Broken Promises

Posted on Wed Oct 11th, 2023 @ 10:18am by Lieutenant Commander Keishara Davaris
Edited on on Sat Oct 14th, 2023 @ 10:02pm

2,350 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Year One: Whispers in the Wind
Location: USS Moore - Captain's Quarters
Timeline: MD 009: 1030 hrs

How could Stryvek just tell Evelyn about their mind meld? Yes, it was used to save her life after she had saved his but it was never to be spoken about again aside from the two of them. He swore an oath, they both did once she was able to speak again.

An intensely private thing for Vulcans, or so she was told, so she had heard about. So, he goes and blabs about it? That doesn't sound like him but she knew there'd been a strange energy on the ship since he took 'unwell'.

Stryvek had seen her past. All of those things she'd kept hidden deep let out for him to see, for him to feel and experience.

The terror of doors slamming when she was a slave. The fear of encroaching footsteps and noises so vivid they would keep you awake for days. The feelings of helplessness, of powerlessness when they... well, 'took advantage' of her weak state and lack of fight.

The anger when she eventually worked up the courage to fight back properly. The rage when she chased her kidnapped, her slaver, down and sunk the blow that killed him.

Sadness at being alone. Loneliness at the life she'd lived to that point, of not wanting to get close to people because eventually they let you down.

Gradually she had been growing, changing for the better but he'd still seen the depths of depravity and hellish worlds she'd been a part of.

Pressing the chime to the door she balled and then un-balled her fists as she tried to calm herself. She'd not noticed she had been pacing in a small zone outside the door.

"You may enter." Stryvek said and assumed it was Evelyn on the other side of the door. He was surprised to see that it was Keishara. It had only been about a day since the bonding and Stryvek still felt some of the emotional surges that came with Pon Faar. "Keishara it is a pleasant surprise. Please take a seat. What brings..." His voice trailed off as a small amount of unbidden anger welled up within him. His face contorted briefly as he managed to push the anger back to wherever it came from. "...What brings you here? Would you like a refreshment?"

Keishara moved into his quarters with a little more speed than she would normally. She began to pace once again as if working up the courage to speak when in fact it was only her trying to quell her temper. Then she stopped dead and looked at her Captain, her friend. "You told Evelyn? You promised our mind meld would stay between us?!" her voice raised.

Deep within his Vulcan mind the anger toward Evelyn welled. She had told something she learned while in his mind. This was something that she should have never done. Now Stryvek would have to explain something extremely personal to one of his oldest friends. "First I need you to calm down a bit. Secondly I will tell you that I did not tell Evelyn anything, I would never break my word to you. I will tell you what happened. But, first you must assure me that what you learn today stays with you. For, it could get my command removed." Stryvek knew that removal of his command would be an extreme punishment but it was not out of the question.

Kei's nostrils flared at the mention of her needing to calm down. "I am calm." she said in the most sternest voice she had ever used to date. Through gritted teeth she replied to someone she oddly felt some emotion emanating from.

Taking a breath, "If you didn't speak to her then how did she know? Right now I don't care about your command, this ship or anything else. I have never revealed a secret of yours in my life and yet I find out she knows you've seen in my head? That you did it to save my life? Why does she know this Stryvek?" she used his name pointedly to emphasize her annoyance and their friendship.

Without pausing he replied, his voice calm and devoid of emotion. "Because she was in my mind Keishara. She saved my life by giving of herself. During that bonding she entered my mind as I entered hers and she learned what she said to you. She should have never repeated it and that is something I will have to talk to her about."

"Wait..." her mind spun. "You bonded? With HER?!" Kei's voice a lot louder than she expected. The shock of it, the very thought of it felt incredulous to say the least. Her feelings for Evelyn shot through her like fire, her feelings hurt that Ev wouldn't tell her, anger that she'd been on the ship less than a heartbeat and had slept with the Captain no less. "She's seen your mind?? Everything??" she gestured out with both hands and almost waved them at him. She was getting angry and pushed a model of something off a table in a small rage fit. "And you've seen hers?!" her mind thinking of her and Ev's more romantic encounter... had he now seen her naked also?

"Yes and as much as I would like to think that the meditation would have worked. I know that it would not and I would not be alive had she not. You must not tell anyone as simply put this is something that should never become public knowledge. I am sorry that she has learned about your past in this way. However, there was no choice." Truth was that bonding allowed Stryvek to learn a lot about his old friend. However, he knew better than to bring any of that up at the moment.

"Vulcans... a colossal pain in my ass for decades." Kei grumbled somewhat half-heartedly. "I sometimes think for all your technological advances and logical techniques that you'd have found a way to solve things without the melding of minds." she chewed the inside of her lip. "If you were in trouble why did you not come to me?" she asked. "You know me better than anyone ever has. Did you not trust me enough to come to me?" She asked as that little niggling voice in the back of her head told she wasn't good enough.

"I was not going to go to anyone. I had resigned myself to finishing that Pon Faar on my own. However, she sought me out and when it came down do it she was the most logical choice. Lieutenant Stewart was raised on Vulcan. She may not like it but she knows ours ways, and has some of the mind training needed." Stryvek stopped speaking and placed his hands, interlocked, upon his desk. He hoped she understood, but logic stated it did not matter if she understood. The choice was the correct one and should be made again if the situation arose.

