The Warp 7 Project: The Enterprise Trials: Part 4

Warp 7 Project - The Enterprise Trials

By: TLR

Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Enterprise is the property of UPN and Paramount Pictures.
Summary: This story picks up where part 3 left off. Jackson is under investigation for the prototype explosion and Tucker and Reed are not willing to let him off the hook. Meanwhile, Jimmie, helping his dad in the back garden tending the vegetables, was stuck with a poisonous thorn from a plant that wasn't supposed to be there. He was rushed to the nearest medical center in Sha'kar where he lays on the brink of death. I have backed up the action a bit to get you’re a running start. Enjoy.

October 20, 2006

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Part 4

As they arrived at Sha'Kar's medical center nothing could keep Trip from running through the hallways. T'Pol kept up at a respectable walk, accompanied by her two assistants. They found Charles Tucker standing outside a large glassed in room. He peered through the transparent walls at the very limp body of his son, tears streaming down his face.

"Dad..." Trip yelled from several meters away. "What's happening?" He reached his parent and saw his pained look as it turned to him and back again.

"They haven't told me anything, but I know it's not good Trip." T'Pol glanced past the man and saw the doctors working feverishly to help the young Human. She moved in closer and took a more detailed look at what they were doing to him. She could see V'Lmir standing in the corner of the room and left the Humans to see if she could get an update on the situation.

Meanwhile Trip and his father huddled close trying to send as much positive thoughts into Jimmie as possible. They saw the worried look on all the caregivers and considered for a minute that they might loose him much as they had his sister. That thought gave both Tucker males a sickening feeling down in the pit of their souls.

T'Pol easing into the glass enclosure, slipped over to where V'Lmir stood. She spoke low and in Vulcan about what had occurred. Alarmed at the prospect of this dangerous plant in their home, she went directly to her assistants to expedite the matter of disposing it and quickly. They left her, turning for the first comm they found to call for the appropriate assistance to take care of the problem safely. When she returned, she found V'Lmir was now joined in on the procedure. She stood with a master healer and was in contact with Jimmie's body trying to help draw his life force back into his consciousness. T'Pol knew how serious this was, in that healers only became involved once there was nothing more doctors could do. She knew that her brother-in-law's life hung in the balance and wondered how to tell her mate that he may be losing yet another of his loved ones to an alien attack. As she peered past the health care providers to the patient himself, she tried to hone in her senses on his emotions. They were truly faint, all the residual traces of fear and regret having long sense past. This brought great turmoil to the young ambassadress, having seen another one of this man's family in a similar state.

T'Pol's mind went back to the ship's time in the expanse, walking into sickbay and finding a then chief engineer lying on a bio bed, just inches away from death. Due to the severity of the commander's injuries, Phlox knew he would have his hands full even getting Trip through the many days it would take before his transplantable brain matter was ready. Given the gravity of the situation, he didn't see any harm allowing the science officer a moment of privacy to pay her respects. Little did he know that behind the curtain, she was performing a long forbidden ritual, one passed down to each generation, but as something you mustn't do. While Katras were not something T'Pol believed in, she always questioned the rigid thinking patterns of the High Command regardless of what she would admit too in person. Her little journey back into Earth's past made many of her views of the High Command's beliefs change dramatically.

Reaching for the pressure points, T'Pol made contact with the young male's skin, drawing his mind from the hellish existence it was in, half alive, half dead. It came quickly to her, slipping into the warmth of her thoughts as if it was at home there. Without Trip's doubt in his survival, the life support machines were able to stabilize his condition quickly, and as the young Vulcan walked out of the curtained off area, she didn't stop to discuss the sudden change in her friend's condition. A mere, "I am wanted on the bridge…. Thank you doctor," was all she said passing the man as he gleefully reviewed the latest readings.

From this all Trip remembered was intermittent periods of being in Engineering helping the crew work on the engines. He also remembered being on the bridge while the crew worked to free the shuttle crafts from their encrusted housing. For the longest time, Trip attributed these memories to dreams or possibly from the brain tissue he got from Sim. It wasn't until well after they came to accept their attraction for one another did T'Pol admit to her actions and also confess that this might have been when the bond could have occurred and why. She feared his displeasure with her lack of judgment, but got a huge hug and warm kisses instead. From there, this sparked the foundation that allowed each of them to be totally honest with the other, no matter what the subject.

Now T'Pol was looking at a similar situation, but feared that if the trained healer couldn't reach the young man, why would she think she could? He'd only known her for a short while and he'd be no more inclined to answer to her mental call than that of the healers themselves. It wasn't until she turned to see the distressed face of her mate staring through the glass enclosure, did she realize what advantage she might truly have.

