The Eight - Chapter 3, by Calcaneous

The Eight

by Calcaneous

Rated: PG
Genre: None at the moment

Disclaimer: Star Trek situations, characters, and name are all owned by Paramount.

~~~~

Chapter 3: 2 of 8

~~~~~~~

Soval spent the three days meditating and preparing the VHC for their arrival. The thought of setting his feet on Vulcan again was not unpleasant, if fact, the thought was agreeable to a sufficiently high degree. He remembered the last time he had visited. Exactly 745 days ago.

In the last two days he had spoken at length with the city’s shan about the human who was allowed to visit the Dert region and cross the Haan. He demonstrated a great deal of patience toward the shan regardless of his illogical reasoning. In part because of a his highly respected political position and…in part, because the shan was joined with Soval’s sister. He sighed inwardly. Politics were exhausting although he was well suited for the fine waltz of negotiations.

He reflected on that epiphany. To use the famous human adage: “Why can’t we all just get along.” For as long as he could remember, and that was a very long time period, everything involved compromise. What did Captain Archer call it? Oh yes, compromise – solution that neither side is happy with. He sighed again. His life used to be simpler. Maybe that luxury will return one day.

~~~~~~~

The desert of Haan was a perilous place on Vulcan, just like the Forge on opposite hemisphere. Fortunately, unlike the Forge, the Haan had been well mapped. One area provided a safe harbor in the form of a deep, narrow lake. In another words, it wasn’t difficult, for a Vulcan, to cross the desert in 15 days on foot.

He felt a slight relief to find that she spent the majority of the first day and night researching the ship’s computer and - eating. He respected her privacy and did not disturb her. During the system diagnostics he learned she was systematically scanning Vulcan databases.

He was not curious…however, after he glanced around the flight deck, he punched the two keys required to see what files were accessed recently. His eyes run down the list: the class and social systems, the diet, past time and the mating habits. She also accessed maps of the 11 continents and opened the entire Vulcan language database including the dialects used in rural provinces.

~~~~~~~

Tina was mesmerized. She always enjoyed living in different places on Earth. She wasn’t a citizen of the US by birth but by choice. She enjoyed the privileges and responsibilities of life in the States. She spoke 4 languages and could understand several others. But this…this was something else. She felt like a kid let loose in the candy shop. She learned a fair amount about Vulcans. No meat, no drink, no sex…she grinned. It was time well spent and some of the things that she noticed about Soval were beginning to make sense.

The concept of logic as a driving spiritual force wasn’t crazy. But she couldn’t figure out exactly how suppressing your feelings for almost two millennia was beneficial. She made a mental note to self: must ask Soval if he ever tried to look up Freud or Kafka. She was honestly interested what his opinion would have been on that subject. Seriously though (still smirking) she would have to ask him about that. It was interesting – and completely different from the Earth.

~~~~~~~

It was the third day in the desert and their second hour of walking. She adjusted her backpack, pushed her straw hat down and walked up next to Soval.

He heard her speeding up behind him and felt a tap on his shoulder.

Her boots were full of sand and she was hot. “I can’t figure out why was the shan so upset, it’s not like I’m going to blow up the desert or make it disappear, you know.”

His face had a questioning expression. “If you are referring to our audience with shan of Patar, I believe it proceeded rather well. We were granted the right to pass to the other side of the Haan desert,” he said, and looked at her with a slight lift of the corner of his mouth.

She looked at him scornfully: “Gee, isn’t that swell. I’m glad you had a good time there. I hope your sister is doing great… I dragged my butt over I don’t know how many planets and systems, I’m light years away from Earth trying to help Vulcans find their holly grail. I was really hoping to at least sightsee a little and what do I get?” Tina made the same face shan did while they were in the palace and said in Vulcan: “Why is this human female here?”

Soval looked at her: “I was unaware you spoke Vulcan.”

“That makes two of us…” said Tina, “you know, ever since the Atlantic ‘adventure’ I’ve been a little faster with picking up on things.”

Soval nodded slightly and started to walk. Tina matched his stride and the two of them walked together through the vastness of the desert again.

He considered: “I apologize for shan’s words. These do not accurately reflect his stance. To make myself clear - the VHC is in charge of administration of the government and trade body, however Patar is not part of it’s jurisdiction. It is its own entity. Very much like the Earth’s Vatican. The shan is not flexible when strangers are requesting the passage.”

He added: “You are the first non Vulcan granted this privilege.” He paused and then: “Ever.”

