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Post by dragonfan on Jul 12, 2007 13:55:14 GMT -5
Chapter 8
Captain Kirk waited in his command chair for Scotty and Mr. Kyle to tell him they were ready. While he was sure that his crew wouldn't have a problem with saving the universe once again, he was a little worried about the crew of the NX-01. They hadn't had a problem with the routine repairs or working with the non-human members of his crew. But the first year a crewman spent out in space was used to change him from a green recruit into a seasoned officer. The only member of the NX-01 who had more than six months deep space experience was SubCommander T'Pol, and she had never experienced anything like this.
"All right sir, we're ready on this end," Scotty said.
"Good," Kirk said and then turned his attention to his bridge crew. They were expecting him to speak to Lt. Uhura and were a little surprised when he addressed them all. "Ok people, now you need to remember before Uhura opens a channel with the NX-01 that this is a green crew we're dealing with. They've been spectacular up until now dealing with this situation but this is the point where they're going to need a shot of confidence from us. Let's make sure we give it to them." He looked around and smiled as each of the bridge crew deliberately relaxed and did their best to look completely unconcerned. "Good," he said as he copied them. "Now, Uhura if you would please?"
"Opening hailing frequency Captain," she said.
Captain Archer sat in his command chair pleased, but nervous with the situation. Either having two miracle workers working together was the magic number or each had under estimated the other. Both crews had managed to put together the needed torpedoes in record breaking time. A full two hours before the six hour deadline both starships were moving into position to close the rift.
"Captain, the 1701 is hailing us," Hoshi said crisply. The entire bridge crew was on edge with nerves. They had barely begun to dry out behind the ears as a starship crew and now the fate of two universes lay in their hands.
"On screen Ensign," Archer said. He tried to tell himself that he had every confidence in T'Pol, Trip and Malcolm but the sheer enormity of what they were about to do was overwhelming him. He knew that his crew needed him to at least seem confident, so he put on the Captain face he had been developing. The view screen switched from the scene of the rift to show the bridge of the 1701.
The relaxed posture of that bridge crew, especially Captain Kirk, had a positive effect on Archer's crew. He could practically hear them relaxing all around him. 'Too bad I know better,' he thought to himself before greeting Kirk. 'No matter who ran the numbers, this isn't guaranteed to work.'
On the bridge of the 1701, Kirk was impressed. He knew that Archer's crew, while inexperienced was professional but he hadn't expected to see such good poker faces. He had expected to see a display of nerves at the very least. The only sign he could see of the stress they were under was in their stiff postures and those were relaxing as they realized that his crew didn't seem to think that this part of the job was any less routine than the repairs. It wasn't that simple of course, but the crew of the 1701 had been bluffing everyone in their universe for years into thinking just that. "Captain Archer we've reached our position. Good luck to you and your crew in your future endeavors."
"And to you and yours," Archer replied. "Just so you know, as soon as we fire off our torpedo, I'm getting my ship as far back as I can and still stay in the same area. I don't want us to get sucked into the implosion or anything." What he really didn't want was for Kirk to think that they were turning tail and running. He was relieved when Kirk laughed and said that they were going to be doing the same thing on their side. After exchanging good byes, the call ended and the view screen once more returned to the sight of the rift.
"Malcolm, Travis, it's all yours," Archer said. "You two know what to do."
"Aye sir," they both said and continued to watch the countdown. When the timer ran down the effects were almost instantaneous. Malcolm and Kyle fired their torpedoes and Travis and Sulu flew their ships away from the implosion. Just as Spock and T'Pol had calculated, the torpedoes hit each other at the precise place where they were needed. The implosion was rather spectacular, with radiation waves imitating the dust effects a similar implosion would have created in a planetary atmosphere. Travis just barely got them out of the way in time. Everyone could feel the edge of the implosion as the Enterprise rocked gently in space.
"Whoo," Archer breathed. He turned to T'Pol, "How does it look?"
She looked up and he could tell she was trying to bury a certain amount of smug satisfaction. "We have succeeded Captain."
All over the bridge Archer could hear the sounds of people coming down off the adrenaline high. "Good work people," he said. "T'Pol, find the nearest medical facility. Dr. Phlox says that three of our people are going to have to be shipped back to Earth for the duration of their recoveries. Malcolm, Trip, my ready room."
"Aye, aye Captain," came from all over the bridge.
Archer got up and turned command over to T'Pol before leading the way to his ready room. Trip and Malcolm fell in behind him, exhausted but holding back the giddiness brought on by success. As they collapsed into the chairs around Archer's desk, Archer grabbed the bottle of scotch and passed it around. "I can't tell you how glad I am that this worked."
"You're not the only one!" Trip said fervently.
"Here, here!" Malcolm agreed. The three friends settled down to relax and both Archer and Malcolm decided that now was the perfect time to start teasing Trip about his impending marriage.
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T'taskai had been a Mind Healer for nearly a century. Unlike most of her colleagues she specialized in the mental disorders that occurred in space travelers. Like most Vulcans who were involved in travel beyond their world she was aware of young T'Pol and her position on the Human starship Enterprise. Few Vulcans ever traveled on alien ships and none had done so alone for as long as she had. She had moved her practice to the closest medical facility so that if there was a problem with T'Pol's mental health she would be available as quickly as possible. There was no telling what sort of damage dealing with Humans day in and day out had done to her logic.
She had been expecting the call she received from Captain Archer asking for an appointment. What she had not expected was that it was not only for T'Pol. T'Pol was escorted into her office by two Humans, one of whom she identified as Captain Archer. "Captain Archer, SubCommander T'Pol, Commander," she said recognizing the other Human's rank, if not his identity. "Captain, although you requested this appointment, you did not transmit any details. May I inquire as to the reason my services are required?" It would not do to make any assumptions. There were a great number of illnesses or injuries that T'Pol may have suffered as well as the unknown hazards of unexplored space. And there was the Commander to consider as well. She had no idea why he was here.
"Healer, I'm afraid that the reason I've requested your services is a rather delicate matter. You see, we've been told that SubCommander T'Pol and Commander Tucker have formed a telepathic bond. Neither of them has ever participated in a mind meld with each other. While I trust the telepath that gave us this information, I do need to have it confirmed by a Healer. As far as I know nothing like this has ever happened before." Archer wasn't sure about the proper way to go about confirming what Spock had told them but they needed to get it confirmed fast. He could only hope that this Healer could do that.
T'taskai could only blink. This Human could not be saying what she thought he was saying. "Child?" she asked T'Pol.
"The information Captain Archer has given you is all the information that we have, honored Healer. I have never heard of this being possible but our interaction with the telepath did indicate that he is trustworthy. I ask for your wisdom in this matter," T'Pol said calmly. She wasn't as calm as she outwardly appeared to be. She was controlling as hard as she could but she was at once both terrified that it was true and terrified that it wasn't.
"Commander what would you ask of me?" T'taskai asked.
"I just want to know if we're bonded or not ma'am. I ain't too sure about it, but if I understand the way this works, well then," Trip shrugged. "I'm not gonna try and fight it if we're really bonded."
T'taskai nodded. That was very logical, if it was true. Bondmates should not fight their bonding but it was also true that no non-Vulcan had ever bonded with a Vulcan before, at least not without repeated mindmelds. She personally did not think that it was possible but her long years as a Mind Healer for those that explored the unknown had shown her that much was possible under the correct circumstances. "Please come with me SubCommander, Commander. Captain, please wait here." She led her two patients into the next room where she held her consultations, leaving Captain Archer in the outer office.
