Captain's Log, stardate 2159.
It has already taken three days to get to Vulcan, or the space where the planet once was. In this time, tensions on the bridge are high. Starfleet keeps hailing us and I know my communications officer is not comfortable ignoring frequencies. My first officer is suddenly bipolar and is able to explode with any kind of provocation, whether intended or not. The rest of the crew is quizzical over a change of plans, but I am unable to tell them because I made a promise.
In the last few days I have learned more about Vulcan culture than I ever have before. What I have learned is that those who believe that Vulcans are a secretive, pompous lot are entirely right. At least at any outsider's gaze. The fact is, there are many different cultures on every planet and they are often met with ridicule, contempt, and even horror. I started out this week believing that Spock was just being stubborn like always, but as I have seen the very real changes in the Vulcan's body, I cannot ignore how important this ritual is.
And that's really all I want to know, because really, knowing anything else is just too much information.
The Captain shut down his log and then was on his way to the bridge. On the way he met Uhura who he presumed was heading the same direction. Kirk, naturally, couldn't help but rib her. "Hello, Mrs. Spock." He said with a grin.
Uhura rolled her eyes. "Not for awhile and even then, you still can only call me Uhura."
"Ouch." Jim grabbed his chest from the imaginary wound that she'd given his heart. "Seriously, though, can I speak candidly with you?"
Uhura looked to him quizzically before nodding, "Of course you can, Captain."
"How do you really feel about this?" He asked. "Is this what you want?" He then lost his serious face and that smile was back, "and seriously, you and him, how the hell did that happen?"
Uhura rolled her eyes and insulted him just like they were still at the academy. The difference was that this time, Uhura did truly respect him as a Captain and accepted him as Spock's friend. "It is a long story and I don't believe that your attention span could handle it."
Kirk smirked and then said, "Yeah, he wouldn't tell me either."
Uhura did turn around and say, "But you asked, is this what I want?" She stopped a moment, thinking of the rights words to say. "You know, when I first met him, I didn't exactly get along with him either. He was a hardnosed instructor who didn't listen to excuses and wasn't exactly sugarcoating criticism with your work. He came off as cold, stiff, and uncaring, exactly the way we as humans always assumed Vulcans to be."
She smiled. "Then I got to know him and I found that he's the most loyal, honorable, truthful man I've ever met. There are no games with him, there's no silver tongue, or flashy words. He doesn't manipulate, steal, lie. He's so completely unphased by peer pressure. He's completely confident." She sighed and said, "I saw things in him that I wished I could be."
Uhura then grinned to Kirk and said, "And he's sexy too." She raised and lowered her brows. Kirk had to laugh and Uhura grinned. "So what do I see in him? Probably the same things you see in him. You made him your first officer even after he wiped the floor with you." Her joking then ended and her face lost its bright smile. "Jim, I am going to do everything I possibly can to save him. He doesn't need to say it, but I know without a doubt he'd do the same for me."
She then made a dramatic turn before heading first onto the bridge where Chekov greeted the Captain with the proclamation, "The area of the black hole is in sight, sir." That meant they were near Vulcan, or where it used to be.
It was merely two hours before they were approaching the area and they prepared for the ceremony on the observation deck. Kirk was pretty surprised that Spock didn't even want to call his father on this momentous occasion. "Really...you don't want to call your dad?"
"His presence is not required." Spock said simply. He now wore over his uniform a long robe, characteristic of rituals on Vulcan. It was black with gold intricate designs and made of fine velvet. Kirk had also dressed up for the occasion, wearing his class A's.
"You don't invite anyone at all?"
"The crewmembers already here will suffice. It is customary for the bride to have an entourage with her, but such is not a requirement."
"Wow, damn." Kirk commented. He received a quizzical look from his Vulcan friend. "It's just really different from Earth weddings."
"How so?" Spock asked, fascinated by the different cultures of Earth.
"Well, every culture has its own traditions, but I can tell you how it was done with my mom and my stepfather. The groom has a best man who takes care of everything for him and throws the bachelor party. He and a few other guys stand beside him at the ceremony."
