Communication

Chapter Eleven

Trip could sense that something was very wrong. He listened intently to the hum of the warp engines with the heightened skill of an experienced and dedicated engineer who knew every single millimetre of the machinery that made the sound which vibrated throughout Enterprise. The engines had a rhythm that he knew so well it was as if they had become a living part of him. As he concentrated his mind, the initial uncanny sixth sense he felt became a nagging deep concern. He realised that the engines were sending out a warning that the strain of the warp speed they were being asked to maintain could only lead to catastrophic failure. Instantly he knew what he must do; he had to get main engineering if he was going to have any chance of averting disaster. Trip started to run along what was the longest corridor he had ever seen; it stretched out far into the distance. It felt as though every one of his leg muscles was straining to almost breaking point in order to propel him along as fast as possible in his futile race against the rapidly failing engines.

He knew that all was lost when a crescendo of startling volume reverberated along the tunnel he was running through and the ship began to buck and dive and he started to fall as the warp field violently disintegrated and the ship collapsed around him…

Trip braced himself for the impact he expected to feel when his body had finished spiralling downwards, only for him to feel a sudden jolt as he emerged from unconsciousness and realised he was already lying on a solid surface. Confused and disoriented he opened his eyes and immediately regretted that action as he recoiled against the startling brightness and blurred movement that surrounded him. The sharp intensity of the pain forced him to close his eyes tightly while his head felt like it was swollen to twice its normal size. He desperately reached out to try and locate the source of his agony as his body trembled in shock. Then someone took hold of his hand with a firm grasp and halted his search. He was surprised to be able to sense that the touch of this other person's warm hand was the source of a radiating feeling of calm and peacefulness that had an immediate and profound effect on his mood.

He heard a voice that sounded beautifully familiar as that person then called out to summon another and shortly afterwards he recognised the cold sensation of a hypospray being pressed against the skin of his neck, followed by the gradual numbing effect of a powerful painkiller coursing through his body. Trip was then able to completely relax as he enjoyed his release from pain.

"Commander Tucker, can you hear me?"

Recognizing that he was being addressed Trip carefully opened his eyes a little and was instantly forced to resort to squinting so that he could make out the general shape of the figure looming over him. He wondered why Doctor Phlox felt it necessary to yell at him quite so loudly. He had to construct the words that he wanted to use in his mind before he managed to form them, one by one, in his mouth, "Very…loud…and clear…Doc".

He immediately regretted his attempt to speak as the sounds he made resounded through his brain, bouncing against his skull and made him feel as though his head was being held tight in a vice like grip.

Trip decided that whispering would be a less painful option, "What happened, why does my brain feel like it's about to explode?"

"Two days ago I operated to repair a subdural haematoma; a bleed in your brain. Afterwards I kept you sedated to aid your recovery. The swelling has now reduced sufficiently for you to be brought round safely. You will find that your sight is blurred but it should improve in time. What I now need to ask of you, Commander, is that you endure a period of rest and recuperation in sick bay."

Phlox then reached over and gave Trip's shoulder a gentle squeeze as it was his understanding that in order for Humans to maintain their emotional health, they needed physical contact at times of stress as well as words of reassurance.

Trip had only managed to take in a small part of Phlox's explanation but he was definitely all ears when the good Doctor started to address the other person in close proximity to him, whom he was grateful to for still maintaining a tight hold on his hand.

"Commander T'Pol you must ensure Commander Tucker does not become overtired. I will let the Captain know that he has regained consciousness."

Trip's heart soared as it was confirmed that T'Pol really was there with him and was no longer a seemingly unattainable vision that he had longed to have physically by his side to aid him in his battle against the desolate darkness of his injury. He couldn't help his reaction with his heart rate increasing rapidly due to the feeling of deep happiness he experienced at discovering that he was with T'Pol again.

"Commander, are you all right," Phlox enquired, his concern obvious as the raised readings displayed on the monitor caused him to run a medical scanner over Trip's body.

Trip would have kicked himself, if he had been physically able to attempt that manoeuvre, for allowing his euphoria to stop the Doctor from attending to his other duties. He was very eager to have some time alone with T'Pol so to give Phlox some encouragement to go away, he whispered earnestly, "I'm fine, honest; I'm doing just great Doc."

While he tried to put Phlox's mind at rest he also dared to give T'Pol's hand a small squeeze to reassure her also.

"Doctor Phlox I will let you know immediately if there is any indication that Commander Tucker's condition is worsening." T'Pol stated, completely in agreement with Trip's desire to have some time alone with her.

T'Pol had spent a great deal of time working to repair their fractured bond since Trip had returned to Enterprise. As a result she was able to enter his mind with relative ease and give him the gift of peace which then allowed Trip to achieve a pleasant state of natural relaxation. She applied herself to this task at once and T'Pol could tell that she had been successful when the heart monitor slowed sufficiently to please Phlox and make him feel confident about leaving his patient.

