Thank you all for your reviews! They really keep me motivated to write, though I'm a bit slow due to rl-business at the moment.
Ahlysha: Those are interesting questions and you inspired me to write more about telepathy. There isn't that much in this chapter, but I'll build in more gradually...
Jamille Shane: hehe, indeed...the doctors aren't in this chapter, but I'll find some ocassions to bring them back later on...
IrishBug74, Loretta Jean & Cassie: Thanks!
Chapter 24 – Family Meetings
Irina felt a mixture of joy and apprehension when she went to landing pad 6 to fetch her mother and sister. The place was crowded with people carrying big bags waiting for their flight to earth. It was always like this on Friday evenings, many of the station's personnel spend their weekends on earth. Some even shuttle daily between earth and Jupiter station.
Irina looked at the screen every minute or so and after a few minutes of waiting she saw the column for landing pad 6 switch from 'approaching' to 'landing'. After another couple of minutes the doors opened and a few people walked onto the station. Irina instantly spotted them. Olga stood out in her colorful clothing in combination with her green dyed hair while her mother was wearing the usual outdoor outfit of mostly olive green and the type of boots she would need on the surface of a harsh planet, but not on a space station. They both looked happy and healthy and pulled Irina in a tight hug.
'Where's Soltek?' Olga asked smiling.
'He'll join us at dinner,' Irina replied, 'but first I'll show you your guest quarters.'
'How did the talk with his parents go?' her mother asked concerned while they walked along the corridors.
'Not well,' Irina said, 'but they haven't decided yet if they will disinherit him or something. Have they called you?'
'No,' Irina's mother said frowning, 'but we'll do our best if they do.'
'Thanks, mum,' Irina said truly grateful that her mother cared about Soltek's situation and put her hand on her mother's shoulder.
Dinner with Soltek and half of Irina's family went reasonably well. Olga seemed to have taken a liking for Soltek, at least because she could confuse him easily with 'illogical' human phrases. She got a lot of fun out of him. Olga also started to tease him with uncomfortable questions when she realized with delight how easily he could be made to blush, but Irina kicked her under the table.
This didn't get unnoticed by Soltek, who looked slightly shocked at Irina. Irina remembered that Soltek could pick up her thoughts and imagined tapping her comm badge to talk to him like the Vulcan doctor had instructed them in sickbay. 'She's just being a brat and trying to tease you, she does it with me all the time,' she told him in her imagination.
The way he looked at her Irina could tell he had gotten the message. She grinned, this was great, like having a secret comm channel nobody knew about...
'Sometimes she doesn't know when to stop and needs a little kick in the ass,' Irina said over their bond smiling slightly, 'but the way we behave is normal for human siblings, don't be disturbed by it'.
When she turned back to look at her mother and sister they were both watching them, but quickly diverted their attention back to their plates, her mother was repressing a chuckle while Olga giggled. Soltek and Irina had obviously put up quite a cute enamored-couple-display from her mother's and sister's point of view.
Irina decided to keep this telepathic-bond thing to themselves for the time being. At least until she had figured it out enough for herself and Soltek was okay to talk about it. - Well, that might take a while, Irina mused, he was still slightly worked up about their premarital activities...
They talked a lot about life on the moon and Soltek answered all their questions about Vulcan culture. Then they went over to explain life and work on Jupiter station and making plans on how to spend the weekend together.
The evening was over much more quickly than Irina would have thought and she walked with Soltek to his quarters because she wanted to spend some time alone with him before going to sleep.
'That went well enough,' Irina said after the door of Soltek's quarters closed behind them.
'Your mother and sister are quite...unique,' Soltek said diplomatically.
'I think they would say the same about you,' Irina replied with a smile and leaned forward to give him a short kiss on the mouth.
He looked at her while she put her hands around his waist. 'You want to try the exercise the doctor has suggested this morning' he stated.
She smiled, 'you're getting quite good in reading my mind,' she started giving him a deep kiss.
'The exercise doesn't require physical touch,' Soltek said after taking a breath.
'Okay,' she said patting him playfully on the chest and pulling away.
They both settled down on the floor on his meditation mat facing each other.
'Are you ready?' he asked.
She nodded and they both closed their eyes. After a moment she gasped, 'I feel you!'
'Stay concentrated,' he said calmly, 'what do you perceive from me?'
A smile spread over her face and she giggled, 'you're caressing my fingers.' Then she concentrated.
Now Soltek gasped and started to take deep breaths.
'Do you feel what I'm doing?' Irina asked smiling.
'Ha, olau nash-veh,' Soltek nearly moaned.
Irina giggled, 'I'm starting to learn Vulcan.'
The exercise was interrupted when Soltek was over her and started to plant kisses under her ear trailing down her neck.
She was on Vulcan again, but this time she was caught in the middle of a sandstorm and she could barely see where she was going. Fortunately the sand didn't get into her eyes, because she was wearing a helmet. She heard Soltek call her name, but she couldn't see him and had no sense of direction because his call echoed oddly in her helmet. She couldn't tell from where he was calling or how far he was away.
'Soltek!' she called back, 'where are you?'.
'I'm here!' he answered, but she still had no idea from which direction he was shouting. She tried to remove the helmet, but it wouldn't get off her head. She struggled getting desperate.
Then she woke up with a start. Soltek was lying right next to her in his darkened quarters. He opened his eyes slightly, but then closed them again and went back to sleep. Irina snuggled against him and he sleepily put his arms around her.
The next morning Soltek was in the middle of his meditation routine after Irina had gone to her quarters to shower when his comm station beeped.
The signal came from the Vulcan embassy on Romulus.
'My aunt,' Soltek said and realized his voice had raised a higher pitch than intended.
