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"Future Present, Future Past" by Lady Rainbow Rating: PG-13 In “May the Wind Be at Our Backs”, High Minister V’Lar had allowed Commander Phlox access to “pulse emitters” that can penetrate shields without draining them completely. Phlox tried to implement them to rescue T’Pol, but it wasn’t successful. In this chapter, T’Pau and T’Pol have a “discussion” about the dangers of sharing information among species (not limited to technology). Twelve “I told him I’m ready for duty.” He tried to focus on Reed’s reply, something about Phlox and "mother hens", but the brick on his chest was getting heavier and heavier. Damn, it was getting hard to breathe, but he fought to stay conscious. A sense of dread nagged at him: He was afraid that if he closed his eyes, he might not open them again. MACOs were never afraid. “Sorry, Matt, but you know, as well as I do, that’s a bunch of bull.” “What?” He thought that he heard Hoshi Sato’s gentle, teasing voice. Hoshi? Was she—? He managed to ask the question, “How’s Ensign Sato?” Reed glanced at Phlox and the doctor said, “Her biosigns are stable.” “Thank you for bringing her home,” Reed said. He tried to smile. “All in a day’s work,” he replied, but the joke fell flat. Matt knew Lieutenant Reed cared more for Hoshi than he was willing to admit. Maybe if things had been different, if Matt Hayes hadn’t been so dedicated to other things...it didn’t matter now. Matt’s eyes grew heavy, but he fought with whatever energy he had left. He remembered the exact time he had fallen for Hoshi: that first time when she’d joined him and his men for lunch, and she’d guessed Kemper’s origin just by his “inflections.” “Ensign Sato is a linguist. Give her enough time and she could probably tell you which street you grew up on,” he’d told a bemused Kemper. Hoshi had grinned and blushed slightly as Romero and Chang laughed. Matt had returned the grin as he looked into her deep brown eyes and... He opened his mouth to tell Reed to take care of Hoshi, his Hoshi, but he decided to spare Reed the pain. The lieutenant was in love with her too. Maybe Reed would take care of her, since he couldn’t. And there were others he needed to think about at this moment... Instead, he whispered, “Use McKenzie. She knows the team. Rely on her.” “Stop that talk. That's an order.” Matt tried to say more, but the brick on his chest exploded, the agonizing heat ripped into his heart and all went black. He fell, weightless, into the abyss, screaming her name, then... His eyes snapped open and he gasped for air. A hand gripped his, while others held him down. God, his chest hurt like hell; that brick was still there. Then, just as abruptly, the brick disappeared into nothing at all. His hearing came back with a roar, and he heard the reassuring beep of sensors over the biobed. Biobed? He was in Sickbay? “Matt? Matt? You’re safe, you’re home. Relax.” Her voice. He seized on it like the lifeline it was. He turned his head and saw her. Her impeccable braid was starting to come out of its bun and exhaustion showed in her eyes. Immediately, he felt the need to protect her from the shadows, to shield that vulnerability. Hoshi managed a shaky smile and he returned it. “Hoshi?” he rasped, his throat dry. “What—?” Memory came back in a rush and his cheeks flamed as he remembered what he’d nearly done to his own ship. He would have gotten up, but Hoshi pushed him back down on the biobed. “Is everyone all right? Did I—?” “We’re all fine, sir. Luckily, you didn’t do too much damage.” J.T. Daniels chuckled, but it had an embarrassed tone to it. “I’m sorry for, um—“ “I’ll remember that when I have to shoot you in the chest, J.T.,” he growled. “I just might have time to check if it’s on stun.” Daniels and Doctor Arroyo exchanged glances. “He’s back,” Daniels deadpanned, but his eyes betrayed his relief. “And crankier than ever.” “I’ll take ‘cranky’ over a serious case of ‘dead’ any time, J.T.” Hoshi squeezed Matt’s hand. He saw the pain and worry in her eyes and his heart nearly stopped again. “Dammit, that’s the fifth time you’ve scared the hell out of me, Matt. Don’t do that again.” He frowned; he’d definitely had his share of close calls in his Starfleet career, but