Fragile-Part 28

Fragile Universe
An "Enterprise" story

By Alison M. DOBELL

RATING: NC-17
ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where.
FEEDBACK: Welcomed
EMAIL: AlisonMDobell@aol.com
WEBSITE: http://carlajane.50megs.com/Ali00.html

SUMMARY: "Captain Archer discovers that the more he finds out the less he actually knows."
DISCLAIMER: The usual disclaimers apply. The characters and 'Enterprise' are the property of Paramount. No infringement of copyright is intended.

Part 28

"GIFTS AND BURDENS"

* * * * *

The Captain had asked Ensign Hoshi Sato to download everything she could find out about the Volarans including a lexicon of their language. Though she was fired up with curiosity she asked no more questions and the Captain did not elaborate. He asked for the information to be sent to his terminal in his quarters then ensured that relief’s were on the way to enable the current crew to get some rest as well.

Only when he was back in his quarters and had taken a brief hot shower did he feel relaxed enough to take a peek at what Hoshi had uncovered. The size of the download was impressive. The content confusing to say the least. It had never occurred to him that there were various levels of Volaran society. He stared for a moment at the list of sections and sub sections. Rubbing a hand over his face he frowned and decided to try something a little simpler. He would wade through the rest later. Stifling a yawn he tried to think of the word Sar used when referring to the Commander. What was it? It took a few tries for his tired brain to kick into gear then he had it. Senisa. That was the word. Carefully he scrolled through the lexicon and was confused by a number of entries for the same word. He frowned. Which one? Mentally shrugging to himself he decided to read them all and see which description best fitted the relationship the two men seemed to share.

The first entry was straight forward enough. SENISA: literal translation 'trusted friend'. Okay, that made sense. He noticed an appendix of notes for each meaning. Odd. He scrolled through them and read that 'trusted friend' could also mean 'entrusted friend'. One given a special gift. A role. A task of honour. A secret shared with no other. He paused and stared at that entry. 'A secret shared with no other'. Was that what they had? Was that why he felt a sense of exclusion in their presence? Had Sar entrusted Trip with something? Something he could not share with his closest friend? He wanted to dismiss the thought as a sure sign of his own paranoia. Perhaps it was their time spent incarcerated in the mines of Volara that they shared with each other but no one else. Certainly Trip had not talked about it. Made light of any attempts on his part to pry details out of him. He knew Trip had been badly beaten and for some reason that had resulted in the Prince Regent personally intervening to remove the Commander from that environment. He sucked his bottom lip thoughtfully. Several things still puzzled him.

Another meaning was 'noble friend'. It seemed the inflection used with the word denoted which meaning was uppermost. Among the appendix for this meaning the explanation drew parallels with the Royal Lines of Volara. Whatever they were. Did that mean blood lines? Perhaps it was some hereditary title or honorific? Or did it refer to an actual bloodline passed from father to son, or perhaps mother to daughter? One entry said 'one worthy of respect' and 'to whom all honour is due'. Hmm. He scrolled on a bit further and stopped with a sharp intake of breath. Here it mentioned the Simitarial Guard. He remembered something Sar had said when Trip first brought him aboard Enterprise. He had told the Captain that he had been one of the Prince Regent's personal hand-picked guards. Charged with protecting the Royal Person. He felt something quicken in his veins and switched to a hunt for entries concerning the Simitarial Guard. He found the word SIMITARIAL. It meant 'Sword of the Prophets'. Interestingly it only had the one meaning. Captain Archer frowned. What the hell did it mean? He looked up the word PROPHETS. What he read made his eyes widen and his pulse quicken. Oh God. Stunned, he stared at the screen. He really should switch off his monitor and sleep while he had the chance but he knew there would be no sleep for him tonight.

