TITLE: Hidden Truths - Part Seven

SUMMARY: I can't really summarise this chapter...just read!

DISCLAIMER: See Chapter One or Two

NOTES: Really got you guessing now, haven't I?

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Chapter Seven

AND EVERYTHING WILL TURN OUT FINE

Trip strode through the corridor's of Enterprise on a mission. He passed several

crew-members, none whom looked brave enough to approach him - which was a good thing. They might ask questions.

All he needed to do was get a shuttle and then fly far enough away from Enterprise to open a rift. If he timed it right and calibrated the sensors to exactly the right frequency, there shouldn't be a problem. It seemed simple enough.

Trip knew what he should've been thinking at that point: *What am I thinking? I'm breaking every rule there is, I can't go through with this...* But his mind had come to the conclusion that the powers that be showed him the dream precisely because he had to change it. And that was what he planned to do.

"Commander."

*Damn it.* It was Malcolm. Trip noted the sinister-looking gash down the side of his face. Something else to feel guilty about. He might not be able to change that, but bringing Hoshi back would be more than enough compensation.

"I take it you didn't like the Doctor's orders either?" Reed asked.

*This is not the time Malcolm.* "Right." Trip agreed verbally. "I'd rather be busy."

"Same here. Where are you headed."

"Engineering." Trip blurted out before realising he was headed in the opposite direction. "I mean, uh, the shuttle bay." He covered quickly. "Controls are offline, I'm going to fix them."

"I suppose I'll see you at the service tomorrow then." Malcolm said awkwardly.

"Yeah." Trip replied, hoping that there wouldn't be any service after he was through. He knew Malcolm and Hoshi were close, hell, everyone who knew her couldn't help but fall in love with her beautiful personality. *Everything will be okay soon buddy.* Trip assured his friend mentally before he went on his way.

Almost at the shuttle-bay. So far so good. There was no doubt Jon would soon know who had taken the shuttle on the little excursion - half a dozen people had seen him on his way, and now Malcolm knew. It didn't matter though. They couldn't have any remote idea of what he was about to do and soon it wouldn't have happened anyway.

The two shuttles looked almost funny sitting side by side. One was covered with dust, grime and burns from the explosion while it's companion was in pristine condition, almost gleaming. Trip naturally went for the latter after making sure he could override the bay doors via a control panel.

The shuttle door closed, giving a sense of finality. The decision was made. No turning back.

*Actually that's exactly what I'll be doing.*

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"Sir their's an unauthorised shuttle leaving Enterprise."

"What? Who is it?" Travis asked. He'd been left in charge of the bridge in the Captain's absence.

"I don't know Sir, but they're heading into open space." The crewman manning T'Pol's station said.

"Open a channel. Enterprise to shuttle, return to the docking bay immediately."

"I can't do that Travis."

"Trip?" What was he doing?

"I'll be back before you know it."

"You weren't logged in for a shuttle launch Sir." Travis said, still taken aback.

"There was no time for that. I told you I won't be long."

"He's turned off the com." Another crewman told him.

Travis thought for a while and elected for the one option where he couldn't go wrong. "Get the Captain."

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"Come on, where are you?" Trip asked. The rift had been slightly more difficult to find than he'd hoped, but he was close now.

"Trip, what are you doing?"

Archer.

He wouldn't be as easy to deal with as Travis. "How did you get the com back on?"

"That's not important right now. Come back to Enterprise."

"Like I told Travis, I'll be back before you know it." And with that, Trip pulled out his phase pistol and shot the com. That would take a little longer for the Captain to repair.

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"Trip?"

"The com isn't responding. He must have destroyed it."

"What?!" Jon said, exasperated. He really did not want to deal with awol crew-members right now. But this was Trip. *What the hell is he doing?* He thought for a moment about using the grapnels to pull the shuttle back in - but what if Trip just needed to be alone? Jon wouldn't blame him for that. What if this was just his way of grieving? It was clear he blamed himself, especially after his odd reactions Jon had witnessed earlier.

"Alright, just follow him." Jon ordered. He could really use a psychologist onboard right about now, but he was Captain and this is what Captain's do. Even though sometimes being a Captain was the last thing Jon needed.

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"Thanks Cap'n." Trip said to himself. If they were going to use the grapnels, they'd have done it by now.

Bleep bleep bleep.......

*Finally!* If Trip's calculations and sensor reading were correct (and they almost always were) there was a rift just metres ahead. He stopped the shuttle (The Enterprise stopped too.) And recalibrated the sensors to the precise frequency. This needed to be accurate, or Trip would be responsible for a hell of a lot more than one death.

*There. Perfect.*

It was done, the sensors were at exactly the right frequency to open the rift. So why was Trip hesitating? Had he forgotten why he was doing this? *Hoshi. Hoshi is dead and that is unacceptable.*

So he did it. The sensors scanned the area that the rift was in and slowly but surely the purple energy of it's electrical tendrils began to whip the sky.

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"What's he doing now?" Jon asked.

"He's just stopped." Travis replied. Was he going to turn around and come back? Had he come to his senses? But the shuttle wasn't turning, it was still. Clearly not. "He's scanning the area in front of the shuttle - but he's using a strange frequency...." The ensign trailed off when he saw...whatever the hell it was he was looking at. It looked like some kind of purple lightning, suspended in space. It was beautiful in a weird, unnatural sort of way.

"What is that?" Jon breathed. He'd never seen anything like it.

"Readings are all over the place, Captain. Nothing is making any sense." A random crewman told him.

"Captain the shuttle is moving towards the....the anomaly!" Travis proclaimed. He didn't quite know what to call the sudden crackling light that had appeared, but whatever it was, it looked dangerous and Trip was headed straight for it. What was he doing? It looked like he knew it was there - it appeared directly in front of the shuttle. Had he created it?

"Is there any way to contact him?" Jon asked desperately, knowing the answer already.

"No, Sir."

"Fire grapnels, now!" He quickly decided.

"It's too late. He's....he's gone."

"Was the shuttle destroyed?" Jon asked Malcolm, who had arrived moments ago and was checking and double-checking the panel in front of him.

"I'm not reading any debris and the anomaly has disappeared."

"Disappeared? There must be something there." Jon asserted. Shuttles don't just vanish into nothing.

"No Sir, there's nothing. No debris from the shuttle, no readings whatsoever from the anomaly." Malcolm explained. "Trip is gone."

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End of Part Seven

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