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Far Away From Home	By : mancer Category: S through Z > Star Trek (2009) > Star Trek (2009) Views: 2090 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Star Trek is owned by Gene Roddenberry/Paramount Studios/JJ Abrams. I own none but this writing and the non-canon characters within. Work published for shared fun, not profit.

Chapter List
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Vuron shivered in the dark in his room. The shadow of Councilwoman Bel'tath passed over his mind's eye. Coming around the table. Bending over him – bending over J'Mara – kilometers away. Their voices muted now.

Bone weary.

J'Mara making excuses. Tired from fighting with her new mate. Suspicion turned to a lusty leer.

Predator circling potential prey. Vuron concentrating on strengthening her defenses. Forcing her body upright, shoulders back, chin up. Alert through the remaining throbbing in their minds.

They continued to talk. Bel'tath sitting on the edge of her desk. J'Mara turning the discussion to innocuous topics. J'Mara too angry, too hurt, to focus enough to block, or clarify, the bond.

Vuron took a deep, fortifying breath, and went to collect the remaining house staff. Half plans forming in the back of his mind. Gathering less-than-optomistic data.

The staff assembled in the common room. A farce of the meeting that Ambassador Sranak called such a short time ago. They waited with the seeming of patience for the primary pilot to return. The cook had brought tea. Mugs and pot left untouched on the table in the middle of the room.

They didn't have long to wait. Vuron's innate knowledge of J'Mara's location allowing him to time things so that they simply sat for long enough for Jannek to safely land.

Vuron stood as the engines turned off. Listened as Jannek preformed the lock downs necessary to keep the strong winds from blowing the little shuttle across the ice covered landing pad. Ignored the curious glances in his direction from several of the other Vulcans sitting around him.

"Vuron," Jannek called out, as much as any of his people did. "The Klingon you had me shuttle knows your entry codes. You should-"

J'Mara shoved her way past the pilot, stomping with purpose up to the statue-still security officer. A moment passed, their faces equally blank, before J'Mara drew back and delivered a single strike to the left side of his jaw with her closed fist.

His head snapped up, his weight rocked back on his heels. The gasps of his fellows rang in his ears with the roar of his blood.

He straightened himself, tugging the edge of his uniform jacket down. His mate squared her shoulders, chin lifted.

The answering blow staggered her back a single step. She cupped her jaw, oscillating it back and forth to test its soundness.

"Vuron!"

Are we good?

For now. We have much to discuss, but in private. For now, our attention should be elsewhere. I believe our doctor thinks I have lost my sanity.

Doctor T'Sai leapt to her feet with uncharacteristic momentum.

"I am uninjured, Doctor." Skeptical eyes examined from all quarters. "I have called you all here because of an important matter concerning Ambassador Sranak. Lady J'Mara, of the House of Councilwoman Bel'tath will be providing assistance and clarifying as needed."

Telling silence met his proclamation.

"Before thee continues with the issue at hand," Doctor T'Sai redirected. "Lady J'Mara is..."

"My bondmate."

Dark, suspicious eyes glanced back and forth between them.

"Thee will submit to examination, then."

Vuron raised his hand, visibly halting the argument he felt on J'Mara's lips.

She has right to doubt my actions, t'hy'la. She shall meld with us; it shall be only a faint skimming.

So I shouldn't fill my mind with the sexiest images of you naked that I can think of?

Vuron felt his ears heat.

That would not be an effective way to demonstrate I hold the control needed to lead a rescue mission, my cherished. Nor would she trust you anywhere near our computers.

Doctor T'Sai's eyes flicked back and forth as they communicated. The exchange only took a moment, but the old healer knew what to look for.

"Thee are prepared?"

They nodded as a single unit.

When an elder had checked his and Rellig's bond, all those years ago, to assure that it had formed properly, there had been quite the ceremony, but T'Sai did not give them the opportunity. She stepped up between then, a hand reaching for each temple.

Vuron bent at the waist, instructing J'Mara to do the same, to accommodate T'Sai's height and stiff joints.

Sharp fingers pressed upon opposite cheeks; within their robust bond, each felt the healer's hands on both sides of their faces. A unique sensation for J'Mara. Downright unsettling for Vuron.

