Fragile-Part 30

Fragile Universe
An "Enterprise" story

Written by Alison M. DOBELL

RATING: PG-13
ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where.
FEEDBACK: Welcomed
EMAIL: AlisonMDobell@aol.com
WEBSITE: http://carlajane.50megs.com/Ali00.html
SUMMARY: "Sar finally tells the Captain what he wants to know. Trip is stunned by what he learns."
DISCLAIMER: The usual disclaimers apply. The characters and 'Enterprise' are the property of Paramount. No infringement of copyright is intended.

Part 30

"PIERCING THE VEIL"

* * * * *

Captain Archer dismissed the others but asked Trip and Sar to remain. The look on Sub-Commander T'Pol's face said she wanted to remain but whatever non-verbal assurance Trip gave her was enough to ensure she left without confronting him. Lt. Reed handed the control device to the Volaran. Their eyes met briefly and the big man gave him a solemn nod. Almost a bow. When the others had gone the Captain looked at Trip then turned to Sar. "Do you know why I asked you to remain behind, Sar?"

Trip felt a flutter of anxiety. What the hell was this about? Sar did not move a muscle yet the Captain felt something shift in him, a subtle change of poise as if readying himself to defend the Commander. Why did he think that? Or was he just getting paranoid? "Captain, you will have to speak your mind for I lack the ability to read it."

The Commander hid the ghost of a smile. No such humour touched the Captain. "Sar, I've been reading up everything I can find about your culture. Your people and your language."

Trip did not like where the conversation appeared to be heading. "Cap'n, if ya have a problem with Sar tell me. I will vouch for him with my life."

"I have no problem with Sar, Trip, but I do have a problem with the secrets he's been keeping."

Before Trip could rush to defend him, Sar spoke. There was no anger or defensiveness in his voice. if anything a tinge of sadness coloured his words. "What do you wish to know?"

"You refer to the Commander as 'Senisa'. I looked it up." Trip was frowning. Annoyed at the Captain for so obviously prying into what he considered a private matter. He forced himself to hold his tongue, wanting to see just where this inquisition was going. "The word has several meanings from 'Trusted Friend' and 'Noble Friend' to 'Beloved of the Prophet'. Which meaning refers to Trip and why?"

"Cap'n ya can't go askin' questions like that!" Protested Trip.

The Captain raised a hand and looked calmly at the Volaran. "I believe I was speaking to Sar."

The big man looked deep into the Captain's eyes. Seconds ticked by before he answered. "Why is this so important to you, Captain?"

"I hate being kept in the dark, Sar. Now I've been patient but with everything that's been going on I think it's time to clear the air. Be open about a few things."

Sar took a moment to think through what the Captain was really asking. His voice became quiet, the words soft but clearly spoken. A deep respect coloured his voice. "I ask if I may first speak with my Senisa, Captain Archer? Once I have done so you may ask whatever questions you wish of me."

"And you will answer?"

"Yes, providing my Senisa does not object."

The Captain had not expected that response. Why would Trip object? What was he getting into here anyway? He nodded, realising he had taken a step he could not retreat from. He got up. "I'll give you ten minutes then return. Is that long enough?"

Sar nodded. Trip looked confused. A flash of hurt in his eyes as he gazed at the Captain wondering why he would do this. And why *now*. He watched the Captain leave. The door hissed shut behind him. To his consternation Sar stood then knelt in front of him, eyes fixed firmly on his friend. Trip wanted to tell him to stand. That there was no need for him to kneel before him. Then he remembered the vow. How the Prince Regent had released Sar from his allegiance to him and passed it on to Trip. They were virtually eye level now.

"Senisa, there are things I must tell you."

"Ya don't have to do this, Sar. I trust ya above an' beyond anythin' in the universe."

Sar placed a hand on his shoulder. The touch connecting them, rolling back the weeks that had passed since they had left Volara. It made Trip feel emotional. "I have never lied to you, Senisa, and I will not start now. The burden of care I have for you has no end. Like my love it is eternal. Inviolate. What has not been spoken of will now be put into the imperfect providence of words. When you hear them listen to the emotion not the form. Substance belies the harsh facts and I do not wish to hurt you, my friend."

