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"All Things Aside"
Rating: PG Age Old Battle (5) It was an almost unbearable silence, had she found such things to be unbearable. With one eyebrow lifted, she refused to look away from her captain’s cross expression. Trip and Reed stood on either side of him with their arms crossed in defiance. They reminded her of the staunch bookends her mother had used. But if she allowed herself to be truthful about the situation, she was irritated. Five years ago she wouldn’t have noticed or acknowledged the irritation, but since overcoming her addiction to the Terllium-D, this was just one of many emotions that refused to be repressed. She was, however, able to keep the emotions hidden behind calm masks, as she was doing now. And what irritated her the most, was that the three men refused to believe the potential peril of their decision and had been arguing with her logical rebuttals for over twenty minutes. “It’s soft here,” Archer stated. “Captain, this is an unwise location to set up camp,” T’Pol repeated for the thirteenth time. Not that she was counting. “Surely you must be able to see that.” Ensign Cutler and Hoshi stood behind her and Cutler was counting the number of times T’Pol had repeated the same argument. “Thirteen,” Cutler muttered. “Hoshi, stun me, please.” Hoshi curled her lips in to keep from snickering. “How can you be so sure this is a dangerous place to camp?” Trip snapped. Finally, one of them had enough sense to admit they didn’t know. Patiently, T’Pol explained, “There are several indicators that we have come to a region during its wet season. This is clearly a dry streambed, and if there were a sudden cloudburst or a lengthy rain at a higher elevation, this area could prove fatal, or, at the very least, uncomfortable. Surely with your experience camping, sir, you understand this.” Archer lifted his chin just slightly, a sign of defiance. “I’m sleeping right here,” Malcolm informed her, “in the sand, where it’s soft, and not stony.” T’Pol opened her mouth to repeat her ‘unwise’ statement, but Ensign Cutler cut her off when she laid her hand on T’Pol’s arm. “T’Pol, will ya give it up already? You’re fighting a war that has been waged since the dawn of man. Literally, actually. You’re beating your head against a wall here. Let the boys play down here in the streambed. Us sensible ladies will go camp up on the bank. If it doesn’t rain, all the power to the boys. If it does… ” Ensign Cutler smiled smugly at the men. “They’ll have some apologizing to do.” “I just got snubbed by an ensign!” Archer said, looking back at Trip and Malcolm. “You should order her to latrine duty, sir,” Malcolm suggested. “For a month!” Trip added. T’Pol ignored the human banter and tried again to argue her case. “Captain, I can provide you with data to verify—” “Let’s go, T’Pol,” Hoshi snapped, cutting her off. T’Pol guessed that she’d reached the end of her patience with this debate, which slightly annoyed T’Pol. She was trying to protect her captain and crewmen from a potentially dangerous situation. She didn’t care that she had been doing so for twenty minutes, it was too important to leave. T’Pol turned to inform Hoshi of this and had her backpack shoved into her chest. “Elizabeth and I are leaving. If you want to argue with them until you’re blue in the face… I mean green in the face, fine, but we’re leaving. And if you’re as intelligent as you think you are, you’ll listen to Liz because men just don’t listen, even when it’s in their best interest,” Hoshi informed her. “Like right now.” “Excuse me!?” Trip squawked. “She should get latrine duty, too, sir,” Malcolm told him “All of the senior officer bathrooms, starting with mine.” Archer chuckled. T’Pol looked back at the three men, realizing Hoshi was right. Their stubbornness was keeping their feet firmly planted here, regardless of what she said. T’Pol wrestled her pack on, watching the two women walk toward the steep bank behind them. T’Pol caught up to them and they started up the bank together. “They should not camp down there,” T’Pol told the two. “You two should have helped me convince them for their own safety.” “Did you really not see you were beating your head against the wall?” Cutler asked her. “I beg your pardon?” “T’Pol, you were fighting a loosing battle,” Hoshi said as the three continued to climb. “Let it go already!” Trip’s laughter reached them and T’Pol glanced back. The three were setting up their camp, most likely telling inappropriate jokes. That seemed to be something