JP Lieutenant JG John Kendrick & Lieutenant-Commander T'Lea - The Gain of Time, Part 6
Jon Van Pelt
((The Wanderer, Cargo Hold 4, moments before))
The bulky Romulan Male had positioned himself in front of T'Lea who was still laying on hands and knees on the transporter pad. It seemed he wanted to protect her at all costs. Considering the fact that he only had his body to throw into a fight while John was holding both a laser pistol and a phaser, it meant this Romulan was willing to die for her.
With the back of his left hand, John wiped the sweat from his forehead. It almost felt like he was starting to get feverish. Realizing he was showing symptoms that were probably related to Pon Farr, he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep a clear head much longer. He turned to his right and handed over the Romulan phaser to Moa.
On his left stood Brikane with both hands still firmly around the fire axe. Although they weren’t Starfleet officers, they had gained enough experience over the years to keep this situation under control if he should lose control of himself.
Raivus: ::innocently:: Perhaps you should fight for her.
John looked up at the older Romulan woman. He wondered who she was and how she related to T'Lea’s arch nemesis, called Dal Selta. Speaking of the Dal: where was she anyway? Little did he know it would be his final moment of clarity before all hell would break loose.
Kal-if-fee. Fighting for the right to mate with her was a terrible idea, thought T’Lea. She reached up and shoved the male Romulan off the transporter padd and in Kendrick’s direction. Part of her wanted exactly that to happen -- the Vulcan part that was starved for a worthy mate.
Surprised by T'Lea’s move, John dropped his laser pistol as he pushed back against the Romulan Male. Realizing he might go for the pistol, John kicked it out of the way.
From the moment his hands had made contact with the Romulan Male, it felt like the two of them were chained to each other with the only possible way to break the link was for one of them to die. It was as if something had clicked in his mind. He looked past the Romulan, at T'Lea, and felt every muscle in his body tensing up. He wanted her. His body craved for her touch. He had known this truth from the very first time he had stared into those beautiful, almost mesmerising blue eyes of hers, when he was feeling sick and miserable down in that dark tunnel on Aturn VII.
As he looked back at the Romulan, he could see the red squiggly lines in his eyes. John knew his competitor felt the same yearning as he did and just like him longed for blood to be shed. As John raised both his fists, he signaled his opponent he was ready for battle.
Unfortunately for them, there was someone else in the room who saw things a little bit differently.
Moa: ::worried:: John, are you OK?
John kept his fists up and his eyes on the Romulan.
Kendrick: Do not interfere. This is something between him and me.
Challenge accepted? A sudden rise in dopamine flooded T’Lea’s system, which counteracted some of the ill effects she’d been suffering. Her eyes brightened at John’s commitment.
Brikane’s eyes pointed Moa towards the sweat on John’s forehead. He too realised something wasn’t quite right with the Starfleet kid.
Moa: Look, I don’t care if you two use each other as punching bags, but the old man doesn’t pay us enough to scrub your blood stains off this deck.
Ravius: ::soothingly:: Then perhaps you should return the three of us back to the surface. This is a family matter that really does not concern you, or your crew.
Moa pointed her phaser at the Romulan woman.
Moa: Well lady, as you might have noticed I'm the only one still holding a phaser here, so here’s some advice for you: ::angry:: keep your damn mouth shut!
T'Lea: Feel free to shoot my mother in the frelling face.
Clarity. The introduction of Kal-if-fee had brought back a narrow, but cognizant stream of clarity to T’Lea’s chemically unstable Vulcan mind. The prospects of having a victorious mate seemed to dissolve some of the uncertainty, anxiety, and desperation that was driving her toward insanity so quickly. Now that there was an end to the madness in sight the panic was waning.
The ritual had begun and one champion would emerge, alive. And the champion that T’Lea desired the most was evident in how fixated she was on John as he prepared to fight for the right to mate with her.
Oddly enough, under any other circumstances T’Lea would have found the situation stupid and barbaric, with slight undertones of sick amusement entwined therein. But this was a serious business.
This was life and death.
His and hers.
