Devil's Advocate - Ch 7

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.

Chapter Seven

Another Message

A small chill ran down Trip’s spine upon seeing what was before him. In Rostov’s quarters lay Rostov with a small knife in his back and knife wounds all over the man’s body. The pool of blood under the body was still quite fresh. Malcolm Reed stooped down, examining the knife before pulling it out. Blood dripped from the dead body and the knife; the image was enough to make Trip feel sick in his stomach. “So much for only gettin’ killed in engineerin’.”

Malcolm stood and walked over to Trip and the Captain. “We should get him to sickbay so Phlox can determine when he died.” While the captain nodded in agreement, Malcolm looked at the knife. “There are initials on this knife.” There was another pause and Malcolm wiped away blood off the knife. “CNT I.”

Trip frowned just as soon as he saw it more closely. “That knife,” he whispered in shock. He took another step closer to look at the knife more carefully before his eyes widened. “My god.”

“What is it Trip?” Archer asked concerned.

“It’s another… it’s another message. That knife… it belongs to me, just as it belonged to my father and his father before him. The initials… CNT I… it’s Charles Nigel Tucker the first, my grandfather. The knife was passed down to my father and then at my tenth birthday it was given to me.” Trip’s eyes searched his captain’s before he turned and ran out of Rostov’s quarters.

Archer and Malcolm’s eyes found each other for a brief moment before the two followed the chief engineer out of the quarters. “Damn!” Archer whispered to himself. This was not good!

==

When Archer and Malcolm finally stopped they found themselves in front of Trip’s quarters. With a small breath they entered to find Trip pulling a metal box out from his cabinet. He quickly opened it without a second’s hesitation; inside the box were many things. Pictures, a small ring, and other things that seemed important. “It’s gone,” whispered Trip.

“What’s gone Trip?” the Captain asked.

“The knife. How’s that possible? I never told anyone it was in there. Not even my family. I’ve told no one. I put all the things I felt were most important in here. The cabinet was locked with the box inside and the key was hidden! I didn’t want anythin’ to happen to it.”

The Captain took a step closer and stooped down, laying a hand on Trip’s shoulder. “We’re going to find out what happened, Trip. There has to be a reason someone is doing this. We’ll find that out.”

Trip shook his head slowly, unable to even breathe with the findings he now had. “It’s got to be Jolen.” He then turned and looked up at his captain, tears in his eyes. “It’s Jolen.”

==

“How could Jolen be the one behind this, Trip? You said it yourself, he’s on a cargo ship,” Archer challenged as the two stood in the Captain’s ready room. Once Trip had gotten through his tears the Captain had decided it best to leave Trip’s quarters and opt for somewhere else. Archer’s ready room had proved to be the best place for them to go and talk without any disturbance from the crew.

“Cap’n we just saved a cargo ship,” Trip reminded him. He knew he was right. He was sure of it! Only Jolen and his family knew that knife even existed. He also knew that Trip kept a small box in his room where ever he was of all the things he treasured most. Just as Jolen knew his command code, a code that was the same as the code Malcolm had given them. Not even T’Pol knew that much about him. Jolen had known him at a different time, a time when he had been someone completely different, innocent. He’d been far more trusting then. Now as Trip looked back he could see that trust was very misplaced.

“You can’t be sure of this.”

“Why not? It all fits! He’s sending me a message, Cap’n!”

Archer stood, letting out a sigh. “Okay, let’s just say that it is Jolen Croft. If that’s the case… then why would he be after you? You said you two were friends.”

Trip looked up at the Captain as he sat in his chair. “It’s a long story.”

“I have the time,” the Captain assured him.

Tucker stood, pacing the ready room. How could he even say it after so many years?
How could he say what he’d always thought, but didn’t want to believe? He hadn’t wanted to tell T’Pol, there’s even less of a chance that he’d want to tell Captain Archer. Still, he had no choice. Trip walked to the window and looked outside at the stars. “I’ve done a lot of things in my life that I wasn’t proud of… but no matter what happened to me there was one thing that took the cake. Did you know Jolen Croft had a daughter?”

Archer shook his head. “No, I didn’t.”

