Title: After the Rescue

Part: NEW 38/73

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.

Ling would wonder forever what might have been had he not been so tempted to see the baby Magehens in Dr. Lazroid's lab that day. For many years after that day, Ling doubted his own judgment and could trust no one but his brothers. It would be a long time before he realized that sometimes random, senselessly cruel and horrible things occur in this life that are so completely beyond one's control the universe seems an unfathomably evil place. And as horrible as that is, the only thing one can do is to survive them, live with their haunting and accept the fact that the memory of this terrible thing affects every part of one's life. Ling eventually learned to trust again, his judgment and other people, but only by minutely examining every aspect of the decision or person under the white hot light of Vulcan logic driven by the fear he learned in Lazroid's lab.

Lazroid, a exo-biologist, had come to Star Fleet Scientific Mission #86-543 three months previously. He hadn't been on Terra in more years than he could count. He'd gone from planet to planet, conducting brilliant research and publishing his findings; he was, at that time, considered one of the greatest scientists Star Fleet had. He was also burned out and planned to retire or commit suicide or something after Magidrian. He found a kindred spirit in Dr. Wilton, who had also been offworld too long.

Although they did not know it, they were also suffering from the psychic assault of the rarefied Magidrian atmosphere. Both had a higher than normal psi rating, both were vulnerable to the free floating emotionally charged psychic residue of the Patois speaking telepaths around them and the reclusive Magidrians. Neither had any telepathic training, nor were they even aware of what was happening to them. In their weakened state, their socio-morals were pushed aside and their vile fantasies, freed by the tendrils of the universal mind where everything dwells benignly, began to seem achievable to Lazroid and Wilton. Twistedly, in the name of science, conducting a thorough examination of the one Talljet they could still overpower seemed like a reasonable project. They would reason away their colleagues' objections. Were they not here to study these people and why were these boys, right in their own lab, not being studied in every way? It is impossible to know if they truly did not realize that they would lose control of themselves.

Hobie, Jir and Maja were not in the lab that afternoon. Hobie and Jir had gone to tend the monks' graves as they did once a month and Maja was meeting Kzost for tea as he did once a week. Ling was invited on both expeditions but he declined. Dr. Lazroid had promised to show him the baby Magehens in his lab that afternoon.

No one, not even the second-sighted Talljets, saw it coming. Lazroid had done nothing wrong in the three months he was there. Neither Voren, who was his usual well shielded self when he'd met Lazroid in the bazaar, nor the Talljets, who were unshielded but untrained to look for it, had felt any dangerous energy in his telefield or noticed any deterioration in Wilton's telefield energy.

Ling had been completely engrossed in the baby Magehen he held. His brothers were enjoying his enjoyment through the link when they felt his sudden surprise, then fear, then pain in a combination that struck horror deep into their souls.

Maja had been walking back from his tea with Kzost and was musing on Ling's fingers stroking the soft ball of feather fuzz. He suddenly felt Ling jerked up and his pants yanked off. He arched in agony as the next sensation of Ling's body being ripped in half and his pain and terror nearly brought Maja to his knees. He thrashed wildly for a moment, felt the adrenaline kick in and ran as fast as he could to the lab. He knew exactly where Ling was; the beacon of his horror was strong in the link.

Hobie and Jir froze for an instant, dropped their tools and flew down the hill. Romsky and Castaris followed them although they didn't have a clue what was wrong - they just knew something was very wrong.

Maja got there first. He didn't understand what he was seeing when he arrived until years later but he knew that he had to get Ling away from these men. He flung himself on Lazroid, who was holding Ling around the waist, and closed his fingers on the soft flesh of his neck. He heard and felt a loud crunching sound under his hands and fell with Lazroid's jerking body. Maja turned to find Wilton grabbing at him. He lashed at the Terran's eyes and dug into the flesh with two fingers. It was effective; the Terran recoiled and staggered away from him.

Maja was trying to haul Ling to his feet when Hobie and Jir ran in.

Hobie's soul turned to ice when he saw the turquoise blood on Ling's legs. He picked up Ling and ran out of the building, his brothers following.

They ran through the bazaar and pleasure district, not stopping until they found some old burned out buildings to hide in. They held Ling, they opened their hearts and poured their love into him. They held him, healed his body and cried with him when they knew they could not heal his fear and horror; they were too vast.

Night fell and they were very hungry but too frightened to move from the safe place they had found to hide in.

~

Calm, cool Paul Duvallier had to be physically restrained from killing Wilton when he heard the doctor's matter-of-fact recital of what had occurred in Lazroid's lab that afternoon.

"Paul," Romsky grated. "We have to find Ling before he bleeds to death."

Duvallier cursed Wilton and ran out the room, closely followed by MacQuarrie and Romsky.

Castaris turned away to go.

"Who's going to dress my eye?" Wilton snarled, nursing his empty socket.

"You're a doctor," Castaris said quietly, his voice dulled by shock and disgust. "Dress it yourself."

