Title: After the Rescue

Part: NEW 61/73

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

Legend: * * * separates events in time; ~ separates events that are more or less simultaneous.

See part one for disclaimers, etc.

"Maja," Sarek said when they were outside. "You need not defend my son at school." Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Jir watching them.

"It seemed necessary," Maja said sincerely.

"My son is a Vulcan, these are his people, he must learn to live with them," Sarek said firmly.

"Even if they are cruel to him?"

Sarek looked down and saw Maja suffering for Spock. He recognized it because it was how Amanda looked when she suffered for Spock. "My son was misguided in his actions. He has nothing to prove to anyone."

"No, Sarekanas. He must prove he is twice the Vulcan they are because he is only half Vulcan," Maja said sadly. "Can't he simply be Spock?" Maja groped to make himself understood. He lowered his eyes in shame that he did not have the words to explain to Spock's father how special Spock was.

Sarek refused to understand. "Spock is my son and therefore a Vulcan. He must learn to behave as a Vulcan and a member of his clan." Sarek tilted Maja's chin up to look in his eyes. "Maja, understand me, you will not succeed here if you argue with adults as you are arguing with me. You must learn our ways and one of them is that children do not argue with adults."

"Yes, sir." Maja wondered if he wanted to succeed in a place that could be so cruel to Spock. Even his father was rather cruel. But he didn't want to fight with the Vulcan right then. He felt close to tears anyway when he thought of how Spock had suffered that day. But he was cheered by the fact they would all be going back to school tomorrow.

"Very well." Sarek released the half Mage's pointed chin. "If he is not busy, I will bring Spock on my next visit." He was rewarded with a sunny smile that touched his core. 'I must get away from these empaths,' was his only thought. 'They have the oddest effect on one.'

"Good night, Sarekanas," Maja said softly.

"Good night then, Maja."

* * *

"You've been away for quite a while," Hobie said, leading Sarek, recently returned from Terra, into the wine cellar.

"A year, Hobie," Sarek said. "I understand you've had a run in with Lord Smravit."

Hobie turned at the bottom of the stair and looked up, his face closed and hard. "Smravit had the wrong idea."

"How so?" Sarek asked. He knew the details from Smravit himself but he wanted to hear Hobie's side of it.

"I'm not for sale." Hobie progressed down the aisle, looking for bottles of white burgundy. "You Vulcans have some fancy word for it - what? protege, I think - but we called things by their right name in the Zoltir bazaar on Magidrian."

"Which is?"

"Gyharine." Hobie snarled. "Prostitute. I didn't become one there; I won't become one here."

"That was no one's intention, Hobie....."

"D'you think I don't know, Sarek?" Hobie sighed. "D'you think I don't know lust when I see it? I didn't break his nose to amuse myself, I broke it because he grabbed my ass and wouldn't stop when I said no." He looked at Sarek with eyes older than his seventeen years.

"Your lyre playing is much admired," Sarek said slowly. "It was merely Smravit's intention to have you play for him for a few hours. In return the Sas would have received a very generous fee for the afternoon."

"Well, Lord Sarek," Hobie said formally. "Since I was there and you were not," he paused meaningfully, "I must conclude that based on the evidence that was before my eyes, it was Lord Smravit's intention to fuck me. And, in return the Sas would have received a very generous fee for the afternoon." Hobie held up a bottle to read the label. "That is why the Sas said nothing when I returned well before time and Smravit didn't send along the fee." He looked at Sarek. "They've lost their touch, these Sas. Apparently in your great great great great grandfather's time, they pimped SaKoza from the house instead of sending him out to deliver."

"You're spending too much time with the redshirts in the Port." Sarek was repelled by the street boy he was now seeing in Hobie. Too many refined evenings at the Sas, speaking Klingonese, listening to him play sublimely on the lyre, looking into his eyes ..... It had blinded him to the gutter snipe survivor that Hobie really was.

"They're honest men. They take no for an answer when you say no and no messing about." Hobie handed him a bottle to inspect. "I'll take one of them over a thousand Smravits."

"It is unseemly to spend your time in the shipyards, Hobie. There has been speculation that you are having sex with the redshirts." Sarek handed the bottle back. "Not this one, it is too young."

