Disclaimer: All rights to Star Trek Enterprise, the characters and situations except as noted below are reserved by Paramount Studios.
Seamus O'Cathain (O-Ca-tain') and Tia Anlor (Ahn'-lor) are my own creations. Seamus appeared in 'Casting Call' and 'Small Time.' You should read 'Casting Call' to better appreciate the events referred to here. Jennifer Farber was introduced briefly in 'Roses & Thorny'.
The musical references here are from 'The Buddy Holly Collection'. 'Elvis Presley's Number One Hits', Dancin' & Romancin' in the 50's & 60's. Captain Archer's contribution is from the 'Man of LaMancha' medley by Scott Bakula as presented in the 'Quantum Leap' soundtrack, 'A Whole New World' is from Walt Disney's "Aladdin" and 'Only He' is from Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Starlight Express'. All rights reserved.
This is the 11th story in this series, the others being 'Golden Girl'; 'A Few Words'; 'Glistni'; 'Small Time'; 'Acquisition'; 'What Do I Do Now?'; 'For Want of Kilyiis'; 'Daasii'; 'Noblesse Oblige' and 'Roses and Thorny'. This story takes place about 3 weeks after 'Roses and Thorny', and Tia has been on the Enterprise for about five months.
Rating: R for scenes of graphic violence.
Time and Again
By JMK758
Prologue
Phlox entered Sick Bay, the lights coming on as he passed the doorway. It was very late evening, and he was technically off duty – as if a Doctor could ever be 'off duty'. He was only there to feed some of his 'pets' before accepting an invitation. It has been a very pleasant evening, made even more so by the company of Elizabeth Cutler. The young human woman had made her interest and affections well known months ago, and to tell the truth he was very flattered, and not just a little pleased. He hoped that he could keep this affection alive, but one knew so little about humans. Perhaps some advice from his old friend Dr. Lucas would be in order.
Opening a cold storage unit, he removed a prepared plate containing several selections of meat, and started to make his 'rounds'.
But just as he lifted the lid on one of the cases, he became aware of a presence, and turned to see a crewman standing behind him, holding high a gleaming blade nearly 30 centimeters long. That alone registered before the man brought the huge knife down, plunging the blade deeply into his chest!
Phlox gasped, staggering back onto the table, upsetting everything as it crashed to the floor under him. He stared at the blade protruding from his chest in disbelief as the crewman knelt beside him as they both heard the Sick Bay door slide open.
Crewwoman Dina Samuels stepped in, stopping dead at the sight of the Chief Medical Officer on his back, the blade still buried in his chest and his attacker kneeling over him. The crewman yanked the huge knife out and turned to her.
Panic stricken, she turned and rushed for the door even as she heard a 'woosh', and pain exploded in her back as the blade impaled her with a sickening 'thunk'. Driven into the bulkhead beside the door with the force of the impact, she collapsed against it, searing pain in her back stealing her breath.
Phlox could not help, his hands pressed to the gaping wound, trying to keep from losing more blood.
Dina heard the other crewman behind her; and with agonizing force the blade was wrenched out of her back. She was swung about and slammed into the bulkhead. She just barely saw the man's face as the gory blade came down hard, burying itself deep in her chest! She cried out, falling back against the bulkhead, and the blade was yanked out in a gush of red blood.
Her hands flew up to cover the deep wound, trying to staunch the flow as she gasped, her breath wheezing sickeningly as she felt blood start to fill her lung. The dripping blade came down again with brutal force over her left breast, plunging deep and piercing her heart.
Dina Samuels slid silently to the deck, the blood pouring from her back leaving a gory trail along the wall.
Chapter One
True Love Ways
At 2000 hours the Mess Hall had been converted again into a film room, but rather than the usual Tuesday evening fare, the crew assembled this evening for an usual treat. Ensign Ann Anderson, who normally manned the situation board at the rear of the bridge, had in her spare time compiled a rare collection of musical performances from about 200 years ago.
On the wide screen were being presented a collection of the works of the pioneers in the field of music known as 'rock-and-roll'. Bill Haley & his Comets started the show, telling everyone they were going to 'Rock around the Clock.' Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Connie Francis, Diana Ross and the Supremes, The Four Tops, Hank Ballard, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, the Dave Clark Five, the Beatles, Gladys Knight and The Pips and many others were all on the bill for what promised to be a memorable show. The production had scarcely to be announced before seats started filling with the enthusiasts and the curious.