Once the curtain around Trip's bed had closed behind Phlox and T'Pol was sure she could not be overhead, she advised, "It will be more restful if we communicate via our bond."

Trip turned his head to look at her and found that he could just about make out the features of her face if he concentrated through the mist that still veiled his sight. Then he was grateful that he could close his eyes again and go back to the place that was their private sanctuary where that he could face a T'Pol he was able to see clearly. As he gazed at her face he sent a heartfelt message *I missed you.*

He could have sworn that her eyes had started to tear up as he moved closer to her and reached out to tenderly cup her face in his hands. He lost himself, staring into her hazel eyes that he could read so well and he felt perfectly happy to stay in that place for the rest of his life. It was T'Pol who broke the enhancement by closing the gap between them; standing on her tiptoes so that her lips were able to reach his to claim a gentle kiss. Then she wrapped her arms around him, holding him in a caress that surrounded him with wonderful sensations of being loved and cared for; he knew at that instant that he had truly made it to his safe haven. The raw and powerful emotions they transmitted and received from each other swirled around and between them, buoying them up on the pure joy of their reunion.

T'Pol had surrendered all logic to let her mind soar along with his. She felt as safe with him as he was in her embrace. The very heart of her being rejoiced in this moment and she held none of her emotions back as she sent her thoughts through to him *I also found that I missed you. In fact I did not realise how deeply I missed your presence until I thought you had left me forever. Our bond was still forming when you left me but now that we are reunited I feel that I am finally complete.*

*My love, I promise that I'll never leave you again*

It was a deeply emotional statement that was honestly meant but T'Pol knew that it was unlikely that he could hold to it. A Vulcan life span was so much greater than a Human one and that meant that she would indeed have to face loosing him, one day. T'Pol found that she could not let him make such an impossible contract though she tempered her response with news of a decision she had made, *That is a promise that you cannot keep my mate, but I have resolved that I will not waste a second of the remaining time we have together, I give you that promise. I wish to start by letting you know that I no longer want to hide our relationship from the crew of Enterprise *

*What I meant was that I would do my damndest not put myself in unnecessary danger. I know that the odds are that I will not be around for as long as you, my favourite logical Vulcan. Now the idea of being honest about our relationship with our friends, well that sure sounds good to me, darlin'*

They drew even closer, entwining their minds in a tighter embrace. T'Pol rested her head on Trip's chest for a time and enjoyed the feeling of closeness to the rhythmic sensation of his beating heart.

However as T'Pol immersed all of her senses in appreciating the tender emotions generated by their bond she was having to use more and more energy to maintain the link and could sense that Trip was becoming weary.

*You are tired and there will be time to talk later. I will remain here with you. You must rest now.*

At her command, Trip was content to release his grip on consciousness and with his spirit lifted with pure joy he drifted into a healing sleep. His last thoughts were of T'Pol, his mate, and how wonderful it made him feel that she was there with him.

Archer was waiting in the armory while the final preparations were made for the funeral service for the Ikaaran male, Ilasco. For almost three days Enterprise had been held in orbit around the sphere as engineering away teams worked flat out in the sphere's control room to find a way to disable the anomaly field. To conserve energy Enterprise was running at half speed impulse drive and Archer was spooked by how strangely quiet the ship was.

Apart from the two Ikaaran females, Archer, Hoshi and Corporal Cole were the only other people invited to be part of the mourning party. Hoshi had helped Esilia prepare the ornate funeral banners and the ritual wrappings that they were in the process of covering Ilasco's body with. The writings contained powerful incantations to protect and aid him on his final journey.

Amanda Cole had been asked to attend because she had been with Ilasco when he had drawn his last breath. As a result she had an important rite to perform, and with Hoshi's help she had learnt the sacred Ikaaran chant of farewell. In the centre of all this silent and respectful activity the Ikaaran scientist lay at peace in an open torpedo casing. It was the makeshift coffin that would carry him back into the anomaly field to join the many others of his species that had been lost when their ship was destroyed.

Esilia's older sister Kalen was confined to a wheelchair and she was quietly observing the proceedings; her face pale and filled with sadness while Esilia completed the preparations by wrapping a narrow strip of cloth covered with Ikaaran inscriptions around Ilasco's head.

