Chapter 9: ShiKahr, W~lq~n, United Federation of Planets.



Jim paced the rooms in the house he shared with Spock.  He had packed and

unpacked boxes over and over, until the last transport offworld had left.  He

had hovered, undecided, in the doorway, the heat of the desert pounding at him,

wondering if he could leave Spock behind again.  The decision had been taken 

from him, at the last, when Samuel's bondmate T'San flowed up to him.  She

was barely sixteen, and she and Samuel had chosen each other.  He had realized

as he looked at her that she was as intimately bound to his son as he was to

Spock, and bound by a free choice.



"You are very young to have made such a choice,"  he had said, his voice 

rough with grief.



"You are very old to have not yet chosen," she had replied, then moved

past him, catlike, into the kitchen and made him a sandwich and iced coffee.



He had watched her and thought about how much she was like Spock.



Now he stopped pacing.  Of course T'San was like Spock.  They were related,

after all, fourth cousins or some such--Spock had translated the Vulcan

kinship terms once.  And T'San, like her cousin before her, always knew

just what to say.



"You are very old to have not yet chosen."



Jim leaned his head against the wall.  "Spock?"  He closed his eyes and 

focussed on reaching his bondmate.  ...Spock...



...Yes?...



...When did you choose?...



...?...



...Nevermind...



And Jim Kirk slammed his shields tight closed.  He could feel Spock probing 

them, as if rapping on the windows of a locked house.  He ground his teeth

together with the effort of not responding.



"I want you," he whispered to the desert air and the fading light of 40

Eridanii.  



...Jim...



"Hell!"  He got another grip on his shields and wrapped his arms around

himself.







Journal entry:  I hate feeling this vulnerable.  Why did Spock choose now 

to do this to me?  I never asked him not to--he just didn't.  And I thought

it would always be this way.  That he would give and never take.  He must

have known how this would hurt me.  He must have done it on purpose.



I'm not sure I can forgive him.



I'm not sure how he ever forgave me.  Or if he did, now that he's done

this.



Right now, I can't stop thinking about the fact that he let me know, then

cut me off.  My Spock.



And what of Antonia?  That hurt him the worst.  Is this revenge?



I want you.  So badly that my body is screaming with holding it in.  Oh, 

t'hy'la...



---



Chapter 10: Earth, United Federation of Planets



Jim tapped on the console impatiently.  "Pick up pick up pick up," he 

muttered, growing more and more agitated.  Finally, it beeped at him, 

and he could see her.  "Antonia."



"What do you want?"



"I..."  He looked down and away.  "What's going on on Ter-Earth?"



She ran a hand through her hair.  He could see the sweat beading on her body.

She must not have the climate control on.  "FNN's interesting.  The Vulcans

are so...they're angry, I think.  One of them broke a reporter's arm, right

on camera.  The Council...no one knows what the Council's doing."  She 

paused.  "You should know this already."



"I do.  I called because--, oh hell.  Antonia, I...I need to apologize 

to you."



"For what?"



"For not being honest with you.  About...things."  He took a deep breath.

"I know you knew that Spock and I had been lovers.  What I didn't tell you is

that we were--and are--married.  That I left him with a young child, only a 

few months old.  That when he needed me the most I ran.  And I'm sorry for 

not telling you.  And for asking you to be to me what he is.  It wasn't fair."



Antonia frowned.  "Why now?"



Jim looked up again.  "Because I didn't know what I was doing to him until he

did it to me.  And I deserved it so richly, Antonia.  I didn't mean to hurt

anyone--but I have been...cruel.  To him and to you.  And I'm sorry."



"Look, I don't think we should have this conversation over a commlink."



"But I'm on Vulcan.  You're on Terra."



Terra.  There it was again.  Not Earth, Terra.  He tried to keep his shock

off his face, but she drew back from the screen and he knew she'd seen it.



"It wasn't Starfleet you went back to, was it, Jim?"



"No."



"That little boy at the spaceport?  Was that the boy in the Council the other

day?"



"My son, Samuel.  Sol cha'Spock, yes."



She nodded.  Then, "Jim."



"Yes?"



"You need to talk to Spock.  Not me.  You and I have been over for--what?

