Faith-Part 15

"FAITH OF THE HEART"
An "Enterprise" story
By Alison M. DOBELL

RATING: PG-13.
ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where.
FEEDBACK: Welcomed
EMAIL: AlisonMDobell@aol.com
WEBSITE: http://www.carlajane.50megs.com/Ali00.html

SUMMARY": "When members of the crew go suddenly missing, Captain Archer finds the only witness is unable to tell them anything. Lieutenant Reed takes it upon himself to turn detective."
DISCLAIMER: The characters and 'Enterprise' belong to Paramount. No infringement of copyright is intended.

Part 15

* * * * *

Dr. Lerik soon had every trace that the humans had ever visited Rastak eradicated from their records. It would hardly do to have anyone in the Intelligence inner circle realise that the project had been compromised. Especially when the initial clean up operation had cost so many lives. Long before the Enterprise had even reached the drawing board he had kept this dirty little secret under wraps. Captain Vornak and his crew would be no problem. They simply followed orders. Orders he was now making for the good of them all. He looked up from his monitor as an aide entered. "Yes, assistant V'Tek?"

"A ship has just decloaked, sir."

An eyebrow rose in surprise. Unexpected visitors were not welcome. They invariably brought trouble in their wake. "A ship?"

V'Tek showed absolutely no emotion at all. Commendable. "It is a Romulan Bird of Prey, sir."

* * * * *

The shudder than ran through the ship was like a minor earthquake. Commander Tucker was ready; his crew were not. Several stumbled. Ensign Wells cracked her head on a doorway as the deck beneath her feet dipped throwing her off balance. Crewman Stanes caught her and prevented further injury. The ship trembled and steadied, Trip's fingers flying over the control panel. Small fires erupting and being put out as quickly as they appeared. He was worried about the pressure building. Lieutenant Hess hurried over to him. He was aware of her but did not take his eyes off the readings. "Lieutenant, clear Engineering."

"Sir, perhaps if we..."

Trip paused just long enough from what he was doing to look her dead in the eye. "That was an order, Lieutenant!" He snapped.

She nodded. Too disciplined to argue. "Yes, sir!"

She turned and repeated his order, her voice crisp and controlled. A voice that bespoke command. It took a couple of minutes only to clear everybody out. She glanced over to him, saw that he was intent on trying to bring the pressure back under control but the rapidly rising heat and percussive wave was affecting her ears now. They had maybe a couple of minutes before the whole of Engineering was ruptured in an almighty explosion. "Commander, sir, we have to get out of here!"

He nodded but did not turn his head. "Go! I'll be right behind you."

Lieutenant Hess hesitated. She had known the Commander months not years yet instinct told her he had no intention of leaving. "If you don't mind I'll wait for you, sir."

"Lieutenant, you will leave and leave now." He barked back. "You will secure the door and clear the hallways. Is that understood?"

She licked her lips and nodded. Upset but unwilling to deliberately disobey him. "This is bad isn't it, sir?"

He paused and gave her an honest look. "Yeah, it's bad. If I can't figure this out we won't just lose Engineering. We'll lose the whole damn ship."

Lieutenant Hess nodded, her face pale. She had figured as much. "In that case sir, with your permission, I'd like to stay and help if I can."

"And if you can't, lieutenant?" He asked softly.

She shrugged. "You might want a little company."

He wanted to laugh but it moved him too much. A sacrifice shared was still a sacrifice and he wanted nobody's blood on his hands. This was one altar he did not intend to feed no matter how good the cause. "You can do one thing for me, Lieutenant."

"Anything, sir."

His voice was quiet, soft, but every word was clear as a bell. "Make sure you lock the door fast as you leave. If I can contain it here in Engineering we should be able to maintain the integrity of the ship until the Cap'n can get help. Who knows, maybe our Vulcan bloodhounds are close by?"

Without a word she retreated. Slipped quietly out of the door and locked it, biting back the sting of tears. Knowing full well that the Commander had not told the Captain how bad it was.

Meanwhile, unseen and undetected above them, the shadow that was not a shadow enveloped them cutting them off from the stars. The solar winds no longer playing tag with the ion trail. Sealed inside something that had no form and obeyed no rules of physics known to man.

* * * * *

Captain Jonathan Archer was frantic. What the hell was happening? He stared at Travis Mayweather as if he could conjure up answers from his gifted hands but it was taking him all his time and effort to keep the helm steady. The ship was bucking under his hands and there was not a damn thing he could do about it. Lieutenant Reed was shaking his head, his eyes fastened on the sensors. Confusion etched into the lines of deep concern on his face. "Sir, there's nothing out there. Not picking up anything on sensors."

"Perhaps it's some kind of ion storm?"

He shook his head. "There's no sign of that. In fact sir, there's no sign of anything that would account for what's happening."

