Star Trek TOS:
"Custody"
by
Daniel J. Lane
Vorek inhaled the night. Dry warmth bloomed inside his lungs. His ears heard nothing but the sound of his own respiration, a whisper in time with his slowed heartbeat. In his mind a question, softly asked, ran again and again: Can the wind feel its own breath, Can the wind feel its own breath,
Can the wind feel its own-
His teeth came together with a harsh click. He shook his head.
This was pointless. He could not retain his concentration.
He got up from his modest perch, folded his arms carefully behind his back and walked to the open doorway. He found himself wishing his own mind was as cloudless as the red-black sky above.
A vague sense of unease had shadowed him all day, but he could not divine why. His affairs were in order, as always. Those familiar to him prospered and were in respectable health. His career as deputy administrator for the local prefecture maintained its honorable course. His daughter would soon form the initial bond with her chosen mate, who himself promised to be an exemplary logician. And it was an era of considerable promise for his race.
But not all was right. No, indeed.
"Perhaps it is better to sleep than to meditate," he said aloud.
A sound conclusion. He would have a new viewpoint at sunrise.
Somewhat settled by this thought and certain he could review the matter with clearer logic tomorrow, he turned toward his bedchamber.
That was when the screaming began.
###
Captain's Log, Star Date 3118.6: First Officer Spock, Doctor
McCoy and I have arrived on Vulcan. We are being
escorted through a labyrinth of passages into the heart of
a mountain complex. I don't know what this solemn, empty
place is and I don't know why we were summoned. Starfleet
Command has offered only a warning to maintain radio silence.
I am uneasy with the situation. As Chief Engineer Scott
maintains command of the Enterprise, I am forced to wonder
what unspoken events call us here.
Tall and dour, Constable Tem led them along a seemingly endless corridor. His footfalls were soundless, his movements fluid, his dark robe somber. He was enigmatic and imposing, like the massive complex itself.
"We've been walking forever," McCoy said. "Would it kill them to install a turbolift?"
"Bones, please."
Miraculously, McCoy shut up.
Kirk hated being so sparsely informed. He hated worrying about his ship when there was nothing for him to focus his worry on. He hated not knowing what to do.
Without turning around, Tem calmly stated, "Your questions will soon be answered."
Kirk was startled. Vulcans had limited telepathic abilities. In all but the rarest cases they had to touch a being before probing its mind. Even then a Vulcan would not do such a thing without permission.
"It is not telepathy, Captain. Were I you at the present time, my mind would be rife with questions." Again, Tem did not turn around. All Kirk could see was that shroud-like robe and the back of his shaved head.
A moment later the constable came to an abrupt stop at a closed, unmarked door. Unbidden, it slid open. Tem turned to them. "Your answers lie within," he said.
Kirk stepped past Tem into a small, dimly lit room. Spock and McCoy followed. Cut into the far wall was a long piece of glass. Through it Kirk could see a larger room, padded from floor to ceiling. Inside, a young girl, thin and trembling, leaned against one soft wall. Her face was buried in the crook of one elbow and her raven black hair was wild and shining with sweat. She was extremely pale, from her bare feet to the tips of her pointed ears. She wore only a thin white robe.
"This is the answer," Kirk wondered aloud, "a Vulcan child?"
"Not Vulcan," Tem said from behind him. "Romulan."
The captain had his communicator out instantly . "Kirk to Enterprise. Come in, Scotty." No reply. Kirk boosted the gain. "Kirk to Enterprise. Scotty, do you read me?"
"This complex is protected against unauthorized communication. You must not contact your ship. It is for the girl's protection."
If there was any emotion on Tem's face - defiance, condescension, anything at all - Kirk couldn't spot it.
"If there are Romulans involved, I have to warn my crew."
"I am in constant contact with the Defense Ministry. There are no Romulan vessels currently in orbit, cloaked or otherwise."
Kirk knew better than to underestimate the Romulans, but he could not make demands of a Vulcan official without more cause. The notion of his ship circling in space with its crew blind to a potential Romulan threat gnawed at his gut, but he would have to remain diplomatic, at least for now.
"You have ten minutes," Kirk finally told him, "then I contact the Enterprise."
"Acceptable. You have been told nothing?"
"Starfleet Command was not forthcoming."
"As it should be. The Romulans are not here, but they will come. The fewer who know, the better. Starfleet itself has been given only the most meager information."
"I find it compelling you have contacted Starfleet at all," Spock said.
Tem regarded Spock approvingly. "It is fortunate you have come, Spock. Had you not been with the landing party, I would have insisted on your presence. Your experience will be of special use."
"It is an honor to meet you, Master Tem."
The older, taller Vulcan looked a bit surprised. "You know who I am?"
"You are not a simple constable. Yours is often called the most astute mind on Vulcan."
"Surely that accolade belongs to your father. But the title of my office is constable, so there I did not mislead you."
"Ten minutes, gentlemen," Kirk reminded.
