The Pon T'Keshtan
By Mary K. Hanson
Limited Copyright © 2010

Disclaimers: This story is based on characters in the 2009 alternate reality version of "Star Trek". Although the story itself is an original and belongs to me, and the characters of Sa'aat, Tasmeen, Semuk and a few other Vulcans, and the race known as the Coh'Lie are my own creations, this story in no way intends to infringe on the copyright of Paramount Picture or CBS or any other legal owner of copyright as regards "Star Trek", its world and/or its characters. This is a piece of fan fiction meant for entertainment purposes only. I am not making a profit of any kind from the very limited publication and distribution of this piece.

This story takes place about 7 months after my story "The Ek'tevan ([1]) Prerogative" and makes reference to incidences and people that were brought up in that initial story. To fully comprehend what you're reading in "The Pon T'Keshtan", it's best to read "The Ek'tevan Prerogative" first.

Brief Teaser for "The Pon T'Keshtan ([2])": About 7 months have passed since the incidents on New Vulcan described in "The Ek'tevan Prerogative". A new transitional government is in place after Semuk's murder, T'Pau has been ostracized, and Federation diplomats are working to forge agreements between the battling Sects on the planet, including the Fonn Vulkhansu (euphemistically referred to as the "Spockian Sect"). The females who were impregnated under the Ek'tevan Prerogative statute are all coming to term within the next several months ([3]). Although physically recovered from his ordeal on New Vulcan as a result of the Ek'tevan Prerogative, Spock is plagued with nightmares that leave him feeling disconnected from himself, frustrated and powerless. With the help of Uhura, McCoy, Christine Chapel, Kirk, and his former instructor Sa'aat, Spock learns what happened to him while he was under the influence of the plak tau inducement. He is forced to deal with the feelings generated by this knowledge -- while also dealing with the fact that the females he mated with during the plak-tau may be pregnant with his children, and that T'Pau may be pregnant as well.

Generally, all Vulcan words and translations are from the VLD (Vulcan Language Dictionary and the Vulcan to English Dictionary at /English-to-Vulcan-Dictionary/ and at /vld/. I did make up a few words and phrases of my own based on the aforementioned dictionaries and the tenants of Vulcan grammar.

Although based in Trek canon, I have taken a few liberties with the characters and their personal histories (as does all fan fiction).

Rating: This story has a firm M rating for mature themes, brief language, and sexual content.

NOTE: The (numbers) seen throughout the text refer to endnotes (footnotes at the end of the story/chapter) which help to explain terms and translations used in the story, and/or provide more annotated information to the reader.

CHAPTER ONE

It had been almost seven months of this, and Nyota didn't know how much more Spock could endure. When the first nightmare had invaded his sleep, she didn't think much of it considering what he had been through on New Vulcan; forced against his will, under the edict of the Ek'tevan Prerogative, to participate in a chemically induced plak-tau ([4]) that resulted in his mating with five females he had never seen before. Where some Human males might have found such a situation erotically stimulating and enjoyable, something to brag about in the steam room for months afterward, Spock had viewed that intrusion on his person as a form of rape and had been physically and emotionally brutalized by the process. Although his body healed quickly, his mind seemed more resistant to recovery, and that fact irked him. He was and always had been profoundly proud of his mental acuity and emotional discipline, and tended to see his slow recuperation on that level as something of a personal failure. The nightmares only seemed to exacerbate that opinion.

Spock often dreamed, Nyota knew. She had been present with him on many occasions, lying beside him in his bed or hers, watching silently as his eyes fluttered and rolled beneath his closed eyelids and upswept eyebrows while he dreamed. And he had spoken to her on occasion of the lucid dreams he could summon in his sleep, and how he could manipulate them to prolong their pleasant and fascinating effects. In some of his dreams, he admitted to her once, he could run so fast that his whole body lifted up off the ground and he could fly. The sensation was exhilarating to him.

