Chapter 5-
"Go ahead, Hoshi." The captain nodded to the ensign.
The alien male appeared on the screen, looking tired and worn.
"Captain," the father sighed. "I am, once again, apologizing. This time it is for contacting you so soon. But I have grave news. My daughter was abducted from our vessel a short time ago. We were probed by a beam of light and she was gone. Just like before."
Archer looked over at his crew, but Reed, Mayweather and Sato all gave negative responses.
"I'm sorry." The captain said. "As you know, our technology is no where near yours, let alone theirs. Our sensors did not detect anything."
"Your man is safe?" The alien inquired.
"Yes."
"I will contact you when we have further information." The father promised. "I will leave the decision to tell the unborn child's father of this event to you, Captain."
"I'll await your next contact." Archer nodded.
"There was nothing except the ship on sensors and on the view screen, sir." Reed assured his captain.
Archer stared up at the screen. "At least we know they're still around here."
----------
Tucker sat on his bed, as Phlox prepared a hypospray. T'Pol stood by the door, watching with her usual stoic expression.
"Depriving yourself of sleep will not do anyone any good, Commander. Least of all yourself." Phlox scolded his patient.
"I know, Doc." Trip rubbed his face with both hands. "It's been a long night."
The doctor placed the hypospray to Tucker's neck and administered the sedative. Immediately, Trip jumped up from the bed and backed away while grabbing his neck. He stared at Phlox, breathing heavily and looking confused.
"You're all right." Phlox consoled the young man. "It was just a hypospray."
"Doctor, what is it?" T'Pol asked.
"A transference episode." The doctor informed her. "The hypospray must have triggered a sensation from his captivity."
"Is he a danger to himself or us?"
"No." Phlox shook his head, still never taking his eyes off of Tucker. "Not in the physical sense, anyway. But mentally the distress is very great."
"Yes," T'Pol agreed. "I have noticed the captain is visibly stressed by this as well."
As if on cue Archer entered the room and quickly reviewed the scene. Trip was backed against the wall, holding his neck.
"What happened?" The captain demanded to know.
"He didn't react very well to the hypospray." Phlox explained with a shrug. "He needs to be put to bed. But he shouldn't be left alone. And you, Captain, look like you're in need of a good night's sleep yourself."
"I'll take him back to my quarters." The captain decided. "T'Pol, Lieutenant Reed will brief you on the latest from the aliens."
T'Pol turned and left, knowing a dismissal when she heard one.
"The alien girl was abducted from her ship by a beam of light." The captain told Phlox.
"Do you think he's in any danger as well?"
"I don't know." Archer shook his head.
----------
-----Why is this happenin' to me? I'm either angry, scared, drugged. I just wanna sleep, but I can't do that. Those creeps even took away my only escape from 'em. Jonathan. He's always there. This isn't right. He shouldn't be doin' this. Haulin' me off to bed, in his quarters. I need to keep awake so he doesn't have to carry all the weight. But then, he always has when it's the two of us.-----
Jon guided Trip to the bed and the younger man climbed in. Jon covered him up and sat down on the bed next to him.
"Don't fight it, Trip. Just relax."
"What if I am that man?" Trip lazily asked.
"What?"
"That lesser man T'Pol was talkin' 'bout," Trip slurred. "That's why I had to try and fix the environmental controls in engineering."
"Taking a pipe to it was a bit unorthodox." Jon tried to soothe his friend.
"I know," Trip muttered as his eyelids grew heavier. "I couldn't think clearly. I just got mad. But I went down there, cuz what if I weren't here later? I needed to make sure everythin' was okay."
"You're not going anywhere." Jon assured him.
"What if the doc won't clear me for duty? They'll make you send me home."
"No one's going to make me lose the best damn engineer in Starfleet." Jon said with conviction. "You're meant to be here with me. We're meant to be on this maiden voyage together. We're a team."
"When they were workin' on me." Trip sleepily continued. "I kept thinkin' 'bout you."
"Me?"
"I thought, you saved my life four years ago for what? So I could be dissected out here in space?"
"That's what you thought?" Jon said sympathetically. "They were doing some sort of autopsy?"
"Guess they decided to take what they were really after." Trip's eyes started to close. "It wasn't the mating...they're cross breedin' bastards."
Trip turned over on his side and drifted off. Cross breeding? Maybe he was right, Archer thought. It wasn't the mating techniques they were interested in at all. Jon picked up Porthos and put him on the bed.
"Keep him company, Porthos."
