Chapter 5

Interrogations and Intrigue

Travis sat in the Captain's chair. He took notice of the crewmen manning their positions. Delta shift was a quiet time on any spaceship, and Enterprise was no exception. He had returned from dropping off the away team, and to his normal duty at the helm, only to find out he would need to pull a double shift because Ensign Tye injured himself in the exercise room during a gymnastics routine. He had gone off shift, taken a nap, and returned to duty only to be given command of the bridge when the senior officer left for the mess hall.

He stifled a yawn. Crewman Bay was at communications and Travis couldn't help sneaking an appreciative look. He thought about asking her out, they were equivalent ranks, but he had never been very good with women. Some times he still felt like the gawky teenage kid hanging around his Dad's cargo ship.

The Captain's ready room door slid open, and T'Pol walked onto the bridge. Travis jumped out of his seat, "T'Pol! I mean... Sub Commander, I didn't realize you were here." He stumbled to recover from his protocol goof.

T'Pol nodded coolly, "Mr. Mayweather."

Travis slid back to helm, smooth move, he thought. "Isn't your shift over Sub-Commander?"

"Yes, but the away team is due to report in shortly. I wished to be present." T'Pol didn't say that she had stayed because she was worried. Vulcan's didn't admit to worrying. "Mr. Bay, has there been any contact with the away team?"

Ensign Bay cringed, "No Ma'am." Rudy, as her friends called her, was still struggling to get comfortable with a Vulcan on board. She hadn't come to the ship with much in the way of preconceived notions about T'Pol, but she was intimidating, and Rudy always felt she was reporting to the Admiral when she spoke with T'Pol.

"Time?" She enquired. No one needed clarification on what she meant.

"Ten minutes Sub-Commander. Should I try to hail them?" Rudy asked.

"Negative." T'Pol sat in Archer's chair, "We can wait."
"Has anyone told you you're a real cold-hearted son-of-a-bitch?" Trip was strapped in the same metal chair. He was angry. Hoshi had been returned in better shape than Archer, but just barely. He hadn't gotten a chance to ask her what happened before the goons had grabbed and taken him.

Luvox was sitting in the chair, staring enigmatically at Tucker, "Frequently. Do you have any idea how many have sat in this very chair?"

Trip didn't bother replying. It was clear this alien fed off the entire process. Don't feed the animals, he repeated in his head, picturing a nice big cage at the San Francisco Zoo.

"We've been here for a while, are you planning to stare me to death?" Trip settled on asking instead.

Luvox laughed, "I'm thinking on what I should do with you." He stood up and went to his tray of instruments, "You see, your Captain and Ensign Sato proved remarkably...resilient to my drugs."

"Resilient? Cap'n was still senseless when I was pulled out of there!"

"That's because I gave him twice the dosage. He was very stubborn." Luvox turned to Trip, "You wouldn't do that, now, would you? Surely you can be reasonable?"

For the first time, Trip began to really worry about getting out of here alive. There was something definitely not right with the alien in front of him. He appeared almost manic, smiling and angry at the same time.

"Uh...sure. I'm sure we can...work this out." Trip struggled with the words. "What, umm...what do you want to know?"

"You claim to be from a ship named Enterprise. From Earth."

Trip stared at him, "How d'you know that?"

Luvox stifled a flash of irritation, "You and your Captain told us that at the dinner, now don't interrupt, it isn't polite."

Trip wondered if someone would rescue him from this obvious nightmare. He was being lectured on manners by a being about to torture him for information.

"As I was saying, from Earth. You people claim to be a race called Hu- mans. Yet, you bear a remarkable resemblance to..." Luvox stopped, and considered Trip. He had been about to give away information, something he rarely did.

"Resemblance to what?"

"Never mind. Is everything I said true? You may as well verify this information, we've been monitoring your away team since your arrival."

Trip shook his head, "Then why are asking me?"

"Willingness to cooperate. I want to see if you will, or if you won't. I should have begun this way with the other two but, hmmm..." Luvox picked up a vial filled with blue liquid.

