Author's note: Disclaimer: see chapter 1.

It has been a long time since my last installment. However, I wanted to tell this story of my favorite characters, especially MU Tucker.

The story so far: Trip and T'Pol are transported to the Mirror Universe, where they meet MU Charles Tucker. MU Tucker has a complicated relationship with MU T'Pol, who has been imprisoned by the Empire and tortured by the collaborator Tolaris. When MU T'Pol is released from prison, she is taken to MU Charles Tuckers quarters. When confronted with another Vulcan woman in Tucker's quarters, she started to fight RU T'Pol, before she faints and falls down the ground.

Many thanks to my beta, Cap'n Frances.

For a second, the room went silent. Trip and Trip's T'Pol looked at the pale T'Pol of this universe lying on the ground. Trip's eyes were wide open with surprise and shock.

Trip's T'Pol looked at her counterpart intently, a slight frown on her face. Her eyes sought Trip before she spoke. "She looks ill."

There was an unspoken question in her voice. Trip seemed to formulate the question they both had. "What happened to her? I thought she was in prison?"

Charles kneeled. T'Pol's counterpart had said she looked ill, but that was an understatement. In the light of his cabin, she looked paler than ever. Her eyes were hollow, and her body was thinner than ever before, bordering on emaciation.

He touched her face-it felt cold under his fingers. He suddenly felt so alone and tired to the bone. He pushed the strange feeling aside.

"The Empress has punished her," he said, his eyes still focused on the woman before him.

"What kind of punishment did she receive? And why?" Trip asked.

"The Empress doesn't need much reason to punish someone," Charles was too tired to give Trip all the details of the Terran Empire's politics. "Her punishment was some sort of mind-altering." He raised himself from his kneeling position. "There's a group of Vulcans collaborating with the Empire. One of them, Tolaris, is an expert on Vulcan mind melds."

Trip's face turned grim, his lips pinched, in his eyes, an angry stare.

Trip's T'Pol's reaction was different, and Charles was surprised how well he could read the face of this Vulcan woman, a stranger to him. She stiffened, clearly uncomfortable hearing Tolaris' name. Her shoulders dropped before she straightened her back and lifted her head. Her eyes filled with fire and anger. This T'Pol looked like the fighter T'Pol in his universe was.

"I'm guessing you've met Tolaris' counterpart in your universe?" Charles said.

"If I get my hands on him…" Trip snarled.

T'Pol said, "A few years ago, Tolaris told me about mind melds. I was curious-he forced a mind meld on me." She swallowed. "It took a long time for my katra to heal. I've always wanted to help Vulcans who have experienced such an ordeal."

The T'Pol on the ground muttered and stirred. Her eyes fluttered before she opened them.

Charles stooped, grabbed T'Pol by her armpits, and pulled her up. She was heavier than he had imagined. "Get up on your feet."

T'Pol did as he said, putting her arms sideways while trying to find her balance.

Her eyes focused on him. "I am sorry."

Charles shrugged. "You're sorry you attacked my guests? You better apologize to them," he nodded to Trip and the other T'Pol.

"I am sorry I hurt you," she emphasized.

Charles chose to ignore her words. He was in no mood for false excuses and empty promises from T'Pol, even though her green-brown eyes shone so sincerely. Despite her exhaustion, she was still a beautiful woman.

"Doesn't she need a doctor?" Trip said.

That seemed to wake up T'Pol. "No, no doctor. Phlox is no good with Vulcans", she said vehemently.

Charles couldn't agree with her more. Phlox was a sadistic idiot who didn't deserve the title doctor.

"Are you Ian, Commander Tucker's younger brother?" T'Pol asked Trip.

Trip shook his head. "I am Charles Tucker from another universe. People call me Trip. And this is T'Pol, also from my universe. We're a couple; she is my adun'a."

"You are me," T'Pol said slowly, studying the face of the woman in front of her. She pointed to T'Pol's short hair. "You're Starfleet, an officer. You live in a free universe where Vulcan is free. How did you get here?"

"Major Reed has developed a machine that enables us to transport people from that other universe," Charles said.

"Major Reed couldn't change a console relay if his life depended on it," T'Pol sneered. "The design is yours, of course," she added sharply, "but such a machine is totally not your style. Reed must have.."

Charles cut her off. "You talk too much, woman. You're still the property of the Empire. I will escort you to the brig. You can sleep there. Trip and the other T'Pol… what shall we call her?"

"You can call me Mrs. Tucker," the other T'Pol responded.

"Not in a million years," he replied. "I will call you T'Pol Two."

"Ko-Kai T'Pol," T'Pol of his universe suggested.

Ko-Kai T'Pol nodded. "That would be an honor."

"Now we have exchanged all the Vulcan niceties no Terran ever will understand, let's go," Charles wanted them out of his quarters. "It's late."

When they stepped out the door, Charles realized the guard shift had changed. The new guards, Lieutenant Brasco and Ensign Seles, were loudmouthed and heedless. They said anything that came to their minds and had been disciplined for it on many occasions.