They felt T'Sai sink in between them. Vuron shrugging open his mind, allowing her access to the part of him that the healers and elders generally settled into. Any barrier J'Mara might have held mirrored his conscious release and fell away.

A glass wall built up the moment J'Mara's mind flooded out. T'Sai observing, keeping herself separate. Attempting too. Her gasp indication enough at how poorly she withstood the onslaught. The Klingon mind is a strong one. Filled with rich history, song, laughter, love, hate. A heaviness. A purpose.

Fortifying and sturdy in ways that no Vulcan heart, even with bond and family and home to go back to, ever had, or ever might possess.

Vuron reconstructed his mental barriers for her sake, dragging J'Mara with him into the fortress of his mind. Going to the place of his strongest focus. The familiar, strange combination of dojo, desert, and fighting hall building itself around them.

"A mating ritual?" T'Sai's voice echoed within their twinned minds. Curiosity momentarily overpowering what was proper, as she pushed. Her mind's eye replaying the punches exchanged moments before. She'd seen this hall within him before, but he felt the examination of the recent additions.

"Cathartic release," Vuron supplied. "We have each wronged one other. There are critical issues that need to be dealt with immediately. A controlled burst of emotion so that logic can be retained."

He might have felt a growl through the bond. The oversimplification a frustrating reminder of what was expected within a Klingon mind. T'Sai pushed farther, returning to the task at hand, testing the bond between them.

"Thine bond is true," T'Sai admitted.

Vuron spared the doctor a glance. J'Mara held a staff in her hands, her mind focused on a complicated kata to keep her mind quiet. A kata she did not know. One that flowed through his muscles with years of practice. One that she mirrored. Jabbing, blocking, circling in measures.

"Thine bond is unnaturally strong."

She stood impassively to the side, as they began more difficult moves. Attacks and dodges not intended to mirror one another.

"Thou has found an even match."

J'Mara's staff melted away, in favor of an ancient Vulcan blade. Point resting on T'Sai's throat.

"You insult my husband."

"A Klingon's passion runs through thy blood," T'Sai commented. Internal eyes still on Vuron. Mind attempting to probe his. The effort only half-attempted. The knowledge that with the flooding of one mind, she would be faced with two, stopped her.

"Passion can give strength. Purpose. If directed properly. Tell me. Who else in this room has purpose?"

A kaleidoscope of thoughts, emotions, flickered like a candle flame in the old healer's eyes.

The shadow of her being bowed deeply, retreating.

Vuron blinked. The suddenness of returning to the common room abrupt. The lost of J'Mara's heat a physical pain. The doctor's body blocked the view to the rest as they reached for one another. Just a gentle graze of knuckles.

"Thou incorrectly uses the term t'hy'la," Doctor T'Sai let out in one long, quiet breath. Words meant for them, but shared with the whole of the room for lack of privacy. J'Mara assumed from rudeness, but Vuron had a higher opinion of the woman. Probably just shock. "I do not know a term that describes thine bond."

"It serves us well enough."

"When we return to... the new colony, a mind-healer shall be called to examine thine bond. It has formed incorrectly."

"It might be a great while before we leave Qo'Nos. Do you think such adjustments can wait that long, Doctor?"

She kept her thoughts to herself on that matter, picking up a mug of cooling tea on the way back to her seat.

"How..." The eyes of the room turned to T'Frau. Her ears and cheeks turned bright green.

"Yes?"

"How does that work? I did not know we could bond outside of our species."

"It is quiet rare." T'Sai sat. Sipped. Taking her time as was her wont. "In order to form the telepathic bond, the other member must be capable of receiving the touch of our minds. I am aware of an individual who bonded with a human, with mixed results. They are considered a null-species; fewer than one percent receptive, half of that with the ability to transmit. It has been hypothesized that bonding with some telepathically strong species, like the Betazoid, would increase the strength of the bond past being able to harness it's power. I have not seen any calculations with the anatomy of a Klingon as the bond-recipient."

"Probably because we are too barbaric for your staid tastes."

"J'Mara."

"Altern Vuron is fit to serve," T'Sai said without preamble, cutting to the heart of the matter. "His bond is strong and his mind is centered. He is more than qualified to take command."