~~~~~~~

“The scanners show two life forms in the desert”, barked Kapor, “one Vulcan and one…human.” He looked up with crocked smile, “It’s them.”

Ko’Hout drew a gulp from his wine mug and started to laugh manically while the wine was staining his tunic like blood. Finally – there was nothing he could do while she was on Earth. The head, which used to belong to his chief engineer was sitting in his quarters. He did not tolerate incompetence well. But now, the cloaking device was fully functional.

The human was going to give him the weapon and GLORY he earned.

And then she would pay for the death of his brother.

~~~~~~~

Tina was surprised to see how efficient Soval was. She knew the Vulcans had iron discipline, but it was almost as he weren’t exerting any energy. It looked like he could walk for days. That assumption, unknown to her, was, in fact, correct. Vulcans didn’t need as much water as humans, their endurance was extreme and they were completely in tune with their world.

He was aware they have been walking for the past 6 hours and she needed to rest. It was impossible for her to keep up with his pace. But so far, she had been. Soval pointed his finger to the distant set of hills and said:

“The oasis is located between the two elevations southeast of us. We should reach them in less than hour. We will break camp for the night and leave in the morning.”

They reached the oasis in 50 minutes, just like Soval promised. It was stunningly beautiful. It didn’t even look like it belonged to this area. There was a beautiful lush green grass growing around the lake for yards and yards, there were trees with strangely colored fruit and a giant rock sticking out in the middle of the lake. The water was greenish-blue, extremely clear and smooth as mirror. The high skies of Vulcan reflected off of its surface. The cooler air was blowing from the lake and she spotted fish jumping in high arcs across the smooth surface.

The lake was surrounded from one side by a big mountain and the sun was casting a dark shadow behind the lake.

He looked relaxed and said: “I will set up a camp and suggest you refresh yourself. Tomorrow will be difficult. There are several small ranges approximately 14 kilometers from our current location and the sand is deeper there.” He pointed to the lake: ”You will find the water to be of pleasant temperature and density.”

He was here once before. It was during his rights of passage. He kept visualizing the memory of shan’s reaction to VHC’s request to allow a human, a human FEMALE passage. This desert had not seen a female since the ages of Surak. However, he didn’t find it relevant to offer this explanation to her.

He has only pushed her as hard as he did in order to reach the oasis in less than 5 days. But now he was making sure that the strain of their progress wasn’t more than necessary. He knew from the detailed report of Vulcan medical team that the merge caused her system to react in elevated temperature – nothing a Vulcan couldn’t bear, but he knew human physiology did not respond well to constant inter-thermal increases.

She would very probably find the issue of “passage” discriminating, and would insist on discussing it at length. He was uninterested in speaking – too much fluid loss in the reflective heat. He had no intentions of ending this journey by overheating and dehydrating Ms. Cole to death.

~~~~~~~

The camp was set up and Tina was done collecting the firewood. She was hot and filthy from the day’s walk. She walked behind one of the enormous boulders and stripped down to her green and blue tattoos.

She knew what it looked like – she checked it out while still on Earth. She looked like an elaborate painting. She sighed, ran over to the edge of lake and jumped head first into the mild and soft water. She swam around and enjoyed the strange sensation on her skin. The water’s density really was different – every stroke moved her about 5 meters farther than she was used to. She dived a few feet below, closed her eyes and even though she was under water, still could feel the red warmth of the sun touching her from above the surface. She let the water carry her. It felt exhilarating. It was like that one time she had a glass of beer…a little buzz in her head.

~~~~~~~

Soval watched her. His eyes landed on her shoulders and back covered in green lines curving around, slid down to her bottom and legs – he swallowed quickly – the Vulcans appreciated symmetry and beauty – and didn’t turn away until her body was submerged in the water.

He could hear her swimming back and forth and she was singing something quietly. He noticed with annoyance he couldn’t hear exactly what it was. The sun was beginning to set. He didn’t hear her singing anymore as the sun made its exit behind the horizon leaving only a slight glare in its wake. He started to walk toward the lake and his eyes perceived the luminous glow coming from it. His mouth involuntarily opened and closed back again, when he saw Tina’s body glowing under water. The tattoos were radiating blue and green colors that were mixing into a bright turquoise.