"Me, or the wine?"

"The wine."

"I want to join Star Fleet and become a redshirt."

"That would be a complete waste of your talents, intelligence and education."

"And becoming a lyre playing gyharine whore for hire is the proper use of them?"

"That, Hobie, is wildly improbable."

"You weren't there."

Hearing the rage and sorrow in Hobie's voice, Sarek paused to allow the youth to recover.

"You can't judge other Vulcans by yourself, Sarek, they're not all like you. Some of them, most of them, are cruel to offworlders, half breeds, anyone who is different. You refuse to see this, even when it hurts ... hurts people you know." Hobie paused to calm down. "Here, it's the same as everywhere, you have to watch your back. Terrible things happen when you don't - to you, to the ones you love - when you think you're safe but you really aren't. The difference is that here you don't see it coming because the man smiles and offers you wine and listens to what you say before he leaps on you. I fought Smravit off because he would have raped me otherwise. And I don't care if you believe me or not."

"If this is true, Hobie, then he should be prosecuted."

"I think he paid the Sas off later. Sonza told me to forget whatever happened. I think Smravit was going to pay all our school fees. The Sas are quite hard up at the moment." Hobie looked up at him. "How did you find out?"

"Sredia heard it from Smravit's houseman. He was concerned that you might have misunderstood."

"If the houseman saw it, then he misunderstood."

"He only saw Smravit's broken nose after you left. I asked Smravit himself about it, he thinks you misunderstood as well."

"But I did not," Hobie said quietly. He looked over the dark cellar, wishing Maja would come down and distract them. But Sarek had brought Spock tonight and Maja had whisked him upstairs to show him a mural he was painting of all their friends at Middle School. Why was life so difficult? Why was there nowhere for him to lay his head and sleep knowing he and his brothers were safe? He swallowed the painful lump in his throat. "Please give Sredia my thanks for his concern."

"I shall." Sarek hoisted a bottle to the light and rejected it as well. "Do you really want to join Star Fleet?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Three reasons: I want to build starships."

"SaCriz tells me you have some talent in engineering design. You could build starships for a Vulcan firm after you attend the Institute," Sarek suggested.

"Why do you want me to stay on Vulcan?"

"I do not if you do not want to. I think you would be wasting yourself in Star Fleet."

"Then you won't like the second reason I want to join."

"Tell me."

"On the journey here, the people most kind to me were the Lexington redshirts. I like redshirts, they're nice honest people, I want to be with them." Hobie handed him a bottle, which was rejected for its immaturity and reshelved.

"And the third reason?"

"To get away from here."

"Why, Hobie? You seemed content here, you succeed in school, I understand you are popular. Has the incident with Smravit so poisoned Vulcan for you that you wish to leave it?"

"No, it's not that. I'm content here because it's safe for my brothers until they're big enough to take care of themselves. But for me - there's nothing here for me. I can't really explain it but I know that if I search hard for it, I'll find what I'm looking for."

"Which is?"

"I don't know but I know it's not here."

"Illogical."

"Yes. Very." Hobie nodded. "These are older." He handed Sarek a bottle, which was accepted. And another, also accepted. Hobie turned to go.

Sarek hesitated. "I brought you something from Terra." He produced a small package from his robe. "It is a jew's harp," he explained as Hobie examined the strange instrument.

"What is jews?"

"Are, Hobie, what *are* jews," Sarek corrected. "They members of an ancient Terran religion."

"Ah," Hobie said, twanging the harp in his fingers. "Is it a sacred instrument?" He stopped twanging it.

"I think not, Hobie."

"Oh. How's it played?"

"It goes into your mouth."

"Show me." Hobie held the circular object out. Seeing Sarek hesitate, he added: "On me." He added, tilting his head back.

Sarek turned the harp in his hands and leaned forward, gently pushing Hobie's mouth open. In the middle of placing the instrument under the half Mage lips, Sarek realized he'd never touched Hobie before. It was pleasant, the energy just above the Mage dermis was cool with a light vibration, the way the Terran atmosphere feels just before a thunder storm. He let his fingers linger somewhat longer than necessary.

