Disclaimer: I own nothing. I thank the creators and owners of these characters for allowing me to write fan fiction for my own and others enjoyment.

Merged

Chapter One

Admiral Archer was happy. Truly happy. The Federation, although going through growing pains, was definitely healthy. Oh, there were the minor skirmishes and petty political battles between old enemies but overall, the alliance was holding. New species were applying for membership almost every week.

One particular planet in the Beta quadrant, Tanansis V, was eager to pursue membership. The Tananites were a humanoid specie which had had warp capability for over 1000 years. They just didn't like to leave their planet unless absolutely necessary. While they were not active players in the galaxy, they did appreciate the advantages that joining the Federation would bring, including medical and technical knowledge. Jonathan had been sent as a diplomat to secure the deal. He felt that Gardner was also giving him a little holiday from his standard desk jockey job, allowing him to again be out among the stars that he loved.

They had left a little earlier than was absolutely necessary to allow for some exploration related activity. The Tananites had indicated that there was a star cluster within 300 parsecs of the planet with some interesting properties, not unlike the geysers of Yellowstone. The Vulcan's had asked to send a science team from the Vulcan Science Academy with the diplomatic mission to better record the phenomena of the cluster and to also accompany the diplomatic mission to the planet. Starfleet had agreed. Every 47 days, as counted by Earth Standard, the cluster would put out a common solar flare, reaching out into space and then 10 standard Earth hours later would calm down, almost as if it hadn't occurred at all.

During the flight out to the star cluster, Archer had taken it upon himself to meet with the Vulcan science team. If nothing else, having been around T'Pol for the number of years they had served together, along with carrying the katra of Surak had lead to an appreciation of Vulcans that he never would have believed he would have growing up. Then he had seen them as the enemy. Now he looked at them as, if not friends, at least acceptable colleagues.

It was early one morning about three days into their flight when he found the contingent in the messhall having their standard plommeck broth. He was used to this from the many mornings he spent with T'Pol at breakfast. Then he and Trip would often tuck into eggs and bacon while T'Pol ate her broth. Knowing that these Vulcans were not as likely to be as tolerant of such dining habits, Jonathan choose a cheese quesodilla with salsa, pomegranate juice, and coffee.

"Mind if I join you?"

The lead scientist, Sprong, answered for the group of three. Jonathan had met them earlier. The other members of his team were Sontek and T'Vlan, younger than Sprong but each still besting Archer himself by at least ten years. "Not at all Admiral. Please." As Jonathan sat down, the scientist continued. "We were just discussing the duties we would each take when we take the shuttle pod out to the…you called it a star geyser?"

"Yes. We have a place on Earth where through thermal heating, water trapped below the surface will rise cyclically in plumes. While the star phenomenon has a different cause, the effect is similar. Geyser seemed like a good word for it."

"Agreed. We can accept the terminology as a reasonable descriptive name for the effect."

Sontek spoke up. He was the youngest of the group and was, from what Archer could tell, a very handsome man by Vulcan standards. By human standards, he did not seem to be very strong but looks could be deceiving. Archer figured he was about T'Pol's age. "Who will be piloting the shuttle?"

Archer looked up, a spear of tortilla with melted cheese on his fork. "I will."

T"Vlan's eyebrow rose and Archer was reminded of T'Pol. "You are an Admiral."

Archer smiled. "Yes, I am. Your point?"

T'Vlan's voice was calm. "Admiral's usually do not pilot shuttle craft."

Archer finished chewing and swallowed, taking a sip of his coffee before answering. "This phenomena is not usual. And I have extensive experience in missions of exploration in addition to being an excellent pilot."

"T'Vlan considered his words. "Your reasoning is acceptable if not entirely logical."

Archer almost laughed. He would have if it had been T'Pol. She would have understood the illogical need of humans to laugh. These Vulcans would not.

