Chapter 3

T'Pol turned her half open eyes to her alarm and immediately they snapped open. She was late for work at the embassy.

"Fuckfuckfuck!"

She got dressed and rushed out the door. She ran down the hallway and down the stairs like a bat out of hell. She knew that if she were to be late one more time her ass would be fired. As it was her boss was not too happy with her performance. She caught the shuttle train and arrived at the embassy. The clock above the building read 09:15, she was 15 minutes late. She entered the building and made her way to her desk. She had hoped that her supervisor would not notice her tardiness but no such luck. One of her co-workers a somewhat heavyset Denobian male by the name of Phlox walked up to her desk.

"Ms. Rogers is really pissed off, she wants to see you in her office." Phlox warned her.

"Oh great!" T'Pol sighed as she took a sip of her morning coffee.

A few moments later the door to Ms. Roger's office wooshed open and out of it a middle aged human woman with slightly grey hair stepped out and looked in T'Pol's direction. She had a look that could kill and entire planet.

"Ah so nice of you to join us this morning." Said the woman as she stared T'Pol down through her bi-focals.

"I'm sorry to be late Ms. Rogers." T'Pol apologized.

"We'll talk about this in my office in five minutes."

The woman stepped back into her office and the door wooshed behind her as she stepped back inside. Gathering her courage, T'Pol went in and took a seat. Mrs. Troi was typing at a computer console. Ms. Rogers began to speak.

"You have a problem, young lady. You think that you're special. You believe that somehow the rules do not apply to you."

Mrs. Troi stopped clacking at her keyboard for a moment and looked over at T'Pol who was watching two Romulan window cleaners on the scaffolding outside as they dragged their squeegees down the glass. She turned her head to look at Ms. Rogers.

"Obviously my dear you are mistaken." The woman informed her.

Mrs. Troi's long slender fingers continued to type at the console as she continued speaking to T'Pol.

"This embassy is one of the most respected in the galaxy, because every single employee understands that they are a part of a whole. Thus if an employee has a problem, then the embassy has a problem.

She turned to face T'Pol again.

"The time has come to make a choice T'Pol. Either you choose to be at your desk on time from now on, or you can choose to find yourself another job. Do I make myself clear?"

T'Pol nodded.

"Yes Mrs. Troi. Perfectly clear."

She stepped out Mrs. Troi's office and went back to her desk. She took her seat and slumped down into her chair. By this time a woman in a blue dress with long dark curly hair walked by. Her name was Deanna. She stopped and looked in her direction.

"So what did Mrs. Troi say?" Deanna asked.

"She said that if I were to be late again, I would be fired." She answered.

"Well it was nice working with you." Deanna said with a smirk.

T'Pol glared at her as she walked off. A few moments later a young african-american human male in his early twenties walked up to her desk.

"T'Pol." The young man asked.

"Yes? That's me." She answered.

He handed her a package.

"This is for you."

He handed her the package and the electronic board for her to sign. She signed for it and then you the young man made his exit.

"Have a nice day." He said with a smile.

Once she was alone she opened the bag. Inside of it was a communicator. She grabbed it and instantly it went off. Unnerved she flipped it open. She spoke into it.

"Hello?"

"Hello T'Pol. This is Archer." The male voice was quite calm.

Her knees gave way and she sunk back into her chair. She could not believe what was happening at that moment.

"I had hoped for this conversation to take place under less adverse conditions, but you can never count on hope, can you, T'Pol?" Asked the man on the other end.

" ... no" She answered.

The man on the other end continued to speak.

"I've been watching you, T'Pol, and I want to meet you. I don't know if you're ready to see what I want to show you, but unfortunately we have run out of time. They're coming for you T'Pol. And I am not sure what they are going to do."

T'Pol was now scared by this man's words.

"Who's coming for me?" She demanded.

"Stan up and see for yourself." The man told her.

"You mean right now?"

"Yes. Now." The man told her calmly.

She started to stand.

"Do it very slowly. And look towards the turbo lift." The man instructed.

She slowly peeked her head over the wall, at the entrance of the turbo lift she say three women, a human, a klingon, and a borg all in matching dark suits and dark shades. All three women also wore the exact same style pin on the right side of their lapels. She spied a short ferengi male pointing her direction. She ducked quickly.

"Holy fuckin' shit!" She said under her breath.

A single Federation Secruity officer was standing at the entrance of the turbo lift. The rest of the officers followed the three women.

"What the fuck do they want with me!" She asked the man she couldn't see.

"I am not sure. But if you don't want to find out, you better get out of there."

"How!"

"I can guide you. But you have to do exactly as I say." The man told her.

The three women moved quickly to T'Pol's desk.

"The cubicle in front of you is empty."

"But what if ...?"

"Go! Now!" The man ordered.

She lunged across the hall, diving into the empty space just as the three women turned to her row. She crammed herself into a dark corner clutching the communicator tightly to her.

"Now stay there for a moment." He told her.

The three women stopped at T'Pol's empty desk. An officer went to search the bathrooms.

By now the man's voice was a whisper in her ear.

"Just a little longer T'Pol ..."

The klingon female spoke to Deanna as T'Pol looked at them from her hiding place. By this time the voice spoke again.

"When I tell you, go to the end of the row to the first office on the left, stay s low as you can." He told her.

"Now." He told her.

T'Pol ran as she couched to the empty office. She did this as fast as she could. Sweat trickled down her forehead. She froze for a moment but kept going. She reached the empty office. The man spoke once more.

"Good. Now there is a window. Open it."

"How the hell do you know all of this?" She was now panicked.

The man on the other end laughed quietly.

"The answer is coming T'Pol."

She opened the window and wind howled into the room. The voice still transmitted over the communicator.

"Outside, there is a scaffold. You can use it to get to the roof."

She leaned out the window and she saw that the scaffold was several offices away.

"No! I can't! It's too far away!" She told him.

"Alright, there's a small ledge. It's a short climb. You can make it." He said.

T'Pol looked down the building's glass and it seemed to spin, she looked back up.

"No fucking way! This is crazy!" She told the man.

"Don't be controlled by your fear T'Pol. There are only two ways out of this building. One is that scaffold. The other is in their custody. You take a chance either way. I leave it to you. Archer out."

The man cut his communication off. She looked at the door and then at the scaffold.

"This is insane! Why is this happening to me? What did I do? I'm nobody! I didn't do anything! Shit! Shit! Shit!" She cursed out loud to herself.

She gathered the courage to climb out to the ledge. She hung on to the frame for dear life as she stepped onto a small ledge. With every step she took the scaffold seemed further away.

"I'm gonna die!" T'Pol said to herself.

Out of nowhere, the wind blasted up the side of the building, knocking her off balance. Recoiling, she clung harder to the frame, but the communicator fell out of her hand and dropped to the street below.

She shook her head.

"This is illogical! I can't do this! Forget it!"

Finally she climbed back into the office where the three women and several Federation officers were waiting for her. They put her in cuffs

"I didn't do anything." She told them.