Logical Life-Mates

by FireStar

Rated NC-17

Disclaimer: I do not Own Star Trek in any of its forms. Sadly, it was invented by Gene Rodenberry and belongs to the corporations now.

PART 2

XVII (Lost Cause)

The prosecution rested its case and Jonathan Archer rose slowly. He took a deep breath and called Ambassador Soval to the bench. The Ambassador was sworn in and he glared at Archer. The idea that he might lie was offensive to him. Yet he understood why the Captain was doing this. It was all about presentation.

"Ambassador, do you feel Corporal Cole did her duty to you?"

Soval looked at the tribunal and in a clear voice said "She followed all of the orders she was given Captain."

"Do you believe she protected you to the best of her ability given those orders? Do you know who ordered her to return to her station? Do you believe that we have the right to convene this hearing?"

"Yes, Corporal Cole protested leaving me. She was, however, ordered to resume her station. The orders to do this came from Lt. Reed who stated that the Captain ordered everyone to stations. When she would have disobeyed that order to leave me, I commanded her to go. No, this hearing is not appropriate given the circumstances."

"Thank you, Ambassador. Sir, I reserve the right to ask more in a moment."

"Agreed, Captain. Commander, do you have questions for this witness?" Admiral Forrest asked.

"Yes, Sir. Ambassador Soval, why do you believe this is not appropriate? Why would the Corporal obey your orders and not those of her superior officers? Why would she risk a court marshal to stay at your side?"

Archer looked down and smiled. He had hoped that this question would be asked by the Commander.

Commander Tucker grinned and looked at his own wife who merely crossed her arms. Malcolm Reed looked down and away fighting to hide his own amusement. The stoic Armory officer was hard pressed not to smile.

Jonathan Archer counted to ten slowly waiting for the bomb shell to drop.

"Amanda Cole is a citizen of Vulcan. She must by law obey the orders of its Ambassador," Soval said calmly. He was going to enjoy making the Terrans squirm.

The Tribunal all looked at him in shock. Then they looked at T' Pau for confirmation and she merely nodded her head in acknowledgement fighting her own amusement.

Commander Fields looked up in shock. He blurted out "How is it she is a citizen of Vulcan?"

Ambassador Soval looked at him sharply. He was clearly not used to explaining himself. Admiral Forrest took a deep breath and waited.

"Amanda Cole is a member of the House of Surak, and as such she is a citizen of Vulcan. As a citizen obeying her Ambassador she committed no breach of duty."

"How in Hades name did that happen?" the Commander demanded. "No human has ever been granted Vulcan Citizenship."

Amanda giggled unable to resist. She got a firm look from Commander Fields.

"She married into the House of course. Upon her marriage her name was added to the clan roles and she of course became a citizen."

"Married? Who'd she marry?" He could not imagine when an enlisted MACO could have met a Vulcan of such high stature let alone have had time to marry them.

Soval stood up now patience ending. The answer should have been fairly obvious to all. He looked at Amanda and commanded: "My Wife, Attend."

He held out two fingers. Amanda scrambled to her feet and was at his side in an instant. Her fingers touched his. Soval glared at the Admirals. "You will cease this foolishness at once. Amanda is not yours to command. She is my wife and is bound to obey my commands. A wife must always yield to her husband's will. I ordered her to obey Lt. Reed's command. I did not believe that there would be any danger to myself. Amanda however was right to want to remain. I was kidnapped and then recovered. I have suffered no lasting harm. As to why it is inappropriate, the fact is, as my wife she has diplomatic immunity so you may not charge her."

Soval looked at the tribunal with contempt.

Admiral Gardner's face showed rage. He could not believe that the Vulcan Ambassador would show them so little respect. He was not about to allow that slight to pass.

"That is not possible. When did you marry the girl? It is clear you wish to protect her. Her? I find it hard to believe you would marry her to do that. "

"You will speak with respect to she who is my wife," Soval said coldly. Two of the Vulcan Guards tensed. "We were bonded before this incident. We were married by Captain Archer," Soval said, speaking the full truth in the proper order.

Commander Fields looked at Jonathan Archer. "You did not inform Starfleet of this?"

"The ambassador requested we wait until Amanda's family was told. It seemed like a logical request at the time," Jonathan Archer said simply. "I did try to inform you before we began today."

