Notes from the author: I changed the story rating. Italics in the text are a dream sequence. Thanks for your reviews, as always.
xxx
Archimedes
There are days when things happen and you couldn't have planned for a better outcome. This was one of those days. It started badly enough, though, the usual waking up with the suns, half-shivering from the cool nights, stiff from the day before, some alien goop for breakfast and then back with those awful packs. Archer hated these packs. Even though it was getting easier every day for him, his pack held some of the food they were consuming on the way, a pound here, a couple of pounds there, the weight was steadily creeping down. Not the case for T'Pol, though. She had the weapons pack, as she confirmed late at night when the rebels were asleep.
The path through the mountains was pretty much the same as the day before, a fairly dense vegetation pushing the trail to the edge of the mountain. 'Weapons pack, weapons pack, weapons pack,' Archer kept thinking in cadence with his steps. Not sure what good it did, but it was something else that could be useful. They climbed for a while and then the path eased down a while.
Archer kept a steady distance T'Pol, short enough that the could jump up and pull her to safety again if needed. There was a bend in the trail and he almost ran smack into her pack. The line had stopped moving, the rebels ahead assembling on a flat area trodden bare of any vegetation. Spanning ahead to the other side was a rope bridge. Archer took a step forward and checked that he could see water, the green ribbon of a river several feet below. It was tranquil, flowing briskly but calmly. He couldn't see where it came beyond a bend up ahead.
Archer looked around, trying to understand how the trail went, quickly assessing that their path upriver was blocked by a huge monolith of a rock, extending several hundred feet on all sides, its flank sheer to the river below. It was enormous, sitting there like a silent sentinel. Going around it on either side would have taken days. The best option was to cross and keep going. Hence the bridge. Two ropes all the way spaced with rudimentary planks and a third rope higher up, to grab for safety.
Snagtooth had just arrived behind him, sweeping the line. He rubbed his hands together, "Okay, everyone, let's get ready to cross!"
The rebels squared their shoulders, checking the adjustment of their rucksacks.
That's when the lucky break happened. That's the only way Archer could explain it. "Untie the Vulcan," Snagtooth ordered the closest men.
"You can't do that!" Eyebrows called from where he was.
"We need them both. If there's only one, perhaps the Erials won't give them their orders."
"Ayt Olbiad and Olihander said never to untie her."
"She can't cross with her hands tied. We can't take the chance." They'd already come close the day before. Snagtooth's rationale carried the day. Eyebrows grunted his agreement.
Archer kept his face neutral, nodding in agreement, "You don't want the packs at the bottom," he added. He wasn't sure how they could take advantage of this turn but you bet he was going to try.
Snagtooth scoffed, "The packs will inflate and float around until we can track their chips."
Archer didn't reply, mentally noting the information. He waited until Snagtooth was distracted by another topic before he sidled over to T'Pol, trying not to draw attention. She was stretching her elbows and shoulders for mobility. He hesitated, afraid to trigger another vision like the one from the day before.
She turned to him and he saw that her hands were trembling. He had a sudden flashback - the Xindi, the Expanse, her hands shaking like leaves, he'd ask her if everything was okay. He knew it wasn't, had figured she was emotionally stressed. She was a scientist after all, not a warrior. In the heat of what happened next he'd forgotten all about it. It all came back to him in a rush. Was she having another emotional breakdown?
"Is everything okay?" he asked.
T'Pol looked at the ground, "We need to go to Siva."
Archer looked at her uncomprehendingly. Didn't she know that Siva was days' walk and a shuttle away? He looked up at the sky. Enterprise should be looking for them already. They'd spent enough days in these mountains that Trip should have figured out they were not on Siva.
"Yeah," he agreed, "but we have to wait for Enterprise to find us."
T'Pol shook her head as if he didn't understand. "We must get to Siva," she repeated. "I need Trip." She swallowed, still looking at the ground. She seemed stressed, off-color.
Archer understood she needed Trip for moral comfort. So it was an emotional break-down. That was one more complication but fortunately he had experience with teams whose participants had stress-induced psychotic episodes. Starting with Trip.
xxx
Enterprise
The trip to the Upper Straits had been uneventful, the Vernes choppily but easily keeping a line straight through the center, Enterprise following within seventy miles. Travis was even able to get a relief to replace him while he took a short nap, enough to recharge and keep going. Hesse was sending regular updates to the bridge, the ships were maintaining a steady state of subspace zero point three, sometimes as high as zero point three two. Both ships were approaching the point where the Straits elbowed in another direction around the nascent star.
Trip suppressed a yawn as he hit the intercom. How could he be tired when they were crossing the dangerous Straits, with pirates to fight at the end, to boot? Possibly because he'd been up almost a full day.
"Captain Morrissot," he greeted the face on the screen.