"Ya could never hurt me, Sar."

Sar touched his cheek gently. Like a father to a much loved son. A brother to a brother. "Do you know why I call you Senisa?" He asked softly.

Trip shook his head. "No, I figured it was like a nickname."

"It is name of honour. The inflection of the word denotes its meaning Trip. The Captain asks which meaning relates to this ancient word of fellowship. He is wrong and he is right for all the meanings relate to this one word."

"So you're sayin' I'm a friend as well as bein' Beloved of the Prophet, whatever that means."

The big man smiled softly. His golden eyes gazed into the blue of the Human's and for a moment it was like the sun setting over a calm sea. Unaware of the storm clouds on the horizon. "Yes, Senisa."

Trip frowned. "Ya told me not to call ya friend. Said it was forbidden."

He nodded. "For you to use such familiarity towards a Simitarial Guard would be offensive to many of my people. You were a stranger. An off-worlder. A *criminal* in their eyes because of the punishment you bore. They did not know you suffered for love of your friend."

He felt awkward. Sar's hand dropped away and he immediately felt a sense of loss.

"It is different for the Guard. He may address you however he sees fit and none will question it. Knowing why you submitted to your incarceration I had already learnt much about you. The title was an acknowledgement of that and a recognition of the compassion that is your gift."

"My gift?"

"Yes, Senisa. A gift not glimpsed since the days of the Prophets."

"Sar, you're confusin' me. What does any of this have to do with Prophets an' such?"

He felt rather than saw the emotion deepen in the man. It touched and moved him. "I am a former Simitarial Guard. In his curiosity your Captain has probably discovered who and what I am. His concern for you is therefore tenfold."

A brief look of alarm fluttered in the Commander's eyes. "What are ya talkin' about?"

"I will die before I will allow you to come to harm."

Trip's voice came out hushed. "I know, Sar. I feel the same about ya."

The big man nodded. "We live by prophecy, Senisa. None more so than the Simitarial Guard. Do you know who and what we are?"

The Human frowned at him. "Ya were the Prince Regent's personal guard."

"Yes, but not because he was the Prince Regent."

"Sar, ya just lost me. Cap'n only gave us ten minutes. This is beginnin' to sound like a week long explanation."

Sar smiled at him. Resisted the urge to hug and reassure him. Words needed to be spoken before he could share them with the Captain. He owed it to his Senisa to tell him first. If Trip judged the matter too sensitive to share then he would not speak of it again to anyone. Even on pain of death. "The Simitarial Guard form what is known as the Sword of the Prophet. We are defenders of the prophecies upon which our society is based. A Senisa is a very particular kind of friend, one whose integrity cannot be compromised. He is utterly loyal and carries a nobility of spirit comparable to that of the Royal Lines of Volara."

"The what?"

"The Bloodline."

"Ya mean the Prince Regent and his family?"

"Nobility among Volarans is not inherited in the strictest sense. It is a quality of spirit and soul directly conferred by the Prophets. One who has had his destiny touched by the Prophets is very special. To him all honour lies."

"Sar, I think I know where ya goin' with this. I'm not Volaran."

"I know."

"I cannot be touched by the Prophets. I'm Human, remember?"

Sar gazed at him for a while, his look softening. "I knew as soon as I saw you that you were blessed."

The Commander snorted softly. "Ya try convincin' T'Pol of that."

He smiled. "She already knows."

"Wha..?"

"She just does not understand or realise its import."

For a moment neither spoke. "So is that what ya needed to tell me?"

Sar shook his head. "No, my friend. Your soul called out to me, Senisa, and I could do nothing but respond. There is a bond of brotherhood between us now, no matter the vows we made. Those vows are merely outward expressions of a contract we have already enjoined."

"Contract?"

"Yes, Senisa. A reckoning approaches. We do not know how or when it will come but the percussive tide is already flowing and I can feel the build of pressure as it closes in. Can you not feel it?"