The Captain was not in a good mood. "That is hardly helpful, Lieutenant. Something must be causing this and I want you to find out what."

"Yes, sir."

The Captain commed Engineering. "Trip, what the hell's going on?"

The strained voice of the Chief Engineer floated back like something disembodied. The echo of it made Ensign Hoshi Sato shudder. Somehow it gave her the creeps. "Don't know Cap'n but pressure's buildin' and the warp core's approachin' critical."

Captain Archer did not like the sound of that. "Can you fix it?"

"I'm tryin', Cap'n."

"Don't take any unnecessary risks, Commander. If you can't fix it get out of there."

There was no reply.

"Commander?"

Just then the ship rocked as if it had hit something. Lieutenant Reed was baffled. "I can't explain it sir, there's nothing out there yet the ship is reacting as if we're under fire."

The Captain gritted his teeth. "Then fire back."

"But," He raised his head briefly. "We don't have anything to aim at, sir."

"I don't care, Lieutenant, just give it your best shot. Fire randomly and see if you can't shake whatever is causing this problem into revealing itself. Maybe it's a cloaked ship."

"Aye, sir." He lowered the phase canons into position and fired. Nothing happened. Changing the angle he fired again. Nothing. He bit his lip and wondered where Sub-Commander T'Pol was. They could certainly use some of her superior Vulcan logic right about now.

* * * * *

The Sub-Commander had problems of her own. Unable to locate a pulse, Dr. Phlox got some rocavorin and injected it directly into the Vulcan's heart. The muscle jumped in reaction and a weak pulse rewarded his efforts. Silently calming himself he called for medical assistance and had her raised to a biobed. In minutes he had her condition stabilised but could find no reason to account for her condition. He noticed her eyes moving rapidly beneath the lids. REM the humans termed it. Rapid Eye Movements. In a sleeping body it would denote dreaming. What it meant to someone in the unconscious state he was not sure.

T'Pol was vaguely aware of the doctor's efforts but was far too intent on what was happening to surface. Ghostly figures surrounded her. Pawed at her. Tried to speak with mouths that were fashioned out of the diaphanous material of the netherworld. Vulcans had various dream worlds some of them closely resembling the human concept of hell. This particular hell world was more vivid than most. Ice touched her every time a fragmentary wisp of consciousness slid against her. She trembled then calmed down. If she was dreaming or having a nightmare they could not hurt her. They were not real. She was reacting from an overstimulated brain. Electrical impulses excited by some activity she had yet to identify. Perhaps she was sickening for something? She had felt out of sorts for almost an hour before going to sickbay to see Dr. Phlox. She had been overcome by the notion that something was wrong. The feeling heightened until without warning she collapsed and lost consciousness. Now here she was surrounded by nightmare figures. It made no sense. She frowned and tried to turn away from them but they were everywhere. Then she felt a stirring in her mind. Something sharp and anxious, a call, a tug, a cry from the heart. Her heart rate increased, close to panic. Trip. Something was happening to Trip. She had to get to him. Help him. But consciousness would not come. The wispy figures crowded closer, their hungry mouths consuming the air she breathed.

The doctor was anxious. Sub-Commander T'Pol appeared to be in distress but he could not determine the cause. Neither could he rouse her to find out what was wrong. The ship rocked suddenly and he flung himself against the biobed to stop the Sub-Commander being tipped onto the floor. The second lurch was stronger than the first and he was not quick enough. T'Pol rolled off the biobed and hit the floor with a sickening thud. Dr. Phlox dropped to his knees and crawled over to check on his patient. Impossibly the eyes fluttered open, not completely in focus but definitely compus mentus. She frowned slightly at her undignified position. A little confused by the doctor's face angled so closely to her own on the floor.

"What is happening?"

Dr. Phlox let out a sigh of relief and helped her to her feet. "I was hoping you could tell me, Sub-Commander."

She thought about that and touched her forehead. A gash over her left eye was bleeding. Dr. Phlox quickly cleaned the cut and put a dermapatch on it. "I don't know... I just had the growing feeling that something was wrong."

The doctor nodded. "Your instincts are correct, Sub-Commander."

Odd. But now that she was conscious the strange ethereal shapes that had haunted her became more solid not less. They were still not physical but now she could make out features. Almost hear them. Dr. Phlox looked at her anxiously, pausing when it became obvious she was no longer listening to him. He snapped his fingers before her eyes and watched as the pupils dilated. It took a couple of seconds for the focus to come back into her eyes.

"How do you feel, Sub-Commander?"

"I have felt better, doctor." She paused. "I have to find the Commander."

"You are not going anywhere. Apart from that nasty knock on the head something is definitely wrong with you."

She managed to sit up but looked groggy. "You do not understand, I am not the one who needs your medical expertise."

His voice echoed his surprise. "You're not?"

"No."

