Minutes later the crew disembarked from the shuttles and looked around. They had taken three shuttles and had only brought as many crewmembers as could be taken up in a single trip by the shuttles. It was a small crew for the task they had before them. A contingent of Vulcans was waiting inside the hangar deck of one of the main compounds to greet them. Spock recognized Solkar, the head of the T'karis colony. He was flanked by a young man and woman that bore a resemblance to him.
Spock raised his hand in the traditional Vulcan greeting, parting his finger in the familiar V-shape and he wondered would the man return it. After, Solkar had stated they were the T'karis colony; Spock had searched the computer banks for information on the colony. The computer had given an approximate date for when the colony had left Vulcan and had listed that the Colony ships they had left on had lost contact with Vulcan after a few months then was never heard from again. The computer didn't have the full story.
What the computer hadn't mentioned was the T'karis colony was a group of individuals that most Vulcans knew of but never spoke of to outsiders. The future residents of the T'karis colony had left Vulcan after engaging in debauchery, wanton violence and refusing to follow Surak's logic. They had intended to travel to different planets build an army and build an empire in which they were the rulers and the other races of the galaxy subjugates. Spock was mildly disturbed to see the Vulcans arrayed before him, looked just like Vulcans that he had seen on his home world. They appeared to proper to logical to have come from such irrational and violent forebears.
The man raised his hands in the salute Spock had offered, intoning the traditional Vulcan greeting, but as he did so Spock saw a slight hint of some emotion dart across the man's face so quickly Spock was almost unsure he had saw it.
Solkar introduced the Vulcans behind him, as his head engineer, one of the colony's doctor and various other departments. The woman and man standing next to him were his son, Silkar and his daughter, T'Kas, a scientist and doctor, respectively. The woman was beautiful, her raven-black hair was crowned around her head in two silky braids, her skin was a pale-green, and the gray tunic she wore clung appealingly. Spock stared at her for several moments, she was quite beautiful. As if she was aware she caught his gaze, and her eyes held his intently for a moment, like she was trying to give him a message. Then she looked away her face blank. Spock was somewhat disquieted by the interaction, he looked at the Silkar. Silkar was a stark contrast to T'Kas, his face had a dark look about him, the impassive look that he wore seemed to hide a darker countenance, as Spock looked at him the man caught his eye and what could have only been a expression of malice flitted across the man's face, then was quickly covered.
The man turned away, and Spock focused on what the middle-aged Vulcan was saying putting the slightly uneasy feeling he had out of his mind.
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"The ships were placed underground when we knew that the anomaly would return, to avoid as much damage as possible, even then with the shielding we were able to devise our computer systems were severely damaged and the engines are only barely reparable in time to evacuate" Solkar said as he led the crew down a series of circuitous passages.
Silkar, Spock, Chekov Uhura and several engineering and science crew members walked down a corridor. As they walked through the colony they could see evidence of the damage the anomaly had wrought. Chunks of the building had fell down half-blocking corridors, Vulcans carried wounded members to the infirmary, and others hurried back and forth preparing for the evacuation. The anomaly effects could still be felt, every few minutes, the ground under their feet would shake causing more than one crew member to stumble and the lights would dim. They travelled several hundred feet the passage way gradually sloping downward. The place was like a maze, the passages took twists and turns that would have confused a bloodhound. They turned one last corner and the corridor opened onto a walkway. The walkway lined an enormous cavern that housed several ships. The ships loomed largely above the crew, Spock could see they were the original colony ships the colonists must have came in. They were built in a style that was over 200 years old and most of the original components were still there.
Vulcans scurried over the hull and the quiet but urgent voices of the repair crews filled the air, mingled with the sound of falling rubble and tools being operated.
"This is one of three hangars…" Solkar explained as he led them around the ships. He continued explaining that each hangar was in a separate part of the compound and housed a part of the fleet. There were 5 colony ship's total. Spock mentally admired the man's logic by dividing the ships up. If a hangar was damaged they would still retain some of their fleet, but working on the ships the way they were situated would require dividing the crew. Logically, that was the only way they could complete the job, but something about the thought made Spock feel uneasy summoning his control he pushed down the feeling.
Solkar continued showing them the other hangars, and then Spock gave the crew their assignments. Spock, Uhura, and several other crew members were in one group.
The Enterprise crew had dispersed throughout the ship each going to their assigned duties. Havarii was in the engine room of the colony ship along with Lieutenant Smith. O'Connor, Chekov, and Kelly were busy checking the life support systems. Various members of the colony were dispersed throughout the ship making repairs of their own as they all tried to get the ships ready for departure in the short time left. The only people on the bridge of the ship were Spock, Uhura and Silkar.
Uhura was busily working on a comm. console trying to link the communication equipment from the enterprise to the console in an effort to boost the signal and achieve a reliable channel. Silkar watched her.
Once Solkar had given them a tour of the ship, he told his son to come along. After a brief conversation, Silkar had broken away from his father and Spock heard the words "I want to monitor things here". Solkar had nodded but, Spock didn't miss the look of disquiet that had crossed the older Vulcan's face. Silkar came back saying the initial repairs would go better if they had somebody that was very familiar with the ship's system, he claimed that few of the other Vulcans knew more about the ships then he had.
As he walked he told them his grandfather had been one of the main engineers responsible in making the over a hundred year old ship, modern enough for another journey through deep space. Silkar ended with the words "he always thought like a visionary" But instead of pride as he talked about his grandfather, Spock noted a hint of disdain in the younger Vulcans words.
Now Spock watched Silkar closely, unbeknownst to him. Uhura was too focused on re-wiring the comm.-console to notice the attention she was getting. Half-her body was twisted under the panel, as she fixed the circuitry.
Silkar watched the lieutenant's movements with a fascination that Spock found unpleasant to behold. Spock glared at the man. Silkar, almost as if he felt Spock gaze upon him, turned around and briefly looked at Spock, before returning to his work, his back to Uhura. The man's face had been expressionless, but Spock illogically, irrationally, felt there was something indefinable unpleasant about the man.
Uhura inched out from beneath the panel and tugged her uniform down, brushing dust down off herself. Spock watched as she sat down at a console and began to work. Silkar continued working, he gave no indication that minutes ago he had been staring at Uhura. Spock still had the feeling that Silkar was up to something and whatever it was, it wasn't good.
Sorry for not posting the next chapter when I should. I was called in to work abruptly, worked for several days under crazy (emphasis on crazy) conditions and then got very, very sick. To make up for it here's a few chapters. Thanks for the reviews and to the new followers and favorites! You are very much appreicated.