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Title: There And Back Again: Recollections From My
Life In The Fleet
Author: T'Bitch (kiwisama@yahoo.com)
Word Count: 2153
Series: TOS
Rating: PG
Summary: a follow-up to "Simple Logic" because you
asked. And because I can.
Author's notes:
I realize I keep mentioning Shvah (he was in In Medias
Res 2, iirc). I promise someday I'll get around to
introducing him properly and explain what is going on
with him. I know when people read that line they'll
say, "What the hell are you trying to pull, T'Bitch?"
But here's a hint - he's not really Spock's kid. And
by now everyone is saying "What the hell?" because
this author's note won't make sense until after you
read the story.
Ach. Fuhgeddaboutit
cheers,
T'Bitch
***
Excerpt from an interview with T'Nar "Nora" DeFoe,
originally broadcast stardate 45020.4 on Galactic
Public Radio
Interview conducted by Gabriel Brahe (GB).
GB: I'm speaking with T'Nar DeFoe, author of the new
book "There and Back Again: Recollections From My Life
in the Fleet." Now, T'Nar-
T'Nar DeFoe: Call me Nora, please.
GB: Nora, You were one of the first Vulcans to serve
in Star Fleet, weren't you?
TD: Yes, although strictly speaking I'm not a full
Vulcan.
GB: You're part Betazoid, right?
TD: Indeed. I suppose you want my CV, don't you.
GB: If you don't mind.
TD: Ok, briefly...born on Betazed to the Vulcan
ambassador and his wife, a Betazoid translator, grew
up mostly on Earth, went to medical school and then
enlisted in Starfleet...I served as a doctor under CMO
Leonard McCoy onboard the USS Enterprise NCC-1701,
then I spent several years at the academy working with
Doctor McCoy in his lab. He returned to the
Enterprise and stayed on when they gave Kirk the
1701A, while I went to Vulcan and worked in the hybrid
division of the science academy. I published several
works on the philosophical ramifications of
hybridization that were not well received on Vulcan
but were popular in the rest of the federation.
Later, Dr. McCoy and I were responsible for most of
the textbooks on Vulcan hybrid health and anatomy,
which along with a paper he published on "genetic
stagnation" were responsible for launching what is
known on Vulcan as the long boom, a period of
approximately fifty years when the number of Vulcan
hybrids more than tripled. Long story short, wrote
another book, hit the bestseller list, and here I am.
GB: (laughs) You act very demure about all of it,
though some might say you've changed the course of
history.
TD: When it's your life it doesn't look as impressive
as all that. I was just doing what needed to be done,
and occasionally I was in the right place at the right
time. As for history, who can say for sure. Without
my colleges, I certainly wouldn't have accomplished
half of what I did.
GB: Anyone you care to acknowledge?
TD: Well, Dr. Leonard McCoy, of course, a legend of
sorts...Shvah Cha'Spock and Dr. Joy BlackOwl, his
daughter-in-law and her husband...ah...certainly my
parents had something to do with the whole thing, and
Ambassador Sarek and the Lady Amanda...all the early
pioneers on the social front, really. And Ambassador
Spock deserves a lot of credit, though if you asked
him he would say otherwise.
GB: Ah yes, Ambassador Spock, the man around whom
multiple legends revolve...your book does not help to
dispel them, by the way.
TD: (laughing) I know, I don't want to make it too
easy for everyone.
GB: But you knew and worked closely with him for many
years, correct?
TD: Yes, of course. We served together on the
Enterprise for many years.
GB: Were you present at his fal-tor-pan?
TD: Yes.
GB: What was it like?
TD: Gave me a blinding migraine for three days. I was
very cranky and my husband was not at all pleased.
GB: Your husband - Ronit, is that correct? - is he
also a hybrid?
TD: Ronit, yes. He's actually pureblood Vulcan.
GB: Has that been difficult, being empathic and
married to him?
TD: Challenging would be a better word I think.
Marriage to any Vulcan has its own distinct
challenges, as I'm sure Dr. McCoy would tell you.
GB: You are alluding, of course, to the famous
ship-board romance between him and Mr. Spock. I
noticed in your book you only mentioned it a few times
before the...incident that ended with Spock's
fal-tor-pan. Why is that?
TD: For the most part that was how it was. Nobody
knew about it for a long time-
GB: Except you?
TD: Well...As I said earlier, right-place-right-time.
GB: I found that story in the book very
interesting...my favorite story was the one about how
the news broke.
TD: A lot of people liked that one. Len was very
surprised when I told him.
GB: Would you mind reading it for us?
TD: I suppose I could manage that. (clears throat).
"T'Nar?" came the voice from behind me, and I knew who
it was without looking. Only one person on the ship
called me by my Vulcan name, and he wasn't really
someone I was anxious to run into at that moment. Not
that I was anxious to run into anyone after seven
hours of surgery, part of it being performed on most
of the the command crew and my direct superior, the
chief medical officer.
I turned, trying to keep the fatigue and annoyance out
of my face. "Yes?"
He blinked, the only sign that he was taken aback by
something in the look I was giving him. "You are
unwell?"
"I am very tired, Spock."
"I see." He paused for a moment, then continued. In
anyone else I would have disregarded it, but in a
Vulcan everything is calculated and it's important to
pay attention to little things like that. "I must ask
you a question."
"By all means."
"Have you noticed the crew behaving strangely?"
I rubbed my forehead. "Most of the time. That's why
I wound up fixing four of the Captain's broken ribs
this morning and repairing several of Doctor McCoy's
internal hemorages." I fixed him with a stare, using
his own pause technique against him. "To say nothing
of what I had to do to you. Honestly, what-"
"I have already received this lecture from you, and
from Dr. McCoy, and from several of the nurses, though
I believe the Captain bore the brunt of the medical
staff's anger." His tone was more amused than
aggravated. "That, however, is not what I was
referring to. Over the past few days I have noticed
crew members breaking off conversations when I enter a
room and more than the usual number of furtive looks
across the mess hall."
