Fragile-Part 34

Fragile Universe
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://carlajane.50megs.com/Ali00.html
SUMMARY: "The Captain and Commander get the chance to mend bridges. T'Pol shocks her parents. Sar reveals a great secret to Lt Reed. But what should he do with the knowledge?"
DISCLAIMER: The usual disclaimers apply. The characters and 'Enterprise' are the property of Paramount. No infringement of copyright is intended.

Part 34

"HIDDEN NOT LOST"

* * * * *

Sub-Commander T'Pol stared at the face of her father. No emotion showed yet she somehow knew that he did not completely disapprove of her decision. "You are certain you wish to do this, T'Pol?"

"Yes, father."

He paused. It was not quite a hesitation. "With a Human?"

She nodded.

"Daughter, I do not doubt that the Human loves you..."

"His name is Trip, father."

"Commander Tucker is irrational, illogical and ill equipped to provide what you will need in a stable relationship."

She steeled herself with surprising ease. "Father, I love him. Insofar as it is possible for a Vulcan to love anyone. He is my t'hy'la. My Ashayam. I will not be parted from him now."

For a long moment there was silence. T'Pol could not see her mother but knew she would be sitting close by just out of camera shot. "The Vulcan High Command is not enamoured of your Commander."

"I do not wish to marry the Vulcan High Command."

A single eyebrow arched slowly. T'Pol resisted the urge to smile. "You would be bonded."

"Yes, father."

"He may not be stable enough for the meld."

"He is."

A sudden stillness gripped him. Saveth's eyes looking deeply into hers. Com link or no com link it still was a powerful thing. "You have already bonded." He stated in a flat clipped tone. Disappointment and disapproval obvious in his voice.

"He is my t'hy'la." She stated for the second time.

"You did not even wait for our decision, T'Pol."

"You were going to part us."

"You do not know that."

"Yes, I do. You already ordered me back to Vulcan but I refused. Now I want you to know the full reason why."

"The Vulcan High Command..."

"This is *not* about them, father. I have faithfully obeyed them, the Vulcan Science Directorate, you and mother for over fifty years." It was said calmly and without rancour. A mere statement of incontrovertible fact. When he did not disagree with her she continued. "As I tried to obey you over Koss but something inside me could not accept being mated with him even before I joined Enterprise and met the Humans."

A flicker of understanding penetrated her father's closed expression. "That is why you took the post."

She inclined her head gracefully. Not happy with the fact that she had been running away. For the first time since doing so she was prepared to admit it. "Yes." She paused. "I needed the time, the space, to come to a decision that I could live with."

"You disobeyed us." Her mother interjected softly. T'Pol still could not see her face.

"Yes, mother."

"To follow your heart."

"I did not realise it at the time but yes." T'Pol paused. "I did not intend to fall in love with a Human. In fact, at first I did not even like them. But they were my chance. My opportunity to explore the stars and other cultures. To be the scientist I always wanted to be. To live in a universe without walls."

Her mother moved to sit beside her father bringing her into view of the camera. T'Vrel did not look as stiff or forbidding at her father though T'Pol could not tell what she was thinking. "Tell us about your Ashayam, T'Pol."

The Sub-Commander was surprised but pleased at her mother's interest. The first sign that their position was softening in her favour. "What do you wish to know?"

T'Vrel gave the ghost of a smile. The rest of it sailed the depths of eyes so like T'Pol's own that it was like a reflection in a mirror. Did she know which was which? "Tell us why you love him. Why you believe he is the only one who can make you truly happy. Why we should turn our backs on thousands of years of Vulcan tradition to accommodate this course of action. Tell us, T'Pol. That we too may understand something that is beyond logic. Beyond all reason."

* * * * *

Captain Archer was good as his word. First he took Trip to the Captain's mess for something to eat. Watching his friend's face closely as he was served steak, mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy followed by pecan pie. The look on the Commander's face was worth it. Lt. Reed and Travis joined them. Part of the Captain felt guilty for not sending him straight off to T'Pol but he wanted this first few minutes with his friend. Wanted it. Needed it. After all the things that had happened over the last year and a half he wanted some normality back in his life. It was time to renew a friendship that he had almost stretched to breaking point. Not that Trip would have seen it that way but he did. Once the meal was over Malcolm and Travis both excused themselves after making sure Trip knew how glad they were to have him back. For a moment there was an awkward silence. The Captain cleared his throat carefully and gave his friend a sheepish look.