Twelve years?  Let go of me, Jim.  Talk to your spouse, not the person you

cheated on him with."



She broke the connection before he could respond.



---



Chapter 11: KashKahr, W~lq~n, United Federation of Planets



Spock waited calmly in his formal robes.  S'tka and T'Li flanked him, their

expressions mirrors of each other--serene, complete.  ...This is a serenity

that Jim and I lack, for all the love we bear each other...  Spock fell into

his own thoughts.  ...Jim and I.  We are falling apart, after so long.  I can

no longer hold on....



His thoughts were interrupted by the summons.



The Council of Kh'liorahKahr were six men and women, none of whom could be

born in the city.  All had been cast out--by their own free will.  As Spock

looked at them, he saw the pain of that in each of them, the horrible

wrenching break of the loss of a bondmate and of freedom and family, and so

many other things that most Vulcans took as their birthright.



The head of the Council spoke.  "Spock cha'Sarek, why have you come before 

us?"



He bowed his head.  "Council of Kh'liorahKahr, Vulcan goes to war, against

our Ancient Enemy.  The Deep Ones tremble and we burn as we have not burned

since the time of my ancestor Surak.  We beg of you to join us."



Silence.



Spock could hear his heart beating.



The head of the Council made a soft noise.  "Why?"



"You are Vulcan.  Vulcan must be united to stand against our Ancient Enemy.

We must not be conquered."



She lifted her chin, and he saw then that the Council was in Union, the 

group-mind so often aspired to an so rarely achieved.  His Recognition had

lain too long unused, or he would have noticed it before.  The quick sharp

tilt of her head was not her own; it belonged to the old man at the end

of the table, the blind one.



Spock pitched his voice to affect that one, let the vibrations suggest 

respect-for-the-Elder as well as I-am-of-rank.



The head spoke again.  "You would use our Gift against the Orions, son of

Sarek."



The old man was clear in her voice.



"The Gift is no longer a weapon, honorable Council.  We merely ask that you

fight with us, as Vulcans, the unconquerable."



"Son of Sarek, do not dissemble."



Spock dropped the respectful harmonics and let his rank take over.  "I am

of the House of Surak, and I do not dissemble.  I warn you not to insult me 

so."



"WE HAVE NO GUARANTEE."  The Council spoke as one, and the old man on the end

rose to his feet and began to speak alone.  "We are cast out, expunged, gone.

And now, when you need our Gift, our weapon, you come to us and pretend and

pretend and offer us nothing but to use us as we once were used--the killing

slaves, the broken ones who brought death at the whim of their masters--No,

son of Sarek.  No.  You will not use our Gift, and you will not use us."



Spock set his lips.  "I will take those Bonded to my House, then."



"We were not informed of any Bonds between the House of Surak and the 

outcast."  The Council head was in control again, but she was angry.  Spock

wondered if he could provoke the group-mind to rage, if he could push them

far enough to trigger their Gift.



"There are many things you do not know."



They were humming now, tense with anger.



He spoke again.  "I will take my Bonded family, and when the Ancient Enemy

comes, I will make certain that KashKahr is listed as a military target.

If you are lucky, you will see them coming.  If you are unlucky--you will 

be the first Vulcans in all time to be conquered.  Unworthy.  Truly 

expunged from our race."  He put all the insult he could into the words, and

he felt it build in them--



If he had not been healer-potential, he would not have survived.  As it was,

his shields crumbled under the weight of their Gift.





---



Chapter 12: Orion Star Empire



The warpshuttle was rigged for silent running, and she was cloaked.  T'Pel

and Tuvok nevertheless felt exposed and alone.  



...I know something bad will happen to us here, aduna...



...I sense it too, my husband...



They went about their business, gathering information and piggybacking 

their transmissions, hoping that the data was getting home.  The defensive

systems would need it.  Yes, it would fuel the burning, but that could

not be helped.  The Orions, the Ancient Enemy, the antithesis of All

That Is Vulcan--the burning was necessary.  Only it could help.



T'Pel skirted an Orion slave ship and scanned its belly.  "Warrior-slaves,

my husband.  Bound for Vulcan."



