This Woman's Work (Chap 1)
By vandiver49
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters associated with Star Trek, I'm just borrowing them for a moment. Please don't sue; people in the Navy don't make that much money.
All parenthetical statements in Vulcan are denoted by (*)
Please forgive me if the date doesn't correspond exactly to the series.
_________________________________
0400, 22 Aug 2151
T'Pol was sitting, perfectly perched upon the Captain's chair, as Enterprise warped gracefully through the veil of night. Captain Archer was on a diplomatic away mission, leaving Sub-Commander T'Pol temporarily in charge. She initially expected Commander Tucker to express some disapproval, but as of yet had not encountered any resistance. While she was keenly aware of the status of the ships' systems, T'Pol's attention was more focused on the conversations of the other bridge personnel. Ensigns Sato and Mayweather were conversing about the film from the previous night, a rather juvenile topic in her opinion. Lieutenant Reed was at the weapons station, training one of his security personnel on how to stand the bridge watch. Normally, T'Pol would be at her science station, meticulously analyzing the stellar data being collected by the ships' sensor suite. But with only idle thoughts to occupy her mind, she quickly realized why Captain Archer always appeared so bored during interstellar transits. Ensign Sato would break her doldrums.
"Sub-Commander T'Pol, I'm receiving an incoming message from the Vulcan High Council.
"Very well, on screen."
"Ma'am, it's a private message."
"Understood, transfer the message to the Captain's Ready Room."
Hoshi did as such while T'Pol walked to the Ready Room.
Ambassador Soval was already on-screen when T'Pol entered the room.
*Ambassador?*
*Sub-Commander T'Pol, I have a mission for you that the Enterprise should be capable of accomplishing.*
T'Pol barely acknowledged.
*We have lost contact with our Vulcan outpost on Sendrini VI. Take Enterprise and see if any assistance can be rendered, and report the status of the outpost. You are not authorized to visit the planet.*
T'Pol found herself at odds with these orders. *Ambassador, this is a human ship, and therefore not under Vulcan directive. It would be advisable to send a Vulcan ship to render aid.*
*That would not be logical, being that the nearest Vulcan ship is more than three days away at maximum warp. Enterprise is currently only four hours away at warp 4.5.* Soval contested.
*That still does not resolve the conflict in terms of chain of command.*
*Are you not presently the officer in charge?* Soval offered.
*Correct.*
*Is it not in your purview to render assistance when needed?*
*Indeed, provided that there is an acceptable reason for me to deviate from the orders delineated by Starfleet Command.*
To the common observer, their conversation appeared to be typically Vulcan. But T'Pol could easily see that her non-compliance was beginning to irritate the Ambassador.
*Very well Sub-Commander, I shall provide you a reason to deviate from your mission, just remember not to visit the planet.*
*Understood Ambassador, T'Pol out.*
As soon as she returned to the Captain's chair, T'Pol received her "reason".
"Sub-Commander, I'm receiving a distress signal from a Vulcan outpost…it's automated only."
"Very well. Ensign Mayweather, plot an intercept course, warp 4.5."
"Aye ma'am." Travis replied.
As Enterprise altered course to Sendrini VI, T'Pol felt a small tinge of disgust at how easily Vulcans lied, deceived and manipulated the truth for their own self serving purposes. She would have never thought that Vulcans and Humans would share such distasteful qualities.
Commander Tucker had made his way to the bridge and manned T'Pol's science station once the ship achieved a standard orbit.
Hoshi provided the initial clue that something was amiss. "Sub-Commander T'Pol, I'm not getting any response to my hails."
Trip grimly added to her assessment. "Yeah, I'm only receiving one active bio-sign, and a ton of dead bodies. How many people were down there?"
"Unknown Commander." T'Pol answered.
"Well, shouldn't we go down and take a peak?"
"Negative Commander, we will remain in orbit and continue to monitor the situation until a Vulcan ship arrives."
"Sub-Commander, I really don't see how we can help anyone from up here."
T'Pol could see where this conversation was heading and wanted to avoid a public display. "Commander Tucker, please join me in the Ready Room."