His eyes were red, water streamed down his face leaving long trails of wetness and irritation against his fair skinned face. His nose was redder still, the young male wiping it on his sleeve every few minutes or so. This seemed to spark some strange confidence, as T'Pol left the enclosure, and went to his side. Without saying a word, she took Trip by the hand and dragged him behind her into the room. Charles followed as quickly into the area, getting disapproving stares from all the medical personnel involved. Not fettered by their glances, T'Pol walked straight up to the bed. She looked to the healer, almost challenging him mentally to step aside. He did so, realizing what this child of Surak was about to do.

Taking Trip's hand, T'Pol stared at Charles giving him an obvious mental order to do the same. The elder Tucker grabbed his son's hand in both of his, forming the makings of a mental chain. He remembered doing this with Elizabeth as a young child, being able to communicate with the little girl as she like too and was all for being able to speak to his son once more. With her free hand, T'Pol found the pressure points along side the young man's face. Her fingers slipped into them easily, as her eyes closed. The Vulcans in the room stepped back from the family, lending their strength to the procedure, heads back and eyes shut. It wasn't too long before the room was a blur and now they stood upon a long stretch of beach.

The ocean roared loudly to the left, a swift breeze kicking sand came directly at them, the three stood there perplexed that they didn't find James there too. "Call to him" T'Pol instructed knowing her chances of attracting the male paled in comparison to his own family. They did as instructed, Trip hollering out the name "Spunky" while Charles simply yelled "Jimmie". They could hear in the distance a faint groaning sound and were encouraged by the noise. The group walked forward, over a small dune only to find even more deserted beach.

The area before them was vast, though the sights and sounds were that of their old home growing up, now long laying beneath the layers of wasteland. The smells were that of sea water and sunshine, a combination that both warmed and frightened Trip’s heart all at the same time. He knew all too well this would be where James would go upon his leaving his earthbound body, but would he be so easily retrieved from this paradise, that was the question Tucker men faced now.

The group made their way along the long stretch of beach that lay just beyond the mounded sand still calling out for their lost soul. In the distance his fears for what was going on around him grew more evident to the Vulcan.

“He is in distress.” T’Pol voiced her concern at the new feelings she was sensing.

“I know….” Trip added quickly tied into her empathic abilities. “I think he is feeling trapped.” This one thought made the human remember a time when his older brother had a similar experience. He instinctively turned to the water as he’d done all those many years ago to find the young male struggling with some very turbulent waves.

Just as before, James was caught in the undertow that ran along this particular stretch of ocean side. It was in this spot just 26 yrs before a then ten year old Jimmy swam out playfully during a game of Marco Polo with his littler brother. The same struggle occurred, as the child hit this difficult patch of water and began swimming for his life. Too small to be of help then, all the young Trip of the time could do was swim towards him and keep yelling his support. Following his voice, James was able to make it through that particular hairy place, but could he do the same with this even greater challenge, that was yet to be seen.

Trip started for the water, pulling off the shirt and shoes he had on him out of instinct, only to find a very cautious hand upon his shoulder holding him back.

“He must come to you…. If you enter his madness, it could overwhelm you as well.” T’Pol looked to her husband, a definite feeling of sympathy showing for his inability to be of more help. “Call to him as you did. He has brought us to this particular event in time because it is familiar to him. Do now what you did then and get him to follow your voice to safety.”

“You mean if I get him to swim towards me, he will make it.?” Trip was amazed at how simple it seemed.

“Yes, but he may be out too far to return to you, that has yet to be seen.” The Vulcan relayed the bad with the good, so as to prepare father and brother both for any possible outcomes.

“Jimmy….Jimmy boy.” Charles Tucker was the first to call out waving his arms frantically to attract his son’s attention. He repeated it several times, almost jumping in place as he stretched to be seen over the rolling waves that threatened his adult child.

Swim…… Jimmy…..You gotta swim.” Trip joined in trying to add his voice to what his father had started. “Over here.” His shoulder broke free from T’Pol’s grip as he slipped and slid on the loose sand. The Vulcan remained quiet behind the two men, not wanting to confuse her brother-in-law any more than he already was. She watched her mate and his dad continue their efforts all the while fighting the urge to jump into the water and swim out to get the male.

“It’s not working.” Trip interjected between calls, while Charles continued his outbursts. The elder male was getting more winded, although it didn’t stop his will to get through to his child at any cost.

“Keep going Thy’all." T’Pol was equally concerned that James hadn’t made more progress. He bobbed about the waves, arms reaching out occasionally as if trying to pull himself along by grabbing each mound of water that rolled past him.

