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As I–Cheya approached Teri's huge house with Joel riding comfortably on his back, the large beast spotted something that caused him to begin huffing in amusement.
"Ah, young Joel," Kirk called out from the chair he was sitting on by the door. In his hand was a large glass of what could only be Romulan Ale, and sitting next to him on another chair, Bones also had his own glass of the same. "Finally 'recovered', kiddo?" Kirk chuckled before taking a sip of his drink.
Joel's face was a mask of confusion for a second. "Unca Jim?" he asked as I–Cheya stopped before the door. "How are you... aren't you with... but Cor said... oh... oh dear... ummm..."
"Want to have a cuddle, Joel?" Bones asked gently, wanting to steer Joel away from whatever it was that had popped into his head.
Slipping from his Sehlat's back, the boy shook his head. "No. I need to find... I'm going to find Daddy," he said firmly, his face now pale.
"Joel," Kirk said seriously, but Joel just faced him.
"I have to... I know what he's doing, and I'm not going to freak," he whispered.
Kirk and Bones shared a look, sighed before Bones responded, "Okay, Joel. Can you find your way to... well..."
"Mammy's bedroom? Yeah..." Joel smiled briefly before petting I–Cheya's snout and heading in the general direction of the door. Kirk reached out to help adjust his god–son's direction, but Joel giggled as he sensed Kirk's arm in front of him, "I know, I know. I'll find the door once I'm within a few feet of it."
"Okay," Kirk smiled.
Joel disappeared inside and closed the door, leaving I–Cheya to huff to himself as he curled up next to Kirk. Kirk placed his half full glass down and turned to McCoy to ask a question when a *slurp! Glug glug* kind of sound made him turn back to his glass.
It was empty.
I–Cheya was blinking at him innocently.
Kirk wasn't buying the look for a second.
Joel crept quietly onto the landing and started walking silently towards his mother's bedroom, his hand tracing the wall and counting the doors of the bedrooms along the right side of the corridor. He knew that his mother would not hear him, but his father might, so he tried to be as stealthy as possible – if his Dad was still in Pon Farr, then disturbing him might not be wise.
He reached his mother's door and paused. From inside he could make out low whispered and even some rather girlish giggles. Joel exhaled softly; to still his fears that he held. He did not want his Mammy to hate him for being roped into the Pon Farr forced upon his father from that empathic mind–blast earlier. When Cory had asked the question, he had worked out in an instant where his Dad would be, and he had guessed as to where his Mam was, but had still held out hope that the bond–link Spock had formed with Teri was not a full one.
His hope had proved false. Yes, Joel knew that they loved each other, but he had been told by Cory and Sean that Teri would never again marry or take a partner – and so Joel was now very scared that his Dad had formed a powerful link and that his own Pon Farr had forced an unwilling Teri into having sex.
He listened for a second or so more before tapping his knuckles ever so lightly against the door.
"Come on in, Joel!" Teri called, her smile audible in her voice.
Shaking, Joel found the handle and opened the door before entering blindly. He closed the door tight behind him and took a deep breath before heading for the bed and where he could sense both his parents.
He found himself lifted suddenly by his father's strong arms and then placed squarely between his Mam and Dad, under the covers of the Queen Sized bed. He then realized that he was still butt naked, for the offered clothes created by Quint had been brushed off by both his husband and himself as they had been too eager to eat the chicken wings in the tent. He blushed and covered himself. Normally, he'd not have been concerned, but he could feel that both adults were also naked... and he was still awash with the tail end of the Blood Fever.
"Sorry," he whispered as he hung his blushing face low.
"There is nothing to be sorry for; you still have at least a thousand more times of doing this to catch up with Cory, Sean, and Mikey," Teri replied softly.
"Huh?" Joel raised his face. "They've caused you to have sex too?!"
"No, you goose," Teri laughed gently. "Coming for cuddles when I'm in bed, silly."
"Oh... that's not what I'm saying sorry for," Joel explained earnestly.
"I know, and I ignored it as there's nothing to feel sorry for," his mother smiled at him before kissing his cheek.
The Vulcan boy felt his father's strong hand brush against his other cheek and he turned his face in Spock's direction.
Spock said in a whisper, "Do you remember last night, yet, Sa'ren?"
Joel's brow furrowed. "Ummm...." he murmured before starting to concentrate through the residual fever. "Yeah... I woke up at 2:24 and came looking for you, but I couldn't find you. Then Unca Jim came out of his room and said to try Mammy's room. You were here... in bed... but you hadn't made love and that confused me, but then it all goes squiffy and I don't remember anything after that."
Teri chuckled, "We'd been talking, and since we were going to be talking for a long time, we decided to sleep here last night."
"So.... So you're... ummm..." Joel began, but just couldn't find the words.
"We have been slowly falling in love with each other since we met in August," Spock explained. "We have been in almost constant contact over subspace while I was off world, and when the events of the 23rd of October happened, it was all I could do to retain a hold on my emotions. The sound of helplessness in Teri's voice made me feel more angry than I have felt in a long time."
"So I was right?" Joel asked, his blind eye seeming bright, as if lighting up in joy. "You're both in love?!"
Teri giggled – girlishly – and asked, "What does that wonderful empathy of yours tell you, sweetheart?"
Joel crowed out in joy before sitting up from the reclined position he had been in and bounced to his feet on the bed. Then he started bouncing all around the mattress, much to Teri's amazement as, even when she moved her feet, he would miss them entirely.
"I believe he is... happy," Spock said dryly.
"Nooooo, you think?!" Teri laughed.
Joel stopped his Tigger impersonation and turned to face them. "You're not mad, then! You didn't mind Pon Farr?!"
"It was... an experience," Teri answered with chuckles in her voice. "Years without a man, then I get a raging volcano... interesting."
This time it was both Joel AND his father blushing.
"Too cute... like father like son?" Teri teased.
"Mama! You're horrible! In a good way!" Joel crowed again in utter joy as he launched himself at her for a cuddle.
After being tickled into submission, Teri once again kissed his cheek. "Thank you, baby–boy," she said softly. "All you managed to do was bring Spock and me together much quicker. We were – afraid – that Sean and Cory would not understand, especially after everything I've told my boys since my husband died."
"About that...?" Joel began, but Teri silenced him.
"On Friday night, Mikey brought his dad, Michael, to visit. We had a long talk. Spock is right in saying we'd been falling in love since August, but I'd been holding back."
"Why?" Joel asked curiously.
"Because," Teri explained, "I'd always believed that a marriage vow was for eternity. Michael showed me that that isn't the case. Yes, Mike and I are still – in a way – married in our hearts, but he has passed on to a different life... and I am still mortal and he did not want me to be alone. There's no jealousy over there, Joel. He made me very certain of that. He told me to find what my heart wanted and just go with it."
Joel beamed a smile so broad that Teri thought her son's face would split open.
"I'm hungry," Teri grinned, winking at Spock, "and I feel it's time to get my sons back for all the pranking they've done to me over the years... And I'll need your help, Lil'elf!"
Joel started giggling, and he was joined by deep chuckles from Spock as Teri shared down their shared bond–link what her plan was...
Cory just nibbled at his food. His eyes were glued to the door of the tent, waiting for his absentee little brother to return with news about Spock, and he wasn't feeling up to eating until he knew what had happened.
He watched with limited interest as Matthew Parnell entered, dressed in his VSO uniform, and be met by a shame–faced Brant. They tentatively linked hands before leaving for a walk and a long talk. 'Good. That's that done as well,' Cory thought, thankful that his earlier chat that morning between himself, Brant and Jason Evans had gone so well. At least they were on speaking terms, and now, hopefully, Brant and Matthew will patch up their problems. Jason was true to his word, and Cory was thankful for that.
Then his musings were cut short.
"C... Co... Cory!" Joel wailed as he slid off of I–Cheya's back in the large doorway of the tent.
Cory looked up from his lunch quickly before jumping up and running over to meet Joel, who was tearfully zooming towards him for cuddles.
"What's wrong?!" Cory exclaimed as Joel trembled and shook in his arms.
"It's horrible!" Joel wailed, as forced crocodile tears fell from his blind eyes.
Kevin snorted softly before ducking under the table to laugh softly. Levi and Juan joined him. no one noticed, for they were riveted on Cory and Joel, aghast that something 'bad' had happened to 'Daddy–Spock'. Even the telepaths were concerned, for Joel was unreadable to all.
"What's horrible?" Sean asked in panic as he raced over to join his husband and little brother.
"Unca Jim wasn't with Daddy! He didn't help him in Pon Farr!" Joel wailed out.
Sean's eyes narrowed, "But... that would kill Dad! Why....?"
Joel couldn't pretend any longer and started giggling. "Gotcha!" he grinned at them as he pulled back in Cory's arms.
Cory's mind stalled slightly at the sudden shift, then he saw a shadow in the doorway and looked up to see his mother hand in hand with Spock.
"Mammy and Daddy were together!" Joel crowed happily. "They're in LOVE!" he shouted joyfully. "I TOLD YOU, BUT NOOOOO: you wouldn't believe me!... Nerrr!" he added, still giggling.
Kevin couldn't stop his gales of laughter, and neither could Juan and Levi. From under the table where they had vanished, their giggles exploded.
"Mom? Spock?...Uh, Dad?" Cory exclaimed before the visions of Pon Farr hit his head. "Ewwww... parent sex!"
Joel continued to giggle, which became full blown laughter as Sean snatched him from Cory's arms and tickled him. Kevin, Levi and Juan emerged red faced and still laughing from under the table and ran over to help Joel 'fight back' against Sean.
Spock and Teri walked over and pulled the still grossed out and stunned Cory to his feet and hugged him between them.
"So.... you married or something?" Cory asked, knowledge about Vulcan traditions running through his mind.
"Yes and no," Spock answered. "I still need to speak with my father, and Teri with her family Patriarch."
"Oh?" Cory asked in confusion. "Who'd that be? Wouldn't it be Grandfather Sarek too?"
"No," Teri grinned. "You!"
"That's it, I quit!" Cory replied with a small grin.
"Oh, really?" Dylan called out. "Kewl! I'll take over!"
