun!)

A/N, II: IF T’Pol’s POV is confusing, well, it’s supposed to be. SHE is confused.

***********

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