Chapter Nine.
Enterprise had entered Krios Prime's air space and obtained permission to send a shuttle craft down. Jon and Erica had insisted on having an audience with the First Monarch. Erica had insisted upon coming along on this mission and being a part of the away team. Jon had tried to talk her out of it, then they had argued about it, but she refused to be left behind. He almost ordered her to stay aboard Columbia which was on patrol duty, but in the end he hadn't done it. So she'd left her second in command in charge on Columbia and boarded Enterprise.
When they first arrived, Kaitaama refused to see them. It wasn't until they sent word that Trip was on board and that he was sick, infected with dangerous parasites while on Krios Prime. Kennar had still tried to deny them access to Kaitaama, but she was thoroughly upset when she learned of Trip's condition. So Jon and Erica along with two Macos, took Trip down to the surface. T'Pol demanded to be a part of the away team as well, but Jon ordered her to stay on the ship, afraid she'd murder the First Monarch.
While Jon and Erica met with Kennar and several of the Ministers, Kaitaama went to see Trip in the palace infirmary.
"Trip!" she cried out, seeing him looking so distressed and ill lying on a bio-bed. "What has happened to you my love?" She hurried over to his bedside and touched his arm.
"Don't touch me!" he shouted flinching away. Kaitaama gasped.
"It is alright, it's me, Kaitaama. I am here… and you cannot resist me…you cannot live without me Trip."
"Stop it!" Trip snapped, slowly rising to a sitting position on the bed. "Just give it a rest, alright!"
"Please calm down my love," she said. "I will have my personal physician attend to you. You will be fine, good as new in just a little bit. You have missed me, yes?"
Trip was trying to resist her. He knew what had happened to him now. He knew about the parasites and what they were doing to him. The treatment was not working as it should, so he still felt drawn to her, especially now that he was in her presence.
"Yes!" he finally said. "I've missed you…I…I had to see you!" Kaitaama leaned in to kiss him, and he let her.
"That's better," she grinned. "It's just a matter of time now, until we can be together."
"T-together," Trip replied, still fighting against the creatures influence. She leaned in again to kiss him again, but this time he pushed her away.
"I told you not to touch me," he snapped. "What part of that didn't you understand?!" Kaitaama looked stunned.
"Trip, you have never spoken to me in this tone. You will cease doing so at once!" Trip closed his eyes and gritted his teeth.
"Look! I know about the worms!" he said. "I know what you've done to me…or, or had done to me! So listen up! If these fucking things can't be killed, if I gotta be here with you, what you see is what you get, okay Ms. First Fucking Monarch!" Kaitaama then slapped his face hard. Trip reacted without even thinking. He jumped off the bio-bed and faced her, red faced and seething with anger.
"Let's get something straight baby," he said grabbing her arm. "I'm here against my will! I don't love you, I don't want you and I never will. It's just that these damned parasites won't let me stay away!"
"Trip no!" she shouted, jerking away from him.
"Well you better hope there's a cure, you better hope these things don't hurt my wife," he shouted at her all the while advancing toward her as she took several steps backward. "Because if that happens, and my sorry ass ends up staying here, you'll hate me! I guarantee that ya hear me! You'll fucking hate the day you ever met me, My Love! Now get the fuck out of my sight!" Kaitaama was so startled she finally stumbled against a med tray and fell to the floor on her behind.
"Trip, what's wrong with you!" she cried from her position on the floor. "What's happened to you? You have changed!"
"You wanted me so badly that you had to get me by messing with my brain," Trip said, "well you got me! Now get out! Get outta here I said!"
But Kaitaama didn't leave, she rose up from the floor and slowly approached the man in front of her. His demeanor was hostile and he had wild look in his eyes. He looked as if he would do her harm. "No," she finally said. "Now You listen carefully to the sound of My Voice! Remember who I am! I am Your Master and Commander! You love me and you will do as I say! Now, Come To Me!"
Trip held his head in his hands and doubled over. He felt the pull drawing him to her, making him obey. He had been able to fight against the parasites influence a few days ago when he was with T'Pol, he had actually blocked them out, blocked Kaitaama out. But now he was too weak and she was standing right in front of him; he was powerless to resist her.
