IDIC-PLANET

CHAPTER 21

Spock got up from his lkz'fru⁽⁹⁾ and prepared to make K'kali, the special Vulcan drink that was both refreshing and soothing. His door-chime sounded.

"Come in T'Charu."

He had called her earlier and asked her to come to his cabin.

When she entered he offered her the drink. They drank for a while in companionable silence, then discussed her past and future. Spock told her about Vulcan; its history, culture and some of the behaviour that she would be expected, at her age, to abide by.

Spock got up to pour them more K'kali.

"T'Kahr⁽¹⁰⁾, may I ask a question?"

"If you call me T'Kahr, then it is my role to answer any questions you may have." he said seriously.

"Can you not teach me the mental techniques that every Vulcan child my age already knows?"

Spock continued with the elaborate preparation of the K'kali. Under normal circumstance he could teach, as could any Vulcan adult, the rudimentary mental controls. At the moment he felt an unusually strong aversion to enter into any mental contact, and mental contact would be necessary to teach even the most elementary technique.

As he refilled T'Charu's glass, he saw that she was waiting patiently for an answer. She had already learned, from her few conversations with Spock that an answer to what seemed to her a simple question could occasionally be long in coming. But an answer she would always receive.

"You will soon be on Vulcan, where a qualified master is being arranged for you. It is best that you come with a fresh mind." Spock answered at last and continued: "Now, may I ask you a question, T'Charu?"

"Yes of course," surprised.

"What was your mother's full Vulcan name?"

"Her name was T'Peal-krhst'nk'krakroy'ththaya." she answered the true-Vulcan name rolling off her tongue with ease.

Spock went into deep thought for a moment, then: "You are family, T'Charu."

"What?" She gasped, all Vulcan calm and decorum forgotten.

Not quite a smile graced Spock's lips. He knew the pain that T'Charu was suffering from the violent loss of all the family she had ever known. Even if Doctor McCoy had not informed him of this after his examination of T'Charu, Spock was acutely aware of her very real anguish. It had been passed to him in that one brief unexpected contact of their minds on Kavayak.

"Yes. T'Peal was the daughter of the sister of my father's uncle's son. She went missing 13 years ago during her research on the T'Pau along with five other Vulcan scientists."

"Mother told me that their ship had been attacked. She and one other survived. They were found by a trader who was on his way to Kavayak and took both mother and Stark with him. During the voyage Stark died from his injuries, but mother arrived and was left on Kavayak. She accepted her situation and married father, although initially she had tried to get a message to Vulcan to let her family know. However, no one was prepared to send a message that would implicate them in breaking a Star Fleet directive." T'Charu looked at Spock. "If I have family, will I still be with your parents?" she asked.

"Do you wish it so?"

"Yes."

"My parents are your family. It is for the best if you stay with them rather than any of the other family members. Your mother's parents are both dead and her brother is off-world, too young and unmarried."

T'Charu digested this, then: "So you are my...?"

"In Vulcan I am th'alkar."

When T'Charu said that she was unfamiliar with the term Spock searched for the equivalent expression in Federation basic but found none that was suitable. No single locution existed in that tongue that would describe both the genealogical distance and the closeness in Vulcan families which was implied by the one single Vulcan word.

He steepled his fingers in his characteristic gesture and said: "Consider me as your 'older-uncle/brother', as my parents will become legal parents from 'grandparents/Aunt-Uncle'."

T'Charu's felt a bit dizzy at this explanation.

"What do I call you?" she said at last.

"You may call me either Spock, th'alkar Spock, or just th'alkar if you wish."

"Every one calls you Spock or Mr. Spock. I will call you th'atth'alkar -my th'alkar."

Spock nearly smiled. T'Charu did not seem to realize that the possessive pronoun was already implied by the original Vulcan word. T'Charu had just duplicated it - 'my-my older-uncle/brother'. Spock was tempted not to correct her as he found that he, illogically, appreciated that expression.

"Th'atth'alkar is unnecessary, th'akum."

"Unnecessary? Th'akum?" The dark eyes demanded answers.

Patiently Spock explained the possessive pronoun inherent in such words describing family. "Th'akum means something like younger niece/sister," he ended.

"I understand, th'alkar."