McCoy had drifted over to the observation window. His right hand pressed gently on the glass, as though he might reach through it and brush the girl's forehead. "That poor girl looks like she's suffering some type of withdrawal. Whatever you're doing for her, it's not enough."
"Her father is with her. He is tending to her needs."
"Father?" Kirk looked closer. There was someone else in the padded room, a man, clearly exhausted, bundled into one corner. Kirk had initially taken his hungry and wasted form to be a pile of discarded clothing. "Romulan?"
"No. He is Vorek, a local official. He has believed her to be his daughter since the incident on the Persegene Moon."
"If I recall," Spock said, "The Persegene Moon research outpost was struck by a meteorite while its shielding was down."
Tem offered a single nod. "Vorek had been tending his duties here. His wife had been project leader at the outpost. She had given birth to T'ena only three weeks prior to the disaster. The meteorite had been no larger than a kholi nut, but traveling at one-hundred ninety thousand kilometers an hour, it had punctured the outer shell of the outpost and ripped through the inside. Everyone in the central unit was killed by explosive decompression or was simply pulverized by the meteorite itself, including Vorek's wife.
"T'ena was in a nursery several kilometers from the impact site. The two medics on duty rushed off to help the others, assuming, as they naturally would, that the child was safe. We believe that is when the substitution occurred."
"You believe the Vulcan infant was removed and replaced with a Romulan?" McCoy asked.
"We are certain of it. Standard procedure on Vulcan is to screen for genetic abnormalities while the child is still a fetus, then again immediately post partum. The child was known to be healthy - and Vulcan - two weeks prior to the disaster. If no complications arise during a child's rearing, his or her genetic material is not scanned again. The Romulans must have known this. It is now clear the disaster on the Persegene Moon was no cosmic accident."
McCoy looked flabbergasted. "For creation's sake, why?"
"Step this way."
Tem led them to a small console. He pressed a button and a three-dimensional bioscan of a Vulcan brain appeared on a nearby viewscreen. Each lobe - and the Vulcan brain boasted one more than a human's - was rendered in remarkable detail.
"This is a typical Vulcan brain. Like a human brain, it reaches adult size, but not capacity, by age three."
Tem hit another button. A remarkably similar brain appeared on the screen. "This is a matured Romulan brain. You will note the smaller superfrontal lobe. Otherwise, identical to the Vulcan brain. As you must know, there is less than one millionth of a percent difference between Romulan and Vulcan DNA."
Tem paused a moment, as if to let that sink in. Then he pushed another button on the console. "This," he said, "is T'ena's brain."
The image was startling. It was clearly a Romulan brain, but one trapped in a web of filaments and circuitry. There were countless nodes - countless - on the filaments, and visible bioelectric energy sizzled along the filigreed paths between them. At the base of the skull, at the beginning of what would be the medulla oblongata in a human, was a tiny junction box. Multifarious filaments twined together into braids that ended at this box.
Kirk could barely take it in. One did not expect to see such a thing woven into living tissue. He was no expert, but he knew that cybernetics on this scale inevitably destroyed the host.
"What is it," he whispered, both awed and sickened.
"It is a conveyance of pre-programmed behavioral norms."
"Say that again."
Spock answered. "To use Earth vernacular, captain, it is a portable brainwashing machine."
McCoy's whispered. "That poor child-"
"That is not all of it," Tem cut it. "When the child began exhibiting strange behavioral patterns four days ago, our first bioscans missed this. It was only after treatment began that some of the circuits overloaded and the device became visible."
None of the Enterprise officers spoke.
"What I am saying, gentlemen, is that it was cloaked, with the device being powered by T'ena's own biochemical energy."
###
Pavel Chekhov, the new navigator, looked at his chronometer, then at various members of the bridge crew, then back at the chronometer again. Chief Engineer Scott could almost read his frantic mind: No one seems worried. No one has said anything, but someone must. Am I the only one who notices? Will I look like a fool if I say something?
"Relax, laddy," Scott said.
The young Russian didn't seem to hear. His body was tense, clenched. He suddenly spun in his chair. "Sir, the landing party has not reported in."
"I know that, lad-"
"Seweral minutes have passed since standard report time."
"Aye," Scott sighed. "It would na' be the first time. They're on Vulcan, son, not the Klingon homeworld. The worse they're liable to suffer here is a mean case of sunburn."
"But protocol-"
"Protocol's got its place, and that's mostly in books."
"We should hail them!"
"At ease, ensign. I'll na' bother the captain 'til I have a bloody fine reason. Understood?"
Chekhov tried to stare the older officer down, but after a moment he simply turned away and glared at the forward view screen. "Aye, sir," he muttered.
Scott was tempted to taunt him a little, to say that you can't see the landing party from an orbital view, but the younger man needed to smolder, and so let him smolder.
"Mr. Scott," Chekhov called again.
"That's the end of it."
"No, sir, not the landing party. What is that?"
He was pointing at the viewscreen. Scott saw nothing but the cinnamon-colored bulk of Vulcan below them.
"Aye?"