Admiral Forrest now understood why Soval was so agitated. He knew enough about Vulcans to know that they were extremely protective of their families, especially their wives. He knew that this was getting into dangerous territory.

"How do we know this?" Gardner said angry. He disliked the MACO because
she had once rejected his advances. Amanda moved closer to Soval, forgetting they were touching as she recalled the event.

Soval's face darkened. "Amanda is my wife by your laws and bonded mate by Vulcan's. She has all the privileges that includes. She will be released from her enlistment or assigned as my guard until it is finished. It is your choice. I will not allow you to use her as a pawn or scapegoat."

Admiral Forrest could see this falling into a full diplomatic incident. He stood up.

"We had no idea, Ambassador. I congratulate you both on your marriage." He forestalled Gardner's next rant. He swallowed as he glared at Archer.

"I will of course dismiss the charges. Clearly there has been a miscommunication."

"No," Gardner said. "That is not acceptable. We should dismiss her with a dishonorable discharge. She violated orders and policy."

"Why?" Captain Archer asked. "She has done no wrong. Bringing charges was a waste of time. She acted under orders as any good soldier would."

"She did not have permission to marry," Gardner said, "As an enlisted person she must have her commanding officer's permission. In this case Starfleets."

Archer's brow rose. He had not considered that possible charge. He had not thought to ask Starfleet about this. After all he had given permission.

Amanda had had enough. She stood up. "With respect, Sir, I do not need permission. I did ask Captain Archer if it violated the regulations. He said it did not. I ask Commander T'Pol if it violated Vulcan laws she said it did not. With respect, Sir, I am an adult. I bonded with Soval of my own free will. He is my husband and the father of my unborn child."

That statement stopped Gardner mid rant. His jaw hit the floor. He looked at her incredulously.

Both of T'Pau's brows rose at that statement. It seemed it was time for her to step in before relations were damaged by the human's emotional responses.

"May I address the Tribunal?"

Forrest nodded, too stunned to speak.

"I speak with the Voice of Vulcan. Ambassador Soval and his wife are citizens of our world. They are entitled to all the protections we can give them. We recognize this union and if necessary will fight to preserve it. No one may interfere with a bonded couple; It is one of our most sacred laws." Her steely gaze made even Admiral Forrest Flinch.

Captain Tate spoke. "Surly you must want justice. Someone must pay for the ambassadors kidnapping?"

"We wish justice, Captain. Vulcan understands that mistakes can happen. We have no desire for the innocent to pay for such errors," T' Pau said.

XVIII (Submission)

Gardner fumed. He knew he could not win this argument. He glared at Jonathan Archer and his command staff. It was more then clear that Enterprise's senior staff had known the truth.

Admiral Forrest silenced any retort he would have made. "We will of course honor your request, Lady T'Pau. We value Vulcan as a friend and ally."

Captain Tate looked on and almost felt sorry for the Admirals. He had been ordered to sit on this tribunal but in his heart he agreed with Jonathan Archer this had been a witch hunt.

The court was dismissed it became clear that fence mending was needed. Captain Archer suggested they all retire to the Mess hall to have something to eat and talk in a more congenial manner.

So now we have to get along? Soval sent "Let us go be diplomatic then. He scowled.

Well, Soval, you are the diplomat, Amanda sent, fighting not to giggle. He was even more crusty then usual. He was clearly not ready to kiss and make up with Starfleet.

Admiral Gardner could sense Ambassador Soval's contempt for him and for Starfleet. He had always suspected that the Vulcan disliked and distrusted them. Now he had proof of this and he could do little about it as long as Admiral Forrest was in charge. His superior was clearly not happy with the turn of events. Gardner was certain that the only thing that had prevented a full diplomatic incident was the long standing friendship between the human and Vulcan. This entire situation was intolerable, Captain Archer should have informed them of this relationship. The situation was now highly dicey and it would become controversial as well, once Earth's press got a hold of the facts. Starfleet was still suffering three years later from the Terra-Prime incident. What was Soval thinking? There surely could be no viable offspring produced? What would it mean to human and Vulcan relations if the child survived? Gardner knew that if Dr. Phlox was in charge of the care of Amanda Cole then the chances were reasonable that the fetus could be born. He refused to call it a baby because it was in his opinion an abomination like Tucker and T'Pol's brat. Fortunately his involvement in Terra Prime had never been discovered. He could still act if he was careful.

