Mom and Dad and Self Sealing Stem Bolts - Ch 6

Mom and Dad and Self Sealing Stem Bolts

By THECURSOR

Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I own nothing
A.N.: People have actually asked me why T’Pol isn’t working too. I guess it’s a good thing I already wrote a background for this.

A/N: Before I begin, I just want to say that while writing this chapter I was forced to really review how I saw the Princess Kaitaama character. I watched “Precious Cargo” fifteen times just to get the characterization right and create what I thought was a realistic future for the bitchy Princess we all love to hate. Soon I fell in love with this character and felt she was worth an entire chapter rather then just a blurb at the end. I even started enjoying the performance Padma Lashmi provided for her in the episode. As of the posting of this chapter, Kaitaama is now my favorite guest character on the show and I am honestly regretting not giving her more time in this story.

Chapter Six

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First Monarch Kaitaama, great leader of the planet Krios Prime and beloved public figure across three sectors of space dropped wearily on to the massive bed and did her best to close her eyes and shut out the world around her. To millions across the galaxy, she was a beloved diplomat and celebrity who worked hard to bring peace and look fabulous in the most expensive gowns she could buy. She was a pinnacle, a mountain top that people strove to either please or become more like. In every possible way, Kaitaama was a perfect role model for the beauty and understanding of Kriosian society. But when the day ended she was still just a divorced mother of two who was getting older.

And lonelier.

No one looked at her like a person anymore; to them she was just this respected, nigh-omnipotent ruler who was expected to have the answers to every single problem of her subjects’ day-to-day lives. She never got just to fulfill her own needs. She never got to be herself. Things like sexual feelings or personal hobbies? Forget it; men were too afraid to even approach her anymore and there was never any time to--

The intercom on the night table beeped and the voice of her personal secretary filled the darkened room. “Your highness?”

“Somebody better be dead!”

The irritation in his sovereign’s tone scared the young man on the other end of the line and after a brief pause, Kaitaama could tell her servant was sweating by the sound of his shaky voice. “You have a visitor.”

A scowl played across her countenance, who would dare attempt to see her at this time of night. She waited for the secretary to continue but the sweating must have clogged the man’s vocal cords.

“GO ON!”

“I-it’s a human. A Starfleet officer named Charles Tucker the….third? I think that’s the number.”

Her breath caught in her throat when she heard the name. Charles Tucker. Now there was a face she hadn’t seen since before she took the throne.

And a body she hadn’t…

Memories of strong hands caressing her naked skin in the warm swamp night came sailing back across the ocean of years and she distantly wondered if he was still handsome.

“Mistress? Shall I send him away?”

“NO!” She screeched, suddenly realizing how desperate that made her sound, “I mean to say…no, he’s welcome.”

“Shall I show him-“

Another screech. She wasn’t ashamed of this one though. “ARE YOU CRAZY? Let me do my hair at least.”

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The sweaty little man in the fancy green robes led Trip down a gorgeous hallway past a row of beautifully carved statues of naked Kriosians doing very naughty things to each other. He wished he had a phase pistol right around his third step. Trip did not want to be here and he certainly didn’t want to talk to Kaitaama again after all these years.

In spite of his reputation, one night stands were not his natural method of interactions with women. He was supposed to be an upstanding southern gentleman for god’s sake! He had only one or two of these types of encounters in his memory and he’d never had to talk to those women ever again. How would she greet him? Would she be upset he never contacted her for nearly twenty years and then all of a sudden, poof, there he was?

What if she thought he was here for…stuff?

There were more naughty statues and a few really naughty paintings as they wandered through the beautifully carved doorways and rooms to the First Monarch’s chambers. Tucker began wondering what the hell was wrong with Kriosian artists that they couldn’t draw a person with clothes on. The sweaty green man seemed to take no notice of the outright soft core porn hanging on the walls around him and Trip figured it had to be a culture shock kind of thing. He was used to it.

