Rigil Kent wrote:I'm not sure that anyone on Vulcan would believe that Lorian was TnT's kid based on his age and their steadfast refusal to acknowledge time travel. It makes an interesting AU, IMO, if he shows up during Home and T'Pol sees an opportunity for an out of the marriage. Does she take it, knowing that her mother would still be in danger? Does Lorian tell Trip about the challenge? If so, how does Trip take it if T'Pol decides to not exercise that option?
I still think that an AU Home where she invokes the challenge and Trip wins the challenge would be interesting. Do Vulcans treat Tucker differently now? Do they treat T'Pol differently? How does it affect Trip, emotionally and psychologically, knowing that he killed someone for T'Pol? How does that affect their relationship? Do they keep it secret? If so, when does Archer find out (I think it'd be amusing if he does during the Vulcan arc...)
Interesting questions IMO...
As for the first part, a simple genetic scan would likely raise just enough doubt and would offer a cause for postponement, not cancelation, but postponement. As Spock said in in the Undiscovered Country "Even logic must give way to physics". If Lorian gave himself over to testing by any Vulcan scientist who wanted a crack at him and his DNA, they'd eventually have to accept his claim that he was TnT's offspring, as his genome and his body would yield no other logical answer. They might try to put together some claim that he was some rapidly aging binary clone to protect the Vulcan Science Directorates position on time travel, but I'm guessing (and this is just a guess, not canon) that even just acknowledgement as him as a binary clone would throw a wrench into Koss' attempt to marry T'Pol, especially if T'Pol was freely claiming Lorian as her offspring. Even if he wasn't accepted immediately, the postponement would give them time to wrap themselves around the idea and Trip and T'Pol's acknowledgement of Lorian as theirs would ultimately, if it took a while, seal the deal.
As for T'Les, as I said in my initial post, the original question involved T'Les career not being an issue. Remember, when Koss first speaks with T'Pol, she threatens to challenge, and he says he accepts that, but he'll do what is necesary, then walks off, only stoping to deliver the news of T'Les' forced resignation when he's nearly halfway out the door. But I think if Lorian's presence won T'Pol a postponement, T'Les would have tried to convince her not to marry Koss in the interum. It was a time thing that in my view put the gun to T'Pol's head. There were likely other ways to postpone or get out of the match, even if it involved her running back to Enterprise and getting Archer and Star Fleet to ship them back out real fast, but things moved too quickly at that point. T'Pol was on Vulcan, Koss had already called for the marriage to be performed, and her options at that point were marry him or challenge. T'Les' situation and her likely fear that Trip wouldn't survive the challenge, were what pushed T'Pol to cave in. She didn't really have time to find another option.