It was touching to see the gentle way in which Esilia performed these rites. She had explained to Archer that their ship had been part of a desperate evacuation of refugees who were on the loosing side of a brutal planet wide tribal war. Their father, brother and other relations as well as many friends had all died when their ship had been claimed by the expanse. They had also lost treasured possessions and religious artifacts. Archer could tell that this ceremony was not simply about this male although he had been a close friend of their father's; for them it also symbolized everyone and everything that had been so brutally taken from them. Yet Esilia was able to smile as she started to speak about Ilasco and his life. He had been a true and dear friend to her father and was asked to join them in their flight from certain death as he had no family of his own and no other means by which to flee retribution from the winning faction. Esilia went on to relate several stories which reflected Ilasco's character while Kalen listened and joined in with the affectionate laughter at the memories they generated. Thoughtfully, Hoshi stood next to the other Humans in the mourning party so that she could quietly translate the Ikaaran words for their benefit.

Although the two sisters remained calm and at times almost cheerful, the stories they told had a profound effect on their Human hosts. They could relate to the Ikaarans' grief because they too had lost everything when they discovered that there was no way for them to return home to their families and Earth.

Once Esilia had finished speaking she stood in silent contemplation for some moments before beckoning Hoshi to approach and stand at the opposite side of the open coffin. Hoshi was clutching a reproduction of the national flag of the Ikaaran home world which she had dedicated a lot of hard work to ensure was inscribed precisely as Esilia had instructed.

With Amanda Cole's assistance Kalen was able to get up and haltingly she came to stand beside Hoshi so that she could assist the others in draping the flag of their lost home over the body before the lid was lifted and closed; encasing Ilasco in preparation for his final journey.

Amanda then spoke the first line of the final farewell, "Rest now, honoured friend and teacher, Ilasco." Then Esilia and Kalen joined in, "We will carry your memory with us as we travel on. For one day we will meet again in the endless peace that is your release. Until then Dear One we will live as you would wish us to; for the good of our family, for the good of our tribe, and for all Ikaarans."

Everyone stepped back as Archer activated the controls that moved the coffin into position to be fired through a torpedo tube out into space. When all was ready he looked over at Kalen, who as the senior member of her family gave the signal with a silent nod of her head, to allow the coffin to be borne swiftly away on its final journey.

The Skagaran did not even bother to glance at the crewman who had carried in his latest meal on a tray and then swapped it for the untouched food that had been left to congeal on the otherwise empty desk all afternoon. He was too caught up in his own troubles to concern himself with basic needs such as food. This morning even his favourite breakfast of toasted bread covered with the strangely appealing spread called marmalade and a large mug of black coffee had failed to tempt him.

It did not matter how many times he stared out of the viewing port, the anomaly field which ceaselessly churned the fragments held in its deadly grip still filled his view of the outside world. He knew that the ship had returned to the sector from where he started his journey. He had easily recognized the star patterns from the countless times in his childhood he had sneaked a play on his clan's flight simulator. Then after he had been left to fend for himself the simulator had remained his favourite teaching tool. He would stand proudly at the virtual helm of his father's battleship to guide the magnificent vessel homewards.

In the early hours of that morning while he had maintained his anxious watch at the viewing port, he had seen a small metal object that had been ejected from the ship he was travelling on as a very unwelcome guest. His thoughts which had already been dark and troubled lead him to consider the possibility that he had witnessed an execution. He had reached this conclusion because the object was too cramped to be an escape pod and travelled too slowly to be a weapon. Whatever the explanation was, he had been terrified as he watched while the tiny object was swallowed up with inevitable ease by the all powerful anomaly field. He imagined himself being discarded in a similar way simply because he had outlived his usefulness.

His terror at the thought of dying alone had been the only reason he asked for the help of these deceitful creatures, these Humans. He felt a rare surge of pure anger as he considered that he was being cheated out of the honest deal he had made with the captain. He knew that the anomaly had parted to let them through some days before and that he had then caught his first ever glimpse of the sphere his clan had laid claim to. Since then it had become quite clear to him why Captain Archer repeatedly refused to hear his requests for better treatment; all along the captain had been planning to betray him by stealing the very technology his father and his men had died to protect.

His father Kai Garth had been a powerful leader and a clever warrior. It was difficult for the Skagaran to be the son of such a strong father; he was so small and weak and while his father had lived he had been left no doubt that he was a great disappointment. However, for all the hurt his father had heaped on him, both emotional and physical, the Skagaran still remembered with pride the certainty his father displayed when he had made the order to rouse his clan to battle for the last time. The clan had fought to hold on to their right to control the sphere and the income it generated. They had faced a rival Skagaran fleet that vastly outnumbered theirs but they had gone to certain death without hesitation. That was how great his father's hold had been on his men. The Leader's son knew that their deaths had not been in vain because they had been able to either fatally wound or destroy outright all of the mighty ships that had made up the invasion fleet that had tried to rob them of this portion of space.

One of the clan Kai, named Raxx, who was too old to fight, had been left behind with the frightened child to wait in vain for the return of any of the clan's warriors. From the safe distance of their underground home, the two of them had plotted the course of the battle and observed the brutal destruction that was in the end a futile fight for supremacy. Raxx had then been able to fill a few of the bereft child's years with numerous stories of his father's great wisdom, courage and strength.

