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Hoshi's Affliction

Author - Kevin | Genre - Challenge: POV | Genre - Romance | H | Rating - R
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Clipping Clue-pons POV Challenge

Hoshi’s Affliction

by Kevin

Rating: R (one sexual situation)
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned within this text are the sole property of Paramount Studios, UPN, and Viacom. I intend no infringement.
Genre: Friendship, Drama, Romance
Summary: During “Affliction”, Hoshi struggles to make sense of Trip’s and T’Pol’s relationship.


Hoshi sat sipping her tea while Travis and Jesse talked about some navigational problem they had yesterday. She turned her attention to Commander Tucker… Trip… he’d admonished her earlier in the evening. She never in a million years thought she’d see this day–the day he was leaving Enterprise and Captain Archer. She’d never, ever, pictured the two of them apart. Even as she’d watched the distance grow between the Captain and the rest of the crew, she always just assumed Captain Archer and Commander Tucker had been friends long enough to bridge the chasm that formed during their time in the Expanse.

Somewhere in the Expanse though, Commander Tucker seemed to be pulled away from the Captain and into Commander T’Pol’s orbit. She’d first noticed it about a week before Commander Tucker’s almost fatal accident in engineering. T’Pol spent almost as much time in engineering as in the command center and whenever Captain Archer asked her to find Commander Tucker, if he wasn’t in engineering, he was more likely than not to be found in T’Pol’s quarters. There had been hushed rumors passing through the ship of their liaisons from various crewmen. Hoshi was certain they were either complete fabrications, or at best gross exaggerations, as both Commander Tucker and T’Pol seemed far too professional to engage in the sort of behavior being described.

Hoshi was skeptical a Vulcan could even be interested in a Human, especially one as… emotional… as Commander Tucker. She’d assumed they had simply become close friends. That view was completely blown out of the water after meeting Lorian. Doctor Phlox assured her the captain of the alternate Enterprise was the son of the alternate Commander Tucker and T’Pol. The genetic evidence was indisputable. At the time, she still felt most, if not all, the rumors were false but at least granted they could have some basis in fact. Commander Tucker never treated T’Pol as his girlfriend but Hoshi couldn’t decide if that meant these two had not gone down that path yet, or if it meant courting a Vulcan would be fundamentally different than a woman.

Unfortunately she never had time to gather any observational data as she experienced probably the most horrific trauma imaginable soon after. For many days after her rescue there were times she simply wanted to curl up and die. The nightmares were horrible and the after affects of the Xindi drugs were excruciating. By the time Doctor Phlox had pieced her back together enough to be aware of anyone else, she learned Commander Tucker had accompanied T’Pol back to Vulcan. That could have meant only one thing.

But once again she was proven wrong as Commander Tucker returned from his leave ten days earlier than T’Pol, now Commander T’Pol. She couldn’t pry any information out of him, but something definitely happened on Vulcan–and it had to be unpleasant. While Commander Tucker smiled and seemed as pleasant as ever, Hoshi could tell there was emptiness in his laughter she’d never detected before. Sometimes during the Captain’s briefings his eyes seemed vacant as if he really wasn’t there.

Hoshi sighed as she considered Trip again. It was a long time since she’d seen him smile, even a fake smile, and even longer since she’d heard his empty laughter. It seemed possible Trip left Enterprise some time ago and Commander Tucker’s body was simply being relocated to another ship.

Her anger rose, before she beat it down again, as she recognized the very reason they were all saying farewells to Commander Tucker hadn’t even bothered to attend his going away party. Her absence was conspicuous and seemed to prove everyone’s suspicions as to why he was abandoning them.


It was very late but Hoshi decided to remain at the party until the very end. She watched as Commander Tucker sat in a whispered conversation with Phlox. Although the words were muted, their hand and facial gestures were not. Trip’s going away party had been basically over when the doctor cornered him. She wasn’t sure what they were talking about but it seemed serious. A couple times Trip shook his head violently. It seemed like Phlox was trying to convince Commander Tucker of something.

Hoshi sighed. She never even showed.

