Chapter 5: Fighting Back

"If you would leave us alone for a moment?"

To Trip's surprise, the doctor (whose name was apparently Phlox) answered Ambassador Soval's request only with a nod. Not having had the time to quiz the alien, he didn't know if 'Phlox' referred to the species or if it was his name – at least he assumed the doc was a 'he'.

"Care to tell me what happened?" Trip asked, agitated despite the debilitating headache. "Some Vulcan hit-men showed up tryin' to shoot T'Pol!"

"The Vulcan authorities have obviously seen yesterday's match," the Vulcan started.

"And they knew what netting the winner would do to T'Pol's hormones," Trip finished the thought aloud.

He could see a slight flinch from the elderly ambassador, probably caused by the instinctive Vulcan distaste of discussing such things. But then again, it had been Soval himself who had started that a couple weeks ago at the Embassy.

"Indeed." There was really no point in denying it.

"Where is T'Pol?" Trip asked, not really sure what to expect.

"She is unharmed and in protective custody of Starfleet."

"They locked her up?"

"No, Lieutenant," the ambassador answered evenly. "She is residing in a room at the guesthouse of the Diplomatic Corps. This location was chosen because it is under guard at all times."

"Okay, so she's safe. That's good to hear."

"There is one ... rather distasteful ... task I have been presented with by the High Command," Soval said and Trip could almost hear the revulsion in the old Vulcan's voice.

"Let me guess," he said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "You've been ordered to find out if she acted on the predictable reaction to her winning the battle."

Uncharacteristically, his conversation partner nodded wordlessly. It was not a normal reaction for a Vulcan.

"I take it that involves a medical check-up? Before you ask; yes, things got a bit rowdy, but I followed your advice to the letter – so in medical terms she's still a virgin."

It didn't take an expert in 'Vulcanology' to see that the grey-haired alien was embarrassed by having to wrestle such details out of him.

"I value your forthrightness on the matter, Lieutenant. She will indeed be ordered to undergo medical scanning, but if it alleviates your discomfort, no intimate probing will be needed. The pertinent data can be collected by a normal image scan."

"Can this Phlox do those scans? What species is he anyway?"

"Doctor Phlox is a Denobulan. They are a very advanced race in terms of medical science. He is part of the Interspecies Medical Exchange. And to answer your question – yes he can do the scans. The IME is run by the Vulcan Science Academy, so the High Command would have no grounds to dismiss his findings."

"Right," Trip decreed. "If T'Pol agrees, I'd prefer that he does the scans. I'm not really comfortable to let any Vulcans come near her at the moment. Present company excepted."

It took him an unsettling long time to fully wake up, T'Pol thought after she had taken a seat at the side of Charles' biobed.

The alien doctor had already explained that he was suffering from a broken collar-bone and a substantial concussion as a result of the assault by a Vulcan agent. It took some constraint not to succumb to the rage that simmered inside her. But for the moment she needed to concentrate on her chosen, who lay before her, weakened by his injuries, his face discolored from the physical abuse. The thought that this abuse had been inflicted by a member of her own species threatened to bring the rage back to the fore, but she fought it down.

"Hi there, glad you're okay."

His voice was weak and his speech slightly slurred – an aftereffect of the strong pain medication he had been given by the medic. The alien had, however, assured her that Charles' mind was sufficiently clear to have a conversation, even though it was her impression that he did not condone her insistence on speaking to his patient.

"I am safe," she assured him. "We do, however, need to talk, at an appropriate time, about your predilection for 'picking fights' on my behalf. You were battered quite substantially."

"What happened anyway, me being knocked out early and everything?"

"This is not the time to recollect these events," the Vulcan rebuffed his curiosity.

"Has Soval told you about that ridiculous check-up they're demanding?"

"'They' are called the High Command, and yes, I was informed about the procedure. In fact, Doctor Phlox has already performed it – with the expected result."

"Seriously, that High Command of yours must have a hell of a lot of time on their hands. What kind of business of theirs is it if we ... or not."

With satisfaction she noticed that a sternly raised eyebrow had been enough to warn him against mentioning what she was not willing to discuss in public. Her avoidance tactic was thwarted, however, when the Denobulan announced that he would leave them alone for a period of time.

"He's gone now," Charles insisted after the door had shut. "So, what bloody business is it of theirs, whether we had sex or not and whether or not you're still a virgin? It's ridiculous!"

"The actions of the High Command are not logical. They rarely have been since Administrator V'Las was elected. We both know it is merely a pretense to persecute me for my 'transgressions'. However, Ambassador Soval has developed a strategy to use that to our advantage."

"I'm all ears."

