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"Reflecting to You"
By MissAnnThropic
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: None of its mine. I’m just a sad little fangirl that spends her days writing fanfic and watching taped episodes of my favorite shows. :(
Description: A different ending to In a Mirror Darkly, Part I, results in the Mirror Universe T'Pol ending up on our universe's Enterprise when the relationship between Trip and T'Pol is at a breaking point. (later becomes a cross-over with ST:TOS, Spoilers: The Tholian Web)
Author's Note: About freaking time! Writing this was like fishing a watch out of the toilet; done with a scowl, done as quickly as humanly possible, and hands thoroughly scrubbed afterwards. This was about as much fun as I expected to be (that is to say, not at all), but it was the hard part and it's finally over!
This wasn't filtered through my usual beta, but fact remains that all errors are my own. Since it's been so long since I updated I wanted to get SOMETHING to you guys.
Chapter 9
As Archer prepared to enter the briefing room where he'd called several of his crewmen for a staff meeting, a thought ran through his head that he had contemplated at length during his time as captain of the Enterprise. 'No Starfleet training prepares a person for this.' In addition to that relentless thought, he had the makings of a pounding headache, and rather than go to sickbay to alleviate it, it was a trip to sickbay that had caused it.
Or rather, one particular patient in sickbay was the reason Archer could feel a knot of tension behind his eyes.
Three hours ago he had received a summons from Doctor Phlox that their guest had regained consciousness. It immediately set Archer on edge as he left his place on the bridge to pay an official visit. On his way out, he had cast T'Pol at her science station a surreptitious look only to find her pointedly avoiding his gaze. Not that Archer blamed her; he was just as anxious and twitchy as he was eager and excited. It was the tinge of the Expanse coloring the explorer Jonathan Archer used to be, the seasoned war survivor layered on top of curious boy with a head full of dreams. It came down to facts, or a sore lack of them. He didn't know enough about the strange woman in sickbay to declare her not a threat.
And if she were going to be a threat, then conscious the degree of how dangerous she potentially was skyrocketed.
Archer missed the days when he didn't think like his armory officer, when he had an armory officer just to have someone do that kind of pessimistic, tactical thinking.
His trepidation, however, found only a weak Vulcan woman when he reached sickbay. A Vulcan woman with T'Pol's eyes and her expressions but very, very little of her manner. There was a fiery flash of distrust and fight-or-flight the second she set eyes on him, and from a face he might mistake for that of his friend it was very disconcerting. Archer was still haunted by the way the alternate T'Pol in sickbay had watched his every action, tracked his movement like an adversary in a sparring match or a seasoned fighting pit bull glaring at another dog.
He was haunted by her body language and stunned at her tale.
Archer found himself at the briefing room door, paused, took a deep breath, then commanded the door open.
Inside, he found dutifully gathered all of the staff he'd called to the meeting, save for Doctor Phlox who had insisted he stay behind in sickbay long enough to ensure that the second T'Pol was comfortable and provided with anything she needed. Lieutenant Reed was pacing the length of the room, a typical tangle of nervousness and wariness at any deviation in normal ship's routine. Ensign Sato was sitting on one side of the table with a PADD in front of her, from which she turned her eyes away when Archer entered. On the other side of the table, sitting side by side, were Trip and T'Pol. Archer let his eyes linger on T'Pol. She looked utterly nonplussed by the reason they were gathered, a reason she must surely have logically deduced. Were it not for the way she sat close beside Trip, Archer might describe her behavior as totally detached from everything going on around her. As for Trip, he had the look about him that was standard as of late, a look like he was sick to his stomach as he pinned his captain with a penetrating gaze.
Archer moved to the head of the table and all eyes were on him immediately.
"I guess we can jump right into this," Archer said in preamble, leaning forward with arms braced on the table while foregoing sitting down. "I just came back from sickbay a few minutes ago. Our 'guest' has regained consciousness."
There was a ripple effect in his crewmen. Reed's spine stiffened and his lips pursed. If he'd been wearing a phase pistol, he probably would have rested his palm on the butt. Hoshi perked up in curiosity; even after the Expanse her first instinct was to learn and understand rather than distrust and suspect. T'Pol lowered her eyes to the table and fixed it with a deadpan stare, looking more Vulcan than the first day Archer had met her. Trip failed miserably at trying to look disinterested as his eyes rested on the woman beside him.
It was Trip who spoke first, "How's she doing?"
Archer considered Trip a moment (who took his time meeting the captain's gaze) before he said, "Better. She's a little disoriented." Archer didn't even know how to begin to diagnose her beyond physical recovery; from all that he'd heard he was several professional degrees short of what he would need to fully answer Trip's question.
Trip's lips parted to speak but he stopped himself, cut a darting look at T'Pol beside him, and looked away.