Hoshi knew she gave a pathetic smile to Lieutenant Hess who sat down beside her. Only six people remained at Trip’s going away party. She wondered if Anna and Captain Archer stuck around to see if anyone else would finally attend the party.

“What’s it going to be like in engineering without him?”

Hoshi watched as Anna’s face locked onto Commander Tucker’s and then grimaced. “I’m not sure. Hopefully we’ll have some time for Kelby to settle in… He seems a bit green.”

Hoshi heard the mess hall doors swish open and immediately shot her eyes to see if the conspicuously absent person finally decided to show. Seeing a beta shift crewman enter and get some coffee caused Hoshi to frown and stare down into her mug. She lifted one final time to finish off the tepid tea.

“What’s wrong?” Anna asked.

Hoshi set her mug down. “I can’t believe she didn’t even show up.”

Hoshi heard Anna sigh. “I know… I saw his face each time he looked at the door as someone came in… I hope people didn’t catch his disappointment.”

“A couple people mentioned it. They didn’t take it personally. They knew why.”

Hoshi heard Anna take a deep breath and release it slowly. “You know Hoshi, it’s probably for the best. He’s been like a zombie since she dumped him.”

“Do you think that’s what really happened?”

Anna nodded. “What else could it have been? She comes down to engineering, has a private conversation with him and as she’s leaving he says ‘well at least my engines still need me’… I bumped into her just as she left engineering.” Hoshi heard Anna release an amused snort. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was about to cry.”

Hoshi shook her head in disbelief. “No way.”

Anna nodded again. “I think Trip actually did. He yelled something incoherent at Hendricks and rushed to his office. He stayed holed up there the rest of the night. He hasn’t mentioned starting up movie night one time since.” Anna looked down at the empty plate in front of her. “He was so excited about starting it up again. It was all he talked about there for a couple of days. He was bugging me about different movies I’d like to see… And then nothing.”

“So do you think the rumors are true? You know, about the Romulan ship?”

Anna clenched her jaw and Hoshi was certain she was about to blow up in her face. She saw the engineer’s face turn bright red. “Hoshi, if I ever hear you repeat that, I will put you on report… You got that?” Anna hissed at her.

Hoshi was stunned. “I… I… I’m…”

Anna leaned in close. “Hoshi, we’re friends, so I’m going to ignore what you just said.” Hoshi saw Anna’s face was a serious as a heart attack. “But I want to make one thing perfectly clear to you. Trip did not try to kill himself on that Romulan ship. He was trying to disable it the only way he knew how… I probably would’ve done the same thing in his shoes. He didn’t have a whole lot of options and a lot of people had already been killed by that thing.”

Hoshi looked down at the table. She was so ashamed at getting caught up in the rumor mongering. “I’m sorry Anna. I know you’re right. It was an awful thing to think.”

Anna shook her head. “You’re not the only one. I’ve already had to jump all over three crewmen in engineering for saying the same thing… I’m pretty sure the rumor started with my team but no one will fess up to it… I swear, if I find the person that started that rumor, they’ll pray for death when I’m through with them.”

Hoshi saw Anna’s left hand tremble slightly and she wondered if the engineer was so pumped up on adrenaline she might not actually be exaggerating.

Hoshi sighed and looked back to Trip. He looked… tired… beaten. “Hopefully he’ll be able to forget about her once he gets away from here.”

Anna nodded. “I hope so.” She turned to Hoshi, leaned in and smiled. “Hopefully she’ll have the good sense to stay out of engineering for a while.” Anna gave an amused snort. “The core team really loves him. She’s not exactly their favorite right now… I’d hate to see our first officer have an unfortunate accident.”

Hoshi chuckled and returned an evil grin. “Yeah, that’d be too bad.”

A small part of Hoshi felt guilty for those thoughts but for the most part she really didn’t care.


Hoshi sat picking at her oatmeal while recalling what she could remember of her dream last night. She couldn’t remember ever having a dream quite like that before. She was sitting in on a firm surface surrounded by a smoky white fog. She was calm until a vision of Commander Tucker appeared out of the mist. All at once her mood changed and a surge of emotion cascaded over her. First disbelief, then annoyance and then something she couldn’t quite identify. But if she had to guess… she would have called it desire.