A sudden thought occurred to him. "Are you saying Commander Tucker has been injured?"

"No."

He was beginning to feel exasperated with her. "Then what are you saying, Sub-Commander?"

"I don't know." She turned and swung her legs to the ground. "I have to reach Commander Tucker before it's too late."

"Before what is too late?"

She looked in his direction but was not seeing him. He did not want to let her go but right now he had no way to stop her short of knocking her out and he was unwilling to do that when she had a head injury. He had an idea and grabbed a medical kit. "Very well, if you insist on seeing the Commander I will come with you."

Sub-Commander T'Pol showed no sign of having heard him but began to walk out of sickbay, the doctor following and hovering close enough to lend his support if she grew faint. As she walked she seemed to recover some of her strength. Dr. Phlox tried to get her to talk but was met with silence. He wished he knew what was going on but in the absence of the information he craved he had no alternative but to go along with the Sub-Commander and observe whatever happened next.

* * * * *

The Romulan Captain refused the seat offered to him and fixed a fierce eye on Dr. Lerik. "I was expecting to meet with Chief Medical Technician Sha'kith. Where is he?"

"Unfortunately Sha'kith suffered a heart attack. He died."

The Romulan's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "When?"

"Just over a day ago. It was very sudden."

"I was not aware he had a heart condition."

"Neither were we."

"Where is the body?"

The question threw Dr. Lerik. He had to think fast. "On the way back to Vulcan at the request of his family."

For a moment the Romulan said nothing. He did not glance at his two Romulan aides but the air definitely grew charged between them. "Sha'kith implied there was some problem with the Hirogen not keeping to their treaty."

"That has been fixed, Captain."

"Fixed how?"

He allowed a tight smile to cross his lips. "They have been shown the *error* of their ways." He paused. "However had the Romulan Empire not decimated their traditional hunting grounds we would not have been forced into this unsatisfactory arrangement."

Captain Larg stepped up close to Dr. Lerik, his eyes fiery brands of subdued hatred. "The fault is theirs. They are savages. Barbarians. The Council should have let us kill them all! Now they run around like children worrying in case they are found out." He snorted derisively. "It is no way for a warrior to act."

"You caused the problem not us, yet we were left to clear up your mess."

The Captain's eyes sparked with anger. He was a hair's breath from killing the doctor where he stood yet he needed him. They both knew it. "It is your good fortune Lerik that I am a forgiving man. Such an outburst will not be tolerated a second time. Whatever agreements our governments have made."

The point was accepted in silence. For now they were uneasy allies. For as long as it was expedient for them to be so. Neither trusted the other but mutual self interest dictated a wary truce. A hidden axis on which one war could be averted to ensure the outcome of another one. Between men of power the future had never looked so uncertain. Nor the past so fragile.

* * * * *

They met Lieutenant Hess in the corridor. She looked harried and distressed. Actually brightened at the sight of them. Yet she felt compelled to warn them not to go any further. "You should not be here, the warp core is unstable."

"Where is Commander Tucker?"

Lieutenant Hess saw the determination in the Vulcan Sub-Commander's eyes. "He is trying to prevent a core breach. Everyone else has been cleared out of Engineering."

Dr. Phlox sucked in a breath. It was obvious that Lieutenant Hess thought the Commander would not be successful. T'Pol moved passed her and went up to the door. Lieutenant Hess put a hand on the Sub-Commander's arm. "I was asked to secure the door."

The Sub-Commander's eyes softened just a fraction. Her only concession to the lieutenant's loyalty. "You did, Lieutenant. This action is mine to take not yours."

Then she turned away and undid the door, Dr. Phlox stepping in behind her. Lieutenant Hess hesitated only a second then followed them. The Sub-Commander walked briskly over to where Trip was working frantically trying to bring down the rising pressure. He reckoned he had about thirty seconds left at most. He was so intent on his task that he did not realise he was no longer alone until T'Pol's mind touched his a fraction before her hands turned him away from the console. *Beloved, there is another way*

Shock registered on his face. Alarm that she would be caught up in the conflagration. "You have to get out of here, T'Pol!" He noticed the others behind her. "All of you! The core is about to blow!"

T'Pol ignored him and framed his face with her hands. His eyes widened in disbelief as she found the contact points and plunged him into a mind meld. His eyes fluttered closed. The Sanacrid stirred in his mind and understood what she was asking. The many ghosts that had been driving her crazy flooded into Trip's mind and absorbed the Sanacrid. The Commander's heartbeat was erratic. He knew, sensed, felt, realised that everything was changing. A sleeping sorrow awoke. He was unaware that the ship had stopped lurching. The tremors in the deck plates died away. The pressure falling as the warp core realigned itself back to normal parameters. Trip was oblivious. He felt the Sanacrid flowing through his mind, touching his senses with sorrow and emotion. He knew this was goodbye but he did not understand why. The Sanacrid flooded his mind with love. Touched his heart and let the human's tears flow freely down his face. Made no attempt to comfort him. It was time to allow him his momentary grief.