"That wave of distortion. What is it?"
"Distortion? I dunna see anything, ensign."
"At bearing two-nineteen mark eight."
Scott looked again. Nothing at that bearing but space and the faint glow of Vulcan's atmosphere. The boy was imagining things, almost hoping for trouble, looking for something with which to redeem-
No, there it was, a barely perceptible wave in the star field, like a puddle of water shimmering in the heavens - but this puddle moved, and moved as though it was preparing for orbit.
"What in the name of Zephram Cochran...?" Scotty mumbled. "Do you see it, Sulu?"
The helmsman peered at the screen. "It looks almost like a thermal wave...but a visible thermal wave is impossible outside the atmosphere. I know I'm seeing it, but according to our scanners, there's nothing there."
"We see something that's not there," Scotty ventured slyly. "What does that get your mind to thinking?"
Sulu considered. "...If cloaking technology works by bending light, at this range a cloak would be disturbed by the planet's gravitational pull."
"Aye. Vulcan itself might be tugging the cover right off a Romulan beastie." His voice grew serious. "Go to yellow alert. Shields up. Uhura, open a channel to the captain."
"Trying, sir. Our hails are being bounced back at us by some kind of interference field. It's remarkably complex."
"Find a way to punch a hole in it, lieutenant. Captain Kirk would have my bonnie behind if I dinna invite him to this party."
###
McCoy was seething.
"You mean to tell me this little girl is wired to be a spy? The Romulans just turn their little gizmo on and she's Mata Hari?"
Spock nodded. "Or an assassin or a philosopher with subversive ideas. But clearly the Romulans had not intended to activate the device with the girl so young. It must have malfunctioned."
"Yes," Tem said. "Vorek had begun training her to mind meld, as is customary for a child about to form the primary bond with her future mate. The heightened neural condition activated the device, which had been laying dormant. Subsequent melds, used to treat her, caused it to overload and become visible. The Romulans are subordinate to their passions much of the time. They do not understand the discipline required of a purely logical mind, or the…confusion that can affect it at the time of Pon Farr. T'ena is not of mating age, of course, but choosing a mate is a consequential life moment."
"We can assume the Romulans have no practical experience in telepathic matters," Spock stated, "or they would have prepared for that contingency."
"Contingency! This isn't a contingency. This is a child," McCoy said. "And she's suffering. How do I get in that room?"
"I assure you, there is nothing you can do," Tem replied. "The device is too finely entwined to be removed."
"You say that so matter-of-factly," McCoy shot back. "You lock her in this basement and discuss the technical conundrum posed by this contraption, but what are you doing for her?"
"Our ways seem odd to you, McCoy, but we do not enjoy the suffering of any living being. She is kept in this complex to protect her from her own kind."
"Has it ever occurred to you that the Romulans just might figure out she's in that giant mountain complex with the big static field around it?"
"You are passionate, even for a human," Tem noted.
"Let me at least sedate her."
"Drug her," Tem said. "Toward what end? Better that she learn to deal with her condition with clear thoughts. Vorek mind melds with her as she becomes agitated. It calms her."
"And look at him! There's a man who needs a good meal, a warm bath and a warm bed."
"He does as is necessary. In essence, he is her father. He is the logical choice to assist her. We are Vulcans, doctor, and have far more stamina than humans."
Kirk had stepped away from the others to avoid the debate. He was intent on his own thoughts. The little girl's condition concerned him, but the implications of all this went much further than one child.
"If there is one, there could be many," he speculated aloud. "Not one Mata Hari, but hundreds. Perhaps just here on Vulcan now, but what about the future? What could the Romulans do with more time to develop this technology?"
"Precisely why you have been summoned, Captain," Tem said. "This incident is a Vulcan concern, but the matter itself is sweeping. We can defend ourselves well, if need be, but should the Romulans come, your ship has great symbolic value."
Kirk's eyes flared. "My ship-"
But before he could reach for his communicator, it chirped on its own. Kirk snatched it from his waistband. At first he heard nothing but hissing, crackling. Then the voice of his chief engineer worked its way through.
"Scott to Captain Kirk."
For a moment, just a moment, Tem looked utterly surprised.
"Scotty, keep your eyes sharp. Romulan-"
"Aye, Captain, they're here. Big as life, not five kilometers in front of us. They're cloaked, but we can make out a distortion wave."
"Enterprise's status?"
"Shields up, maintaining yellow alert."
"Status of the Romulans?"
"Maintaining geosynchronous orbit above your position."
"Stand by."
Kirk folded his communicator closed and drew Spock over to a corner. "The Romulans dared to come to Vulcan," he said with subdued amazement, "and they got here nearly as fast as we did."
"It is clear they were able to monitor telemetry from the device. The signal was interrupted and they responded. They must be here to divine whether or not we have learned of its existence."
Kirk thought for a moment. "But flying this close to a strong gravitational field in full view of a Federation starship? Pretty sloppy work."
"Perhaps concealment is not their priority."
