Sub Commander Zee banked her ship toward the landing area. She had scanned the camp on approach and found nothing amiss. This miserable little planet had nothing to recommend it in her opinion. The three moons and a moderately small asteroid field made sensor readings unreliable at best. Although, for its intended purpose, she supposed it would be considered perfect. The riff-raff that inhabited this place could come and go with impunity.
Zee did remember having quite a good time here about a year ago. Alidar sent her in to make an example of some men that had stolen the schematics of an Andorian warship for him, and then had the audacity to try to double the agreed upon price.
She found it most agreeable to torture men that she did not require information from. In the event that they accidentally died sooner that she expected, she simply moved on to the next one. Leaving the bodies strung from trees left the correct message to all the others: Never cross General Alidar.
The sleek little fighter handled like a dream. Zee set down like a feather beside Krell's shuttle. Popping the canopy, the Sub Commander jumped to the ground.
Zee stretched and twisted to the right and then to the left, feeling her back crack. Pulling her helmet off, she said aloud, "Now, where do I fine that idiot Krell?"
Trip and T'Pol could hear the lock on the door rattle. T'Pol sat on the edge of the bunk and Trip in a chair at the small table. As always the large guard came through the door with a well-laden tray. The second guard, holding a pistol, entered behind him.
The man moved past Trip to place the tray down on the table. T'Pol rose gracefully and moved as if to inspect their meal. Suddenly she made a sweeping kick to the back of his legs and the huge lout fell to his knees. Reaching for the junction of his neck and shoulder with her fingers, T'Pol gave a sharp squeeze.
Jumping to his feet, knocking the chair over behind him, Trip swung his fist into the stomach of the armed guard, who had taken a step forward into the room seemingly in shock at the assault on his friend. He doubled over, grabbing his stomach with his free hand. Trip's second blow was directed at his forearm and caused the pistol to fly from his hand and slide across the floor.
Straightening, the guard growled at Trip and drew back his massive fist…only to fall, stunned, in a heap at Trip's feet a second later. Trip looked over and grinned at T'Pol, who was holding the recently fired pistol.
"Good shot, Darlin'." Trip looked over at the unconscious man that T'Pol had dispatched. "Please tell me that you can teach me that nerve pinch thing."
She simply raised an eyebrow and moved to his side. They cracked the door open and gave a quick look around. Several of the men were milling about the camp doing various tasks. No one appeared to have noticed the noise from their activity across the compound; in fact they were all looking away from the direction of Trip and T'Pol's makeshift prison. The sound and sight of a small ship landing in the clearing had everyone's attention.
As soon as Trip and T'Pol saw that the men were otherwise occupied, they knew this was the unexpected, but welcome diversion they needed. T'Pol moved to the table and stuffed something in the big pocket of her coveralls, then returned to Trip's side.
"Let's go!" Trip grabbed T'Pol's hand and the two ran for the nearest group of trees as fast as they could.
Two sets of binoculars were trained on the camp. The sun was getting low on the horizon and activity seemed to be winding down for the evening.
Both men moved back to cover and began giving their various weapons a final check.
"Okay, Malcolm. Same drill as always, we go in quiet and take out as many as we can without raising an alarm. You get to Tucker and T'pol, take them to safety."
"If I don't get him, you make sure that Krell doesn't escape, it's important to me, David."
"I understand. Trust me, Malcolm."
They started working their way slowly down the hill, through the underbrush, when Malcolm grabbed David's arm.
"Do you hear that?" Malcolm whispered.
"Shit, Malcolm. A ship is coming in for a landing. It's your call, do we go or abort?"
They watched the small fighter land, and what was obviously a female pilot hop out. She stretched and pulled her helmet off. Both men could clearly see she had pointed ears.
Malcolm turned to David, "She's an unknown, but if she's involved with Krell, I'm betting she's not one of the good guys." Reed's lip twisted in a snarl, "We go."
Krell came bustling out to meet the new arrival. "Sub Commander, we were not expecting you."
He was familiar with General Alidar's second in command, and frankly, she scared the hell out of him.
"The general doesn't fly into a situation until he is sure it's secure." She leaned toward Krell with a smile that could freeze water. "I'm here to make sure the situation is secure."
Suddenly a commotion broke out in the camp, Krell and Zee turned as one when a man came running toward them.
"Captain…Captain, the prisoners are gone. They've run off into the woods."
