Part 13
For the next two days, life on the USS Wild Card progressed at a more or less normal rate, much to Chris's relief.
Jim Ellison and Blair spent most of their time together, settling his senses and getting them completely under control. Blair kept a watchful eye on everything that Ellison came in contact with, making sure that nothing could be harmful to him. Even then, Blair and Ezranok did get together to play a bit under the watchful eye of Ellison or Vin a few times.
Vin and Ezranok talked a great deal when they were alone. Vin telling Ezranok what life on Vulcan might be like, and Ezranok telling Vin about everything he could remember from before he was taken by the slavers, which was still very, very little, and about what life under the slavers had been like. When their discussions grew too serious, Vin took great delight in telling funny stories of other places, trying to get Ezranok to smile and laugh. It became his mission to get the boy to laugh at least once a day.
Now they were only a couple hours out from Star Base 4 and Vin was at his station, worrying about what would happen to the little boy that had come to mean so much to him. He had reviewed everything the computer had about Vulcan dealings with orphans and everything he could remember from his time with them.
The family he had lived with had always treated him well, but this situation was different. He had been a human in their household. Ezranok looked the part to a certain extent, but his childhood had in no way prepared him for what would be expected of him.
Vin found he was afraid of what might happen. Ezranok might be Vulcan, but he was not used to the control and suppression, the purely logical thinking that was enforced on Vulcan. Ezranok had need the release of tears on more than one occasion in the last couple of days. If that was indicative of the boy's psyche, the Vulcan way of life would crush him.
Sighing, Vin adjusted the sensor arrays and pulled his mind from the path it had taken. There was nothing he could do about the situation…but that wouldn't keep him from wondering a worrying.
Chris sat in his command chair, seemingly calm and at ease as they approached base.
Calm! Yeah, right! Chris mentally snorted. He was returning to base with nearly two hundred refugees, eight slavers to be turned over for trial, a newly bonded Sentinel and Guide pair, one of which was a Starfleet officer that had spent the last eighteen months stranded on a backwards planet in the middle of nowhere and the a three-year-old rescued from the afore mentioned slavers, and an eleven-year-old Romulan boy who happened to have mind-linked with his first officer, who was fighting some pretty strong childhood memories.
Was that everything?
It damn well better be, Chris thought as he surveyed the bridge. He knew that Vin wasn't the only one hat had fallen under the spell of their two little foundlings.
Buck and JD had been sure to tell him what had gone on during their little foray to the rec room. They had both volunteered to baby-sit if either Ellison or Vin needed help. So far neither man had taken them up on the offer, but is was out standing.
Doctor Jackson had lost a great deal of his reticence around the boys since their rescue of Ellison. Nathan wouldn't tell him what had happened, but it was nice to see the man without the air of tension that so frequently enveloped him.
Several men had been in the rec room when Buck and JD took them in for lunch that day and witnessed everything from the request for sandwiches to Blair reaction to Ellison's distress, and they hadn't been able to keep from talking about the incident. As a result, the story was all over the ship. Even Josiah had started falling under their spell from a distance, and now made it a point to happen to be in the area of the rec room they used for meals when every possible.
Shaking his head, Chris put it out of his mind. They were only a couple hours out, and then it would be out of their hands.
Though if he were honest with himself, he knew he was going to miss them too.
The two boys that were the center of so much thought were currently ensconced in Blair and Ellison's temporary quarters playing a simple game with Blair's Sentinel.
Jim Ellison was still trying to regain his balance after everything that had happened.
Less than a week ago he had been a respected member of the tribe. He realized now that his senses had been partially on-line for sometime now, but at the time he hadn't recognized the signs. Then the his distress call, the only he barely remembered recording and setting up to transmit, had finally been heard and he had been rescued.
He had felt so much relief at the sight of the familiar uniforms; he was finally going home.
Then the sensor spike from hell! Thank God for Blair was then only thing he could think of as he remembered the burning pain that had lanced through his body. If the precious little boy hadn't been there, he was positive he would have lost his mind.
And now they were bonded.
For the last two days, Blair had taken care of him. It seemed so incongruous. Blair was a little over three-years-old according to the doctor, and yet it was he that was taking care of Jim, instead of the other way around. Jim just shrugged and vowed silently that he would take care of Blair to the best of his ability from now on.
Which brought Jim's thoughts to what the future might hold. Captain Larabee and his first officer Tanner had already told him what had happened concerning that ill-fated mission. While Jim was angry about it, he could understand that it was dealt with and over. It was time to move on.
After all, he had Blair to think about now, too.
Personally, he wanted nothing to do with Ground Operations anymore, but as a Sentinel, he knew that his place was protecting his people. Maybe he could see about a placement aboard ship? The couple days he had spent here on the Wild Card had been great. He had received offers from several of the ship's officers to take care of Blair if he wanted a break and had started a tentative friendship with Vin Tanner. It helped that Vin was taking care of Ezranok for the duration of their trip to Star Base 4.
Ezranok, Ellison mused, was a very unusual boy. Vin had filled him in on all the particulars surrounding the boys' rescue, and he was impressed with the way the older boy had protected Blair. He was grateful that Blair had had someone to shield him for those months he had been on the slave ship. As he looked at the young Vulcanesque boy, he was confused. At times, he was as withdrawn and quiet as one might think a Vulcan child should be, but less than ten minutes later, he could be as out going and open as a human child. Jim had noticed that Ezranok was only open around those he had come to trust and figured that explained most of it, but that still didn't erase the confusion.
Turning his attention back the game at hand, Jim shove the speculations from his mind. First they had to get to the base and through all the debriefings. That was enough to worry about for now.
Ezranok tried to keep his mind on the game, but it just wasn't working.
Blair obviously enjoyed being with the big man, Ellison, and Ezranok was glad Blair had found his Sentinel. Blair had a place now. He and his Sentinel would be family for each other. He could feel the loneliness that had pervaded the man's emotions. Ezranok was happy for both of them
But he couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen to him now.
He had heard the speculation concerning himself and his history, as a result he had researched what he could find in the ship's computer concerning the Vulcan people, their home planet, and their customs, and had found it all very unsettling. The Vulcans were known for their devotion to logic and supreme control of all emotion. Ezranok wasn't sure he wanted to have to live like that, and if he was sent to Vulcan, he would have too. Ezranok had learned by necessity to control the expression of emotion while on the keepers vessel, but since coming here he had been free to show what he felt. Even encouraged a little to do so by the kindness so freely showed to him.
His thoughts turned to the man that had been so kind to him and to Blair since they had been found. Mr. Tanner was unlike anyone adult he had ever met before, either on the keeper's ship or on the various planets they visited. Vin felt a compassion and…dare he think it?…love for them that went far beyond that of the rest of the men on the ship.
Ezranok found himself wishing that he could just stay here, with Vin on this ship. Wishing that Vin wanted to have him here, but he wouldn't push to stay if he was not wanted.
Ezranok knew that various of the other officers and crew had come to like them, but he wasn't all that comfortable with most of them. The Captain, Mr. Larabee, and Vin were the ones he knew the best. Mr. Wilmington and Mr. Dunne were pleasant to be around. Doctor Jackson was also a companion he enjoyed spending time with. He was also slowly getting to know, Mr. Sanchez, who worked security.
Feeling the Sentinel's eyes on him, Ezranok tensed. He was never sure what to expect when adults looked at him, and it was very unnerving. Except for Vin, Ezranok had come to accept that Vin didn't want anything from him. Vin just wanted to be near him and to help him. Every time he was with him he was enveloped in a warm feeling of contentment and security.
He would miss that feeling.