She had by now deciphered the meaning of this often-used metaphor and merely acknowledged it with a flick of her brow. However, her chosen's attempt to sit up resulted in considerable pain, so she partly helped and partly forced him to lie down again and put a calming hand on his chest. He covered her hand with one of his own. She was not entirely comfortable with such touch outside the sanctity of their home, but there was nobody else present, so there was no logic in denying him this little intimacy.

"Since, according to the scan we did not engage in intimate relations, and, except for perhaps a few xeno-biologists, Vulcans are unaware of the alternative methods, he can now make the case that I am forced to suppress one of the most primal instincts of our species. He believes he can use that information as leverage to accelerate the process of having my betrothal annulled."

"A primal instinct you brought on yourself by engaging in a human game," he argued and she looked at him in confusion. Why was he arguing against the ambassador's plans?

"Just playing devil's advocate here," he continued as if he had read her thoughts. "Instead of relieving you from the need to suppress something, they could just as well say you caused it yourself by playing football and living with a pesky human."

"You are not 'pesky'," she protested, but stopped in abashment at her openly emotional response.

"That's nice to know, darlin'," he said with mirth in his eyes. "But your High Command thinks we're all apes. Just look what ridiculous depths they stoop to because of what they think we did, even if it isn't any of their business."

T'Pol was slightly overwhelmed. She had expected that he would welcome Ambassador Soval's plan with more enthusiasm. Obviously she had not given enough credit to Charles' ability not to build up his hopes too much. But on the other hand it was not the first time that he was challenging her preconceptions in a positive way.

"Ambassador Soval has already foreseen this option and has requested the help of Hoshi Sato. As a human with appropriate knowledge of the old Vulcan dialects she was able to research ancient texts in the Vulcan database and on artifacts in the possession of our clan without being influenced by the official dogmas of the High Command and the Ministry of Science. Her findings were ... enlightening."

"Don't tell me Vulcans played football once."

She could hear the mirth resonating in his question.

"No, they did not." She cast him a severe look for his levity in a serious matter. "However, there were competitive tournaments in Vulcan history, which served the sole purpose of determining a winner."

"Until Surak came along and said you should use logic instead," he continued, grinning.

"You are mistaken. It was Surak, and his followers, who introduced the activity. Even though he and his disciples embraced logic to overcome our violent past, the passions were still there. Instead of suppressing these passions, as we do today, Vulcans at the Time of Awakening apparently channeled them into competitive ritual battles with strict rules to avoid injury and death."

"Vulcan martial arts? That doesn't quite square up with what you guys are saying these days."

"An apt observation," T'Pol agreed. "Surak's original teachings are lost, so by being perpetuated from generation to generation they became open to ... interpretation."

"Sounds familiar," he said and she surmised that he was referring to the different religious teachings on Earth. The similarities were indeed hard to miss.

"Although not a religion, Surak's teachings seem to have undergone the same corruption as many of the religious texts on Earth."

"And if we continue that line of logic, all this High Command skullduggery happens to protect their precious dogma and they don't even stop at the blatantly ridiculous to silence anyone who might challenge it. Let me guess: if the Vulcan public learned that their government sent a commando unit to arrest a female to undergo a virginity test, some of them would raise an eyebrow – or whatever it is they do when they're scandalized."

"This is not a matter for untimely 'jokes', Charles."

This, however, only served to stir his indignation. Again he sat up and ignored the pain. He was clearly upset.

"T'Pol, I'm not jokin' here. Your friggin' High Command wanted to detain you for nothing more than that you maybe had sex - something that's nobody's business but your own. I don't care what the real reasons are. If it was for me, I'd let the whole population of Vulcan know what their bloody government did. Let's see what happens then."

Gently she lowered his upper body back to the biobed again.

"Your willingness to defend my dignity at all costs honors you," she said and gently cupped his cheek on the non-discolored side of his face. "However, your course of action would serve no purpose. Most Vulcans would be more scandalized by me having chosen a human. Vulcans of this time value uniformity. Individualism is seen as a disruption, and - if at all - practiced only in one's own home. We are not very adept at becoming dissidents."

"You're making my point darlin'," he insisted. "They snoop into what happens in our home. And from what Soval has explained, that's the ultimate offense on Vulcan."

"Indeed it is," a by now familiar voice said from behind the privacy screen.

Trip gasped. When had Soval shown up?

"What are you?" he asked when the old Vulcan stepped into sight. "Are you some sort of ghost, who shows up whenever he's mentioned?"

"I am not. I entered the room forty seconds ago. Apparently your spirited debate made you oblivious to my attempts at making my presence known."

