Chapter 49 —


The day after attending Ayvok's Bonding ceremony, Trip woke early, tasted T'Fel's plump, kissable lips, and the Vulcan stirred and opened her eyes, looking at Trip through sleep clouded eyes.

"I have to go," said Trip. "Senva and I have an early meeting."

T'Fel nodded.

"The things we did last night," said Trip, "we can never speak of them, you understand?"

T'Fel nodded her head soberly, though Trip knew her well enough to detect the slight traces of amusement on the Vulcan's face.

"That doesn't mean I don't want to do those things again," said Trip, "we just can't speak of them, T'Fel."

"I understand," said T'Fel, and followed that up with an involuntary yawn.

With that Trip was off for Control, and he'd just stepped onto the command deck, when he noticed Senva looking intently at the main video monitor in Control.

"What's going on?" said Trip, standing next to Senva.

He watched as a huge Vulcan battlecruiser approached the Uzh Palik with an unusual ship in tow, held beneath the cruiser by a tractor beam. Oh, the towed ship was clearly Vulcan in manufacture, only half the size of the giant Vulcan cruiser above it, but it was a beauty, a streamlined length of metal so artfully rendered that it was a treat just gazing at her.

"What am I looking at, Senva?" said Trip, for the towed ship was clearly not functional.

"A light Vulcan cruiser. T'Vor class," said Senva. "As I understand it, the ship's something of a present for you, but her class has been decommissioned for more than five decades."

"A present?" said Trip. "From whom?"

Senva addressed the Comm officer briefly, and suddenly a recording of Administrator Volok, of the T'Lek Sor, appeared on Control's main video monitor, and he said:

"Congratulations on your new command, Captain Tucker. In the hopes that you remember something of our time together, and as a side project for your amusement, I offer you this ship, the Tek'Surron, one of our light combat cruisers, or rather, I offer you only her empty shell. The few models of this type still left are being scrapped, their metal utilized for the construction of new shipshells at an alarming rate, but I've always been fond of this model, always thought it struck a perfect balance between beauty and efficiency, toughness and speed. The High Command knows of this gift of mine, so make of it what you will, although the High Command will retain ownership of the Tek'Surron if you should outfit her as a ship of war. But if you would keep her for your own, she would make an impressive yacht for an enterprising young man like yourself. Better that, than being scrapped."

"Hot damn!" said Trip, excited at the thought of rebuilding this old girl. "Where'd you put her, Senva?"

"Bay 21," said Senva, though it would be another hour before that ships shell would rest in its assigned berth.

"I've got a hell of a thank you call to make, and shitload of Mexican cocoa powder to ship to the T'Lek Sor!"


The next three weeks progressed in a state of organized madness, for though the mandatory workload of the shipyard was still light, the armament of the Uzh Palik was both, instructive and demanding of the majority of the engineer's times, which was all for the better: these were Vulcan engineers, and they hadn't signed up in order to drink coffee and swap gossip… no, these people loved building things up, or tearing things down and then rebuilding them even better than their previous state, and the light workload allowed them to do just that for now.

That was the case with the Tek'Surron as well, and as the ship was already gutted, the lucky engineering crew assigned to giving this ship life, took to the task of rebuilding her with a vengeance. Under Captain Tucker's direction, one of the ship's shuttle bays and two of the crew's communal areas were sacrificed in order to add an auxiliary engineering department, and eventually a secondary warp engine… even the primary engineering bay would feel a bit cramped, as the engine which Trip planned to cram in there was a bit larger and a lot more powerful than the engine originally in place here, and combined with the secondary engine, would give the Tek'Surron a projected speed second to none, and if she couldn't truly outrun the larger cruisers, though that was a matter hotly debated among the engineering crews even now, she would easily keep pace with the best.

The ship would then be outfitted with seven Andorian particle cannon batteries, rather than the four Vulcan phaser batteries originally installed, all for the 7.5% power throughput gains of the Andorian weapons, and then outfitted with three of StarFleet's photon torpedo batteries, where this ship originally had no such weapon. Lastly, Denobulan shield generators would be installed, for their outstanding efficiency, shields which would only be made stronger by the oversized main engine and the addition of the smaller subsidiary engine which was sized just about the same as that of the Enterprise and the Columbia's and at the end of it all, fully half the ship's bulk would be filled with power generators, weapon batteries, and shield generators. As for the crew of 134, quarters were just this side of cramped, but that was all right: the ship which Trip envisioned was not a travel cruiser, a science vessel, or a cargo hauler… it was a weapon of war. Only the excess of so many engineers working round the clock made this project feasible in a matter of months, but everyone was excited about it. And at the end of it all, would come the reconstruction of the non-essential, but still important parts of the ship which catered to the comfort of the crew, and to that end Trip hired a high end Vulcan designer from his own pocket, to come up with a fitting look for such a major overhaul.