They finally came to huge golden door with symbols and jewels and lavish carvings meant to display the power and wealth of the woman who resided with in it. The sweaty men pushed open the door with a little grunt of exertion and motioned for Tucker to make his entrance. No sooner had he taken three steps into the richly decadent bedroom, that he heard the heavy door slam behind him. Then he saw her.

Kaitaama was dressed in long flowing silk gown, not unlike the one he first saw her in on the kidnapper’s ship, and a pair of simple yet somehow expensive looking open toed flat heeled shoes that matched the gown perfectly. She was draped, not subtly, across a statue of two Kriosian women locked in some kind of…naughty embrace that made Trip’s pants feel very tight just looking at it. And although he had thought she’d be ready for bed at a god awful hour like this, she was wearing full make up and her hair was done perfectly. Her fingers and wrists glittered with all the precious jewels and bracelets adorning her like she was some kind of jeweler’s floor model. She looked great for a woman pushing forty-five, still tall and lean and gorgeous.

Trip wanted to run. Over and over, the words happily married, happily married, happily married played through his head like a religious mantra. There was no way he was ever telling T’Pol about this.

“Well, it seems the great and terrible King of the Swamp has finally decided to re-conquer Krios Prime. I just hope this innocent young queen has SOMETHING to appease him that will spare her poor planet.” She said breathlessly and Tucker could swear that her voice sounded like sex in audio form. Distantly he remembered what his old buddy Jon used to say in situations like this…

“Oh boy.”

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“You could have mentioned you were here on business before I made a fool of myself.” Kaitaama finished pouring the sweet smelling coffee stuff into Trip’s mug and flashed an apologetic smile in his direction. “Still I guess I shouldn’t have tried to play that nasty trick on you.”

They both sat on the large stone balcony, drinking the warm liquid in the cool night air. It was still a little awkward for both of them but now they were both equally embarrassed so it didn’t seem to matter so much. Kaitaama had thrown the poor engineer the excuse that her previous behavior had been a prank, a practical joke between old friends, but Trip was starting to notice looks here and there that implied otherwise, making it that much more tempting to bolt the room.

“So what can I do for you, Commander?” She said after a few more moments of awkward quiet.

“Actually it’s Captain now.”

“Ah.” She responded with a nod, “Then I assume you have a ship of your own?”

Tucker chuckled nervously and she watched as he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. “Uh…not anymore. I used to have a ship called the Lincoln, but I never got to see my family, so I took a desk job on Earth.”

“Ah,” Kaitaama’s heart sank into her toes when she heard the word ‘family’. Family meant wife and kids. The idea that no one had landed a catch like this was just too good to be true. She tried to change the subject, “My daughter and I once went to Earth on a goodwill mission; it’s a very nice--”

“Actually it’s your daughter I’m here to talk to you about.” Trip almost laughed when he watched the First Monarch’s eye brow rose in a suspiciously ‘T’Pol’ like mannerism. Kind of…funny. Really.

“How do you know Nerul?”

“Uh, I don’t.” He sighed and tried to find an easy way to break this. A way that wouldn’t sound weird. “My son, Charley, he knows your daughter.”

Kaitaama’s eyes went wide and her jaw dropped into the floor. She struggled to find the words to necessary to express the feelings of utter shock and amazement. “Charley? My Nerul’s Charley? The one she doesn’t shut up about? Is your s-son?”

Trip nodded, he closed his eyes to keep from laughing nervously, “Small universe, huh?”

“By the Great Bird…” She eyed him suspiciously, trying to see if this was a joke or a con or something, “Did they know…about us?”

“I doubt it. T’Pol, that’s my wife, was the only one who ever knew. She wasn’t happy, but we never told my kids about the stuff I was into before we got married.”

“Well, I never told Nerul.”

Tucker sighed, “Yeah well it gets worse.”

“How much worse?”

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“I cannot believe that worthless piece of slime actually brought charges against your son!” The First Monarch fumed, nearly tearing apart the marble banister she was leaning against. “When I took the throne, I swore that my children would be allowed to fall in love with anyone that the old ways would be gone. But he’s…I mean he just…” She growled and gave up trying to understand the rage.