human men did frequently when they were off ship, and it brought a question to T’Pol’s mind. “What war were you referring to back there, Ensign Cutler?” T’Pol asked. “The battle of the sexes!” “You said it’s been going on for a long time, and yet, I have not heard of it. Is it strictly a human war? Have not humans sworn off war?” Hoshi and Ensign Cutler both laughed. “It’s more of a metaphor, T’Pol,” Hoshi explained, “but it’s been going on since the dawn of time.” “I do not comprehend this metaphor. Or why you would refer to it as a war.” The two women laughed, but T’Pol noticed the warmth in it. They weren’t laughing at her, but something about the remark amused them. “Regardless T’Pol,” Hoshi stopped, looking back at her. “You just engaged in it. And you lost. But it’s only a battle, not the war.” “I do not understand.” Hoshi stopped, laying her hand on T’Pol’s shoulder. “You still have soooo much to learn about us humans, but I bet you’ll figure it out before you die. As a matter of fact, I’m sure of it. And I’d really like to get camp set up before dark. Who knows what comes out after the sun goes down around here.” Hoshi gently patted T’Pol’s shoulder before turning to continue the climb. T’Pol considered pointing out that the canvas of the tent wouldn’t likely save her from anything ravenous, but then decided not to. In reality, she was actually bored with arguing. Years ago she wouldn’t have admitted to having an argument or being bored, but that was years ago, wasn’t it? T’Pol leaned forward and continued climbing. She didn’t want to think about how her foolishness had forever changed her for the good and bad. # Lightening ripped opened the sky with blinding white light, and was chased by a chorus of thunder. With light and sound introducing it, rain began to fall heavy on the tent. Somewhere just outside the flap something was catching the rain and letting it drip down on something metal and hallow. The sound woke Hoshi. She looked at the tent wall when another bolt of lightening ripped the night open and a small smile came over her lips when the smell of wet ground began to seep into the tent. She closed her eyes, sliding back toward sleep when the tent flap ripped open, startling her and Cutler awake. Archer and Trip tumbled in, hastily closing the flap behind them. “Wha— What’s wrong?” Hoshi said, lifting up on an elbow. Ensign Cutler lifted up on her elbows. “Wha’s goin’n?” Trip swallowed and answered, “The rain just let loose and suddenly we were three centimeters in water.” “Reeeeaaaally?” Hoshi said. “Hey Liz, ya hear that? They were in three centimeters of water.” “And in their nice, cushy, not stoney stream bed. What a shame for the men.” In the next flash of light, revealed Cutler and Hoshi smug smiles. “So it’s safe to assume you were both wrong, sirs?” Ensign Cutler asked. “Shut up, Ensign!” Trip and Archer both snapped. Archer moved, pushing the end of Hoshi’s sleeping bag off her leg as he sat down. “You’re dripping on my leg, Captain Archer!” Hoshi growled, curling her leg under the sleeping bag. “That would be because we’re both soaked to the bone, Hoshi!” Trip snapped at her. Archer smiled, even though no one could see it. The minute he woke up in water he knew Hoshi and Cutler wouldn’t let them down so lightly. Not after how hard he, Malcolm and Trip had fought with T’Pol that what did happen, wouldn’t happen. “And you deserve it!” Hoshi shot back. “T’Pol warned you. She gave you ample warning. And what did you do, you ignored her. You could have ended up dead.” “You know, you can be real lippy!” “That’s because—” “Trip, Hoshi,” Archer said. He started laughing. Hoshi’s communicator beeped and when the lighting flashed she spotted her uniform and pulled it out. “Hoshi here.” “Did the Captain and Commander Tucker make it to your tent?” “Water and all. Yeah.” “I gather their sleeping arrangements proved inadequate as I forewarned?” “I don’t know. Let me ask. Captain, was your sleeping arrangements inadequate or just soaking wet?” Hoshi gasped when cold water splattered across her face, neck and chest. Archer’s hand snatched the communicator away. “Yes, T’Pol, it was inadequate. We’ll have to go back in the morning and get our equipment. And for the record, you were right.” “Of course,” T’Pol said. Archer could have sworn he heard a hint of arrogance in that remark. “Good night, T’Pol.” “Good night, sir.” “I’m not sharing my sleeping bag with either of you,” Cutler told them. A wet shirt landed on her face. |
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