"I have so many things to apologise for Trip, I hardly know where to begin."

"No need to say a word, Cap'n." Drawled his friend with warmth and gentle understanding. "There's a sayin' I've heard Malcolm use a time or two. *Least said, soonest mended*."

For a moment Captain Archer just looked at him. Fought to hold strong emotions in check. Trip shook his head, his voice quiet, hushed. His look gentle.

"Don't go there, Cap'n. I'm fine. I'm back where I belong and none the worse for wear."

"That's not the point, Trip, and you know it."

"Then it should be."

He stared at his Chief Engineer's earnest face. He loved him so much even if he had never put it into words. Trip was the brother he had never had. His shadow and his conscience. Family. Both men knew the feeling was mutual. Yet he had almost jeopardised all that just to satisfy political expedience. To bow to pressure from Starfleet and the Vulcans. The man sitting across from him right now meant more to him than anything else including the damn space programme but he was not about to say that out loud. It was time for actions to speak louder than words. "I should let you go but first I have to say something and it's not for any ears but yours." He paused and took a deep breath. "First off you're not going back in the brig. I should never have put you there. I should have stood up to Admiral Forest and told the Vulcans to go to hell."

"Cap'n..."

Captain Archer held up a hand. His expression was firm, steel in his eyes where he had made up his mind on a course of action that no amount of coaxing would cause him to back down from. "No, Trip. This isn't just about friendship. Just about protecting the only family I have left that means a damn. This is about something a hell of a lot simpler." Trip fell quiet. You could have heard a pin drop. "This is about doing what's right. Something you always had a handle on right from the start even if you did have an unfortunate way of leaping without looking first." He paused and tilted his head thoughtfully as he looked at the Commander. "I can't tell you how terrified I was that you wouldn't come out of this, Trip. Even when I'm as angry as hell at you it's mostly fueled by that fear and I know it's wrong. I should have more control. Be able to detach myself..."

"Now you're scarin' me, Cap'n. You're beginnin' to sound like a Vulcan. Don't go all pointy-eared on me." Trip joked gently.

"I'm the Captain of the first Earth star ship and it's about time I acted like it. On the one hand I can't go running back to Starfleet every time I have a difficult decision to make and by and large I haven't done that. Only when it comes to you. Well I'm not doing that any more. I have to make sure Admiral Forest knows that either he trusts me to do this job or he gets someone else. If he trusts me he has to step back and let me deal with things as I see fit." He paused. "He can either back me or sack me."

"But the Vulcan High Command, Jon. This could sour Human and Vulcan relations to an all time low. Not to mention ruin your career!" He protested, eyes full of concern.

Impossibly, the Captain smiled. A first real honest-to-goodness everything's-going-to-be-alright smile. "They've been low before, Commander, and I have a feeling they'll be low again but maybe that's what they need to learn to work and live with Humans. Someone once told me that trust is a two-way street."

Trip looked at him in silence for several minutes before speaking. His voice quiet but steady. "This is gonna be a bumpy ride, isn't it Cap'n?"

The Captain grinned. "Think you're up to the challenge, Commander?"

Commander Tucker could not help grinning back. He shook his head and chuckled. "Just lead the way, Cap'n. I've followed ya this far, I guess I've a few more light years in me."

"That's all I needed to hear, Trip."

* * * * *

Sar smiled when he saw Kai with Sarsa and An-aga in their quarters. He could see the questions on Kai and Sarsa's faces and knew they would not settle down until he told them. "My Senisa is well. Healed. All he needs now is to sleep."

Kai looked so relieved he had to fight back tears. "He almost died didn't he?"

"I would not have let him die." Assured Sar quietly.

Sarsa sat next to her father and hugged him. The big man smiled, hugged her and looked at An-aga over the top of his daughter’s head. Then he turned his head a little further and met the boy's eyes. He was surprised when the door chime sounded. Thinking it was Trip he nodded to An-aga to open the door. His surprise was complete when the cultured tones of Lt Malcolm Reed floated over to him.

