Living Among the Thorns - Ch 7

Living Among the Thorns

By Triplover

Summary: See Chapter one.
Disclaimer: See Chapter one.

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Chapter Seven


Captain Halias smiled to himself. "Interesting. We must act fast... they are already sending data to Enterprise."

His second in command, Tynorin, nodded. "I'll get everyone ready to attack Enterprise." He said beginning to walk to the door for the bridge. But Halias grabbed his shoulder.

"Wait... not yet. I think I'll have to have a talk with Captain Torlic."

"A talk?"

Halias looked over at him, then back at the stars outside his window. "The Humans are on his vessel, they are downloading information. If we want Enterprise, we'll have to help the Xindi." Tynorin smiled.

"I see. So you have chosen sides in the matter. You don't like the Humans?" Halias laughed.

"They have good food. But the Xindi will destroy them. Enterprise will never find where they are hiding the weapon... and we could make a fortune on the parts that ship has. I choose the side that will be best for us. Humans are far too trusting, and now... that will be their undoing." Tynorin’ expression showed he understood completely.

"The Humans are powerful... far more powerful than us. How do we know the Xindi will not be the ones to be destroyed?"

"We don't... but one ship?” Halias shrugged. “Do they really think they can stop the Xindi with just one ship?"

Tynorin folded his arms, looking at him. "The Humans are... impressive when it comes to combat. It will not be easy to defeat them. They are powerful."

"Sounds like you like the Humans." Halias chuckled.

If Tynorin seemed hurt by the comment, he soon hid it. "I am your second in command. My feelings for the Humans are nothing compared to my loyalty to you, Captain. You are my friend; the Humans have done nothing for me. I would follow you anywhere, everyone would."

Halias accepted his answer and looked back out at stars. "We will destroy the Humans. The Xindi will probably thank us for it--we will be doing them a great service. Prepare the ship for battle. Once I have talked to Torlic, I'll tell you what we will do. In the meantime, take us closer to the Redeemer. Once we're in range, tell me so I can contact Torlic." After a nod of acknowledgment, Tynorin was gone. Halias walked over to the computer console, and smiled, looking at some of the things Commander Tucker was sending to Captain Archer. They still did not know what the captain of the Redeemer was holding in the cargo hold. But he knew it wouldn't be long before they would find out. He'd have to act quickly.

***********

Captain Archer never felt so relieved by the data Trip had sent them. It detailed everything about the cargo ship's layout. And Trip and T'Pol were fine. They would soon begin checking to see the cargo. Archer couldn't help but wonder what was inside; if it was part of the weapon.... Archer got out of bed. It was morning, and he had actually slept. Once they had the transmission from Trip, he had become more relaxed. He was sleeping. The sooner Trip and T'Pol were back on Enterprise, the better he'd feel. It couldn't be easy living on that ship with all those Xindi.

Trip, he was sure, was having trouble with it... No matter what he'd say, he knew Trip. Hell, he was probably sick just being around them. Trip had sent a letter along with the information. He was becoming fast 'friends' with the captain of the vessel and his son. He talked highly of the son; he even said that the child would make a great engineer. It seemed as if Trip really liked him. With Torlic, things were different. Trip was having trouble with him. Archer could tell by the letter. He said that the captain was a very pleasant man, but he didn't know if he could trust him or not. What worried him was that Trip had mixed feelings about the man. He liked him but he was worried that he was lying. Trip didn't want to believe he was lying... but he couldn't know until he checked out what they had in their cargo hold. Archer was surprised that Trip wanted Torlic to be innocent but it was clear from his letter that was how he felt. He hadn't said so, but Archer could read between the lines.

And from the sound of it, what Trip was having most difficultly taking was how kind they all were to him and T'Pol. The entire crew seemed to like him and were always asking him questions, trying to get to know him... It must be hard. From the letter, Archer knew that Trip was upset about something else though, too. But he didn't know whether it was the Xindi, or something else. Trip said he wasn't sleeping. Archer had a feeling it had to do with more than just the Xindi. But he couldn't be sure as to the cause of his insomnia. Was it his sister or Sim, or was it something else entirely? Archer sighed.