being a former Armory officer and a member of Starfleet Security made dying an occupational hazard. “Only the fifth?” Rosie Arroyo sighed, her face serious. “You flatlined twice in twenty minutes, Captain. We nearly didn’t get you back the second time. Captain Sato said that if you died, she was going to kill you. I, for one, am glad you listened to her.” “I’m not going to piss off a woman who has a black belt in aikido, Rosie,” Matt said with a chuckle. The adrenaline rush was fading, as so was his awareness. He relaxed back into the pillow and squeezed Hoshi’s hand. “I’ve done it before. I’m gonna try my damnedest not to do it again.” “I’m holding you to that,” Hoshi said. He heard the rustle of movement above him, then Hoshi’s lips on his. Just before he fell back into a healing sleep, he heard someone—maybe it was Major Kemper—say, “I guess those rumors aren’t rumors anymore.” Commander Phlox didn’t need sleep like Humans did; he hibernated for six days a year, but he was acutely aware that his colleagues needed time to rest. He’d had to literally throw both Lieutenants Hess and Rostov out of Engineering and order them five hours’ worth of sleep. He stared at the diagnostics readout, blinked, then stared at them again. A wide grin broke out on his face and he chuckled under his breath. “Jeez, Commander, I hate to tell you this, but your smile really creeps me out,” said Lieutenant Richard Kelby. “Forgive me,” Phlox said, though he didn’t sound sorry, and he widened his smile just for effect. Kelby winced again, and the Denobulan toned down the wattage of his smile. “It looks like we might be able to get the warp engines running ahead of schedule. I want to run one more diagnostic and one more simulation before I inform Captain Sato. Mister Kelby, would you do the honors?” “Sure, Commander,” Kelby replied, not bothering to hide his relief. Phlox turned back to his computer screen and he felt his smile vanish as he assessed the situation. The warp drive is almost fully repaired, but the power flow is sluggish, as if there is some kind of interference. Lieutenant Hess’s diagnostics haven’t found any problems, but apparently it’s been a problem on all of our ships, Human, Andorian, Tellarite and Vulcan, so the problem does not lie within Admiral Archer’s engine. He tapped his chin with the index finger of his left hand, while he brought up schematics with his right hand. It definitely didn’t help that these—Romulans—had boxed them in like a Denobulan fighter-crab trapping its meal. Commander Mayweather had identified at least six of their cloaked ships present, with more on the way. It also didn’t help that they’d been able to beam over incursion teams on both Enterprise and Columbia despite all the starships’ defenses... Wait a moment. Phlox went back within the engineering database and brought up the schematics of the shield pulse emitters. The Vulcans had given them the specs nearly three months before, when Enterprise had helped stop a planetary coup. The emitters could have worked—would have worked—had there not been any interference. The goal was to weaken the shields, but not destroy them. What if the enemy had something similar? Some kind of dampening field that affected ship’s systems? If that was true, then the Romulans had discovered a new weapon that had dire consequences for future encounters. Phlox tapped the communication button. “Phlox to Mayweather.” “Go ahead, Commander.” “I may have found a clue to our power consumption problems. Can you and Lieutenant Trace come down to Engineering? I will need your assistance.” “We’re on our way, Phlox. Mayweather, out.” “The energy signatures are similar,” Travis said, as he compared Phlox’s scans with his own. “That would explain why the fleet can’t warp out of here, now that we’ve got all of our people back.” “It is based on a Vulcan shipboard defense system,” said Ensign T’Pol. She’d insisted on accompanying Travis and Bryan to Engineering, and now Travis was glad she had. Her tone was flat and without emotion, a sure sign that this discovery wasn’t good for the Vulcans. “Apparently, they have resources we have not anticipated.” “They need a lot of ships to pull this off,” Bryan Trace commented. “That’s probably why they called their