The consultation room was very plain, with a couch along one wall and two pillows on either side of a flame pot. T'taskai gestured for T'Pol and Trip to kneel on the pillows while she collected a third from the couch. Trip rubbed his hands nervously on his pants as he knelt down on the pillow. T'Pol knelt and simply waited for the Healer. All of her concentration was focused on her emotional control.
T'taskai laid the pillow down in front of the flame pot and gestured for her patients to face one another. "Commander, as you are not Vulcan I will explain the procedure to you before I attempt it. Is that satisfactory?"
"Yes ma'am," Trip said, just wishing she'd get on with it.
"I must touch your minds with my telepathic ability. As the information I seek is very specific, it should not take long to find it. I have touched Human minds before and I am aware that a clinical touch is not comfortable for your species. It will help if you do not fight me." T'taskai instructed. Trip nodded and she placed her hand on his face at the psi points. She gently brushed her mind against his. No matter how gently she thought she was being Trip still flinched from the coldness of the contact. His flinch was not enough to make a difference to her diagnosis. She then turned to T'Pol.
T'Pol was much more used to the telepathic touch of a Mind Healer. She held her mental shields open so that the Mind Healer could examine her. The examination was more thorough than the one that Trip had been subject too. Not only did the Healer search for signs of the bond, but also any sign that T'Pol had established a mindmeld with Trip, no matter how brief.
Archer looked up as the door to the consultation room opened. T'taskai approached him, leading both T'Pol and Trip. "The information you were given is correct Captain. SubCommander T'Pol and Commander Tucker are bondmates. T'Pol did not initiate this nor did Commander Tucker. I will inform the Vulcan government and the Vulcan High Command of the situation. I will deliver my report to you so that you may inform Earth's government and Starfleet."
"Thank you for your help in this matter Healer," Archer said. "I will wait for your report. Live long and prosper."
"Live long and prosper Captain, SubCommander, Commander." T'taskai said as Archer led his officers out of her clinic. 'This situation must be recorded for the history books,' she mused as she quickly wrote out her reports. 'I have no doubt that many will find this completely fascinating. I wonder if this Human is typical of his species? If that is true, many preconceptions may need to be revised.'
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Post by dragonfan on Jul 12, 2007 14:00:00 GMT -5
Chapter 9
Trip looked at the computer console on his desk and sighed. This was not going to be an easy letter to write. Even in the privacy of his own quarters the news that he had to send to his parents made him want to squirm. How in the world was he supposed to tell his mom and dad that he was practically married to a Vulcan? And to T'Pol, his ship's first officer no less? The only thing that gave him even the slightest bit of satisfaction was that he wasn't alone in having to explain the situation to family members. T'Pol was writing to her family as well. Neither of them felt that it was appropriate for their families to have to learn this information from their respective governments. Only, how was he going to actually say it?
"Hey Mom and Dad," he began. "I don't know when this letter is going to get to you, so if you hear this from the Earth Council or Starfleet or someone, please try to remember that I tried to tell you first." No, that wasn't going to go over too well. He punched a key and erased the first sentence. He tried looking out the port hole for inspiration but the passing stars told him nothing. "Well, I can't sit here forever," he muttered. "I have some important news for you and the family."
He paused again, tongue in cheek. 'How in the world to you translate a Vulcan mating bond into Human English?' he wondered. 'Let's try this.' "I know I've written to you about all of the alien people we've encountered and some of their customs." 'No, that's not right.' He erased that sentence too. "I know that everyone except the two of you got a real kick out of my accidentally getting pregnant thanks to touching hands while playing an alien board game. I know that you would have wanted to be the first to know if that situation had resulted in my becoming a father. So, I'm writing to you now to let you know that I've gotten into another strange situation."
While that wasn't that much better, it did let his parents know that something major was up and that involved him bringing someone into the family. It still wasn't right though; this one would make them think he and some lady were expecting right away. He shook his head and once more erased the message. He paced around his quarters, running his fingers through his hair, from bunk to portal to desk and back again. Thanks to the rush to get off of Earth for their first mission, he didn't have a lot of things in his cabin to fiddle with. Right now he could have used something.
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T'Pol sat down at her desk in her quarters to write a letter to her mother. "Mother, I have been informed that I have formed a Pudvel-tor katelau bond with Commander Charles Tucker, Chief Engineer of the Enterprise. I did not believe this was possible as Commander Tucker is Human. Captain Archer arraigned for us to see a Vulcan healer to discover if it was indeed possible. I have just now returned from our session with the healer. The information was correct. Commander Tucker is my mate. The healer will be sending documentation to those who require it on Vulcan. Captain Archer will do so for those on Earth. As Father is dead, I ask that you chose a replacement for him to inform Koss and his family of my situation."
With the formalities taken care of T'Pol paused before continuing. "The one who informed me of my bonding to Commander Tucker is an extremely powerful telepath. He stated that our bond is a strong one and most likely was initiated at the beginning of my service on board the Enterprise, perhaps from the first time I had physical contact with the Commander." She paused once more thinking of her experience with Commander Tucker in the decon chamber during their first mission six months ago. There was no doubt in her mind that, that was the beginning of her bond with him. She had been able to smell his interest even as they argued. And his touch had affected her as well. Indeed, it seemed to her that their frequent arguments quite often affected them both in such a manner, illogical though it was.
"Commander Tucker is a brilliant engineer and is very loyal to his Captain. He is however, a Human and a very emotional one for a member of his species. I am, unsure as to how this will affect me. We are taught that the Pudvel-tor katelau bond only happens to those who are exceptionally compatible. I have yet to see this. But there is no question to what action I must now take. Commander Tucker has offered the compromise of having two wedding ceremonies, one Human and one Vulcan, the Vulcan ceremony to take place the next time we arrive at Vulcan. I find this very logical. I will, however, insist on honoring Vulcan traditions during the first year of our marriage.
"As it will be sometime before I can return to Vulcan, I have begun to research Human mating and wedding customs. I believe that it would be useful for Commander Tucker to research Vulcan customs as well. I ask that you send Commander Tucker the appropriate materials. I do not at this time have any information on Commander Tucker's family or whether they would be willing to travel to Vulcan to attend the ceremony there. The Human ceremony will take place here on Enterprise as soon as it can be arranged. This may or may not wait until Commander Tucker's family may come on board. There are many variables that I must investigate. I will contact you when I have further information on this matter.
Fair thee well Mother."
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Charles Tucker Junior and his wife had been eager to hear from their eldest son. While he had sent frequent letters back to Earth for his family, even to the point of arranging his nephew's extra credit project (his entire class had sent letters to the Enterprise and somehow Trip had managed to get them all answered by different members of the crew) the fact that Trip had been away from the family for over six months was hard for them to bear. That had made each and every letter something of a family event.
So when Catherine Tucker called her sons, daughters and husband to tell them that there was a letter, it was to no one's surprise that everyone that could be there came to the family house that night. In fact, the only members of the Tucker clan that weren't there were Danielle, Trip's older sister, her husband and two boys. They were still in Ireland. Danielle's job as a teacher there was done at the end of this school year and her family was planning on returning to Florida then. Catherine copied each and every letter from her little brother and sent it straight on to them every time she received one. That way she made sure that everyone in the family was kept up to date in the life of her space traveling son.
