Disclaimer; Star trek is not mine

Rating; G

Title Telepathic Truths

Captains Star Log: (Stardate 24610): The enterprise has been assigned to transport a Mayorian ambassador to a science convention on Valary 2, a moon in high orbit of Vulcan. The Mayoria are a reclusive species, distant cousins to the Betazoids, another telepathic race. I am looking foreword to meeting her and it will be a nice diversion for the crew.

Trip and Caption Archer go to the transporter to receive the ambassador. Captain Archer is in a well enough mood, but Trip is a little distant. Archer connects it to overwork; he is working a lot lately. The captain tries to make conversation.

"It should be interesting meeting Ambassador Helina, I hear she is very highly regarded among her race" he says hopefully.

"Yeah" Trip responds offhandedly. He has other thing on his mind.

When they get to the transporter, T'pol is there waiting for them and Trip avoids here eyes. He had tried very hard to make sure everything was ok between them, but it hadn't been easy. Every time he saw her he felt a sense of loss, as if his sister had died again. My head wants to respect her wishes he thought but my heart isn't that easily swayed. He immediately berated himself for the thought. This is stupid, she's married yet since she was married, why was she still on Enterprise. She was supposed to leave even before Vulcan. He had the distinct feeling T'pol wasn't telling him something.

Ambassador Helina is beamed on board and Trip is surprised how young she looks. She is no taller then a young teenager and her hair is frizzy, silver, and it sticks out in all directions. Her dress was also silver, it is short sleeved and hits her two or so inches above the knee. Her skin and lips are pearly white, but her eyes are black. They were her most noticeable attribute and made it look like all she was meant to do was see. She wore no shoes.

"Welcome aboard the enterprise, Ambassador Helina" Captain Archer hailed her. She stepped down from the transporter and looked straight at them.

"It is an honor to be here Captain" she answers back

"Allow me to introduce my first officer, Commander T'pol and my engineer, Commander Charles Tucker."

They both said their polite greetings, but Trip couldn't help but notice that she seemed to give them a long searching look that she hadn't given the Cap'n. He suddenly shivered; could she be reading his mind? He tried to shake the feeling off as Captain Archer offered to take her to her quarters.

Trip found that he was alone with T'pol, he should have gone with them. This was exactly the scenario he was hoping to avoid. He was just trying to invent an excuse to go to back to engineering when T'pol spoke

"Commander" He turns and looks at her.

"How is...." she pauses with composure, Trip wants to groan. Vulcans do everything with composure, a skill he envies.

"The engine diagnostic coming along" she finishes.

"It has been going well so far" he answers back uncomfortably "there's a slight phase variation in the fifth plasma junction, but we're correctin' it"

"That's good" she answers awkwardly

Trip hates these conversations, they act as if they barley know each other. He is still thinking of an excuse to leave, but is saved the necessity when Phlox contacts T'pol and asks her to help in sick bay; she leaves very hastily without a word of goodbye. Trip stands there, just staring the transporter pad. Perhaps he would go to sickbay himself later. He felt a little sick

Later in the Captains mess, Trip wishes that he didn't have to be here, but the Captain made it mandatory. All of them were trying to make conversation and having no trouble at all. Why couldn't he do the same? The answer to that was sitting on the other side of the table, yet she wasn't acting nearly ass troubled. To make matters worse, he had the distinct feeling the ambassador was probing his mind. It seemed as if she was always watching him, even if she wasn't looking directly at him. He wondered how much she was able to see. He just wondered how to attempt to get into the conversation when a question that Cap'n ask the ambassador made him look up and listen more carefully.

"So Ambassador, we have all heard of the Mayoria's telepathy. What exactly, is the nature of it?"

The ambassador seems please with the question, she proceeds to explain.