Krell turned back to Zee, the panic evident in his voice, "I will send every one of my men out to search for them. They can't have gotten far."
The expression on the Sub Commander's face was twisted in rage. She grabbed Krell by his coat. Instead of screaming, as he expected, her voice was calm, which terrified him even more.
"You idiot…I will go after them. If even one of your men leaves this camp and gets in my way, I will kill you all, most unpleasantly. You just make sure they don't sneak back into camp and steal your shuttle." When she pushed him away, Krell felt his knees buckle.
Zee grabbed a few supplies and an extra weapon from her fighter and headed to Tucker and T'Pol's former holding cell. She was an excellent hunter and it wasn't long before she identified their tracks from among the many marking the ground. The tracks led from camp towards a nearby stand of trees. Zee hadn't hunted any sentient beings in a while. She decided this could be very entertaining.
Malcolm and David observed the woman have words with Krell. It was obvious she was angry and he was frightened of her. From their vantage point they couldn't tell where she went.
They watched as Krell gave his men orders. In pairs, four sets of men began walking a designated portion of the camps perimeter. Krell and his remaining three men returned to the barracks building.
"David, you take the men walking the south and east lines. I will take out the four at the north and west perimeters. That will put me close to where they have the prisoners…I will free Trip and T'Pol. Once I arm them and point them toward our camp, you and I can move on the barracks and finish this."
"What about that female pilot, Malcolm?"
"My gut says she's neck deep in all this, we take her out."
David smiled at his friend, "You can't tell me you don't miss this, Malcolm."
Smirking ever so lightly, Malcolm whispered, "Well, maybe a little."
Archer was in his ready room conferring, once again, with Soval aboard the Ti'Mur. Their two ships were each powered down to a minimum output. Once they moved into orbit of the outpost, the moons and debris proved to be adequate cover.
"Captain, we have observed a smuggling vessel leave orbit from the other side of the outpost and a single-pilot ship come in and land near the coordinates that you provided. That is all the activity we have charted so far."
"We saw them too, Soval. I wondered if the fighter was an advance scout."
"That occurred to me as well, Captain. Perhaps I should question V'Las…show him the vessel to see if he recognizes it."
Archer shifted in his seat, there was a question he was dying to ask, "Speaking of that, Ambassador, may I ask how you managed to convince the High Command to let you offer us your assistance, much less bring V'Las with you."
The only sign that Soval might have been ill at ease was the deep breath he took before speaking. "Captain Archer, the High Command is in some amount of disarray at the moment. V'Las held much power and was leading our people down a dangerous path. Several members of the counsel came to me with their concerns. Many of my clan members are involved in security and…I suppose you could say espionage."
"What we humans might refer to as intelligence agents, or the more colloquial, spies," Archer replied with a slight upturn of his lip.
Soval inclined his head, "As you say. All the information we gathered as to the identities of the kidnappers of T'pol led us repeatedly back to V'Las. My people, with my approval, took V'Las from his home, covertly, several nights ago. He was brought to the Ti'Mur. We were aware that you had operatives on the trail of Tucker. It took very little questioning for us to ascertain that your men were indeed on their way to the correct coordinates."
Captain Archer gave a small snort of resignation, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you were aware of our investigation."
"My people are very good at their job, Captain, and as I said we are very motivated to find T'Pol."
"So, no one knows that your clan has V'Las in custody, and I assume that Captain Vanik is in cahoots with you."
"Cahoots…an interesting and accurate term, Captain. As you have no doubt surmised, Vanik and most of his senior staff are of our clan. The rest are loyal to us."
"How much trouble will you be in when you return to Vulcan with V'Las in tow? I'm sure the Vulcan's loyal to him will not be please."
"Captain, I am relying on your discretion in this matter. When we took V'Las, we were convinced that he was guilty of treason against the Vulcan people. Now we have proof that he is instead a Romulan spy. His intent was to lead Vulcan to war against certain coalition worlds, create chaos, and leave us vulnerable to eventual invasion. Information will be leaked to the High Command of his crimes against Vulcan, along with evidence that he fled the system. It was never our intention to return him to Vulcan, his death sentence was sealed the moment he had T'Pol taken."
The two men walking the line did not appear overly concerned, in fact, their weapons were holstered. They walked side by side, one complaining about being recently stunned and the other of how much his neck and shoulder ached. Both men stiffened and fell to the ground in unison without uttering another word. David pulled the matching knives from their backs and wiped the blood off before returning the knives to their sheaths. Silently, he moved to his next targets.