"Good. Have you finished your K'kali?"

Yes, th'alkar," carefully handing the beautiful Vulcan glass back to Spock.

"Very well. I must return to the bridge." Spock said as he folded his black meditation-robe away. "You may stay here if you wish."

"May I use your screen to read the writings you have recommended?"

"You may. I must go now."

"See you later, th'alkar," T'Charu inclined her head politely, as she had been taught at home.

Spock's eyebrow ascended at that particular human expression mixed with the more formal Vulcan term. 'It will be good when T'Charu left the Enterprise for a Vulcan environment,' he thought as he made his way to the bridge. 'Though I shall miss her.' he realised wryly, with some surprise at the feeling of affection that had developed so rapidly for this strange young child.

---

Uhura hurried down the corridor after being ordered to stand down from active duty for the next two hours. "The calm before the storm." the Captain had said and insisted that all crew members who had been on duty well over their normal shift take at least two hours rest. "But Sulu..." Uhura had dared to voice her objections at the loss of time in which something could be done. Kirk had put his hand on her shoulder and guided her towards the lift saying: "Uhura, you yourself have relayed to me that Kavayak's council will not talk to me before 0.98 hours ships-time. I cannot go charging in, even after they tried to shoot us out of existence, to take over the planet, or blow them all up, can I? I will reason with them first." He had not specified what 'reasoning' he had in mind and Uhura dared not ask. At least some of the trader-ships had left, taking courage from the fact that the Enterprise managed to leave orbit undamaged. The Captain had tried to provide protection to each ship leaving orbit.

She entered the hairdresser, and was greeted with great enthusiasm by the Taikan barber. The Taikani excelled in this profession, partly due to having four arms, and an artistic flair very suited to creating galaxy-renowned hairstyles.

SaTali led her to a suitable chair while trying to persuade had to try the new extra-gentle method for perming hair: "Selective partial transportation, change of template and back again - curly, straight, wavy anything you want..." he tempted her.

"Not today, SaTali. Another time maybe. Just a wash, a cut and a relaxing thermal scalp massage, " Uhura's mouth nearly watered with the anticipation of that particular treat. She always relaxed totally with the thermal massage.

Deftly SaTali cut her dark hair into her usual style. Then he washed her hair, manually, massaging the scalp tenderly. That was what made him so special - no automated hair washes; SaTali cut and washed personally. When he finished he led her to the massage unit.

She settled in fully prepared to relax and let all the stress of the last few days flow away. After a few minutes Uhura realized that this time she would not enjoy the massage as usual. Worry about how they were going to impose a ban on the selling of Kavayak's weapon-technology and the buying of sentient beings occupied her mind. She felt it was her duty to come up with something that may add to a satisfactory solution. Then they could leave for Vulcan and help Sulu. 'Would they be able to help Sulu on Vulcan? ' The last time the method was tried on a Star Fleet officer, there had been sabotage and the officer had died as a result⁽¹⁾. But that was unlikely to happen again. Since then the techniques had been used on other humans. But could the regeneration techniques work after Sulu had been stasis for so long? Uhura shook herself mentally. McCoy would never allow Hikaru to die. He always came up with miraculous cures when needed. He had saved them already so many times, when everyone was affected by the many unknown diseases that unexplored space and planets could plague them with. He also managed to put back together, so many who had been terribly wounded in an accident or attack, both by using his considerable skills and knowledge, and with the stubbornness that came of a lifetime spent fighting his biggest enemy, death. 'Leonard will not allow death to win...' Uhura thought as her eyelids closed and she drifted into a light sleep.

"Lieutenant Uhura to the bridge, please. To the bridge immediately."

The Captain's voice sliced through her half-asleep state of mind. She came to with a start. The massage unit had long been removed. She looked at her wrist chrono-comp. "Oh, no!" she gasped, she was already twenty minutes late. Uhura jumped up and with a "pay you later" to SaTali rushed to the bridge.

