Chapter 6
Saavik felt Spock breathe.
She couldn't see him. In her sleep, she had flipped onto her stomach and Spock half-lay on her back, using her as both a pillow for his head and a mattress for his upper body. His weight was what eventually woke her.
But she heard his deep, even breaths and felt the warm air from them caress across her shoulder. They meant Spock was alive and that he was with her.
She lay completely still, not shifting even the smallest amount, in fear it'd wake him. It was only the second time he had slept since the Fires began, and the first time was only for fifteen minutes or so before his pon farr woke him. So far, she thought he had slept for twenty-five minutes this time, but for some reason she didn't understand, her time sense was muddled. It made no sense. Spock was in pon farr, not her.
She lay happily motionless -- yes, happily; she was free to feel happy at this time, in this place -- enjoying the heavy weight, the tickling stroke of his beard as his head ever so slightly moved as he breathed, and the warm exhalations that stroked her skin.
"They tell me you can hear me."
Startled, she snapped her senses outward. Kirk! How did he find them here?
"They say you're in that -- I don't know, healing trance. Not that it really can help that much. You're a mess."
Healing trance? Confusion made the darkness shift uneasily about her. That makes no sense.
Spock's weight eased on her back and she thought him awake. She grabbed for her weapons even as she reached for him.
But he wasn't there. He was fading away, the image of his long body stretched alongside hers in sleep becoming ethereal, and then slowly disappearing like a mirage. She anxiously tried to wrap her arms around him, keep him with her, but he was gone.
And not only him: their bed on its platform, the computers and Spock's few personal belongings, the walls of their sheltering dwelling here on Thieurrull; it all dimmed to a black void.
"Quite frankly, the betting pool has you dying in at most a day."
She whirled, casting about in the dark for the arrogant smile that plagued her so often. She could feel his mockery and his triumph. She clenched her teeth. Liar! she screamed into the void. I am well! Spock is well! I--
It suddenly came back: Warbase 5 -- Cartwright, Richichi, and Valeris. Kirk's guards, faded visions through a green bloody haze of Sulu and Uhura with them, and the blows storming down.
Shock made her grow cold.
I'm dying.
"The only reason you're alive is I ordered everyone to stop killing you. I even let that Vulcan bitch, T'Ratka, contact the rest of Spock's people. You'd be dead otherwise. So in case you think I owe you, the debt's repaid."
Only in your mind. You cannot hear me can you?
"And I was nice enough to get Cartwright's and Valeris' insignia pins for you. You can add them to your collection if you live to do it. You don't get Richichi's because I was the one who actually killed him. Only fair, he was going to kill me. You did get that first shot on him though, and I got to tell you, I still laugh whenever I think about it."
Saavik felt a terrible rage beginning to fill her. What do you want from me?
"I came to thank you. The Empress was quite upset at first, one of her favorites dead and you bleeding all over the new carpet, but I stepped up and let her know a conspiracy was thwarted. Her now late, great Cartwright planned a coupe and she'd have lost more than one of her Chosen ones if he had succeeded. And since I was the one to bring her the news, guess who's getting the credit?"
She felt bile rise up in her mouth. He was laughing at her.
"So not only am I moving up because Cartwright's dead, but the Empress loves me more than ever. And I have you to thank for it."
You twisted bastard!
"I'm going now, let you finish dying. Try not to take too long doing it. I bet in the pool that you'd only last another couple hours."
I should take you with me!
She slashed out, stabbing out for some sense, some link with the physical again, and slammed into a tidal wave of pain. Instinctively, she recoiled in agony and retreated, hovering in shock just outside of it.
I am dying. Alone.
Being trapped heightened her despondency. The void resonated the silence surrounding her, snaring her somewhere between mind and body.
"Saavik..." The deep voice cut in, a light in her darkness.
SPOCK! She snatched at the sudden surge of hope desperately, probing the darkness for the familiar lean form.
