CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
In his haste, Tammas had forgotten all about meeting with Melinda. She had sent him two emails, one to remind him of the date, and the second to ask if he was okay. He sent a message three days out from Vulcan, but didn’t get a reply. He sent a second message a day out, and on arriving at Vulcan he still hadn’t received a reply. Tammas was to report directly to T’Pau’s palace to discuss his trip on arriving, and give her word and gifts from Chancellor Drosh. As they were having their meeting, Tammas thought it was very similar to what having a private tea with the Queen of England might have been like, centuries ago, plus or minus some ceremonial necessities. It was going to make a nice chapter in a book someday. In addition to the gifts, Tammas presented her with his piece of the Living Rock.
“I believe this should remain with you as well,” Tammas said, handing the item to her. “They only ask that it not be transported. I’m not sure if it’s because of their myths, or because it might ruin some of its harmonic qualities. The scans just show it as a rock,” Tammas said.
“And what do you believe it to be?” T’Pau asked.
“If you will suffer my imagination,” Tammas asked more than said, and continued when she nodded. “I believe it to be a seed of the Mountain. Perhaps if you plant it, a million years from now there will be another Living Heart here on planet Vulcan.”
“Then I shall be careful where I plant it,” T’Pau said.
“May you live as long to see it grown,” Tammas said.
“I hope not,” she said. In that, she reminded him of McCoy.
T’Pau’s great, great grand-daughter entered and bowed. T’Pau introduced her. He name was Simone, pronounced “See-ma-ney,” and when she spoke to T’Pau she spoke to her in a Vulcan dialect he was not familiar with.
“Thank you for visiting with me, Garcia. I would like to do this again someday,” T’Pau said. “Now, if you will excuse me.”
Simone, about Tam’s age, bowed to him as well, and then walked with her grandmother, taking her arm in hers. Tam was thinking how very attractive Simone was when suddenly Simone glanced back with such a sharp look that he nearly lost his composure. He might as well have been caught red handed taking photographs of her coming out of a shower with out her permission. He put his thoughts in check and decided to hurriedly make his exit before he did put his foot in his mouth. As he walked from the palace, he used his neural implant to access the Vulcan Network to check his email. He had an invitation to join Sarek and Perrin for dinner at the Meti Diner Hall, where they were entertaining the Ambassador Shelton of Andoria, and his wife and daughter. Tammas sent an affirmation that he would join them. His new work schedule arrived, compliments of L’Nora, and he was pleasantly surprised. He didn’t have to report for another two days, giving him time to rest after the trip, even though he didn’t require it. Twelve days in a box had made him rather restless and he looked forward to returning to work. He checked in with the animal clinic, which had run just as smoothly as if he had never been gone, cared for some animals, and decided to call it a day. He had six hours to kill, though, and sent a query to the holosuite. They had a cancellation so he grabbed the slot up.
Tammas checked in at the desk and proceeded to the suite. Melinda was there, waiting.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey,” Tammas said.
“So, you went out of town,” she said.
“Yeah,” Tammas said.
“You hate the transporter so much you couldn’t transport back, just to keep our date?” she asked.
“Well, in this case, out of town meant six days away at warp eight,” Tammas said.
“Wow,” Melinda said. “They let you do that on probation?”
“My probation officer accompanied me,” Tammas said.
“Where did you go?” Melinda asked.
“Planet El,” Tammas said.
“Never heard of it,” Melinda said. “Did you have fun?”
“Yeah, it was nice,” Tammas said.
“But, seeing how you’re back already, you could have only been there two days at the most,” Melinda said.
“Very good. Your natural STC internal clock is working,” Tammas said, just a little sarcastic. “Did you want to join me in the suite. Usually when I’m here on Tuesdays I DM for a group, but today, you and I can role play.”
”DM?” Melinda asked.
“Dungeon master,” Tammas explained. “It’s an archaic game from Earth.”
Melinda seemed a bit hesitant.
“Is something wrong?” Tammas asked.
“Did you really go to El?” Melinda asked.
“You think I would make that up?” Tammas asked.
“Well, you know, people hear things,” Melinda said.
“People will talk,” Tammas agreed, but she would have never gotten the reference to the classic Earth film starring Jean Crane and Carry Grant.
