Disclaimer: As always, Paramount owns Star Trek and all of the characters created therein.
Chapter 2:The Plot Thickens
Jonathan Archer watched his officers—his friends—file onto the bridge for the briefing. He hated interrupting their leisure time as they got precious little, but duty called. He smiled at them, letting them know that he appreciated their prompt attention to his call and that this mission did not sound as harrying as some of their more recent assignments. None of them smiled back (except for Phlox) but they did visibly relax. Archer called their attention to a small viewscreen which showed a tiny complex of buildings nestled in a rocky outcrop.
"The Shomar Mining Project," he began, looking at his crew expectantly.
"I've heard of it," Malcolm offered. "It's some kind of interspecies science project, isn't it?"
Archer nodded, pleased. "The project is a joint venture between Andoria, Earth, and Vulcan. A team of scientists and technicians from all three planets has been testing the viability of sustained mining on the surface of Velat 4."
"Velat 4 is known to have a high concentration of carillium," T'Pol interjected, "but it is highly dispersed throughout the planet's crust. All attempts at mining it have resulted in failure."
"The project leader is an Andorian geophysicist named Strel," Archer told them. "She believes that she may have found a way to extract the mineral from the upper strata."
Trip let out a low whistle. "I've seen the Vulcan warp trials using this stuff. When it lines a reactor the efficiency of the engine increases at least four-fold. Problem is finding enough of it to do the trick. If these guys really found a source of it…" he shook his head, momentarily lost in the fantasy of warp seven engines.
"The Vulcans and the Andorians are of the same opinion." Archer smiled briefly at his friend. "The team consists of three Andorians: Strel, her husband Medec, and Tola, a lab tech," the viewscreen picture switched from the mining outpost to personnel files. Three blue-skinned Andorians appeared, followed by two humans. "Pieter Gundel and Billie Saunders are Earth's contribution to the team. Both are mining technicians. Earth provided most of the actual mining equipment, as Velat 4's topography most closely matches its own. The Vulcans," two Vulcans materialized on the screen, "contributed Dr. V'Ret—"
"A well-known geologist," T'Pol provided.
"Well-known?" Trip asked, trying not to grin. What exactly made a geologist well known, he wondered.
"He has worked for many years to terraform areas of Vulcan that have undergone desertification, making them suitable for habitation again." Well, that explained that.
"Who's the other Vulcan?" Hoshi asked.
"Kovar. He's the facility engineer."
"Seven people, three species, one facility," Malcolm summed it up. "I bet their movie nights are fun."
"Indeed," Phlox agreed jovially.
Archer became serious and continued. "For weeks the outpost has been having intermittent communications problems, then they lost contact completely for five days. When they were finally able to restore the link, this was the first message they sent through…" Archer hit a button at the edge of the table and the computer obediently jumped to life, playing the requested audio recording. It crackled and fizzed for a few seconds before a faint voice could be heard. Distorted and frantic, it was difficult at first to make out what was being said and impossible to tell the gender of the speaker.
"…oever is there…whoever can he…is the Shomar Mining Proj…Velat 4. We…an acc… one of our team…been killed and…quipment…malfunctio...Please send help…contact…he Andorian…ulcan High Command, or Starfle…require immediate assistance."
The recording snapped off in a fit of static. The officers stared at one another around the briefing table, silent.
Uncharacteristically, it was Travis who broke the silence. "Did they just say…that someone was killed?"
"That's what we're going to go find out, Ensign. Our orders are to proceed immediately to Velat 4, offer assistance to team, and conduct an investigation."
"The transmission was unclear," T'Pol pointed out. "We may be jumping to conclusions. An investigation may not be necessary."
"Better safe than sorry, Commander," the captain told her. "Travis, lay in a course to Velat 4."
"Aye, sir."
As usual engineering was buzzing with activity when T'Pol entered, carrying a set of data PADDs for Commander Tucker to review. Personnel scurried to and fro, conducting maintenance and monitoring the ship's precious engines as they thrummed a merry warp 4.5 tune. It was comforting to see everything running smoothly here, at the heart of the ship. During Trip's absence this section had felt strangely hollow, as though he had taken the very momentum of the engines with him.
T'Pol craned her neck to find the chief engineer, eventually spotting him—or part of him—beneath a nearby computer panel. His legs stretched out along the grav-plating as he wrestled with some unseen electrical foe in the underbelly of the console. "Try re-routing relay 147, see if you get that energy spike again," he was telling Lieutenant Hess, who stood at a nearby junction.
Hess did as she was instructed. "That was it, sir. No surge now," she nodded, satisfied that a problem had been fixed.
Trip struggled to remove himself from a tangle of wires and cables. T'Pol bent and took his elbow, helping him to his feet.
