Repercussions- Pt. 4

Repercussions

By ShouldKnowBetter

Summary: A planet holds unexpected treasure for Enterprise’s crew.

Rating: PG13

Disclaimers in Part 1

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Part Four

Archer stared in amazement at the corridor before him, inextricably reminded of P’Jem and the Vulcan listening post there, although he was fairly sure that he could absolve the Vulcans of duplicity this time. There was nothing remotely familiar about the look of the place and it had an empty feel. Besides, the Vulcan who had revealed the place was humming happily to himself as he continued to prod around the device he had created. Archer couldn’t help but feel that even a Vulcan who was off his rocker would have reacted to the sudden revelation of a secret outpost of his people.

Fran appeared at Archer’s side, antennae straining forwards, a triumphant grin forming. “Impressed, pink-skin? My people have been searching for this place for generations. And I found it!”

“What is it?”

“Victory. There’s technology here that will let us drive those damn Vulcans back to their planet and keep them there for all eternity.” A gun barrel prodded Archer forward. “Move.” He smirked at the human’s wry look. “Why risk myself when I have a prisoner? Move. Oh,” he pulled the trigger, sending a focussed energy stream into a wall, “don’t try anything. Not now I can kill you so easily.”

Shuttle Pod 2 made a landing that caused Mayweather to wince and Tucker was outside before the other two had sprinted the hundred yard safety clearance to join him. The engineer was frowning at a hand-held scanner and didn’t bother with a greeting. “I’m picking up a huge power signature a kilometre north of here.”

“That’s where the Andorians were heading with Captain Archer.” Reed peered curiously over Tucker’s shoulder. “The technology’s working again?”

“Yeah. There was an energy-absorbing field over the planet until about fifteen minutes ago then it just dissipated. Where’s T’Pol?”

“We left her back at the native settlement.” He pre-empted Tucker’s angry protest. “They’re friendly, Trip. She’s safe.”

The engineer drew a steadying breath. “OK. Let’s go get the cap’n.”

“Did you bring extra phase pistols?”

“No.”

“Great! There are at least half a dozen of them.”

“So what were you planning on doing, Malcolm?”

It was Reed’s turn to glare as he set off to the north, stride determined. “I’ll get back to you on that one.”

Tucker was scowling as he followed although Mayweather just made sure that he dropped behind his senior officers before he allowed his grin to appear.

Reed’s caution paid off when some circuitous scrambling brought them to a position where they could peer down at the huddle of Andorians at the cave mouth. “Five,” he muttered to himself as he scanned the surrounding area waiting for inspiration to strike. “Commander, what’s the maximum spread you can get on the transporter?”

The engineer grimaced. “Three metres. Maybe four if you were prepared to accept the additional risk.”

“Good enough.” Reed reached for his communicator and, after some brisk orders to Cato regarding security personnel, sat back to watch until the glow of the transporter beam had whisked the Andorians away. “A pity life’s not always that simple.”

“The cap’n’s not gonna be happy if all you’ve got on Enterprise is a random set of molecules.” The engineer was already scrambling down, Reed at his heels.

“They should have thought of that before they took Captain Archer prisoner. Bloody hell!”

They had entered the cave but it wasn’t the sight of the contraption in front of them, nor the corridor beyond that made Reed swear. It was the sight of the elderly Vulcan sitting on the floor, rocking gently, tears streaming down his face.

Tucker withdrew his fascinated gaze from the machine to look at the Vulcan and sighed. “He’s sick, Malcolm.”

“What could do that to a Vulcan?”

“You’d be surprised.” He moved slowly over. “But in this case … just old age. Professor Tossan?” Slowly the man raised his head, tears still flowing, and said something that neither Reed nor Mayweather understood. Tucker grimaced and crouched down, frowning in concentration, and stunned his colleagues by replying. After a few moments, he patted the man’s shoulder gently and rose to his feet again, gesturing down the corridor. “The cap’n and one of the Andorians went down there. Travis, you stay with the professor. Malcolm.” He jerked his head and set off and Mayweather protested.

“Can’t I come, sir?”

Tucker took no notice and Reed shrugged apologetically. “Privileges of rank, ensign, I’m afraid. We do need someone to watch our back. Make sure you do it,” and he jogged to catch up with his friend. “Since when do you speak Vulcan?”

