Episode 2: Stirrings

T'Pol sat crossed legged on the floor. The candle burned brightly in front of her, obscuring her view of her mother. They had been meditating for nearly an hour when T'Pol felt a surge of adrenaline through the bond she shared with Trip. She vaguely wondered what he could have found so stimulating since he was supposed to be packing for them and communicating with Starfleet Headquarters about their transfer. Her mother must have sensed her shift in focus because she slowly opened her eyes and stared at her appraisingly.

"Is Charles-kan well?" She asked quietly, aware of the fact that Elizabeth was sleeping in a Moses Basket only a meter away.

T'Pol looked at her mother, unsure of how to answer the question. She responded after a moments thought, equally quiet so as not to wake her daughter. "Yes mother, I simply sensed his excitement. I apologize if my reaction was distracting."

T'Les inclined her head. "It was not distracting, simply intriguing. Are you always able to sense his emotions?"

T'Pol pulled up every memory she had of every moment sense discovering the bond, and even before. She remembered the initial feelings that had seeped into her consciousness. Then the abrupt change with the final formation of the bond, the stray thoughts, the random bursts of emotion, the keen sense of his location at all times. They had not spent much time apart since they had formed the marriage bond, and this was the furthest distance they had ever been but even now she could sense that he was unharmed and excited about something. Very excited if she was feeling the intensity of it at this distance. "Yes mother, even before the marriage bond I was able to sense his emotions within close proximity. Now, I am often able to locate him simply by searching through the bond. His emotions are a part of my consciousness and mine are a part of his." She looked at her mother with a raised brow. "Did you and father share this bond?" It occurred to her after she asked the question how personal and inappropriate it was.

Her mother appeared unfazed by it. "No, T'Pol. Your father and I had a marriage bond that was much weaker than the one you share with your sa-telsu."

T'Pol wasn't sure why but the idea that her parents had not shared as strong a bond caused a flicker of sadness to cross her emotional barrier. She recovered in time to hear her mother's next thought. "Perhaps the reason your bond is so strong, for it rivals the Pre-Awakening stories of bonds, is because you are bonded with one who experiences emotion. Our people were once an emotional race, even Surak shared a strong bond with his mate, T'Raya. They were from the time Before. If Charles-kan also possesses empathic abilities, as we suspect, that may also contribute to the strength of your bond."

T'Pol nodded, a trait she had picked up from her time on the Enterprise. She suddenly found herself running her tongue on the inside of her cheek and made a mental note to meditate more later to purge herself of the traits of her mate.

Trip slipped off the bio-bed and stood in front of the medical screen. When Doctor Yuris said he found some interesting things in his brain scans Trip couldn't help the rush of excitement that ran through him. It steadily grew as he waited to exit the imaging chamber. He couldn't wait to hear what the doctor had found, Yuris assured him it was nothing to be worried about. As he stared at the screen, ignoring the fact that he couldn't understand any of it, he committed the every image and piece of information to memory, sending it through the bond to T'Pol. She would know what it meant and would answer any questions he had later. Doctor Yuris turned to Trip and caught his attention by holding out a PADD to him.

Trip took it with a raised eyebrow. Yuris answered his unspoken question. "This has all of the information we have gathered here today, I assumed you would want to share this information with your mate. Will you also be informing Starfleet?"

Trip though about it, clasping his hands behind his back unconsciously, his posture mimicking T'Pol's perfectly. Soval wondered idly if Trip even realized how many of T'Pol's mannerisms he had picked up, or vise versa. Trip finally spoke after a few moments consideration. "I will inform them as long as I am able to do so without raising any questions about the nature of my marriage with T'Pol, nor the origins of my supposed empathic abilities. If these abilities are simply a part of my natural neurological make-up then I will inform them, but if they are a bi-product of my bond with T'Pol then I will not. Some things, Vulcan mate bonds included, are necessary to keep private."

Soval and Yuris were both surprised by his response and Soval once again found himself reevaluating his initial impression of the young man before him. He was respectful, intelligent, cautious, honorable, loyal, and, this is where Soval used to start and stop on his assessments of the Commander, emotional. Charles Tucker was one of the most, if not the most, emotional Human Soval had ever become aquatinted with. Interestingly enough it was this emotionality that made him so well suited for T'Pol.