A thought came to Trip as he tried in vain to keep hope alive. He changed his strategy and altered his message a bit. “Jimmy…you gotta come quick…… Lizzie’s vanished and I can’t find her.” That comment drew a strange stare from his father who knew full well his daughter was long sense dead. Charles began to worry about his other child’s mental status until he saw the hands of his eldest begin to move with more intensity. One over another, James started paddling against the strong pull of the current. He sputtered and spat out large gulps of water as each wave seemed determined to keep him from reaching the shore. His bobbing became less frequent and his strokes became more steady as the human inched his way toward the group.

Tear filled eyes lined the shore as a very weak and tired James Tucker stumbled from the water’s edge and collapsed upon the wet formed sand. Trip felt his mate’s hand push him toward the crumpled body, indicating it was now safe to go to his brother. Both father and son made their way at a run to the male, scooping him up and pulling his weakened body from the water’s grasp.

Back on dry land, James looked up into the face of his younger sibling and parent. His breathing was raspy, a combination of exhaustion and trauma. His mind a whirl with his panicked feelings about the lost sister he’d come in to help find. Suddenly James realized that they were not kids anymore, but full grown adults. He could see the smiles on his family, and knew they were from both joy and fear of loss. The realization hit him that his sister was truly lost, but not in a sense he could ever change and he began to cry one more time over that tragic fact. Huddled together, the Tuckers took a moment to comfort each other. T’Pol allowed this, encouraging their interaction as part of the healing process. When she grew too tired to continue with the meld, the alien tapped her mate on the shoulder.

“We must get back now.” James looked up into the face of the Vulcan as she spoke. He realized that it was her abilities that allowed them to come after him in this hellish haze. It was also this woman that had made his little brother so happy and would keep him safe through out her life span and for that he became suddenly grateful.

“Thank you.” He uttered feeling a need not to let another moment pass. James’ hand came up and touched the slender hand which connected to her mate.

“Your welcome.” Was T’Pol’s response, not pulling back from the males touch at all. She closed her eyes and suddenly to the humans' perspectives, the surroundings began to fade. Not they were in the cold sterile environment of the medical facility again. James lay looking up into the faces of many pointed eared aliens and two very familiar human ones as well. To his right, V’Lmir stood, an appearance of relief coming over her features. James remembered what this particular Vulcan had done to save him and made sure she knew he was most grateful for her assistance.

“Thanks.” He uttered, again feeling the need to touch her but resisting out of respect for all he had been taught about this species. The young woman merely nodded, a sign of utmost respect in this far advanced culture.

At that moment, the gathering doctors swooped into action, running scanners and instruments over the human’s body. Their mere presence pushed Trip, T’Pol and Charles into the far corner of the room. Within minutes very satisfied looks came upon the medical staff’s faces as the results they were getting indicated that their patient was going to be all right.

*****
“What do you mean we are under attack?” Trip asked most perplexed as he, his father and T’Pol entered through the front gate of the homestead. “Jimmie just got stuck by a very dangerous plant, that’s all.”

“That dangerous plant, as you put it, is not something Vulcan families plant in their vegetable gardens. In fact there is absolutely no way it could have come into our vegetation if it hadn’t been put there on purpose.” T’Pol was very emphatic about her point of view, although her voice showed no change with the seriousness of her words.

“Well how could it have gotten there?” Charles asked following behind the two as they came to stand in the middle of the garden.

“It must have been transplanted in several days ago. It is a fast growing plant life that often can take root and get to a sizeable level within a week.” As she finished her sentence, Catherine entered the front garden at a nervous pace.

“How’s Jimmy?” She threw herself into Charles’ body and braced to hear the bad news. Due to her shaking, her husband began to rub away a lot of the tension he felt there. “He will be just fine.” Catherine peered out over her man’s shoulder to see Trip and his mate nodding slightly in agreement.

“Thank god.” She sighed having held her breath for so long. “When can I see him?” Catherine asked pulling back to look into her husband’s eyes. He however wasn’t sure what to say and glanced over to T’Pol.

“I will arrange for my assistants to take you and your husband back into the city to see him after the mid day meal.” The Vulcan stepped up and was able to please her mother-in-law with little effort. She turned back to the subject at hand.

“We must take this threat seriously, ethyl's.” Staring at Trip, the human could feel her determinedness digging into his soul.

“All right….we should look into this, but how would we go about it?”

“What threat?” Catherine joined in quite worried as Jonathan Archer entered the area. He came from the house followed by two tall Vulcan males in especially thick biohazard containment suits. As they continued past the group and out the front gate holding large containers in front of them, the Captain of the Enterprise stepped up to join the weary gathering.

“They’ve completed full decontamination of the vegetation in the back garden.” Archer spoke calmly and in a low tone of voice. “It seems as though the spread of the vines was nominal, and that the implantation of the seeds could have been as early as five days ago.” He looked to all members of the group and gauged their understanding.