Rising from his chair he got himself a mug of hot strong coffee then returned to the computer screen. He had several hours of in depth reading to cram in before the ship began to stir and the meeting scheduled in his Ready Room was due to begin. He sighed and hunted for a PADD making quick notes of the questions he wanted to ask. He would have to be careful how he phrased some of them, not wanting to upset Trip or offend Sar. This was going to be tricky but he had not earned his Captain's rank by not asking the awkward questions. He went back to the first word he had looked up. SENISA. Another meaning was 'Beloved of the Prophet'. Which meaning was the one Sar had assigned to his friend? What did it mean? Did the word denote the reason the Volaran was almost obsessively loyal to his Chief Engineer? Did he expect something from Trip in return or was he paying him back for something? With a sigh he decided to widen his search and keyed in PRINCE REGENT. What he read not only enlightened him. It also sparked off another slew of questions that had, for now, no answers.

* * * * *

The boy was fighting off sleep. His head dipping as waves of weariness tried to drag him off to sleep. Sar smiled gently but said nothing. If Kai fell asleep before Trip got there he would have to see him later. He sensed Trip before he saw him. That uncanny radar he had around the Human was more accurate than the ship's sensors. Trip smiled at his friend then grinned at the sight of his son struggling to stay awake. For him. The thought warmed his heart and made him feel so damn lucky. Blessed. He walked up to side of the bed and dropped a light kiss on the top of his son's head. The boy jerked and his face tipped up, the eyes wide open, a look of joy lighting him up from the inside out. Trip chuckled lightly. "I'm sorry I took so long to see ya, Kai."

"That's okay, father, but I missed you so much."

He gave the boy a hug and felt such a wonderful feeling of content flow through him when Kai hugged him back, his thin arms wrapping around him. He gave a sigh of deep happy content. Man and boy both relaxed and relieved to be together again.

"Where did you go?"

"I had to help the Cap'n with somethin' and we had some intruders on the ship that needed takin' care of."

"Intruders?"

He brushed back the unruly lock of hair that kept falling in his son's eyes. "Nothin' for ya to worry about. I had Sar, the Cap'n, T'Pol and Malcolm with me an' ya know what they're like. The intruders never stood a chance."

Kai looked at him in shock, eyes widening as he jumped to a natural conclusion. Trip laughed.

"They're not dead, Kai, just locked up where they can't do any harm."

A look of relief swept over the boy's face then worry crept into it again. "What will happen to them?"

"That's up to the Cap'n."

"What if there are more of them?"

Trip pulled back slightly and gave him a level look. "Ya sure are thinkin' up the worst of everythin'."

He looked a little abashed. "Sorry father, it's just I don't want anything bad to happen."

"It won't."

"Promise?"

"I promise that I'll do everythin' I can to make sure nothin' bad happens but Kai ya have to know that there's no such thing as an absolute guarantee. Sometimes life rears up and kicks ya in the ass, sometimes everythin' ya could possibly want all falls into place like it was always meant to be that way. The one extreme can be just as misleadin' as the other."

"I don't know what you mean."

He chuckled. "No, I guess ya don't and I should be grateful for that."

The boy frowned for a moment. Trip drew a chair close and sat next to him, heads almost touching. "Ya have to go to sleep now, son, an' I'll see ya tomorrow."

A flicker of concern darkened the gold of his eyes. "Don't go."

"We're on a ship, Kai, there's nowhere for me to go."

"I know, I just..." He broke off and buried his head in Trip's shoulder. The Commander gently rubbed a hand up and down his back to soothe him.

"It's okay Kai. This is still all new to ya, isn't it?"

He got a nod in response.

"Do ya want me to stay with ya until you drop off to sleep?"

The boy looked up, eyes shining. "Yes, father."

Trip smiled and kissed him on the forehead. "Lie down then and let me tuck ya into bed."

Obediently Kai did as he was told, his eyes large yellow suns watching every move Trip made. He spoke quietly, gently, telling him about life aboard Enterprise. Little anecdotes about the crew, his friends. Anything that came into his head that would allay the boy's fears and help to make him feel safe. Loved. As his voice murmured on and on he noticed the boy losing his battle to stay awake. Only when he was absolutely sure that his son was in a deep sleep did he stand up to leave the room. He paused at the doorway to speak to Sar.