“Her name was Sindy Croft, she was so little… no more than six. I didn’t know her too well, but I knew Jolen like a brother. Before I met you my best friend had been a man named Peter Miller. Later I met Jolen. We used to call ourselves the three amigos… with Jolen in charge since he was the oldest.” Trip chuckled at the memory. “Peter and I used to come to Jolen for advice on women. With my parents in Florida though we acted like brothers I looked up to him like a father almost. He seemed so strong, so smart, just like my dad. He was more than a friend, much more. As time went by though things started to change. Jolen’s wife died and he had to raise a daughter alone. After that he became a very different person. He felt so alone and no matter what I couldn’t help him, no one could.”

“What happened, Trip?”

Tucker turned to look at his captain, his smile fading away. “We were doing tests. We didn’t realize it could be so dangerous. Apparently little Sindy had been dared to go into a restricted area. There was an accident. That you know. What you don’t know is Peter Miller and I were the ones who performed the tests.”

Archer’s eyes widened. “He blames you for his daughter’s death.” It was not a question.

Trip nodded as his mind moved back in time to that brief period in his life, a time that changed his life forever.

~*~*~

Trip Tucker smiled at his friend Peter. “Did ya see the game last night?”

“Nope, too busy with my wife…” Peter began with a big smile on his face.

“Okay, heard enough of that! I think we should just move on before I get a mental picture.”

Peter chuckled. “Fine then. What was the score?”

“Twenty-one to seventeen! We beat your sorry Cowboys pretty damn bad!”

Peter rolled his eyes. “Just wait, they’ll still get to the playoffs! Then they’ll beat your sorry asses way worse than you beat us!”

“I’ll have you know the Dolphins will whip your asses there too!”

“Oh really? And how do you know that? Have you been looking at that crystal ball you have again?”

Trip rolled his eyes. “I don’t need to have a crystal ball to the Dolphins are the best team ever since they got that new coach!”

Peter laughed, shaking his head once more. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”

“May the best team win! Oh wait… we already have!” Trip teased.

Peter glared at his friend while he was reading some schematics, and punching in the information to the computer to test it. It would be a new means of fuel; it would be fast, easier, better. “Looks like the test is working,” Peter muttered, wanting to get on a different subject. The Dolphins were doing quite well; chances were they’d beat his Cowboys in the playoffs too. It was best to move on, and Peter knew it just as much as Tucker did.

Trip grinned, about to speak just as sparks blew from his console. Trip ran to another console to see what was going on. His hands flew across the console, doing everything in his power to stop the cascade, but it was too late. “Oh shit!” Tucker cried as he backed away from the console. He moved over to the comm., hitting it hard.

Meanwhile, Peter was busy trying to stop the fire that had erupted from the blown out console. He turned back to look at Trip, a worried expression on his face. “There’s nothing I can do! It’s too much; we’ve got to get out of here! Radiation levels are increasing!”

It was then that he’d heard it. The sound of a young girl scream as the console Peter had been working on exploded, sending sparks all around her… Sindy. Sindy jumped from her hiding place just as one of the beams nearby was blown loose and began its downward fall over Sindy, pinning her under the beam. Trip turned around, noticing her at the same time Peter had. They both ran over to her. “It’s gonna be okay darlin’… just keep still and we’ll get this thing off of ya, okay?”

She was awake, but she was obviously out of it. Sindy simply nodded, tears running down her face as she cried. Trip glanced over at Peter. “On three,” Peter told him.

Trip nodded. “One…” they both moved their hands under the beam ready to pull it up off of Sindy’s abdomen. “Two… three!” With that they both tried to pull it up, not even getting it up an inch before having to set it back down. “It’s too heavy!”

“We should get help!”

“We don’t have time! Radiation in this room is at a dangerous level, we can’t just leave her here!” Trip was shouting over the sounds of sparks flying all over the room.

“Then what else can we do?! We can’t get this thing off of her without help!”

Trip paused. He didn’t know what they could do, but he did know he couldn’t just leave her! “We should try it again. Ready?”

Peter nodded as more sparks flew. A large fire had erupted behind Peter, and both were sweating from the heat. “I’m ready.”

“Okay then. One… Two… Three!”

~*~*~

“We tried, we failed, there was nothing left to do. We had to get help. What we hadn’t expected was that Admiral Forrest wouldn’t be willing to provide that help,” Trip narrated.