Something in Hobie told him to step back but he did not. Never taking his eyes from Sarek's, he reached up and twanged the harp. Instinctively, he experimented with vocal tone in the buzz. He became quite absorbed in exploring the instrument's possiblities. He wondered how it would feel to have Sarek lean down and just barely touch his lips to his ....

Sarek leaned, drawn inrresistibly, until his mouth was, in fact, just barely touching Hobie's vibrating lips. He moved a fraction to explore a new location and intensity of sensation and vibration. He never took his eyes from Hobie's.

Hobie moved slightly too, just to see what different tones, locations and pressures would produce on the instrument. On him. On Sarek. He shuddered convulsively when Sarek drew his tongue along his lower lip.

Realizing he'd gone too far, the Vulcan straightened and stepped back.

Hobie recovered, played a moment longer and pulled the shiny metal circle out of his mouth. "Thank you," he said simply and led them out of the cellar.

"Trouble finding the wine?" SerNera asked when they emerged.

"Yes. Much of it is too young," Sarek told him, uncorking the bottle and setting it aside to breathe. "It will, however, be a formidable collection of wine in twenty years or so."

"Perhaps you'll still be coming for conversation then, Sarek." He handed Sarek the other bottle. "We'll compare them, shall we? I've promised to send a decanter of the better one up to SaBrzia when we've decided." They talked about Sarek's latest stay on Terra, what the Terrans were doing and 'news' about Vulcans of their mutual acquaintance. Sarek poured two glasses out of each bottle and they drank in silence. Hobie looked on quietly, compressing his lips into a tiny smile remembering, just remembering.

"I believe this is the superior bottle, SerNera." Sarek pointed to the bottle nearest him.

"I am inclined to agree with you," SerNera said, as he hoisted the other bottle and poured half of it into a decanter and handed it to Hobie. "Take this to SaBrzia. If he askes you, say you know nothing about wine, which is true and hurry back." SerNera was surprised to see the usually dour half Mage smile warmly as he set off on his errand. He could not know Hobie was smiling because Sarek would have more of the superior bottle.

SerNera and Sarek drank in peace for a moment, until Sarek judged Hobie was out of earshot and asked his question:

"How much do you need a year for their school fees?"

* * *

"Are you disappointed?" Sarek had asked.

"I am devastated," Hobie said quietly. He looked over the mountains from the balcony of Sarek's villa. He watched the sun dip behind them and listened to the silence. His brothers, Spock and Amanda were in Shirkar. "Why did they send you to tell me?"

"The Terran ambassador was concerned that there might be what he termed 'bad feelings' between our planets if Star Fleet's decision was not properly conveyed."

"Why would there be 'bad feelings' between your planets because Star Fleet refused to have a half caste Mage street boy in it?"

"I do not agree with their decision but I understand why they made it."

"Why? To torture me?"

"No. The administrators at Star Fleet Academy read the reports from the doctors, your adopted fathers, on Magidrian. They spoke to your teachers here. They asked T'Lau to evaluate your telepathic ability and how it would affect your relationships to Terrans in the confines of starship. She concluded you would shield and not be problematic. However, Star Fleet was more interested in her evaluation of your natural telepathic abilities, than your technique for using or not using them, as the case may be. They were especially interested in your empathic ability but T'Lau could not really provide any information on it. Apparently, you and your brothers have learned to shield it from everyone but yourselves and perhaps some of the Sas. As there is evidence of one, they evaluated your relationship with the Klingons, Admiral KzostGhet in particular. Although you scored higher on the entrance exam than any applicant in the history of the Star Fleet Academy, you were rejected because they fear you and your telapathic ability."

"But I am harmless. You know that." Hobie thought back on what never happened again in the cellar. He and Sarek had kept their distance in the previous year.

"I know you are benign, Hobie. The Terrans are an illogical species. They could not be convinced that you are not a threat to them." Sarek wondered if he could have been more convincing in his appeal on Hobie's behalf to the Terran ambassador. Although he did not examine why, it did not displease him to have Hobie remain on Vulcan.

"What will I do?" Hobie had had his heart so set on the Academy, he truly saw only a void before him.

"Go to the Institute or the Conservatory. I believe you were offered places at both."