The rest of the meal continued, the four going over their plans which would take place the following day. It wasn't quite the same as working with T'Pol but Jonathan did appreciate the thoroughness of the planning. They missed nothing. The data would provide fuel for researchers for many years to come.

Everything had gone well. The collection of data when the star geyser had erupted was handled with little difficulty. The only thing that was slightly off was when Archer had needed to pull the shuttle pod back suddenly. Neither he nor the Vulcans had thought that the apex of the geyser would come out as far as it did. When the previous data had been analyzed, they'd noted that the furthest measured plume had only streamed out about 50 parsecs. This time, the plume reached further and Jonathan had needed to pull back suddenly, almost having the shields destroyed when the power of the geyser touched them. However, no harm, no foul and the data collection had taken place as planned. It had been a spectacular show.

When the ship reached the Tananite system, the scientists had joined him and the Earth ambassador, Phillip Hurst on the shuttle craft. Just before they left the ship which had carried them to the planet, a call had come in regarding a freighter whose warp core had gone critical and had to be dumped. Without propulsion the freighter was dead in the water, and the Trafalgar had left at warp six to provide rescue assistance.

Due to atmospheric anomalies, entering the Tananite system required a more gentle grade to land on the planet. This also mean that the shuttle craft was in re-entry mode much longer than normal. A minute after fully entering the atmosphere of the planet, the electrical system of the shuttle completely failed. Jonathan tried everything he could to regain control of the shuttle, but ultimately, the best he'd been able to do to assure that the crash landing would not take place in a populated area. His final thoughts before the shuttle craft hit the ground of the alien planet was 'At least I'll die in space and not as some desk jockey.'

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

When Jonathan opened his eyes, something did not seem right. The perspective was off as if the placement of his face was somehow different. As he pulled his hand up to touch his face, he found himself looking at a hand not his own. What was weird was he was controlling it. It reacted to his thoughts, his commands. His mind screamed, 'What the hell is going on here?!'

Suddenly, there was another feeling. It was similar to what he'd felt with Surak, but totally different as well. With Surak, the feeling was of someone taking up a room in the house. This…this was more like a roommate. Mentally he heard a plea.

'Do you mind not shouting?' The thought was calm and logical but tinged with fear.

Archer tried to be calm, but it was a losing battle. He didn't understand what was happening but he sure as hell didn't feel right. He started to notice a strange taste, like sucking on an old United States penny. It somewhat nauseated him. A strange smell was also present. His hearing seemed more acute. He reached the hand he was controlling up to the side of his head, feeling the tip of an ear. Feeling it as if it was his own. It was pointed. It was the last thing he felt before falling into oblivion.

XoXoXoXoXoXo

Sontek had awoken to a most unpleasant reality. Somehow he had a human in his brain. What was more, he knew this human. It was the Admiral he'd spent the last few days with, studying the star cluster and who had been piloting the shuttle down to the planet. He didn't understand it, couldn't comprehend how this had happened, but logically, he had to accept that without further data to dispute it, it was true.

When the Admiral had mentally screamed, he found that the mental shields he had cultivated since childhood were barely enough to keep him from being overwhelmed. He had, during his coursework at the Vulcan Science Academy, taken courses on working with other planetary species including humans. But working with them and having one inside ones' head were totally different concepts.

Sontek pulled himself to a sitting position and found himself in some sort of medical facility which did not look familiar. A humanoid which stood about seven feet tall was in the room, wearing what might have been medical scrubs.

"Are you a doctor?"

The humanoid turned around. "Yes. I am Doctor Twaz'a'ka. I was your surgeon."

"What did you do? How are the others?"

"I'm afraid that only two of your group survived. I understand there was little left of the crashed shuttle. It is a miracle that you two survived."

