A/N: Imagine that the later conversation between V'Las and Soval is in Vulcan. I'm too lazy to try and translate the entire thing.

Vulcan words and definitions courtesy of the Vulcan Language Dictionary, as always.

sehlat – a large bear-like animal with six-inch fangs, often a pet

ta'a – traditional Vulcan salute

T'Khasi – another name for the planet Vulcan

It was my intention to make this chapter longer. I had something in mind, actually, but I wanted to give you guys an update. My schedule next week is insane, and I don't know when I'll have time to write again. So, rather than leave you hanging (like before), I thought I'd post what I had written. Enjoy!

Reviews, as always, are appreciated.

Chapter Six: The Third Degree

Kamea paced back and forth, full of so much restless energy that if she didn't do something she was going to explode. The Vulcans had locked her in an empty room that was so white it hurt her eyes, and she was alone. She could sense the others somewhere nearby, but she had no way of pinpointing their exact location without knowing the layout of the building that she was in, which of course she didn't. She'd been flanked by six Vulcans on her way inside, so she hadn't been able to see on either side of her; she was half surprised she hadn't been blindfolded. They'd separated her from the others almost immediately upon entering, and she was starting to get nervous. What if they were going to do something to her?

She could very easily have broken out. In fact, she had considered it multiple times, but she ultimately decided against it. She didn't care what these Vulcans thought about her, but the last thing she wanted to do was confirm whatever suspicions they had about her. She would hear that condescending tone in Soval's voice no matter what she did or said – she didn't want it to be deserved.

The only window in the cell was small and up near the ceiling, so she couldn't even look out the window to distract herself. She hadn't seen that much of Vulcan, except out the windows of the shuttle pod on the way down to the planet. Not that she really wanted to see the planet, although it would have been nice to see her father's ancestral home. She'd never been to Vulcan before, she wasn't sure she would ever make it back, so this really was her only opportunity, and here she was, locked in a cell somewhere in the High Command's headquarters.

Eventually, she got tired of pacing. It was accomplishing nothing except making her tired and thirsty, and as she glanced at the guards standing just beyond the confines of her cell, she was fairly certain that they wouldn't exactly run off to get her a soda. She retreated into one of the corners and hunkered down, crossing her legs into the traditional meditative posture. She had nothing better to do, so she might as well try meditation. She rested her hands on her knees and tried to clear her mind of conscious thought, which, given that she had so much on her mind, was pretty difficult. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, just as T'Pol had instructed, imagining a candle flickering silently in her mind.

The flame in her mind extinguished. She heard footsteps approaching, and her ears perked automatically. She got to her feet and wandered closer to the door of her cell. There was a tiny, barred window in the door, to which Kamea pressed her face, straining to see with the limited view the window offered.

Soval's face appeared on the other side of the window so abruptly that Kamea stumbled backwards. The lock on the door clicked and the door opened. Soval and that other Vulcan, V'Las, stepped into her cell. The guards remained on the outside and shut the door after Soval and V'Las.

She backed away another few steps, eyeing them suspiciously, trying to read the looks in their eyes. They were trying to hide their feelings, but she could tell anyway. They didn't like her. Not that she had given them any reason to, nor did she expect them to, but it would have been nice to be given the benefit of the doubt.

V'Las spoke first. "Why do you lie?"

Kamea's nostrils flared automatically. Of all the things she hated being called, liar was at the top of the list – just under half-breed. And freak. Besides, she was sick and tired of the third degree. She choked down her anger and said, "Because I'm Vulcan. It's in our nature."

"You are not Vulcan," said V'Las with barely disguised fury. It was radiating off him in waves. "Why do you continue to insist on something that is impossible?"

"There's no such thing as impossible," Kamea said. "An impossible situation is merely an opportunity to be creative." Her father was fond of spouting off that little piece of wisdom. She half expected it to be one of Surak's sayings. It certainly sounded like one. She raised her eyebrows at the two of them. "Vulcans are supposed to be logical. Where is the logic in denying what is right in front of your face?"

V'Las shook his head. "You have offered up no proof to substantiate your claim."