---

When he had sent off all personnel in need of rest, James Kirk settled into his seat to think. The bridge was unusually quiet. The replacement crew, not used to working alone with the Captain in command, were too tense to indulge in idle chatter. Kirk's thoughts were occupied with the problem of Kavayak and the Romulan battle cruiser. He had just finished talking to Scotty about the possibility of using 'persuasion' to enforce his arguments with the K'S'vaits if necessary. Scotty had suggested that they could target one of the badly damaged buildings near the governmental dome. He thought that with some small changes to the phaser beams he could vaporize out of existence only non-biological matter. "Just a wee calculation, and we can discern beasties from stones - it'll be done, Captain, ha' no fear."

The Captain hoped that Scotty would finish his 'wee' calculation and 'wee' adjustments in time.

A sudden light tap on his shoulder brought him out of his ruminations.

"Shouldn't you be resting?" McCoy was standing in his usual spot, behind and slightly left of the conn.

"I am, Bones. Or I was."

"Hrmph!" 'Since when does a Captain rest on the bridge,' he thought.

"And you, Doctor, have you taken time off to recover from your gallivanting all over Kavayak?"

"I have patients to look after."

"And I have a ship to look after. Anyway you have capable staff who can do some of your work, you know."

"And you don't?" McCoy said pointedly.

"Spock needed the rest more than I, Bones," Jim said quietly, "I'm worried about him."

"Well, he does seem a bit greener than usual..."

"Bones!?!" Kirk swivelled the chair slightly to face the doctor. 'What's that supposed to mean?' written all over his face.

McCoy shrugged and smiled. "I have noticed his somewhat erratic behaviour, but don't you worry, Jim, I am keeping a scanner on Spock. And...." he continued, putting on his best professional expression," I am also keeping an eye on you, Jimmy-boy. After we are on our way to lovely Vulcan, I want you down in Sickbay for some tests. Pronto. That is a medical order, Captain."

"Okay, okay..." Kirk raised his hands in a 'giving-up' gesture. He Paused and his face took on a mock 'concerned' expression. "Did I just hear you say 'lovely Vulcan'? Maybe you should undergo a medical yourself, Bones." He jabbed a finger at McCoy's chest.

"Lovely Vulcan, Jim. Beautiful Vulcan. I just spoke to Daniel Corrigan. Daniel assures me that their much improved regen-treatment will have Sulu up and about within three weeks. The best news is that unlike the earlier treatment no mind-meld is necessary to bring the patient back, as the brain is encouraged to go on working. They induce periods of mental rest and activity. The patient thinks he is normally active - it's like a vivid dream. But when the patient is released from treatment he can't remember anything about it. Daniel said that this method was fool-proof on non-telepathic beings. With Vulcans the mind-meld is still used." McCoy explained in a voice filled with hope while rocking to and fro on the balls of his feet.

"That is great news indeed." Kirk smiled. "Have you told Chekov?"

"Yep - I stopped at his cabin on my way here, but he wasn't there. I found him in Sulu's quarters tending to Hikaru's botanical jungle. He had such a glum face too. When I told him he cheered up somewhat, but then mumbled something about 'not counting the chickens before the eggs were hatched', and informed me that it was an old Russian proverb best not forgotten."

"We'll all be pleased to have Sulu back," Jim said as the lift doors opened and Spock, Chekov and Offer stepped out.

When they were about to take up their stations, Kirk stopped them saying: "I propose we speak to Kavayak's council from the briefing room not the bridge. Chekov, you have the conn. Mr. Offer, Spock, Bones come with me. Uhura page Mr. Scott and ask him to join us, if he's finished with the adjustments."

Spock's eyebrow rose. 'Adjustments?' he thought.

"Yes Captain," said a voice that was not Uhura's. Jim looked round. Uhura was not on the bridge yet. Her replacement was calling Scotty.

'First can't get them off the bridge then can't get them back,' Kirk thought irately as he paged Uhura himself.

The Captain was about to turn from the main viewer towards the lift, when a bright flash illuminated their main screen, followed by a total darkness where once a ship had occupied a tiny fraction of space.

"That was the Orion cruiser, sir." gasped Uhura who moments ago had relieved her replacement, apologetic for being so late.

"Uhura, place a call to that council, now! Mr. Chekov I want you to precision-target the phasers on these coordinates," ordered Kirk giving him a computer-disk. "Uhura, join us in the briefing room." Kirk said striding off the bridge angrily.

Footnotes and explanations

Next chapter.