"They're here for the hardware in that room," Kirk said, pointing through the glass. "They may not care how they get it."
"If they are in geosynchronous orbit," Spock said, "they know precisely where we are. Despite the shielding surrounding this keep, they may continue to receive signals from the device."
"I want to be as close to that girl as possible," Kirk stated. He turned to Tem. "Can we get in that room?"
Tem nodded. "But I caution you. Even now her period of quiescence comes to an end. She will become increasingly agitated, perhaps even dangerous. The Romulan technology has ignited all of her negative emotions."
"She's just a little girl," McCoy said.
"Even at seven she has nearly the strength of an adult human."
Tem crossed to the console where the scan of T'ena's brain continued to show. He moved a small lever. A previously seamless portion of the wall parted to give access to the other room.
"Finally," McCoy breathed. Medical bag in hand, he charged for the doorway. Tem halted him with an authoritative gesture.
"I implore you, doctor, do not medicate her. It is something we resist if other courses are available."
McCoy frowned. "Are other courses available?"
"I ask you to respect our ways."
McCoy searched Tem's eyes for a moment. They were dark, unreadable. But not cruel. "I'll do my best," he said.
Tem offered a slight nod. McCoy hurried to the girl's side.
"You will need to bring reinforcements here," Kirk told the old constable.
Tem sighed. It was almost a regretful sound. "The interference field is a physical barrier as well as a communications barrier. We lowered it to allow you to transport, then immediately raised it. I cannot collect reinforcements without dropping the barrier. If I drop the barrier, I expose the child to unchecked Romulan influence. What commands might they transmit to the child?"
"So we're on our own," Kirk said.
# # #
"The keptin has kept you on standby a wery long time," Chekhov said.
"Aye, lad. He'll call when he's ready."
Sulu's anxious voice broke in: "Romulan vessel de-cloaking! They are powering up weapons systems!"
"Red alert," Scott ordered. "Shields at maximum. Charge phaser banks."
"Aye sir."
On the viewscreen, the ghost-gray Romulan vessel materialized into full view. It was identical in design to the bird of prey Enterprise had encountered near the Neutral Zone last year: center disk with a squared off stern and two nacelles jutting out from the sides. Scotty could just make out the predatory bird painted onto vessel's underside.
-And he could also make out the swirling red plasma disc leaping from the ship's forward cannon.
At full power a single discharge of the weapon could obliterate an entire outpost. In its last encounter with the Romulans, the Enterprise had only just escaped destruction by fleeing such a disc at emergency warp speed. The weapon had caught up with the ship, but much of its energy had dissipated by the time it had slammed into the hull.
But the Romulan ship was too close this time, and the Enterprise was in orbit. If Scott attempted emergency warp speed here, the matter-antimatter interaction of the engines within a gravitational field would twist the ship into a hellish parody of its original design, and the human bodies gnarled up within it would be nothing more substantial than putty.
What else could Scotty say?
"Brace for impact!"
# # #
As T'ena continued to prop herself against the wall, McCoy read the data from his medical tricorder.
"How is she," Kirk asked.
"Every system in her body is going crazy. Her heart rate is three-hundred-thirty beats per minute. Normal would be two-twenty. Her blood pressure is two-twelve over one-sixty. Respiration is fast and shallow. I don't know her physiology, Jim, but I know she's in serious trouble. I know what Tem said, but if I don't give her something to calm her down, her body will simply burn up."
He reached out to touch the girl's shoulder. At the moment of contact, she recoiled. She twisted away from him and sprang for the center of the room, her eyes as wild as a mugato's.
"Human filth, do not touch me," she said.
She spat at them.
Then with startling speed her rage turned to sorrow. Her rough breathing coughed itself into deep sobs. Small, trembling hands came up to cover her face. "I'm lost. Lost!"
And then her cries became laughter, laughter that should have been sweet but was instead horrible. "Can the wind feel its own breath?" she sang. "Can the sun see its own light? Does the night hope for a rest? Does the storm long for a fight?"
Spock stepped slowly toward the girl, but Kirk waved him back.
"We've come to help you," he told her.
T'ena's lip curled in disgust. Her child's voice was thin, screechy. "I will see an end to your kind, weakling."
"Why would you want that?"
"Because you are human." She glared at Spock. "And you are Vulcan. That is worse than being human."
Spock held his right hand up in the customary Vulcan greeting. Kirk assumed he was trying to reassure her with a familiar gesture, something she was raised to perform and respect. "I see no logic in your hatred, T'ena."
"I despise logic!"
"It has been the focus of your upbringing."
"I am Romulan! We're not scared of feelings."
With the girl's concentration on Spock, Kirk drifted quietly off behind her.
"These feelings, and your awareness of being Romulan, have been pre-programmed into you by scientists who care nothing for your prosperity. You are being controlled by a device, a machine, implanted in your skull."
"Dirty Vulcan liar!"
"As you are aware, Vulcans do not lie," Spock said evenly.