Catherine waited in the parlor of her home with barely suppressed excitement. She checked to make sure that everyone had gathered around the communications console. James Tucker, his wife Sarah, and two of their four children stood on her right side while his brother Eric Tucker stood with his father Charles on her left with the other two children. Her younger daughter Elizabeth stood directly behind her. "Everyone ready?" she asked.
Various nods, grins and one very excited "Hurry up Grandma!" met her question. Laughing she started the recording. "Hey Mom and Dad, and everyone else because I know Mom has all of you there to listen to this. I must have started and erased this letter about a dozen times at least and not once could I get it right, so I'll just come out and say it. I've somehow gotten sort of engaged, sort of married, to the Enterprise's Vulcan First Officer, T'Pol."
Charles was the one who shot out a finger to stop the recording and rewind it. He just couldn't believe what he had heard. The rest of the family stared at the screen in shock as once more the recording gave them Trip's shocking announcement. It was Eric who broke the silence of the normally gregarious clan. "Oh man, the trouble magnet strikes again!"
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T'Les sat at her communications console in her office at the Vulcan Science Academy doing her best to suppress her surprise and shock at the contents of her daughter's letter. She had known from her daughter's previous communications that there were logical reasons for her to remain on board the Enterprise. She had not expected this to be one of them. However, one could not deny the Pudvel-tor katelau bond; to do so was folly in the extreme.
Her daughter's requests were also logical. Tradition demanded that the father of one who has formed a Pudvel-tor katelau bond inform that child's betrothed. As T'Pol's father was dead, someone would need to take his place and it was T'Les' responsibility to choose that person. Who would she chose to inform Koss and his family of her daughter's change in status? As for the information she requested that T'Les send to Commander Tucker that was logical as well. In forming a Pudvel-tor katelau bond with a Human, many adjustments would have to be made, much more than if her mate was Vulcan. Her mate must be given all of the information he would need so that these adjustments could be made as easily as possible. She was concerned however, that T'Pol made no mention of her time. It was some years off yet, so there would be time to make arrangements. Perhaps she was waiting until her mate had the information on the Vulcan mating cycle?
She looked again at her daughter's letter. Yes, she had missed the implications of her daughter's request for information for Commander Tucker. The Commander must be unaware of the Pon Farr and how it should be dealt with. If he had been Vulcan, his father would have given him the relevant information. As he was not, it was up to her as T'Pol's mother to provide the information to him so that he could find a way to survive the process. Humans were known to be a fragile race. Perhaps she should include the information on restraints. It was unfortunate that Vulcans and Humans were genetically incompatible. Children that resulted from Pudvel-tor katelau bonds were known to be exceptional. She would have to find a sperm donor for T'Pol. She would not allow her daughter to die because of her bond. While one part of her mind focused on what would be appropriate to send to her daughter's mate, the other matter quickly came to the forefront of her mind. Who would be the most appropriate donor?
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Post by dragonfan on Jul 12, 2007 16:09:16 GMT -5
Chapter 10
Trip had been mostly hiding down in the Engine room, watching over the modifications to the warp drive while T'Pol, Archer, Phlox and Hoshi dealt with the medical emergency on Valakis. His expertise wasn't needed there and for once he was grateful. Checking the readings every few minutes didn't take very long and while he was waiting to do the next check he was reading up on Vulcans in their own database. Once he would have gotten a kick out of trying to figure out what they weren't saying. Now he was worried that he was going to miss some thing very important.
In fact he was still reading when T'Pol came to his quarters after her shift. After sitting her down in his only chair, Trip flopped down on his bunk. "My mom sent me a letter wanting to know if we were both ok with the bonding and if we were, what's your favorite color?" he said.
"I do not understand what significance my preferred color choices have to your maternal parent," T'Pol said startled. Even for Trip the question was not logical.
"Oh it's significant alright. My mother loves to do hand crafts even though she lives in Florida which is a place known for its hot weather. If we're both ok with the idea of being married, she's going to start on a wedding quilt for the two of us. Plus knowing her, she'll also be knitting socks or slippers or sweaters or some darned thing to keep you warm. She's convinced that space instillations and starships can't keep people warm enough." Trip sighed. "She made sure that I've had a new blanket for every duty station I've had off planet."
"She is correct, although I'm aware that my discomfort is more due to species differences than to the ineffectiveness of your machinery." T'Pol said.
"You're cold? Why didn't you say anything?" Trip said, jumping off his bunk.
T'Pol accurately read his intention of fixing what he saw as a problem. "I am a Vulcan; therefore temperatures that are comfortable for Humans are quite cool to me. However, to heat the ship to temperatures that I find comfortable is illogical as they would quickly prove to be detrimental to the rest of the crew." Trip nodded and started to pace. T'Pol could see the expression she was used to seeing when major malfunctions happened to parts of the ship, his 'problem solving' face she had heard it once described. "And my preferred colors are red and blue."
Trip nodded, made a note on his computer and continued to pace. T'Pol was glad to see him make the note, she knew that if he had not he would have forgotten the information. "Dr. Phlox asked for my advice on whether I believed that Ensign Cutler was capable of sustaining an interspecies relationship. I had to tell him that I did not know. Before I was made aware of our bonding I would have said that Humans were not emotionally mature enough to handle an interspecies relationship. But if that were true, we would not have bonded, and Ensign Cutler is more emotionally mature than you are."
Trip stopped pacing, the blueprints fleeing from his mind. "Emotionally immature?!? Is that how Vulcans see Humans? No wonder we're having such a hard time getting along lately. T'Pol, I seriously doubt you have ever met a Human who was emotionally immature. No one would subject a Vulcan to that knowingly. Oh they'd let kids hang around you but only in small doses. Kids don't know how to control their emotions and yes, we Humans do control ourselves, just not anywhere near what you Vulcans do!" He knew that T'Pol was now aware that Humans had to vent their emotions but he didn't really think that she fully understood.
"What are the signs that a Human is emotionally immature?" T'Pol asked curious. She had learned more about Humans in the last six months than most Vulcan sociologists had learned in decades.
"Never mind, if you stay on board long enough I'm sure Starfleet will be sending out an example sooner or later, just keep your eyes open to how other Humans react to the new recruits. That'll give you an idea. As for Cutler, she may be more serious than I am but she is not more emotionally mature. I'm just much more enthusiastic. I know I act like a big kid a lot of the time but that isn't necessarily being emotionally immature for a Human." Trip said. He walked back to his desk and sat on the edge. "Cutler will be able to handle a relationship if she wants one. Which one of them is coming on to the other?"
"I believe the attraction is mutual, although they both seem to be quite tentative. I do believe however that they will be able to make an amicable decision," T'Pol knew she was postponing her reason for coming to Trip's quarters but she was reluctant to speak about the letter and data package that her mother had sent them.
"Well they're both adults and most people would probably say they're more compatible than we are," Trip admitted. "Hey, I've been trying to study what the Vulcan database says about Vulcan culture and I've come across something I don't understand. Would you mind explaining what 'finger touching' means. I mean it seems to be something specific but the database doesn't go into any details, just that it's a sign that the Vulcans are married."
"As you are aware Vulcans are touch telepaths," T'Pol began, grateful for a somewhat neutral topic. "Because of this we do not touch except within certain very limited ways. For instance, when Spock greeted me it was with the touch we use between family members. It allowed both of us to determine that we were related and allowed Spock to check for our bond." She showed Trip the palm touch. "Normally this is used only between close family members. Spock is my sister's grandchild, or will be when he is born in this universe. This is the first touch we learn to use outside of our parent's marriage bond."