He shivered slightly, and she turned to him, concerned.



"My wife--" and he lost control.



She was quick enough with the sedative this time.  It was the fifth time in as

many days that he had tried to rape her.  She gave herself a small shot for

good measure.  The burning had caught her too, and he still bled sometimes

from the bite on his chest.



"We are even again, my husband."  



He nodded from his position on the floor, and she helped him up.



"Save your strength, adun.  We will tear them into bloody bits soon enough."



Tuvok smiled and ran his nails over her shoulder, not quite breaking the skin.



The thought came to her as if out of a dream.  ...This is Vulcan at war...



...Yes... he answered.  



She turned to him and kissed him, then bit him and drew blood, the coppery

taste filling her mouth and the emerald green sliding over their skin and

clothing.



...Yes...



She dug her fingers into his hips and tore at the fabric.  ...We need to 

increase the dosage of the sedative.  It's getting worse...



He threw her against a bulkhead and slipped his hand inside her skirt, his

fingers rough against her clit and rough inside her.  She bit him again and

he let go of her long enough to strip off his tunic and hers.

He knelt before her and pressed his mouth to her stomach, breathed out, and

moved upward to her breasts, leaving a trail of his blood along her body.



She twisted and he raked his fingernails over her sides.  She knotted one 

hand in his hair and entered his mind.  He screamed and tore off her skirt.

She could sense nothing of her husband in his mind, only the burning, like 

the plak tow but deeper, as though all Vulcan burned in him.



She felt her mind slip away from her.



The fabric of his trousers parted and he entered her.  She screamed and fought

him, biting him over and over until they were both soaked in blood.



---



Chapter 13: KashKahr, W~lq~n



Spock fell under the weight of their Gift, felt his shields weaken and his

heart begin to stutter.  He reached out desperately to T'Li and S'tka, and

farther, to Jim.



T'Li and her husband were not of much use.  They were only lightly Bound 

to him.  But Jim--



Jim blocked him.



Spock tried again.



Nothing.



And again.



...Antonia...



It was only a whisper, fading as an echo fades, but it was enough to get a 

fingerhold.  Spock fought his pain--Antonia?--and reached, anchored himself

in Jim and held on.



Jim tried to pull away, to free himself and slam his shields shut tight

again.



...T'hy'la, please, as you love me...



...As I love you!  Spock, leave me alone!  I can't believe you fucked her!...



...T'hy'la, please...



Spock was barely breathing, focussed on the killing shock, and Jim hammered

at him relentlessly, trying to break the hold.



...T'hy'la, this is my life.  Please...



And still Jim did not stop.



Frantically, Spock reached out for other minds.  Jim fought him still, and

he was weakening now.  He could no longer see through the green haze.  He

lost his fingerhold on Jim's mind and fell...



Samuel and T'San caught him.  He felt their combined strength flow into him,

and he got to his feet.  The Council was still attacking him, their Gift

strong and in full flower.  This was, after all, how it was intended to be

used.  As the mindlords had used it, to break and to destroy.



...I am not healer-potential for nothing... he sent to Samuel.



...Nor I, Father...  Samuel's tone was light, but their was strain 

underneath it.  Distance stretched all bonds, but Samuel and T'San were

Family.  Closer than Jim, now.



...Oh, my son and daughter...



The Council withdrew, and Spock nearly dropped to his knees with relief.

The Union had broken, and the Council head slumped in her chair, her

breathing weak.  One of the other members attended her.  No one looked at 

Spock.



Finally, the blind man spoke.



"Son of Sarek."



"Yes."



"How did you survive?"



"My son and his bondmate supported me, as did those in the city Bound to me."



"Your bondmate?"



"My bondmate is human.  He does not understand."



The old man frowned.  "But he is your bondmate."



"Yes.  And an...unreliable one, at times."



"You would use us as a weapon."



"No.  I did not think the Gift could still be used in such a way."



"But you will use us that way, now."



"No, Old One.  You will use yourselves.  You are, after all, Vulcan."



Spock watched the old man's face as he thought it over.



"I concede, son of Sarek.  You will have us."  He paused.  "My name is 

Tolak cha'Tirek.  I bid you welcome to our city."



