Title: Mistakes

Chapter 10

=/\=

Present - On Enterprise

December 2, 2155 (ATP)

It had been almost two months since Enterprise had received any specific mission orders. Of course they had spent the majority of said time on Vulcan, and then almost two weeks of it just exploring whatever M-class planets they stumbled upon.

Archer felt his people getting antsy. So when Admiral Gardner had commed him with new orders, Archer was more than a bit pleased. He knew this was what everyone needed. The way things were, people had too much time to think, and with everything that had happened recently, Archer wasn't sure that was a good thing.

As he entered the briefing room, he was surprised to see that everyone had arrived before him. "Starfleet contacted me about two hours ago. They have a mission for us." Everyone seemed intent on what he was saying. "Remember that little mining colony we helped out a while back? The one the Klingons were taking advantage of? Well, we got a communication from Tessic. The Klingons are back and the colony requested our help."

"What do the Klingons want?" Trip asked. "It's been almost two years. You'd think they would have forgotten about them by now."

Archer shook his head, "Tessic said he didn't recognize them. So it's not Korok and his men. Anyway, we've offered them a more permanent solution than coming by and fighting off the Klingons every so often. Starfleet suggested to them that they move closer to Earth. We have a planet pretty close by that has deuterium deposits, but there's something in the mining process that is harmful to humans. They've been trying to come up with a safer alternative but so far, nothing. Our miner friends, however, would be happy to mine the planet in return for protection and a small percentage of the deuterium yield. It would be a mutually beneficial arrangement. Tessic accepted on behalf of the colony."

"What about their people or the Klingons? Aren't we kind of interfering?" Hoshi asked

"It's not a Klingon colony so this has nothing to do with the Empire. It's not as if we're taking the planet, just the people on it. As for Tessic and his people, they traveled a great distance away from their home world many years ago. There have been at least five generations on that planet with no word from their home."

"So, Cap'n, what exactly are we doin'?"

Archer smiled. "Enterprise will be responsible for the transport of the personnel and equipment from their colony to the new planet. We will also be responsible for re-settling them, making sure they have everything they need."

"What is the expected time allotted for this mission?" asked T'Pol, while scanning through the information on her PADD.

"At the very most—eight months. However, I'm fairly confident it won't take us that long."

At that, Trip seemed ready to jump out of his chair. "Eight months?"

Archer cut him off before he could go any farther. "With everything this ship has been through," he said, pointedly looking at Trip, "Starfleet feels that, especially with Columbia out here and Intrepid so close to completion, it's time to take Enterprise off the frontlines. This mission puts us in a position to be more readily available to help out the Columbia if she gets in trouble. Not only that, but with us having the most experience out here, we're also the best fit for diplomatic missions such as this. However, I have been assured that this is strictly temporary. We finish this one mission and its back to business as usual."

Archer looked around the room, although he hadn't been expecting cheers of excitement, the look of loss on their faces wasn't exactly expected he'd either. "Are there any questions?" he asked finally. He received nothing in return but a mumbled mixture of 'no, sir.'

"All right then, you're all dismissed. Your specific mission tasks will be sent to you through the ship comm. system. Please be sure to disseminate all information to your subordinates," he ended officially. Everyone got up and quietly left the briefing room.

He didn't quite understand their reaction. Yes, this mission would be a bit tedious, but it was a nice change of pace from what they'd been doing the last two years. Was that it maybe? Did his people not feel useful unless they were doing something inherently dangerous? He could see that his crew had all changed in that time, but he was convinced that, for the most part, it was for the better. But, perhaps it was only he who had changed. Maybe he was getting too old for this, so he welcomed the change to a slower pace.

He quickly shook the thought from his head. No. He was as annoyed with this assignment as the rest of them. But as much as he hated to admit it, Starfleet was right. This ship needed a break or its crew was going to burn out. They had really never been allowed a respite between the Expanse and the political hell that had been this year. He felt that this mission would maybe give people time to heal much of the damage that had been caused. Whether they liked it or not, Archer was convinced this was what they needed.

=/\=

On Enterprise

August 5, 2154 (BTP)

Today was not a good day.