He'd have to ask him what's going on once he was back on Enterprise. Until then he'd have to let it lie. He wasn't about to bother himself on his chief engineer's problems. He had other things to attend to. And as worried as he was, there was nothing he could do. Perhaps T'Pol will help him. Archer chuckled. Yeah right... those two would rather kill each other than talk. Then he found himself frowning. Then again, T'Pol was doing the neuropressure with Trip to help him. With that he shook his head. But he couldn't help wondering how they were faring. He wondered if they were getting along. His thoughts earlier on their relationship had bothered him a lot. He had a feeling... could Trip and T'Pol really... feel something for each other?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

T’Pol watched the sleeping man before her as he tossed and turned in his sleep, mumbling something under his breath. She couldn’t quite make out the words, but she wasn’t really trying to after what she’d heard last night…. She disturbed. She hadn’t realized he’d be so upset over what happened. He was worried that their friendship would be over. She acknowledged that cared for him; she couldn’t let things go so far to the point that they were no longer friends. She would have to fix this. She had wanted to last night, but just as they were about to talk they were interrupted. T’Pol suspected, though, that Trip didn’t want to talk, at all. However, she reasoned that he should be made to understand that she felt something for him. That she had kissed him as well. That she had…enjoyed it, that she…wanted it to happen again. T’Pol gave an invisible sigh. She was finding it difficult to be around him. Her emotions were overwhelming her. She was experiencing so many feelings that she never felt before, and they scared her. She couldn’t understand why they were so powerful now. She was…concerned…by her reactions. Something was happening to her, but she wasn’t sure what. Perhaps… perhaps she was… Was this what is meant to be ‘in love’?

"Oh god!" Trip jumped up, eyes wide. What the-? With that he blushed and looked over at T'Pol who was staring at him, head cocked in curiosity. "Hi."

T'Pol handed him something to drink. "You seem to be well rested this morning." She pointed out. He hoped to god that he wasn't talking in his sleep. With the dream he'd had... he knew T'Pol would know what was going on when your yelling... Oh T'Pol! I'm comin' now baby! It would be easy to figure out what he was dreaming. He slowly got out of bed, trying to block her view of his hard erection. He wasn't about to let her know how much he wanted her. And with the skivies he had on, he knew she could see everything. Why did he have to have a sex dream about her? Why were his dreams torturing him so? He was losing his mind. He couldn't stop thinking about her, and it was starting to affect him in ways he'd rather not admit.

They didn't say anything more to each other. They simply got ready and went their ways. Neither wanted to talk to the other. Trip had a feeling that T'Pol was still upset with him. Things were not going well now. All because of that damn kiss!

***********

It only took a few seconds to get to engineering where he found Koelin sitting at his console. Trip folded his arms looking at the boy. "Does your father know you’re down here, Koelin?" He asked. He was somewhat protective of the boy, and he knew that it was dangerous in engineering with all the anomalies they'd been coming across.

"Yeah Uncle Tobin, I told my dad before I came."

Trip was instantly taken aback by when Koelin called him 'Uncle Tobin'. While he taught the boy things about engineering, Trip and Koelin had quickly become closer because he reminded Trip of himself growing up.. Trip realized he liked Koelin more than Koelin knew.

"Uncle Tobin?" Trip moved to his console to check to see what Koelin had been up to. Everything was how he'd left it last night. Good.

"Yup, like it?" He asked. Trip looked back at him and smiled.

"Why don't you call me Trip? That's what my family used to call me. And if you’re family, you might as well call me the same. It'll be our little secret." He'd be more comfortable with Trip... ‘Uncle Tobin’ just seemed... too much. He was still Xindi and they were still on a mission to stop the Xindi. He couldn't get too close to these people although he knew he'd already started to do that. He just couldn’t' stop. He liked these people; he liked Koelin, and no matter what he did he would always like them.

"Then Trip it is! Why doesn't Orina call you Trip?" He then asked.