"...Why?"
He sounded exhausted, broken, drained. She flinched at his voice, feeling his Vulcan discipline and what was held behind it. She twisted about, trying in vain to find him as she might search for him in the dark.
Spock, tell me you can hear me.
And then she could feel his presence, feel the mental connection, so much different than Kirk talking into her dying ear. It was not the closeness of full meld. It seemed her katra was in flux -- not connected to her body, not connected to her mind. Spock was at a distance. She felt him more fully in her memory a short time ago.
She wanted to wrap herself in Spock's closeness, have him ease her isolation, and she wanted to hear him say he could hear her.
"I can. Answer me. Tell me why you thought this was necessary." His words gained more strength and turned cold.
No, not cold. Betrayed. And it burned her.
Spock... We knew I had to do this. At least... I can say goodbye.
He ignored those last words. "I told you I would have a solution. Why did you doubt me?"
She drew back from the accusation. I did not. If you believe anything, be assured I never lost faith in you--- but my death sentence was on your head.
"You speak of faith. Yet you exhibited none. I only needed a few hours more."
Saavik felt a sickening bitterness well up. I did not know. I thought--
"Saavik, the Romulan bioweapon induces pon farr in Vulcans."
The news took her off guard, but she did not see how it could help them.
"I discovered this information shortly before your... suicide mission. I can use it as an argument to overthrow your execution. If it does not work, my alternative plan will. I would have told you." His breath caught. "You did not give me the chance."
She wondered if he could sense her ache. I did not do this to hurt you.
"Your logic was faulty if you believed your death would not hurt me."
It hung like a wraith between them, tormenting her with both pain and a terrible pleasure. Spock... I will not live much longer. This is my only time to say -- what must be said.
Even in this odd, trapped state, she felt his instant rejection of losing her. "Do not yield, Saavik! I will make certain you are given medical care. This battle is not over."
Spock--
An unknown voice filtered in. She was not sure if she heard it through her ears or Spock's. Whichever way, she barely made out the words.
"... Perforated lung... broken -- compounded by... severe loss of blood... the fetus--"
The voice cut out like a comm channel snapped off. Spock's replaced it hurriedly.
"Saavik, remember, do not yield. Decide nothing until I can contact you again."
But she was barely listening, her whole being was seized over that last word: fetus. Spock, did he say--!
"Have faith."
Spock, wait! That echo I heard whenever I meditated in the past two days---
Spock?
...Spock?
The void seemed to swallow her up, roaring white noise through her like pain. But she did not notice. Phantom hands reached instinctively towards where physically her belly would be and she could not suppress the tremor that ran through her.
Am I pregnant after all?
Spock hastily removed his hand from Saavik's temples. He hoped he had done so in time before she had heard what the medtech just announced so casually. He was lucky the tech had been absorbed in the padd in his hands and hadn't noticed him touching her at all. As much as it wasn't true, he couldn't be seen as anything but Saavik's commanding officer.
"Repeat that last item," he ordered.
The tech did so, bored. "Due to the extensive injuries, Lieutenant Saavik miscarried the fetus. Apparently she was pregnant. We don't have the father's name in our records, but somebody should tell him he doesn't have to worry anymore about her or the bastard she carried."
Spock dealt with the bombshell silently, giving no outward sign of what those words cost him while the man droned on with the exact details causing the miscarriage.
Pregnant, she was pregnant. The fact they had created a child together couldn't really be absorbed before that one word – was pregnant – twisted the exultant news into bitter mourning.
She had been pregnant and they hadn't known it. That news would have kept both her and the child alive, but their ignorance of it caused her to sacrifice herself for him and in the process, their child died.
He didn't look down at Saavik's unconscious body, especially not the bloodied legs with her uniform crusted to her body, not now when he knew more about that blood. Nor did he look at her abdomen where heavy boots had kicked her, shattering so many delicate things within.