Hoshi knelt as she retched the very little she had in her stomach into the toilet. Even though she hadn't had any more than a few swallows of coffee this morning, her stomach seemed particularly uncooperative today. It also seemed that her bad days were becoming more and more frequent.

When she thought she was finished, Hoshi let her head, eyes closed, rest against the wall for a moment. She then got up and washed her face in the sink. The cool water helped with her aching head. This was a pattern that was becoming all too frequent in Hoshi's opinion. Thankfully, her shift was over, and she knew that if she just got some sleep, things would be better in the morning. Generally they were; so far these incidents hadn't lasted more than a day.

Hoshi slid into bed and pulled the covers over her head to block out any remaining light in the already darkened room. She couldn't remember the last time she had used the lights in her quarters at full power. It was nice to come to a dark room after spending half the day in the presence of too bright lights. In fact, Hoshi was almost positive that if she could just avoid the lights on the bridge, her headaches would be cut in half. But that, of course, was not an option.

Hoshi's thoughts were interrupted when her door indicator beeped, and although she knew she really didn't have a choice; it took quite a bit of effort to convince herself to answer the door. Rather than actually getting up, she switched on her bedside lamp, pushed herself up to a sitting position, and took out a PADD sitting on the table beside her. Perhaps if she feigned being incredibly busy whoever it was would leave her alone.

"Come in," she called. Hoshi was very surprised to see Malcolm at the door, and then less surprised when she remembered they'd had plans to work out earlier. "Oh, Malcolm. I'm sorry," she apologized before he got a word in. "I completely forgot about our plans." She scooted out from under her blankets to sit on the edge of her bed.

"It's alright," he answered. "You look busy. I hope I didn't interrupt you."

Hoshi shook her head. "No, not at all."

Malcolm nodded. "Well, I'll let you get back to work. We can reschedule our plans for another day."

Hoshi was about to let him go, but stopped him when she remembered something. The Barrens seemed to be wreaking havoc on their electrical systems. One of Malcolm's men had been injured in an accident. "Malcolm," she asked, concern peeking through her voice, "how's Burrows?"

Malcolm's semi-relaxed demeanor faded. "Not good," he said, looking at the floor.

Hoshi searched his face. "How are you?"

Malcolm avoided her eyes in an attempt to conceal some emotion from her, "He hasn't been on board more than two months. We're in the bloody Barrens; there's not even supposed to be anything out here."

Hoshi's lips pressed into a thin, hard line. Everyone thought that Malcolm was so detached. That things didn't really affect him. But Hoshi felt sure that he felt every loss as deeply as everyone else. He just made it his duty to keep it hidden for some reason. Hoshi got up, hoping to offer him some amount of comfort; however, as soon as she did so she regretted the action. Her vision speckled and her balance wavered, probably from the lack of food in her system. Luckily, Malcolm caught her as she stumbled.

"Are you all right?" he asked, concern creeping into his voice.

"Yeah," she assured him. "I just got up too fast." As she spoke, the overwhelming scent of soap filled her nostrils. It wasn't really any different than the way he usually smelled – not at all unpleasant – it was just so strong. Suddenly, the familiar nausea that had plagued her all day came back in full force. Hoshi pulled away from his grasp, hoping to make it back to the bathroom, in time. Instead, she collapsed half way there, coughing as she retched bile and spit onto the tile floor.

Malcolm knelt beside her. "Hoshi?" Even though his voice was calm, his body was tense.

Hoshi was still kneeling on the ground, breathing deeply in an attempt to qualm the nausea, not exactly sure if she wanted to move yet.

Malcolm pulled her hair away from her face and soothingly stroked her back. "Hoshi, what's wrong?" he asked gently.

She moved to sit against the wall, rubbing her hands across her closed eyes. "I have a migraine."

Malcolm knew that what she said could easily be the truth. But he also knew it wasn't the whole truth. She was too guarded; there had been too many little hints that something was wrong. Malcolm knew there was something she wasn't telling him. "Hoshi…"

Hoshi shook her head, then unexpectedly retched again, this time bringing up nothing.

"That's it. I'm taking you to Phlox," he said, moving to help her up.

Hoshi waved him away. "It doesn't matter; he already knows."

The hand that had been stroking her back tensed and stilled. "Knows what?"

