The Thin Man Beams Aboard - Part 2

The Thin Man Beams Aboard

By galleywest

Rating PG-13
Disclaimer: Paramount own Star Trek and the characters created therein.

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Part 2

Chapter 13:

Trip woke up with a pounding headache. He was still on the floor in engineering, but someone had been kind enough to slip a folded coverall under his head. Someone was also unkind enough to shine a flashlight in his face.

“Commander—Trip—are you all right?” an unmistakable British voice was asking. Malcolm.

“I believe you are impairing his vision, Lieutenant.” T’Pol.

“Maybe we should get Phlox down here. He could have a concussion.” Hoshi—geez, was the whole senior staff here?

“Get the damn light out of my face!” he croaked. He sat up—waaaaay to fast. “Oh—woozy.” He lay back again and felt a gentle hand cradle the back of his neck. He looked up at T’Pol gratefully. Hoshi and Malcolm exchanged glances but said nothing.

“Commander, please be careful,” T’Pol admonished him. “Miss Saunders used unnecessary force. You were bleeding but we’ve stemmed it. Your biosigns are normal.” She showed him the readings on her scanner but he couldn’t quite focus on it.

“Billie—yeah, she whacked me on the head. Where is she?” He sat up again, more slowly this time. Malcolm and Hoshi kept their distance, letting the Vulcan help the engineer to his feet. Once steady, her arm lingered around his waist—as though she were steadying both herself and her human at the same time.

“Miss Saunders was immediately apprehended,” she told Trip.

“She was?”

“Yes sir!” two enthusiastic voices chorused. Trip looked for the sources of the voices and started laughing so hard T’Pol thought he would fall over again. Lts. Hess and Rostov, grinning ear to ear, had the struggling human trussed like a prize steer. They had tied the unruly technician with what appeared to be relay wiring, and someone had taped her mouth shut with one of the flexible adhesive strips they used for temporary valve repairs.

“Both of you,” he struggled for breath, “are getting a raise!”

They beamed with pride. “We heard the struggle, sir,” Hess explained. “We were in the junction—” she pointed to the mouth of a now darkened tube—and came as quickly as we could.”

“Good work,” Malcolm told them. “Good to know you engineers are…” he squinted at the relay wiring, “an adaptable bunch.”

“How long was I out, anyway?”

“Only a few minutes,” T’Pol had not moved from his side yet. “But we’ve uncovered a great deal. We need to get back to the bridge. If we can gather all the SMP members in one room, I believe I can say with certainty who the guilty party is.”

“Wait a minute—you’re going to gather the suspects?”

“Yes.”

“All in one room?”

T’Pol glared at him. “Yes.”

“And reveal…whodunit?”

“Commander, if you do not wish me to be influenced by it, perhaps you should not expose me to human literary devices,” she huffed, helping him out of engineering. “After all, it worked quite adequately in The Thin Man.”

“I never said it didn’t.”

“We are in a similar situation, you realize, with little technology to assist in our current investigation, thus it seemed logical…”

Malcolm and Hoshi waited until they were out of earshot before bursting into laughter. Never had two people so obviously not meant for each other…been meant for each other.

Chapter 14: The Big Dinner Scene

Thin Man dinner party scene. T’Pol reveals who did it.

It is a cold, hard fact that when one lives aboard a starship one becomes accustomed—no, reliant—upon certain technological conveniences. Take, for example, the communications system. It is imperative to know what’s going on in other parts of the ship and to be able to relay information quickly and efficiently—especially if one is the captain.

“I would like,” he growled, “someone to explain what is going on, on my ship.” The MACOs had escorted a sullen Pieter Gundal, a grumbling Medec, and a haughty Shrel to the conference room already. V’Ret had entered on his own, claiming that T’Pol had ordered him to make his way to the bridge and join Kovar. Now Malcolm, Hoshi, Trip, and T’Pol had appeared with Billie Saunders in tow, her hands bound with…was that relay wiring?

