Merged

Chapter 23

True to his word, Shran pulled several Andorian ships into the area and the neutralizing agent was distributed to them. They continued to produce the compound to provide enough to treat all of the worlds that had been affected. While they waited for the next batch to complete, Shran had returned to continue to get to know Jontek.

He could certainly read Jonathan Archer's personality in the merged being but was still unsure of the Vulcan half. Like most Vulcans, this Sontek was quiet. Too quiet for Shran's tastes but then again, he never really had liked Vulcans, although he had learned to respect them. Especially after his experiences with Soval and T'Pol. He'd found both of these individuals to have integrity and, although it was a given that neither would have an Andorian as their 'best friend'…did Vulcan's even have best friends?... he'd found they certainly had been willing to put their careers and reputations on the line to see that justice was received for Andoria.

He couldn't understand how his human friend could coexist with a Vulcan. The very concept was abhorrent to him. To wake up in the body of a being that did not live life to its fullest, that put logic before experience? It was not an existence that Shran would prefer to contemplate. He always knew, though, that Archer straddled both concepts and he'd certainly found the man to embrace his emotions. He shook his head. The man was still full of surprises. It was one of the things he liked most about him.

He'd brought a bottle of Andorian Ale over to the Vulcan shuttle. Archer had always appreciated the potent beverage in the past. He hoped to lift a few glasses in toast to ending this damned epidemic among other things. Shran had lost family members through this painful disease. Indeed, he knew of no one that had not, except for the Aenar. Since they were only on the homeworld, the disease had not reached them. Knowing how his wife would have felt if any of her family had died, he was thankful that his two friends had chosen to help his people, at what was certainly risk to their own lives.

T'Pol had begged off, indicating that they two of them surely had enough to talk about without her. She would watch the ship.

T'Pol dryly added internally, "Besides, doing a system wide diagnostic is preferable to watching the two of you discuss old times."

Sontek looked to T'Pol adding, "I wish I could join you."

Jon laughed. "Shran's not that bad. Sure, he's emotional and mercurial most of the time, but he's really a great guy!"

Shran's antennae were relaxed and moving gently. "Archer! Let us drink to good friends!"

Knowing that the Andorian would likely ignore Sontek, he stated, "Shran, I am more than Archer now. Sontek is with me as well. I would appreciate being called Jontek."

The Andorian considered that. "Hmmm. I guess I do owe you one. Jontek it is."

Sontek observed, "He does keep score."

Jon explained, "Well, yeah. Sort of, but it's just his way. He doesn't mean anything by it."

"Do you make friends this easily with other species?"

"I guess, but I also seem to attract more than my share of enemies."

"Thank you, Shran."

"Now, let's get to this Andorian Ale." The antennae indicated that this concept was of great importance.

"Vulcans usually don't drink alcoholic beverages," Sontek stated cautiously.

"I know, but this is his tradition. We need to honor it." Jon decided throwing caution to the wind.

Sontek acquiesced. "I warn you, I don't know how it will affect me."

Shran poured out two glasses and pushed one to Jontek. He took it and raised the glass to Shran before taking a small sip.

Shran stared at him. "You used to drink our ale with more gusto."

Jontek stated plainly, "I used to be Human."

"You have a point. Still, Andorian Ale should be consumed, not tasted."

Sontek gave it one last try. "You're sure you want me to do this?"

"Yeah. Shran is my friend. I want to share some time with him."

Jontek took an actual drink this time. He noted how the ale burned the back of his throat.

Shran approved, his antennae wiggling happily. "That's more like it! Here's to getting reacquainted."

"So, Shran. How is your family?"

"They are well, Pink Skin. My daughter is already in the Children's Guards, although my wife insisted that she go into the medical side. She figures that way our daughter will always be saving life instead of taking it." Shran called out a toast to the Guard.

"She is a wise woman." Jontek took another drink of the ale. Shran topped off his glass.

"So, tell me, Pink Skin. Is some thing going on between you and T'Pol?"

Jontek was started to have some trouble seeing. "What…what do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. Should be pretty easy now. Now that you're Vulcan." He raised a toast to the fact that Jontek and T'Pol were both Vulcan.

Jontek took another draw of the potent brew. His head tilted as he realized he could now see two of Shran rather than one.

Shran was hailed from his ship. A view appeared of a rather stately Andorian. "Tenyes! What do you need?"

"There are two more ships approaching. I was wondering when there will be enough compound for them to load." Shran looked over to Jontek, who seemed to be having some difficulty focusing. "How long, Pink Skin?"

"I don' know. Maybe 'bout an hour." The alcohol seemed to cause the merged being to separate. Jon found that he was not able to able to speak when Sontek was engaged, and for the moment, Sontek was in charge of what was said.

