"Precious Cargo" By Alelou Rating: PG-13 Disclaimer: All things Star Trek belongs to CBS/Paramount. Genre: Adventure, Missing Scenes, Angst, Trip/T'Pol Description: Missing scenes from Season Two. Author's Note: Okay, so I wrote a missing TnT scene with Malcolm and Travis instead of T'Pol. But she's kind of in it anyway. Diehard TnT romantics are probably going to be upset at me for this one, but I think Trip needed this. Warning for non-explicit sexual content. After one very tense trip home in a crowded shuttle pod, one very tense debriefing, and one absolutely heaven-sent hot shower, Trip was sitting in the mess hall eating a long-overdue breakfast with two very annoying friends. "You are jumping to a conclusion you shouldn't be jumping to," Trip said.  "As I already explained, my uniform was off because we needed to create a decoy -- so the Retellian would shoot it instead of me.  Not to mention Kaitaama told me the Palace Guard would cut my hand off if I so much as touched her.  I'm an engineer.  I need my hands." "Yes, for so many things," Malcolm said.  "Methinks he doth protest too much.  What do you think, Travis?" "I think he looks awfully relaxed," Travis said, with one of his grins. "You don't know what you're talking about," Trip said.  He could feel his face getting hot.  "You're blushing," Malcolm said.  "Also, you keep smiling when you think nobody can see you." "That's not true!" Malcolm waggled his eyebrows.  "And then of course there was the smell." Trip felt a twinge of misgiving.  "What are you talking about?  There was no smell!"  "Sub-Commander T'Pol was definitely sniffing something," Malcolm said.  "I could see her nostrils flaring.  She looked rather upset about it, too."  "That's ridiculous.  If she was sniffing anything it was all the methane from that swamp.  And Vulcans don't get upset." "She was upset all right," Malcolm said.  "She was giving you the Vulcan Death Stare.  I thought she might just take out her phase pistol and shoot you." Trip scowled.  "She wasn't upset - which is impossible - she just had her usual stick up her ass.  I already got the lecture about maintaining proper diplomatic relations, as if I didn't happen to manage a first contact with the royal family of Krios Prime just fine without any of her advice and guidance.  I can't help it if she always thinks the worst of me in every situation.  Maybe she just needs to ..."  He stopped suddenly, a little horrified at what he'd been about to say. "She just needs to what?" Malcolm said, with a glint in his eye. He'd been about to say that maybe T'Pol just needed to get laid.  But that was an awful thing to say.  Plus, it would be a kind of backwards admission of what had just, gloriously, happened to him.  "Nothing.  Forget it." But Malcolm clearly sensed weakness and went in for the kill.  "You think maybe she needs to do something that will leave her feeling as relaxed as you do right now?" "I don't feel relaxed at all with you two harassing me!" "I wonder if there'd be any way to tell if the Sub-Commander was ever relaxed in that way?" Malcolm mused.  "Would she have a glow?  Princess Kaitaama has a glow." "That's just her natural complexion," Trip said.  "She's Kriosan.  They glow." "But you're not Kriosan," Travis said.  "And you're glowing." "Shut up, Travis," Trip said.  Once again he could feel his face turning hot.  "I had a shower, that's all." Malcolm grinned.  "We're just happy for you, Trip." "And a little jealous," Travis added. Trip said, "I don't want to hear another word!  I'll make it an order if I have to." His friends smirked at each other, shrugged, and went back to their meals. Trip stared down at what little was left of his giant plate of scrambled eggs and bacon.  They were right, of course.  He was having a very hard time not smiling.     Because he, Charles 'Trip' Tucker III, a man of very simple origins, had rescued himself and a royal princess from a bad situation using nothing but his own ingenuity, and then he'd made hot, dirty, sweaty love to said princess, who had clearly enjoyed every minute of it. And thanked him for it afterwards. Damn, but he felt good.    END   (Tip:  If you want to see T'Pol and Trip actually fighting it out with each other over the events of this episode, you could go read my old story No Lasting Effects, which takes a rather different approach.)  Next installment: Catwalk.

Like it? Hate it? Just want to point out a typo? Join the discussion now.

Disclaimer: Star Trek in all its various forms and its characters are the property of CBS/Paramount. No copyright infringement is intended by the authors of this site, which is solely for the purpose of entertainment and is not for profit. This site is owned by CX and was opened to the public in February 2008.