Chapter 3: Meeting with the First Minister

They got back in the aircar, which Mr. Bonsu piloted. In the back, separated from him by a soundproof partition, the Starfleet officers were able to have a private conversation.

Kirk smiled at Spock. "I know we only did that because diplomacy required it, but I'm actually glad they made us do it. Your friendship is extremely important to me, and it felt right to have ceremonial recognition of it."

Spock nodded. "I, too, found the recognition of our importance to one another to be appropriate."

Kirk wanted to defuse all of the emotion this was bringing up and took refuge in humor. In a teasing tone of voice, he said, "It almost feels as if we just got married; half of me is expecting a slice of cake and a wedding night."

Spock caught his eye and held it. "Unfortunately, Dr. McCoy has eliminated cake from your diet card, but I can provide a wedding night if you desire one."

Kirk blinked in surprise, then rubbed the back of his neck, feeling uncomfortable. "Spock, I think maybe you didn't understand what I meant by that. It's a human custom ..."

Spock broke in, "To consummate the marriage during the evening of the day on which it takes place. I understood you, Jim."

Kirk goggled at him for a second, then broke into a blinding smile. "You've always been full of surprises, Mr. Spock, but this may be the best one ever." He paused, struck, and looked searchingly at Spock's face. "You aren't just humoring me, are you? I know you'd give me nearly anything, but ... this isn't just for me?"

Spock shook his head. "It is not. I value you as I do no one else; I believe that you are aware of this. What you have been unaware of is that I also desire you. The current mission forced me to evaluate our relationship and to clarify my emotions with respect to you. After you left my quarters last night, I engaged in a long, intense session of meditation concerning our relationship, which forced me to realize that in addition to the roles of friend and brother, I would also wish for you to fulfill the role of lover."

There was no passion audible in Spock's voice; he might have been describing the composition of the atmosphere or the quantity of radiation emitted by Jamorkee's sun. And yet, a decidedly unromantic declaration of love from this man meant more to Kirk than the most passionate declaration he'd ever gotten from anyone else. After all, if you calibrated your emotional scale to Vulcan norms, what he'd just gotten was the most passionate declaration he'd ever received.

Kirk put his hand over Spock's and squeezed it. "I've wanted you for eons but never thought I could have you."

"I am the person you alluded to earlier, when we were in the privacy chamber?"

Kirk smiled. "Yes. I thought if the emotions of friendship shamed you, then you'd certainly never be able to go beyond that. I'm glad I was wrong."

Spock swallowed. "Until recently, you were not wrong. But I felt more shamed by your caution in dealing with my Vulcan sensibilities than I was by the emotions of friendship. To be worthy of the love and friendship you had already demonstrated towards me, I had to rise above my upbringing and realize that logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end."

Kirk opened his mouth to reply, but the aircar landed, and Mr. Bonsu got out of the car.

Kirk sighed. "Looks like we have to table this discussion and go be diplomats. C'mon, time to go do our duty."

The two Starfleet officers exited the aircar and were escorted into the Residence, respectfully but thoroughly scanned, then ushered into the presence of the First Minister.

The First Minister was a plump, middle-aged woman of average height. Her blood-red robes contrasted beautifully with her dark skin, and her black hair was arranged in a complicated edifice of braids and flowers. She looked like a perfectly ordinary—if extremely well dressed—woman until one noticed the intensity and intelligence in her eyes.

She beamed at the two Enterprise men, her smile somewhat startling for both its intensity and its genuineness. She noticed Kirk's surprised expression and said, "You wonder at the pleasure I show in meeting you only because you do not know that I witnessed your joining ceremony. Most people being joined record their ceremony so that they may witness and remember the happy day when they registered their friendship. The camera that recorded your ceremony also transmitted the scene here, to my office. I wanted to see what manner of men you were, and your joining ceremony told me much."

Kirk glanced at Spock and then looked back at Minister Jalloh. "If you don't know anything about Vulcans, there might have been parts of our ... joining that you'd have trouble interpreting."

Minister Jalloh shook her head. "Do not fret, Captain Kirk; the Federation people who were here before told us of humans, Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites. I am aware that Vulcans intentionally restrict their emotional expression." She gestured towards a grouping of armchairs. "Come and sit, and we can discuss the reason for your visit. You desire to mine fontanium, correct?"

Kirk, Spock, Jalloh, and Bonsu sat in the circle of armchairs and discussed the issue. After a time, Minister Jalloh said, "In what way would this differ if we were to become members of the Federation?"

Kirk smiled at her. "It wouldn't actually be all that different. If you were a member of the Federation, you'd have a moral obligation to supply a mineral that's crucial for the supply of drinking water on dozens of allied planets, but you would still set your own conditions for the mining, we'd still negotiate the price for the fontanium, and you'd still have the ability to either mine it yourselves or allow foreign miners to do so."

Minister Jalloh cocked her head to one side and looked at him. "So the only difference it would make if we were Federation members is that we would have a moral obligation to other people with whom we had joined in a bond of friendship?"

Kirk nodded. "That's right, First Minister."

Jalloh made a brushing motion with her hand. "But we already have a moral obligation to help anyone who needs us; to be joined in friendship merely makes the obligation a happy duty instead of an onerous one."

Kirk smiled. "I'm glad you see it that way, First Minister; I think that's the right way to look at it."

Jalloh glanced at Bonsu then looked back at Kirk. "We were impressed by Mr. Spock's list of the virtues of the Federation while he was speaking his appreciation of you. We have been thinking since your people left us before, and Mr. Bonsu suggested that joining the Federation would be like having whole planets declare themselves primary friends. We have never had a primary friend for our planet, but we believe that doing so would be a great good, both for us and for you."

