Story 1: The Cry of the Death Beetle
Author's Note: In this set of stories Trip and T'Pol have not one but two children. Charlotte T'Mir is the eldest and Lorian Malcolm. Charlotte is six years older than Lorian and has taken the position vacated by Malcolm Reed on his untimely death during an altercation with some disgruntled traders (thus his unmarried state).
Now to the story.
The soft rumble of the deck plating beneath his feet let him know that the engine was running smoothly. The thud thud thud of children running through the corridor made him smile. If you had told Trip twenty-five years ago that this ship would become a generational ship he would have told you it was impossible. The quarters weren't big enough, the medical bay wasn't built for childbirth, there weren't any classrooms, and space, plain and simple, is just too dangerous for children. Now that it is a generational ship, his own children having been born and raised on Enterprise, Trip couldn't really imagine it any other way. The mess hall was his ultimate destination but he wanted to swing by engineering to make sure that his newest officer was handling things well. When Travis approached him about letting his son Paul intern in engineering he wasn't too sure it would work out. Paul is only thirteen, still older than when Charlotte began taking bridge shifts but still, he was a little too impulsive for Trip's liking. As he entered engineering he saw his newest charge standing at the intake manifold monitoring the ratings as Commander Hess gave him a tutorial.
Hess looked up briefly and made eye contact. Trip nodded and made his way out of engineering. Now that engineering looked to be doing well coffee was his main concern. Pulling triple shifts was for the young and Trip was still reluctant to admit he no longer belonged to that number. As he entered the mess he looked around, searching for his daughter. He saw her sitting at the corner table talking to Marcus Phlox. Trip grabbed a cup of steaming coffee and headed their way.
"So," he said as he approached the side of the table, "you guys got room for one more?" He smiled down at the table noticing how Marcus immediately got uncomfortable. Oh yeah, he likes her. This could get interesting. He fought the urge to smirk at what new bit of information he had just picked up. Charlottes piercing green eyes met his pale blue and she smiled.
"Sure daddy, we were just talking about the experiment in engineering we have scheduled today. Marcus was trying to convince me that it would be safer for me to monitor on the bridge instead of in engineering. He said that way someone would be away from any explosions or malfunctions who has the engineering understanding to explain it to the rest of the ship." She brushed her long brown hair behind her shoulder and leveled an unhappy glare at Marcus.
Trip chuckled and then really thought about Marcus's suggestion. He put his tongue into his right cheek and moved it around. "Ya know Lotty, it's not a bad idea." Even if it is purely selfish on Marcus's part. "Maybe you should monitor from the bridge. You can tie all of the engineering feeds into the science station and use the internal sensor array to keep an eye on things."
Charlotte looked at her father in disbelief. "Are you serious? You don't want me on hand in engineering?"
Trip looked at his daughter. She was a remarkable engineer and he could probably use her help but he also wanted to keep her safe. "Listen Little Elf, I want you monitoring things, if something starts to go wrong, you'll be the first to know and you can stop it. I trust you with that."
She nodded silently and picked up her glass of iced tea. Trip looked over to Marcus who had the face of the triumphant warrior. Trip downed his coffee and stood up. "Alright, I'm heading to engineering. Talk to you later Elf." He rubbed his hand on the top of her head causing her soft waves to become messy. She just looked up at him, no reprimand on her tongue and smiled.
"See you later daddy."
Her back was turned to him. Her skin tight maroon catsuit left very little to the imagination and he wondered just how long it was until someone asked her to stop. He could hardly believe Trip let her dress like that. Jonathan Archer pulled his overprotective gaze from his goddaughter and looked once again at the view screen.
"Henry," he spoke to his son at the helm. "Increase to Warp 5." Henry nodded silently, his black hair shining in the lighting of the bridge. He began depressing buttons on the console and Jon could feel the ship increase in speed beneath him. He looked over to Charlotte who was monitoring the experiment at the science station. She had the look of intense concentration that Trip got when working on a new engineering problem. Lotty was one of the older children on the ship, being 20, but Jon couldn't help but think of her as that little five year old elf running through the halls chasing after Henry. They had grown up so quickly, he could hardly believe so much time had passed sense they were thrown back in time. "Lotty, what's our progress?"
She looked up and in that moment she looked just like her mother, except for the eyes. "All readings are nominal Captain. I-" She stopped, her console was beeping. She began to rapidly press buttons and a look of confusion settled on her lovely features. "I'm reading an increase in radiation." She whirled around, her back to Jon as she read more reading. "Sir, I would suggest coming out of warp."
Jon nodded and was about to give the order when he felt the whole ship lurch. He looked over to Lotty and felt his breath catch in his throat. She had a look of fear and pain on her face. "Lotty?" She didn't respond. "Ensign Tucker!" He head snapped up. "Report."