Malcolm watched his quarry; the two guards would meet in the middle and then walk to opposite ends of their assigned post. The men were out of sight of each other for at least two minutes. Heading to the far end, Malcolm waited for his first target to reach the end of his walk. Striking quickly, he grabbed the man from behind, twisted his head sharply and snapped his neck, letting the body fall at his feet.
The second guard returned to the middle of his posted area at a slow walk, he waited and watched for his friend to show up. Nervously, he began drawing his weapon when a club split his skull from behind and he fell in a heap. Malcolm dropped the tree limb and moved on.
Standing, David moved away from the second set of bodies he had efficiently dispatched. It was time to catch up with Malcolm and get Tucker and T'Pol to safety.
Malcolm had his back to the wall of the building that was apparently a supply shed. He was easing toward the front to get a look at the other two guards he needed to take out. Either they had no interest in their duties, or they were taking a break because they were sitting on the ground at the base of a tree near the shuttle. The men were passing a flask back and forth. Working his way to the opposite side of the tree trunk, Malcolm pulled his knives and using his element of surprise, stepped around the tree driving his knife into one man's chest, while simultaneously drawing the other knife across, slitting the second guard's throat. Wiping his weapons on his pant leg, Malcolm sheathed them quickly.
Turning at the sound of a low whistle, Malcolm saw his partner step out of the darkness. David came to his side, answering his unasked question with a nod, "Done."
"Let's go get them," Malcolm said softly.
Moments later they were at the building that was Tucker and T'Pol's cell. Malcolm froze when he saw the door. "Bloody hell, it's not locked."
They stepped inside weapons drawn. There was no sign of the couple they sought. Malcolm bared his teeth in a growl of frustration, "Where the hell are they?"
"I think it's time we have a talk with Krell, Malcolm."
The barracks door burst open. Malcolm and David fired a single shot, each taking out one of the two men sitting by a portable heater, warming themselves. David swung around and dropped the man standing by the stove pouring coffee. Captain Krell was reaching across his desk for his weapon when, suddenly, he became aware of a pistol aimed at his head.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Krell."
He looked up at the man speaking and recognition spread across his red-scaled face, "Reed! You're Commander Reed from Enterprise."
"Long time no see, Krell. Now how about you tell me where Tucker and T'Pol are before I blow your ugly head off."
Catching his foot on a tree root, Trip hit the ground hard, rolling twice before coming to a stop on his back.
"Are you alright?" T'Pol crouched down beside him.
"Yeah," Trip grumbled, sitting up and brushing leaves off his chest. "I just can't see well enough to avoid the tripping hazards anymore. I think we're gonna need to stop for the night before one of us breaks a leg. You'd think a planet with three moons would provide more light."
T'Pol reached for his hand, pulling Trip to his feet, "I'm sure it would if we were out in the open, but this forest creates a canopy of leaves so dense, no amount of moonlight could possibly get through."
Trip and T'Pol had been on the run for several hours. They had put a good deal of distance between themselves and Krell's compound. It was only the darkness that halted their progress.
As usual, T'Pol had been correct about the exercise and meditation routines they had practiced all these weeks. They would never have been able to keep up this pace otherwise.
"Let's scout around and see if we can find a good place to bed down for the night. Nobody can track us in the dark, so they will have to stop as well. We should rest while we can."
T'Pol spoke softly to Trip as they both looked for a likely place to get some sleep.
"I agree. We did all we could to throw them off our trail. Running up stream for as long as we could, then keeping to the rocks whenever possible should buy us time. It will take very good trackers to pick up our trail."
Trip examined an area where a tree had long ago fallen into another and been covered over with leaves and debris, forming a natural lean-to. After checking to make sure it wasn't home to any of the local creatures, he decided it would give them a fair amount of protection for the night.
"I think this is as good as we're going to get for the night, T'pol. Thankfully it's dry since we don't have a blanket to sleep on."
"It will be fine, Trip. We just need to eat and then rest for several hours."
The two crawled inside their make-shift shelter and Trip watched T'Pol pull some things out of her large pocket.
"I saw you grab something off our dinner tray but forgot to ask what it was," Trip said smiling.
T'Pol handed him several pouches. "Luckily for us, they didn't have the kitchen up and running. Most of what they brought was prepackaged, I'm not sure what I have, I was trying to be quick."
