Devil's Advocate - Ch 5

Devil’s Advocate

By Triplover

Disclaimer: When I own all this I’ll be sure to go outside and watch the pigs flying cause it’s never gonna happen.
Genre: Mystery, Romance, Angst
Rating: R (for violence and other stuff)
Summary: After saving a cargo ship filled with many different species, crewmembers on Enterprise are found dead.

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Chapter Five

Command Enabled

Malcolm Reed stared at the body lying on the floor before him. He stooped down to look closely, looking at another good person who was now dead. Her body was completely burned. “Who could have done such a thing?”

Henry Cortell stood beside him, shaking his head. “Looks like her console exploded. Do you think this could have anything to do with what happened to Harren?”

“I’m sure of it. We should get her to sickbay so Phlox can perform an autopsy. We need to know her time of death. Looks like she was burned to death in a fire.”

“Well her console was damaged, it’s burned beyond repair. Obviously there was a fire.”

Malcolm turned to look back up at Henry. “Then what happened to it? It couldn’t have just disappeared.”

Cortell sighed. “I’m gonna run scans on the console, see why it exploded.”

Malcolm nodded. “Good idea. Trip is not gonna like this.”

Cortell looked up at Malcolm. “Who would?”

==

Tess Lawrence. She was far too young to die… especially like this. Phlox looked up at Captain Archer. Commander Tucker was near the door pacing back and forth. “I checked the console, it couldn’t have done this! There’s no evidence that shows there was a fire on scanners. The console exploded, but I inspected the system; after it blows the backup systems I installed a year ago would snuff out the fire. In case of a fire the back up systems are built to kick in and a computer would stop the fire before it

damaged any more systems. I installed it after what happened at Azati Prime,” Trip said angrily.

“Then how else could Lieutenant Lawrence have died?” asked Archer, seemingly just as angry.

Though the Captain had directed the question towards Trip, it was Phlox that spoke up. “She was burned to death, Captain. There are third degree burns all over her body, even some of her bones have melted slightly. I know of no other way that this could have happened. Lieutenant Tess Lawrence was burned to death. There was a fire in engineering.”

Trip stopped pacing as his eyes made contact with Tess Lawrence’s mangled corpse. “That’s a hell of a way to die.”

Phlox met his eyes. “Yes, it is. There are still a few scans I need to take, I’ll have a better idea of the time of death, but as it stands now I’d say she died this morning between 0200 hours and 0400 hours.”

“Find out what you can, Doctor.”

Phlox nodded. “Of course Captain.”

==
Trip,
I know you’re pretty upset with me right now, but I just wanted you to know that I had to do this, for both you and T’Pol. This is your world Trip, your world. I don’t belong here. I never belonged here. I know your guilt is what made you want this mission. And I know you only want to redeem your past mistakes by dyin’ in my place, but it isn’t right for you to give up your life when you’ve done nothin’ wrong. If I were in your place I know I’d want to do the same, after all I am just like you, but I’ve come to realize that it doesn’t matter what’s happened in the past. You’re a good man Trip, don’t ever forget that.
When the Cap’n first created me I thought I was you, but at the same time I knew in my heart I was not. I missed my parents, our parents. I couldn’t stop thinkin’ bout my sister Lizzie, our sister. And I was in love with the woman you’d fallen for. I was you in so many ways and yet I was also myself, Sim. I remember Doctor Phlox tryin’ to help raise me. I remember Hoshi readin’ to me, then me readin’ to her. I remember tryin’ to ask T’Pol out on a date only to get thrown with the ‘I’m busy’ line. I remember flyin’ Cap’n Archer’s air craft, pettin’ his dog, and seein’ you lying’ on that bio bed hooked up to all kinds of tubes and the like.
When I realized who I really was I thought I was just a copy, but with all our similarities I’m more than a copy, Cap’n Archer taught me that. I had my own life and I could make my own choices of what I wanted to do with that life. And believe me Trip, while I was on Enterprise it was the best. I can’t say my life has been easy, we both know that would be a lie, but I can’t say my life has been that hard either. While I was on Enterprise everyone tried to do everythin’ to make me feel at home. And I was home Trip. I was home.
At least I’ve lived Trip. I lived my life the way I wanted and I have no regrets. I died a happy man, how many people can say that? I died a hero, instead of a monster, and if I could I’d do it all again each and every time. I’m your reflection Trip; you don’t die for a reflection. Eventually that reflection fades away and there’s nothin’ you can do to stop it. Just be happy for me. Live your life Trip. You deserve to live your life to the end. You’re a good man, and no matter what happens I want you to remember one thing Trip.
There are some things in life you just can’t change. So don’t even try. Just accept it and move on. Because dwellin’ on the past won’t bring the people who’ve died back. And I think each and every one of them would tell you the same thing I’m tellin’ you now. You have a life, and you have friends that love you. Don’t ever forget that. They need you. T’Pol needs you. Don’t let them down. Goodbye Trip. Have a nice life.
He’d played the message at least twenty times since he first saw it. He would see Sim’s face, the look in his eyes as he spoke, the kindness there, the tenderness. He played it over and over again. He just couldn’t stop thinking about Sim’s sacrifice. Since that moment when he realized Sim was dead, things changed drastically. Even though he began a relationship with T’Pol, he’d lost another part of his soul… and now this. Some of the things that happened to him were nice, while others weren’t quite so nice. He was so tired of this, so tired of trying desperately to move on only to get dragged right back in.