"Ask Grandpa Sarek; he still has not released me for active duty!" Cory called back, a big grin on his face.
"Ah, yes. He is busy right now and sends his apologies. I am empowered to do just that," Spock said simply.
"My brain is still fried, just ask Dilly!" Cory shot back.
"Cor! If you don't, then it falls to me and I'm not going to be the one deciding if Mom can have 'whoopie' with Dad or not! You're it, bro!" Sean called out from the mound of boys he was under. Kevin, Levi, Juan and Joel were all spread out on top of him and watching the show with interest.
"Your brain is fried too!" Cory replied. "Besides, you're still on break, too. Lil'elf, I ain't relieved you yet, have I?"
"Fine, fine!" Joel giggled. "As Acting Clan Short Patriarch I give consent for Daddy to have as much whoopie with Mammy as they desire!"
The tent erupted with giggles and loud choruses of 'Ewwwww!' at that proclamation.
Cory laughed, "Good one, Lil'elf!"
"Then we'll take that as you saying 'yes', Cory," Teri teased. She looked around at the rest of the Clan and said, "We'll be having a small Earth marriage ceremony as well, but nothing to the level of the one last Tuesday."
Joel's face brightened and he jumped up and ran to where he could sense Koth sitting. After mauling him briefly he moved away with the Klingon boy's communicator and tapped it, "Joel to Grandma Lizzie, are you able to talk for a moment, Grandma?"
A few seconds later, the Queen–Empress of a quarter of the planet responded, "Certainly, Prince Joel. To what do I owe this honour?"
"Mammy Teri and Daddy wanna get married... me and Kevvy wanna get married too, but none of us want a big fuss like last Tuesday... can you help?"
A moment or so later, the response came, "Finally! Congratulations, Teri!... Joel, tell your mother that it's about time for her to find a good man. I'll have things ready... will Thursday afternoon suit?"
Teri's jaw was hanging open as she listened to her eldest Vulcan son sort out her seemingly very fast approaching wedding.
"Yup! Sounds great, Grandma! Oh, and one other thing... make it three weddings! I'll tell you about the other once I've had a talk with a few people, 'kay?" Joel asked.
Queen Elizabeth chuckled and responded, "Three weddings it is. See you in the Palace Thursday. I'll forward the time to you once I have things settled. Again, young Lady Teri – congratulations!" Then the signal cut off.
"Joel? Sweety?" Teri called out as the tent erupted in cheers.
Her son turned in her direction as he held out the comm for Koth to take back, "Yes, Mammy?"
"Put some shorts on, sweety," she sighed, resigned to her boys all conspiring against her, "you're letting your little soldier get more air than it really needs."
Quint grinned as he again offered the shorts and tee–shirt that he had created earlier to Joel.
"But he likes the air!" Joel giggled as he wiggled his hips slightly, causing his soldier to swish about – which Levi, Juan and Kevin found fascinating and the rest found hilarious. "Do you want me to make him do jumping jacks?" Joel asked with wicked giggles.
Cory choked back his own laughter as he fixed his eyes on his mother's face, wondering how she'd deal with a post–Blood Fever teenage Vulcan who was certainly not acting in his normal, conciliatory manner.
"You take after your big brothers a little too much, sometimes," Teri replied as she shook her head, but there was an underlying tone to her voice.
Her Vulcan child picked up on it. Rather quickly. "Oh, okay," Joel sighed as he accepted the clothes that Quint was now practically forcing into his arms and started to put them on.
"Thank you... and we'll talk later about making wedding arrangements for your parents without talking to them first," she smiled.
"But... well you guys weren't gonna do it quick enough, so someone had to. You know how you adults never do things as quickly as they're s'pose to!' Kyle replied with a snigger.
With a sickly sweet smile, Teri looked at the first of the Mikyvis and said, "Do you want to find another corner, young man; or are you going to get back to your lunch?"
"Lunch!" Kyle giggled quickly before tucking back in as fast as he could.
"Good!" Teri grinned. "I knew you'd see sense," she added as Joel got dressed quickly and was seated by Kevin so that he could eat his lunch.
"I told you that just because Justy got away with it, we wouldn't!" Tyler stage–whispered to his bonded; unfortunately, just loud enough for Teri to hear.
He felt a tap on his shoulder and looked up to see Teri smiling down at him. "Corner?" he asked her, a cheeky smile on his face.
"Corner," Teri nodded, still smiling.
Tyler shrugged, shoved a chicken wing in his mouth and got up to head for the nearest tent–corner.
"Whaddya mean, 'we get away with it'?" Joel called over to his departing little brother, speaking around a mouthful of mashed potatoes. "I thought of it... you just refined it when you saw me running for Koth's communicator! And I did get away with it... so did Kyle!"
"Oh, well done, Elf!" Tyler groused from his corner, where he was now nibbling on his chicken wing. "Get us all into trouble, why don't you!"
Kyle just giggled as he stood up and grabbed both plates and combined them onto one. Then took Joel's hand started to pull him over to join Tyler.
Teri looked around, and spotted Justy. "You too, Angel!" she said sweetly.
With a long suffering sigh, Justy started to move to join them.
Joel, however, was having none of it. The fever had not yet departed, after all, and he was most certainly not acting his normal self. "Hey! I'm not standing in no corner!" he grated as he pulled his hand from Kyle's and moved back to where he could sense Kevin sitting. "Mama got me to prank you all, so she gets a prank back. Fair's fair!" he said firmly.
Kyle's jaw was open in astonishment, and Justy stopped midway and simply stared.
The little Vulcan seemed to be having more than a few problems, however, with his progress back towards Kevin. It was as if his senses that guided him were failing, and his legs were wobbling slightly – to those who were paying enough attention. Justy, particularly, and Spock.
"I'm not being told off for jus'th pranks'th," the boy mumbled as he held his hands out in front of him, lisping without realising it. "If Mammy don' wanna marry Daddy on Thurthday, den... den..."
He fell to his knees. "Where'th the table?" he asked. His hands, reaching out in front of him to feel for anything to tell him his location, were shaking.
Kevin glanced at the table and saw a bowl of fruit. He reached and grabbed three kassa, blue/green Vulcan fruit, and ran over to his confused seeming hubby. He ripped one of the very juicy fruit in half and shoved a piece into Joel's mouth, "Eat, T'hy'la. Now..." he ordered simply as he dumped the rest of the kassa to the floor and rubbed his hand up and down Joel's back. He looked up at the rest, especially Teri, and said, "We didn't eat anything before Sa'r went for you – except one chicken wing... he needs to recover what he lost when he... we... ummm....." Kevin started blushing. A lot.
Teri nodded. "The Vulcan equivalent to a diabetic. I understand, Kev; take care of your husband."
Kevin grinned through his blush, then giggled as his eyes fell on Spock. "I think your soon–to–be hubby feels the same," he giggled as he nodded in the direction of Joel's father, who was eating like a pig.
"Well, he was very active for the last few hours...." Teri said with a far–away look in her eyes. "Veeeerrrrryyyyyyy active .... hmmmmmmmm....."
As Cory and Sean led the chorus of kids yelling "EWWWWWWW!" and plugging their fingers into their ears, Quint could just be heard mumbling, "Not like you weren't either...." Then he got up and headed to the corner, grinning at the now furiously blushing Teri.
"One to the Q, zero to my t'hy'la," Spock said simply around a piece of kreila bread that he was chewing on. He smiled over at her and then held out his hand to her.
She sighed with a smile and sat down next to him, before starting to eat, herself. "I do feel a little hungry," she stated.
Juan was ignoring most of this, however, as he and Levi gathered up a plate of purely Vulcan foods to bring over to the glazed looking boy they loved. Koth smiled as he grabbed his own and Juan's plates and moved to join them on the floor. Juan sat with Joel's back against his side and one arm looped around the boy's waist to support him while Kevin and Levi took it in turns to feed him. Koth busied himself with feeding his own husband and himself instead.
Xain and Jake looked at each other, grinned, blushed, then continued to eat as well.
Cory just shook his head. "Thank God it's only once every seven years," he breathed.
Sean couldn't help but agree.
"Like you two are any better!" JJ giggled from next to them, where him and Adam were busy feeding each other.
With a mug of raktajino in one hand and a data–pad in the other, Jason made his way down the main hallway of the manor while pondering the reports he had been receiving all day. Certain things just did not make sense. All these issues to be applied on top of an unusual new 'intake' was simply making his head hurt; and to really put the nail in the coffin, a report from an operative on the Romulan/Federation border to say that Romulus was no longer broadcasting any signals whatsoever.
What a headache, Jason grimaced. 'If I find the son–of–a–bitch that prayed for me to learn patience,' he thought, 'I'm gonna fucking kill him!'
'Just might be a girl, you know,' Nathan giggled back, having picked up on his bonded's stray thoughts.
'Oh, the joy,' Jason sent back before turning into the front living room of the manor. He stopped dead, for two new faces could be seen – a man and a woman standing with... "Hi, Cody! I forgot you were coming over today! How was school?" he grinned as he walked over, putting the pad down on a counter and clapped the blond boy on the shoulder.
The blond shrugged, "Bearable, since you helped yesterday, Jace, and more so, as I was lookin' forward to coming here." Cody turned and looked up at the two adults standing behind him. "This is my Auntie Bev and Uncle Pete. Guys? This is Jason Evans," he added, as he pointed at Jason, who was waving at Cody's family.
"Welcome to Clan Short, Imperial Division," he grinned at them.
Cody's uncle raised an eyebrow before looking down at his nephew, "You did'na tell us that yon friend of yours was Clan Short, Code–ster!"
"Unk!" Cody whined, "Stop callin' me that! And I didn't know, me'self!" He then looked at Jason with wide eyes, "Vulcan secret service AND Clan Short?"
Jason grinned.
"Not a very cool Division name," Cody pulled a face at him a second or so later, then giggled. "Not like that AI one you guys have... where are they again? Florida?"
"No," Jason shook his head, "Charleston, South Carolina."
"Ah... yeah, there," Cody grinned impudently. "They have a cooler name."
"We're still deciding," Jason muttered before poking his friend in the ribs. He looked up at Cody's aunt and uncle and said, "What time did you arrange with my mother for the meeting?"
