OKAY! We're now going episode by episode so...watch out! Here comes the first...and for those who asked...the first chapter was a set-up chapter...this is actually the first episode now.

The Xindi-REVISED

Trip levied himself up the ladder onto the second level of engineering and silently prayed for patience. "Rostov, are those antimatter relays striped yet?"

Rostov looked guilty. "No. I'm having some difficulty with removing the platinum."

"Why didn't you ask for help?"

"You've been in a better mood lately but we're all still a little...wary."

Trip thought on that. Wary? I knew I'd been testy but didn' think that I'd put the fear of death into them. "S'okay, lieutenant. Let's work on it together. The cap'n needs it by the time we go back down there to meet the Xindi." Trip gestured for Rostov to move to the side a little and starts to use a laser scalpel to heat the outside of a relay.

"Sir? Is there really a possibility that we're going to be done with our mission this quickly? I mean, we've only been in the expanse a month."

Trip smiled. "Don' know. If the Xindi down there can tell us where his home world is, maybe. That would be good for the crew. I know I'm sure damn tired of this place."

Rostov smiled back and Trip felt like he was finally getting back on even footing with his team. Then, there was a small explosion on the other side of engineering. "What the hell is goin' on over there?" Trip yelled, dropping the scalpel and burning his hand.

"Sorry, Commander! There was a flux in the grid that we weren't prepared for! We'll take care of it!" Ensign Rolli shouted back. She gave a nervous smile before running back to where the explosion had come from. Trip turned back to the relays and noticed that Rostov was standing a lot stiffer than before.

"What's with you?"

"Nothing, sir."

Trip sighed. "Look, you take care of this. As long as you're careful with it and keep the temp steady at 300ยบ you should be good. I'm going to catch a couple hours sleep." Trip left engineering in a rush and grabbing a cup of coffee from the mess hall, went to his quarters and locked himself in. When had his entire team become scared of him?

Suddenly he felt old, very old. He and the captain were scheduled to be back down on the planet in three hours and while Rostov was skilled enough to have enough platinum ready by then, Trip wasn't sure if he, himself, was going to be ready. Every time he heard mention of a Xindi or the "incident", he wanted to put his hand through a wall...or someone's head. He hid it though, knowing that if the captain knew this then he wouldn't let Trip go on missions.

Trip sighed and leaned back in his chair and decided to try a long shot. Punching a few buttons, he waited for Hoshi's voice to come through. "Yes, Commander?"

"Hosh, I need a live feed to this location," Trip explained as he input T'Pol's house number.

"Give me a few minutes, Commander. Hey, isn't this Vulcan?"

Trip gritted his teeth. "Yes."

"Okay."

What no questions, Hoshi? You know you want to ask them. Lord knows, this ship can't go a week without fresh gossip. So what if I've talked to T'Pol almost every night for three weeks? We're friends. That's it.

"Commander, your connection is going through." Hoshi's voice cut through Trip's inner rant.

"Thanks Hoshi."

Trip waited while the terminal on the other end buzzed. He knew it was unlikely that he would get her, it was the middle of the day there and she was probably at work or out or-

"Yes?"

"T'Pol?" Trip asked surprised.

She raised one eyebrow. "Yes?"

"What are you doing home this time of day?"

"Why are you calling me this time of day?"

"I...needed to talk to someone."

"About?"

"Did you change your hair? Looks good."

T'Pol ignored his compliment and made a mental note to get her hair trimmed. "What would you like to talk about, Commander?"

"Oh...nothing much. I hate the Xindi and I have to go on a mission in three hours to interrogate one and I'm afraid I'm goin' to do somethin' unbecomin' of a Starfleet officer." T'Pol leaned back in her seat and gestured for him to go on. "They killed my sister, T'Pol. I don' know if I can handle this." Trip couldn't even look at T'Pol as he said this.

"You have excellent control, Commander. I have no doubt that you will handle this situation in the right manner."

"How can you have such trust in me?"

"I don't."

Trip looked up. "What?"

"I have trust in your mind, but not your heart. You would like to harm and possibly kill this Xindi, but obviously your mind recognizes that the captain believes this Xindi will be able to help."

"He can probably tell us where his homeworld is."

"See?"

Trip leaned back in his chair and rubbed at his eyes. "Yeah. I just don' know if-..."

"Commander?"

"Yeah?"

"Trust me. You can do this."

When had her eyes become kind? When had she ever made him feel like he could do anything? When had she ever seemed so tired? "What's wrong with you?"

T'Pol stiffened in her seat and studied the commander with a cool gaze. "Excuse me?"

"You don' look good. You looked tired or worried or somethin' like that."

"There is nothing wrong with me, Commander," T'Pol stated forcefully, a little too forcefully.

