Twenty-Five:
Effects Affect
It wasn't until three days later that Spock finally explained to Jim what happened. Throughout the explanation the captain merely listened. His First Officer seemed to be in a constant good mood—as close to one as someone with fifty percent Vulcan blood would come to grips with—and he didn't want to deter that in any way. It was too awesome in all senses of the word.
But as the third week on Beylon rolled by, Jim noticed Spock was tightly winding himself. Fortunately the reason was clear; before Spock had beamed back down to work after their argument, he and Phiora decided to spend the rest of the time on the foreign planet apart to not only let their solidified relationship sink in, but to put to work the age-old adage, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder."
Luckily and unluckily Jim was present when Bones decided to recite that precise saying to Spock.
They were supervising the last bit of aurilium being retrieved from the deposit, so there were tens of Starfleet uniforms and Dashikis running around, laser-cutting the minerals free, scanning them with tricorders, and dumping them into the anti-gravity cart. The captain, First Officer, and CMO stood at the mouth of the semi-underground tunnel.
A Beylorian carrying an armful of small crystals stumbled past the trio. Spock audibly cracked his knuckles, which was in itself a strange occurrence.
"Gettin' a little restless there, Spock?" Bones asked, grinning, bouncing lightly on his heels.
"I have not spoken with Lieutenant Phiora in—"
"Quite a few days," Kirk interrupted before Spock could stab them with exact numbers. Those things could leave one hell of a mark.
Bones crossed his arms, a smug grin surfacing. "It's really buggin' ya, isn't it? I've never seen you this uptight before and Lord is that saying something."
Spock replaced his hands to their respectful place behind his back. "I do not understand your meaning."
He totally did. Bones and Kirk exchanged a glance, and Bones shrugged almost gleefully. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder."
Jim wanted so badly right then to point to Spock's face and shout, "That face is reserved for me!" because he was, in fact, well acquainted with the "Only You Would Say Something That Utterly Brainless, You Idiot," as he so lovingly—and secretly—referred to it. Though something told him that at the moment, the words were not Utterly Brainless, but Utterly Illogical. The thought made him laugh.
Spock and Bones both looked over at him, and he shrugged.
"Inside joke with myself," he answered glibly.
But then Spock turned to face forward again, impassiveness riddling his features, and Jim saw from the corner of his eye that Bones was looking at the science officer's ear. Subtly.
Then he realized he saw this peripherally because he was looking at the science officer's other ear. Also subtly.
The CMO and the captain slowly looked up and their eyes met behind Spock's head. After fifteen seconds of staring at each other in a rare display of facial communication, McCoy silently and slowly mouthed three familiar words.
Pointy-eared bastard.
And that did it. Jim didn't care about the looks he got as a result—he laughed. He laughed, and laughed, and laughed. Then Bones started chuckling. Soon, the doctor pushed past Spock and leaned on Jim's shoulder, laughing until he had to hold his stomach.
Spock watched them, a single eyebrow introducing itself to his hairline, and his eyes narrowed suspiciously.
He would never in his long life ever know what they were laughing about. And it was probably just as well.
The Earth calendar said the Enterprise had been in orbit over Beylon for a month when the last of the converted aurilium was sent up. There was no big celebration, but the ripple of friendliness between the Beylorians and starship crew was felt by all, even Spock.
The half-Vulcan couldn't leave without taking care of something first. He requested a moment before beaming back to the ship, and he purposefully made a beeline for the medical edifice. He got to it and raised his fist to the door, ready to knock.
The door was raised before he even moved his wrist.
Qlintik stood in the doorway, watching Spock with a patient expectancy. Silently asking how he could help him. The hexagonal irises were a calm shade of lavender.
Spock opened his mouth and considered the things he could say, but nothing immediately came to his mind. More to the point, he had a feeling the Beylorian healer knew why he was standing in front of him, his hands stiffly grasped behind his back. It wasn't arrogant...it was like the friendship between Qlintik's race and the Enterprise crew formed some sort of extrasensory link and the man just knew why Spock was there.
Qlintik gave a small nod, his irises changing to a pleasant hue of orange.
Spock closed his mouth and bowed his head. Then he extended a hand.
Qlintik took that hand and shook it firmly, feeling warmth spread from his hand all over his body. Their hands were still connected, the dark brown eyes still holding the unique gaze of the apricot ones.
'You have been very hospitable. Perhaps, in the future, we will meet again.'
It was an apology though the words Qlintik heard in his mind didn't blatantly say so. Somehow he knew how to respond, and he brought his own words to mind.
'Forgiven, friend. I look forward to it.'
Spock smiled.
Phiora was very anxious to see Spock again. She knew he would be the last to board, so she waited a few more rotten minutes before practically diving into the nearest turbolift and punching the hell out of the button for the transporter deck. Figuring it would make the ride go faster—she'd started in one of the bottom levels of the ship—she began to scrutinize her nails. Two floors later, though, the lift stopped and opened.
When she looked up to see who was boarding, she froze.
"Lieutenant," Uhura said politely, pressing a different button.
Phiora inwardly sighed. They were both headed to the uppermost levels of the ship. Awkward Silence, please stand by for dispatch coordinates.
She didn't feel any animosity whatsoever towards the communications officer...except maybe that little one that was jealous of the title she carried with her. Otherwise, she had no reason to dislike Uhura. Phiora knew Spock and Uhura were still good friends, and her philosophy stood firm that any friend of Spock's was a friend of hers. However, that didn't necessarily mean there wouldn't be awkward moments.