At that moment Kirk bound forward and grabbed the girl in a bear hug. Her reaction was instant - she writhed ferociously in his arms, her wet hair whipping against his chin. She kicked backward at his knees as he pulled her off the ground. She clawed at his hands and forearms, taking away threads of his tan shirt.
"Bones!"
McCoy stepped forward with his hypo, ready to inject the girl.
"No..."
A frail voice from the corner.
"no..."
Vorek, all but forgotten, tried but failed to get to his feet. "I will...meld with her again," Vorek whispered. "It comforts her."
Tem had come to the doorway. "Perhaps Spock should meld with the girl," he said. "Given your condition, Vorek, that may be the wiser choice. And given that Spock is half human, his familiarity with duality may help T'ena govern her Romulan feelings." The constable looked expectantly at the Starfleet commander. "That is, if you have no objections."
"It would be the logical thing to do," Spock stated.
A few feet away, Kirk's struggle continued. T'ena had nearly wriggled free. "Bones!"
McCoy grabbed T'ena's pistoning legs and tried to hold onto the hypo at the same time. The strength in her thin limbs nearly sent him reeling across the room.
"It would be logical for you to get on with it," McCoy growled.
But Tem would not be rushed. "There will be some risk, Commander Spock."
"There is always risk."
"You honor your heritage." Tem turned to the girl's wearied father. "Is this agreeable to you?"
The look in Vorek's eyes may almost have been relief. He allowed his tensed muscles to relax somewhat. "I cannot fail to see the logic of it."
"It is decided," Tem said.
Without another word among them Spock walked thoughtfully over to the girl. She grunted and gibbered at him, but his only reaction was to place his long, graceful fingers at key points on her face and skull. He held her straining head firmly but with care.
"Vulcan insect," she screamed.
Kirk hadn't had time to consider the potential danger of having his first officer meld with a girl whose brain was supercharged with hatred. "Spock," he asked, "will you be all right?"
"I believe this is the appropriate course of action, captain."
And Kirk accepted his judgment. He nodded.
With the connection already taking place between T'ena and himself, in ways subtle enough to seem like a half-remembered dream, Spock opened his mouth to speak the mantra, but was halted by a croaking plea from Vorek.
"She is my daughter, Spock. Be...mindful...of her well-being."
Spock did not reply. He stared straight into T'ena's wide eyes. It was to her he spoke, and to her only.
"Your thoughts to my thoughts," he began. "Your mind to my mind..."
# # #
"What the devil-?"
Scotty was amazed at how insignificant it was. The Romulan weapon hit them at nearly point-blank range and the ship had merely shivered.
"Chekhov, report."
Chekhov rushed to the science station. He read the data, not quite sure what it meant. "Scanners show - I don't know what the scanners show. The readout does not make any sense."
Scotty jumped up from the center seat and joined him. The readout indicated that they'd been hit with either a strong burst of gamma radiation, gravitons or...lilacs.
"Lilacs!"
"That is what it says, Mr. Scott," Chekhov responded.
"I'll be damned. The beastie hit us with something to scramble the sensors. Lilacs...that's a new one, laddy."
Sulu called from his station, "Mr. Scott! On screen. The Romulan vessel is entering Vulcan's atmosphere. He's activating his cloak."
Scotty turned in frank amazement. "That cheeky devil. He knows I can't follow him with our sensors muddled, and I can't target him.".
"What do we do," Chekhov asked.
Scotty fumed quietly a moment. "Uhura, hail the captain again."
# # #
The words that issued from Spock were ripped from the girl's psyche:
"Nothing. Nothing unreal exists. Hatred is real! Powerful! Vulcan. Father. Where is Kasha? Where is he! Gal Gath'thong. Fire! Mountains. Seleya! Ritual. Silly. Stupid. Idiots! Superior, we are - Kasha! Where is my father? Romulan. I am Romulan. It is everything to be...Federation demons! Liars! Deceivers!"
At the most strained moments T'ena's voice joined Spock's, but the girl was at least still.
There was an inexplicable moment of near silence. The girl began panting slowly, her lips trembling, as though she was feeling a pain beyond articulation. Spock's angular face was so close to hers, and unsettlingly like hers now. Expressions so basic, so childlike they were alien to an adult face, infused his features.
Suddenly they both screamed.
"What is this voice in my head!"
"My God," McCoy said. He shuddered. "What's going on?"
"He must take delirium from her," Tem said, "before he can offer reason in return."
Kirk's communicator beeped. He mentally cursed himself for leaving Scott hanging during his last report. He answered the hail. "Kirk here. Status on the Romulan?"
"You'll know better than I, captain," Scott returned. There was still a lot of static riding his voice. "He's on his way down there."
"Here?"
"Aye, sir. He threw an energy pulse at us that's got the sensors all bollixed. He dived into the atmosphere a second ago and I couldn't stop him."
"Get those sensors up, Scotty. No excuses. Let me know what he's up to. Kirk out."
He snapped the communicator shut and turned to Tem. "A cloaked Romulan ship has entered Vulcan's atmosphere. Even with gravity distorting the cloak, it will be a hard target for your self defense forces."
