Loss of 80 IQ Points

Loss of 80 IQ Points

by Kevin

Rating: PG
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned within this text are the sole property of Paramount Studios, UPN, and Viacom. I intend no infringement.
Genre: Angst
Summary: T’Pol’s new uniform is causing Trip problems. Takes place before “The Xindi.”

“Geez, could the Commander get any more blatant?”

Travis put his fork down and finished chewing. “Hunh?”

She flipped her head trying to get him to look in a different direction. “Commander Tucker’s had his eyes locked on Sub-Commander T’Pol since she came in… Look at him staring at her butt while she’s getting something to drink! What a pig!”

Travis gave her a scowl. “Corporal MacKenzie, I would remind you he is a superior officer!”

Her face suddenly took on the expression of a deer caught in the headlights and she started sputtering an apology before he smiled.

“Calm down, I’m just yanking your chain.”

It was her turn to give him a scowl and she smacked him on the arm. “Don’t do that Travis. It wasn’t funny.”

“I thought it was! You should’ve seen the look on your face…” Travis started laughing a both her and Trip’s behavior. “But anyway, you should have seen him in the mission briefing this morning. I don’t think he heard a single word–he was too busy staring at T’Pol... I think she’s turned him stupid with her new uniform.”

She gave Travis a confused look. “Remember who you’re talking to. We’ve been training so hard; you’re the only bridge officer I’ve met. What does she normally wear?”

Travis flipped his head toward T’Pol as she very slowly left the mess hall with her mug and salad. “Until today, Sub-Commander T’Pol always wore a Vulcan uniform. This is the first time she’s worn that jumpsuit.”

A knowing smile appeared on her face and then she nodded. “So he’s finally seeing what she’s kept hidden under her robes, hunh?” She chuckled to herself. “Apparently he likes what he sees.”

“No…” Travis shook his head. “Her normal uniform is a skin-tight catsuit. She doesn’t wear robes. It left nothing… I mean nothing… to the imagination. The jumpsuit’s far more subdued.”

She scrunched her face. “What?”

Travis nodded his head. “Yeah. I’m not lying.” Then he shook his head. “You’re right though–he really likes her new jumpsuit. He couldn’t take his eyes off her this morning... It looks like he still can’t.”

“That’s pretty funny. Who would have thought some shiny Thermal-Tex fabric on a Vulcan would cause our chief engineer to loose 40 IQ points?”

Travis started laughing with her. “You didn’t see him this morning. It was more like 80!” They each chuckled periodically as they finished their lunch.

Travis saw Commander Tucker enter the command center shortly after he arrived and join him for his tour. “Commander, I thought you had your tour this morning.” He was certain the Commander was assigned to the morning tour. Doctor Phlox, Ensign Sato and he were assigned to the evening one. Since Doctor Phlox hasn’t shown up, maybe they switched places?

Trip ran his hand through his hair and stammered a bit. “Captain suggested I take it again.”

“Because you didn’t pay attention the first time,” Malcolm replied. Travis saw Hoshi smirk and wondered if she knew any more than he did.

“I had no idea you were going to give me a test afterward.”

A test! Ah crap! “Sir, there’s a test afterward!?! I hate tests…” Travis was worried. He always froze up during tests no matter how well prepared.

Malcolm turned to Travis who was clearly worried. “No Ensign, there is no test.”

Trip appeared annoyed. “That sure as hell seemed like a test! You kept asking me questions and then the Captain told me to go through the tour again tonight. He made me feel like I failed a pop quiz.”

Travis saw Malcolm chuckle. “I only did that because you weren’t paying attention Commander... Or at least not paying attention to the tour. You were too focused on…”

“Drop it, Lieutenant!” Travis was stunned by Trip’s sudden irritation. He seemed pretty annoyed with Malcolm. Trip’s face was turning red. If anything this only seemed to make Hoshi chuckle harder.

Malcolm just laughed to himself and turned to Travis. “Don’t worry Travis. As long as you pay attention there won’t be a problem.”

Travis sighed. That’s good. He saw Malcolm turn his attention back to Trip and grin.

“Travis, please let me know if the Commander stares at my bum during the tour.”

“I said drop it, Malcolm!”

Travis was confused as Malcolm kept laughing to himself but Trip was not amused in the least. His face was now bright red.