He tried to forget, he tried to distract himself, he even tried accepting what had happened and moving on, as Sim had told him to do, but there was no way it would work. His past would forever haunt him. There would always be something reminding him of the mistakes he’d made in his life, even if some of those deaths really weren’t his fault. He wasn’t really sure what to do anymore. He was lost, confused, trapped on a road moving away from his goal. He had only one goal in life. He wanted to be happy. Who knew something so seemingly simple could be so hard to have?

It was odd though how the feelings had intensified lately. It seemed the more he thought about the past, the more he hated himself for what had happened. It was a feeling he couldn’t explain, couldn’t control. The feeling was taking over. It was always on his mind. It used to be in the back of his mind when working; now he couldn’t even do that! It was driving him crazy to live with such guilt. It was affecting him and what worried him most was it was affecting his relationship with T’Pol. Something was wrong with him, and he had no idea how to stop the feelings… before they ate him up inside. It had already started.

He sat alone on his bed in the dark watching the recording once again, but he stopped it before he could finish the message. His life was spinning out of control every day. He had no say in what he wanted, because if he did have a say then things would be better than this. His life would be easier. He wanted a distraction so badly. He wanted to forget. He wanted to leave, run away from his past, but his father had always taught him that running wouldn’t solve anything.

There are some things that you can’t run from. Sometimes you need to face your fears and be a man. To do anything else would only hurt you further.

Not that he could run away, the only way to run from his past this time would be by never sleeping again. He still remembered the day his father had given him that advice. It was in the middle of winter. He’d just broken up with his girlfriend. They were in the same classes though and Trip was about ready to drop each and every class just to get away from her. He was glad he hadn’t. Even after what happened he and his ex became close friends. They were still friends. His father had always been a wise man. Trip only wished he could face the fear hovering before him now. Something was wrong. He didn’t know what was happening, but he did know that something wasn’t right.

It was strange. He had this weird feeling that the answer to this mystery before him was right under his nose. Like the answer was right before him and all he needed to do was find the key. He didn’t know why Vince and Tess had to die, but he would find out. He had to understand what was going on. He couldn’t think about the past. He couldn’t think about the people who had died. He couldn’t think about Lizzie, Sim, or those seven million lives that would never be returned. Right now lives were in danger on the ship. And if he was going to stop the person responsible he couldn’t do it sitting on his bed thinking about past mistakes. His friends were in danger. He wouldn’t let them all down.

==

“I think we should talk with the people living on the cargo ship.”

“What?”

“Malcolm, come on, it can’t be one of us, so obviously it has to be someone from Captain Urith’s ship. I talked to Phlox about there bein’ any prints on the power cell… all he found were mine from when I was checkin’ a few things.”

Malcolm frowned, folding his arms. “What exactly do you want me to tell them? Hello there people, I’d just like to know if you’ve killed anyone lately!”

“Well somethin’ like that would work nicely, but ya might want to use a little tact when ya ask,” Trip said sarcastically.

Malcolm rolled his eyes. “You’re insane. Why would they do that? We just saved all their lives not but three days ago.”

Trip took a step closer to his friend. “Why would a Starfleet officer wait until now to start killin’ people? Hell, why would a Starfleet officer kill at all?! We know every crewmember on this ship and none of them are capable of this. None of this started until we saved the twelve people on that cargo ship. There’s got to be some kind of a connection between the cargo ship and the killings.”

Malcolm sighed deeply. “Trip, do you really think they’d go along with this if they knew we thought one of them killed someone on this ship?!”

“If they’re innocent, yes.”

“Trip, I won’t just start questioning people. I need to look over a few more things before I do that. Doctor Phlox and Rostov are going over scans of engineering to find evidence. Maybe we’ll find fingerprints of the attacker.”

“My engineering crew work there Malcolm, of course there are fingerprints all over the place.”

“Quite true, but there should be none from the people on that cargo vessel. I’ve inserted cameras in front of the airlock just in case. If something happens we’ll know who it was.”

“And if no one leaves the ship, and yet there’s still another murder?”

Malcolm hesitated. “Then that means a Starfleet officer on the Enterprise is killing people, and we have bigger problems than we first thought.”

==

T’Pol let out a small sigh. She was worried about Trip. He was acting strangely and T’Pol wondered what this could mean. He was unusually distant, something T’Pol was not nearly used to. Of course she understood it had to do with the death of both Lieutenant Harren and Lawrence. Trip had always been close to the two, especially when he found out about their interest in each other. He’d helped them get together; he’d given them advice on many occasions, and with his help their relationship had blossomed in what T’Pol knew would become a long lasting one. It was a shame they were killed, especially when she herself had become close to them.