“What are you two doing here?” he asked the commanders. Not to quibble, but the ship was incapacitated. One might expect one’s chief engineer to be otherwise engaged in engineering at a time like this, not wrapped around one’s science officer. Then Archer noticed that Trip was stumbling a bit and kept raising his hand to the side of his skull. “What happened?”

“Billie attacked me in engineering.”

“That explains the relay wiring.”

“Thank Hess and Rostov for that,” Trip told him cryptically, smiling lopsidedly.

Archer ignored this comment. “Now tell me what’s been going on around here.”

“I believe I can sir,” T’Pol stepped forward. “I know who the killer is.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You’ve been gathered here tonight to reveal—” Archer stopped himself. Damn Trip for all those murder-mysteries on Movie Night! All six remaining Shomar Mining Project members stared at him from around the table, their faces illuminated in the extra lighting Malcolm had insisted they drag in from the emergency lockers. Their expressions ranged from the blank slate of Billie Saunders and the practiced calm of V’Ret to the agitated fidgeting of Medec. “I think I’ll let my science officer explain why you’re all here now.” He gestured to T’Pol to take over.

T’Pol stood before them awkwardly. She remembered this scene in the movie The Thin Man—it had seemed a simple matter to emulate it here on Enterprise. Now that she stood here, though, with everyone’s eyes turned to her…she wasn’t sure how to begin. She hesitated, glancing about the room.

Trip caught her eye and nodded slightly, encouraging her. Buoyed, she drew herself to her full height, clasping her hands behind her back.

“We are all aware of the events on Velat 4 which led to the Enterprise’s arrival at the Shomar Mining Facility,” she began. “We received a transmission alerting us to the fact that a project member had been killed and that the station was beleaguered by numerous technical problems.”

“We know all this,” Medec spat. He crossed his arms tightly in front of him. “We were there.”

Trip scowled at the rude Andorian; T’Pol stared at him levelly. “Indeed.”

The Vulcan science officer started to pace slowly around the table. All heads turned to follow her movements. “You were all there, together, working on the station for several months…but how well did you know one another? Which of you would have been motivated to commit an act of sabotage? A murder?”

“Let us look clearly at the situation.” T’Pol stopped at the foot of the table. “This mining project was meant to be an inter-species endeavor in which Vulcans, humans, and Andorians would work together as never before—as equals.”

Pieter snorted. “What a load of—”

“You have a point of contention, Mr. Gundal?” T’Pol demanded.

Gundal blinked, taken aback for a moment, then shrugged. His voice was thick with both his German accent and his disgust. “Equals my ass. We’ve been taking orders from that one,” he nodded at Strel, “since the first day. She thinks she knows better than me what the equipment can do!”

“It’s mining equipment! It’s not exactly neurosurgery to know the maximum stress levels of the machinery,” Strel snapped.

“You see!” Gundal threw up his hands. “It is like we are the hired help!”

“I do see,” T’Pol assured him. “I see that tension had mounted between members of the group and that feelings,” she emphasized the word, “were hurt. I think this led to some retaliation.”

“You!” Medec pointed a finger furiously at Gundal. “You did this, you…you primate!”

“I was referring to neither the sabotage nor Mr. Gundal,” T’Pol broke in before Medec could continue. “I was referring to Miss Saunders.”

Billie lazily turned her eyes to the Vulcan but said nothing. Everyone at the table swiveled their heads to stare at the human.

“Billie has done nothing wrong!” Gundal said vehemently.

“Always skulking about in the shadows, always creeping around, always turning up where’s she’s not supposed to be…I should have known.” Medec was quick to refocus his blame.

“I believe Miss Saunders took things from around the station—she is a kleptomaniac.”

“A what?” asked V’Ret.

“A person who steals compulsively,” Malcolm provided. He had uncovered a hoard of items not only in Billie’s room, but in Gundal’s as well. “And you knew,” he directed the statement at the German.

“She can’t help herself,” Gundal told them miserably. “I try and try to keep up with her, to replace the things she takes…but she is so fast, she never stops! She never used to be like this when we were on Earth.”