“Are you saying someone brought that thing into our home during Lorian’s birthday party?” Trip was shocked that anyone of the people that were in his home could have been a saboteur.

“Apparently.” T’Pol did the mental calculation in her head and came up with the same assumption that her old boss did.

“Why….Why would anyone want to hurt us?’ Trip was flabbergasted. “Here on Vulcan, we were supposed to be safe from this kind of stuff.”

“Perhaps you are not as safe as you’ve been led to believe.” Soval joined the group from the main gateway. He walked up slowly, his long robes flowing gracefully with the motion. Hands clasped before him, the elder statesman wondered if the humans really understood the meaning of this new threat.

“I thought they were after the Warp 7 project. Why would they consider trying to attack my family?” The engineer was truly stunned.

“Logic would seem to dictate that the focus of this group’s anger is not any one thing in particular, but a culmination of many. Perhaps they are out to destroy any type of collaboration between our two worlds, be it mechanical or organic.”

That thought chilled Trip to the bone. “You mean they are still after my kids?” He turned and stared into the corner of the courtyard feeling for the first time the enormity of all he’d given up to keep his children safe weighing down upon him. T’Pol looked to her husband’s back, feeling the frustration and anger building up within him.

“Trip…. We knew that these fanatics weren’t going to stop.” Archer added trying to bring his old friend back around. “But we know they are here and what they are after, so we simply don’t give them another chance at it.”

Turning, the engineer’s face reflected the resolve his anger was bringing deep within him. “Well if that is the case, then let’s find out the person, or persons responsible and make them pay. And I don’t mean pussy foot’n around anything. Let’s let them know it is not going to be allowed, their threatening my family.” He started for the main gate and was stopped by his father’s loving hand upon his shoulder.

“Don’t you think we’d better figure out who they are somewhere where they don’t know we know?” The elder males face was calm, a far cry from the panic state he’d been just a little while earlier. Trip nodded and together the group entered the main dwelling. Once inside, T’Pol left the gentlemen to go with Catherine to check on her children. Both were playing in Elizabeth’s room under the watchful eye of two large furry sehlats.

*****

“Where were you during the test of Henry I.?” Reed was hard at work grilling Manager Johnson when T’Pol, Trip and Jon came back from the hospital and a visit with James.

“I was right there in the control room.” The very nervous and perplexed male squirmed under the hot breath of his interrogator.

“Not all the time….You were missing from your seat just moments after launch from the hanger….. “ Malcolm wheeled around and got right in his face. “Where did you go off too?”

“I don’t remember…. I was just……I was just…” The man began to stutter until he saw his good friend enter the room. “Trip…..” he exclaimed hoping the male would come to his rescue, but he didn’t. Instead the human just stood there with a numb look upon his face.

“I asked you a question. During the pre-warp part of the flight, you left your controls, where did you go to?” Reed rested a hand down hard on the man’s shoulder seating him sturdily onto the surface of the metal chair.

“I told you I don’t know….. I went to get….” He continued to stutter making himself look more and more guilty. Reed decided to redirect the questions to trip him up.

“Did you make these changes to the warp 7 prototype over the several days before the test flight?” He handed the male a padd and showed him what Malcolm and the captain had come up with as modifications which most probably could have caused the explosion.

“No I didn’t make these changes.” Johnson stared at the retinal signature readings. “This one…,“ he glanced down through the list of alterations. “and these two were made by Skieck, the others were made by Ensign Jackson.” He looked up more confident that he was being mistaken for these possible crimes. “You must want one of them.”

“Optic sensors show that it was you making the changes.” Reed pushed a few buttons on the same padd and showed an image of Johnson in slow motion making the changes. The picture of him was side by side with the complete write up of the alterations made. At the end of each change, the picture showed the young male pulling over one of his colleagues to retinal sign the data entry for him. Johnson was floored. He didn’t remember doing any of these things and furthermore didn’t know why he would call upon others to sign the work he himself would have done.

Over his shoulder, Trip could see what his manager was viewing. Little by little his blood began to boil. It wasn’t bad enough that this man sabotaged the Warp 7 project, and almost got he and the captain killed in the process, but if he was the one who tried to harm Elizabeth and Lorian, that would be the last thing he would ever do. Without warning Trip reached down and dragged the helpless male from the chair by the back of his shirt collar. He picked him up to a standing position and had him slammed up against the nearest wall face first before anyone could stop him.

“How dare you come into my home and try to harm my family.” He spit at the person he’d thought was such a close and dear friend. “Prison is too good for people like you. They should throw you into a pile of those poisonous plants that nearly killed my brother…..That’s right your sorted little plan didn’t work…..My brother is gonna be okay, no thanks to you.” Trip held firm to the young males clothing although several security guards were trying to pry him loose. They finally got the two apart and seated a very stunned and frightened Johnson back into his chair.