"I will not begin a firefight over my planet, captain. How many more lives would be endangered? I had hoped our efforts would make this unnecessary, but it would serve logic better to let them have the child. They are the creators of the technology, and will gain nothing other than our ignorance of its details. There is even the possibility they can help the child."
"As a representative of Starfleet, I cannot agree," Kirk said. "You must see the danger here."
McCoy sounded dismayed. "Jim, you sound like you care more for the machine than the girl."
Kirk weighed that a moment. "I don't know, Bones." Then he added, "Would you want to turn her over to the people who did this to her?"
"Of course not."
"Then what is our option?"
McCoy was forced to look down.
A moment later, the choice was taken out of their hands.
# # #
Within the Romulan ship, Prefect D'rel madly changed frequencies. "I cannot establish a lock!"
"You must," Jaran yelled.
"The signal is too weak! I receive confused readings, as though there are two rather than one. "
Jaran glared at the other man. "We are mere meters above her head! I have not come this far to have her kept from us! Transport. Transport!"
D'rel pulled a lever, and the atonal noise of the Romulan transporter welled up within the bridge.
# # #
T'ena and Spock screamed. It was not the sound of dementia but the sound of pain. Both bodies, adult and child, lurched as if struck with an electric charge.
"Spock, break the meld," McCoy shouted. But Spock either could not hear or could not comply.
Kirk stepped in to pry them apart, but Tem pushed him away with such strength Kirk sailed across the room. He fell onto the soft floor, but rebounded quickly.
"My apologies, captain. Disturbing the meld when they are in such a state could kill them both."
"What's going on," Kirk demanded.
McCoy had his scanner out. "Jim, their molecules are being...stirred up. It's like - Jim, the Romulans are trying to transport the girl off the planet! The static shield is keeping them from getting a good lock. If we don't drop the shield, they'll be torn into pieces."
"Dammit. Drop it, Tem."
"It has already been withdrawn," the constable said.
Kirk didn't wait to ask Tem how he dropped the field without uttering a single command. Instead he turned to see T'ena and Spock disappear in a flash of light.
He whipped his communicator out again. "Scotty, what's going on with those sensors?"
"Just coming back on line, captain."
"The Romulans just transported Spock off the planet. Are their shields still down?"
"Checking." There was a momentary pause, then a surprised voice. "Aye, sir."
"Beam me on board that ship, Scotty."
Scotty gulped. "Captain?"
"Now!"
"Good lord, Jim," McCoy protested...but two seconds later he was the only human left in the room.
# # #
"Status of Romulan vessel?"
"They had to de-cloak to transport and they remain de-cloaked," Sulu replied. "The ship is leaving Vulcan's atmosphere and heading for open space."
"Lay in a pursuit course," Scott ordered. "That eel won't slip away with our people. I'll guarantee you that."
# # #
Kirk materialized and didn't know where he was. He had never been on a bird of prey before. He could be in the galley, crew's quarters, wherever. The room was moderately sized and Spartan to the extreme. Kirk could see nothing that revealed its function.
One thing was very fortunate: there was no one else here.
He drew his phaser and cautiously headed toward the door. When it slid open he stepped into an equally Spartan - and equally empty - passageway.
Did he turn right or left? It was nearly impossible to get a sense of direction, because Romulan inertial dampeners were as good as Starfleet's. With no sense of acceleration to guide him, he could not tell which path led to the bow and which to the stern.
Then he heard the cries and he let his ears guide him.
# # #
"Marelle!" Jaran shouted.
He took no notice of the unconscious Vulcan that lay at the girl's side. She was awake, that was all that mattered. He went to her, scooped her up in his arms. D'rel skirted the command console in the center of the bridge to join them.
But the girl pushed at Jaran, frightened. She began to slap at his hands and howl like a wounded animal.
"Marelle, what is this? Marelle!"
She bit his right hand with such force he had to let her go. She dropped to the floor and loped for the far end of the room. She glowered back at him. "Marelle, do not treat me this way. How can your eyes look so wildly upon your own father?"
Then a voice he had not heard before said: "Father?"
Jaran turned to see a human standing just inside the bridge. He was holding his Federation weapon forward, but the look on his face was neither fear nor anger. It was resolve.
"You are her father?"
"Who addresses me," Jaran demanded.
"Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise."
The Starfleet captain kept his weapon trained on Jaran. He gingerly stepped around the bridge until he was at the side of the fallen Vulcan. He pressed his fingers against the Vulcan's neck as though checking for a pulse. Seemingly satisfied, the human stood.
Kirk called to the girl. "T'ena, come to me."
"No." She drew farther and farther against the wall, as though she wanted to push her body through it.
"Look what they have done to my child," Jaran said.
"You're her father. You let it happen."
"I will not debate you, human. Get off my ship!"
"That is my intention, with Spock and the girl."