Travis could tell Hoshi clearly knew something more since she was fighting hard to contain her laughter.

T’Pol knelt meditating in an attempt to control and suppress her emotions. Today had been a trying day and Commander Tucker’s behavior had made her… vexed.

Yesterday she decided to try civilian clothing from the quartermaster’s stock. She was not sure if she should continue to wear her VHC uniform. He recommended she try the simple sky blue jumpsuit she wore today. It was made of Thermal-Tex fabric and he said it should keep her warm in Enterprise’s cool environment. He apologized that, due to the size and shape of her upper body, the neckline would expose more skin than if a Human female had worn it. He offered to figure out a way to cover the exposed area if it was too cold for her.

At first she did not foresee a problem but after wearing the jumpsuit all day, she found there had been some unexpected consequences of her new uniform.

She periodically caught Commander Tucker staring at her during the mission briefing. He did not appear to pay attention to the Captain’s status overview. As the Captain and Ensign Mayweather discussed a navigational topic at the helm, she overheard the Captain whisper a comment to Ensign Mayweather about Commander Tucker being easily distracted by shiny objects. The two chuckled together for a brief time until the Captain returned to his command chair.

She periodically caught Commander Tucker staring at her lower backside while Malcolm gave them a tour of the command center. Once the tour was complete, Malcolm asked Commander Tucker a series of questions, none of which he answered correctly.

Commander Tucker’s behavior was unprofessional and barely tolerable.

She twice caught Commander Tucker staring at her again as she lingered while trying to chose which of the two salads she would have for lunch. The decision took longer than normal as she weighed her options. She finally chose the one on the left. While one of its five croutons appeared smaller than the five contained in the right, the lettuce appeared greener in the left one. Although she had learned to like croutons, she preferred the taste of fresher lettuce. Ultimately she decided to use freshness of the lettuce instead of crouton size as the determining factor in her selection.

She was certain he again stared at her lower backside as she lingered while trying to decide what to drink with her salad. She considered each of the dispenser’s full list of 27 herbal teas before finally settling on water. The thought of him staring at her was annoying and distracted her. Before she realized it, the dispenser had filled her mug to the brim. She had to walk slower than normal to avoid spilling the water. He most likely continued staring at her as she slowly walked out of the mess hall.

Commander Tucker’s behavior was unprofessional and barely tolerable.

She periodically caught him staring at the small region of exposed skin just below her neck when she came to engineering early in the afternoon. He had not paid attention to the mission briefing earlier that day and she felt it necessary to review the weekly status reports with him personally in his office. She was unsure which elements were important to the Commander, so she went into far more detail than the Captain had. As a result, the detailed review lasted longer than the morning briefing. It would not have been necessary for her to do this if Commander Tucker had paid attention during the briefing.

She was certain he was again staring at her lower backside as she stood in his office facing away from him while reviewing a sensor diagnostic report with Lt. Hess. It was critical that she had full details of even the successful routine sensor diagnostics now. Their mission required her to have full knowledge of the state of the sensor arrays. She requested the Lieutenant go through it in detail with her while the Commander remained seated behind her attending to some paperwork.

Commander Tucker’s behavior was unprofessional and barely tolerable.

She periodically caught him staring at her after she requested he come to the command center and help her diagnose and correct a problem with the long-range sensors. They were 0.002% out of alignment in the ultra-violet band and she needed his help to find and correct the problem. After nearly two hours of working, they were able to achieve 0.0008% variance. The process would have taken less time if Commander Tucker had paid more attention to the alignment settings.

She caught him staring at her while she gathered her evening meal and proceeded to join him at his usual table. Unlike their meals with the Captain, he barely spoke to her. He seemed to try to eat as quickly as possible before leaving.

Commander Tucker’s behavior was unprofessional and barely tolerable.

Finally she gave up her pointless attempt to meditate. She was… vexed… by his behavior. His unprofessional behavior had caused a warm flush throughout her body for most of the day. Yes, vexed is the right word. The warm sensation must be caused by my irritation with his unprofessional behavior. I will not be able to meditate effectively until I regain my control. His behavior was barely tolerable every time he was around her. She should have avoided him after his behavior this morning, but there were three duty-related instances today that required she be in his presence. That meant she had to suffer through the same inappropriate behavior he demonstrated during the status briefing and command center tour.