Commander Tucker followed her with some degree of trepidation. He assumed T'Pol thought that he was trying to usurp her command again, which he knew he wasn't. He just felt that she would be a little more proactive in assessing who or what killed her people.
T'Pol spoke first as soon as the doors closed.
"Commander Tucker, I see that you have found it necessary to once again question my authority."
"Listen T'Pol, it's not even like that. All I'm sayin' is that we can't do much good for those people from orbit."
"Firstly Commander, as per your own scans, there is no one in the compound to aid. And secondly I fail to see how Enterprise can render assistance on what is clearly a Vulcan matter." T'Pol had just unwittingly added fuel to the fire.
"What?! You're sayin' that just cause were human we can't do anything but get in the way?" Trip's blood pressure was on the rise.
"Indeed, you more than proved your ineptitude at P'Jemm."
"I don't understand you…Sub-Commander," Trip had to force himself from using a more derogatory term, "it's like you're out here taking orders from the Vulcan High Council or something."
T'Pol said nothing, but her silence spoke volumes.
"T'Pol you've got to be kidding me," Trip said in disbelief, "how can you justify taking order from them? This is a human ship in case you forgot."
"I am fully aware of what ship I am on. Your smell reminds me of that fact everyday. Besides, you are not in full possession of the facts."
"I couldn't give a damn about your nose." Trip snapped as he pointed two fingers in T'Pol's direction. "And I am in possession of enough of the facts to know that your job as acting Captain is to discharge the position in the same vein as Captain Archer would. Do you think sitting up here is accomplishing that?"
These were the times T'Pol loathed; when Trip was right. She couldn't argue the conflict of interest she had squarely placed herself in. Captain Archer would go down to the planet, regardless of how many people were alive, to see if there was anything he could do. It proved to be an admirable, yet illogical quality humans had. "Very well Commander, I will go down to the surface with Ensign Mayweather and Lieutenant Reed, you have the conn."
T'Pol calmly walked out of the Ready Room, leaving Trip to ponder if he had just won or lost the argument.
By vandiver49
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters associated with Star Trek, I'm just borrowing them for a moment. Please don't sue; people in the Navy don't make that much money.
All parenthetical statements in Vulcan are denoted by (*)
Please forgive me if the date doesn't correspond exactly to the series.
_________________________________
0400, 22 Aug 2151
T'Pol was sitting, perfectly perched upon the Captain's chair, as Enterprise warped gracefully through the veil of night. Captain Archer was on a diplomatic away mission, leaving Sub-Commander T'Pol temporarily in charge. She initially expected Commander Tucker to express some disapproval, but as of yet had not encountered any resistance. While she was keenly aware of the status of the ships' systems, T'Pol's attention was more focused on the conversations of the other bridge personnel. Ensigns Sato and Mayweather were conversing about the film from the previous night, a rather juvenile topic in her opinion. Lieutenant Reed was at the weapons station, training one of his security personnel on how to stand the bridge watch. Normally, T'Pol would be at her science station, meticulously analyzing the stellar data being collected by the ships' sensor suite. But with only idle thoughts to occupy her mind, she quickly realized why Captain Archer always appeared so bored during interstellar transits. Ensign Sato would break her doldrums.
"Sub-Commander T'Pol, I'm receiving an incoming message from the Vulcan High Council.
"Very well, on screen."
"Ma'am, it's a private message."
"Understood, transfer the message to the Captain's Ready Room."
Hoshi did as such while T'Pol walked to the Ready Room.
Ambassador Soval was already on-screen when T'Pol entered the room.
*Ambassador?*
*Sub-Commander T'Pol, I have a mission for you that the Enterprise should be capable of accomplishing.*
T'Pol barely acknowledged.
*We have lost contact with our Vulcan outpost on Sendrini VI. Take Enterprise and see if any assistance can be rendered, and report the status of the outpost. You are not authorized to visit the planet.*
T'Pol found herself at odds with these orders. *Ambassador, this is a human ship, and therefore not under Vulcan directive. It would be advisable to send a Vulcan ship to render aid.*
*That would not be logical, being that the nearest Vulcan ship is more than three days away at maximum warp. Enterprise is currently only four hours away at warp 4.5.* Soval contested.
