Unbound-Part 19

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: "Ensign Sato explains her theory. Lt. Reed makes a discovery that sickens them all. T'Pol reaches out to Trip when he needs her most."
DISCLAIMER: The usual disclaimers apply. The characters and ‘Enterprise’ are the property of Paramount. No infringement of copyright is intended.

Part 19

"RED IN TOOTH AND CLAW"

* * * * *

Ensign Hoshi Sato felt a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Everyone looked so focused and tense. What if she was wrong? It was the Sub-Commander who broke her reverie cutting through the build up of nerves. "Ensign, I believe you have a theory?"

She nodded. They were in sickbay. An odd place to have a meeting but given the fact that Dr. Phlox was still being assessed it was not perhaps so surprising. There was no sign of Lt. Reed and Hoshi bit back her feeling of disappointment. She had been looking forward to his reaction to her idea. Commander Tucker gave her a reassuring smile. Dr. Phlox was sitting up on a biobed looking expectantly at her. Travis Mayweather just had a great big grin plastered on his face. She felt her tension ease just looking at him, a smile teasing her lips and helping her control her butterflies. "It was the language root that gave me the first clue. The Zenari have many parallel language stems but one root. One common ancestor that links the various off-shoots, like dialects but more structured."

Trip was frowning. "What d'ya mean more structured?"

She grinned. "No offence Commander but your use of vocabulary is unstructured. The Zenari have a rigidity that makes their language more like a mathematical formula."

"Huh, sounds borin' if ya ask me."

The Sub-Commander was looking at Hoshi with intent interest. "On the contrary, Commander. A structured language like a structured mind is an elegant thing."

His eyebrows rose but he resisted the urge to make a facetious quip. Travis looked like he wanted to burst out laughing but did not want to incur the Wrath of T'Pol. Dr Phlox beamed. "Please, Ensign, continue."

"When I was examining the Xindi language I noticed they have similar parallel language stems."

"Ya mean they speak Zenari?"

She shook her head. "No, Commander, though the two languages are similar enough that they can easily converse in either tongue. They have the same kind of organised structure to their language with the stems showing at least seven different parallels. The Zenari have significantly more though I haven't been able to work out why."

Sub-Commander T'Pol tilted her head slightly. Trip recognised it as a thoughtful look. A focus of intense concentration somehow leaking through her calm mask. "If they are not the same how do you come to the conclusion that the two species are related?"

Hoshi shook her head. "I didn't say they were related, Sub-Commander."

Trip glanced at Travis but said nothing. Sub-Commander T'Pol raised a questioning eyebrow at their communications expert. "Explain your theory."

"The way the two species structure their language is uncanny, as if one provided the blueprint for the other hence the possibility that they share a common ancestry."

Dr. Phlox looked impressed. "Excellent work, Ensign!" He beamed at her. Travis and Trip stared at the doctor then exchanged a bemused glance. Something occurred to the Sub-Commander.

"Ensign, which of the two species predates the other?"

It was obvious, it was the Zenari. So why was the Vulcan asking her? What was she trying to intimate? "The Zenari, Sub-Commander. Their species is at least a thousand years old. Maybe thousands of years."

"And the Xindi?"

Everyone forgot to breathe. Hoshi hesitated just a fraction. "If I was to make an educated guess, Sub-Commander, I would say the Xindi are five or six centuries old."

Trip's mouth flapped open and shut a couple of times before he found the words to say what was going through his mind. "How the hell can ya say that, Hoshi? Ya said they were both structured, shared a lotta similarities. Surely if they were so apart time-wise they wouldn't be so similar?"

"That's what makes this so interesting, sir. It's as if the Xindi learnt their language wholesale from another species. Adopted and adapted it for their own use."

Something tugged at the Commander's memory. "Zenari terraform minds." He murmured. His eyes brightening in realisation. "Oh my God, you're sayin' the Zenari terraformed the Xindi mindset aren't ya?"

Hoshi beamed at him, as happy as Travis had ever seen her. Travis blinked. "You're not saying the Zenari are Xindi ancestors?"

"No, Travis, they are definitely two different and distinct species but they are linked by language. And in a way that is more intimate that the casual cross contamination of cultures mixing in trade."

"More intimate?" Said Trip.