"Who is she?" Reed asked the question that was no doubt in the forefront of everyone's thoughts.
Archer finally sank down into his chair. Now came the retelling that he had been dreading since he left sickbay. "She says she is T'Pol."
Everyone looked at their own shipmate of the same name at that announcement, and Archer saw the first flicker of personal engagement in his first officer in a long time when T'Pol sounded the slightest indignant when she countered, "Need I point out the illogic in that proclamation? Clearly this Vulcan and I cannot be the same individual."
'I guess snappish is better than blank,' Archer thought dryly, though he would have preferred the first hint of semi-emotion from her since the tragedy of baby Elizabeth to be something more positive. Trip looked almost amused by T'Pol's retort, almost amused and almost anguished.
"I presume she offered an explanation for her supposed identity," T'Pol pressed in an almost accusatory tone. She was very far from convinced, but then Archer had valued her counsel so often for being just that clinical. But he was baffled how she could be unmoved by this. A human in her position would be unwound. But as T'Pol's behavior of late had reiterated perfectly clearly, she was not human.
Archer nodded to answer T'Pol's question. "She did. She claims she is from an alternate universe."
Dead silence settled over the briefing room.
"Excuse me, sir?" Reed finally spoke the thought reflected on everyone's face.
"She says she is T'Pol of Vulcan, exactly who she appears to be, but a T'Pol who comes from a universe parallel to ours."
T'Pol beside Trip lifted an eyebrow, practically daring Archer to make it make sense.
The only thing he had to offer was a recitation of the sickbay T'Pol's recount. "The way she explained it to me, it's a universe existing in the same time and same space, but on a different plane." Archer glanced at his first officer and smirked. "Go ahead, give us the speech about the stance of the Vulcan Science Directorate on alternate realities." Archer meant it as a joke, but the flash of hardness in T'Pol's eyes let him know she was in no mood to be teased- hadn't been for a very long time.
The flint in T'Pol's eyes was not in her voice when she responded in a dead-pan tone, "Past experiences have shown that numerous findings of the Science Directorate should be… reevaluated."
Archer accepted the rebuttal and resumed his recount of their visitor's story. "According to the T'Pol currently in sickbay, our worlds and our lives exist in various permutations simultaneously."
"Mirror images," Hoshi offered.
Archer smirked humorlessly. "Sort of. Not exactly. There are… notable differences."
"Such as?" Reed asked.
"The people, for one. It seems doubles of this crew exist in her universe. She talked about the alternate Phlox… and the other Jonathan Archer. I can attest that there is little likeness in personalities, no matter the physical resemblances." Archer frowned and shifted uncomfortably at the memory of that particular part of sickbay T'Pol's story. He knew she believed her own words, because while she spoke of a cruel and cut-throat Jonathan Archer she'd been watching him as though she expected him to attack her, too. He'd found that story extremely troubling and the implications bone-chilling.
"That's amazing," Hoshi mumbled, and rather than disgusted or outraged she looked awed and curious. Of course, she had not heard horror stories about herself in the alternate universe.
"Seems a bit far-fetched to me. How do we know she's telling the truth?" Reed asked.
"Every test Phlox can think of to run he has, and they all say she is T'Pol."
"That doesn't prove this story about alternate realties is true," Reed pointed out.
The Enterprise's first officer acted almost annoyed at that remark but said nothing.
"I'll admit I'm not up on my theoretical knowledge of multiple realities," Archer confessed. "T'Pol? Any insight from the Vulcan sciences?"
"It is a topic discarded by sincere Vulcan academics. The Vulcan Science Directorate classifies such discussions as falling under the category of time-travel, which is determined to be impossible by Vulcan science."
"Why time-travel?" Archer asked, confused.
"The idea of diverging timelines," Trip, who up until then had been sitting motionless with a frown on his face, added almost in an off-hand manner.
"I don't follow," Archer said.
Trip sighed and rubbed his forehead before speaking. "Okay… physics touches on the idea of hundreds or even thousands of alternative realities branching from all of the decisions a person does or does not make. You set us on this heading instead of a vector for Andoria, whatever happens in the former Expanse and whatever will not happen at Andoria unfolds as a result of that decision, and from there you can speculate on what might have happened if you'd sent Enterprise to Andoria instead."
Archer frowned and his headache throbbed stronger in his temples.
"A typical human example is the 'what if' query," T'Pol said evenly, as though detecting Archer's trouble with the explanation and trying to 'dumb it down'. "For example, a human victim of an accident asks oneself 'what if I had not skipped breakfast today, would I have arrived in time to be struck by the vehicle that struck me at this precise moment in time'."
"I've heard of that quandary before, and I admit I've entertained it a time or two… the Vulcan Science Directorate classifies that under time-travel?"
