Examinations-Pt. 4

Examinations

PART FOUR

by Thinkey

PG-13
Disclaimers in Part One

Trip winced as his head suddenly bumped up against something hard. He felt
a strong grip on his arms as they were lifted up above his head. The sound of metal clamps around his wrists told him that he was now strapped down and unable to move. He groaned in frustration.

"Our captain will be back for us in a day or so! He won't let you get away with this!" Trip warned.

The room then fell silent.

Trip glanced around in the darkness, trying to see anything, if possible. There wasn't a thing to be seen. He held his breath, waiting for the next move. The silence of the room tortured him even more than being held against his will. He had never felt so unsure of something in his life.

With two more clinks of the metal, Trip jumped slightly, his wrists rubbing up against his own metal clamps, breaking the skin. He winced at the pain. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he listened closely to the echoing footsteps in the room.

What were they planning to do to them? What did they have that these people wanted? For the life of him, Trip couldn't conjure up even the wildest theory to help support these masked kidnapper's actions.

A light was switched on suddenly and Trip winced at its brightness. As his eyes adapted he was able to get a better look at the room - or what was lit at least. His heart began to race as he saw T'Pol strapped to a metal case that was turned right-side-up. Her hands were strapped to the same metal clamps as his were, and her head slumped to the side.

Trip took a quick breath as one of the masked men walked into the penumbra of the spotlight above T'Pol. Trip watched as the masked man placed a metal device on each of T'Pol's temples.

Her head suddenly snapped to attention. The masked man circled the lit area in silence for several moments. Trip gulped as he realized what they were doing to her-- it was some sort of mind control.

"Why were you assigned to Enterprise?" the masked man asked.

Trip watched closely as T'Pol's head seemed to jerk upwards before she replied. "The Vulcan High Command wanted an...advisor on Enterprise's maiden mission."

"Why are you still there?" the masked man continued.

"It was...my choice."

"You're lying!" the masked man accused. "I thought...Vulcans...didn't lie."

"I am not. Captain Archer assisted in my staying on Enterprise," a mechanical T'Pol replied.

Trip winced as the masked man lifted a remote control of sorts and pressed a button, causing T'Pol's body to spasm.

"Tell me the truth!" the masked man demanded.

Trip nearly lost it. "She is telling the truth!" The masked man beside him suddenly reached up with one arm, slamming a fist in his face. Trip's head bounced back off the metal casing behind him and sagged as he tried to regain is bearings.

The other man continued. "Tell me, how strong is the Vulcan fleet?" The masked man paused for a moment. "And the human fleet as well?"

"Vulcan information...is classified." T'Pol replied. She was rewarded with another shock.

"Five sister ships to Enterprise are being built at space station McKinley in Earth orbit. Date of completion is unknown."

The masked man seemed happy with this information, but he continued to pace. "Other ships?" he asked.

"None as advanced," T'Pol replied.

"Allies?"

"Several small civilizations."

"Tell me about S'Task," the masked man demanded.

For a moment, Trip thought T'Pol was coming through. "S'Task?" her small voice asked.

"Yes."

"S'Task was one of Surak's students," T'Pol replied. "He failed to follow Surak's teachings. He was later responsible for the deportation of eighty thousand Vulcans who did not want to embrace logic as a way of life. They were never heard from again."

"What a....non-colorful story," the masked man said. "It should be worth noting that the Rihannsu see it in a completely different light."

"Rihannsu?" T'Pol asked. "I do not know those people."

"As it should be.... as it should be. The Sundering happened a long time ago. It's expected."

"The Sundering?"

"All in good time."

Trip watched the entire exchange and was completely in the dark. He certainly didn't know any of these people the man spoke about. He watched silently as the masked man stopped pacing and began to pay attention to the collar of his jacket.

"The Enterprise is approaching? .... Understood." The masked man spoke to no one in particular. This confused Trip even more. He walked up and removed the pieces of metal from T'Pol's temples, then released the clamps.

"Our job is done here for now," he said as he moved away, letting T'Pol's weak body fall to the floor.

"Hey, just wait a minute there!" Trip called, but he was too late. He felt the clamps release his hands, and then watched the two beings in the room disappear in a shimmering light.

Without another thought, he rushed over to T'Pol to see if she was all right. She was weak, but still conscious. "T'Pol? T'Pol, can you hear me?" He sat her up against the metal casing behind them.

T'Pol's breathing was ragged; her eyes seemed to open and close erratically.

"Commander." It was all she could say as her right hand slowly reached out and grasped his left, and her eyes fell closed.

Trip said nothing as he watched the pattern her fingers traced across his own. He didn't understand what she was doing, but at the moment, if it worked, that was all that mattered.