The captain lowered the lights and rushed out of his quarters.
----------
Jonathan Archer bounded onto the bridge.
"Captain," T'Pol turned, rising from the command chair. "I thought you were going to get some sleep."
"So did I." He moved to her. "T'Pol, those researchers weren't doing experiments with interspecies mating, but interspecies breeding."
T'Pol raised her brow as she mulled that over. "Then the abduction of the girl was inevitable. It is the embryo they want."
"And she may not be returned, unless..."
"Captain, if she is not to be returned, then so be it. There is no way to rescue her. This ship and its crew, even if the researchers were visible, are incapable of dealing with them."
"She's carrying Trip's child." Archer stressed to the vulcan. "If he could, he'd try to get her back to her people. Since he's in no condition, I have to try for him. I know, it's illogical and emotional."
"Gallant." T'Pol responded.
"In the morning, if we haven't heard anything," Archer informed her. "I'm taking a pod out."
"I will not attempt to tell you my thoughts on that plan, since you've made it clear your intentions."
"Thank you for your restraint." Archer smiled at her.
Suddenly a very bright light flashed on the view screen and shot directly out of it onto the bridge. The crew squinted and raised their arms to shield their eyes. T'Pol rushed to her station.
"What is that?" The captain demanded to know.
"Unconfirmed." T'Pol responded as the light moved off and disappeared from the bridge. "It appears to be centering it's beam..."
"Where?" Archer asked, nervously.
"In the vicinity of your quarters, Captain."
"Trip!" Archer screamed as he ran toward the lift. "Contact the alien father and let them know what's happening."
----------
-----Not again. I can't move and I know I'm not dreamin'. I see the light and I can't move. But I'm in Jon's quarters. Not that other place. The place where they hurt me and the others. What do they want?-----
Jon burst into his quarters to find Porthos standing his ground, in the middle of the room, and barking up at the glaring light. Archer picked Porthos up and stood beside the bed looking at Trip. Anger rising, he turned to the light coming out of the ceiling.
"Leave him alone!"
"Why did you come back?" The alien voice inquired. "We returned him."
"Because I wanted you to know what you did is not acceptable to us." The captain clenched his jaws.
"We did what was needed to further our research."
"What gives you the right to go around plucking people from their space crafts and using them as test subjects?"
"We do so, because we can." The voice stated quite frankly. "We did not harm him permanently."
"Not physically." Jon said, looking back at his friend. "But you hurt him inside. In his soul."
"This is permanent?"
"I don't think so." Jon looked back at the light. "But it could've been."
"Do you wish to return him to us?"
"No. I mean, he's not mine to give." Archer sighed. "We have free will. He's here because he wants to be."
"Yet, we learned that he answers to you for his actions and he takes commands."
Archer let Porthos down, feeling it was safe to do so. He reached out to try and touch Trip, but the light was a type of force field.
"That's because he wants to. He joined this expedition with the understanding that's what is expected of him." Jon turned back to the light. "What are you doing to him?"
"He is immobile, so he does not hurt himself." The alien voice stated, adding, "He can be rather hasty when agitated."
"It's not hurting him?" Jon asked.
"No."
"Like I can believe that." Archer said with sarcasm.
"We do not cause pain for the sake of inflicting it on others. If that is what happens as we conduct tests for our research, then it is unfortunate. But it is necessary."
"Did you do that to him when you...took your samples?"
"Yes." The alien voice confirmed.
"What are you doing to the girl?" Jon asked the voice.
"Clarify."
"The one you had him mate with. You took her."
"Their mating was successful. Conception in captivity is rare."
"You didn't answer my question." Archer was getting impatient.
"We learned a great deal from your male. But there is still much unknown about your species. Interbreeding could prove hazardous."
"Clarify." Jon threw the alien's own words at it.
"We have destroyed those samples from this one. We will not use them in our further research."
A sense of urgency was building in Archer. He was not getting the answer he wanted.
"What about the girl?"
"We have returned the female to her people."
Just as suddenly as it appeared, the light was gone. Jon rushed to the com panel.
"Archer to the bridge."
"Our sensors did not detect or register where the light came from. Only that it was here." T'Pol's voice informed the captain.
"What about the girl?" Archer pleaded. "They said they returned the girl."
There was a slight pause. Archer felt more uneasy about the silence because it was the unemotional T'Pol on the other end of the com link.
"Yes, Captain, they did." T'Pol sounded more detached, even for a Vulcan coming across a com.
"But...they aborted the pregnancy."