Surveying the packets in the dim light, Trip listed their inventory. "Looks like three pouches of dried fruit and two grain bars."
"I also have this, although it is a little worse for wear." T'Pol pulled some mashed bread and cheese from her pocket.
This produced a chuckle from Trip. "Not to worry, I'll be happy to eat it. In fact, I've had worse. When I was a kid, I'd make me a sandwich and shove it in my pocket before I went out to play for the day. This is in good shape by comparison."
"You were certainly a strange child," T'pol deadpanned, causing Trip to laugh delightedly.
Rolling out a sleep mat, Zee settled down and took a bite of her protein bar. She was able to follow the tracks of her quarry until they entered the stream. She would have to wait for daylight to pick up the trail.
They were clever and that made her smile. She had hoped that the two would offer her at least some challenge. Yes, Zee decided, this unexpected hunt was going to afford her some much needed amusement.
Trip wished that they had been able to bring some water from the stream, but unfortunately there was no container available to them. At least they had drunk their fill while they had the chance. He was glad T'Pol had the forethought to grab them some food.
Trip settled down on his back. The dried leaves crunched a little under his weight but it turned out to be pretty comfortable. T'Pol had stepped around the corner to take care of her personal needs. He wondered to himself what their next move should be. While eating they had discussed several options, like sneaking back and trying to steal the shuttle or keep heading away and hope for other transport to present itself. It was mutually decided to wait until morning to make any decisions.
Crawling in beside Trip, T'Pol settled into his side. She gently rubbed her hand back and forth over his chest. He knew she was thinking about something but could only wait until she was ready to share. He gave her a squeeze and kissed her temple.
"You need rest, Darlin'. Try to get some sleep."
Raising up, propping on her right elbow, T'Pol leaned in and pressed her lips to Trip's. He responded to the kiss and threaded his hand into her long silky hair. Hearing the growl of his zipper as she lowered it confirmed her intensions.
"T'pol, are you sure you want to…"
"I have never known such contentment in my life as I did the first time you made love to me after my blood fever. We don't know what will happen tomorrow. And, we have had very little time unobserved during our captivity. If I let the opportunity to know that bliss once more pass me by, I would regret it for the rest of my life."
Trip smiled up at her, "I do believe that is the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me."
Quickly they shed their coveralls. T'Pol pressed Trip back down and slid on top of him, soft kisses, deepening, as she explored his body with all of hers.
Gliding his hands across her shoulders, down her back, and over her hips, Trip cupped her bottom, pulling her tightly against him. The feel of his chest hair tickling against her breasts made her gasp. She wanted more.
Her excitement increased as she took control. Feeling his hardness against her stomach, T'Pol sat up straddling his hips. Easing up, she took his erection in her hand, guiding it to her opening. The feeling of sliding slowly down his length took her breath away.
As soon as T'Pol's soft hair fell across his face and her ample breasts pressed against his chest, Trip was instantly hard. It wasn't easy, but he let T'Pol take the lead, wanting to see what she would do. Trip could barely see T'Pol in the darkness as she rose up to take him inside her. He reached for her breasts hefting their firm weight and rubbing his thumbs over her hard nipples. As she began to gently rock her hips, he fought to maintain his control.
T'Pol placed her hands on her thighs. She increased the rhythm of her hips and started lifting her body up and down riding Trip's cock. T'Pol soon realized that Trip was thrusting his hips upward in counterpoint to her movements. The warmth spreading through her entire body was becoming more urgent…requiring more and deeper contact. T'Pol leaned forward placing her hands on either side of Trip's head, arching her back at the feel of her breasts brushing his face.
Trip brought his hand up to caress her right breast licking the nipple and flicking it with his tongue. T'Pol moved faster. He switched to her left breast and sucked hard on the nipple. Trip kept pace with her, increasing his thrusts. He could feel her internal muscles pulse and knew she was very close. Trip gave her nipple a gentle bite. T'Pol's entire body stiffened as she fell into exquisite orgasm. He maintained his thrusts as she rode the sensations, her internal muscles grasping and throbbing around his erection.
When finally T'Pol collapsed against his chest, Trip quickly rolled them over to place her underneath him. He found her lips and heatedly kissed their softness. It only took him a few more hard thrusts to bring forth his own powerful orgasm. As Trip's tense muscles relaxed, he sprawled across her body, panting.
T'Pol brushed her fingers across his forehead. Pushing damp hair back out of his face, she whispered, "I would have indeed regretted missing this experience."