*That still does not resolve the conflict in terms of chain of command.*
*Are you not presently the officer in charge?* Soval offered.
*Correct.*
*Is it not in your purview to render assistance when needed?*
*Indeed, provided that there is an acceptable reason for me to deviate from the orders delineated by Starfleet Command.*
To the common observer, their conversation appeared to be typically Vulcan. But T'Pol could easily see that her non-compliance was beginning to irritate the Ambassador.
*Very well Sub-Commander, I shall provide you a reason to deviate from your mission, just remember not to visit the planet.*
*Understood Ambassador, T'Pol out.*
As soon as she returned to the Captain's chair, T'Pol received her "reason".
"Sub-Commander, I'm receiving a distress signal from a Vulcan outpost…it's automated only."
"Very well. Ensign Mayweather, plot an intercept course, warp 4.5."
"Aye ma'am." Travis replied.
As Enterprise altered course to Sendrini VI, T'Pol felt a small tinge of disgust at how easily Vulcans lied, deceived and manipulated the truth for their own self serving purposes. She would have never thought that Vulcans and Humans would share such distasteful qualities.
Commander Tucker had made his way to the bridge and manned T'Pol's science station once the ship achieved a standard orbit.
Hoshi provided the initial clue that something was amiss. "Sub-Commander T'Pol, I'm not getting any response to my hails."
Trip grimly added to her assessment. "Yeah, I'm only receiving one active bio-sign, and a ton of dead bodies. How many people were down there?"
"Unknown Commander." T'Pol answered.
"Well, shouldn't we go down and take a peak?"
"Negative Commander, we will remain in orbit and continue to monitor the situation until a Vulcan ship arrives."
"Sub-Commander, I really don't see how we can help anyone from up here."
T'Pol could see where this conversation was heading and wanted to avoid a public display. "Commander Tucker, please join me in the Ready Room."
Commander Tucker followed her with some degree of trepidation. He assumed T'Pol thought that he was trying to usurp her command again, which he knew he wasn't. He just felt that she would be a little more proactive in assessing who or what killed her people.
T'Pol spoke first as soon as the doors closed.
"Commander Tucker, I see that you have found it necessary to once again question my authority."
"Listen T'Pol, it's not even like that. All I'm sayin' is that we can't do much good for those people from orbit."
"Firstly Commander, as per your own scans, there is no one in the compound to aid. And secondly I fail to see how Enterprise can render assistance on what is clearly a Vulcan matter." T'Pol had just unwittingly added fuel to the fire.
"What?! You're sayin' that just cause were human we can't do anything but get in the way?" Trip's blood pressure was on the rise.
"Indeed, you more than proved your ineptitude at P'Jemm."
"I don't understand you…Sub-Commander," Trip had to force himself from using a more derogatory term, "it's like you're out here taking orders from the Vulcan High Council or something."
T'Pol said nothing, but her silence spoke volumes.
"T'Pol you've got to be kidding me," Trip said in disbelief, "how can you justify taking order from them? This is a human ship in case you forgot."
"I am fully aware of what ship I am on. Your smell reminds me of that fact everyday. Besides, you are not in full possession of the facts."
"I couldn't give a damn about your nose." Trip snapped as he pointed two fingers in T'Pol's direction. "And I am in possession of enough of the facts to know that your job as acting Captain is to discharge the position in the same vein as Captain Archer would. Do you think sitting up here is accomplishing that?"
These were the times T'Pol loathed; when Trip was right. She couldn't argue the conflict of interest she had squarely placed herself in. Captain Archer would go down to the planet, regardless of how many people were alive, to see if there was anything he could do. It proved to be an admirable, yet illogical quality humans had. "Very well Commander, I will go down to the surface with Ensign Mayweather and Lieutenant Reed, you have the conn."
T'Pol calmly walked out of the Ready Room, leaving Trip to ponder if he had just won or lost the argument.