"I won't cooperate." Trip clenched his jaw, then every muscle in his body. The restraints bit into his flesh.

"I figured as much. My my my, but you humans do appear to be a particularly difficult race." Luvox approached trip with a needle. "This is a bit different from your Captain and Ensign Sato, but perhaps it will be more effective."

Trip couldn't figure out if Luvox was talking to him, or to himself. He wished for just one foot free, anything, to strike out at this nut job. But he didn't have any appendage free, and Luvox quickly jammed the needle into the base of his neck.

"You stupid son-of-a..." Trip started swearing, but lost his train of thought halfway through. What had he been about to say? Weren't the walls white? They were changing colors. That was weird.

Luvox circled Tucker's chair, watching Trip as his eyes glazed over and his head drooped on his shoulders. This drug was very potent. It took effect almost instantaneously, and could be very dangerous if used in to great of amounts. The individual rarely realized what was going on around them while under the influence. It was memory inhibitor, a plus in this situation, the Commander wouldn't remember anything he said or did. He had opted to use a different type with the previous two, wishing to work on the mental fear in addition to adding physical pain. This drug didn't allow either approach, but it should yield answers. He ignored the disappointment at being unable to play with this one as he did the other two. Commander Tucker was all ready mostly unaware of what was happening around him.

"Commander, do you know where you are?" He asked softly.

Trip smiled dreamily, "At Martha's. God she's hot."

"That's right, and Martha wants to know some things before you can see her." Luvox circled back to the front, and signaled Brutus I and II. They came forward, "Bring Prime Minister Veen, I think I shall soon have his answers."

Brutus I nodded, and the two left the room.

"You came here in a Starship, Enterprise...where is the criminal that escaped when you arrived?"

"I don't know of any criminal." Trip replied, monotonic.

"Did you take her to your ship? When your crewman returned with the shuttle, was the criminal aboard?"

"Where's Martha?"

"She's waiting, Commander Tucker. Waiting for you to answer my questions. Where is the criminal?"

Trip's eyes rolled, his mouth drooped. "Martha's a criminal?"

Luvox threw the instrument tray across the room. He'd get his answers, no matter what it took.
Reed had moved over to the bed to check on Archer. He shook his shoulder gently, "Sir? Can you hear me?"

Archer groaned, "Not...telling...anything." He mumbled, batting his hand at Reed's touch. He rolled away from Malcolm's presence and remained out of it.

Malcolm sighed, and moved to check on Hoshi. She slept near Archer. Hoshi had returned drugged, in pain, but not unconscious, as had been the case with Archer. Malcolm had tried to question her on what happened but she had been to far out of it. Reluctantly, he had told her to rest and they would discuss it later. He was left to ponder Tucker's fate alone in the quiet room.

He stood up and began pacing, again. At the rate he had been walking back and forth, there would soon be a path worn through the tile.

The door opened, stopping his pacing, Malcolm turned, angry and ready to pounce. He was surprised to see Ridney staring at him anxiously.

"Lieutenant, don't say anything." Ridney said, cutting off the slew of questions Reed looked poised to let loose with. "We've temporarily halted monitoring on this room. I belong to the group that contacted you earlier; we are working on an escape plan. If we get you out of this building, how long would it take your shuttle to pick you up?"

Malcolm did the mental calculations, "Ten minutes."

Ridney nodded, "Good. That's better than we hoped for." He waved Malcolm towards him, "There are things going on here that you and your away team do not understand. We are arranging plans now to get you four away from here, but we can't allow our person in the ministry to be identified. This means it is taking more time to figure out how to make this work without giving him away. Tell your Captain to be ready."

Malcolm was surprised to see the shy alien change into a self-assured tactician while relating his information. "Speaking of the Captain, what did they do to him?"

"Drugged." Ridney looked at Archer's face, "And I hear he got...mouthy...with them. They gave him more than he should have, which is why he's still unconscious. He will be fine shortly, I promise."

A wrist device on Ridney beeped softly. "I must go, the security system is coming back online." He backed towards the door, and waved the wrist device at the door, "We will get you out of here." And then he was gone.