When the old one fell ill and died shortly afterwards the boy was then left alone for decades to yearn for the company of others. It was this desperate longing that he cursed for the situation he found himself in. However he was grateful that his deep mistrust of Captain Archer ensured he had a backup plan.

He was surprised that there had only been a cursory check made of his few personal possessions. It was indeed fortuitous that they had not taken him seriously enough to search his belongings more thoroughly because he had managed to hide a short muzzle phase rifle in among his clothing and his father's ceremonial blade strapped around his thigh. He had worked hard to keep the jagged blade of the warrior's knife sharp and polished over the long years spent in searing loneliness; he was proud that the blade still sparkled like a brilliant jewel when turned to the light.

Although certain he was being monitored, he opened the small case that contained all of his belongings and picked up the knife encased in an ornate metallic cover. His father's name was picked out on the front of the bejeweled cover in raised metallic silver coloured lettering. He brought the cover up to his lips and kissed the cold metal that formed the legendary name and he vowed that he would not besmirch his father's memory.

The knife belt was too long for his gaunt frame but he slung it around his waist as best he could. Then he lifted up the phase rifle and charged it until the controls indicated that it was operational. At that moment he felt the heady mix of excited anticipation that he would soon be facing battle along with the worrying fear of being found wanting. He had only used the rifle for practice; never in anger and never to take another's life.

Although it hurt him to use his father's blade for such a lowly task, it made quick work of prizing off the panel cover to allow him access to the door controls. The Skagaran was pleased to find that the door mechanism was extremely easy for him to circumvent. Once he had disabled the lock all that was needed was to manually push open the door.

He initially opened the door only a little bit, so that he could see out into the corridor. He heard voices coming from further down the corridor to his left, the direction he needed to go in order to reach the hangar bay, where there was the means to leave the ship. He waited until the voices had faded away and then the silence beckoned him on. His heart was pounding so hard in his chest it felt like it was going to burst out of his emaciated body as he tensed his arm against the door and pushed it open far enough for him to slip out of what he considered to be his prison cell.

In the small alcove outside the door he was hidden from the main corridor. The reassuring lack of any alarms sounding told him that his escape had yet to be discovered. He raised the phase rifle and rested it against the crook of his arm and risked a quick look both ways along the passageway, before moving cautiously across to the opposite wall and then edging towards the intersection with the next corridor. He briefly paused as he heard footsteps that seemed to be heading towards his position and he was momentarily trapped by indecision as he considered his next move. Then he realized that it was only going to be a matter of time before he was discovered so he decided to be less cautious and move as fast as he could towards his goal at the stern of the vessel.

He was almost at the turn that led directly to the hangar bay, a route which he had memorized on his only journey through this ship and was therefore just within reach of his means of escape when a female crewman came into view heading down the corridor at a brisk pace. As soon as she saw him, the shock stopped her dead in her tracks, though she still had the presence of mind to react first; reaching out to activate a control panel on the wall just beside her. She was about to open her mouth to raise the alarm when the Skagaran threw his body against the wall opposite her position and as he soon as he had the control panel in his sights, discharged his weapon.

The intense blast of energy blew out the control panel and sent sparks of fire shooting from the wall and left behind a smoking blackened hole. In the second it took him to recover and push himself off the wall to stand in the corridor an alert started to sound throughout the ship. The female had slumped to the floor and curled herself into a tight defensive ball as she clutched her burnt forearm to her body.

The smell of the burning flesh shocked the Skagaran to the core while the sight of the female's ashen face contorted in pain from a wound he had inflicted made his stomach churn. The son of Kai Garth found that he did not like the experience of hurting another being one little bit. He dropped down on his knees close to where she lay and put his phase rifle down on the deck as he wondered how best to help her. While she was so caught up in her own pain she seemed completely unaware of his continued presence.

The pressure of cold hard metal being pressed against the back of his neck ended his deliberations. His rifle was kicked out of his reach and someone else was leaning over the stricken female. He was roughly grabbed around his upper arms and pulled upwards and then forced to stand facing the wall. The business end of the weapon continued to be pressed to his head to warn him against any sudden movement. Then a hand reached around him to pull his father's knife out of its sheath and that too was tossed out of his reach. The Skagaran made a half hearted attempt to protest as he heard the precious keepsake first hit and then scrape along the deck. He was brutally silenced by a sharp knock that bashed his head up against the hard metallic wall surface.

He heard the voice of the captain although he was so caught up in his own torment he couldn't make out what he was saying. Instead he concentrated on being as ready as he could for what he expected to be his execution. The Skagaran was surprised by the notion that at least he had gotten his wish and would not die alone; a thought he found absurdly comforting.