The oddest thing, as if it were possible to identify only one, was Commander Tucker seemed to carry on a one way conversation while looking at her. She said nothing, but heard every word he said. In fact, it almost seemed like they were having an argument based on his words and body language. On the other hand, her body felt warm, especially her ears, and she… wished… hoped… he would put his arms around her. She was still struggling with the image and feeling this morning as she tried to eat her breakfast. She couldn’t remember ever dreaming about Commander Tucker before and it had been years since she even thought about him in any way but a superior officer.

Hoshi wondered if this had anything to do with the mind meld T’Pol performed yesterday. When T’Pol was in her mind, Hoshi couldn’t quite be certain but she felt something not quite right. It was almost an overwhelming sense of… loneliness. She needed to ask T’Pol about it. Since it was the first one she ever performed, maybe she made a mistake?

Later that morning Hoshi looked around and noticed that she and T’Pol were alone. She felt more comfortable approaching T’Pol about this in a private but professional environment. She wasn’t comfortable going to T’Pol’s quarters to broach the subject. A small voice in the back of her head reminded her it might not be a good idea telling T’Pol she was dreaming about Commander Tucker. She wasn’t quite sure how T’Pol would react to that news. There were rumors T’Pol made it clear to Amanda Cole to stay away from Commander Tucker and she did give him a wide berth a couple days after Hoshi had clearly seen Amanda obviously flirting with him. Hoshi always discounted that rumor since it also happened to coincide with Lieutenant Reed’s and Major Hayes’ fist fight. She felt the far more logical explanation was the two had a falling out once Commander Tucker naturally backed his friend while Amanda Cole supported her commanding officer.

Still, Hoshi wasn’t sure she should press her luck.

As Hoshi felt her rapid heartbeat slow down, she was able to collect her thoughts and gather her wits back. She felt so ashamed… so scared… at admitting she dreamt about Commander Tucker to T’Pol she really hadn’t time to fully comprehend the normally enigmatic Vulcan’s reaction. But now that it was over and she could replay the scene in her head, T’Pol’s reaction hadn’t been anything like she expected. Mostly she expected no response, or at most a brief curiosity, or if the rumors were true, a bit of hostility. However, T’Pol’s first reaction was pronounced and she did a poor job trying to hide her initial shock. After that, if Hoshi had to guess, T’Pol was trying to distract her from the subject in order to hide… embarrassment. T’Pol acted as if she had been caught doing something inappropriate instead of Hoshi revealing her dream about Commander Tucker. That makes absolutely no sense. Why would she be embarrassed? I’m the one who just admitted I had a romantic dream about Commander Tucker.

Hoshi just shook her head and frowned a little as the pain in her temples increased. She tried to push those thoughts from her head so she could focus on the damaged data recorder.


Hoshi again found herself in a smoky white room–the third time in three nights. Slowly Trip emerged out of the mist. She admired his physique as he stood in front of her clad only in his boxer briefs. She felt a warm sensation pass through her body as she surveyed him top to bottom.

Trip scrunched his face when he looked at her. “You again. Why the hell am I dreaming about this place? It’s boring!”

She heard him chuckle slightly. “Well at least this time you’re in your pajamas…” She had no idea what that meant as she never wore pajamas. “You look great in silk… The light blue is perfect.” That statement was even stranger. Blue is definitely not my color!

She felt herself drawn to him as the distance between them closed. Once again, she felt as if something else controlled her body’s movements. It seemed to react on its own without direction from her. Finally he pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her with a passion she could not imagine. The touch was electric. It passed though her whole body like a surge of electrical current. She’d never experienced anything like this and certainly couldn’t remember ever fantasizing about Commander Tucker like this before.

As their tongues danced together, she felt his fingers trace the outline of her ears. She gasped in ecstasy. That was strange. She was melting at the simple touch of her ears. Her body never reacted that way before. Her pleasure was spiraling out of control as he slowly moved one hand down her neck and caressed each of her breasts.

