Chapter 14

After Jack had gone, I strode out of my ready room and headed for the turbolift without saying a word to anyone, even though I felt V'Lar's eyes as they tracked me. Before I came here, I stopped by sickbay to order Shron to destroy all of the evidence he had on the microbes. However, I made him keep the formula for the pathogen on hand just in case we ever needed it to protect my wife. Better to be safe than sorry, I reasoned.

So, here I sit, forced to cover the crimes of other men. I was an accessory to murder to protect the Federation. I benefitted from the act because it helped me forge a deep, abiding relationship with the woman I love. But worst of all, I feel cheated because it will be all for naught when she sacrifices her life along with the rest of my crew for a planet full of strangers seventy thousand light years from home.

I just don't know if I'm capable of living with that.

#

At that very moment he'd finished his log entry, the door into their quarters swished open and she stood there in the portal like a vision. She entered the suite and crossed the floor to kneel by his side. "Something is troubling you, adun," she whispered.

He considered lying to her, telling her everything was fine. He couldn't bring himself to do it, though. He nodded to her, the motion barely perceptible.

She studied his face for a few seconds then said, "I detect through our bond that you believe that what you need to say to me is difficult for me to hear..."

"Yes," he whispered. "There is much we need to discuss, V'Lar. I just met with Jack Gretsky in my ready room."

Her right eyebrow rose nearly to her hairline. "Gretsky was on board our ship?"

He nodded. As she was about to ask him how, he cut her off. "It doesn't matter how he got on board, my love. What's important is what he told me." When she said nothing and nodded for him to continue, he sighed. "Jack said that you and Captain Spock are related."

She blinked twice at him before she answered. "That is true. My father is Spock's father's brother."

He glared at her then. "Why didn't you tell me that, V'Lar?"

She gave him the uncomfortable-to-most-races stare that Vulcans were infamous throughout the quadrant for. Then she said, "It never seemed to come up during any of our past conversations, Jason."

His eyebrow rose in response to her answer. Then he shook his head and smiled. "I suppose I should have known to ask you, aisha. Your people are known for your reticence in regards to private matters."

She gave him the stare again before she grudgingly admitted, "That is true. What else did Gretsky tell you?"

"Well…he told me more about the conspiracy that had involved Tevik. He hadn't been the only one interested in sabotaging your cousin's and Chancellor Gorkon's efforts to pursue peace between the Klingons and the Federation. What I'm about to tell you cannot go beyond this room, love, all right?"

She nodded. "Yes, my husband," she said solemnly.

"Several conspirators wanted to start a war between the Klingons and us. Admiral Cartwright, General Chang, and the Romulan Ambassador were the ringleaders. Your cousin's protégé, Valeris, was one of their main operatives."

At that very moment, she suddenly lost all of her control and the flames of her anger were terrible to behold. "Damn that harlot to hell!" she snapped, her voice harder than he'd ever heard it before.

In his mind's eye, he saw flashes of a woman who looked superficially like his wife except for the fact she was dressed in armor and brandished a sword, screaming out a battle cry on a wind-swept desert, standing in the midst of absolute carnage, surrounded by the fallen and the slain.

"Valeris must pay the ultimate price for her betrayal of my cousin!" his wife growled.

"No!" he snapped, grabbing hold of both her shoulders.

She narrowed her eyes at him then, as if she prepared to physically challenge him. However, he met her heated gaze with his own. "V'Lar, you can't kill her!"

"Why not?"

"Because it'll hurt you more than it would her. If she's dead, her pain is over. Yours will last a lifetime, though. Trust me."

When his words finally registered in her mind, she gasped and her eyes flew open. "J-jason," she stammered.

He gently cupped her cheek in the palm of his hand. "Have you returned to me, aduna?"

She nodded sullenly. "Adun, I beg your forgiveness."

He shook his head. "There is nothing to forgive, beloved. I understand your…distress regarding Valeris. However, we don't have concrete evidence against her. Let's think about how we can approach the problem, though. I don't like having her anywhere near your cousin even though the conspiracy is over now due to the war against the Minbari."

"All right, Jason," she said.

"V'Lar," he asked, "who was the woman I saw in your mind?"

Her eyes searched his for several moments before she decided to tell him. "She was Vanar. She was an ancient warrior princess whose family ruled ShiKahr five thousand years ago. She is also my ancestor."

He stared at her then. "Okay. So why did I sense her presence in your mind?"

"When I passed the rites of my kahs-wan, my Vulcan maturity test, the tradition of the women in my family called for me to meld with the katra of Vanar. By doing so, the birth rite of our family is maintained unbroken from time immemorial."

