Kirk was tapping his finger impatiently on the tansporter console. They had been sending the Vulcans back to their ship for the past half hour. The Romulans were yet to go and also Captain Saluk was still on board, talking with Spock about the Vulcan Atlantis.
Between beaming the parties of six back to the P'Jem, Scotty and Uhura gave Kirk a brief summary of what they had found out on the Romulan scout. Which was not much actually.
"Tamulok has deleted most of the log, Captain, or it was destroyed. The records start with our engineers coming on board their ship." Uhura said.
"Why did they stop here?"
"Well, that is also left in the dark, but we know they've been here before. The entry stated that they're here again."
"Do they have a name for that planet?" Kirk asked. He knew Spock believed this planet to be an important site for Vulcan and Romulan history. A place of myths and legends. Something like a Utopia. A Vulcan, no Romulan Utopia? Strange that Bones could get so excited about that.
Kirk swallowed. They had called for a stretcher to get Bones into sickbay again, when he had passed out. He had literally talked himself unconscious. What left a sour taste in his mouth, was that Kirk had seen it coming, and still didn't do anything. On the other hand he was also mad at Bones for not taking better care of himself. But what just about infuriated him was, that Spock, who had been the cause of Bones' injury in the first place, hadn't stopped that discussion before it was too late. And then he'd never asked once about Bones' condition, but gone all excited about that Vor-ka-ri, informed Saluk, asked the database, and what not. Bones is your friend. Now, it seems you're not even interested if he's going to be alright!
"..., sir?" Uhura had said something, and he hadn't paid any attention, Kirk realized. He smiled apologetically at her. "Sorry, Lieutenant. You were saying?"
"They just said: Here. Is it true, that this planet is the ancient Vulcan Eden?"
Great. Now Uhura's infected, too. "Eden? Well, I am not sure how Vulcans would picture "Eden", but there was not much there, except for grass, some stones and these funny pink looking fruit."
"Well, sir, there was something strange going on with their shields," Scotty piped up. He was not really interested in Vulcan myths, either, Kirk could tell.
"Their shields?"
"Well, I wanted to scan their cloaking device. But I couldn't find it. I stopped looking when I saw this strange looking generator that must have something to do with their shields."
"Maybe an amplifier?"
"That's what I thought at first, but it didn't look like it belonged there at all. I could only see that it slightly changes the shield's frequency, but I can't imagine whatever that could be good for. I scanned the whole thing and brought loads of data with me. Can't wait to analyse it. I'd like Spock to take a look at it, too."
"Yes, well Spock might be interested. Maybe it is something that these Romulans found on the planet, although I can't imagine it. There really wasn't anything there."
"Captain, what will we do with the Romulans?"
"Well, the mission was for the P'Jem to escort them back to their territory. I don't see why this should be changed now."
As if on cue, Captain Saluk appeared in the transporter room, Spock beside him and said without further ado: "Captain, I must inform Tamulok that we are taking him and his crew to Vulcan."
"What? We can't make them prisoners, Saluk!" Kirk said, a little confused. Surely Saluk and Spock knew that. What would Starfleet Command say?
"We are not. We merely need to discuss the discovery of Vor-ka-ri with him. The planet is in the neutral zone, so neither Vulcans nor Romulans have the right to investigate it. This is not acceptable. We need to negotiate the boundaries of the neutral zone again, or another treaty that will allow both parties to explore Vor-kar-ri."
"Well, you are very sure that that planet is your lost colony," Kirk said. "We can't just take a Romulan scout and her crew to Federation space. The Romulans could interpret that as abduction."
"Captain, we've already contacted Starfleet Command. They agree, that under these circumstances Tamulok must be brought to Vulcan. If we just escort him back, we may never get the chance of negotiating," Spock said patiently.
Kirk felt pressure building up inside him. "Oh, so you've contacted Starfleet Command. And why wasn't I informed?"
"Captain Kirk, you are acting in a very emotional manner. We did not disregard your command nor did we question your authority. We simply conferred with our superiors in this matter. You do not understand the importance of our discovery for the Vulcan people."
Kirk fumed. This arrogant son of a bitch had not once thanked them for their rescue, nor had he expressed his regret for the death of his own four human crewmen or the injury of M'Benga.
"Your discovery, Saluk? As I see it, you only discovered the taste of the pink fruit on that planet."
"It was Doctor McCoy who drew the correct conclusions, and who brought his discoveries to my attention, Captain Saluk," Spock explained.
"At this moment it is not important who it was that discovered Vor-ka-ri. There is enough time for awarding medals and giving honoristic speeches which you humans value so much. At present you need to inform Commander Tamulok, so that we can depart the neutral zone."
Kirk balled his fists. It was true, however. He turned on his heels to the comm and ordered Tamulok to be brought to the conference room.
"I did not mean to imply that Doctor McCoy wants an award, Captain. I was only stating a fact. It is illogical to ignore the truth, even at a moment like this," Spock said, and just for a second, it made Kirk smile.
