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"May the Wind Be at Our Backs"
by Lady Rainbow
Rating: PG-13 The Vulcans are different from the canon universe. They have their own agenda. This is the next to the last chapter. Please let me know what you think of this story. (I haven’t written anything this long before. “Warrior Souls” went up to Chapter 12). And if you have any ideas for other stories in the “Switcheroo Series” (like the story about how Trip and Soval met each other), PM me and I’ll see what I can do. LOL :) And thanks, as usual, goes to Pesterfield:) Sixteen T’Pol supported her mother’s weight as they staggered down the halls of the Science Academy. The lights flashed once, then went black. The only sources of light came from the emergency beacons that glowed along the ceiling. They heard a harsh voice on the speakers, warning all students and teachers to remain in their classrooms and labs until further notice. T’Pol glanced up as grinding gears echoed from the end of the hall, then banging noises like thunder. “The security measures have activated,” T’Les answered her unspoken question. “The lifts are all locked down. T’Pau’s squads should be present shortly.” T’Pol shook her head and said, “Mother, if T’Marui had means of controlling you, what about T’Pau? Or V’Lar? Or Soval? We might not have anyone to support us.” “Which makes it imperative that we find V’Lar.” T’Les straightened up from her daughter’s grasp. “I feel more stable, T’Pol. Thank you. V’Lar is waiting in there, in my office.” They paused in front of the closed office door. T’Les tapped out her security code, but nothing happened. She raised her eyebrow and tried again, with the same result. “I have been locked out.” “V’Lar is in there. We must open this door!” T’Pol took one side, T’Les the other, and together, both women pried the door open with brute force. Somehow, they managed to open a gap wide enough for them to slip through. T’Les nodded for T’Pol to enter first, and she did. T’Pol pushed her way through the foyer to the main part of the office, but she stopped short at the sight of T’Les’s desk. T’Marui looked up at her, not lifting her fingers that were clamped onto V’Lar’s temple. “I trusted you, T’Pol,” she hissed. “I thought you were beginning to understand. Now you can watch as I destroy your godmother and mentor.” A grim smile touched her lips. “And after her, then comes you.” A harsh whisper took both of them by surprise. “No.” Then V’Lar acted with a strength that belied her dignified frame. With an effort, she threw herself forward into T’Marui. The scientist cried out as she lost her balance, but her hands remained glued onto V’Lar’s temple. T’Les seized T’Marui by the shoulders while T’Pol grabbed V’Lar by her upper arms. The madness ends here, V’Lar thought. You have failed, T’Marui, and you will live with the knowledge of your failure. No! T’Marui’s nails dug into V’Lar skin. If I die, you will go with me. T’Pol felt V’Lar weakening under the onslaught. Rage had given T’Marui strength unmatched even by a regular Vulcan. She and T’Les were not going to be enough...in desperation, she screamed out for help, from any quarter...and found it, through the strength of many different minds that had answered her call. She accepted strength that swelled from the ranks of the Vulcan Science Academy; somewhere in the wave was T’Pau, and T’Les, and faintly, ever so faintly through the family bond, was Soval... And to her utter shock, there were other minds as well...Malcolm? Trip? Jonathan? T’Pol allowed a surge of joy as she realized that Enterprise, and Columbia too, were above Vulcan, helping to defend her planet from T’Marui’s revolutionaries...But how? The answer came to her: Malcolm, through his connection with her and T’Les. Jonathan and Trip, through their friendships with Soval... They provided the strength, but T’Pol had to wield it. So she took that strength and channeled it into a single pulse and sent it through T’Marui. All of it, for she couldn’t control how fast it flowed, only its direction. The shriek echoed, rebounded again and again, then it stopped, abruptly. T’Pol opened her eyes to find an exhausted V’Lar leaning back against her, and an equally drained T’Les holding them both from complete collapse. T’Pol reached out for T’Marui...and found nothing. Join with me, T’Pol, we all need the healing meld...Warmth suffused through T’Pol, bathing psychic channels scraped raw from the tremendous power, and before she gave herself up to it, she thought she heard a voice whisper, Well done, and a second voice added on its heels, Take care, darlin’. Jonathan Archer blinked as awareness came back to him. What the hell just happened? He had heard