The next day in the officers mess Kirk, Spock and McCoy sat opposite Zheng Dhanji. The rest of the mess was empty.
She methodically placed her utensils beside her tray, waiting for the men to speak.
"So Maxie, you had quite an interesting life. I hope I never get you angry at me." Kirk said in a conversational tone as if commenting on the weather.
Max laughed and relaxed. She no longer was Zheng but Max again. The Head-Freak of freaks. And damn proud of it. She lounged on her chair. Smiling at the boys. For to her, they were boys.
McCoy spoke next. "So when do you think you'll be due again? And how exactly do I restrain you? Seems kinda impossible."
"My best guess is in about 3-4 months. And the brig would actually be best. Even I can't escape a force-field." She turned toward Spock. "Also I must warn you if the fever is less than a year away it can be prematurely triggered by the pheromones I emit."
He raised an eyebrow. "Indeed?"
"Yes I actually once encountered a Vulcan when his fires were burning. I must admit since then all other encounters have seemed boring and quite unsatisfactory in comparison."
"Fascinating."
She giggled. "You say that a lot you know?"
"Indeed?"
She laughed again. "Yeah that, too."
She could tell that the corners of Spocks mouth had lifted just a bit. And his eyes were crinkled just a fraction. But it was enough so she could tell he was doing the Vulcan equivalent of laughing with her.
"Damn it Maxie" Jim laughed. "Ye gotta laugh more often its infectious."
"Yeah" McCoy agreed. "I like you a lot better this way. Until now I thought you were a computer like that guy." He said pointing to Spock with his thumb.
"Dr. McCoy there is no need to apply the human custom of flattery on my person. Flattery is illogical." Spock stated.
Jim and Max could tell he was joking and riling up the doctor and laughed loudly.
"Why I … I didn't … I never…." McCoy was at a loss for words. So he just mumbled his standard." Green-Blooded Hob-Goblin."
Jim and Max laughed even harder when they saw Spock's mouth twitch in to a slight smirk.
Max continued eating and Jim continued asking her questions.
"So why did you masquerade as a Yamani?"Jim
"I lived there for quite a while as a scientist and know their customs, language and history. The Vulcans know me as a Yamani. Also I needed a new identity so Chris set me up as a Yamani."Max
"Chris?"Jim asked.
"Admiral Pike."Max clarified.
"You call him Chris? So did you two ever… " Jim wiggled his eyebrows.
"Nope." Max
"Really?" Jim wondered at this.
"It's not surprising. He mostly bats for the other team. Plus I was taken." She shrugged.
"huh? Really. Ok didn't know. Hm, now some stuff makes sense." He said.
She waited until he had taken another spoon full of eggs.
"Your Dad hit on me though" She added with a smirk.
Jim nearly choked he coughed and spit what he nearly choked on onto his napkin.
"You he what?" he rasped. "You're joking right?"
"No, it was on one of my rounds through the academy as an instructor." She smiled remembering. "He didn't know I was an instructor, I didn't know he was a cadet. We met at club and after I told him I was taken and he still wouldn't give in I kind of punched him. He let me alone then after I had injured him. But the next Monday he was sitting in the front row of my class. He looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him up." She laughed.
"Really, what happened next." Jim asked. Seemingly fascinated to hear something other than a hero story of his dad.
"Nothing. I treated him like any other student. But I can tell you he was quite the ladys and gents man until he met his match in your mom. She broke him in and tamed him right and proper. He was always very kind. I remember him helping a girl who was bullied a lot. He hated bullies." She stated.
While Jim digested this the doctor cut in: "Yes, yes as fun as this is, could you tell me more about you? Where were you when? What did you do? All we have is the last 130 years and even those details are sketchy. And the details prior to that are even scarcer."
"I will tell you what I can, and if I can't please accept it is classified, on a need to know basis or simply private." She said looking at them seriously.
Spock broke up the discussion. "Captain our shift begins in approximately 7.86 minutes we should prepare." He got up and turned towards Max "Would you be amendable to a game of chess after our shift has ended?"
She smiled bemused by his request. "Okay. But Chess is really not my game. I can play it of course."
Raised eyebrow. "Fascinating." He turned to Jim. "Captain!" Spock said crisply.
"Yeah, yeah I'm coming." He answered. Under his breath he mumbled. "Sometimes I wonder who is really in charge."
Max laughed.
"What is it?" Bones asked grinning widely. He liked Maxie.
"The captain just mumbled under his breath that he sometimes wonders who is really in charge."
Bones frowned. "You know during that whole Narada thing I said something to Spock like you don't leave your best horse in the stables if you wanna win the race. And guess what he said?"
