Faith-Part 27

"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. Lt Reed takes it upon himself to turn detective."
DISCLAIMER: The characters and 'Enterprise' belong to Paramount. No
infringement of copyright is intended.

Part 27

* * * * *

Captain Vornak had a rude awakening. He was pinned flat on his back trying to stifle a cry of pain. He opened his eyes to find an anxious Lieutenant Rolrak kneeling beside him. The Vulcan lieutenant had a gash on his forehead. Green blood oozing down the side of his face and slowly congealing. He looked battered and seemed to be favouring his right leg but otherwise looked in pretty good shape. At least his eyes were brightly focused. The Captain was not sure he could promise the same. He found that if he held himself absolutely still he could manage words. "What happened?"

"We were attacked by a cloaked Romulan vessel."

"I remember that much!" Snapped the Captain. He paused, took a deep steadying breath. Losing his temper just sent excruciating pain through him. His hands and arms were too numb to trust to touch the source of his discomfort, but breathing was only marginally less painful than movement. He did both as little as possible. He regretted his outburst. He had not meant to snap at Lt Rolrak but was too stiff necked to apologise. The lieutenant saw the apology in his eyes. It was enough. "It decloaked." Wheezed the Captain.

The lieutenant was frowning at him. "That is what puzzles me, Captain."

"Explain."

The lieutenant did not dare move him so sat beside him, carefully easing his right leg out in front of him. "They were cloaked. Had complete surprise over us so why did they decloak?"

"So they could fire their weapons."

He nodded thoughtfully. "Then it should have been a split second before they fired. I remember clearly seeing the vessel decloak and just sit there for over a minute before firing."

Captain Vornak felt dizzy. He tried to ignore the sensation. "A minute, seconds, what is your point?"

"I think they wanted us to see them."

If Captain Vornak had been human he would have laughed. It was preposterous and he was quick to tell him so. Lieutenant Rolrak nodded back.

"I agree except what followed was totally unexpected. You had already been thrown to the ground and had lost consciousness." He paused, his eyes flicking over to someone else who had lost consciousness. "The vessel was joined by others."

The Captain's green tinged skin paled into an unhealthy pallor. "If that is true," He said slowly. Aware for the first time of the gleaming shard of metal pinning him to the deck like a grossly over sized arrowhead. "Then why aren't we dead?"

* * * * *

Captain Archer was staring open mouthed. He knew he probably looked
idiotic but he was so stunned he did not care. Lieutenant Hess did not lower her eyes.

"Raped?" He asked in a hushed voice.

She nodded.

"By whom?"

"Aliens."

He was shaking his head as if something inside it was loose. Probably the twisted grey matter that was supposed to be his brains. It sounded... impossible. And yet. He looked at her again, a frown of worry forming. "You say all the women were... you know.... ?"

She nodded. "All except the three who weren't taken."

Something echoed in his mind. He closed his eyes. Was it a memory? Or something he had overheard? Frustrated he opened his eyes again and noticed the doctor looking subdued but not surprised. "You knew?"

Dr. Phlox felt uncomfortable. "I... suspected, Captain. But with no one else sharing my *suspicions* what was I to do? Start a ship wide panic?"

The Captain drew up a chair and sat next to his Chief Engineer's biobed. He looked down at the Commander and wondered what his story was. Hell. He did not even know his *own* story. What a mess this was. Looking at his friend he reached out to touch his hand. He was surprised to find Lieutenant Hess taking his hand and gently preventing him making physical contact with the Commander. "What are you doing, Lieutenant?"

"Give him time, Captain." She said softly.

He shook his head. Baffled. "I don't understand."

"Neither do I, at least - not all of it."

"Then tell me what you *do* understand. Why can't I touch him?"

She glanced at Dr. Phlox as if looking for reassurance. Whatever she saw in his eyes seemed to strengthen her resolve. "I believe when he is unconscious the Commander can make mental contact with Sub-Commander T'Pol."

He looked at her in astonishment. "How did you know that?"

It was her turn to look at him in surprise. "You already knew?"

He nodded. Numb. What the hell had they got themselves into? He sounded dazed. "Yes. Trip told me. It sounded ludicrous at the time but he was so insistent..." His voice trailed off and he swallowed the lump rising in his throat as he looked down at his friend. Upset for him. Upset for them all. Then he looked up at the doctor. "What I don't understand is why the aliens didn't take *all* the women. What was so special about the ones they left behind?"

Dr Phlox looked uncomfortable. "I do not think you should trouble yourself with their condition, Captain."

He seized on the doctor's last word. "Their *condition*?"

The doctor realised he had said too much. He paused, sighed heavily, then decided he had no option now but to tell him. "They are already pregnant, Captain."

Understanding hit him then he wished it hadn't. "Oh God..."

"It could be worse, Captain." Said the Denobulan hurriedly, thinking to give some reassurance.