Her small form shuddered for several moments, but her clasp of his hand remained as soft and gentle as could be. A strange feeling swept through Trip as he closed his eyes and took in a sharp breath. A wave of fear and anxiety passed through him followed by something that could only be described as pain. Then it was gone.

His eyes opened slowly as he began to breathe normally again. He felt T'Pol release his hand and he looked up at her. Her eyes revealed none of the uncontrolled person who had been before Trip a minute ago. Trip sighed with relief. He never thought he'd see the day when Vulcan sternness would be a welcomed sight.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I believe so," T'Pol replied. She observed his face for a moment - more precisely, the swelling cut he had on the side of his mouth. "You are injured."

"I'll live," Trip replied as he stood to his feet. He extended a hand to T'Pol; to his surprise, she took it without hesitation. "I'm more worried about you at the moment," he added, concern in his face. She remained unmoved.

"I will...as you say...'live' as well, Commander." T'Pol walked away from him slowly.

Trip turned and watched her closely, following behind. She might be hiding it at the moment, but Trip knew she wasn't okay. He'd have to bring it up with her later.

"Let's get out of here before something else bad happens," he suggested as they left the room.

***

"I know the Vulcans are our allies, but are we sure they can be trusted in this matter? They seem almost too willing to let us follow along this time," Malcolm suggested from Tactical. Jon had asked him to join them on the bridge after they had gone to warp. They were about ready to come out of warp now, and it seemed to Jon that everyone, including himself, had suspicions about the Vulcans.

"Let's go along with it, Malcolm," he replied. "I just want Trip and T'Pol back safely. Open the viewscreen so we can see the planet. Travis, take some scans. See if our people are still down there."

Mayweather went to work as Archer gazed out of the viewscreen and down at he planet's surface. The Vulcan ship was right beside them.

"Sir!" Malcolm spoke up from behind. "I see it."

Archer turned in confusion. "See what?"

Reed was now busy tapping away at his controls. Archer turned from him to the viewscreen, trying to see what his tactical officer was seeing. He saw nothing.

"I have it on sensors. It's an energy surge of some sort. I can't tell you more than that," Reed informed Jon as he gazed at the viewscreen. "It's still there. Lower left corner. Watch the planet's surface blur up, then return to normal."

Archer looked in that direction and saw it. Something was definitely there, but what? "Malcolm, fire a torpedo. See if there's anything there."

"A normal torpedo, sir?" Reed asked.

"Try the photons," Jon suggested.

"No promises, sir, but here it goes," Reed said as he armed one torpedo. Several seconds later, the torpedo was launched in the general direction of the distortion below them. The entire bridge crew watched as the torpedo detonated in the vicinity of the distortion; then it and the distortion vanished.

Jon glanced back at Reed for a report. "The torpedo worked, sir! However, the energy surge coming from the distortion is now gone."

Jon frowned. "Any possible explanation?"

"None, sir." Reed frowned as he ran a few more scans. "Camouflage."

Archer halted. "Camouflage?"

"Possibly sir. An energy surge of this size could quite possibly be a ship
- a hidden one at that."

"Mysterious nuclear weapons, suspicious Vulcans, and now hidden ships?"
Archer shook his head. Could the day get any worse?

"I'm receiving a hail from the planet, Captain." Hoshi stated. "It's Commander Tucker."

"Put it through, Hoshi," Archer ordered. "Trip, is everything all right?"

"Not exactly, sir. We're okay for the most part, but I would suggest getting a shuttlepod down here as soon as you can. Ours has been sabotaged."

Archer sighed, knowing this wasn't going to be good news at all. "Okay, Trip, I'm sending a team down right now."

"Thanks, Captain."

The transmission closed. Archer sighed and faced Hoshi. "Send a message to the Vulcan ship informing them that we're sending down an away team to get our people back."

"I've scanned the planet, Captain," Mayweather spoke up. "Only two life signs."

Archer shook his head again. "Hoshi, also tell the Vulcans they'll have a full report from us ASAP. Include a note that we would appreciate any and all information they might have on this matter." Jon walked back to his chair. "I don't want to be in the dark on any aspect of this attack after today - make that clear."

"Aye, sir." Hoshi went to work.

Archer wasn't even going to guess at what had happened down on the planet these past two days. After what they'd been through today, he was ready to expect anything.

***

Archer sat in his ready room sifting through reports. It turned out the Vulcans appeared to know as little as they did on the situation, but both parties agreed to keep the other informed, for what that was worth.

There were no more attacks that day, which was a blessing. Jon didn't know how many of those Enterprise could take.

He had spoken to Trip and T'Pol in Sickbay once they had arrived back. They had filled him on the masked attackers and the probing for information. It was clear that whoever this was, they didn't want to be known - but they wanted to know everythingthey could about Enterprise.

