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To Boldly Go Once Again - Ch 7

Author - Eratta
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To Boldly Go Once Again"

By Eratta

Rating:
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

A/N: Sorry for the delay, midterms are draining the life out of me. As always, thanks and hugs to Jenna for beta-ing!

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Chapter 7

“T’Pol to Tucker.” The science officer said, perched in the captain’s chair. She closed her eyes, unable to stem the feelings of guilt. This was a mistake, she thought I should not have come back. I’m not ready.

“Tucker here.” The thought of having Trip up there with her was a powerful one, and only in passing did T’Pol marvel at how quickly she’d re-associated feelings of comfort with him.

“Please come to the bridge.” She asked him.

“T’Pol,” Lt. Sato began, “I’ve got locks on their comm. signals.”

T’Pol nodded, bringing the scans up on the armrest. There were four little red dots traveling away from Enterprise in the shuttlepod, carrying two members of the senior staff. She closed the panel, unable to look at it anymore. Fortunately, Trip walked in at just that moment.

“What’s going on?” He asked. T’Pol rose and walked to the situation room, knowing that he was following.

“The Commodore, Commander Reed and two of his security team have gone to the lead Suliban ship.

“Suliban?!” Trip asked, the expression on his face matching the incredulity in his voice. “Oh no, don’t tell me --”

“It’s him.” T’Pol confirmed, crossing her arms in front of her to give her frame a more solid appearance.

“Figures.” Trip said, leaning one fist on the large consol at his side. “So what am I doing up here?”

T’Pol shifted, forcing herself to look into his eyes. “You’ve been placed in command.”

Trip raised an eyebrow. “Come again?”

“You’re in command.” She repeated, moving to sidestep him and get back to her consol. But Trip would have none of it. In one deft movement he blocked her escape and crossed his own arms.

“You’ve always been the second. Why the change?” he wanted to know.

She said nothing, reverting back to something she hadn’t done since the first year of their original mission. She stared him down in the manner he had named the “ice-queen-look”. Trip stared right back, his jaw tensing. What the hell…? Was all he could manage to think. She hadn’t pulled that one in years. For some reason, it amused him just as much as it pissed him off.

“All right.” He finally said, inching over just a bit to let her through. He made it so she had to brush against him as she went, something he considered payback for the “ice-queen look”. Never mind the fact that it raised goose-bumps over his body.

He turned and went after her, gingerly seating himself in the command chair. It felt weird, but he put the thought out of his head as the data came streaming through the networks to the consoles under his forearms. He sighed, thinking back to just about twenty minutes before, when he’d actually wished to be on the bridge. Just like he’d wished so hard and so long to see T’Pol again. Be careful what you wish for Tucker. It likes to come and kick you in the ass.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Standing face to face with his old enemy, Archer couldn’t help but feel a sense of severe déjà vu. But, he noted, this time it was he who held the upper hand. At least he hoped so.

“What do you want?” He asked bluntly. The other man did not smile as Archer expected. His pebbled skin did not stretch taught over his modified bones, and his eyes looked dead.

“I need the Temporal devices your agent Daniels left on your ship several years ago”. It seemed the Suliban didn’t want to be coy, something which Archer found to be very strange indeed. He looked at Reed quizzically.

“Why would you need that?” He inquired.

Silik glared at him, the deadness in his face replaced lighting-fast with the sly aggression that Archer was used to. He nodded to his guards, who trained their weapons in the space between the humans’ eyes. Reed and his men responded in kind, despite the obvious fact that they were outnumbered.

“That,” he clarified, “is none of your business.”

“Considering that it’s human equipment on my ship, I’d say it is my business.” Archer retorted.

“You are outnumbered and your ship is practically falling apart.” Silik said, his voice grating on Archer like the underbelly of a snake on ground. At his bristle, Silik sneered “We scanned you. We both know who the victor would be in a skirmish. Give me what I need and I will leave your ship to disintegrate by itself.”

Archer frowned. He needed to twist this situation around, to gain the upper hand. And it was going to be tricky.
“I’m not going to blindly hand the technology over to you.” He stated, enjoying the expression on his adversary’s face. “You can blow us up, but it still won’t get you what you need.” He stopped, waiting to gage the affect of his words on Suliban. When Silik’s sour expression deepened, he congratulated himself on his little use of logic. T’Pol would be proud, he thought. But instead of answering his question, Silik posed one of his own.