Still, the events of not but a month ago still weighed heavily on her mind. She could not stop thinking about the reports she read in the ship’s computer about Trip. Obviously he was not ready to talk about his past, but since that day things had been different. No matter how close she got, no matter how close they became, she knew he was holding back. Something was wrong and she had a feeling that the only way things would change was if she was the one to confront him.

Yet she had no idea how to even begin! Trip Tucker was not an easy person to understand, even after years of friendship. Strange, she never would have believed it when she first met him that he could have a whole new side to his personality. He wasn’t just the teasing young man, always melting for any woman that came by. He suppressed so much. Ironic that suppression of his emotions would bother her so much when not but a few years ago she had wished he would do just that from time to time.

T’Pol was worried about him. Then with the death of both Vince Harren and Tess
Lawrence… she knew he couldn’t be dealing with the loss well. He has never dealt with loss well. He suppresses everything until finally it cannot be ignored and he is a mess. It had happened before, though the worst case was when he lost his sister. His nightmares had been so destructive that he’d needed her help to sleep. It wasn’t until he finally talked about it that the nightmares ended.

Why did he have so much trouble facing loss? Was he this way with the rest of his family as well? She knew Trip’s parents had not dealt with the loss well. They couldn’t even stand being near their hometown anymore. They’d gotten as far as they could from Florida. It wasn’t until Trip had a long talk with them that they had even begun to deal with the pain. She felt for them.

T’Pol opened her eyes, looking at the candles in front of her. She just could not meditate today. Trip’s distancing himself from her was really beginning to bother her. She missed him. When all she wanted was to talk, he could not. He was always too busy. Trip would either be working on the engines, or getting something to eat with the Captain, or working on finding out who had killed Harren and Lawrence. She had no problem with this. She had been pleased to see him last night, even if he had not stayed. T’Pol simply wanted to see him more often, spend time with him… talk with him. She wanted to be there for him, but she could not do so if he was busy all the time.

“Rostov to Commander T’Pol.”

T’Pol turned to look up at the com unit before getting up and pressing a button to answer back. “T’Pol here.”

“Can you come down to engineering real quick? There’s something I need you to take a look at.”

“I’ll be right there,” she told him, then walked back to extinguish the flame before walking out of her quarters.

==

“Rostov, how’s it comin’?”

“Pretty good sir, I think we found something.”

“Oh?”

Rostov began to walk, Trip right behind him, over to the console. “The night Tess died sensors show that you’re backup systems did kick in, but it was AFTER twelve minutes, whereas it should have kicked in right away.”

“What happened? Was the system damaged?”

“No sir, I found a command in the systems logs. Someone with high access stopped the backup systems from engaging until it was told to. Twelve minutes is plenty of time to burn someone to death if the fire is strong enough. Then after the twelve minutes were up the person punched in their personal command code and enabled the system.”

“Whose code was it?”

“I don’t know, sir. I tried to look it up, but I was denied. I asked Commander T’Pol to help me access the information and when she did, the code wasn’t there. It had been erased from the entry.”

“Why would anyone leave the system’s record but destroy the entry? Why not destroy the entire thing?”

“I don’t know sir, but there is one thing we’ve learned from this.”

“What’s that?”

“The person’s command code was pretty high up there. One of the bridge crew is responsible for stalling the backup systems.”

Trip frowned. “Someone could have stolen the command code, Rostov, don’t get too carried away.”

“Its true sir, that could have happened, but it’s pretty doubtful. Wasn’t it Lieutenant Reed who said as soon as the bridge crew was given the personal command code that the record was destroyed so no one else would be able to get to it?” Rostov continued when he saw his commanding officer’s eyes widen. “So either one of the bridge officers has been telling people their code or…”

“Or,” Trip said interrupting Rostov, “someone from the command crew killed Vince and Tess.”

Rostov sighed. “There is one other possibility though Commander.”

“What’s that?”

“Even when something is erased from the system it can always be brought back, just like we recovered the information about the spheres while in the Expanse. If a person knew our systems well enough they could have hacked into the system and retrieved the erased code.”

“Rostov, do you think you could retrieve the erased command code on these logs for the backup systems? I mean, you said it yourself; anythin’ can be retrieved, as any engineer well knows.”

Rostov smiled. “I think I can, sir. I’ll work on it.”

Trip nodded. “You do that. In the meantime I think I’m gonna have a talk with Doctor Phlox. I need to know if he’s finished the autopsy on Tess.”

“Sir? Is there something you’re looking for?”

Trip smiled back at the engineer. “I’ll know when I find it,” he told him then left engineering to head towards sickbay.

Chapter 6

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Four of you have made comments

Excellent! Can't wait for more!!!

I bet it's Travis. His revenge for having nothing to do on the show. ;-)

Gee I wonder who will be framed as the murderer!
Poor Trip! Poor T'pol they need to have a long Talk,,,,In private!!! Where No one can see them Talking!!!!!!!!! Great Chapter!!!! I cant wait till the murder gets what they have comeing to them!!!!!

Three cheers for Rostov, good thinking! I just hope they can retrieve the code the only downside being if the code was stolen then erased it will simply show whose it was originally not who stole it, won't it? Can't wait to see what happens next. Ali D :~)