“The stress of the situation on Velat 4 may have triggered a more urgent impulse to take things.” Phlox had joined them from sickbay. “It was almost a nesting instinct: she needed to surround herself with things in order to feel a measure of control over her environment.”

“So…Miss Saunders was the saboteur?” Kovar was doubtful. Medec narrowed his eyes at the Vulcan, clearly believing his uncertainty was a ploy.

“No,” T’Pol shook her head. “This may have helped foster the impression that there was a saboteur on the station, but she did not actively damage anything as far as I can tell.”

“What does this prove?” Strel wanted to know, her antennae twisting furiously.

“It reveals the collective mood present on the station. Once things began to break down tensions were running high. Blame would have been quick to be placed.”

“It wasn’t us who came up with the idea it was a saboteur,” Medec insisted. “That was Kovar. We thought there was some kind of problem inherent to the stations systems. We weren’t blaming each other, we were trying to find the source of the problem.”

“Two geophysicists, an engineer, three technicians, and a biologist? And you could not discover the problem? I find that difficult to believe.” T’Pol started to circle the table again. “I think some of you knew exactly what was going on, and what the cause was.” She turned to V’Ret. “Vulcan’s premier geological specialist—someone who’s dedicated his entire life to the study of geological processes and methodology…you knew what was going on. You knew that the mining procedure was flawed.”

“It’s not flawed!” Strel defended her work. “There were some bugs to be worked out but—”

“Yes,” V’Ret confirmed, interrupting Strel’s outbreak. “Yes I knew it wasn’t working the way it was supposed to. When the systems began to malfunction I went to Strel and told her that we could be in danger.”

“In danger of what?” Archer wanted to know.

“Carillium is a structural enhancer,” Trip supplied. “It doesn’t just make things stronger or more durable, it actual takes on some of the natural properties of certain elements and mimics them, in a sense. On its own it’s relatively stable, but it’s chemical composition allows it to bond with a lot of different materials.”

Archer nodded—he knew all this. “So?”

“When Strel began to use the transporter to remove the impurities of the carillium,” T’Pol took over, “she inadvertently found another property of the compound. When something is transported it’s chemical makeup is essentially rearranged as it is phased from one location to another. Carillium, it appears, retains the “phased” quality it developed during transport. When it reacts with other elements, then, it makes them highly unstable. It puts them in a state of flux.”

“No wonder things kept breaking down on the station.”

Strel stood abruptly. “This is absurd! It’s not true! Do you think I wouldn’t notice if such a thing were happening?”

“I think you did notice,” T’Pol said calmly. “And when V’Ret came to you with the same information you knew you had to keep him quiet. He was easy, though. You knew he had a secret—a secret that wouldn’t have stopped him from revealing a saboteur, but one that would keep him from revealing that the SMP mining method wasn’t viable.”

“I told you, none of us knew about P’Jem,” Medec started.

“That wasn’t V’Ret’s secret, as you well know, Medec,” T’Pol rounded on him. “As the only doctor on the facility it would be an easy matter for you to discover that Kovar was in fact V’Ret’s son.”

There was a great deal of rustling and audible gasping as this tidbit of information was revealed. Even Kovar looked rattled.

“I don’t understand,” Gundal started.

“Hardly surprising,” Medec sneered.

“Why you—” The larger man lunged across the table for the now cowering Andorian. Malcolm ran forward and halted the enormous miner with a well-placed knee to the shin.

“Now why don’t we all play nice and let the Vulcan finish talking?” he asked, shuffling Gundal back into his seat.

“What I wanted to know before that blue windbag interrupted,” Gundal nursed his shin, “was, why did V’Ret keep it a secret. Wouldn’t have cared that his son was around. Wouldn’t have liked him any more.”