"All I feel is confusion, Sar. Maybe ya mixed me up with another fun-lovin' Human engineer?"

Sar smiled gently, put both hands on his shoulders and gave him a look filled with such emotion that Trip caught his breath. "Senisa, before the Captain returns I must reveal my true self to you."

"How ya gonna do that?"

"Look into my eyes and do not look away whatever happens."

He swallowed. "What happens if I look away?"

"You will be blinded."

"No shit?"

The Volaran paused. His voice soft. "Are you ready, Senisa?"

"Whenever you are, my friend."

That made Sar smile briefly, relieving some of the tension. Then an incredible thing happened. As Trip gazed into his golden eyes, the Volaran seemed to fill with light. A beautiful shimmering gold that now grew to encompass the stunned Human. The light shining through Trip from his contact with the Volaran. A warm tingling going through him. The intensity somehow not hurting him. He felt his heart open and embrace the light. His mind automatically understanding what his friend was doing. As the light filled him he felt himself become calm. His soul awash with a knowledge that enlightened every cell in his body. When his friend's light dimmed Trip felt a sense of disassociation. Had Sar not been holding on to him he was convinced he would have fainted.

"Wow! What the Sam Hill was that?"

"That," Said Sar planting a chaste kiss of brotherhood on his forehead. "Was me."

"What does it mean?"

"I revealed my Ramishon."

"Your warrior self?"

Sar smiled. Pleased that the knowledge was already nestled in his friend's heart, mind and soul.

"What did ya do to me?"

"I shared my light." He paused and looked deep into the Human's dazed eyes. Watching his pupils come gently back into focus. "Are you ready now for us to face your Captain?"

Trip felt control return to him. Calmly he nodded suffused by a great joy. Able now to face anything. "Let's get this show on the road, Sar."

The big man hugged him for a moment then rose gracefully to his feet. He smiled at Trip then turned and went to the door. Captain Archer gave the Volaran a searching look as he re-entered the room. He glanced at Trip with anxious eyes. The man looked as if he had been given something very precious. He looked at Sar. Suddenly suspicious. "What did you do to him?"

To his surprise Trip got up and walked over to him. "He showed himself to me. Explained the kind of things you would want to know. It may not make any sense to you now, Jon, but when this whole thing is over you're gonna realise the world we thought we knew never really existed."

Captain Archer opened his mouth to disagree then closed it again. Dumbfounded. It took him a few moments to find his voice. "Why do I get the feeling I'm gonna end up knowing even less than when I started?"

Trip laughed. A bright happy sound that somehow reassured him more than a thousand answered questions. "Okay, Cap'n. Ask away. Between us we'll try an' put ya mind at rest."

* * * * *

Days flowed quietly from tension into something approaching normalcy. No foe threatened. Nothing happened to mar the passage of time. Captain Archer had to admit that Trip and Sar had answered every question. The problem was he had no idea how to interpret the information he had been given. It sounded like some fantastic fairy tale and any moment he expected to wake up and laugh at the sheer absurdity of it. But things had happened. Strange impossible things that hinted at deeper truths. Was Sar right? Was their own view of life merely an illusion? A place where magic was denied simply because their minds were not subtle enough to embrace it? Had they now touched on a realm where only the magic was real? He wanted to pinch himself. Wake himself back into a world he at least knew and understood. But Koss had been real. So had the strange cloaked aliens who walked through the walls of the ship and terrified the life out of every one of his crew. Himself included. And what about that device? Since the meeting when Lt Reed had handed it back to Sar, the Captain had not seen the device again. What was it? How did it operate. And what the hell was Sar going to do with it now? Should he be concerned or relieved?

He shook his head and gazed out at the field of stars. They had dodged a bullet this time. He knew it as emphatically as he knew his own name. But what of next time? Would they again prevail or would they not even see it coming? He thought again about all that Sar and Trip had told him. Fairy tales. He shook his head again. A rueful smile gracing his too sombre lips. The tension finally rolling off him. He had almost swallowed the story. Knew Trip believed it. But it would take more than smoke and mirrors to make a believer out of him.

