Adaptation
by Ma Anders

Author's Note: As promised, this tome provides the divergent history for my other stories - it is my "Opposite of Logic" replacement canon. If it bears any resemblence to Ms. Elizabeth's wonderful story, I take full blame; the ideas that story provokes continue to swirl in my creative unconscious.

My take on that time differs substantively from OoL in this way: to my mind, neither Sarek nor Kirk would be passive in the acquisition of their wants. Their "presence" would be felt in any situation they were involved in; they "fill the room" and neither is indecisive. Both men have similar mantle's of leadership and the ability to step outside their traditional roles to get things done. Just consider the hubris of a human wife or the bravado of provoking a commanding officer into a fist fight. This story accepts these men for the aggressive personalities they exhibit and follows the collision of their drive for success with love in all its forms. What are they willing to destroy to win?

I've also taken the time to lay out ideas regarding Spock's choice to move towards koh'linar rather than towards his human side. I think that canon points to at least one believable reason a half-human child would chose the most severe ends of the achievement spectrum: bullying. Spock moved the venue for engagement, to my mind, intentionally. He was going to out-Vulcan his Vulcan tormentors. The scene in ST2009 where Spock recites how many attempts have been made to elicit an emotional response from him stayed with me. Why were Vulcan children allowed to do this? So did Sarek's response - which I consider wholly inadequate; after all, Spock did not create his own DNA. As a child, how do you protect yourself when those in authority - outside and inside your home - do not protect you? Spock, a genius in his own right, reasoned out a path to effect his own survival.

Read it. Let me know what you think. Criticism and debate are welcome and encouraged. And thanks for hanging in there - I'll get this writing thing right yet...

I hope...

Whispered Shouts

Sarek listened.

"Ambassador. There's a report of 12 more suicides on Denoba IV. Apparently they were all member of the Science Academy assigned off-world. Their children had been left with relatives on the home world..."

10,000 Vulcans, 12,000 at most, had survived the planetary cataclysm that consumed their home world. Every drop of Vulcan blood became more precious.

Sarek listened.

"Ambassador, I know Denoba IV may be beyond even your formidable range. Have you heard... Can you give us any indication where to go?"

Sarek listened.

"Ambassador, can you predict where the next suicides will occur?"

Sarek listened.

With an uncharacteristic sigh, the council administrator left the room.

Sarek listened to the silence and heard the screams of his people's anguish.

Vulcan Science Academy

File: 52420-914320-91514

CLASSIFIED: Council Access Only

A fundamental question following the destruction of the planet concerns the persistence of the Vulcan racial assets, or conversely, their risk of extinction. The current risk will be influenced by a numer of factors including interaction amongst the remnant, traits specific to the Vulcan race and various random (stochastic) processes leading to decreases in population census.

Conducting the Vulcan remnant viability analysis involved many steps, starting with the identification of the best suited extinction model and fitting the data. The last step, interpreting the veracity of the model results drove the work discussed in this paper. Explicit formulae have been developed to predict the mean time to extinction.

Within the science community unanimous agreement exists that Vulcans, as a unqie genetic race, have reached a population size at the extinction threshold. This threshold occurs at that point where any loss of population will lead directly to extinction. To survive this apex event, the remnant must colonize/repopulate at a rate greater than the calculated extinction rate. The population bottleneck - the sharp reduction in population caused by the destruction of the planet - places the census within the modeling domain of small populations. This specific area of analysis looks to major determinants of species survival:

Demographic - Reproductive and mortality rates influence the rate a population approaches extinction. Random events have a greater impact and can cause extreme fluctuation in population size, both beneficial and detrimental. Gender skewing, the production of significantly more offspring of one gender, and infertility represent three significant risks within this modeling domain

Genetic - Loss of genetic variation looms as a significant threat to racial survival. Homozygosity, the proportion of remnant offspring expressing a single trait for dominant and recessive traits, increases the risk of significant birth defects and disabilities. Many defective alleles are only harmful when homozygous. If left unchecked, homozygosity can lead to genetic drift, the instantiation of specific disabilities as commonplace within the remnant gene pool thus leading to extinction due to lack of viable offspring. Inbreeding, with its inherent drive toward homozygosity, can be addressed through the introduction of mixed race Vulcan breeding partners into the remnant. Caution should be taken to limit the number and kinds of such reproductive pairings; dilution of the Vulcan gene expression could be result in genetic extinction ahead of predicted extinction dates...

Sitting in is council office, Sarek could not slow his heart for the first time since he was a small child. The report seared his mind, creating panic and pain, horror, depression and exhaustion. In his lifetime he could see the extinction of the Vulcan race.

His first action was to call a meeting of his most trusted staff. Mentally he sighed behind tightly constructed shields; many who had been with him since his marriage to Amanda had been lost to the cataclysm. But for Spock's quick action to alert the planet and Lietenant Uhura's impeccable Vulcan, not even these he would meet with would have been saved.

Shaking himself out of memory, he began a long, detailed discussion on the plan to save Vulcan. Not just New Vulcan but all of Vulcan wherever it may presently reside. He assigned himself responsibility for devising a repopulation plan for the remnant. To his charges he delegated the first huge step; he instructed them to get possession of two of the many huge moons orbiting Deneb V - now known to the remnant as New Vulcan. Sarek needed room, room to incubate the rebirth of the Vulcan race.

Within the week his staff returned with geologic, meteorologic and agricultural information critical to his developing plan. At its destruction, Vulcan supported the most advanced civilization within traveled space. The Earth might be the home of the Federation and its space-born saber known as Star Fleet, but it was a Vulcan fist that held the saber. Romulus knew that any serious attack on Federation space would see the arrival of Federation star ships backed up by Vulcan technology, weaponry and strategy. Humans were good at riding Vulcan strength out to the edges of the universe to challenge any threat - real and perceived. They were useful in this regard as it left Vulcans free to pursue a life of situational non-violence and intellectual questioning. Space-faring races deferred to Vulcan and its human pit-bulls. Would that deference continue, Sarek wondered.

When they concluded the days of work and review, the decision revealed itself unambiguously; Sarek would pursue the acquisition of the two closest moons at the earliest time. And if the government of New Vulcan lacked many resources or bargaining chips, that mattered little; Sarek had trained a lifetime for this crisis. His skill would improve the survival probability for his entire race.