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Vivarium- Ch. 3

Author - A-Rhea King
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Vivarium
By A. Rhea King


Rating: PG-13, Drama/General
Disclaimer: Characters and “Enterprise” belong to Paramount. No money made.

*****************

Chapter 3

Malcolm reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. He closed his eyes for a minute before letting out a sigh.

“Rough day at the office?” Trip asked, sitting down across from Malcolm

Malcolm looked at him. “Kasbra has been crying for two days now. Those Par’Tek really upset her.”

“She’s young. She’ll get over it,” Trip joked.

Malcolm smiled. “I certainly hope so. Just wish I knew what they were hiding.”

“You and the rest of the crew,” Trip said.

“They were so nosy!”

“Tell me about it.”

“Morning gentlemen,” Doctor Phlox said.

The two looked up.

“May I?” Doctor Phlox motioned to the open chair beside them.

Trip motioned to it.

“How are you Lieutenant Reed? Has Kasbra calmed down any?”

“I can’t tell. The hours I’ve spent walking the floor are starting to merge with the hours that I haven’t.”

Doctor Phlox and Trip chuckled.

“If it’s any consolation, Likos is having a similar problem. He said it’s normal for young Jit to have difficulty with exposure to strong negative emotions. He said it would end with time.”

“Vardee said the same thing.” Malcolm smiled. “I think. I can’t remember. I might have dreamed that.”

Again Trip and Doctor Phlox laughed.

Enterprise rocked from a phase canon hit.

“ALL HANDS TO STATIONS!” Hoshi yelled over the ship’s COM.

Crewmen abandoned their breakfast and raced to their stations.

“I’m detecting seven ships, sir,” Travis told Archer.

Archer had manned the weapons station until Malcolm could reach the bridge.

“Continue evasive maneuvers,” Archer reported. “Missile away.”

Enterprise shuddered from another hit.

“We’re being boarded,” T’Pol said.

Archer turned to launch another missile.

“T’Pol, what kind of shielding do they have?” Archer asked.

“They ha—”

Archer looked up. An alien had beamed onto the bridge behind T’Pol and had her by the neck with a phaser aimed at her head. Hoshi had a phaser aimed at the alien, making Archer glad he’d finally relented to allowing her to keep one the bridge. The alien said something.

The lift door opened and Malcolm stepped off, aiming a phaser at the alien as soon as he saw it. The alien pressed the phaser against T’Pol’s temple, saying something.

“We don’t understand you and we aren’t lowering our weapons,” Archer said.

Enterprise rocked again.

Hoshi’s console beeped but she ignored it. The console beeped again. Something on the alien beeped and he responded. He and T’Pol started to be transported away. T’Pol yanked away, breaking the transport. The alien’s outward appearance flickered and for a brief second they all saw a Par’Tek instead of the creature that had been there. Malcolm shot at the alien and hit a monitor where he’d been standing, sending a shower of sparks across the bridge. T’Pol turned to Archer, but her words were lost as she was transported off the ship. Hoshi’s console beeped again. Hoshi jumped up and pressed a button.

“BRIDGE!” Hoshi snapped.

Travis got back into his seat. “The alien ships have gone to warp,” Travis informed Archer
“They took Doctor Phlox,” a crewman reported over the COM.

Another COM beeped. “Bridge here,” Hoshi replied.

“The aliens took Trip,” another crewman reported.

Hoshi’s console beeped again. “Bridge.”

“Tell the captain they took Ensign Cutler,” a third crewman reported.

“Cutler?” Archer stood. “Why would they take Cutler?”

“They also took Ensigns Westgard and McDowny,” the voice on the COM continued.

Archer stood. Now things weren’t making any sense. Only Doctor Phlox, Trip and T’Pol had made sense, they were senior staff. McDowny and Westgard made some sense as well because they were both engineers. But Cutler made no sense. She was a biologist. She wouldn’t know anything about Enterprise and little about the inner workings of Starfleet.


***************

Trip could hear someone nearby sobbing. He opened his eyes, staring at the bright light overhead. Trip slowly sat up, finding T’Pol standing by an opening. She glanced at Trip.

“How is your head?” T’Pol asked.

“Great…considering the splitting headache I have.”

“You have a bump. Did they strike you?”

“No.” Trip closed his eyes. He looked up at T’Pol. “Not once. Even when I was fighting they never struck me. I hit my head on the railing when one tried to grab a hold of me. I was hit with a phaser blast and that’s the last I remember.”

“They are Par’Tek.” T’Pol looked back out the door.

“Par’Tek?” Trip stood.

T’Pol nodded. “They were using a holograph to disguise themselves when they attacked. The disguise of the one that took me flickered and I saw a Par’Tek under it. I was stunned as soon as I arrived on their transporter pad.”

Trip stood, walking up to her. He reached out, turning her chin so he could see the light bruise on her neck better. “Did they give you this?”

“Yes. He gripped my throat tight, but not enough to damage me.”

“What’s your definition of damage, T’Pol?” Trip said.

T’Pol looked at Trip’s face. “I am fine.”

Trip looked out into the hall. “Who’s crying?”

“Ensign McDowny.”

Trip moved to the other side, seeing Elizabeth Cutler standing near the door.

“Hey Liz, you okay?” Trip asked her.

She looked at him. “Scared to death, but fine. Doctor Phlox is still unconscious though. How are you?”

“Okay.”

“Commander?” a man’s voice asked.

“Ensigns Westgard and McDowny are in the cell next to ours,” T’Pol told him.

“You okay, Eddy?” Trip asked.

“Yeah. How are you two holding up, sir?” Eddy asked Trip.