"Will ya watch over him for me tonight, Sar?"

The big man looked at him in silence for several moments. Resisting the urge to hug and reassure the man in the same way he had hugged and reassured the boy. It amazed him how alike the two had grown in such a short time. Biological bonds could be no stronger than the one these two now shared. It pleased Sar more than words could say. He gave Trip a little nod. "Yes, Senisa."

"I wanna look in on T'Pol."

Sar hid a smile and simply nodded. He watched the Human go and closed his eyes, the better to monitor his passage. Only when he was sure he had safely reached the Sub-Commander's quarters did he go back into Kai's room and take a seat next to his bed. He would watch over the boy with as much vigilance and care as he watched over the man. He could refuse his Senisa nothing. Not life. Not death. Nor the world between.

* * * * *

He lay broken and defiant. The cold silvery light touched him like ice but he did not care. Anger still smote him with its' dark destiny. Hate feeding a fire that never slept. A will forged in some distant hell. In the shadows they watched and spoke amongst themselves.

"Still he defies us."

"It will be his last thought."

"Then his death is inevitable?"

"Yes. If the other must live."

"Why must one define what happens to the other?"

"It does not. First we need the woman."

"Not yet."

"Why?"

"He is going to her."

"We could take them both."

"It would be wrong. No. Better to watch. To wait. Justice cannot be rushed."

"This one will die soon."

"Yet his vengeance goes beyond his own pathetic self."

"You fear his associates?"

"Unbound what terrible tide will be unleashed?"

A pause. "We cannot turn him."

"No, but perhaps we can deflect him."

A longer pause. "How?"

"First let us watch."

Silence fell. And the veil of darkness thinned just a little.

* * * * *

Sub-Commander T'Pol leaned forward on her knees and extinguished the candle. Before she could rise up off her cushions she heard the chime on her door go. She rose gracefully and opened the door. Trip's smile made her heart judder with a panoply of emotions that robbed her of words. He stepped into her quarters and leant in for a tender kiss. T'Pol's eyes closed, her arms automatically winding around him. He moaned softly into her mouth, his tongue slowly teasing hers as her body molded to fit him through the soft velvet of her meditation gown. They sank to their knees on the pillows. The bed too far away to tempt them. He needed her. She wanted him. As their kiss deepened she slowly divested him of his clothing. She felt him shiver in her mouth and stroked his tongue with her own, her hands a study in perpetual motion. She loved him so much. Once he was naked she let him remove her gown, her lips releasing his as the ache in his voice grew into words.

"T'Pol darlin' I'm gonna die if I can't have ya now."

Her smile was in her voice. Honeyed tones no one else would ever hear but him. "Then you will never die, Ashayam."

* * * * *

Lt. Reed could not sleep. Nor rest. He thought about everything that had happened. His mind on the men in the brig, if men they were. Why would a Vulcan act as Koss had? What could possibly cause such a controlled individual to turn from the ways of his own kind to embrace the kind of madness he now was part of? Was it simply because the Sub-Commander did not, would not, love him? Was he so incensed with jealousy and hatred for the Commander that nothing else mattered but this puerile revenge? Somehow he could not believe that. He had heard rumours of what had happened to T'Pol when she went back to the Vulcan home world. Trip had said next to nothing about it but little fragments leaked out and he was adept at piecing things together. That she had suffered at the man's hands was obvious. So why would Koss go to such efforts to reunite himself with her, knowing he could only do so by force? Knowing that she loved another?

Then there was the technology. He turned over and stared up at the ceiling. Christ. He was never going to get any sleep at this rate. He wished the Commander had let him question those men. Just one would at least have given him some insight. Frustrated he sighed heavily. Even briefly considered going against the command to satisfy his need for information but his training won through. The Captain had scheduled a meeting after breakfast. He would raise his concerns then and one way or another he would get some answers.