She felt him spin her around and pull her back into him. Another hand joined the one already toying with her nipples as his hot breath and tongue washed over her neck and ears. He was pushing her higher and higher. Little moans escaped her lips as she lost control.

Just as he pushed her over the edge, Hoshi let out a wail and sat up in her bed. It was dark and she was alone. She was covered in a sheen of sweat. The dream had been so real, so vivid. In her dream Trip gave her a thundering orgasm not in any way her previous lovers’ had. He had driven her insane with pleasure using little more than his lips and tongue on her neck and ears. If it was her fantasy, why didn’t he touch her in the ways she found most enjoyable? That was baffling. She also didn’t seem to have control of her own body. She moved through the scene, but not under her own control.

Once she completely regained her wits after such an intensely erotic fantasy, she developed her own theory and set out for some investigation. A few moments later she entered Commander T’Pol’s quarters. T’Pol claimed to be meditating, but she was flush and almost seemed to glow. Some of her hair was slightly damp and plastered against her forehead. Two little points seemed intent on poking their way through the fabric of T’Pol’s robe. At first T’Pol’s voice was unsteady but smoothed out as their conversation progressed. The final clue came as she saw T’Pol was wearing pale blue silk pajamas underneath her robe.

Now Hoshi was certain why Commander T’Pol reacted as she had when Hoshi brought up her first dream about Commander Tucker. Somehow Hoshi was sharing T’Pol’s active imagination during her meditation sessions while she thought about Commander Tucker. So far she had shared three of T’Pol’s… dreams. They didn’t seem like fantasies. They had an argument in two of them before making love in the third. They were disturbing in their intensity–she could not recall ever dreaming as vividly.

As Hoshi lay back staring up at her ceiling, she considered the fact that she had been completely wrong about Commander T’Pol. Until this evening, she assumed T’Pol’s distraction and brief lapse of control yesterday were over losing Phlox and the stress of everything that had recently happened. She had also assumed the rumors of T’Pol rebuffing Commander Tucker were true. Now she wasn’t sure. Maybe, she thought, the two had a fight and Commander Tucker misunderstood something and left. If she really was sharing T’Pol’s dreams, it was clear the Vulcan wanted Commander Tucker. Or at least some part of her did and that part was struggling for release.

She only hoped T’Pol could control it, or that this would soon stop. Hoshi’s whole body still throbbed in excitement and she felt guilty about getting this wound up over Commander Tucker.


Hoshi couldn’t believe what Commander Tucker was suggesting. She watched as Captain Archer stood awestruck at his insane suggestion. She didn’t care if Lieutenant Reed had simulated this before. Crossing a cable strung between two ships 50 meters apart traveling over Warp 5 was suicide.

T’Pol was focused intensely on his image on the monitor screen. “You would be suspended between both ships by a single cable… It is too dangerous.” Hoshi could detect the emotion struggling to break free in T’Pol’s voice. “I… cannot… allow… it.” T’Pol seemed to struggle out each word. If their situation wasn’t so dire, Hoshi would have probably found T’Pol’s reaction amusing.

“I don’t know any other way.” Hoshi saw Trip focused just as intensely on T’Pol. Hoshi doubted either one were even aware there were others along side. “I know I can restart the engine in time… I can’t let you just die.” Something about his tone and demeanor made Hoshi think ‘you’ was singular.

“Trip…” Hoshi was a little startled by T’Pol’s use of his nickname.

Commander Tucker cut off T’Pol with a simple hand gesture. “I’m counting on you to do the Warp field calculations.” He gave T’Pol a weak smile. “They have to be perfect or neither one of us is going to make it.”

Hoshi watched the pair just stare at each other for a few moments. Finally T’Pol nodded, turned and left. Commander Tucker dropped his head, mumbled something and left. Shortly afterward the monitor screen went blank as Captain Hernandez ended the transmission.

Hoshi stood stunned at what just transpired. She stared at the blank monitor screen struggling not to be overwhelmed by their current situation.