Suddenly he rushed over to where she was and pulled her up to him forcefully. She screamed as he held her so tightly that he was hurting her. She struggled against him, but he kissed her, hard. He pushed her up against the bio-bed and continued forcefully kissing her. He was like an animal. She hit him, hard across the face, several times, until he broke his hold on her. She backed away quickly wiping her mouth as she did so.
"No!" she said. "I am in control! You will listen and you will do what I demand…do you understand! Do you understand!" she screamed. "You will never, ever speak to me like that again or try to intimidate me, do you understand! Do You Understand! " Trip put both hands over his ears and fell to his knees.
"Yes!" he said. "Yes…I under…understand," he said finally sliding to the floor. Kaitaama then called for the medics to get him back into bed. The doctor came and sedated him. Then Kaitaama left the medical facility heading straight for the conference room where Kennar was meeting with the Starfleet Officers.
When she made it to the room they were in, she barged right in. Everyone stood quickly as she rushed right over to Kennar. Jon and Erica tried to engage her, her Ministers tried to speak to her, but she could hear no one. The only thing on her mind was Kennar at the moment.
"Aaaauuugh!" Kaitaama screamed as she attacked Kennar.
"My dear, whatever is the matter," Kennar said trying to hold her hands to avoid being hit.
"Your grace," one of the minsters said, "you must calm down, please. This is not the time to air a personal grievance with your Consort."
"Leave Us!" she shouted. "All of you! Get out," she shouted, "get out of here, get out!" She then started throwing things and screaming. The guards ushered everyone out of the room along with Jon and Erica. When they were finally alone Kennar slapped Kaitaama across the face.
"You silly little fool," he said. "What is the matter with you? Are you insane? How dare you barge in here like this and attack me in front of all these people!"
"I don't give a damn about those people!" Kaitaama shouted. "What have you done to him? What have those things done to my Trip?"
"Whatever do you mean my dear?" Kennar asked.
"Captain Tucker… he is…not himself," she cried. "He has become mean and aggressive!"
"Oh that," Kennar replied. "A side effect. Some species cannot handle having foreign life forces inside of them. Sometimes the results are devastating, other times you will see uh, marked changes in their hosts' personality."
"What!" Kaitaama cried out. "You did not tell me that Kennar. You did not tell me they would change his sweet personality, effect his wonderful sense of humor, and his beautiful disposition."
"The parasites could not have caused these changes in his personality if he did not already have these traits within him. They simply bring to the surface that which is already there."
"He's always had an edge about him, a bit of a temper and a very strong personality. I liked that about him! But he was never mean! He was never…frightening!"
"Collateral damage," Kennar said. "Kaitaama my sweet, you cannot always have everything you want without paying a price. You wanted him, you have him."
"Can the effects of the parasites be reversed?" she asked through tears. "I don't like him like this!"
"As I said my dear, you wanted him, you have him; mean and aggressive, bad tempered…and frightening. You will just have to cage your beast now, and then find a way to tame him. Really it should be fun."
Kaitaama stumbled over to a chair and flopped down into it, holding her mid-section. "You have ruined him," she sobbed. "You have ruined his inner beauty, as surely as if, if you had ruined his lovely face." She then stood and faced Kennar, getting right in his face, tears still streaming down hers.
"I will get you for this Kennar," she threatened. "I swear to you, I will get you. You should know better than to cross me. If it is the last thing I do, I will get you!" She then turned on her heels swiftly and raced out of the room.
Kennar just laughed a bit, and went to pour himself a drink. "It is good being me," he said out loud. Threw the drink back quickly, then exited the room.
Jon, Erica and the rest of the away team had been ushered into a room to wait, but no one had come back to tell them anything. Jon paced the floor and Erica stood with her arms folded against the conference table watching him. Why was he so nervous? Something wasn't right. What wasn't he telling her?
Back on Enterprise.