Trip shrugged. "She likes to be contrary. I think she just enjoys getting on my nerves. A little piece of advice, Koelin, when you start dating, remember that the woman you date will be doing everything she can to drive you nuts. Prepare for it. Every woman will do it to you. It's just how they work." He told him as he began to run tests to see if everything was normal.

"My mom doesn't do that." Koelin pointed out. Trip stopped what he was doing and looked at him, putting his hands on his hips.

"Are ya dating her?"

"Good god no!" Trip tried not to chuckle at the boys horror at his question.

"Ok then." Trip said letting go of the chuckle he'd held before and got back to work.

"Ah, I see you came to work after all!" Trip looked around at where the voice was coming from to see Torlic enter engineering with a smile.

"Yeah, my wife dragged me outta bed." He muttered with a sigh looking at T'Pol who was hard at work repairing the impulse manifolds.

"My wife does the same thing." Torlic chuckled. Trip froze somewhat, suppressing a smile.

"Women." They both mumbled.

Koelin laughed. "You know, being around you two all the time is starting to make the single life way more appealing to me!" Both men looked at the boy with a smile still on their faces. "Good!" They both exclaimed at the same time, then laughed.

Now they were talking in unison, they were getting too close. Trip was worried.

***********

T'Pol found herself sighing again. Things were getting worse between her and Trip. They were hardly talking to each other now. She discovered that she was…upset…over the whole thing. One kiss and they were avoiding each other. They couldn't do this. Instead they went through uncomfortable silences; at times they wouldn't even look at each other. T'Pol was upset—something she would never admit—but she knew she would have to do something. Nothing would be resolved if they didn't talk. She would have to bring up what happened between them soon.

As much as she avoided thinking about it, she did like the kiss—more than she wanted to admit. He was a handsome man. Definitely different,... but he had many admirable qualities. He would make an interesting husband. T'Pol shook her head. What was she doing? Something really must be wrong if she was starting to think of him as a potential mate. She had to divert her mind.

***********

They didn't say but a few words to each other in engineering. Trip Tucker only told her what he had to tell her. They acted as if they didn't even know each other. He couldn't bear to say or talk about what had happened last night... or explain his fears to her. He said nothing. Finally she walked back over to him. They walked into his office, and he shut the door so no one else would be able to hear. They had planned to talk when they were off duty. It was getting late and it was time for them to talk. "We'll meet in our quarters in an hour. Then we can start working on a plan. Until then I was thinking we should work on internal sensors. They need to 'accidentally' get broken." He told her with a smile. He could see a hint of a smile in her eyes.

"I will see what I can do, but if it were to break, it would take awhile to fix."

"That would be a shame, wouldn't it?"

***********

Tynorin walked over to the bridge, Captain Halias right next to him. They still weren't in range, but it was merely a matter of time. Traveling at warp three they would be there in a little more than as hour. Meanwhile, they also kept an eye on Enterprise through long range sensors. They were staying close to the Redeemer, but not too close. The Redeemer didn't know they were there. But their ship did. Their ship the Kylander could see them. And soon, so would the Redeemer. That too was only a matter of time. Soon Enterprise would be gone, and they would all be rich.

************

Trip Tucker walked back and forth in the quarters he shared with T’Pol waiting for herl to arrive. Finally, the doors opened and T'Pol walked in. "You’re late." He pointed out. She looked at him.

"It was not easy to damage the computer in charge of internal sensors."

He sighed. "So, I was thinking about how we'll get in. There's two guards at the entrance to the cargo bay. We'll need to create a distraction. Think ya could do that?"

"That depends... How do you expect me to get both away from the door?"

"I don't know! You’re a woman, figure it out." He chuckled looking at her..

An eyebrow raised on her face. "You wish for me to... use my sexuality in order to divert them?"
He shrugged. Clearing his throat. He wondered just how far she would go with that. Would she even kiss one of them? No... she wouldn't dare! If she did he'd kill the man!"Well, that's up to you. Any other ideas?" Please have another idea! Please have another idea!

"No... how to you expect me to do this?"

. Trip folded his arms in dismay. There had to be another way. But Trip knew T'Pol could do it... it was a good plan even if it would bother him.