The Captain's look was baleful. "How could this be any worse?"

The doctor's voice became very small. "We could still be *in* alien hands."

* * * * *

Sub-Commander T'Pol had only seconds to recognise the threat for what it was. As the Romulan vessel decloaked it seemed to pause, to linger before them as if taunting them, then opened fire. Although the Vulcan vessel returned fire the Romulans had the element of surprise and used it to devastating effect. Just before T'Pol lost consciousness the sky seemed to multiply with impossible shapes. The ripples she had been pointing out to Captain Vornak taking on an image all too familiar in her mind. She wanted to call out a warning, have the Captain send a distress call, but they had no time and the enemy was now filling every bit of space in the fading sky.

Darkness. It swamped the pain of her injuries. Absorbed the impact of multiple concussions. She felt herself drifting as if her body no longer belonged to her. It was a nauseous feeling. Everything blurred to her senses. Sound a violent cacophony that hurt her ears yet befuddled her senses more. She was afraid. Not of dying but of never seeing Trip again. Even when summoned to return to the Vulcan homeworld she had cherished the hope, however small, of one day seeing him again. Now that dream had been snatched away from her. Life itself held ransom to the increasing loss of her bodily fluids. Weakness opening the hand of her spirit as her soul lingered on the point of departure. Tears bedimmed her closing eyes. Not for herself but for love of him. As she drifted, tugging on the last connection to the physical realm, something gently touched her mind. Something so cold she automatically recoiled before the familiarity of it swamped her. Relief stung. A pain embraced to the point of exhaustion. *Trip?*

*T'Pol? Oh God, T'Pol, is that you?*

She felt confused. He felt so cold. Ice in her veins. Or was it because she was dying? Out here in the coldness of space.

When she did not answer him he began to panic. *T'Pol? Darlin' talk t'me, don't leave me out here all alone.*

She heard tears in his words. Agony mixed with longing. *You feel so cold.* Her thoughts mumbled.

*I am cold but I'm all right, T'Pol. What's happenin'? Ya sound so far away*

*We were attacked...*

He remembered now. *Romulans*

She lacked the strength to shake her head, her thoughts getting weaker. *No*

*No?*

He sounded confused. It took great strength of will to correct him. To rip through the illusion they had hidden behind. One they had all fallen for. Until now. *Suliban.*

She felt the shock rip through him. Horror and anguish seeping back to her and jolting her. A flurry of evacuated air hiccoughed back through her diaphram. She took a deep unmeasured breath. Everything was pain yet something dulled its' capacity to hurt her. How twisted was that? And how could she breathe when she was dying?

*T'Pol?*

*I'm sorry...*

*Too late, beloved*

She thought she heard him mumble something. Curse and rant as if someone else were with him but it was too difficult to keep track and she was slipping away. Leaving him. The only man she had ever truly loved. Now losing him. Another huff of air pained her lungs and twisted her up inside as if a house had fallen on her. The shock forced more air into her. She reached for him through the pain.

*Trip?*

His relief buoyed her up. *I'm here.*

Her silence was tearing him to pieces.

*Hang on, honey, help is on the way.*

On some level she thought that was funny.

*T'Pol?*

*I love you, Trip.*

*I love ya too. Can't wait to hear you say those words in person.*

Then the house on top of her began to move.

* * * * *

Captain Archer was anxious. Terrified they would not make it to the Vulcans in time. His pacing was driving Travis nuts only he was too disciplined to say so. Lieutenant Reed was watching anxiously from his station. Ensign Hoshi Sato shot him a glance but he did not try to reassure her. They were all on edge. Had picked up the seriousness of the situation. "How long, Travis?"

"We should be picking up something any minute now, Captain."

They dropped out of warp and were buffeted by a mass of flying debris.

"Hang on!" The Captain shouted, his heart in his mouth. Debris. Death and destruction. *Oh God, Oh God. Would this nightmare never end?*

* * * * *

Trip was crying. Frozen tears making his heart ache even more. Grief pouring through him like enemy soldiers. He did not lift a finger to fight back. Life was simply not worth the living without her.

*Trip, where is your faith?*

The gentle words of the Sanacrid did little to ease his sorrow. "T'Pol's dead."

*No. Not dead just unresponsive*

He struggled to hold on to his last bit of sanity. The Sanacrid had helped him before. Saved both him and T'Pol in the past. Could he somehow pull another rabbit out of his metaphorical hat? It almost hurt more to hope. *What does that mean?*

Impossibly he felt a tender smile fill his heart. The Sanacrid loved him so much, so deeply. It was intense and it was unconditional. *Trip, I told you help was already on its' way. That you could not help her*

He cried. The tears in his heart weakening him. Then he felt the touch of the Sanacrid, so gentle, so loving, so understanding. He took the human's benighted heart and cradled him so carefully, easing the burden of his sorrow.