T'Pol sat in the Captain's seat on the bridge holding her head. She was so hot she could barely stand it. She got up and started pacing around, sweat popping out on her forehead. Travis and Hoshi watched her, then glanced at one another. They quickly averted their eyes away from one another.
"Any…any word…from the surface Lt. Sato," T'Pol gasped.
"No," Hoshi replied, nothing yet. Would you like me to try and contact Commodore Archer?"
T'Pol nodded, "yes," she said. Moments later Jon was on the line.
"C-commodore," T'Pol began. "What…what is going on? Report, please."
"Trip is in the palace infirmary T'Pol," Jon replied. "Kaitaama's personal physician is attending him, that's all we've been told. We were in a meeting with Kennar, her Consort. But Kaitaama came in and busted it up. She was… out of control, she attacked him right in front of us. We were ushered out of the conference room and here we are, waiting. We haven't been told anything since then and…" Suddenly T'Pol collapsed.
"Commander!" Travis said rising from his station and rushing to where she lay.
"Medical emergency on the bridge," Hoshi was saying to Cutler. "Commander T'Pol has collapsed.
Jon and the others listened as Hoshi advised as to what was going on. "That's it," Jon said, "I'm going to find that Kennar and get some answers. Travis?" he called out.
"Yes Sir?" Travis replied.
"Tell Phlox I wanna know what's happening to T'Pol as soon as he knows something. You have the con."
"Aye Sir," Travis said. A few minutes later the medics removed T'Pol from the bridge and carried her to sick bay.
"Erica," Jon said, "I really need you to check on T'Pol, to relieve Travis. I got a bad feeling about this."
"Jon, what's really going on?" Erica asked with a frown. "What are you not telling me?"
Jon shifted on his feet. He started to lie, but couldn't think of anything fast enough. "Look," he said, "there is something I need to tell you, but not here, not now. Right now, I just need you to go back to the ship and do what I ask you to do. I promise, I will tell you everything, later. Right now, I just need you to have my back." Erica stared at him for a moment.
"Alright Commodore," she said reluctantly. Then she called to the ship, and in a few moments she was transported back to Enterprise.
The Palace Medical Facility.
Trip lay on the bio-bed burning up with fever. He didn't even know where he was anymore, or what he was doing there. He was practically delirious.
"I want him cured!" Kaitaama shouted to the doctor. "He is dying!"
"He is not dying your grace... at least not at this moment. He is rather ill however. His system is trying to reject the parasites and they are fighting to survive. Plus the humans have administered a substance to try and destroy the parasites. It is making him very ill."
"So his life is not in danger?" Kaitaama asked. "He looks terrible!"
The doctor hesitated. "If his condition does not change within the next few hours, it could become life threatening. There could be some irreversible brain damage…."
"Brain damage!" Kaitaama cried out. "Look you quack! Cure him! He had not better suffer any goddamed brain damage, and he sure as hell had better not die! That is if you value your head!"
"I will take care of him, your grace," the doctor replied, bowing his head to her. Suddenly there was a scream from the room across the hallway. Kaitaama, her doctor and his assistant hurried over to the patient.
"Aaaahhhh," Rajiin cried out and held onto her abdomen. "Help…me," she gasped. "It's too soon. He…he should not be coming now!" Kaitaama moved over to the bed and took her by the hand.
"There, there sweetheart," she said as she brushed back the distressed woman's hair. "It will be alright." Then she gestured for the assistant to come forward. The young woman pressed a hypo against Rajiin's neck. Within moments, she was sleeping.
"You can stop the labor?" Kaitaama asked the doctor.
"I am unfamiliar with her species, but I am sure I can prevent the child from being born prematurely."
"Why would I want that?" Kaitaama asked.
"I beg your pardon your grace?"
"Let the child come. Better yet, take it from her."
"Ma'dam," the doctor's assistant said, "It is too risky. As the doctor said, we don't know enough about her anatomy. Surgery could kill her or the child."
"Yes, My Lady," the doctor added. "These readings indicate that the mother is in distress. I would not want to operate on her while her heart is so weak, she could die."
"And what is that to me?" Kaitaama said. "All I care about is that baby…My baby!"