"I apologise for disturbing you, An-aga, but is it possible for me to speak to Sar?"

The big man disentangled himself carefully and walked over to the door. The Lieutenant looked tense. "How may I help you?" He asked quietly. His eyes asking another one entirely. *What is wrong?*

"I thought we could take a walk, Sar? If you're not too tired."

An-aga offered the Armoury Officer some refreshment but he politely refused. Sar looked at him closely. Read an urgency behind the mildly spoken words. He gave a single nod then stepped out into the corridor to join him. Only when they had walked to the Lieutenant's own quarters did the Human begin to relax. Sar asked no questions but let himself be led. Curious and cautious. He watched the Armoury Officer activate his door release and followed him inside. Lt. Reed indicated for him to sit in a chair then sat on the edge of his bed facing him. "Sorry if I sound all mysterious Sar, that wasn't and isn't my intent."

The big man nodded and waited calmly.

"I have come to consider you a friend, Sar, but what you've been up to these last few days have disturbed me."

"In what way, Malcolm?"

The Lieutenant did not beat around the bush. It was a quality that Sar very much admired about him. "I want to know what the hell you thought you were pulling when you took the shuttlepod."

For a moment the big man said nothing. "Malcolm, do you remember the control device?"

"The one we took from Koss?"

Sar nodded. "Yes. It had started to glow."

Lt. Reed frowned. "I don't understand."

"The control device cannot be activated by simple touch."

"Then what activates it?"

"Thought waves."

"Are you saying it is operated by some kind of psychic manipulation?"

He shook his head. "No. The brain waves have to be tuned to the device. Another cannot operate it not even by accident."

"I'm afraid you've lost me. You said it was glowing?"

"Yes. Someone or something had activated it."

The Armoury Officer paused before speaking further. "Some *thing*?"

"Thoughts are things just as surely as objects are, Malcolm. The rate of vibration may be different but it is there. The control device was tuned to be operated by Koss."

"Hold on a minute, Koss is dead."

"Yes."

"Then how could it be operated without him? And what the hell is it supposed to do?"

"I believe Koss primed the device."

"To what?"

"Self destruct if it was tampered with."

"But you said..."

"I know."

A long pause. "Are you saying someone else was trying to use it?"

Sar nodded.

"Who?"

"I do not know but the device has a number of functions."

"Such as?"

"One is a fairly simple but sophisticated primary source. A device which encodes all other devices to operate in synchrony and at predetermined signals."

"What other devices are we talking about here?"

"Personal cloaking devices, energy shields, thought buffers, tracking systems, that sort of thing."

Lt Reed gave a low whistle. "I see what you mean about sophisticated, but you also said it was simple. I don't call that level of technology simple."

"I meant to operate. If you know how you can use it with no effort at all. You do not even need to be in physical contact with it."

"You can send a command by thought to activate it?"

"Yes. Or you can trigger the self destruct by attempting to do so when you are not the one encoded to operate the device."

"So we're back to someone else trying to use the device? But why?"

Sar was quiet for a couple of minutes. Considering how much he should tell him. "My Senisa trusts you."

"Yes, and I trust him Sar. We're friends."

He nodded. "What I tell you now is part of my burden."

"Burden?"

"Yes. Commander Tucker has the gift of compassion. Mine is a burden."

"What is your burden?"

For a moment the golden eyes swallowed his own in their exotic depths. Lt Reed was unaware that he was holding his breath. "Knowledge."

* * * * *

Trip was feeling so happy. Ten feet tall and bullet proof in fact. He had been relieved to hear the Captain actually divest himself of his fears and clear his conscience. He was a good man. Someone Trip had learnt to admire and respect almost from the first moment he had set eyes on him. Of course it helped that he was Henry Archer's son. It felt good to have no secrets from Jon. The only thing he could not share was the emotional depths that bound him to Sar. It was something that defied Human description.

When he got to T'Pol's quarters he decided to ring the chime rather than enter his code and walk right in. He wanted to surprise her. See her face when she saw who was waiting at her door. The look on her face was worth it. With a pie eating grin he stepped into her quarters and caught her up in his eager arms before the door could hiss shut behind him. "Missed ya darlin'."