"So…let me get this straight," he stated. "You're the descendent of an ancient Vulcan warrior princess?"

"Yes."

"And…I don't know, it's just a wild guess on my part...you didn't happen to retain some of her knowledge and experiences in martial arts and other…things when you melded with her katra, right?"

She appeared to be deep in thought for a moment before she said, "Perhaps...I did. It is a distinct possibility."

A sense of foreboding gripped him then. "Although you appear to be fine now, moments ago, you were…dare I say, angry."

A look of shame clouded over her face. "Yes."

"May I ask why?"

She nodded and sighed heavily before she began to speak. "My people have been known to lose our control on occasion. At times, certain illnesses can rip away our control. On rare occasions, threats against the life or well-being of our close relations can lead to a lapse of control. In the case of a life mate, though, loss of control is accepted by all in our society. For instance, if you were badly injured or in critical condition, nothing would stand against me for long as I attempted to reach your side; nothing, Jason…no distance, no obstacle, no person. If anything or anyone attempted to interfere, I would remove that obstacle mercilessly without any hesitation or reservation."

Well, he mused, I guess that means I should place all the swords under lock and key. Inwardly, he understood where she was coming from, considering how he reacted when he saw Tevik straddling her unresponsive body. However, as the captain and first officer of a starship, they were both expendable; their crew and their ship were not.

"Aisha," he said, "I feel the same way about you. However, I want you to promise me that if it comes down to saving the ship and our crew over me, you'll do it. Please promise me that, my love."

She gave him that uncomfortable Vulcan stare once again before she said, "I will promise to do so only on the condition that you shall promise to do the same as to me."

Although it made him almost want to throw up, he nodded reluctantly. "I promise, V'Lar."

"Then I promise to do so as well, Jason Tynen."

He sighed deeply and gently gripped her shoulder. "Thank you, my wife. Now I must beg your forgiveness, V'Lar. I'm afraid that my love for you kept me from letting you go with the Copernicus and because of me, I fear you will perish with most of the expeditionary force when we face the Minbari."

She cupped his cheek in the palm of her hand, leaned forward and softly pressed her forehead against his. "Possessing such fear is illogical, my husband. I would never leave you and you cannot 'let' me go. We are life mates, forever together, never parted." Then she gently kissed his lips and commanded, "Tell me exactly what troubles you."

"All right," he breathed. "Jack revealed that Starfleet expects the Minbari to attack Alliance Earth's system with overwhelming force. For some reason, the Minbari don't want to bring an end to the slaughter and are driven to eradicate the humans there. The brass believes that sending the expeditionary force to Alliance Earth to hold the line in space while we install high grade planetary shields and ground-based, as well as, orbital defenses will keep the Minbari from destroying Alliance Earth. However, casualties in space will be extremely high. They think that if both Starfleet and the Klingon Defense Force lose nearly all of the expeditionary force's ships in defense of Alliance Earth, it will strengthen the ties between us and the Klingons."

She listened attentively to all that he'd said and simply stared at him, cool, calm and collected.

"Don't you see, V'Lar? The Valkyrie, our crew…you, to Starfleet you're all nothing but sacrificial lambs being sent to the slaughter!"

When she maintained her silence and continued to lock her gaze onto his, something inside him just…snapped. "V'Lar, damn it, say something! Tell me what you're feeling!"

"Jason," she answered calmly, "tell me…what am I supposed to 'feel?'"

He stared at her, gasping when he realized what he'd done. "I-I'm so sorry, aisha," he stammered. "I know you don't experience emotions like I do. It was wrong of me to have such an expectation of you. It's just that, knowing you may die when we face the Minbari…I just…it just…" His voice trailed off; he couldn't find the words to express his worst fear.

"Ultimately, beloved, life is a game we are all destined to lose," she noted. "All we can do, now that we are bonded, is to face life's challenges together."

He caressed her cheek with his outstretched fingers. "I still think you would have been better off without me, aduna."

A smirk almost managed to form on her exquisite face. "Now, my husband, it is you whose emotions have gotten the best of them. Jason, before you gave me the gift of allowing me to share your life with you, I was like a cursed princess kept inside a castle high, waiting for a champion's kiss to bring me back to life. Now that I have found you, I cannot even conceive of living life without you. I simply do not believe another person exists who can satisfy my very katra in the manner that you do, Jason Tynen."

Her deep love for him was his undoing. He sobbed as he drew her into a fierce hug. "I love you so much, V'Lar!" he cried.

She shuddered in his arms. "I love thee more than life itself," she whispered, her confession sounding like a prayer.

