It took him a few minutes, but Christopher Pike eventually located the Admirals Lochlan. He caught them off to the far side of the densely populated ballroom conversing with Minister Kuvak and Ambassador Soval and weaved through the suffocating throng of people to join them after scoring himself a fresh cup of coffee.
"Am I disturbing you, gentlemen?"
"Not at all, Chris," Thomas Lochlan grinned heartily and brought his champagne glass to his lips for another sip. The elder admiral's voice was loud and carried; and his son, Brian occasionally had to remind him to keep it down, usually by jabbing him in the ribs with an elbow. Both father and son spoke with quite heavy Irish accents; fortunately, not so heavily accented that they couldn't be understood by those from other realms.
"Yes, please join us, Admiral Pike," Ambassador Soval nodded.
Soval and Kuvak were getting up there in years; both were over 200 years old. In fact, if Pike's memory served, Soval was likely nearing the maximum range of the Vulcan lifespan which was said to sometimes reach 250 years old. Part of the reason for the gathering had been that Ambassador Soval was retiring from his distinguished professional career and would be returning to Vulcan within a few days to live out the remainder of his long and full life.
Pike took a sip of his coffee, now satisfied that it had cooled down enough and glanced over at Minister Kuvak, whom he could recall having only met once or twice before.
"To what do we owe the pleasure, Minister Kuvak? I hadn't heard you'd be in attendance."
The wizened, completely white haired Vulcan smiled slightly. "Indeed, Admiral. I am visiting family. My granddaughter, Solara and great granddaughter, Sadara reside on Earth. I make it a point to visit them a few times a year. They are present at this gathering, if only one could ascertain where they've gone."
The younger Lochlan, Brian chuckled. "Sadara is probably off exploring the joint. We never could keep her cooped up anywhere for long. Been like that since she's was old enough to crawl. I brought her along because she's expressed an interest in joining Starfleet after she was done with her doctorate studies. I wanted to show her what her schedule would look like if she ever deigned to accept the admiralty."
The thinly veiled, but good natured sarcasm produced a good old fashioned belly laugh from Thomas. "Good thinking, son."
After many years of working with humans, Kuvak and Soval understood the joke, but as Vulcans they simply raised eyebrows in acknowledgement.
Pike smiled slightly, but his bright blue eyes seemed haunted. "I met her a few moments ago out on the terrace. She was going for a stroll through the courtyard."
"Given the profession that my great granddaughter has chosen it may be in her best interest to pursue those career goals off of New Vulcan; even though it would please me greatly to have her near," Kuvak volunteered with a slight sigh. It was obvious that his age was beginning to weigh heavily on him. "The powers that be on New Vulcan are trying to replicate the culture and society as identically as they can to the ways we had on Vulcan. It is still a meritocracy; and though Sadara is unquestionably suited to a career in the mental health fields, there simply isn't much demand for such skills among the Vulcan people."
Pike's brows knitted together in confusion. He knew that Vulcans were an intensely private people, but with the destruction of their homeworld, the graying admiral found it difficult to believe that even they would continue to avoid discussing it.
Noticing the Starfleet officer's surprise at that, Ambassador Soval nodded in agreement with Minister Kuvak. "Minister Kuvak is quite correct. It is true that the Vulcan people continue to cope with the loss of our homeworld privately. It is unfortunate that the nature of our society would make it difficult for her to practice her profession on New Vulcan, but it is what it is."
"Psychiatry would have been a profession more conducive to practice on New Vulcan; however I had little interest in attending medical school," Sadara Lochlan said as she joined the small group with her mother, Solara. A slight smile lifted the corners of her full, pink lips. "A psychiatrist would diagnose and treat actual medical conditions that lead to mental disorders; something that occurs occasionally among Vulcans as well, especially given the touch telepathic nature of the species. They're more needed among Vulcans than simple counselors who address more minor personal problems with clients; problems Vulcans in general prefer to solve on their own."
"Glad you could join us, my daughter," Brian smiled enthusiastically. It was obvious that Sadara was the apple of his eye. No doubt it helped that she was also the red headed admiral's only child.
"My ears were burning," Sadara smiled as she caught Pike's gaze lingering on her. He had a hopeful look in his warm blue eyes as if he wanted to continue where they left off earlier and she had every intention of fulfilling it.
Brian Lochlan, protective father that he was, noticed the gaze and raised a questioning eyebrow at the man he'd served with for many years. He also noticed that his daughter returned Pike's gaze with a similar one of her own. Admiral Lochlan wasn't sure how he felt about what he thought he was seeing. Pike shifted guiltily and averted his eyes, then chastised himself for being caught staring. And he still didn't know what to say to the man.
Your daughter is lovely. So sue me.
"Not very discreet, are they?" The bearded Admiral Thomas Lochlan whispered in his son's ear and lightly jabbed him in the ribs with a quiet chuckle. Thomas always managed to amaze his son with his ability to see what other people figured went right by him. He'd seem to have mastered the art of observation without letting others know what he'd seen. It had worked to his advantage many times as a starship captain earlier in his career.
"We had been wondering where you and your mother had run off to. I'm afraid it did lead to discussion about your schooling and career choices."
"I fear I have a few more years of schooling to go and then an internship so I'm not quite there yet." The young Vulcan/Human hybrid ducked her head as if embarrassed that she wasn't quite finished with school yet even though she was anything but behind. Still, she didn't feel like an overachiever by any means, especially in the presence of Ambassador Soval and Minister Kuvak.
"And when you're done, you might choose to work on your father's deplorable sense of humor," Solara joked. Her expression remained impassive, but her dark blue eyes shone with mirth.
Ambassador Soval shifted slightly and looked to Minister Kuvak. "If you will excuse us, gentlemen, the hour grows late and there are still some issues the minister and I must discuss."
Adjusting his long, formal robes, Soval inclined his head respectfully along with his blue eyed countryman and departed.
"Of course! Ambassador. Minister." Thomas Lochlan nodded jovially before turning to his son and his wife. "I think it's about time we started wrapping this circus up as well, wouldn't you say, son?"
He leaned over and whispered in his son's ear again, hoping his boy would get the hint. "Leave them be."
With a sigh, Brian followed his father into the crowd with Solara a few steps behind him. "Dad, that's my daughter. What about the age difference? Or better yet, what if he hurts her?! I don't want my daughter hurt or my friendship with Chris ruined over his mid life crisis, if that's what it is. You never had a daughter so you have no idea the worry involved in having one!"
Thomas, a tall and husky man, continued pushing his way through the crowd, but was listening to everything his older son was saying. It was true that Thomas never had a daughter, only sons, but he still felt that Brian was overly concerned and likely to be overly involved in whatever attraction was developing between Chris Pike and Sadara.
"You are correct, son. I do not know what it is like to have a daughter, but I do know that age is just a number and that the last man in the universe that would intentionally hurt Sadara would be Chris Pike. I have seen too much in my life to think that a little thing like a few decades should come between two people who wish to see how they'd be together. Some said that you and Solara wouldn't make it because you come from different species. You chose to go ahead with it and prove them wrong. Let your daughter make her own choices as well."
Brian had a feeling his father would say something like that. Thomas Lochlan never failed to have an overly optimistic view of any situation. The man was a romantic at heart and had difficulty being a cynic, especially in matters of love.
Thomas stopped. "Look son, you and I have both known Chris a long time. If I know him as well as I think I do, he's already chastised himself for what you're bringing up now. The man deserves to be happy so just let it be. Do I have to make that an order?"
The younger admiral realized his father was just kidding with that last part, but he got the drift.
"Alright, but if it goes sideways I'm blaming you."
"That's my boy."