Disclaimer: Paramount owns Enterprise and everything connected with it, except Tia Anlor (Tee-ah' Ahn'-lor), who belongs to me and I'm not sharing. (G)
This is the 24th story in this series, the others being 'Casting Call', 'Golden Girl'; 'A Few Words'; 'Glistni'; 'Small Time'; 'Acquisition'; 'What Do I Do Now?'; 'For Want of Kilyiis'; 'Daasii'; 'Noblesse Oblige'; 'Roses and Thorny'; 'Time and Again', 'House of Cards', 'Starlight Maiden', 'Armageddon', 'Luuru', 'Cross and Crown', 'Pulsar', 'Face in the Dark Mirror', 'Time Stream', 'Treaty Violation', 'Humiliatum', 'Clara' and 'Life Goes On'. This story begins about ten days later. Tia has been on the Enterprise for over ten months.
Later works will include 'The Court Martial of Hoshi Sato', 'Empress Sato', 'Extreme Prejudice' and 'Fractured'.
Rating: M or NC-17. Nudity.
"What happens when 'the right thing to do' is the very thing that cannot be done?"
Sufferance
By JMK758
Chapter One
First Contact
Commander Charles Tucker III eased himself carefully down upon the grass. Even his bruises had bruises, it seemed, and when he surveyed the other members of his landing party they were not significantly better.
'Two brawls in one day tends to do that to you.' He thought ruefully. As a Survey mission this was a bust; as a First Contact experience it was an utter disaster. And until they could return to, or at least communicate with, Enterprise, there was not much prospect of its getting better.
He had taken first watch, as well as last, being relieved by the Exobiologist Tia Anlor at dawn. As the sun rose in the southwest, he carefully scanned the horizon for signs of any movement. About 900 meters before him was the edge of a small forest, the limits of which had not been determined. In the other three directions the land spread out before them, clear and level. The grassy mound upon which they had positioned themselves was over three meters tall and had the advantage of allowing them to see for a considerable distance in all directions. They could see any approaching natives and have a chance to get to cover behind the low rise should it be necessary.
Thus far, cover and the opportunity to avoid contact with the locals were becoming very necessary.
x
He took a moment in the quiet dawn to reflect on the events that had led to this situation. It had all started out so normally just a day ago. Enterprise had come out of warp within a previously unmapped solar system; itself hardly a surprise. Interestingly enough, this system did not appear on the Vulcan Star Charts which formed their main source of navigational information.
T'Pol had no explanation for the omission of this system on the star charts, which was enough to put Archer on the alert. The Vulcan survey ships occasionally ignored systems that they had no interest in, but this was the first time in his experience that such a system had included a Minshara Class planet.
The omission still might not have been considered unusual except for the fact that all the surrounding systems, nebula and other stellar artifacts were listed, catalogued and described in sufficient detail – except for this system.
Such a glaring omission could not fail to arouse interest. Everything in the sector was recorded except this one star system. It was almost as if it were being intentionally ignored.
The system was forthwith designated 'Declan' by Ensign Mayweather, who was running a very close 4th on the all-time-high number of new systems discovered, identified and catalogued.
Jonathan Archer had long since ceased the practice of a ship's commander designating a new celestial body; there were simply so many of them along their course. It being Mayweather's 'turn', the system was forthwith designated 'Declan' in the official records in recognition of its relation to other previously mapped bodies in the sector.
It was determined that the fourth planet was 'Minshara' class, that designation being named after the first body so found by the Vulcan explorers from whom they had received their navigational charts. That is, a planet suitable for humanoid life, even as Earth had been found to be nearly a hundred years ago. In fact, there was a considerable if widely scattered humanoid population detected. Each population center had several hundred inhabitants, but each was several kilometers away from its nearest neighbors.
This world seemed to be in a stage of development very roughly analogous to that of mid-twentieth century Earth, had that world not developed an extensive technological bent. At least this was what could be determined from orbital images. It was agrarian as well as technological, though technology seemed to be quite limited and habitations were spread over wide ranges. There did not seem to be more than about a thousand inhabitants in any one area.