"As I have you, Ashayam." She responded in a slightly breathless voice.

His grin grew larger, his lips warm and pliable against the sweetness of her plush mouth. She opened her lips and deepened the kiss, her arms snaking around him, her body molding to his with an urgency that made him hot and needy in a single sizzling breath. "Woman, ya have no idea what ya do to me."

But T'Pol knew. And she was only just getting started.

* * * * *

Lt. Reed stared at Sar. He could see that the man was completely serious. "So if you hadn't taken the shuttle and fired the ruddy thing inside a buoy it would have blown up Enterprise and everyone aboard?"

"Worse than that, Malcolm."

"What could be worse than that?"

"The explosive yield of the device is the equivalent of a singularity the size of my fingernail opening up at point blank range."

"Are you saying its' detonation would cause a black hole to form?"

"To form, collapse and draw matter from this universe with it. I needed to achieve distance."

"You almost died."

Sar smiled very gently. "My Senisa saved me."

"Did you know that would happen?"

Sar shook his head. Lt. Reed shuddered inwardly at the risk the man had taken. "We all owe you our lives, Sar."

"That is not why I did it."

He was confused. "I don't understand."

"I told you the control device had another use."

"Yes."

Sar paused. This was part of the knowledge that weighed him down. A burden placed on him by the Prophets. "I believe it was being used to find the Key."

"The key?"

"Yes."

"What the bloody hell is that? And this time Sar just spell it out for me. It's been a long tiring day full of worry and anguish and then celebration. I'm almost dead on my feet. The last thing I need is to have another mystery dumped on me that I can never solve."

"The Key is the ultimate gift of the Prophets."

"Which tells me absolutely nothing, Sar." He paused as a thought occurred to him. "Why are you telling me this and not Commander Tucker?"

"He needs to rest. To be at peace with his chosen one. At least for this night."

*Uh oh. Why do I feel as if something bad is coming next? Why the hell did I have to ask him to tell me what was going on? Me and my big mouth*.

"Someone is looking for the Key. Whoever it is has the power to activate the device remotely. The device is linked to the Key by some very exotic coding. Biomechanoid coding. When the device came into the Key's proximity it triggered activation of the self destruct sequence."

Lt Reed looked baffled. "Why? What on earth would be the purpose of that?"

Sar just looked at him. Lt. Malcolm Reed felt the bottom drop out of his world. "Oh Christ, they want to destroy the Key?"

The Volaran nodded solemnly. Lt. Reed felt a hundred. A thought occurred to him. "If it activated then that means..."

"The Key is on Enterprise."

* * * * *

Return to Part 35

Return to Part 33

Return to "Fragile Universe" Menu Page

Back to Fan Fiction Main Menu

Have a comment to make about this story? Do so in the Trip Fan Fiction forum at the HoTBBS!

A handful of people have made comments

Another terrific chapter - I don't know how you keep doing it. The dialogue between Malcolm and Sar had me on the edge of my seat. And I loved the interaction between T'pol and her parents - I just wish the conversation had gone on even longer; it would have been wonderful to read how T'pol describes Trip to her parents. And did she tell them about the pregnancy? That would have been very interesting. Now stop reading this and go back to writing.

I too would have loved to see how T'Pol talked about Trip with her folks. But a great chapter nonetheless. Can't wait to see where this all ends up. ;-)

patience may be a virtue, but i'm goin insane here waitin for new chapters! i love the story, but i really want to know what t'pol told her parents! keep up the great work!

Oh cool!

Love T'Pol's mom. Can we get an interlude... maybe where T'Pol tells Trip about her talk with her parents and she tells him why she loves him?

Oh very good with John finally stepping up to the plate.

Malcolm Malcolm Malcolm.... what a can of worms for you and Sar and everyone.

Keep it coming,

Tracy

I'm so glad this story's continuing.
Loved the dialogue between T'Pol and her parents, and can only fill in the gaps as to how she described our boy (yum).
And more intrigue...just who is 'the key'? Trip? Sar? Kai? or one of the ladies???
More, please, I've nearly chewed my way to my elbows.