“Yeah,” Melinda said. “Yeah, they do.”
“And what have you heard about me?” Tammas asked, not really wanting to know.
“That you live in a world of fiction,” Melinda said. “That you don’t socialize much. That you have psychological problems. They say that’s why you live on Vulcan. They have to do mind melds on you to keep you half way sane.”
Tammas nodded. “They’re all true,” he lied. Though one could argue for all those rumors, they were gross exaggerations. And, denying them would only fuel on more.
Melinda sighed. “I must be crazy.”
“What information do you have to support that?” Tammas asked, modeling a form of reasoning he hoped she might employ on the rumors she had heard about him.
“I’m attracted to you, Tammas,” Melinda said. “And I don’t know how, or why, but I always seem to be attracted to men with issues. This is the second time you stood me up without even a call to tell me you’re okay. That’s not a good way to start a friendship.”
“I told you,” Tammas said. “I went to El. I was invited to climb the Sacred Heart to meet the Living Rock, as a personal envoy to T’Pau.” Even Tammas didn’t believe it as he played back what he was saying.
“I just don’t believe you,” Melinda said. “You wouldn’t happen to have proof, would you?”
“Not on me,” Tammas said. “But you know, there’s something else you need to know before we can even think of starting a friendship.”
“And what’s that?” Melinda asked.
“I’m married,” Tammas said.
“If you weren’t interested in me, all you had to do was say so,” Melinda said, and stormed off.
Whew, Tammas thought. A bit of chaos there. He opened the suite and entered. After that encounter, he wasn’t much in a gaming mood. He recreated Betazed and went and sat on a beach. The sand sparkled with stars spread like glitter. The ocean surface was still, but very much alive with the stirrings of luminescent fish. The sky was filled with stars, and a full moon bathed it all in angelic light. Troi came out to meet him.
“So, feeling a bit down, are we?” Troi asked.
“Yeah,” Tammas admitted.
“So, what are you doing to remedy this?” Troi asked.
“Sorry, Counselor, I don’t feel like working,” Tammas said. “Computer, remove Troi. Insert Persis.”
Persis appeared, and knelt down beside him. “They tell me we can’t ever be,” she said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“I’m sorry, too,” Tammas said, reaching out to touch her. His hand went through her, as he had programmed her to appear as a ghost, not in solid form, to further remind him that it can never be.
“Tammas,” Persis said. “Thank you for the moons. I’ll never forget you.”
She faded away and was replaced with Selar. An altered version of Selar. She was reformed to appear as she might if she were completely Deltan. Her ears and facial features seemed human, but she was bald. “Hello, Tammas. You were right about this place. It’s very romantic.”
“So, this is how you spend your free time?” Melinda asked.
Tammas quickly got up, surprised.
“Who is this bimbo?” the Deltan Selar asked.
“Selar, Melinda, Melinda, my wife… Sort of,” Tammas said, massaging his forehead. “Some liberty and artistic license not withstanding.”
“She’s for real?” Melinda asked.
“No, this is a holograph,” Tammas said. “What did you want?”
“I just wanted to apologize,” Melinda said. “You’ve always been nice to me, and I was very rude just now.”
“Of course,” Selar said. “He only wants one thing from you. So typically human. I think you engage in this promiscuous behavior as a form of self medicating your depression. ”
“Bye, Selar,” Tammas said. “Computer, remove Selar.”
Selar vanished.
“Have you considered therapy?” Melinda asked.
“For what?” Tammas asked.
“I’ve been in some abusive relationships,” Melinda admitted. “And I know how hard it is to get out. So, I can’t believe it is healthy to have a holograph verbally beating you up. Is that really your self-image? Was your last girlfriend really that bad?”
“No,” Tammas said. “She saved my life, actually. It’s why I married her.”
“Okay,” Melinda said. “Well, I just wanted to apologize. See you.”
“See you,” Tammas said.
Melinda departed and Tammas thought about going home. Instead, he used the holosuite to recreate a shower and hot tub. First he cleaned, sat awhile in the tub, and then used the replicator program to create some clothes appropriate to the restaurant where he would later meet Sarek. And he still had time left. He sighed. He needed to cheer up before he went to dinner, and the only thing he could think of that might cheer him up was a song.