The Away team was not to make contact, as the planet's technology was quite evidently pre-warp. The planet, however, seemed quite worthy of investigation.
x
Two Landing Parties were dispatched, one to form a purely scientific research into the planet, the other a more generalized overview. It had been decided to equip a small team to make the initial survey: Tucker to pilot the pod and command the first team, Hoshi to provide translation should they encounter any natives, Tia for biological analysis of flora, fauna and the natives.
But the addition of Seamus O'Cathain to the Landing Party had surprised Trip. It turned out that the Astrometer had a minor in Geology which was basically languishing aboard ship, so he had gone to the Captain some weeks ago requesting posting on an upcoming team before he forgot what a rock looked like.
This planet seemed like a reasonable chance to put the scientist to work. "Let him get some grass under his feet, and learn there is more to space exploration than nebula, stars and quasars." Archer had put it that way to Trip; also adding a private if tongue-in-cheek caveat to the effect, considering the personal interplay of the team, of 'just don't let it develop into a double date, okay?'
If Trip had known what was to come, he would have piloted the Shuttlepod toward the nearest tropical island and taken his lumps when he got back.
x
It had seemed a simple job. Go down, look around, don't interact with anyone, take some biological and geological samples and come back. What was learned from the first tests would determine how the rest of the mission would proceed. How could anyone guess it would go so horribly wrong?
'What could go wrong' had been answered very quickly, moments after the first Shuttlepod launched. The Declan star was in the midst of an unnoticed series of changes. Contrary to popular belief, unless scans are being run at the very moment a star is experiencing a major fluctuation, it took some time to gather sufficient information to let the Science Department know something unusual was happening, or even going to happen. Therefore, the massive flares which resulted in powerful EM bursts had caught everyone by surprise. Pod Two had been unable to launch, though the polarizing of the hull plating had protected Enterprise's electronic systems. Pod One, having launched minutes before, was not so lucky.
The apparently stable star had flared with insufficient warning when the shuttlepod containing the team had barely entered the incomplete protection of the outer atmosphere. The electromagnetic radiation had fried most of the systems, and it was only through the rapid and coordinated efforts of the team in re-establishing at least some of the ship's controls that had allowed them to land. With the inertial stabilizers overstressed, 'land' was a somewhat mild word for it; 'slam like a rock onto the surface' seemed to better cover it.
Even if they could navigate safely, they were not going anywhere without obtaining or fashioning replacement parts for systems burned out by the blast of radiation.
Tucker pulled his communicator to the zippered pocket in the sleeve of his uniform and flipped open the antenna grid, trying again to contact the orbiting starship. A burst of static screamed at him loudly enough to startle his two remaining fellow scientists awake.
He did not take any 'notice' at all of the fact that they had fallen asleep after their respective watches quite close together, enough so that O'Cathain, resting behind Hoshi so that the line of their bodies touched, had his arm draped over Hoshi's body in an attempt, the Commander was sure, to keep her 'warm'.
He returned the device to his sleeve pocket with an apologetic smile. "I can only get through for a few seconds, and not at all this time. Enterprise keeps having to shut down to avoid the EM bursts, but even if they could send a pod, these solar flares are still ionizing everything. The transporter is out of the question."
"Thank God!" Hoshi exclaimed feelingly, rubbing sleep from her eyes and inching forward away from Seamus – by about a quarter inch. She had had only one experience with the transporter, and though it had turned out well in the end, in real life, it had left her so shaken that she did not think she would ever willingly use it again.
From their orbital scans, Trip believed that this culture was sufficiently advanced to be able to help them, at least with raw materials.
That is, if the locals would just stop trying to kill them.
x
"What do you think, Seamus?" Trip asked, shielding his eyes against the glare of the rising sun as he scanned the horizon, even though Tia stood two feet from him, doing so far more efficiently with the high powered telescopic sights. He turned back to the battered man who was reclining on the grassy knoll next to him. O'Cathain had removed his arm from Hoshi's body and had also moved back a discrete inch – but not very much more.