"You and the Vulcan may go. I do not care. But we will all die before that girl leaves my sight again." He suddenly pulled out his own sidearm, a Romulan disruptor, a kill-only weapon with no stun setting.
Just then the vessel shook under the powerful blow of a plasma weapon.
# # #
Sulu double-checked before he spoke. "Mr. Scott, a second Romulan vessel is de-cloaking off our starboard bow, at bearing ninety-three mark ten. It is...ignoring us and firing on the fleeing ship."
"They'll not fire on my captain without an answer from me," Scott said. "Sulu, lock phasers on that second ship."
"Phasers locked."
"Fire!"
# # #
"Image," Jaran commanded.
D'rel obeyed, and the Romulan viewscreen displayed the tableau outside. Flashes from the Enterprise streaked toward another bird of prey. The Romulan ship was hit twice. It bucked and swayed under the impact.
"Nice work, Scotty," Kirk said.
Jaran watched the viewscreen with disbelief. "They've found us so quickly! They - they should not know for several days. I altered the telemetry from the brainweb. They should not have known!"
"You stole a ship and came here, didn't you," Kirk said. "You and your copilot-"
"My brother."
"-That's why this ship is empty, automated. Did you think they wouldn't notice it missing?"
"It's a salvaged ship. They should not have known-"
"But they do know." Kirk spoke quickly, decisively. "That's one Bird of Prey out there, but they'll send more. Are you going to outrun the entire Romulan Star Empire? Is that what life will be like for your daughter, always afraid and running?"
Jaran suddenly howled. It was the sound of years of pain, sorrow and regret. It filled the small, tidy bridge. T'ena jumped. She scurried over to where Spock lay and unexpectedly curled herself into the hollow of his stomach. She wrapped his limp arms around her for comfort.
"I was a young subcommander," Jaran wailed. His hand shook as he pointed the disruptor at Kirk. "They made it sound like an opportunity...glory for my family. Imagine! My child on the vanguard of a new age, the age of Romulus! But...time passed. Her mother did not forgive me. I had only myself for company, and I did not favor the company I kept."
"How many are there like her," Kirk asked.
"I only know about the one. I only care about the one."
"What happened to the Vulcan child taken from the Persegene Moon?"
"She is well cared for. Her adoptive parents do not even know she is Vulcan. Secrecy. That is why I was not to raise her. If I acted like she was different, than others would see her as different. Her name is Kaylen. She is the brightest student in her class. She is watched closely. She is studied."
"Is there any way to remove that thing from T'ena's brain?"
"I have something with me that can aid her."
The ship lurched again, hit by another plasma burst. This time the bridge's center console exploded. A shard of it skewered D'rel's torso. He choked in surprise as green blood leaked onto the deck. "Jaran..." he called as he collapsed onto the floor.
Jaran went to his side. He dropped the disruptor and took D'rel's hand tightly in both of his own. He looked at the glassy shard protruding from his brother's stomach and knew the wound to be fatal. "I'm sorry, my brother. I honor all that you have been to me."
"If I had been a better brother, I would have stopped all this years ago." D'rel coughed out a wad of spit and blood. "It was worth it just to see her," he whispered. He tried to smile around a mouthful of green-stained teeth. "Good-bye, brother."
D'rel sighed his last breath. His head rolled over. His sightless eyes stared at nothing.
"Look what I have done! My brother!" Jaran began sobbing. He angrily wiped tears from his sallow face.
Kirk lowered his phaser but allowed Jaran no sympathy and no chance to think. "Your bridge is destroyed. I'm betting you have no weapons and no navigation now. Lower your shields. I can beam your daughter to my ship. She'll have a chance. She's doomed here."
"You would have to lower your own shields," Jaran answered. "Your ship would be vulnerable."
"There is a way," Kirk said. "Drop your shields and manually fly right toward the bird of prey. They'll be distracted long enough for us to beam to the Enterprise. Then we'll beam you aboard."
"If there's time," Jaran said.
"That's right."
Jaran did not reply. He looked from his brother's dead body to the cowering child who could only regard him as a stranger. He moved toward her and she recoiled. The look of rejection on her face stung even Kirk. Jaran's whole body wavered.
Kirk pressed. "If you're looking for redemption, here's your chance."
# # #
"Scotty," Kirk called over the comm system. "Prepare to lower shields."
"Shields, sir?"
"Three to beam aboard, closest proximity to my signal. Wait for my mark."
Scott didn't like the sound of it. The second Romulan ship seemed to be shrugging off the Enterprise's pot shots. For now all its energy was concentrated on the first ship, but that didn't mean it couldn't turn about at any moment. The engineer had been hoping to avoid a full-fledged call to war by not destroying the bird of prey, but if he had to lay into it with photon torpedoes, he would. Lowering his own shields would complicate the situation.
But he had to trust the captain, and he certainly had to get him off that scorched, listing vessel.
"Transporter room," he said over the intercom, "Prepare for emergency beam out."
# # #
Jaran handed Kirk a shimmering metallic disk. "This is what you need. Take her, and I will deal with the Bird of Prey."