Nyota had found the mere idea of "Vulcan dreams" somehow romantically intriguing, and she thoroughly cherished those moments when she could see Spock like that... So disconnected from himself, so somehow ductile and vulnerable despite his masculine exterior; breathing through only slightly part lips; sometimes muttering in Vulcan; sometimes expressing emotions he would be loathe to express when he was awake. She would even tease him a little when he awoke from dreams that inflamed him, and then gleefully watch him try, often without success, to explain or excuse away the obvious manifestation of his arousal.

But not since he had been to New Vulcan those many months ago had she ever seen him have a nightmare, much less a recurring one.

That first nightmare had startled him -- and her -- quite fiercely, and it left her wondering if Spock had ever experienced a bad dream before in his lifetime. When he awoke from it, it was several seconds before he could extricate himself from its altered reality, and in those few seconds, his distinctly adult male features took on the cast of a pale and horrified child. His dark eyes were full of unspilled tears, and his mouth was gaping and trembling as he tried to catch and gain control of the breath that had forced several howling cries out of him just minutes before he awoke. Then he looked over and saw Nyota sitting up on the mattress next to him and he blinked at her, not comprehending who or what she was for a moment, before taking in another shuddering breath and grabbing control of himself. In that moment, she could almost see the powerful, structured Vulcan in him rise up and throttle the emotional Human side of him into subservient silence.

Nyota had put a hand out to comfort him, but Spock had promptly left the bed rather than allow her to touch him. And she remembered the sight of him in that moment: tall, lean, naked; hot skin speckled with the light cast by the trailing stars outside the large portal beside the bed. He looked like something from a dream himself then... Then he turned away from her, putting his back and the reflected starlight between her and whatever emotions he was fighting to suppress, and muttered a hoarse, "Tobeg-tor du nash-veh,"([5]) before snatching up a robe and leaving her there. Spock was cold to her all the next day... but then sincerely apologetic afterwards. His awkwardness during those apologies made her melt and forgive him -- even though she knew there was nothing to forgive. He'd had a bad dream. It didn't seemed that important to her...

But then the nightmares continued.

They would be gone for days at a time, and then suddenly reappear with so much detail and emotional savagery that they often left Spock shaken and gray, no matter how well or how hard he tried to conceal it. Spock, who was never one much for sleep anyway (he considered it too "unproductive" for his tastes) started to avoid sleep altogether. He would push himself to his physical and mental limits until, against his want and will, he finally had to relinquish control and let sleep overtake him... only to be cruelly rewarded with more nightmarish imagery. The disruption to his sleep pattern was starting to show in his features; his mouth was often tight, and grayish-green circles were starting to show around his eyes. This night was the first in weeks that he had agreed to go to bed at a decent hour, and had asked that Nyota be with him.

Spock was lying in the bed with her now, floating on his back on a sea of the kind of over-tufted comforters with which Nyota liked to surround herself, his face tense, his eyes staring at the ceiling as he fought to quiet his mind and make sense of the sleep-invading visions that had just awakened him. And although he tried to squelch it, his body was still shuddering with the physical memory of the dream. She did not ask him the obvious, "Another nightmare?" because she knew what the answer was already, and she knew she would get nothing out him but a look that suggested annoyance tempered with affection. He gave the same look to the few children aboard ship who accidentally banged into him as they ran through the corridors or spilled their lunches on his three-dimensional chessboard in the crew's lounge.

Rather than speaking, Nyota burrowed in against him, trying to impart to Spock through her skin her support for him; a support for which he had always been too proud to ask, but which she always so freely gave because she loved him. And she did love him, as impossible and remarkable as that seemed at times. She loved Spock, and she loved him enough to allow him to be entirely who and what he was: a Vulcan (with Human underpinnings that sometimes embarrassed him and frustrated him, but which he would not for anything in the universe surrender). As chafing as it could be, Nyota had come to know, Spock was silently grateful for his Human half. It was the part of him that most reflected his Terran mother, Amanda ([6]), a woman whom he greatly cherished and greatly missed.