In roughly the middle of the dark, crowded room Commander Charles Tucker III sat with his very close companion Tia Anlor on his right, while Ensign Hoshi Sato was between her and Lt. Seamus O'Cathain. Before them sat Ensigns Travis Mayweather and Jennifer Farber; next to Elizabeth Cutler who had saved a seat for Dr. Phlox. Behind them sat Captain Jonathan Archer and a rather bemused Science Officer T'Pol, who was there to observe this cultural phenomenon from two centuries past and its interest for modern humans. Lt. Reed, seated beside her with a no-longer-apprehensive Ann Anderson, had absolutely no trouble enjoying either the entertainment or the company of the very attractive brunette.
The only one, however, who was not quite into the entertainment, was Tia Anlor. Hailing from a planet without any history of the rather energetic music, and only just barely comfortable with modern English, the Auran girl was struggling to comprehend the often mystifying lyrics such as 'Be-bob-a-lula', while the enthusiastic 'Great balls of fire' left her completely mystified. She could see that everyone around her was really enjoying themselves, many of them actually dancing in their seats to some of the more energetic selections, but she simply could not understand how 'she could be my butter cup,' or why he was 'all shook up.'
Hoshi leaned over to her mystified friend. "What's wrong?" She whispered under the music.
"I know not. Understand English I do – almost – but this I do not! The four young men with the long hair and the brown suits calling for Help; the man talking so fast about maybelline and a cadillac… "
"Maybe this would be a good time to turn on the Universal Translator." Tia shrugged, taking the small device from the pouch she carried on the belt of her short red dress. Perhaps if she heard the lyrics in Auran…
When Buddy Holly finished leading them through a rollicking 'Rock around with Ollie Vee' she turned off the device and put it away, leaning over to whisper to Hoshi. "It does help not."
Trip put his arm around her to draw her close enough so he could tell her quietly "This is a special kind of music. They used to call Holly's music 'Rockabilly'."
"Rock a who-ee?"
He laughed. "No, rock-a-billy."
"I know what is a 'billy'; he your Assistant is, but what 'rocka' to do with him has?"
Trip just barely kept his chuckle low. "No, it's a combination of 'rock' and 'hillbilly'." Tia looked up at him, now monumentally mystified. Hoshi, on her other side, leaned in on them.
"Give up; it's just not going to work." Trip smiled, admitting that it was just too high an uphill battle.
Halfway through Elvis Presley's 'Hound Dog' Tia was sure she was getting it, and whispered to Hoshi "She a dog is? Is that what meant you when mad you were about Lt. O'Cathain and the 'bitch'?" Hoshi had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing at the somewhat embarrassing memory.
"No; that's very different."
She would have explained a bit further had the aforementioned O'Cathain not put his arm about her shoulders, drawing her closer to him. She hardly minded the closeness, taking the opportunity to cuddle closer to him, deciding her friend would either get it or not, but either way she just wanted to enjoy the 'concert'.
But a few minutes later, while Bobby Day was enthusiastically describing the activities of 'Rockin Robin', she became unavoidably aware of a lot of activity at her left hip, and looked over with no little surprise to see Tia dancing about in her seat, clearly enjoying herself. She caught her friend's look. "I it gave up trying to understand."
"With 'rock & roll', you pretty much just have to."
x
After Connie Francis lamented the antics of her tormentor, 'Stupid Cupid', the Platters slowed things down a little to tell people of their dream come true, their one and 'Only You'. Tia, holding Trip's hand, started running her fingertip in time to the music along his wrist, petting the pulse point, feeling the man grow gradually tenser beside her. She kept it up, knowing from her 'researches' and from very personal experience with the man just how it was starting to affect him. She could not see his face well in the dim light of the screen, but the more she petted that spot and higher with her fingertip, the more tense she felt his body become; until finally he drew his hand away, putting it behind her and raising it up her back under her long golden hair to her neck.
Under cover of her hair, while the Crew-Cuts serenaded the crew with 'Earth Angel' he ran one finger slowly up the side of her neck, and was gratified at her sharp gasp and a sudden tensing of her own body. She looked up at him, her eyes pleading silently as she tried to whisper, but her voice was stolen as a trembling wave chased itself through her body. He smiled at her, knowing what was happening to her was about the same as she had been for so long doing to him, but several times more intense, and no one who was not intimately familiar with the spot as a ultra-sensitive erogenous zone for an Auran would find anything unusual at the touch.
Hoshi, however, did notice something as, over the slightly softened music she heard soft but very erratic gasping, and turned in concern to see Tia sitting very stiffly, her hands clutching her bare knees beyond the hem of her red dress hard enough to turn hands and knees yellow even in the dim light. She leaned in close. "What's wrong?"
