TITLE: Who's the Fairest of them All?
AUTHOR: MikeJaffa
SYNOPSIS: Hoshi starts acting strangely during an ion storm. Femslash. Rated M. Set during S1/S2, but spoilers for "In a Mirror, Darkly."
DSICLAIMER: Enterprise is owned by CBS. I am making no money off writing and publishing this work of fan fiction.
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T'Pol stood at the edge of the cliff 30 meters above crashing waves and looked through the binoculars at the shuttle pod descending out of the mid-morning sky. She lowered the binoculars opened her communicator. "T'Pol to Sato."
"Sato here. Go ahead."
"The shuttle pod is on approach. I will need your assistance."
"I'll be right out."
T'Pol closed the communicator. She turned and walked back towards the mansion. It was one of many mansions on the island, an island on a planet of abandoned cities and mining towns.
T'Pol had remembered the story from her childhood: this planet, Drakus 4, had been colonized when the people of its neighbor, Drakus 3, had invented warp travel and begun mining Drakus 4 for its dilithium. But not long after contact had been made with the Vulcans, the mines on Drakus 4 had played out and the planet had been abandoned. At the same time, Drakus 3's global unity had fractured, resulting in a global war that had destroyed the species. T'Pol remembered how news of the Drakusians extinction had reached Vulcan, and whether humans would be the next race to destroy themselves. The species were similar in many ways, but despite seeing humans as impetuous, T'Pol felt they deserved more credit than most Vulcans were willing to give them.
In any event, as the Vulcans had been digesting that tragedy, a neighboring race, the Valrons, had annexed the Drakus system to mine the dilithium from the system's other planets and moons. None of which would have mattered if Drakus 4 didn't have unusual aurora that produced odd subspace disruptions during ion storms that happened every 45 years. Ion storms were normally unpredictable, but the ones in the Drakus systems were amazingly regular. The planet's magnetic field and atmosphere would provide enough protection to anyone on the ground, but a ship would have to retreat to the solar system's Oort cloud until the storm passed. But with relations between the Vulcans and the Valrons being tense, ultimately, only a ship from a third party, the *Enterprise,* had been allowed into the system to make the study of the ion storms. Captain Archer had been surprised by the news that Ambassador Soval had done the diplomatic equivalent of back flip to get T'Pol permission to stay overnight on the planet after the *Enterprise* left orbit, , but the Valrons had stipulated only one other crew member could stay with her. And with the Valrons being an extremely chauvinistic matriarchy, that officer would have to be female. T'Pol had requested Hoshi's presence without hesitation.
The overgrown garden had was covered with boxes and crates from the first shuttle pod. Hoshi and T'Pol had landed just before dawn and had divided their time between setting up equipment and exploring the premises. The mansion had been chosen because it had survived decades of inoccupancy best, so they would stay in there. Hoshi, T'Pol, and Crewmen Cutler and Jones would the bulk of work that day, and then T'Pol and Hoshi would continue a more general survey the next day. The day after that, the *Enterprise* would return.
The shuttle pod landed. As Hoshi and T'Pol approached, the hatch opened. Ensign Cutler and crewman Sharon Jones climbed out, and began to haul out boxes.
T'Pol said, "Did you bring everything?"
Cutler nodded. "Power converter, sleeping bags, portable commode, and last but not least, food, a portable stove, and disposable cutlery. You guys will be ok for a couple of days?"
Jones smiled. "Hey, didn't you hear? Hoshi hangs out in T'Pol's quarters once a week. They're probably getting a little romantic vacation out of this."
T'Pol said, "You are in error, Crewman. I am assisting Ensign Sato in learning to control her emotions. We do not have a sexual relationship."
"I know, Sub-Commander. I was just kidding around." Jones picked up a box. "Where do you want the piano, ladies?"
The four women carried the gear into the mansion and set everything up in a palatial ball room. The walls were covered with friezes depicting young women in filmy gowns, their arms stretched up towards a light source that looked like aurora. T'Pol stuck her scanner in the fireplace and said, "The chimney is remarkably free of debris, so it should be safe for us to set a fire in the fire place."
Cutler nodded. "I saw a wood pile out back."
After they had brought the wood in, Cutler looked at the friezes. She asked, "Hoshi, wasn't the guy who owned this place some kind of perv?"
Hoshi said, "The Valron database says the guy who bought this place was totally whack doodle. He believed that this place was a gateway to other universes, and the key to psychically connecting to them was pretty girls in not a lot of clothing."
"Ooohhh," Culter said.
"Fascinating though that is," T'Pol said, "we have tasks to complete before the shuttle pod must lift off at sunset."
Stopping only to eat lunch, the four women erected a solar-powered sensor platform in the middle of the garden. Then they assembled the instrument package for a balloon, inflated the balloon and launched it. Then they set up more sensors and a small command post in the ballroom and connected the stations to the power converter. They completed their work ahead of schedule.
Culter said, "Seriously, you two will be all right?"
T'Pol said, "I appreciated your concern, but the structure has already been studied by Valronian authorities and approved for habitation. I do not anticipate any trouble."
"With all due respect, Ma'am, that's what we think every time we go someplace."
"True, crewman, but your people adopted the saying that a broken clock is right twice a day. You have your orders."
"Yes, Ma'am." She started to climb into the shuttle pod, then looked over at Hoshi. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"I don't know what you wouldn't do, Liz."
T'Pol said, "It amazes me how often humans can find occasions for double entendre."
Cutler closed up the shuttle pod. Hoshi and Sato watched it lift off. Then T'Pol said, "Show me what you found."
Hoshi lead T'Pol back to a small room by the ball room. There was a desk with a large book on it.
Hoshi said, "I didn't find much, but that looks like a ledger. Translating it should give us some insight into life here. Anthropologists and historians might want that, and I get to translate something."
"It is always good to exercise one's skills, as long as it does not detract from out other tasks here."
"It won't."
Hoshi carried the ledger back to the ballroom. T'Pol took another look at the friezes.
Hoshi said, "Yeah, men, right?"
"You sound cynical."
Hoshi paused, then said, "You once said I can't change my nature. Well, men—with the possible exception of Vulcan men—have built in desire to bed women that never goes away. No matter how much humanity has advanced, I know that plenty of guys look at me and see a cute little Asian with a nice butt, and I have to work ten times as hard as a guy would to show how smart I am."
"Would you say that about Captain Archer? I know you have known him for a long time. What about Commander Tucker?"
"I see your point, but then there's the guy who built this place. For every gentleman there are a hundred cads. It's always inside you." She half turned away. "You have to fight her every day."
"'Her'?"
"What? Oh, slip of the tongue. Never mind. You hungry, Sub-Commander? I'm starving."
"This would be a good time to have a meal, and we are not going to do much of a survey tonight."