She took one more deep breath. "It's a side effect of those parasites they injected me with," she said quietly. "It's been getting worse since we got back."

Malcolm looked confused for a moment, but then it seemed click. His hands tightened into fists and a darkness came over his face, "What's going to happen?" he asked, his voice tightly controlled.

Hoshi shook her head. "Phlox has been working on something, but it will take time." Her throat constricted as she admitted something to him that she hadn't yet admitted to herself. "I don't know how much longer I can stay on board the ship. Phlox told me that as long as it wasn't affecting my work, he would keep my condition confidential."

Malcolm slowly nodded his head, seeming to take the information in stride. "Are you still feeling sick?" he asked gently.

Hoshi shook her head. "No, I'm fine now." Malcolm helped her up and guided her back over to her bed, which Hoshi settled back into, feeling much better than she had just moments before. Malcolm moved the small trashcan out from under her desk next to her.

"I'm going to go ask Phlox for some anti-nausea meds. I'll be right back," he said soothingly.

"Thank you, Malcolm."

She was almost asleep by the time he came back, more from exhaustion than any comfort he provided. But it was sleep all the same. She felt him press a hypo against her neck and quickly decided that it had been combined with a sedative. Hoshi heard Malcolm moving around, but the sounds moved in and out, merging together. At one point, she heard him rustling around in the bathroom, and cringed a bit as she realized that he must have been cleaning up the sick on the floor, but was too tired to care for very long. Hoshi was sleeping soundly in under five minutes.

Malcolm had questions: why hadn't she told him, and how long had it been this bad? But he knew this wasn't the time to ask. Right now his priority was making sure Hoshi was alright, and the best way to see to that was to make sure she got some sleep. When he had gone to Phlox, the doctor didn't seem surprised at his request for her. He did seem surprised, however, that Malcolm knew.

She didn't deserve this. Hoshi had been through so much at the hands of the Xindi; to add this to things just didn't seem fair. Hoshi was such a good person, and had become one of his closest friends.

When he got back to her quarters, she was already asleep. He pressed the hypo against her neck and pulled the covers up over her shoulder, careful not wake her. He was hesitant to leave her alone, but thought it would be inappropriate to sleep in her chair, especially since she hadn't really asked for his help. Instead, he put her communicator on the table beside her, along with a glass of water and a note: Comm. me if you need anything. Confident he had done all he could, he turned off her light and went to his own quarters, troubled by what he now knew.

=/\=

Present - On Enterprise

December 2, 2155 (ATP)

T'Pol looked at the screen in front of her. Even though she had known it was coming, she had hoped that it wouldn't. There was a message from the Ministry of Security:

Operative,

You will report to the gates of Fo-don Eshikh at the third hour in 128 Vulcan days in order to conduct your fourth cycle for the purpose of rehabilitating your specific skill sets.

Command

The last three times she had been recalled, she had been willing, even eager, if that was the right word. But not this time. After her first cycle she had been an active operative until her next cycle. She had relished the experience, and was very good at what she did, so after her second cycle she had remained active. But then things started to change. She had felt things inside of her twisting, bits of who she had once been being pulled away. She had requested to be allowed to change her status to inactive. She was then stationed on the Seleya. Since that time she had remained inactive, aside from the incident two years ago on Pernaia Prime.

Things were so different from when she was young. Enterprise was where she belonged now. She didn't want to leave her colleagues, her mate. Even if it was only for six months, she knew when she came back, things would be different. They always were. Whether it was her or the people she had left behind, things were never the same as they had been when she left.

She deleted the message and switched off the screen just as Trip walked into their quarters. He smiled as soon as he saw her.

"I thought you had the late shift tonight," he commented casually before he kissed her briefly on the mouth.

T'Pol kissed him back then shook her head. "I was assigned to the early shift today."

"Oh." Trip shrugged his shoulders. "Well I was just stopping by to pick something up. I still have a couple more hours until I finish up, but I shouldn't be too late tonight."

T'Pol nodded her head. "Then I will see you tonight."

Trip picked up a PADD from the desk, then turned to leave again. Before he walked out the door, T'Pol grabbed his hand. She kissed him again and was rewarded with another smile before he left their quarters.

She didn't want to leave this.

=/\=

TBC