Prologue
Silek ran all out, in the hope of putting some distance between himself and his erstwhile captors. He knew nothing about the planet, beyond the fact that the Romulans were quite interested in it—interested enough to capture and torture a pair of Vulcan junior ambassadors whose ship was simply passing through the area. He did not know whether Supek had gotten off the Romulan ship alive, but his mission now was to survive at any cost—including that of leaving his brother behind—in order to report the Romulans' actions to his superiors, both the diplomatic arm of the Vulcan High Command and its spy unit. If he was still alive, Supek would be trying with all his might to make his escape as well.
He heard the sound of a transporter beam and knew the Romulans were on his trail. He heard a sound he could not identify and glanced in the direction it came from. He saw a flash of light out of the corner of his eye. Turning toward it, he saw a large circular object with images flashing across its center. A deep voice emanated from the object: "Many journeys are possible. Let me be your gateway." Thinking the Romulans were right behind him, Silek threw himself into the center of the object.
He rolled to his feet, finding himself in bright sunshine, in what appeared to be an area of natural growth unmarred by any sign of civilization. The air smelled fresh, and the temperature was comfortably warm. Silek noted that the gravity had increased to slightly greater than that of Vulcan and, from that, surmised that he had been transported to a different world. The area was hilly, and he could see a cliff face several kilometers away. He decided to hike to the top in order to see if he could find any evidence of sentient life from that vantage point.
Upon reaching the top, he surveyed the land below in all directions. He spotted what appeared to be a rudimentary settlement a few kilometers away in the direction he decided to call east, based on the rotation of the planet since his arrival. He decided that he would scope out the settlement the following day. He set about finding a source of water and building a shelter for the night.
It had not gone well. Knowing that he had been transported across space, Silek had expected the denizens of the settlement to be aliens, but not Romulans. But Romulans they were. And not just any Romulans; it appeared they were Romulans who had been stuck on this planet for a couple of generations and had gone a bit feral. They had captured him, whipped him viciously for putting up a fight, and put him to work as a slave. Silek had barely escaped the settlement with his life, and one of the Romulans had not been so fortunate. Now he was being hunted by Romulans again. His best bet was to put some distance between himself and the Romulans. But he did not want to go too far; if there were any useful equipment on this planet, it would most likely be found at the settlement. So he headed back the way he had come. He had seen some caves in the cliff face and now wondered if one might provide shelter against the elements—and his enemies.
Chapter 1
Lieutenant Uhura's voice came across the intercom: "Emergency beam-in to Sickbay. Sickbay, stand by."
Dr. McCoy and Dr. M'Benga moved toward the designated Sickbay beam-in area while Nurse Chapel grabbed the trauma cart. They didn't know who was in need of emergency aid, but they were ready for anything, or so they thought.
As the beam-in commenced, it quickly became clear that it was two people, and neither of them was wearing a Starfleet uniform. Immediately after the beam faded, the tall man with sharp Vulcan features, a full beard, and long, black hair addressed them: "You will attend to my wife!" The man was carrying what appeared to be a small woman whose face was turned toward his chest.
McCoy could see green blood oozing from beneath the Vulcan's leather clothing. "Just a damn minute! You're going to keel over from loss of blood. We need to get pressure on that wound now!"
The Vulcan's eyes focused on McCoy like twin lasers: "You will attend to my wife now, or I will break your neck!"
This was not Sickbay's first rodeo. Nurse Chapel prepared a hypospray with a strong sedative as Dr. M'Benga called for Security and McCoy tried to reason with his formidable patient:
"You won't do her any good if you collapse and drop her on the floor!"
The Vulcan had not overlooked the nurse's actions: "If you attempt to inject me with that, I will break your arm!"
"Here now! Just calm down…" McCoy started.
"I assure you I am perfectly calm," the Vulcan answered. "Now please assist my wife!"
"Put her in the biobed here and then put yourself in the one next to it," McCoy said with an edge as the doors to Sickbay opened, and Captain Kirk, Commander Spock, and Vulcan Ambassador Supek entered, followed by two Security officers.
"I cannot lose physical contact with her—her life hangs by a thread," the Vulcan replied.
"She is in the best of hands here; Doctor M'Benga has done an extended fellowship at a Vulcan hospital," McCoy argued.
"My wife is a Klingon," the Vulcan stated, tilting her unconscious face toward them to reveal the ridges on her forehead. He cast a glance around the room, challenging anyone to object.
"Doctor McCoy, my brother is using his marital bond to support the continued function of his wife's failing body. If he loses contact with her, I believe she will expire," Ambassador Supek said.