buddies for backup. If their reinforcements get here, they’ll be strong enough to keep any of us from escaping.” Travis glanced at Phlox. “Can you counteract the dampening effect?” “Given enough time and resources, I can, but I understand we’re under a deadline,” Phlox replied, “and I’ll need the cooperation of all of the ships—“ Bryan winced and said, “After Lieutenant Commander Tucker’s fight with Lieutenant Talas, the Andorians aren’t exactly happy with us. Captain Shran’s the only one who’ll still talk with us.” “Then we will ask Shran for his assistance and I will explain the situation to Minister T’Pau. We must also convince Captain Gral,” T’Pol replied, her tone frosty. “I’ll talk to Gral,” Bryan said. He glanced at Travis. “What about our...visitor? I got the impression he’d might know a thing or two about our unwelcome friends.” T’Pol raised her eyebrows, for no one had told her about Silik’s presence on Enterprise. It was Travis’s turn to wince. “Ask him, but we have to be careful about what he tells us. We still don’t know what his motivations are.” Bryan nodded, as if Travis’s answer confirmed his own suspicions. “Yes, Commander.” “T’Pol, you’ve got the ship systems experience; I want you to stay here with Phlox and puzzle this out. Bryan, talk to Gral, and I’ll let Captain Sato know about what we’re doing.” The impromptu meeting broke up and both Travis and Bryan left Engineering. T’Pol turned to Phlox and said, “I must speak with Minister T’Pau.” “Use my office. I will make sure you aren’t interrupted.” T’Pau listened to her report as she outlined everything she had learned so far. T’Pol noticed the slight tightening of her lips when she heard about the similarity in technologies. It was illogical to feel satisfaction at another’s discomfiture, but T’Pol felt it all the same. She strengthened her shields; the residual swirl of emotions from both Doctor Reed and Lieutenant Commander Tucker was starting to affect her as well. “So Commander Phlox believes he can counter the dampening effect before the enemy reinforcements arrives?” “He believes we can counter it. Each ship must implement the same restart sequence at the same time to activate the countermeasures. The Tellarite and Andorian ships may be of different design, but the basic principles powering them are still the same.” T’Pol raised her eyebrows in a silent challenge. “I suggested to Commander Phlox that it would be more prudent to ask for your assistance, as opposed to simply implement his ideas without your knowledge.” “I am gratified you still consider the political implications of such a joint effort,” T’Pau said, her voice still without inflection. “Sharing our technology is acceptable...within certain limits. Once the Andorians, the Humans and the Tellarites have access to this, we will have to rebuild our own defenses. Have you considered such an outcome?” T’Pol clenched her hands into fists, being careful not to let T’Pau see them. “I have, and I can reassure you that I will assume the responsibility of designing the needed...countermeasures. I recall that it was High Minister V’Lar who had given Commander Phlox access to the shield harmonic data in the first place.” That got a reaction from T’Pau: a nod of grudging agreement. “Yes...desperate times calls for desperate measures.” “Lady T’Pau, I know I have vowed not to reveal certain kinds of...sensitive information before the time is correct, but I suspect that Captain Sato and Lieutenant Archer may suspect the link between the I’Rhiamanau and our new foe. What shall I say, when the inevitable questions arise from them?” Her tone was respectful, as was proper, but T’Pau’s eyes blazed at the silent implication. After a long moment of reflection, T’Pau answered, “Nothing has changed, T’Pol. Do not reveal anything that concerns Vulcan planetary security. If Captain Sato wants answers, refer her to me and I will resolve the matter.” “Of course.” T’Pol bowed her head in agreement. “I will follow your words of advice.” T’Pau nodded again. “Very well, T’Pol. I trust you. Surak, out.” Her image disappeared, but T’Pol regarded the empty screen for a moment. Do you trust me, T’Pau? And even more important, can I trust you? |
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