Continuity

Deliberation Firmament

In the midst of the featureless landscape there was silence. Golden waves of light began to form, appearing from nowhere, from nothing. Coalescing quickly they formed five individual spheres of light, each undulating slightly until, in unison, they grew tranquil.

They opened to one another, sharing information and insight for a moment.

Then all was still again.

"Three." Spoke Four. "Your report is mildly disturbing. Do we predict deviation from the formula?"

"The formula remains constant, though the events were not confidently predicted." Replied Three.

"Agreed." Two replied.

"Agreed." Four conceded.

"We are agreed." The spheres spoke in unison.

Peace for an immeasurable moment.

"I am disturbed at the actions of the organized units." Said Five.

Two replied. "They continue to pursue control. The formula requires minimal success. That conforms with predictions."

"The actions of the units have not been confidently predicted." Remarked Three.

Four replied. "Mild variations are expected. The formula adapts without loss of projected sum."

"The environment is stable. No encroachment by alternate realities have been allowed." Noted Five.

"The project continues." Agreed Two.

"We are agreed."

Silence for a moment.

"Two, your individual perception of Nikki assumes minimal impact on the environment." Remarked Five.

"Nikki is well." Replied Two.

"Disagree. She continues to exercise influence."

"Necessary for her continued function." Two pointed out.

Four predicted. "This will increase, prompted by inherent desire for self determination. The environment will become compromised. Compliance to formula will be lost."

"Disagree." Argued Two. "She is limited and therefore her influence on the environment remains illusory."

"She is constrained." Observed Three.

"Undermined by Two's assurances." Noted Five.

"Confer." Requested Two.

The spheres opened to one another, sharing thought for a moment.

Peace descended.

"Nikki must suffer doubt." Five suggested.

"Loss of trust." Corrected Three.

"We cannot remove our protection." Warned Two.

"Nor loosen our constraints." Five reminded.

Silence.

"Nikki will suffer trauma." Five announced.

"A ruin to her doll." Suggested Two.

"Injury of her mother." Supplied Three.

"Assault to her person." Insisted Four.

"Of an accidental nature. Unintended." Two offered.

"Suggesting we are unreliable." Agreed Five.

"She cannot be allowed to cease function." Demanded Three.

"Agreed." Said Five.

"Agreed." Said Two.

"We are agreed."

Tranquility in continuity.

"Predictions of success?" Asked Two.

"Too soon." Replied Four.

"Speculations?" Requested Three.

"Pointless." Denied Four.

"I predict success of an unrecognizable nature." Offered Two.

"Disagreed. I predict no success." Argued Five.

"We cannot suffer the fate of the Q. Superior to self terminate now." Opined Two.

"An intolerable fate." Insisted Four.

"Agreed." Three acknowledged. "Failure must be rejected."

"Failure is possible." Reminded Five.

"Intolerable." Insisted Two.

"Rejected." Spurned Three.

"Refused." Claimed Four.

"Agreed." Relented Five.

"We are agreed."

Harmony abounded.

"The formula remains within acceptable limitations. The project will succeed." Announced Five.

"If the One exists, it will be revealed to Nikki." Declared Three.

"We will not recognize it." Argued Two.

"Intolerable." Claimed Five.

"Rejected." Insisted Four.

"Disallowed." Asserted Three.

"Deferred." Two conceded.

"We are agreed."

Time passed quietly.

"Suggest influence over unit T'Pril's continued function." Said Three.

"Rejected." Said Two.

"Disallowed." Spoke Four.

"Violates prior agreement." Chided Five.

"The environment is founded on our influence upon that unit's existence." Reminded Three.

"Further influence will alter the environment beyond tolerance." Insisted Two.

"The formula will be disrupted." Confirmed Five.

"Alternate existences will interpose." Warned Four.

"I have doubt." Continued Three. "Multiple events endangering her function are predicted. The project is unreliable. Cessation of her function will corrupt the environment in totality."