"This is your brother Silek?" Captain Kirk asked in disbelief. Supek nodded. Spock said, "Indeed."
"We will move the biobeds together so we can attend to you both while you remain in contact with your wife," Dr. M'Benga said. The Sickbay team quickly and efficiently rearranged the biobeds and assisted Silek in placing his wife in one and himself in the other.
McCoy scanned the Klingon woman while M'Benga did the same for Silek.
"She's pregnant and is suffering from severe malnutrition, as well as dehydration," McCoy said. "How long has she been unconscious?"
"She lost consciousness approximately 3.2 days ago. Can you help her?"
"We will put her on the necessary fluids with vitamin and mineral supplements right away," McCoy said. "We also need to do an emergency cesarean section to remove the child, who may be in danger as well, although the readings for the child look better than those for the mother."
"It seems as if Klingon maternal physiology favors the child over the mother," Silek said. "She told me this was normal when she was pregnant with our first child."
"Ambassador Silek… How long were you on that planet?" Kirk asked.
"I estimate it was 12.35 years," Silek said. "Why do you ask?"
"It has been only 9.42 months since you escaped from the Romulan ship," Supek said. "Most of the Romulans beamed down to the portal planet to search for you; while they were there, I managed to escape in a shuttlecraft. I disabled their sensors and was able to make it back to Federation space, but it took some time to get there and then to mount a rescue mission. We were able to find you only after Spock performed a mind meld with the Guardian of Forever."
"You mean the portal on the first planet?" Silek asked.
"Affirmative," Spock replied.
"I did not initially understand my situation," Silek said. "At first I expected to be rescued quickly. When it seemed no help would be coming, I set about learning how to live in my new environment."
"How did you come to be living with a band of Klingons?" Supek asked.
"The Klingons are intensely interested in the Guardian," Silek said. His Excellency, Keval, heir apparent to the throne of the Klingon Empire, was leading an investigation into it when they ran into the Romulans. The Klingons succumbed to superior numbers; those who survived the initial attack took escape pods and landed on the portal planet. The pod carrying my wife—who was a child at that point—and her maid was knocked off course by some debris, causing it to land close to the portal. Pursued by Romulans, my lady and her maid threw themselves into the portal just as I did.
"Unfortunately, the world we fell into is populated by feral Romulans. One of them found my wife and her maid almost immediately. I heard screaming and the sounds of a fight. I got there just in time to see him murder the maid. I… rescued my lady from his grasp. She could not have survived on her own at that age, so I took her with me back to the cave I was using for shelter. We lived there together for seven years before the rest of the Klingons joined us.
"After Keval and his party arrived, we were able to estimate the amount of time between our respective trips through the portal and our arrival on the other planet. We realized that rescue was yet possible, but there was no telling how long it would take."
"Nurse, please prepare an incubator to receive the infant," McCoy said.
"Right away, doctor."
"Ambassador, I need to give you a local anesthetic so I can clean and seal your wound," Dr. M'Benga said.
"I will not allow you to administer an anesthetic of any kind," Silek replied. "It is imperative that I remain in mental contact with my wife. Please proceed without anesthesia."
"That would be barbaric!" McCoy interjected, "And you might pass out from the pain anyway."
"I assure you I will not do so, Doctor," Silek said.
"Indeed, I can attest that my brother has an extremely high tolerance for pain, Doctor," Supek said.
"And how would you know that?" McCoy demanded to know.
"Unfortunately, I have had several occasions to witness my brother's response to severe pain," Supek replied, glossing over the truth that during their spy training on Vulcan they were both routinely tortured to build up their tolerance to pain.
"Len, I'm going to trust him on this," Dr. M'Benga said. "The things I've seen some Vulcans do…"
"Okay," McCoy said. "Nurse, I'm ready to remove the infant. Please get ready to accept this bundle of joy."
"Doctor, it is imperative that I make contact with the child as soon as she is free of the womb," Silek said.
"He's correct, Len," Dr. M'Benga said. "It can be terrifying and even life-threatening for a Vulcan infant to be removed from contact with its parents."
A plaintive wail cut through Sickbay.
"Don't worry, sweetie! Your father is right over here," a smiling Nurse Chapel said, rolling the incubator over to the far side of the biobed Silek occupied. "Her bioreadings appear to be in the normal range, as far as I can tell; there are no established ranges of what is normal for a Vulcan–Klingon–Human mix infant. She will be monitored continuously until we are certain she is healthy."
"Thank you, Nurse." Silek placed his hand against the infant's face, and the wailing immediately stopped, replaced by little cooing sounds.