Kirk put his phaser aside and took it. He stepped back to T'ena and Spock's position. The little girl shied away. As Kirk hefted Spock up off the floor, his first officer began to come around. T'ena noticed this and came back to grab for Spock's hand. Her touch was almost tender. Perhaps they had shared more during the brief mind meld than Kirk had suspected.
"It is painful to see her reach for him," Jaran said. Whether he knew it or not, his own arm was reaching out toward the girl, as though he anticipated she would touch him the same way. "Does he serve as her father?"
"No," Kirk replied, "but they've become very close recently."
"She will be cared for?"
"She has been cared for since the day you left her behind."
Jaran nodded gravely. "Go then. And I will do my duty - my final duty to my family. I must be certain you escape. I do not deceive myself. You will not be able to save me."
He stepped over to the navigation console and moved dials and a lever. The wounded ship slowly came about, and now Kirk could feel the movement. The inertial dampers were no longer keeping up.
Spock's eyes fluttered open as Kirk held him up. "Captain, I must report we appear to be on a Romulan vessel."
"Thank you for the analysis, Mr. Spock." With his free hand Kirk held up his communicator. "Scotty, energize!"
# # #
McCoy met them in the transporter room. Medics escorted a dazed Spock toward sickbay. T'enna looked longingly after him, and McCoy gestured to her.
"Come with me. I'll bring you to him," he said.
As Spock disappeared behind the closing door to the passageway, she nodded. McCoy led and she followed. By then, Kirk was halfway to the bridge.
As he stepped off the turbolift onto his own bridge, Kirk looked to the viewscreen. There, Jaran's ailing vessel headed straight towards the bird of prey. The attacking Romulan ship continued to pound it, but the junkyard reject maintained its integrity - somehow. Kirk often thought at such times a ship was possessed by the will of its crew. And what will was stronger than that of a mother or father protecting their child?
Jaran's ship slammed into the aggressor. The Enterprise's forward viewscreen exploded with light as both vessels erupted in a burst of plasma.
# # #
Captain's Log, supplemental: we again stand on Vulcan, ready to
depart. The disk Jaran gave me held a schematic of the "brainweb"
device. Sadly, it can never be removed, but it has been disabled.
It will no longer transmit a signal to Romulus, and it will no longer
torture the child with random impulses of hatred. The Vulcans
believe T'ena will never be able to control her emotions
completely, but I do not get the sense her Vulcan father regrets this. It
would be difficult to say he is happy, but he is certainly
"pleased" to have her back. I have told him about the fate of the baby
born to him and his wife. It's hard to say what he can or will do with the
information.
Kirk, Spock and McCoy stood together to wish Vorek and his daughter farewell. They stood outside the mountain complex now. Tem was there but apart from them, commanding his own place on the dry Vulcan plain.
"Yours is a unique roll, Vorek," Spock said. "With no experience to form a basis of knowledge, you must raise an emotional child."
"It is a considerable intellectual dilemma," Vorek replied. He looked somewhat healthier man than when they had first met.
"Maybe he can get tips from your mother, Spock," McCoy jabbed.
"I was not an emotional child, doctor."
"That's not what Amanda told me. She said you cried like a baby when that pet thingy of yours ran away."
"I searched for my sehlat in a dust storm, doctor. My eyes watered as a result of being filled with dust."
Both Kirk and McCoy laughed gently. "That makes perfect sense, Spock," the captain said.
T'ena walked over to Spock and, for the second time, took his hand. The lean Vulcan had to look a long way down to see her. She was still pale, and her face was drawn, but there was a brightness to her eyes that hadn't been there before.
"I want you to stay. You are…important to me," she said to him.
"I have responsibilities to my ship," Spock said. But the subtle look of hurt on her face made him add, "though you have come to be important to me as well. When I return to Vulcan, I will make sure to see you."
This seemed to satisfy her, at least somewhat. A tiny smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Live long and prosper," she said. She did not offer the traditional hand gesture.
T'ena then shook McCoy's hand. "Thank you, doctor, for coming to help me."
"Why, you're welcome, little lady." McCoy gave her a courtly bow.
"And thank you, Captain Kirk," she said, shaking his hand as well. "You are good for a human."
Kirk smiled at her. "Good-bye, T'ena."
"Come, daughter, we must go," Vorek urged. "Your classes begin shortly."
"Yes, father."
They turned and walked away. T'ena spared only a glance over her shoulder. A moment later they were gone.
Kirk regarded Tem a moment. "Do you think the Romulans will return for her?"
"With each day it becomes less likely. The Romulans know we are aware of their plot. If there are others, we will find them. They also know we possess the technology and have had some short time to study it. To come now, to risk another incident, would be illogical. It would be wiser for them to pretend this did not happen."
"You'd better be right."
"Of course, we will be diligent." Tem held up his hand. "Live long and prosper."
Kirk opened his communicator.
"Come along, gentlemen," he told Spock and McCoy. "I don't want Mr. Scott getting too comfortable in my chair."