When he was a child and the other Vulcans around him chided and chastised him for his humanity, it was Amanda -- as petite as she was, as bested as she often was by the superior, stronger Vulcans -- who always stood in unflagging support of him while at the same time never causing him to feel weak or insufficient within himself. She loved the impervious Vulcan in him as much as the frangible Human, and insisted on helping Spock achieve a balance between the two of them. Nyota hoped that she was able to do the same for Spock now in Amanda's stead, and could someday see in his eyes the same pride and gratefulness for her that was there whenever he spoke of his mother. Despite her lifelong insistence that she would never get involved with a man who was overly "attached" to his mom, she made an exception in Spock's case; it was different. He was not a mama's boy clinging to apron strings, or an adolescent posturing in a man's body. He was an adult male who had immense admiration, respect, and affection for the woman who had given birth to him. Nyota adored that in him; his unfaltering love for his mother. Spock had even fought to defend Amanda's honor and memory on occasion; once, right in front of Nyota herself. It added an affable and chivalrous quality to him that, to Nyota at least, seemed rare not only in Vulcans but in males in general.

This was not to say that she found nothing agreeable or justifiable in men, she did. Like everything, a competent and willing man had his qualities and purposes; and the healthy female that she was, Nyota was as up for a good tussle-and-poke on occasion as much as the next woman... Well, perhaps not as "up for it" as her former roommate, Gaila, usually was but then Gaila was a phenomenon in and of herself, as were most Orion women.

***** FLASHBACK *****

Nyota had never believed in love at first sight, and had always been one to scoff at even the suggestion of it. But she did recognize in herself her admitted propensity for "lust at first sight", and was surprised by how deeply and wholly Spock had affected her when she first stepped into the lecture hall that was his Communications classroom at the Academy. He was standing on the stage at the bottom of the stacked rows of seats in front of the lectern, dressed in a charcoal-colored instructor's uniform; a tall, stolid figure of dark sensuality and practiced composure, already a decorated Commander; one of Starfleet's most successful, published, and notable graduates. Everyone in school had heard of him; some were in awe of him, others intimidated by the mere idea of him. But if he was aware of how some of his students – both female and male – stiffened or swooned at the sight of him, Spock gave no hint of it. He stood instead with his hands clasped loosely behind his back, his head cocked slightly to one side as he spoke in low tones with Captain Christopher Pike, a man whom Nyota recognized from the dissertation he had once written on the fate of the starship Kelvin.

She found her eyes returning to Spock, however, no matter how many times the captain's voice caught her attention, and remembered that she had read somewhere that Vulcan males tilted their heads not only in an effort to capture sound more effectively but also to show off the shapeliness of their pointed ears. Male Vulcans' ears were generally larger than the females' and had longer tapering points at the tip. It had been suggested that some of the higher-ranking wealthier males even had their tips augmented to impress prospective mates. Somehow, she could not imagine that Commander Spock had needed any augmentation whatsoever.

Her eyes took in the set of his shoulders, the "acres" of long torso and the equally long legs, recalling from her physiology course that Vulcans as a species, because of the extreme gravity on their home world, had denser muscle tissue and were more heavily boned than Humans. As a result, their slim bodies were deceptively weighty and about three times as powerful as the average Human. Nyota wondered if Spock ever felt like he was buoyant in Earth's gravity, or if he held back his strength when making love. And when that particular thought occurred to her, Nyota realized that her mind had drifted into slippery territory. She tried to reorient herself in a more appropriate classroom mindset by paying more attention to the Commander's conversation than to his... err, ears.

She caught a few words, mostly spoken by Captain Pike: "Enterprise... flagship... my first officer..." And Spock returned with a comment about, "...An abundance of highly promising..."

As she continued to listen, Nyota felt for and blindly took a seat in the front row, and then accidentally dropped her PADD ([7]) on the floor.

Commander Spock looked over toward her with a curious yet serene expression on his face, eyebrows slightly cantilevered on his forehead, as he finished his sentence to Pike without a missing a beat. "... New recruits this quarter..."

