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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. Pairings: TnT Six Ensign T’Pol wrinkled her nose at the odd smell that permeated the halls. Granted, the starship was on its maiden voyage, but that could not explain it. Lieutenant Commander Tucker, the new Armory Officer, had joked about the “new starship smell” and had completely confused her with the reference. “Is that smell still botherin’ ya?” She glanced at him. Her first impression of him was competent, affable...but loud. Extremely loud. Tucker was the exact opposite of Doctor Reed and a good friend of Lieutenant Jonathan Archer, who had been Soval’s assistant. Archer was as calm and cordial as she remembered, but Tucker...he was “trouble”. Yes, that was Soval’s exact word. Although she was close to Soval, it seemed he had always gone out of his way to make sure she and Tucker had never met before this. Soval must have seen something, but T’Pol couldn’t figure out what it was. She realized he was still waiting for her reply. “Unfortunately, yes. I have never encountered such a stench before.” Tucker frowned and sniffed the air. “Smells okay to me, but you Vulcans have a more acute sense of smell. Maybe you oughta talk to Doctor Reed about a nasal inhibitor, if it continues to be a problem.” “Perhaps I shall.” T’Pol said politely. She adjusted the strap of the personal case over her shoulder and glanced at the numbers on the cabin doors. They stopped at the correct one. “This is mine.” “Home sweet home,” he said as he tapped in his security code. “You’ll have to reprogram it with your own locking code before you leave again, or I’ll have to come back and reset it.” Tucker glanced at her impassive expression. “I know you already know that, but I still gotta say it. It’s written in my contract.” “I understand, Lieutenant Commander. Thank you.” “Call me if you need anything, all right?” “I shall do so, Lieutenant Commander.” He grinned and T’Pol thought, It transforms his entire face. It must be a trick of the overhead lighting. “I’m off-duty and so are you, so call me Trip. ‘Lieutenant Commander’ isn’t my first name.” “And neither is ‘Trip’. I had thought your first name was ‘Charles’.” Her brows knitted in confusion again. He is more exasperating than Jonathan ever was. How can he and Soval be good friends with this man? He rolled his eyes and sighed. “It is. I’m ‘Charles Tucker the Third’, meaning my father and grandfather were both named Charles. ‘Trip’ is short for ‘Triple’, since I’m the third.” “Ah.” She nodded in understanding. “You carry the family name. So if you have a son—“ “He’ll probably be Charles Tucker the Fourth.” “Quadruple?” “Yeah, but I’d hate to stick my son with the nickname ‘Quad’.” She raised an eyebrow; he was more sensitive than he seemed. That nickname, for a young boy, would be quite...awkward. Though how he had survived with the nickname “Trip” was beyond her. “Yes, that would be...unusual, though it is admirable that you would carry on the family name.” He shrugged. “Some Human families are just as bound by tradition as Vulcan families. Soval told me that you two are related in some way...that you two are cousins or something like that.” “Yes, ‘something like that’. Vulcan families can be rather complicated to track; we consider adopted clan members as blood kin and marriages are arranged when we are children.” An unpleasant memory flashed through her mind; she pushed it away. “One of Jon’s colleagues at the Embassy went back home to marry a girl he’d only seen once,” Trip mused. “They seemed to get along well, though. ‘She was the logical choice’, he’d said. I guess sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, just like anythin’ else.” Again, his understanding surprised her. His friendship with Jonathan must have taught him many things, she thought. Obviously, there is more beneath the surface than what is visible. T’Pol’s curiosity had brought her valuable insights more than once. This seemed to be another opportunity to learn more about Humans. After all, Tucker was the ship’s Armory Officer, and a fellow Bridge officer, so it would be beneficial to understand ways to defend the ship and crew. “Yes,” she agreed again. Suddenly, she realized they had been talking in the hallway for quite some time and the door to her cabin was still open. “I would enjoy conversing with you more in the future...Trip.” “Me too. You’d better get some rest before your shift, and I’ve got a lunch appointment with Security Officer Sysek about security protocols for the mission. I’ll talk to ya later.” “Until later.” She stepped into her cabin and the doors slid shut behind her. “Lights.” Her cabin was standard Starfleet; she put away her personal belongings with swift efficiency. Then she noticed several messages on her computer. One was from Captain Sato, saying that Sato would be free to meet with her after Alpha shift ended. The second was from Doctor Reed, requesting a physical for baseline readings and a DNA sample. It reminded her of Lieutenant Commander Tucker’s...Trip’s...suggestion about the nasal inhibitor. The third message was from Soval, the fourth from T’Les, and the fifth from T’Marui. T’Pol frowned at the last one, but she accessed it anyway. The scientist’s face glowed with excitement. “T’Pol,” she said in Vulcan. “I would like your opinion of this latest planetary scan of Beta Polaris. The pattern of settlement resembles those of other Vulcanoid colonies, but there is an anomaly that I cannot seem to define. Commander Mayweather is also, in his words, ‘stumped’. Perhaps a fresh perspective is what is needed in this case. Please peruse the information and