And the fact that John was willing to face a challenger that was superior in strength, and meet him as an equal on the battlefield was incredibly sexy, and it made T’Lea lust after him even more.
However, in that very same nano-second a faint blip of logic leads to a few concerning questions. Why was he doing this for her? Why was he risking his life for her? And why was she letting him?
One small answer pinged off her telepathic radar.
It had to be him.
That was why she sent John the subspace message and not somebody else. It had to be him. For now that was the only answer she needed.
As John heard T'Lea speak out the word ‘mother’, for a split second he lost his focus. That was all the Romulan Male needed to stretch out his right leg, and with one swift move, he managed to tackle John straight down to the floor.
In that tiny moment Kendrick had gone from champion to idiot in T’Lea’s eyes. She dropped back into a seated position, and slumped on one hand. The intense stimulation of her senses had suddenly plummeted from excitement to utter disappointment. Shaking her head in disbelief at John’s sudden demise, she looked across the room and silently urged him to, “get up and fight you fool!” Her hand scooted forward an inch on the glassy transporter platform as if secretly wanting to help him.
Romulan Male: Hevam hnaev!
Angling for leverage, and hoping her words would trigger the correct reaction out of the Romulan Male, Raivus casually spoke up as the assault progressed in his favor.
Ravius: Save your man’s life and transport us back to the planet’s surface.
Ignoring the Romulan woman, Moa quickly looked down at her phaser. Although only moments ago she had threatened to use it, the truth was she didn’t know how a Romulan phaser worked. She punched a few keys on the phaser, hoping the bloody thing had a stun setting and aimed it straight at the Romulan Male.
Ignoring everything else that was going on around them, the Romulan jumped on John, grabbed him by his jacket and started punching him in the face with such force it was clear to everyone this was indeed a fight to the death.
Moa looked at Brikane, as if asking permission to fire.
With his back turned to him, the Romulan was an easy target for him and his axe. But Brikane shivered at the thought of plunging the blade of his axe between the man’s shoulders. Brikane hated violence. Why should he even have to consider killing someone when their fight didn't even concern him or his crewmates.
Realizing she couldn’t wait for Brikane, Moa closed her eyes and pushed the key to fire her phaser, hoping the Romulan wouldn’t explode in a thousand pieces and cover herself and the deck in blood and body parts.
The Romulan Male was relentless. John’s face was bruised, his left eye swollen. Just as he was about to lose consciousness, the Romulan pulled back his arm for one final blow.
As the Romulan screamed and his fist hurled for John’s jaw, he was stopped midway by a yellow beam in his chest. Angry and confused, and with his full weight, he fell down on John.
Moa lowered her phaser, relieved she had been spared her worst nightmare.
Moa: ::worried:: I didn’t kill him, did I?
Raivus had been looking for an opportunity to gain the upper-hand during the brief fight, but the Romulan Male, Ajen, had taken the challenge for her daughter too personally, and had not capitalized on a potential hostage situation when it had presented itself. Dumbass. He deserved death, she thought.
Ravius: If so, you may have won the honor of my daughter.
It was one last ditch effort to manipulate the situation and pit a crewmember against a crewmember.
Out of the corner of Raivus’s eye she saw T’Lea suddenly rise to her feet in anticipation of the outcome. Or perhaps it was concern for the pathetic human?
Kendrick: ::out of breath:: Will someone please get him off of me?
Brikane stepped over to John, kneeled down next to him and placed his axe on the floor as he rolled the Romulan off of John.
As John tried to sit straight he looked at the Romulan laying next to him. He leaned forward to take the man’s neck pulse.
Kendrick: He’s alive…
Realizing he didn’t lose the fight… but hadn’t won it either…
Kendrick: Too bad…
As he felt the room spinning around him like a whirlwind, he dropped back down to the floor and closed his eyes.
TBC in Part 7
Lieutenant Commander T’Lea
First Officer
USS Juneau
Author ID I238301T10
&
Lieutenant JG John Kendrick
Security
USS Juneau, NX-99801
Author ID J239801JK3