“I could not tell anyone,” V’Ret explained, defeated. “If the High Command linked P’Jem to Kovar and then Kovar to me, I would not be able to protect him any longer. Our family would be ruined on Vulcan. After the listening station was exposed and the government on Vulcan changed, I realized that not only would Kovar’s career be over, he would be ostracized from our society. I may not agree with what he did or understand why he did it, but I could not allow that to happen.”

“So you got him the assignment on Velat 4—far from prying eyes and questions. If he could work successfully on an interspecies project such as this, the High Command might be more lenient towards him for what happened at P’Jem…should they find out,” Archer conjectured.

V’Ret nodded and Kovar spoke up. “We agreed that this was a chance to start over,” Kovar supplied. “To put P’Jem behind us once and for all.”

“This is very touching,” Gundal rolled his eyes, “but how did she,” he stabbed a finger toward an increasingly agitated Strel, “find out they were related.”

T’Pol turned back to Medec. “As I said, even someone with minimal medical training would be able to discern that from simple blood tests. One way or another, perhaps when treating an injury or infection during the course of the project, you discovered their secret.”

Medec looked very uncomfortable and for once seemed to be searching for words. “I…I never told anyone—”

“Really.” The science officer raised an eyebrow. “Strel found out. Either you told her or she read your medical logs.”

Medec whirled on Strel. “You didn’t…you wouldn’t!”

Strel would not meet his eyes, keeping a stony profile turned to him.

“Strel!” Medec’s antennae flattened along the back of his skull and his face flushed. “Those files were confidential! You violated my doctor-patient confidentiality—”

Strel cut him off with a snort. “Doctor-patient confidentiality? Who do you think you are? You have to be a doctor to actually have doctor-patient confidentiality in the first place,” she told him coldly.

Medec’s mouth fell open, aghast at her reaction. “You…you did read them…”

“Of course I did! It was the only useful thing you could contribute to the whole project so I took it. I bring you along on the greatest scientific expedition of our time and what do you do? Spend the whole time pouting and puttering around giving people hyposprays and useless vaccinations. What a waste!” The vehemence in her voice was overwhelming.

Medec shook his head. “You always were an ego-maniac. I did everything I could for you but you never cared! The only thing you ever thought about was that your precious project wasn’t working!”

“It was working! It would have worked! We just needed more time!” Strel insisted, her eyes bugging dangerously. “He wanted to shut us down!” she glared at V’Ret.

“So you gave him a choice,” T’Pol said patiently. “Keep quiet or you would let the dog out of the bag.”

“Cat,” Trip corrected her out of the corner of his mouth. Despite the gravity of the situation, Archer had to suppress a smile.

“The cat out of the bag,” T’Pol amended, carrying smoothly on. “And he agreed to remain silent. But then there was Tola.”

All movement at the table stopped as they began to put the facts together.

“Tola also figured out what was going on—that was why she sent that distress call. It was not a call alerting us to a murder, as we first thought,” T’Pol caught Hoshi’s eye and nodded appreciatively. “It was an attempt to alert us to the fact that the carillium was breaking down the station’s systems…and that someone had intentionally shut down, “killed” was the word Tola used in her transmission, the communications link. She must have come to you,” T’Pol turned to Strel, “and you recognized what a threat she was. If the Andorian Imperial Empire found out that the head of their project had spent their time and resources on a flawed mining process it would be an embarrassment…well, you wouldn’t be heading any other projects for a long, long time. The Andorian Empire does not reward failure,” she paraphrased Shran’s words on the subject.

“I did not kill her!” Strel slammed her fist on the table and rose shakily from her seat. She took a few deep breaths and tried to calm herself, lowering herself back to her seat. “She did come to me. I’m telling you, the process was not flawed—we could have fixed it with more time! She wouldn’t listen. I…I shut off the communication system. I didn’t want to hurt anyone, I just wanted some time to make her see reason!”

“Tola must have worked to repair the comm. system enough to send her message,” Kovar postulated.

“Yes—and you killed her for it!” Gundal looked at Strel with loathing.

“Why would she kill Tola?” T’Pol asked. “Think about it—everything she did she did for the continuity of the project. A dead body would mean people, questions, and an investigation. She’s tried to stop that at every turn.”