Mere hours ago, they had received Saavik's test results saying her health was normal. McCoy made no note of her pregnancy, and there was no way he could have missed it.
That caused the jagged edge in Spock's voice even as he played at ignorance. "The tests run on the lieutenant yesterday. Did they discover the pregnancy?"
The tech scrolled through screens of data. "Yes, sir. I have the report right here."
Spock accepted the offered padd and quickly scanned the report. It looked exactly like the one sent to him with one very prominent difference. This one showed Saavik with child.
McCoy had deleted that before sending the test results to Spock. But why?
If McCoy knew about the pregnancy, then Kirk must know too. And that was why the doctor held back the information. He had chosen a side in the war. It was going to cost him. Permanently.
The effort to keep his disciplines and controls was wrenching, but he was Vulcan and in command of this ship. And he had many battles ahead of him. "The prognosis for Lieutenant Saavik's recovery?"
The medtech frowned, confused. "No prognosis. She won't recover. We've been ordered to disconnect her life support and give no treatments at all."
Spock glowered causing the medtech, he noticed with pleasure, to squirm in his uniform. "Who gave those orders?"
The tech looked like he wanted to swallow his tongue. "Sarek of Vulcan, sir."
So, the first battle. "You will keep the life support active and maintain Saavik's stability. Mr. Soluk!" The Vulcan snapped to attention as if he wasn't already ramrod straight. "You will want to stand guard here. Allow no one to shut down the life support systems. If someone attempts to do so, kill them. I will be sending a doctor here you can trust."
Soluk was stopped from answering by T'Ratka's asking, "Sir? Permission to take this guard duty."
She was feeling dishonor for leaving Saavik's side earlier. Spock nodded, but said, "In addition to Mr. Soluk, not in replacement. He may need the backup."
Spock noticed the medtech darting covert glances from Soluk to Saavik and back down to the pregnancy report. He recalled his words 'You will want to stand guard here' and realized the tech was misled on the unknown father's identity.
He spared a second to stare down at Saavik's bruised features. Lacerations crisscrossed her face, her eyelids so swollen, they were green and blackened globes attached under her eyebrows. The broken, bloodied nose and split mouth, the smashed bones underneath the cheeks: she was unrecognizable.
And yet, he longed to lay down his head and burden on the small space of bed next to her, take her ruined hand and hold it gently. Tell her of their lost child so they may lose themselves in finding peace together. But he could not afford that luxury.
He gathered his strength and the chips he held against his enemies to him. "Mr. Stron, with me."
Originally, while with Archernar, his plan was to seek out Sumic to arrange the prisoner exchange, but a fleeting look at the indicators above Saavik's head told him he had little time to reach medical attention for her. He sought out his father.
Sarek must be on board if he gave those orders to the medical staff; at least, Spock thought so. He queried the computer and found his father had been trying to reach him for some time. Sarek was last reported in a small observation room on the officer's deck and it was there that Spock found him.
At the sound of the door, the elder Vulcan turned quietly from the viewport, his hands folded in front of him. He nodded as if his son's arrival was expected which Spock knew it was.
He spoke immediately, knowing what he was about to say – if not his appearance here – was a surprise. "Father, you have a Vulcan healer amongst your staff."
Eyebrows raised at the unanticipated statement, Sarek paused before answering. "Yes. As you know, it easier to trust my life and health to a healer's hands if I know him. Sagar has always served me well."
Spock inclined his head once. "Good. We are fortunate such an expert is still with you. He is much needed in Sickbay and should report there immediately. I will tell him so." He deliberately turned to leave as if the matter was at an end.
"Spock!"
He stopped and raised one eyebrow in question.
"Why do you require Sagar's services?"
He spoke as if the answer was obvious. "For Saavik, of course." And then before Sarek could answer, "Surely our House still pays its debts to one who has saved the lives of the Head of House and his heir. Have we changed our code of honor, Father? I was not informed if we have."