Trip scowled, focusing on understanding what she wasn't saying as much as she what she was. "You mean this is how you get to know your family's minds. You already know your parent's minds because as your parents they would always be touching you from the moment you're born. Like when they change your clothes as an infant or teach you to feed yourself."
"Yes," T'Pol nodded. "When it comes time for Vulcans to marry we must allow a near total stranger to touch us. It can be very disconcerting."
"That sounds like the understatement of the century to me, darlin'," Trip snorted.
T'Pol merely raised an eyebrow and continued her mate's education. "Finger touching is the first step and is a gesture used in public between bondmates." She extended two fingers towards him. Trip copied the gesture and T'Pol pressed her fingertips to his. "When our bond is stronger this will increase our connection."
Trip nodded. He also could feel a distant sort of tingling and wondered if that was T'Pol or just his imagination. 'It doesn't really matter,' he decided. 'Eventually we'll touch minds and it has to be a lot better than that Healer. Kind of like the difference between a doctor and a wife,' he guessed.
T'Pol decided that now that they were discussing Vulcan culture it would be a good time to give him the information packet her mother had sent. She wasn't about to give him a copy of the letter that accompanied it. In her distress over having to explain about her bond, she had neglected to inform her mother that the children were already conceived and merely awaited her time for implantation.
Before coming to Trip's quarters she had sent off a reply to her mother informing her that a donor would not be necessary. An alien genetic specialist had already performed the necessary genetic manipulation and that there were already twenty one zygotes ready for implantation in stasis, three times as many as she would need. The extras had been created to ensure that if unforeseen difficulties occurred, there would still be viable children to implant. T'Pol did not tell her mother that she had no objection to bearing more than a single child once every seven years. Trip's two brothers were twins, children conceived and born during the same pregnancy. T'Pol believed that multiple births would be welcomed by her mate but they had not discussed it yet. There was time for that. Her time would not come for another ten years or so.
T'Pol stood up and handed a data pad to Trip. "My mother has sent us information that you would have received from your father if you were Vulcan. I will leave you to study it." Then she left.
Trip smirked a bit at her abrupt departure but didn't blame her. He was beginning to learn just how private a people Vulcans were and the idea of her mother giving him 'The Talk', even long distance, had to be making her squirm. He'd let her do it in private. He took the pad over to his bunk. This was bound to be interesting and important. He'd better take notes.
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Trip was actually glad that Archer had asked him to come to Archer's quarters after dinner. Not only did his friend look like he needed to get something off his chest, Trip wasn't all that eager to go back to his Vulcan studies. T'Pol's mother T'Les had been very blunt and explicit in her descriptions. The thing that Trip had been grateful for was that they were also very clinical where Vulcan reproduction was concerned. He knew that it couldn't have been easy for T'Les to say any of it. It had to be the absolutely worst thing for them. They took a great deal of pride in their logic and this Pon Farr thing stripped them of it completely.
Archer waved his friend into a chair and slumped down into his own. "You know what happened right?" he asked. Trip simply nodded. This was a job that couldn't be assigned. Someone had to be a pressure valve for a Captain or the consequences were devastating. Here on Enterprise, the job was Trip's as Jon Archer's best friend. "Am I wimping out wanting a rule book now?" he asked.
"Hell no Jon! That was one hell of a decision you had to make," Trip said seriously. "We need a guide book. Unfortunately for you, you're the one stuck writing it."
"I'm not so sure I'm doing such a good job as an author," Archer admitted. "How many people did I sentence to death today?"
"You and Phlox bought them time Jon. Don't discount that. The fact is that the line has to be drawn somewhere. Interference in another planet's culture, people or politics can never end well. We shouldn't meddle. We will never know enough about the situation to make a good decision; at least not on a planetary scale. Look at what the Vulcans did to us! And I'm starting to figure out that they really have no clue what they did."
Archer nodded. As they spent more time out here and more time around T'Pol, he was beginning to lose his resentment and suspicions of Vulcans in general. And there was what Hoshi had said. "You're right about interfering Trip. It's just a lot easier when we're talking about politics or something like that. This was a medical emergency."
"You did the right thing Jon. You refused to play God and that is something that every starship captain should have burned into their brains. You know maybe you should take that old saying about writing the book literally. God knows that the best teacher is experience and the brass back home don't have squat." Trip said. "Look back at our first landing party. Although I'm glad that you didn't have the experience necessary to know that T'Pol and I shouldn't have both been there because our trip to the decon chamber got things started for us." He gave a leering grin that startled Archer into laughter and a better frame of mind. It didn't completely lift the burden off of the captain's shoulders but it did give him something else to think about. Not all the decisions Archer made would end in disaster and some would have unexpected benefits.
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Post by dragonfan on Jul 12, 2007 16:25:33 GMT -5
Chapter 11
"Mama, do you have your knitting packed?" Elizabeth Tucker asked as she scurried into her parent's bedroom. The family was helping the older couple pack for their trip into space.
"Yes it's in my carryon," Catherine said flustered. She had gotten Trip's letter with not only T'Pol's colors but her sizes as well. He'd asked that she make T'Pol a pair of slippers and a wrap to help keep his fiancé warm when she was off duty as the ship was too cold for Vulcans as they came from a desert planet. The ship was perfect for Humans but environmental conditions that were good for her weren't good for Humans. She'd always told him that those ships were too cold for people.
She laid the carefully made and wrapped gifts in her suitcase. She had made a robe in a cross between the Vulcan fashion and something she'd seen in a museum once. She had chosen the softest, warmest fabric she could find, one guaranteed to hold in the heat. Then she had used the scraps to make a pair of slippers. Now she was working on a pair of socks made from baby alpaca yarn. While the robe and slippers were a royal blue color, the yarn was a variegated color that ran from a pale red through the color spectrum to a deep blue and back. She hoped T'Pol liked them.
Elizabeth was carrying the wedding quilt that her mother's quilting group had worked on. They had all been shocked when Catherine had announced the news of her son's engagement to a Vulcan woman he'd been serving with for the past six months. That hadn't stopped any of them from joining in to make the wedding quilt. Elizabeth had looked up Vulcan designs, trying to find something that would help her design something that would truly symbolize her brother's marriage. She had found the IDIC design. That was now worked in every other block in Earth's blue and roses in the desert colors of Vulcan were worked in the rest. She knew Trip would like it. She only hoped that T'Pol would as well.
"Is your father ready?" Catherine asked.
"Yes mama, he's waiting outside. The transport will be here any minute. He doesn't have any time to get involved fixing anything," Elizabeth soothed.
Catherine Tucker shuddered. She loved her husband with every fiber of her being but the simple fact was the man couldn't keep his hands out of machinery. And he always got dirty doing it too. Trip was the same way, had been from the time he could pick up his father's tools. "Here," she shoved the suitcase at her youngest. "Give those to him and make sure he has one of those engineering journals to keep him busy." She hurriedly packed the quilt and followed her daughter out to the front porch. Minutes later the Tucker children and grandchildren were waving goodbye as Charles and Catherine Tucker left to travel to their son's wedding.
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"This is completely unacceptable. If news of this breaks out it will undermine all that we have done for the past century." A Vulcan sat in a shadowed chair surrounded by other Vulcans. "We must undermine her reputation and silence her. She cannot be allowed to present her facts to the Vulcan people at large. If the public finds out about the listening post or her Pudvel-tor katelau with a Human they will demand a closer look at our dealings with Humans and other races. Our plans to return to the old ways and reunite with the Sundered will be destroyed. We must destroy her before she can destroy us." The others gathered in the room nodded.