The Ensign nodded. "Yes, sir. It's like a child attending the class of a gifted innovative teacher and being so impressed and absorbed that the child adopts the ideas and mannerisms of the teacher for their own. Only in this case the child was a whole species and the teacher was an advanced and manipulative race of beings so technologically advanced by comparison that the Xindi were in awe of them."

Commander Tucker frowned slightly at her. "In awe?"

"Yes." The Ensign paused a moment, suddenly feeling a return of her previous nerves. She steadied her resolve. "You do not copy and follow those you do not admire, Commander."

Just then they were interrupted by an urgent call from Lt Reed. Sub-Commander T'Pol responded immediately. "Lieutenant, what is the matter?"

His voice sounded strained. Upset. "Sub-Commander, can you please come to the transporter room as quickly as possible? And if Dr. Phlox is able can you bring him with you?"

They exchanged worried glances. "We are on our way, Lieutenant."

The Sub-Commander gave a nod and briskly walked out, Trip and Travis helping the good doctor to get to his feet. Once upright he was able to steady himself and walk unaided. Travis leaned in close to Hoshi and congratulated her on her theory. Trip smiled at her and echoed his praise, the Ensign's ears ringing as her face flushed with pleasure at the compliments. Then they were hurrying off after the Sub-Commander and doctor, all thoughts deflected. Wondering what Lt. Reed was so anxious about.

* * * * *

Ambassador Chot stood in the Grand Audience Chamber on Zeon, the cold clear calm of the vaulted room echoing centuries of service and benediction. He stood patiently before the dais. Time stood in its' cradle and waited on him and he waited on the hand that wound the celestial clock and kept all systems in their orbits. Space was a fabric that could be navigated or manipulated. The Expanse an invisible interface that flexed and altered its' many facetted face in the blink of a Human eye. Time. So readily accepted. So misunderstood.

He felt the air change in subtle increments and bowed low, sensing and tasting the build up of power as a diaphanous shape coalesced in a swirl of shadow that deepened and solidified in a column before him. He felt a hand form above his head, the crackle of energy flashing through him like lightening rods. His dark cloak flickered with the odd light, his form exulting in the gift. Pleasure coursed through him. "Where is their Captain?"

"The Xindi have him, Master."

He felt approval, more power flowing into him like a sigh of utmost gratification. "They will not continue without him."

The Ambassador could do nought but agree for he had seen into the Human hearts and weak and feeble as they were an understanding of loyalty bound them in an unexpected strength. They would use that strength against them. "No Master, it is their greatest weakness."

"And the Vulcan?"

"Steadfast and loyal to this inferior species, Master."

"You mentioned a spy?"

A tremble of light betrayed the Ambassador's sense of failure. "He escaped."

The aura of the Presence became a dark aspect not in colour but intent. Almost the Ambassador quailed. A word of disapproval would unmake him. "Where is he?"

"Back on the Human ship."

"What of their shades?"

"The Humans destroyed them but they have been reclaimed. Even ashes favour the phoenix."

A long silence fell like a cloak between them. The Ambassador felt the weight of his Master's thoughts. Cried out inside to serve him. Willing to unmake himself for the pleasure of a single admission of grace. "I sense the Xindi faltering."

The Ambassador so rarely felt shock that he savoured the strange emotion before accepting it. "They know what must be done, Master."

"Yet they waver."

"Shall I go among them?"

Silence again stretched, this time the quality of it was not uniform. Like vaporous hands they clawed at him and sent icy tendrils of light washing their cold comfort through his being. He neither accepted nor rejected it. "You must not be seen with them. The Humans think they can effect a rescue."

He sounded amused. The Ambassador shared the joke. Loving the taste of the dark energy flickering between them in intimate accord.

"Let the Human return."

Another bigger shock reverberated through the Ambassador like a form of electrocution. "Master?"

He felt the darkened spirit touch his and the power slide slickly through his soul, touching him with the Master's intent. "It is what they want." Said the Presence softly, the voice a hideous caress. "*This* is what you must do..."

