[USS Charon, Deck Six]
The large man looked around at the bright sky and the warm golden sand around them. It was a stark difference from his home in the Gulag, a veritable frozen wasteland. He looked down at the little Vulcan and smiled politely. "Aloha back..Beautiful waves..I do love the smell of the sea. The sensations of wind and water faintly touching you at times." he said and offered his massive arm for her to follow the child toward the beach.
The gesture did hurt as did the change in humidity in the holodeck but he wouldn't let that pain show on his face and thus ruin this gesture of friendship Sakarra had offered.
A good thing she was familiar with this particular human gesture by now, for it meant she accepted it without hesitation, her touch lighter even than the wind Nikolai had spoken of. Slowly and steadily they made their way to where Nveid had dropped the basket next to a surfboard stuck in the sand, soft and gleaming under the artificial sun, and a number of towels were spread out in the shade of a palm tree's massive leaves.
Sakarra waited for the tall marine to settle down before she loosened her robed with a deep, content exhale and carefully placed them aside along with her shoes. Barefoot in the soft sand and clad in what qualified as a long undergarment on Vulcan but would easily pass for a beach dress of the more elegant sort on earth, she watched Nohtho prance about the treeline with a coconut between his large jaws, apparently looking for the commandeered plate he had dubbed his new food bowl. Nveid on the other hand seemed content to explore for now, as he always did.
An indulgent smile lingered in the young Vulcan's eyes when she sank onto the towel next to Nikolai, for once not in her customary pose of settling on her heels but with legs stretched out, small sculpted feet digging into the sun-warmed sand.
"You are still in pain."
It was not a question. She had seen the minute clues, although he had become rather apt at hiding them.
Nikolai smiled slightly over at her as she made herself comfortable. It wasn't often you saw a Vulcan relaxed in such a way he mused to himself. After a moment of silent amusement he turned toward her fully and shook his head softly. "If it nothing Sakarravich, merely a most trifling pain. Please don't concern yourself with that while we have this fine beach to enjoy." he said to her with the Warmth of a Russian talking to a close personal friend.
"Instead why not tell me of your ward. We both have our reasons for mistrusting and loathing the creatures, yet you're now caring for one. Sure I understand that his parents, if you could call them such, abandoned the Empire's ways but they were still Romulan." he asked her curiously.
She nodded calmly, signaling understanding and acceptance. After all, it was the Vulcan way to not burden another with things one could not change, and if Nikolai wished her to politely ignore his physical state, she would do so. Nothing less should one expect from a friend.
"Reasons." The young Vulcan's eyes instinctively sought the horizon, artificial as it was, and she marveled once more at the abundant shades of blue and green this planet offered its people. So much water. So much life. It never ceased to be dazzling.
"There are always reasons, Nikolai. And yet being what I am, I cannot allow any of them to overrule logic. I would like to say that a Vulcan will treat a human no differently than an Andorian, a Betazoid the same as one of the Sundered. And there are wise ones whose lives are rooted so deeply in c'thia, they are able to look upon each person and see them for who they are and nothing besides."
Sakarra canted her head thoughtfully, returning her night black gaze to the tall human beside her. "Not many of us are this wise. But we try. Sometimes it is difficult, however it is my experience that overcoming entropy is never an easy task."
How did one explain the need to face what you feared, the desire to stare hatred and revulsion in the face and force them into retreat? Giving in to entropy was easy. Letting logic and compassion prevail was not. Yet everything she was insisted it was the only way, the only one worthwhile.
"Of course," there was a timbre of mild amusement in her low, resonant voice when she saw Nohtho had abandoned his efforts to crack the sturdy coconut shell and dropped it at Nveid's feet, giving the boy a hopeful look "one may point out no Vulcan can ever be objective in what is essentially still a family matter. Regardless how much either side wishes to deny it, we are of one blood. And few things in our shared history are more bitter and more fiercely fought than ancient blood feuds."
Somehow the little one had managed to crack the coconut open and a most delighted Fvai was chewing on the white interior, his muzzle coated in sweet sticky milk.
"Do I believe there can ever be reconciliation? No. Do I think one Vulcan can learn to accept a child without holding his heritage against him? I have to believe it is possible; otherwise there can be no hope for any of us. Whoever his parents were, here and now he is Nveid. A child who threw himself against two armed Gai'Shian to stop them from harming a stranger. A child who has lost home and family and for reasons I cannot fathom has decided a Vulcan's company is what he desires."
Nikolai nodded at her words and contemplated their impact; Vulcans always had an interesting way of looking at things. The tall man leaned back against the surfboard thrust into the sand and kicked his workout boots off with some effort, dressing himself still caused him some trouble."Da blood feuds are one of the most powerful and destructive in our history as well." he said to her as he watched the young boy and the creature frolicking.
"We have tried peace with the Romulans before, but it has always ended in blood from their betrayal. Sometimes I wonder if the race as a whole went insane after they spurned Surak's teachings." he stated wondering if it could be true. He looked back at the young Vulcan woman and then gave the faintest of smiles. "Will you be teaching him the Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations philosophy?" he asked her curiously. Yes he knew a quite a bit about Vulcan thanks to his lovely and departed wife.
"Insanity is perhaps not the word I would have chosen." Stretching her legs so that as much of them reached into the warm sun as possible, the little Vulcan studied the waves with an expert look. "Although many of my kind would agree that there is a degree of madness to the passions we are capable of – and therefore our distant cousins as well. But no, Nikolai, as a race the Sundered do not exhibit insanity. If anything, they have managed to become less violent and wont to lose themselves in their passions than their ancestors. You may safely assume that if they were anything like the Vulcans who spawned them … their Empire would either span the galaxy today, having left naught but death and destruction in their wake … or they would have eradicated themselves long before now." Despite the gravity of her words, there was a definitive glimmer of gentle humor in Sakarra's eyes.
"Variben veh sochya kuv nam-tor vah goh yut ha-tor. He talks peace if it is the only way to live. There has never been peace on Vulcan before those words were said. No period without a least one clan feud, one heated battle over water, land, wealth; or love denied which tended to be the worst of all. A human once pointed out that while your race has waged horrible wars, they never managed to bring their own species to the brink of complete extinction as Vulcans have more than once. An astute observation."
Nveid had set off, presumably to examine flora and fauna as was his habit and the Fvai was likely not far behind, having decided long ago that the boy was a bringer of food and therefore a friend. As usual, Sakarra saw no reason to intervene. Living on a starship after having grown up surrounded by nature and having free run of the hills and forests surrounding his village was difficult enough for the child.
"And yes, I intend to teach him whatever part of Vulcan philosophy he might be interested in. However, the principle of k'lalatar prkori k'lalatar prnak'lirli is one he is already familiar with. Apparently, Nveid's grandmother was not only an extraordinary farmer, but a scholar."
[To be continued …]
LtCmdr Sakarra Tyrax
Chief Helm
Marine Captain Nikolai Chernienko
Platoon Leader
Nveid
&
Nohtho the Fvai
USS Charon