She was unsuccessful at even avoiding him at meals. She was annoyed that he had already been in the mess hall both times she took her meals. Earlier today, she arrived in engineering to review the status reports with Commander Tucker, but Ensign Rostov reported he had already left for lunch at his normal time. Since he was unavailable, she decided to get her own lunch and return to the command center. Later she stopped by engineering to report the sensors were back at 0.0015% out of alignment in the ultra-violet band but Crewman Hendricks informed her Commander Tucker had already left for supper at his normal time.

She brought the topic up when she joined him in the mess hall and suggested they work on it again this evening, but he gave her the excuse that the specs listed +/- 0.003% as a normal variance range for the ultra-violet spectrum. His theory was the sensors could not hold a variance any tighter, and he refused to spend more time on it. He rushed through his meal and said he had to go, leaving her to sit alone to finish her supper. She was spared having to suffer through his stares and inappropriate behavior this evening. As she ate alone she recognized the warm flush she felt most of the day must be caused by her irritation with his inappropriate behavior.

It was fortunate he refused to work on the sensors with her, as she would need additional meditation to help regain her control.

Meditation had not helped though. She kept remembering the warm sensation that would pass through her body whenever she caught Commander Tucker engaging in unprofessional behavior. She had to work harder at suppressing her reaction to his provocations. While she could not control his behavior, she must learn to control her reaction to it. Just recalling each time she caught him staring caused her ears to be warm and flush–especially the sensitive tips. Even the slight contact with her hair was distracting and hindered her concentration

She took a deep breath. There was no point in further attempts to meditate at the present time. She decided that wearing her VHC uniform was no longer appropriate now that she had resigned her commission and remained on Enterprise. She was a civilian and should wear civilian clothes. She decided to head to the quartermaster’s supply. If she were no longer to wear her old uniform, she would need additional clothes. She was curious if the quartermaster had any more jumpsuits of the similar style as she wore today.

The End

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A whole mess of folks have made comments

This is very funny, Kevin. You do T'Pol in denial quite well... and the title is priceless.

The only flaw I saw in this story was that it was WAY too short.

Brilliant! Very, very enjoyable.

Oh, fun, fun, fun! Thumbs up!

That was funny!

I agree! TOO SHORT! SEQUEL SEQUEL! T'POL CONFRONTS TRIP WHEN HE'S STARING AT HER AND, AND.....

Ok it has to be NC-17 >=D

Fun and cute. :)

Dude, this is fricking hilarious.

"Commander Tucker’s behavior was unprofessional and barely tolerable."

Uh huh. Right. :D

I liked the parallelism there but I was waiting for the last one to be like...

"Commander Tucker's behavior was....... desirable." ;)

LOL!! Ok Ya made Milk shoot out my nose with this one.,,,, An T'pol wantin more of those new jumpsuits,,, Oh that was subtile,, Oh she didnt like Trips reaction at all,,, Yeah right.,, I cant wait for your next one Kevin,,, ill try not to drik anything while readin the next one though. ;)

Hilarious and I loved it.

Thanks everyone for the comments. I had a lot of fun writing this.

Yeah, I know it's short but things are kind of crazy right now and trying to write anything more complicated is just too hard. I also had to keep it short to keep it funny. I think trying to make it longer would have meant changing the tone of the story.

I also want to thank Bucky for teaching me the word "vexed". I thought it was the perfect word to describe T'Pol's emotion--much better than the original word.

Very nice Kevin, I always wondered what it was like the first time she stepped out in those cclorful frocks and wondered how Trip would like her in her clothes. Like he said in 'Home'..."You always were a snazzy dresser." Very nice job.....T

I find Kevin's behavior unprofessional and barely tolerable...meaning I'd love to have him come and stare at me that way anytime! Sure wish I has a set of sensitive pointed ears - among other things that would be worth staring at. Oh, well (huge sigh).

Great story, very well crafted!

Well done, well done! That was hilarious, loved T'Pol in denial! :)

Fun story.T'Pol is majorly up the river denial.And vexed at Trip's watching her every move in her new colorful wardrobe.I hope you'll write another story soon.Thanks for a good laugh.

Ha HA!!!! :)

Good one!

I could see this happening as a B storyline on the show. Great job.

Fabulous! LOL