The engineer shrugged absently. “Since T’Pol loses her English when she’s not well.” He had been dipping into the subject in such spare time as he had for over a year although Tossan was his first live victim; until now he had only practised on the Universal Translator. Given that it appeared to work, perhaps he should let on to T’Pol that he had at least been trying.

Archer would have liked to proceed more slowly, not just to inspect his surroundings but to avoid any of the booby traps his Andorian captor seemed to expect, but Fran was evidently in a hurry, indicated by frequent jabs of the gun when the human paused. The corridor they followed curved on without side passages although there were plenty of closed doorways that the captain was itching to investigate. “Do you know where you’re going?” he asked at last, after having been shoved past another doorway and wasn’t totally surprised at the answer.

“No.”

“This place is huge. We could be here a long time.”

“I’ve time, pink-skin. Move.”

“Who built it?”

“Do I care?”

Archer gave up; some people just didn’t deserve the chance to explore.

The corridor ended in double doors that remained closed as they approached. Archer made a cursory search for a control panel then folded his arms. “Now what?”

Fran performed his own search, snarled impatiently and fired at the door, which slid open in such an obliging manner that Archer’s suspicions were instantly aroused. Not so Fran’s; he grinned in triumph and stepped inside, apparently no longer caring what his prisoner might do. With typical human illogic, Archer didn’t take the opportunity to escape but indulged his curiosity by following the Andorian inside. Unlike the corridor, this place was full of equipment, row upon row of what looked vaguely like computer terminals. Fran was at one, randomly pressing buttons and swearing. Archer pressed a few himself, even knowing that his first officer would strongly disapprove of such irresponsibility, and was rewarded with a lighted screen and a softly spoken sentence in an alien language.

The Andorian hurried over. “What did you do?”

“No idea,” Archer said honestly. “It could take you years to investigate something like this.”

“There must be weapons somewhere. That’s all I want.”

“There is no offensive weaponry on this planet.”

The quiet comment brought both men around to face the silver haired man Archer had first encountered the night before. The captain drew a breath, forehead creasing in consternation, but before he could query the sudden acquisition of both speech and English, Fran had swung his gun around to cover the newcomer.

“Who are you?”

“You could say that I am one of the owners.”

“Then you can tell me where the weapons are.”

“I told you, there are none.”

“There have to be! Tell me.”

“I must ask you to leave.”

“Not until I have what I came for.” Archer saw the Andorian’s hand tighten on the trigger and lunged forward but he was too far away and Fran fired. And the other man … avoided … the energy blast. Archer was still struggling to understand how he could have moved so quickly when another energy beam shot out of the ceiling and the Andorian disappeared.

Archer let out his breath in a gusty sigh. “I thought you said there were no weapons here.”
“No offensive weapons. That was purely defensive.”

The captain rubbed his sore mouth gingerly. “Is there any chance you’d care to explain what’s going on here?”

“I believe you are entitled to a limited explanation.” The man smiled in pure amusement. “If only to satisfy your curiosity, Captain Archer. Perhaps after your colleagues join you?”

Bemused, Archer had only a few seconds to wait before a phase pistol appeared, followed by an angry chief engineer. “Put the gun away, Trip. Quickly.” He would deal with the issue of why his third in command had seen fit to leave Enterprise later.

Tucker obeyed, moving further into the room, eyes narrowing as he took in his captain’s bruised face. “You OK?”

“No permanent damage.” He looked back at the alien. “Would you care to start with the not speaking, low tech charade?”

“There is no need for anger, Captain Archer. We live as you saw us live, simply, using technology only where necessary to maintain an acceptable standard of living, and between ourselves speech is unnecessary; we are telepaths.”

“Cap’n,” Tucker interrupted, “can this wait? We need to get T’Pol back to Enterprise.”