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While Trip was reading about Vulcans, T'Pol was doing her own research with the help of Hoshi. Although she had some time to study, between her duties as First Officer and Science Officer, it wasn't as much as she would like. In addition she knew that there were subtleties to an alien culture that she simply could not learn on her own. She had to have help from someone who had learned the cultural significance from the age of a small child. "I do not understand this custom of 'engagement' Hoshi."
It had taken a detailed explanation from Hoshi of how in Human culture the type of mentoring position she was being asked to fill for T'Pol required an exchange of intimate information and thus it was important for them to use each other's first names before T'Pol would stop calling her Ensign. Hoshi considered that she had succeeded quite a feat. "The engagement period is to allow both families time to plan for the wedding and for the couple to grow closer if they follow the traditions of not engaging in physical intimacy before marriage. It is rather like the first year of a Vulcan marriage. As we are having the wedding here on Enterprise, your engagement is mostly just to allow time for your respective families to get here. We can actually have a wedding within 48 hours but that is considered to be extremely rushed, almost as bad as eloping."
"And eloping is bad," T'Pol concluded.
"Eloping is running off to get married and it depends upon the circumstances," Hoshi explained. "If you have at the very least cordial relations with your families, it is very rude. Weddings are family affairs and the more you get along with your family the more important it is for at least some of them to be there. That is why on Earth big formal weddings can have up to several hundred people in attendance. If this was a war time situation where it wasn't possible for anyone to get here, we'd have a small ceremony here and then have another one or at least a big reception when we got home. As its only possible to transport your mother and Trip's parents, his parents will probably want to do that the next time we get leave on Earth. What we'll do is have a selection of off duty people from both your departments, the bridge officers and your parents as witnesses and Captain Archer will perform the ceremony." She took another bite of her ice cream and noticed that T'Pol seemed to be enjoying her vegetarian version of the treat. It looked like a girl's night in at T'Pol's quarters was a good idea. Maybe she could introduce the Vulcan woman to the concept of sleepovers one day. 8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
"Dangnabit T'Pol it ain't like that!" Trip stormed as they walked into the mess hall. The mess hall was about halfway filled with crew members and T'Pol's sensitive hearing picked up several people making bets for Hoshi to record. She had once brought up the subject with Captain Archer and had been shocked to find out that he had already known about the gambling. She knew that gambling was against the regulations but she still didn't understand how he could go along with it or allow the crew to gamble on the outcome of two of his senior officers discussions. She understood even less how the outcome of each discussion was decided. She had decided to ignore it as Captain Archer seemed to.
"It is my understanding that it is a long standing Human custom," she said as she accepted her plate from Trip. "As your own family participates in this custom I do not understand your aversion to it."
"I said no T'Pol and that's final!" Trip marched over to a table and pulled out a chair for her. Hoshi watched the two from her corner and silently collected the bets that were being whispered in her ear as crewmen filed past her on their way out of the mess hall. She also nodded to those waving fingers at her behind the two arguing officer's backs. She couldn't believe that they were arguing this in public but it was typical of them. Once they started arguing with each other they tended to forget just where they were or who was around them unless they were in danger. She wondered what the argument was about this time.
T'Pol looked at the chair Trip was holding out for her in disgust. "I am perfectly capable of pulling out my own chair Charles and as you do participate in your culture's customs I still do not see your difficulties with this one." She set down her plate and sat down in the chair.
Trip sat down on his side of the table. "Mama raising me to be a gentleman has absolutely nothing to do with this." He started poking his fork in his lunch to avoid waving it at her. "It ain't gonna happen so just forget about it and you aren't going to change the subject by not calling me Trip either."
"It is the custom in both your family and your culture. We will follow it." T'Pol began her meal.
"No we ain't T'Pol!" Trip took a few more bites before continuing. "I still don't know why we gotta do this now. It's gonna be years before it becomes important."
"It is important because if something is to happen to either of us the decision will already be recorded and it will be honored," T'Pol pointed out as she ate. "Deep space missions are dangerous. As soon as the first ceremony is completed we will be sending some of them back to Vulcan and Earth. They need names should something happen to us."
"I said no and why are we following Human tradition on this? Why aren't you pushing for Vulcan traditions?" Trip asked.
'Names? What sort of names are they talking about and what are they sending back to their home planets?' Hoshi wondered. She noticed that they were both eating as quickly as they could even as they argued. 'They must have to go back to their offices after lunch,' she thought. 'They won't have time for arguing then.'
"Vulcans have few traditions in this matter," T'Pol said matter of factly.
"So what? I say we go with Vulcan traditions not Human ones at least as far as this Human one goes," Trip said determinedly.
"We will follow this Human tradition," T'Pol said not budging an inch as she got up from the table, her soup finished.
Trip got up and followed her, his lunch done as well. They turned in their dishes and as they walked out of the mess hall Hoshi could clearly hear Trip say, "I don't care T'Pol. We aren't naming one of the boys Charles Tucker the Fourth!"
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Post by dragonfan on Jul 12, 2007 17:05:35 GMT -5
Chapter 12
Jon Archer should have realized that this was inevitable. Admiral Gardner was a stickler for adhering to the rules and thus a visit from said Admiral was bound to happen as soon as he received the reports about Trip and T'Pol being bonded. The good news was that this visit was officially unofficial. T'Pol hadn't understood that reasoning. Archer had been hard put to explain that it meant that while Gardner was here he was strictly a civilian but that anything he did or said here could still end up being official if they gave him reason to make it official. That meant that while there was potential for trouble, they weren't in trouble yet. What they had to do was keep it that way.
He met the Admiral at the airlock and personally escorted him to the VIP quarters. The Admiral stowed his gear and waved Archer to a seat while he took one as well. "Alright Jon, you are going to explain this bonding thing to me in small words and then you're going to tell me just why I should go along with it." Archer sighed; this was going to take a while.
Meanwhile Malcolm was helping Hoshi with her target practice, a rather flirty encounter that was cut short by both of them being called to the bridge. There was a class nine gas giant to explore. When they arrived on the bridge they did no more than glance at the out of uniform Admiral in their midst and simply proceeded with their own duties. 'Ours is not to reason why,' they both thought, although it was very easy to guess as to the reason for his presence. The man couldn't stop staring at Commander Tucker and SubCommander T'Pol like they were bugs under glass. Fortunately protocol was to ignore any superior officer out of uniform unless he was on his own ship. In an emergency no one cared what a person was wearing.
Captain Archer was glad for the protocol as well because he was soon swept up in an encounter with a group of Klingons. He had one belligerent Klingon woman in sickbay and others on board her ship that was about to be crushed along with three of his officers, he didn't have time to be dealing with having an Admiral aboard officially. Later he would realize that this small crisis, (no one was shooting at them after all) was actually perfect timing. With T'Pol being one of the trapped officers and Trip being stuck on the ship, the situation gave Gardner a first hand glimpse of how they would act and react when one was in danger. Gardner was of the opinion that married couples should not be on board the same ship.
However the old rules and regulations regarding such things did not take into consideration aliens or space travel. Vulcan bondmates served together, their mental bond making the very idea of serving apart almost blasphemy to them and Archer wasn't sure that it wasn't literally. There was also the fact that eventually, once Starfleet had more than a single starship exploring deep space the missions would become longer and longer. Archer could foresee a time when missions could last years, maybe even decades, although wouldn't be for years yet. Archer just hoped that Gardner would be able to see the writing on the wall.