“Yes, why would I kill the silly girl?” Strel agreed. “She’s more trouble dead than alive.”

The other members of the project appeared disgusted by this comment, but she did have a point.

“No,” T’Pol went on, “you didn’t kill her…but whoever did thought they were doing you a favor.” T’Pol closed in on Medec. “What was it you said earlier? You ‘did everything for Strel, but she never cared’? You did, didn’t you? You tried to protect her, tried to lend to her success, even though she rebuffed you at every turn. You must have thought it was the ultimate gift, killing Tola. Then you could even rule it an accident...Strel would never know the sacrifice you’d made for her. You could be both the hero and the martyr.”

“Medec!” Strel turned on her husband. “You didn’t do something that stupid!”

“Don’t call me that!” Medec exploded. “You have no idea all the things I’ve done for you! Everywhere you wanted to go, I’ve followed, your obedient servant! Everything I’ve done, I’ve done to protect you, to give you the life you wanted—to provide for you. Undeserving, heartless—” his hands suddenly shot out, catching Strel around the neck and knocking her to the floor.

Malcolm and Trip were on him in an instant, followed by Archer and Kovar. Medec’s grip on his wife was maniacal, though, and he would not be pried off easily. “Yes, yes, I killed her—for you! I wanted to give you success, but you couldn’t even take that!” he was screaming. Archer finally grabbed one of his antennae and wrenched it sharply. Medec screamed and fell to his side, clutching at his head. Malcolm had him subdued and his hands secured within seconds.

T’Pol helped Strel back into her seat, and Phlox looked her over. “We should get you to sickbay,” he told the shaken Andorian.

She nodded wearily as she watched Medec being escorted from the room. “I can’t believe it,” she rasped.

“He obviously thought he was helping you,” Phlox said comfortingly. “He didn’t want your project to fail.”

“And in doing so he ensured it,” she shook he head bitterly.

“Dr. Strel,” Trip came up behind T’Pol, “That facility is beyond repair, Enterprise is dead in the water, and one of your team members was murdered because of your project. I think its failure was assured a long time ago.” Hidden from view, he squeezed T’Pol’s hand, trying with all his might to let her know through their bond how proud he was of her. He didn’t know if she picked it up or not, but she did squeeze back, letting her hand linger in his.

“Well, there’s still one thing I want to know,” the captain turned to his chief engineer and science officer.

“What is that, sir?” T’Pol thought she had covered everything quite thoroughly. What could she have missed?

“How do we get the ship moving again?”

Chapter 15: All’s Well that End’s Well

“Are you sure you want to use the transporter?” Trip asked for the third time. “It started this whole mess.”

“I have confidence in your repairs, Commander,” Kovar told him as they made their way toward the transporter pad. “Don’t you?”

“Sure…but I won’t be using that thing until the boys in space dock can pull it apart again. You never know.”

Almost a week had passed since Medec had been revealed as Tola’s killer. For two days Trip and the entire engineering staff had worked non-stop to try to repair the ship’s systems again. Even with the assistance of Kovar and the other miners they made little headway. It was not until the T’Met, a Vulcan ship, and the Rallion, an Andorian cruiser, had rendezvoused with Enterprise that the three teams of engineers were able to stop the almost viral-spread of infected carillium and repair the damage it had caused.

“I spoke with Tuval,” Kovar referred to the T’Met’s chief engineer, “and she assures me that it’s safe. The Andorian transporter technician agreed.”

“Well, something I never thought I’d see, and Andorian and a Vulcan agreeing on something,” Trip grinned.

“Indeed. It’s odd…”

“What?” Trip asked as they passed an engineering team in the corridor. A Vulcan, and Andorian, and two Enterprise crewmen were checking power couplings beneath a length of deck plating.

Kovar stopped to watch them for a moment before continuing. “This project was supposed to be about great minds working together, breaking down species barriers. In a way we failed miserably.” He looked back at the team in the corridor. The Vulcan and Andorian engineer replaced a strip of the deck while the two humans loosened and removed another. “But in another way…we succeeded.”