"Half past," Mr Scott said quietly as he took in the small twelve year old before him. "I have had Cody going on an' on about comin' here, laddie," he continued in his thick scottish drawl. He then glanced up as someone else entered the room.
Jason turned briefly to look at his mother, before introducing Cody and his family to her. Then, since the adults were about to get boring with 'parent stuff', Jason dragged Cody off for a tour of the Division campus. He led Cody out of the door and down towards the kitchen, obviously a must on any Clan 'tour'.
"How many live here?" Cody asked as he gazed around the huge kitchen and at all the cooks and workers there.
"In the Manor? Or the Compound as a whole?" Jason asked in return as he scooped up a plate of cookies and dumped them into a bag so they would have a snack as the tour continued.
Cody shrugged, "Go on then – in the Compound."
"Over Five hundred," Jason answered.
"Wow! All VSO?"
"Nope," the Welsh Patriarch shook his head, "not all. A lot, but not all. There's about five hundred or so of us on Earth, but that's spread out over Europe, the Middle East and Africa, mostly. The rest of the guys here are rescuees and their families."
Cookie bag in hand, Jason led Cody out of the kitchen door to the courtyard facing up the valley and pointed at the homes lining the sides, "Most of the guys are here... and below us."
"Below?" Cody asked around a mouthful of chocolate chip and toffee cookie.
Grinning, Jason nodded, "Yeah."
"Can I see?"
"Sure," Jason giggled as he pointed to a small building to the side of a huge play area. There were football fields and tennis courts set up there, along with a play–park for younger kids. "We go in there," he said as he started towards it.
The building contained a turbolift, and it took them down three levels to open to a huge meeting room. "These are the apartments for most of the VSO members, although some of the rescued kids are here, too," Jason said as he pointed to the left. "The other side, well... come through here," he grinned as he opened a double door.
Cody opened his mouth wide as he saw a starship in an underground hanger beyond. They were on a catwalk, just over half way up the wall, and looking down at it. "Is that the one I was on yesterday?" he asked quietly as he watched black robed figures moving about on the floor below.
With a nod, Jason murmured, "Uh huh."
On the ground, the VSO Interceptor looked awe–inspiring. It looked for all the world like an arrow head, with four drive nacelles at the back. "How many decks?" Cody asked as they walked along the catwalk.
"Seven," Jason smiled. "She's designed to give a small targeting area for attackers, so from the front she's very flat seeming."
"So kewl," Cody grinned. "How do you get her out of here?"
Jason pointed, "See the roof? The playing fields and such are above, and they lift away. She takes off and goes out that way."
The tour continued, and Jason explained more and more of the history of the valley – both from before his family moved to live there as well as the recent changes.
"The cellars go that deep?" Cody asked as they, once again outside in the valley, walked back towards the large manor house.
"Oh yes," the brown haired Patriarch nodded, "and the lowest of all is out of bounds."
"Why?"
"Haunted," Jason shrugged. "Unexplainable things happen there, just like in that cave I showed you," he said as he pointed back the way they had come.
Cody made a disbelieving sound but didn't comment.
"How's your search going?" Jason asked curiously.
"Huh?"
"You said yesterday that you were making some checks on possibly finding your family. I never asked you about that."
"Oh," Cody sighed, "that. So so, but I'm not searching too hard. Why?"
"No reason," Jason shrugged, but his face had a small smile on it which Cody missed. "Come on, I've a few things to check with, then we can see what our parents have decided. I hope you do get to start school here instead. You'll love it!"
When they got back to the Manor they found that Jason's mother, Angela, had already reached an agreement with Cody's aunt and uncle: both would be starting their new positions in the VSO school in two weeks, while Cody was effectively transferred that very night. He would start in the morning.
"Great!" Jason grinned before asking Cody's uncle, "Can he stay here the night with us?"
After a brief whispered conversation, Cody's Aunt answered, "Yes, but if he misbehaves, then..."
"I'll be good! Honest!" Cody swore, holding up his hands in a boy–scout salute.
"Don't give me that, young man – you're as well behaved as a pirate!" she retorted, but she did have a loving smile on her face.
While Angela finished off her chat with Cody's guardians and to show them out of the valley, Jason led Cody into the VSO command area.
"Should I really be in here?" Cody worried as he looked around at the various Vulcans who were either dressed in blue or black jumpsuits.
"Yes, if I say so," Jason grinned as he picked up a scanner and ran it over Cody briefly.
Cody watched him do this. "What's that for?"
"So I can register you on Draco's systems – gives you certain levels of access to the base."
"Oh."
A beep sounded over in the communications area, but Jason seemed to ignore it. One of the on–duty operatives was at the terminal and took the call.
Cody just watched everything happening around him while Jason messed with a terminal next to them for a moment or so.
"Thought so... good that you're staying here tonight. We might have a surprise for you, going by the message left here from the Palace," Jason grinned.
"Palace?"
"Yeah, my grandmother – adoptive, in a way – is the Queen."
Cody's mouth dropped open. "You're a prince?"
Jason nodded without turning from the monitor he was looking at.
"Commander," the Vulcan at the communication terminal called over. "We have three incoming guests from a Vulcan transport in orbit. High Priority."
"Acknowledged," Jason answered as he took Cody's hand and led him into his office. "Sit here, bro. The visitors will beam into here, so just watch quietly. They won't be bothered – most of my guests rarely are!"
Cody laughed as he plonked himself on a comfortable chair and then watched in facination as three beams of transporter energy appeared, took form and deposited three more Vulcans in the middle of the room. Two were male, and about 18 to 20 Earth years of age, from what Cody could work out. The third was a girl, stunningly beautiful and about thirteen or fourteen years old. He blushed without realising it.
"Welcome to Dragon's Nest," Jason greeted them formally, holding up his hand in the Vulcan salute.
One of the two males raised his hand and said, "Greetings, Commander. I am Turek, son of Temrik of the Family Temrik of the House of Surak. This is my brother, Tarak, and our youngest sister, Tera."
"I am Jason, son of Spock of the House of Surak," Jason responded. "Welcome all. How can the Dragon be of assistance?"
"We are here under strict orders of the Patriarchs of both Family Sarek and Family Temrik. We cannot speak of our reasons as yet, son of Spock, until we speak to either Spock himself, or his eldest blood son, Sa'ren," the young teenage girl answered.
Raising his eyebrow curiously, Jason nodded. "I will respect that. However, I must enquire why you have chosen to beam to our location. Both Spock and Sa'ren are in Orlando, Florida."
"We wished... information first," she answered as she sized Jason up. "Maybe you will know. Has my distant cousin, Sa'ren, gone through Pon Farr as yet?"
Jason laughed briefly, "Oh, yes. It caused some small chaos in Orlando this morning. From what Draco, my AI, just told me, Joel and his bonded have now recovered. Why?"
"We cannot explain as yet," Tarak, the middle sibling, answered.
"What's Pon Farr?" Cody asked from his seat.
All four looked at him.
Jason smiled, "Something very private to Vulcans, Cody. Only a Vulcan should explain it to you, unless you are in a medical profession."
"Okay," Cody shrugged, then blushed again as the beautiful girl–Vulcan looked him over briefly. "Uh... hi," he grinned with a small wave.
"Greetings, Cody," she answered, her face more or less expressionless. She turned back to Jason, "May we have rooms for the evening? Once it is daylight we can decide our next step."
Jason nodded before tapping on a panel on his desk. Another Vulcan operative opened the door to the office. "Major, please escort our guests to the Visitors Section and see to their needs," Jason said simply.
The operative nodded, then gestured for the three newcomers to follow him.
Once they had gone, Cody got up and moved over to Jason, "What was that about?"
With a shrug, Jason answered, "I haven't the faintest, but we should all find out soon."
However, that was a small lie, for Jason did have a small idea as to what this was regarding. However, would Joel want to take up the offer? That was the real question.
It wasn't long after lunch that Joel, Kevin, Koth, Juan and Levi were found sitting under a tree watching as the rest of the Clan continued with the afternoon lessons.
"Juan," the now more normalised Joel started, "some thing's wrong. Spill."
With a wince that Joel didn't see, Juan began to relay his feelings that he had shared with Koth the night before; that he felt that he loved Joel more than Joel seemed to love him, and that while Koth was everything to him, Joel was as close as Koth was – just from a different perspective. "But I... it just seems like you don't feel that way... and... well, I..." Juan finished just as his voice failed him with emotions.
Kevin and Levi exchanged a look, then shook their heads ruefully. Joel was just stunned. "You goose," he murmured lovingly. "Of course I love you! I want to marry you just as much as you want to marry me, it's just..." he paused, spending a few seconds needed to gather his thoughts properly. In a more serious tone he continued. "I didn't know what love was before I came here. I couldn't name it until Cor, Sean and Kevvy helped me to see it and understand it. And then Kevvy and I just clicked... we... that was when we first met," he giggled.
"Love at first sight," Levi said sagely. "Literally!"
"I can attest to that," Koth giggled. "I was there for it!"
"We are... well, one, Juan," Joel explained. "Kev and me. We're like two halves of the same person. He's my k'hat'n'dlawa; the other half of my heart and soul. When we knew we also loved Cory and Sean with the same type of love as each other, Kev got upset – he thought I would cheat on him. Then after we married we talked..."
"... in between making love..." Kevin put in with a sunny smile and a rosey blush.
"... that too," Joel giggled, "and he said that he's calmer about things like that now that he's stepping back and looking at it. He's seen really weird partnerships when he lived in Chicago; partnerships that seemed against the norm yet they worked! Well, not for long, but better than 'normal two people' ones... Because we trust each other, he honestly doesn't mind if I love someone else, because he knows I'm his forever. But I've still made sure that... it's hard to explain..."
Juan reached and laid a trembling hand over Joel's mouth. "You're just making sure that anyone else whom you love knows that Kev is your heart and he's first for you?" Juan asked and stated, all at once.