“Wait a second Trip, now I’ve known the admiral for a long time. He’d risk everything to save a life,” Archer fought.

Trip sighed. “The Vulcans have a saying. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few… or the one.”

~*~*~

It had been too long, way too long. They needed to get inside. Now! They needed to get inside now! “I don’t care about the radiation! We’ve got to get her outta there! We can still save her.”

Admiral Forrest glared back at him. “You’re out of line, Lieutenant!”

“She’ll die!”

“She’s already dead!”

There was a long pause, but Trip wouldn’t accept what he was saying. “Please, we can’t just leave her in there,” he begged.

“Lieutenant, if we open that door radiation will leak into this entire building. We would all die. We must wait until it dissipates. We already had to evacuate the entire section, there are thousands of people here, we’d never get out in time.”

“So, we just let an innocent child die?”

“There’s nothing we can do.”

Trip looked at the door before closing his eyes, trying to hold back the tears. “She doesn’t deserve that. Sindy doesn’t deserve any of this.”

Forrest walked over to him and dropped a hand on his shoulder. “I know Lieutenant. I know, but Sindy Croft is dead. This isn’t your fault.”

“Oh yeah? Then why does it feel like it is?”

~*~*~

“Forrest was right, Trip. It wasn’t your fault.”

Trip looked back out at the stars. “We never should have left her. She died alone and in pain. THAT was my fault. At least Jolen Croft thinks so… thought so.”

~*~*~

“You! You killed her!”

Forrest held Jolen as he tried to leap forward to hit Trip. Peter situated himself in front of his friend while Tucker simply looked at his old friend, a man he’d thought of as a brother, in surprise. “Lieutenant Tucker did no such thing, Commander!” Forrest assured him. “I showed you the tape! It wasn’t their fault! It was an accident!” Jolen pushed Forrest away. “You’re out of line Commander!”

Jolen glared at the three standing there, his eyes hot with anger. “Then I will no longer be a Commander! I’m resigning from Starfleet! I’ll send you the papers in the morning, Admiral.” Jolen then turned, his eyes pointed at Tucker. “You will pay for this! I won’t let you get away with the death of my daughter! The both of you!” With that he stormed out of Forrest’s office.

Trip’s head hung low. “Damn,” he whispered.

~*~*~

“I’m so sorry, Trip.”

“It wasn’t your fault. You have nothin’ to be sorry about. I could have saved her and I didn’t.”

“You couldn’t get the beam off of her.”

“Then I should have died with her! It was my responsibility and I failed! I didn’t even get a blemish in my record! No, Jolen was right. It WAS my fault.”

“Trip, no it wasn’t,” he assured him, grabbing the man’s shoulders, but Trip shrugged away from his hold.

“Don’t even try it! It was MY fault and now Jolen’s come back to make me pay! And there’s not a damn thing anyone can do about it! We can only wait… wait for another death. Rostov, Tess, Vince, they were all my fault!” Tears fell down his face, but the Commander wiped them away, his anger growing with each second. “MY FAULT!” Trip then shouted before turning away from his friend. When he realized his emotional outburst he quickly moved away and tried to get himself back together. “It’s gettin’ late. I have work to do.” At that Tucker left, leaving a very worried Captain behind.

Something was different. This wasn’t the same man he’d known for so many years. There was something very wrong here and Archer was worried about his long time friend. Living with that kind of guilt for years was bad enough, but then to believe that you’re responsible for three more deaths because of the first could become unbearable. Archer knew he would have to do something quick. He wasn’t sure how much more of this Tucker would be able to take, or what he’d do when he got to that edge.

==

“Trip?”

Tucker jumped in surprise, his head hit the panel he’d been working on hard, making him yelp in pain as his right hand found the lump on the top of his head. He crawled from under the engine to see Captain Urith stooping over him. “Cap’n Urith?”

“I came to help your engineering team with repairs, only to find you here. I thought you were working on finding out who murdered your friends?”

“I have been, but it hasn’t exactly been goin’ well.”

“I see. I wish I could be of help.”

Trip smiled, letting out a sigh. “It’s okay. I’m just not sleepin’ well.”

“Is there anything at all I can do to help, Commander? I talked with Captain Archer. He said they had a lead, but nothing set in stone. Perhaps I can help?”