"To expand on the question presumes that a discrete moment in the past could be revisited and a single action altered in order to affect the changes in the timeline. As the Science Directorate finds this to be an impossibility, there is little logic in researching the repercussions. It is an exercise in attempting to study the effect when there is no cause." T'Pol paused deliberately. "But the Vulcan Science Directorate is not infallible in their stances on certain issues."
Archer nodded. "Well, I'd say they're wrong on this one."
"So you believe this T'Pol in sickbay?" Reed questioned eagerly.
Sometimes, Archer found his tactical offer a tad annoying, even when it was in Enterprise's best interest that the British officer act like a terrier in a fox's den.
"I'm not sure if I do or not, but right now I don't know how else to explain her being here. In a wide range of fantastic circumstances, it seems the most logical explanation for her ending up here."
"Did she explain how she got here?" Trip asked.
"To a degree. She didn't have any information about the technology or phenomenon that did it, it wasn't hers or the humans' of her universe. She says it was the Tholians."
"Tholians," Hoshi parroted.
Reed mumbled the name to himself to use later.
Archer nodded. "She was sketchy on the details, but from what she told me the Enterprise in her reality was attempting to steal a docked vessel from Tholian control when she was injured, then she woke up here."
"So she was being evasive?" Reed asked immediately.
Trip shot the security officer a sour look across the table but said nothing.
Archer smiled thinly in lieu of being piqued. "She was weak; Phlox kept me on a leash as far as how much he'd let me hound her for answers."
"Well, perhaps he would allow me to question her."
"How about we give her some time to recover?" Trip spoke up. When Reed looked at Trip, visibly taken aback by the snappish question, the engineer said, "She was just in a coma and hasn't been cleared to leave sickbay yet, do you really think she's a security risk?"
Reed looked momentarily flummoxed that there was even a question as to the possibility. "She may be, for all we know."
Trip glowered.
"I agree with Malcolm," Archer said abruptly, intent on stepping between the spat that had unexpectedly erupted between his two officers. When Trip threw Archer a sharp, reproachful look, Archer quickly added, "to an extent. We should take precautions."
"Yeah, precaution, but can we stop a bit shy of paranoia? I mean, why are we out here exploring the galaxy if we're going to rake everyone we meet over the coals?"
Trip was plainly agitated, and the reasons why that might be the case were disconcerting. Archer had a very unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach that was battling the headache behind his eyes for his attention.
He was spared having to confront Trip's spurious reaction when Phlox joined them in the briefing room.
"Sorry for my tardiness," Phlox apologized as he took a seat to Archer's right.
"How's the patient?" Archer asked.
"Asleep. I suspect she'll spend quite a bit of the next few days resting. Don't worry, I have someone with her in case she should wake up and need something."
"You mean to watch her like a prisoner," Trip mumbled, disgruntled… yet loud enough for everyone to hear.
'This is getting out of hand,' Archer thought fleetingly as he winced from the pressure in his skull. He was looking forward to crawling into bed and sleeping the day off.
T'Pol finally turned her eyes away from the tabletop and looked long and searchingly at Trip beside her. Archer wished he could read minds right then to know what T'Pol was thinking. Where once he may have been able to glean some idea from her expression, T'Pol's countenance was so guarded as of late, her projection of stoicism redoubled to the point where Archer found himself in the unenviable position of looking at her and seeing only alien. He lamented losing the companion and trusted confidant he once had in his first officer.
But she was not his main concern for the moment. Trip was a live wire in contrast to subdued and unflappable T'Pol.
He was through letting Trip's attitude during a staff meeting slide. He knew Trip was going through a rough patch, but a certain level of professionalism was requisite.
"Trip," Archer said with a slight edge of sternness in his voice, "she's not a prisoner, but we can't be sure she's not a danger. We don't know why she's here. We have to examine every possibility."
Trip was wisely mute but his expression was displeased and discomfited.
Archer looked to Hoshi. "Hoshi… now that we know the debris in the launch bay is Tholian, see if you can find any inscriptions or texts, control panel readings, 'this way to the cafeteria' signs, anything that might tell us that it is, in fact, Tholian. And if you could find something useful in Tholian, even better."
"I'll do my best, sir."
"Malcolm, I want you to intensify your scrutiny of the ship's systems… keep an eye out for anything that might be a signal to an accomplice on or off the ship. If she is a threat, which I'm not saying she is, but if she is and she intends to contact someone, I want to know about it the second it happens."
"Yes, sir."
"Trip, T'Pol… any headway on that 'pod' we found her in?"
Trip picked up a PADD and said, "Commander T'Pol and I have been running some tests on the alloy, but we keep running into an irregularity that's throwing off our results."