“Computer, create a stage setting, position me off stage, stage right,” Tammas instructed, and suddenly he was just off stage. “Now, I want to sing a duet with Rosemary Clooney. The Love and Marriage song, in fact.”
Mrs. Clooney appeared, in black and white. “You ready?” she asked him.
“Why, yes,” Tammas said, and followed her out on stage even as the music started. Nothing like “show tunes’ to put a pick a person’s spirits up, Garcia thought.
Tammas was happy to be back at work, up until Melinda came on shift and passed his station without so much as a glance. It had been a year and half since she had learned he was married, and she still hadn’t spoken to him. She did stop to speak with one of the other STC personal and had what appeared to be a pleasant exchange with the human male who she was relieving from duty. Her eyes never met Tam’s eyes. He had to consciously decide not to make anything of it. She would either speak to him again or not. No emotions, right?
Wrong. He turned back to his station and tortured himself by calculating how much time he had left remaining until he finished his probation. Something on his screen got his attention. He pushed his concerns away while trying to identify the radio emission signature. It was something he hadn’t seen before and new was good. It was either a treasure or a computer glitch. It had been a single, solitary energy burst in the gamma frequencies, and he was pretty certain it originated within the Vulcan solar system. He logged it, and waited for more, while simultaneously running a comparative search for anything remotely like it. Since it was only a single pulse, he wouldn’t be able to triangulate and determine its source to any degree of certainty, but he had the area narrowed down to within five million kilometers. Chances were it was probably just space noise, or a spontaneous burst of energy from the vacuum of space that happened from time to time, though usually not in the gamma range.
Tammas glanced over to Melinda. He had wanted to stay on good terms with her, but then, it wasn’t exactly his fault. Maybe he shouldn’t tell anyone he was married, he thought, since Melinda’s reaction was the norm, at least amongst humans. It wasn’t like it was a “real” marriage, he continued to rationalize the situation. Her back was to him, as well as to the Vulcan who occupied the station right behind hers. He liked the way her hair fell. He had to wonder if he was obsessing about her because it was over between them or because he really liked her.
Tammas shifted his focus to the Vulcan behind Melinda. He seemed to be having trouble breathing, as if he were choking. Tammas might have missed it had he not been looking over the Vulcan’s head at Melinda. He didn’t waste time getting to the Vulcan, either.
Turning the Vulcan to face him, Tammas looked in his eyes. “Are you choking?” Tammas asked. It seemed like a stupid question but it was the first question in a series of question that had to be asked in order to render medical assistance. The Vulcan’s hands were touching his neck in the Universal sign for choking, but he shook his head “no.”
“Can you breathe?” Tammas asked.
Again, the Vulcan shook his head no. Melinda turned to see what was going on behind her.
Tammas tried patting him on the back, while looking the Vulcan in the eye hoping that he could communicate visually as to what the problem might be. By the time he touched the Vulcan, he knew it was not simply a case of choking, but instead seemed to be some sort of allergic reaction that had closed down his lungs. The Vulcan collapsed into Tam’s arms. Tammas reassigned the channel for his headset to a station frequency using his implant.
“Medical emergency,” Tammas announced. “We need a medical team to STC Control.”
Tammas laid the Vulcan out on the floor, checking for a pulse before lifting the cushion out of the chair and propping the Vulcan’s feet up. Melinda stood, wanting to help, but was reluctant to leave her station. The floor supervisor, T’San, responded, and the first thing he did was to double assign Melinda. She was now covering her section, as well as the station behind her. She arranged her screen to display data from both stations.
T’San touched his earpiece. “Medics are on the way,” T’San said.
Of course, Tammas had heard the same reply, even as he was describing the symptoms to the medical dispatch operator. He lowered his head to the Vulcan’s mouth to listen for air flow with his left ear and watched for the Vulcan’s chest to rise. Nothing. Tammas gave the Vulcan two breaths of air, using CPR techniques, and noticed the lungs did inflate with each breath. T’San cleared the area of chairs so as to give the approaching medical team room to work.
“He’s still got a pulse, but he’s not breathing,” Tammas said.