Spock then marked the PADD on the floor, and looked Nyota in the eye for what seemed like an unusually long period (although she was certain, with afterthought, that it had only been for a few scants seconds). When he gazed at her, she imagined that she heard his voice inside her head saying, "Retrieve it, please," and she reached down for the PADD as though on command, and returned it quietly to her lap.

Pike chuckled at her, and then turned his attention back to Spock. Their conversation continued briefly.

"Ooo, he's yummy, isn't he?" her roommate Gaila said as she flounced into the seat next to Nyota. Gaila was all bubbling and gregarious personality bound up in a pair of more than ample breasts, curling red hair, and jade skin. There was a brain in her pretty head, but that was never the first thing she displayed to anyone. When she grinned, bright white teeth showed between red-painted lips.

"…The Vulcan, I mean, not Captain Pike," she said in a voice that was something more than a whisper. "Although the captain isn't anything to dismiss either, really... But, ooo, that Vulcan. That's the mystifying and magnificent Mister Spock, isn't it? I've heard about him. He's half Human but all male. Wouldn't you just love the chance to tease him out of hiding?" ([8])

To Nyota's shocked expression, Gaila giggled and said, "Ooo, you like him," and cooed, "You neeeed him. You waaaant him."

"Oh my God, Gaila, shut up -- "

That demand only made Gaila laugh more, and she exclaimed, a little too loudly for Nyota's liking, "I had no idea you had a taste for exotics, Uhura! You should have told me sooner! I know this guy..."

"I'm sure you know lots of guys, Gaila," Nyota said, cutting her friend off before having to listen to, once again, the catalog of dazzling manhood with which Gaila was intimately acquainted. Her voice hissed through tight teeth. "But this isn't the time or the place."

"What are you talking about? Look around you, Uhura! There are males stacked up twenty-six rows deep above us!" Gaila turned around in her seat and looked up behind her at the rows of theater seats in the hall. She waved happily at the males of various species that she recognized from other classes, the ones she already knew wholly well, and the ones she was interested in getting to know. In other words, every heterosexual male creature in the hall.

Sitting beside Gaila, Nyota cringed in her seat and tried to hide her embarrassment behind a well-manicured hand. She occasionally glanced up through her fingers to see if Commander Spock or Captain Pike had overheard any of their conversation. If they had, they were too polite to bring it to anyone's attention.

As soon as they conversation finished, Captain Pike shook Spock's hand and excused himself from the classroom. Spock then stepped behind the lectern and addressed the entire class in a voice that was, oddly enough Nyota thought, both effortless and commanding at the same time. "This is Xeno-Communications Course 145, Period Two. I am Commander Spock, your instructor. If the course number, period number, and my name do not appear on your class registry, then you are here in error. I ask that you please double-check your schedules before I begin class, and leave promptly and quietly if you do not belong here."

There was a shuffling of PADD's and workbooks, some disappointed (and some relieved) exclamations by first-years who were in the wrong class, and a small flurry of movement as some students found their seats and others found their way to the door. As this was going on, Spock continued talking: "...There will be no excess chatter in my classroom. No eating, no drinking of beverages…"

Two students capped the water bottles they had brought into class with them and stowed them away in their Academy issued RBB's ([9]).

"…No chewing of gum or other comestible treats..."

Several cadets spit their gum into their hands, and then didn't quite know what to do with it. One stuck his on the back of his discarded PADD; another put hers back into her mouth and swallowed it whole.

"If you have a comment or a question, please do your fellow classmates and myself the courtesy of raising your hand and waiting for an acknowledgement before speaking. To further avoid distractions and noise, please shut off all PADDs and --"

Gaila's hand was raised.

Spock acknowledged her with, "Yes, Cadet."

"I use my PADD to take notes, Mr. Spock."

"While on Academy grounds, and when addressing me in my capacity as your instructor, Cadet, please refer to me as 'Commander' or 'Commander Spock'."

