"I am Captain Solok of the Starship T'kumbra," said the Vulcan who faced them. "Who are you, and what is your purpose in invading my vessel?"
Ash and Sai exchanged a glance.
"That's Clara Hart," said Sai, jerking a thumb in Ash's direction.
"She's Cultivar Muscovite," said Ash, as she grabbed Sai's hand.
Sai tugged, and Ash used the momentum to twirl closer, as their bodies dissolved into light.
"And I'm Celadon," said the tiny fusion, as she came into being. "My components and I are interdimensional fugitives on the run from various godlike authorities for being unbalanced perpetrators of genocide. I believe we may have overshot our target universe. I was trying to reach a universe I'd visited six months ago, but… this appears to be a different plane altogether."
"How so?"
"I was over in the Neutral Zone, so the only people I saw were Romulans, but… they were a different species than you appear to be. And I had thought that, in most universes, Romulans and Vulcans shared a common ancestor. That would imply that this is not my target destination."
"A not entirely illogical conclusion."
With that, Celadon split up, deliberately this time, and Ash and Sai looked to see what the Vulcan's next move would be.
"You appear to be a human," said Captain Solok, to Ash.
He turned to Sai. "And you, a Gem."
Sai nodded, warily. "That's right."
"Would your presence be related to the Romulans Diaspore, Mesolite, Dionysus, and Athena?"
Sai blinked. "… yes, actually."
"You were not entirely wrong in your assumptions," Captain Solok informed them. "However, you should be aware that there are two distinct sub-species of Vulcans. And of Romulans. We were informed of your arrival, and that you might react… emotionally, to one of those subspecies."
Ash's legs gave out underneath her.
"Ash?"
Ash held out a hand, in silent request for fusion.
Sai tugged her to her feet and Celadon was formed.
"I don't get it," thought Sai, within the fusion, where they wouldn't be overheard, as Celadon looked on in concern. "You told me Vulcans and Romulans were the same species with different culture. Isn't this just confirmation?"
"No," thought Ash, "Because the divide between Romulans and Vulcans is philosophical.'"
"So?"
"So, with the ancestors, that's easy enough to guess. At some point, the common ancestor's home was invaded by Xenomorphs. The difference between the Romulans and the Vulcans is that the Vulcans chose logic over emotion.
"What if, in this case, rather than go to war with their alien overlords as the Romulans apparently did… they learned to live with them?"
"What do you…?"
"'The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.' Old Vulcan proverb. After all, if the alternative is extinction, then it's logical to sacrifice a few, or even a percentage, of your species as hosts in an effort to save the rest. Nowadays, that wouldn't even involve dying."
"Logical," thought Sai. "Depending on how good their medical tech is, then willing hosts may very well be at a premium. We need to be careful."
"Agreed," thought Ash.
"Want to swap bodies, just in case?" Sai offered.
"What?" thought Ash, taken completely off-guard.
"That way, even if they try to use the human as an incubator, it'll be me. And if one of us has to do it… well, it's my turn, is all I'm saying."
Ash hesitated. "You're sure you don't mind?"
"Not in the least," Sai assured her.
"Sai… thank you," said Ash, her voice weak with relief.
With that, Celadon split up.
"Thank you for your concern," said Ash as Muscovite, faintly. "However, we're not quite that delicate. Celadon acts as a stabilizing influence for the both of us."
Sai, as Clara Hart nodded. "Would it be possible for us to speak with the four Romulans?"
Captain Solok regarded them with a long, level stare. "That can be arranged," he said, standing and walking towards the turbolift. "Follow me, if you would."
They exchanged a glance, and did so.
As they followed Solok through the corridors, they noticed that, in addition to the pointy-eared humanoid Vulcans with which Ash was familiar, there were roughly an equal amount of Xenomorphs, who, in this universe, were also apparently Vulcans.
Solok pressed a panel next to a door, which slid open, revealing a conference room. Inside which were Diaspore, Mesolite, Athena, and Dionysus.
Even though it had only been six months, Diaspore had grown, noticeably. The others hadn't, of if they had it was only a few inches. But, then again, they weren't Queens.
Solok paused. "Do you require a mediator?"
"No," said Ash, "but thank you."
Solok left.
They moved forwards past the doors, which closed behind them, leaving the two of them alone with the four kids.
Their four kids.
Sai moved over immediately to inspect them for injury, while Ash just stood there, blinking.
"Are you all right?" Clara Hart asked.
"Yes, Ash," said Diaspore. "We're fine."
"She's actually Sai at the moment," said Muscovite. "This… can't be the Romulan Empire."
"This is the Federation," Dionysus confirmed.
"You were captured?" asked Sai.
"We defected," Mesolite corrected.
Ash frowned. She leaned forward and poked Sai in the shoulder. "This is all your fault," she said.
Sai blinked. "I'm fairly certain that it's actually yours. Nine seasons of Steven is enough to turn anyone over to the light side."
"That's your world, so it's your fault."
"Your alignment, your fault."
"Your heritage, your fault."
"It… wasn't that," said Athena.
The two of them turned to look at her in expectation.
"Meeting you two, it was like waking up. We can't just go back to sleep, regardless of whether it would be easier or not."
"Does Solok…?"
"We told the Federation that we were swayed by the androids."
Ash sighed in relief. "Good," she said. "I don't regret what we did… but that doesn't mean that I ever want to do it again. And I don't know nearly enough about the Vulcans in this universe to trust them."
"They appear to abide by the laws of the Federation."
"That sounds promising," said Sai. "But by no means definitive."
Ash spoke up. "Of more immediate concern, perhaps, is the fact that Sai managed to commit genocide in the last six months, while we were away. We undid it via time-travel, but Celadon, Sai, and possibly even me, have still got prices on our heads."
"That wasn't genocide," Sai muttered, combing a hand through Clara's hair in an unconscious gesture of stress, "it was entrapment."
Ash shook Muscovite's head, unimpressed. "Oh, whatever, Sai. You guys do anything noteworthy in the last few months?" Ash went on, looking to the Romulans. "Besides defection, I mean."
"We repaired the android crew of the ship," said Mesolite. "Then we spent most of the time since then convincing them to come with us to the Federation."
"Shouldn't have taken as long as it did," said Diaspore. "The Romulan Empire doesn't even grant rights to artificial life forms."
"We've only been here for two and half weeks," said Dionysus. "It took some time for them to coordinate an extraction from the neutral zone. Especially considering how near we were to the Romulan border."
"By the way," said Athena, "how exactly did you two manage to switch bodies?"
"By the way," said Athena, "how exactly did you two manage to switch bodies?"
The video stopped playing as one of the T'Kumbra's officers paused the viewscreen.
"Clearly," said Captain Solok, "'Cultivar Muscovite' and 'Clara Hart' are not being honest with us."
"The two entities jump between the two bodies at will. One of them is Ash, the other is Sai," Security Chief T'rel observed. "The bodies are Clara Hart and Cultivar Muscovite."
"We cannot trust them," said First Officer Saavik. "What were they doing in the Neutral Zone to begin with?"
"Humans have a history of xenophobia and tyranny," observed Communications Officer Vorik.
"Humans of this universe," corrected Chief Engineer L'Vor.
"Our universe is the only one from which we may gather data," said Science Officer Sarissa, "It is far more likely that they are lying about dimensional travel."
"We'll simply have to keep observing," said Captain Solok.
AN: Solok, Saavik, and Vorick are from various canon instances of Star Trek, the rest of the names came from: well, the link keeps getting eaten, but a wordpress user named Kirshara under the tag 'vulcan names'