Dr. M'Benga finished sealing the Vulcan's wound and placed a dressing over it, marveling at how his patient had stoically withstood the procedure. "Ambassador, I have cleaned, disinfected, and sealed your wound, but it was a serious one, and you will likely fall into a healing trance soon so your body can repair the rest of the damage."
"Doctor, I request that you not allow that to happen until my wife is out of danger," Silek responded. "Please administer stimulants if necessary."
"I've closed the incision, and she is resting comfortably," McCoy said. "We are giving her fluids and supplements to get her rehydrated and to get her electrolytes and minerals back into the proper balance. She was suffering from the effects of a severe iron deficiency."
"Her diet was quite limited while we were on the planet, which I was never able to identify from the constellations or any other clues," Silek said. "We were aware of the scarcity of iron. We scoured the area in search of ore deposits in hopes of using them to build communications instruments, but we found none. I feared my wife was deprived of vital nutrients, but I had no way to determine what was missing."
"Are you aware that she is blind?" McCoy asked.
"Yes. She first lost the ability to walk, then she lost her eyesight, and finally she lost consciousness. Her presence in my mind is only a faint trace of what it was. I fear that if I lose consciousness, I will lose my grasp of her mind."
"I don't think she has suffered any permanent damage," McCoy said. "I estimate she will regain consciousness within two hours. It will probably be a few days before her eyesight returns, and as far as walking goes, she will need intensive physical therapy because her muscles have atrophied."
"I am grateful for your ministrations, Doctor," Silek said.
"Brother, I will remain here to keep watch over your wife and child," Supek said. "We can bind your hand to your wife's so you will not lose physical contact. You can allow yourself to fall into a healing trance, and I will be able to bring you out of it at a moment's notice if needed."
"Thank you, brother," Silek said. "I would ask a further favor of you."
"Anything, Silek. You have only to ask."
"Can you remove my beard? It will fall out on its own and make a mess after a few days at these warmer temperatures," Silek said.[1]
"Certainly. Do you wish me to cut your hair as well?"
"No. In fact, I forbid it!" Silek said. "When we married, my wife extracted a promise from me to keep it long. At the time, I estimated the chances of ever leaving the planet at less than .06 percent, so it did not seem illogical to accommodate her request."
General Author's Notes
Dear Reader: This story is a fantasy I began at the age of 12 while watching Star Trek TOS in reruns. It was heavily influenced by some of the Star Trek novels I read in the 1980s, including Pawns and Symbols (in which the Klingon Kang was the heir apparent to the throne of the Klingon Empire), The Vulcan Academy Murders, Time for Yesterday, Yesterday's Son, and others.
I come from a large family, so the first thing I did was give Spock some siblings. I originally made the family four boys and four girls, but over the years, I became less interested in two of the sisters (and a third was never really developed at all), so I got rid of them and concentrated on the one sister.
Please note that my story is based on TOS (except that the "City on the Edge of Forever" episode never happened in my universe) and is influenced by the older Star Trek novels. I generally have not worked the Star Trek movies, especially the reboot, into it. The major exceptions are that I really liked the Spock–Uhura relationship (it just seems natural, considering how they were in TOS, especially the first season), and the Klingons have brow ridges.
I also play fast and loose with the "rules" of Star Trek. I go with whatever works to power my story, the laws of physics (and Star Trek) be damned! Since the age of 12, I have rejected the idea that Spock has two halves at war with each other (said war being handily won by the Vulcan half every time). No, in my view, Spock and his siblings are whole individuals. They make their choices about when and if to adhere to or honor each side of their heritage. Because Sarek and Amanda agreed to raise them as Vulcans, all of them follow the Way of Surak. But because of his experiences with the Klingons—and the importance of his relationship with his Klingon wife and her family—Silek will pick a careful path that straddles Vulcan, Klingon, and Terran cultures.
There will be action, adventure, romance, and drama—but I hope to keep it mainly fun. In my universe, most Vulcans have a sense of humor, although many of them won't admit to it. The story will focus on relationships: mostly those of Silek with his wife, his siblings, the crew of the Enterprise, and other assorted characters.
So this story may require you to put aside some aspects of the Star Trek universe as you know it, but I hope it will be worth it. Stick around to enjoy the ride!
PS: I probably would never have typed the first word of this story if it hadn't been for the awesome Uhura the 9th. I started reading her stories and then became her beta reader. I told her about my decades-long fantasy, and she urged me to start writing it.
[1] My theory is that Vulcans don't have body or facial hair when living in what they consider to be normal temperatures, but when exposed to colder temperatures (as on the planet Silek was stuck on), they can grow beards, etc. However, Silek's brother Supek's physiology is less Vulcan/more human, so he is able to have a beard even on Vulcan.