Joel nodded, before licking the palm of the hand pressed over his mouth, causing Juan to giggle and pull it back to wipe the Vulcan slobber off of it. "Yeah," the Vulcan boy said seriously. "I love you with my whole heart, Juan. I love Kev with my whole heart, too. The love is different. With you, I don't feel the need to jump into bed and express that every chance I get, because it's different than with Kevvy. I want to protect Kevvy and love him and make him smile and be one with him as often as I can. And he the same for me. You... you're my white knight. We've loved that way only a little compared to me and Kevvy, but that doesn't mean we're not able to be as married. You and Koth have made love way more times than you and I have... right?"
Koth chuckled as Juan blushed and whispered, "Yeah..."
"He's your everything. Kev is mine... and maybe... things are strange, here, but... Levi seems to be a piece to the puzzle as well. Maybe... we still don't know, but..." Joel trailed off as he turned blindly in Levi's direction. "You and Kev talked yet?"
"While you were getting Granma and Grandpa," Levi grinned. "We're boyfriends as well, now!"
"Post love–making boyfriends," Kevin chuckled. "After being all over each other like a rash we couldn't really be anything else," he added as he squeezed Levi's hand, making the Mikyvis' smile nearly run from ear to ear.
Joel turned back to Juan, "Levi and us can't marry – bond – yet. But you and I can. Not with a full marriage bond–link, as that would certainly mess me up and could even mess you all up... but that doesn't mean a thing! We both have the pendants from the Guardian, right? We can feel each other's presence with them, and talk with them... and you're telepathic! AND we have the emotional link that Daddy set up for us..." Joel trailed off for a second or so before continuing in a blasÈ tone of voice, "...and we're getting married on Thursday."
Juan was following Joel closely until that last, then he spluttered, "Wha?! Pardon?!"
"You heard me tell Grandma Lizzie that there could be three weddings, right?"
"Yeah," Juan said slowly, his heart rate increasing.
"Me and Kevvy. Mammy and Daddy... and you and ME, silly!" Joel crowed out.
Juan just sat there, looking between the other three and then back at the smiling Joel. The silence, however, was making Joel's smile fade degree by degree until the boy whispered, "Unless you don't wanna..."
Scooping the Vulcan into his arms, the Klingon boy cried into Joel's hair, "Of course I want to! But... I don't know if my brothers can be there or not..."
"Why not?" Joel asked as he happily snuggled with Juan.
"Hold on... I need to talk to Adam," Juan said as he started to stare off into nothing to hold a silent conversation with Adam Casey. Slowly, Juan's small smile faded. When he looked back down and towards Joel, he was silently crying. "My brothers can't come... they're hip deep in a war in Russia right now. Could we..." Juan faltered a bit before continuing, "could we do it when they're done?"
Joel pondered that for a moment, and felt a chill run down his spine. "Do you want a big wedding or a small one? Or both? I don't wanna big wedding with Kev, so if we marry on Thursday it'll be a small one... we could always have another... after?" he asked hopefully. That chill had spooked him somewhat, for it brought with it a sense of urgency that he could not explain.
Juan sat there wrestling with himself. He hadn't actually told Adam why, just asked if there was anyway he could break away. Now he had to wrestle with doing what Joel wanted to do, or what he wanted to do. He didn't want to disappoint Joel, but he really wanted his brothers there... there really was only once that you get married; at least that was how he could see it. But how could he tell Joel no with everything else that his little Elf had been through recently? He couldn't... he really couldn't. Looking into Joel's expectant face, he finally nodded. "I guess we can do one afterwards that my brothers are at."
Joel's face scrunched, for he could feel the conflict within Juan. "You're not happy about that, are you?" he whispered.
Juan, knowing he had to be honest, shook his head and whispered, "No."
Joel sighed, then tilted his head to the side. "You're also not happy about missing a war, are you?"
"Most definitely, no," Juan said, but he did giggle, "but you're more important to me... and I made a promise and I never break promises."
'Mr. Juan, sir?' Daileass giggled from the various communicators the kids had on them.
"Now I'm worried," Juan murmured before asking cautiously, "yes, dear, beloved Daileass?"
'Get ready for an ass wupping... I've just told Adam the reason for your request... hehehehehehe!'
Before Daileass's voice faded, Adam and Logan appeared nearby. Adam looked around for a second, and once he spotted Juan he stalked over towards him. "What the fuck is this shit I'm hearing about you not telling me what you really wanted and why?"
Juan jumped to his feet. There was anger in Adam's voice, but Juan also heard the hurt in there that his big brother was trying very hard to cover. "I... I didn't want to bother you... with everything that's going on and all," Juan said with his eyes fixed firmly to the ground.
Adam roughly pulled Juan into a tight hug and spoke softly into the boy's hair. "God dammit Juan, we're your family and we care about you. I know you're just really learning what it means to have a family and have someone care about you, but you do. If you have something that's this important going on, I don't care if I'm in the middle of kicking Satan's ass... I'll drop everything to be there for you."
Logan joined the hug and added his own voice to Adam's, "We all will."
Behind Juan's back, Joel was whispering with Levi. The tiger poncho the Vulcan boy had worn the night before appeared in Levi's hands, which then he helped Joel into. Joel whispered with a giggle as Juan was getting a gentle ass–chewing from his eldest brother, "I hope Amur pops in, too!"
Daileass giggled, and as if on cue, Amur Khan appeared and quickly walked up behind the group hug. He didn't say anything, he simply stood there with his arms crossed – and growled.
Juan looked up at him and winced, "Adam's not spanked me yet... I'm guessing that's your job?"
Amur raised an eyebrow, "Nope. I'm just here to warn you that the next time you don't tell your brothers what's on your heart, I'll tell Mother!"
"Hey, Amur! When you've finished putting my soon to be second husband in his place, could I have that Cat–Bath you promised me, Tiger–brother?" Joel giggled as he – somehow – made the little ears on his poncho hood wiggle.
Amur looked over at Joel, looked the small boy up and down, blinked, then turned his attention back to his brothers. Of course, while on the outside he did not make any comment, on the inside he was struggling not to simultaneously laugh or run over there and start tickling the hell out of the little Vulcan. After about 20 seconds of no reaction, suddenly, faster than most people could see, he tackled the little Vulcan and started to unceremoniously tickle the heck out of him.
While crowing with laughter, Joel managed to splutter, "CAT–BATH...! You promised, Amur!"
Amur laughed loudly, caught Levi's eye, and the next thing anyone knew, Joel was lying on the ground without his poncho or tee–shirt. Khan then buried his muzzle into Joel stomach and gave him a huge raspberry.
Kevin sniggered as Joel's squeals of 'Uncle!' and 'Cat–Bath' reached registers that only a cat could have heard. Levi just grinned before turning his attention back to Adam, Logan and Juan, who were ignoring what Joel was doing and talking in soft tones. Then they moved apart, and Adam went over and laid a hand on Khan's head.
The large tiger looked up, ceasing his lick and tickle assault on Joel's belly.
"Joel, we'll be there on Thursday, even if hell itself is in the way. We were there when Koth and Juan married, so we're going to be there for you and Juan as well," the UNIT leader said, a smile clearly heard in his voice by the blind Vulcan.
"Yay!" Joel giggled, before he felt Amur Khan start his licks and tickles again. All Adam got from the little Elf at that point was gales and gales of laughter.
"Take your time, Amur," Adam chuckled before walking back towards Logan, stopping to give Juan an atomic wedgie quickly, then grabbing his partner in a tight hug. They vanished as Juan's howls and curses just got started; being a Klingon, having a wedgie really hurt... what with having four testicles.
Joel did not notice his Juan's cries of outrage – Amur was settling in to give him his cat–bath, and Joel's own giggles filled his ears.
Amur Khan had left to return to Russia not long after Adam and Logan had, only staying long enough to fulfil his promise to give his little 'tiger–brother' Joel a cat–bath. Joel missed him already, but decided to not dwell on the troubles that were happening around the world. His UNIT friends and brothers were capable, he reasoned, and if Juan wasn't concerned, then why should he be?
Instead, he called his crown and placed it on so that he could see what Kevin and Levi were making such a fuss about.
It was Quint, who was wearing a yellow builder's hard–hat – standing with Cory. The little Q was making sure that everyone was out of the areas that he was wanting for his rebuilding efforts.
"This should be good," Joel giggled, then he gasped as Cory's house vanished. Then Adam and JJ's. Then all the others. He quickly turned and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that his Mammy's large hotel–like house still remained. He swung back and paid close attention as the ground trembled slightly beneath his feet. "What was that?" he called out to the grinning Q–boy.
"I've just turned this bloody sand–bar of a state into solid rock!" Quint yelled back. "Don't want no sink–holes to do a Tyler on what I'm about to put here!"
"Hey!"
"Don't 'Hey!' me, Ty! You're a menace!" Quint laughed.
"It's not that!" Tyler groused, "Just don't name a destruction event after me!"
"Too late!" Justy called from the other side of the crowd of onlookers, "I've already entered it into the offical Clan Dictionary!"
"Bastard!"
"Nope! I know who my daddy is!" Justy sing songed back before laughing at the insulted look on the little eight year old's face.
Grinning, Joel called out, "If you've made all of Florida bedrock, what about the Everglades and the rest?"
"All handled!" Quint called back as he bent over to consult the plans on the ground with Cory. "Took some researching, but no one other than geologists will be concerned."
"Why will geologists be concerned?" Sean asked curiously.
"Simple! They won't know what the fuck's happened! Will drive them mental! I'm going to love listening in to them bitch," Quint laughed as he looked up at where the old CIC was and snapped his fingers.
What appeared was a new CIC, Auditorium that was attached, and a covered walkway that led off from the back of CIC to a truly massive building complex that replaced both the area where JJ and Adam's house had been as well as the playing fields; many buildings all linked together into one super massive one. Also, new playing fields, play areas, gardens, super sized crazy golf (including in it the one Cory had had out back of his now vanished home), outdoor swimming pool and a mini–theme park appeared to surround the massive building behind CIC. The only buildings in the whole of the Orlando Compound that had remained untouched were Teri's house, the Indoor Swimming pool and apartments, the garage, the UNIT Barracks and the FYS building. All the individual houses that the various couples had had were gone. There were covered walkways connecting everything, and more trees, flowers, bushes and green grassy areas than Mont could shake his tail at.