“You need not worry, Commander Tucker.” The alien man spoke before Archer could ask for clarification of the problem with his first officer. “Your love is quite safe.” Then he smiled. “But for your peace of mind we may return now. I can satisfy your captain’s curiosity as we walk.” He led the way out into the corridor, ignoring the side door by which he had entered, and the doors slid closed behind them; Archer was fairly sure that opening them again would be more difficult than before. “We developed space travel some five thousand of your years ago. For three thousand years, we did much as you are now doing, exploring other worlds, seeking out knowledge, pursuing some rather selfish goals. But then we became … bored, certainly dissatisfied. Other races were taking to the stars and we were not impressed. The Vulcans in particular concerned us with their barbarity, although I understand that they have changed, at least superficially. So we chose to return home and to be content with our own world, our own company and an exploration of where our minds alone could take us. But because we did not believe that our privacy would be respected we constructed this complex to mask our presence.”

Archer shook his head. “I don’t see how you could give up exploring space.”

“Perhaps your species never will, Captain Archer, but I suggest you do not judge us for three thousand years yet.”

The captain grimaced an apology – not a terribly sincere one – and Reed asked, “What will you do now? Other races clearly have the technology to detect you.”

“We will upgrade the system. We were careless not to have done so before.”

“And the fact that we know you’re here?” Archer queried, having recovered from his shock that anyone would willingly exchange space travel for staying home to work out they could have a big problem.

“I believe that we can come to an arrangement.” They had reached the cave entrance. “But now I believe that Commander Tucker has an urgent desire to be elsewhere.”

Archer had no opportunity to speak to Tucker privately during the short shuttle pod hop back to the ‘primitive’ township, but he pulled the engineer aside as soon as they landed.

“You know what’s wrong with T’Pol?”

“Sort of.” The younger man rubbed his eyes as if they were aching. “We’ve gotta get her back to Vulcan, cap’n. There’s maybe a chance they can save her.”

“Maybe?” He got a nod in answer. “We’re months from Vulcan.”

“I contacted V’Lar. She’s seeing to it that one of the Vulcan ships patrolling the border will take her back.” Tucker shrugged in apology for over-stepping his authority. “Sorry, cap’n.”

“No need; I’d have done the same.” Archer studied his friend’s stressed face and laid a comforting hand on a rigid shoulder to steer him towards the building where they had left T’Pol. “Let’s go get her.”

Enterprise’s first officer was curled up asleep on the bed Reed had occupied, the same silver-haired woman sitting at her side, head bent over an embroidery frame although she looked up with a smile as Tucker and Archer entered, accompanied by the man who had turned out to be the planet’s leader. The smile faded, however, as Tucker crossed immediately to the bed to gather T’Pol into his arms.

The woman looked to her leader for permission and then broke into speech, her tone severe. “Why are you proposing to send your woman back to her own people when she is terrified of being without you?”

Tucker paused, surprised, T’Pol’s limp body resting against his chest. “It’s because of me she’s like this. I’m not acceptable to her people.” His mouth twisted bitterly. “She ashamed of me, I guess.”

“You are very wrong, Commander Tucker. T’Pol loves you deeply. She is hiding from a future in which she loses you.”

Tucker’s arms tightened. “We discussed that. We both know it can’t be permanent between us.”

“She is very vulnerable at the moment, yes?” He nodded reluctantly. “When she is stronger, she will no doubt come to terms with the inevitability of your loss. At the moment, she cannot.”

He stared back then abruptly lost his temper. “How the hell do you know that? You don’t know either of us!”

“We are telepaths, Commander Tucker, as you have been told. We speak directly to each other’s minds and we can perceive the thoughts of others. We do not pry without need but T’Pol’s thoughts concerning you have been very clear.”

Tucker’s expression twisted as he dropped his head to T’Pol’s, mouth resting against her temple, brief flash of temper spent. “Then what can be done for her? She’s dying!”

“It is customary amongst T’Pol’s people for couples to be mentally bonded?” He nodded. “I believe that may provide her with the reassurance she needs.”

“So she still needs to go home. There aren’t any other Vulcans around.”

“You would object to being bonded with her?”

“No! Not if it helped, but … How? I’m no telepath.”

“I could make up for your lack.”

Tucker glared down at the woman in his arms again, forehead creased in concentration. “If you’ve been listening in, you know what was done to her. What you’re suggesting … raking around in her head, bonding her with me … isn’t that just another form of rape?”

“I am a doctor, Commander Tucker. I would not propose something that would cause T’Pol harm.”

