Sarek's Compound

The last shipment of female prisoners came in the very day they were supposed to leave the prison system. Maya saw a friend of hers, Mariana Gonzalez, from her old neighborhood among them and asked Amanda if she could be the third choice saved by Sarek's house.

After Amanda spoke to TDH, Dana's acronym code-name for the Vulcan guard who saw to Amanda's needs (Tall, Dark and Handsome), Mariana was effectively saved to be another 'domestic' for the House of Sarek. The young woman was walking away from the director's desk, curious and confused about what her new status meant.

As she was walking away, almost aimless, she didn't recognize that someone was walking up to her, not until she was right in their path. "Oh, excuse-" And her mouth dropped open. "You…you're here!"

Maya grabbed her into a big hug that was eagerly returned. "I had to see you freed!"

"It was you?" she asked.

"No. Not really." She turned and pointed to Amanda. "It was her."

The five young ladies were called up to the door used by the director. Mr. TDH spoke solely to Amanda, though. "T'Sai Amanda, your escort has come to collect you, the Ward of your husband and your three domestics."

Amanda heaved a sigh of relief that he'd spoken to her in Vulcan Standard so she wouldn't have to hear Cassie's stuck up protest at being called a domestic. "Many thanks." She looked at the eager faces of the ladies clustered behind her. "We're going," she whispered.

All of their faces broke into grins, Mariana's eyes the biggest since she'd only just arrived that day. "Now?" she said in disbelief.

"Now," answered Amanda.

Amanda was walking with Maya and behind them walked Mariana, Dana and Cassie.

Dana leaned forward and whispered something to Maya whom turned back around and looked at her as they were exiting through the doorway. Maya whispered, "Don't you even think about it!"

"What?" asked Amanda.

"Dana really wants to smack TDH in the booty as a good-bye. She says he 'has officially brought sexy back' in her mind," whispered Maya.

"Well it's true," Dana admitted in a very low tone to the other ladies. "I mean, I was done with men. Done. Fight over, throw in the towel. I should have said Terran men. I mean, just look at him."

As they continued walking behind him the women looked the Vulcan up and down. He was indeed taller than average, even for a Vulcan, and in his uniform he had broad shoulders, lean muscle mass and a butt you could bounce a quarter off of. "Damn," whispered Mariana as she bit her lower.

Dana, fast friends with Mariana in only a matter of hours, elbowed her in the ribs. "He's MINE, chick," she whispered with a grin. "Look at the cadence of his walk, the wideness of those shoulders and have you seen his eyes? Goodness, I want him. And at least in my mind, I can keep him."

"Well you keep him," whispered Mariana with a mischievous grin. "That's a big guy. I don't think I could handle all of that even in my imagination."

"I sure could," Dana said with a pervy nod. "I'm a tall girl. I need more." And the two giggled with glee.

"This is the most patently ridiculous conversation I've ever heard," hissed Cassie.

"You guys do realize Vulcans have superior hearing and he has most likely heard everything that you've said, Dana," Amanda whispered with a big grin as they continued walking. Mariana couldn't help but laugh in response.

Then, TDH turned while still walking, looked Dana in the eye and raised one eyebrow at her. Something like a lightning strike went off in Dana's head and she didn't know what to make of what had just happened. He turned back around and continued walking. But for once she kept her mouth shut while everyone else talked to one another as they passed through the rest of the bland hallways of the prison.

They arrived at the entrance and through the glass and stone doors could see the outside world. It didn't look a thing like where they'd come from. "Culture shock," whispered Mariana.

"Total," agreed Maya.

"You must be scanned here before you are allowed to depart," said Tall, Dark and Handsome. He produced a handheld device to scan all of their wrist tags. He began with Amanda, then scanned Maya's tag. Mariana and Cassie were up next. As the four ladies clustered at the entrance/exit of the prison, they were distracted by looking out at the semi-red landscape and animatedly discussing it. The guard scanned Dana's tag as she stood quietly. "My name is Turan," he said to her as he finished up.