~

Voren had seen the Talljets run through the bazaar but they were too fast for him to follow and he lost them in the pleasure district. On his way to the lab to find out what happened, he met MacQuarrie, who told him.

"I need to speak to Commodore Kzost or Captain Khatanya right now," Voren told the guard on gate duty at Kzost's mansion.

"Commodore Kzost and Captain Khatanya are not on the property right now," the guard informed him.

"Where are they?"

"I don't know." He turned back into his shed.

"Can you find out?" Voren asked.

"Commodore Kzost and Captain Khatanya are not on the property right now," the guard informed him from within the shed.

"Vulcan," Kzost said walking up to the gate and acknowledging the guard's salute. "What do you want."

"Ling is hurt and the Talljets have fled with him and we need to find him so he can be treated before he bleeds to death," Voren said clearly.

Kzost looked into Voren's face for clues that were not there. "Find Captain Khatanya for me, Ensign, tell him to meet me at the gate to the Pleasure district." He turned to the Vulcan and led him down the road: "Hurt how?"

"He was assaulted."

"How?"

"He was raped."

Kzost felt his heart stop or at least that was how it seemed.

"Where is Maja?" he asked numbly.

"We don't know, Klingon," Voren answered.

"Raped by whom?" Kzost asked after a moment.

"Lazroid."

"He dies, Vulcan, they all die."

"Lazroid is dead; his throat was crushed. They think it was Maja because Hobie and Jir were too far away from the lab when the rape occurred."

Kzost thought about this as he hailed a taxi. "I thought they would be safe there," he said, leaning back on the seat.

"I, too, thought that."

"And we were wrong, Voren, and those children have suffered even more because we were wrong." Kzost was numb with shock.

"Yes."

Khatanya was waiting at the pleasure district gate when the taxi dropped them off. He lowered his eyes when Voren told him what had happened and turned to his commanding officer.

"Collect all the men you trust, start looking, quietly. I just want to know where they are," Kzost told him quickly. Now that some of the shock had worn off he was distracted by something odd in his head. It was as if he could almost hear Maja crying and had only to follow the sound to find him. "Vulcan, come with me."

Kzost drifted through the pleasure district to the old part that had burned down over four years previously. It had never been rebuilt and the ruins of the brothels and taverns were silent in the moonlight. He followed the weeping in his head until it grew faint and then he doubled back to where it was strongest. He squatted down on his haunches before a burned out brothel entrance. He could not see into the recesses of the ruin but he knew Maja, at least, was there.

"Maja," he whispered. "Maja, please come out, we've got to get Ling some help."

Silence.

"Maja, I know what happened, no one will hurt you or your brothers if you come out to me. I'll take you home with me."

Silence.

Kzost felt his throat constricting and tears on his face.

"Maja," he sighed, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I was wrong."

Voren's Vulcan ears heard the rustle of fabric and dead leaves first. A moment later the Talljets moved cautiously out of the shadows and stopped a short distance from the Vulcan and Kzost to assess the safety of the situation.

Maja, clutching his elbows in distress, broke away from the group and walked slowly up to Kzost. He put his arms around the Klingon's neck and wiped the tears off Kzost's cheeks.

Kzost put his arms around Maja and buried his face in the child's shoulder.

Voren gestured to Hobie, Jir and Ling to come forward, which they did with great caution.

"Hobie, Ling needs medical attention ..." Voren began reaching for the youngest Talljet to check his condition.

"Don't touch him," Hobie whispered savagely.

There was murder in his voice and Voren froze and wisely took a step back from Ling.

"Take us home, Klingon," Maja said quietly.

"Yes. Come." Kzost turned to lead the Talljets home.

"Ling needs a doctor," Voren tried to insist.

Kzost grabbed his shirt and shook the Vulcan: "That is the last thing he needs."

Voren thought it more sensible not to follow and watched them disappear between two charred moonlit ruins.

~

When Kzost got the Talljets to his mansion, they took a bath and he put them to bed in his own bed. Ling was withdrawn but he was not bleeding to death so Kzost let him be. He curled up in an armchair beside the bed where the children could see him but he was not too close. He could feel their fear like a mist around them and he didn't want to crowd them. They'd been through enough for three lifetimes. He dozed.

Late in the night Kzost woke to find Maja sleeping on his chest. He stroked the little half Mage's curls and looked at his brothers sleeping in the moonlight flooded bed.

'If I could only keep this Maja and his brothers safe,' he thought as he fell back asleep. 'I would gladly let the rest of creation wither and die.'

* * *

"They wish to remain with Commodore Kzost for the time being," Voren told Castaris, MacQuarrie, Duvallier and Romsky in the Mission several days later.

"After what happened here," Castaris said quietly, "I don't blame them." He had told Voren earlier that the Mission was being withdrawn because of the lack of progress and the departure date was moved up four months because of the incident with Ling. Wilton, at his own request and much to the relief of his colleagues, had left on the first ship leaving Magidria for anywhere.