----------
TO BE CONTINUED
"Go ahead, Hoshi." The captain nodded to the ensign.
The alien male appeared on the screen, looking tired and worn.
"Captain," the father sighed. "I am, once again, apologizing. This time it is for contacting you so soon. But I have grave news. My daughter was abducted from our vessel a short time ago. We were probed by a beam of light and she was gone. Just like before."
Archer looked over at his crew, but Reed, Mayweather and Sato all gave negative responses.
"I'm sorry." The captain said. "As you know, our technology is no where near yours, let alone theirs. Our sensors did not detect anything."
"Your man is safe?" The alien inquired.
"Yes."
"I will contact you when we have further information." The father promised. "I will leave the decision to tell the unborn child's father of this event to you, Captain."
"I'll await your next contact." Archer nodded.
"There was nothing except the ship on sensors and on the view screen, sir." Reed assured his captain.
Archer stared up at the screen. "At least we know they're still around here."
----------
Tucker sat on his bed, as Phlox prepared a hypospray. T'Pol stood by the door, watching with her usual stoic expression.
"Depriving yourself of sleep will not do anyone any good, Commander. Least of all yourself." Phlox scolded his patient.
"I know, Doc." Trip rubbed his face with both hands. "It's been a long night."
The doctor placed the hypospray to Tucker's neck and administered the sedative. Immediately, Trip jumped up from the bed and backed away while grabbing his neck. He stared at Phlox, breathing heavily and looking confused.
"You're all right." Phlox consoled the young man. "It was just a hypospray."
"Doctor, what is it?" T'Pol asked.
"A transference episode." The doctor informed her. "The hypospray must have triggered a sensation from his captivity."
"Is he a danger to himself or us?"
"No." Phlox shook his head, still never taking his eyes off of Tucker. "Not in the physical sense, anyway. But mentally the distress is very great."
"Yes," T'Pol agreed. "I have noticed the captain is visibly stressed by this as well."
As if on cue Archer entered the room and quickly reviewed the scene. Trip was backed against the wall, holding his neck.
"What happened?" The captain demanded to know.
"He didn't react very well to the hypospray." Phlox explained with a shrug. "He needs to be put to bed. But he shouldn't be left alone. And you, Captain, look like you're in need of a good night's sleep yourself."
"I'll take him back to my quarters." The captain decided. "T'Pol, Lieutenant Reed will brief you on the latest from the aliens."
T'Pol turned and left, knowing a dismissal when she heard one.
"The alien girl was abducted from her ship by a beam of light." The captain told Phlox.
"Do you think he's in any danger as well?"
"I don't know." Archer shook his head.
----------
-----Why is this happenin' to me? I'm either angry, scared, drugged. I just wanna sleep, but I can't do that. Those creeps even took away my only escape from 'em. Jonathan. He's always there. This isn't right. He shouldn't be doin' this. Haulin' me off to bed, in his quarters. I need to keep awake so he doesn't have to carry all the weight. But then, he always has when it's the two of us.-----
Jon guided Trip to the bed and the younger man climbed in. Jon covered him up and sat down on the bed next to him.
"Don't fight it, Trip. Just relax."
"What if I am that man?" Trip lazily asked.
"What?"
"That lesser man T'Pol was talkin' 'bout," Trip slurred. "That's why I had to try and fix the environmental controls in engineering."
"Taking a pipe to it was a bit unorthodox." Jon tried to soothe his friend.
"I know," Trip muttered as his eyelids grew heavier. "I couldn't think clearly. I just got mad. But I went down there, cuz what if I weren't here later? I needed to make sure everythin' was okay."
"You're not going anywhere." Jon assured him.
"What if the doc won't clear me for duty? They'll make you send me home."
"No one's going to make me lose the best damn engineer in Starfleet." Jon said with conviction. "You're meant to be here with me. We're meant to be on this maiden voyage together. We're a team."
"When they were workin' on me." Trip sleepily continued. "I kept thinkin' 'bout you."
"Me?"
"I thought, you saved my life four years ago for what? So I could be dissected out here in space?"
"That's what you thought?" Jon said sympathetically. "They were doing some sort of autopsy?"
"Guess they decided to take what they were really after." Trip's eyes started to close. "It wasn't the mating...they're cross breedin' bastards."
Trip turned over on his side and drifted off. Cross breeding? Maybe he was right, Archer thought. It wasn't the mating techniques they were interested in at all. Jon picked up Porthos and put him on the bed.
"Keep him company, Porthos."
The captain lowered the lights and rushed out of his quarters.
