Title: After the Rescue

Part: NEW 32/73

Author: Karmen Ghia, karmen_ghia@yahoo.com

Series: TOS

Romance Code: S/Mc and then some.

Rating: NC-17

Appendices: http://members.tripod.com/karmen_ghia/atrappendices.html

See part one for disclaimers, etc.

"There was something really scary outside your door last night, Sait," Obsta told him, ignoring Maja, over a sumptuous breakfast the next morning.

Maja gave the NzrealiCheq a sharp look and wondered if Sarek had felt anything through his shields. Maja would have bet money that he didn't so he was surprised when Sarek said he had felt it.

"And you were just going to open the door anyway?" Maja blurted and then blushed at his own rudeness.

"I did not consider it anything beyond my capabilities, Maja," Sarek told him blandly, gazing at the agitated half Mage over his sautéed tubers and toast. The Vulcan had been concerned as to how rude Maja was going to be to Obsta but Maja had mostly retreated into a fretful silence.

"Then there must be more to you than I reckoned, Sait, because I was scared to little iddy bits," Obsta told him, rescuing but still ignoring Maja. "By the way, sir, where did Maja get that gigantic phaser pistol? It's bigger than he is."

Sarek was sure Obsta's demeanor toward Maja was irritating the half Mage. "Ask him," he said, "I had never seen it before last night."

They both turned their attention to Maja, who was very irritated indeed, and waited for him to answer, which he didn't until Sarek asked him a direct, but polite, question.

"I traded a guy for it. It and lessons how to use it," Maja told Sarek, ignoring Obsta.

"Musta been some trade," the NzrealiCheq murmured suggestively.

It required all the self control instilled in Maja by his genteel Vulcan education and a stern look from Sarek for the MageCheq not to throw his glass of olbla juice into their host's face. He clenched his teeth instead, pushed his plate away and rose: "Excuse me. I have a client this afternoon," he told them.

Sarek caught his hand and looked up into Maja's face: "I would prefer you stay in my sight, Maja."

"It's the captain of one of those racing yachts that's here for the meet."

"I do not care who it is," Sarek said softly and quashed the incipient rebellion with a look.

"All right," the MageCheq said at last, sulking.

"Do not pout, Maja."

"I'm not pouting, Sait; children pout. I'm an adult; adults sulk," Maja clarified.

"I see." The barest twinkle of amusement flared in the depths of Sarek's eyes.

'Ah, Sarek, what did I ever see in your son that was not you?' Maja wondered but said: "D'you think Obsta Fira will let me use his comm to call the punter?"

"Ask him, Maja." Sarek sighed, closed his eyes and dearly hoped they would not be Obsta's guests for a great length of time.

* * *

/ ... many guardsssss.../

/ ... difficult... we wait.../

* * *

"If you're bored, baby, I'll give you a tumble."

Maja turned from the comm unit to find Obsta practically on top of him.

'Damn shielded NzrealiCheqs,' he thought but said: "Didn't hear you sneak up on me, Obsta. Where I come from hosts don't ambush their guests."

"Well, now, that's an interesting subject, dearie. Where do you come from?" Obsta took a firm grip on both MageCheq hands, as much to examine as restrain them. "I had a little chat with an old Klingon mercenary of my acquaintance on Vrena. Those marks on your right hand say you're from the great and most pious Gozshedrefreingin Commune. No, no, honey, don't look so surprised, even we savages out here in the hinterspace have heard of it. And that one on your left hand means you belong to Master Ghet. If you talk to him like me I'm not surprised he's not missing his little runaway." He tightened his grip as Maja began to struggle in earnest. "Of course, maybe you let him touch your pretty body and not just mindfuck him like you do everybody else."

"Fucking let go of me, asshole," Maja snarled, trying to decide if he should kill him now or later.

"You're really a rotten guest, Maja," Obsta observed, shoving him away. "I'd think you'd want to repay your host a little."

"If payment is required, I would prefer you arrange it with me directly, Obsta." Sarek walked over and pulled Maja behind him. "Go gather our things, Maja, we are leaving," he added over his shoulder.

Maja hesitated, "Sait, this is the safest place for us," he looked Obsta Fira right in the eye, "and I think you might have misunderstood what you just saw."

Sarek roughly hauled Maja around to face him: "What do you mean?"

"That we do owe him," Maja said quietly, very much wanting to get Obsta in some secluded spot where he could silence the nosy NzrealiCheq forever.

"Nonsense!" Obsta laughed hollowly. "I'm just teasing your Maja, he's been at this too long, no sense of humor these gyharines after a few years, none at all! Ha-ha-ha. Besides," he added seriously, "we blast off this rock tonight and better days ahead, friends."

"How?" Maja asked him sharply.

"In a racing yacht I've arranged to 'borrow' directly after tonight's 'project.'"