The medic took over, placing a neural regulator, a small, circular device, on the forehead. He then placed a mask that fit over the mouth and nose, pulling the strap around the Vulcan’s face. The second medic took tricorder readings.
“It’s not a stroke,” the second said.
“T’San,” Melinda said, concern obvious in her voice.
Another Vulcan had collapsed. T’San and the medic with the tricorder rushed to his aid. With the new station down, T’San had to make a choice and he hesitated only for a moment. He knew of Garcia’s rating, but was reluctant to recognize his achievement by putting him in an STC position. T’San had been one of the committee chairpersons influencing Vulcan’s local STC board that had put a stop to Tam’s application process, which made his decision now even more difficult for him. Logic eventually won out over his moral conflict.
“Garcia, take over this station,” T’San ordered.
Tammas did as he was told. He was now in control of ships arriving and leaving Vulcan prime. He had thirty-five ships in orbit, two preparing to leave, and four entering. He dispatched the two, and assigned an orbit to each of the four approaching ships. It went as smoothly as it did in the simulations that he used to prepare him for this particular job. Just another game, and another rating, only this time, real people were on the other end of the radio.
Another Vulcan STC personal collapsed. T’San moved to attend to her, but then he began to exhibit symptoms of choking as well. Melinda stepped away from her station just in time to catch T’San as he collapsed between the two stations.
“We’re going to need more medics,” one of the medics called for back up. It was the last thing he said as he, too, staggered to the floor and finally passed out.
“Red alert,” Tammas announced, his heart racing. “Seal off STC Control. We have a situation. Possible biological contaminant.”
The remaining medic, an Andorian, gave Tammas an angry look because that was his call to make. Since he also knew Tammas was right, he had to let go. “Request all responding medical teams to report in environmental suits. We have an unknown biological vector, which seems to be affecting Vulcan personnel. Please acknowledge request.”
The only response was the red alert klaxon. “Damn it, I need help up here,” the medic yelled. “Medic Losan to Captain T’Lano? Someone respond!”
“Melinda, back to your station. There’s an unauthorized entry into Vulcan space,” Tammas announced. “Take the entire upper division.”
“Tammas, I can’t handle all of this inbound,” Melinda said.
“Agreed,” Tammas said. “Put all ships within five light years from Vulcan in a holding pattern at the heliosheath. Divert all other inbound traffic to their secondary ports.”
“Tammas, I’m in charge here,” Melinda said.
“Then do something. Close it all down for all I care,” the medic demanded. “I need help here!”
“We can’t just close down all traffic,” Melinda yelled at the medic.
“Melinda,” Tammas said, calmly. “Hold everything at the heliosheath, and divert everything five light years and beyond. I’ll take full responsibility.”
She hesitated a moment longer, but two more ships dropped out of warp and her sector was getting crowded. Tammas quickly changed the AIDAS information to tell all in bound traffic to hold. He then ordered Melinda to hold all outgoing ships, just in case there were any contaminated ships carrying an unknown virus. Might as well contain this here, even if it did delay and anger the outgoing ships. He told all remaining ships on Vulcan awaiting departure times and vectors to hold. He then turned his attention to the alien vessel.
“Negative,” Tammas argued with a passenger ship insisting on leaving the ground. “All planet side ships are grounded until further notice. Melinda, notify Vulcan Prime and Star Fleet we have a situation.”
The unauthorized vehicle was now half way to Vulcan. Tammas chose the closest Star Fleet ships and hailed them. “USS Venson and Serenity, please intercept the unauthorized vehicle. It is not responding to STC.” Tammas realized he should have done this immediately after receiving no response from the alien vessel, but didn’t have time to berate himself over the mistake.
“Their current orbit will bring the UFO to Vulcan in twelve minutes,” Melinda said. “The Vulcan Royal Guard have been notified.”
Tammas gave her thumbs up, while simultaneously sending text messages for another ship to hold at the heliosheath and handling a situation in Vulcan orbit. “Klingon Krag,” he said, pointing out a traffic related situation to Melinda visible on the over head screen. “Return to your assigned orbit.”
Melinda nodded. “On it,” she said. “The alien intruder is now on the main screen.”