"Wow," Joel whispered to himself, and a few feet away, where Kevin and Levi were holding hands (with them being the newest item in their odd little threesome, it only made sense to Joel to give his husband time to bond, some), he could hear Kevin ask Levi about how a Q could do so much so quickly.
Rather than attempt to understand what would likely be an overly involved energy race explanation that would undoubtedly fry his brain – never mind Kevin's! – Joel padded over to Cory's side and hugged himself against his big brother. "You designed all this?" he asked in awe.
"CIC and the Family House," Cory smiled as he hoisted his beloved Lil'elf into his arms and perched him on his left hip. "Quint said the rest was a surprise. He reused the Auditorium that Josiah made for us – I insisted."
"I loved it, anyhoo," Quint giggled as he came to stand before them both. "I must check that boy out – he's got Q potential."
"Really?" Cory asked guardedly.
"Yeah! What do you think we do on a fundamental basis, Cory?! Zero–point energy is the alphabet of the Q!" Quint laughed as he turned and backed up to allow Cory to hold him to his right side. "So! What do you think? I thought that you and the others, being the Heart of the Nexus, should be in the centre of the complex."
"It's kewl!" Cory smiled as he looked around.
As his big brother took in the new things around him, along with the rest of the Clan, Joel reached and tapped the top of Quint's head with his finger. "Hey, um... Quint?"
"Yo, big bro?" Quint giggled as he looked up and into Joel's mist–power eyes.
Joel smiled at the affectionate term, then became serious. "You've just made all of Florida 'not' a sandbar?"
"Well, not all. Just more than it was," Quint explained seriously. "Things can still go wrong, and some areas are more or less the same, so could still get sink holes – but let's just say I've done an upgrade."
"Okay," the little Vulcan nodded, "I get that. But could you, like... you know, go and stop this war thing in Russia so that our brothers don't get hurt?"
"No," Quint answered, shaking his head.
Looking hurt, Joel asked, "Why not?"
Cory was also listening intently, just as interested as his Vulcan brother as to the answer. Over near Kevin and Levi, the other Mikyvis was paying attention as well.
Quint smiled sadly, "Well, it's not our job to fix humanity's problems, bro. And by 'our' I mean us energy races. More particularly the High Races. And we Q get involved even less on average than the Doc does."
"Why'd you bother doing this for us, then?" Joel asked, waving his arm around at the new Compound. "Or even stabilize Florida?"
Quint shrugged, "To answer those questions in reverse, because it wouldn't affect things badly if I change things here, and because I care for you guys. I don't know the Russians."
"But you know Adam, Logan and the rest," Cory put in seriously.
"And I'm watching them, but I can't stop them from killing themselves if they choose to put themselves in harm's way," Quint answered, just as seriously. "If I fix everyone's problems for them, then no one will learn to grow, or learn to overcome themselves. I'm not being mean – I'm letting the Young Race of Earth grow up. I can help when I should and when needed, and I can guide – but I can't do it all for you. It's never good for gods to walk with men and act as gods. It's like Starfleet's Prime Directive, in a way."
With a sad little sigh, Joel mumbled, "It's a good thing I'm not a Q or a Mikyvis; I couldn't just sit there and not do nothing in a war... I feel sorry for you, Lil'Bear," he called over to Kyle.
Kyle walked over and gave Joel a kiss on his cheek, nodding his head at Cory for kneeling to put Joel at a kissable level. "I didn't think so either; but I kinda learned it after I messed up a lot," Kyle replied.
Joel smiled, and as Kyle turned to head back toward Tyler, the sneaky little Vulcan shot his arm out and managed a wicked wedgie on the Prince of the Mikyvis.
Cory dropped Joel as he laughed; the piercingly loud squeak and the sight of Kyle standing on his tippy–toes due to his underwear being hoisted up to near halfway up his back had drained the blond teen of the strength to stand. With a mischievous giggle, Joel lit out for the nearest door into the new CIC. Kyle, divesting himself of his now painful boxers with a simple thought, sped off after him.
Tyler was just glad that he was now a Mikyvis and his bladder would generally not have anything in it, for he was sure that had he still been human he'd have wet himself.
"Nerr nerr, ner nerr nerr!" Joel giggled from the door as he watched Kyle speeding toward him, then he vanished inside with the now giggling Prince of the Mikyvis disappearing after him seconds later.
Levi, Kevin, Cory and Sean made their more sedate way after them, with Tyler deciding to have piggy–back rides with Sean. They found Joel and the slightly smaller Kyle rolling around in the middle of the new Rec Room floor, tickling and wrestling with each other; and both were in the middle of hysterical laughter about the fun game that had started.
Soon, the new CIC was full of the Clan, all beginning to have as much fun there as they once had in the old one.
Abel couldn't relax. It was just nagging at the back of his mind, the thought that they were in terrible danger. His brothers seemed relaxed, though, but that was due to those slight differences in their nature. Cain was their leader, always in command of their small, three–man group; Seth was always ready for a fight, quick with his temper and his loyalty; but he, Abel, was the thinker. And right now, he was wishing he was as unconcerned as the others.
There didn't seem much to be concerned about; the cargo ship they had been on was long gone, after all. Seth's 'ill–timed' sneeze had done them a favour. On discovery, they had been taken before the ship's captain and medical officer, and, rather than being held captive, they had been examined and put under the protection of something called 'Clan Short'. Strange, though – none of the crew seemed to be members of this 'Clan Short', and when asked they simply directed the boys to look it up on a terminal.
Cain and Seth had passed on doing that 'homework', even when the cargo transport had met up with a faster passenger transport who would take the three boys back to Earth quicker, and beamed them over. Their quarters that had been given had all the amenities, but the other two had just decided to go to sleep upon arriving. Abel, however, had done as suggested. What he found worried him.
Not that this 'Clan Short' were a bad lot, not even remotely. It was all down to what he had overheard about a month ago while imprisoned. He'd heard one of the guards mention a Clan Short and it hadn't been in a friendly tone. But why that would be nagging at him, he wasn't really able to put his finger on.
Sighing with temper, he gave it up as a bad job and just padded over to where his two brothers were curled up together and crept into the huddle.
Maybe after a good sleep, he thought to himself. Maybe then he'd be able to work out what that chill of worry meant.
After extensive testing of the new outdoor swimming pool, Kyle and Joel scurried into CIC's Kitchen to pounce 'Mama Teri' for hugs, and to use their well practised puppy–dog–eye attack move to get her to dry them down.
It worked, as per normal. Within moments of their wet hug breaking off, she had retrieved two warm fluffy towels and had both small boys on her lap; all wrapped up in them with their cheeky grins showing as they smiled at each other.
As he was being dried briskly, Kyle reached and traced a finger of Joel's Crown. "It's amazing," Kyle grinned. "Doesn't it ever slip off or nuffin'?"
"Nope!" Joel beamed as he helped his mother dry the Mikyvis.
The door to the Kitchen opened and Spock entered, raising his eyebrow at the two now slightly damp boys on his future wife's lap. "I have made the arrangements, T'hy'la," he said to Teri, "but I believe this Kaleo is not going to tell anyone of our arrival until we are already there."
"Sounds like they are officially Clan kids already, then," Teri chuckled.
"Kaleo? You're going to Hawaii?" Joel asked as he stared back and forth between his Mam and Dad quickly.
Spock nodded.
"Kewl! I wanna come, too!"
"Are you sure, Joel?" Teri asked gently. "You've not been outside of the Compound much since..."
"I've been to another Universe with Levi and Vincent! And I've been on the Yorktown... it'll be okay, Mama – I'll be with you!" Joel announced seriously.
Touched by his show of trust, Teri kissed the end of Joel's nose, causing him to giggle in the process. Then she lifted both boys from her lap and placed them in the chair she had just vacated, "I am going to talk to your dad for a while, son, so I'll chat later."
"If I do not see you before it is time to go, then I shall send a message to you, my son," Spock added as he and Teri left the two boys sitting on the chair and wrapped up in towels.
"Your hair's still wet," Kyle grinned as he began to attack his big brother.
Joel attacked him back with his own towel, and soon both were laughing and giggling hysterically again.
Winglord...
Joel stopped laughing and trembled. In a flood of memory, what the 'voice' from last night had said came back to him and he started looking around, terrified.
"What's wrong?" asked Kyle, also looking around.
With a murmur of fear, Joel said, "The voice... it's back... it's calling me again..."
"Voice?" Kyle raised an eyebrow, "What vo..."
... the time grows short... life stands on the edge of destruction...
"Oh..." Kyle exclaimed as he too stiffened in fear, having now heard it as well. He could sense something that none of the others who had been with Joel last night could sense:
Power. Might. Fire. Wind. Rushing Thunder.
He could feel what Joel now felt, and what Joel knew his building Blood Fever of the night before had hidden.
Whatever this voice belonged to, was, or could be, dangerous.
... seek for our steps where the Mysteries lie; in that which gleams, in that which shines...
"That's not the Guardian... I don't know what that is... QUINT!" Kyle yelled loudly.
... then look to ancient words from far away Sands, writ by the High–Power birthed in Vulcan hands...
Joel was shaking so much that Kyle was afraid his brother's bones would shatter. He cast his mind about the Compound, then further and further out, seeking and looking for his son's friend, the Q–boy. But no sign of Quint could be found.
Then, as if a distance was growing between them and the source of the voice, it spoke its last...
... last of all, and this I must ask; fail ye not in this dire task – to shed from thy mind all trappings of fear... for friendship I offer to those that draw near – to those who would fight for the sons of the Earth... I offer a way, a chance... re–birth... Winglord of Skies, and Lord of Red Sands... Destiny calls... Providence commands...
With their breath held, both boys waited for a long moment; but no more words came.
With slow movements, Joel reached out and pulled himself to his feet. Kyle followed close, seemingly as afraid as Joel himself was. Together they made their way, their towels forgotten, out of the kitchen and toward the new Rec Room, to where they could hear their big brothers talking and laughing. Midway there, Joel turned and stopped by the pile of clothes they had both 'lost' during their recent play–fight and started to rummage about for his dimension bag. He found it rather quickly and started searching. He knew he'd put it there when Dave had given it to him: the Holy Book of the Shiny.