* * * * *

It was Kai's birthday. Well. As close to a birthday as the boy could have without knowing his actual birthdate. Trip had told Kai he could choose his day of birth and that ever after that day would be celebrated as his own. The notion had both amused and touched the boy. Eyes shining with love and pride as he looked at the man who had given him more than any living being had a right to call his own. Never had he been so loved. A smile lit his face. A smile that radiated from his heart. "If this is my birthday, father, then how old am I?"

*Good question,* thought Trip. Sub-Commander T'Pol looked amused though to the casual observer she seemed as expressionless as ever. It was the depths of her eyes that gave her away. She was curious to hear how her Ashayam would answer. "How old do ya wanna be?"

Kai laughed. He was now almost as tall as Trip and broadening out into a large stocky man. At this rate he would rival Sar when he was finished growing. "That's cheating."

Trip raised his eyebrows in a look that so mimicked T'Pol that Kai fell about laughing. Trip loved to see him like this. T'Pol failed to see what was so funny which just reduced man and boy to incoherent heaps. It took several minutes for her to get any sense out of them. Trip apologised to her with a kiss. Kai smiled and was so happy. He knew they had bonded and was filled with deep gratitude that his adopted father had found someone to love him as deeply as he deserved to be loved. That he had come to love the sombre Vulcan himself had been an added joy. He had learnt to read T'Pol so well that her reactions often had him in stitches. Whether she knew all the nuances of his exposure to Human humour, there could be no doubting that every day that passed the boy became more and more like Trip. His mannerisms. Some of the unique tonal inflections that had once driven T'Pol mad. The quirky way he had of reasoning things out. Why did the boy have to pick up all Trip's more confusing habits?

He realised she was watching him closely and grinned. "Come on T, crack me a smile. You can call it an early birthday present."

She tried to look austere. Long having given up on Kai's shortening of her name. He had explained that it was a 'nickname' and a measure of his affection for her. She had thought it showed a distinct lack of respect but after several failed attempts to get the boy to drop the habit she surprised herself by finding that she quite liked it. Now she could not imagine him calling her anything else. Bad enough that she had been corrupted by a Human without adding a Volaran to the mix. Surak help her.

They were walking along the corridor to the mess hall. Sar was with An-aga but Sarsa had agreed to meet Kai in the mess hall. Trip was amused by his son's obvious anticipation. The two children had grown even closer since being on Enterprise and unless Trip was mistaken, the tentative steps from child to adult mirrored first in the boy then in Sarsa was causing a change in his son. A smile quirked his lips. Puberty. Had Kai been attracted to anyone but Sarsa he would have worried. Panic imagining all the hundreds of ways things could go wrong not least of all the mysteries of interspecies relations. By falling in love with Sarsa that hurdle at least was not one they would have to face. He was shaken from his thoughts as they reached the mess hall and stepped into a world gone completely mad. If only for a day. The room was a mass of streamers, balloons, homemade decorations. The lights dimmed a little so the candles would shine more. All the crew that could get time off to attend were there complete with party hats that Hoshi and Travis had spent weeks making. Kai's face was a picture. Trip laughed and hugged his son, kissing his cheek and wishing him a Very Happy Birthday and Many Happy Returns of the Day.

To say he was overwhelmed was to put it mildly. Dr Phlox clucked round the dazed boy, coaxing him into the mess hall and regaling him with stories which went in one ear and out the other. At no time did they actually register in what passed for a brain. His mouth hung open. Hoshi hugged him and gave him a kiss. Travis pumped his hand and told him he was proud of him. Captain Archer gave him a hug which both surprised and pleased him if only because it brought the threat of tears to his father's eyes. Sar and An-aga beamed at him then produced the biggest cake he had ever seen. It was a wild, beautifully mad evening. Lt Reed congratulated him on surviving a whole year with Trip and Lt Hess actually hugged him. A show of affection that surprised him because she had never been overly demonstrative before. It was a merry party and he loved every minute of it. Helped no doubt by the fact that Sarsa came to sit next to him, their hands often clasping each others' under the table when they thought no one noticed. Trip looked at T'Pol and leaned in close enough to whisper in her ear, their own fingers entwining. "Those two look like they were made for each other."