Sontek tried to remember what had happened. He remembered the initial entry, although longer than usual had gone smoothly. It was after they entered the atmosphere that things had gone terribly wrong. The human pilot, Admiral Archer, was trying to regain control of the shuttle. Sprong had tried to fix the electrical system but the damage was too great and they did not have enough time. T'Vlan had sat, hands calmly in her lap, entering as best she could into a meditative state, knowing she would likely die and wanting her katra to remain at peace when the final connection to this existence ceased. Ambassador Hurst had prayed to some God, asking for mercy on the souls of the people in the shuttle.

The ground had come up quickly. Admiral Archer had somehow assured that the populated capital city they had been approaching was missed. Instead, they had hit a bog of spongy material. However, the bog contained sturdy trunks of something similar to Earth trees, and these tore the shuttle apart. Everything had gone black until he had awoken here.

"We did what we could. The body of the iron based life-form was damaged beyond repair except for his brain. Your body was intact, but your brain was damaged and you were not likely to survive. We decided to do a merging."

"A merging?"

"Yes. Although the body chemistry differences initially presented an obstacle, we were able to address it with the infusion of Tananite eel TNA. It was able to reconcile the differences in your respective DNA structures."

"So we are now one being?"

"Yes."

"Why did you do this? Could you not contact the Trafalgar?"

"No. They were too far away. Both of you would have died without our intervention. It is Tananite doctrine that we will not allow a life to cease to exist if there is a way to prevent it. This was the only way to meet that doctrine."

"But that is not our way. Vulcan or Human. Neither species would choose this path."

"That is not important. Life is important. You and he will live."

"Can this be reversed?"

"Not without both of you dying. We will not allow that to occur. You will continue. You will live."

Sontek sighed, suddenly aware that he had never done so before. Sighing was not…Vulcan. He realized at that moment the sad reality that they would face. Neither Vulcan nor Human. They now existed as an anomaly, as a freak. A thought suddenly entered Sontek's mind of a place on Earth. A museum. Ripley's Believe It Or Not in the hometown of the human who would now become closer to him than a brother, than a lover. Somehow they would have to learn to co-exist as the same being. It was not a pleasant prospect. He put himself into a meditative state until his human side regained consciousness.

XoXoXoXoXoXo

Archer awoke. This time a soothing feeling greeted him, full of logical calm. It was like nothing he'd felt before. It was within him, but yet alien.

'Admiral. I know this is strange to you, as it is to me. However, what is, is. We must learn to accept this situation. I'm sure it is not a pleasant prospect to you as it is not to me. But it is what we are.'

'What situation? What do you mean by 'what we are?''

'You now co-exist with me. Your life was saved but at the cost of your body. We share mine now.'

Somehow Jonathan understood the truthfulness of the statement. Nothing felt right. The way his body moved, smelled, felt. It was all different. He recognized that what he was feeling was as if he'd been inside Surak instead of the other way around.

"What happened?" His voice sounded different, but somehow familiar. Then he realized why. It was Sontek's voice. He suddenly felt afraid, felt a cold chill along his spine. And he realized that this was only partly true. It was their spine. His and another's. His and Sontek's.

"Oh, God!"

'Yes. Invoking the name of a deity is logical for you. But please stop shouting.'

'I'm not shouting.'

'Yes, you are. It is illogical to argue with ourself.'

'Ourself?'

'That is how we will need to be. We are now one. We are merged.'

'I don't want to be merged.' Archer wasn't going to take this without a fight.

'Nor do I. However, apparently the only way we can end it would be to commit suicide. It would be illogical to do so at this point. Perhaps in the future, but for now, we need to see if co-existence is possible for us to handle.'

The two beings, now one looked at each other mentally. The part that was Archer, in both of their consciousnesses, retained his body image. The part that was Sontek retained his. In their mind's eyes they were still separate, different beings. Cognitively, they understood that their physical reality had changed. Emotionally, and Archer could tell that Sontek was feeling emotions about the situation although he was handling them as any good Vulcan would, both could not accept what their new reality was. It would be a long climb to reach acceptance, even internally, and neither was sure they were up to the challenge.

They both realized, however, that time was both their enemy and their friend.