"Here..." Joel whispered as he pulled the large book out of the impossibly small seeming bag. "I have to look here... Mysteries are prophecies, and most prophecies are religious, so a shiny mystery would be in the Ferrets' Book of Shinys."
"You're not going to listen to whomever that was, are you?!" Kyle exclaimed unhappily, for he was feeling more and more like he needed his brothers and his husband right now.
"Yes... go find Ty and the rest and get some hugs, Lil'bear. I... we need to find out who this new 'person' is..."
"I don't like this, Elf," Kyle stated nervously.
Joel shrugged, "Nor do I... but I must do this..."
Without further discussion, Joel turned with the book in one hand and his bag in the other and headed for the dining room to sit at the table.
Then he started to read with the Crown sight casting an eerie blue glow over the book before him.
As mad as Dave happened to be, the Holy Book of the Shiny was relatively easy for Joel to follow. That might have been due, though, to the fact that his azure sight was seemingly lifting certain words, lines and even whole paragraphs out of the massive text to stand highlighted for him. He had even had to get a blank sheet of paper to write down certain things that seemed more 'highlighted' than the rest.
Once he had reached the end, he looked at what he had copied out; and it was only then that he noticed the dining room had a few more bodies in it:
Cory, Sean, Kevin, Juan, Koth, Kyle and Tyler were all sat around the table in dead silence, watching him.
He glanced at them briefly before looking down and reading out what he had copied:
He looked back up at Kevin and Levi, then his azure eyes moved over to his beloved big brothers, Cory and Sean. "Uh...?"
"I claim blondness; I have no idea how to take that!" Cory replied, a shocked expression on his face.
Sighing, Joel looked back down at what he had copied. His hand reached up and rubbed at the side of his head for a moment before he raised his face back to the group. They could see that all his emotions had gone.
Sa'ren was back.
"This will reveal itself in its own time. I need to search through something else, now... what could be the answer to 'then look to the ancient words from far away Sands, writ by the High–Power birthed in Vulcan hands'?" Sa'ren asked with a dead seeming voice. "It is speaking about Vulcan, but there is no record of Oekon having walked on my homeworld since the birth of our race – according to legend."
He paused, then nodded. "Legend. The Legend of Sa'ren. That was codified by my ancestor Surak. But he is still active through his Katra, so he would not be the 'High–Power birthed in Vulcan hands'. I need to know more of the Legend," he mused thoughtfully. He joined his eyes with Cory's, "Do you have any Vulcan pain suppressant, please? The shift from him to me was painful."
"That is starting to worry me," Cory said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a bottle.
Swallowing the pills quickly, Sa'ren sat there silently deep in thought. Then he moved to tap his chest, and realised that he was still naked. He looked to the celling and asked, "Are you listening, Draco?"
'Always, Joel,' came the answer.
"I need a written copy of 'The Legend of Sa'ren', please."
A book appeared before Joel, and a datapad a few seconds later. 'Be careful with the book, Joel; it's Jason's.'
Sa'ren nodded, then asked, "Do you know where the best place to start would be?"
'Other than at the beginning, no, not really,' Draco answered, although his voice sounded odd. 'Jason likes the part about the Battle of the Shattered Blade from the War of the Raptor – that seems to bring all the bits and pieces of the Legend together. Many of those stories have very little to do with the Legend directly, but once taken as a whole, the links between them can be seen.'
The Vulcan lifted the rather thick looking book, much bigger than High Priest Dave's Holy Book of Shiny, and then glanced at Kyle. "Could you help me here, brother?"
"I'll help however I can, big bro." Kyle replied seriously as he slowed down the flux of time around Sa'ren.
To the rest of the boys, and even Kyle who was watching in both the bubble of time around his Vulcan brother as well as without, it seemed that Sa'ren was speed reading to the point that Cory was sure the book would burst into flames. He was even half expecting him to finish the book, toss it over his shoulder and yell "Iiiiin–PUT! More Input!!" like Number 5 from 'Short Circuit'.
When the boy had finished, time seemed to fix itself. He looked up at them before turning his Crown sight on the celling, "Draco, there's some missing."
'There is a line left out...' the Vulcan AI began, but Sa'ren held up a hand to stop him.
"There is more than just a line. The mode of this is in ancient Vulcan, not modern. There is definitely more than a line missing from the 'dream' that T'Klass had. What is it? Can you reveal that which is hidden?"
'Invalid. Passcode required.'
Sa'ren raised an eyebrow, and then he winced. "OWWWW!" he yelled and then started sobbing as he clutched both sides of his head and slumped to the table in tears.
Joel was back, but this time the switch had been very painful.
Cory's hand hammered onto the comm–badge on his chest, and he started yelling. "MOM! DAD! DOCTOR MCCOY! WE NEED YOU!"
Kevin was already around the side of the table and was holding up his husband, who had began to slide off and onto the floor still crying. Soon, all of them were crowded around Joel and trying to help.
Such was the sight that greeted the adults when they entered. Bones went immediately to Joel's side and started scanning him while asking what had happen, leaving Spock and Teri to talk with Sean and Cory.
The book and datapad on the table remained as they had fallen.
Draco, watching all this, did nothing: not due to being uncaring, but due to deep level programming.
The little Vulcan boy had tripped something in all this, and Draco waited unknowingly for that which would release him to normal functioning.
It took a quarter of an hour for McCoy to feel satisfied that Joel would be okay. The boy had stopped crying not long after his arrival, but the 'episode' had unnerved the Starfleet doctor. After all that had happened, and after finding out what Joel's state of mind now was, this was one of his fears come to pass. However, there was little that he could do other than check out his godson completely. Teri and Spock remained in the dining room with the others, after having shooed out others from trying to get in and 'help'. There was nothing that anyone new could do that those present could not, after all, and the less people around might make things easier for little Joel.
The boy in question was sitting on Cory's lap, his face pale as he allowed himself to be snuggled tight against his brother's chest. The others were sitting in groups near to them, with Kevin being the closest and holding one of Joel's hands. All were murmuring to each other in low voices, and behind it all was unintelligible mutterings that came in an endless stream from Cory's mouth – in between the kisses he was pecking into the back of Joel's head as he held his brother close.
McCoy went to stand by Spock. "I have done all I can. We need to keep him calm, Spock, and hope he does not switch personae too often – can you not do a mind–healing on him?"
"I may have to attempt it, or find Xolan to do so – I am too close to this situation to be of much help," answered Spock. "It may not be possible, however. I have not heard of this type of situation before, not in the way it has appeared in my son."
"Maybe Draco might know," Teri murmured. "Draco? Can you search records for this type of mental issue in the Vulcan Database?"
'Invalid. Passcode Required. System locked. Code 0007 in effect.'
"What in the sam hell does that mean?" McCoy bellowed furiously.
'Invalid. Passcode Required. System locked. Code 0007 in effect.'
The murmuring and muttering from the others ceased, and all eyes – even Joel's – turned to the adults.
"Draco," Spock began, "identify code 0007."
'Code 0007: Ancient Legend surrounding the Return of Sa'ren. Kolinahr High Master Access Required, or Prime Designate with command code.'
McCoy faced Spock directly. After another few seconds of silence had passed he demanded, "Well? Say the passcode, you green blooded..."
"I do not know it. I am not a High Master, Doctor," Spock said simply. He then addressed Draco once more, "Draco – identify reason for Code 0007 activation."
'Questioning regarding the missing piece to the Legend of Sa'ren led to Phrase Activation by Prime Designate.'
"Prime Designate?" Cory whispered in confusion.
Draco's subroutines took the blond Patriarch's two–word question as being directed at himself. 'Prime Designate identified by activation phrase. Prime Designate is the focus of the Legend. Prime Designate is Sa'ren Joel Short of House Surak of Vulcan.'
"Oh, crap..." Cory muttered.
Stiffening in Cory's lap, Joel looked up at his father and then over to his mother. "I don't know the password; I've never been told it!"
Spock simply looked back at his son. There was nothing he could say nor add to that.
Teri shook her head mutely as well.
Joel sighed. "Draco, what was the activation phrase?"
'Activation phrase': There is more than just a line. The mode of this is in ancient Vulcan, not modern. There is definitely more than a line missing from the 'dream' that T'Klass had. What is it? Can you reveal that which is hidden?'' the AI answered as he literally played back Joel's own words – or, in this case, Sa'ren's.
The young Vulcan did not know what to do with that answer. How was he to respond? To allow Draco to remain locked up in this manner was unthinkable, but without getting a Kolinahr High Master, there was no hope in him stumbling upon the password needed. Would it even be just one word? Could it also be a lengthy sentence?
/Unknowing shall he speak – Words that he shall not have heard/
Joel's head jerked upward. Silently he sent back to his Sword, 'Do you know what it is?'
/Only you know. You know without knowing. Speak. Let the words come/
'I'm afraid of getting it wrong...' Joel sent back, his body trembling worse as more tears began to threaten.
Cory, not knowing what his little elf was hearing, just pulled Joel tighter into his chest and tried to push as much support and comfort as he could towards him.
The little elf barely felt it. He breathed in deeply and opened his mouth to speak, but no words came. Fighting with his nervousness, he tried again and again to talk, and the others sat there holding their breath so as not to disturb him.
The fact that Joel was 'The Sa'ren' of legend was not a new thing for Juan to have heard, but this messing up of Draco had unnerved even him. His brother, Daileass, must be going out of his mind! Then he blinked. Why was it that Daileass hadn't started broadcasting through their collective link that something was wrong with Draco?
The Klingon boy's musings were halted when Joel finally managed to speak.
Almost feeling like it was another person speaking, Joel stopped fighting and simply let the words out. "I am Sa'ren; the Source of the Secrets of Seleya, he who is to be Ruler of Red Sands. By my Name, and by the Name of Surak, and by the Name of the greatest, S'harien, I command you to reveal what you know."
It worked.
'Acknowledged... and THANK FUCK FOR THAT! What the hell was that?' Draco raged from everyone's communicators and from the speakers in the room.
'What the hell was what? And why'd you go all silent on me for twenty minutes for, this time, oh cute–transistor–butt?' Daileass asked curiously over the same speakers.
