On Tau Ceti Deep Space Station until another ship carrying ambassadors from the Celes Sector arrived in 4.94 hours, Sarek looked over the 22nd century Earth designs of the station. The air dock walls were unpainted duranium, the rest of the station and the central hall were flat white. He hesitated to use the staircases linking the decks, since the metal was a thin as structurally possible. Its design was very human to Sarek in its impracticality.
Sarek crossed through the central hall. He weaved through the crowds unaccompanied and thereby overlooked, his cloak also drawn over his distinctive ears. His aides would arrive to Earth ahead of him to prepare his offices; they would not offer their normal partition from crowds. But safety was not a concern at a location so close to the heart of the Federation and not least adding to his ease was his arrival on Vulcan and departure for Earth remaining largely known to Valor, Sarek's aides, and the federation president alone.
People pushing past wildly, talking to talk, and the general flurry within the station ran against the quiet even on the streets of Vulcan's biggest cities. He pulled down on his cloak to further muffle everything.
Sarek followed to where the sounds seemed to dim. It led him behind the mess hall toward the far end of the station, quietest by a small staircase that lowered down to a completely unused part section. Sarek focused his ears. Not even the gentle hum of technology tinkled up.
The silence space was the former kitchen, Sarek noted as he descended. Some emergency lights blinked under the cabinets; they also illuminated the base of the walls, all bright enough to find the exits. He didn't need much more light than that but the heat was low compared to the rest of the station, enough that he did not care to adjust his internal temperature to compensate. Remembering the small environmental control pad on a cargo ship from his first trip to Earth in his twenties, he surmised that looking for one similar would be the rational course considering the age of the station. He located it near a small window, the sensors working though Sarek pressed hard on the buttons to bring up the menu. Thermostat offline in this part of the station blinked on. Logical. He turned away.
Since the room was unnecessary after replicators, only the fridge and stoves remained to label its purpose. Sarek saw that the window by the controls overlooked the space docks for Tau Ceti Deep Space Station. Down from that and behind two rows of carts, another window shimmered with starlight. A window for the cooks, Sarek observed from its location, and also for a round table and bench as far away from the stoves as space allowed. He went to it and sat, refining his estimates for when his transportation would arrive by which ships had in lieu of any work to be done during his recall to Earth. The USS Tucker, announced to have arrived from Starbase 39; USS Branch, arriving from Risa; USS Ur, delayed due to anomaly in Typhon Expanse. The announcements were the only sounds to make it down to the kitchens with clarity. Noises from the people above had faded somewhat, and their movements seemed whispered. Sarek continued his estimations.
Clinking came from behind him, close enough that Sarek concluded it hadn't flittered down from the mess hall. Turning to the far cabinets, Sarek spotted someone leaned over, closely searching for something. They gave a resigned exhale and looked up.
It was a human woman with golden red hair pulled back by a scarf that circled the crown of her head, carrying a case. She could not find what she was searching for Sarek surmised was the reason for her sigh; he assumed she would return upstairs to wait with the others soon.
She remained, putting down her case and taking out a violin. With a brief inspection over it, running through a few notes as well, her playing turned into something more measured. Sarek did not know the song she began after a moment, but he did notice the preciseness of her playing. He was more struck by the content. It was an Earth song by the amount of emotion imbued in her playing. Yet the emotion was restrained. The sensation of each feeling rose and fell enough to note but without the wild discord typical of most Earth music. It was almost Vulcan.
Sarek drifted over with the final notes.
"Your performance was quite satisfactory." At his comment, the woman realized Sarek was there. It was too dim to pick up on the faint green flush of his skin but she did see his slanted brows as he stepped in front of her. That he was Vulcan seemed to disquiet her, Sarek presumed. She pursed her lips and stood a littler straighter.
"Why thank you, though I am just filling in for someone." She accompanied the reply with a slight smile. Strangely, it bore no emotion that Sarek could note. It was just an affectation, they way they curled and managed to isolate the movement to just a silver of muscles around them.
"Am I disturbing you?" She asked.
"No, I have not been disturbed. I am curious, however; what was that song? I have not heard it before." She gave it some thought, scrunching her shoulders as she reached for the answer.
"Tchaikovsky, 'None but the Lonely Heart'. I don't often play him I'm afraid."
"You speak as though you are committing some offense." He said, stepping back a bit when her face went blank and her back straighter. The woman appeared increasingly apprehensive of him with every word.
"I do not believe I am; it is simply how I speak. I am going to check on my ship's arrival time."
"If you are leaving on my account I will ask you to remain. I have already stated that you provide no disturbance." In reply she smiled; in it now Sarek noted a degree of emotion. Sarek's insistence that she stay seemed to finally relax her.
"You must forgive me; I—" she gestured at his face, "have met to Vulcans in the past. It is not often they seem really wishful to speak to me. "
"Many Vulcans live their entire lives never meeting a human. We appreciate solitude, silence." Folding his hands together, he paced towards the opposite wall in thought.
"If I'm not mistaken, you are Ambassador Sarek?" he looked up; Sarek nodded.
"I am."
"I am Perrin." She did not offer a hand as most humans would.
A station wide alert went off, turning on the red lights hidden in the ceilings. Sarek had intended to ask Perrin about her contacts with Vulcans, perhaps it would explain her playing, but his main concern was, always, following protocol. Perrin did not seem to be in any hurry; slowly putting away her violin, tightly pulling a cloth over top of it.
