Chapter 7

Spock's attention is suddenly caught by something, and wry chagrin flashes through his face for a moment. "That will, however, have to wait. Please stand back."

He hesitates, and then adds. "It might be best if you were to stand over there, away from me."

Stonn obeys, confused. It's another second before he hears the high pitched sound of a transporter beam. Another advantage of Spock's hybrid physique.

Stonn had expected dome security to materialize, but instead it is a small group of aliens, led by a gold-clad figure he remembers with uncomfortable clarity from that day on Vulcan.

He's surprised at the level of emotional unpleasantness involved with having a phaser pointed directly at him.

He has seen this happen in the holo-dramas favored by a Tellarite co-author of his, but it is not the same to experience it in real life. He considers raising his hands, as they do in the holos, but opts to stay stock-still instead. After three point two seconds the phaser is fortunately lowered, and the captain directs his full attention at Spock.

"Spock! Are you alright?" As usual, the humans are emoting all over. The captain is protective and worried, a blue clad physician (McCoy. Also familiar. Unfortunately.) is angry and worried. The station security officer who came with them is looking rather disappointed with the lack of action.

"Perfectly fine, Captain."

"Fine? Don't give me fine, you blasted idiot," McCoy is waving his tricorder all over Spock in angry motions and then directs the machine over at Stonn, transferring his glare between the Vulcans. "Disappearing together with this cretin is not 'fine'."

McCoy sizes Stonn up with his eyes as well as the tricorder. He tries to be as still as possible. He likes humans in general, but they can be unpredictable, and these might be expected to carry some anger towards him, and have been trained for violence.

"They're not hurt, Jim," the physician finally allows. "Whatever they did here, it wasn't fighting."

Spock and the captain are still looking at each other, in a silent parallel conversation to the one that the half-Vulcan is effortlessly carrying on with the doctor.

"We were simply conversing up until the moment we were interrupted, Doctor." Spock says, blandly. "And as Stonn is a civilian, and fortunate enough to not in any way be under your power, you should refrain from using slurs."

"Slurs! He…! You…! Vulcan…! Blasted ceremony…! The airlock!" McCoy sputters.

"Bones, if Spock says it's fine, then it's fine," Kirk says.

"You can't be serious."

"Deadly serious, Doctor. Drop it."

"One of them destroyed an airlock out of the dome, Captain," says the dome security woman with a frown. "I can't drop that."

"I am sure that was… an accident." The captain smiles at the security officer, and she tentatively smiles back and then blushes, and nods. Stonn always thought that Amanda had a quick changing temperament, but experience has taught him that she is a well of steady calm compared to other humans who will change their moods and opinions at the drop of a hat, as they say. It's intriguing.

"Mr. Spock here will personally repair your airlock, Enforcer," the captain continues, voice warm, "And if you have any other high tech issues with your computers, I'm sure he would be more than happy to lend you his expertise. Though there are some other issues that I assume must be taken care of first, Commander?"

"Yes, Captain."

"Alright." The captain rolls his shoulders, takes a deep breath. When he opens his eyes again, his gaze locks directly with Spock and once again it's as if there is an unspoken communication between them. When the captain speaks it's merely a polite gesture for the rest of the world.

"Bones, me and Spock are taking a walk. We've been cooped up for too long. Then we'll take care of the airlock and… some other business. Expect us back sometime later tonight, alright?"

"A walk! This atmosphere is poisonous, man!"

"As the captain is wearing his armband, it will be safe outside the dome for another forty eight minutes, Doctor. Rest assured I will make certain that we are back before that."

The human physician makes a peculiar noise by blowing a short burst of air out his noise. But then he purses his lips, going from incensed to accepting in a matter of seconds. No Vulcan could calm down that fast, Stonn thinks.

"And that weird sludge you carry around in your veins give you a get-out-of-jail-card… Alright, but no more than thirty minutes, though, you hear me!"

Stonn freezes. Is the human a xenophobe? But Spock is relaxed, shows no indication that he considers the irascible human offensive or an annoyance. In fact, Spock is as calm here as Stonn has ever seen him, and then only when they were out on the Forge as youngsters.

