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"Mirage" by A. Rhea King
Rating: PG
February 24 : Enterprise, Bridge Trip walked onto the bridge hearing T’Pol and Hoshi giggling and gossiping. Again. ‘Those two crones are going to drive the Cap’n and me to drinking!’ Trip shook his head as he sat down in front of the engineering monitors to work. He didn’t see Travis look anxiously at the women and then him. “Sir,” Travis said. Trip looked up. “Yeah? “Could you find someone to relieve me for a break?” Travis motioned toward Hoshi and T’Pol’s with his eyes. “I really need one.” Trip looked at the women. “Hoshi,” Trip said. Hoshi looked up. “Yes, sir?” “You have two hours of your shift left, right?” “Yes.” “What do you have left to do?” “Reports, sir.” “Finish them in your quarters.” Trip turned back to the monitors. Hoshi and T’Pol looked at each other. “Trip--” T’Pol started. “That’s an order, Hoshi,” Trip commanded. Hoshi obeyed. Trip finished what he was doing and walked to the lift. T’Pol jumped to her feet and stopped him before he reached the lift controls. She glared at him, her face clouded with anger and detest. He held her glare, his face a cool mask hiding his anger. Travis watched the confrontation with growing concern. “I am your senior officer,” T’Pol told him. “You will confer with me before sending any crewman off the bridge.” “You may have been my senior officer before you lost you mind, but you sure as hell ain’t one now, so the hell if you think I’m conferring with you on anything!” “You just can’t stand a woman with a mind of her own, can you, Commander Tucker?” “WHAT!?” Travis turned and tapped his companel. “Mayweather to Archer.” “Go ahead,” Archer replied. “Sir, you had better come out here. There’s a problem,” Travis told him. “On my way,” Archer said. Travis turned back around. T’Pol stepped closer to Trip, putting her hands on her hips. “Just admit it.” “I’m not admitting to a lie, T’Pol.” “Why did you send Hoshi off the bridge then? If you weren’t trying to be a control freak?” “Because you don’t seem to get how annoying it is when you two are sitting over there gossiping! This is the bridge, not the mess hall.” “If it was a problem, Captain Archer would have brought it to my attention, Commander!” “Maybe he’s just hoping you’ll come to your senses and realize you’re a Vulcan!” Trip jabbed. “I AM HUMAN!” “If you’re human, I’m a horse’s ass.” “You called it.” “You bit--” From behind Trip, a voice quietly said, “Trip.” “BUTT OUT OF THIS--” Trip spun around. His anger instantly deflated when he found Archer was standing behind him. A tight, “Sir,” escaped as he hastily pulled himself to attention. T’Pol quickly stood at rigid attention next to Trip. Archer looked from one to the other, remaining silent until their nervousness started to show. “T’Pol, return to your duties,” Archer quietly ordered. “Permission to speak freely, sir,” T’Pol requested. “Denied. Return to your duties, T’Pol.” She hesitated before returning to her station. “Commander, you’re expected in engineering. You probably ought to go straight down there and stay to the end of your shift.” “Yes, sir.” Trip turned and left the bridge. Archer walked over to helm and leaned on it. Travis guiltily looked up at him. “What happened?” Archer asked him. “Commander Tuck--” T’Pol started. “I was not addressing you, T’Pol, understood?” “Yes, sir.” “Travis?” “I asked for a break.” “You’re not scheduled for one.” Travis looked at the controls. “Permission to speak freely, sir?” “If you feel comfortable doing so.” Archer glanced at T’Pol. She was watching Travis. “Or we can go into my ready room.” Travis sighed. “It’s all right, sir. Look, I’m not trying to take sides, but it’s really hard to do my job when there are people sitting on the bridge talking like they’re in the mess hall, and with the same color of humor too. It’s very distracting.” “I agree. Which is why it will be quiet for the remainder of the day, correct, T’Pol?” “Yes, sir,” she quietly replied. Archer turned and went back into his ready room. When Travis snuck a glance at T’Pol he found silent tears were running down her face. He said nothing, deciding he’d done enough damage for one day. But it made him realize how much he really missed the old T’Pol. April 1 : Arid Planet, Shuttle Pod She woke with a start. Outside the wind blew hard, throwing gravel against the hull with a lonely howl. Static came out of the companel and her attention focused on it, but she didn’t attempt to move. Her headache made her head feel like it weighed hundreds of kilograms. She laid her hand on her chest. Every breath was agonizing and she couldn’t get a full breath. She heard faint voices come through the static and looked back toward helm. “Doctor, what do I do? T’Pol is barely responding,” a woman’s voice asked. “Keep her talking until you get here,” another man’s voice replied. T’Pol closed her eyes. “Cold,” T’Pol whispered to the voices, “I’m so cold. The voices faded into static and T’Pol slipped back into unconsciousness. February 25 : Enterprise, Captain’s Ready Room T’Pol walked into Archer’s ready room. Hoshi stood next to the door, staring at the floor. Trip was at the furthest window, his back to her. Archer sat on the end of his