Blue Skins and Golden Opportunities

ENDLESS SUMMER HIATUS CHALLENGE

Blue skins and golden opportunities

Author: Aquila

Rating: PG-13
Category: Angst
September 15, 2004
Disclaimer: It all belongs to Paramount. No infringement intended.
Summary: Trip, Travis and Phlox intervene in a T’Pol’s rogue mission to rescue the children of her former lover.

--

"Vulcans do not experience fear, or so they have convinced the rest of the universe." Dr. Phlox had to yell to be heard over the shuttle engines that were roaring like a banshee as the shuttle hovered over a sward in a remote area of terra-formed Mars.

Travis looked back over his left shoulder with trepidation. “So Doc, their guardians-of-the-universe behaviour is just a consequence of sublimating fear?”

“A positive consequence.” Phlox was checking his away bag to ensure that the candles and pasta he had requested had been packed.

“Let me answer that one, doc.” Trip stared at the navigation panel under his finger. When Phlox nodded in agreement Trip turned to face Travis.

“They ignore their instincts for self-preservation and do dumb-assed things like attempting a solo rescue of the children of a former lover!”

Travis drew back his head in surprise. The emotion behind Commander Tucker’s explanation was out of proportion for the mission parameters as they had been explained by Captain Archer. Not for the first time, Mayweather wondered if the rumours about the Commander and the Vulcan were true.

“Is Sub-commander T’Pol the mother of those children?” Travis felt compelled to ask although he would have bet his pilot’s wings that T’Pol was barren or at the very least opposed to conception that required physical contact between two beings.

The helmsman’s question caused Tucker to slip into the past. The memory was so intense he felt the heat of the desert on his skin. The shrill sound of the Vulcan equivalent of a katydid had underscored the moment.

“I must do this.” She had gripped his hands. “Please understand.”

“Are they your children?” He coloured as he remembered hissing the question with venom.

Releasing him, she placed her hands on her belly. “They are not my children.”

Her gesture ripped through his entrails telling him more about her inner most desires than her words ever had. T’Pol regretted that this pair was not of her womb.

“Why choose such an illogical path if they are not your own?”

Travis’s voice broke his reverie. “Maybe it is not fear that is motivating her, Doc. Maybe it is maternal instinct?”

Phlox placed a hand on Travis shoulder, “A formidable drive, I agree, but I know that T’Pol has never given birth to children. For now, we must assume that fear and genuine concern are motivating her.”

--

T’Pol advanced cautiously, her phase pistol in her right hand, a portable bioscanner in her left. The Vulcan biosigns appeared as one on the screen. She assumed that the teens were bound together. The two guards were Andorians according to the reading. Blue skinned opportunists who when presented with what they thought was a golden opportunity seized it.

“Just kill us now.”

T’Pol heard the squeaky voice of 18 year old T’Mul. His voice had begun to change. Have I been away so long that I have missed the transition from boy to man she wondered.

“Do as he says.”

That imperious voice must belong to S’Lin, older than her brother by 10 minutes, thought T’Pol.

“You’re no good to us dead, now are you?” T’Pol assumed the third voice was one of the Andorian guards.

T’Pol crept closer hoping that the bravado of the children would distract the guards.

“We’re no good to you alive,” squeaked T’Mul.

Adult laughter drifted on the breeze. “Your father is the director of the Vulcan Science Academy, from one of the richest families on Vulcan. He’ll pay plenty to get you back.”

T’Pol was close enough to see the flicker of flame on the faces of the guards who were looking down at the ground. She followed their gaze. Next to the fire, tied back to back, were the children. S’Lin faced toward T’Pol. T’Mul faced in the opposite direction.

The young girl glared at her captive. “Our father does not want us back. You did him a favour by kidnapping us.”

Once again the guards laughed in disbelief.

T’Mul, his voice muffled, spoke up. “She is telling the truth. Father’s mate is pregnant.”