"The Tek'Surron will be a beauty," said Senva, standing next to Trip. "What are your plans for it?"

"I plan to appeal to the High Command for a hearing when the ship is complete," said Trip. "I mean to propose they give me temporary command of the ship, as well as a crew, so that I might conduct the ship's shakedown cruise, which will give you practical command of the Uzh Palik. The Andorians won't care so long as I'm a figurehead here, and the High Command already knows that you're more than capable of running this station, or they'd not have assigned you to babysit me."

Senva almost smiled a bit at that line, for that was indeed her purpose here, before she'd discovered that Captain Tucker was more than capable of managing this station on his own… thankfully, Vulcan decorum won the day, and Senva simply nodded.

"Anyway," said Trip, "once the Tek'Surron's sorted out, maybe I can persuade the High Command to give me permanent command of the ship, and if I can't, I can't."


"So tell me what's new," said Trip, as he poured hot tea for him and T'Les both. "How's work?"

"About much of the same," said T'Les, and gave Trip a rundown on the challenges there, over the course of the next twenty minutes.

"Sounds rough," said Trip. "I never thought Vulcans would carry on with such petty power politics. I would have thought it illogical."

"I am afraid that academics are some of the most passive aggressive creatures on Vulcan," said T'Les. "Anyway, my biggest problem is T'Pol. That committee work she is doing is putting her in a bad mood. I fear that she feels restless in that capacity."

"Well, that can't last forever, no matter how thorough the High Command's minions," said Trip. "Sooner or later, they'll run out of questions, or the Enterprise will be patched up and she'll ship out again."

"I suppose that is about right," said T'Les, "unless T'Pol is upset about something else entirely. You wouldn't know anything about that?"

"Ah… well, T'Pol and I are only friends now, T'Les."

"What do you mean, 'now'?"

"I don't really want to get into it, T'Les," said Trip.

"All right," said T'Les, watching Trip closely. "Well, maybe you could ask her anyway. Isn't that what friends do on Earth? Vulcans are a bit more reticent to press against personal boundaries, but you could push the envelope a little."

"I'll tell you what," said Trip. "Next time I see her, I'll tell her to buck up, maybe give her some meditation tips to deal with the annoyance those committee meeting are causing her."

"That would be nice, Trip," said T'Les, though her mind was occupied by other thoughts 'now'. "Do you want to try some of the semri cake? I know that you do."

"Yes. Yes, I do," said Trip, with a smile: he'd corrupted another soul in T'Les, gotten her hooked on sweets… soon, she'd sell her soul for a chocolate brownie.


Jon and T'Pol were back on the Uzh Palik in order to check up on the state of the Enterprise, and the two were dancing around as they moved through the station and between an endless line of cargo forklifts, for a new shipment of Captain Tucker's requested items had just been delivered.

"What the hell's going on, T'Pol?" said Jon, recognizing that the amount of military hardware moving through the wide hallways seemed all out of proportion to the number of ships being serviced here. "I would have thought they'd have been fully stocked, long before now?"

"As I understand it," said T'Pol, "Captain Tucker is arming and shielding this entire shipyard."

"Why?"

"Training for his engineering crews," said T'Pol. "Idle hands and all that. Also, elements of the High Command and StarFleet are considering this armed shipyard as a prototype for a series of Deep Space stations."

"Ummm, I see," said Archer, quickly dismissing the entire matter. "Well, I hope we get some good news today. If I have to captain a desk much longer, I'll blow my brains out."

"I share your sentiments," said T'Pol with a sigh, then noted that they'd reached Control. "Here we are."