"Well, you have heard of the mind reading powers of our distant cousins, the Betazoids. They are limited to thoughts, and can only tell what a person is thinking at that moment. The Mayoria can delve deeper then that. We can see emotions, memories, and even emotions at the time of memories" she takes a bite of her dinner and chews "Some of our more practiced telepaths, can see farther into a persons mind then they can see themselves" Was it his imagination, or did she just glance at T'pol? "Sometimes our powers are difficult to control, we can find our minds are drawn to certain people's emotions, if they're troubled, or particularly strong." There was no question about it. She was looking right at him. How could nobody else notice this? "There is a ritual that each Mayoria must do once a month, but others may do it with the proper training. It allows us to use our powers on ourselves, to deepen them, and see into our own subconscious and deepest whims of our heart"

He didn't remember a single thing about the rest of the dinner.

Trip is performing a repair in engineering when suddenly the ambassador is standing right next to him. He is surprised; he hadn't heard her come in.

"Is there anything I can do for ya?" he asks, not taking his eyes off what he's doing.

"Actually, I wanted to see if there is anything I could do for you" She answered

"What do ya mean?"

"I sensed that you wished to speak with me"

That was true, he had wanted to talk to her, but it irritated him that she had known it. .Does she know everything that goes on in his mind?

"I apologize for the intrusion, it must be awkward for you" she answered as if she had heard, and he reminded himself that she probably had. "You heard me mention at dinner that sometimes our telepathy is drawn to certain minds, you seem to be one of them. We can't always control it, but you did need to speak to me."

He couldn't deny that, and decided to take advantage of this opportunity.

"Well, you mentioned that ritual at dinner, the one that allows you to see y're own mind. The one that non-telepaths can perform also" She nods. "Could you teach me how to do that?

"Sure" she answered "I will come by your quarters and we'll see what we can do"

Later that evening, she arrives in his quarters, with a pad that is glows bright red. She sits down and asks, "Are you ready?"

He nods

"Now I should warn you, this will be hard the first few times" she says rationally "Strong emotions can break the state you go into, maybe even cause brain damage. Of course, it is never easy to see simply into you heart, without sugarcoating. Are you sure that you want to persist in this?"

"I want answers, I've dwelled in my own emotions too long" he answered without a hint of hesitation.

"Very well", she conceded "Lie down and put your hand on the pad" He did so. It felt very warm. She put her fingers on his forehead and started speaking in Mayorian. He suddenly feels warm and safe, as if he was a boy again.

"Allow your eyes to close" she whispered. He did

"Feel the heat of the pad, let it fill you entire being allow, it to take you to a place where you have never seen, it imbodies all of you. Now open your eyes and tell me what you see."

"I'm in a dark tower" he whispered. "There are torches at the top. I can't reach them. I see shadows" They were everywhere, whispering, but he couldn't understand what they were saying. Then he saw her, "T'pol?" he asked and then she disappeared "T'pol" he called out. She appeared and disappeared "T'POL!" and suddenly he was lying on his bed with Helina standing over him.

"Emotions like that are just the thing to get you permanent brain damage" she said to him as if he were a small child "but I understand it was probably a little scary. How do you feel?"

"A little shaken, it was harder then I thought" he answered, breathing hard "What did all that mean?"

"They're your feelings Trip, that's for you to decide" she answered matter-of-factly. "I will come here the same time tomorrow and we will practice the same process. By the end of the week, you should be able to do it on your own.

She left. Leaving him with more questions then when she came in

The rest of the week passed uneventfully, but Trip was starting to regret asking to learn this ritual. It had laid his emotions bare naked, and yet he still didn't understand them. Talking with T'pol became even harder and the only thing that kept him from stopping was the thought of even the smallest insight into his love. As each session progressed, he felt closer to it and was sure that the next one would be the one he was waiting for.

The second to last night of their sessions, Helina came in and Trip rounded on her.

"I've been going through all you've shown me and I've realized something. I need to speak with her. Married or not, I have to let out something of how I feel"

She didn't flinch; it was as if she had been expecting it.

"I understand and I believe I can help"

"How?" he asked confused.

"You'll see, just don't get too comfortable working the plasma relays tomorrow"

End of chapt 1