Star Trek Hunter
Episode 11: Intersections and Reunions

Scene 12: The Smith Estate, Kauai Island, Hawaii

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The Smith Estate, Kauai Island, Hawaii

Kenny Dolphin and T’Lon transported together from the U.S.S. Hunter to the Smith Estate on Kauai Island. It was something of a homecoming for T’Lon – her parents, Skyvaak and Tr’Pro, were waiting for her. Kenny Dolphin’s daughters, fresh from the beach with wet hair and sand on their bikinis, were also waiting at the beam-in point. But no one was more eagerly awaiting their arrival than T’Lok’s parents, George and Ev’Lon Smith, along with their sons, Vuk and Surrol. 

Dr. George Smith was very dark skinned, smoothly muscular and had never worn a shirt since retiring from his post at the Hanamalulu Music Institute when T’Lok was 10. Kenny Dolphin was amused by this odd bit of knowledge about T’Lok’s father rising from apparently nowhere and felt a rush of affection for the man, embraced him easily.

“I’ve been talking to your daughters – happy girls,” Smith said. “You are a lucky, lucky man. You lost your daughters. And now they have found you again. And now I know a little of what that feels like.”

Dolphin couldn’t help but laugh. He looked in wonder again at the sharp-edged red and emerald green mountains, the bright orange sand, azure blue sky, darker blue of the Pacific Ocean. It was like nothing else on Earth. It was like something from an alien planet. It was home.

“You can feel it. I see it in your face,” Smith continued. “This is home.” He looked over at T’Lon, who was separately greeting T’Lok’s mother and brothers. “For both of you. For your daughters too. It is good to have Dolphins in these waters. Go. Hit the surf. It’s perfect right now. My sons have taken an interest in teaching your daughters.” He handed a small tube to Dolphin. “Take care of that white skin. Sunburn will sneak up on you very quickly. Once you notice it, the damage is already done.”

Dolphin and T’Lon spent some time on the waves. He had added a number of her positioning and balance exercises to his morning calisthenics in hopes they would help if he got a chance to surf again and the exercises paid off. He was somewhat better than a raw beginner. While the quadropseudoprozadiazomine had not quite worn off, he could still feel the telepathic presence of T’Lon, giving him pointers just before he needed them, helping to build his confidence and ability. 

Vuk Smith and Surrol Smith were instructing River Dolphin and Starlight Dolphin respectively. After he had retired to the beach, Kenny watched with interest - River was a natural and she had probably surfed before. Starlight was hopeless and would probably need one of T’Lon’s lessons. But she was determined and managed a few unsteady, but for her triumphal rides on the smaller waves. They would have several days here and were welcome to stay as long as they preferred. There would be plenty of time for lessons.

After a slow and merry dinner at which he observed vulcans so much at ease and so much part of the families of the Hawaiians who owned and cared for this land that they had essentially become one people, Dolphin retired to the orange sands to lie down and look up at the stars – this time far more comfortably than on Ocean, as a large, thick beach blanket had been provided for him. He had spent some time talking with his daughters, getting to know Vuk and Surrol and T’Lon’s parents and the socializing had, after a few hours, exhausted him.

Kenny Dolphin was finally beginning to relax when T’Lon joined him. He appreciated her companionship. T’Lon shared his appreciation of silence and for some time they simply lay there, listening to the waves. 

“I don’t think River wants to leave,” he said after a few minutes.

“Then she should stay. She is welcome to.” T’Lon glanced at a gazebo where most of the dinner party, including Dolphin’s daughters and T’Lok’s brothers were still talking in animated fashion. “Vuk would not be displeased.”

Dolphin rolled onto his side toward T’Lon, propped his head on his hand – elbow in the blanket - which allowed him to observe the gazebo as well. “What made you and T’Lok ever want to leave this place?”

“Vuk, Surrol, Ev’Lon – and my parents – all biologists. My parents were recruited to help preserve the native wildlife – the land and the sea. This is their adventure. T’Lok loved this place, but the stars were always calling to her. Calling me too.”

“Your people are wanderers. They couldn’t stay on Vulcan. Or on Earth, apparently. Not even a place like this,” Dolphin said.

“Some of us. And some of you,” T’Lon said. 

Kenny took a deep breath, looked about at the magnificent Hawaiian landscape. “I want to come back here, some day. Back to stay. But given what the captain told me about your venture beyond romulan space…”

“We have to leave this place to save this place. River can stay here. As long as she wants. But you and me,” T’Lon said, “We cannot. Not and stay true to who we are.”

Kenny Dolphin looked beyond T’Lon, observing the people in the gazebo. His younger daughter was talking with T’Lok’s mother, Ev’Lon. “Starlight,” he said. “She can’t stay either.”

“She’s a wanderer, too.”

“Star Fleet?”

“Or a freighter. Or a salvage vessel…” T’Lon smiled.

Kenny Dolphin laid back, hands behind his head. “Something wonderful, I hope…” He yawned widely.

“Have no doubt…” T’Lon relaxed on her side, her head on her clasped hands, her breathing slowing and deepening, allowing sleep to come. 

Starlight was observing her father with T’Lon. “I thought he said their affair was over,” she said quietly to no one in particular - too quietly to be heard.

“They’re closer than that,” said Ev’Lon. She took a seat beside the young woman.

Starlight was startled - “How…”

Ev’Lon raised an eyebrow. “Telepathy… vulcan hearing… paying attention… Those two,” she looked at Dolphin and T’Lon - completely engaged in their own conversation, “A part of my daughter lives in each of them. My T’Lok smiled all the time. Now T’Lon smiles – I never saw her smile before, even when she was a little child. She and your father may take other lovers – other spouses. But no one will ever be closer to them than they are to each other. T’Lok and T’Lon were inseparable. In a way, I think those two will become even closer than that.”

11.12