After what seemed like an eternity, but probably no more than a few seconds Captain Archer turned to her and said, “You know, I used to be Captain of Enterprise.” Her shot her a meek grin as he stood up. She heard him say “dammit” a few times as he left his ready room–plus a few more expletives she chose not to recognize.

Hoshi sighed. It seemed like Commander Tucker decided he was either going to save Enterprise or die trying. She hoped T’Pol appreciated the risk he was about to take for her.

The End

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A whole mess of folks have made comments

Loved this one, Hoshi is always an interesting person to do pov from, but this is by far one of the best. I really liked this one not only because of the mind meld that T'Pol and Hoshi shared, but also because of the fact that Hoshi was receptive to telepathy in Exile.

This is an excellent challenge entry, Kevin! 3POV is really a favorite of mine and you really did the style justice here. I love where you placed all of the scenes... my favorite being the one at Trip's going away party. Oh and the third white room dream was great. Poor Hoshi. :)

Very good, Kevin! Once again, you've thrown in some elements that I hadn't considered before. The touch about the rumors concerning Trip's actions on the Romulan ship are something I don't think I'd have ever thought about; related to that, I LOVE Hess' reaction to those rumors. You can almost taste her anger. Nicely done there.

I would love to know what Phlox & Trip were discussing and I like how easily this flows into your NWM stuff; if only everyone knew that T'Pol was in her quarters struggling to recover from the rejection of her chosen mate ... or at least her perception of rejection.

The dream stuff was really well done and I like Hoshi's perception of T'Pol's reaction to that line of questioning on the show. The little bit about Hoshi sensing T'Pol's loneliness was surprising but totally understandable. After those dreams though, I've gotta wonder what Hoshi thinks when she sees TnT together! :D

I did notice a typo in the section between Hess & Sato, specifically "moving night". I'm presuming "movie night". :-D

Again, excellent job!

Crap. ^^ That was me.

Damn. I thought I caught that typo. Must have forgotten to "Save." I'll fix it.

Kevin, this was wonderful. Great job, really enjoyed it!

So T'Pol has the ability to... um... explode her personal firecracker... with nothing but ear and neck contact, hmmm? Lends a whole new meaning to the term "necking", now doesn't it? : )

Boy, you folks write fast! Hess is very protective of Trip, isn't she? That's a good thing. It's nice to see different characters interacting together. I enjoyed the Hess/Sato scene. I found it very interesting getting Hoshi's thoughts on the behavior of Trip and T'Pol. I imagine it would've been hard for anyone to fully understand the nature of the T/T relationship while they were still struggling to figure out the nature of it themselves. I think that this challenge should make for lots of interesting stories. Good job!

Thanks everyone for the compliments. Most of this story was already written when the challenge was discussed. I was working on various scene additions for Season 4 and looked at my "Affliction" scene addtions and decided I could make a pretty good story for this challenge from what I already had.

The two scenes in the going away party were originally written from Lt. Hess' view but I rewrote them to be from Hoshi's. They are better than the originals, so that worked out well.

The only new scene after the challenge was discussed is Hoshi's breakfast/T'Pol talk scene.

Wow! That was great 3POV! Just a great story all around, actually. I also like that you didn't give Hoshi a single moment of "Ohhhh!" but rather a gradual movement from suspicious to near proof and conviction.

I also like that your story spans from circle E2 to Affliction. I like that it addresses the rumors circling onboard. And that going away party? Oh, that was heartbreaking.

Thank you for taking up the challenge! I was hoping for something cool like this, and you delivered.

Nicely done. I really liked Hoshi's POV, and that "dream" sequence... (*fans face slightly*) Ahem. Excellent stuff, this is a great challenge! :)

A wonderful story, I so miss them...

Poor Hoshi! But she's not the clever liguist and hacker for nothin'! I liked the POV a lot. PM was right in stating Ms. Sato is perfect for POV. Sweet and Bittersweet.

Loved the solidarity of the engine room crew. Nice touch. Hoshi is one of the harder characters for me to get into, so this POV is quite revealing. Thanks.