*Do you remember when I left you, Trip?*

*Yeah, I remember*

*You were upset*

*Do you know how I was able to come back?*

The question floored him. He had not thought about that. *No.*

He felt such a light touch of humour that it moved him heart and soul. The Sanacrid permitted a little warmth to permeate the chill he had initiated to freeze the pon farr. *Part of me never left you.*

The thought whispered through him like a confession. So obvious that it made him want to laugh. *Ya hid in my mind, pretended to leave.*

*No. I did leave, Trip. At least the driving force of my essence left you.*

*I have no idea what the hell you're talkin' about*

He felt delicious laughter, so bright and gentle and full of love that his heart smiled. Even though it was cracked there was healing in that laughter. A sweetness to his pain. *Trip, my dearest friend, how could I ever leave you? I had to go. Merge with the ghosts of the past. Reinitialise the mothership. But they needed new hosts.*

*You've lost me.* Again, he thought. Damn, it was hard having an echo in his head that was smarter than he was. *How could you leave me but still be with me?*

*My driving force left you but the part of me that absorbed your emotions, what you would call the heart, stayed*

*Wow.* Thought Trip. Stunned. *Because ya love me?*

*Yes. More than you could know.* The Sanacrid paused. *You are my host, Trip. I am merged with you. Your every breath inflates my soul with joy.*

*And the others?*

*My greater self is now merged with them. It is that greater self that even now is helping T'Pol.*

Tears ran down Trip's face. Such a strong release of emotion that the Sanacrid fell silent in his mind. Gently extending and giving comfort. Cradling his heart and holding him so gently in his perfect regard. Dr. Phlox wanted to touch the Commander, wipe the tears from his face. Bring some small measure of comfort to the sleeping man's distress. Lieutenant Hess stopped him. She said nothing. Firm with him but gentle. Watched over the Commander like a soldier keeping vigil at a catafalque. Only Trip was not dead and he was not dying. That land in between may have borrowed him but it had not yet claimed him. Her duty was to see it did not. Dr Phlox did not understand but he trusted her. His brief interlude of ecstasy with the Sanacrid sharing his mind had taught him that much. And more. Much, much more.

* * * * *

He could not believe his eyes. Captain Archer stared, mouth agape, at the drifting Vulcan ship. It was a horrendous mess. Chunks of the superstructure were actually missing. It flew like a brick in space. Ungainly and turning slowly end over end where not even thrusters remained to keep it on a even keel. He swallowed hard, determined not to cry. How could anyone live through that? Yet he was committed to making the gesture, however futile. He wanted to be able to look Trip in the eye and tell him he had tried everything. He looked at Ensign Sato, his eyes blurring slightly. "Hail them, Ensign."

If she thought it a redundant order she showed no sign but opened a hailing frequency. The Captain cleared his dry throat. Voice cracking despite his resolve. "This is Captain Archer of the Earth star ship Enterprise. Captain Vornak, can you hear me?"

For a moment nothing happened. The Captain took a deep breath and was about to repeat his hail when the com crackled and to his surprise he heard Lieutenant Rolrak respond. He sounded weak and winded but he was alive. "Captain Archer, it is good to hear your voice. We are indeed in need of your assistance."

A smile broke out on the Captain's face, tempered only by the need to know who had survived and if a certain Vulcan Sub-Commander was among the list of the living. Before he could ask Lt Rolrak put him out of his misery.

"Captain?"

"Yes, Lieutenant Rolrak?"

"I am normally far more patient but Sub-Commander T'Pol is anxious to return to your vessel."

The Captain looked around the bridge and laughed like a child. Tears of joy and relief pricked his eyes. He could not resist whooping with joy. The bridge crew were grinning like loonies back at him. "Tell the Sub-Commander to hold on to her horses. We're coming right over."

As the com shut off, Lieutenant Rolrak raised his bloody head to look across at the semi-recumbent Sub-Commander. "Horses?"

Despite feeling as if she was going to pass out any moment, the Sub-Commander raised a single elegant and blackened eyebrow. "It is a human expression."

"Meaning?"

"I believe it means to be patient."

Lieutenant Rolrak grunted. Rested his head back down on a console and closed his eyes. "Humans." He murmured wearily.

*Humans.* Thought T'Pol with a rare smile. Personally, she could not wait to be reunited with one particular human. And when that moment came she had no intention of allowing anyone or anything to part her from him again. Human *or* Vulcan.

* * * * *

****************

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Three people have made comments

Absolutely lovely. As always. Can't wait to read more, and I'm amazed at the speed with which you write such quality. ;-)

yahoo, she's back with more great writing! Loved this, as always. Can't wait to read more.

*SIGH* deep deep contented SIGH!

Damn straight T'Pol you will never leave him again!

Oh please expand on Phlox's experiences! You've done such a great job with him.

Tracy--theexcitedcubewaitingforthereunionbetweenTnT!!!