"A necessary risk." Consoled Two.

"An insurmountable aspect of formula." Assured Four.

"An unfortunate requirement." Advised Five.

"Then we must be prepared to begin again if her function ceases." Conceded Three.

"Nikki must be protected. Her function does not cease." Insisted Three.

"We love Nikki. She is of us." Demanded Two.

"She will be removed if project aborts." Agreed Five.

"Agreed." Admitted Two.

"Agreed." Conceded Five.

"We are agreed."

**********

Stone Shield Company Headquarters - The Tucker Compound

Torus City, Alpha Centauri

T'Pol found herself preferring that her adun lose his temper and attempt to assault the man bound to the chair before her. At least then she could delay in reacting to restrain him. Just a little. Enough to see the man struck once…perhaps twice…before she exercised some control over his completely understandable human impulse. So far he remained disappointingly rational.

Though she could sense the hangover still caused him some discomfort, he remained focused and alert. Intent on uncovering any possible threat to their daughter so that it could be acted upon. Agreeable indeed. But she would not have objected strenuously to any need he might have to express his fear with physical violence. If that was what he required.

She had no such need herself, of course.

"So let's go over this again…" Trip said, pacing, his arms folded at his chest.

"I don't supposed we could loosen these up a bit, Trip?" Asked Troy, hopefully. He flexed slightly against the restraints holding him to the chair.

"Be glad these two boys don't drag you out to the woods and bury you there, Troy." Trip glowered menacingly.

One of the two Vulcans standing behind the man raised an eyebrow to object but stilled at the subtle gesture from his comrade. Apparently Mr. Tucker was…'bluffing', and so he remained silent.

"You move in here and cozy up to the family because the V'Shar want T'Pol back for something or other, right?"

"Basically, yes."

"And Section 31 went along with that, sending you in here. So what did they expect to get out of it?"

Troy shrugged broadly, as much as his restraints allowed anyway. "I think that's pretty self evident. Tit for tat. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours…"

"Crap." Trip pronounced, glowering. "And you better get this straight, Troy. If I get one more half maybe outta you I'll turn you over to the boys here. If I'm not one hundred percent convinced you're here to tell the whole story then you're just here to snow job. In that case I'm better off letting the boys bury you in a hole somewhere and going after some answers myself. And if you think I can't raise enough hell to have the rats running for cover, you just watch me."

Troy waited until he was certain he was expected to respond before doing so.

"Look, Trip. I'm here on orders to do just that. I'm holding nothing back here. And that ought to tell you the situation is serious."

"Then what?"

"It's in our interests to play along with the V'Shar on this one. They wanted T'Pol back on their team because she knows a few things. Things they need their agent in the field to know. Their agent in Starfleet."

"The V'Shar's got plenty of agents last I checked."

"Not with this particular intel and not able to infiltrate Starfleet. Well, maybe a dozen, to be honest. But none like her." He nodded to T'Pol.

T'Pol responded to that. "And what is it that makes me singular in that respect?"

Troy hesitated but relented when he saw Trip tensing up. "Well…it comes with the side benefit of getting you to come back home one day. At least finally a chance to spend some time trying to talk you into it. You haven't exactly been taking their calls."

"And this 'clan' of yours…" Troy glanced behind him speculatively. "Pulling together every loose Vulcan in the galaxy, a few ex-v'tosh ka'tur, almost every Vulcan that bonded outside their race…hell, you've brain drained a good fifty notables away from clans back home for that matter. They haven't missed how your peculiar mystique has certain people just running from all over to throw their flag at your feet."

"Right." Said Trip. "The folks back home have decided they like her again. They've got statues of her springing up all over the place. That's real nice."

T'Pol raised an eyebrow in protest. To her knowledge there was only the one, in her hometown.

"She has a few influential people pulling for her, too." Troy responded. "And there's a kind of religious element to all this. Some of them are convinced she has some kind of destiny that it'd be all kinds of logical to be part of."