"Sorry, Commander. But I use my PADD to..." Gaila grinned. "I said that already, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did. Nevertheless, in answer to what I assume was a question: I do not allow note-taking in my classroom."

A collective groan went up throughout the lecture hall.

Spock remained unflappable and said plainly to the entire classroom, "I expect each and every student in this hall to be, at all times, attentive to and involved with the lectures and hands-on projects presented to them. Note-taking distracts the mind from what is being said and what is happening around you. I would rather repeat the information to you several times, and give you an opportunity to practice with the material so that you learn it, rather have you simply take notes and then memorize them in your dorm rooms overnight. Committing facts to memory does not indicate or ensure that you understand the material, or that you can apply it in practical situations. You are here to learn and advance your skill sets, not to parrot everything I say to you."

Spock looked back to Gaila. "Do we understand one another, Cadet?"

"Yes, Commander Spock. No PADDs." Gaila said, and she tilted her head to one side so that her hair fell seductively in perfect curls over one breast.

The Commander ignored her display, and Nyota had to stifle a chuckle behind her hand. Internally, she was pleased by the fact that overt feminine sexuality didn't seem to faze the Vulcan. Men who tripped over themselves to get to a pretty face or a curvaceous body had never impressed her; they were too much like "animals". She craved intellect and respect as much as sexual brawn from her men, which is why it was sometimes difficult for her to get a date or keep a suitor. She had shot down so many males at the Academy that her pickings now were woefully slim. That fact both mollified her and sometimes saddened her. She felt justified and proud of herself for sticking to her standards, but at the same time was mournful over the fact that she often found herself alone in the dormitory after hours while Gaila and the others in their circle of friends were out carousing off-campus. They would come back to her with stories of fun and feasting, stolen kisses, and passionate swift sex in the back of taxicabs, and Nyota felt "left out".

But, when several semesters later, after she had indeed managed to tease the Commander out of hiding, it was all Nyota could do to stop herself from running from his bed back to Gaila, and squealing at her happily: "He is soooo beyond 'yummy', Gaila! And I don't know who taught him what he knows but... oh my God!"

***** BACK TO THE PRESENT *****

Next to Spock now, taking in the scent of him that was a mix of spice and what reminded her of frankincense, and feeling the heat disbursed by his body that negated her need for the comforters on the bed, Nyota smiled at the memories of their Academy days. She had pursued Spock, and had caught him with his consent. Everything had happened so fast, so perfectly, so... what Gaila would have called "serendipitously". So that now between them was a level of comfort that came to those who, after fighting the good and conscientious fight, were well and justifiably rewarded for their efforts. She belonged with Spock, and he belonged with her.

In part to comfort him and in part to reinforcing her "ownership" of him, Nyota let her fingertips trail down Spock's partially furred chest to his ribs, and then across his torso to where she knew his heart was. Like all Vulcans, his heartbeat fluttered like a hummingbird there ([10]). When he did not immediately respond to her, she kissed his shoulder lightly; then his sternum; then his throat just under his chin. When finally she looked up into his face, his eyes were meeting hers. She could see in them in the mental structure he had already erected to contain the fear and confusion brought on by this evening's nightmare.

Getting past walls like that was never easy for Nyota, and she knew it wasn't supposed to be easy. Vulcans needed their emotional restraint just as much as Humans needed their emotional release. The problem with Spock was he was neither wholly Vulcan nor wholly Human. Sometimes the Vulcan in him needed to be in control, and sometimes the Human needed to vent. The dilemma was figuring out which side of him it was that needed addressing at any given moment, and then speaking to that side without negatively impacting on the other. One of the tricks Nyota learned quickly was to let Spock decide by asking him open-ended questions like, "What do you need?" or "Is there anything I can do for you?", and then thoroughly respecting his answer to the question, no matter what it was. If the Human answered she would caress him and hold him. If the Vulcan answered, she would respect his space and leave him be until he asked for something more. She tried asking one of those questions now.