* * * * *

This time T'Pol let Trip set the pace. His movements slow and sinuous, his touch immolating her with inward fire. He caressed her breath with his own, his tender touch as revealing as the thoughts she shared as their minds again met in the meld she initiated. Deliriously happy she was more content being with him than at any other time in her entire life. Truly, they were one in every way that mattered. It was of no consequence that he was Human. He coaxed her gently on to her back, her hand still splayed against his face. The pads of her fingers on the contact points. Her mind sizzling lightly through his and touching off an awareness of her that almost brought him to orgasm it was that erotic to him. He felt her smile in his mind, amused at his thoughts. Loving him even in her laughter. How he loved her. Adored her. She sighed as his hands worshipped her, light trails of fire dancing over her flesh as he stroked his fingers over her. Imprinting himself on every pore. Filling her senses with the taste of him, the pleasure of his scent filling her nostrils and wafting through her body and soul so that every inch of her was him.

He drew his lips from hers and chased the pulse down her neck, her hands bringing him back to taste her lips. Not wanting to break the mind meld. The echo of her passion awakening in his mind was driving him crazy yet he held on. Hands now caressing her full breasts, kneading the mammary glands and sloping the fingers in to the tented points of her rising desire. He rubbed the nipples until they were hard, her body arching under him to increase the contact. A hand slid down her belly, stroking and setting her alight on its' journey to her molten core. She moaned, he sighed. Breath for breath they were equal. In his mind she gloried in the sharing of images, feelings and sensations. She could feel the coiling liquid heat seeping through her womb. Hot oil lubricating her. Interior muscles flexing and yawing for him. Her womb crying out for him. Her body a temple of desire waiting for the only supplicant that mattered. He did not hurry. She could not beg him more. He teased her entrance gently, first one finger then another. Circling the entry of fleshy lips, fingertips dipping into her moist haven. She began to spasm against his fingers so sensitised and ready was she. Trip smiled in her mouth. She deepened her mental intrusion, dragging out thoughts and memories that had not seen the light of day for years. Each one examined so tenderly that his breath caught to relive them in her image.

Her mind touched his, loved him so completely. Hid nothing from him. Not her joys nor her sorrows. Her successes or her loneliness. He wept for what she had lost. Cried for the things she had never had. The pleasure denied to her by the austere nature of her people. He loved enough for both of them but she was a fast learner. Now the pupil was teaching the master. Exchanged knowledge. Shared emotions. She explored his mind as deftly and as poetically as he did her fragrant body. He felt the rush of warm fluid coat his dancing fingers as she orgasmed in time to his caress. Her hips rising in gentle thrusts to urge him on. He did not pause, his kiss on her lips imagining the taste of her, the scent of her arousal on his tongue. Then he was guiding himself in, her hips thrusting harder, wanting to drag him in so deeply that they would be joined forever. He laughed in her mind at the notion. Loved her so much for all that was and all that she could be. For loving him so completely that he was faint with joy. They made love slowly. Not speaking a single uttered word. Their minds the only chorus. Their bodies a medley so synchronized that beauty had been reborn within it.

The effort was making him perspire heavily now, the thud of his heart rocking her as her hips came up to meet his gentle thrusts. The agony of beating slow time, drawing out every sensation and building them both higher and higher towards the shattering climax of their release. Her legs wrapped around his waist, ankles hooked over each other for purchase. Now she was thrusting harder, her mind plunging him deeper into the vibrant thoughts they shared so that he trembled with the taunting rise and promise of ecstasy. Her love calling him to completion, his body on fire with desire and need. So hot for her. His control slipping. Her pleasure multiplying knowing she could bring him to this. As they rose towards coitus a shiver of ice rippled through them. Almost he halted in surprise but T'Pol was guiding him now, urging him on, needing him to keep going and to increase the pace. To not lose the precious momentum. He groaned in her mouth, the heat in his spine like a jolt of electricity firing down through his loins as he momentarily froze then snapped. His fiery ejaculate exploding inside her like napalm. His fingers plied their trade to bring her to orgasm with him. Her keening cry exciting him as he shuddered and bucked again and again into her clinging sucking flesh, their sweat oiling their bodies into a rhythm that made their fluids flow like a fine rich wine.