Kamea grunted. No proof? What the hell? She was walking, talking proof, if they would only open their narrow little minds. No wonder her father hadn't even thought twice about leaving this place far behind. "Phlox has all the proof you may need on board Enterprise, but I'm guessing you wouldn't believe anything he told you." She tugged on the tip of her ear. "Look at these. What further proof do you want?"

Soval sighed imperceptibly. "Many surgeons on Earth have the ability to reconstruct ears."

"Oh, good show, old bean," Kamea said, effecting a British accent. "That's exactly what happened. I willingly ostracized myself from human society on the off chance that I would be accepted by the Vulcans. Right."

"There is no need for sarcasm," said V'Las. He sounded bitter.

Kamea almost smiled, but she didn't have the energy. "There's always a need for sarcasm."

"Had there been a Vulcan/human hybrid born, we would have known about it," V'Las said. Kamea scrunched up her face as she scrutinized him. Had there ever been a more pompous-looking person? She didn't think so. "Such an…achievement, you realize, would not have gone unnoticed by the Science Directorate."

"You knew," Kamea said. "You had to know. It's not like my father was quiet about me. He sent communiqués to everyone. You either didn't believe him or didn't want to believe him. Either way, denial isn't just a river in Egypt."

V'Las gritted his teeth so hard that Kamea could hear it on the other side of the room. "Such an amazing scientific accomplishment would have been difficult to keep quiet. How is it that no Earth newspapers published any articles about your birth? Why is it that you lived in relative obscurity?"

Kamea licked her lips. "My father didn't think that human society was ready to accept me. He and my mother decided that they would raise me as human. Until my senior year of high school, no one suspected that I wasn't."

Soval crossed his arms behind his back. "Tell me about something about your father – something very few people would know."

"Why?" Kamea asked, genuinely confused. "You knew him."

Soval held up one hand in a gesture of concession. "Humor me."

Now that's funny, Kamea thought. A Vulcan with a sense of humor. She exhaled through pursed lips, trying to think of something she could tell them about her father that wasn't common knowledge. But her father had spent more than half of his life out of contact with his family, so anything she might know about Lorian, the other Vulcans wouldn't. So she struggled to think of something that had happened when he was a child, but her father hadn't exactly shared all that much with her about his life on Vulcan.

I need to tell them something. They don't believe me.

Someone started to whisper in her ear. She gave herself three guesses to figure out whom, and the first two didn't count. But for once he wasn't reprimanding her or spouting off useless words of wisdom; he was trying to help her.

"The scar on the back of his hand," she said, once the whispering had retreated into the back of her brain, "is from when he was attacked by your pet sehlat."

Soval stared at her, momentarily speechless. It wasn't apparent on his face, but she could tell by the look in his eyes. She continued. "You were trying to teach it a trick, because the kid down the street taught his sehlat to sit, and Lorian was teasing it when your back was turned. It bit him. He had that scar for the rest of his life."

Had V'Las been human, he probably would have scoffed. As such, the only indication that he was disgusted was the contempt in his voice. "If that is the only proof you have to offer, then we are finished here."

Kamea growled, low in her throat. "I told you. Phlox has all the medical evidence on Enterprise – "

"We would, of course, want to have our own doctors and scientists examine you," said V'Las. Kamea fought down a surge of panic, though she should have expected that. She didn't want to be examined by their doctors. Phlox was one thing, but no more doctors. She hated doctors. "While your Doctor Phlox is Denobulan, he is under the employ of Captain Archer."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Kamea asked, pumping anger into her voice to mask the fear. No doctors. No doctors. "You think the captain conceived this all as some elaborate ploy to piss you off? Because it seems to me, he's quite capable of doing that without resorting to such tactics."

V'Las and Soval exchanged a look, and Kamea didn't like the looks of the look. If they didn't leave her cell in the next minute, she was likely to rip their heads off. It was well within her ability. She clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms. They must have sensed that she was struggling to restrain herself, because they quickly took their leave without so much as a proper goodbye.