Trip waited patiently for Yuris to begin his analysis. "It would seem Commander that your neural pathways are in fact indigenous to your anatomy. It is likely that both of your parents also share this ability or, perhaps, you inherited a recessive trait from both parents. Your hair color and eye color are also recessive so it should stand to reason that so is your particular empathic ability. However, without further study of yourself, your family, and any others who exhibit these tendencies all of this is just speculative. I understand that your son, Lorian, is a strong empath as well. Would it be possible to perform the same scans on his brain? I would also like to examine your daughter Elizabeth if at all possible, of course your mate will need to be present for that examination." Yuris typed a code into the computer and brought up information. The image of a human brain and a Vulcan brain side by side accompanied what Trip could only assume was a read out of test results. He motioned to them as he spoke. "If you look closely at the scan of your brain and compare it to the scan of an empathic Vulcan of your equivalent development you will see the slight differences in the areas of the connections, the number of connections in each cluster, and of course the number of clusters. As it is, you seem to possess more clusters with fewer connections than a Vulcan would at your equivalent age.

"The number of connections and the regions in which the clusters are found seem to effect the strength and nature of the ability." He pressed a button and the center of the human brain became spotted with yellow, the Vulcan brain also lit up only not entirely in the center. Yuris continued his analysis. "Several of the areas are equally active, as you can see here. However, Commander Tucker's brain possesses more clusters so the area active is much larger than the Vulcan's. I have compiled a series of tests and exercises that you and your mate should do together to ascertain the strength and limits of your empathic abilities." Yuris closed down the computer console and stepped back. He looked at Trip a moment, hands clasped in front of him contemplatively, before he spoke again. "There is one more thing I noticed while conducting my tests." Trip tensed up. What could he have found. Trip suppressed the nervousness he was feeling, hoping not to broadcast it to T'Pol or Elizabeth. Yuris must have noticed his anxiety because he held up a hand. "There is no need to be concerned Commander. It is simply interesting, not at all harmful, in fact it is the opposite." This peaked Trip's interest. "I did a full body scan to develop a base line and compared it to your medical file in our database." Trip raised an eyebrow. How did they get a Starfleet file?

Soval answered his question. "You are now a citizen of Vulcan Charles, there is no impropriety or subterfuge in obtaining the medical file on one of our citizens." Trip nodded and looked back to Yuris, encouraging him to continue.

"When I compared your medical file and my base line scan I noticed that your cells are five years younger than they should be. Your birthdate on your official file and the birthdate my computer assigned you are five years, three months, fifteen days, and eleven point three hours apart. It would seem you are getting younger." Trip was alarmed at the concept of aging backwards. Puberty is hard enough the first time. What would this do to T'Pol? To Elizabeth? Would he just age backwards until he didn't exist anymore? This sounded like the plot out of an old science fiction film.

Trip reigned in his panic in time to hear Yuris's official prognosis. "However, your cells are slowing in their age of replication. You should reach a point of equilibrium and begin aging once again, though at a much slower rate than an average Human. At my current projections you should live near to the average lifespan of a Vulcan. I will be examining your medical files to try and discern a reason behind your slowed aging. You are, to put it succinctly, an extraordinary Human. Quiet the anomaly." Trip wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a compliment or an insult. Probably just an observation knowing Vulcans.

Trip let out a shaky breath. His life just kept getting weirder and he could do nothing but accept it. He didn't want a normal life, if he did he wouldn't have fallen in love with T'Pol. If he did he wouldn't have made a career of traveling the stars. If he did he wouldn't be oddly excited about telepathic abilities and living twice as long.

Trip straightened up and offered the ta'al. "Thank you doctor for all you have done today." He turned to Soval. "Osu I would like to return now, I still have packing to do and much to speak to T'Pol about."

Soval nodded and led him out of the Medical Bay and towards the transporter.

Soral followed Soval down the corridor silently. He knew Soval was not happy that he had bound Commander Tucker. He saw it as a logical action and only regretted that Commander Tucker's wrists were injured by his own weight pulling on his bounds. It could not be undone and it was illogical to dwell on what could have been. Commander Tucker was no worse for wear and the Syrranites had the help they needed to secure the Kir'shara and to rid Vulcan of the insidious Romulans. All in all a successful mission.

Soral mentally evaluated the remainder of his tasks while on board. He still needed to download all of the encrypted files they had received from their operative within Terra Prime. The agent tasked with following Captain Archer needed to be replaced in order to avoid suspicion. A new Vulcan liaison needed to be appointed to Enterprise to replace T'Pol. The Columbia would also be receiving a Vulcan officer and from what he heard an Andorian one. Enterprise might also receive an Andorian. The Vulcan's they chose to be placed on those ships would need to be completely free of V'Las's corruption. He needed to find the right Syrranite's to fill those positions.

Soral followed Soval and entered his office closely behind him. He took his seat in the chair opposite Soval and waited for the Ambassador to begin telling him what to do.