Chapter Five
Salen woke with a violent gasp. It felt like someone had replaced his blood with molten silver as it burn through his veins with every pounding beat of his heart. Digging his fingers into the soft bed underneath him he arched his back and screamed. His cry started as one of pain, but it quickly escalated into one of pure rage.
Adrenaline pulsed through his chest with every breath and spiked dangerously when he discovered that his wrists were bound to the bed. Salen started pouring all his energy into freeing himself. In the back of his mind he could hear muttered words that seemed to be trying to tell him to relax. Far from calming him the soft words drove him to the edge of insanity.
Salen cried out again as something cold and damp was pressed against his forehead. Unable to free himself Salen's previous anger degraded into fear. Whimpering like a lost kitten Salen gave up on trying to break his bindings. Opening his eyes he focused on the ceiling far above. The words that he had barely been able to understand became clearer and more familiar. Turning his head to the side Salen started crying in relief.
"Father..."
"I'm here, Salen." Pike smiled sadly. "Everything is going to be alright, just try and relax."
"I am in so much pain." Salen whispered.
"I know." Pike gently stroked Salen's hair.
"What is wrong with me?"
"Spock will be here soon, he said he could explain."
"Can he stop this?"
"He assured me that he was going to help you." Pike nodded.
"Salen?" Joanna asked hesitantly.
Salen's already heated blood came to a boil at the lyrical sound of Joanna's voice. He looked past his father and saw her standing in the doorway. Salen wasn't sure how or when he'd been brought back to Pike's home, but that didn't matter to him right now. Renewing his fight with the ion restraints Salen's thoughts turned once more to carnal violence.
"Get her away from me!" Salen roared.
"Joanna, sweetheart," Pike said gently "perhaps you should wait in the living room."
"Aye, Sir." Joanna said sadly.
Joanna left, but it took several minutes for her scent to leave with her. The beautiful perfume that her own skin gave off was driving Salen wild. With her gone Salen's head cleared slightly and he recalled what he had done.
"Father, I never meant to hurt her..."
"It's okay, Salen, no harm was done."
"What I did is unforgivable."
"She wouldn't be here if she didn't forgive you."
"No, I am a monster." Salen shook his head. "I am still having these...terrible thoughts...if I was free I would tear..."
"Relax, Salen." Pike interrupted. "Spock said it was very important that you try to control this."
"I do not even know what it is!"
Rather than trying to calm himself Salen tugged at the restraints at his wrists and ankles with every intention of either tearing them or himself apart. Pike put his palm down on Salen's chest. The contact soothed Salen slightly and he began to try controlling himself. Panting for breath the more time passed the worse his condition became.
"Deep breath, Salen. Help is coming."
"Please, just end my life. There can be no help for this. I am losing my mind, and for a Vulcan there is very little else to our souls...I do not want to become an animal that is only controlled by instinct."
"That won't happen."
"It is happening now...I can feel it."
Pike's heart broke to hear such despair in his son's voice. He reached out and brushed Salen's cheek in a hopless effort to ease his pain. Salen closed his eyes and began focusing on just taking each breath. Pike heard the soft buzz of the doorbell and felt an immense relief. Salen had slipped into another fitful sleep so he backed his wheelchair up to go meet his guests.
Joanna was already at the door and hand opened it for the new arrivals. Kirk stepped in and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. The past six years had aged the Captain by at least a dozen years. His once blond hair now held a tickle of gray at the temples, however, the same mischief still glittered in his eyes. Spock greeted Joanna with a shallow bow. McCoy seemed unsure how to greet his own daughter. She threw her arms around him in a warm embrace before backing away.
"Joanna...I thought you were on Cerberus."
"Daddy, I left Cerberus almost five years ago."
"Bones," Kirk smiled "it's official: you are the worst father in the galaxy."
"Hey now..."
"Gentlemen," Spock interrupted "it is urgent that I speak to Admiral Pike alone."
"Right." Kirk nodded. "Joanna why don't you catch your father and I up on your adventures out on the porch."
Joanna nodded and lead the pair out onto the porch. Pike looked up at Spock who was looking unusually serious even for a Vulcan. Spock glanced over at the door where Salen could be heard moaning to himself. Spock closed his eyes and sighed.
"I apologize, Admiral. This is my fault."
"Your fault?"
"I knew this would happen, however, it was not supposed to occur for another six months. I was going to contact Salen myself in another four months to warn him."
"Warn him?" Pike repeated. "I don't understand. Are you saying that you knew all along that Salen was sick?"
"Salen is not ill. This is a normal part of Vulcan biology."
"Normal? He's in agony."