Gardner, who was no fool even if the people around him saw him as a hide bound idiot, made himself as small as possible and stuck to lurking in the background. It was the best place to carry out his mission, which was to find out if he needed to have Tucker transferred or otherwise dealt with. He had never been totally confident that the publicly admitted trouble magnet should have been allowed off the planet. The only reason that he had gone along with it was that Lt. Reed was a fantastic officer and Commander Tucker was the finest Engineer they had. Reed's ability to keep situations from exploding and his by the book attitude made him the perfect man to baby-sit Tucker in Gardner's opinion. He still didn't really understand how it was possible that Tucker had found himself engaged to the Vulcan woman without knowing about it but then Vulcans were reticent bastards. He never could get them to talk about a lot of things that were important.
Sitting back and watching provided him with information that he hadn't expected to get. He had known that Archer was a good Captain and had more experience with aliens than anyone else in a command position in the fleet. But he hadn't known that the job demanded such flexibility and willingness to go with what worked. While he might, at a stretch, have thought of using reverse psychology on the Klingon woman, he never would have figured out a way for the Klingons to save face over the incident.
Later in the Captain's mess he talked to Archer over the some of the best bbq ribs he'd ever had. "You've got yourself a good crew Jon. The SubCommander did a good job over there and Tucker did his job without demanding to be the one to rescue his girl. I'm not so sure I could have done that."
"They're both professionals sir," Archer said. "They would never give anything but their best. Being bonded to each other isn't going to change that."
"I'm beginning to see that," Gardner admitted. "There is so much we still don't understand about Vulcans, even after knowing them for so long, not to mention the rest of the universe out here. I know that it is just going to take time, time and experience like what your crew is getting." He snorted, "I just wish it wasn't like Tucker is getting but the simple truth is I know that's not going to happen. As soon as we started seeing aliens as people, just ones with different bodies and cultures and the like, it was bound to happen sooner or later."
"Yes sir and I've already been hearing rumors about more possible romances among my crew. Not all of them have talked about couples that were both Human." Archer wasn't about to tell him about the time he had been semi forced to kiss an alien to keep from being discovered during a landing party.
"I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place here Jon. I've seen that Tucker can handle his duties even when his wife is in danger and the SubCommander is Vulcan so there isn't any problem with her emotions overriding her head. But I still want to transfer Tucker back to Earth space." Gardner held up his hand to stop the explosion he could see building on Archer's face.
"I said I want to but the simple fact is I can't. We don't have anyone who could take either of their places out here and that's a fact. We are going to have to grow our own ship crews and Tucker and T'Pol are a big part of that. I can't ship them back to Earth or to Vulcan for that matter, without seriously endangering our plans for future ships. Columbia should be ready to launch in the next year, year and a half. I'm going to need some of your crew to transfer when she's ready. Most likely I'll be taking your seconds of each department to head up the departments on Columbia or to give the heads of those departments someone to lean on. We need experienced officers and crew on all of our ships. Enterprise is our sink or swim baby. Everyone of your crew is going to end up in a command position somewhere unless they can't hack it and from what I've seen over the last couple of days that isn't going to be the case. Your people are good Jon and they're getting better." Gardner shrugged, "So when's the wedding or haven't they made any announcements yet?"
"Well the wedding will be as soon as their parents can get here," Archer said, more relaxed now that Gardner had admitted he couldn't afford to reassign Trip. He didn't have the authority to reassign T'Pol but he really could have done his best to screw everyone else up by adhering to the rules and regs. Archer also didn't want to have to point out the flaws in any reasoning Gardner might have given. It wasn't a good idea to point out that a higher ranking officer was being an idiot. "As for making an announcement to the crew, well, does arguing over their children's names count?" he asked with a grin.
Gardner gapped at him while Archer nodded. "Dr. McCoy from the 1701 genetically engineered some children for them. Trip is absolutely adamant that they will not be naming one of the boys after him. T'Pol is just as stubborn as he is and she's determined that they will. The argument has gone to the 'yes we are and no we're not' stage."
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"Captain Sopek," T'Les greeted the Vulcan Captain as he met her at his ship's airlock.
"Lady T'Les, how may I be of service?"
"The Ni'Var is scheduled to make a stop at Coridan. I require transport to that area of space," T'Les said calmly.
"The Ni'Var is at your service Lady T'Les. Follow me to the guest quarters," Sopek was curious of course. There were few things that would take this Lady off of Vulcan and none that he knew in Coridan space.
"Captain I require silence as to my presence on board as well as my destination. There are those who do not believe that I should leave Vulcan under any circumstances." Lady T'Les did not agree with that view Sopek could see. "I have a family duty to take care of and I will not allow others to dictate a course of action that will not allow me to fulfill that duty."
"It shall be as you require Lady T'Les," Sopek answered. He did not have enough information to form a theory. That did not stop him from speculating to himself as to what family duty could take this woman of all the women on Vulcan to Coridan space.
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Post by dragonfan on Jul 18, 2007 10:22:23 GMT -5
Chapter 13
A/N: Because there are a lot of things happening in this chapter it is broken up into smaller scenes more than usual. I apologize for the shortness of each section. The entire chapter is my usual length, but there was a lot of ground to cover.
Trip was fairly certain that the entire ship knew by now that something was up between him and T'Pol after their public argument over the children's names. Gossip was the only thing faster than warp speed and Enterprise wasn't that big a ship. "Hess, call a meeting. I have an announcement for everyone in Engineering." From the grin on his second's face, he was right. Rumors must be running rampant all over the ship.
It didn't take long for every Engineer on board that wasn't doing something that couldn't be left for a few minutes to gather in Main Engineering. Trip stood up on the catwalk where everyone could see and hear him. Leaning on the railing he could see the grins and nudges his people were giving each other. "Ok, I can see the rumor mill has been working over time," he said. "Number one, no T'Pol is not pregnant."
Trip waited while bets were paid off and the usual ruckus died down. "Number two, yes we were arguing over our children's names. The SubCommander and I are engaged and the wedding is scheduled for next month or as soon as our folks can get here whichever comes first. Dr. McCoy from the 1701 genetically engineered us some children. They are currently at the zygote stage and are in stasis. Ok people, that's it. Get back to work." He watched amused as his people wandered back to their stations. God only knew what they'd come up with now.
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Captain Archer had been stunned to get the letter from Soval and Admiral Forrest. From everything he had learned about the bond between T'Pol and Trip they were required to stay together until they were married by a Vulcan priest. The Vulcan marriage ceremony did something to the bond that solidified it or something, made it unbreakable. So why were they sending a ship to take T'Pol back to Vulcan? Yes the Vulcan High Command blamed them for the destruction of the sanctuary at P'Jem but it didn't make sense that they would take T'Pol away from Trip. Taking her away from the Enterprise, yes that made sense, but not taking her away from her bondmate.
"I don't understand it," Trip said as he tossed the PADD down on Archer's desk. "They're recalling T'Pol back to Vulcan but not me? I know Forrest would have let them have me if they'd asked."
"I will not be reassigned," T'Pol said calmly. Trip looked at her worriedly, he hoped she was right.
"T'Pol, I don't think you understand. They already have. The ship they're sending is already on its way. They'll be here in two days to pick you up," Archer said softly. He really didn't understand how she could be so sure. "I know that you don't think they'll do this but they have. Someone is pissed off at us because of what happened at P'Jem."