“What,.... were me and my family the targets all along?” Trip got into the man’s face still with a couple of pairs of hands holding him back by his arms. “Why even try to sabotage the warp 7 project at all, you must have known it would blow your cover?”

Johnson remained stunned silent, his mouth as well as his eyes open wide and gaping. To hear his friend of all these months speak to him like this was just too much for him to bear. His gaze when from the angered male to the floor trying to discover what the real meaning of all this was. Finally he found his voice and tried to get his innocence across.

“Trip….. I don’t know what you think I did, but I swear to you the warp 7 project was as much a dream of mine as it was yours. And as for your family, I would never try to hurt them….” The male searched his mind and tried to find a way of convincing both Trip and the group they had it all wrong.

“How many times have my wife and I been in your home…. I feel like your kids are my kids. They are a joy to be around and I love them to pieces. You gotta believe me. I would never want to harm a hair on their heads.” Though Trip wasn’t buying this man’s innocent demeanor, T’Pol was having a bit of a more open minded retrospection. She searched her thoughts and noted that over the year they had known Johnson, this was the first time any threat had come to the family. It would only stand to reason more attempts could have been made before this.

“And as for the project…. I don’t know how they did it, but somebody has gotta be doctoring this scanner data. I would never do anything to sabotage the Warp 7 project….. I love this project….it is like a dream of mine… You really gotta believe me.”

“Yeah… Yeah… Yeah… Scans don’t lie…” Trip retorted turning out of the guards grip and walking away from the seated male.

T’Pol came up to him and offered a more respectable solution to this dilemma. “Would you be willing to submit to a mind meld to verify your innocence?” This got a shocked look from all in the room, especially from her mate. Johnson thought about it for a moment then replied without wavering…

“Yes..”

*****

Back aboard the Echaran ship, Acellia sat in her cabin straight backed reviewing the data on the prototype explosion. She looked through the schematics, hoping to find the key to why the engine design failed so quickly into flight. The records of the event didn't seem to the brilliant alien, to indicate a flaw in the design, so much as some form of sabotage.

As she studied the final entries to the program a strange flashing came upon the screen at differing intervals. This at first seemed to be nothing more than a computer glitch, but upon further study became less random and a pattern began to emerge. The design of the program itself was no different than that of your usual Warp 7 schematics. Though the engine was slightly different in shape and size, the parts were all the same and worked in the same way. It was the glowing icon in the center of the screen which appeared and disappeared that was truly out of place in the layout.

Attempting to access this icon was difficult. It was illusive, often disappearing before the young woman could touch it. Sometimes it would not fully appear, but remain as a hazy shadow in the back of all the swirls of data, data converted to Echaran for the young engineer's benefit. When she finally caught the symbol, it stopped its disappearing act and stood silently on screen. A second touch brought up a maze of encrypted symbols that did not resemble Vulcan, Human or a half dozen other species the young woman was familiar with. She attempted to run the encryptions through Echaran's version of a UT, but found the symbols too much of a match for their built in decryption matrix to handle. Pulling out a portable screen, she began touching in the symbols one by one looking for a common sequence with which to begin her decoding. After spending 5 hours doing nothing but staring at the maze of symbols, Acellia thought it best to enlist the Vulcans help. She packed up her things and left for her ship's transporter unit.

Once on Vulcan, she went from the main terminal in the city of Sha'kar and headed for the Vulcan Science Academy, where the alien felt she could get help from some of the finest Vulcan minds on the planet. Instead when she arrived, she was greeted by two Vulcan security guards, and was taken to a large room just inside the front gates of the facility. Apparently since the explosion and subsequent poisoning of the Tucker family, security had been tightened and the aliens on this planet were being shielded from any further attempts. Acellia was told to wait in this area, an area she noted that was filled with Humans, and a few other different species. It was flanked on all sides by guards that carried side phase pistols and even daggers.

The room, a large area about the size of a foot ball stadium was petitioned off with small cubicles that afforded the personnel a place to do their work, but totally isolated them from the Vulcan population. In the far side of the room, Acellia noticed a familiar face. This face was that of Ensign Hoshi Soto, the young woman council woman T'Pol introduced her too at the Warp 7 facility. She went over and made herself known to the Asian female.

"Ensign Soto" Acellia's words were direct and to the point, leaving no room for pleasantries.

"Commander Acellia" Hoshi wasn't afraid to pronounce the woman's last name but was acting upon request that she not try to.

"May I sit?" The alien asked in a very military tone.

"Of course." Ensign Soto pointed to the chair that was adjacent to her desk.

"You also work at the academy?" Acellia was impressed by this woman's responsibilities.

