War and Peace

War and Peace

By: Energy4TripnT’Pol

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: An episode of “Star Trek: Enterprise”: $ on Paramount’s budget (well, not anymore). Getting Trip and T’Pol together: priceless for us desperate fanfic writers. So no, I’m not making money and Paramount owns the series and all the characters involved (mostly).
Genre: Of course romance, slight angst, some mystery, just a hint of everything else . . .
Summary: Archer and company arrive on a planet with traces of Xindi technology. But when Archer encounters a temporal anomaly and meets a Trip Tucker from the future, he learns about a future that two of his friends could have. Meanwhile, Archer is so busy in the anomaly that in orbit, Enterprise has 3.5 hours to leave before a Xindi vessel arrives and they have to figure out how to get him out.
Archiving: No archiving, please.

Note: This story takes place during the 3rd season of “Enterprise” before “Similitude” and “Harbinger” (in other words, before any ideas of Trip and T’Pol’s romance except for neuro-pressure). Also, I wrote this before I even knew about the episode “North Star”, so forgive me if anything seems like copycatting. ‘The Captain’s Table’ idea is from the omnipedia about each of the series captains, yet another idea I borrowed. Enjoy!

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CHAPTER 1

As the shuttlepod began its descent through the outer atmosphere of a planet that had been connected to the Xindi, one of the six occupants pondered over the highlights of the past few days. He remembered waking up one morning and going to the Bridge, his crew on their feet with smiles. All except for T’Pol. She just held her hands clasped behind her back as she explained how sensors had detected many ion trails that all led to a planet they hoped was Xindi.

He’d ordered Travis Mayweather to set course and settled back in his chair. Maybe this battle with the elusive Xindi was actually going someplace. He remembered going into his ready room, consulted a few files on his computer, and then Trip Tucker and T’Pol entered.

“The planet appears to be similar to a Western 19th century outpost on Earth,” T’Pol coolly explained. “Many of the ion trails have been analyzed. Some are variants of Xindi trails in our database.”

Trip Tucker was bouncing on his feet. “Maybe all this searching’s gonna pay off after all,” he hoped with his charming Southern accent.

Jonathan Archer smiled, then stood up and looked at his two officers. His two friends. “We’ll hope, Trip. T’Pol, do any of the ion trails group together and lead anywhere else?”

“I will analyze them further and return to you with my results,” she announced. She inclined her head and left the room. Trip began to follow behind her but paused and glanced at Archer.

“You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?” Trip wondered out loud.

“Maybe. What are you thinking?”

Trip grinned and left.

Archer followed out to the bridge where T’Pol announced that some of the ion trails clustered together and led off in one direction. Archer decided they’d follow it after they explored this place. He assigned himself, Hoshi, T’Pol, Trip, Malcolm Reed, and Major Hayes to take a shuttlepod and have a look around. They gathered away jackets while Shuttlepod One was being prepared and then took their leave, Trip at the controls as they descended through the nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere.

* * *

The craft settled on the surface in a small field. Malcolm opened the hatch and, after swinging his phase pistol out in front of him to clear the area, let himself out. Hoshi followed, scanner in hand as she looked around. Trip jumped out and extended an unnecessary hand to T’Pol. Major Hayes climbed out of the hatchway with some resistance and then allowed Archer out.

He looked around, and then quickly paired everyone. Malcolm and Major Hayes would come up from the left. Trip and T’Pol would follow a trail along the right side of town, and he and Hoshi would wander down Main Street. Hoshi shuddered when he announced this, but lightened up when he said, “Don’t worry. I’m watching out for you. Just keep your phase pistol close.”

She nodded and followed behind him as the three pairs set off for the village.

When they appeared out of the clearing and onto what resembled a main street, Hoshi began scanning. “I’m detecting various lifeforms.”

“Any Xindi?” he asked, looking back at her.

She shook her head and added, “No. The closest one is in that establishment down there.” She motioned to a dimly lit area at the end, putting away her scanner and drawing her phase pistol at the same time.

He drew a light and flashed it to the doors on the buildings. In Archer’s opinion, they all looked like a Western ghost town from the 1800s on Earth. One of the doors had script written on it, rather crudely. “Hoshi, can you translate this?” he said.

She replaced her phase pistol and retrieved her scanner, universal translator built in. She looked at it. “Hotu-mariana. I can’t translate exactly, but roughly it means law office. Maybe their police station, or sheriff,” she commented.