To Jon's satisfaction, Trip was in his office this time, and they had a working lunch while discussing the progress on the Enterprise. Almost four weeks had passed since the Enterprise had been brought it, but one week had been spent doing cleanup on the ship, removing the remnant of the old pylon, and repairing the minor damage caused during the fire fight. Eventually, the new pylon and nacelle had arrived, and in the intervening three weeks, the new pylon had been secured in place and then welded to the Enterprise in a thousand places or more. This coming week, the new nacelle would be placed and fastened atop the new pylon, and then would come the painstaking job of running power cables, lights, oxygen lines, liquid lines for the cooling fluid… Still lots to be done, but drawing closer to completion each and every day.

"Great work, Trip," said Archer. "Great work! I can't wait to get out there again. Manning a desk is a fool's errand."

"Careful now. You'll make Admiral one day soon, and then it's all about manning desks for you, Jon," said Trip, with a wicked grin.

"God forbid," said Jon.

And with that, Jon and T'Pol made their departure, and though T'Pol would have lingered behind, she had another meeting scheduled at the bidding of the High Command, so she accompanied Archer to the turbo-lift bays, while Trip went off to inspect the progress on the Tek'Surron: and it was at the turbo-lift bays that T'Pol got a most unpleasant surprise, when T'Fel came to make use of the lift as well, and something within T'Pol coiled up, tensed up… she had not seen the Vulcan since the night of Ayvok's wedding, and if she'd fallen into a ditch and broken her neck, well, T'Pol would not have shed any tears.

"Ah, T'Pol, Captain Archer," said T'Fel, "how are you both?"

"Doing well," said Archer. "You're…"

"T'Fel, Captain," said the Vulcan. "We met briefly during your crew swap with the Columbia."

"Yes," said Archer, smiling broadly now, because it seemed that Jon, despite his hard feelings where Vulcans were concerned, was not completely immune to their charms. "I remember now, T'Fel. You're stationed here now?"

"Yes," said T'Fel. "My time on the Columbia was a temporary assignment."

"Well, I'm sure that T'Pol and I wish only the best for you here," said Archer. "Isn't that right, T'Pol?"

"Yes," said T'Pol, wishing she could wrap hands round T'Fel's neck and squeeze… not to kill her, mind you, just squeeze a bit, and work off some stress, relieve some tension.


Later that day, just as he was about to wrap things up, Trip received a visitor.

"Ayvok," said Trip, laughing. What's it been, 23 days since the Bonding ceremony? You look tired… no, downright exhausted!"

Ayvok merely looked back at Trip, but there was a hint of amusement on the Vulcan's face, for he'd been around Humans long enough to understand Trip's insinuations.

"I have been quite busy lately, that much is true," said Ayvok, playing it straight. "In any case, I am here to request a favor, if you are of a mind to entertain it, Captain."

"What's the favor?"

"As you probably know, my newly mated status demands I remain close to my mate for this first year," said Ayvok, "and so I must select a new post, since serving on the Columbia is no longer feasible. I checked with the High Command, and I see you have a number of openings in Security, and I hope you will consider me for a position in that department. I am well qualified for service there."

"You got it," said Trip. "My head of Security asked for a transfer the other day, she's not feeling it, dealing with Andorians constantly. I haven't pushed her paperwork through yet. I'll do so now, and press that you take her post."

"I do not ask to be head of Security, Capta—"

"Are you qualified for that position?"

"Yes," said Ayvok.

"Than you're my head of Security if I have any say in it," said Trip. "Supposedly I have some clout around here, so let's see. I'll let you know what the High Command decides."

"Gratitude, Captain," said Ayvok.

"Game of chess for old time's sake?" said Trip. "I'm feeling strong, and I'm feeling lucky. There's no way you can win!"

"Let us see about that, Captain," said Ayvok, already anticipating victory.


"Captain Tucker was on Vulcan today," said T'Les, "and while he was down here, we went out for tea and dessert."

"That is nice," said T'Pol woodenly: she'd had a long day of it, and she was exhausted.

"What happened between you two, T'Pol?" said T'Les after a time.

T'Pol would have normally practiced evasion here, but she was too tired for that today, and so she said, "I do not want to speak of it, mother."

"Can it be fixed?" said T'Les, after a few minutes silence during which she'd weighed her daughter's words and attitude.

"I do not know, mother," said T'Pol, feeling nothing but a hollow emptiness. "I doubt it."

T'Pol felt her mother's eyes on her for a time, and then, for the first time since she'd been a young girl, T'Les drew close, kissed T'Pol's cheek, wrapped arms around her daughter and held her in a comforting silence, and likewise, for the first time since she'd been a child, T'Pol wept bitter tears in her mother's arms.