"Flirt."

"Vulcans do not flirt. How do I do this?"

Trip's eyes went wide. She didn't know how to flirt? He knew it was true... Vulcans didn't flirt... but she was a woman, a very good looking woman at that! She should know something... anything. "Uh well, there's two ways to flirt... by words or by touch."

"Touch?"

He walked closer to her. "Yeah like, touching a guy's arm... or his chest. Somethin' like that. You could whisper somethin' in his ear. Men like that." . He could tell, though, that she still wasn't getting it. He sighed inwardly. "Ok, let's say that I'm one of the guards. Now, walk over to me." T'Pol hesitated. He knew why, but he acted like it was nothing, and waved her over. Slowly she walked over to him. "Now... whisper somethin' in my ear."

"What do I whisper?"

"Oh come on T'Pol! You’re a beautiful woman, you know what to do! It comes natural for y’all to mess with men.".

T'Pol frowned, then moved closer to him, her hand moving to his chest, softly caressing him. Trip gulped in air as her lips moved to his ear, breathing on him. Trip shivered slightly, feeling his manhood react to her touch. "I wish to show you something." She whispered. Trip swallowed hard. Sweat ran down his brow. He only wanted to show her what to do, but it had backfired. Instead he was getting turned on—in a minute he'd have to take a cold shower.

"O-oh r-r-real-really?" He stuttered. T'Pol seemed to find his difficulty speaking amusing.

"Yes." she whispered. Trip felt himself shaking, his entire body was reacting to her touch, and there seemed to be nothing he could do to stop it. Finally she moved away.

"Yeah... that'll do." Trip smiled awkwardly. When T'Pol nodded, he looked at her outfit. "But uh... there's one last thing we should do."

T'Pol straightened. "What?"

"Your outfit... ya need to show some skin." He told her. She seemed puzzled by his statement, though. He'd have to explain. "You gotta wear somethin' more... provocative. Something that maybe shows your stomach... you know... something sexy."

She nodded and looked in her dresser for just such an item. But after a second looked back up at him. He rolled his eyes and walked to her dresser. It took him only a second to find something sexy which he handed to her. "This will do nicely. Hurry up and get changed so we can get ta work."

She lifted an eye brow. "Yes sir." She mumbled mockingly then left to change. Once she was done she walked out to show him her outfit. Trip breathed in fast, holding his breath for a second.

"Wow." Was all he could get out. She wore a tight pair of pants and a shirt that allowed part of her stomach to show. It was much like a sports bra, in fact, but with long sleeves. He'd only seen her in something like that once, when they were in that decontamination chamber together. That was something he'd never forget. Never.

"I assume that means we are ready." She said quietly, walking past him to the door. He grabbed the stuff he'd need, put it in a bag, and joined her at the door.

"Oh yeah darlin'... we're ready! We're beyond ready!"

***********

Torlic sat at his desk, looking at the work before him. Tobin had sent him loads of data on what engineering was up to. He seemed to be so insistent on telling him how the anomalies were really messing things up. Soon Torlic would need to get some Trellium D... no matter how dangerous it was... the anomalies were proving to be much more dangerous. Finally he reached the last of his reports which mentioned that internal sensors were down. Torlic sighed. "Great!" Then with a huff he got from his table. It was always something on this ship!

************

Trip Tucker nodded at T’Pol, then disappeared behind the wall as she walked up to the two men standing at the cargo bay doors and began to speak. He couldn't hear what she said, she spoke softly, yet he could tell the men were as turned on as he'd been when they were in their quarters. Part of him just wanted to scoop her off her feet and take her away. Watching as she flirted with those men was torture. Why couldn't she have come up with something better?

T'Pol moved her hand to one of the men's chest, then moved it back to her side. Yeah, there ya go... keep hands where I can see them! On both sides! He breathed in, holding it in as the two men followed T'Pol until he was no longer in their sights. He smiled. Good job, T'Pol! Finally once he deemed it safe he ran to the door. It only took him a second and the door opened and he was in. His eyes widened. My god! There before him were hundreds of canisters filled with all kinds of things. Some carried some type of liquid, he took scans. One touch and he'd be dead! All they had to do was turn it into a gaseous form and just one canister would kill millions—even more than the damage the first gift from the Xindi gave them.