The guards looked from one to the other.

“The wicked step-mother is finally giving daddy what he has always wanted - a legitimate heir descended from two of the most powerful families on Vulcan.” S’Lin glared at the guard standing over her. “We’re the spares. We are disposable children, who are no longer needed.”

--

A dry heave wracked T’Pol. To muffle the sound she covered her mouth with the back of her left hand. She was not quick enough. The guards spun toward the sound. S’Lin strained to see in the shadows. T’Mul turning to look shifted the centre of balance. The twins toppled over, tripping the guard nearest T’Mul, who fell into the fire screaming with pain. The first guard froze. He was torn between the desire to rescue his partner and the desire to defend his prize.

T’Pol seized the moment, tackling the indecisive guard, who landed on top of his fallen companion. Sparks flew. Andorians screamed. The twins tumbled away from the fire in a ball of knees and elbows. T’Pol grabbed each Andorian by a free appendage and dragged them from the fire.

Blue phase blasts shot across the encampment over the heads of the children and into the bodies of the kidnappers. Instantly stunned they stopped struggling, which sent T’Pol toppling forward. Phlox and Travis focused their attention on the children. Trip extended his hand to T’Pol, who took it with a subtle reluctance which was not lost on her rescuer.

As soon as she was on her feet, T’Pol moved toward the children, who were being released from their bonds by Mayweather. Phlox was scanning the pair for injury. Trip held back, hiding his hesitation by securing the captors.

--

Trip and T’Pol watched the twins walk down the hall until they turned a corner and disappeared from sight. The university president harrumphed.

“Thank you, Doctor Cassidy.” Trip extended his hand.

Cassidy smiled indulgently, “Do not worry Commander; I will personally attend to their well-being, while they are students here. We will consult with you at the end of the each year to determine the most appropriate summer time activities for them. Their father has made it clear that you are to act as his proxy.” The donation received by the president of the university in which S’Lin and T’Mul were enrolled was of sufficient size to curb any curiosity he had about the odd domestic arrangement.

Trip and T’Pol bid the man farewell and exited the building. They hesitated on the old stone steps that led up to the building that housed the president’s office.

“Why haven’t you told the twins that you are their mother?” Trip took T’Pol by the shoulders. Passers-by did double takes in surprise that a terran male would take such liberties with a Vulcan female in public.

“I am not their mother,” T’Pol insisted, stiffening her spine.

“Did you or did you not donate the egg for the in vitro conception?” He already knew the answer, but needed her confirmation.

T’Pol broke free of his grasp. “The donor of the egg was a foolish, naïve female who acquiesced to the request of a mature male who used his position of authority and respect inappropriately. Is that a description of me, Commander?”

The End

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

A whole mess of folks have made comments

this is good

Oooooooooh I like it!!

A glimpse into T'pol's past - and it sounds so sordid, too!

I need to know more more - please, please give us a sequel or a follow up, or SOMETHING! Don't leave us hanging like this.

(and she begs pitifully)

Is it working? :)

I totally loved it, but there had better be a whole bunch of sequals planned for this story.

What do you mean: "The End"?!?!

so good and so short. Here´s another begger for more...

Ohhhh, great job! I do hope you have a continuation planned. Thanks!

I sense a continuation... hmmmmm?

This is so good but it cuts off at the end as if there is a whole lot more to come. I do hope you do not leave us hanging. Ali D :~)

But she must have donated more than one egg to have fraternal twins ... (sorry, the scientist in me coming out here ...)

Loved this! It was really good and it truly held my interest from the start. You wouldn't happen to have a sequel planned... do you? Cause if you do I'll be reading!

Thanks for all the kind words. Evalyn, you are correct two eggs would have to be donated. As for a sequel? Only time will tell.

Wonderful! But I think there is a sequel lingering in there somewhere.

Sequal?????? I loved it!! :D

I think a Prequel is needed here!

Prequel for sure -- and a sequel!