Flashback - Diane Carey [78]
Sulu shrugged understandingly. "No different from the rest of us, Ensign. Don't forget that. I think more Vulcans should join Starfleet. We need you.
Not just for your rigorous logic, but other things. Together, I think we're stronger."
The two fell silent for a moment, and during that time Captain Sulu should have gotten up to leave. After all, the conversation had run its course.
Oddly, though, he stayed right where he was, sitting on the desk with one foot swinging a little, his arms folded, and his shoulder pressed to the edge of the mirror.
Tuvok clasped his hands behind his back and waited, not having the slightest idea of what to do or say next. Perhaps this was just a time to stand at parade rest and let the officer decide what would happen. And a Vulcan could stand at parade rest for a heck of a long time.
Captain Sulu had an odd smirk on his face, as if he were thinking of a joke but not telling it.
"What time is it?" the captain asked then.
"Thirteen sixteen, sir."
"Ah. A minute late."
"I beg your pardon, sir?"
The door chimed again then, and despite the fact that this was Tuvok's cabin, Captain Sulu invited, "Come in."
The panel parted, and a looming presence entered the half-light. Narrow and imposing, the uniformed figure filled the doorway briefly, then stepped in.
"Glad you could make it," Sulu greeted, and finally pushed off the desk. "Captain Spock, this is Ensign Tuvok."
"Good afternoon, Ensign." Captain Spock's voice
was heavy, low, laden with his years of experience, and surprisingly at ease. "Captain."
"Captain," Sulu returned, faking the formality and still smirking. "Thank you for coming. How is everything on the Enterprise?"
"Quite well. The captain and Dr. McCoy suffered no ill effects of their incarceration, and the conspirators have been remanded to Starfleet Headquarters to be charged with the assassination of Gorkon and the attempted assassination of the president. The peace accords are progressing with renewed vigor, I might add."
"I'll bet. If you'll excuse me."
"Certainly."
"Ensign, perhaps we'll talk again." With a nod, Sulu glanced at Tuvok and then headed for the door and left quite unceremoniously.
Spock was a dominating presence, though he was as subdued as fog. He made no pointless gestures or movements, but gazed at Tuvok with a certain contemplative dispassion. Though they seemed to understand each other, at least on some basic level of courteous behavior and expectation, the air of tension in the room was noticeably heightened.
"A difficult decision," Captain Spock began, as if he had been there all along. "I remember my own."
Menacing in his way, Captain Spock seemed mannerly, pacific, but with undercurrents of expression that he wasn't afraid to have seen, even by another Vulcan. Evidently, he was past that. Every phrase carried a subsense.
"I have learned great admiration for humans," he
granted. "They have accomplished a great deal despite the chaos of their emotions."
"Accepted," Tuvok endorsed. "However, no matter the level of efficiency and accomplishment among them, I have discovered that I have difficulty fitting in. I do not believe I can contribute here. If I am continually awkward in my comprehension of humans, and cause confrontations of the sort-of a sort that will upheave already tense situations, then I am in fact . . . detracting from the ship's efficiency. There are now occurrences which I cannot ignore."
Spock nodded with his own personal style, and straightforwardly said, "You may speak freely, Ensign."
Taken by surprise, Tuvok evidently thought he had been speaking freely.
After a few seconds, though, he did find something to say. "Thank you, sir." In spite of the gratitude, Tuvok remained deeply disturbed at admitting the core of his troubles. "I bordered on mutiny today, sir, in this latest event