'Soltek,' she said warmly and smiled. She looked slightly older than the last time he had seen her and she was wearing her pitch-black hair differently, it was long and open falling down to her shoulders. Her style of clothing was also different. It wasn't the Romulan military uniforms he had seen on occasional encounters with Romulan warbirds, but some kind of Romulan civilian clothing. It was more closer to Vulcan civilian clothing than the leisure clothing he had seen on the humans of the station, but it was much heavier on triangles than Vulcan style, which always tries to achieve a balance between edges and round forms.
He must have displayed his surprise at her appearance and emotional expression, because she chuckled and said: 'I have startled you, that wasn't my intention. Living on Romulus made me pick up some Romulan habits, especially when I talk to family members. I can switch to Vulcan mode, if you are more comfortable with that.'
'I meant no disrespect my aunt,' he said seriously.
She smiled more subtle, 'no offense taken.'
'I ask for forgiveness for the long silence between us,' he paused shortly, 'I know there is no way to compensate for my ignorant behavior towards you, but I would be very honored if you might be inclined to conduct regular communication again.'
'Such a formal Vulcan apology while doing something your very formal Vulcan family might call you a traitor for,' she stated softly raising an eyebrow and still smiled slightly.
Soltek paused for a moment unsure of what to say.
'I've learned that there are some possibilities different from the traditions of our family, but still in agreement with logic,' he said.
She smiled wider, obviously in amusement, 'what made you change your mind?'
'I've got to know members of different species since I transfered to Jupiter station,' Soltek said carefully.
'You mentioned a human woman in your letter,' his aunt stated warmly and he was able to detect more amusement in her voice.
'Her name is Irina,' Soltek said after a short pause and his voice dropped slightly as if he didn't want to be overheard.
'You are in disagreement with your parents and clan head about this?' she asked like she already suspected the answer.
'Indeed,' Soltek said, 'there is disagreement because I have asked her to be my mate without their consent beforehand.'
'I can only conclude that they haven't changed since I saw them the last time,' she replied.
'Actually they have become more lenient in some aspects,' Soltek said, 'they might have reluctantly tolerated her if we had proceeded strictly according to traditional Vulcan protocols.'
Now his aunt's eyebrows climbed much higher than Soltek had ever seen them go.
'Soltek, what does that mean?' she asked smiling with a twinkle in her eye.
He paused with visible discomfort.
'I'm not judging you,' she added calmly, 'you surprised me. You were so eager not to give your parents any reason to disapprove of your choice to join Starfleet although they did from the very day on you told them of your plans.' She looked at him as if seizing him up and then smiled, 'I should have known you had it in you though, you were such a spirited and adventurous child. I remember when I took you to the conference on Betazed.'
'My father lectured me about emotional species for weeks after that,' he replied.
'And he never forgave me for not informing him about my plans when I offered you to do your 5th grade internship at the VMIC,' she replied, 'but what's an internship at the Ministry of Interstellar Cooperation without interstellar cooperation?'
'I appreciate what you did for me,' he said, 'and as someone who has encountered several different species, I can assess now that Betazed is safe enough to take a 9-year-old to, but you know how my parents are.'
She sighed, 'that may be as it is, but tell me more about your human friend.'
'She grew up on earth's moon and works in astrometrics. She is in Starfleet and has the same rank as me. We met when we started to work on a joint project between my division and hers,' he said.
She paused, then said: 'I don't know that much about humans, but the way they show their emotions must be a challenge for you.'
Soltek nodded, 'human procedures are somewhat different from Vulcan's. They conduct a longer period of courting and familiarization before they bond permanently. This period can range from several months to several years, the couple conducts something like a trial bond which is supposed to assure their compatibility before they make a permanent decision.'
'Sounds logical to me,' his aunt said in a good mood.
Soltek looked at her as if he expected more of an answer than that.
'So your parents are displeased because this familiarization process entails more than introducing each other to your families...I guess there are some distasteful emotional activities involved,' she said with irony.
'Yes,' Soltek said tonelessly, 'an indulgence in emotionalism on my part is not a necessary consequence though, I work very hard to stay in control of my emotions.'
'I'm not questioning you,' his aunt said softly, 'but I have the impression that this subject gives you a lot to think about.'
'Indeed,' Soltek replied, but he wasn't comfortable to talk about details.
'It used to bother me when I started to get closer to Mandal,' she replied, 'but a lot of my Vulcan preconceptions have changed since then and I am still in control of my emotions, I haven't gone crazy or violent or betrayed the Vulcan people, if that is what your parents made you believe.'
'It is of no consequence what they say of you, my aunt, I trust you,' Soltek replied.
She smiled, 'I have leave coming in two weeks and I've already made arrangements to visit Vulcan with my son and daughter because they wanted to see it. We could make a detour to earth and meet there if you like...or I could visit you on the station while Velara and Jalok stay on earth,' she said. 'I think bringing two Romulans to a Starfleet installation with security watching over their every move wouldn't be much of a holiday for all of us, but they already got permission to visit Federation space and I think a detour to earth won't be a problem,' she added.
'I accept your proposal and think it is best to meet you on earth, that way I have the opportunity to get to know my cousins,' Soltek said.
'That's wonderful, Soltek!' his aunt beamed, 'and please bring Irina with you, I'd like to get to know her. I'll talk with Velara and Jalok and then get back to you.'
'I am looking forward to it,' Soltek replied.
They bid farewell with the Vulcan hand greeting.
Ha, olau nash-veh: Yes, I feel it (Special thanks to the Vulcan Language Dictionary from a website called 'Starbase 10')
I have to work out where the story with Soltek's aunt goes, so it might take a while to post the next chapter, but it will come...so stay tuned!