----------
Jonathan Archer bounded onto the bridge.
"Captain," T'Pol turned, rising from the command chair. "I thought you were going to get some sleep."
"So did I." He moved to her. "T'Pol, those researchers weren't doing experiments with interspecies mating, but interspecies breeding."
T'Pol raised her brow as she mulled that over. "Then the abduction of the girl was inevitable. It is the embryo they want."
"And she may not be returned, unless..."
"Captain, if she is not to be returned, then so be it. There is no way to rescue her. This ship and its crew, even if the researchers were visible, are incapable of dealing with them."
"She's carrying Trip's child." Archer stressed to the vulcan. "If he could, he'd try to get her back to her people. Since he's in no condition, I have to try for him. I know, it's illogical and emotional."
"Gallant." T'Pol responded.
"In the morning, if we haven't heard anything," Archer informed her. "I'm taking a pod out."
"I will not attempt to tell you my thoughts on that plan, since you've made it clear your intentions."
"Thank you for your restraint." Archer smiled at her.
Suddenly a very bright light flashed on the view screen and shot directly out of it onto the bridge. The crew squinted and raised their arms to shield their eyes. T'Pol rushed to her station.
"What is that?" The captain demanded to know.
"Unconfirmed." T'Pol responded as the light moved off and disappeared from the bridge. "It appears to be centering it's beam..."
"Where?" Archer asked, nervously.
"In the vicinity of your quarters, Captain."
"Trip!" Archer screamed as he ran toward the lift. "Contact the alien father and let them know what's happening."
----------
-----Not again. I can't move and I know I'm not dreamin'. I see the light and I can't move. But I'm in Jon's quarters. Not that other place. The place where they hurt me and the others. What do they want?-----
Jon burst into his quarters to find Porthos standing his ground, in the middle of the room, and barking up at the glaring light. Archer picked Porthos up and stood beside the bed looking at Trip. Anger rising, he turned to the light coming out of the ceiling.
"Leave him alone!"
"Why did you come back?" The alien voice inquired. "We returned him."
"Because I wanted you to know what you did is not acceptable to us." The captain clenched his jaws.
"We did what was needed to further our research."
"What gives you the right to go around plucking people from their space crafts and using them as test subjects?"
"We do so, because we can." The voice stated quite frankly. "We did not harm him permanently."
"Not physically." Jon said, looking back at his friend. "But you hurt him inside. In his soul."
"This is permanent?"
"I don't think so." Jon looked back at the light. "But it could've been."
"Do you wish to return him to us?"
"No. I mean, he's not mine to give." Archer sighed. "We have free will. He's here because he wants to be."
"Yet, we learned that he answers to you for his actions and he takes commands."
Archer let Porthos down, feeling it was safe to do so. He reached out to try and touch Trip, but the light was a type of force field.
"That's because he wants to. He joined this expedition with the understanding that's what is expected of him." Jon turned back to the light. "What are you doing to him?"
"He is immobile, so he does not hurt himself." The alien voice stated, adding, "He can be rather hasty when agitated."
"It's not hurting him?" Jon asked.
"No."
"Like I can believe that." Archer said with sarcasm.
"We do not cause pain for the sake of inflicting it on others. If that is what happens as we conduct tests for our research, then it is unfortunate. But it is necessary."
"Did you do that to him when you...took your samples?"
"Yes." The alien voice confirmed.
"What are you doing to the girl?" Jon asked the voice.
"Clarify."
"The one you had him mate with. You took her."
"Their mating was successful. Conception in captivity is rare."
"You didn't answer my question." Archer was getting impatient.
"We learned a great deal from your male. But there is still much unknown about your species. Interbreeding could prove hazardous."
"Clarify." Jon threw the alien's own words at it.
"We have destroyed those samples from this one. We will not use them in our further research."
A sense of urgency was building in Archer. He was not getting the answer he wanted.
"What about the girl?"
"We have returned the female to her people."
Just as suddenly as it appeared, the light was gone. Jon rushed to the com panel.
"Archer to the bridge."
"Our sensors did not detect or register where the light came from. Only that it was here." T'Pol's voice informed the captain.
"What about the girl?" Archer pleaded. "They said they returned the girl."
There was a slight pause. Archer felt more uneasy about the silence because it was the unemotional T'Pol on the other end of the com link.
"Yes, Captain, they did." T'Pol sounded more detached, even for a Vulcan coming across a com.
"But...they aborted the pregnancy."
----------
TO BE CONTINUED