Negotiating - Pt. 5

Negotiating Peace

By Myst123

Rated: G, General
Contact: mystbbs@earthlink.net
Disclaimer: Star Trek situations, characters, and name are all owned by Paramount. This work is non-commercial, not for sale or profit, and may not be sold or reproduced for commercial purposes.

Part Five

******************

“Ensign Sato, please contact Commander Tucker,” T’Pol ordered.

Hoshi, who had been monitoring news communications on Andoria, quickly laid in the frequency for the shuttlepod.

Frowning, she looked at T’Pol and said, “No response.”

“Keep trying.”

“Subcommander, I’ve tried every frequency I can. There is no response,” Hoshi reported a few minutes later.

“Contact Captain Archer.”

In moments, Archer responded to the hail. T’Pol calmly advised him he had a private communication from Earth and she would need to transmit it over a secure signal. Archer assured her he was alone and switched to the secure line.

“Commander Tucker and Ambassador Soval have not returned, and are not responding to our hails. They are an hour overdue.

Archer froze. “What do you think happened?”

“I don’t know, but all was well when they left the planet.”

Swearing under his breath, Archer quickly reviewed the options. The negotiations were too fragile for any problem to occur. If he returned to Enterprise, he would be asked why. He didn’t want to raise concerns until he knew what had happened, but he was reluctant to wait for action in case the shuttlepod had met with an accident.

“T’Pol, I can’t risk upsetting the negotiations at this point. Use the homing device and try to find them. Let’s hope Trip has the communicator on him. I’ve lectured him often enough – maybe he listened to me for a change.”

“Understood.”

“If you have to, take Enterprise, but only as a last resort and very discreetly. Otherwise, use the remaining shuttlepod, but find them, and find them now. Keep me informed about the status of the situation hourly on this channel.”

“Yes, Captain.”

“I hate this, T’Pol. I want to be there.”

“I know you do, and we will find them.”

Signing off, T’Pol called Lieutenant Reed and Ensign Sato to the ship’s analysis alcove. “Lieutenant, we must activate the homing device.”

After the loss of the communicator on the pre-warp planet and Trip’s crash landing caused by the encounter with the Arkonian Zho’Kaan., Archer assigned Trip, Malcolm, T’Pol and Hoshi to a project: find a means of locating lost objects or, more importantly!, lost crewman and make it a priority. “It has to be the backdoor we need when the house has caved in and is covered with rubble,” Archer told the team. “Think avalanche tracking devices, but which work in deep space under adverse conditions. Even if, as happened on P’Jem, the communicator is destroyed, it has to work. But it can’t advertise it exists – it must do its job silently.” Archer doesn’t ask much of his crew, does he? But he does know what he needs to keep the crew safe and can do no more than tell them what they need to invent to accomplish that sacred goal.

Although great strides had been made towards creating the homing devise, it was still under development. T’Pol, Hoshi and Malcolm were all unhappy that the first major test was so vitally important. The mechanism could not fail.

Malcolm activated the homing signal, then Hoshi began a slow scan of the space between Andoria and the planet when Trip and Soval had stayed. All brows were knitted with intense concentration. Nothing. Hoshi zeroed in on the communicator. Archer had established protocols that a communicator was to be on the person away from the ship at all times. If the communicator were still with Trip, they should be able to find him. A blip appeared on the radar screen. Three pairs of eyes focused on the panel, then rose and met across the analysis table. The signal was coming from the surface of Andoria.

****

Trip felt like all his hangovers had come home to roost. Nausea choked him. He cracked open his eyes and absorbed the unfamiliar ceiling above. Cautiously, he turned his head. The room was little more than a shack made of corrugated metal. He was lying on a dirt floor. Light seeped in between the gaps of the siding.

Once he felt the nausea recede, Trip sat up. The room was empty except for some rags in the corner. Upon closer inspection, the rags proved to be Ambassador Soval. Trip was at the older man’s side in a moment, hoping he had retained the instructions on Vulcan vital signs Phlox had provided. “Goddam Vulcans,” Trip muttered to himself. “Can’t have physiology like earthlings – no, we must be different, we must be unique.”

Deep breaths and lots of cursing allowed Trip to calm down and focus. Soval wasn’t conscious, but his vital signs were stable. Trip slowly massaged Soval’s chest, willing the man to regain consciousness. Having never dealt with an injured Vulcan, Trip improvised. All bones were intact, nothing misaligned. Soval was simply out of it.
Soval’s eyes opened and met Trip’s. No vagueness clouded the brown eyes – the Ambassador was instantly aware of his situation and his surroundings. Trip really disliked these super-human Vulcans. A fleeting desire to see a drunk Soval trying to spring to life the morning after an evening’s carousing flitted through Trip’s mind, but he managed to suppress further exploration of such thoughts.

“Morning, Ambassador.”

“Is it morning? Where are we?”

Trip’s gaze wandered around the space, taking in the limited data his senses provided.

“By the quality of the light, I’d say we are on Andoria or an Androain world. The light is very blue.”

He grasped Soval’s hands and pulled the other man into a sitting position. Soval extended his arms and Trip, sliding his hands around his torso, pulled Soval into a standing position.

“What happened? The last thing I remember is leaving orbit.”

“My recollections are similar. I do not recall more detail about subsequent events.”

“Must have been hit with some sort of stun device. Put us both under quick.”

“Yes, but do the Andorians have such technology? We have not detected it.”

The two men looked at each other. Trip asked it first. “Who has the technology, if the Andorians don’t?”

“I do not know.”

“Great. Just great. I don’t think what has happened here is the result of the mainstream Andorian society. We're talking rebels who want to quash the peace talks and who have found an unknown ally to help.”

“My thoughts concur. Rebel forces have found an accomplice.”

Trip wasn’t too optimistic about the outcome of the situation in which he now found himself.

**************

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Four of you have made comments

OOOOOOOO!!! The plot twists and thickens!

Who is helping the bad guys? The ear guys?

Excellent! I just love the interaction between Trip and Soval. It will be interesting to see what happens next. Did Trip remember his communicator or were they searched once rendered unconscious? Keep going, this is very good thanks. Ali D :~)

This is great! I love the interaction between Trip and Soval. I'm looking forward to seeing how and if they work together to get out of trouble! Thanks for this!

Really enjoying this and with the unexpected (for my part anyway:-)) turn of events the story only gets stronger. Thanks.