"Which is?"

"Something you needn't worry your pretty little head about." Obsta, amused, watched Maja roll his furious brown eyes and wheel on Sarek.

"It was arranged this morning while you slept, my Maja," Sarek soothed at him.

Maja was too angry to ask what, exactly, had been arranged. "I see," he rasped, "well, then, I'll just go walk in the garden until it's time to eat again." He shook off Sarek's restraining hand and swept out in a really excellent imitation of his brother Jir.

Sarek and Obsta watched him leave; Sarek moved five steps to his left to keep Maja, stomping around in the garden, in sight.

"Sorry, Sait," Obsta said, moving to his side. "I didn't know he'd, ah, retired."

"It is quite recent." Sarek was studying the NzrealiCheq, it seemed to him that there was more going on between he and Maja than a simple, refused proposition. He could draw no conclusion so he dropped it and watched Maja drift deeper into the garden.

"What is that noise?" Sarek asked as the first blast shook the house.

* * *

Maja never quite knew what drew him to the end of the garden. Some half formed notion that there was something beautiful to see, just beyond the hedges, caught and held his attention. He had almost reached it when the first blast knocked him off his feet.

The next thing he knew Sarek was carrying him over one shoulder as he and Obsta ran for a vehicle.

* * *

/ ... sssssssssssssssss .../

/.. nex-sssss-t time ...come...quickly.../

* * *

It had been a pleasant delusion to think that the Horva and the Tziviian pirates would stay long in cooperation but now, as the Horva besieged with intent to pillage the great city of Bikz, it was over.

* * *

Spock interrupted his mother's pacing in the reception hall of the Rovirin garrison.

"How did you get here, Mother?" he asked in Vulcan after exchanging greetings.

"I bribed one of the Talljet Inc. couriers. Apparently the Company does quite a bit of business in this direction." Amanda smiled wearily at her son. "I think he must have cleared it with Ling or I wouldn't be here. Nevertheless. Any news, Spock?"

"No, Mother, none since I last spoke to Hobie," Spock told her as he guided her into a chair. "Rest a moment, I will bring you refreshment." Leaving the room he ran into Dr. McCoy.

"Is your Mother really here, Spock? It's incredible. How did she get here?" McCoy asked in a rush.

Spock sent him in to keep Lady Amanda company while he fetched tea for her. When he returned he found Kirk there as well.

" ... is suspicious of Star Fleet's intention toward this space," Amanda finished in Standard as Spock set the tea down before her. She poured for all of them.

"Why is that, Amanda?" Kirk asked neutrally.

"She thinks that this latest Terran isolationist movement has given Star Fleet the idea it can do as it pleases in non-aligned space and not be answerable to anyone."

"Mother," Spock cut in. "Are you here at T'Pau's request?"

"No, I'm not. I'm here to... to do something other than fret about Sarek at home," she told him with just a hint of distress showing. "I did, however, talk to T'Pau before I left and she shared her concerns with me, that's all."

They drank their tea in a moody silence.

"None of us can tell you the chronology of events, Amanda," Kirk said with a touch of regret. "It's classified at Level Five. We're not even supposed to know about it ourselves." He tried smiling but it was pathetic.

"Oh, well, Level Five, dear me. Let's forget I mentioned it," Amanda shrugged.

Spock winced mentally at his mother's sarcasm but the Terrans seemed amused.

"You've no news of Sarek, either, have you, Captain Kirk?" she asked after a brief silence.

"No, nothing," Kirk said. "No word from the Talljets either."

"They were rather rudely kicked off this planet," McCoy put in.

"How so, Doctor?" Amanda asked.

"Well, Admiral Yakolev chased Jir off with his Federation Mandate and that was that," McCoy told her, avoiding any awkward time references.

"Without any resistance?" Amanda asked surprised. She knew how contentious the Talljets could be when they were crossed.

"I think Jir's more a lover than a fighter, ma'am."

Amanda smiled vaguely and wondered which Jir Talljet Dr. McCoy knew. Certainly not the one that fought for and won civil rights for the permanent guest workers on Drisia 5. Or the one who successfully defended three Mrikaians accused of murder on Mrikian-hating Brosia 8. Or the one who organized the prosecution for the war crimes tribunal on Nboria 12 that, in the face of a hostile public and government, sent seven monsters to prison for the rest of their lives. That Jir was a fighter and winner of righteous causes. But, then again, that Jir was too smart to take on the flock of Star Fleet warships she'd seen in orbit.

"Ah," she said, drinking her tea, before swerving onto a new subject: "I saw the vid, Spock. Maja Talljet is with him. Did you see it?"

"Yes."

"Strange to see Maja again, like that."

"Yes."

"It gives me hope that Maja is with him."