"Let them know, Tenyes. Shran out." He turned to Jontek. She's quite a chan isn't she?"

"Chan?"

"Yes, an androgynous male who turns easily into a female."

"Like a Drag Queen?"

Jon with a low warning growl, thought, "Don't go there, Sontek!"

"What is a Drag Queen?"

Sontek was confused and the ale wasn't helping him. "Go where?"

Sontek's words were coming out slower and with a pronounced slur. "Thas what Jon called the Earth male dat dressed up like an Earth woman who he kissssed."

"What the hell did you tell him that for?"

"Archer likes chan? I never knew!"

"Great, now Shran knows about this too! Anyone else you want to tell?"

"Huh?"

"Sontek, you're drunk," the words held disgust.

"This is what drunk is?"

"Yes."

"I don't like it." Jontek stumbled up and ran to the bathroom. He lost all of the contents of his stomach. Before Jon could say anything more to Sontek, Jontek passed out.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

Sontek awoke to find himself in their sleeping quarters. The head ache thing was back. He tried to stand up but the room started spinning. Continuing to lay back down, he realized that Jon was behind shields. "Jon?" At first there was no answer, but then he felt the shields lower.

Finally an annoyed, "What?"

Sontek's senses were still somewhat hazy, "What happened?"

Jon was surprised. "You don't remember?"

"All I know is we have that head ache thing back again. Can we call T'Pol to bring us a hypospray? I can't stand up."

Jon started to answer but then changed gears, "Uh, sure…I can't believe you told Shran that! Shran, of all people!"

Sontek tried to remember, but his memory of the previous night was blank. "What did I tell Shran?"

"About the mistaken identity. I told you to forget that."

"Oh, you mean the Drag Queen."

"Yeah. And the first chance you get, you tell Shran."

"Well, it was your idea to drink the Andorian Ale. I told you I didn't know how it would affect me."

Archer knew from conversations with Shran that Andorians had a rather extensive sexual palette to work off of. Instead of just two sexes, there were Blendings that could actually change from one to the other either through nature or by choice. It was a confusing species and Jon usually just put that to the back of his mind as knowledge that was best left shelved.

Jon didn't have any problems with adults making their own choices as to how to live their lives. He certainly didn't hold any animosity towards the Drag Queen. It just wasn't his choice. As soon as he'd realized that things were not as they appeared, he'd grabbed Trip and they'd gotten the hell out of Dodge. Trip had thought the whole thing was hysterically funny and he'd let A.G. and Becca in on it. Jon had seen the episode as potentially damaging to his career and had threatened the three of them with bodily harm if they didn't keep their mouths shut. When they realized he was serious, they complied.

Now the potential for the story to take on a life of its own had been reached. He didn't know how to approach this with Shran. Do nothing, and God only knew what Shran would do with his newly acquired knowledge. Say something and Shran was likely to either use it to embarrass him or say nothing and see it as another point on his score card.

Still, he had only himself to blame. He'd asked Becca to pull something out of their past that only he would know to prove to her who he was. Could he blame her for choosing the incident that she knew no one else would know and that he'd never tell? And Sontek was right; he'd been the one to push Sontek into drinking the Andorian Ale. What was he thinking? He hadn't drunk nary a drink in the eight months he'd lived in Sontek's body, much less Andorian Ale. The truth of the statement "loose lips sink ships" came to mind.

Jon sighed. "I know, Sontek. It's just this is something that I never wanted to see the light of day, and now, well, with Shran knowing about it, it will probably be on a rolling marquis for everyone to see."

Sontek apologized. "I'm sorry."

"Its okay, Sontek. You weren't yourself. Let's see if you can stand up now."

They gave it a try and while things were still not quite back to normal, they were able to make their way to the medical cabinet and obtain a Vulcan analgesic. Relief was delivered almost immediately. Jontek left his room to see if there was anything he could do to help T'Pol.

He found her at the engineering/navigation console, entering code. He found the bond was not present. "What are you doing?"

"We have delivered enough of the compound necessary to address the Andorian worlds affected. I have indicated that we will address the first planet, Rowtorn. There are no Andorian survivors on that planet. I felt we should address the situation there."

Rowtorn had only been settled a few years before this sinister plot had been launched so there were few populated areas. However, since it had been the earliest hit, the population there had been eradicated. Of 2000 plus Andorians, not a single one was still alive. Everyone had had to drink the water, everyone had been poisoned.

The Andorian ship hailed them again. Shran's face appeared in the viewscreen. "Let us meet back here after we deliver the compounds. There is still much to discuss."

"Uh, Shran, about last night…"

"No more will be said about it. T'Pol has explained your situation."

Jon was confused. "How did T'Pol know? Did you tell her too? How in the heck did she….?"

"I'm sure T'Pol learned it though our bond."

"Thanks, Shran."

