The Fallout
U.S.S. Enterprise, 2279.346, 2053 hours. Ensign Fein saw him to his door then went back to enjoying his night off. Se'tak let himself in and, knowing a punishment of some type was imminent, began pacing the floor in the living room like a tiger locked in a cage. He wasn't left waiting long before his parents walked through the door. Mama spotted him first and was she ever pissed! Her flinty gaze never wavered as she walked right up to him. They were literally nose to nose and she didn't say a word; he held his breath for fear of setting her off. When she was done staring daggers straight through to his soul she stomped off toward her bedroom making him cringe when she slammed her hand against the access panel.
As visibly upset as Mama was Sa-mekh was the exact opposite. He stood just inside the door looking cool as a cucumber but Se'tak didn't miss how tight he held himself and the way the veins in his neck bulged out.
Frak was he ever in for it.
Sa-mekh fully entered the living room. "Your mother and I were enjoying a quiet dinner in the Officer's Mess when we received word that there had been an altercation during the movie. Naturally we were concerned for your safety but did not in any way believe you to be involved until 7.8 minutes later when we received a call from the captain."
"Sa-mekh, I…"
His father held up one hand. "You will hear me out." An inflection. This was even worse than he thought. "Violence is not the answer; it is never the answer unless your life is in mortal danger." One eyebrow shot up questioningly. "Were you in mortal danger?"
"No, but…"
"If you were not in mortal danger then there are no 'buts'. I cannot stress enough how much you cannot let emotion get the better of you. It clouds your judgment and is your greatest weakness. Given your Vulcan heritage—"
"I'm more Human than Vulcan," Se'tak spat out bitterly.
Sa-mekh paused and narrowed his eyes. "Yes," he coolly replied, "You are; however, given your Vulcan heritage you are physically stronger than your classmates and potentially many of your superiors on board this ship. It is partly for this reason that I have spent the last 10.2 years training you in the Vulcan martial arts so that you would be better able to control and resist your violent urges, and yet I find you using this knowledge against them instead. You are the most likely of all your peers to enter into physical conflicts. Why is that?"
"I don't know." That was a lie—he did know, he just didn't want to come clean about it.
He watched his sa-mekh sigh—actually sigh—then turn and gaze out the viewport at the passing starry scenery. "This is your fourth altercation that you have entered into this calendar year alone and I fast anticipate the day when a group of parents will begin to voice their concerns for their children's safety in light of your outbursts; perhaps your mother and I should consider sending you off-ship to a school that is better equipped to see to your needs."
Se'tak exploded. "WHAT?! THIS IS BULLSHIT! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT HAPPENED!"
Sa-mekh spun around to look at him. "Nevertheless you still resorted to violence. I have no doubt that you also have a convincing argument ready for me that will defend your position as being the correct one."
"You're damn right I do!" he roared.
He held up one hand to silence him. "No matter, this discussion is now finished. Your mother and I will tell you of our decision in the morning. You are to spend the remainder of the evening in your room contemplating what you have done." Sa-mekh turned to leave the room and Se'tak blocked him bodily.
"What I've done!? Why is it you always think it's something I've done?!"
There was more he wanted to say but before he could continue yelling Mama came out of her room with a communicator in her outstretched hand. "Spock," she said, passing him the device, "It's Jim. You're going to want to hear this." He moved off to the far side of the room and she turned to him with an apologetic expression—but before she could utter one word he cut her off.
"I don't want to hear it. You know what? You and Sa-mekh wanna ship me off to some military school or whatever then fine, go ahead, 'cause I can't WAIT to get away from both of YOU!"
He had the pleasure of seeing Mama gape like a fish out of water as he fled the room.
2105 hours. The lights were dim but not fully off and the door was locked. He'd added another override to the usual locking mechanism—Se'tak knew it'd be no match for his sa-mekh's programming skills but it'd at least give him a few extra seconds to prepare. As he lay on his bed staring up at the ceiling and waiting for the inevitable the same thought tumbled over and over again in his mind.
Why didn't his parents want him?
T'Alora and Selas never got into trouble, at least not in their parents' eyes; if anything they were the golden children. Mama and Sa-mekh couldn't wait for T to come home and were practically counting her arrival down to the millisecond, and everybody pitied and petted Selas because he was blind. Everyone always catered to Selas' every need too, like he couldn't even take care of himself. Their parents never talked about sending either of them away, but if he even got into a little bit of trouble it was always the same, "Se'tak, what'd you do this time?" Everything was always his fault and he had no doubt their lives would be so much easier with him off the ship—only he didn't really want to go.
He groaned and clapped his hands over his eyes. UGH!
There was a soft knocking at the door that made him sit up. "Se'tak? Sweetie, are you still awake? Because we really need to talk."
Oh no, the last thing he wanted to do was talk about what junior delinquent boot camp they were going to ship him off to. They could just go frak themselves.
Just to get his point across he hucked his basketball at the door. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"
He heard nothing but silence and then a subdued "Ok". When he was sure he was alone Se'tak curled up on his side, faced the wall, and did a little bit of crying of his own.
She re-entered the bedroom and watched Spock take a clean uniform shirt out of the closet and lay it across a nearby chair in preparation for the next day's shift. "Se'tak won't talk to me, so I need you to tell me exactly what you said to him."