Sarek sighed, then talked very much like a parent gently handling a stubborn child. "Spock, the execution order was given. I know you were informed of that. This is not the manner I'd prefer to see it carried out, but the order is there."
None of this shook Spock. He had arranged for this exact argument with his own words. "Father, I am prepared to ask for a stay of execution on the grounds the law does not apply to Saavik."
"You cannot possibly prove it."
"You are incorrect, sir. I very much can. I would have done so by now if this situation had not interrupted me. It is ironic that I owe Admiral Kirk the debt of stopping the assault on Saavik so I may move forward with this tribunal. I will now have Sagar make sure she lives to see it, if you will be so kind as to request T'Pau join us for the hearing."
Sarek was growing impatient. His tone lost its gentleness and grew firm with his willful child. "First, Kirk has apologized for his interference."
I am sure he has.
"He explained he only halted Saavik's execution because he thought she was under orders to take action against Cartwright. I have made clear Vulcan's jurisdiction in this matter."
Kirk always lied well.
The observation deck was kept shadowy so no brightness may impede the view. Spock moved forward into a shaft of dim light so Sarek may see his eyes. "Father, Kirk's guards killed your grandchild."
Sarek wasn't fast enough to stop the small, strangled noise from escaping. It came from deep in his chest as if his heart was located where a human's was and spoke out with its own voice.
"My heir, Father, my child whose existence allowed me the time to make my argument. Saavik saved your life and mine, and that action has destroyed the unborn infant. Despite his or her death, I will make my argument at the tribunal to overthrow the execution order. You will repay your debt to Saavik and respect the death of your grandchild by giving Sagar's aid and by getting T'Pau to hear me."
He knew how the words hit his father and didn't care. He never intended to directly challenge Sarek, not in all his plans to overthrow the Empire, but now that the battle was brought to him, he would not shrink from it. He must have Sagar.
He did not know how to interpret what was hidden behind Sarek's expression. He waited brittle but determined for a response.
"My son," Sarek finally spoke. "I grieve with thee."
Spock suddenly couldn't take in air. His father's unforeseen sympathy arrested him.
"Go to Sagar. I will contact T'Pau. We will arrange a direct commlink when you are ready to make your argument."
Spock didn't know what to say. "I-"
He spun on his heel and marched from the room. He could not show anything that might weaken his position or stance yet, and Sarek had just done something that made Spock see his father as his father again. If even just a small bit. Once more, everything changed again for the both of them and he did not know where it would take them.
Fortunately, the next confrontation was with Sumic and much easier to handle. As soon as Sagar was safely deposited in Sickbay, clucking the back of his tongue against the roof of his mouth at the sight of what he was expected to accomplish, Spock sought out Thieurrull's former commandant.
The man's mouth parted as Spock told him what he was to do. For a Vulcan, it expressed extreme astonishment. He rapidly regained his calm. "Would you repeat your last statement, Captain?"
Spock just as calmly expounded on his announcement, ignoring both the commandant's and Stron's reactions. Stron, at least, reacted only with surprise instead of disdain. "You are to arrange a prisoner exchange with the Romulan Empire for all their people we currently hold in the brig."
Sumic nodded as if given testimony to a long held theory. "Son of Sarek, you have lost all hold on reality."
Spock raised an eyebrow, still unruffled. "Son of Systek, you have once more forgotten your place. I am captain of this ship and in command of everything it does. At the moment, that includes a prisoner exchange."
Raising his chin to stare haughtily, Sumic's voice conveyed his derision. "Insist on this and I will take the matter to the Empress. Need I remind you she is readily accessible?"
"Then I will take the matter of the Romulans developing a bioweapon under your command. Are you readily accessible for the blame?"
Sumic's eyes grew wide, another extreme reaction, and his words faltered a moment before regaining their sneer. "No doubt you took this to Sarek – and through him T'Pau as well. He is most likely speaking with the Empress now."
