A Week at the Lake

by red rooster dawn

T&T

Disclaimer: All the characters are the property of Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek. They are use purely for entertainment value only.

Summary: The captain gets tired of Trip & T'Pol fighting. He sends them on a little excursion.

Scene one Reaching the breaking point

The Captain threw his hands up in the air in disgust as he looked over at Hoshi. He was trying to have a conversation with Hoshi in his ready room about the wonderful job Hoshi had been doing.

Her work had been outstanding and had allowed them to communicate with all the new species that they had been encountering the last six months. She had programmed the Universal Translator with ten new languages.

But he couldn't hear himself think. The two of them were at it once again. He could hear them yelling at each other. Trip and T'Pol were once again having a major disagreement about something.

The Captain looked at Hoshi and declared "I'm sorry for the disruption Hoshi. This has got to stop. It's about time I did something about it."

"What are you going to do Sir?" asked Hoshi curiously.

"I want you to scan for the nearest class M planet. And please send Lieutenant Reed to me ASAP please." replied Archer angrily.

A few minutes later Malcolm knocked on the door to the ready room before entering. He wondered what the Captain wanted. He was sure that it had something to do with the Commander and Sub Commander.

"Sit down Malcolm. I have a job I need you to do for me." started Archer.

"Does this have anything to do with the Commander and Sub Commander, Sir?" begged Malcolm hopefully.

"Yes. I'm sure you're well aware of the two of them and their many petty disagreements." continued Archer.

"Yes Sir. I'm pretty sure everyone on board has been exposed to one of their discussions at one time or another." replied Malcolm smirking.

"That I'm sure of. What I want you to do Malcolm is get together some survival gear for the two of them to last them for a couple of weeks. I have Hoshi looking for a class M planet to set them down on.

I plan on leaving them there and have them work out their problems together while they transverse two hundred and fifty miles to reach the rendezvous point." smiled Archer.

"And I have the perfect toy to give to them." smiled Malcolm.

"A toy? I'm trying to teach them a lesson Malcolm, not to amuse them." replied Archer.

"Yes Sir. What I mean Sir, I have a pair of bracelets that magnetically attached to each other. Sort of like the old style handcuffs. If they get more then a hundred feet apart from the other they get a nasty zap.

The mechanism is designed so they can be apart for a short time each day to take care of personal business." grinned Malcolm as he rubbed his hands together.

"Perfect Malcolm. Go for it. I'll meet you in the shuttle bay in an hour." ordered Archer.

The Captain went out onto the bridge to see Hoshi. He leaned over to her and whispered to her "Have you found anything yet?"

"Yes Sir. There's a Class M planet an hour away." replied Hoshi.

"Good give the coordinates to Travis and send Trip and T'Pol to my ready room." replied Archer.

Ten minutes later Trip and T'Pol were standing in front of the Captain. They were wondering what was going on. They had suddenly change direction and were headed to this small backwards planet. According to the Vulcan Data Base there was no animal life on the planet.

"I supposed you both are wondering why I called you into my ready room." began Archer smugly.

"Yes Sir!" they both replied smartly together.

"Well it seems that you two are having a problem playing nice together. This has been an on going problem for quite some time now and it has to stop. Your fighting is disrupting the smooth operation of the ship and the crew." continued Archer.

"I don't understand Sir." replied Trip.

"T'Pol and I hardly ever fight. We disagree from time to time on how to do some things, but usually we get along just fine." answered a puzzled Trip.

"Do you agree with the Commander assessment, T'Pol?" asked Archer.

"Yes Sir. In the ten months we have been here in space, the Commander and I have had only two arguments. Both times you were away on a mission. We have had a few minor disagreements along the way, but we usually settle them without much difficulty." replied a stoic T'Pol.

"Is that so." smiled Archer. "I've had reports of you two fighting at least twenty times in the last two months alone. And I have seen or heard you fighting at least ten times myself." replied Archer in total amazement.

He couldn't understand how the two of them were so unaware of how disruptive their behaviors were.

"Sorry Sir. But we haven't had an argument since we were on that planet with the spores." replied T'Pol.

"Then what was going on between the two of you just a half hour ago. I couldn't hear myself think with the two of you yelling at each other." responded Archer.

"We were discussing what time we were going to lunch Sir. The chef has made pecan pie today. I wanted to make sure we got there in time to get some." replied Trip with a big grin.

All the Captain could do was shake his head and then scream. After taking a few minutes to regain his composure he turned back to them.

"You both are going to be spending a week to ten days together down on the planet below. Get whatever personal items you're going to need and then report to shuttle bay one in an hour. Dismiss!" ordered Archer.

He got together with Malcolm and Hoshi to come up with a plan.