“I’m going to need both of you to help me here,” the Andorian medic demanded. “I can’t treat all these people by myself.”
Tammas wanted to help, but he couldn’t. “You’re just going to have to make do.”
“Some of them are going to die if I don’t have help!” the Andorian said.
“Tactical over lay, Melinda. Klingon ship, Krag, please hold your position,” Tammas said again. He simply didn’t have time to deal with the ranting of the Andorian, no matter how important they were. “I appreciate your willingness to help. Now hold your position.”
“Tammas, the alien ship has fired on the Venson and Serenity,” Melinda said. The main screen showed the blips of torpedoes moving towards their intended targets, along with vector lines. There must have been twenty or so torpedoes headed for the two Star Fleet ships. “All ships within Vulcan space, go to red alert. Oh, hell.”
The Venson didn’t just take hits. It blew up, completely disintegrating, and it was more than just a warp core breach. The only good thing was the resulting explosion took out most of the remaining torpedoes. STC didn’t see the tremendous explosion directly. All they saw was the transponder info disappear from their tactical display, followed by the torpedoes blips. Only a couple of the remaining torpedoes arched and connected to the Serenity. Its transponder faded, disappeared, but came back to life. A moment later, the space around the identifier tag for the Serenity blossomed with the smaller transponder identification tags. Interpretation: life pods were being launched.
The moment the Vulcan Royal Guard were ready for launch, Tammas gave them clearance and direct intercept vectors. He had already anticipated their flight paths, and cleared all of the traffic and ships in holding patterns that might have presented obstacles. The Royal Guard was comprised of two teams of small, tactical fighter, twelve ships each.
“Shuttle Opolos, return to Vulcan prime, do not make orbit,” Tammas said. “Grounded means grounded. Team Alpha, you should have some life pods just appearing on your sensor and heads up for debris from the Venson.”
“Who’s in control up there?” came a call from ship four in the alpha team.
“Alpha leader to Alpha four,” was his response. “Stay focus on your task. Thanks for the heads up, Center. We have the pods in sight. Prepare to switch to Visual Flight Rules, they’re jamming our sensors.”
“Tammas,” Melinda said. “Whatever that ship is putting out is disrupting common sensor used in navigating. Two thirds of my ships are reporting growing difficulties.”
“Put as many of them that can on VFR flight, and spread them out so we can have time to give them heads up if need be,” Tammas ordered, wishing he could get back to his station to see what energies and frequencies the alien ship was broadcasting that would disrupt navigational sensors. “Yes, Starship Sutherland, I hear you, please hold… Melinda, direct those life pods in sector one in another direction, or they’ll end up in Beta teams flight path.”
“Got it,” Melinda said.
“Is there any way we can computer coordinate with all satellites and ships for access to real time visual information, just in case we loose our sensors as well?” Tammas asked.
“You know what you’re asking for?” Melinda asked.
“We need a back up!” Tammas snapped. “Klingon ship Krag, hold your position. Shuttle NC208, do not enter orbit. Return planet side. Damn it, Vulcan, hold all traffic. Ground everything!”
“Tammas, I’m sending your request planet side to see what they can come up with,” Melinda said.
“Klingon ship Krag,” Tammas said, anger in his voice this time. “If you do not return to your original orbital position, you will be considered hostile. Now, hold your position. Melinda, have everything within five light years drop out of warp and proceed at impulse. That should clear up the rest of our congestion problems. Also, open a tactical feed to Starship Sutherland. Their ETA is now four minutes.”
“Affirmative,” Melinda said.
The alien ship was fast approaching Vulcan orbit and was launching hundreds of torpedoes. The VRG ships were harassing it, but they were not doing any noticeable damage. Their shields were holding against the phasers, but apparently the torpedoes could penetrate the shields before exploding. They discovered that the hard way, loosing two ships in the process. Torpedoes swarmed around the alien, mother ship like angry hornets protecting their nest, going after everything that even looked like a threat. The VRG were now spending most of their time and energy simply avoiding the torpedoes, abandoning their attack runs in order to do so. Their communication frequencies were full of chatter as each was advising each other of threats.