The door slammed shut behind them and Kamea threw herself at it, desperate to claw her way out of the cell. She didn't like doctors. No more doctors. Malcolm had promised her that he wouldn't let the doctors examine her. She didn't want the doctors to touch her. No doctors. Doctors were bad. Doctors did things and…

Suddenly, breaking out seemed to be the most viable option. She whirled around to face the window, got a running start, and leapt up. She was too short; her fingers didn't quite reach the bottom of the sill, even after jumping. She tried again, and her fingertips caught the edge, but she couldn't hold on and fell back to the floor. Clearly, the window was not the best way to go. The only other way out was the door.

She gripped the bars firmly with both hands and yanked with all her might. They bent with a series of creaks and groans, but before she could regroup for another attempt, the guards were at the door. They of course had no weapons, as Vulcans were no longer a violent people, but they clearly meant to do something to restrain her, because the one was fumbling at his belt for the keys to her cell.

One of the guards tried to squeeze his arm through the bars. She bit him on the hand and tightened her grip on the bars. She pulled them back again, and one of them gave. She nearly wrenched her arm out the socket, but the bar was lying there on her palm. She looked at the guards through the window and felt a smile creep across her face.

Now, she had a weapon.

Kamea's screams could be heard down the hallway. Soval and V'Las flattened themselves against the wall to avoid being run over by the mass of guards on their way to subdue her. Soval suspected that their efforts would be futile. If Lorian had been telling the truth about his daughter, Kamea was more than capable of taking care of herself. Soval had actually been expecting her to attack himself and V'Las, but she seemed to have learned restraint, which was good. Though he could tell she had severely wished to cause them bodily harm, she had refrained. That alone spoke volumes about her character.

V'Las cocked an eyebrow at him. "Ambassador," he said, "you have been quieter than usual. Is something troubling you?"

Soval did not respond to V'Las's question. It was, to use an Earth term, loaded. V'Las would not hesitate to use Soval's weaknesses against him, and compassion for the girl would be seen as a weakness by the majority of the High Command. Soval's position as ambassador to Earth had been in jeopardy ever since V'Las had learned about his conversation with Archer after the Xindi ordeal. V'Las had been looking for reasons to remove Soval from his post.

"Administrator," Soval said slowly, choosing his words carefully, "why do we continue to deny the existence of a Vulcan/human hybrid? I understand that it is the High Command's position, but continuing to do so is illogical. Lorian was successful. We must admit that."

"I have seen no proof," said V'Las, matter-of-factly. The last of the guards rushed down the hallway. Kamea's screams subsided; they must have sedated her. The two resumed walking. "We have no reason to believe that she is who she claims to be."

Soval bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from letting out an exasperated breath. Sometimes V'Las's attitude towards change greatly upset him. Soval was under the impression that not all change was detrimental. If not for Surak and his efforts, the Vulcan race would still be the violent, irrational people they had been two millennia ago. V'Las considered a Vulcan/human hybrid to be disadvantageous to the stability of their society. He believed that various traditions would be destroyed if Vulcans were given the opportunity to wed and mate outside the species, that the Vulcan people would somehow be contaminated. Soval, however, knew that such an offspring was inevitable, that as human society and culture evolved, they would become more agreeable to the Vulcans. He had been on Earth a long time, and he had seen how they had changed. Whereas only several centuries ago, a mixed race marriage was seen as unclean, now they were commonplace. It was only a matter of time before interspecies marriages became the norm.

"Other than the striking resemblance she bears to her mother," Soval said.

He had only met his sister-in-law once, when Lorian had brought her to Vulcan in the hopes of obtaining the High Command's permission to marry. For a human, she was remarkably elegant, well spoken, logical, and intelligent. Soval considered her to be a worthy companion for his brother, and had she been Vulcan, he would have had no reason to object to their union. His only complaint against her was that she was not Vulcan.

V'Las dismissed that notion with a wave of his hand. "All that serves to prove is that she is Kalea's daughter. Even that is questionable. I, for one, failed to notice the resemblance."

Soval shook his head. Actually, Soval thought she looked more like her father, save for the blonde hair, which was most assuredly her mother's. Also, V'Las had never met Kalea. "And the eyes?"

