Chapter 15:
*T'Aimnu's POV*
After visiting my parents, Leonard and I sneak away in a hallway to join some time together before returning to Medbay. He's leaning against the wall with his arms around my waist. I place my hands on his broad chest. Our eyes meet, letting them have our love mix together.
"I love you so much," he smiles softly.
"I love you so much more," I smiled back softly.
Our faces slowly lean, closing the gap and our eyes slowly close. Just before our lips could even meet, we both hear over a nearby communicator, "Dr. T'Aimnu and Dr. McCoy to the Bridge."
"My apologizes my dearest," I give him a sorry smile.
"It's okay my Little Blue Star," his smile matches the sorry, "let's go."
Hand in hand, we enter onto the bridge and stood before Cousin Spock.
"You wanted to see us?" Leonard asked.
"Yes, Doctors," he speaks in his discreet tone of voice, "I'm aware that James Kirk is a friend of yours. Supporting me, as you both did, must have been difficult."
"Cousin Spock," I speak surprised, "are you thanking both Leonard and I?"
"I'm simply acknowledging your difficulties."
"Permission to speak freely, Sir," he says, making me look at him at the corner of my eyes.
"I welcome it."
"Do you...okay then: are you out of your Vulcan mind?" obviously he's not taking this well. "Were you doing the logical thing? Maybe. The right one? Debatable. But one thing's for damn sure - that kid doesn't know how to lose." I raised an eyebrow at this, placing my hands behind my back. "Just isn't in his DNA. Back home we have a saying: 'If you're gonna ride in the Kentucky Derby, don't leave your prize stallion in the stable.'"
I stood in between the two, looking at who is speaking.
"...a curious metaphor, Doctor," Cousin Spock finally speaks, "as a stallion must first be broken before it can reach its potential."
"My God, man...you could at least act like it was a hard decision?"
"Cousin Spock intended to assist in the effect to re-establish communication with Starfleet," I add in.
"However Cousin T'Aimnu," he turns to me, "if crew morale would be better served by my roaming the halls weeping, I'll gladly defer to both your medical expertise."
Uncle Sarek enters onto the bridge. Our hand symbols meet before I follow a fuming Leonard.
"Leonard please," I try to speak with him, "I understand that your emotion is stronger towards my cousin's….reasonings."
"Why can't your cousin think both logical and illogical like you do?" he asked me, frowning his eyebrows.
"He has embraced the true Vulcan lifestyle while I embraced both lifestyles."
"Do Vulcans have emotions?"
"Similar to Human emotions? Yes we do, but it's the lifestyle to control them to an almost emotionless matter."
"Why is that?"
I take a deep breath before speaking again, "I am going to put into a way that you can understand it. Vulcan emotions are stronger than Human emotions to the point that you might think we are crazy. Strong emotions will result into insanity."
"Really?" he asked, surprised.
My head nods up and down. "Well that's one way to put it," I add in with a soft smile.
He smiles small back, "only you, out of everyone in the universe, could really understand me."
"Because I love you Leonard McCoy."
"And I love you T'Aimnu."
*Kirk's POV*
An insane blizzard hits the three of us as we move through it.
"I am so pissed off at the other you right now Spock!" I yelled out.
Dr. T'Aimu McCoy points out with her free hand at an outpost half a mile away. There's a door that opens while the snow blows around us. We enter in as the door closes.
"Hello?!" I called out.
My call echos and nothing. We continue on until a small, dark odd looking alien creature steps out. It looks at us curiously.
"Can I help you?" it speaks.
"Are you the station chief?" Dr. T'Aimu McCoy asked.
It looks at us over, speaking, "...no, this way."
The three of us follow the creature into a massive warehouse, filled with mostly worn out space parts. Things like large, tarped shuttles, depressing space, etc. A Starfleet officer, whose asleep, with his legs up and leaning back in a chair. He has a hat covering his face.
It taps on the Officer's boot, waking him up.
"Visitors."
Within a beat, the Officer peers through under his hat, showing a cool, slow burn. "You realize how unacceptable this is," he speaks.
"Excuse me?" I asked.
"...Fascinating," Older Spock says to the Officer.
The Officer stands speaking unhappy, "I'm sure it's no' your fault, and I know youse lads are just doing your jobs, but could you no' have come a wee bit sooner?!" Then he continues, "six months I've been living on nothing but Starfleet Protein Nibs and the promise of a real food delivery! Six months! It's pretty clear what's going on here, isn't it? Punishment! Ongoing! For something that was clearly an accident!"
"Montgomery Scott," Dr. T'Aimu McCoy smirks.
"You know him?" I asked her.
"Yes, that's me - Scotty -" Scotty says, "you're in the right place, are there any other hard-working and equally-starving Starfleet officer around?"
"Me," his creature speaks.
"You eat nothing. A bean and you're done for a week, I need food. And now you're here - so thank you. Where is it?"
"You are in fact the Mr. Scott who postulated the theory of trans-warp beaming," Older Spock says.
"Yes! That's exactly what I'm talking about! How d'ya think I ended up here? I got into a debate with my instructor on the issue of Relativistic Physics as they pertain to subspace travel….He seemed to think that the range of transporting say, a roast turkey, was limited to a few hundred miles - so I told my instructor I could not only beam a bird from one planet to an adjacent planet in the same system which is no big deal anyway but if I were so inclined I could actually do it with a lifeform! So I tested it on Admiral Archer's prized beagle. Which….was a mistake."
"I know that dog," I said, knowing about it, "what happened to it?"
"I'll tell ya when it reappears. Dunno. Feel guilty."
"Scotty," Dr. T'Aimu McCoy steps forward to him, "what if I told you that your transwarp theory was correct?"
"That it is indeed possible to beam onto a ship that is travelling at warp speed," Older Spock adds in.
"And that you only required the correct field equation to recrystallize dilithium?" they both speak.
"I haven't been stationed here that long," Scotty replies, "if such an equation had been discovered, I'da heard."
"The reason you haven't heard of it, Mr. Scott...is because you haven't discovered it yet," Older Spock says.
Scotty and I reacts to this almosted spooked while Dr. T'Aimu McCoy reacts to it amused.
"Y'from the future, are ya?" Scotty asked.
The two Vulcans linked arms with each other, responding to him.
"Brilliant. D'they still have sandwiches where you're from? Piece and jam? Mice 'n tatties? Cockaleekie soup?"
"What is he talking about?" I asked the two cousins, confused.
"Food," Scotty's creature answers for them.
"Please allow us access to your shuttle," the female elderly Vulcan asked him, "and we will show you what a genius you actually are."
Scotty seems to be intrigued.