"Spock. How can I help you?" she asked him. Her body then rose and fell on top of him as he took in a long breath and let it flow out of him again in a sigh.

"I do not know." Spock said. There was a hollowness in his voice that made him sound almost defeated.

"May I make a suggestion?"

"Always, k'diwa ([11]) -- "

Nyota smiled at the word "k'diwa". It wasn't uttered in general Vulcan society anymore because of its intensely emotional overtones; and using it was so much like Spock -- to go against his society's grain in this simple but passively resistant way. For all his courtliness, sense of decorum, ethics, values, logic and self-discipline, Spock was -- by Vulcan standards anyway -- quite a rebel. In the face of Vulcan societal norms, Spock openly took on a Human as a potential mate, even though as a child he had been put through the Kah-ka and bonded to a Vulcan female ([12]). Without being formally married to Nyota, he pronounced himself her lover. He kissed her on the mouth in public (even in front of his superiors), a display of affection that would cause other Vulcans to hide their children's eyes or turn away is disgust. And he called her his beloved, his k'diwa, all because he believed that by doing so he was being forthright and honest with everyone, including himself. Nyota treasured that. In answer to his veracity and candor, she was faithful to him and endeavored always to speak and act in a way that would never give him reason to doubt her or to be ashamed of her. She took pride in his achievements; and he took pride in hers. When he had the opportunity to extol her intelligence and integrity to others, he did so; and she, in turn, did the same for him. They were an unusually good match. So, when Nyota asked to make a suggestion, Spock was more than willing to listen to it.

Nyota propped herself up on one elbow beside him and raked his dark bangs over his forehead with her fingertips. Then she said, "Maybe it's a long-term side-effect of the plak-tau drug you were given on New Vulcan. You know, that agent was manufactured pretty quickly in response to the Ek'tevan edict; and the Council didn't allow time for any sort of trials or long-term studies on it. Who knows what it could be doing to you? Call on Sa'aat or Sarek. They went through the induced plak-tau just as you did. See if they're having troubling dreams, too. "

Spock nodded. "I had considered that -- "

"You usually trust your inclinations. Why didn't you follow through?"

"I did not wish to burden them with my difficulties."

"Humans have a saying that goes something like: a burden shared is a burden halved."

Spock's eyebrows knit in consideration of that statement. "In such a case, the burden is only halved for the one who initially carried it. Those asked to take on a share of the burden are, in fact, ladened with a weight they did not previously carry... That is precisely what I am seeking to avoid."

"Okay," Nyota said. She gave him a slight smile. "I should know better than to try to ply you with quotations -- "

"Quite wise," Spock said. But despite his level tone, there was a playfulness in its aspect that made Nyota's smile deepen. He was trying to make light of his present discomfort; put his mind elsewhere so it would not dwell on disquieting dreams.

In response, she teased him with another quote: "Wisdom is organized life."

"Immanuel Kant. ([13])," said Spock. "And, logic is the beginning of wisdom; not the end." ([14])

Nyota thought on that one for a moment. "Who said that? Surak?"

"No. Spock Prime."

She batted Spock good-humoredly on the shoulder. "No fair, quoting yourself!"

"I was not quoting myself. I was quoting Spock Prime, who in truth was not me, but was his own entity in an alternate reality."

"Okay. Technically, I guess that's true... It still doesn't seem quite fair, though." Nyota said, "But I forgive you anyway." And she leaned forward over Spock's body and kissed his skin through the hair on his chest. It always seemed amazing to her that his skin could feel so hot to the touch while his core temperature was actually cooler than her Human norm. ([15])

After a second kiss to the other side of his chest and a third to one of his nipples, Spock returned the intimate contact by placing his fingertips to the nape of Nyota's neck and letting them slide down her spine and over the smooth curve of her bottom, as far as he could reach, then back up again. Down again, and up again in long, gentle, uninterrupted strokes. She knew if he wanted to, he could "read" her body through his fingertips and touch her mind; but he was not doing that now and never did that without her permission. Right now, he was just stroking her; making her skin flush and prick with goose bumps; making her pupils dilate; making her breath deepen to match the rhythm of his hands.