“And what are you doing out here in that ancient ship of yours?”

“We’re trying to find the NX-02 Columbia, another human ship. It disappeared a few weeks ago.” Archer said carefully, watching Silik’s face. It remained too neutral, and he would bet his life on the hunch that the Suliban knew more than he was letting on.

“Would you happen to know anything about it?” he prompted. He noticed that the other Suliban had lowered their weapons, as had his own three men. Silik looked like he wasn’t going to give him the information he needed, but suddenly seemed to change his mind.

“I know where it is being held. I’ll tell you after you give me the temporal technology.” He said quickly. It was too fast, and Archer knew he had him now.

“We haven’t gotten to that yet.” He began, holding up a hand to stay any exclamations. “First, tell me why you’re out here, and why you need the technology so badly.”

Silik stared at him stonily. “We have lost contact with the future. We are acting blindly now, trying to mass our forces for the war.”

“We?” Archer asked.

“The Kabal.” Silik answered.

Archer nodded. “So you need Daniels’ technology to help you get in contact with the future, and I need to know how to get to the Columbia. Sounds like we can help each other.”

“So we have a bargain?” Silik pressed.

“Take us to the ship, and then we’ll give you the technology.” Archer said firmly. Silik visibly stiffened. “We’re no threat to you, you said so yourself.” Archer reminded him. “Once we get there, I’ll give it to you.” He left the offer standing, making no more amendments. Silik seemed to vacillate between accepting and rejecting the offer, but in the end, his never-ending need for instruction won the battle. He nodded and turned, leaving the humans with their guards. They were shown to the airlock in silence, and it was only once they were back in the shuttlepod and flying back to Enterprise that Malcolm ventured a question.

“What exactly are you up to, sir?”
Archer smiled a little, but it was a grim smile. “Meet me in the situation room in ten minutes.” He said.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“You said what?” Trip asked, the incredulity etched into his face. Beside him, T’Pol expressed similar sentiments to Archer.

“Sir, how do you intend to keep this bargain? Daniels’ technology is on Earth.”

Archer found it hard to look at T’Pol. He didn’t know how to tell her that he had once again compromised his ethics. Like the last time, when he chose to attack the – ship, he had no other choice. And he knew that like last time, she was going to give him hell for it. “We’re not going to keep the deal.” He said, looking more towards Trip than the woman behind him.

“You’re going to con him?” Commander Reed asked, tight arms folded over his equally tight chest.

“We’re going to bluff.” Archer clarified, noting the subtle change in T’Pol’s demeanor. “It’s the only thing we can do.”

“And what will you do once we reach our destination?” T’Pol challenged, her eyes glinting. Archer knew that look. She knew there was more to the plan, and she knew she wasn’t going to like it.

“We’re going to need a way in once we get there.” Archer said carefully.

“And that is . . . ?” Lt. Sato prompted. Archer looked back at T’Pol and Trip. The two people he trusted most in the whole world. At least one of them was going to be pissed at him in a second.

“I’m leaving that to you two.” He said. T’Pol’s eyebrows rose in what could only be the Vulcan equivalent of indignation, while Trip merely nodded. T’Pol noticed his reaction and shot a look at him. Trip either hadn’t seen it or chose to ignore it. Archer watched the interplay with interest and almost pitied Trip as much as he pitied himself. No doubt she would have words with both of them.

“Get to it.” He said by means of dismissal. Trip headed for the turbolift, T’Pol following in his wake. Reed and Sato resumed their consoles as Archer took his chair.

“Open a channel, Lieutenant.” Archer said. Silik appeared on the viewscreen. “We’re ready when you are.” He told his adversary. Silik said nothing and closed the channel as his entourage of ships went to Warp.

“Lay in a pursuit course, Ensign.” The commodore said to the helmswoman.


Chapter 8

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Two folks have made comments

Okay. Confused now. But I am sure you have a really exciting rabbit to pull out of the hat. Ali D :~)

Hmmm... interesting. I wonder what you have up your sleeve... this outta be interesting!