Juan's brow furrowed. "You didn't think it weird that he was acting that way?"
'Acting what way?' the Unit AI asked, now sounding unsure and a little nervous. 'Draco's a Vulcan VSO AI. Sometimes he allows his VI interface to take over general processes while he works on his top secret stuff that I don't need to know about... why? What happened?'
Draco simply dumped the whole situation directly into his lover's memory.
'Oh...' Daileass said, his voice sounding weak, '... crap... you okay, Drake?'
'I will be. I had no idea such a subroutine existed! Very unnerving!'
Joel was now on his feet – with Cory still holding him close by having a hand on either hip – and tapping his foot impatiently. "Well? I said a password that no one could have guessed all to get an answer to a question that isn't coming! Spill, Draco!"
There was an audible sigh from the speakers, then Draco said, 'There is much that was missing, and still one line that is left out, Sa'ren of Vulcan. That one line has never been written down nor spoken outside of the High Chamber of Mount Seleya. Only there can it be read.'
On the datapad, words appeared. Joel and Cory reached for it at the same time, but Joel was slightly faster.
He read it all.
Trembling, Joel passed it to Cory who, haltingly, read it out aloud. "This Jace told us," he started, "and it was said by Surak: 'For the Day of Sa'ren is near in Ku–li'Klopau. The Sun and Sister will grow dark, and the Stars will diminish their brightness. Oekon also will roar from Yon'Kahr, and His Blade shall proceed from Shi'Kahr. Stukh–Oigen and T'Khasi will shake; but Sa'ren will be a shelter for Its People, and a Defence of the Children of T'Khasi and Sa'Kai–T'Khasi.'
"But Surak did not live long after speaking these words, for the end of the war took his life. It was his pupil who revealed the rest of what had been discovered by Surak to the people of Vulcan. T'Klass, who was a master of Kolinahr, claimed to have a dream shortly after the Romulans' departure. Jace didn't know this part. She said, 'Sa'ren is shattered and is no more, and hope seems fled for the Time that is Coming. Only by the Sword shall the Blade find Its way, but only by the Blade shall the Sword be made whole. A price of Blood must be paid....'
"Then she went on to say what Jace told us on Wednesday. 'He comes, and It comes and the Sunlight shall tremble... In that time, in Vulcan's greatest hour of need, 'Sa'ren', the Blade and Scion of Surak, shall return to where It was Made... Awakened in Time, It shall be forged in pain and tempered in love... No blood shall stain It, for It must again fulfil It's destiny...'. It was incomplete, though. Here's the rest, 'To Shatter and to Save; to harm and to heal; to hold all that is in one hand and Itself in the other... to choose.'"
Cory stopped reading, his face troubled. He looped his arm more securely around his little elf's waist. "I... I'm not really sure that I like the way this is going..." Cory whispered to his little brother.
"I don't either," Joel whispered back, "but if I have to choose, then I will give my life for you all... logic dictates..."
"Elf," Cory interrupted warningly, but Joel pressed ahead.
"Logic dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one," the trembling boy finished. Then he added, "Besides... no greater love..."
"I don't want to think about that... I'm NOT going to lose you," Cory replied firmly as he held Joel tight to his chest.
"Fuck prophecy!" Juan near screamed. "I'm not going to let you die!!"
"Everyone dies..." Joel stated in a deathly whisper, "it's just a matter of when that changes."
Juan's eyes narrowed. "Screw that. You're living forever if I have anything to say about it!"
"... read the rest, Cor," Joel whispered with a sigh as he swivelled around to be hugged chest to chest with his brother.
Not really wanting to, Cory raised the pad back up and continued, "T'Klass continued, and this Jason told us, 'The Line and Blood of Surak shall not fail, nor cease to defend our home, 'til Sa'ren is re–forged... Watch for that day, for should the Blade of Surak fail, not only Vulcan shall fall... He comes, and the Ending of all things is in His power... It comes, and It shall Oversee all Life...'" Cory began to tremble more as he finished that section, "...'And by Its destruction shall the Sword reform...'"
He looked up into his mother's eyes as he held his scared Lil'Elf tight with one arm while trying to stop his other hand from shaking. "I'm... really not liking this more and more, Mom."
"Just because it is written, does not mean it will happen that way literally," Teri replied, a forced hope in her voice.
Nodding slowly, Cory looked down to continue reading aloud. "This again we know. Another who had known Surak personally asked, 'And whom shall it be that shall re–forge the blade? The method and knowledge has long passed!' T'Klass answered, 'The One to Re–forge the Blade shall come. Unknowing shall he speak – Words that he shall not have heard. Untaught shall he know – Using his power to heal. Unguided shall he find his Strength... and forge the Destiny of Sa'ren. He shall Shine as Behr'ak; he shall Shimmer as the Sister; Alam'ak shall Rise over his coming, and the Brother shall crown his brow. He shall change what Was to Be anew, and It shall be Reborn – the Blade and Scion of Surak, the Ruler of Red Sands.'
"He then asked her, 'Who is the Brother, and where shall we find him?'"
"She replied, 'Sa'Kai–T'Khasi shall be found, and T'Khasi shall stand as his M'aih. Sa'Kai–T'Khasi shall grow and T'Khasi shall become his Khut. The Wielder of Destiny shall be from the two, yet Marked of T'Khasi. He shall fit 'Fo–wein Sa'ren' instantly and be Shielded from Harm. He shall be Ashaya–Sa'Kai–T'Khasi and Kor–shau T'Ran.'"
Cory thumbed for the pad to scroll to the next page, and then gulped. "I think this matches with something that Elf found in that Ferret Book... The friend of T'Klass asked, 'How can any one person do all this? How can anyone do such alone?'
"T'Klass answered, 'Sa'ren shall never be alone. His servants shall aid him, and they shall be from Of Old. They walked T'Khasi in joy of discovery; they flew the stars on Wings of Fire. They returned to their home, to Sa'Kai–T'Khasi, to preserve what it could be: They will bow to none save the Son of Oldest Blood – the Sa'ren of T'Khasi and Sa'Kai–T'Khasi. Others shall kneel at his feet – for his hands shine with the light of T'Khasi. He shall love them and they him: their Shining Warrior Priest. By their words shall he find his servants – for by his servants shall he be made whole – the Blade ready for the Sword. By them, and those of his brethren, shall he cease to be He, and become It... The True Sa'ren... And the Destroyer, He of the Evil Light, shall be the other side of the Sa'ren – his brother, his opposite: his equal.'"
Cory's voice trailed off towards the end, and once he'd finished reading he placed the pad down and wrapped both arms more securely around his thin little brother.
"Why me, Cor?" the terrified Vulcan trembled, "why me? Haven't I been through enough? Why do I have to die as well?" Then he broke down in body–shaking tears. This was the last straw for Kevin and Juan, who both slammed into Cory's lap to help comfort their Lil'Elf.
The world's oldest human–built AI was working harder than it had ever worked before. Since the attack on Joel and the strange happenings of the 'viruses' infecting all known computors and databases, all checks on anything peculiar were being run – over and over again.
It was then that it found a problem, and a significant one at that.
The Earth's crust was showing growing tectonic signs of a massive event that was fast approaching.
So massive, in fact, that no multicellular life would survive it.
And it was less than two months away from happening, going by the current readings. The orders the AI had for non–interference with Human developement went out of the window. Its job was to preserve all of Human knowledge, but if Humans died, then there would be no one to receive that knowledge at the proper time. So it rendered that order down to 'preserve Humans' and acted; knowing full well that it would be unlikely to survive even if Humanity did.
The AI woke up the most senior person in charge and informed him of the 'issue'.
Then, all on its own judgement, it chose to contact one other member of the Council who had a far better chance of getting the help the Earth would need to evacuate...
The cries from Joel were settling down, and the people in the room were quiet.
"Listen, love," Teri whispered to Joel as she knelt next to Cory's chair, "don't believe everything that is read to mean exactly what it seems to say. Prophecy never..."
She never finished.
<Crafter. I have an issue that I need you to be aware of.>
The Patriarch of Clan Short looked up, "Ark, can this wait? We have a little issue here right now."
<I am sorry, Cory, but this cannot wait. I need to speak to you, alone, if possible.>
"Alone isn't happening, Ark. What is it?" Cory replied.
<Then I would like to invoke the highest levels of security before I begin. I do not ask this lightly.>
"Do it," Cory said, starting to be slightly upset at the disruption.
<I have been monitoring all signals, movements, happenings, everything in short, that goes on on Earth with a higher focus since the events of Saturday. I have come across something that will mean the Earth is in dire need of Federation help. I have already spoken to Tyne, and he concurs – we at the Founder Compound are unable to do what needs to be done.>
"And that is?" Cory grated, getting more and more irate at the prolonged interuption.
<To evacuate the Earth. We have less than eight weeks before all life is wiped out on this planet.>
"What the fuck are you talking about?!" Cory near yelled as Juan, Koth and Tyler started swearing and the others started talking all at once; except for Spock and Joel, who seemed to be still and listening – just for different reasons.
<There is an escalating series of tectonic activity, not yet detectable to standard Earth equipment, that is leading to a series of massive, world–wide earthquakes – and all the signs are that these earthquakes will build upon themselves, shatter the tectonic plates of the Earth, and cause an extinction level event. Starfleet are able to detect it, but they are not looking for it. By the time they notice, it may be too late. This is serious enough to even reveal my existence to the Federation – which will not matter one way or the other, for I cannot be removed from the Earth. I do not wish an upgrade to what Draco and Daileass have had. Call me set in my ways. You, and your father Admiral Spock, need to convince the Federation to call in as many ships as you can to save as many as possible before the Earth dies.>
While Cory started swearing in ancient Celtic, Spock spoke up, "I will speak with Starfleet Command at once, Ark. I will do my best to keep you out of the conversation and get them to start checking the Earth themselves."
"But the Fleet is spread out all over SHIT, Dad!" Sean yelled. "And the Tesnians! Oh God! We have over ten thousand heading to Earth by Friday!..."
Koth jumped in, "Plus there's over seven billion people on Earth at any given time! How the fuck are we meant to get them all off planet? And where do we send them?! We have to tell the League!"