And he struck again, alone, and Spock slipped into the darkness.



---

Chapter 14: ShiKahr, W~lq~n



Samuel located the girl's parents at the Vulcan Academy Hospital, where

they were receiving shots to increase their oxygen uptake.  They were

less than pleased to see their daughter, and even less pleased to see her

in the company of an unfamiliar, and apparently human, male.



He bowed slightly and introduced himself.  "I am Sol cha' Spock, called

Samuel.  Your daughter decided to return to her home and placed herself

under my protection.  My House is honored by your trust."  His hands were

trembling as he spoke, and he was trying to control his fear.



...What did I almost do to her, aduna?...



...You will be home soon, my husband.  Remain calm until then...



The girl's father introduced himself and his wife, but Samuel barely 

heard him.  He made polite conversation, assured them their daughter had

not been an imposition, discussed some of the safehouses in the mountains

near Seleya, and finally excused himself, saying that he must get back

to his bondmate.



That startled them.  Unlike their daughter, they did not know the Recognition.

"How old are you?" asked the father.



"Sixteen Terran years, sir."



"Your parents bonded you as a child?"



"No, sir.  I bonded several months ago, of my own will.  My wife lives with

me on my father's estate."



The man hesitated and looked at his own wife.  "Rebecca, will you take 

Sharon home?"  After the two women left, the man turned again to Samuel.

"My daughter, Sharon--she isn't really human, is she?"



"She is human, sir.  She is not Terran."



"She--I want her to marry a Vulcan."



"That must be her choice, sir, and her mate's.  My father's experience, and 

his father's, has taught me that a chosen mate is more valuable than a

compelled one."



The man frowned.  "Of course it will be her choice.  Still--perhaps you 

could--"



"Could what, sir?"



"Well--the little-bonding, perhaps?  Bound to your house, she would be more

desirable to a Vulcan mate, wouldn't she?"



Samuel sighed.  ...That little girl!...



T'San was calm. ...She is within a few years of our age, my husband.  And

she is old enough...



"No, sir, I cannot.  I am newly mate-bonded, and I have never performed a 

little-bonding.  I do not wish to damage your daughter."



The image flashed through his mind again, his body pressed against Sharon's,

his mind in hers, taking away everything she was.



"Please," her father said.



"No."



The man's shoulders slumped in defeat, and Samuel tried to control his 

feelings of guilt.



T'San was remarkably unhelpful.  ...You should have done it, adun...



...NO!...



He leaned forward and touched Sharon's father on the shoulder.



"I have--unbonded friends.  I shall introduce them to Sharon.  That is the 

most I can do."



Sharon's father nodded and turned away.  "Thank you," he said, but Samuel

could barely hear him.



As he left the room, he wondered why it was so important that Sharon marry

a Vulcan.



---



Chapter 15: KashKahr, W~lq~n



T'Li mediated, trying to unknot her insides.  S'tka had helped her save Spock

when Tolak lashed out with his Gift, but Spock was barely clinging to life,

his breathing shallow and his skin cold to the touch.  The Gift was a 

dangerous thing, and Tolak--Tolak claimed that he had done it so that Spock

would know the strength of what he was loosing upon the universe.



She felt her insides twist again.  Spock had almost died!  He might yet die.

The healers were not sure--he had retreated, locked himself into his mind.

She could not reach him.  S'tka could not reach him.  She had contacted

his bondmate, Jim, but he had cut her off as soon as she introduced herself.

Spock's daughter-in-law had called her back, but she had not been able to

help.  Her husband had not yet returned to the family estate, and she 

couldn't convince Jim that Spock needed him.  "All he will say," she

told T'Li, "is that he has chosen a Vulcan and so she must help him."



T'Li winced at the memory. ...To bond with someone who cared so little!...

Even as she thought it, she knew it was not true.  Spock was no man's fool.

She thought of the human expression Spock had used to describe one of her

children.  "There are no flies on that one."  There were no flies on Spock,

exactly.  But if he did not awaken soon--Vulcans have been known to simply

die through lack of stimuli.



Her fists were clenched on her thighs.  She stood and walked out of the

meditation area into the main hospital and to Spock's room.