"I think we're getting our heads handed to us." The Astrometer answered feelingly, his Irish brogue particularly pronounced as he gingerly flexed his left shoulder. He was planetside on this survey mission to log a few hours of surface time in an occupation that was normally strictly shipboard; or at least conducted in the environs of deep space. His environ was a shipboard observatory; his job not an occupation in which there were many life or death, hand-to-hand conflicts.
Next time he would not be
so quick to volunteer.
"Wish I knew what we were doing wrong."
x
Yesterday, a few hours after they had landed and set forth in search of the materials they would need for repairs, they had encountered a party of four natives of this Minshara class planet. Relations had started out cordial with these distinctly humanoid beings, human to the limit of Tucker's observation, right up to the point where the leader had attacked him.
The unexpected assault was the signal for a general melee, and though the Enterprise team acquitted themselves well, they had to do so bare-handed; the restriction against phase pistols being used against a pre-warp culture ringing in Tucker's ears. The other members of his team, Linguist Hoshi Sato and Biologist Tia Anlor, had been caught just as off-guard but had managed to hold off their own foes, yet none knew the reason for the natives' unprovoked attack or their precipitous withdrawal.
When, a few hours later, the team's journey to where the tricorder had detected a large if distant population center had been interrupted by the approach of a group of nine males, none of whom had been part of the previous group; they had made a somewhat more cautious contact. These had approached from the direction in which they had been traveling, presumably from the population center their scanner had detected.
The sudden brawl was joined in less than two minutes.
This time, however, the odds were considerably more heavily weighed against the Enterprise crew. They had managed, just barely, to drive the larger group off only through the intense training required of Starfleet officers, particularly under Lt. Malcolm Reed's supervision, but not without collecting a variety of injuries.
Trip felt his right ribs gingerly, where a heavy rod, from a man coming in from beside him as he'd defended himself against one man, had gotten under his defense. He was sure he was going to have a good size bruise to remember this planet by. Seamus O'Cathain, handling two opponents in that melee, had been favoring his left leg ever since. Tia, dealing with three natives with the characteristic speed and strength of a guerilla-trained Auran Resistance Fighter had fared best of all, but had gone down under a heavy club to her back, and though Hoshi's black belt in Aikido had allowed her to give as good as she had gotten against her two opponents, her left eye was blackened and she had collected several bruises to her face and elsewhere Trip could not see save in the cautious way she moved.
Now they had taken position at the top of a three meter high grassy knoll where they could tend to their injuries as well as possible while keeping a watchful eye out for any other attackers.
x
"Hoshi, did you get anything from that second 'encounter'?"
"Yes, a shiner that'll last for about a week." The woman had been fine tuning the Universal Translator when Tucker had gone down, driven by a heavy fist. She had looked up in time to see an equally massive fist an inch from her left eye before she was knocked off her feet.
"I meant -."
"I know, Commander. The translator was working properly, it got enough of what we needed prior to the first attack; I'm sure of it. But I could turn this thing off and you'd manage just fine without it."
That pronouncement was enough to get everyone's attention. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, Commander, that the language they are speaking is based on an archaic dialect of English very strongly influenced by Italian, French and German." She had to suppress a laugh at the expression on the Second Officer's face.
"Wait a minute. Are you trying to tell me –."
"I'm not trying to tell you anything, Commander. I am telling you. Their language originated on Earth."
x
Trip Tucker would not for the galaxy express any doubt about Hoshi's expertise on the subject of languages. If she said this language came from Earth; then no matter how far fetched the theory sounded, it came from Earth.
"It's as if these languages were pulled away from Earth as they were spoken, say three hundred years ago, and then allowed to blend into a hodgepodge and evolve completely on their own." She continued.
"On Earth, language standardized with the advent of mass communication; radio and the like. Before then, you could travel five hundred miles in your own country and be exposed to dialects and accents that would render your own language almost unintelligible to you.