"Although, I do want to hear the story in more detail. But that is for another time and another bottle of Ale."

Jontek was non-committal on either concept.

The two ships headed off to do what they could to alleviate any more Andorian suffering. Jontek wasn't looking forward to the next reunion with Shran. If he knew one thing for certain, it was that Shran would never let this go.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

Jontek piloted the scout ship down to Rowtorn. Entering the atmosphere, he could see the settlements that had held a thriving Andorian population up until the water supply had been compromised. As they exited their ship, Jontek and T'Pol were shocked by what they saw. There was evidence of mass graves as the bodies had piled up. At the end, no one was left to bury the dead, so those last lay where they had died. Fortunately, there were not many of the latter. Still, it was an eerie sight to behold.

It didn't take much time for the compound to do its work. Before long, Jontek and T'Pol had treated all of the contaminated water supplies. Jontek and T'Pol buried the bodies of they found, wanting to provide those Andorians with the dignity of a final resting place.

They had just left orbit, somber and quiet. Jon had headed back to secure the equipment in the cargo hold. Now that the compound had been distributed, they didn't need to make any more. Shutting things down would mean power wasn't being diverted unnecessarily. T'Pol had the bridge and noted they were being approached. She saw there were several Vulcan ships on an intercept. She knew she had stolen the ship they were using. It was likely that this was the Vulcan government's response to that act. She hailed them.

It was a surprise when S'Bont's face appeared in the viewscreen. "Do you know what you have done?"

"Yes. We have put a stop to this genocide."

"You have condemned Vulcan to war. If we had been able to remove all the Andorians, it would have been a bloodless victory."

"What about the Andorians who died? I wouldn't call that bloodless."

"T'Pol. You have been with the komihn too much. You have taken their perverted view of the galaxy and believed it. Vulcan must be more than just another planet in a Federation. We should be the rulers. We should assure that logic prevails. There is a reason Andorians need to be eradicated. They do not truly seek peace. They would find away to destroy Vulcan. I will not allow that to happen. We will destroy them first."

"S'Bont. Your argument is illogical. It is based on false premises. The Federation is the right way to go. It is the extrapolation of the IDIC. It is following Surak's way."

"T'Pol. I can not let you or Jontek continue. Prepare to be boarded."

"No."

"Then you will be destroyed."

At those words T'Pol took immediate action. Moving the ship quickly meant that the volley S'Bont's ship had fired hit a glancing blow on the ship. She put the ship into warp, pushing it to its limits. She felt the bond as Jontek tried to understand what was going on after being thrown around the cargo hold without warning.

"What's going on, T'Pol?"

"We are under attack."

"By who?"

"S'Bont and his associates."

"Where are they? How many ships?"

"Likely they are following us. I do not expect to be able to outrun them for long. They have three ships. All S'Nara class."

"Damn! I'll be right there and see if I can get us some help."

Jon entered the bridge area and immediately went to the communications center and put out a distress call. He hoped that Shran would hear it and send reinforcements.

As they continued to their rendezvous point, T'Pol monitored the progress of their pursuers. "I believe they will catch us within 15 minutes."

"Anything we can use to hide?"

"There is a small asteroid field in range, but it is unlikely to buy us much time.."

"Head for it. Any port in a storm." He stopped and looked to T'Pol, his heart breaking. "You shouldn't have come with me, T'Pol. We aren't likely to get out of this."

"I told you, I won't leave you. And if there's one thing I've learned being with you, it's that you never know how things will turn out. There is still hope."

They prepared as best they could, knowing full well that their scout ship was no match for three S'Nara Class ships. Their only hope was to have the Andorians help. At this point, it was a crapshoot as to what the outcome would be, but it didn't look good.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

The shields of the ship were holding but barely. They had little weapon capability but used what they could to provide whatever protection they could. T'Pol had taken the tactic of blowing up asteroids to provide as much cover as possible and to take the brunt of the blows that were being rained upon them.

A particularly large blast hit the ship, causing the ceiling of the bridge to fall. Jontek was to the back, monitoring communications and doing his best to provide more power to the shields. He knew that T'Pol was an able pilot and her ability to tactically think under pressure would give them at least a fighting chance. He heard the sound of the blast followed by the sight of the ceiling and beams falling directly onto T'Pol.

"T'Pol!"

There was no answer.

"Oh God, T'Pol!" He rushed over to where he seen her, just before the ceiling had covered any trace of her. His despair was overwhelming

Sontek's mental words were soft. "She's not dead, Jon."

He felt a spark of hope. "How do you know?"

"The bond is still there. It's weaker but it's still there."

"Then we've got to get this stuff off of her."

With that, the merged man, unconcerned about the battle around him anymore, pulled at the devastation around him. If nothing else, if they were to die, he wanted it to be in each other's arms.