He walked on to the next set of doors. A sign in big, bold letters hung loosely on a wooden pole. She gazed a moment. “Kara wien. Umm, spiritual. Maybe a church,” she answered questioningly. Her young features screwed into a dis-satisfied look, and then she readjusted her mindset. “Sorry, I read it wrong. It’s more like a justice of the peace.”

“You were close,” Archer offered. “On Earth, some people get married in a church. Or if they want to avoid tradition, justice of the peace.”

Hoshi calmed slightly, and then strode confidently to the next doors, the last set before the location of the lifeform she detected. “Finally, something easy,” she exclaimed, and Archer smiled. She looked only for a moment, and then reported, “Jeretai. Store or a food market.”

They passed by the windows. Inside were assorted types of food, Archer had surmised from Hoshi’s translation of the sign. “I wonder what some of that stuff is,” she pondered out loud.

“Hoshi, let’s see this lifeform, then you and T’Pol can analyze the food to your heart’s content,” Archer suggested.

She nodded and drew her phase pistol.

Archer guided the flashlight towards the steps, arms making sweeping motions as he cleared the ground. He paused, then wrestled with his jacket and pulled out his communicator. “Archer to T’Pol.”

“Yes, Captain?”

“Hoshi and I found a lifeform in town. We’re going to check it out.”

“Do you require assistance?” she calmly asked.

“I doubt it. There’re no weapons traces. Call Malcolm and meet us here in 20 minutes.”

“Captain,” Trip’s voice cut through, “we found something that looks like a power generator. Looks Xindi to me. Humanoid Xindi, that is. You mind if I try and get it workin’ again?”

“I would advise against it, Captain. It could be booby-trapped.”

With this statement, T’Pol’s voice took on an argumentative tone, and Archer was about to cut off the conversation when he heard Trip cry out, “Oh, like that artifact we discovered a few weeks ago on that planet wasn’t!”

“Trip, wait for Malcolm and Hayes. Let them give you a hand.”

“I’ll let Malcolm give me a hand any day, but Hayes -- I’d rather be stuck in decon with--” Trip shut up before he got into any more trouble, then repeated, “I’ll wait till Malcolm shows.”

Archer heard T’Pol faintly sigh, and then she said, “T’Pol out.”

He shut his communicator and motioned Hoshi towards the steps. “Come on.”

They slowly crept up the steps, Hoshi stepping right through a spider’s web or something similar to it. Archer circled around to the far side of the door. More script was on the door. He nodded towards it and Hoshi began her work. “Sir,” she called out in alarm.

“What’s wrong?”

She glanced at her scanner, the writing, then to Archer. “Captain, my scanner’s not working. And the script keeps changing, so I can’t translate it.”

“Changing? What do you mean?” Archer questioned.

Hoshi sighed in desperation and grief. “It keeps changing languages.” She waited for it to change, and when it did, Hoshi gasped. “Sir, this is Vulcan.” It switched again. “This one is Andorian, I think.” She groaned. “Give me a minute and I’ll translate.”

“In the meantime, I’ll take a look inside,” Archer advised.

Hoshi nodded and kept her eye on the script.

Archer held his phase pistol in front of him and pushed the doors open with it. Inside was what appeared to be a bar. Hoshi called out, “Captain, I think I’ve got it!”

He turned around. “Strange. There’s no sign of the lifeform now.”

“Do you think we scared it off?” Hoshi asked.

Archer shrugged. “Maybe. What’s the translation?”

“Pod marin daemon.” She looked around. “The Captain’s Table.”

“That didn’t sound like any language I’ve read.” Archer slowly sauntered through the room, trying to keep Hoshi calm with conversation.

“I’d be worried if you had. It’s from those aliens that tried to take over Enterprise about a year and a half ago. The ones who were stealing all our supplies.”

“The ones with the big ears?” Archer asked.

“Uh-huh.” Hoshi came to the door. “Other language translations say the same thing. Odd name for something this far from Earth.”

“I wonder if it’s similar to a saloon,” Archer speculated.

“You’re correct,” a mysterious voice said from somewhere in the shadows of the room.

Hoshi heard too and looked in; a second later she shimmered out of view.

“Hoshi!” Archer cried out, and then pointed his phase pistol into the darkness. “You better tell me where she went, or I’m going to start firing at whatever moves.”

“She isn’t the one who moved, Captain. You are.”

Archer narrowed his eyes with suspicion and disbelief. How did he know my rank? he silently questioned. And what does he mean, I’m the one who moved?

