Totally hypothetical situation: T'Pol and kalifee

[Aquarius]

Totally hypothetical situation here but I thought I'd go ahead and play in the land of "what if" here for a minute.

In "Home," we know that T'Pol took Trip home to meet Moms, so it is reasonable to assume that T'Pol's feelings for him were getting pretty serious. When Koss comes to tell T'Pol he intends to go through with their wedding, it seems like the Golic script is on the wall: when she brings up the kalifee, Koss knows that Trip is the one she really wants.

So, I'm wondering, what if, in a parallel universe somewhere, T'Pol turns left instead of right and declares the kalifee? Does Trip fight? Does T'Pol, in a stroke of Girl Power badassery, battle Koss herself? And what would the consequences be?

Any thoughts?

[Honeybee]

You know - I was just thinking about this question. Since my history fic is an alternate Storm Front that had TnT getting a lot closer, I've been thinking about what Home would look like if they were essentially married/committed when they showed up.

It's a tricky question. T'Pol is a lot more empathetic that T'Pring, and I think she would not want to risk Trip's life. She can fight, but I don't think she'd want to kill someone for selfish reasons, think the Seventh. It would be quite a situation.

Would Koss somehow see that T'Pol belonged to another and let her go, as he does later?

Would it be a non-issue if they showed up married, legally? (that might happen in my story)

Or would Trip step up and fight? Would he try and let her go, not wanting her to do violence?

OR - and would T'Pol run, making herself a true outcast? This might have been dramatically very interesting.

[bluetiger]

My question is, what is the state of their bond? If TnT are already bonded, by Vulcan law, would that supersede any claim by Koss. Here is a thought, if he needed to fight, could T'Pol enhance Trip's strength with her own, sort of in the manner that she protected him from the Orion women?

[Honeybee]

The bond is a sticky wicket, and I always presented the Koss marriage as invalid because she had already bonded with Trip. Certainly, I presented it as T'Pol thinking that.

It would make sense that the bond would assert itself to protect her mate, since if the bond were severed by death, it would be traumatic for her. So, even if she didn't know about the bond, she might behave in a way that isn't "normal" for T'Pol in order to try protect Trip. It might also be the reverse case, if T'Pol decided to fight.

[Kathy Rose]

I always wondered if Koss knew T'Pol had bonded with someone. And what if he realized she had, but she didn't truly recognize it?

Makes you wonder if Vulcans who are betrothed have this problem, if one of them becomes bonded to someone else before the actual marriage ceremony?

I seem to recall that, when young children are betrothed, as was apparently the case with Spock, there is some sort of very light bond that is initiated, but that wasn't the case for T'Pol, was it?

[Honeybee]

No, T'Pol didn't seem to have that light bond with Koss. Maybe the childhood bond was initiated post-Syrannite Revolution. It seems that in T'Pol's time, the bond was not really talked about and/or viewed with skepticism. I also theorize that, assuming homosexuality exists in Vulcans, that gay Vulcans would bond with a member of the same sex and that would end up invalidating any betrothal.

Although, Koss certainly knew something was going on between TnT, he said as much. I doubt he knew they were bonded.

I tend to view Koss more sympathetically that many TnTers, but the fact that he recognizes T'Pol's attachment to Trip and still blackmails her into marriage makes him a first class a-hole, Vulcan sensibilities or no. She was obviously in a very difficult place, said as much, and essentially begged him not to press his case. Blackmail is the thing that put it over the top. Shout out to CW for writing the best sympathetic Koss story ever, in which he more than atones for this.

[crystalswolf]

Thanks for the shout out, HB.

If T'Pol had chosen kalifee, I have no doubt she would have been her own champion. And she would have kicked serious butt!

Hey, Aquarius, is this a hint of something you're planning on writing?

[Aquarius]

My question is, what is the state of their bond? If TnT are already bonded, by Vulcan law, would that supersede any claim by Koss. Here is a thought, if he needed to fight, could T'Pol enhance Trip's strength with her own, sort of in the manner that she protected him from the Orion women?

I'm not sure that the "by law" thing would fly in "Home." Remember, the Syrranites aren't in power yet, they're the subject of a witch hunt. Surak's word has been twisted and obscured. Vulcans are in serious denial about the use of their telepathic abilities. If mind melds are forbidden, I think it goes with the assumption that they're not talking much about telepathic marital bonds. T'Pol wasn't even sure what to tell Trip about it in "Bound," and the Kir'Shara had been discovered for several weeks by then. It was all still very new to them. I don't think Vulcan would be observing a law saying that a telepathic bond constitutes a legal marriage yet.

[bluetiger]

Very good point about the state of bonds at this time in Vulcan history. Girl power not withstanding, do you see that Trip would let T'Pol do the fighting for them? I know she would get all logical on him but somehow Trip standing by and watching just doesn't fly knowing him like we do.

[Honeybee]

Right, I definitely think that Trip would step up and offer to fight. I've always maintained that there's a strong element of rape in Vulcan marriages. Risk someone else's life, and if they die you're still forced into "marriage" and in this case marriage means violent sex. Torres being her own champion was presented as highly unusual in Voyager, so T'Pol might not even know she can do that.

But, I do think that T'Pol, being T'Pol, would not want to see Trip's life risked - or risk having him deal with the consequences of killing someone, even if it meant protecting her from rape. Trip would want to fight, and he might even have a chance, given he's got some combat experience, but it would be a huge risk.

It's possible she might be able to assist him, but I think she'd do everything she could to stop the fight. Even T'Pring, who was not presented as empathetic at all, did not want the man she loved to risk his life for her. She loved him too much.