Trip cocked his head. “How?”

Tybris smiled. “You don’t think it’s a Starfleet officer, do you?”

“Well… uh… not exactly…”

“Trip, it’s okay. I know you suspect someone on my cargo ship. I think perhaps I can help.”

Trip raised one eyebrow, curious. “Again… how?”

“I will allow you to set up cameras on my ship, anywhere you like. If one of my men is responsible I want to know about it just as much as you do. After everything you are doing for us it’s the least I could do!”

Tucker grinned. “That’s mighty kind of ya.”

Tybris clapped a hand on the Commander’s shoulder, a strange smile creeping up on his lips. “Anything for a friend.”

The Commander was about to speak when T’Pol walked through the doors, a padd in hand. Trip’s eyes brightened as soon as he saw her. He quickly stood and walked over to her. “Hiya T’Pol! Come to take me away from all this?” he asked waving a hand around the engine room.

T’Pol simply raised an eyebrow before handing him the padd she had been holding.

“You must sign this.”

Trip nodded and began to read the padd. After signing he handed it back to her, winking at her. “See ya later,” he whispered to her. To any other person T’Pol seemed unaffected, but Trip knew her well. He saw her waver slightly and hesitate before nodding back and leaving the room.

Tybris raised an eyebrow in mild amusement, as Trip went back to work. “You’re close to Commander T’Pol I see?”

Tucker grinned. “I’d say so, she is very important to me.” The Commander moved back to the hole he’d made for himself in order to finish his work.

“You… love her, don’t you?”

Trip frowned. “Yeah… I do.”

“Then I congratulate you. True love is the hardest thing to find, and even harder to keep.”

Trip nodded. “Yeah well, ya wouldn’t believe what I had to go through before we got to this point, but it was worth it. She was worth it.”

“I’m sure she is, Commander. You are a lucky man.”

“Yeah, I am.”

==

Jolen smiled as soon as Daniels appeared before him. “I have great news, I’ve found our next target,” he told the man.

Daniels took a step closer. “I’m listening.”

“Her name is T’Pol, apparently she is very important to the Commander.”

The time traveler smiled, pleased. “I was wondering when Trip would tell you about her. She is his entire life, with her dead you will be able to exact your revenge before letting him taste the final blow.”

Jolen nodded. “The Commander won’t know what’s hit him, and the best part is… I’ll be able to see the look on his face when he realizes I am the one doing this.”

Crewmen Daniels laid a hand on Croft’s shoulder. “All in due time, Mr. Croft. Just dispose of T’Pol. Fulfill your mission and you will be greatly rewarded.”

Jolen turned to look out at the stars. “Don’t worry Mr. Daniels, she will die… tonight.”

Chapter 8

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Half a dozen of you have made comments

Another great Chapter in a great serieS!
Oh why did Trip have to go and say he loved T'pol right in front of that murderer? I hope those two stay togehter the whole night!! Cant wait for the next chapter, but dont wan see T'pol hurt. Please update soon!!

Well Trip that wasn't very clever. You know someone is killing all the people you are close to and you tell someone you don't really know and could be a murderer how much you care about T'pol. FOOOOLLLL. Poor Rostov, I can't believe you killed him too. Sniff.

Great chappie! I was screaming a Trip when he was telling Tybris about T'Pol. What a goof. ;-)Great job. Keep 'em coming.

Trip is still too trusting. Having worked out that it wasn't anyone on Enterprise he goes and gives information to one of the people who would be on the list of possible suspects. Hmm, don't take up detective work Trip! Hope T'Pol catches them out before she becomes the next statistic. Ali D :~)

Hmmm I saw it a bit differently--after his knife was taken, Trip is now convinced who the murderer is--he can't start acting different without letting the murderer(s) know he is on to them. I suspect he mentioned T'Pol because he knows that the killer is targeting him and murdering those involved directly/indirectly with Trip. T'Pol is capable of defending herself--perhaps T'Pol is the bait and the killers are going to make an attempt and get caught before the act can be commited!!

ladydi, you might be on to something. Trip was wwaayy to casual and open in the way he acted towards T'Pol. And telling a vitual stranger and possilbe suspect, "She is very important to me." That's painting a target on her back. But I think she picked up on it. At least I hope so.