He bit his lip, still uncertain, and Archer moved closer, joining the debate for the first time; it looked as if his friend needed help. “Trip, if T’Pol’s dying and this could do some good, then isn’t it worth the risk?”

“Jeez,” the engineer muttered and hugged T’Pol to him, pressing his lips to her temple again. “If it goes wrong, can you undo it?”

“There are people on T’Pol’s world who will be able to severe the connection.”

“OK. But I gotta ask her.” He was looking pleadingly up at Archer who nodded encouragement although he wondered if it would be possible. The Vulcan woman had shown no reaction to either Tucker’s presence or the conversation going on over her head.

“See if you can wake her, Trip. If not … maybe we have to think again.”

Tucker nodded shakily and raised a hand to cup T’Pol’s cheek. “T’Pol. Honey, wake up.” She barely stirred and he tapped her cheek gently. “C’mon, darling, wake up now.” Eyes still closed she rolled her head slowly sideways, nuzzling into his hand, and he smiled reluctantly. “T’Pol, you gotta wake up now.” He leant forward to press a kiss to her unresponsive lips and she sighed. “C’mon, honey.” He tapped her sharply. “Wake up.” She mumbled this time and he pushed her away from him, holding her upright, eliciting a faint protest. “That’s right, darling. Wake up, now.” He kissed her again and she tried to lean against him, only to be shaken gently. “T’Pol, wake up, darling.”

Finally her eyes flickered briefly open. “Charles.”

“Yeah, that’s me.” Again he shook her. “C’mon, honey, time to wake up.”

“No.” That was almost rational.

“Yes! T’Pol, darling, you gotta wake up. We have to talk.”

“No. Just sleep.” She was looking at him through heavily lidded eyes. “Kiss me.”

He obeyed in case it kept her interest, but she just used the opportunity to wind her arms around him and snuggle close to go back to sleep and he groaned, struggling to unwind her. “T’Pol, cut that out!” He shook her sharply and she gave a small grunt of protest.

“Don’t.”

“Then wake up, darling.” He shook her again for good measure. “Wake up or no more kissing and definitely no cuddling.” She managed a resentful glare. “That’s better.” He cupped a hand around one cheek to try to keep her attention, fingers slipping into her hair. “Now, are you listening to me?” she nodded although her eyelids were drooping. “I talked to V’Lar. She said you’re like this because you can’t cope with loving me. T’Pol, darling, is that true? Because if it is … hell, you have to go home, honey. I can’t let you kill yourself for me.”

She was still sleepy but she raised a hand to his face, stroking him gently. “I do not want to leave you. Not yet.”

Tucker closed his eyes briefly, swallowing hard. “Then if you want me … people here say they can bond us.”

T’Pol was frowning. “Bond …”

“Yeah. So you’d always know I was around. D’you want that, honey?”

She nodded then spoilt the effect by yawning and leaning forward again. This time Tucker let her, pulling her to him where she snuggled contentedly against him. He threw back his head, expelling a long breath, then looked over at the woman who had watched the exchange kindly. “Get on with it.”

T’Pol had been floating in an increasingly impenetrable layer of warm darkness that she had ceased to worry about or question. Interruptions in the form of people talking to her had become progressively less interesting than staying in the dark, even when it was someone she loved. Then the darkness was abruptly replaced by a jumble of emotions not her own that were entirely unfamiliar and yet instantly identifiable; that combination of love, concern and fierce loyalty could belong to only one individual she had ever encountered. She opened her eyes to stare up into Tucker’s shocked face. “You must learn to meditate.”

He blinked, eyes gradually clearing, and she felt his emotions change, concern fading to be replaced by wonder and rapidly escalating happiness. “Does that mean you’re gonna learn to play the harmonica?”

She decided to forgive him that one – for now – and reached up to kiss him. The experience produced such interesting sensations that she promptly scheduled in a longer period of research into the benefits of being bonded to a man who evidently liked being kissed a great deal more than she had appreciated.

Archer had watched with some trepidation following Tucker’s reluctant consent although there was little to see. The silver haired woman had simply smiled confidently then closed her eyes for a moment, only her faint frown suggesting effort. The effect on his colleagues was more visible. Tucker gasped, almost a cry of pain, but before Archer could react T’Pol drew a long breath and sat up, clearly wide awake and not necessarily happy about it. Then he was bundled precipitously out of the room by the alien doctor who shot him an amused look.