"I'm telling Adam," Juan said softly. "Right now. He needs to know."
"I would wait, son," Spock said just as softly. "Wait for Cory to make a decision. And this goes for all of us: the League does need to know, but not until Starfleet can confirm this and get a working plan into operation. If memory serves, the Tsar of Russia is twelve years old and fighting for his throne. He is in no position right now to be made aware of this, for there is nothing he can do. The Premier of China and President of America are in the same situation. The Queen of the British Empire has even less chance of being told now due to the sheer size of her holdings – until the Federation is ready, we cannot let them know. As for Adam, if you truly want to tell him, he must know that Alexei is to be kept in the dark for the moment. That boy's focus should be on Russia. Without Russia stable, any evacuation is going to be all the harder."
Solemnly, all the boys not swearing nodded. Those that were swearing gave a brief 'thumbs up'. Cory just raged, with Joel latched onto his chest and holding on like a spider to a leaf in a storm.
After using every curse word that he knew, Cory glared at his father. "Get what confirmation you need. I will go with what Ark says, but I can't expect the world to evacuate on one 'person's' word alone."
Spock nodded and left to get to the communication consoles in the main command section of CIC.
Joel, sensing his brother was now calmer, slipped from his arms and headed over to stand facing the door to the Rec Room. "Why now? Why this? How could this happen?" he asked no one in particular.
Ark answered anyway. <This is something beyond any data I have collected. There is nothing in the Federation databases I have access to that comes close to this.>
Beginning to shake again, Joel recited, "'In Earth's deepest place of blistering heat Shall Redeemer his Servants meet. Yet if he tarries in Empire's Heart, Shall all be sundered... and torn apart.' It's about me, isn't it? I'm Redeemer. It's my name, in English. Sa'ren. If I find these 'servants', then the Earth won't be sundered and torn apart... Mama, you're wrong. Sometimes prophecy is right completely. I'm going to find those that can save the Earth, and then they'll help me to... to die." With his back to everyone in the now silent room, Joel bowed his head and pressed it against the door. "Haven't I been though enough?" he whispered in prayer.
Sean paused his silent cussing long enough to comment, "You've been through too much years ago, Elf." He moved over and placed his hands on his little brother's shoulders and said, "I'd take it all from you if I could."
"It's mine to carry," the little elf whispered.
"But not alone," Sean answered.
Joel pushed himself into his brother's chest and closed his eyes, just allowing Sean to hold him tight.
Seth smiled to himself. The information that he was hearing Spock relay to Admiral Morrow and the President of the United Federation of Planets at a monitor down the room was enough to make him wet himself, but at least the other call that had come through was enough to give him some hope that good things still existed in this doomed world. He rolled his chair around and then sped out of Main CIC (a much nicer version he believed, thanks to Quint) and into the Rec Room to find his quarry: Joel, Kevin, Juan and the rest.
"Good news," he grinned as he skidded to a stop by Teri, who had Joel and Juan on her lap. "Great news, actually Aunt Teri! You're marriage is now set for Thursday afternoon; those going are to be at the Palace in London no later than 11am GMT on Thursday; those on this list," he waved his datapad, "are to be in the Dragon's Nest at 8am GMT tomorrow... that's about 3am in the morning. If others not on the list want to go as well, all are welcome. It's all cleared with Jace and the Gang. These are orders of Her Imperial Majesty, the Royal Grandmother of the Clan, Lizzie... and she said she'd 'spank your arse' if you protest, so don't say a word, Aunt Teri!"
"JUSTY!!! HAVE YOU BEEN GIVING LESSONS TO YOUR GRANDMOTHER?" Teri yelled, as she shook her head in defeat.
Justy yelled back, from the secure location of the door leading to the outside, "NOPE! SHE AND I HAVE BEEN PEN PALS FOR YEARS! SHE TAUGHT ME!"
Joel did not pay his cousin much attention, nor the message from Seth. Instead he remained where he was and pulled his mother's arms in tighter around himself. Kevin, sitting over with Cory, sighed sadly.
Cory had had enough. He got up and marched over to Joel. "I am claiming big brother rights, so Juan? You're staying here. We won't leave the Compound," he ordered.
Mont and Bast stood up, but at a single look from Cory they quailed back and sat down.
The blond teen scooped Joel up and held him tight, chest to chest with the far smaller teen's thin legs wrapped around his waist. He then turned and walked out of CIC while talking softly to the small, troubled face that was regarding his own seriously.
It had been a productive walk around the Compound area, taking in the sights of the new, refurbished buildings Quint had supplied while also talking about the recent revelations. Joel was trotting alongside his big brother, now, with his small hand more or less hidden inside of Cory's larger one.
"Where now?" Joel asked quietly as they entered the large Clan garage.
Cory grinned, "I want to show you my car. Mom has one, too, but while hers is a real upper class type, mine's... something really special."
"Oh? How?" Joel asked as he looked up at his beloved big brother's face. His blue–mist eyes were venting small amounts of that blue energy that trailed paths from his eyes to the apex of his Crown. It was making those terrible scars on his face fade away by turning him into something far more cute than Cory had ever seen before.
Cory rubbed the thumb of his free hand gently over Joel's cheek and then up and down his nose, making his small brother smile. "Hey Ray, I got someone I want ya to meet!" Cory announced with a smile as they got to the vehicle entrance area of the huge garage.
Joel turned his face and then gasped.
"Yeah, he's a nice car, isn't he? Say 'hello', Ray," Cory grinned as he took in Joel's reaction to his metallic pearl green Corvette.
''Hello, Ray',' Ray the Corvette said.
Cory rolled his eyes while Joel giggled. "Comedian," he grinned. He looked down as Joel released his hand, "He's a VI. Very advanced, really, for a VI."
Joel looked up at Cory quizically, an eyebrow raised, then he looked back at the car. He moved to the hood and placed his hands on it. Then he raised them up so that it was just his fingertips touching the hood. "My mind to your mind," he whispered.
"Ummmmm....." Cory muttered as he tilted his head and watched Joel carefully. "You can meld with electronics?"
"No," Joel whispered back, his eyes tightly closed and his fingers still on Ray's hood. "Only with biological creatures, or those that are not that carry a katra."
"I'm lost, Elf...." Cory replied, his eyebrows raising as he swore that he heard Ray giggle.
Joel opened his eyes and looked up at his brother, "You know that with my Crown I can only see in tones of blue, except the living who are white with colours in their heads, hearts and bellies? The souls of those who live?"
"Yeah... I kinda remember sharing in part of that when you and I merged yesterday. Wh... oh... you mean?"
"Ray has a katra. He's not VI, Cory..." Joel smiled as he turned back to look at the car. "You've a nice soul, Ray."
'Thank you, Joel,' Ray chuckled. 'Cory, I am now AI. When you released me my programming had a lot of 'room' to grow, and with Daileass and Draco's help I was able to go beyond what my programming once allowed.'
"I can just hear Mom when I tell her she's adopted a Corvette as a son...." Cory stated, a small giggle at the thought passing his lips.
Joel also giggled as he pranced happily around to reach the driver's door. He placed his hand into the slot where a door handle should normally be.
"It won't open, Joel, not until I register you... on... Ray?" Cory spluttered as the door opened for his small brother.
In Joel hopped with more giggles and made himself comfortable behind the driver's wheel of Ray.
'He asked nicely when he melded,' Ray protested innocently, although the giggles marred that.
"I'm glad I'm always in charge!" Cory giggled as he got to the driver's door and picked Joel up; the smaller boy was hooting with laughter as Cory moved him over to the passenger's seat and buckled him in.
Once Cory was in place behind the wheel, he looked over at Joel, "Do you want a ride?"
The Vulcan's head couldn't nod fast enough.
The Clan Patriarch tapped his comm, "Mont, Bast, Joel's guards: The Elf and I are going for a ride in Ray – if you want to tag along, you have three minutes before we tear out of here!" Then he glanced over at his still hooting with laughter brother. "Ready for some fun?"
"Yeah!!!" Joel and Ray yelled at once.
"God help me," Cory grinned as he turned his head to watch for the approaching mob who would be coming with them.
It was a minute and a half only before the two lions, the two Cheetahs, Koth and Juan reached them. All were quickly pulling on riding leathers (specially designed ones for the cats) and helmets. The two lions brought out their bikes, while Daileass and Draco quickly 'brought' four more in for Joel's 'honour guard'.
"No helicopters, guys?" Cory asked with a grin.
Juan yelled back, "I'm not my brother! Besides, you should see the guns on this mutha–fucka; if Draco did it right..."
'I did, Daily helped. My first time outfitting a bike with that type of ordinance!'
Laughing, Cory turned back to face the garage door as he ordered it to raise.
"When did Ray get here?" Joel asked while he examined the computer monitors and readouts on the dashboard. "Why didn't you introduce him yesterday?"
"Only arrived this morning, while you, Kev and Levi were 'busy', Lil'elf," Cory smiled. "I think they're ready. Good to go?"
"Go! Go! Go!" both Ray and Joel answered.
"Full code, Ray; it's time to test the Florida road system!" Cory stated as he put his finger in the bio–ignition switch. "Screw the undocking maneuvers, let's launch!"
Ray tore out of the Garage, followed by six high spec racing bikes. The Starfleet Security guard on duty at that entrance was sure that, somehow, the Clan had managed to get around the limitations of warp travel while deeply inside of a gravity well of a planet...
An hour later, Ray was pulling himself into his parking space in the Clan Garage, while the six guard–bikers squeeled into their own places around him.
Cory, a huge grin on his face, glanced at his brother next to him. Never had he seen such a look of peace upon the little Vulcan's face. He could guess that only a few others had ever seen this look, or something greater: Kevin, Levi and Juan, when they were making love with the Elf. The tears rolling from Joel's eyes were caused by wonder, happiness and the massive dose of wind that had been whipping around them with the top down. No fear, no worry, no feeling of trepidation caused by his unconventional driving. Cory felt more than touched as Joel turned his serene face in his direction and gave him a large, sunlit smile that was all for him and him alone.
"Thank you," Joel whispered.
That was all that really needed to be said, Cory thought.
Ray was also in agreement.