Minutes later, after he regained his composure, she kissed him deeply, her tender salute a balm to his very soul. When their lips parted, she whispered, "We shall boldly proceed to Alliance Earth space. We shall prepare our ship and drill our crew to meet the challenges that come our way. And no matter our fate, we shall never be parted, my husband. Now…come," she said simply as she stood up, took him by the hand, drew him to his feet and led him to their bedroom.

#

Tynen wakened slowly to find that his arms and legs were intertwined with his wife's.

Last night, as they kissed, she melded their minds together, taking his emotions, the overpowering need for her, her tremendous desire for him, and intensified them. The passion, the awe, and the ardor they had for each other rocked them both in its sincerity. Their bond wove itself into a tapestry of their thoughts and emotions, culminating in a mating of their minds, bodies, and spirits. They were one in every way that mattered.

The life mates had lost themselves in each other several times that night. Now, Tynen sensed the serenity of her mind while she slept. It felt wonderful and he smiled.

That woke V'Lar up.

Her eyes fluttered open. Then she rested her chin on the back of her hand, gently placing it on his chest. Dear God, he breathed inwardly. His wife was gloriously naked and her voluptuous body was pressed tightly against him! He simply stared at her, completely buffaloed by the fact that this exotic and absolutely stunning creature was married to him.

Then, all of a sudden, like the rays of the sun peeking out from behind a cloud, a tiny smile formed on her pouty lips. In response, he grinned as the emotions that danced between them made up for any of the superficial differences regarding the expressions on their supremely satisfied faces.

#

I reflected upon the miracle that is V'Lar while we prepared to greet the day.

I sent her ahead to the bridge while I finished dressing. Then, just as I stepped out of our quarters, I inadvertently overheard two of my crewmen discussing our impending journey to Alliance Earth space. They apparently hadn't seen me because one of them had wondered if we were going on a one way trip to oblivion.

"I don't think so," said the other. "I mean, if we were, the captain would have left both his antique sound system and Commander V'Lar behind, now wouldn't he?"

As they continued down the corridor, I considered what that last crewman had said. Then I turned right around, reentered my quarters and activated my personal log.

That crewman was right. If I really had no hope that we'd make it, I'd never risk my stereo system. It's irreplaceable…one of a kind.

Just like my wife.

#

"Computer," he commanded. "Erase my entire personal log recorded today."

As the computer signaled the completion of its task, he turned and strode purposefully out of the room.

#

Moments later, Captain Tynen exited the turbolift onto his bridge. Almost immediately, Commander V'Lar relinquished the captain's chair to him and took her place by his side in her seat.

Currently, the bridge was manned by the Alpha shift. Tynen cleared his throat and said, "V'Lar…report."

"All systems are normal, captain," she said in her smooth monotone. "However, we did have a last minute transfer, sir. We sent one of our engineering warrant officers to the Challenger in exchange for Lt. Frost."

"Frost! Wasn't she the young officer who spoke to us after her ship had been attacked by the Minbari?"

"Yes, sir. I intend to assign her to operations."

Tynen almost felt sorry for the poor woman; however he knew that V'Lar would be a good teacher for young Frost and toughen her up a bit. "Very well, we'll welcome her on board once we proceed at warp speed. What is the current status of the task force?"

"Sir, the Mako, the Jezar, the Echo, and the T'Pol are ready to leave orbit and form up on the Valkyrie. The Corps of Engineers have reported that the Nightingale cannot proceed to the rendezvous due to problems with her warp core. Accordingly, the Elizabeth Dehner has been assigned in the Nightingale's place."

Although he knew how that little switch had been finessed, he decided to keep that bit of information to himself. "Well, the more the merrier, commander."

"Yes, sir," she purred. "The Klingon flotilla is standing by to form on us when you give the word, captain."

He smiled at his wife and turned slowly to regard each and every one of his bridge crew with a look of gratitude. "Well, let us start this journey so we can accomplish our mission and all come home safe and sound."

"Aye, aye, sir!" a grinning Lt. Vox shouted. "Course laid in, captain!"

"Ensign Rager!" the captain boomed.

"Aye, sir?"

"The word is given! Prepare to take us out of orbit."

"Aye, sir!" the Baton Rouge native barked as she pressed a button on her console.

"Engage, Mister Rager."

"Leaving orbit, captain."

"All task force vessels have left orbit, sir, and have formed on the Valkyrie," Mazan reported.

'Goodbye, Regulus,' he and his wife said through their shared bond while he said out loud, "Ahead warp factor six, Lanei," and watched the starfield streak toward him through the bridge's main viewscreen.

The End