Stron spoke up quietly. "Sarek requested quarters aboard Enterprise as soon as we obtained orbit around the Warbase. He has not spoken with the Empress."
Spock did not know any of this until this moment. My father continues to surprise me.
The depth of Stron's scorn grew. "Perhaps his closeness to the Empress has been overstated."
Or perhaps, Spock thought, I was wrong to listen to rumors about the nature of his relationship with her. He does not seek the Empress' bed. He remembered Saavik's execution order and darkly changed his assessment. Or perhaps he sought to be close at hand to see the order carried out.
"It has no bearing on your situation, Sumic." He kept the upper hand firmly. "You are responsible for your prisoners developing a lethal weapon against our people. You will see to this exchange or your lack of responsibility will be brought to our Empress."
The commandant clearly struggled to accept what he did not want to. Spock knew he was making an enemy in Sumic, but the man was not so powerful or of such connections to be of any threat.
"How," Sumic asked, strain evident, "do you propose I achieve this when the prisoners have been ordered publicly executed?"
If I knew how, I would have arranged the prisoner exchange myself instead of delegating it to you. "That, as they say, is your problem, Sumic."
Arranging for Archernar to be in place lest he need escape with Saavik was Spock's problem. He would organize the solution with Stron the next moment they were alone. It must not happen to early or Sumic would notice the Romulan missing. Wait too late and Archernar would be exchanged with the other Romulans. But Spock had an idea.
And repressed the idea of Saavik living with Archernar in his 'carved niche' so very far away. At least, she would be alive and safe from T'Pau.
"When do I make this happen?" Sumic's question interrupted Spock's bleak thoughts.
He signaled Stron that they were leaving. "Immediately."
Two battles left now: the first with Kirk and McCoy, the second being the tribunal. How ironic a confrontation with Kirk seemed less important.
That confrontation was forced to wait while he attended duties demanding the Enterprise captain. The Empress was summoning him still for the Armageddon Torpedo presentation while Security ordered interrogations for Cartwright's remaining guards as they investigated the late admiral's murder. T'Mes reported as she took over the Science Department in Saavik's absence, an absence, she noted boldly, that she considered temporary. Sagar reported Saavik was going into surgery, but he gave no prognosis for success.
Then he heard Kirk's voice over the comm system, ordering him to present himself immediately. To his own quarters, he noted, not the admiral's. The arrogance in the human spread further than the voice that rang through the ship's hall, spreading into furtive glances from the crew as he passed. If Spock was not Vulcan and adept in its practices, that arrogance might throw him off stride. As it was, he only went through his strategy once more and headed for his quarters.
Time grew late. He must before the Empress in one hour.
Kirk was at the chessboard when Spock entered, brow creased as he unknowingly viewed it from Spock's pieces matched against Saavik. Like the Spock, Kirk considered chess a tactical exercise but made a more audacious move now than Vulcan ever would have. Saavik, on the other hand, viewed it as a game and often times, such as this match, released the Romulan in her. If it cost her every piece but one to win the game, she did not care as she did not see them as people she commanded. Because of this, she struck her opposition with a controlled fervor. Spock often mused that if Saavik kept her Romulan side more controlled, he'd win more. As it was, his greater experience was his best edge.
He eyed Kirk's move, noting the admiral didn't care about losing his pieces either despite viewing them as a military commander. It tallied with the way he easily threw people into death missions to further his own gains.
"It is fortunate you called me here, Admiral." Spock continued surveying the chessboard. "I was about to contact both you and the doctor."
McCoy was sitting at the desk, restlessly spinning the chair back and forth. At Spock's words, he stopped the chair abruptly and it rocked on its legs. His already dark frown creased even more as he jerked his head in Kirk's direction. In a second, his fingertips thrummed fretfully on the desktop.
Kirk grinned, but Spock gave him no chance to speak first.