Amanda was feeling uneasy around all the staff officers. She was still, despite her new marriage, just a MACO. She moved closer to Soval, determined to guard him because she truly did not trust Admiral Gardner. Admiral Forrest was a good man and she respected him deeply. She had no doubt that he had been acting in good faith. His apology had been heartfelt and honest. Amanda found she understood why Soval considered the man a friend.

T'Pol went over to Amanda's side. She could sense the MACO's discomfort and thought to ease it.

"Sub-Commander," Amanda said.She bowed her head slightly in acknowledgement.

T'Pol addressed Amanda, "I believe it may be wise for me to give you this." She handed Amanda a small PADD with various customs and traditions outlined. "I know thy husband will help you learn our ways but perhaps it might be easier if you have a reference point. I know how hard it is to adapt to a different culture and traditions."

Amanda was surprised and oddly pleased at this first apparent olive branch. "Thank you. I would prefer not to be totally ignorant," She said. "Would you like me to write one for you?" She was willing to return the favor.

"That would be most helpful. I have learned many human behaviors but it would be wise to learn more."

"Why is that, Sub-Commander?" Admiral Forrest asked, his tone polite and inquiring.

T'Pol was taken aback and was uncertain how to answer without lying. Amanda came to her rescue. "Sir, Sub-Commander T'Pol has been a wonderful XO. I think she would like to become more skilled. After all, Sir, humans are not logical and we are bound to confuse Vulcans. Now I have only been on Enterprise about six months but even I can see where cultural miscommunication can occur. I mean, sometimes just our slang can cause confusion. This morning for example I said I was hungry enough to eat a horse."

As Amanda expected T'Pol looked sick. "See. They don't understand it is an idiom."

"OH. Yes, I suppose that communication would be improved. Sub-Commander, perhaps if you have time you could produce a PADD for Starfleet?"

Amanda looked away trying not to laugh. T'Pol now recovered, nodded.

"I would be honored, sir. Though perhaps a linguist might be better suited to the task."

"Yes, of course. I would not wish to take away from your duties. I will speak to Ambassador Soval later about it,." the Admiral said, knowing full well that Soval was not in a receptive mood right now.

Captain Archer hurried to see what was keeping Chef. He had no intention of allowing this to become a problem. The sooner the Admirals were gone the better it would be for all of them. He noticed T' Pau was observing them all very closely and felt like a kid on his best behavior. He resisted pulling at his collar. The Vulcan leader seemed to catch everything. He was fairly certain she had deduced the relationship between T'Pol and Trip. She did not, however, seem inclined to expose them. He hoped there would be no difficulties over that.

Chef brought out the main course. Jonathan Archer smiled as he caught the look sent. The dish was one of his favorites. If you had told him 7 years ago he would learn to love vegetarian lasagna he would have laughed. Even the cheese was something he loved to munch on. He called everyone to the table and they all took their places. Even T' Pau seemed interested in the food. For once he was grateful for the Vulcan customs of silence during a meal.

XIX (Orders and Resignation.)

"Any future alien relationships must be reported to Starfleet at one," Admiral Gardner said.

"Yes, Sir, any future new relationship must be approved," Jonathan Archer said. "About Corporal Cole?"

"We will have orders sent assigning her to guard the ambassador until her enlistment is over. We have arranged an exchange program," Forrest said.

Jon smiled. "Wonderful. So will I be getting an other Vulcan officer?"

"No, Jon, I think perhaps Columbia could use one," Forrest said, smiling.

T'Pol's brow rose at that. She was grateful Trip had gone over to the Surak to check out the engines. His smirk would have given them away for certain.

T'Pau watched the young human engineer and was impressed at the questions he asked. She considered what having such a man on Vulcan would do to the society. She found he was highly gifted and now she could understand what had attracted her cousin to him. There was a certain innocence to him, a wonder at learning and growing that was all too often missing after a few years in space. It seemed that Vulcan was indeed going to have to learn to embrace humanity. If two such well rounded and logical Vulcans could choose mates from among them it was only a matter of time before more Vulcans discovered how fascinating humans were. She decided it would be wise for the researchers to find a way to produce viable offspring. It would be unfortunate to lose such important family lines.

Tucker looked up from his work and was surprised to see he was being observed. "Ma'am, Is there something I can help you with?"

"I was observing your technique on the injectors. Is there a reason you removed the protective coating?"