As they reached their apogee unseen forces watched. Savoured the thoughts they shared. Examined the joining of minds and bodies. The passion of their souls. Trip sagged against her, wanting to roll off to save her the weight of his expended body but she would have none of it. Reluctant to relinquish him. Her tight interior muscles holding him still erect inside her. The grip not lessening enough to allow him to soften. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of him inside her. The knowledge that she was responsible for keeping him there. It felt so wonderful to be thus completed. So intensely joined. She broke off contact with the mind meld, her hands caressing his face. Her eyes opening to caress his shattered ones with their liquid laughing depths. Her soul embracing him as her body folded so lovingly and protectively around him like a sheath. He was her Ashayam and she was his. Each joining deepening the connection between them until it was impossible to sense where one ended and the other began. The bond was not simply complete between them now. It had been surpassed.

* * * * *

"Do you doubt?"

"No."

"Then you will not part them?"

"No."

"And this one?"

They paused to watch Koss weep, having ensured that he watched the two not only making love but also privy to their thoughts as they joined. So that there could be no doubting that the bond was real. He was cursing now in Vulcan.

"Koss, you must return what you took from us."

"I would rather die."

"You are dying anyway. It is just a question of how long we allow it to take."

"You betrayed me."

"Not so. You betrayed yourself. Everything you once stood for. Your mean spirit and spite crucify you now."

"I will have vengeance!"

They shook their heads though in the darkness he could not see it. "Have you learnt nothing?"

A pause. It took the Vulcan several minutes to find enough moisture in his saliva to wet his parched lips. He did not realise he was dry from screaming. "You cannot stop me."

"Repent Koss. Let your spirit again walk in the ways of Surak before it is too late."

"How dare you mention Surak. How dare you torture me to justify your ends."

Something dark slid across his protesting flesh. He shuddered despite himself. Hating the weakness that proved their point. "You have wasted the breath of life that was given to you at birth."

"Then let me die. Leave me."

"You are too evil to leave. We will go when you are dust."

"Let me go."

"Return what is ours."

A bitter laugh. "No. The key is mine. I may die but you will never recover it."

Anger flared around him. For a brief moment he was illuminated in flames so bright that it seared the lids of his eyes. He did not cry out. Instead he clung to the last thing he had. Realising that nothing would save him from himself they allowed the final judgment to roll over his embittered flesh. A noisy flare and roar of air accompanied the bursting of his body into flames. They watched impassive as the body fat broke down and fed the fire. The spontaneous combustion so intense that bones melted in the heat. The collapsing skull now devoid of flesh gaped open in a silent scream. The eyeballs burst. Blood fizzled and turned to blackened smoke in charred veins. As the fire burnt itself out a small fine dust cooled in the darkness. Then the winds of heaven blew and scattered them in the vaults of eternal space. No words were exchanged. The foolish man had precipitated his own doom. His arrogance the final failing of an imperfect mind. Unbalanced yet still able to do harm. His last breath befouled the air they breathed until with a final sweep the solar winds took even that ghost of his passing from them.

* * * * *

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Three people have made comments

Wow! That's a way to make sure that Koss is dead. And what has Archer found out about Sar? And will Sar tell the captain everything? Does Trip know the whole story? Just another great chapter to this story.

I just love the way you write Trip's loving character. He's so full of gentleness with Kai, Sar, and especially with T'Pol, but yet can take command when needed.

I'm intrigued as to what Jon has found out about Sar; that person's getting to be a bit of a conundrum.

And, boy, did you give Koss what for? Well, done, although I may have nightmares about exploding, screaming skulls...

I agree with alora - Wow!
I liked every part of this chapter. Just who are these aliens? And do they have a connection to anyone other than Koss? And what a description of Koss' death. I could visualize the "raiders of the ark" type scene vividly. Plus I was getting warm reading the Trip-T'pol scene. Again, quite descriptive.
I've now become spoiled and am disappointed when there isn't a new chapter every day! Looking forward to the next.