"My name is-"

"I am aware of your name, Dana," he said as he looked into her eyes.

She found herself smiling at him. "Bye," she said flirtatiously as she walked away. She turned back around and could have sworn she'd caught him checking her out. But of course he wasn't. Was he?

"I think," Amanda was telling them, "once you find jobs you'll be able to pretty much do whatever you want. I know there's a Terran section here on Vulcan and I don't see why you shouldn't be able to eventually move there if that's what you want and live your lives anyway you want. You just can't go back to Terra Prime."

The five ladies were standing there talking as two men exited a side door, obviously an office of some sort. One was a Terran male of Asian descent, the other was a Vulcan whom Amanda knew quite well from the embassy staff. "Zurel!" she said as she waved.

"T'Sai Amanda," he addressed her. "You are looking well today."

Amanda had to laugh at his small-talk skills. Zurel had spent entirely too much time on Terra Prime. "Ladies, this is Zurel, he worked at the embassy. But what are you doing here now?" she asked as she turned back to him.

"I was the ambassador's personal guard when he left Vulcan six years ago. Since he has resigned from his post on Terra Prime I have accompanied him home."

"You mean, he's here already?" Amanda's eyes widened. She hadn't expected to see him so soon. "He wasn't supposed to be here so soon!"

"Yes. He has decided to return to his residence first to see how far along his cousin has gotten in making things ready for everyone else. Sokam has had a month to do so but I suspect Sarek wishes to expedite the presentable nature of his home for his new bride. I am here because he has assigned me to protect you, T'Sai, when he is not physically with you." Zurel then turned to the other man. "And this is Shin, another guard. He is here to ensure your protection should you ever venture into the Terran section, ladies."

Dana waved him off. "We don't need anyone to-"

"Believe me when I say that all unattached females who leave their family compounds these days need some form of guard. Even though this is the Syrranite side it is best to be cautious until equilibrium has been reestablished planet-wide."

"What about us?" asked Cassie.

"Oh, um," Amanda felt very rude as she said, "This is Dana, Cassie and Mariana. Ladies, this is Zurel. I've known him for years."

"We must proceed to the shuttle now. It's just outside," he said as he nodded politely at each lady. "I will take the lead. Shin, you have the rear." Shin simply nodded as he fell behind the group of females.

They all flew in the ten-seater shuttle in a state of deep quiet. Each young lady had her mind on her own particular worries. But Amanda was excited. She hadn't seen Sarek for a month. She expected- her mind stopped short. She didn't know what to expect. That was the only thing she was nervous about. She wondered why she hadn't given this as much thought as she should have leading up to this day. Perhaps, she thought, it was because she had expected the man to take longer in his business on Terra Prime. She thought she would be settled into their home long before he physically arrived on the scene.

She never thought she would get married. Most of the men she knew growing up were so womanizing or dismissive toward their wives she'd decided she would never go there. All of the good men on her world were taken immediately or swallowed up by the machine of the Empire either by its Imperial fleet or by being run over and killed by it. The one man she'd ever truly wanted a future with, her father had taken care of him for good. After that, given the rule about non-Terran males even approaching Terran females, she never considered that that route was an option for her. 'Single' used to be her middle name. But now here it was. She was now married and honestly afraid of her new future. But she had had an almost unrequited love for the ambassador for years and she was glad that it was him she'd entered the state of marriage with, even if it was a spur-of-the-moment marriage of convenience.

Her heart jumped as the insecure thoughts began to trail through her mind. She tried to stop them, but they overtook her. What if… What if… What if it turned into a disaster and there was no way out? What if the ambassador did not allow himself to feel deeply for her? She knew he was capable of deep feeling, but he was also most certainly capable of keeping those feelings as far away from himself as possible. What if she woke up one day in a loveless sham of a marriage? What then? She was bonded mentally now. How do you fix that? Would she simply have to continue living with him and pretend, keep up a façade? She wondered where she would go if she ever decided she wanted to leave him, what she would do… These are such unhealthy thoughts to go into any marriage with, Amanda!