~~~~~~~

Tina looked up and saw Soval. For a fraction of the moment she forgot she wasn’t on Earth, she wasn’t swimming in the creek and invited him for a swim: “The water’s GREAT tonight, jump in…” it was too late to take it back.

Soval moved closer to the lake and lay a large towel on the grass. He found her carefree attitude both extremely irritating and equally – this emotion surprised him - endearing. He hasn’t had someone treat him with such a degree of familiarity since – since his wife died.

Sometimes his acute memory brought the events to his mind like it happened yesterday. He stood there, looking at her remembering the day his wife went to visit friends in the Skor region. That was the last time he ever saw her…alive. It was a simple accident. A shuttle malfunction. He closed his eyes.

The relationship with his wife was – interesting. Unlike other marriages on Vulcan, theirs was not arranged. A thought occurred to him that living on Earth was a reflection of his logic. Perhaps, the humans, in their spontaineity, reminded him of his wife. He took no joy in the thoughts about this subject, but didn’t start to suppress them either. Even after more than 50 years he still found a void in his mind that he was unable to fill. He stood there painfully aware of it.

“I will start a fire, Ms. Cole. The nights are cooler in the Haan, the temperature will drop soon. I have taken the liberty of preparing a meal. I hope you find it sufficient.” He turned around and started to walk back.

“I’m sorry, Ambassador…what did you say about your wife? I couldn’t hear.” She watched Soval stop dead in his tracks, straighten up and power walk away.

~~~~~~~

Through the toothbrush she said: “The dinner was great!”

She finished brushing her teeth and felt Soval’s eyes on her back.

“What…?” she asked, with an embarrassed smile.

Even though Soval spent 30 years on Earth, he wasn’t familiar with the regular day to day hygiene habits of humans. He was fairly certain that Ms. Cole was cleansing her oral cavity, but he didn’t understand the purpose. He leaned on his backpack and inquired: “Is this a ritual?”

“Aaa…I was brushing my teeth.” He had a confused expression on his face, “See?” she was taken aback by a question like that but she extended her arm with toothbrush into the light of fire, “it’s a toothbrush. It keeps the damage from sugar and acid to minimum.”

“I see.” Soval said.

He wasn’t certain why, but he volunteered: “Vulcan bio system is made up of several subsystems, one of which regulates harmful bacteria. This system includes the dental gland. Its sole function is to destroy bacteria microbes caused by oral consumption and digestion process.”

“You are KIDDING me, right?” Tina gaped, and Soval gave her a dead serious look. Tina said excitedly: “Show me.”

“I am afraid that would be highly inappropriate.” Soval face turned guarded and distant.

“Oh…come on! Look around you – there is nobody here,” Tina pleaded. “I promise not to tell anyone.”

His face was growing closed and as he leaned back in his sleeping bag, closed his eyes and said: “Perhaps I should not have mentioned it to you, Ms. Cole, I apologize.”

Tina stood there with her eyebrows up, her left hand on her hip and tapping her foot on the ground. After a couple of minutes, Soval turned and looked at her again. His lower jaw moved once from side to side then centered. He sat up and nodded.

Tina sat next to him.

Soval explained to her what she would be looking for and opened his mouth. She peeked in and saw the purple glands on the tongue he was talking about. She drew in a breath and frowned…she knew this smell. What was it? It was so familiar…she knew it from Christmas time at home. Almonds?!? Say whaaat?? He closed his mouth and looked over at her. The silence was getting dense. She was looking away, but finally met his eyes.

“You smell like almonds…is that usual?” she stared at him.

“Yes. The gland produces scent reminiscent to the one of almonds,” he answered.

“Oh, I see.” She got up, that was enough anatomy for one night, she thought and said: “Thank you.”

He watched her slide into her sleeping bag and considered the question. “Ms. Cole, may I ask a question?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“How did you know about my wife?”

“You were talking about her at the lake. You said you missed her – worry not, it’s none of my business.”