Spock nodded; it gave him hope, too, but he didn't know how to put that into words.

A bedroom and sitting room overlooking a fountain were quickly done up for Amanda's occupation. When Ambassador Sdiz called to pay his respects, he was informed that the Lady Amanda was indisposed.

* * *

"WHERE THE HELL ARE WE GOING, OBSTA?" Maja yelled over the explosions all around them.

"SOMEPLACE QUIET, DAHRLIN'," Obsta yelled over his shoulder as he dodged the hoversedan through the barrage. It was a deluxe model so its shields were holding - so far.

"OBSTA, YOU'RE HEADING FOR THE PORT. THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE SHELLING. IT'S VERY NOT QUIET THERE," Maja explained at the top of his voice.

"WE'RE RUNNING A LITTLE ERRAND, DEARIE, SO JUST FUCKING RELAX. YOU'RE ONLY ALONG FOR THE RIDE ANYWAY," Obsta informed him likewise.

"OBSTA...!" Maja began.

"OBSTA FIRA IS TOO BUSY DRIVING THIS CAR TO TALK TO YOU RIGHT NOW, SWEETHEART" Obsta yelled, not even turning to look.

Maja twisted around to look at Sarek, upon whose lap he was seated: "What gives, Sait?"

"There is a large shipment of dilithium crystals in a warehouse in the port area...."

"The same port area that's being shelled right now, yes?"

"Yes, and this falls nicely into our plan. The guards are distracted from above while we slip in from below."

"Are you mad? What 'we'? 'We' are not 'they'. 'They' are them and them are FUCKING STUPID," Maja shot hard looks at Mogra and Taig, Obsta's trusted henchmen. "Stop this car and let us out. We've better chances with the Horva than here."

Sarek made no comment as he lifted his hand to Maja's shoulder and neck-pinched him into silence.

"Well, that's a neat trick, Sait," Mogra said, impressed.

"Yes, I'll say," Taig put in. "You'll have to teach it to me someday."

Sarek nodded urbanely as he tenderly cradled Maja's limp body in his arms.

In the confusion and chaos of the bombardment, they reached the warehouse unnoticed. Sarek arranged Maja neatly on the seat before slipping out of the car and into the building with the others. The quartet made their silent way into the heart of the building before any alarms went off inside.

* * *

/... there ... there.../

/... better one than none... yesssss. ./

* * *

Maja woke strangling on his own scream and banged his head on the car liner. He cursed and knew Sarek was in trouble. He flung himself over the seat and popped the trunk. From the trunk he slung two phaser machine guns around him and shoved a phaser pistol in his belt. As an afterthought he grabbed a bandoleer of small radius photon grenades and a big knife.

'That Obsta Fira - arms for every occasion,' Maja thought grimly. He adjusted his vision from form and color to emanations. Turning he saw two figures that were approaching him stop and then disappear. He hadn't time to really think about it as he flew through the building, following a tendril of his lover's essence.

The Tziviians had Obsta's gang pinned down in a box canyon in the container warehouse. Their exit was blocked by heavily armed pirates until Maja blasted them out of the way from behind.

"C'MON, C'MON, C'MON," he yelled, firing at the herd of pirates firing at him from the mezzanine. Obsta grabbed a machine gun and Taig lobbed photon grenades at them.

"This way out," Sarek said calmly and led them to a loading dock that exploded in front of them from a Hovra blast.

"This way, then," he waved them down another corridor he'd memorized from the building plans. They blasted their way through a set of steel doors and into the maze of the port's dry-dock.

"Where's yer yacht, Obsta?" Maja hissed at the NzrealiCheq.

"This way, this way," Obsta hissed back as they flew along walkway after walkway. Reaching a sleek white ship, he pulled a wicked looking tool out of his pocket and got the door open.

The five flung themselves inside, trying to catch their breath.

Mogra sat in the pilot seat and conjured the power on. Raising the shields, he began the pre-flight sequence. The little craft rocked on its supports as the Hovra blasts got closer and closer.

Maja stood in the middle of the luxurious cabin torn between demanding to be let out with Sarek and staying along for the ride. It was still his gut feeling that they were safest with Obsta as long as the NzrealiCheq didn't do any more stupid improvisations like the one he'd just witnessed. As long as Sarek didn't encourage him to do any more stupid improvisations like the one he'd just witnessed. Never happen, can't trust the Fira any farther than I can throw him,' Maja thought wildly. 'Let us out. Now.'

As if reading his thought, Taig pulled the machine gun off Maja's shoulder and the Fira removed the phaser pistol and knife from Maja's belt.

Maja relaxed down into a crouch to lunge for Obsta's throat. He was restrained by Sarek's warm hand on his elbow and his gentle, "Maja, come sit with me, please, I am feeling fatigued by events." Sarek drew him to a couch aft. Suddenly drained, Maja curled into Sarek's arms and might have wept in relief and frustration were they not observed.