He eyed her coolly. "I informed our son that we were displeased by this latest display of violence and that you and I would be discussing the possibility of sending him off-ship to finish his education at a facility that is better equipped to re-direct his anger."
Nyota didn't think it was possible after all these years but her adun managed to leave her speechless—and not in a good way. Incensed, the mama bear in her roared, "Are you out of your mind?! Did you really think I'd willingly let you send him away?! What in the world made you even think of that let alone think that I'd agree to it?!"
"I was…bluffing," he quietly admitted.
That declaration sounded even more preposterous than the idea of sending Se'tak away. "WHAT?!"
"Forgive me, I was working under the apprehension that it was acceptable parenting to level a threat of that nature against him so that it might curtail future bad behavior; I also exacted this punishment before Jim informed me that Se'tak was not, in fact, the instigator of this latest argument."
Nyota softened her stance somewhat but remained firm. She was mad at both her boys tonight—Se'tak for ruining her evening out with Spock, and Spock for saying what he'd said to Se'tak—but after learning the full story from Jim she could understand where both had been coming from.
"He is being bullied," Spock said.
"Yes," she replied, equally disheartened.
"By Cole Granger."
She sank down on the end of the bed. "Yes, and I can't for the life of me think of why. I don't know his mothers too well but they both seem like nice people." She sighed. "What do you think made him turn on Se'tak like this?"
He set his boots along his side of the bed. "There is no logic in hate, Nyota." He snaked his hand out to her and she clutched it tight, heightening her feel of his sadness and regret; she also felt his overwhelming love and concern for their son. She leaned over and gave him a soft kiss in a show of non-verbal upport.
"You have to talk to him, Spock; and the sooner the better."
"Agreed."
He rose and headed for the door choosing to take her quite literally. "I didn't mean right now. I don't think he'll be willing to hear what you have to say right now."
Spock turned to her and nodded. "Then I will wait."
0312 hours. G-d he was thirsty; he needed to use the bathroom too. Checking the time he figured everyone was asleep and it'd be safe to slip out. Tiptoeing down the hall he passed through the kitchen and halfway through the living room before he heard his sa-mekh's voice behind him.
"Sa-fu."
"AHH!" Sa-mekh had been sitting there in the armchair as still as could be and he'd gone and walked right past him without even noticing.
"I did not intend to startle you but merely wished to alert you to my presence."
He turned up the sarcasm. "Yeah, well, job well done, Sa-mekh. Now if you don't mind…"
"You did not tell me that yours was a fight of honor on behalf of a friend."
Se'tak resisted the urge to sigh. Sometimes he just wished his sa-mekh would speak plainly. "Huh?"
"You were defending Meruka."
"Yeah, so?"
"I did not know this."
He rolled his eyes and slumped down onto the sofa knowing he wasn't going to get to the bathroom anytime soon. "Well it's not like you gave me a chance to tell you. You even said you didn't want to hear my side of the story."
"That is correct and a grievous oversight on my part."
Was that an apology? Se'tak quirked an eyebrow up and looked to his sa-mekh in disbelief. He was still rather indignant over his earlier unjust treatment and so accepted his sa-mekh's regret rather grudgingly. Silence stretched out between them only to be punctuated by the ambient noises of the ship until he decided to try and test his luck. "And for your information, Meruka's more then a friend."
"Understood." Sa-mekh didn't inquire further into the matter and he chose not to elaborate only because even he wasn't 100% sure what he and Meruka were. Could you really be boyfriend and girlfriend if you only knew each other a week? Se'tak was lost in his own thoughts ruminating on this very question when his sa-mekh next spoke. "I was also under the misapprehension that you were the aggressor in this instance but I have since been informed otherwise and have detected a pattern between tonight and your previous assaults."
What? "Ok…?"
This time Sa-mekh did not beat around the bush. "Exactly how long has Cole Granger been verbally abusing you?"
Just hearing the words 'verbally abusing' made Se'tak's skin crawl. Yeah Cole was a bully and a jerk but the way Sa-mekh said it made it sound so much worse. Besides he'd been handling it. Se'tak shrugged. "I don't know. A while."
Sa-mekh looked at him skeptically. "Define 'a while'."
"Does it really matter?"
His sa-mekh considered that a moment before replying. "No, I suppose it does not."
There was now an even more uncomfortable silence between them. He wasn't going to confront Cole himself, was he? Or want to take it up with his parents? Because that would just make it all a lot worse.
"I would offer you my assistance, however, I know from past experience that parental involvement in such matters only exacerbates the situation. If I may offer you a piece of personal advice I recommend that you continue to ignore his verbal taunts as you have previously done as he will soon grow tired of them and move on."
His sa-mekh seemed on the verge of saying something more but hesitated. "And…?"
"And—I commend you on your restraint thus far."
That moment of pride took him aback. "Oh. Thanks. Soooo…does this mean I'm not getting shipped off to some boot camp school on Irnadoon or somewhere?"
At that Sa-mekh's face contorted into the most comical expression he'd ever seen—a cross of confusion and self-satisfaction. "You will remain with us aboard the Enterprise. Your mother was also much incensed upon learning of my proposition and so I was forced to inform her that I was indeed bluffing."
Se'tak spluttered. "What?!"
There was a trace of a smirk playing upon Sa-mekh's lips but he said nothing more and merely rose from his chair. "Good night, sa-fu."
He stayed in the living room a full minute completely stunned, never knowing that Sa-mekh ever had it in him to do that.