~~~~~~~

Ten days later they reached the coordinates. She didn’t really know what she was supposed to do, but figured whatever it was she would go with it. She was still alive so far, so why worry. Soval was standing next to her with an electronic device trained on a small round white rock sticking out of the sand.

He said: “I believe this is it.”

Tina pointed to a rock with a questioning look: “This? This is it?”

Soval nodded.

Tina was expecting something little bit more epic, but this would have to do.

“Here comes nothing…” she whispered.

Soval watched her take a deep breath and run her fingers through the hair as she started to walk over.

She could feel her back burn and her stomach was throbbing. She looked down on her t-shirt and saw the blue light glowing through. She thought to herself – this is easy!

~~~~~~~

Instead of the ‘light works’ (as she called it) she saw a body and heard a voice. The voice was telling her something. It was telling her to show…show what? The voice drew closer and louder.

“SHOW him NOW!” the voice in her head rang.

~~~~~~~

Soval put his hand on her shoulder and said: “Ms. Cole, are you alright?”

Her eyes opened, her face tensed and she rubbed her lower teeth over her upper lip.

Soval watched her turn around to face him. She looked confused and he was looking at her trying to understand what was happening. He watched her shoulders come up and she looked apologetic. Soval didn’t have time to react. His eyes grew wide as he tried to move out of the way, but she put her left hand quickly behind his head, and with her right she reached out and pressed three of her fingers on his face and said: “I’m really sorry...but I have to.”

In a bright flash he saw a volcano, Klingons standing around a person. He saw the bright red light shoot out from the mountain of plasma in front of them. The beam of light grounded on the only one able to receive it.

He recognized this place. It was a Klingon moon Karon. The moon was singular for it’s enormous volcano that produces seemingly unlimited quantities of plasma the Klingons used on their home world.

Then she let go of him.

~~~~~~~

Three seconds later he heard the ominous sound of Klingon transporter energizing. He stood there looking at her. Six Klingons materialized in front of them in a blink. He recognized two of them, one whom himself and Commander Tucker knocked down, and the other one with a nasty limp.

He watched her satisfaction when she noticed the limping Klingon - her job. He had not recognized the rest of them.

“It is an unpleasant surprise, Ko’Hout,” said Soval in a contemptuous tone to the tallest Klingon. “I trust the Chancellor is aware of your whereabouts?”

Tina noticed the Klingon with a limp looked vindictively at the Vulcan after the comment. He held the hilt of his gun and deliberately walked over, slowly raising his hand toward Soval, whose face hardened in anticipation of an impact.

“So, how’re your knees?” Tina chirped and as the Klingon turned, winked at him.

As soon as she did it, she was CERTAIN it was one of those bad, bad ideas. It got the Klingon’s attention though. He stopped in mid swing, she was relieved to see. He pushed some buttons on his weapon, aimed at her and squeezed the trigger. The shot came and hit her in the thigh. She drew breath, her eyes opened wide and closed.

He said with laughter: “Much better now…don’t move Vulcan!” he roared at Soval.

~~~~~~~

Ko’Hout looked very calm as he was holding a long alloy bar in his hand but now his face was twisted in a fit of rage and the bar was in full motion.

Soval observed with interest. The event he was witnessing was the basic law of physics - law of motion. Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. At which point the limping Klingon’s body literally disappeared from his sight. It was one of the most forceful and violent attacks he had seen in a long time. His eyebrows lifted only slightly.

“I,” smash, “WAS CLEAR”, smash, “about the human not be damaged in any WAY.” Smash.