Lotty nodded slowly trying to find her voice. "There's been an explosion in engineering, D Deck is venting atmosphere. I'm reading three less life signs." She was rapidly pressing buttons as she made her report. "Triage teams are on their way. Reports of minor injuries throughout the ship, twenty wounded none critical, one dead in sciences, and two dead in engineering. Damage Control teams are on site." Her voice was shaky.
Jon nodded. "Okay, keep me appraised. Try and figure out what went wrong."
"Yes sir."
"Phlox to Ensign Tucker."
Charlotte slowly looked over to the comm button on the science station. She looked up and made eye contact with Henry and then with Jon. She took a steadying breath and pressed the button. "Tucker here. How can I help you Doc?"
His tone was solemn but Charlotte wanted desperately to think that it was simply because of the accident in general and not because he was calling her. "Please come to sickbay immediately."
Charlotte could feel the lump growing in her throat. "On my way." She looked up to Jon who had a worried expression on his face. "Permission to- to leave the bridge sir."
Jon nodded sadly. "Permission granted." Charlotte stood and entered the turbolift, every possible scenario playing out in her mind. Two dead in engineering and one in sciences. Her parents were in both of those departments, they could be hurt, dead.
She exited the turbolift and headed to sickbay. As the sickbay door slid open the overwhelming feeling of fear hit her. There were bodies littering the floor and the smell of blood met her sensitive nose. She searched for Phlox and saw him standing near one of the curtained off areas where she could only assume the fatally wounded were. She hoped with all of her might that whatever awaited her wasn't behind one of those curtains.
Phlox turned and saw her, he motioned her forward and into the curtained area. Her mother was standing next to a biobed, her brother Lorian standing silently at her side. Green blood painted the side of her mothers pained face. Charlotte looked down at the biobed and felt as though the ship was suddenly too small and too big at the same time. She stumbled forward and grabbed the proffered hand of her father.
Her voice was broken from tears when she spoke. "Daddy. Oh Daddy, please, please be okay." The tears were overwhelming. She could feel the warm tears as they silently ran down her cheeks. She hadn't cried since she was Lorian's age. She looked up and saw her fourteen year old brother, trying as hard as he could to hold onto his Vulcan control. Charlotte looked down at the burned and broken body of her father and held his blue-eyed gaze. She promised to herself then and there that she would never allow this to happen to her brother. She would protect Lorian with her very life.
"Trip," Charlotte squeezed her eyes shut tight when she heard her mother speak with such obvious pain. "do not leave me. You cannot leave me." Her father turned his head and smiled at his wife. He reached up slowly with a burned and battered arm and cupped her cheek. Her mother leaned into it and allowed a single tear to run down her cheek. "I love you Trip."
The sound of the heart monitor screaming out became but a dull sound to her ears. It was but the cry of the death beetle. Charlotte looked down and tried to force the image of her smiling father from the morning into the place of the smoke stained body in front of her.
The turbolift doors slid open and a shocked Charlotte stumbled out of it and towards the science console. Every eye on the bridge watched her. The stains of tears were still on her cheeks and her face was pale. She began working at the station, running numb hands over the console trying with all her might to being some normalcy to her world.
She could feel a presence standing in front of her but she didn't lift her eyes or stop her work. The muffled voice of her captain and uncle barely reached her ears. She kept working, trying to bring meaning to the death of her father and the two others. She hadn't even bothered to ask who else had died. She was startled out of her silent work when a warm hand fell onto her shoulder. She looked to her left and met the sad eyes of Uncle Jon, not Captain Archer.
"Lotty, why don't you go back to your quarters?" His voice was quiet, soothing. He was trying to reason with her. Nothing had ever made her more furious.
"I don't want to go back!" She fumed. "I can't go back. Lorian is crying, he won't stop. Mom," she took a steadying breath. "Mom is falling apart, just staring into space. If I go to my quarters I'm going to go crazy. I just need to work Uncle Jon." She could feel the tears coming again. "Please just let me work." Jon grabbed her and held her tight in a hug.
"Lotty, I don't think your dad would want you here now. He'd want you in your quarters with your mom and brother." Lotty pulled away.
She blankly looked at him and turned back to her console. "He doesn't want anything anymore. He isn't alive. He doesn't breath, eat, think. He isn't anything anymore. He's just a body in sickbay. He's dead, that's it. He'll never want anything ever again."
Charlotte stood silently between her mother and her brother. The torpedo casing that held the charred body of her father slid out of the tubing and into space. Lotty couldn't imagine how her life would ever be normal again. She reached down and grabbed Lorian's hand. They stood there together, holding hands, trying to hold on to what they had left of their father.