Living Among the Thorns - Ch 9

Living Among the Thorns

By Triplover

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

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Chapter Nine

Trip Tucker wasn't about to let Captain Torlic kill another person he cared about. He’d killed Lizzie, but Trip wouldn’t be able to live with himself if T’Pol died too. He watched the guards begin to take her to the door.
"No! Don't kill her!" Looking at Torlic, he cried, . "She has more information than even I do! She can help you! Take me instead, just don't kill her!" He fought with his captors .

"Commander!" T'Pol fought back, was that a suggestion of panic in her voice? "I will not tell them anything!" But Trip wasn't listening, he wouldn't let her die. Torlic looked at T'Pol, then back at Trip.

"Look, she's not even Human. She's Vulcan. She's the second in command on our Earth ship, Enterprise. She knows more than I do. She'd be valuable... if ya have ta kill someone kill me!" , But Torlic didn't seem convinced. Trip was panicking... He had to explain... He had to save T'Pol... Nothing else mattered. He couldn't let them kill her. "Torlic, if our friendship meant anything to you... please... let her go. I will die in her place. Just don't harm her. She'll tell you everything ya need ta know."

"I will not!" T'Pol fought. Trip glared at her.

"Yes you will!" He told her in a stern voice. T'Pol looked at him, wide-eyed, but said nothing more.

Torlic looked back at T'Pol, then Trip and the smile on his face grew somewhat. "You really do love her... don't you?" Trip straightened, then looked back at T'Pol.

"Yeah... I do." He said, more to her than anyone else. He looked back at Torlic as he nodded.
Torlic looked at the guards. "Fine, you heard Tobin, I mean Charles. Take her to the interrogation room, I will deal with Charles myself." The guards nodded and left. Trip felt relief fall over him as he realized T'Pol would be safe... and that he'd take her place. He stood tall as Torlic pointed the weapon at him, ready to take his life instead.

"I'm sorry Charles... I really am. I enjoyed your company... and Koelin really loved you. I hadn't wanted to kill you... But I understand... family first."

Trip nodded. "Thank you... for not killin' her."

Torlic suddenly frowned. “I did consider you a friend. I wish I didn’t have to do this. But it is my duty. Goodbye Charles." But as Torlic's trigger finger pushed down Trip immediately grabbed his arm, putting pressure on just the right spots that T’Pol and Malcolm had taught him. Torlic cried out in pain, dropping the weapon as they heard the doors open again. The guards were chasing T'Pol. She'd fought them and run back.

Trip could hear T'Pol fighting as the guards finally caught up to her. One of the guards fell to the floor, gun kicked away, while the other started firing, T'Pol ducked behind a container.

"No! Don't shoot! You could damage the technology." Torlic shouted.

Trip had been counting on that. While Torlic seemed worried about what the gunfire would do, Trip lunged for the gun. But before he could grab it, he felt Torlic grab him and throw him to the floor. Trip grunted in pain, swept his legs on the ground, tripping Torlic over on his back, and then jumped on top of him throwing punches. One for everyone he killed! Finally he stopped, Torlic was groaning in pain, eyes fluttering open and close. Trip couldn't help but feel anger overthrow him. What he did... it was unforgivable!

Trip got off of him and grabbed the gun, pushing it against his head, he felt his breathing quicken. "Good bye Torlic!" Then with that Trip began to squeeze the trigger.

"No!" Trip stopped and looked to see T'Pol looking at him. She looked hurt bad, but she stood in front of him, straight. Trip looked back at Torlic.

"He killed my sister! He killed seven million people! He should die, and I'm gonna kill him. For Lizzie. For everyone he killed."

***********

Sparks flew everywhere on the bridge. Archer shielded his eyes, feeling his skin burn from the sparks that fell on his skin. He ignored the pain and grabbed his chair just in time. The ship shook violently, sending those who hadn't held on flying across the room. "Warp drive is offline!" Malcolm shouted over cries of pain coming from a few who'd broken a leg or damaged something else. Archer ran over to one of the crew, Crewman Jesse! His face was burned, his eyes closed and his head fell to the floor. Archer checked his pulse.

Dead.

He'd never felt so angry at that moment. He lifted his head, looking at the ship before them. That was the last straw! Archer wanted them dead. He rose to his feet just before another volley of shots were fired and Enterprise once again blew sparks everywhere, erupting into fires and crewmen came rushing in to put them all out. The ship before them once again swung around. Archer stood firmly, ready for the assault. "They’re coming up off starboard!"

"Malcolm! Hit them with everything we've got!" Archer yelled over cries and relays blowing apart. Malcolm merely nodded, and on the screen the Enterprise crew watched as their photon torpedo's hit the ship.

"Direct hit! Their weapons are offline!"

