Contemplations ...

[T'aral 0]

T'Aral sat ten feet inward of a cave opening, leaning back against the cave's wall. To any observer she would seem to be asleep, and she was resting her body during her meditations. Her mind, however, remained awake and aware of her surroundings. No one would be able to approach the cave without her knowledge.

 

The rest of the landing party were further inside; allowed in once T'Aral had performed a scan for safety - in the process exterminating several potentially hazardous life forms. The need for this task was unfortunate but logical, and T'Aral carried it out with neither malice nor pity. It was simply a task needing to be done if the party were to be able to rest without being on constant vigil, and she carried it out calmly and methodically.

 

As she meditated, she considered the day's events and her current situation. While she could file a report disagreeing with Commander Wesley's decision, she had no intention of doing so. Such a report had no logical purpose: Commander Wesley was within her right as CO to select her XO, and both she and Captain Caelstorm knew that T'Aral disagreed with that decision along with her reasons. The only purpose for such a report would be to seek a reprimand for the Commander, and this was both unnecessary and undesired. Unnecessary because the Captain was right there to assess the situation; if a reprimand was needed it would be provided. Undesired because Vulcans did have feelings, and Commander Wesley was one of the few who seemed at all aware of that fact.

 

T'Aral still believed Leutenant Belo would've been a superior XO. The leutenant's behavior before they reached the cave was indicative of this - both in her natural leadership ability and in her unwillingness to observe the chain of command. Upon noting that Leutenant Haruno was weary, Leutenant Belo took charge of the situation immediately: not by notifying the XO, but by personally ordering a halt and going past T'Aral straight to the CO.

 

Belo did need to learn more about resource management. While it was true that rotating the litter carriers was advisable, the only way to do so would be to assign carrying duty to some of the injured. The only other two available were Leutenant Kvar and the Commander. The Commander was pre-occupied with the CO position, and Tifa was physically slight. She would not last long as a litter-carrier. The situation needed improvement. Ensign Akade's condition would improve with the night's rest, and the Captain ...

 

T'Aral contemplated a thought, and the thought gained favor. If the Captain recovered overnight, the chain of command would be restored. T'Aral considered what would have to be done. It was possible, if it could be done without raising questions.

[T'aral 0]

Then ...

 

T'Aral walked steadily out from the Vulcan desert to face the elders at the foot of Mt. Seleya. Sanekk and T'Sarla stood at either side of the entrance, their faces passively masking an inner pride of their daughter. She had completed the grueling rite at 23 ... 16 years of age as humans noted time. She was young; not overly young, but still one of the younger Vulcans to have survived the rite.

 

T'Aral was dehydrated and starved, which was the normal condition after spending four months alone in the desert under the Vulcan sun. There was no longer a need for pride; she could allow herself to collapse now and there would be no disgrace to herself or her family, yet she held herself upright long enough to bow to the noble T'Lar and be recognized for her achievement before she settled in a shaded tent where attendants cared for her.

 

It was several days before she was well enough to see her parents as she wished - standing properly and without weakness. They had already received messages that she was in reasonable health, so there was no need to rush their reunion. Once she did return home, her father and mother had a special gift for her.

 

"You have proven your strength of mind and spirit: you are your own person. Because of this, we can now share with you as our parents shared with us. We wish to know you and to have you know us completely: mind to mind, thoughts to thoughts."

 

She melded with her parents that afternoon, sharing with them in that time more than any being ever could in any other way. She shared her hopes, her fears, and found forgiveness within them for both. She found in her parents an understanding which a deep part of her needed: an understanding that she wasn't perfect. She had emotions which at times were difficult to control. She had uncertainties, and she made mistakes. Within her parents thoughts she found that she wasn't unique: to be truly Vulcan was an exception rather than a rule, even among Vulcans. It was enough that she knew the ideal, and dedicated herself towards attaining that goal.

 

The melding eventually ended as all good things did, but it left T'Aral with a deep impression. Her parents were a part of her now, with her always, and would be forever. Nothing would change that - not even the death of worlds.

 

--------------------

Now ...

 

After an hour of consideration T'Aral stepped through the party quietly, checking her patients with her tricorder set to silent operation. Leutenant MrKath's leg was still a serious issue, but his concussion was improving steadily with rest. Leutenant Tauariki's head had not developed an infection as of yet, and both Ensign Akade and Leutenant Haruno were getting much-needed rest. That left the Captain.

 

Settling down next to the Captain, T'Aral laid a gentle hand along her jawline. Her fingertips crept upwards, seeking out the needed pressure points. This would be a long procedure, but a simple one. The nerves within her vestibular system simply needed to be relaxed. They would then re-set themselves and the Captain would be fine in the morning.

 

T'Aral suddenly paused - something was seriously wrong. She sensed unusual responses within the Captain, as if several unrelated synapses were being brought into sync while somehow being related to Caelstorm's problems with balance. It was as if someone had already used a mental discipline to aid the Captain. This, however, was impossible ...

 

Nothing Unreal Exists.

 

T'Aral's eyebrow twitched slightly as a memory of her father blended with her own thoughts. A master of metaphysics, Sanekk secured Kiri-kin-tha's First Law as the foundation of everything T'Aral ever learned. While simple in its form, the law provided a foundation for all logical thought and all investigation. In this situation, the Law's application was undeniable. Despite records to the contrary, someone in the landing party besides herself had mental talents. The evidence was clear on the matter.