Images flashed inside the Ambassador's brain. His aide, Kantak, watched in respectful silence. Standing far enough away so as not to impinge on the transference of power. He had not yet earned the right to share the Ambassador's intimacy with the Divine. Yet, as dark fires swirled before his thirsting eyes he ached, he yearned, and he desired to taste of its' fire. To burn with the power of the Presence. It was what they lived for. Were created to embrace and serve. Patiently he waited as the Presence consumed the Ambassador and remade him in the ashes that burned so brightly that every image of joy was expounded beyond the fashion of his intellect. Every descriptive phrase failing to come even close to imagining such awesome clarity. When it was finished the Ambassador was as he had always been but the power within him was tenfold. The lurking flicker of light seemed to flare in the folds of his heavy velvet cloak as movement brushed the hem across the cold polished floor. The light absorbed within him as he moved. The shadows retreating from their corners as he left the Chamber. Kantak following at a respectful distance in even more awe than he had been before.

* * * * *

When they reached the transporter room Commander Tucker was surprised to see Lt. Reed standing outside waiting for them. He looked more than just upset. He looked shaken. Dr Phlox's smile vanished, his bright eyes taking in everything and missing nothing. "What has happened?"

Lt. Reed licked his lips, unhappy to see Hoshi with them. Funnily enough he accepted the Sub-Commander as an equal in anything they might have to do or face but he felt protective of the Ensign. Her gentle spirit did not need to witness this. "I did ask for just yourself and the doctor." Said the Armoury Officer almost nervously.

Sub-Commander T'Pol raised an eyebrow but it was Trip who spoke first. "What's up, Lieutenant? Ya look like ya seen a ghost."

"Believe me I wish I had."

Trip blinked. *Uh oh, this was bad.*

"Lieutenant," Said the Sub-Commander in a calm, quiet voice. "What have you discovered?"

"I was trying to find a way to boost the Captain's signal so I could trace him. I was more successful than I could have dreamed..."

As his voice trailed off the Commander's eyes narrowed. Suddenly Malcolm could not meet Trips' eyes.

"If you boosted the Captain's signal that's good, isn't it?" Offered Hoshi.

If anything the Armoury Officer paled still further and there had not been a lot of colour in his face to start with. He looked at the doctor. "The signal was so strong," he said softly, his voice aching and barely audible. "I decided to use the transporter."

Trip felt his heart miss a beat. "What?"

Dr Phlox ignored the Commander, his eyes fixed on Lt Reed. Instinctively knowing it was costing the Englishman a lot to tell them what had happened. "I take it the transport was not entirely successful, Lieutenant?"

Lt. Reed swallowed heavily. "No, doctor. It wasn't successful at all."

For a moment there was a stunned silence. Trip could not believe what he was hearing. "What are ya sayin'? Where's the Cap'n?"

He inclined his head towards the transporter room behind him. The door still closed. "In there but..."

He never got to finish his warning. Trip activated the door and stepped through before he took in the sight that greeted him. Shock rooted him to the spot. Rostov's pale sickly face staring at him with eyes so round and glassy that the horror seemed underlined. His breath caught and he gagged, the ruby red pulp still dripping off the transporter pad and staining his eyes with grief. Trip turned his head and was promptly sick, his eyes stinging with tears, his heart breaking with sorrow. No one could move. No one spoke. In the anguished hush of distressed hearts and minds, each contemplated the utter horror and trauma of losing the Captain.

After what seemed like hours but was in fact only minutes, Dr Phlox moved quietly around the still forms of his distraught Human colleagues, passing the Vulcan's tight mask of shock, to approach the messy coagulating sight before his eyes. Rostov stepped to one side to give him access. The doctor knelt on the periphery of the bloody mess and mentally calculated the amount of mass the residue represented. Certainly it would equate roughly with that of a human being. Sadly he stood up and turned to T'Pol. "I need to return to sickbay and fetch a container."

"What for?" Sneered Commander Tucker in angry distress, looking up with tear stained eyes. "Look at him! Look what those bastards did to him!"

T'Pol looked at the Commander with concern but all Trip could see was the remains of the best friend he had ever had. A man who was friend and brother, confidante and cheer leader all rolled into one. A man he loved and respected above all others. A man he would gladly lay down his life for and not count the cost. A man who deserved better than this. Before anyone could respond he turned and stalked out. No one moving to stop him. Hoshi turned her face away, tears rolling down her silent face, Travis automatically putting his arms around her to comfort her as she buried her head in his shoulder and gave herself up to her grief.