A figure moved in the shadows. With the hopes that he wasn’t hostile, Archer held his fire. The figure appeared, completely human. How is this possible, a human not from Enterprise, this far from home? he vainly wondered. The man, dressed in something that resembled a bartender’s outfit, merely smiled and said, “Welcome to the Captain’s Table.”

* * *

Hoshi Sato had seen people disappear, usually in transporter beams. But when the captain just vanished, no transporter beam from Enterprise involved, she groaned and said, “Captain? Sir, where are you?”

She held her phase pistol and aimed at the doors leading into the -- saloon, she nicknamed it for now -- hoping he had just gone into another room. Seeing no trace of him, she began to get extremely worried. She pulled out her scanner and checked the sensors. No sign of Captain Archer, not inside, not around the town.

Sighing, she put away her scanner and found her communicator. “Sato to Tucker.” She still respected T’Pol, but she didn’t want the Vulcan to blame her for the captain disappearing. And Trip was easier to talk to, crisis or not.

“Tucker here. You okay, Hoshi?”

“Not really, sir. Captain Archer and I were exploring one of the buildings in what appears to be their town. He went inside and he disappeared a few seconds later.” Hoshi held her breath, waiting for T’Pol or one of the others to explode.

A pause, then T’Pol replied in the background. “Ensign. Are there other lifeforms in the settlement?”

She shook her head, even though they couldn’t see her. “No. We were looking for the lifeform we detected when he vanished. There’s no one else here.”

This time, Tucker replied. “Okay, Hoshi, I’m gonna come and check things out. Just keep your phase pistol in hand. T’Pol,” he said to his partner. “Get Malcolm to scan for lifeforms. I’ll be back in a sec with Hoshi. Tucker out.”

Hoshi put her communicator away and sank down onto the steps. She kept her eyes and ears alert, listening for anything. Leaning against the post, she laid her phase pistol down, against Tucker’s advice, and pulled her scanner back out. She was wondering why he’d asked Malcolm to scan the area when she heard branches rustling and leaves being crunched.

She aimed her phase pistol towards the woods, behind the saloon house. Around the corner came Trip running; he was panting slightly as he caught sight of her and checked around.

“You okay, Hoshi?”

“Yeah. I just feel a little guilty for losing the captain.”

“Hoshi, you didn’t lose him. I don’t know what did, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t anything you did.” He straightened up; Hoshi realized since T’Pol had resigned her commission and the captain was missing, Tucker was technically in charge even though everyone still looked to T’Pol as first officer. Despite that, in this circumstance, between Hoshi and Trip, he was the ranking officer. “What’d you find?” he said, asking for a report but not as formal as he would have been on the Bridge.

She stood and pointed at the doors leading to where the captain vanished from. “The writing on the door says, ‘The Captain’s Table.’ I’m not sure what it means. These other buildings appear to be their versions of a police station, a justice of the peace, and a general store. Roughly translated,” she added.

Tucker nodded. “Okay. You got it all saved?”

She nodded.

Tucker looked around, and then sighed in desperation. His communicator beeped, and Hoshi had an idea who it was. “Tucker.”

A British accented voice came through, and Hoshi felt a bit better as she listened to Malcolm Reed’s voice. “Commander, I’ve finished a scan of the 100 square miles around the town and generator. There’s no sign of the captain.”

Tucker’s head sank. “Okay. Hoshi and I will get back to the shuttlepod. Maybe Enterprise can find something we missed. Tucker out.” He took one last glance around, and then motioned towards the woods. “Come on, let’s go.”

Chapter 2

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Seven people have made comments

This will be continued??? Right?????

This totally is a huge cliffhanger! More please!!

I'm assuming this is part 1 of a longer story? Shaping up to be interesting.

well I'm glad this wasn't as long as 'War and Peace' - oh wait...it's only chapter 1...well you piqued my interest...carry on...

Cool Ya got me on pins an needles.
I just gota know who the barkeep is.
Update soon pleaseeeeeee.

I hate cliffhangers!!!!!!!!!!
I hope you will update soon!!!!

Uh, duh! This is only Chapter One. Chapter Two and the others will be along soon, and for a special treat, there is a decon scene with TripnT'Pol that I've written in! I'm trying to get this story done as soon as I can, but access to my computer is limited. I do appeciate comments about what I should do.
Please be patient, Energy

And PS - I'm not trying to make it as long as "Pathways" but sometimes I get carried away writing!
So apologies, Energy