Archer decided that the best course of action was to wait it out and see what turned up. After all, they didn't have much to go on. Masked kidnappers who wanted information, hidden ships in the dead of space and mysterious nuclear torpedoes. Not to mention the fact that Phlox claimed they were from the Beta Quadrant. It was a lot of general facts with nothing specific.

Upon questioning Trip and T'Pol together, Trip seemed to be the more talkative ne of the two. Jon understood that T'Pol was the one who had undergone the interrogation, so he didn't pry too much at the moment. He would talk to T'Pol about it at a later date, but he was expecting Trip along any time now. He wanted to question him further.

The door chimed. "Come," Jon said, setting the pad down on his desk. Trip walked in, dressed in a new uniform. "I expect Engineering is as you left it, Commander?"

"Sure is, Captain. I have a team working on repairs right now." Trip replied.

Jon offered him a chair and he took it. "So what did you want to talk to me about, Captain?"

Jon took a deep breath. "T'Pol."

"T'Pol?" Trip asked. There was something in his voice that told Jon he didn't want to talk about it.

"Yes. What happened to her down there, Trip? She seemed almost too quiet
when she arrived back."

Trip sighed. "Captain, maybe you should ask her to tell you herself." He paused, and Jon could have sworn that he was like a snail retreating into his shell. "I don't think it's my place to talk about it."

"Was she hurt in any way?" Archer probed. "The doctor didn't find anything."

Trip shook his head in thought. "She claims to have it all under control, Captain. But I don't think so."

Archer paused for a moment. Something serious had happened down there, he knew it. It was more than their report had said. "What 'under control,' Trip? I'm the captain - I can order you to tell me."

Trip looked up at Jon this time, a pleading look in his eyes. "Don't make me do it, Captain. When T'Pol is ready she will tell you."

"Okay, Trip. I'll trust your judgment." Jon stood up from his chair and made his way around to his engineer. "I assume she can talk to you about anything that
happened there?"

Trip stood up and quirked an eyebrow.

"To help her through it?" Jon ventured.

Trip broke their gaze as he looked at the floor. "I don't know. You know how it is between T'Pol and me. She barely tolerates me as it is. I think I'm better off to stay away."

"Well, I'm leaving it up to you to make sure she remains okay," Jon ordered. Trip sighed at the thought of the task ahead.

"If you have a chance to speak with her, tell her I'd like to talk to her about it as soon as possible." Jon tapped Trip on the shoulder as he turned and left the ready room.

Trip sighed to himself. Had he just been assigned to baby-sit T'Pol? He shook his head and closed his eyes. Something told him T'Pol wouldn't appreciate his
intruding on her...private time. She said she could handle it herself, and a part of him was sure that she could - but there was another part that wasn't so sure. maybe he would go talk to her tomorrow.

Tonight, however, he needed a good night's sleep.

***

The temporal chamber was silent this time as Silik walked in and approached
the blue hologram. Silik bowed before him and then asked, "I trust everything hasgone well?"

"Yes. We have retrieved the information we were after for this mission. The Vulcans have no idea what is going on," the hologram replied.

"As it should be," Silik replied.

The End

Thinkey

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A handful of people have made comments

I love the first four parts but what happened? Why did it end? PLEASE tell me you have a whole truckload of chapters still to come? This is really good, taut, and mysterious. I can't wait to see where you are going with this story. Thanks so much for such wonderful writing. Ali D :~)

Wow, that was just cruel. Good story, interesting storyline, nice development, and then that huge cliffhanger! You are going to write a sequel, right? It would be callous to just keep it there. You can't do that to me! Keep going, it's a good story. Pretty pretty please with Trip in his skivies on top!

I'm not through reading yet, but there is one thing I have to say. A Vulcan's heart is where a human's liver is; it's not in the chest. I know it isn't a big thing, but it totally throws me off the story when things like that are misdone. I hate to nitpick, but even though I don't watch much TOS, it was clearly stated, and even I remember it.

It's not nearly as bad as a bloom of pink coming to a Vulcan's face, though. Or certain body parts taking on pinker tinges at certain points. Green blood. You'd be amazed how many people don't realize that that means "blushes" would give the face a greener tinge. Like Tolaris in "Fusion."

3 years since I began writing this fic...Jan 30th, 2001. Jan 18th, 2004 I finally have it figured out where I want to go with it.

Part 2 will be out somewhat soon

ah I see by soon you were speaking Zeke-ese. ;) J/K! lol Zeke if ever happen to read this: What are you doing reading TnT fanfic? lol seriously, this was a great read hope you finish it "SOON".