Sub-Commander T'Pol looked at the doctor. "Do what you can to collect the remains doctor. I want a full report on exactly what you find."

Lt. Reed was about to ask her why bother then got a good look at her face. Something hard and implacable in those dark alien depths held him momentarily in thrall. He could not quite identify the emotion. Emotion? T'Pol? She was a Vulcan. She blinked and he reassessed his assumptions. No. They had emotions just like every other sentient being. They were just used to hiding them but for a moment it seemed as if the mask had slipped and what he saw twisted his gut and made his heart stumble. It was more than simple grief. Some deep emotion that made no sense to him even in the current clime. Then it was gone. Back behind that steel shutter.

* * * * *

It was hours later. The whole ship was stunned. People moving about as if afraid to make a noise, as if this great ship had become a graveyard and they must honour the dead. Sub-Commander T'Pol listened in silence as Dr Phlox detailed his findings. Beyond a doubt the blood was Captain Archer's. The residue replete with his DNA. She did not take her eyes off the doctor, his voice calm but steeped in sadness. His eyes telling her how sorry he was yet she detected a slight confusion in the depths of his exotic eyes. Lt. Reed stood ramrod straight beside her. Unbending and as rigid as a steel girder. No one else was in sickbay. Travis had taken Hoshi back to her quarters and elected to stay with her for a while to make sure she was alright. Rostov had been stood down. Dr Phlox had offered to give him something to help him sleep but he had refused. His expression tense but determined. He did not want his senses dulled by any drug just in case this was only the beginning of what they could expect from here on.

A team had been sent to clean up the transporter room and slowly the crew went about their tasks in a muted if orderly fashion. T'Pol felt drained. It was well past the end of her shift and now it was time to take what little rest she could before the next day's duty loomed. First though she had something she needed to do. With sadness in her heart she made her way to Commander Tucker's quarters. Paused at his door then did the unforgivable and entered the over ride code. As the door swished open she stepped inside knowing she was invading his privacy but she did not dare to take the chance that he would deliberately deny her entry. He was upset, in emotional pain and she needed to be with him. The lights were off. The Sub-Commander took a few moments to let her eyes adjust, a little muted light from the bedside clock allowing her to slowly make out the Commander's form as he lay face down on his bed, his head buried in his crossed arms. She could tell he was crying though he made no sound.

Quietly T'Pol went to him, knelt on the floor beside his bed and place a hand on the back of his neck. Her voice so soft and quiet that had her lips not been inches from his ear the puffs of breath would not have resolved into recognisable words. "Ashayam, it is I."

His muffled voice pained her for he was hurting so deeply she ached to heal him. To absorb the ragged edge of his grief. "Not up to company, T'Pol."

She bent her head and kissed the back of his neck gently, her lips brushing his nape. Surprised he turned his tear stained head and stared at her. What he saw in her eyes made his breath catch, his heart aching with love for her. "T'Pol, I..."

She hushed him with a light touch of fingertips against his mouth, then gently cupped his face between her hands and stared deep into his eyes. Saw all his hurts, all his sorrow and pain and wrapped her caring around each and every one of them, her love shining so brightly and gently that he had no defense. Tears spilled from red rimmed eyes. She kissed them as they fell like broken stars shattering against his cheek, her hands cradling him as he cried. Then he was in her arms, face buried in her neck, her arms holding him close to her heart and rocking him as his heart broke. A great wash of emotion lapped her shores, his overloaded grief gushing out of him into her healing embrace. How long she held him neither knew nor cared. Slowly the tears stilled, he became aware of her warmth and took comfort from her touch. Head turning so he could trail tender kisses along the column of her neck, his hands stirring to brush a cheek as he pulled back to look into her beautiful eyes.

"I can't believe he's gone, T'Pol."

She hushed him with a kiss as his voice cracked. He kissed her back. A gentle parting of lips, an exchange and merging of need. Not desire. Not hunger. Just comfort. They spoke quietly, their kisses becoming more frequent and deeper. Hands blessing flesh, fingers deftly removing confining cloth and allowing them to drown their grief and sorrow in the one union they had craved for so long but held in abeyance. It seemed so natural, a destiny that could no longer be denied by any duty but the one they owed to one another. Trip sighed in her mouth as her fingers trailed down his chest, lightly teasing and stroking him all the way down. Her breasts rubbing against his chest, his fingers teasing her nipples into hard little pyramids of desire that strained for his touch just as he trembled and arched into the stroking caress of her gifted hands.

