The Sacrifice-Ch 12

The Sacrifice

By Triplover

Disclaimer: In Chapter One
Rating: R

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Chapter Twelve

The Rescue

“Tell me more about Enterprise!” The Xindi shouted. T’Pol glared up at him. Every part in her body wanted to break this man in two but she couldn’t… she was at this man’s mercy. There was nothing she could do. Her thoughts were too jumbled and she could no longer take it. What did this man want from her? The Xindi moved closer to her, grabbing her neck in his hand. “I said tell me, Vulcan!”

T’Pol’s eyes focused on the Xindi as her hands balled into a fist, but she kept her mouth closed. Finally the Xindi took a step away, glaring at her. He moved his hand back and slapped her face. Pain shot through the right side. “Fine, Vulcan! Don’t talk! But one way or another I WILL get that information out of you!”

The angry Xindi walked out of her prison to find Corrow standing near the door. Tarvin looked over at him.

“She’s still not talking?” The Judge asked in surprise.

“She’s stronger than I thought. It won’t be long before the Trellium D’ll damage her… we’re going to have to remove all traces of it from her soon. I’ll have to try a different tactic,” Tarvin mumbled angrily as the two walked through the corridors.

“What kind of tactic?” Probed Corrow.

Tarvin looked back at him before saying, “I do not yet know. As I said before she is stronger than I expected. The Trellium D is affecting her severely… and yet… it is as if she’s still holding on to something.”

Corrow frowned. “Enterprise.”

Tarvin shook his head. “It’s more than that. She claims that Commander Charles Tucker is alive. She says that he will kill me.”

Corrow froze. “We killed him! He is dead… he cannot kill anyone.”

“That is what I told her… but now… I’m not so sure,” Tarvin said and sighed. “There is nothing more I can do here. The Trellium D will kill her soon… my superiors do not want her dead just yet. We will have to take her to the infirmary.”

Corrow nodded. “Of course Tarvin… I will see to it. Do not worry too much over this… I’m sure that soon we will get the information you seek. She will break. One way or another… I will see to that as well.”

==

T’Pol had blacked out not long after the Trellium D was put into her system. The Xindi took her to the doctors and they began working as fast as they could to take out all the traces of Trellium D out of her system, which had penetrated her bloodstream. They had to use a system that would take out blood and cleanse the blood before it was put back into her body. Almost like the liver it would cleanse the blood then allow it to go back into her system where it would again be sent through out her body. It took awhile to cleanse her of the Trellium D along with a series of tests to make sure the machine hadn’t missed anything. Although the Xindi knew little about what they were doing the doctors had told him as to how they’d purge her body of the Trellium D. It had taken longer than expected and was quite tiresome having to wait so long but the Xindi didn’t want her dead just yet so he had brought her to the infirmary.

==

When the guard finally passed them, Trip Tucker let out a long breath of air. He suppressed a smile and focused his attention on the base. He breathed in deeply. It was then that Archer moved over to his side. “You know, I didn’t think I’d ever get the chance to see you again,” Archer whispered, his voice was grim… filled with worry and unease.

“Cap’n… I was dead… you had no reason to ever think ya would,” Trip pointed out.

“There’s still so much I haven’t told you. I owe you an apology.”

Trip turned to look at his captain. “An apology? For what?”

Archer frowned. “I haven’t been there for you since this mission started. I’ve been so caught up in finding the Xindi that I’ve forgotten all about what you must be going through.”

Trip chuckled. “Cap’n… I’m not a kid anymore, sir. I’m not the young lieutenant you met all those years ago. I’m not the same person and I don’t need to be babied. You don’t have to feel sorry for not bein’ there for me. You had other things to worry about.”

“I know that… but I could have been there for you, done something. Even I need someone to talk to every now and then.”

Trip’s smile soon faded, as he looked Archer in the eye. “I had someone to talk to Cap’n. I had T’Pol,” Trip told him then moved away from him to get a closer look.

Archer sighed. That hadn’t gone too well. He felt a pain in his chest at the thought. Was Trip really upset with him over that? He wouldn’t let Trip go… not this time. They had to wait anyway. He needed to talk. Archer moved back over to Trip and crouched down once again. “What exactly is that supposed to mean?”

Trip shook his head. “Nothin’, Cap’n. I’m just sayin’… I’ve already talked. I talked to T’Pol. I’m over it now. I mean, as over it as a person can be. I understood what was going on with you. I’m not a fool you know. I knew you were upset over the attack and over the new mission. You have Earth counting on you now. If you don’t find this weapon, billions of people die. I never expected you to be there for me when you have your own problems. You owe me no apology.” In Archer’s opinion Trip didn’t seem as okay with things as he was trying to make the captain believe. His voice was steady, but even Archer could hear the anger rising in his voice. Archer knew at that moment that he was close to losing what he had with his engineer: a friendship they’d had for almost ten years. Could the captain really have damaged their relationship that much? How could he have been so blind… and not seen how much Lizzie’s death was affecting Trip?

Archer turned to look at the commander, who in turn was watching the base. “Yes Trip. Yes I do. I should have done both. I should have worked towards finding the Xindi and keeping my relationship with you.”