She resisted the urge to close her eyes as his words ended in a kiss against her sensitive ear. She controlled the shiver of desire that rippled through her. "Indeed, soon Kai will be wanting rooms of his own."

Trip held a breath. Took his time breathing out to steady the beat of his heart. T'Pol looked at him. "Ashayam?"

"I'm okay, T'Pol, it's just I forget how fast he's growing." He swallowed slowly. His eyes on the boy's laughing face as he teased Sarsa, dropping a dollop of cream on her nose then threatening to lick it off with his tongue.

She leaned in close to him, kissed his lips softly, her eyes on his. "You will never lose him, Trip."

"I know, darlin', it's just he's so precious to me...."

She squeezed his hand. Understood. Then a cry went up and the mess hall hushed while Kai had to stand up and blow out the candles. The cheers ringing in his ears as he began to cut the cake. Trip did not see T'Pol's face. A strange sensation rippled through her body. She caught herself and tensed. What was that? Something pierced her inside then just as quickly it was gone again. Odd. Perhaps a muscle had cramped? But she knew it was nothing like that. On the next table Sar's smile stiffened a little. An-aga did not notice, too busy watching their daughter making eyes at Kai while pretending to ignore him. They made a handsome couple. Sar excused himself saying he needed to relieve himself. An-aga nodded then turned her head to smile at Trip and T'Pol. She caught Captain Archer's eye and laughed at a joke he made. Hoshi picked up on the chorus of voices that began to call on Kai to play something on his harmonica. Trip grinned like a lunatic when his son finally caved in. The boy's dancing eyes played golden light upon them all. As he stood and took the harmonica out of his pocket he could not help but run his fingers over the embossed pattern and his eyes unerringly locked on Trip's. The room went completely hushed. Slowly Kai smiled, his eyes misting with memories as precious to him as his very breath. "I will only play if my father accompanies me."

Trip smiled and with a flourish produced his own harmonica. Several people laughed including the Captain. "I thought ya'd never ask!"

More laughter then the room stilled as Kai chose the tune he wanted to play and Trip picked up the sweet strains to follow him in a descant. Together they made a beautiful harmony. Spellbound their friends listened. In the corridor outside, Sar quickened his pace and walked in the direction of the shuttlebay. The weight he carried had grown heavier. It was pulsing now. Not trusting to leave it untended he carried it with him always. The burden his to bear. He could have told his Senisa but why trouble him? Why bring a distant doom nearer that it had to be? His friend had suffered enough. Yet his attempts to disarm it had proved futile. Even his brainstorming sessions with the gifted and redoubtable Lt Reed had produced no solution. Then the days had slowly lengthened into weeks, the weeks into months, and he had begun to think it would remain inert. Whatever had triggered the device it was inert no longer. He could feel the throbbing pulse of it beneath his vest. Knew if he should look upon it he would see the ambient light growing brighter. He had to act now. Get it off the ship before it was too late. Hopefully the sounds of merrymaking would mask any explosion.

* * * * *

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Four of you have made comments

It was all too good to last, wasn't it? So now, Sar's trying to get away from the ship before the key explodes, killing all aboard, but that will mean his death, and heartbreak for Trip, An-aga, Sensa and Kai.

Another wonderfully crafted chapter. Thank you for sharing your gift.

Do not, I beg of you, harm Sar, please.

Trip is a character with extraordinary depth, IMHO. I don't know what back story has been created for him, but I love the one you are implying. Great story. Can't wait for the next chapter.

So many plot twists and turns - I love it. I had to re-read this chapter because there was just so much going on. We're not going to lose Sar, are we? He is such a great character. And you almost had me forgetting Koss' alien friends, but I guess they're coming back, aren't they? Can't wait to find out what happens next.

You know, I should just say "see my last review" 'cause I'm running out of words to describe how much I'm enjoying this story! Like the others have asked, please don't harm our Sar! And again, I love your portrayal of Trip! Wonderful stuff!