Covenant (Star Trek: TOS story by T'Hera)

Fanfiction
Title:	Covenant
Author(s):	T'Hera
Date(s):	1996
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:
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Covenant is a Kirk/Spock story by T'Hera.

It was published in the print zine KaleidoScope #5.

Summary

"Spock is called away by a mysterious scientist who had a part in his birth process and finds a brother he didnʼt know he had."

Reactions and Reviews

1996

As far as I’m concerned, T’Hera has Spock’s reactions re: making love, down perfectly. Especially during the initial love scene which Kirk enjoyed reliving. I can never see Spock as a wimp, either. Inexperienced, yes, when the story calls for it. But not timid. Both love scenes were excellent. The brother didn’t stay around long enough to get involved with, nor did the brother’s ex-bond mate.

1997

I miss those four days that Spock is incommunicado. I miss his dealing with his discovery of having a twin. I miss the process he goes through when he learns why he has been summoned. I miss his dealing with another Vulcan's Pon Farr and I miss knowing what prompted him to smooth Sorat's bangs and why he traced the other's face from temple to chin.

The story opens very atmospherically with a character named Sorat at his lover's death bed. Hints are made as to what's going on as Sorat thinks about how humans are always interfering and "imposing their culture on those perfectly content with their own" which sets up a nice mystery.

However, it wasn't until later that we find out there was a scientist who altered his t'hyla's genetic code so that he wouldn't endure pon farr. More on this later, but the story was a little too confusing in the beginning to be really suspenseful.

Some of the structure of the story was particularly well-done, especially the scene transitions—the end of one to the beginning of another—switching between characters and places set up a very effective tension.

A good example of this was the change of scene from Sorat and his dying lover to Kirk and Spock together remembering their first kiss. "The Vulcan tasted sweet and fresh, like new meadow hay, and of something dark and mysterious, something that had no part of either of the two separately but was both innocent and carnal, an odd enchantment when the two touched".

So much of this story was beautifully written with some really memorable lines like 'Their kisses became wilder and deeper" and "Naked, warm and hard...Spock was a revelation". And I just love this description of Spock as ".. . almost ornate with that extra ridge...".

What a fabulous unique description of Spock in the throes of passion; "His face had the hard, almost cruel look of complete arousal with the skin pulled tight over the high cheekbones that had a fevered, verdant flush".

And more; "And nothing had ever excited Kirk more than the slight drag and pull of Spock's erection, hot and velvety, across his own slightly damp belly...". So vivid!

Here's a really sexy part: "Spock reached down and wrapped his hand around them both, olive-bronze and rose-red joined as one in heated readiness". Boy! What a description!

Cute touch—on Spock's shuttle trip to the planet Numen, he reads "Braveheart". And another excellent change of scene—Spock walking through a door to see Sorat to Kirk on a starbase promenade.

I had a small difficulty in accepting that Kirk would not go in search of Spock after not hearing from him in four days. I also don't believe it would take Kirk "several days" to find out from Spock what happened.

There's a very exciting scene that I'll try not to reveal too much where Kirk sees Spock in a chamber, laid out—dead! Then there's a flashback to what happened which is a bit unwieldy, but I still liked it.

However, some shocking information about Spock—that he was conceived in-vitro was just tossed off like "Oh by the way, I have a blemish on my upper lip".

But the most difficult thing is that this story presumes that pon farr is an undesirable biological event and is something that should be eliminated from Vulcans. Think about it! That's like saying that the menstrual cycle in humans is messy and unnecessary so we should find some way to stop it and our lives will be better.... Goodness gracious.

Very nice touch of having Spock quote an old Vulcan adage in reference to his own culture instead of always something from Earth.

In an excellent scene, Spock tells Kirk about the Covenant Of Brotherhood and he fingers a chess piece. Small action like this during dialogue is very effective in putting us into the scene and saying something emotional about the character.

Then I'm not sure, but Kirk drinks tea? And I presume "a printout flimsy" is a "floppy disk"? Actually, that's kind of cute, but do they still have floppy disks in the 23rd century?

But, how totally gorgeous is the scene where they watch themselves in the mirror as Spock stands behind Kirk and caresses him. And despite my total surprise and utter flattery at the inspiration for the scene, I just loved the beautiful emotions and the very hot sex.

Listen to this: "He felt like a voyeur as he stared at the mirror, naked and quivering with desire and anticipation as Spock pulled him back against himself, his eyes dark and slumberous with passion". And I adored "Kirk's apricot-tinted skin".

A very nice story well written and thrilling, but somehow like the well-known fairground attraction "Lady without abdomen," I waited for more. The beginning was so mysterious - Sorafs message, the deserted Research Center, Spock's discovery that he has a twin brother... but the only things that followed were the revelation of the Tok'et'nor (the Covenant of Brotherhood) and the (beautifully written!!!) love scene between Kirk and Spock. Nothing else. I waited for some adventurous plot to follow.

Another 30 pages with mystery, complications, treachery or others plays and this had been a really great story!

Two quibbles: 1) On page 34 Kirk says: "As soon as I held your... Aidan's... hand I knew." But on page 21 Kirk still complains, after he held this "so soft" hand: "How could you do this to me, Spock?" 2) After Soran's Pon Farr Spock "... had trouble fitting into his boots for some reason." (p. 21). Why? I thought, perhaps these were not his boots or perhaps it had something mysterious to do with Aidan. But -nothing. Apparently his feet were just bigger after Pon Farr???!