a cry coming from somewhere close and he had automatically turned towards where it had come from, but he only saw the bridge crew at their stations, and then the voice seemed to rise in pitch and some instinct kicked in and told him, Reach out...For a brief instant, he thought he could sense others with him, Soval? T’Pol? Trip? Then just as suddenly, the gate snapped shut, leaving him shaken and confused. “Lieutenant Archer? Report!” Jon fumbled for the transtator in his ear and managed to reply in a normal tone. “The transports are relaying some sort of signal, Captain, from the planet's surface. It’s as if they’re bouncing it and strengthening it at the same time, like a radio wave—“ “Where are they aiming it?” Hoshi demanded. Jon exchanged confused glanced with Travis Mayweather at the science station. “”Deep space, Captain, heading two-two-zero mark seven one.” “What? There isn’t anything out there!” The captain sounded as baffled as they felt. “Why are they sending a signal in that direction?” “Reinforcements, maybe?” Lieutenant Trace asked. “But from where?” “Message from Columbia,” Jon interrupted. “The transports have broken formation and one of them is headed straight for Columbia.” Lieutenant Trace added, “One’s coming towards us at full impulse. The last two are headed for the Vulcan ships—“ The deck rocked as the transport fired a laser beam that impacted against the defense fields around Enterprise. “Return fire, disable their engines only—“ Hoshi ordered. “Aye, Captain, firing...hit on their aft engines, they’re coming about for another pass—“ A flash of light erupted from starboard as Commander V’Krus’s destroyer fired its missiles. They struck one of the transports dead-on, opening it up into a blossom of light. Minutes later, the second transport collided with the S’tranek, slicing through the destroyer’s shields and impacting against its hull. Both ships dissolved in a tremendous explosion. “Kamikaze runs!” Hoshi shouted. “Helm, evasive! Aim torpedoes and fire!” The same realization had struck Captain Hayes and both phase cannons and torpedoes lashed out from Columbia, stopping their attacker in its tracks. A shrill shriek pierced through the com system and Jon yanked the earpiece out of his ear. A minute later, Enterprise’s shots hit their target. “Hang on!” Hoshi yelled, as debris pounded the ship. Security Minister T’Pau wanted to be out there with her troops, fighting back T’Marui’s followers as they wrestled over key buildings in Shi’Kahr. Logic dictated that the Security Ministry couldn’t afford to lose their highest-ranking officer in a skirmish, so she stayed here in the Command Center. Reports poured in from all over the planet; Sura’Kahr and Shi’Kurin were back under the control of the High Command, and other cities and settlements were quickly falling back in line. Still, it should not have been this close to disaster. It should not have happened at all. T’Pau clamped down her rising anger and forced herself to issue her orders coldly, efficiently, just as the Security Minister of Vulcan should. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. One of her lieutenants kept her appraised of the space battle kilometers above her head. When she heard that the S’tranek had been destroyed, she only nodded and continued to listen to the outcomes of the other battles. She felt her attention wander for a brief moment, thought she heard T’Pol cry out in anguish, and immediately reached out for her. There was a fluttering sensation, as if she had imbibed a whole liter of Andorian ale at once, and then she was with T’Pol, T’Les, and V’Lar...and Soval and...others she knew and didn’t know... Doctor Reed? Yes, the Human doctor was there, and so was Jonathan Archer, Soval’s assistant—no, he was on the Earth vessel now—and a third Human, one she had never met, but had heard about. Fascinating, T’Pau thought. I had no idea... Then the moment had passed, so quickly that none of her lieutenants had seen her lapse. She blinked as the news came: All of the transports had been destroyed, one by Captain Sato’s Enterprise, the other by Captain Hayes’s Columbia, one by the unfortunate S’tranek , which had been destroyed by the fourth transport. And T’Marui’s compatriots had been routed and were now fleeing in disarray. “Shall we pursue?” asked one of her men. T’Pau briefly considered sparing the rebels, but decided against it. Better for T’Marui’s poisonous hatred and madness to die here, forever. Vulcan couldn’t afford to have them regroup and return, stronger than ever. She had already made too many tactical mistakes to last her a lifetime. She steeled her conscience and gave the order. |
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