It would be okay, she kept telling herself. It would be okay. She couldn't help but remind herself, everything Sarek did he did fully with all of himself invested. That was one man that never gave half an effort. She would go to him, make a peaceful home, perhaps even raise a family and everything would be all right. Wouldn't it? She sighed, her nerves doubling. She honestly didn't know.

The scenery remained that of desert as they traveled. "The Ambassador has moved from the city to his family's desert home because of the amount of room and the substantial amount of privacy," Zurel informed them as he flew the shuttle. "We will be there very shortly."

"Have you seen it yet?" Mariana asked Shin.

He smiled and answered, "Yes, I have. It has lots of space." His accent placed him as being from the uppermost North American region that was once known as Canada. "I think you'll like the things the ambassador has taken care of for your comfort."

"Comfort?" asked Cassie, coming to life. "Like what?"

"He's made certain you have what you need until you find employment to get whatever extras you think you'll want."

"Employment?" exploded Cassie. "There's that word again."

"How else do you get credits?" Shin asked simply. Cassie folded her arms and stewed, but she didn't say another word.

They arrived at what looked like a large tract of land on the edge of the desert. The shuttle landed in a private port just next to a tall stone wall.

Everyone stood and began to exit. Amanda walked out first and looked up and around. Nothing but miles of desert in one direction and a paved road in another greeted her eyes. It looked like the middle of nowhere. She frowned. "How close is the city, Zurel?"

"It is ten minutes by foot. But in the shuttle we would arrive in less than two minutes. There is a small Terran section on the edge of the city."

"That's not too far away," she said as the other ladies talked amongst themselves.

Her Vulcan guard escorted her to the front entrance of the stone wall first and said, "T'Sai Amanda, place your hand here into this slot and put your eye to the readout display."

She looked closely at where he was pointing and at first didn't see a thing. As her vision adjusted to the shadow it was in, she was able to make out a tiny box and computer. "Oh!" she said as she put her hand into the box. Then she placed her right eye up to a tiny piece of glass that she knew was a retinal scanner. After she was done, she heard a set of clicks and a door opened within the stone wall. It was strange to see that small section swing open as Zurel entered first, Amanda second, and everyone else afterward.

As she entered, the place looked exactly as it had in her dream state with Sarek, except this time it was real. The ground leading up to the main house was black volcanic stonework with an inner red hue and surrounding it was light brown pavement, but as they got closer, the area just around the home was a sand garden with pretty rock arrangements of varying colors. "That's my work," Shin whispered to her proudly with a grin. "I brought the turquoise in there from Terra Prime."

"I like it," she admitted as the young man blended back into the crowd behind her.

She looked to the right and saw there was a walkway that led to the house behind and slightly to the right of the main house. She remembered that Sarek told her that was where Sokam was staying. She looked further in the distance and saw the guard's house and to the side of that was where the ladies would be staying. All of the houses had the same type of walkway leading up to them. Looking down at the volcanic stonework, it gave off a strange dull sheen in the sunlight.

The main house was a one story large residence the color of the desert. The best way she could describe the material it was made of was some kind of earthenware, probably the Vulcan equivalent of adobe. She reasoned to herself that it probably made the inside naturally cool. She sighed nervously as they came closer to it.

The front door began to open and she broke out into a cold sweat. Outside stepped Sarek and another Vulcan, probably his cousin Sokam who in fact did resemble him. She felt just a little bit faint. She didn't know what she was supposed to do next, but Sarek himself walked up to her rapidly and extended his two fingers. Grasp them with the same he advised in her mind.

But already, instinctively, she was raising her right hand to his and placing her two fingers within his. She felt a jolt of something heated that traveled from him to her. "Amanda," he said softly as he looked down into her eyes. "You are here."

"Finally," she said as she swallowed back her growing nerves.