"Only temporarily…. I am helping the Vulcan's update their linguistics banks, adding the many new languages we gathered in the Expanse. In exchange, the Vulcans are allowing us to have all those languages they have cataloged through the centuries. It is a good trade, don't you think?" Hoshi tried to bring some lightness to this somewhat dry young woman. For a moment her mind went back to the first few months aboard Enterprise, trying to crack the thick shell of one Vulcan science officer which always seemed to have the young communications officer in her sites.

"It seems an act of cooperation between your two peoples. A very good incentive for federation as council woman T'Pol puts it." Acellia really didn't find this banter all that interesting, but knew that dealing with Humans as she would have too, would mean getting to know their custom of making polite conversation. The moment grew silent making Soto a bit edgy being so close to the commander.

"What brings you here Commander?" She smiled and hoped to put the alien at ease.

"I was hoping to talk with someone in encryption. I found a rather interesting code within the matrix of the engine design and have not been able to break it." This point got Hoshi's interest peaked.

"May I see it?" She asked chomping at the bit for something more interesting to do than simply download already translated languages. "I worked very closely with Commander,…. I mean council woman T'Pol on board Enterprise and she taught me a thing or two about decrypting stubborn codes."

Acellia handed over the pad, totally intrigued that this little detour may not cost her precious time. She watched as the dark haired female's eyes lit up, scanning feverishly over the rows of data. Then her hand began touching the padd in many areas, moving like a computer might given it had arms to move with. The screen changed many times, the light reflecting off the porcelain skin of the alien beauty. Acellia could see why the council woman respected this species, even though their intelligence level was far inferior to her own. Their drive to learn and need to defeat any problem rivaled that of Echarans or Vulcans, she would imagine. That is why the Vulcans held them in such high regard. Perhaps her time aboard this alien ship would not be as routine as she had anticipated.

After several more minutes of quiet work, Hoshi's face began to beam. "It's a quadratic code design with a binary overlay matrix." She uttered still tuning out the fact that Acellia was sitting there. "A bit tricky, but we came upon a code just like this trying to fight the Xindi weapon. The first time I had to decrypt it, it took me more than 7 hours." Pressing in the last few changes to the code, the screen changed into a row of strange looking symbols, however they weren't Vulcan. In fact they were nothing the young communications officer had seen before. Running them through the Enterprise's UT would be useless, since Hoshi knew every language in there by heart, so she put them through the Vulcan's direct link UT. A red light began to flash as the machine worked on the language. No translation came up, but two tall security guards did.

"What are you working on?" A dark haired Vulcan flanked each side of the two women.

"I was decrypting a code that Commander Acellia brought too me." Hoshi's voice was shaky, feeling the intensity the guards portrayed even if their emotions were in check.

"Where did you get this?" The other guard bent over and looked into the console screen at the red warning symbol."

"I got it from the engine design schematics that your council woman T'Pol authorized me to have. I am assisting them in trying to locate the sabotage to their warp 7 engine design." Acellia remained unfettered by their ominous presence.

"You will need to come with us" The first guard said, turning Hoshi's chair to face the open area."

This frightened the young woman, knowing she was on an alien world and susceptible to their laws and customs. "What did we do?"

"You will need to come with us." He repeated this time taking hold of Hoshi's arm and lifting her gently from her seat. Acellia was afforded the same treatment by the other guard, but didn't wait to be touched by his hand. She stood on her own and made no resistance to this treatment.

"Where are you taking us?" Soto still struggled slightly against the long strides of the security guard that held her in tow. "I want to see council woman T'Pol, immediately." Her voice grew testy at the silence she was getting to her questions. As they were removed from the building and ushered out into the courtyard that surrounded the vast facility, Hoshi could see a long boxy transport pulling up in front of them. There were no windows in the back part, only a portal in front and to each side of the pilot.

"Why are you treating us like this?" Now the young human was getting really scared. "What the hell were those symbols on the screen?" She resisted getting into the transport, unlike Acellia who did so without protest.

"Romulan" was all the guard would say before pushing a rather stunned human into the opening then climbing in himself. The transport sped off leaving the Vulcan Science Academy and heading for the Warp 7 facility. There were no words uttered between the occupants, Acellia quietly contemplating the degree of seriousness around her on the subject and Hoshi knowing all too well the severity of being caught with Romulan data in their possession.

*****

"My mind to your mind….. My thoughts to your thoughts." T'Pol spoke the ancient words that were now a more accepted part of her people's heritage. "Our minds our joined, our thoughts are one." T'Pol held firm to the connection points as a rather exhausted Lieutenant Johnson lay out on a couch like surface in an adjacent office. Behind them stood Soval, Jon, Trip and Malcolm, all watching with interest at what would come out of this human's mind. The data they'd gathered from their scans had all but convicted him of the sabotage, and his access to the Tucker's home gave him the opportunity to plant the poisonous seeds that almost took the life of James just days before. Now he was actually swearing he was the victim in all this, a victim of wrongful prosecution.

