Unfinished Business

Chapter 42 : Who Have We Found?

January 2275

Once again the Enterprise was sent to patrol the Neutral Zone. It was while on this rotation that they found the planet Hellguard, formerly the site of a Romulan base and prison camp. There were people there, almost feral, who had been living on whatever they could, surviving on the bare edge of starvation. It was a long and tedious process, fraught with frustration and sadness, to find them all, and coax them out of hiding, to feed them, and heal them of their illnesses, and begin to rehabilitate them. And it was not something that could be done in a day, or a week. But as their time there stretched out into a month, the number of roving life signs declined, and they began to see the end of their assignment. It was near the end of this time, when they had taken to sitting about fires in the evening, hoping to lure the last of fearful ones to the heat, that he saw her for the first time. A child, still, naked, dirty, hair tangled, obvious hungry and cold. He took a ration bar and quietly unwrapped it, and laid it on a rock at arm's length, and waited.

Slowly she crept out of the shadows of the trees and stole from one small bit of concealment to another until she could snatch up the proffered treat and flash away, much faster than she had advanced. Beside him, Nyota made a muffled sound, and he cautioned her. This one was defiant and angry, but most of all scared. They must be careful, or she would go into hiding.

At breakfast time, they sat once more in the clearing, and ate and spoke loudly about how good the food was. And all the while, another plate sat, at the edge of the clearing, waiting. In a flash, she darted from between the trees, and grabbed the metal plate, and disappeared again. Good, they had established a pattern. This they could work with.

They enlisted McCoy's aid, and filled the next offering with antibiotics and vitamins. It disappeared as fast as the others. They waited, through two more agonizing days, feeding her at every meal, until they were certain she would appear when next they brought out the food. And this time, there was a sedative in it, certified to be harmless to her. When she darted off, Spock lifted his tricorder, and tracked her, waiting until she stopped her movements before proceeding. He found her huddled under the roots of a tree, almost invisible in the dark, and carefully lifted her up and returned to the fire, where McCoy quickly scanned her, before transporting up to the ship. She was Vulcan, at least partly. He was stunned. This was not expected. He had taken her appearance for Romulan, and that was not entirely ruled out. Perhaps she was a hybrid, similar to himself.

They continued in their mission until there were no more life-signs to be found, and then they disassembled their camps, and returned to the ship. Each day, he and Nyota visited her in the special ward that had been set up. Nyota and Chapel cooperated in bathing her, much to her distress. She screamed and cried, but they continued, until she was clean, perhaps for the first time in her life. They dressed her in simple clothing, which she did not understand, and sat and brushed her hair, trying to get all the tangles out. She did not like that at all. Nyota discovered that she bit.

They could not get any speech out of her at all. None of the other captives would admit to knowing anything about her. Finally, he advanced slowly upon her, and laid his hand gently on her face, and tried to comfort her, filling her with peace. The look on her face was astonishing. And she spoke then, for the first time. "Who?"

Nyota recognized the word, and spoke to her now in Romulan. "He is Spock. He is your friend. I am Nyota. I am your friend, too. All of these people are your friends, and will not harm you."

She did not believe. That was very obvious. But each day, they came again, and spoke to her, and dressed her again in the simple clothing, and washed her, and brushed her hair, and she began not to fear them.

StarFleet began to find the places from which the rescued people had been stolen. Arrangements were made to transfer them, slowly, as each was identified, to places where they had family, or friends, or simply a place that was familiar. But this little one had no relatives, nothing that could be discovered to identify her. And so it was that he placed a subspace call to his mother, and informed her of this child, and was told to bring her to them as quickly as possible.

When the Enterprise was as close to Vulcan as it would get on this sweep of the sector, Spock and Nyota boarded one of the shuttles, with Saavik held tightly in Nyota's arms. She clung to Nyota, fearful of the large open shuttle bay with its loud noises and bright lights. She was more comfortable once they were inside the shuttle, and Nyota strapped her into a seat, covering her up with her favorite blanket, and telling her to stay put. The short flight was a constant battle to keep her seated and quiet, for this experience was new to her, and she did not handle new experiences well at all. They were met at the space port by a car and driver, and once again must keep her settled as they progressed towards the large country estate belonging to his parents.

Arriving there, they had to urge her out of the vehicle, and she cowered against them under the high hot sky, not liking the openness at all. Nyota took one hand, and Spock the other, and the driver followed with their small luggage. Once inside the house, out of the bright sun, Saavik relaxed somewhat, but she kept darting glances here and there, trying to find escape routes and hiding places. His parents would have their hands full, of this there was no doubt.

Amanda came flying towards them, and enveloped first him, and then Nyota, in a happy hug, before bending down in front of the young girl. "And you are Saavik, are you not?" But all she got was a puzzled look.

Nyota explained that the only language she knew was Romulan, and not much of that. "You will have to teach her Vulcan. She has been so traumatized that I haven't even attempted it yet. Just teaching her to bathe and wear clothing and eat with utensils has been tiring enough."

Amanda nodded. "Spock has kept me appraised of her condition and progress. She will have a full time attendant, until we are sure that she will not try to run away. And we have added a silent fence around the house, to detect if she tries to leave the enclosed yard. Sarek is quite concerned that she would perish if she got out into the desert."

Spock agreed with his mother. "She has no desert survival skills. All her life has been spent in or near a wooded area. I am glad that you have taken this precaution."

They had a month's leave, to help her acclimate, and it took every single day of that time to make her understand that she would be staying there, that this was her home now. They all worked with her, teaching her the Vulcan words for everything about her, and she took to this well, her mind thirsty for knowledge, now that her body was healthy, probably for the first time in her life. Seeing so many people around her who looked more like her seemed to be helpful as well, for which Spock was extremely grateful. Having been able to rescue her body, he was now glad to see that her mind was being rescued as well.

Healers were brought in to examine her, and they had much experience with children, not frightening her in the least. And slowly she began to accept this place, and these people, and this life, so different and new. But perhaps it was the sehlat pup that Sarek brought home the last week that they were there that was the turning point. It was never more than a foot from her from the first moment, and slept curled up around her each night.

When it came time for them to leave, she clung to them, and asked them to stay, but they could not. Amanda, also, would have preferred that they stay longer, but knew that their duties prevented it. But she made them promise to return, when it was possible, and they did so, knowing that they were welcome. Even Sarek told them he was satisfied with their visit, although much more stiffly than Amanda. But just before they turned to get into the ground car to return to their shuttle, Nyota leaned forward and kissed Sarek's cheek, to his great surprise.

When they were aboard their shuttle, headed back to the Enterprise, Spock turned to Nyota and asked her why she had done that. "Because he's your father and he should know that we care about him." He considered her answer, and the look on Sarek's face, and that on Amanda's face, and nodded. And then he spent the next several hours showing Nyota how he cared about her, to her great delight.