"Vulcans do not get,,, pissed Captain," T'Pol reminded him. Trip snorted but remained otherwise silent. "I believe it is far more likely that they are not aware of my bonding to Trip and thus are concerned for my health. My actions over the last several months could be construed as symptoms of mental illness, including my session with the Healer. The situation can and will be rectified shortly."
"Well I hope you're right. We've got a few days before the Ni'Var shows up. Would you go with me to check out Coridan, T'Pol? I know that they've been dealing with Vulcans for a while now," Archer asked. T'Pol agreed and together the three of them continued with ship's business.
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'This was not how things were supposed to go,' Trip thought bleakly. He was sitting in sickbay holding T'Pol's hand while she was in a healing trance. His fiancé was not supposed to be nearly on her deathbed right before their wedding. She wasn't supposed to be hurt at all. He had been teaching her to dance the waltz, both because it was a way to further strengthen their bond and because it would be expected of them. Hoshi had planned a reception and dance after the ceremony. The crew was going all out to get everything ready and now no one knew if she would recover or not.
It was almost enough to make him want to go back down there and rip the guy who had shot her apart. But she needed him here, Phlox had said. According to him, bondmates healed better and faster when one was touching the other. So here he sat holding her hand and hoping for the best. He'd let Jon handle everything else for now. T'Pol had to be his priority.
"I do not understand," Sopek said. "How can they be bondmates?" He looked over at the Vulcan woman on the biobed and the Human man sitting next to her and holding her hand. The information Archer had given him had shocked him. He had been shocked enough by the information on exactly why the monastery at P'Jem had been destroyed but the information that T'Pol was bondmates with a Human had him nearly numb.
Archer shrugged. "I was told that it was something that happens when extremely compatible minds encounter one another. T'Pol wasn't married and I've known from the moment they met that Trip had fallen hard for her." He too watched the unlikely couple, hoping that things were going better than they looked.
Sopek was not sure what that meant but he had studied the English language enough to know that it was more than likely Archer did not mean that Command Tucker had literally fallen. This situation shed new light on his illustrious passenger. "Do they have plans to marry?" he asked.
Archer nodded, "As soon as their parents can get here. We're expecting the Tuckers to arrive any time now and T'Pol's mother as well. When they do, we'll perform the first wedding ceremony here on Enterprise. They will have a second ceremony on Vulcan the next time we're there."
"Why two ceremonies?" Sopek asked.
"The first will be Human and the second will be Vulcan, both done traditionally. That was the compromise that they worked out. Neither one of them wanted to deny their families a traditional ceremony." Archer explained quietly. "Besides it is my understanding that the Vulcan ceremony is necessary for their bond. No one is going to object to that, least of all Trip."
Sopek nodded, 'This then was the family duty Lady T'Les spoke of. Now I can break my silence regarding her presence.' "Captain Archer, Lady T'Les is a passenger aboard my ship. I had assumed that Lady T'Pol was ill and would need her mother's presence on the journey back to Vulcan. I am pleased that this is not the case. I will inform Lady T'Les of her daughter's condition and bring her across to Enterprise."
"Thank you very much," Archer said surprised. "I'll be waiting for her." 'That is certainly a far nicer duty than waiting here to find out if T'Pol is going to live or not and if she's going to take Trip with her if she goes.' Shaking the morbid thought firmly out of his mind Archer escorted Sopek back to the shuttle bay.
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Sopek waited while Lady T'Les reviewed the information that he had given her regarding the listening post at P'Jem and Archer and T'Pol's actions there. He had already explained that he had been sent here to take T'Pol back to Vulcan and the condition she was now in. "This is, disturbing," T'Les finally said. "I have not taken part in politics for sometime as I saw no need for it. Perhaps I was mistaken."
She stood up and adjusted her robes. "T'Pol will not be removed from her bondmate nor will she be removed from Enterprise. The information you have brought me shows that she is performing an admirable service for both of our species. What have you told Captain Archer about me?"
"Only that I believed Lady T'Pol was ill and needed your presence for the return trip to Vulcan," Sopek said. He hoped that he had chosen the correct course of action.
"That is excellent. The Humans are unaware of my position on Vulcan and must remain so for my daughter to continue to be effective in completing her duties on board Enterprise. The Ni'Var will remain until my daughter's wedding ceremony is finished. Then we will return to Vulcan. Upon our arrival you will turn this information over to the High Council, not the High Command."
"I would consider it an honor if your command crew were to attend my daughter's wedding with me Captain," T'Les said turning towards more pleasant matters.
"We would be honored, Lady T'Les. I will inform my crew of the change in plans and allow you to prepare for transport to the Human ship." Sopek paused for a moment. "If you will forgive my forwardness my Lady, you might wish to prepare a nose numbing agent. The Humans possess a rather strong odor."
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"Captain, the Ni'Var is launching its shuttle and I am receiving a hail from the Wandering Lady. Commander Tucker's parents are on board their shuttle and they are ready to launch as soon as we give them clearance to do so," Hoshi said over the intercom.
"Why do they need our clearance?" Archer asked puzzled.
"It's a boomer thing I think," Hoshi answered. "They're treating us like a space station because we're landing more than one ship's shuttle."
"All right Hoshi, make sure that they're given what they need. I'll wait here with T'Pol's mother until they're aboard," Archer said before signing off. He ran through the guest arrangements in his head one more time. Admiral Gardner was still on board, having decided to stay for the wedding. The Tuckers were coming on board and would be staying until the Admiral left. They would return to Earth with him. T'Pol's mother, T'Les would be coming over from the Ni'Var. He had no idea how long T'Les would be staying. Add in the fact that T'Pol hadn't woken up and Archer was beginning to wonder if anything was going to go right with this wedding.
The Vulcan shuttle landed first. Sopek was the first to disembark, followed by two female Vulcans. Sopek led them over to where Archer was waiting for them. "Captain Archer, this is Lady T'Les and her attendant Lady T'Lan."
"Welcome on board Enterprise Lady T'Les, Lady T'Lan," Archer said with a short bow. He thought that his usual short nod would be more impolite with anyone introduced as 'Lady'. "Commander Tucker's parents are on board the next shuttle. I can have your bags taken to your quarters while we wait for them," he offered. "Then we can all go up to up to sickbay. Dr. Phlox's latest update says that T'Pol's healing trance is progressing well."
"That is acceptable Captain Archer," T'Les said. When Archer motioned over a crewman to take the two bags T'Lan was carrying however, T'Lan merely indicated that she would follow. Archer knew enough by now about Vulcans not to worry about it. They waited in silence while the Vulcan shuttle launched and the Human shuttle landed.
T'Les observed the Human captain, noting the large grin that spread across his face as two older Humans embarked from the Human ship's shuttle. "Mr. and Mrs. Tucker!" Archer called out. 'It appears that he has close ties to the Tucker family,' she thought.
"JON! Oh it's so good to see you!" Catherine called. T'Les and Sopek watched as Archer was pulled into a group hug and all three Humans erupted into a confusing babble. Apparently it soon sorted itself out as the Vulcans had no idea how the Humans understood any of it. The baggage was sent off to the guest quarters. Then they found themselves being escorted down to sickbay, the Humans talking the entire way. T'Les found it quite curious that her youngest daughter had bonded with a member of this species. They were very, strange.
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Post by dragonfan on Jul 18, 2007 10:43:43 GMT -5
Chapter 14
A/N: Vulcans + surgery = healing trance. With that equation going through my head, this is what came out.