Someone was there, a young human man.  She tensed and only with difficulty

stopped herself from attacking him.



"My name is Sol cha'Spock," he said, without turning around.  "I arrived 

home only a few minims ago, and had VSC beam me here.  I am his son, and a 

healer-novice.  You should not have reinforced the little-bonding.  My 

human father reacts poorly to territorial infringements."



"The little-bonding was my right, and his.  His bondmate should have 

welcomed it."



"His bondmate, T'Li, is human."  The boy turned then, and she saw Spock
echoed in his high cheekbones and the cant of his eyes.  But the angry face

of Spock's bondmate was there as well, in the odd skintone and arched brows.

She flinched, seeing it--though Spock had taught her children, though she

had known he had a son, still some part of her had protested that he would

not have had a child without her involvement.  Host-mother, perhaps, or

simply an advisor.  Something.



"Sol--"



He had turned back to his father, and he ignored her.  She watched as he

laid his hands on Spock's face, found the meldpoints.  She couldn't bear

it.  She moved quickly, flung his hands away from Spock--



She had not thought that someone with this much human blood could be so

strong, or so fast.  He slammed her against the wall and tightened his hands

on her throat.  ...Touch me again, whore, and you die.  Make no mistake

about it...



He dropped her on the floor and reached out to his father.



T'Li stayed where she was, feeling the bruises spread on her neck.  She did

not interfere again.



---

Chapter 16: Orion Star Empire



T'Pel watched as the sonic shower removed the blood from her husband.  She

had already showered and replicated new clothing, and now it was Tuvok's

turn.  He had lost a lot of blood and had entered healing trance, and she

had not been able to bear leaving him on the floor, naked except for his 

own blood.



She shivered, though it was warm in the shuttle.  She would have to touch 

him again to take him out, and it had been so difficult--



She didn't even want to think about having to wake him from trance.  She

wasn't sure she could keep from killing him.  She imagined the sound of

her hand striking flesh, how it would feel if his skin split under the

assault--



She had to turn away and take a deep breath.  She couldn't touch him, not

now.  She found a blanket and wrapped him in it before she dragged him to

the bunk.  He would be fine there until he recovered.  She would deal with

the trance later.


She went back to tracking the Orions.  They were almost at the Vulcan border

now, and the defense fleet showed on long-range scanners.  They, at least,

could put the burning to good use.  She and Tuvok were almost out of 

sedatives, and the burning had been so strong when he--



She hoped they made it back to Vulcan before she ran out entirely.



For a while, she concentrated on staying undetected.  The Orion force was 

larger than expected, and the Vulcan fleet needed to know that.  They did 

not need two excellent espionage agents caught and interrogated.  There were

ways of making even Vulcans talk.  Of making even Vulcans stay alive.



Tuvok stirred behind her.  She gritted her teeth and went to attend him.

She pulled him upright and struck him once, hard.  And then again.

Careful.  Controlled.  Logical.  Wake him from trance.  Again.  And then

she could bear it no longer, and lashed out, raking her fingernails over

his face.  He could ill afford to lose the blood, she knew, and part of her

begged to stop--...It's Tuvok, my bondmate, the father of my child.  What

am I doing?...



"Enough."  He grabbed her wrists and she almost broke them struggling.  He 

was out of healing trance, and much stronger than she.  She was terrified 

of him.



"It was very similar to pon farr, except that I was not prepared," T'Pel 

said, with no explanation.



Tuvok blinked as though he did not understand.  "Aduna?"



"Let me go."



He released her wrists.  "Explain."



"You do not remember?"



"No."



"The burning took you.  And--"



She did not need to continue.  He knew what had happened.  The shock he

felt echoed through their bond, and she relaxed a trifle. 



...Oh, t'hy'la, aduna, please forgive me...



"I do not know if I can, Tuvok."  She spoke aloud.  She so wanted to 

fall into the bond, let Tuvok protect her--but she didn't dare.



She handed him the sedative and winced when his fingers brushed hers.



He administered it to himself and joined her at the console.  They 

monitored the Orions in silence.



He did not try to use the bond again.



---



End Ch. 16

End Vol II