“Who says we can’t work together?” Trip asked as they rounded the corner and stopped before the newly rebuilt transporter.

“I believe we can,” Kovar said pointedly. “There is nothing that should keep our species apart.” He raised one eyebrow and Trip felt his face flush. He had wondered exactly what Kovar thought of he and T’Pol—he was anxious to gauge the Vulcan reaction to their relationship, even if the only Vulcan he had to ask was one as unusual as Kovar.

“I know it’s kinda…strange, me and T’Pol,” he started, “but she seems happy—I mean, she seems content…at least, it seems to be working…or I think it wil—”

“Commander,” Kovar placed a hand on the engineer’s shoulder and looked him dead in the eyes. “Good luck.” He marched onto the transporter platform and turned as an embarrassed Trip stepped behind the controls and started the transport sequence.

Kovar raised an eyebrow, his expression unchanging. “I believe you are going to need it.”

Trip laughed as his friend phased from view and was carried into the ether of space.

Once the Vulcan was gone Trip stood for a few minutes, staring at the transporter, thinking. “Nothing should keep our species apart…” he repeated softly.

He turned and headed back toward engineering, wondering what tonight’s meeting in the white room would bring. It would bring T’Pol, he answered his own question. And really, that was more than enough.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two Weeks Later…

“You were correct, Commander, I did enjoy the Sherlock Holmes film, but once again I must say that the book was far superior.” T’Pol slid her fork carefully into the slice of pie resting on the plate before her. She lifted her forkful and examined it doubtfully before tasting it.

“It’s apple,” Trip said apologetically. “No pecan pie tonight.”

“No pineapple upside down cake either,” Malcolm commiserated.

Hoshi laughed. “Fine by me. Apple’s my favorite. I make a mean apple crumb cake—too bad chef won’t let anybody use his kitchen!”

The mess hall was almost empty as the four of them had spent the last hour discussing Trip’s latest choice of film for Movie Night: a 2018 remake of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

“How do you like it?” Trip asked T’Pol as she chewed.

She swallowed and thought for a moment. “Though I prefer pecan, it is adequate,” she told him before turning back to the movie. “This version of the movie made no mention of Sherlock Holmes’ substance abuse,” she continued. “I believe that aspect of his behavior added depth to the character—though he appeared infallible, he was not without failings.”

“I never really liked that part of the Holmes legacy,” Malcolm said staunchly. “Probably because I read the books when I was young and I didn’t really understand it.”

“It is an important factor in understanding who he is and why he acts the way he does,” T’Pol insisted. Trip gave her an odd look and she suddenly became preoccupied with her dessert. “In the book it is, anyway.”

“Do you have a copy of The Hound of the Baskervilles, too?” Hoshi asked.

“No,” T’Pol answered. “But Commander Tucker suggested a number of titles to access from the library computer database. I must admit that reading an actual book is a more…tangible experience, however. I would like to acquire other volumes once we return to Earth.”

Trip ducked his head but Hoshi could see that his face was flushed.

Malcolm was oblivious. “Well, maybe something lighter next time—like a classic war picture?”

“How about a musical?” Hoshi asked. We’ve never had one of those.”

“With good reason,” Trip mumbled into his pie. Hoshi kicked him underneath the table. “Ow!”

Malcolm smiled, then stretched and yawned. “I still have fourteen crew evaluations to go over before I’m on duty tomorrow.” He made a face.

“Price of fame, Mal,” Trip told him.

His friend nodded. “Think I’ll see if there’s any coffee left. Can I offer anyone else…”

“I’d love some,” Hoshi told him.

“I’ll go with you,” Trip offered, rising. “Tea?” he asked T’Pol, who nodded.

The two women watched the two officers cross the mess to the drink dispenser, then exchanged glances—each shyly wondering if the other could be counted as a confidant.

Hoshi cleared her throat. “I’ve, um, been curious Commander…T’Pol.”