"Captain Tucker," she replied agreeably. Her image shook on the screen as the Vernes was buffeted by cosmic pulls. Enterprise was a much bigger ship, the maelstrom outside was felt only as an occasional bump.
"Specialist Lessett informs me that the astronomical events are unusually active. The Lower Straits are going to be rough," he told her.
"That should prove interesting..." her smile underlined the sarcastic tone in her voice.
"We need to coordinate precisely," Trip went on. "From the look of things it will take more than another day to get through the Lower Straits. And then we'll have to deal with pirates. That's a long stretch to be on call."
"I get it," Morrissot was nodding. "What do you suggest? I don't have enough people for a mid-course rotation in the Lower Straits."
"Yes, I figured it would be a stretch for the Vernes to idle there," Trip replied, "or perhaps we could send personnel over. We could also take a break now and get everyone fully rested, but then we'd be going into battle at the end of a twenty-four hour shift."
"We can't idle in the Lower Straits," Nagez interrupted, "Apologies, Captain," he told Morrissot.
Nagez had been through the Straits before, there was no reason to doubt his word. The two captains looked at each other.
"Can you idle now? Do you have enough crew?" Trip asked.
Morrissot looked around the Vernes' bridge, "I could idle but it will require critical personnel to stay on shift, so it doesn't really help." She had a sudden thought, "Is there any way we could tether the Vernes to Enterprise?"
Trip started shaking his head, "We would need a rigid attachment - hold on a second," he palm the intercom, "Trip to Engineering, Hesse, do we still have the long-arm poles from the shuttle rebuild?"
"Yes, Tr-Captain, you told me to put them in Bay Two, said they could come handy at some point," Hesse replied. "That was five years ago," she added, a dig that was lost on no one on the bridge.
"Well, turns out we need them. Get them out of Inventory." Trip turned to the screen where Morrissot was waiting expectantly. He smiled, "I think we can accommodate. We'll rendez-vous in thirty-five minutes."
By the time he went to his quarters Trip was really pleased with the way the day had gone. Enterprise had enough personnel that they could keep both ships idle in one spot for the next shift. and then they'd go through the Lower Straits, another full day with the pirates' attack as the cherry on top. Poor pirates finding themselves facing Enterprise. There was a current of excitement going through the ship. Reed was behaving like a man who'd just won the jackpot and can't wait to get his hands on the money. If the pirates didn't show up as planned the man would fall into a depression.
Trip sat on the edge of the bed. Tonight, sleeping alone would be okay. He needed to be fully rested. He closed his eyes with the satisfied sigh of a day well spent.
A couple of hours later there was a pressure in his loins. Still asleep he reached in response to the call of his body.
But it was her hand that was already there, gently grabbing his shaft, playing with the head. He turned over with a smile. 'How did you get there?' he asked. He was so happy she was there. She looked as beautiful as always.
'I need you,' she said, and he nodded his understanding. He was hers, and he would always be available whenever she needed. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her but the thought escaped his mind as her hand brushed further down to his balls. A stroke of pleasure lit up the inside of his eyelids. 'Hmm, don't stop,' he implored. Not that she would. He knew that.
He had his pajamas on but she wasn't wearing anything and he reached for her breasts, gently squeezing the nipples, enjoying seeing push her shoulders back and her chest forward. He took a nipple in his mouth and started playing with it while his other hand kept toying with the other one. He knew that drove her to arousal. When it did she tried pushing him off her, as always. He laughed softly and pinned her under his weight, paying close attention to her breasts, playing with one nipple then the other. The engineer in him enjoyed the way her body reacted under his fingers, how she curled up when he slid a hand between her legs while still busying himself with her breasts. She was flushed green, moaning in arousal as he stroked her clitoris, alternating long gentle rubs with small taps.
He knew she could free herself at any time and all of a sudden he was on his back on the bed, she was on top, pinning him with her chest. She reached down and stroke him hard. He wanted to tell her to slow down, he wouldn't last long that way. But before he could take a breath she was on top of him, straddling him and he was pushing deep into her. This time he was the one moaning in arousal. He half-lifted himself to bounce her deeper, reaching up to grab her and bring her nipples back to his mouth.
The waves of pleasure filled the room, carrying them through space. Space was expanding all around, the universe was spinning madly. It collapsed on itself until it was a pinprick of light in a corner of the room. The light shrunk even further, retreating completely, before it exploded in a supernova that lit all the corner of his soul. T'Pol collapsed into a heap on his chest, a fine layer of perspiration on her face. Trip could feel the pulsations of his penis, his blood was rushing in his ears, he was drenched in sweat.
The incessant beep of the chrono woke him up. Trip opened one eye and glared at the thing, wondering why it was going off, realizing it was the beginning of a new day. That had been one heck of a wet dream. It really felt like T'Pol was there with him. Glancing downward he saw that he was ready for a second round. He quickly shifted his thoughts away from T'Pol and her body. He had a ship to run. And Phlox'd said there was time.