"It is possible," T'Pol interjected, "that origin in an alternate universe or travel from one to ours could account for an anomalous reading in the spectral analyses of the debris… we will have to resume testing taking that variable into consideration."
Archer nodded his approval.
"What happens to T'Pol now?" Hoshi asked. "The one in sickbay, I mean."
Trip looked between Hoshi and Archer, contentious disposition flaring once again. "We aren't going to throw her in the brig the minute she's well enough to leave sickbay."
"No," Archer answered evenly. "Her unexpected identity aside, she's someone who needs help, and Enterprise hasn't closed its doors to those in need. She's welcome to stay aboard until she decides what she wants to do." 'As long as she doesn't prove to be an enemy,' Archer added mentally, but chose to keep that last part to himself.
"If she is Vulcan, she will most likely request passage back to planet Vulcan," T'Pol stated.
"And if that's what she wants, we'll make it happen," Archer said, "though if that's her decision it might not happen anytime in the immediate future. We're too far out from Sol to turn around just to drop off a single passenger, and given the nature of our mission in the former Expanse I doubt the Vulcans are eager to send a ship into that area of space until we have some preliminary data to give them on its relative safety. It's too far for a shuttle pod to make the trip, even if we were willing to lose one of ours, which I'm not about to do.
"We've had Vulcan guests before and we can manage just fine with another. We'll make room for her."
"She could stay in my quarters, sir," Hoshi offered. "I could bunk up with someone else to give her some privacy."
Archer wouldn't ask with whom Hoshi planned to 'bunk up'. "Thank you, Hoshi, I'm sure she'll be grateful.
"Doctor. Keep an eye on her, make sure she's comfortable, and should you happen to notice any unusual or suspicious behavior," Archer ignored Trip's scowl, "I want to be informed immediately."
"Yes, Captain."
Archer stood then. "Dismissed, everyone."
Everybody at the briefing table stood and moved toward the door. "T'Pol, Doctor Phlox," Archer called after his first officer and chief medical officer. Both stopped and turned. "I'd like to speak with you two a moment."
Trip halted a moment, looked at T'Pol, then retreated with the rest of the briefing staff.
T'Pol and Phlox remained behind and when the captain and his two non-human crewmen were alone Archer moved toward his first officer and medical officer. He found it unfathomably reassuring to not see a single hint of fear or mistrust as he approached T'Pol… only minutes ago he'd seen those same eyes filled with venom. Perhaps it was not with the same liveliness and tractability he used to read in T'Pol's face, but it was an improvement over the doppelganger in sickbay.
Archer stopped in front of T'Pol and the doctor. "Doctor… assuming the woman in sickbay is T'Pol, which at this point we almost have to, is there any way to find out why she's here? On the off-chance it wasn't really an accident as she claims."
Phlox pondered that. "Possibly. The tests I have been conducting verify she's a specific individual Vulcan, but they would not do anything to prove or disprove that specific Vulcan's intentions."
"That's what I was thinking," Archer said. "Are there any medications that would persuade a Vulcan to reveal their true motives?"
"A 'truth drug'?" Phlox asked almost condescendingly. "I'm afraid it's not as easy as that with a Vulcan, Captain. They have highly trained minds; mind-altering drugs are tricky. To give them enough to knock their mental control loose means giving them such a high dose that physical damage is a real danger. In her weakened state, I wouldn't recommend it."
"I thought that might be the case," Archer said, at which point his gaze shifted to T'Pol. "T'Pol, I know you used to be involved in covert Vulcan intelligence…"
T'Pol's expression closed even tighter than before.
"I'm not asking you to spill any secrets, but if there were any methods or techniques your branch employed, anything that you have knowledge of, that could tell us if she is who she claims to be and is here under the benign circumstances she says she is, I want you to bring them to me."
"Coercion tactics," T'Pol said flatly.
"I hope it doesn't come to that, but if it does… I want to believe she's just a victim of very, very strange circumstances, in which case we'll do everything in our power to help her, but… if she is an agent sent here to harm this ship or its crew… given her appearance, she'd probably have some pretty devastating targets."
T'Pol almost frowned. "I understand. I will review my material on the matter and try to find anything that would suit your needs."
"Thanks."
"I'd recommend caution, Captain," Phlox interjected with a worried look. "Regardless of how she arrived here, she is still Vulcan and by extension a Vulcan citizen. The officials on Vulcan may not take kindly to her being treated like a detainee without ample reason and supporting evidence."
"Yeah, I know… thin ice."
T'Pol looked puzzled by the colloquialism.
"I'll watch my step," Archer promised. "I'm asking these assignments of the both of you because I want you two to give me leave to treat her the way I hope to… as a friend."
Back to Chapter 8
Continue to Chapter 10
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