Tammas assisted where he could, but the stray torpedoes were now becoming a danger to the ships in orbit around Vulcan prime. Even the wildest scenarios he had created in the holosuite to prepare himself for any contingency never came anywhere close to this level of activity.
“Melinda, help me get these ships out of orbit,” Tammas said. “RC443, accelerate to 400 KPH, a large fragment headed your way.”
“I’ll take the lower hemisphere,” Melinda said.
On one of Tam’s channels, he heard a call for medical assistance from the Serenity. Apparently not all the personal had managed to escape in the life pods, but fortunately, the warp core was still stable. Tammas looked over the ships in orbit and quickly found one suitable.
“Klingon Ship Krag,” Tammas said, sending them flight info. “Take this vector to the Serenity and assist with first aid. No, you will not attack the alien. Your ship is not equipped to assault this alien, and I don’t have the coping skills to handle any more debris in orbit. You do, however, have a large enough hold for a makeshift triage, and your personal are adequately equipped for first aid. Now move out. Shuttle Craft Henson, accelerate to two thirds impulse. No, keep your previous heading. Turn around, now!”
The graphic describing the course of the Henson suddenly overlapped the trajectory for one of the torpedoes. Both the icon for the shuttle and the line representing the torpedo faded from the screen. Various sized fragments blossomed from the intersection point.
“Damn it!” Tammas yelled, pounding the instrument panel in front of him.
“Tammas,” Melinda said. “Stay focused. We still have work to do.”
The alien ship came into orbit and, for the first time, the Vulcan Starbase got into the fight. A volley of photon torpedoes departed the station, accompanied by phasers. The tracers for the torpedoes leaving the station appeared on the tactical map, arching towards the alien ship. Tammas gave the heads up to several VRG ships that were in between the Star Base and the alien. They departed on new vectors, giving thanks for the heads up.
“The Sutherland is requesting to maintain warp until they’re inside the system,” Melinda announced. “I’ve designated sector three for them to drop out of warp. They’ll be here in two minutes.”
The alien ship returned fire, hitting the station hard. The power in the space station dipped and then went completely off. Emergency power came on a lifetime later. Which, in real time, was three seconds. Their eyes hadn’t even adjusted to the dark before the lights came back on. There was the sound of straining metal, which wasn’t a comforting thing to hear, like a sea vessel being crushed as it sunk. Tammas had flash backs to his Poseidon Adventure. The tactical display came back on, but it no longer displayed identifiers. Ships and missiles alike had been reduced to mere blips and they were all the same color. Tammas watched his internal clock, counting down the two minutes before the Sutherland would arrive. And then he wondered why it was still coming. It would be destroyed just like the other two starships. Still they were coming. And they would come even if he warned them not to. Was it bravery or foolishness? He heard the sounds of life support system coming back on. It hadn’t been off long enough to taste a difference in the quality of air, but it was the first time he appreciated hearing the back ground noise.
A spray of sparks from a panel over head caused both Tammas and Melinda to duck, and the medic covered one of his patients. The station in front of Melinda blew, and had she not already had her head covered with her arms, she could have been blinded. As it was, her sleeve was cut and her left arm was now exposed and bleeding. She had a trickle of blood on her forehead. Tammas wanted to go attend to her wounds, but he stayed at his station. Even with all that happened, she didn’t skip a beat.
“Ah, negative,” Melinda said, moving to the station behind her. “Continue with your last vector and proceed towards the heliosheath. Listen up, everyone. Our guidance computers are down, you will be self navigating.”
The alien ship wasn’t in orbit one minute before it turned and began its departure on a new vector, ramming an unsuspecting VRG ship that had flown in too close. The alien’s exit was even faster than its arrival, and before it was halfway out of the system it went into warp.
“Affirmative, life pod V1, you are cleared to approach Vulcan,” Tammas said. “All life pods are expedited to Vulcan orbit, and may proceed at once towards the surface. Contact ground control on two one four point five.”
A moment later, the Sutherland dropped out of warp. Tammas ignored the voices over his headset, deciding it was now time to help the medic. The first person in his path was T’San. He wasn’t breathing, so he administered two rescue breaths. He checked for a pulse, found none, and began doing chest compression, placing his hands above the Vulcan heart. How long had he been without air? Six minutes? Had T’San used an