"T'Pol, you're crucifyin' me here, darlin'."

He felt those plush lips curve against his. "I can stop if you prefer, Ashayam."

"Do that an' ya really will kill me."

She deepened the kiss. He slid a hand down to delve into her moist heat picking up the rhythm of her hand on his hardening shaft. Sliding his foreskin up and down that adamantine shaft as she gently squeezed and coaxed him until he was so hard that the blood throbbed hot and rampant between her fingers.

"Oh God, T'Pol..."

She swallowed his groan and while working him with one hand raised the other to gently settle against the left side of his face, her fingertips stretching to seek out the pulse points. Her mind invading his so sweetly, heightening the sensations building between them as he opened up to her. Their touch electric. Swapping saliva as their hands on each other brought them higher and higher, his fingers slipping and sliding against her bundle of nerves while she arched into the pleasure of his hand and moaned his name over and over again like a sweet litany as her juices flooded and baptised him. Her tongue sliding against his, her lips drawing him deeper, her hand so confident, the thumb now brushing across his slit and making his cock weep for her as his fingers continued to stroke and rub against her clitoris to build into another orgasm. Her breath was warm, hushed and vibrant with want and need nursing a deepening desire for him. "I want you, Ashayam, need you."

"Anythin' ya want, T'Pol."

She did not give him anything but everything. The mental stimulus of two minds joined in coitus roused him so deeply that the ecstasy was sweet agony. Using all her wiles she timed his orgasm to coincide with hers, their minds amplifying their senses and washing them with a bliss that left them absorbed in one another so deeply that there was no longer any division between them. There was no Human. No Vulcan. No compromising of species or thoughts. Bodies in motion now at rest. Loving arms engraced each other. In the measured aftermath of their initial grief love had found a safe arbour for them. A brief and blessed respite in the chaos of an uncaring universe. Trip gently folded the covers over them and could not find it in his heart to regret this. Weakness or strength was irrelevant. He was the one place he wanted to be. In the arms of the one he loved more than life itself. Even exhausted in grief and passion, he clung to this. A gentle kiss upon her glistening brow. T'Pol looked deep into his eyes and spoke directly into his mind.

<You are mine, Ashayam, as I am yours>

So exhausted he hardly noticed she was not speaking out loud, he answered her in kind. As he drifted off to sleep in her arms she trailed a light finger over his eyebrows. Traced the outline of his upturned nose, the curve of his lips, papered his face with tender kisses so light that they barely touched his warm glowing skin. She loved him and could feel the bond solidifying between them into something that could not be broken.

<Sleep Ashayam> Her mind whispered as she snuggled in close to him. Holding him like something precious. As she closed her eyes joy burst quietly in the depths of her heart as his sleeping mind reached out to her and cradled her in a love as deep and passionate as her own.

* * * * *

Continue to Part 20

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Eight hardy souls have made comments

WOW!!! What else can I say.!!

You have something evil planned. I know it. The eloquence with which you wrote of their feelings is a set up. I'm shouting at the screen - don't - but you are too skilled a writer to listen to me. Plaguenation...

Here´s another Woohoooo!!!!
I´m sure that the Captain is not dead, but I really, really hope that Aquila is not right about "evil plans". Oh, oh.

Ah, poor Trip, lost and adrift in a sea of misery. A part of me suspects that all will not end out up as well as I might hope, but I'm sitting on the edge of my seat here!

You are such a gifted writer. Thanks for sharing your talent with us. I am enjoying this story so much!

Great story so far. You are a joy to read. More Please.

Oh my... oh wow... lovely ending.

Horrible painful way to 'kill' Jon. hmmmmm me thinks the lies are not done.

I don't know where you got the notion that the story had ended, it hasn't. When the last part is posted it will be flagged 'conclusion'. So happy you are all enjoying the journey. Hang on now! Ali D :~)
Just got to love Trip and T'Pol