Chapter 2
“SEN!” Thy'lek burst into his brother’s room, and pounced on him, shaking him violently and dragging him out of bed. “Wake up! Wake up Sen!”
“What? What?” Senkrad groaned as he sat up. He looked up at his younger brother who looked like he was having a panic attack. “What’s wrong Thy'lek?”
“You won't believe what T’Pol has just told me.” Thy'lek quickly explained to his brother about his son. “What am I supposed to do Sen?”
“What any parent would do I suppose.” Senkrad shrugged, now awake and apparently taking this news a lot better than Thy'lek.
“But… he’s not mine, he’s some other Thy'lek’s. I don’t have a bond with him.”
“You’ll form one with him.”
“Form what with who?” Lissiel, now dressed in a silk robe, asked as she entered the room, leaning against the doorframe. Behind her the two saw her companion of the night walking out.
“He doesn’t want breakfast?” Thy'lek asked, momentarily distracted. It was considered proper manners to provide any guests with food to ensure strength. He only now realised he hadn’t done so with pink-skin and T’Pol, but he decided he did not care, they deserved it!
“I said it was probably best if he left before things got any louder here or he might get hit in the cross fire.” she shrugged, “I’m sure he’ll be back, he’s got some skills.”
“From the noises I heard last night he’d have to.” Senkrad rolled his eyes. Lissiel smirked.
“Anyway, form what with who? Tell me what’s going on.”
“You do it Sen, I can't repeat it again.” Thy'lek sighed, scratching at the back of his head. Senkrad calmly explained the situation. Lissiel’s reaction was similar to Thy'lek's.
“What are you going to do? Obviously this is unheard of, I mean you and the Vulcan obviously won't be getting together.”
“That’s a given.” snorted Thy'lek sitting down on Senkrad’s bed, leaping up again when he sat on something. He reached under the fur blankets and extracted a stiff stuffed animal. “You still sleep with him?” Senkrad blushed and snatched the toy away, hiding him behind his back.
“So? You must still sleep with yours on occasion.”
“Even if I wanted to, and I don’t, I couldn’t. I gave him to Erib.” Thy'lek sighed, flopping back onto the bed.
“You gave Speckle to Erib?” Lissiel asked with a raised eyebrow.
“For the last time, his name isn’t Speckle it’s- why am I having this conversation with you again? I’ve just been told I have a son with a Vulcan, and I’m arguing with you over the name of my childhood toy.”
“How old are we again?” Senkrad asked jokingly.
“Not nearing middle-aged.” Lissiel answered.
“And we still talk about our stuffed animals.” Thy'lek chuckled, rolling onto his side to face his two siblings. They both smiled and shook their heads. All of them were still relatively young by Andorian standards, Lissiel being fifty six, Senkrad being fifty two and Thy'lek being fifty, with expected life spans of nearly two hundred, but even they were often childish for their age when together. “So what am I going to do?”
“I think you should see the boy before you consider your options. See how you feel with him, then let those feelings guide your decision.”
“Spirits know that Vulcan certainly won’t, that child will need some feelings around him.” Lissiel said darkly. Thy'lek sighed as he regarded his sister.
“Will you ever stop hating them? I’m getting there.” She sighed as well and walked out, saying that she was going to get dressed. Senkrad chuckled without humour and threw Thy'lek a sideways glance.
“You know why she can't like them don’t you?”
“Yes.” Thy'lek sighed, “But I wish she would try. I am. Hell, I do like Soval and T’Pol, and if you ever tell them I said that you’ll be hanging from the cavetop by your antennas and hair.” Senkrad grinned and put his arm around his brother, hugging him in reassurance.
“I shall never breath a word.” Thy'lek hugged him back and then pulled away,
“I’m going to go make breakfast, you know how Lissiel can be.”
“What about the child?”
“I… I’ll go later today or early tomorrow. I just need to get used to the idea first. Most people have five months, at least, to get used to the idea, I probably have less than a day.”
“You’ll manage little brother, you always do.” Thy'lek sighed
“It’s my methods of managing that may cause problems.” Senkrad raised an eyebrow but Thy'lek just smiled slightly and stood up, and headed into the kitchen. Once there he began to prepare a meal for himself and his siblings. As he cut up the slab of Nestaliv he couldn’t stop thinking about the little baby. What did he look like? Did he have antennas? What were his eyes like? What kind of child was he? Active or quiet? Curious or uninterested? The questions bounced around in his head so much that he nearly cut himself with the sharp knife he was using to slice the meat. He tossed the meat into the large bowl and then cut up several pieces of different fruits and squeezed their juices over the meat. Cutting up some tuber root he added that too, and then he covered the bowl with the lid and shook it vigorously, tossing it into the air and catching it again several times.
“One of these days you’ll miss.” Lissiel said as she came over to the kitchen, dressed in her uniform for work.
“Not today though.” he smirked as he set it down and opened it. A burst of steam escaped, coming from two of the juices combining and having an exothermic reaction, lightly cooking the meat and Lissiel inhaled the aroma hungrily.
“Mmm, hurry up, I’m starving.”
“Almost done Lis. Be patient.”
“You know that’s not my strong suit or yours for that matter.”
“I’m more patient then you are.” She raised her eyebrows,
“Oh really? So who ended up in the ice bore nest, getting third degree burns because he wouldn’t wait a few minutes for Tren to set up the bridge over it?” Thy'lek looked up at her and then turned away, deciding to keep silent. She snorted lightly and leaned back in her chair elegantly.
“Oh, before I forget, San says it’s your turn.”
“My turn? Oh not today, I’m supposed to meet up with my friends.”
“Well too bad, because I’m not doing it today. I’ve too much on my mind to take care of fifteen children.”