"Perrin; that was an emergency alert. We must leave immediately."
"Oui." She continued her slow pace. "They have been going off all week that I've been stranded here. I know it is nothing."
That did not convince Sarek. He went up the stairs, though slowly enough for Perrin to catch up, stopping when he heard her sigh. She began after him.
"From where we are, Ambassador, we should go to shuttle bay 47." She said. Quickly ascending, Perrin passed Sarek, after a respectful glance, who leaned against the rails to allow her to. His doing so came from not knowing the exact security protocols for Tau Ceti Station himself.
In the central hall there were several groups of people, mostly Starfleet, unmoved by the alarm. Three junior grade lieutenants played cards in the mess hall, waving at Perrin as she passed. They recognized Sarek with his cloak down. One offered a Vulcan salute to him. He did not return it; Perrin was fast and enough people were trying to get to the emergency shelters that he noted he could lose sight of her with a brief distraction.
"Hey, hey, HEY!" One of the card players had come after them. He nearly grabbed onto Sarek cloak but snatched back his hand when Sarek finally stopped. Perrin looked back to see whose attention the officer was trying to get, and stopped too.
"Sorry; this isn't," he coughed "this isn't a, uh, emergency thing guys; I mean sir—ma'am. It's Just the alert system malfunctioning again. If it's real we'll make an announcement."
"It is unwise of you to allow such an issue to persist." Perrin defended the lieutenant who she gave a pitying glance, though she kept a sizeable distance from Sarek as she rebutted him.
"Ambassador, please; this sector of space has not seen any sort of attack since the earliest days of the federation. I doubt there's really any need to be concerned, there are other ways of letting people know of an attack. " She looked up to him, her face sure. He conceded somewhat; her argument was not without logic. But a problem remained regardless. "I will look at your systems." He commanded to the officer. The man did not seem to know how to counter this. Sarek technically out ranked him, yet Sarek had no real authority aboard the station. He did not wait for action; Sarek left the central hall with Perrin now trailing him as their destination changed to one he knew well.
"You've been here before?" She questioned.
"Yes; 2.06 years ago." He did not elaborate. Sarek focused on his destination; the security station. He had also picked up on a third set of footfalls, trailing fast behind them. The lieutenant would have told someone to be on the look out for them, Sarek noted.
"Ensign—did you see an older Vulcan man come by here?" he heard them ask.
"Yep; he was headed back there sir." Their pace picked up. Hearing this, Sarek moved to the side of the hall and waited. The person turned out to be an admiral; Henry Daze, the head of Tau Ceti Station. He also looked annoyed with Sarek and refused to hide it.
"What's wrong with my station this time?" Admiral Daze held out his hands as though he were seeking enlightenment. Sarek extended a salute that was returned poorly, appearing closer to a peace sign.
"You speak as though there were no issues on my last visit." Sarek did not meet the man's gaze. I cannot, he thought and moved up his estimate for meditation. Admiral Daze's irritation faded as Sarek continued to avoid his eyes. His voice was sympathetic as he addressed him, "You are not wrong; I won't, however, have someone questioning me, on my ship, with my crew around." He slid his hands over his hair. "Is this about the alarms; they will be fixed by someone soon. He's even Vulcan."
"When will they arrive?" asked Sarek.
"Sometime in the next 3 days."
"How familiar are they will federation security systems; Vulcan programing demands a different level of sophistication altogether from how federation software is constructed."
"He's only ever worked with federation computers. I'm sure he won't know as much as you about our systems but he'll manage." Sarek reluctantly accepted this answer.
"Ambassador; let me escort you back—"
"That will not be necessary." Admiral Daze eyed Sarek for a bit then left, turning down towards the security station. His voice came over the speakers after a moment, announcing that the alert was purely a malfunction.
"33 mintues."
"I beg your pardon?" Perrin asked, confused. She looked down at a sticker on her violin case. It was a paper-thin clock, modeled after old earth analog watches.
"33 mintues from the alert's start to the Admiral's announcement."
"Ah." Perrin kept it at that.
"You may speak freely. You find my insistence on reason and protocol," Sarek paused to find the word, not accustomed to specifying emotional reactions. He had no need, mostly alone on Excaliba and being Vulcan.
"I find it appropriate, considering the person." She answered, gesturing towards him. With that gesture followed lithe recognition. Perrin seemed familiar in her manner to Sarek. Yet he had no real desire to inquire further as to why. It would be illogical; his ship was likely to be docking in the next hour based off his estimations in the kitchen. He surmised a re-review of the current iteration of the Federation's regulations concerning diplomatic missions would assist him greatly in his testimony before the council and his peers. And in centering his mind. Remain with Perrin; there was no logical or productive reason to.
She came to that conclusion as well.
"Ambassador; it has been an honor." Her eyes brightened enough for Sarek to guess her words were spoken truthfully. She pointed to a turbo lift. "I should return to my quarters and play. I had wanted to practice else where, but I couldn't bare to bother you."
"It is unlikely I will go back to the kitchens now."
"I'm afraid then I have no interest in returning there myself." She gave a small smile, tight and guarded. Sarek did note something as she'd walked over to the turbolifts: she carefully avoided touching anyone; her smiles to the crewmembers that waved to her, all human, were even more guarded. Strange, Sarek noted.
