Chapter Four
As the Federation Enterprise's computers were far superior to her own, being more than a century advanced in technology, T'Pol had agreed with Spock to retire to his quarters to work on the problem of the anomaly. There was no question of impropriety as Spock was not only bonded, but a member of her own family. She did find it however a bit unsettling that her grand nephew was older than she was. Spock wasn't that much older, only a decade, but she still found it unsettling. While T'Pau was the eldest of their parent's children and she the youngest, her sister had only given birth to her nephew Sarak twenty years ago!
They sat facing one another across a desk fitted with two terminals, his configured for his own use and her configured for his bondmate's. The advances in technology were enough that she found herself suppressing feelings of intimidation as she was aware that this computer had not been upgraded. 'Spock is this ship's Science Officer and it is only logical to be slower due to the differences in technology,' she told herself. The thought did not help her feelings of inadequacy no matter how hard she tried to suppress them, especially as they both occupied the same positions on their respective ships, Science Officer and First Officer.
Spock knew that T'Pol would be unaware of her bond with the human engineer as it was too weak at this time to register in her conscious mind. He had the responsibility of informing her as he was the first telepath to become aware of it. More importantly, she was his father's mother's sister and it was something that she should be told from a member of her family. He decided that the best way to break the news to her would be to be blunt. As there had never been a bonding of this kind before in this universe she would need to have evidence. "T'Pol, I have personal information that you require. It is one of the reasons that I asked you to work in my quarters at this time."
T'Pol considered this for a moment, not taking her eyes off of the sensory readings that she was analyzing. There was only one response that she could give. "Within the family is silence," she said in Vulcan. She was referring to the Vulcan tradition that anything personal said within the family was ever repeated to outsiders or even to each other unless it was absolutely necessary.
Spock nodded; he knew that she would listen now. "My psi rating is very high, high enough that had I wished I could have been accepted at the temple as a mind healer. What I knew of family history caused me enough concern for your health that I checked to see if your situation was the same as my universe's T'Pol. It is the same. You and Commander Tucker share a Pudvel-tor katelau tel." (literal translation: chosen mate bond)
T'Pol froze for a fraction of a second before returning to her analysis. "That is not possible, Commander Tucker is Human. Our relationship is also far too confrontational to make such a situation possible."
"Your bond with Commander Tucker is the first such bond in this universe but it is possible to have a Pudvel-tor katelau tel with a non-Vulcan. There are four such bonded pairs living on Vulcan in my universe. Two of those pairs are Human/Vulcan pairings. Having a confrontational relationship with a Human does not preclude friendship with that Human, nor does it preclude the possibility of bonding with that Human. Dr. McCoy and I have just such a friendship, although I would never wish to be bonded with him," Spock admitted.
"The first successful genetic engineering of a child between two spouses of differing species was first achieved sixty years ago. The oldest Vulcan/Human hybrid was born fifty years ago and has successfully passed into adulthood with little more than the expected difficulty that any sentient experiences at that time." He did not bother to explain that the sentient in question was himself, nor how his betrothed's rejection had resulted in his becoming bonded with his Captain. It wasn't completely unprecedented after all, just rare.
T'Pol paused the display she was reading. This was a far more important matter at the moment and deserved her direct attention. The analysis could be taken care of by another portion of her mind. "You are certain of your facts?" she asked. She did not bother to ask why he had included the information on genetically engineered children. To anyone who knew the facts of Vulcan biology the reason was obvious.
Spock nodded. "The T'Pol and Commander Trip of my universe died of complications of Pon Farr. No one was aware of their bond until it was too late. That is the reason that I opened my awareness to discover if you were bonded or not and if it was to Commander Tucker. Doctor McCoy is aware of the situation and has offered to engineer children for you and Commander Tucker as his duties are light at this time."
And they were light because of the five seriously wounded crewmen; all were now in stable condition and well on their way to recovery. The only thing Dr. McCoy was doing was exchanging medical knowledge with Dr. Phlox and making regular check ups on his patients. His exact words were when the situation had been explained to him were, "Get those two in here!" He had then turned around and began giving detailed information to Dr. Phlox about Vulcan/Human mating, pregnancies and expected growth of hybrid offspring that he could think of.
"When my mother told me of the possibility of the Pudvel-tor katelau tel she said that those who are blessed with it are drawn to meld with their bondmate. I have felt no such compulsion." T'Pol pointed out as she looked over the desk at Spock.
"The bond is recent and currently is no stronger than a betrothal bond. I could find no other trace of a bond. As it grows stronger the compulsion will begin. From the strength of the bond at this time and the length of time you have served on board the Enterprise, I was estimate that the bond began to form from your first physical contact with Commander Tucker," Spock said. "I would estimate that you should begin to feel the compulsion to meld in one year, three months and six days."
"Commander Tucker should be made aware of this situation," she said. She had no idea of how he would react. She turned back to her duties to give her time to consider the situation. While they had become better acquainted since she had decided to stay on board Enterprise rather than return to Vulcan to marry Koss, he still confused her frequently. Her thought of Koss reminded her that Spock had said that he could find no trace of her betrothal bond to him. She was hard pressed to suppress a sigh of relief. Even though she found Commander Tucker to be overly emotional, stubborn and possessing a rather strong personal smell, bonding with him would be far preferable to bonding with Koss. She found thoughts of Koss to be distasteful. Bonding with any male of any species would be preferable to bonding with Koss. She was fortunate that this situation would release her with no insult to either of their families.
"Captain Kirk is planning on informing him. As Jim is my bondmate, we felt that he would be the most appropriate person to give Commander Tucker the information. He has also informed your Captain that the two of you are bonded as you will need to see a Vulcan mind healer as soon as possible so that your bond may documented. He allowed Captain Archer to draw his own conclusions as to why our T'Pol and Charles Tucker died."
T'Pol considered the information. "That is logical." As long as she did not meld with Commander Tucker before she was seen by a healer, the healer could confirm that she had made no attempt to bond with him. That would make the Humans more comfortable with the situation. The Vulcan people would find the situation fascinating, she did not doubt. If she truly was bonded to Trip in this manner, then all of Vulcan would have to adjust their thinking about the Humans. She and Commander Tucker however would be spared the intense scrutiny of two worlds. They would be staying on Enterprise. The Pudvel-tor katelau tel would demand that she remain with her chosen mate until they wed and the bond was finalized. No one would dare to interfere with two who were thus bonded.