"Do Onofrians have surnames?"
The question startled the younger lieutenant and she blinked a few times before answering. "Well...yes and no." Don't give me a questioning look...damn. "Sometimes two people will have the same name, and the surname is only used to identify between them. We don't use it otherwise."
Phiora got the feeling at the base of her brain that these strange questions were going to lead somewhere doubly awkward as Uhura asked her next one. "Do you have one?"
"All of us do. Just in case."
Don't ask.... "What's yours?" Damn.
Phiora gazed at the ceiling and held it there when she realized that completing the eye-roll was definitely going to be noticed. "Nuccesvorgeronmasvacciocadverincyvilia."
Awkward Silence decided to take off a little earlier than scheduled. Uhura blinked once, twice, then closed her eyes, obviously trying to fit that monstrous name into her head. "If you only use your surname for one reason...."
"We like to overcompensate," Phiora said, allowing the genuine smile she felt to break through.
Uhura, to Phiora's relief, smiled as well. "I'm almost afraid to ask...."
"My mother's maiden name was Tuvincelloriarvingestegerneldevaccynevsyn."
"I'm starting to understand why you never use surnames." Uhura turned back towards the doors. "And I thought Spock's full name was bad."
And there it was.
"Lieutenant...."
"No, I'm...I'm sorry. That isn't like me." The dark-skinned woman folded her hands delicately in front of her. "I'm just pleased he found someone who can make him happy."
Both lieutenants glanced at each other sheepishly. As happy as a Vulcan would let his psyche own up to.
Uhura sighed. "You seem to care about him a great deal."
"I love him."
And that was when the turbolift came to the transporter deck and the doors opened graciously. With one last, genuine smile towards Uhura, Phiora walked away.
She heard, "I'm glad," called after her, and the Onofrian was mysteriously at peace as she made her way down the corridors.
"You didn't break the poor girl's ribs, did you?" Bones asked as Spock entered the conference room where the mission to Beylon had been discussed about a month earlier. "I've never seen a Vulcan hug anyone before so I don't know—"
Spock took his seat next to Jim and across from Scotty. "I assure you, the lieutenant's ribs are intact." The unspoken implication of that was not lost on Spock, who swiftly turned to the captain in order to change the subject, pronto. "You have called a conference to discuss the weapon, am I correct?"
"Yep," Jim answered, amusedly ignoring the slip-up as well. "We need to come up with a name for it. It gets a little confusing, calling it 'The Weapon' all the time."
"If I may," the First Officer calmly interjected, "I wish to suggest the Der'on Field. It was, as we found out on an earlier date, Admiral Der'on who conceived the designs and operation of the weapon, which is in essence a protective field."
The unspoken air in the room following Spock's words shifted quickly from 'What Did He Just Say?' to 'Oh, Right, That's True' to finally 'Holy Shit, That Makes Sense.'
"Well," Scotty declared, "tha' does it for me."
"Alright," Jim said lightly after Bones agreed. "That settles it. I'll contact the admiral and inform him of our decision. Pointless meeting adjourned, then."
Bones and Scotty went their separate ways as Spock and Jim headed up to the bridge. The two men didn't say anything on the way up, but then again their friendship pretty much reached the point of being comfortable with the other's silence.
The doors opened and the sight of the bridge hard at work spilled into the lift, boosting Jim's morale as he clapped his hands together and virtually skipped to his beloved chair. Spock manned the science station as per usual.
"Lieutenant Uhura, see what you can do to get Admiral Der'on's handsome mug on visual," Jim chirped jovially.
She smiled. "Yes, sir."
Jim Kirk had a weird way of injecting his happiness into others around him, as he just did, and usually the feeling had the intention to stay until for some reason someone attacked them. Since no one was attacking, the cheerfulness settled comfortably onto everyone's heads and shoulders and backs like a fine layer of snow.
Within five minutes the expansive screen housed the face of Admiral Der'on, who apparently sprouted a nice obsidian beard—adding to the lumberjack effect—and looked quite merry himself.
"Captain Kirk," his booming yet friendly voice broke through.
"Admiral," Kirk adopted his best authoritative voice and sat forward in his seat. "I wasn't aware the regulation allowed beards."
Der'on grinned. "Regulation says a starship captain may not grow a beard. I'm an admiral without a starship, and I can grow a beard whenever I damn well want to. Unless you want to retire early and give up your ship, you just mind your own beardless face."
Jim also grinned, immediately listing the admiral as his favorite Starfleet higher-up ever. "Alright, sir, fair enough. I actually got hold of you to tell you that if you have no objections we came up with a name for your weapon."
Surprise graced the admiral's masculine features. "Really? I hadn't thought of anything for it; what did you come up with, Captain?"
"The Der'on Field."
Spock straightened a little, the proud instinct getting the better of him. The admiral caught this.
"Did you come up with this, Commander?"
"I did, sir."
There was a small pause, then Der'on's face bust into a large smile. "I think that's a very appropriate name. Captain, I approve your christening of the Der'on Field."
"Here's hoping we won't need to use it, sir," Jim said, and though the words were a little more solemn, he kept his lighthearted manner.
The admiral whole-heartedly agreed, and after a few professional sign-offs, space once again stretched out in front of the Enterprise.