The doctor put his hand to his head. "Your grace I urge you to reconsider this plan of yours. The pregnancy is too far advanced. The child is almost full term…It is too late to transfer it to you."
"Are you a doctor or aren't you?!" Kaitaama said. "I want that baby! I want to carry it to term! "I" want to be the one to deliver him!"
"But My Lady," the young woman pleaded. "What you suggest is impossible. Captain Tucker will never believe that the child is yours! That you have been with child all this time, he has seen you. He knows that you are not six-seven months pregnant!"
"He will believe whatever I want him to believe!" Kaitaama shouted. "Make it happen!" She then turned and exited the room.
"This is madness," the young woman said. "She is mad! We cannot do this. If we take the child, they both may die. And…we cannot transfer it to the First Monarch's body. What…what happens when this plan of hers fails?"
"Then God help us," the doctor said. "Prepare her for the delivery."
Later.
Trip woke up. At least he thought he was awake, he couldn't really tell. He felt terrible though and he was hearing things. He thought he heard a baby crying. He turned his head in the direction of the noise.
Directly across the hallway in another room, he saw a young blonde woman on a bed, unconscious. There was a small encased bed beside her, but Trip was unable to make out what was in it.
He then pulled himself up into a sitting position. He had to wait a few moments before he could slide off the bed though. Clad in hospital issue white pajamas, he dragged himself, barefooted, across the room into the hallway and into the other room. Trip closed his eyes and opened them again. He tried to focus. He thought he knew the young woman lying on the bed. It looked like…like…what was her name, he thought, "Rajiin?" he whispered. The doctor and his assistant had left the room, so they were alone.
"Rajiin," Trip said. It was her, it was Rajiin, and a baby. Apparently, her baby.
"Captain Tucker!" the assistant called out as she re-entered the room. "You must get back into bed. You are not well."
"What…what are you doing to her?" He asked. "Ra…jiin; I know her. I know her," he said. But the assistant pulled him out of the room as they were rolling the mother and child out of the room down the hallway. The woman led him back across the hallway to his room and shut the door. She helped him get back onto the bed.
"What are you taking her?" he asked. "I saw…a baby. Where're you taking that baby?"
"There was no baby," the assistant said. "You are imagining things. Now please, go back to bed." Then she helped him lay back down. She pressed a hypo against his neck, and in few moments, he was sleeping.
Back on Enterprise.
Erica sat beside T'Pol's bed watching her. She had been waiting for her to wake up for a while now. She had to talk to her. She knew something, Erica knew it. Jon had all but admitted that he was hiding something from her, and she had to find out what it was.
Suddenly, T'Pol began to stir. Erica leaned forward watching her. T'Pol opened her eyes. She looked around. "Why…why am I here?"
"You collapsed on the bridge," Erica told her. "Jon sent me back to check on you. How do you feel?"
"Better," T'Pol said. "What happened to me?"
"According to Phlox, Trip was in a lot of distress. Apparently, the parasites are affecting him rather severely, and Trip is affecting you."
T'Pol went to sit up and Erica rose from her chair to assist her. She then gave her some water to drink.
"I need to see him," T'Pol said, "to be with him. It is wrong to keep me away from him."
"I agree," Erica said. "And I can take you to him. That is, if you can manage."
"Commodore Archer ordered me to stay behind. He believes I wish to harm the First Monarch."
"Don't you?" Erica asked. T'Pol didn't answer. "Listen T'Pol, help me and I'll help you. Jon ordered me to come back to the ship. But my gut tells me that I need to get back down on the surface. That something major is about to go down, and I have to be there. I think it's a matter of life and death, and I won't lose the man I love, not without a fight! What about you?"
"I would do anything to save Trip's life. What do you need from me?"
"Tell me what Jon is hiding? What has him so nervous and on edge? I know it's something life changing T'Pol? Tell me what it is and I'll take you to Trip. I'll do whatever I can to help you get him out of there." T'Pol stared at Erica for a moment. She had made a promise to Jon not to tell Erica about Rajiin and the baby. But these were desperate times and she had heard Trip say on several occasions that desperate times call for desperate measures. So after a few moments of soul-searching and contemplation, T'Pol told Erica what she wanted to know.