Both participants in this meld, were silent a long moment, their eyes closed and motion down to a minimum. Even their breathing became entwined adding to the sinc with which their minds had become one. The background stood pensive awaiting the information that would explain why this man thought he was innocent.

"We are at our station…..You are at your station" T'Pol corrected herself remembering that to get lost in a mind meld was a dangerous thing. "There is no one around and you are changing the codes to the engine backup protocols. I see your hands typing in the equations for self destruction automatic sequencing." T'Pol was really cooking this guys goose and Trip's temperature went up another notch.

"So that's how he did it…." The engineer whispered to his mates, knowing that rigging the self destruction mechanism into the start up routine would have caused exactly what happened in that cockpit. Jon turned to him realizing too that this was what the cause was. They returned their attention back to the meld.

"Now you are altering the alarm mechanism……I see you programming in a faulty relay test alarm…." T'Pol took a deep breath and pushed deeper into the man's mind to get all the details.
"You have set it to go off just after reaching orbit altitude….. a 20 second delay in fact."

"Damn that was the first alarm we heard….The one that kept us busy so we didn't notice the building overload." Now it was Archer's turn to relive the event. He whispered it for the benefit of his security officer who wasn't privy to all the details of the flight.

"This guy is caught dead to rights." Reed whispered back a bit of satisfaction in his voice that was meant for both his friends to share in.

"You did not wish to do this….. Did not remember doing this afterward." T'Pol's words drew the attention of all in the room. "You tried to stop yourself…..Struggled with the thought of changing things back but couldn't" She continued with a noted tortured echo to her voice.

"What, a saboteur with a conscience?" Trip quipped and saw Soval's face turn very worried.

"We are not alone." T'Pol slipped back into the depths of his mind loosing her own sense of self in the intensity this meld had taken. "There is another."

"He was working with an accomplice?" Now Reed and Jon were getting worried that there might be another saboteur on the loose.

"He is with us….. Controlling us….. We try to fight him but he is too strong….." T'Pol's voice was reflecting the degree of stress that the young man was going through. "Show me his face." She commanded trying to get back a bit of her own self.

"He is too powerful…. He hides in the shadows………" The quiver in her voice returned denoting the duel personalities she was relaying.

"Look into his face…." T'Pol ordered through gritted teeth, pressing her fingers deeper into the human's skull. Johnson's face twisted showing that he was not giving up the information willingly. As Tolaris had done to T'Pol, it was now she that was raping this man's mind to get to the truth of the matter.

A low moaning sound came from the Lieutenant, followed by a few lowly uttered "no's" and "stops". Finally he relented turning to face the man who was in his mind pulling the strings. Upon first glance, the dark eyes of the male frightened T'Pol. She was after all in Johnson's head seeing what he saw. But it was what Johnson saw when he did as she ordered that made T'Pol jump back and break their connection. She stood a few inches back from the male as he lay there unconscious from the procedure and began to shake with the intensity of what he had been put through. Trip came up and took hold of his mate by her shoulders as the rest moved round to see what she had discovered. Speechless, T'Pol stared out into the far point of the room trying to decipher what this new knowledge meant to herself, her family and her people. After a respectable amount of time, a mere minute or so, Archer wasn't willing to wait any longer.

"Well?" He ordered as if he was still her commanding officer onboard the starship.

"Romulans" was all T'Pol could utter as she moved through the room and left the group behind. She went to the nearest chair and sat down, looking to the flickering lights of the console panel to help her ease the fears she had encroaching on her mind.

TBC

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Sorry about the wait guys, but school and work have been picking up. I will try to get the next part out by the end of next weekend. Thanks for understanding. T.

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A whole mess of folks have made comments

Whoa. Crazy! Nicely done, and I can't wait for more! :)

hm... It's what's his name then. The one that wanted to bind his daughter to Lizzie. And hm... somebody is after the kiddies...

"Oppress not the cubs of a stranger,
But hail them as sister and brother,
For though they are little and fubsy,
It may be the bear is their mother."

-Kipling

Be interesting to see how T'Pol reacts to this. Very interesting.

I don't like the idea of T'Pol raping somebody's mind. No matter what the reason. It's disgusting. It makes HER look disgusting.

See what I mean? Somebody threatened her children. I am reminded of 911. My daughter was attending college in upstate NY at the time. We found out after the fact that the plane which went down in Pennsylvania, the one that was taken over by a passenger uprising, actually passed directly over my daughter's campus on its way down as the fight was underway. A few minutes difference in timing and it could easily have hit my little girl's school.