“They will require some privacy to adapt, Captain Archer. It would have been impolite to remain.”

“T’Pol’s going to be all right?”

“If you mean is she recovered from her malaise, yes, she is. If you are referring to that couple’s future,” she looked up with a tolerant, rueful glint in her eyes, “I am afraid that we are merely telepaths, Captain Archer, not clairvoyants. Although I am sure that they have many arguments still before them.”

Archer could do nothing but agree with the latter comment before turning back to the man who was waiting with Reed, Mayweather and a once again cheerful Tossan. “You mentioned an arrangement regarding our knowledge of your presence here?”

“That’s right, captain. In fact,” he looked over to where T’Pol had just emerged from the inner room, Tucker at her heels, “I believe we could begin the arrangement straight away.”

In one of the spare seats in Shuttle Pod 2, watching Mayweather manoeuvre the craft so that it could get a grappler onto the shuttle pod they had crashed the previous day, Archer was aware of some confusion. The events of the last two days seemed clear enough in his memory - bringing a shuttle pod down after the Andorians who had abducted Tossan, crashing, being out of contact with Enterprise over night, rescuing the professor and taking most of his kidnappers into custody – but they didn’t quite seem to fit together properly. He looked over at his first officer, intending to ask if she had noticed any discrepancies, but T’Pol was engaged in a low voiced conversation with Tossan, assisted – or possibly hindered – by Tucker who had apparently been brushing up on his schoolboy Vulcan. And that was another strange thing. There was no reason why the chief engineer should not have brought down a shuttle pod to pick up his stranded colleagues, but how had T’Pol been sufficiently aware of his presence to instigated some form of telepathic bond with him that had cured her sleeping problem?

“Captain?” Archer looked over at the young pilot. “Permission to return to Enterprise, sir?”

“Take us up, ensign.” Maybe it would all be clearer back on board.”

Beside Archer, Reed leant forward for a last look at the planet through the view screen. “Are you disappointed about the lack of treasure, Travis?”

“It’s in this sector somewhere, sir. It’s just not been found yet.”

“Well, at least you can knock this planet off your list. Not even a sniff of treasure. Wonder why the Andorians brought Professor Tossan here?”

When they docked, T’Pol was out of the shuttle pod as soon as the launch bay re-pressurised, dragging Tossan with her. “Sub-Commander?” Archer asked in surprise but she kept walking.

“I must take Professor Tossan to sickbay and,” she threw a baleful look over her shoulder at Tucker, “I have a headache.”

The engineer only grinned and fell in at Archer’s side as the captain headed automatically for the bridge, casting his friend a look that managed worry and curiosity at the same time. “Are you two going to be all right?”

“Sure.” The younger man had finally adopted the silly grin of someone in the throws of a new love affair. He had been shocked, flattered and humbled by the depth of love and passion he’d felt in T’Pol when she had bonded them – even if he was still sketchy on the details of how she’d done it – and he was confident they could sort out any remaining complications resulting from a trans-species relationship, even though he no longer seemed to be able to ‘hear’ her.

“T’Pol doesn’t seem too happy with you at the moment.”

“Ah, she’s just pretending.” Partly anyway. Tucker’s grin became smug. “She thinks I’m adorable when I’m being illogical. Hell, I’m always adorable!”

Archer assumed the expression of a man tried beyond endurance. “Trip, are you planning on staying this happy for long?”

“Yup.”

“Then, Commander Tucker, I’d be grateful if you’d keep out of my way.”

“Hey!” For a moment the protest was genuine then engineer caught the amusement in Archer’s eyes and an affection very close to love. He laughed and threw an arm around his captain in a rare expression of his own feelings for the man. “Wish me luck?”

“Always, Charles. Always.”

“Don’t you dare! Not even you can get away with that one, Jon, not even you.”

T’Pol broke the silence in Tucker’s cabin as soon as she had regained a modicum of control. “Your degree of self-satisfaction is extreme.”

“Dunno about that.” He was still short of breath. “That was pleasure you were experiencing, wasn’t it, sub-commander?”