So much was obvious, Trip thought to himself. It was not that the grey-haired ambassador was strictly unwelcome. He had in fact become somewhat of a mentor in his attempt to adjust to life with a Vulcan female. However, in this case, his unexpected arrival had caused T'Pol to clam up and remover her hand from his, and he didn't quite like that fact.

"I only heard the last part of your conversation," the Vulcan continued without much further explanation. "However, I find myself in unexpected agreement with Lieutenant Tucker. This latest folly of the High Command was an outrageous transgression and an insult to our clan. We must not let such an intrusion go unchallenged."

"Before we start holding a council of war," Trip said sarcastically, "I doubt I can get you to call me Trip, but can we at least agree on calling me Charles when we are not meeting on official Starfleet business?"

"Agreed," Soval answered. "However, our answer is not war. There are other ways to challenge the High Command over this issue."

"I'm all ears," he said, smiling at T'Pol's eye-roll.

"The true teachings of Surak are believed to be lost," the alien elder explained, giving Trip a sense of déjà-vu, having heard the same from T'Pol less than an hour ago. "Miss Sato, however, found a passage on one of our ancient artifacts that mentions another artifact called Kir'Shara, which is supposedly still on Vulcan and contains an original recording of Surak's teachings."

This sounded more like a tall tale, Trip thought. This whole thing had more logical plot-holes than a third-rate trash movie.

"Sorry, Soval, but even my pain-med addled brain can see a few flaws in that logic. First of all – why is that artifact of yours here on Earth and not on Vulcan? Second, if all this was written on it, why did you need Hoshi to find out? And third, if you have such an artifact, how come nobody else does? In almost two thousand years someone must have stumbled across something like that."

"I shall endeavor to address your questions. Concerning the location of the artifact: as the clan's patriarch it is my task to preside over the clan's historic possessions, and since I reside on Earth, it is only logical that our historic items do so as well."

"So if anyone from your clan wants to see them they have to come here?"

"These are not museum items, Charles," T'Pol chipped in. "They are kept for their historic importance. If I recall correctly, Miss Sato is only the third person to see them in my lifetime."

"Indeed," Soval agreed and Trip thought he could hear a hint of softness in the usually even voice of the patriarch. "Fifty years ago a young clansman, an archeologist, requested access to them and I remember a very inquisitive child being most insistent to accompany him for the chance to look at the clan's oldest relics."

Trip couldn't help but grin at the slight greenish blush creeping up T'Pol's cheeks. It didn't take a rocket scientist to guess who that 'inquisitive child' had been.

"But why did it take Hoshi to find out about that other artifact? Why not that clansman of yours? As an archaeologist he should have been the first to notice."

"As improbable as it sounds, we have nobody in the clan who can read the old scripts. Miss Sato is indeed a very remarkable individual. She decoded the old script in a matter of hours."

"Wow! I knew Hoshi was good, but that good..."

"Indeed," the old Vulcan agreed. "To answer your third question: it is likely that our artifacts are the only ones mentioning the Kir'Shara. Surak's blood-line has been extinct for centuries. However T'Pol and I are descendants of the House of T'Klaas, Surak's first student and the first Kohlin'ahr master. It is unlikely that Surak distributed the knowledge of the location of the artifact widely."

BOOM! Soval did not strike him as someone likely to tell fairy-tales, so if this was all true, Hoshi had stumbled upon a game changer.

"So, if I put one and one together, you plan to find this artifact with Surak's teachings," Trip said. "But then what?"

"We overthrow the High Command," Soval replied dryly.

"You're planning a coup d'état?" the American asked in disbelief. "Over T'Pol and me?"

"The latest transgression is merely the 'straw that destroys the ungulate's spine'," Soval started, but stopped when Trip couldn't hold back a snicker.

"The straw that breaks the camel's back," he corrected Soval's attempt at human vernacular.

The Vulcan was clearly not impressed by the interruption though. He frowned ever so slightly, but clearly reproachful at the irrelevant amendment, and continued, "The necessity to remove V'Las' government from power has been present for some time. However we lacked the options so far. Due to the incident involving you, we came into contact with Miss Sato. Her arrival was not only fortunate; she also developed a rather unusually grim determination to find something, once she learned that you, Charles, were involved, even though she had no other details."

Jeez, thanks a bunch, Soval, Trip thought with a pang of exasperation, and hoped that Vulcans were not prone to jealousy. If T'Pol's flaring nostrils were something to go by, however, they were.

All the time that Soval has explained his – frankly crazy – plan to topple the government, T'Pol had not said a word. So now that the clan's patriarch had left as quickly as he had appeared, it was time for the inevitable confrontation.

"Out with it," he said curtly. "You wanna ask, so ask."