Trip scanned the other containers. Weapons? Good god! Did the captain know what he had in his cargo bay?! With all the stuff Torlic had... earth would be destroyed not just by the gas—but by a weapon that could completely obliterate earth. There'd be nothing left.

************

Captain Halias smiled as they finally got in range to hail the Redeemer. Slowly he walked to his console, and it didn't take long for Torlic to appear on his screen. "Captain Halias, it's been a long time!"

Halias smiled. "It has. Too long. But I'm afraid we have no time to catch up now. There's a problem. Your ship, is carrying something rather important, as you know, to a Xindi ship... and an Earth vessel called Enterprise knows this. They sent down two people to... go undercover to gain information." He said. Torlic frowned.

"How do you know this?"

Halias could feel his smile grow. "I have my sources."

***********

Trip Tucker stood in the cargo bay, T'Pol beside him, feeling his stomach tighten, his mind searching to understand why anyone would ever want to destroy a planet like that, imagining earth being blown to bits. The thought made him sick. And not just in his stomach. The pain in his head returned, but this time, it wasn't the result of a hang over. How could anyone do such a thing to people they didn't even know?! "We have to do something. We have to warn the cap'n." He told her, as she stood before him, leaning somewhat against the wall. She'd just walked in after rendering the two guards unconscious.

"We can't risk it. We'd be detected." She intoned. He looked at her in shock.

"Are you kidding me?! Look at this stuff, we have to warn the cap'n!"

"We already told Captain Archer we could no longer send him information until he was closer to the ship. He still isn't in range; we can do nothing at this moment."

Trip put his hands on his hips, anger filling within him. "Earth's in danger here! This is more important than our lives! We have to get this to the cap'n! We should attack the ship and take over the cargo!"

T'Pol walked closer to him. "May I remind you that I am in command of this mission commander? You will follow orders. Once Enterprise is in range we will contact them and explain the situation."

Trip scowled at her, feeling his head heat up with anger himself. "Fine, Sub-Commander! Do what ya want! But just know, all of earth is in your hands, and if it's necessary, I will disobey orders to save earth!"

"Are you saying that you do not believe I am keeping earth's interest in mind?" She asked him, her voice wavering. But he didn't care. He was angry.

"I'm sayin'... my sister died because of these people! Sim died because of this place! And I won't risk earth just so that we don't get compromised!" He told her. She looked into his eyes.

"This has nothing to do with your sister or Sim; this has to do with the fact that you are angry with me for what happened before."

He shook his head. "That is not what this is about! This has nothin' to do with that! This is about Earth, this is about what I owe Sim... what I owe Lizzie!"

"I do not want Earth destroyed."

Trip felt his anger diminish. What was he doing? Yelling at T'Pol for no reason. He knew T'Pol didn't want earth destroyed. She left her life to help Enterprise. And here he was fighting with her about loyalty... or was she right? Was this anger he had because of his feelings for her? "I'm sorry T'Pol." He whispered to her, he felt himself sigh in regret. Trip walked back away from her. He couldn't even control himself anymore. "But T'Pol, we can't just leave this alone. We're lookin' at the total destruction of Earth. We have to contact them now. This ship could meet the other Xindi ship any moment now. We have to tell them to hurry it up. We can't let this cargo get to that other Xindi ship. This mission is more important than us. We have to tell him."

He could see T'Pol hesitate. He knew that she was in conflict with herself. Calling Archer would mean exposing them. But if they did nothing... then the cargo could be moved to the other ship. They had to do something... the entire planet Earth was at stake. "All right, let's contact the Captain."

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Four of you have made comments

Hell Yeah! This story ROCKS!!!
can't wait for chapter8!!!
keep up the good work!!!

Great stuff. Keep on going!

Wonderful chapter! But I want this most interesting dialogue NOW. Please, please, please...

Forgot something: I LOVED the training for seducing the "guards"!!!! Perfect! *bg*