"Look, the pon farr woman," Brasco nudged Seles with his elbow.

Seles grinned, his white teeth showing. "Tolaris did a number on her."

"Lieutenant Brasco and Ensign Seles," Charles snarled, "You have no permission to speak, nor the rank to comment on any of my officers. Shut up and follow us."

Trip was right. He had taken too much crap from his fellow officers, many of them were of lower rank than he. It's time he acted like the man he was: Commander, the Chief Engineer. The best the Terran Empire had.

In a foul mood, Charles arrived at the brig with Trip, Ko-Kai T'Pol, and his T'Pol. The guards followed them from a small distance. Without a word, T'Pol crawled into a corner and closed her eyes. She looked exhausted again. Trip and Ko-Kai T'Pol went to their bunks to sleep, and Charles went back to his quarters. He plunged onto his bed and turn out the light.

The night had finally come.

Ko-Kai

The next morning Charles went to the brig to collect Trip and Ko-Kai T'Pol. T'Pol stayed in the brig, resting because Charles wasn't sure she could handle a long shift. Ko-Kai T'Pol was given a job far beneath her expertise, but she worked hard, and her work was excellent.

One hour before the end of his 18-hour shift, Charles went to his desk in Engineering for the inevitable paperwork. Ko-Kai T'Pol stepped into his office, holding a PADD in her hands. She had somehow managed to shake off the guards, a feat that amused him to great lengths. Why could he communicate so much more easily with Ko-Kai T'Pol than with his T'Pol? Perhaps it was because he wasn't so crazy-like attracted to her, and they didn't have such a loaded past like he had with T'Pol.

After she asked a minor question she surely knew the answer to, Ko-Kai T'Pol said, "In my universe, few Vulcans knew about mind melds. That knowledge has only spread recently. Also, we never speak with outsiders about pon farr. But you spoke freely of mind melds, and the guards last night mentioned pon farr. How did Terrans obtain this knowledge? Vulcans are your slaves, aren't they?"

"There is a saying in Terran 'knowledge is control'. The Empire collects all the information on the people under their control," Charles explained. "There is a group of collaborators, like Tolaris, they practice mind melds as means of control for the Terrans. As for pon farr, the Vulcans I worked with never spoke about it. But when T'Pol got it, rumors started to spread, and the word got out."

Charles always regretted that last part. The gentle S'Vai would still be alive, and her husband Korek wouldn't have been transferred to another ship.

"You worked with other Vulcans? Where are they now?" Ko-Kai T'Pol asked.

"Vulcans are valued workers. I worked with many of them over the years," he said. "The longest time I worked with a woman called S'Vai and her husband, Korek. I think she and T'Pol were good friends". He didn't know why he told Ko-Kai T'Pol this, maybe because he sometimes he longed for the time that S'Vai was alive-before the time he and T'Pol had become enemies instead of sharing a strange friendship.

"S'Vai!" Ko-Kai T'Pol said. "She was like a sister to me. I grieved her death." Hope glimmered in her voice. "In this universe, is she alive?"

He shook his head. "No, she isn't." A silence fell.

"That guard yesterday, what he said," Ko-Kai T'Pol broke the stillness. Charles realized she had come to his office for just this purpose, to ask him about the guards' remarks.

"For a moment, I feared Tolaris had provoked the other T'Pol's pon farr," Ko-Kai T'Pol continued. "But that wouldn't be logical. He would harm himself if he tortured her after they were bonded."

"I have no clue what you're talking about," Charles said. "Tolaris isn't a typical logical Vulcan."

Ko-Kai T'Pol hesitated a second before she continued. "Let me explain. Pon farr is a male condition. The wife of the male responds to his pon farr, and a connection is made. Only in rare cases, a woman gets pon farr alone. Personally, I think this has to do with their connection. We Vulcans call it the bond. There have also been a few cases where a virus was the cause."

"It must have been a virus." Charles shrugged. What did he care? From the corner of his eye, Charles saw one of the guards, clearly agitated, moving in his direction. "Time's up, the guard is looking for you."

Ko-Kai T'Pol turned and walked to the door. "Thank you for answering my questions. It was very illuminating. Do you know what Ko-Kai means?"

The guard rushed into Charles's office and grabbed her arm. "She is not allowed to wander off," he spat.

"We had an engineering problem to be solved," Charles lied.

With Ko-Kai T'Pol gone, Charles stared again at the PADDS in front of him. Paperwork. Sigh.

Their conversation had him wondering what Ko-Kai T'Pol had tried to say. He didn't know. Strangely enough, he had liked their brief chat.

Curious, thinking of Ko-Kai T'Pol's last words, he looked up the meaning of the word Ko-Kai.

There it was:

Ko-Kai

(Pronunciation Standard Vulcan: Koo- Kaj)

Vulcan word. Meaning: Sister. Further use: close female friend, also a person in the clan who mediates between clan-members in case of an argument.

S'Vai had been such a Ko-Kai to T'Pol. And it looked like T'Pol had now a new Ko-Kai in her life.