"But let's say that, three or four centuries ago, you pulled Britons, Americans, Germans, Italians and French men and women out of their native environs and dropped them here. They'd learn to communicate between themselves, and their language would evolve in a way completely different from the way it did on Earth."
"So, you're saying these people are humans?"
"Well, I'm not ready to say absolutely, but the theory fits what I've found so far."
"I agree." Seamus said. "From what we've seen, these people look human."
Trip glanced at Tia, standing watch with a pair of magnifying binoculars. "Ask me not. To me, you sound all like sintakas." He grinned, not knowing what a 'sintaka' was and doubtful he wanted to be enlightened.
x
He returned his attention to Hoshi and Seamus. "All right, any more theories?"
"They're not colonists; that's for certain." Seamus declared. "We're too far out even for the earliest of the early warp ships, and nuclear powered vessels would take years to get this far. If they were from Earth in modern times, they'd be more advanced and more homogenized. We'd be able to communicate with them no matter what Earth language they spoke."
"Agreed." Hoshi concurred.
"So, if they're not colonists, any guess how they got here? Or could they have evolved here?" Even before he asked, he had dismissed the notion, but he wanted the concurrence of his fellow scientists, if only so he could throw it out with a clear conscience.
"No." Hoshi declared definitely. "This language is an evolution of a compilation of clearly defined human root languages. The odds of an independent evolution are so high I won't even entertain them."
"These men are human." Seamus agreed. Even with specialties in such far removed disciplines as Astrometrics and Geology, he felt firmly enough rooted in even the most basic science to declare firmly that "The closest physical evolution on a planet identical to Earth could not get it so exact. Maybe their ancestors arrived an untold hundreds of years ago, but they evolved as Earthmen."
"Agree I do." Tia concurred without breaking her watch. She was the Biologist of the team, and did not find anything in O'Cathain's conclusion that could be disputed.
Trip looked up at her, at the moment more concerned with what was happening on watch. "Do you see anything?"
"Your 'scanner' it does, but clear not. Radiation affects it is. Life there is, but kind what I tell can not."
"All right." He turned back to the others. "Then we come to the next question. Why are they so friendly, and then start beating the hell out of us?"
Hoshi shrugged. "Well, there you've got me. I reviewed the records and can find no warning of their attack. Whatever keeps setting them off is probably cultural, but for the life of me I can't see what it is."
"I -."
"Movement." Tia announced, the telescopic binoculars pressed to her eyes.
x
The team was on its feet in an instant. She was looking at the stand of trees nearly a kilometer off. With their unaided eyes the others could just make out the movement of bodies that seemed to comprise a fairly large group, some apparently dressed in dark clothing, some in quite light attire, but could not resolve them into individuals. "They out of the trees come have. They on a path are that lead to our left will, but they see us soon will if remain we do."
"How many?"
"Thirteen men and…" The young woman stopped suddenly, her manner tense.
"And?" Trip pressed. He had to know, in case he had to give the order to retreat. They were surrounded by flat ground. It was perfect for observing an approaching danger, but horrible for hiding from it.
"Kraanstat!" Tia exclaimed feelingly, an expletive the translator would not render from the golden woman's native tongue. "Now understand I do." Trip could see the small knot of people veer slightly. "Oh Aura, they us seen have!" She lowered the device and turned urgently to Hoshi, grasping her arm. "Come!"
She pulled the surprised woman several feet down the far side of the knoll, about halfway to the level ground until they could neither see, nor be seen by, the approaching party. There she let the binoculars fall to the grass.
"Your clothing take off!"
"What?" Hoshi was stunned, becoming even more so as the young Auran frantically tugged at the fastenings of her own garment.
x
"Shar-les! Between us and them stand." Tia yanked the zipper of her uniform down from throat to waist and tore open the blue material before the astonished trio, pulling it from her shoulders. She was not wearing the regulation black shirt, but only a bra. "Hoshi, qualsia - please. Trust me. Your clothing take off. Now!"