They stood at the top of the stairs, waiting for the gathered butlers to have the First Monarch’s bags packed and ready to go for the four hour flight to Deep Space One. Kaitaama would motion here and there with more authority then he’d ever seen in a woman, he smiled when he realized how different and much more impressive she was then the spoiled girl he shared a swamp with. Also made him wonder something. “If you hate Vetar so much, why’d you marry him?”

She shrugged, still focusing her attention on monitoring the preparations for her travel. “We were both young, both rich, and both noble.” She paused to motion where she wanted a trunk filled with shoes to go. “Besides he was different then. Nicer.”

“But even though you’ve divorced he still gets to stay second-in-command of the whole planet, right?”

“Right.”

“Sounds a little unfair if you ask me.”

“Unfair?” Kaitaama’s back was turned but Trip was fairly certain he heard a few tears in her voice. It made him feel like crap just listening to her. “Unfair is a young girl waiting decades for the handsome space man who changed her life to come back and marry her and then find out he’s still very handsome and also very married with three children and a vulcan wife who probably never looks a day over twenty five while the girl panics every time she finds a new laugh line under her eyes and stopped talking to the brutal animal she divorced years ago.”

“Kaitaama--“ She waved her hands to get him to stop before he began and turned around to look him square in the eye, the tears he thought he heard had already been wiped away.

“Just answer me this, human, if things had been different, really different, it would have been you and not Vetar, right?”

Trip didn’t say anything. Just nodded. She seemed very comforted by that, very happy. “That’s all I wanted to know.” She whispered and Trip’s heart broke as he watched her turn and leave, barking orders at her servants to make her star cruiser ready for travel.

Part of him felt really bad for lying to her because deep down inside he knew that even back when he and Kaitaama had been together, T’Pol was simply the only girl he’d ever truly loved.

Chapter 7

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Eight hardy souls have made comments

I too have to admit I never really hated the girl... she just wasn't T'Pol... that's all!!!! But she does seem nice and I'm glad you've made her a good person and not the jerk many want and writer her to be!!! If Trip had an interest in her than it's obvious she wasn't THAT bad of a woman. Nice job! I can't wait for the next chapter.

I love the "Oh Boy" line. Harkens back to the "Quantum Leap" days of Scott Bakula. Nice to see Trip borrow the expression. As for Kaitaama, I always loved her character. It is great to see you expand on her character. Very well written. MMMmmm... I wonder how T'Pol will react when she finds out?

I agree; Kaitaama wasn't that bad a character, it was just an unfortunate choice of actress. And while the point of Precious Cargo probably was just a chance for OMT to get laid, who can honestly want to deny him that under the circumstances?
You've made her very consistent with her characterization on the show, and likeable too.
Let's hope Charley gets a little more chance to follow through with the family ...

I never hated her either. She was snooty, true, but Trip is that good in bed that she changed, as you mentioned.

I actually loved her as a guest star too. My fav (with Shran in an oooh so close second.)

She was just funny, the way she was. And I guess the way that the kissing was going on made me think it was me, and not her.

P.S. The fact that she's georgeous didn't hurt either ;)

I'm really enjoying this story. It is hard to believe though that T'Pol won't find out about Trip's encounter with "The Princess."

I love the whole idea of showing Tucker's and T'Pol's day-to-day life, and you have done a great job with it! The story is very funny and suspenseful at the same time. I liked the idea of media day, the conflict between T'Pol and her children, the interaction between Tucker and his wife, and -- of course -- T'Mir. How can one not like her? :-)

Please continue this story soon. I'm hooked!

Awesome story. I feel bad for Kaitaama, but at least she is willing to help Charley. And oh yeah, I think T'Pol will definitely find out about this. (How long can Trip actually keep a secret from her?)

I'm enjoying your story very much, and do like how you made Kaitaama a character to whom Trip's previous attraction was understandable.

Keep writing!