His gentle touch on her now had come with practice. The very first time they had made love in his off-campus apartment near the Academy had been his first ever time with a Human female, and he had become so caught up in their initial moments of clothes-shedding passion that he'd forgotten about his superior strength and went after her full bore. It wasn't until he realized Nyota was biting back tears that he promptly withdrew and then apologized liberally to her for bruising her so. She didn't tell him that his power excited her; it was the first and only lie of omission she'd ever consciously committed in their relationship. Instead, she pulled him back to her and told him with each touch, each embrace, each nip of his teeth, and each thrust just how much force from him her body could tolerate. He was an expert with her now.

In turn, she had learned from him. There was a spot at the base of his spine that was an erogenous zone for him; and he was ticklish along the curve of his pelvis. He liked his foreplay slow, and his orgasms vibrant and loud. When he was particularly aroused, he would start "chuffing" ([16]) at her just prior to his climax, and he liked to bite.

Now, in answer to the inviting strokes down her back, Nyota pulled her body up on top of Spock's, and then slid upright into a half-kneeling half-sitting position, straddling him, his long hips and torso between her legs. Spock's hands drifted over her hips and down the insides of her thighs, then back up toward her hips again in that same slow, rhythmic motion as before, and Nyota smiled at him. She dipped forward to kiss his chin and then his mouth; her petite breasts dangling against his skin, the contact making her nipples harden and protrude. His lips parted just slightly as she kissed him, and his hands slid up her body to get caught up in her hair and cup the back of her head.

Spock closed his eyes as the kiss continued, but Nyota kept her eyes open. She loved looking at him like this: when he was "out of hiding" and ready for her, all stone and velvet, his eyelashes lying like rims of black feathers against his cheekbones, his erection going tall against her backside.

Nyota moved her fingertips to his chin and tugged there slightly, silently to get him to open his mouth more for her. His eyes still closed, Spock tipped his head slightly to one side and obliged her. She dipped the tip of her tongue in past the edges of his teeth and could feel under her his whole body lengthen and go taught for her. With the hint of a smile, he nipped her softly on the bottom lip and then he opened his eyes to meet her gaze.

His reaction to the sight of her was not what Nyota expected.

Spock's eyes went wide with shock and horror. He roared into her face and, with one ferocious, sudden movement, he shoved Nyota off of him and propelled her across the room. She bounced against the floor with a wholly unfeminine grunt, completely startled, and then toppled over, banging her head slightly against the wall on the side of room opposite from the bed.

"Spock!" she said, more worried than angry or upset.

Kneeling on the mattress, Spock was shaking all over looking around the room as though he couldn't see her anymore. "Nyota? Nyota!"

"I'm here, Spock," she said. Nyota scrambled to her feet and hurried back to the bed. Spock wasn't focusing on her even though she was standing right in front of him.

"Nyota!" He called for her again.

She took hold of one of Spock's hands. He withdrew it from her as though her touched burned him, but she grabbed at the hand again and held it tighter. "I'm here, Spock. I'm right here."

Spock altered his focus to take her in, but he still didn't seem to recognize her. With his free hand, he reached out to feel her face. His fingers were trembling. "Is that you, k'diwa?"

"Yes, Spock. You're scaring me. What's wrong?"

Spock eyes shifted from one side to the other, almost as though he was trying to "read" what he saw in front of him but couldn't make sense of it. Frowning, he asked, "Am I awake?"

"What?"

"Am I awake?"

Nyota clenched his hand between hers. "Yes, Spock. I mean, I think so. What is it? What's wrong?!"

Spock took a pair of rapid breaths, and then answered, "I believe I am... hallucinating."