The two men positioned themselves between their friends and the approaching group. They faced the approaching group rather than the two women, for which Hoshi was extremely thankful. She certainly did not want to comply, but there was something in Tia's frantic urgency that made her pull down the zipper of her own uniform.
"Hurry!" Tia had her own uniform pushed off and shoved it and her panties down past her hips so they fell to her feet like a dry puddle. But in her frantic rush she could not get her fingers to work the unfamiliar behind-the-back clasp of the bra Hoshi had insisted so many weeks ago that she wear all the time and which she did only on 'away missions' to protect her sensitive flesh from the uniform. Grabbing the cups, she pulled hard, her greater than human strength breaking the material open.
Hoshi tried not to think of the fact that she was stripping out of her clothes out in the open in front of Seamus and Trip, who at least were monitoring the approaching party. All right, with Seamus she had done this before, plenty of times, but never with such a frantic rush as Tia's obvious urgency imparted in her. In less time than she could expect she was stark naked, avoiding looking at their turned backs for fear of blushing and giving away just how embarrassed she was.
Tia snatched the bundle of her uniform, underwear and boots from her grasp, rolled it up in a ball with her own and threw the clothing down to the ground at the base of the rise behind them, where it would, hopefully, remain hidden from sight. She turned to the men who stared away from them and, before either could move, hurried up the two steps toward the top, reached up and snatched the phase pistol from Tucker's belt. She turned the control all the way to maximum and pointed it down at the bundle.
x
"NO!" Hoshi yelled even as Trip and Seamus whirled in surprise at Tia's snatching of the weapon and Hoshi's exclamation. This was too much, but Hoshi could not move fast enough to prevent the younger woman from pulling the trigger. The red beam leapt from the gun, past her as she ducked away, and the cloth burst into flame. The fire was so intense that in seconds there was nothing left but ashes and a small puff of smoke. "Are you out of your mind?" She cried.
"No. My clothing." She answered urgently, returning to the top of the rise and pressing the pistol back into Trip's hands, looking past the stunned man. "They here almost are!" She whispered urgently. "They us see clearly can. Quickly. Hit me!"
"What?"
"Do 'what' nyasi. There time is for 'what' none. Trust me!" She backed away from him to her left, knowing it was putting her naked body in full view of the approaching party, struggling to keep her voice down. "Hit me!"
Trip could not conceive of any such thing. Against a woman certainly not. Against Tia? He raised his hand unwillingly. "With your hand nyasi! Der-kris your gentle nature, Shar-les! These bruises mask. Hit me!"
x
Seamus O'Cathain came forward from Tucker's right, grabbed her shoulder with his left hand to turn her to him, and rammed his fist hard into her stomach. Trip, broken out of his surprised paralysis, was about to take the man's head off when he realized, even as Tia doubled over, that he had 'stage' hit her, pulling his punch at the last instant and just pushing his hand into her stomach. As she bent, he brought his right arm crashing down, appearing to slam it directly into the spot where the burnished golden bruise from the club that had hit her yesterday ran from her right shoulder part of the way to her left hip. The 'powerful blow' stopped barely at her skin and she went down hard. There was no finesse in her fall; she crashed face down onto the grass.
Hoshi, with an outraged exclamation, rushed up the knoll into plain sight, trying to hurry to her friend's 'aid'; but Seamus swung back, his vicious backhand blow almost coming close enough to brush her left eyelash.
With a cry of 'pain', Hoshi 'flew' back completely off her feet to land on the grass, rolling twice with the force of the blow before she stopped; face down, unmoving, 'unconscious'. O'Cathain did not even spare a look at his beloved's nude body, turning to where Tia lay motionless at his feet. Using his boot, he turned her over onto her back to hide the already well developed bruise. She did not respond as she fell back, lying limply upon the grass, her long golden hair draped across her face.
Tucker had a thousand questions he wanted to demand answers to, but when he looked back, the approaching band had reached the bottom of the low rise.