The planet certainly didn't look like Vulcan; the sand was golden instead of red and the ground was covered with smooth dunes instead of craggy rock formations. It felt like Vulcan, though — or, at least it felt like Spock's quarters — if a bit more humid.
Waiting for them when they beamed down were Ambassadors Spock and Sarek. Sarek's face was a blank mask, but the other Ambassador's expression was almost anxious, something Kirk noticed immediately.
"Something wrong, Ambassador Selek?" he asked, using the name Spock had adopted in the altered universe.
"Outsiders are not privy to the sacred rituals of our race, except for those few who have taken part in them," Sarek replied before Selek could speak. His tone was as controlled as his face, but something about the sharpness of each word conveyed a very real anger at the presence of Kirk and McCoy.
Selek's frown increased slightly, his eyebrows furrowing just a smidgen. Kirk got the distinct impression that the Vulcan was concerned about something else entirely. He was about to inquire further when Spock came to their defense.
"I invited them to stand with me, Father," Spock said. "It is my right to do so."
Sarek relaxed minutely, the space around him seeming suddenly less hostile, though Selek appeared no less uneasy.
"Very well then," Sarek said. "Spock, before the ceremony can commence, there are things you must know."
"Father?" Spock had never sounded quite so confused, and it worried Kirk and McCoy, especially given the seriously uncomfortable expressions on the Ambassador's faces — an unusual thing in and of itself.
"T'Pring bonded with another during your absence. Not a mating bond, obviously, as she was already bonded in such a way to you, but there was a bond, and it was both deep and strong. Her…companion perished with our planet, and the loss of him has left her quite…"
"Emotional," Selek supplied. "It is hoped that completing the mating bond with you will help restore her to herself, though no one will force you to do so, given the inherent risk to your own mind."
Spock was silent for several minutes, and the weight of the news hung in the air around McCoy and the Captain, keeping them silent as well.
They wanted to speak, however. McCoy, for all his bickering with the Vulcan, had no wish to see the…man's mind destroyed. It was a unique and precious thing, something he admired in his (unadmitted) friend.
Kirk was fuming internally, feeling certain that Sarek was guilt-tripping Spock into bonding with T'Pring. Concern that his First Officer would choose to stay on the colony made his heart squeeze in his chest; nothing would be the same without him.
I wish to proceed," Spock said finally. The edge of reluctance and resignation in his voice was ignored by the other Vulcans, but not by his friends.
"Spock," Kirk said, moving into his First Officer's line of sight. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
A pause, during which the Captain's skin nearly crawled with some unnameable sense of dread.
"Yes."
"Now hold on, I don't understand, Spock," McCoy said. "What's all this about bonding? Didin't you say you're already married to her?"
Spock's posture straightened slightly, as though he were giving a lecture — or disciplining a cheating cadet.
"Our parents arranged our marriage when I was seven Vulcan years old, and, as is traditional, we formed a telepathic link to each other for the purpose of drawing us together when the Time came. There is no human equivalent; it is more than an engagement, but less than a marriage."
"And bonding with T'Pring will, what, be like replacing an amputated limb with a new one?"
"That is a gross oversimplification, but the priciple is similar, yes."
"What's the risk to you?" Kirk wanted to know.
"T'Pring's distress could be transferred to me, though it is unlikely."
It wasn't like Spock to not give down-to-the-thousandth calculations of events, and the deviation concerned the Captain.
"I see," he said.
Sarek exhaled through his nose, barely loud enough to hear, turned, and walked away. The two Spocks raised a single eyebrow in unison at the abrupt manner of ending the conversation and followed him, leaving Kirk and McCoy to shake off the surreal event and catch up.
TO BE CONTINUED:
Okay, this is a bland chapter, sorry about that. I'll work on making the next ones better — and the real twist between this tale and TOS shows up next chapter. Please bear with me — I just lost my aunt, on top of all the other things going on.
I'm not someone who usually posts things like this comment, but please do review and let me know what you'd like to see, what you don't want to see, what you think you will or won't see, etc. Right now the influx of ideas will probably go a long way toward helping me write — because I'm rather empty right now with all the grief and stress. I need my cathartic exercise, but I can't quite get there on my own. You guys inspire me like nothing else, so please; tell me what this story needs for you to enjoy it, help me brainstorm and take a bit of the load off my shoulders. The rest of this story will be endlessly dedicated to those of you who do.
Also, please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers right now.
—Marie