It cannot be the place, it follows that it must be the people.

"Doctor, I would never risk the captain's health."

"Yeah, yeah. Now run along and play."

The gold clad human has been looking around the strange landscape while his officers bickered. At the doctor's last comment he laughs, and somehow neither it nor the way his subordinates talk about him detract from the aura of leadership he projects. Stonn assumes this is one of the reasons why Spock seems to be inordinately focused on him.

"Alright," the captain says. "Enforcer, Mr. Spock will com you when we get back. Bones, we'll catch you later. Mr. Stonn…" Stonn finds himself under scrutiny and silent evaluation for an uncomfortable sixteen seconds. "Stay out of trouble," the human finally finishes.

"Indeed," murmurs Spock.

A few minutes ago, Stonn had no trouble recognizing his friend: all those strong volatile emotions held back by an iron control, sometimes slipping loose, are familiar from their youth. But now there is a relaxed serenity in the man before him that he has rarely seen in Sarek's son before.

"Stonn, wait for me in the freighter."

"As you wish."

The two starfleet officers take off without another word, heading for a dune spread with strange looking blue-green stones, remnants of the terraforming process. Kirk is already gesticulating and pointing at the rocks as if the scene he came upon just a few minutes ago is no longer important to discuss.

Stonn and the doctor look at the retreating figures in silence until they are approximately forty meters away. Then the human whirls suddenly towards him and points a finger uncomfortably close to his eye.

"Now you listen to me, Stenn or Stonn or whatever your name is." the human is hissing, and Stonn realizes that he must be aware of Spock's range of hearing. "I don't know what happened out here, but the last time I saw you, you looked willing to kill my friend, and you were more than willing to let my other friend die. I don't care if you've somehow tricked Spock into looking past all that - no, shut up or I'll inject you with this hypo, see if I don't - but that man is one of the most honorable people I know, and if it were up to me, you shouldn't be trusted with being near him. You lot don't deserve him."

The finger makes small stabbing movements towards him, and Stonn takes a half step backwards. He has no interest or reason to argue.

"Yes," he simply says. The human's eyes widen and then narrow in suspicion, but after a few seconds he grunts and lowers his hand.

"Well then." He glares at the impassive Vulcan before him. "Hmph. Well, I want to get you inside - you should be safe now, but whatever possessed you to drink your tetra-calcite all at once instead of just wearing the dispenser from the beginning?"

"It… seemed the logical thing to do at the time."

"Ha." The doctor makes a move towards his communicator, but Stonn halts him with a gesture.

"Doctor… Your captain and Spock. They have a... connection?"

"A co-dependent psychological neurosis is what we call it in the trade, but yes" But the human doesn't seem very serious however. He shakes his head and purses his lips. "T'hyla, Spock calls it."

T'hyla. Suddenly Stonn is filled with complicated emotions that will take a long time to sort through.

The doctor's eyes narrow, "They won't talk about it much, though. What exactly is a t'hyla?"

"I… do not know exactly, Doctor. It is an ancient soul bond, associated with pre-reformation Warriors among the Surakisi."

That is as much as he knows. T'Pring will know more.

"Of course it is! Of course it is ancient and mystical and complicated and not-for-outsiders! I tell you, I've had it up to here with ancient Vulcan traditions. No offense," the human adds grudgingly.

"Believe me, Doctor, I quite agree."

THE END

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Author's note: And that's a wrap! Thanks so much for all your reviews along the way. I think twisting and turning established tropes is the best part of fanfic writing: it's a bit like haikus. You have all these restrictions about what you can do, and it's all about how you navigate those restrictions. Even if you found some things surprising, I hope you have enjoyed this.

Now - there's an obvious sequel to this. T'Pring and Spock. What happens on the freighter. What happened before? We have only seen their relationship through Stonn, and he is not a neutral observer whatsoever. In this fic, we know that they drifted apart and that there was never a strong emotional or lustful attraction between them. They thought they could do without it, but when plak tow descended, their innermost desires overwhelmed their rational, cold, logical decisions. That's a cool tell to tale! At this moment I don't feel a strong drive to write it, however - if you do, I gladly hand the pen over to you. Write it! :)