Take command.

At least one of your people has a lick of sense.

"Thank you. Jannek, please join us. We have much to discuss. As some of you may have assumed, and what my bondmate ascertained, Ambassador Sranak has been kidnapped by persons unknown for reasons unknown. This is his third day missing. Because no ransom has been sent for his return, I can not help but assume that they hold him captive for another reason."

"Torture. Information, probably."

Dark eyes stared at the Klingon in their midst.

"It is a possibility that we can not ignore."

"Who has him?"

"I don't know yet, but I have more sources to tap." J'Mara answered. "I'll send a few messages out, but they won't reply over the comm channels where they can be traced. In person meets will have to wait for the winds to die down, if they're as bad as they're supposed to be."

The rest, t'hy'la? Or should I tell them?

"Sranak is still planetside. The rest are not."

"Chancellor Ka'Tra had a hand in it," Vuron filled in where J'Mara's allegiances wished to avoid. "We do not know if he planned it specifically, but he approved it. He would not want Sranak found on his lands, nor would he want the ambassador found before he was ready for it. Thus, it is more likely he has Sranak safe in one of his compounds, or that of a lord under his thumb, and sent the others away to minimize complications."

"Minimize complications. You mean, you believe the others are already murdered."

Vuron exchanged a glance with the second pilot.

"We will operate under the assumption that they have not been."

The rest became more animated, offering ideas. Organizing plans based on hypothetical data.

Do your people always do this? Plan out for every contingency?

To some extent. It is gratifying to see this much activity. We will have to make other plans. They are fine people, but they do not have the training for this kind of mission. The pilots, perhaps, but they're civilians. No military experience. T'Sai has seen much in her years. I value her opinion.

But we will be up late tonight trying to figure it out for ourselves, hm?

It is already late tonight.

She chuckled, much to the confusion of the others.

After the meeting eventually came to a close, T'Sai remained in her seat as the rest of the staff moved to go to their respective tasks. Meditation, sleep, preparing for battle.

"A word alone, if you would."

Vuron exchanged a glance with his bondmate.

"You do realize that anything you say to me, she will hear as well."

The aging doctor offered a single nod of her head.

"I'll meet you back in your room," J'Mara said aloud for the doctor's benefit. "I have contacts to squeeze for information anyway."

Vuron nearly told her that he hadn't switched the UI back to Klingonese, but stayed himself. She'd know, or she wouldn't and would be able to comprehend his language through their bond.

"I am concerned for thee, Vuron."

"You are not the only one."

"Sit with me."

"T'Sai-"

"Sit."

Ice cold eyes brooked no argument.

He sat where she indicated, next to her on the sofa where her assistant had been minutes earlier.

"I worry that thee turns from the teaching of Surak. Thy bond, while strong, will not effect a positive influence on thee."

Vuron sighed, attempting to gather his thoughts.

"I do not turn aside his teachings. I simply... I am taking what has been meted upon me in measures."

"You are allowing yourself to wallow in your baser emotions. You are biased."

Vuron felt his jaw tense. Felt J'Mara's intense need to run back down the stairs and challenge an old woman for her opinions.

"I do not wallow. I am attempting to find a balance. Look about you," Vuron indicated the now-empty room. "Our ambassador has been gone for three days. Three days with no word to his good health but hearsay. You examine my bond, and call me tainted, when those around you have been so purposeless that they did not even question what has been happening around them.

"We had all been following Sranak blindly. Ever since Vulcan's destruction. He has been the only one with purpose, with driving need. I believe the best descriptor would be 'obsessed.' Is it not possible, that our blindness, and his obsession, opened us up to such an attack?"

She sat silently for a long while.

"Thee walks a dagger's edge, child."

Vuron nodded. "I do not argue that fact."

"Come. I will offer what aid I can."

Her hands reached for his psi-points. He bent out of habit and allowed her the bond. As light as a feather's touch, she skimmed him again. This time seeking any change with the physical distance between him and his bondmate.