"Humans are sometimes weird about things, Spock. You
know that."
"Have you...sensed anything amiss?"
That was surprising. My empathic talents, small as
they are, were a subject Spock preferred to ignore.
In his mind I was as Vulcan as he was, and he was more
Vulcan than the folks back home. Or something like
that. "Not really, but I haven't had time to meditate
lately. If you'd like me to keep an eye on the
situation, I will, though."
"An eye...yes, that would be more than adequate."
"I'll keep you apprised. After my nap." I looked at
him again. "I suggest you get some rest as well.
Good night."
The dismissal would have upset my mother no end. My
father would have taken it as read and retreated to
his library to nap or study. Spock, somewhere in
between, recognized the annoyance in my voice but
dismissed it, and returned to his quarters.
Several hours later I returned to sickbay. The
Captain and his chief medical officer were involved in
a game of chess using a standard board set on a table
between their beds.
"You two should be resting."
"Come on, Doc," Jim said, batting his eyes at me,
"just let us loose already."
Doc' was what he called me, just as McCoy was
'Bones'. I was pretty keen on letting them out,
because otherwise I'd never get a break, but it's hard
to resist the temptation to have a bit of fun at Jim
Kirk's expense.
I took my time checking his readouts, finally fixing
him with a stoney look that would have done Spock
proud. "I'm not sure I can let you go yet, Captain.
Your electrolyte levels are still dangerously
unbalanced. I'm not sure I can trust you not to
overexert yourself."
"I'll take the next shift off."
"Next two duty shifts, then return to partial only."
He scowled like a child but couldn't tell from the
look on my face whether or not I meant it. Finally he
sighed. "Alright. Next two shifts."
I nodded. "Go change." He all but jumped off the
biobed and shuffled past me to the empty exam room
with a uniform replicator. I waited until his back
was turned to grin at Leonard. "I wasn't sure that
would work."
"Incredible, just incredible." He chuckled to himself
while I checked his instrument readouts. "So how'm I
doin', Doc?"
"Well enough, considering. I'm willing to release you
if you can find someone to stay with you for a couple
hours. The Captain will just find additional
discomfort in excessive movement, but I don't want you
reinjuring yourself. You know as well as I do that
internal contusions can take quite a while to heal."
The Captain, now clad in his gold shirt and black
trousers, shuffled by us, mouthing good luck' at
Bones, and left. A moment later Spock entered and
stood by the foot of the bed, at attention and waiting
for something...probably my full attention.
"Ah, perfect. Mr. Spock, would you mind helping Dr.
McCoy back to his quarters and sitting with him for a
few hours?"
A look passed between them which I pretended not to
see. "Wonderful. There's my problems solved. I'll
just go finish up the paperwork." I heard Len
laughing as I disappeared into my office.
***
I had been in the mess hall for nearly an hour
composing a letter to Ronit when Spock entered. He
ordered a salad and took it to an empty table and sat
there, immersed in some article he had loaded on his
padd. He was right - the atmosphere in the room had
changed.
When Spock had first confronted me about the problem I
had formed several theories. The most prominent of
those revolves around an understanding of Vulcan
sexuality that very few people have , so I will
endeavor to explain.
The adult male Vulcan is a dangerous beast, especially
so when unbonded. They don't quite exude pheromones
like Deltans do, but they tend to have a certain
unconscious affect on others. Even I, as a bonded
woman, was not immune to his charms - I found him, and
still do, devilishly handsome, if fairly annoying at
times. Human women -and men- who are unaware of the
magnetism someone like him possesses, can wind up in
all sorts of bad situations. Because of this, it is
very unusual to have an unbonded Vulcan past the age
of the first pon-farr. Several months previously
Spock had gone from being bonded to being single, and
the crew had noticed the change. None of them could
put a finger on what the change was, but they knew it
was there. Only Spock and I, and I believe Dr McCoy,
knew what was going on.
Over the next few months, though no one had known, the
two of them had begun a bond. And the crew once again
didn't know what it was, but they knew something was
up.
I heard someone say something behind me that caught my
attention and concentrated.
"I think it's the lesser professor. She's the right
species, at least." The lesser professor was a
nickname some of the crew used towards me when they
were annoyed with me. Some of them were annoyed all
the time.
"No, she's married. It's gotta be the Captain."
"You're both wrong," said a third voice. "It's gotta
be Uhura."
It took me only a moment to put two and two together,
and less time to tap out a short message to my fellow
Vulcan and send it via the ship's wireless network to
his padd. I watched the surprised look run across his
face in less time than it would take to name it, and
then he glanced up and nodded slightly at me in
acknowledgement.
Problem solved, I thought.
A few minutes later Doctor McCoy walked in and ordered
a cup of coffee. Half the people in the mess hall,
myself included, watched as he carried it over to the
table where Spock was seated and put it down next to
him. He started to say something that began, "So,
Spock, how's the-" and then Spock stood up and kissed
him.
It wasn't tentative or questioning as many in the room
had expected it to be, but confident, the sort of kiss
delivered by a man who knew what he was doing and
rather enjoyed it. As they broke apart, McCoy
muttered something, I think it was, "fascinating."
Spock picked up his data padd and walked out calmly,
hand in hand with the good doctor. As the doors slid
closed in their wake the room burst into applause.
GB: Thank you, Nora. For those of you tuning in, Im
speaking with Nora DeFoe, and well be right back
after this brief pause for station identification.
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