***********

"Weapons are offline!" Tynorin yelled at the top of his lungs. Halias hit his dashboard in anger. "We can't stay here!"

The ship had defeated them. There was nothing left to do. They couldn't fight them any longer. They had lost. Damn.

"Get us out of here Tynorin. Go to warp." Halias said with a sigh as he fell back down into his seat. Tynorin nodded and with that they went to warp.

***********

Archer couldn't help but grin.

"They’re gone!" Malcolm said with relief. Archer fell into his chair with a sigh.

"Looks like Halias isn't going to be getting rich anytime soon. Damage report."

Malcolm frowned. "We've got warp drive back online...."

Archer nodded then looked at Travis. "Travis, we need to get to Commander Tucker and T'Pol. It's time we pick them up. How long would it take to get there?"

"Only a few minutes sir." Travis answered and fired up the engines. Then Archer looked at Hoshi. She looked worried.

"Two dead, including Crewmen Jesse. Fifteen hurt, they're already in sickbay...other than that nothing serious." she almost whispered. Archer hit the console near him. Two dead? Halias! He should have destroyed his ship when he had the chance!

“Hoshi, who else was killed?” He asked, yet knew he didn’t want to hear the answer. Hoshi closed her eyes and then turned to look at her. Her eyes nearing to tears.

“Crewmen Cutler sir….”

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

"Don't kill him Commander. Please. We should take him to Enterprise... they will be here soon." She told him. He looked back at her.

"How do ya know?" He asked. T'Pol walked closer to him.

"Your signal got through. I checked the console... the ship has stopped jamming our signal. It got through." She was lying to him, but she knew that his anger was getting the best of him. They could still send the message to Enterprise if they got Torlic to stop the jamming signal. It was logical to assume that the commander—that Trip—was so surrounded by anger that he was not thinking straight. She had to stop him from making a mistake he’d regret later. Even T’Pol understood that Trip wasn’t just angry that Torlic had helped kill his sister, but that Trip had been so blinded by his friendship with the him.

Trip's eyes went once again to Torlic who lay helpless on the floor. "I don't care!" He began to squeeze the trigger again.

"Think of what you’re doing. You'd be killing a person just because of what he did... He may still have information we need. He might know where they’re building the weapon. We can't kill him. We need him." She tried to reason. He shook his head.

"We'll get it from someone else!" he knew it was wrong, but he had to... for Lizzie!

"Commander, there is no one else. Only him. You can't kill him. Your sister would not want you to do this for her." Trip's eyes squinted.

"How the hell would you know what Lizzie would have wanted?!"

"It is obvious that she was a good person. If she was a good person, I very much doubt that she would want you to kill this man in her name."

She was right... Lizzie wouldn't have wanted that. He doubted any of those seven million people would. But he couldn't just let Torlic live! Not after what he did! Seven million people were dead because of him and his friends!

"I won't let him live!"

T'Pol moved a hand to his shoulder. "Trip, please... don't." The hand holding the gun began to shake. He tried hard to pull the trigger... but he couldn't. He just couldn't do it.

"Dammit T'Pol! He murdered Lizzie! He killed millions! He's a murderer!"

"Do not let him make you one as well."

Trip closed his eyes. What was he doing? He couldn't kill this man. Trip remembered all the times they talked... remembered Torlic’s wife... his son. Koelin. Finally Trip put down his arm. He moved away from Torlic slowly. He couldn't kill him. This man had been his friend... and even though Torlic was a murderer... he wouldn't kill him. It wasn't right. T'Pol was right. T'Pol stood beside him, her hand moved to grab his. He looked at her, she nodded back at him. Then he moved his eyes back to Torlic. Enterprise would be coming soon. He just had to wait.

T’Pol then took a breath and moved to Torlic making him stand. “Now, turn off the jamming signal.” .

Trip’s eyes went wide. “Wait a second, I thought ya said that the jamming signal was already off!”

T’Pol looked up at him. “I had to…embellish…the truth. You were being illogical… It was the only way to stop you from making a mistake.”

“Ya lied ta me? God damn T’Pol you’d be great at playin’ poker.”

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

"Sir, I'm getting a message from Commander Tucker... but it's... it's weak. They need assistance." Hoshi reported. Archer looked at her and nodded.

"Travis?"

"We're almost there sir. Just a few more seconds...."

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

Anora sat in the captain's chair. Torlic had told her what was going on. He'd told her about the traitors. He'd wanted her to stay on the bridge and watch for Enterprise. "Anora!" Anora's head snapped to look at the helmsmen. He pointed to the view screen which showed Enterprise before them.

"Prepare to intercept them! I want weapons! Send out a distress call to the other Xindi ship!"

"They are jamming our signal." The helmsmen told her. Anora sighed.

"Get ready, this is not going to be pretty."