"I will apply an external barrier between your minds. It has the strength of spiderswebbing. It will hold, as long as one does not pluck the right strings. The surface contacts will cease, as will the 'mirror' effect, as you have thought of it. If you meld again, my barrier will dissolve and you will have to return to me to reinstate it."

"Your propose to break our bond?"

"Not break, just shield. Your mind might be structurally sound, but it is difficult to place the trust of thirty lives in your hands, when such a... foreign mind potentially influencing you."

"You gave your approval, only two hours ago."

She actually sighed, her sagging shoulders tugging the hands on his face.

"With so few of us left, we must do everything to retrieve as many of the negotiators that we can."

The unthought significance, the genetic diversity of the twelve negotiators held more cultural value than one ambassador.

"If there is need, will I be able to call out to her?"

"I doubt even I have the ability to stop that, if the need is true," she said aloud. "But it will also break my barriers."

Vuron closed his eyes a moment, exploring the cold darkness within his own mind. Familiar. Serene. Aching with loneliness.

Something tumbled to the floor above them. Pounding footsteps trailed through the floor above, echoed down the stairs.

J'Mara slid to a halt in the common room. Her posture one of readiness, the muscles of her forearms, her neck, her cheek, corded taut. Nostrils flares. Eyes wide.

In a lesser creature, Vuron might assign the emotion a baser label; but his bondmate would not succumb to panic.

"What-" J'Mara growled, stalking to the doctor. "Have you done?" Fists clenched on the silk robes of T'Sai's robes, dragging her forward. Her sharp teeth bared in all-too-obvious threat. "What did you do to my husband?"

T'Sai stared at the Klingon a long moment before responding, in fits and bursts, in her language.

"I have applied a barrier, so that you can not further contaminate Altern Vuron. It remains to be seen if I will recommend the bond be permanently broken."

J'Mara's lips pulled back further into a feral grin. "You will find I do not respond well to threats, Doctor."

"J'Mara-" Murderous eyes turned on him. "I consented to the procedure. It was a logical precaution, considering-"

"Damn your logic."

Her shoulders sagged, hands released the doctor's robes with an audible crack of her knuckles.

"I will leave you to your contemplations."

His mate's hands clenched a moment as the elder Vulcan turned to leave.

"Perhaps we should take advantage of-"

"How dare you."

"How dare I?"

J'Mara snarled at him.

"How dare you!" She punched him in the arm. "First you attack my mind and ransack me for any spare piece of information you can find, after I'd expressly asked for your privacy, then, without even warning me, let alone ask for my opinion on the matter, you shut me out completely!"

"I would have assumed that the circumstances of the latter complaint would, if not eliminate, at least mitigate, the transgression of the former."

"Just because I don't want you tearing through my memories doesn't mean I don't want you at all."

They stood in silence, staring into one another's eyes. There was an Earth phrase one sensei used on occasion, to describe an unintentional, but accurate, statement: "hitting the nail on the head."

J'Mara sighed and touched her temple with a pained expression.

"I was at your computer, sending out a message, when... I guess I just realized that I'd been looking at your damn loopy language and not mine or Standard. The buzz of your mind humming along in the background, all those damn equations, minute bodily functions, plans and figures, points of weakness, attack stances and defenses... and then, nothing. No whispered words in the back of my mind. No comforting presence. You feel like a warm desert wind in my mind, do you know that? I've never seen a desert. But now I dream of dunes and soft sand and volcanic stone. And then just pfft! Nothing. Nothing, do you hear? The only thing I could think of was Rellig... how you felt his death."

"You thought I'd died?"

"What else was I to think? One minute you were there, the next you weren't! You were just downstairs. All I could think was, 'I'm too late.' I was only a few steps away, and I couldn't protect you."

"I am quite capable of protecting myself."

She huffed angrily. "Of course you can. But two hearts beating as one can defeat whole armies, when apart they were but nothing."

Vuron took a moment to consider the myth of Kahless finding his mate, how their combined strength killed all their enemies. Including their gods.

"We have already determined that our hearts beating as one will end in you having a heart attack, and possibly my death from oxygen deprivation."

"That is not the point," she growled. "Arg! I can do nothing with you. You emotionless cur!"

Vuron blinked as she stalked off, back up to his room, he assumed.
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Far Away From Home