Elsewhere.
It was late. Malcolm, Gannet and Jerrod moved in closer to the building they had been staking out. It was in a remote area outside the city. Dressed in black tactical clothing and with their gear attached to them in back packs, they ran toward the building and finally his under a grassy embankment. They had picked up eleven bio-signs, one of them was Allison AKA V'Shele. They saw someone arrive by hover car. Malcolm used his scanner to try and pick up the bio-signs, but couldn't.
"It could be Kennar," Malcolm told his team. "Let's move in." The team moved toward the building one by one, each running within just a few feet of one another.
"Starfleet wants Allison alive," Gannet said.
"I won't make any guarantees," Malcolm said.
"And Kennar?" Jerrod asked.
"I'll need to interrogate him," Malcolm said. "He's the key to the other cells, so I guess the bloody bastard gets to live."
"Whatever you say boss," Jerrod said. With that Gannet ran to the entrance of the building, shot the door latch with a phase pistol, and they slid inside. They were confronted by two guards whom Jerrod quickly shot with his weapon. They started to check the doors of each room. Suddenly they were met with phase pistol fire. The team exchanged fire until the three men firing upon them went down. They heard commotion in a back room.
"Cover me," Malcolm said to Gannet. He then entered the corridor and crouching along the wall, made his way to back of the building. They were met by three more people. Gannet and Jerrod immediately engaged in hand-to-hand combat with them as Malcolm pushed the door to the back room open, phase pistol drawn.
What he saw shook him for a few seconds. It took Malcolm's partners a few minutes to dispatch their opponents and catch up to him. The room was empty, that is except for six corpses. One was a woman, about 5'9 inches tall, with short brown hair, except she no longer had a face.
"Is that her?" Gannet asked.
"Gotta be," Jerrod said running his scanner over the body. "Same body, same build, hair. But hey, I can't get a read on her? Weird, huh?"
"Damn! They really did a number on her," Gannett said.
"Who are these other blokes?" Malcolm asked. "Is Kennar one of them?"
Gannet and Jerrod started to examine the other faceless bodies. "Can't tell", Jerrod finally said. "Scanning these guys' isn't telling us anything. Their DNA sequences have all been overridden. Who the hell knows who these guys really are, or their species?"
Malcolm examined the bodies as well. He had never met Kennar and couldn't identify him, but he took a look anyway. Suddenly, a hover car sped away. They all broke into a run to the outside of the building.
"Damn it!" Malcolm said. "Kennar was probably in that car. He probably killed all of his own people."
"We better get going then," Gannet said. "Now that Allison is dead, we should concentrate on him. We can't go back empty handed. We can't fail, this mission is too important."
"Who said anything about failing?" Malcolm replied, "And who said Allison was dead?" Jerrod and Gannet looked at Malcolm, then back at one another. Malcolm then raced back inside of the building where the dead bodies were. He stood over the female's body with the short brown hair. Then he squatted down in front of it. He unzipped her pants and started to pull them down.
"Malcolm!" Gannett shouted as she and Jerrod joined him the room. "Have you lost your mind? What are you doing to her!?"
"Awww shiiittt!" Jerrod said turning away. But Malcolm paid them no mind and continued what he was doing.
"It's not her," he finally said. Gannet and Jerrod just stood with their mouth agape. "She's got a very distinct tattoo in a very distinct place on her body. A dagger, dripping with blood inside her right thigh, right near the sweet spot." His two new partners continued staring at him for a moment.
Gannet let out a deep breath, holding her chest and Jarrod slapped Malcolm on the back. "Damn Viper", he said "you scared me there for a moment."
"The next time you do something like that, a little warning, capiche?" Gannett said.
"What did you guys think I was doing," Malcolm replied, "getting ready to engage in a little necrophilia?" They both looked at him. Malcolm just waived them off and then started to leave the room.
"Let's get to the palace," Malcolm told them. "All hell is about to break loose."