 

With the acceptance of that fact, decerning who was a simple logical exercise. The person who did this needed ability, motive, and opportunity. Ability was taken out of the equation: T'Aral accepted that any one of the party could have latent abilities she was not aware of. Motive was also not part of the equation: T'Aral wanted the Captain back to restore order - she had little doubt that her fellow officers approved of her current assignment as XO as much as she did. They all wanted the Captain back. This left opportunity, which answered the question easily. Of all the officers present, only one had the opportunity to engage in mental therapy while T'Aral was distracted. The others were either in T'Aral's presence when the Captain was not, or the Captain was in her presence when they were not.

 

Two things were now certain. First: T'Aral would not be able to proceed as she expected. Second: assuming they both survived this experience, T'Aral would have to have a conversation with Leutenant Belo regarding witholding information from the medical staff and making medical decisions without consulting the primary caregiver. As CMO, T'Aral was responsible for the condition of every member of the landing party. Making responsible decisions was difficult without complete information. How could she perform her function if she was not kept informed of therapies administered to her patients?

 

That was an issue for another time, however. At the moment there was the Captain, and the conundrum before her. Because of Leutenant Belo's actions, T'Aral could no longer be discreet about her intended therapy. In order to succeed she would have to apply more advanced techniques to correct the condition while avoiding any hampering conditions, and there would be side-effects. The probability of a partial meld would be high.

 

T'Aral considered the possibility and the ramifications. Her actions would be a breach of ethics: T'Aral was strongly opposed to uninvited melding, which was a carry-over of a long family tradition. Yet all ethics were situational, and in this situation difficult decisions had to be made. She knew that she would be successful, and in doing so the Captain would be fully mobile. The ranks of ambulatory officers would be increased by two to three as a litter would no longer be necessary; T'Aral had no doubt that Leutenant Tauariki could be convinced to carry Ensign Akade if she had not yet recovered. They would then be at the Captain's disposal for assignment, greatly improving the odds of a successful recovery and return to the ship.

 

There was, however, the matter of side-effects. The Captain was asleep, and as such her thoughts were defended by the miasma of chaos that was human unconciousness. T'Aral's thoughts, however, were far more orderly. They would reach the Captain, most likely in a dream state. She would see herself through T'Aral's eyes, know what the Vulcan intended, and experience what a meld meant to a Vulcan. If T'Aral didn't keep her thoughts under strictest control the Captain would learn even more: her internal misgivings at the thought of command, her opinions regarding the actions of the other officers, ... if T'Aral wasn't careful, the Captain might even learn how much she appreciated the consideration and relative tolerance Caelstorm and Wesley had repeatedly shown her. Worst of all, the dream could be so vivid that the Captain would remember it clearly when she woke up - not as a dream, but as a true memory.

 

The Needs Of The Many Outweigh The Needs Of The Few.

 

T'Aral didn't need the core of her mother's teachings to remind her, but it was there all the same. There was only one logical choice: the group needed their Captain back, regardless of the personal consequences T'Aral would have to face. Calming her thoughts as much as possible, she shifted her contact with the Captain to establish a deeper link. This would take some amount of time, but at least she knew the Captain would be asleep through all of it. Hopefully everyone else would be too.

[T'aral 0]

Two hours passed before T'Aral finally terminated contact with Captain Caelstorm. The task was strenuous in that it took most all of her concentration, but in the end it was done. The Captain's mental pathways were cleared of disruption, and her balance would be restored. For what it was worth, she would proabably awaken feeling better than anyone else in the group. As for whatever else she might feel - that was a challenge to be dealt with when the time came.

 

Moving back through the sleeping officers, she checked on her other patients once again. Sleep was improving most of their conditions, with the sole exception of Leutenant MrKath's leg. Settling once again in a watchful position near the cave entrance but still enshrouded in shadow, T'Aral began to consider the matter.

 

Ideally they would find a means to contact the ship when they reached their destination. Having MrKath in a proper sick bay tended by doctors was the best solution by far. This situation needed to be resolved quickly, for T'Aral was reluctant to leave the Leutenant with a fractured leg for much longer. The problem being that she wasn't prepared to offer any alternatives. The splint he was wearing couldn't let him walk and amputation was most undesirable, yet the only proper alternative was skeletal fusion. She considered the materials she had: the medical kits had more than enough sharp implements, gauze, and sterile wraps for the surgery. It also had four protoplasers with enough protoplasmic flux to perform the operation with a comfortable margin of error.

 

The problem, however, was that in order to fuse bone the flux required heating to 325 degrees Kelvin. Emergency protoplasers did not include heating elements, since that would add bulk for an operation which was not suitable for the field. There was also the matter that T'Aral was not a qualified surgeon. She had assisted with such an operation a few times in the Academy, and had earned her Surgical Nurse certification. Yet the difference between that and being a competent surgeon was considerable, and unlike the surgeons she worked with T'Aral had no support staff available.

 

No; the Captain's problem was one thing, but field surgery was an entirely different matter. T'Aral settled back into meditation, giving the matter no further thought as she remained alert - resting her body while calming her mind. Getting back to the Comanche Creek was the best solution ... logically, the only solution.