"Something about what horses had to do with the situation?" she guessed.
"Nope. He said something like " A curious metaphor doctor, as a prize Stallion needs to be properly broken before they can enter a race and win." Or something. It sounded like he wanted to break Jim.!" He frowned.
"Maybe he does. Haven't you noticed the energy between those two? And Uhura broke up with Spock a couple weeks ago. Because she noticed too" She said lightly.
"What! Wait you're not saying… you don't mean…you can't possibly..." he stuttered. "But he's an emotionless computer. A green-blooded, cold-hearted Vulcan. He's a he."
She rolled her eyes "I call 'em as I see 'em Doc. And one he is also half-human, and two I heard about his rage when he nearly choked the Captain. You can't tell me that is unemotional. Also I have been with a Vulcan before. It is not that they don't have emotions it is that they have to control them. I can understand this very well. Emotions in Vulcans run deep, and the nature of a Vulcan is at its core actually very violent. What you saw on the bridge that day was actually probably all Vulcan. It is fortunate he still had enough control left so he didn't really mean to kill Jim."
"What! Spock nearly killed Jim." McCoy said outraged.
"But he didn't, and if Spock had really meant to kill the captain, the captain would have been dead within a fraction of a second. Vulcan's have this technique that is called Tal'Shaya. Tal'Shaya is a technique that applies pressure at specific points of the spine and instantly breaks someones neck. No muss no fuss. Clean, easy and virtually painless for the recipient, the person almost instantly dies. And three, are you homophobic?"
McCoy looked white at this and mumbled. "I'm not phobic. I just don't get it. And I knew there was a reason I didn't like the arrogant bastards."
"Ah come on Vulcan's are not that bad. They're fluffy kittens compared to the Elasians." she smiled sadly and continued. "I was with a Vulcan once. And the Meld-Thing they do is really cool. Also I was bonded to a Vulcan before." She paused taking a deep breath her eyes dreamy and far away" I could feel all his feelings and vice versa. There was no need for him to tell, or show me how much he loved me. I knew it because I was bathed in a feeling of love all the time. Even when we were parted we were'nt, even when we weren't touching we were touching. It worked across a very large distance. Even when we were planets apart." She said tapping at her head.
McCoy frowned. "Sounds creepy to me. And where is your Vulcan now? They can be up to 300 years old so where is he?" and he instantly wished he had not asked the question.
The eyes of Max looked tormented and filled with tears. One tear escaped her eyes. She spoke softly. "He was killed, by Nero. He was on Vulcan that day. I was on earth." She paused and breathed in. "I felt his death. I felt his presence suddenly being wrenched from me. I can still feel the hole where he is missing. "she touched her heart. "His last act was to tell me he loved me. It was very painful. Extremely painful. But I wouldn't trade the century I had with him for anything in the world."
"I am sorry for you loss." He paused, only now considering what she said. "A century? Acentury?" he asked his jaw dropping. "A century is a long time. Longer than most people live. That is quite the commitment." He said thoughtfully.
"Few comprehend such a commitment, and even fewer could commit them self so." She paused "I am glad that our children were stationed on another planet completely out of harm's way. They are all with the Vulcan science academy. They were more accepted than Spock in Vulcan society as they were genetically superior even to them, and I showed less emotion than them. See I was not considered a human. Just humanoid. When he and I each other, I lived as a Yamani Scientist and was at least in part their superior in intelligence. But most of all, I never showed emotions, and had a long levity outstretching theirs. It has been calculated I will live for approximately another 16000 years." She paused. "I hope I'll get killed before. I don't think I can stand to live for that long and loose my loved ones again and again. Even with genetic engineering it is not possible for my children to inherit more than a fraction of my regenerative capabilities. They'll only live to be 500 or so." She added sadly.
McCoy swallowed at this information. "Tell me about your kids. "
She smiled and her eyes lit up. "I have 3 boys and two girls. My firstborn twins are Storek Logan and T'Lynn Cindy Now 60 years old. Then my son Soren Joshua 50 and then another set of twins they are the youngest only just 30 years old. Soral Zach and T'Mira Jondy.
She looked the clock. "I better get going my shift is starting in about 2 Minutes." She smiled a last smile at him, took in a deep breath and Max was gone. Zheng was back.
"I trust the truth of my identity will remain confidential." Zheng stated in her detached emotionless manner.
"Yeah Pike read us the riot act in advance. We won't talk." McCoy said absentmindedly. It was strange for him to one moment speak to Max who he already adored like the sister he never had and the next the cold Zheng he felt he would never understand or like.
It made him wonder who was real.
It sometimes made Max wonder too.