"Yes. It is a better conductor. We do not have to clean them as often. By doing this we have reduced time by about ten percent…" Trip was surprised, he did not know T'Pau was an engineer.

"Efficiency is improved, but does it affect the safety?" She asked.

"Not that we have noticed. In fact with less build up of residue I believe safety has increased. I can send you the details of the procedure and all our tests," Trip offered.

Once more T'Pau was surprised. There was no hesitancy in Commander Tucker's offer. He acted as if it was the most natural thing in the world to share information with her people. T'Pau considered the ways they had restrained humanity and found this attitude surprising. She had chosen to allow the Human access because she trusted him and now it seemed that trust was well placed. Of course the fact that Soval had adopted the crew helped foster that trust. She was willing to admit that the trust was greatest in the senior staff. She trusted Archer like a brother now because of the bondings of Tucker and Amanda Cole. The rest of the senior staff was loyal to Archer and that earned them their places. The crew was accepted because of the debt Vulcan owed them.

"We found a few ways to tweak the engines, "Trip said. "I think if we had a dock we could perhaps get the ship to warp six with a few adjustments. The new injectors helped a lot, we can now maintain speed for a lot longer."

T' Pau was curious why the human thought that. The fastest Vulcan ship was only warp 7.5. If this was indeed possible, the humans would soon be on an equal footing with them as far as speed went.

"I have several designs that I want to test one day. T'Pol seems to think they may improve efficiency unfortunately it is not safe or practical to test them in space."

"Perhaps you would consider taking a sabbatical and working on the designs on Vulcan?"

Tucker looked up and blushed as if he just remembered who he had been talking to. "That would be interesting. I would have to get leave from the Captain and I would need T'Pol. I am not sure he would let us both go or that Starfleet would approve."

"You are Vulcan. It is not for them to Approve. I could order you both home. It is time that you formalize your vows with my cousin."

Tucker smiled. "You could? Well let me at least talk to the Captain. He is our friend as well as our superior officer. Maybe you could order us all to Vulcan. We could all uses some R and R and it is a beautiful place. I think the crew would like it. To bad we don't have and exchange program. He stuttered a moment. You mean you approve of T'Pol and me?"

"Thee has a good idea, I shall suggest it to Admiral Forrest. T'Pol has chosen thee and thee are a worthy male for a human. I have come to value your species. I think it would be beneficial to us to learn more of you and it would be far wiser to learn from family that may be more understanding of our foibles."

Trip grinned and then began to laugh. "Logical." Praised and insulted all at once and the funny thing was she had no idea she had done so.

T' Pau could not see what he considered humorous.

"I agree family is more forgiving. I just hope you can keep that in mind as well. Humans are at best illogical and emotional," said Trip.

"Indeed," T' Pau said, "that is one of the reasons I have decided to decline a seat on the Federation council. I believe it would be wiser to send someone with more experience with humans to so important a post."

Trip sobered and knew this was not going to go over well on Earth.

"I will tell them before we depart," T' Pau said. It was not the only reason but it was a logical excuse that the humans might well accept. We have much rebuilding to do and I believe that the Federation will understand this."

Archer watched as Soval seemed to listen intently to Amanda. He could not believe how attentive the Ambassador was. He could also not believe how protective Amanda was being as she did not leave his side. He knew that she did not trust Starfleet and oddly enough Jon shared her fears. Having Vulcan's highest officers here in open space made him nervous. He still remembered the mirror universe and he had to admit the Admiral Gardner of this place was just like the other. He shuttered at the thought of the Terran Empire. No not as long as he was alive.

Admiral Gardner watched as Soval protected the MACO. He could not believe that she had chosen a Vulcan over him. A Vulcan that was three times her age, a creature that had no emotions and was cranky and rude. How could any human choose to be with an alien? He could not imagine that. While he had seen Orion slave girls and considered them interesting, he had no desire to bed one. Ok, maybe he did, but to have a relationship? Never in a hundred years. He glanced at T'Pol. The Vulcan was pretty enough if one liked an ice cube. He shook his head and began to formulate regulations to prevent such occurrences in the future.

Admiral Gardner was also concerned about this so called adoption. How could Soval adopt the entire crew? What would it mean to Earth /Vulcan relations? Would it affect the citizenships of the crew? What if the Crew decided to call Vulcan and not Earth home? This ship was Starfleet's flag ship and he did not have any desire to see it under alien control.