Trip stared for a moment. "Well, that makes perfect sense."

Troy shrugged. "Hey, don't look at me. But that's what they think. So they need an agent in Starfleet with a lot of pull, a lot of leeway. And here's T'Pol with a convenient mystique lending her all kinds of creditability all of a sudden with some of the High Command…"

Troy shrugged again.

T'Pol prompted him after a moment. "And yet it was T'Pril that you convinced to join Starfleet and not I."

Troy frowned. "I just didn't see it happening with you. My superiors agreed. We'd have to jump through too many hoops to make that happen. Trip here being the obvious first hurdle and it was clear to me right away that he wasn't going to let that happen. Not to mention…"

Troy paused uncomfortably.

"Okay, look. No offense, here. Just being honest. But we all know there's no way in hell you're ever leaving Trip again. Not at his age. You've got maybe one more chance at another child and that's it. I wouldn't even want to ask you to be somewhere else when that time comes around."

Trip fidgeted at that but said nothing. T'Pol sent her reassurances through the bond, while struggling secretly to maintain composure herself. This was not a topic she cared to discuss openly, regardless of circumstance.

"T'Pril on the other hand…if you come right down to it, she fits the mystique even better than either one of you. She's your daughter. Best of both worlds, the logical result of your union, etcetera and all that. They fell in love with that idea like you wouldn't believe. She's absolutely perfect. Not to mention the consequences of her…birth make her all the more unique. Enough that the V'Shar were willing to give the nod on us filling her in."

T'Pol stiffened at that.

"Meaning?" She demanded.

Troy hesitated before glancing behind him meaningfully at the two guards there.

After a tense moment Trip nodded to the two men.

"Clear the room, guys."

The Vulcans immediately objected. "Mr. Tucker, it would be unwise in the extreme…"

"Out." Trip said sternly.

With a shared glance, they left quietly.

T'Pol expected one of company directors to be along directly to protest their involvement but they had time. And if not, Trip would be on hand to glare at them until the desisted. This was a clan company, after all.

Once the door was closed and she was certain the dampener was secure again, T'Pol nodded to Troy.

"The Romulans. We told her everything. That's why she signed up."

Trip sighed, closing his eyes in grief. "Dammit, Troy…"

"We didn't tell her you knew but considering the…personal difficulties she was having at the time…well, it made convincing her pretty easy."

Trip growled. "Of course it did. You slimy little…" He broke off in frustration and turned away.

"You manipulated her." T'Pol accused.

Troy nodded. "Yes, ma'am. I did."

T'Pol glared. "Your communications with her while at the Academy. They were not of a friendly nature as we had been led to believe."

Troy shook his head. "No, it wasn't all business. I like T'Pril just fine. She's a hell of a girl. But I did what I had to do. I kept her on target."

"You son of a bitch." Trip seethed. "Don't you dare try to act like you give a damn about Lizzie. You'd sell your own mother down the river if you thought…"

"You're damned right I would." Troy shot back. "Maybe you forgot what's at stake here, Trip. But I haven't."

After giving T'Pol a moment to, he hoped, calm Trip down through their bond, Troy continued.

"The V'Shar needed someone on the front lines when this blew up. Someone who already knew the Romulans and Vulcans were one and the same…"

"We are not." T'Pol insisted.

Troy paused. "Alright, then. But close enough. And we both know that's exactly how it will be perceived by the public. Regardless, the V'Shar needed some assurances they could have someone on site to cover up the mess. Sooner or later Starfleet would need someone in a position where the Romulans would almost certainly be identified. A blood sample, a corpse retrieved from space. Hell, even a prisoner. Something. If you ask me the whole idea that we could go to war with these people without ever identifying your common ancestry is preposterous. I don't care how paranoid the Rommies are. But that's what they wanted."

Trip stepped forward again, towering over the agent with menace.