"I guess it was only logical." Kei replied in a mocking tone as she rolled her eyes. She did understand and was slightly happy Stryvek had chosen Evelyn. The thought of Stryvek and Keishara made her shiver. He was her friend, and the thought of him naked or mind touching her was not an ideal one.

"I do hope you understand, I did not meant to damage our friendship in any way." Out of all the outcomes that could have happened this was not something that Stryvek foresaw. As such he truly hoped that no damage had been done in the relationship with his oldest and dearest friend.

"You haven't." Keishara replied very succinctly. "Just knowing she knows what happened to me makes me look weak, look vulnerable. Have you seen all she has as well?" she asked still feeling exposed to the galaxy.

"Indeed I have. The bonding is as much a mental one as it is physical. She is not what she presents to everyone." Stryvek replied somewhat cryptically. He did not plan on revealing too much to Keishara but he would try to answer any questions that she may have.

"I know she's not." Keishara replied. "Most people are not often as they appear to others, especially in public." she sighed and moved to the window. "If you have seen what she has then you've seen what we have done together." she felt the need to cover herself even though she was fully clothed. "Not sure how I feel about knowing you've seen me naked sir." she threw the last bit on in the hope he'd become the Vulcan equivalent of uncomfortable.

"It is no different than if I assisted Doctor Marlow in a procedure being performed on you. If it will help I will never bring this up again." Stryvek deadpanned. He understood her not being comfortable with it, however, from his perspective it was not a big deal.

"Do you often assist Doctor Marlow with sexual acts in sickbay?" Kei almost blurted out. Sometimes she hated his matter of fact attitude and lack of empathy on certain subjects. "I think it is very different from assisting with a broken bone, or using a dermal regenerator." She went to the sidebar in his room and poured herself a Vulcan alcoholic beverage.

"You are correct that it is different. I merely endeavored to point out that from my perspective it was just as clinical. It was never my intention to make you uncomfortable. For what it is worth I apologize." Stryvek sat with his hands folded on his desk. His head slightly tilted quizzically as he endeavored to calm his old friend down.

Kei down the glass. "Having sex with me is far more than clinical. You make it sound so cold." she almost felt like he was judging her sexual prowess but she knew that wasn't how he meant it. "But it is fine." she waved his head tilt away. Kei knew it well enough by now that he was trying to be 'empathetic' to appear like the is listening, that he is understanding, by the tilt of his head. "As long as you are alright..." her features grew softer knowing how dangerous Pon Farr can be.

"Indeed I have recovered. However, I am not sure the same can be said for the Lieutenant. I am not sure she was fully ready for the effects The Bonding can have on anyone. Let alone a non Vulcan. I believe that she may be attempting to apply human emotion and direction to a place where there is none and none is needed." Stryvek replied. Although he would not show it he was relieved for the change in subject.

"Evelyn is... well... unexplainable." Kei gave up where ever that sentence was going to go to explain Evelyn. "Human's are complex in their understanding of things. I've found they let on more than they want to show. Some are as duplicitous as Romulans." she said more to herself than Stryvek. "Human's always feel the need to apply an emotion to a situation. I think its how they try to understand it, process it... was Evelyn not brought up on Vulcan?" she asked. "Surely she has a better grasp on the situation than you think?"

"It was her upbringing that led her to my quarters and to put an end to the Pon Faar. She knew that was quite possible the only way and that I would never ask." Stryvek began by answering the first question. He thought about the rest that she had said. "Quite astute and logical is your assessment of humans and their application of emotions. It is perhaps the only way that they can process the wonders of the universe." The comment about the way Keishara thought was high praise from the Vulcan. "I believe the next few weeks will tell the tale as to what is to transpire."

"Yes, you asking for help is like catching a Klingon in a bubble bath." Kei smirked at her own joke, even if it wasn't really that funny. "You sound surprised?" she asked rhetorically about her assessment of Humans.

"I do have 70 years on you remember?" she asked rhetorically once again. "And I am capable of more than punching, stabbing, and shooting things." she placed her hands on her hips.

He cocked an eyebrow. "Fascinating! Correct but fascinating." Stryvek would not show it but Kei was his closest and dearest friend. Someone who he would miss should they ever become separated.

Kei shook her head at his response. "Yes, we are all fascinating emotional variables in your logical and ordered life.". There was a smile on her face as she said this, and she knew he would take it in typical Vulcan fashion.

"I've taken up enough of your time sir." She began to get ready to leave his quarters. "I'll let you get some rest..." pausing she bit her bottom lip slightly. "But next time you are in trouble, tell me. I can't help you if I don't know what's going on... and I think we owe each other that after what we've been through together on this ship." She wouldn't openly admit it either but he was as close to a best friend, aside from Evelyn at the moment, that she had. Someone who knew he better than anyone due to their mind meld during the war. Kei looked at the man as he pondered her words.

"Hmmm sarcasm... A oft used human trait." Stryvek replied in reference to her comment about his ordered life. "In the future I will be sure to inform you should the need arise."

Kei noted his tone, one of finality, or so it felt. "Maybe their emotions are seeping in after all these years, or their traits at least." she replied before moving towards the door. She turned back for a moment, "And see that you do sir. I'd hate for you to die simply due to a lack of a sex life." she grinned, winked and disappeared out the door, leaving him to frown all Vulcany.

 

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