return my call at your earliest convenience. Thank you.” T’Marui’s image vanished, to be replaced by a topographical and a surface scan of Beta Polaris. The data appeared in columns under the graphic. T’Pol glanced through the information and examined the scan with a critical eye. Her mouth quirked upwards in amusement. “Fascinating,” she murmured. “I’ve never seen this dialect before,” Jon Archer said. He traced the stylized curves on the PADD’s screen with one finger. “I can already see some similarities to Old High Vulcan, but it’s as if it’s...evolved in a different direction. Kind of like how French, Spanish, and Italian are all based on Latin, but are still separate languages.” “Yes,” agreed T’Ilya. The linguist of the Vulcan expedition tapped a control with a slender finger, then handed her PADD to Hoshi. “Unfortunately, it has deviated enough that it is a challenge to translate. These characters...and these...have no correspondence in Modern Vulcan.” Hoshi nodded. “I suppose there are more samples of this script?” “There are some in the initial survey reports, but not enough to run a comparison. It is our hope that we will find more samples when we arrive at Beta Polaris. I have forwarded my team’s analyses to your computer, Lieutenant Archer.” “Thank you, Doctor T’Ilya. You’ve been quite accommodating.” The Vulcan linguist nodded, then took her leave. As the door closed behind her, Jon mused, “The Vulcans have been pretty open about sharing their information. It’s odd, but it’s a pleasant change to be able to work together with them, as opposed to arguing about protocol.” “I noticed that.” Hoshi leaned back in her chair. “Doctor T’Marui has told her people to consider our people an extension of her team. It makes transitions easier.” “She isn’t your typical Vulcan. I can see why Doctor T’Les was concerned,” Jon said. “If her daughter spent too much time around T’Marui, it could compromise T’Pol’s emotional control. Not exactly what a traditional Vulcan mother wants to see happen to her daughter.” Hoshi nodded. “I promised T’Les that I’d watch over T’Pol, and that I’d have you and Trip help.” “Talk to Doctor Reed about it too. He knows T’Pol’s family and maybe he can give you some other insights.” Jon stretched and got up from his seat. “What?” Hoshi frowned. “What?” “You had a funny look on your face when I mentioned Reed. Are you all right?” “I’m all right,” she said. “He’s moved into Sickbay and he’s already making it his little fiefdom.” Her remark made Jon chuckle. “Seriously, though, he’s a competent doctor. I think it’s a big plus to have a medical officer who’s familiar with Vulcan physiology.” “I bet Captain Hayes is envious. You snapped up some of his best people under his nose.” She shrugged. “Matt—Captain Hayes—has had to make some readjustments. His chef is from Altair.” “Ugh. No wonder he sounded mad in his last message.” She blinked. “What last message?” “Oh, just the routine ‘Hey, here’s where we are’ check-in for all vessels,” Jon replied. “Sounds like he’s having some difficulties with the Andorians. I know he’s not exactly on their good guy list after than dust-up on Trailax.” “That was more his fault than the Andorians,” Hoshi muttered under her breath. She winced; it was unprofessional to criticize a fellow captain in front of a subordinate. Yet Jon made no indication he had heard. “We should be arriving at Beta Polaris in two days. I’d like to call a general meeting of everyone involved with the expedition. That includes T’Marui’s team, Trip’s security teams, Phlox’s engineering people, Travis’s science people. We’ll probably end up having it in a cargo bay, with the sheer numbers we’ve got.” “Makes sense. I’ll pass the word.” “Thanks.” Hoshi sighed and rubbed her temples when the door to her Ready Room closed behind him. I must be more tired than I thought. I’ll be glad when we get to Beta Polaris...at least we’ll be doing more than just sitting around. Chief Engineer Phlox had managed to nudge the engines to warp 4.7 and Enterprise arrived in orbit around Beta Polaris a full shift ahead of schedule. Hoshi smiled as she activated the comm link to Engineering. “Phlox, if we keep up this habit of arriving early, people are going to expect it,” she joked. “What am I going to say to people the first time we’re late?” “Tell them the truth,” came Phlox’s response. She chuckled and thought, Ask a simple question, get a simple answer. Aloud she said, “Very true, Commander. Alert your shuttlepod crews to stand by.” “Acknowledged, Captain.” Hoshi turned to Travis at the science station. He looked ready to jump out of his seat out of pure excitement. “All right, Travis, it’s your show.” “Yes, ma’am!” He touched his comm link. “Doctor T’Marui, assemble your team in Shuttle Bay One. Lieutenant Commander Tucker, Ensign T’Pol. Doctor Reed, meet in Shuttle Bay Two.” He looked up at Jon and said, “Coming, Lieutenant?” “Coming, Commander.” Jon gave Hoshi a humorous look as they moved towards the turbolift. Hoshi swung her command chair around and grinned at them. “Try not to get into too much trouble, gentlemen.” As the lift doors closed, she shook her head in good-natured humor. Yes, she could have exercised command perogative and taken command of this mission, but her background in archaeology paled compared to Travis’s and T’Marui’s. Hoshi believed in assigning the best people suited to this. T’Ilya promised to send her more language samples from the surface, so at least she wouldn’t be twiddling her thumbs. Though I think we’re going to be too busy to be twiddling our thumbs. Hoshi smiled to herself and sat back in her command chair. |
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