Spock said, "Primary friends add interest and variety to life during periods of good fortune, and they add assistance and companionship during periods of misfortune or peril. It would be to Jamorkee's advantage to have primary friends in the Federation, and to the Federation's advantage to have a primary friend in you."

Jalloh nodded. "So we have concluded, Mr. Spock. We will give you the fontanium you need, but more than that, we will join with your Federation in primary friendship."

It took only a short time longer to negotiate the essentials for Jamorkee's joining the Federation. All Jamorkeans were thoroughly familiar with the concept of joining another in friendship, and they felt that doing so on a planetary level was a natural extension of the way they already lived. They talked about needs, assets, sharing, and customs more straightforwardly than the Starfleet men had ever seen before, and by the end of the day, the negotiations had been completely wrapped up.

Minister Jalloh stood up. "Our business is concluded. I would have asked for a social hour in recognition of our new friendship, but you had a joining ceremony today, and the first evening in your new household is sacred. We will see you again tomorrow, for the festivities in celebration of the joining of our planets."

Kirk and Spock both bowed to the First Minister. The captain said, "It was a great pleasure to work with you, Minister Jalloh, and I look forward to tomorrow."

Mr. Bonsu escorted the Starfleet men to the exterior of the Residence, and Kirk flipped open his communicator. "Scotty, are you still up there?"

"Aye," said the Scotsman. "It's been a quiet day here. Did ya get the fontanium?"

Kirk smiled into the communicator, even though Scotty couldn't see him. "Not only that, we also got a new member for the Federation."

Scotty chuckled. "Yer reputation as a miracle-worker's intact then, I see."

Kirk chuckled back. "Two to beam up, Scotty. It's been a good day but a long one."

Once back on the ship, Kirk stepped down from the transporter and used the intercom to give orders to the overnight crew on the bridge while Spock used a nearby intercom to check on the progress of the various experiments being done in the Enterprise's fourteen science labs. Their crew was a good one, though, and neither section required their personal supervision once they'd checked in.

The check-in completed, Kirk turned and looked at Spock with an interrogatory air.

"I believe I promised you a sexual liaison in lieu of cake this evening," Spock answered the implied question.

Kirk smiled. "I never thought I'd say this to you, but your place or mine?"

"My quarters are warmer, which may be more practical for the activities we envision."

Kirk chuckled. "I can't wait to see what your practical streak is like in bed."

Once in Spock's cabin, Kirk turned to the Vulcan and kissed him. He began slowly and carefully, but Spock didn't allow him to stay either slow or careful; he pushed the kiss until it was wet and heated and messy and devouring.

Weak in the knees, Kirk pulled his mouth away from Spock's. "Where did you learn how to kiss like that?"

"Jim, I am the science officer of this vessel. Surely you're aware that I possess a thorough knowledge of human physiology."

Kirk smiled. "And you're the finest science officer in Starfleet because you're better than anyone at finding practical applications for theoretical knowledge."

Spock pulled back slightly and looked at Kirk with concern. "Then why do you sound disconcerted by my skill?'

Kirk looked ruefully into his lover's dark eyes. "I was hoping my sexual experience would be good for something, that I'd get to show you new things, but it looks like it's useless after all."

Spock tilted his head to one side as he contemplated the question. "On the contrary, Jim; I look forward to comparing the skills imparted by theoretical knowledge to those imparted by practical experience."

Kirk smiled. "Always the scientist! You know, you're not like anyone else I've ever known ... but that may be why I love you so much." He put his hands behind Spock's neck and pulled the dark head closer to his own. "Come here, you, and we'll begin that comparison."

.

.

Author's Notes

1. Alpha Circini is a real star, though it's unlikely to have people on the planets orbiting it, since it's a highly variable star, which would make evolution difficult. I thought it would be fun to populate such an unlikely place, because I'm weird that way. :-)

2. "Fontanium" does not exist; I named it as homage to Dorothy Fontana, who wrote two of my favorite TOS episodes ("Journey to Babel" and "The Enterprise Incident"), as well as many others. And of course she was also the script consultant during most of the first and all of the second season.

3. Psi 2000 is the planet the Enterprise visited during the episode "The Naked Time." You probably recall that when afflicted with the virus from that planet, Spock said to Kirk, "Jim, when I feel friendship for you, I'm ashamed."

4. Matt Decker was the captain of the USS Constellation. We met him during the episode "The Doomsday Machine," when he seemed only marginally sane. He ended up piloting a shuttlecraft into the mouth of the machine in a suicidal attempt to destroy it.

Ron Tracey was the captain of the USS Exeter. We met him during the episode "The Omega Glory," when he seemed only marginally sane. He was monomaniacally convinced that the planet Omega IV harbored the secret to eternal life and was eventually arrested for breaking the Prime Directive (and spitting on it and trampling all over it in hobnailed boots).

5. For those who care about such things, I'll note that "Jamorkee" is pronounced Juh-MOR-kee, and its people are Juh-MOR-kee-un. As far as I know, I made this word up, so if it exists in another language or as a rock band or something, there's no intentional reference.

6. I borrowed the line "Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end" from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, screenplay by Nicholas Meyer and Denny Martin Flinn.

7. This story was written for the Happy Trekmas exchange on Live Journal, but since I couldn't use any of my recipient's prompts, only I should be blamed for the above. :-).

8. I realize that there's a movie called Legally Blonde, but I've never seen it, so the title of this story isn't supposed to connect to that movie; it's just the title that fit the story.

9. I don't own Star Trek; if anything, IT owns ME.

10. Thanks for reading!

.