The Vulcan turned to her, interested. “Yes?”

“Well, I know it’s none of my business, but I was just wondering…where exactly did you get a copy of The Thin Man? It just seems so unusual…” her voice trailed off suggestively. She raised her eyebrows.

The Vulcan fidgeted with her fork for a moment before answering. “It was a gift,” T’Pol admitted. “From Commander Tucker. It was actually a gift from the Commander’s mother which he then chose to give to me,” she told the ensign with pride.

Hoshi looked suddenly appalled. “What?!”

“I realize it is a very intimate gift, however I feel that…Hoshi, what’s wrong?”

The young woman was shaking her head adamantly, a look of disapproval on her face. What was the matter? Was Trip’s gift inappropriate in some way? T’Pol’s mind raced through every human gesture of affection she had ever witnessed. Nothing there told her that the presentation of a book to one’s mate was of any particular significance…but Hoshi’s reaction told her there was clearly something wrong in what Trip had done.

“Commander…” Hoshi began, then stopped. She dropped her voice and started again. “T’Pol…the Commander…he regifted to you!”

T’Pol leaned back in her chair, confused. “I am not familiar with this term.”

“He got a gift from someone and he didn’t really want it, so he gave it to someone else!” At the expression T’Pol was unable to suppress Hoshi added hastily, “But I don’t think he would have given it to you if he didn’t genuinely think you would like it. He obviously cares a great deal about you.”

“I see,” T’Pol said slowly. Hoshi held her breath, waiting for her reaction. She knew that underneath the surface, Vulcan’s possessed passionate, almost violent emotions. What would this particular Vulcan do in response to Trip’s gift? Maybe she shouldn’t have said anything.

T’Pol got a faraway look in her eyes for a moment, narrowing them as though focusing on something just out of the realm of her vision. Hoshi jumped as behind her a mug clattered to the floor and a familiar southern accent yelped, “Ow! Quit doing that!”

To Hoshi’s amazement, T’Pol smiled.

There is a sequel to this story, Thin Man Overboard

Return to Part 1

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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

Ya! That is more of what we needed...this was a great story!

I have been reading this at fanfiction.net and have been loving it. Was glad to find the completed thing here before I had finsihed it, It's nice to have it on the blue background huh? I abdolutely loved this, it was so cute and well written and a good story too!

Will you be writing another? I hope so..........

Absolutely great. I was hooked! Hope you write another one soon. That's one of the best stories I read in a while.

Yes! A good mystery! I loved it! Fantastic, galleywest. :)

LOVED IT, ABSOLTELY LOVED IT!!!! Nicely paced story galleywest, you certainly had me hooked. It was such a treat to read something orginial and that didn't contain alot of over blown angst. Your characterizations of Trip & T'Pol were nicely portrayed; loved the way they showed their concern and love towards one another, as well as the pacing of their relationship - very nice progression.

Your use of Malcolm and Hoshi in this story was also very well done, and I loved how T'Pol noticed how formal they were around her, and her subsequent decission in getting more involved with the crew.

Always love a mystery, and this was a good one. Hope you continue to post more stories. Thanks :-)

Fantastic, only word to describe it, I absolutely hope you add to this superb story, one of the best I've read in a VERY long time, well done.

Such clever humor at the end - had me laughing out loud!! :)

This was a great story with very real and believable characters. I loved it!

Yes, I really loved it too!Interesting mystery story (and I love mysteries) and although I love angst, it was good to see TnT taking things slowly, with lovely signs of affection between them. It was good to learn more about Malcolm, and see his relationship with Hoshi developing too.

Please write more! I'd love to see the TnT romance slowly developing, which of course we've been so sadly denied with the cancellation,and with a Malcolm, Hoshi subplot. Please, please, please!

This has been one of the best stories I have read in a long time. It is very believable, thought out, and I especially loved the interaction with the M/S. This was great. I also loved the way your developing the relationship of Trip/T'Pol, the end was great. Please, please write more. This would of made a great epsiode and we would all want to know what happens next.