My wife's reaction was quite illuminating. You have heard about mother bears, lions, and wolves defending cubs? Wimps.

That was why I said T'Pol's reaction is going to be interesting to observe. Very much so.

I don't see T'Pols use of force as mind rape at all. The subject willingly gave consent. The subject is obviously being controlled by some agent and unable to resist alone. Using force to unmask this agent serves both her goals and the subjects. Once discovered there is opportunity to release the subjet from the controlling agent and finding the source of the problem. If this is not done the subject remains under control of the controlling agent to who knows what end.

Is it nice? No not at all. Not everything in life is though, especially when espionage, sabotage and mortal conflict is involved.

HtH

"As Tolaris had done to T'Pol, it was now she that was raping this man's mind to get to the truth of the matter."

Seems pretty clear cut. But there is very little that a parent will not do to protect their children.

I remember T'Pol also giving Tolaris permission to enter her mind. But at a certain point she begged him to stop, and he wouldn't. Except for Johnson being controlled by the Romulan, this would have been similar. Now, whose mind was resisting T'Pol, Johnson's or that of the Romulan who was controlling him? That is the question.

Very good Holly, you got it. While it is true that the use of the word rape was severe, it was in essence a good descriptive to get you to see with what force T'Pol was struggling against this unknown entity to get to the truth. Remember that Tolaris was trying to break through her emotional barriers, and to a Vulcan that is the same as breaking through their physical ones. T'Pol had to force Johnson to look into the face of his possessor, but she didn't go past his barriers and try to get to his soul. Tolaris did....

But there is something Black'n blue forgot about Romulans. They don't mind meld.... They are not as strong a empaths as Vulcans. That's why V'Los took his own life in the last story, so no Vulcan could mindmeld with him and get the names of his co-conspiritors. That is also why the Romulans had to use the Aenar to power their ships because their minds weren't strong enough to use the amplifier....... T.

Have you ever known any of my stories not to have some controversy in them.... I wouldn't know what to do with myself, if I couldn't slip a little into each and every one. (she laughs a wicked kackle that could be heard echoing down the long stone hallways.) Oh sorry, am finishing up Competition and got carried away. Will turn that in sometime tomorrow. T

Oh dear. Too much overtime. She is punch drunk. That six hour old coffee sludge will do strange things to you at 3:37 AM, as we all know quite well.

Wow...what a chapter. Definitely like where this is going. And I think the situations with Tolaris and this one are quite different, though T'Pol's known to be very protective and capable of many things when she's angry or scared (I can only remember that time from your first story where T'Pol mind controls Paxton's peoples and causes them headaches....).

And I'm most definitely excited by the wicked kackle, especially if it relates to Competition!

Can't wait for more...

Just turned in the finale to Competition. It should be up soon. I will get back to work on Part 5 of the Warp 7 project and hope to have it out by next weekend sometime, work and school allowing. T.

As you have presented T'Pol she is an extraordinary being. With what I am guessing she detected, not only is she defending her family but her world against a foreign attack. Would one not use just about any ability within their command in such a situation?

I am pleased at TLRs explaination that she used her abilities to fight the controlling entity and not as a personal invasion of Johnson rather a use of force to make him face and reveal his controller. Thus though forceful I do not equate this act with Tolaris'.

If you had a terrorist within your control and knew they possessed information that endangered your family, what would you do to get that information?

HtH

I have no problem with what she did. But I am a caveman.

I'm reluctantly ok with the meld. Spock did a forced meld to discover a murderer. And here, T'Pol was not only protecting her children, and not only did Johnson give consent, she was freeing him from a mind rapist that forced him to do things that would kill his friends.

T'Pol is a healer, doing brain surgery--oops! mind surgery--here. Johnson will be eternally grateful.

BTW, TRL, the use of the strong language prompted some great debate, if nothing else. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you sometimes take ideas from your readers' feedback and incorporate them into future chapters and stories? Sometimes readers' comments are as interesting as the stories themselves.

How's it going? Still working too much? *hopeful* Planning on finishing this soon?

Echoing Blacknblue's sentiments. I hope that you will pick this up again - soon. It really is a good story

hey i am so glad you are still writing stories , all you good great writers, it makes me feel that the story never ended, again keep up the good work, and keep writing about the lives the Tucker family on Vulcan they are great thank you

Still there, TLR? We haven't heard from you in quite a while. I hope you're ok.

She's still here! She's still Here! I saw her comment on HR's story up front! She's still here!

You gonna write more for us soon? Huh? Huh? Are yuh? Are yuh? Huh? Please? Pretty please?

*puppy eyes*

I'm really enjoying your stories, and I'm looking forward to more.