Trip couldn't believe his ears. "Are you telling me you're going to have to hit her to make her come out of this?" he started off calm but was shouting by the end of his sentence.
"Please calm down Commander Tucker. She can not only hear you but sense you through your bond. While I do appreciate just how difficult it is for you to hear this, it is the only way to reorient the SubCommander after a healing trance." Phlox did understand. The idea of hitting T'Pol wasn't an easy one for him and the thought of anyone striking one of his own wives was stomach turning. "I'm sorry Commander. I do not look forward to giving this treatment but it is medically necessary."
Trip sighed and rubbed his face with the hand that wasn't clutching T'Pol's. He knew that Phlox would never suggest something like this unless it really was a medical treatment. Phlox was a good doctor and Trip trusted him. He just really didn't like the thought of anyone hitting T'Pol for any reason. "Alright," he conceded. "You know more about this healing trance than I do. I just hope she won't have to do this a whole lot. I'm not sure I can stand to watch this again."
"As do I Commander," Phlox said, patting him on the shoulder. "Although I love the challenge of my position here on Enterprise there are things I truly hate about it as well."
"How soon?" Trip asked. He told himself that he should be glad that Phlox was gearing them both up to doing this. It meant that T'Pol would be waking up soon, hopefully fully recovered.
"From these readings I would say she should begin to awaken within the next few minutes," Phlox said moving to the other side of the biobed. "Under other circumstances you would be expected to be the one to do this." Trip choked and Phlox made a calming motion at him. "I do understand your reluctance Commander. I have three wives of my own and the thought of striking one is sickening. But as you are SubCommander T'Pol's bondmate you are the one person she trusts the most to do only what is necessary and no more."
When he put it like that, Trip could see his point. It was a heck of a thing to have to trust someone with. He leaned over T'Pol and lightly traced the point of her ear. She hadn't let him do that yet, they were still only just past the hand holding stage, but he'd wanted to do it for very long time. "How hard should I hit her?" he asked. He just had to think of it like a kind of Vulcan first aid. CPR hurt like the devil and this wasn't supposed to be any different.
"Are you sure?" Phlox asked, pleased that Trip was willing but wanting to make sure that he could go through with it.
"She needs me to do it and as long as it isn't going to actually hurt her I'll do what I have to." Trip spoke softly to T'Pol, "The doc says that you can hear me, so listen up. I don't like this. In fact I hate it and I never want to do this ever again. So you need to wake up and promise me that I won't have to."
"Strike her across the face with your open hand no harder than you would give a child a hard spanking across the buttocks," Phlox instructed. "She will tell you when she needs you to strike. She will also stop you when she no longer needs the stimulation." Trip nodded and chewed on his lip.
They both watched her face for any sign of her awakening. They were soon rewarded with a slight frown and blinking eyes. T'Pol abruptly sat up. Without letting go of Trip she swung her legs over the side of the biobed and said, "Strike me." Trip complied, although not without wincing, just as Archer led Mr. and Mrs. Tucker, T'Les and Captain Sopek into sickbay.
Phlox immediately hurried over, knowing that Commander Tucker had things well in hand. He could also tell that Captain Archer and the two older Humans that he had not yet met were shocked at Commander Tucker's actions. He had to make certain that they didn't interrupt the treatment. That would be worse than not starting the treatment at all. He knew he didn't have to worry about Captain Sopek or the Vulcan woman with him.
"What the hell!?!" Charles Tucker Jr. couldn't believe his eyes. His son was slapping a young Vulcan woman across the face! He had better have a damned good explanation or he was going to take his son across his knee!
Catherine could only stand in shock for the first few seconds, and then she started to get angry. No son of hers was going to be going around hitting women no matter if she was Human or not!
Archer's first thought was that something on Coridan had done something to Trip. He and Charles started forward only for Phlox to step between them and grab their arms. "Phlox what," he stared to ask.
Phlox interrupted him, "It's a necessary medical treatment. Please don't interfere or you may damage SubCommander T'Pol's mental pathways permanently!" His words stopped Archer and the Tuckers in their tracks.
T'Les watched and came to the conclusion that Humans must not have an equivalent to the Vulcan healing trance. The Human male who was administering the necessary blows to her daughter must be Commander Tucker. She could not see his face from this angle but from what she could see of his uniform he did have the correct rank. From the way he avoided watching his blows she theorized that violence against either females in general or mates in particular was taboo in his culture. And yet he was performing his duty as T'Pol's bondmate. He could have had the doctor do it. 'A promising beginning,' she thought.
Captain Sopek had decided that he was not going to attempt to predict the Human's behavior. He did not have enough information and what information he did have was constantly being contradicted by the Humans that he had met so far.
They were silent enough to hear T'Pol say "Again!" Trip struck once more without looking. Three more times T'Pol said, "Again!" and three more times Trip slapped her across the face. Finally she looked up at Trip. "That is sufficient, thank you."
"Doc?" Trip called and Phlox hurried over to examine his patient. He motioned her to lie back down and proceeded to examine her. Trip stepped back and tried to hold onto his composure. It wasn't working. The combination of relief, worry and fear had him shaking. "Don't you ever do that again," he said softly. He knew that she could hear him.
"Healing trances are necessary," T'Pol began but Trip put two fingers over her mouth.
"Commander you are interfering with my scans," Phlox pointed out.
Trip scowled but removed his fingers. "That's not what I meant and you know it!" he hissed. "Don't go jumping in front of plasma bullets!"
"Captain Sopek would have been killed," T'Pol pointed out frostily in an almost silent whisper. She did not want to have this discussion in front of their parents. She had recognized Mr. and Mrs. Tucker from Trip's pictures. She tried to ignore the emotions that Trip was broadcasting so loudly across their bond. Between the strength behind them and his proximity she could feel them clearly, although they were hopelessly confused.
"You didn't have to take the bullet for him T'Pol. There were other options. I'm sure you know them all better than I do." Trip paused and the emotions that T'Pol was sensing from him suddenly came into focus. A shot of pure fear ran through her before she could block it. Along with the fear she heard Tip say, "I saw him shoot you T'Pol," in a choked voice.
As Trip stopped talking, his emotional broadcasting dropped to the level she had become accustomed to. He had feared for her life, she realized. He had spent every moment she had been in the healing trance at her side, not knowing if she would survive. The knowledge made her next remark more gentle than it would have been otherwise. "I had not realized that you would become this distressed at my injuries. I knew that it would not be pleasant for you but I did not expect the strength of your reaction. I will be more careful in the future."
Trip sighed, relieved. "That's all I'm askin' darlin'. I know you have your duties and I'm not askin' for you to stop doing them, just be more careful when you do."
T'Pol tilted her head, looking up at him. "Is this 'venting'?" she asked.
Trip couldn't help but snigger and nod at her question. It was so typical of her to want to be able to explain his reactions even when she knew the cause. Her curiosity knew no bounds. It was so good to see her alive, well and trying to figure him out. He just wished that they had gotten to the point where she was comfortable enough with his mind that he could hug her. Sometimes this inching towards physical intimacy stuff really sucked, especially when all he really wanted to do was just hold her.
Dr. Phlox had heard the entire conversation. He was glad that they had made it through this crisis and its subsequent revelations as well as they had. It was the first really big adjustment that the couple had been forced to make as far as he was aware. Their reactions boded well for their future together. "All done, you are fit and cleared for duty SubCommander. I suggest however that both of you rest before your next duty shift. Besides, you both have visitors." Cleared to leave sickbay, Trip and T'Pol headed over to see their parents.
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