“Sen! Will you take Sak and San’s children today for me, I’ve got plans.”
“Sorry, I can't.” Senkrad responded as he came out, dressed in his climbing clothes. “I’ve made plans with Thy'lek.”
“You have?” Lissiel asked
“We have?” Thy'lek asked as he poured the food into three separate bowls.
“Yes. We’re going to climb the Ulio today. We agreed ages ago, remember?” Senkrad widened his eyes at Thy'lek when Lissiel looked away, and Thy'lek drew in a sharp breath of understanding,
“Oh right we did, I’m sorry Sen, I’ve been so busy working with Soval and Gral that I completely forgot.” he said sincerely. Lissiel groaned, throwing her head back in defeat.
“Oh fine, I’ll take them.”
“Why do you treat it as a chore?” Thy'lek asked exasperatedly, “I always have fun with the children.”
“Yes, but you're just good with them, you can control all of them without effort. They never behave for me. What’s so important anyway that I have to mind both our brother’s, and our sister’s children?”
“Sakrana’s team just finished that new shield design, and there’s a big party to celebrate, and Sanakral’s going because he’s one of the heads of government.”
“Why aren’t you going? You’re an ambassador and a high ranking member of the Imperial Guard.”
“I was invited. I just decided I didn’t want to go. I’m sick of parties! I’ve been to five in the last two months.”
“Oh poor you.” snipped Lissiel sarcastically.
“Do you want your food or not?” She stayed silent, understanding the threat and he passed her a bowl and then gave one to Senkrad, who was fighting a smile. They ate in silence.
“So it went ok?”
“Yeah, better then I expected to be honest. Still we don’t know what he’ll do so it’s probably not a good idea to relax completely.” Trip nodded thoughtfully from his position seated behind the engineering consol. “He said the reason Soval’s so upset is that he’s hurting himself searching for a bond.”
“Poor little guy.” Hoshi murmured from her station. Suddenly her consol beeped. Her eyes widened in surprise, “It’s a communiqué from the planet. It’s Ambassador Soval.”
“You sure?”
“Positive sir.” Archer stood up and nodded to her
“On screen.” Hoshi nodded and switched on the screen. “Ambassador, this is a surprise. I wasn’t aware you were on Andoria.”
“Captain, I am as surprised as you are to see you here. I was unaware Enterprise had business on Andoria.” the older man said
“Enterprise doesn’t, we have an issue of a personal nature to sort out with Shran. May I ask what you’re up to?”
“Ambassador Gral and I are working with Shran over some trade agreements. Since Shran hasn’t been in space in almost a year due to Imperial Guard grounding we were required to negotiate here.”
“Grounding?” Archer asked frowning.
“It’s regulation for any Imperial commander who has suffered the loss of a ship to be grounded for at least one year during times of peace. A tad ironic in my opinion since without Shran there would be no peace.”
“Is it a punishment?” If it was then Archer would have a few choice words for the Andorian government in Shran’s defence.
“Not so much as a recovery period. Generally speaking Andorian commanders go through extreme bouts of depression due to a loss of a ship, and in order to prevent them becoming… irrational, they’re required to stay on-planet to recover.” Archer relaxed marginally, relieved that Shran wasn’t being punished, but concerned by Soval’s implication.
“I didn’t realise.”
“Neither did I until Shran explained it two weeks ago.”
“Are you negotiating today?”
“No. We are having a day of respite, not a moment too soon if Gral and Shran’s shortness yesterday was anything to go by.” If Archer didn’t know better he’d have sworn that was a joke. He smiled at the Vulcan warmly,
“Well, if you're not busy, perhaps you’d like to come aboard Enterprise for dinner.”
“I appreciate the gesture, however I must decline, I already have an arrangement, but thank you.”
“No problem.” Archer smiled, “Hopefully we’ll get to meet up at some point, I’m not all that sure how long we’ll be here. I’m sure T’Pol would like to see you.” Soval nodded,
“I would be pleased to see her as well, I will contact you of a time if that is acceptable.”
“That’s fine. Good to see you again.”
“And you.” Soval cut the communiqué.
“Well that’s gotta be one of the nicest conversations you’ve had with him in all the time you’ve known each other.” Trip chuckled.
“You’re not far off.” Archer smiled.
“Interesting that grounding tactic of the Imperial Guards.” Malcolm commented thoughtfully. “It makes sense, I can imagine that any Andorian commander would deny any ill effects of the loss of a ship.”
“If they’re all as proud and stubborn as Commander Shran… it wouldn’t surprise me.” Travis said from his consol. Archer shook his head with a small smile.
“Do you think the Commander suffered any… ‘irrational behaviour’ as Ambassador Soval put it?” Hoshi wondered quietly, “I mean, he may not have shown it too much but you could tell that it was killing him.”
“He seemed quite together on the bridge.” Malcolm reminded her,
“Yeah, but you know he’d be like that if his leg was hanging off. He’d call it a scratch.” Trip pointed out. Malcolm chuckled,
“Good point.”
“I remember…” Archer trailed off, unsure if he should continue. He knew his senior officers weren’t just gossiping, they’d all come to hold some affection for Shran, the man had proven himself a good ally, and a good man.
“Cap’n?” Trip pressed. Archer sighed, and then plunged on,
“I remember, when the surviving Kumari crew was being treated… I just remember how… gentle and caring Shran was. So unlike him I thought. But by watching him, how he held one woman’s hand as she died, well I saw how much he loved his crew.” Archer shook his head sadly, “I could see it, and I couldn’t… understand how he was able to keep it together the way he did. I know I wouldn’t have if- if the positions were reversed.” They were quiet for a moment and then Travis said softly,
“I guess he’s learnt how to hide it.”