“We’ll live. Marsha’s there with you?”

“She’s pretty shaken up, sir.”

“Marsha?”

“Yeah?” Marsha asked. Her voice was shaking.

“Hey, we’ll get out of this. Somehow. It’s gonna be okay.”

“I’m scared.”

“We are too. Hang in there, Marsha.”

“Yes, Commander.”

Trip smiled. He leaned against the doorframe, looking down at his feet. T’Pol walked to the bench at the back and sat down. Trip joined her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. The six were silent; awaiting whatever fate was to befall them next.

*********************


Trip started awake. He lifted his head, listening for the sound that had woken him. Trip heard the distinct winding down of a warp engine. He got to his feet, walking to the door and looking down the hall. He felt warmth on his arm and looked down to find T’Pol standing beside him. Trip looked back out into the hall. Voices were getting closer, speaking in a language he didn’t understand.

“Commander?” Marsha whimpered.

“Be strong, Marsha. No one do anything rash,” Trip ordered.

“Yes, sir.”

Four Par’Tek walked to the first cell that McDowny and Westgard were in. Trip watched them stand outside and talk. Two more Par’Tek carrying weapons joined them, and the six entered the cell. There was a short commotion and then silence. Two Par’Tek came down the hall with stretchers and entered the cell. They left with McDowny and Westgard on the stretchers. The six Par’Tek left the cell and one said something in a loud voice. Above them on a COM speaker a voice replied. They turned, heading for Trip and T’Pol’s cell. Trip backed away, instinctively pulling T’Pol behind him to protect her. T’Pol pulled away but continued to back away beside Trip. The four stood outside the cell talking and occasionally motioning to the two of them.

“Can you understand them?” Trip asked.

“No,” T’Pol answered.

“Any ideas?”

“No.”

The Par’Tek turned, one disengaging the energy field. Two appeared carrying what looked like old-fashioned rifles and aimed the weapons at the two. Trip and T’Pol bolted separate direction, missing getting hit by darts. Trip turned to move again when he felt a sting in his neck. He reached toward it. Two pairs of hands grabbed his wrists and arms, pushing his chest against the wall and pinning his arms behind him. Trip struggled despite the feeling of weightlessness that began to wash over him. His knees buckled under him and the hands guided him to the floor, laying him on his stomach.

“CHARLES!” he heard T’Pol scream.

Trip crumpled into the arms of a Par’Tek, falling asleep. The Par’Tek gently laid him on the floor, both turning to watch the four remaining Par’Tek advance on T’Pol.

T’Pol bolted to the side when a Par’Tek took aim. She felt a dart pierce her arm and grabbed for it. T’Pol grunted when she was tackled to the floor by the five Par’Tek. She struggled against them, trying desperately to wrestle free. She felt a sting in the back of her neck and could feel the drug they’d injected starting to weaken her. T’Pol tried to block the feeling out of her mind and her struggle for freedom didn’t lessen. There was another sting in her neck on the other side and this time she succumb to the drug, falling asleep under the Par’Tek. They got up, one calling out. Two Par’Tek trotted in with stretchers and the group moved to Phlox and Cutler’s cell.

********************

Trip turned his head, feeling the warmth of a body beside him. His dreams had led him to the T’Pol’s bed and he smiled, sliding his arm around what he thought was the blonde.
“Morning, honey,” Trip murmured.

T’Pol didn’t reply. Trip opened his eyes, looking up at T’Pol’s face. Trip sat up in bed, laying his hand on her shoulder and gently shaking her
.
“Honey?”

T’Pol didn’t stir.

“T’Pol, wake up.”

T’Pol still didn’t move. Trip reached out and checked for a pulse on her neck. He let out a breath of relief when he found one. Trip turned his head and his stomach tensed. He had never seen the room he was in before. Everything, down to the carpeting, was foreign to him. Trip got out of bed and looked down, finding himself naked. He looked back at T’Pol, finding her naked as well.

Trip numbly staggered to a wardrobe and opened it. Civilian clothes hung in a neat row on one side. On the other side were casual clothing he’d seen Vulcan’s wear. Trip grabbed clothes and pulled them on with shaking hands and breaths. Trip stood when he was done, looking around the room. He pulled out clothes for T’Pol and walked back to the bed to dress her. Trip was pulling a sleeve over her right wrist when he noticed something on her wrist. Trip reached out and switched on the lamp by the bed. Trip turned her wrist over, running his thumb over freshly tattooed numbers and barcode. Trip looked at his right wrist and found he had a number a digit higher than hers on his wrist above the barcode. Trip returned to dressing her, finding it more difficult since his hands had begun shaking again.

Trip walked to the bedroom door when he was finished and very slowly opened it. He saw an empty living room that resembled any other living room in some small apartment on Earth. Trip stepped into a living and dining room decorated with comfortable looking furniture and painted milk white, bare of any decoration. Trip turned, looking at the kitchen. There was a refrigerator, a full stove, a sink and a quick cooker. And a door. Trip walked to the door and tried to open it. It wouldn’t budge. Trip looked at the device beside the door. It was a black box and the only thing on it was a pulsating green light. Trip felt around the box, trying to find out how it was attached to the wall. He gave up after a few moments. Trip walked back to the living room, spotting another door. Trip walked to it and tried to open it. It wouldn’t budge either but there was no black box near it. Trip sighed, looking around the room.

“This can’t be good,” Trip whispered.

He walked back to the bedroom. He pulled a large armchair over to the bed and sat down. Trip felt his hope fighting to stay alive as he watched T’Pol sleep. He wished she were awake. He needed her support more than ever.

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