"Oh—hello!" his surprise allowed a spontaneous grin of pleasure to escape. His unpracticed emotional response caused the bond between them to twitch momentarily. She dropped his arm and stepped back, fully in control once more. Now that was interesting…was the bond getting stronger or was that simply an unexplored aspect of it? T'Pol had no idea. It bore further reflection at a later time. Trip didn't realize that anything had happened and had already turned to Hess.
"Yep, it's relay 147 all right. Get a team up there and check it and the surrounding power grid," he instructed her. She nodded and left them.
"Is there a problem?" T'Pol asked.
He waved a hand. "Nah, just maintenance. We should have replaced some of those relays about a month ago—I got a little behind on some of the routine checks, I guess. What brings you to engineering?"
T'Pol held out one of the PADDs she carried. "I have been reviewing Dr. Strel's proposed technique to remove the carillium from the surface of Velat 4. I would appreciate your opinion on her work."
"Uh-huh." He took it from her and began reading.
"This one," she held out the second PADD, "contains reports the Shomar Project was able to send before they lost communications. They indicated several equipment malfunctions or failures. I have been trying to determine the cause but my findings are thus far inconclusive." Trip took the offered data module and glanced at it briefly before picking up a nearby toolkit and motioning her to follow him to his office.
"Malcolm came by earlier and gave me the specs for the Strel's mining plan," he told her as he put the toolkit away. He flipped on his workstation computer and called up the information Malcolm had provided. "I'm not a geophysicist so I can't really say, but this looks like nothing I've ever seen before. She wants to actually use the transporter to extract the impurities from the mineral, right?"
"Correct," T'Pol said. "Initial trials with the process were very promising."
"Promising enough to get backing from three separate governments," Trip agreed.
"The technique should also allow them to coagulate isolated mineral particles," T'Pol went on.
"So they'll end up with big chunks of the stuff," he finished for her.
"Essentially."
He was examining the PADD she had given him once more. "This is some mining facility Strel had planned." The blueprints for the proposed permanent station were indeed elaborate. "I can see how something like this might be worth killing for."
"Commander," T'Pol admonished sharply. Surprised, he looked up from the text. "There is no indication of criminal behavior or violence taking place on Velat 4. There is no reason to make an unwarranted presupposition."
Trip laughed. "You mean I'm jumping to conclusions?"
"That is the human phrase, yes."
"I can't help it—it must be human nature. You can't deny, it does seem like foul play. Strange equipment failures," he waved the PADD cataloguing the technical glitches the team had encountered, "a dead team member, a prestigious project and huge egos at stake…"
"I do not understand the human pre-occupation with creating mysteries where there may well be none. It is much more likely that there is a benign explanation. The evidence may not make much sense to us at the moment, but there is a sequence of events that fits it. It is simply a matter of uncovering it."
"Oh!" Trip smacked himself in the head suddenly. T'Pol was not alarmed—she had seen him do this when he forgot something he deemed important, or when his mind made a sudden connection between two previously unrelated events. "I'm such an idiot!"
"I would hardly say that," she assured him.
"Huh? Oh—no, I mean, I just realized something. I shouldn't have given you The Thin Man as your first mystery novel. I should have started you off on Sherlock Holmes. You would like him, he's extremely logical."
She tilted her head in doubt. "I will take your word for it. I need to get back to the bridge, please let me know if you come up with anything else." She turned to go and he settled himself in his office chair to look over the data.
Before leaving, she hesitated. "Trip…"
"Yeah?" he asked absently. When she did not answer immediately he looked up at her.
"I have been meaning to ask you…why did you give me The Thin Man?"
Caught off guard, he wasn't sure how to answer. He hesitated. Sometimes human emotions just got in the way of communication, T'Pol thought.
"Uh, well…" Trip flushed slightly, clearly not eager to give her an answer.
T'Pol folded her arms and conducted a minor test of the receptive qualities of their bond. She sent a focused burst of thought toward him.
"Hey!" Trip sat straight up in his chair, shocked. It was the equivalent of a telepathic "poke." He glared at her, she raised her eyebrow back at him. Sighing, he leaned back.
"My mother gave me that book the last time I was on shore leave. I just…uh…thought you might enjoy it, that's all. I…thought it might help you understand another part of human behavior."
"Oh…" It was not the answer she had been expecting, not at all. His mother had given it to him—it must have great sentimental value if he had chosen to then give it to her. No wonder he was so embarrassed. He probably worried that she would think it too intimate a gift at such an early stage in their relationship. She decided to put his mind at rest on the subject.
"I do enjoy it, Trip, a great deal. Thank you for giving it to me," she told him. Uncertainly, she reached out and placed her hand over his. Trip looked highly relieved at her response and grasped her fingers briefly. She gave him a farewell nod and turned to go before his voice stopped her again.
"T'Pol?" he asked. She turned back. His eyes danced mischievously. "Will you teach me that "mind jab" thing you did?"
She did not hesitate to answer. "No."
His laughter followed her out the door.