desk, arms crossed across his chest and staring at the floor. “You requested to see me, Captain?” “You’re dismissed, Hoshi,” Archer said. Hoshi turned, holding T’Pol’s gaze. She opened her mouth to speak. “Your dismissal was not optional, Hoshi,” Archer ordered. Hoshi quickly left. Archer looked at T’Pol. “We need to talk about your conduct.” “I apologize for my behavior yesterday, Captain. I didn’t mean for it to get so out of hand. It won’t happen again.” Archer sighed. “T’Pol, until that snake bit you, you never behaved like this.” “I’m sorry. I’ll be more conservative while on duty, sir.” “Sorry seems to be your word of trade lately and after several complaints from crewmen, I’ve come to my wits end.” Archer stood. “I’m reassigning your duties and you will remain in Sickbay or your quarters until Doctor Phlox can cure you, or we reach Vulcan, whichever happens first.” T’Pol grew somber. “Why are you doing this to me?” “Because we’re worried about you, T’Pol. I know you think this is how you’ve always been, but it’s not. You never sat on the bridge and gossiped or smiled or laughed or joked.” T’Pol looked down, anger darkening her face. “Report to Sickbay. Doctor Phlox is expect--” “Have you ever thought maybe that’s why I don’t remember anything, Captain?” T’Pol snapped. “I was boring!” Archer couldn’t help but smile. He nodded. “You were a little boring, yes, but we’d come to expect it. We all depended on you when things got tense because you never flew off the handle like we humans do.” “I’m human.” “You’re Vulcan.” “I am human!” “You are a Vulcan, T’Pol. You aren’t, and never were, in any way, human.” A tear rolled down her cheek. “And you want that Vulcan back, don’t you?” “Yes.” “You want her back because she’s who you prefer.” Archer walked up to T’Pol, holding her gaze and in a strained, angry voice he told her, “I will only tell you this once, T’Pol, so listen very, very carefully. My interest in you was as a friend before you were bit, and less than that now. You loved someone once; maybe you should consider that before you do something foolish.” T’Pol looked at Trip and then back at Archer, starting to cry. “I am not her! I’m not doing any more tests!” T’Pol backed toward the door. “So you can choose, Captain Archer; you can reprimand me or you can pretend we never had this conversation, but I am not doing any more tests!” T’Pol slapped the controls and bolted. Archer closed his eyes. He reached out and tapped his companel. “Archer to security.” “Go ahead, sir,” Malcolm answered. “Find T’Pol and escort her to her quarters. She is to remain there until instructed otherwise. Post two guards outside her door.” There was a pause. Malcolm sounded sad when he replied. “Right away, sir.” March 2 : T’Pol’s Quarters Archer and Trip ran through the halls and could hear T’Pol screaming as they got closer. The two MACOs posted at her room had caught her a hall from her quarters and the men struggled to keep her from getting away. The two men joined them, and the four fought getting her back in her quarters. “Pin her to the floor,” Archer ordered. “Phlox is on his way.” “LET ME GO! I WANNA TAKE A WALK!” T’Pol screamed. No one listened to her. Archer looked back when the door opened and Phlox came in. He walked around to her head, making an adjustment on hypospray in his hand. “Hold her head to the side,” Phlox ordered as he kneeled. “No! No!” T’Pol cried. She started crying, begging, “Please, Doctor! I just wanna take a walk!” Phlox didn’t respond to her pleas. He leaned in and injected her. Within seconds she was asleep. Trip picked her up and put her in her bunk. He pulled a blanket over her as he sat down on the edge. Archer turned to the guards. One had five long scratches down his cheek. “Stevens, have Phlox patch up that scratch. Simmons, return to your post.” The guards and Phlox left the room. Archer looked back at Trip, wondering what was going through his mind. “Trip, I--” Trip stood and stormed out. March 13 : Enterprise, Bridge It had been a quiet morning since the away team had left to explore the Menshara moon below them. Hoshi, Trip, and Malcolm worked at their stations around Archer. Time had escaped Archer as he read news from home, the most important about his water polo team’s latest victory. It was a distraction from the situation with T’Pol. She had become completely unpredictable as she tried to devise ways to escape them. Archer longed to have the old T’Pol back. Hoshi turned to Archer. “Travis is hailing for you, sir” “Put him through.” Archer looked up. “Captain!” Travis sounded out of breath. “What’s wrong?” Archer stood up from the captain’s chair. “Sir, T’Pol stowed away in the upper airlock. She jumped us when she landed and took off.” “Phlox had her in Sickbay.” “Well she wasn’t when she jumped us down here, sir!” Archer tapped the companel on his chair. “Security, go check on Phlox. Travis, is anyone hurt?” “I don’t know, I think she just stunned crewman Shipper.” “She’s armed? “Yes!” Archer sighed, looking down. “Where are you at?” “We’re in the shuttle pod.” “Hold your position, we’re on our way. Archer out. Trip, Malcolm, you’re with me.” The two men followed Archer onto the lift. |
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