This was really great - very complete story. I loved the evolution of Trip & Tpol's relationship as well. I sincerely hope that you keep writing for fan fiction...

So nice to read something original and well-written! I like how the characters sound like themselves and there isn't all the usual angst we've been subjected to. When they aren't in character believability goes out the window.

I had some confusion in the early part of the fic where at one moment Trip is 'speaking' to T'Pol in the white room and then suddenly she's speaking to Trip/Mal and Hoshi as they're cleaning up from Movie Night.

Other than that I'm delighted to see it and I hope you will continue to write more. We're going to need fics like this to get us through the drought until we get a movie or mini-series.

This was great... and the ending was the BEST! I could almost feel that jolt T'Pol sent Trip! LOL

Nice. I liked the mind jab, that was good. Great story, thank you! :)

Oh come on ;) it wasnt a regift. He kept askin her about her thoughts on that book, an he probably read it himself,, an in their time paper books are probably hard to come by, so it could of taken years for Trip to find another copy to give to T'pol. After all its the thought that counts ;). Great mystery loved every word of it.

Mystery AND a TnT romance! I couldn't be happier :-) Great job...you are an excellent writer! You did a fab job with the characters and I loved the R/S subplot. I too would love to read more of your work! Don't keep us waiting too long :-)

Reminds me of a computer game called Descent, were a virus infects almost all robots in the facilities, and makes them... evil, muehehhehe

I've been eyeing this on Fanfiction.net, but I hate to start unfinished stories. Imagine how thrilled I was to see it posted here in its entirety. Marvelous stuff. Great interaction between TnT. I'm a big Thin Man fan myself. Nick & Nora, Trip & T'pol...two super couples. Gotta love it.

This was terrific! I could really visualize the T/T interactions, and you really fleshed out your original characters as well. The mystery plot was top-notch too! I absolutely love the idea of T/T as a sleuthing team.

Dashiell Hammett and Star Trek. Absolutely loved the combination. Your story was very well written and very well inspired. I'm glad you didn't try to do this up as a time travel TnT actually meet Nick and Nora; this way was much better. I didn't really like the Hoshi re-gifted spoiler, though. Giving away a semi-heirloom like an old book wouldn't necessarily mean it was a gift that Trip didn't like. His entire attitude about the book was one of affection. I believe he really gave T'pol a very thoughtful gift that had a lot of meaning to him. But that's the only gripe I have about the entire story.

I've never read The Thin Man, but this was a wonderful whodunit and would've made a fantastic episode. Loved the TnT bits. Can't wait to read more from you (although if given the choice of Hoshi-ship, I vote Archer)!

Do have to agree with previous reviews about the regift thing though. It's obvious he read and enjoyed the book, and I think he just wanted to share that piece of himself with T'Pol.

Other than that, it was perfect! Very in character, well done!

Thanks for all the kind comments to the story, I'm glad you enjoyed it. My apologies for minor formatting errors, I hope that didn't diminish the enjoyment. I'll proof more carefully next time.

As for the regift...well yeah, Trip hasn't told his side of the story yet. :) It continues offscreen, of course. I love the arguments people make on his behalf, I can hear him telling T'Pol exactly these things. :)

Great story, galleywest, one of the best I've read in a long time. I haven't been to ff.net in months, so it was all new for me. And I agree with the folks who think it's time to put the angst aside (for a while, at least!). More stories like this would be wonderful -- and if you could work in Trip's explanation of the "re-gift", so much the better.

I liked the story a lot, right up to the re-gift part. A book that has been cherished in a family for 200 years, isn't a re-gift.

I was away for a while and thought I would catch up on some of the fanfic that I missed.

This is superb and great fun. I could totally see it as an episode. Thanks so much for a good read! :-) I hope that you write more fanfiction in the future!

I love a mystery! More please. Very well done. I also prefer the subtle affectionate gestures between Trip and T'Pol to the blatent lust of so many other writers.