[1] "Ek'tevan Prerogative": Ek'tevan is the Vulcan word for "extinction". In my first story, the Ek'tevan Prerogative was an edict passed by the Transitional Council of New Vulcan as regarded the reproductive rights of the mature male portion of the population. To wit, all Vulcan males who were of age and healthy enough for reproduction were ordered by law to surrender both a semen and blood sample to the State in order to establish a new and comprehensive genetic materials bank. Second, the males were directed to submit to a chemically induced plak-tau in order to facilitate the impregnation of one or more Vulcan females to ensure the rapid reestablishment of the Vulcan race. Third, all Vulcans, male or female, were from the date of the issuance of the edict forward, permitted to marry and mate with only other Vulcans; this, in order to guarantee the integrity of the Vulcan gene pool. Spock stood against the edict, was arrested for violated the law, and forcibly subjected to the induced plak-tau. While under the influence of the chemicals, he inadvertently killed one of the females presented to him, and was later raped by two members of the Transitional Council in retaliation for his defiance of their order. At the end of that first story, Spock was not consciously aware of the death of the female or of the rapes because the drug had affected his short-term memory.

[2] "Pon T'Keshtan" translates from the Vulcan to "The Time of Birth"

[3] Author's note: Gestation / pregnancy for Vulcan females is 10 months.

[4] Plak-tau: the "blood fever", that last part of the Vulcan Pon Farr mating ritual in which renders the Vulcan male incapable of conscious thought, speech or decision-making, and can only be abated through mating.

[5] "Tobeg-tor du nash-veh" : Translated from the Vulcan it means, "Excuse me," or more literally, "Excuse you this person."

[6] Spock's mother was Amanda Grayson, a Human from Earth. She died when Nero of Romulus destroyed the planet Vulcan, slipping off a cliff side in front of Spock just seconds before Spock and the others he had rescued were beamed aboard the Enterprise. This is Trek canon / Alternate Reality

[7] PADD: Personal Access Display Device. For more information see the site at: /en/wiki/PADD

[8] Author's note: this is in reference to the fact that the Vulcan male's sex organ is most often pulled in toward the body. According to "The Introduction to Vulcan Physiology": "... The Vulcan penis is an erectile structure without external sheath or foreskin, therefore Vulcans have no need for circumcision. As part of the evolutionary process of T'Khasi life, the male organ is almost fully retracted into the body when not in use as a protective measure. Vulcans also have two testes in a scrotal structure that is close to the body, not pendulous, and a prostatic body that produces and stores seminal fluid..."

[9] RBB: Rollaway-Book-Bag [[Author's note: This is NOT part of Trek canon; I made this up.]]

[10] A "normal" pulse rate for a Vulcan is about 240 beats per minute.

[11] K'diwa: Vuclan word for "beloved"; shortened from the phrase "k'hat'n'dlawa" or "one who is half of my heart and soul".

[12] Kah-ka: The formal ceremony for the bonding and mind-linking of children as potential mates chosen by their parents. This ceremony usually takes place when the children are about 8 years old. According to Trek canon, Spock was bonded to a girl named T'Pring . In my story, The Ek'tevan Prerogative, I stated that T'Pring was the adopted daughter of T'Pau and had died as a result of the destruction of the planet Vulcan, but that is NOT in Trek canon. That was my own contrivance for the story's purposes.

[13] Quote is attributed to Immanuel Kant was an 18th century German philosopher. His "Critique of Pure Reason" was an investigation of the concept of and limitations of reason itself. The full quote reads: "Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life."

[14] Quote is attributed to Captain Spock in the Star Trek film "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" to Valeris.

[15] "Normal" core temperature for human beings is 98.6°F. According to the "Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual", the normal core temperature for a Vulcan is 91°; yet their breath is "hot" and their skin temperature seems overly warm to the touch because their bodies are so good at dispelling heat through the mouth, nose and skin.

[16] Chuffing: a heavy-breath sound somewhere between a bark and cough; it signals a male Vulcan's pending sexual climax. [[Author's Note: This term and its definition are of my own making and are not part of Trek canon.]]