The Empire's Destiny
By Asso
Chapter Thirty-eight
Odd Ties
Odd ties, yes.
Strange connections.
So strange that they deserved a few words.
A very short chapter.
It's true.
But it couldn't be but that way.
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"You are not an abomination, my Lord."
T'Pol's eyes were quiet and solemn.
"You are my noble champion."
"T'Pol! But do not you understand? I can not ask you to fight with me the infamous war that ..."
"My Lord!"
The proud look of T'Pol fulminated Tucker's words inside his throat.
He looked at her almost with fear.
Her voice softened, after that sort of imperious command that had silenced him.
"My Lord, I am your docile and obedient slave girl. I have no shame in asserting that. I am the new T'Pol you've forged and I will follow any command you will give me. This is the law of Romulus, as you've explained to me, the law by virtue of which you've saved me for the third time, after saving me from the cage of horror in which I had been locked up and... from my stupid blindness. From myself. And I will obey this law in the name of the superior law of Vulcan, the law of my Ashaya for you. My love for you, my Adun."
T'Pol's gaze seemed to flame.
"But there is a command to which, despite being your command, never will I obey, in the name of this same law."
The fiery gaze of T'Pol seemed to want to burn Tucker.
And he was awed for real.
Her voice resounded ironclad and powerful, and yet there was a sweetness, inside it, which dwarfed its intimidating might.
"If you will order me not to join you in your secret war, I will disobey."
Tucker gasped. Literally.
As could one be Tucker, in that juncture?
It was very much that he were able to stutter something.
"But… but… but T'Pol!"
"And I'll find the way to be by your side. Whether you want or not."
"T'Pol!"
"Whatever this war may be."
At this point Tucker reacted.
Vehemently. Violently, you could say.
Because, at the end of the day, he was Tucker, after all? The rabid Tucker? The rough Tucker? The fierce Tucker? The hot-tempered Tucker?
Oh certainly. And how could you deny this?
But, to want to be perfectly honest, quite different it was the real reason.
Its name was love.
His love for T'Pol.
"You will obey, instead! Because my war is..."
Delight's eyes widened suddenly in pure fear.
T'Pau stared at her shocked, momentarily uncomprehending, but, immediately, even within her something snapped.
In some way, she too perceived.
It was as if, somewhat, their master, Tucker, was there with them.
As if the two of them could hear his words, sense his thoughts.
His intentions.
Delight…
Delight was the cause.
T'Pau understood it.
Delight.
And that something - that unheard of feeling - which, it was so, was born in Delight, incredibly, for Tucker.
Just for him.
For the man who had terrified her dreams of young girl.
For the man that she, like T'Pau, had realized was quite different from the fierce and despicable Human of the grim legend that hovered around him.
For their master.
Who had saved the two of them.
And who had warmed Delight's heart.
It was like a link, like some sort of a vulcan bond, the legendary bond of the vulcan legendary past.
That also reverberated in T'Pau.
Perforce.
T'Pau was a Vulcan. Her senses went beyond the "human".
And Delight...
Delight was in love.
With that devil in the guise of an angel.
Or, perhaps, with that angel in the guise of a devil.
And love is powerful.
It is able to transcend everything.
And Delight had keen senses.
That went beyond the "human".
And the two of them...
The two of them... she and T'Pau…
The two of them, she and T'Pau, were now united by something extremely deep.
How could it not be so, after what the two of them had gone through in that hellish place from which Tucker had taken them away?
How could it not be so, for two souls that could only count on one another?
And on Tucker.
On their master.
Their saviour.
Their… hope.
Who... who at that moment...
T'Pau's hand ran to her mouth to stop the cry that was pressing for getting out of her.
The same, horrified, silent scream yelled by the terrified eyes of her companion.
Master! NO!
T'Pol's eyes widened suddenly in pure fear.
Tucker stared at her in surprise, uncomprehending, his words dead into his mouth
Disoriented, he watched T'Pol as her mouth trembled visibly like if striving to talk, her face pale all a sudden, as if something was frightening her.
And something frightened her. For real.
Something, terrifying, that had abruptly snapped within her.
Something…
It was as if, somewhat, someone were silently screaming to her.
In fear.
In horror.
The cry burst out inside her.
Master! NO!
Delight launched herself into the arms of T'Pau.
And T'Pau – yes, she too - rushed into the arms of Delight.
They could feel.
Both.
They felt.
Their master was about to do it.
He was about to reveal to T'Pol...
"You will tell me, my Master!"
Impetuous words.
Impetuously exclaimed.
All in one go.
By a mouth distorted in anxiety.
On a face pale with fear.
With two wide-eyed in dread.
"You... you will tell me what is your secret war. But..."
It was almost a strangled cry.
"... but afterwards!"
T'Pol's hands gripped convulsively the hands of Tucker.
Under his astonished eyes, her face was a mask of anxiety and terror.
"Afterwards!"
A shriek shouted in a low voice. A supplication.
"Later! First ..."
Panting without knowing why, without knowing what was happening to her, T'Pol tried desperately to lower her tone, to speak calmly.
And she succeeded.
Almost.
"First tell me how you... how you succeeded in your intent. Tell me..."
T'Pol's hands were shaking.
Tucker felt they tremble in their spasmodic grip.
"... tell me of the feat of Cain."
Tucker looked amazed at that wonderful face of her that was turned to him, pale and anxious.
He looked at those beautiful eyes of her that were staring at him, wide open in anxiety.
Tucker's gaze grew gradually calm and quiet.
Calmly and quietly he nodded.
He had learned a lot of things in his reckless life.
He had learned that there are times when you mustn't ask questions.
Times when you must understand without understanding.
He spoke.
Calmly and quietly.
His voice was like... like a paradise for T'Pol.
"All right, little doll."
Tears.
Tears, again.
Of relief.
Tears, in the wonderful eyes of T'Pol.
Tucker did not pose to himself other questions.
He drew to him his vulcan doll.
Pressed her to him.
He felt her relief, palpable, in her perceptible trembling in his arms.
Sitting, now, again, they both, on the boulder on the bank of the pond water now dark of the night.
She on his lap.
Her head on his shoulder.
His arms, protective, around her.
Her breath, mild, relieved, on his neck.
Tucker nodded again.
To her.
And to himself.
"There will be time to talk about my war."
Her sigh.
Slight and intense.
Of pure relief.
His laugh.
Wondrously sweet, to her ears.
Liberating.
As she clung to him.
As she snuggled up on his lap.
"So, vulcan baby doll... to speak of Cain..."
The embrace between T'Pau and Delight became very tight.
Their arms clasped firmly them to each other.
Then, slowly, the embrace loosened.
Their heads rose up.
Their eyes looked at each other.
Tears, of relief, into those of Delight.
A strange gleam, like some sort of an odd wetness, in those of T'Pau.
Safe.
Their master was safe.
They felt it.
T'Pol was safe.
The two of them were safe.
For the moment
For the moment, yes.
But they were.
There has been something in the trees, behind bushes.
In the shadow
A suppressed murmur.
Of huffy disappointment.
End of Chapter Thirty-eight
TBC
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Am I abusing your patience, my friends?
Maybe it's so.
Oh, please, excuse me.
I make amends.
I promise you that soon we too, like Tucker, will speak of Cain.