Hi Everyone,

I'm sorry for missing my 2 1/2 week deadline, but I was trying to work out a couple of kinks to the story. Nothing big, but the plot is progressing, and I need to make sure I'm not writing myself into a corner. This is sort of an interlude; almost a character study, actually. But I did leave you, well, a present at the end.some small bit of action. I hope you like this, and if I've made any mistakes (which I probably have.character studies can be a little dangerous in this respect, you know), please forgive me.and let me know (nicely, please.human ego at work here). :)

Enjoy!

Emrys

P.S. Thanks for all of the feedback! I needed it! And Daria.you better write the next part of your fic soon! I'm going crazy with anticipation! :) By the way, if anyone hasn't read Daria's fic "Loss" you might want to check it out!

Following Orders Part XIII

Disclaimer: See previous installments.

After the Commander had lapsed back to unconsciousness, T'Pol redoubled her efforts to retard any permanent damage to the man's body by vigorously massaging his upper torso. Although the stimulation to the muscle had to be done (and done properly, according to Krem), the Vulcan found it difficult to do so when the engineer was conscious. It was obvious that the therapy caused him a great deal of pain, and despite all the logic to the contrary, T'Pol had found herself easing the pressure behind her fingers in order to quiet the Commander's stifled cries that were the response to her ministrations.

While she worked, and not for the first time, T'Pol considered the ineffectiveness that often resulted from the Vulcan logic she tried to use in her dealings with these humans. If she, herself, had been human, she might have been amused by the irony of her situation. On Vulcan, she was looked upon as a young and occasionally rebellious individual, and although her commission in the High Command had been respectfully and properly earned, many had had doubts about her abilities to mute her inherently oppositional behavior well enough to succeed in her chosen field.

But despite the fact that T'Pol was, admittedly, a bit of an upstart, she was highly intelligent, clever, and visionary enough to know how to obtain her goals. And what those were and had been for as long as she could remember, were to discover new life forms, to interact with them, and to work with them towards some common goal of appreciation and understanding. These were secret desires which she carefully sublimated according to the rules that her people found necessary to implement, but nonetheless, they were desires that she remembered and treasured in her own, emotionless Vulcan way.

In fact, both Commander Tucker and Captain Archer would have been shocked to discover that far beneath the many layers of Vulcan logic and ritual control beat a heart as strongly passionate as their own.

She had striven for accomplishment in her dealings with the humans, because it had been readily clear to her that they were a species driven by their curiosity and thus destined for exploration. The idea of observing another life form as they discovered the wonders of space for the first time mesmerized her, and drove her to seek out the position of Vulcan advisor. She believed herself to be the logical choice, since she had experienced some success living on the human planet and since her unique personality allowed her the opportunity to manage a life-style that could possibly include human emotion. The High Command had also agreed that she was the logical choice for the position since her resilience was acceptably suitable for dealing with the unpredictable emotions of the humans.

And thus she had earned her position on Enterprise where the irony of her situation had first become apparent to her.

For a Vulcan who had thought that she was an open-minded and an occasionally expressive individual, T'Pol suddenly found herself considered as impossibly logical and intolerably unemotional. And although her logic dictated that she not be influenced by the thoughts of the humans, intermittently she would find herself meditating just a bit longer in order to maintain that structured line of thinking.

Suddenly, T'Pol was driven away from her thoughts as the muscle on which she was working suddenly seized violently, and the Commander yelled out even in unconsciousness. She gently stroked back his hair with one hand in a gesture she knew from experience would comfort him. It was at this time that she was struck by a hazardous thought.

She wanted the Commander to live, and wanting was a dangerous thing for a Vulcan. It was one thing to keep hidden a secret yet logical goal for her life's work, but something completely different when wanting was directed towards an illogical end. And all logic dictated that the Commander would die, in fact should have died already.

But it was the fact that, according to her rules of logic, he should have already died that made the wanting assert itself more.

She had learned that humans could be driven by emotions, and the Commander defied logic on a consistent basis, was in fact doing so now despite the pain that it caused him. Yet he was still alive, which made her want to hope, and that want was an impossibility for her.

As T'Pol became confused by her thoughts, she recognized her need to meditate and wondered when the Captain would return so that she could perform an abbreviated ritual. Her thoughts were drawn to him, and she considered the chances that his plan would reach success. She had serious doubts regarding this success, since the variables against it happening were so many. She believed that he had fair opportunity for smuggling the phase pistol aboard the alien ship since the creatures were so obviously eager to obtain the map. This eagerness would offer the prospect that they would transport the Captain aboard without scanning him for weapons, but as far as the rest of the plan was concerned, T'Pol did not believe that the element of surprise could possibly counteract all of the other factors working against success. She had tried to explain her thoughts to the Captain, but like so many other times, he had told her that he had to try and then had left her alone to tend the Commander.

With these thoughts, her need to meditate strengthened, but T'Pol outwardly displayed this need only by lifting her eyebrow slightly and continuing to do the logical thing. She attempted to clear her mind as the muscles in the Commander's back trembled violently beneath the workings of her hands.

She had almost managed to find a calmness similar to the one she reached after meditation when Krem ran into the hut with a frantic air about him.

"You must leave, now!" he whispered to her harshly, and as he did so she felt the need to meditate reassert itself.