“Much of my … reaction … stemmed from your own enjoyment.”

Tucker grinned and rolled onto his side, reaching out to caress T’Pol’s elegant and just slightly annoyed face. “We could just agree we both had a real good time.”

“Agreement between us would be unusual.”

He sobered, losing the post-coital contentment. “Is this bonding thing too hard for you? We can get it undone. If you feel I forced …”

Warm fingers pressed to his mouth to halt the guilt trip. “It is not easy, hearing your emotions alongside my own, but I will adapt. And the sensations while we were … intimate … were remarkable.”

“Buy one, get one free, huh?” He shrugged regretfully. “I don’t know that I can hear you at all anymore. Maybe at the end, sort of like an echo but …” and he grimaced.

“Between Vulcans the bond is bi-directional but humans have no telepathic ability at all and mine is limited.” T’Pol offered what comfort she could. “The bond grows stronger with time and intimacy. If you learn to regulate your emotions via meditation, it may become easier to distinguish what is yours and what is mine.”

“You’re dead set on teaching me to meditate, aren’t you?”

“Indeed. I have no wish for a permanent headache.”

He chuckled and gathered her to him. “Yeah, a lot of my girlfriends have said that.” He hugged away the slight tension that comment provoked. “So you reckon that practising the intimacy could do the trick too?”

T’Pol sighed. Tucker could still be effortlessly offensive. “Perhaps.”

“I can live with that.” He paused thoughtfully. “But I’m gonna check the soundproofing. You’re real loud.”

T’Pol glared at her former lover and freed herself, stalking into the bathroom. She would shower to rid herself of the stink and then return to the tranquillity of her own quarters. Unfortunately Tucker followed her and used unfair means to persuade her to stay.

end

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A whole mess of folks have made comments

I'm very happy to see a new part of the series! And I 'm really glad you dealt with the fallout from the "Soval" incident.

^_____^ You write such a brilliantly in-character Trip and T'Pol (and everyone else)! As usual the plot and storyline drew me in completely and I just had to keep reading all the way to the end. It was a very well-crafted tale. I can't help feeling a little sorry for the "nameless ensign." tho'. LOL.

I'm very much looking forward to "Cry Havoc."

Excellent! My little heart did a backflip when I saw you had written another story in the series. I just so love Trip and T'Pol together and I loved your take on T'Pol's sleeping sickness and the 'cure'. I can't wait to see how "Cry Havoc" develops the story further. You have done such a beautiful job, thanks a million! Ali D :~)

Well done, I loved this further installment in your series, as I did the others, too. I love the way you write all of the people, keeping them true to character(except for the LUV which TPTB haven't written yet).
Thanks for a lovely story.

Finally! You continued!

Great story, the plot and the way you had the charactor interactions was aswome (as usual)!

Can't wait for more so please hurry.

I haven't read them yet, I just finished printing but I know I love it. I wanted to say thank you for posting the entire story at once.

Wonderful! Fabulous! Magnifique! Incredible!

Another lovely chapter in the series! I wonder if any of their memories will come back...

This was REALLY good! I loved that bit at the end about using unfair means....

thank you so much for continuing for the story I hope you will write some more of these stories I really lke themalot.

yay! It's very nice to get online on my birthday and discover you've updated! Your series is one of my faves, keep it up!

Wow, another excellent story. I don't understand why you didn't like this story? Trip/T'Pol progressed in their relationship plus adventure for the Enterprise all wrap up into a nicely written story. But I guess most artist are critical with their own work. Well, I loved it!!! Looking forward to your next story. XOXO

Awesome! Enjoyable!

Still loving it!

I am delighted with this chapter. I could almost see it as a TOS episode. And funny!!!?? “You must learn to meditate.” “Does that mean you’re gonna learn to play the harmonica?” ROTFLMAO!!

Another wonderful installment. While the Trip/T'pol interaction was superb as always, the part that really got me was actually this line:

"For a moment the protest was genuine then engineer caught the amusement in Archer’s eyes and an affection very close to love. He laughed and threw an arm around his captain in a rare expression of his own feelings for the man."

Given what we saw in TATV, that moment was especially poignant.

And to think that only a short time ago I wanted to slap Archer upside the head...