Trip looked back at him and this time Archer could see something else in his eyes. Warmth he hadn’t seen for a very long time. Perhaps their relationship wasn’t as damaged as Archer had feared. “Are you kiddin’ me? If you didn’t spend as much time as ya did in the situation room we might not be this far. By focusin’ on this mission you were helpin’. The closer we get to stoppin’ these people from killin’ off humanity the better I’ll feel.” Archer could hear anger in his voice… but he understood the man’s pain. Loosing someone was never easy. And to loose someone you’re so close as was the case with Trip and Lizzie was even worse. It would be awhile before Trip was able to get passed his anger.

“Thanks.” Both men smiled at each other.

“I should be thankin’ you, sir. You don’t owe me a thank you.”

Archer’s smile grew. “Yes I do. Trip, you were willing to die to save Enterprise. You stopped me from fighting them… and even though I would have done it, I know you were right.”

Trip was looking down in that moment. Archer could tell he was trying to stop from tearing up. “I’d die again and again if it would save the people I love.”

Archer nodded. “I know Trip. I know.”

==

The Xindi moved to look at the doctor before him frowning. “Well? Is the Trellium D completely out of her system? Did it cause any damage?”

“All damage has been corrected. She may still feel some lingering emotions that she cannot control for the rest of the day… perhaps some of tomorrow as well. But the Trellium D is out of her system. She will live.”

The Xindi nodded slowly. “Tell me when she wakes. I want to talk to her again.”

That seemed to catch the doctor’s attention immediately. “What will you use now… since the Trellium D is out of her system?” he asked Tarvin. The Xindi looked at his companion and smiled.

“Judge Corrow has introduced me into… some very… interesting new drugs. They were used on the human Commander Tucker. He claims they were quite affective. I wish to see for myself,” the smile on Tarvin grew as the doctor looked back down at the Vulcan.

“I see. Well don’t expect me to correct all the damage after you’re through with her… I have better things to do than help this creature,” the doctor told him with a sigh.

The Xindi gave the doctor a smug look before saying; “Doctor… when I am through with her there will be no need for you to correct all the damage. When this is over with she will die… because I will have no more use for her.”

==

Ambassador Vassion and Guard Kalore moved through the woods once more towards the people waiting for them. Commander Tucker was the first to stand when he saw them coming. “Well?” the young human asked. Vassion smiled.

“I believe we have found a way in, Commander. But it will not be easy to elude the Xindi taking guard. We will only have a few seconds to slip in,” Vassion reported.

Captain Archer smiled. “A few seconds should be enough… hopefully. Where is this way in?”

Kalore and Vassion looked back where they had come. Kalore then moved to look at the two men. “You’ll have to follow me,” Kalore told them. The two humans nodded then looked back at the others. Silently telling them to come and follow them. At that they were off.

==

There were two teams. Trip, Archer and Vassion were on one team while Kalore, Hayes and the other Roelorians were the other team. Trip, Archer and Vassion were in charge of finding T’Pol while the other team was in charge of finding the information on the weapon and saving it to a small disk for Enterprise. Just for backup each team was given the disk though Trip. Archer and Vassion weren’t going to look for the information… if there was a chance the other team failed they had to be ready. Kalore and Vassion stopped outside the base while everyone watched silently at the doors before them.

“So what exactly is your plan?” Trip asked in confusion. Kalore and Vassion looked back at him.

“There are only a few guards here at this entrance way. We already found our two teams… my team will fight these guards while you get in… when we’re finished with the other guards we’ll go in ourselves and then we can go from there. Although we need to get this information your crewmate is more important. My team can divert the guards to focus on us while you find your friend,” Kalore explained. Trip smiled at him. Kalore seemed to want to save T’Pol as much as the rest of them… perhaps because of their earlier conversation. They all nodded at each other.

Archer gave Kalore and Hayes a slight smile. “Good luck guys.”

Kalore and Hayes smiled back. “You too,” said Hayes.

“May the gods help us have victory,” added Kalore. Trip and Archer smiled at each other then nodded before the two teams split up and began with their plan.

==

Trip Tucker was breathing harder than ever as he leaned on the side of the wall. The other team fought the Xindi, giving the first team a good diversion in order to find T’Pol without too much of a problem. The other team had gotten the Xindi’s attention. Archer, Trip and Vassion weren’t noticed. They hid behind the wall until all the Xindi soldiers were gone. Trip closed his eyes tight, and then opened them up again. Once everyone was gone they ran as fast as they could through the doorway while the second team was going the other way, a bunch of Xindi soldiers right behind them but soon they had to stop when they noticed there were three different tunnels. “Which way?” Trip asked Archer and Vassion.

No one said a word for a second, as both Archer and Vassion seemed to think hard. Finally, with a sigh Vassion said, “We’ll have to split up.”

“Is that the only way? There could be more Xindi watching T’Pol… are you sure it’s a good idea?” Archer asked Vassion. Trip said nothing as he looked straight ahead. The tunnel before him seemed to be almost calling his name. T’Pol was in there. He knew it. T’Pol was through that way, but he said nothing. He couldn’t know for sure.

“It’s the only way we can find her as fast as we need to find her. We must do this. We each have a weapon… we should be fine if we know how to point and shoot,” Vassion said with a smile.

Archer slowly nodded then looked at Trip and said with a sigh, “Well, Trip? Pick.”

Trip looked straight ahead once again. “I’ll go this way.” He pointed to where his eyes were then looked at the other two men.

“I’ll take the right then,” said the captain.

“Then, I suppose I’m going left,” Vassion muttered as the three men went their ways. Each praying that he would find what he were looking for.

Continue to Chapter 13

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