*Why do you have to go?*

*If I stay you will all die*

*Why?*

*Because they want me back*

*Who? I don't understand any of this*

*You remember the Mothership, Trip?*

His heart ached. Fresh tears joined the old. A sob caught in his throat. T'Pol kept her thoughts silent so as not to distract him yet he felt her love stronger than ever. *How could I forget?*

*The physical ship was destroyed, my friend*

*I know. My fault*

*Not your fault, Trip* Soothed the Sanacrid gently. A wash of a thousand voices echoed and vibrated through the Commander's mind. It was an eerie feeling. *They have been looking for me*

*How can they look for you when they're dead?*

*Your reality Trip is not our reality*

*Come again?*

He felt the Sanacrid smile softly in his mind. He really did love the human. Gently he caressed his thoughts to ease the pain. Relieve the burden of his care so the human would not be wracked by guilt. *Do you remember me telling you what we were? How I am the interface, the heart of the ship?*

*Yeah, you have no idea how that freaked me out at the time*

*Remember how we seeded ourselves like spores? Looking for others to bond with?*

Something clicked in Trip's mind. A key in a lock. *The intelligent virus?*

*It is our unique form. We gather mass by conjoining lifeforms. A colony if you will. We search and seek new forms to augment and upgrade the old. From each we learn something unique. We add that uniqueness to the whole. This is how we exist and grow. Symbiotic lifeforms*

*So when the Mothership was destroyed...?*

*It was just the physical upgrades that gave us mass, Trip. We were unharmed. Viruses detached from the whole, able to travel on the solar winds. But I chose to leave them. To be with you*

He was confused. *Why?*

*You are my host. I chose you, Trip. You taught me so much. Because of you I am blessed with emotions. Cursed with regrets. Yet all of it is precious to me*

*And now you're leavin'?*

The Sanacrid was very gentle with him, knowing how much the parting would hurt. *Yes. They need me. Cannot survive without me*

*I don't understand. You said they devolved back to the intelligent virus, could travel on the solar winds. That sure sounds a lot like survival to me*

The Sanacrid chuckled in Trip's mind, so gently it was a cherished caress. A memory of joys shared between them. An intimacy only T'Pol could understand. *Existence not survival, Trip. Without growth simply existing is not enough to prevent extinction. We become ghosts of ourselves until we gradually fade from existence. We must grow or die*

For several minutes Trip could not put his feelings into coherent thought but it did not matter. The Sanacrid knew what he was thinking. Soothed him with his unrestrained love. Gradually he felt T'Pol on the periphery of his senses and was comforted. *You saved my life. Saved T'Pol too. How can I ever repay you?*

*You already have Trip*

Silence. Then a tentative question. *Will I ever see you again?*

*No, but you may feel my presence from time to time*

A flare of unexpected joy. *You'll come visit?*

It was not what the Sanacrid meant but if the thought comforted his host he was content. *Goodbye my friend*

*Goodbye and good luck*

Dr Phlox had to restrain Lieutenant Hess from interfering. The lieutenant was anxious and alarmed but Dr Phlox quietly told her everything was all right. After a few more moments the Sub-Commander eased her forehead away from Trip's. Their eyes were locked on each other. The only two people in the universe. Dr Phlox smiled. Lieutenant Hess looked confused. The doctor gently nudged the lieutenant towards the door. She glared at him then paused as his smile grew wider and wider. He dipped his head to whisper gently in her ear. "I think we should give them some privacy don't you, lieutenant?"

The lieutenant looked back at the Commander and Sub-Commander and noticed how they were looking at each other. Oblivious of everything around them. Commander Tucker gently stroked the side of the Sub-Commander's face. Lieutenant Hess took a step back and nodded to the doctor. Not sure she would have believed it if she had not seen it. Quietly they took their leave and shut the door after them. Outside in the corridor the lieutenant eyed the doctor with speculation. "What was that all about?"

"What was what all about, Lieutenant?"

"You know. Between the Commander and Sub-Commander."

"I didn't see anything, did you?"

She hesitated then realised she had not seen anything. Dr. Phlox had got her to leave before anything could happen. She stopped in her tracks and her eyes widened then a slow smile of understanding graced her lips. "Clever, doctor." She paused to chuckle softly. "I approve."

The doctor managed to keep the smile off his face though his eyes were twinkling. "I am sure I have no idea what you are talking about."

* * * * *

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Two folks have made comments

Lovin' this story more with each post.

Obviously you have TnT to a T!

But Dr. Phlox... I love him too.

Really wonderful stuff Alison. I'm hoping there's one last entry coming to wrap everything up... ;-)