"I assume Doctor McCoy informed you of Saavik's test results from the other day." He moved one of the chess pieces, blocking the admiral's attack. He was too logical a being to dwell on how a few days before Saavik had held these pieces, but the memory did play in his mind.
Kirk leaned his chair unto its back legs, crossing his own next to the chessboard. "So while the admiral was away, the pointed eared mice did play." He rapped a knuckle on the divider that separated them from the cabin's sleeping quarters.
Spock raised an eyebrow. "You presuppose who the father of Saavik's child was?" He did not wince on the 'was', but the word echoed in his ears.
"Well, let's see," Kirk simpered. "You two worked the same area on Hellguard. Immediately afterwards, Saavik shows up pregnant with you hovering around her in Sickbay while she's tested. Sounds like a pretty safe assumption." He tilted forward long enough to make a countermove with his chess pieces.
Spock bent down to the board again, nodding in approval of the move. "And Doctor McCoy immediately informs you of the test results while hiding them from me. Of course, you believe you have gained an upper hand by all this. Perhaps the doctor believes so as well."
McCoy's hand slapped down on the table, the resulting sound drowned out by his exploding, "Dammit, Spock! He's an admiral! He can kill me faster and by more ways than you can as a captain! I had no choice! He ordered me a long time ago to bring him anything like this about you or Saavik."
"Ah, that explains your decision to take sides when before you were content to remain neutral." Swiftly, he captured Kirk's piece. "Not a sound decision, Doctor."
The admiral's chair dropped to the floor as he grimaced over the board, clearly planning his counterstrike. McCoy began to sweat.
Spock's eyes darted between the two men. His meld with the Federation's McCoy revealed how this triangle played out in that other universe. Perhaps that had lulled him into believing himself safe with this McCoy, taking the man's advice even when it was difficult to acknowledge its truth. Never would that other triangle be repeated here, but this war had to stop. His time and efforts were needed for planning larger, Imperial takeovers.
"Gentlemen," he addressed them, "time is of the essence."
"Especially if you're Saavik," Kirk's mocked him and played his next move. "Is she dead yet? Please tell me she's stubborn enough to live a few minutes more so I can win the pool."
"Do not count your winnings, Admiral. In fact, I believe your 'pool' is defunct. Healer Sagar is operating as we speak."
"In my Sickbay?" McCoy yelled.
Spock addressed him grimly. "You proved yourself untrustworthy, Doctor. And I command this ship including Sickbay."
Kirk bristled. Spock held up a hand, forestalling the inevitable argument and amazingly, the man stayed silent, waiting on a tether.
"You ordered McCoy to give you this information, Admiral, should it ever occur. Why?"
Kirk's lip actually pulled back, baring white teeth. "You set yourself up as an Imperial Investigator. You dared do that to me! You threw down the gauntlet and I picked it up. I can't kill you, not while you're an Investigator, but you're still vulnerable through the people you surround yourself with. You don't seem to care about your father…"
As if you could reach Sarek. Not now, not without the Tantalus Field.
"…Your past lovers are gone, Stron and a few other of your people – I'm watching them too. But on Saavik's second day on board, you rescued her from me. If you had made her Captain's Woman right away and then put her aside, I'd know she meant nothing. But you waited, protecting her if I made any moves while she stayed rebelliously loyal to you, and the moment you thought I wouldn't know, you bedded her. So now I have a chink in your armor."
Of course Kirk saw a woman only as important if sex was involved, although he just as equally dismissed her as something to be used. It certainly explained how Kirk's women held no place in his life.
Spock folded his hands behind his back, keeping the moment composed even in the face of Kirk's wrath. "That day you allude to, the day I saved both Saavik and myself from you by becoming an Investigator, I told you I wanted peace. Without it, we stagnated in our careers and the ship was torn apart with the conflict. My help made you an admiral. Our work together made us richer. If we truly allied ourselves, think where it will take us."