She thought about what her mother told her about violence: “Honey, violence doesn’t solve anything.” Her mom and dad never agreed on that…his opinion was: “Really? Why don’t you ask the mayor of Hiroshima about that.” She held that statement against him for a long time. But she had to give it to her father …the violence seemed to be working really good right now.

Her thigh was swelling up nicely, but overall she was all right. Unlike the limpy.

She made a note to self she should tread lightly with this raging Klingon.

~~~~~~~

Ko’Hout grabbed her throat and snarled: “You killed my brother you ‘kotla’…but before you die, you will give me the weapon!”

But she was extremely stressed, she was on a different planet breathing thinner atmosphere and the universal translator was working miracles. That accusation sounded so over the top theatrical…she thought ‘get over it.’

“Oh…right…the weapon. You know I can’t do it right now, can you stop by tomorrow? No, wait, I’m busy tomorrow…how about never? Can you fit that in your schedule? And give yourself a favor…quit being so MELODRAMATIC.”

~~~~~~~

Soval was convinced that the disrupter shot must have caused some neural damage. There was no other explanation for what she had just said. Although he was impressed by the – however misplaced – bravery she has shown.

The Klingon’s face twitched, he took out a knife, walked over and cut Soval’s robes open. He looked at Tina and lay the knife on top of his chest.

During the years in academy Soval had had excellent results in suppressing the pain stimulus. He was preparing himself to exercise this ability again. He knew the Klingon brutality had no limits. He knew he didn’t have much time. His eyes were open and he was ready.

The Klingon pushed down and Tina saw the green blood coming out of the wound.

Soval didn’t remember the pain being so intense. It was not difficult to suppress the sensation but it was harder than he anticipated. It had been a long time since he was in the Vulcan military. The wound was superficial and the Vulcan circulatory system only pumped a liter of blood in one minute. He was certain he could withstand this treatment for a very long time. However, he was uncertain whether he was keen of the thought.

“DON’T,” she said. “Stop it now.”

She went through all the information she had about the Klingons and the word honor kept coming up. The Klingon’s eyes were getting blood shot and he was about to impale Soval whose respirations were elevated.

Tina roared: “Look at me…LOOK at me. I will do it. But you will have to give me your word. I want your word as a warrior that the Vulcan doesn’t die. On your honor.” She said.

Ko’Hout nodded. “Agreed, but he comes with us.”

Soval took a breath in to object…and harshly: “Kidnapping will be perceived as an act of war. The peace treaty between The Klingon empire and Vulcan is 200 years old. Perhaps you want to clarify with the High Chancellor?”

~~~~~~~

Tina stood straight, looked at Soval and winked. She moved her leg a few times – it was better than she expected and moved out toward the glowing rock.

The wind rose and the white sand started to swirl violently around. The light from the rock was getting brighter and brighter and the rock rose from the ground spinning. The arcs of while light were dancing everywhere and started to spread out around Tina’s body. The humming was getting louder and louder – it reminded her or a freight train coming closer. The smell of electricity was filling the inside of her nose when the rock broke in half. The contents slowly flowed over to her stomach’s bare skin. The light disappeared, the sand fell back down and the desert fell strangely silent.

Tina put her hands on her knees and bent over – this wasn’t as much fun as the first time and she felt waves of nausea. Oh well, beauty hurts, she thought.

~~~~~~~

“It’s done.” She said, still pale from exhaustion, to Ko’Hout, who picked up his communicator and growled something in Klingon. Tina made a mental note about looking that up…but she already knew the name of their weapon of choice. How? That she couldn’t answer.

But she knew what the bat’leth was.

Soval’s chest was still bleeding slightly as the Klingons were contacting the ship for transport. He already finalized his plan of action when on board of the bird of prey. He would need to contact the only other person in the quadrant who was in possession of a cloaking device. He will be required to call upon his adversary to pay the debt of life. He must reach Shran.

“Hijol!” said Ko’Hout, and the bodies dematerialized.

Continue to Chapter 4

Return to Chapter 2

Two folks have made comments

I guess I am the only person reading this, I love it! Can't wait for the next update!

Thanks, I appreciate it - I have another chapter but I'm still tucking and trimming it out. Hang in there. :-)