"Will Ling get the medical attention he needs there?" Romsky asked after a silence.

"The Commodore sent a message that Ling is not in need of medical attention," Voren said dryly, thinking back on the rest of the message Khatanya had brought: if the Terrans went near the mansion they would be shot on sight. "I therefore suggest you avoid his residence for now."

Castaris looked at his colleagues and then at the Vulcan: "Voren, we should have seen it coming and we don't know why we didn't. I have to admit that I was ... distracted ... by Hobie and Jir and not paying as close attention to what was happening to Lazroid. Looking back, I realize he was falling apart in front of me and I just didn't get it."

"Distracted by Hobie and Jir how?" Voren asked, experiencing an odd sinking feeling in his solar plexus.

"I was attracted to them. I still am."

"We had discussed this among ourselves," Duvallier said, "and we are all aware of a certain attraction to Hobie and Jir. We agreed to monitor each other and discuss its development because we were worried something sexual might happen with one of them. We felt that if we were vigilant of each other, no incident could occur. We had to have the situation under control because the Talljets had no where else to go."

"We never dreamed anything would happen to Ling, we felt protective of him and Maja but no inappropriate sexual reactions," Romsky commented.

"I was very surprised to find this in myself, Voren," MacQuarrie told him. "I've never had a sexual interest in another male in my life, until now."

'When will the Federation realize the unwisdom of placing non telepaths on telepathic planets,' Voren thought but said: "It is possible you are reacting to certain influences on this planet that are beyond your control..."

"But they are in our control, Voren," Castaris said harshly. "We knew we needed to watch ourselves and keep it in front of us and we did. Lazroid and Wilton never said a word when we discussed it with them, they said it was not affecting them. And I believed them, goddam me."

"I agree with you, Dr. Castaris, I understand," Voren said. "I had hoped the Talljets could be restored to you and leave here when your mission departs in three weeks." He looked into their shocked faces. "I do not believe any of you are willing to act on your impulses as Drs. Lazroid and Wilton did, I would not have encouraged the Talljets to come here had I thought that. Dr. Lazroid was not a factor in my original considerations as he was not here and my experiences with Dr. Wilton now seem as if they were with a different being altogether.

"I now realize that the Talljets require a different environment and special training for their telepathic abilities. Based upon what Captain Khatanya told me this morning, Ling has no physical injuries whatsoever..."

"That's impossible, we examined Lazroid's corpse and Wilton confirms that .." Romsky broke in, annoyed that the Klingons would lie.

"Yes, I know that you found Ling's blood and excrement on Dr. Lazroid's genitals and I do not dispute that he violated the child." Voren paused to watch the humans wince. "And Ling's psychological state indicates he has suffered a severe trauma ('He hides and his brothers stand guard around where he hides' Khatanya had said. 'They refuse to leave Kzost's room; they feel safe there.') but he has no physical trauma because he and his brothers are empaths and they healed him."

"How?" Castaris asked, intrigued - empaths were just becoming known in Federation scientific circles. They were somewhat like the Unicorn: mythically rare and nearly beyond belief.

"Unknown, Doctor, they do not exist on Vulcan," Voren said, affirming that even Vulcans have telepathic limits. "I suspect the Magidrians are powerful empath/telepaths but we shall never know as they do not consent to be studied.

"I do not wish to leave the children here, I do not know what would happen to them and I am concerned they would fall into the hands of slavers or something similar. They cannot go with Commodore Kzost when he leaves in a month or so, nor, obviously can they remain with you," he raised a hand to silence an outburst from Duvallier. "Not because any of you would assault them. I believe that more than half of the attraction would vanish once you were away from Magidrian. The other half is problematic and beyond your control. It is also beyond the Talljets' control because they do not understand what they are or how to direct it. Without proper training, their superior telepathic gifts would eventually wreak havoc in any non telepathic community they tried to live in.

"I believe I can convince Commodore Kzost to give them back if he is assured that they will be settled on Vulcan. It will be necessary for you to transfer your guardianships to the Vulcan family I hope to place them with."

Voren sat back and waited for the Terrans to see the sense of this. Vulcan was extremely well thought of in the Federation in spite of its off-putting reputation for inhospitably and rudeness. These were merely misinterpretations of Vulcan logic and heavy psychic shielding. The Vulcans did not mix easily with other Federation species, even though Voren had recently heard some old 'news' that a member of the house of Surak, of all Vulcan families, had married a Terran and heaven help that Terran: the Suraks were notoriously arrogant, even to each other. How they would accept an off worlder and progeny were a huge mystery. However and nevertheless, the Vulcans did readily share their awesome scientific and technological accomplishments and were respected, if not nearly revered, for that.

"Can your people help Ling?" Duvallier asked after a long silence.

"Yes."

"Then I am for it."

The other doctors agreed; Voren's argument was too sound.

* * *

end of part 38

This story also lives at http://members.tripod.com/karmen_ghia/

Appendices: http://members.tripod.com/karmen_ghia/atrappendices.html