Hobie was silent, watching the shadows devour the foothills and trying to shove together some kind of palatable future out of the debris before him. It was not easy so he gave up. He let down his shields and reached to his brothers for comfort. Love from all but also sorrow from Maja, anger from Jir, sympathy from Ling. 'It will be all right, it will be all right,' he told himself as much as them. He raised his shields and turned to find Sarek studying him.

"What will you do, Hobie?"

"I dunno. The best I can, I guess."

Sarek arched an eyebrow but said nothing. Neither of them moved.

"Why did you bring me here?" Hobie asked after a little more silence went by.

"I thought you might wish to have some privacy in which to receive the news."

"Were you concerned that I might have an uncontrollable emotional episode?" Hobie let some of his bitterness show.

"No. But I knew Star Fleet's decision would cause you pain," Sarek paused in spite of himself, "that I would rather you did not have."

"Thanks," Hobie said. "That's the trouble with wanting, the not getting." He looked up to meet Sarek's gaze and found more than the usual polite interest there. Not lust, not anger, not fear, not laughter ... compassion? Was that all? Really all? Hobie found himself thinking about the night in the cellar when Sarek gave him the jew's harp. There had been other little gifts, for his brothers as well, but not like that. "You never touched me again after that," he said quietly.

"No." Sarek knew exactly what he was talking about; they were thinking the same thing. "It was inappropriate and unwise."

"To let your guard down for one moment?"

"And you as well, Hobie. You let me see you and my response was merely desire, misguided and uncalled for desire," Sarek said quietly, watching the lamplight glide over Hobie's pure cheek.

"And never again with us, all those trips down the cellar, we never lost ourselves, even for a moment, did we?"

"It would have been inappropriate for both of us, Hobie."

Hobie looked out into the darkness. 'Ah, that's my future, stumbling around in the pitch black,' he thought ruefully but said: "When I was a boy on Magidrian, I'd listen to the monks talking to each other at night. I remember one of them once said that the infinite mind of god can imagine better plans for us than we can with our humble minds. And if we cannot see god's grace everywhere, then we are obviously not looking hard enough." He looked up at Sarek with naked eyes. "D'you think that's true, Vulcan?"

"I have no idea, Hobie." Sarek reached out to stroke the tear off Hobie's cheek. It seemed appropriate to him to pull the youth into his arms.

After the initial surprise, Hobie relaxed into the Vulcan's arms. 'Ah, well. If I'm not going to Star Fleet staying with Sarek is not the worst possible thing,' he thought practically and nestled a little more.

Sarek was pleased by this docility in Hobie. It was a side the half Mage had never let him see before. He found that he was in no great hurry to release him. "So, what will you do?" he murmured into Hobie's hair.

"Right now or eventually?"

"Eventually."

"I guess I'll go to the Institute," Hobie sighed. "The Sas claim one can get a half way decent education there."

"I did."

"I know. I'll study what they can teach me about starship design and see what happens. Perhaps ..." Hobie trailed off, surprised that he had almost said 'perhaps I'll build my own fleet and become a pirate'. "I don't know. I have a few years to kill at the Institute. I'll worry about tomorrow when it's tomorrow. And you, Sarek, what will you do?"

"The same as I have been doing," Sarek answered. "Visit you Talljets and the Sas for Klingon conversation. Nothing has changed."

"Nothing?" Hobie asked from his arms.

"Nothing," Sarek answered, not letting go.

"Hmmm," Hobie observed skeptically.

Placing his hands firmly on Hobie's shoulders, Sarek stepped back to look into the half Mage's eyes. "Hobie, I am sexually attracted to you and I believe it is reciprocated."

"How romantic."

"I am a Vulcan, we are not romantics."

"Then how diplomatic."

"I am not negotiating a treaty, Hobie, I am asking you to become my lover."

"Why?"

"Why?" Sarek marshalled his thoughts, realizing this was not going to be as simple and straightforward as he'd thought. "Why? You have a fire that warms me, Hobie. You are elegant, exquisite; you play the Vulcan lyre with more grace than I have ever heard before. You possess extraodinary intelligence and can be quite logical when it suits you." He paused to listen to Hobie chuckle, encouraged. "And when something delights you, an undefinable energy surges from you and pleases me very much. Do you agree? Will you have me as your lover?"