"Have you considered, Admiral, what this war has cost you? You choose Sulu over me and he serves you well… for the moment. After he has Enterprise, how long before his appetites turn to your position?"
"As if you're any different, Spock."
"Admiral, I will swear by any means you will hold sacred that I do not and will not seek your death." It was true. Even if he overthrew the Empire, he calculated Kirk would be killed in the upheaval making an assassination unnecessary.
Kirk chewed on his bottom lip, thinking about it. "Get rid of your Investigator title. Then I'll believe you."
"No," Spock refused evenly. "I will, however, not correct the Empress' assumption that you saved everyone from Cartwright's plot."
Kirk fumed, giving away that he thought himself vulnerable by taking credit for Saavik's actions. "That's not good enough! You say you want an alliance, but you don't prove it!"
"Admiral, in twenty-two point three seven minutes, I will appear before the Empress for the Armageddon presentation. She is vain, spoiled, and narcissistic, but she is also powerful, deadly, and fickle in her loyalties. If she discovers you lied to her, the question is only how long before she kills you."
Spock let that sink in. "I am offering to let you reap the benefits of this false credit, and the rewards are considerable. As her new favorite, you are secure from any attacks I might make, for your destruction would bring her wrath on me. I, in return, keep my Imperial Investigator's position, keeping me safe from you. However, our alliance will be so profitable, you will see my logic in no longer waging our personal war."
Kirk opened his mouth, but Spock interrupted. "This Cease Fire includes our people, all our people."
The inference was clear. Saavik, Stron, Sarek, and all others were off limits. On Kirk's side, there was nobody. He had killed Carol and David Marcus himself. His brother and nephews were alive and Spock monitored them, but so far, Jim Kirk didn't seem to care one way or the other about his family. Perhaps he planned to produce an heir himself someday. If so, Spock was now swearing that child was also off limits.
Sweat beaded along Kirk's forehead as well as McCoy's, but the room's heat caused it on the former, not anxiety.
"What kind of profits do you mean?" Kirk asked finally. "How far do you plan to go?"
"To the top of the Empire," Spock answered. He watched both humans react with wide eyes before protecting himself. "In service to our Empress, of course."
Kirk's greed flamed him and he grew sleek with it. The familiar greedy light danced in his eyes as he dreamed of wealth and power, but it also meant he couldn't let anything go. "I want McCoy back in Sickbay. Now."
Spock merely accepted it. "Naturally, the doctor should be at his post. Having time to reflect, I realize he serves no more threat. Due to his refusal to inform me of Saavik's pregnancy, your guards murdered my child. Both my father and T'Pau are aware of this. He is now an enemy of my bloodline and any further attempts on me -- or those under my protection -- will bring Vulcan itself down on him. As I said before, his decision to abandon his neutrality was unwise."
He heard McCoy's swallow.
"Do we have our alliance, Admiral?"
Kirk chewed on his thumbnail, weighing everything. He got up to walk away without answering, but turned back from the door. "Done. Keep me in profits and power, and our alliance holds."
He left and McCoy straggled behind, stopping at Spock but not looking at him. He mumbled, "He threatened my daughter, you know."
"So it became your child or mine."
"Yeah. And now maybe you understand how that feels," the doctor whispered hoarsely and dragged dead feet out the cabin. "But I didn't know it'd end up this way."
Spock leaned on the wall with a hand that wanted to tremble and closed his eyes. His child and Saavik's… how long had it lived? From the first day of his pon farr or only the last day of Saavik's?
Such pain. But he couldn't give into it yet. He would meditate for the next few minutes before he presented himself and T'Mes to the Empress, and not think of how it should be Saavik with him. Perhaps by the time he returned to the Enterprise, Sagar would have positive news.
He straightened and looked down at the chessboard. After a moment's thought, he took Kirk's king. "Checkmate".
But he didn't know if he had won the war or only the battle.