Lorian had been something of an anomaly among the Vulcan people due to the color of his eyes. All Vulcans had the same basic physical characteristics, because of the climate of T'Khasi – the same dark skin, the same dark hair and eyes. Lorian, however, was one of those rare few Vulcans born with a genetic irregularity. He had blue eyes. None of the doctors to whom their parents had taken him were ever able to explain from where Lorian's blue eyes had come. Their feeble explanation was that it was a fluke, a glitch in the Vulcan genetic code that manifested itself once every few generations. Soval wasn't sure whether or not to believe that, but as he had discovered no other explanation, he eventually accepted it.

V'Las's shoulders twitched, as though he were about to shrug. "As is my understanding, blue eyes are a fairly common physical trait on Earth. Why, both Enterprise's chief engineer and armory officer have blue eyes."

"And the ears, sir?"

V'Las stopped walking abruptly and turned to face Soval. "As you so eloquently pointed out, Ambassador, human plastic surgeons can do wonders." He cocked an eyebrow, as if daring Soval to respond, and when he didn't, the two resumed walking. "Now, the girl will obviously have to stay here to be examined. Captain Archer will, no doubt, want one of his crew to remain in order to make certain that she is not being mistreated. He doesn't trust us, you know."

Soval raised his eyebrows. "I was aware of that, yes."

"T'Pol must be given an assignment as soon as possible, preferably one that does not allow for outside communication. The rest of Enterprise's crew will return to their ship at once. We will bury this before it has the chance to go any further."

"V'Las," Soval said, his teeth clenched, "if the High Command learns that we were aware of this and concealed it – "

"They would understand why we did so, Soval. We cannot, under any circumstances, allow this information to reach the High Command. Once our doctors examine her, they will determine that she is not who she claims to be."

Soval dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. The entire situation was becoming more and more frustrating. First the Syrannites had revolted, retreating into the Fire Plains and coordinating attacks on vital government buildings. Then T'Les had vanished; Soval didn't know whether the Syrannites had taken her or she had willingly gone off with them. Now Enterprise had arrived and had no intention of leaving. Captain Archer was as stubborn as any Vulcan, and he would not leave quietly.

"Even if our doctors are able to prove that she is not half-Vulcan," Soval said, "Phlox still has all of his notes from his examinations. The entire crew of Enterprise believes that she is who she says she is. T'Pol would verify her claim."

V'Las tapped his chin. "Then we will simply have to dispose of his research."

Soval tried not to be too surprised. "How do you propose we do that?"

"We will need to send some to Enterprise to guarantee that the good doctor's research is properly destroyed. We could inform Captain Archer the presence of one of our people is to ensure that Enterprise does not interfere with our political problems."

"Captain Archer will not allow it."

V'Las almost smiled. "We will offer him no alternative. He will be forced to accept our terms, and you will accompany the humans back to their ship."

Soval clasped his hands behind his back. He did not want to by the High Command's spy on Enterprise. He wanted to make sure that his niece would be treated well; he wanted the opportunity to get to know her, because he was fairly certain she would never return to T'Khasi after the reception she'd received. "Administrator, I would prefer to oversee the examination."

"I know you would, Ambassador, which is why you are going to Enterprise. You have already developed a rapport with them. They would feel more comfortable with you than with any other member of the High Command."

Soval had known V'Las long enough to know when he was lying. He clearly had other reasons for wanting Soval to accompany Captain Archer and his crew back to Enterprise. Soval suspected it had something to do with V'Las wanting him removed from his ambassadorial position, but he could not think of an exact reason. He also did not think that was true, that the Enterprise crew would be more comfortable with him on board. They would resent the presence of any member of the High Command, whether they knew said member or not. But as V'Las was his superior, there was very little he could say that would change the administrator's mind.

"And the girl? She will not remain quiet for long. Eventually, Enterprise will return to Earth."

"She spent most of her life masquerading as human. No one will believe her if she claims to be half-Vulcan now."

Unfortunately, though Soval was loath to admit it, V'Las had a point. Kamea had spent so long lying about her heritage that no one would believe her when she told the truth. However, it was not as simple as that. It never was. Kamea was not the only one who knew that she was a hybrid. The entire crew of Enterprise knew what she was, and if she were to be mistreated – by anyone, Soval suspected – they would rally to her defense. V'Las, though Vulcan, did not have a very firm grasp of loyalty.

"Live long and prosper," Soval said, giving the ta'a.

V'Las returned the salute. "Peace and long life."