"Which brings us right back around again." Trip said, locking eyes with Troy. "What does Section 31 get out of this? You don't need an agent on site. I'm sure you've got plenty. You could just keep a lid on that yourself. In fact, I bet you've already got some kind of plan…several probably, to do just that."

"Of course. But you can't expect the V'Shar to rely on us for that."

"I don't rely on you for that." Trip snorted.

"Look, this works for us, too. With T'Pril in command we have complete control of a Starfleet vessel. One we can maneuver into position whenever we need, wherever we need for whatever mission is required. And when Starfleet needs a ship in a spot where it's likely there'll be a mess we need to clean up afterwards, we can make sure Vigilant's the obvious choice for that assignment pretty easily."

"We infiltrate groups of people with individual agents all the time. This just carries it to a new level. An agent in a group, a ship in a fleet. Same thing."

T'Pol considered the information that had been shared so far. She supposed it made some sense to the humans. That the V'Shar would be so…dysfunctional was troubling but it didn't strike her as beyond imagination. But this did not address certain other questions.

"And what of the ranking aboard the Vigilant?" She asked.

To his credit, Troy almost hid the look of dismay at that. But she detected it, and thus so did Trip.

"You think we wouldn't check, Troy?" Trip frowned. "We've got detailed backgrounds on everyone on that ship, from the captain to the damned supply chief."

"Well, I guess I kind of hoped you hadn't noticed that." Troy said with a grimace.

"I'm surprised everyone in the universe hasn't noticed that. It's the most god-awful thing I've ever seen."

"Well, believe it or not it was purely unintentional."

"I doubt that. You folks don't scratch your butt without planning it out first." Trip argued.

"We didn't expect half the command staff to get themselves killed all at once, either. By then we already had everything in place. T'Pril slotted for command detail, a few choice academy grads…Kruger was supposed to take Farrell's place, train her and then meet with a convenient accident in a month. T'Pril's got her pips by then and that's that. No one would question her command. It'd raise any eyebrow or two, sure, but nothing we weren't prepared to deal with. No one expected he'd announce his resignation before we could get her on board."

Trip frowned, unconvinced.

"Look, it just got out of hand. Don't ask me how. I wasn't really in on that part of the operation. I was just to turn T'Pril, get her in the Academy and stay handy in case we needed intervention with you two. All we could do was push every good cadet we could her way and hope for the best."

"Hope for the best?" Trip repeated in disgust. "You put my daughter, fresh out of the Academy, on a ship full of rookies so you can toss her at the Romulans. And you're hoping for the best?"

"Hardly a bunch of rookies, Trip. Half that crew has extensive combat experience. They've been out there for years. Farrell was just a bastard about promotion and liked to get those he did promote killed. And every one of the 'rookies' is the best of the best."

"That ain't good enough, Troy." Trip said, shaking his head, painfully afflicted. "Not by a long shot."

"I think you underestimate T'Pril. She's tough. Definitely got what it takes. Maybe you two haven't been talking much over the few years, Trip, but we have."

"You dumb ass spook." Trip seethed. "I was out there when you were just a gleam in your daddy's eye. You have no idea what it's like out there."

A knock at the door.

Trip sighed, then nodded to T'Pol. "Let 'em in."

T'Pol step over and opened the door, allowing Director Tellik into the room.

"Lady T'Pol. Mr. Tucker. I understand that you have…"

"Cut it, Tellik." Trip said sharply. "Let's not waste one another's time. Have your men escort Mr. Smith here down to one of those basement cells you don't know anything about. Under guard. He'll be your guest for a while."

Even T'Pol raised an eyebrow at that pronouncement. Tellik was practically speechless.

"Trip, I don't think you want to do that…" Troy spoke quickly.

"You shut it. We're done. I had a friend once named Troy Smith but that ain't you. You shoved my daughter off a cliff, you bastard. You are nothing to me. Sooner or later whoever's pulling your strings is gonna have to give me a call. And then this clan's going to war."