Spock nodded, listening intently, uninterrupting. Kirk went on. "The bride will have a maid of honor that throws a bridal shower for her and they give her gifts like sexy underwear. There will be bridesmaids to stand by her too."
Spock inquired, "Their purpose is to stand there?"
"Well, yeah. For moral support I think." Kirk then added, "Oh, and the groom can't see the bride right before the wedding."
"Why not?"
"It's bad luck or something."
Spock thought a moment on all of this and then replied, "I fail to see how after being romantically involved for a period of time, enough to decide to marry, that all progress is disrupted because they are in each other's presence mere hours before they wed."
When Spock said it like that, it did sound stupid. "Humans are suspicious, Spock."
"I gathered."
Soon, the entire bridge was on the observation , the entire crew was there except for Chekov, who'd been the one to draw the short straw. Each one dressed up for the occasion according to their own culture, and no one wanted to miss this. It was a momentous occasion that, if the fact that the senior officers of the Enterprise were the ones involved were taken away, no one had seen a wedding between a human and a Vulcan since Spock's own parents united years ago.
The ceremony began with the groom summoning his bride with the single ring of what Kirk could only described as an ancient, very large gong. Uhura then appeared and then all eyes trained upon her. She looked absolutely beautiful in a sleeveless, white gown that looked more like a robe or a wrap covering her mocha colored body. Bangles hung on her arms and her hair was put up with long tendrils sweeping down her face. Her bridal party followed her, several crewmembers that Uhura had made friends with. Though Uhura's groom held no expression, his gaze held upon her long enough to let Kirk know that the Vulcan very much felt something.
Uhura stood up beside Spock and Kirk began, "We are gathered here today..."
That was not the traditional beginning of the ritual and Spock looked to Jim with a tilted head and an look of irritation. "I'm just trying to mix it up a little." Kirk answered in a low voice and then continued on. "It is the way of our people, it is Kali-farr. It is the Vulcan mind, it is the Vulcan soul. It is..."
"Keptin, we are receiving a distress call." Came Chekov's voice from the bridge.
Kirk sighed heavily, Uhura actually looked a bit angry, Spock simply lowered his head, restraining any emotion he had.
"Can it wait, Chekov?" Kirk responded back, not even bothering to not sound annoyed by the interruption.
"If it wasn't important, I wouldn't have said anything, Keptain. I am a bit rusty, but I think it is Wulcan, sir." Kirk looked directly at Spock, whose head suddenly lifted with a speed that was startling.
Without being asked, Spock relayed information. "There are several Vulcan monestaries on various planets throughout the sector."
Kirk nodded and then asked Chekov, "Can you decifer the distress call?" Uhura frowned. If she were on the bridge she would have gotten it that very instant. The room was now very tense, awaiting Chekov's reply.
"My Wulcan is a bit rusty, Keptin, but I think they are saying, 'We are being stolen'."
"Stolen? They are being kidnapped?" Kirk asked for clarification.
"What's the word, Chekov?" Uhura asked then and received Chekov's butchering of the Vulcan language back.
"Raided." Uhura replied. Spock nodded in agreement. "They are being raided."
"We must respond." Spock insisted.
Kirk was not the only one who gave him a surprised look. Uhura's head turned sharply to the groom that was right beside her who was going to die in about two days if this didn't happen and now he wanted to answer a distress call? Kirk seemed to share her confusion.
"You are sure?" Kirk asked.
"An entire culture was nearly destroyed by Nero. These monestaries off the planet have the only artifacts left of Vulcan. It is imperative that they remain there."
Kirk nodded. He didn't need more. It was the whole 'the needs of the many' speech again. Kirk got back to Chekov. "We are coming to the bridge. Do you have any idea who is raiding the Vulcan monestary?"
It was Sulu who answered, "I am going to go out on a limb and say them." Sulu pointed to the windows of the observation deck, and soon everyone followed his arm to see what Sulu was seeing. Besides the two Vulcan suns in the distance there was now a very close starship, one that was not Federation.
"Nothing can ever be easy, can it?" Kirk asked as he looked out the observation deck.
Spock held the same tone as Kirk as he replied, "Indeed."