"Yes, I agree."

"Why?"

"Why not?" Hobie asked, forstalling Sarek's embrace. "What about your wife?"

"I would prefer she did not know."

"Ah. I'm a big secret."

"Would you prefer a more formal arrangement?"

"Vulcan concubinage? Barely tolerated by the matriarchy? A little house on an unfashionable backstreet, unsatisfyingly hasty visits and hours of waiting for them? No, thanks. That cloistered, shunned, shadowy demimondial seems to ruin lives more than anything. I deserve better."

"I thought so, that is why I did not offer it to you." Sarek laced his hands in Hobie's ebony curls and pulled him close.

"Not so fast, Vulcan." Hobie laid his fists on Sarek's chest. "There are some things I want before I hand over my virginity..."

"Are you?"

"Yes. Don't look so shocked."

"I am merely surprised, and pleased as well. I know you have had no lovers since you came here but I thought, perhaps - before, on Magidrian - you had." Sarek watched Hobie shake his head. "What are these things you want?"

"I want you to pay for my brothers' educations."

"I had planned to do so anyway. Yours as well."

"I'll be earning mine from you."

"I had planned to do so, even before I wished to realize my sexual desires for you."

"Really? Why?"

"I find you Talljets interesting. I think you all have fascinating futures here." Hobie narrowed his eyes at him. "You need not be concerned about your brothers, Hobie. I find only you sexually interesting."

"Oh, what an honor!"

Sarek arched an eyebrow and decided against informing the half Mage that it was, in fact, an honor. "Is that all you want?"

"Where will we meet?"

"Here, if that suits you." He watched Hobie frown. "Or, I can purchase another villa, if you would prefer."

"I would prefer that since your family spends its summers here."

"Yes. I will see to it." Sarek let part of his mind tick over the luxurious new villas he'd noticed advertised a few weeks ago. They were almost as sleek and elegant as the youth that stood before him.

"You're in this for the long run, if you're willing to buy and not just rent a villa for me." Hobie stated.

"Yes." Sarek answered with a simplicity that touched Hobie's core. "You are so complex, Hobie, so many levels, so much restrained passion, so intelligent and so beautiful. For now, I can only offer you this limited part of my life, but in the future, I will always have you with me."

Hobie nodded and stepped forward into Sarek's arms. 'You plan well for your future, don't you, Vulcan? How well you know that Terrans live less than half as long as we do,' he thought shrewdly.

"I do not wish to lose you by waiting too long, Hobie," Sarek said, seeming to answer Hobie's thought. "And you will be very busy with your education for some time to come. Neither of us can devote ourselves full time to the other. Do you understand?" Sarek leaned back to look into Hobie's eyes.

"Yes. I understand." Hobie reached up to run his fingertips over Sarek's jaw and around his ear. "Perhaps you should stop talking now."

~

".... penalty for perjury in a Federation court?"

"Yes, I understand," Sarek said in the dock.

~

Sarek tilted Hobie's chin up to look into his eyes. He ran his thumb over the MageCheq's soft lips before bringing his own down on them.

~

"The Vulcan Interplanetary Ministry has requested certain restrictions on this witness' testimony that this Court will abide by as much as possible." Lord Suqiet announced before Lapham rose to question Sarek. "All questions must be phrased as yes or no questions. The Judges will request elaboration as we require it."

~

They stood, unmoving in this embrace until their telefields stabilized at the same harmonic.

~

"As part of your diplomatic duties for the Vulcan Interplanetary Ministry, did you ask Captain Talljet to board and take the cargo, Mezian ore, off a transport ship in orbit around Meza 6 during the riots there?" Lapham asked.

"No."

~

Feeling Hobie relax, Sarek pulled him a little closer. The Vulcan removed his lips to Hobie's long neck and was pleased when Hobie's arms tightened around him.

~

"As part of your diplomatic duties for the Vulcan Interplanetary Ministry, did you ask Captain Talljet to attack, board and loot an Ithintian private freighter carrying dilithium crystals en route to Yksta 8?"

"No.

~

end of part 61

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