Sarek patted his half Mage comfortingly and looked up to find Taig's eyes on them as he stood next to Obsta in the co-pilot seat. He found Taig's face unreadable and turned his attention back to Maja.

They lifted off and skimmed low over the city and water and didn't rise out of the planet's gravitational field until they were over the southern pole, where the pirate ships were thinnest.

They could not notice the small ship following them just out of sensor range but Maja, now that he had the leisure to do so, could not stop thinking of the pair of tall pale beings that disappeared when he shifted his vision from form and color to emanations.

'What kind of being,' he wondered sleepily against Sarek, 'in the infinite mystery of god's creation has no emanation?'

* * *

/ ... the MageCheq...sssssstronger than I thought../

/.... knowssss what he isssss...?.../

/... no....but knowsss how to ussse it .../

/.... yesss..... bound for....?...../

/......Gyvrre....Gyvrre..../

* * *

Mogra was better at take off than landing and this was not lost on the denizens of the office building he crashed into in the city of Kri, on the planet Gyvrre.

"Great landing, Mog, couldn't have done better myself," Maja snarled, prying open the hatch and kicking debris out of the way.

"Fuck you, Maja, next time you can..."

"There will be no next time, pal."

"Children, children, Obsta Fira has a headache so why don't you just shut up?" Obsta asked, guiding them away from the wreck, into the street and as swiftly as their legs could carry them.

They stopped to catch their breath.

"Where are we, Obsta?" Sarek asked, trying to orient himself to the new terrain.

"Kri, on Gyvrre."

"What do you know about it?"

"Not much, I've never been here before but I know they speak Patois and trade with the Tziviians."

"Trade with? Not work for?" Maja wanted to know.

"Yes, dearie." Obsta looked him in the eye. "This is one of the planets the original Tziviians come from so it's more advanced than Imk."

Maja and Sarek exchanged glances, wondering what kind of psychic assaults they might have to endure here.

"What kind of money do they use and do we have any?" Taig asked.

"Pirate doubloons and the local loot and no, we don't got any," Obsta told him, eyeing Maja. "But we do have something to sell."

Maja stared him down and turned to Sarek, who was looking at him in a speculative fashion.

"Just to get us started, Maja dahling," Obsta encouraged.

"I'm not dressed for it," Maja shot back, thinking of the rich fabrics and furs he'd left on Imk.

"But you look marvelous, darrrling, simply marvelous," Taig purred at him. "Very young and vulnerable."

"Yes, indeed you do, Maja dear," Mogra oozed and got a sneer in answer.

Maja rolled his eyes and considered his wardrobe: black leggings and a baggy blue sweater. He looked like a cute young guy in his knock around clothes but not at all like the expensive sex worker he was.

"Well?" he asked Sarek.

"I leave it to you, Maja, I am already in your debt," Sarek said simply.

"We all are," Obsta put in quickly, Taig and Mogra murmuring 'yes, yes, very much so' behind him.

Maja looked at the light and knew the day was wearing on and that soon they would need to make some arrangement for the night, but where?

"Oh, hell," he sighed and pushed his unruly locks into some kind of order. He stepped into the street and was nearly knocked down by a hovertaxi.

"Git the fuck otta the street, gyharine!" the driver screamed at him in Patois.

The passenger, a well dressed middle aged man, leaned out of the window to take a closer look at Maja.

"I'm so sorry driver, I didn't see you were engaged," Maja said innocently in Patois.

"That's still no reason to run this young man down, driver," the well dressed middle aged man scolded, stepping out of the vehicle. "Do you need a ride, sir?" he asked Maja, "I'd be happy to share this taxi with you."

"Oh, thank you," Maja sighed, getting into the cab. "I would be much obliged to you."

Twenty minutes later Maja returned driving the cab with enough money for a room and meals for all. No one asked him any questions.

* * *

end of part 32

This story also lives at http://members.tripod.com/karmen_ghia/

Appendices: http://members.tripod.com/karmen_ghia/atrappendices.html

Request: If I cited something from one of your stories or someone you know, please let me know via email at karmen_ghia@yahoo.com or karmen_ghia@hotmail.com or leave me a note on the guestbook at http://www.oocities.org/Paris/Tower/2547/atr.hmtl Please be specific on the who and the what because I plan to thank all the sources for this (aside from those in my head) but I've read so much slash, fanfic, erotica, and other that it's all just a big melange and I can't remember most of who wrote what or where it came from. It is very possible that I unwittingly have referred to an event or a character from someone else's work and I would very much like to thank them for writing something so terrific that it penetrated so deeply into my subconscious that not even I realized it was there. Until you let me know. So please, help me out if you are so inclined. Thanks.