"I do not wish to explain the details to you..."
"I am his father." Pike snarled. "I deserve to know."
"I believe my time is better used assisting Salen."
Pike glared at Spock for a moment, but he nodded and backed away. Spock gave him a nod and walked off alone to confront Salen. When Spock approached Salen snapped his eyes open and snarled at him with his teeth bared. The presence of another male Vulcan had thrown him into a murderous rage.
"Coward!" Salen hissed. "You would fight me while I am bound?!"
"I am not here to fight you, Salen." Spock replied evenly. "I am here to help you."
Spock had a side bag and he brought out a hypospray with a bright blue fluid in it. Salen fought with all his strength to keep Spock from pressing the hypo against his throat, but there was nothing he could do. The hypo hissed quietly. Salen instantly calmed, it was as though he'd received a high dose of morphine. Spock noticed the change and turned off the ion restraints that had been holding Salen down. Sitting up Salen rubbed at his sore wrists.
"Wha...what is that?"
"Vulandin." Spock answered. "It will not last long and it will make you physically ill, but you will have emotional control for now. It will assist you on the trip to Natala."
"Natala?" Salen asked alarmed. "I do not wish to go to Natala."
"I am afraid that you must."
"Why? What is wrong with me?"
"There is nothing wrong with you Salen. This is know as pon farr..."
Salen sat and listened to Spock explain the Vulcan madness that lead to securing a mate. He didn't interrupt even though he had plenty of questions. His stomach was starting to feel queazy, but he wasn't sure it was from what he was learning or the drug that was calming his instincts. Spock came to the end of his speech, which had sounded practiced.
"You knew this was going to happen to me...and you never told me?"
"This is not an easy discussion for a Vulcan to have with his own son, let alone someone else's. I was going to contact you in a few months so that arrangements could be made."
"Arrangements?" Salen asked alarmed. "Wait...does this mean I have to marry a Vulcan within the next few days or I will die?"
"Normally a Vulcan's second pon farr is not the critical one, however, your condition has been allowed to progress much to far to be halted through meditation. You also do not have the emotional training to accomplish the level of meditation needed."
"Well maybe if I had known that I might end up a mindless rapist I might have tried harder to learn to control my emotions!" Salen spat angrily. "Someone should have told me! You told me that I would be safe with Admiral Pike as my father, but you never told him how to raise me!"
"You are correct. I was wrong. I am sorry."
Salen closed his eyes against the sting of tears. His lack of emotional training was haunting him at the moment as his feelings ricocheted from fury to despair. Suddenly feeling powerfully ill he bent over and threw up on the floor.
"The Vulandin has that effect." Spock said sympathetically.
"Is there anything else I should know about being a Vulcan?" Salen asked bitterly.
"Salen, I can not apologize enough. However, to my knowledge you are the only Vulcan to enter pon farr a full six months early without medical intervention. It must have been the conditions under which you first entered pon farr that caused this drastic shift."
"What are you talking about? This has never happened to me before."
"Yes it has, I saw it in your mind back when we first met. You did not understand it then, you had no hope of understanding it. You only survived because it was your first. If you were still being held captive by Wilson this time would have killed you."
"I would not have survived another six years being bled dry by Wilson in any case." Salen snarled.
"You are still very angry."
"I have every right to be!"
"Yes, however, the Vulandin should be tempering your emotions."
"I have the feeling that if it was not for the Vulandin that I would be trying to kill you for what you have done to Joanna."
"Joanna?"
"I could have killed her!"
"Dr. McCoy's daughter is unharmed."
"That is not the poi...wait...what? Joanna is Dr. McCoy's daughter?"
"Yes."
"I...I never thought to ask her her last name."
"She is Dr. McCoy's daughter, and I assure you she is unharmed."
"Physically." Salen sighed. "She will probably never trust me again."
"Pon farr is not something that Vulcans talk about often, not even among ourselves. However, the truth is yours to tell her as you please. If she is anything like her father, she will understand and she will forgive."
"I certainly hope so." Salen forced a sad smile.
"Come, we are wasting time. We must journey to Natala."
"I am not going there to get married to a stranger, am I?"
"No."
"Good."
"You are going to Natala to have a child."
"What?!" Salen jumped to his feet and backed away from Spock. "I can not have a child, am not ready to be a father!"
"Vulcans are becoming rarer every year. Males are in particular shortage. If our species is to survive, this must be done. You will not act as the child's father, you will not be asked to participate beyond conception."
"I...I...I can not have a child with a woman I have never even met. I do not even know her name..."
"T'Pring. Her name is T'Pring."