The Auran's answer was a bleat about two octaves too high before she managed to whisper as softly as she could: "He my sulyas salyn making is!" She looked at the other woman pleadingly. "Knows it he does!" Hoshi looked at what Trip's finger was doing just below her right ear, and it didn't take her a moment to understand. Just the look in the young woman's eyes was enough. She smiled at her friend.
"Enjoy."
"My alyes explode are going to." Tia exclaimed with quiet but mounting desperation. Hoshi glanced at the indicated spots on the Auran's sharply rising and falling chest, seeing that the golden girl's responses were quite evident indeed against the close material of the dress. "Vlis – Stop make him qual – please! Qualsia! Know how I do nyasi." She gasped sharply, shuddering, and grasped her knees even more tightly as she trembled for many long seconds, her breath chaotic as she struggled to keep quiet. Finally, after many long seconds, she leaned against Trip with a sigh, trying not to make it evident that she had virtually collapsed.
Hoshi smiled again as she returned to cuddling against Seamus. "Like I said," she whispered quietly into his chest, "'enjoy'."
x
The concert started taking on a distinctly romantic tone. When Phil Phillips started inviting everyone to come with him to the 'Sea of Love', couples drew closer together, very willing to make the trip. Tia, hearing how Buddy Holly urged everyone to hold close while he told them 'Words of Love', and seeing the way Jennifer Farber cuddled closer to Travis in the seats in front of them, found a very comfortable position very close to Trip. And when Frankie Avalon started appealing to 'Venus', it was clear he was not alone in his prayers. When he asked for 'a lovely girl with sunlight in her hair, and take the brightest stars up in the skies and place them in her eyes'; she looked up to him with her own eyes of gold and Trip shared with her a very special smile. Then, as Buddy Holly told his beloved about their 'True Love Ways' everyone in the room knew the same feelings. When Elvis Presley 'lamented' that he 'Can't Help Falling In Love' he was joined by almost all the hearts in the room.
But when Elvis appeared one final time to urge lovers to 'Love me tender' Tia heard Shar-les singing very, very softly to her above her golden head as she cuddled closer to the taller man. "Love me tender, love me sweet, never let me go," he sang to his beloved, holding her closer in his embrace. "You have made my life complete, and I love you so," he sang quietly for her alone, and she knew he spoke from the depths of his heart. "Love me tender, love me true, all my dreams fulfill…" she would do it with all her power. "for my darling, I love you, and I always will." Oh, if she could only make it forever. "Love me tender, love me long, take me to your heart;" she would, with all her heart and soul. "for its there that I belong, and we'll never part." Oh, never! Please, never! "Love me tender, love me true, all my dreams fulfill, for my darling, I love you, and I always will. Love me tender, love me dear, tell me you are mine…" oh, yours always! "I'll be yours through all the years, till the end of time." Please – all my life! Please! "Love me tender, love me true, all my dreams fulfill, for my darling, I love you, and I always will." When the last notes faded she looked up to him, seeing in his eyes everything that was in her soul.
"Kuuurliss mongeer desuuur katis makarii?"
He did not know what she said, nor did he need to. He kissed her.
xxx xxx
Ann Anderson stepped into her refresher from the larger room of her quarters, her mind only upon a hot shower. She was looking forward to indulging in a long and leisurely session. In an enclosed environment she did not have to worry about wasting water, and could continue until she was satisfied. It had been a wonderful evening, and she had enjoyed it immensely. Putting together the music for the evening had been challenging, but infinitely rewarding, even if she were doing so in the background. Now, after a hot shower, she would be ready to curl up in her bed. Just as she was about to reach in to turn the tap, she heard a sound behind her and started to turn.
The hand clutched her throat so tightly she could not make a sound, her breath completely stopped. She was forced back and slammed against the cylindrical stall, her head cracking hard against the unyielding supporting metal. She barely saw the tall man in Starfleet jumpsuit before a searing pain ripped into her ribs just below her right breast. Looking down over the choking hand as she tried to grab the powerful arm she was horrified to see a thick blade at least 28 centimeters long and covered in red blood, her blood, being pulled out of her chest.
She tried to fight him, to scream for help, to block the deadly thrust as the blade was slammed into her again, this time higher and upward into her heart. There was less pain this time, more the blunt force of the knife slammed into her as she stared in disbelief, fighting ineffectually against his strength as her blood poured out of the two deep wounds. She couldn't even draw a breath as the blade was viciously twisted, and she was never aware that it had severed the aorta of her heart. When it was pulled out a fountain of blood gushed out from the vital organ and her blood pressure dropped so swiftly that she lost consciousness instantly, everything going black.
Ann Anderson, moments before so happy and content, did not even feel her body slip down the stall. She was dead before she reached the deck.
