Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

Omal walked to the doors to Captain Kirk and Commander Spock’s rooms. He pressed the chime and was greeted at the door by Nyota. “Nyota, I have come with some good news.”

“Come in Omal. We could use some.”

Omal entered into the room and followed her over to where the group was seated. There was an empty seat next to her, which he took.

“Well, how did it go?” Archer asked. He discreetly brushed his hand across Pikes when he went to grab a cup of tea from the table. Jim noticed and almost choked on his drink. Spock rubbed his back and gave him a questioning look. ‘I’ll tell you when we are alone.’ Spock nodded and continued drinking his tea.

Omal nodded and took a sip before speaking, “I have found the culprit. I was her aide Kass Th’izaarrit. Apparently she was dropping him to see if she could coax Ambassador Selek into her bed. She had promised to marry the young man. He admitted to slipping her the chocolate that poisoned her.”

“So that is why he blamed the Vulcan Ambassadorial party.” Spock took another sip of his tea after he asked the question.

“Yes, he wished to hurt Ambassador Selek as well. He was in great pain when he admitted what he had done. He broke down in tears. The Ambassador's son comforted him. Apparently Ral is in a relationship with Legel, one of my aides. They had planned to ask the Vulcan Ambassadors if they could live on Vulcan.”

“Indeed, I will speak to my father on the matter.”

“While, you’re at it Spock, let them know that we are taking Kass into custody,” Pike said to him.

“I will do so Admiral.”

“Well, then we better go get the prisoners loaded on board the ship.” Pike said standing up. Archer set down his cup and stood as well.

“High Advisor Plasus said to comm him once you want to move the prisoners. Kass is guarded still in his rooms and the Ferengi are in a holding cell.”

“Thank you, we will go comm him now,” Archer said. “Jim, okay if we comm him from here?”

“Go ahead Admiral. It is is over in the corner.”

“Thanks,” he said and walked over to the comm. Pike went over with him so he could listen in on the call.

Omal set down his teacup, “Nyota, would you like to go and have a meal with me on the terrace?”

“I would love to.”

“If you will excuse us then, Captain?”

“Of course.” Omal and Nyota rose and left the room. Pike and Archer came back over after speaking with Plasus.

“Jim, we’re going to go and get the prisoners and get them aboard the Billings. They are going to head back to Starfleet Command with them and we will catch a ride back to New Vulcan with you. The Billings will meet us there once they drop the group off.”

“Won’t the others be mad for you not bringing them personally?”

“They’ll deal with it. Need to keep on top of things here and I have a gut feeling that things aren’t settled yet.”

“So we are done here?”

“Yup, once the Billings has everyone loaded and is on their way, we can head out.”

“I’ll head back to the Enterprise and get everything ready to go then.”

“I will go to my parents and let them know that they can beam back aboard ship then.”

“You two do that. We’ll see you when we say goodbye to the High Advisor.” Pike and Archer saluted the two, who returned the salute and left.

“I think something is going on with those two.”

“T’hy’la?”

“Archer brushed against the back of Chris’ hand. I can tell it was no accident.”

Spock shook his head at Jim. “It is your overactive imagination.”

“You’ll see. Well, I better beam aboard and get everything ready.”

“I will see you soon, my mate.” They shared a brief kiss and Jim beamed up to the Enterprise. Spock headed to his parents rooms to share the good news.

**********

Spock pressed the chimes and his mother opened the door. “Spock,” she greeted him with a smile. She bade him to enter the room and lead him to where everyone was seated. He declined a seat and stood at parade rest.

“I have come bearing news.”

“Indeed, what news?” His father asked.

“Ambassador Nexi and High Advisor have discovered who committed the crime. It was one of the Ambassador’s aides. He has been taken into custody and you are now free to leave the planet. Once the Billings has left with the prisoners, we will take leave from Ardana and head back to New Vulcan. Admiral’s Archer and Pike will be accompanying us.”

“So it will be soon. Do you know when?”

“No, once it has been done, Admiral Archer will contact us so that we can take leave once we spoke with the High Advisor.”

“Then we await your word. We will beam up with you and the Admirals,” his father said. 

“Also the son of the deceased and his mate wish to make a home on New Vulcan. They do not wish to return to their homeworlds.”

“Once we have reached New Vulcan, we will speak to the Council on their behalf.” Spock nodded and took his leave. He needed to make sure that they were packed and their things we sent to the ship. Uhura and Doctor McCoy had already done so and Doctor McCoy had taken care of Commander Scott’s things as well.

**********

Jim Kirk was in a good mood once he was beamed back aboard his ship. He could not wait to leave the damn planet and never return. He headed to the bridge and was able to have everything taken care of in a matter of minutes. Apparently he was not the only one chomping at the bit to leave. Once that was taken care of, he headed down to sickbay to talk to Bones. He walked in to sickbay and saw that Bones was busy tending to one of the crew. He saw Carol going over some things and headed over to her.

‘Hey, Carol.” He hopped up onto the biobed next to her.

“Hey, Jim. How are you feeling?”

“Like a beached whale. I wanted to thank you for helping to save my kits.”

“It’s no problem, Jim. I was glad to help and really happy that everything worked out.”

“Yeah, I know. But you gave up your Christine Chapel time to rush down here.”

“Know about that do you?” She laughed.

“I have eyes and I see how you two make lovey dovey eyes at each other and I can also sense the sexual tension between you too. After spending time with you too, I need to jump my husband afterwards.”

Carol laughed at this and swatted him on the shoulder. “Get out of here. I think McCoy is ready to see you.”

Jim looked and saw that Bones was indeed free. He smiled at Carol and headed over to Bones. “Hey, Bones.”

“Hey, Jimbo. So what is the word?”

“Omal has solved the mystery and we are now free to go. Archer and Pike will be accompanying us back to New Vulcan. I am so happy to see the back of this planet.”

“Me too. Maybe now that the drama is over, we can work more on the wedding plans. I only have another three months and then the wedding.”

“Yeah, I know. Have you too decided what you want?”

“Not yet. I figure once we all sit down and talk, we can go over everything and discuss it.”

“Well, once we are on our way to New Vulcan, we can get together in your quarters and go over it. Scotty and you can tell me your thoughts and then we can hash them out.”

“I hate this. The last time I got married, my ex took care of this as the bride. Since neither of us is the bride, we have to both do it.”

“Well, think about it. I have to go, my other half is calling. Time to say our goodbyes.”

“Go, I make sure to prepare dinner for us to talk over.”

“Thanks, Bonesy.” And Jim headed out of sickbay and down to a transporter room. He beamed down to the planet and stood with everyone as they made their goodbyes. Once that was done, they all beamed back aboard the Enterprise and Jim saw to it that Archer and Pike had quarters down the hall from him. He and Spock made their way down to McCoy’s and Scotty’s quarters.

Vulcan translation:

t'hy'la - friend-lover-lifelong companion, blood brother/sister; soulmate; soul-brother/sister