Tale of the Last Clans: Chapter 1

Sarek adjusted the thermal fabric at his neck. The only part of his body uncovered was his face. But neither the layers of thermal clothing under his robes nor his own accelerated metabolism did enough to keep him warm. And while this gave him a boost of energy, much of that was absorbed by his controls, which he forced into a neutral state despite his environment. Andorian Ambassador Endilev's meeting chambers were freezing, but Vulcan-Andorian past relations had several examples of how a Vulcan's normal discomfort could be mistaken by an Andorian for pretention or disrespect. Sarek and Thy'Lek went back almost a century now, and were acquainted enough that Sarek did not suspect the Ambassador would ever mistake his cold on purpose, but all Andorians were passionate. Better safe than sorry, as Amanda would say.

"You must be uncomfortable, Ambassador," the Andorian noticed, and then leaned off to the side and issued commands in Andorian to his desk receiver. Then Sarek noticed his seat heating, and consequently the muscles in his back and legs unlocking and relaxing. He nodded his head in the Andorian's direction. Endilev's stalks twitched in acknowledgment. He cleared his throat.

"Vulcan and Andor have been acquainted for a long time, Ambassador." He began slowly, obviously nervous. "Sometimes I think these humans don't know your kind at all. At least in comparison to us." He smiled wide, an obviously anxious gesture, and showed a mouth full of yellow teeth, picked immaculately clean. Sarek nodded for him to go on, eager-even with the accommodation-to leave this room as quickly as possible. "It is not a secret that Andor even watched Vulcan's space travel from afar long before diplomatic relations between the two powers began." Sarek continued to nod, urging him forward into whatever was causing the emotional reaction.

"This included during the time of Surak, and the centuries afterward," he continued, almost as if waiting to get to the part where Sarek would stop him. Sarek did not actually intend to, and was now a little curious about the direction this conversation was headed in, and since that curiosity distracted him from the cold, it was logical that he indulge it in moderation. "It is well recorded in Andorian history when the atomic blast on your world marked the death of Surak. The series of large migrations off-world that happened in the subsequent two centuries are also held in our memory."

Like the prick of a pin, an emotion spread through Sarek's chest. This was the reason for the anxiety. It was of course logical that Surak's teachings would have taken hundreds of years to truly be embraced by the majority of the planet. And Ambassador Endilev was correct; in this respect Terrans really did not know Vulcans. Many assumed that a line can be drawn on the year of Surak's death separating Pre-Reform and Post-Reform, and that all Vulcans on this side of the line acted "modern". But they both knew better. In reality, Vulcan had a few more Civil Wars, and other, perhaps more damaging, violent incidents. And in those 300 years after the death of Surak there had been three large migrations of native Vulcans off-world. Those who formed the Romulan Empire were first of course, being fully driven off after killing Surak, but then a few more followed. Indeed, one line of Selek's research was dedicated to what he called Reunification, and he was busy mapping potential colonies with biologically-similar populations. He nodded again, still outwardly composed, and the Andorion continued.

"A large group of... well former Vulcans... migrated away from the system and towards the Orion Syndicate. If you'll look here..." he trailed off while fumbling with a monitor and a star chart filled the wall to their left, "... according to Andorian history, a group of several thousand ships moved past Coridan, Beta Rigel, Deneva, and Lorillia, but then weren't spotted by the monitoring stations we had at the time at Sigma Ceti, near Nausicaa, or around Argellus. It is believed by some Andorian scholars that this group either died off-prey for Orion scouting ships-or that they settled here." Sarek reached forward as he was speaking and tapped the display. He had once been an astrophysicist, and knew well that the band of space in those boundaries did not contain any planets even moderately suited to Vulcans.

"That is certainly a theory. My colleague Selek would be interested in speaking to your scholars at length..." Endilev raised a blue hand to stop him.

"There's more." They sat in silence for a few moments as blue hands flew over an Andorian keyboard. The map highlighted known Federation trade routes. "As you know, this corridor is notorious for large space orcas and thus avoided by most travelers of any sort, except biologists." Sarek marveled at how a conversation could go from the unpleasant to the fascinating so quickly. Of course he had heard about the Caelus Orca! "But perhaps you do not know that seven years ago an Andorian research institution funded a team to enter the area and observe the space whales in their native environment."

"There is much we do not know about the biology that sustains organisms whose native environment is the vacuum of space."

"Indeed!" At Sarek's interest the Andorian was warming up to the subject, evidenced by the fact that he was speaking faster. Sarek was warming as well, the interesting distraction keeping his mind off the cold. "Well, look at what they found," Endilev continued, opening some signal transmission files.

"Are these... signals coming from the Orca?" Sarek asked, his mind rolling through increasingly unlikely possibilities. But the Andorian was already moving his head and antenna in the way that signaled disagreement.

"No. These are subspace signals. And a lot of them too! Enough to..." he trailed off, but neither one needed him to finish.

Sarek stood. "Thank you, Ambassador Endilev. Thy'Lek." He bowed his head and used his chosen name, acknowledging their friendship. As he turned, his mind was already running through his next steps.

Selek, 2. Inform T'Pau, 3. Engage Starfleet via Admiral Stoddard...

Sarek walked, more in his mind than watching where he was going, letting his ears guide him to an empty room. In the past he would have returned to his quarters, which would be welcomingly warm despite the fact that Amanda must find the heat too much for her. Disrupting old patterns was one way his Healer suggested he work through his loss. Now alone in a room, he found a spot on the wall to focus on and retreated into himself, thinking through his next steps. Chains of actions and reactions flowed through his mind, alternatives, how long each course of action would take, how much of an impact if could potentially have...

"Ambassador!" One of his Aides was beside him, his words underlined with tension. As he came up and out of himself, he discovered the stimulus.

He was standing in the Transporter Room looking at an empty transporter pad.

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