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

"They’re opening fire!" Malcolm shouted. Archer stood as the ship rocked, almost losing his balance, until he grabbed his chair, falling into it.

"Evasive maneuvers! Load torpedo bays again!" He shouted out orders, even though he knew his crew already knew what to do. This cargo vessel was no match for Enterprise. The ship shook again as the cargo vessel flew before them, fighting.

"Sir! Another vessel has just dropped out of warp! It's Xindi." Malcolm told him. Archer groaned. Two ships? Just great.

The other Xindi ship flew near them, giving them everything they had. Enterprise shook dangerously. Archer grabbed hold of his chair until his knuckles were white. He wouldn't back down. He wanted that cargo.

***********

Trip had no time to react. As he watched shots being fired. Blinking in confusion as to where it was coming from. It wasn't until later that he realized it was the two guards. "Don't they ever give up?!" Trip and T'Pol jumped behind cargo. Every so often Trip would peek out and shoot, then jump back as he could see their phaser fire shoot through—way too close to him.

"It seems not." T'Pol answered, standing next to him. Trip sighed and went out again. He got one of the guards, then jumped back before the other could react. He could have sworn he heard the doors open then when he finally peeked out again he saw it. Three more guards had come in.

"Oh great! Now there's more of ‘em." Trip groaned but kept firing. This would take awhile. Another shot, way too close for comfort. Trip gulped in air as he looked wide-eyed at the burn near his head then kept firing. Focus Trip! You have to stop them! You can do this! Yet again, another shot. Trip swallowed, then went from behind the cargo shooting, T'Pol behind him. He had to move away from the Xindi coming towards them. One of the Xindi, though, came up from behind a cargo container and shot his weapon, successfully hitting Trip in the leg.

"Ah! God damn it!"

T'Pol grabbed him before he could fall on the floor as they went behind yet another cargo container. She quickly scanned his leg as he sat on the floor. He still kept shooting though, hurt leg or not. "You’re hurt."

"Ya think?!"

T'Pol's left eye brow raised, but Trip wasn't paying attention. There were four guards shooting at him; he had no time to look to see what T'Pol was doing anymore.

"There is no need to become hostile."

"I just got shot at by a bunch of angry Xindi guards tryin' to kill us, and you’re tellin' *me* there's no reason to become hostile?! What! are you ill?!"

"I do not understand."

Trip rolled his eyes and finally got one of the Xindi, who fell to the floor.

"Never mind."

***********

Captain Torlic moved to a place out of the way, his head was killing him from the blow to the head that he'd gotten from his 'former' chief engineer. He moved to the com. "Koelin, this is your father. I want you to go tell all the children to get to escape pods! There's a battle going on here, you must leave!"

"But father-"

"Go!" Torlic yelled. There was a pause before Koelin answered again.

"Yes father." Was all he said as the comm went off. Torlic sighed in relief. Koelin would be ok... hopefully.

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

Malcolm held tight to his console as the last volley hit Enterprise. He coughed hard as cloud filled the air coming from a fire that was growing larger every second. The crewmen were trying to put it out, but it seemed like they were failing. Malcolm checked the sensors and sighed. "The torpedo bay's gone... so are phase cannons... we have no weapons."

Archer swore, then walked over to him. "I have an idea. We might be able to get both ships this way... come with me. We have work to do."

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

"T'Pol, Torlic said somethin' bout it bein' dangerous to fire in here...." T'Pol nodded, she seemed to understand what he was getting at.

"There's hundreds of canisters of ignitable gas... and many other things. With one shot we could make a small explosion." she responded

“That gas is pretty dangerous, we’d kill ourselves in the process….”

T’Pol shook her head. “These canisters should provide some cover from the gas, and once ignited it would not prove to be a danger to your biology. We will be safe here.”

"But where do we target?"

T'Pol took the gun away from him and peeked out from the containers. A second later she aimed and fired. The canister exploded sending her and Trip flying as the fire burned their skin, and sent them into the walls before falling to the floor. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all.

Continue to Chapter 10

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Half a dozen of you have made comments

Nice chapter, but damn! Will you PLEASE stop torturing your readers?!?!

Evil, evil person. Just what is it about cliffhangers that you find so addicting? Please, enlighten us readers.

Loved this chapter. Poor poor Halias. I had to brush away a few tears when he retreated. And pigs might fly.

So, Trip finally told T'Pol point blank. Took long enough! But life or death situations will do that to you.

Can't wait for more!

I'm starting to think your a torture demon or sumthin' with these constant cliff hangers. It should be against the law to do that. But Trip finally told T'pol, and that was awesome. So besides the end i loved as much as the others!

more, more, more!!!!

the suspence is unbearable!!!!

He he he... cliffhangers are a writer's best friend for me anyways! Don't worry, you'll have your next chapter soon!

You have to continue. Your so evil to keep us hanging like this;)