"You can tell me, T'Pol. I won' tell anyone else. I've confided in wit' you. Don' you trust me?"

T'Pol looked at the Commander for a minute. Staring at a PADD, she explained her distraction. "I have a meeting in ten minutes with Admiral Forrest. He has heard of my resigning my commission with the High Command and has requested a meeting."

"Wait! What? You retired your commission? Why would you do somethin' like that? That's why you left Enterprise in the first place!"

"I...found that working on Vulcan no longer holds the advantages it once did. Logically, I am seeking another position."

"You should've stayed on Enterprise. But s'okay. We both know you miss me anyways."

T'Pol raised her eyebrow and ignored the comment about her 'missing him'. "I regret that I must disconnect. I believe the Admiral is here."

"'Kay. Call me back, or I'll call you when I get back from the mission...which I won' mess up by killing the informant."

T'Pol looked at Trip in obvious disapproval of his joke. "Commander."

Trip waited for her to disconnect before replying with a sigh. "T'Pol."

T'Pol had not been expecting Commander Tucker to call. She had been lightly meditating in preparation of her meeting when the chime had interrupted her peace. She had not been entirely inconvenienced by it, however. It had been calming to be distracted from thoughts of her future. If Commander Tucker was good at anything it was distracting her.

T'Pol rose to answer her doorbell and wondered if her attire was appropriate. Preferring her bodysuits to the heavy robes traditional on Vulcan, she had chosen a bright fuchsia one that was a favorite of her's.

T'Pol opened the door and was not prepared for the sight of the admiral, now seemingly much aged since the last time she had saw him, on Earth, three months after the Xindi Incident. "Admiral, welcome to Vulcan."

"You know, that's the fourth or fifth time someone has said that to me, but I think you're the only one who meant it. Hello, Sub-commander."

T'Pol gestured for him and his two aides to enter and corrected him immediately. "As I'm sure you're aware I am Sub-commander no longer."

The admiral sank into T'Pol's couch and sighed. "Yes, very aware. In fact, this is why I'm here. Do you have any coffee, Sub-co-...T'Pol?"

"Yes, I acquired some in anticipation of your want. It is my experience that most humans prefer it over Vulcan tea."

"Thank you," the admiral stated as T'Pol handed out small mugs of coffee to himself and his aides. The aides murmured 'thank you's and took a quick sip before setting them aside and pulling papers from their knapsacks. "Let's get to the point T'Pol. I want you to come work for Starfleet."

T'Pol settled herself into the one recliner in the room. "You do?"

"Yes. In aftermath of the Xindi Incident, the public is becoming very hostile very fast to alien species. I believe your working for Starfleet will help assuage some fears of the people that all aliens are out to 'get us'."

"You do not believe that my working for Starfleet will be further proof for the xenophobic of your planet that we are indeed taking over?"

"No. I think it will do the opposite. You worked on Enterprise for three years. It is a logical thought that you would like to continue working with humans...and a public statement saying so would help too."

T'Pol raised an eyebrow and thought out loud. "So you wish to use me as a publicity stunt?"

"No! You would have an actual job. You would be working for us. You would not be used in any way and your superior skills are a great motivator too."

T'Pol studied the Admiral. "You've spoken of this with my government?"

The Admiral scoffed. "No. I wanted your answer first."

"I will have to think on it. Many on Vulcan will not take kindly to someone of my caliber working for humans; they will see it as a betrayal, if not treason."

"They don't want to work with you, we do. Think long and hard, young lady, on your future."

T'Pol gave the Admiral a sharp look. "Young lady? Admiral, I am older than you."

The Admiral smiled. "You don't look it."

T'Pol knew that humans would consider that a compliment. She responded with a traditional human, "Thank you."

Rising, the Admiral moaned a bit. "Getting old. Think on it, T'Pol. It is a great opportunity."

T'Pol showed the trio out and went back to the center of her apartment where she had set up a sort of living room. The papers the aides had took out of their bags still sat there and T'Pol could see now that they were newspapers. The cover of every one of them was talking about alien attacks and the rising hysteria in the wake of the attack. T'Pol studied the barren landscape out her window and relaxed. Right now, in her flat, all alone, Earth wasn't sounding too bad. She would have to meditate long and deep about this proposition, though. It was very likely that if she did take this position, then she would not be welcome on Vulcan. Not that she was very welcome now.

Trip pulled himself farther up the vertical air vent and silently cursed the captain. It had been the captain who decided to trust the Foreman, and the captain who got them trapped in the underground holding cells for the workers. Now, they were climbing story after story of tunnel ladder with a Xindi-primate named Kessick who smelled like death wrapped in a burning rubber. Kessick also happened to be between the captain and Trip so there was no way for Trip to reach up and cause the captain to accidentally fall to his death.

Suddenly, below them, a strange noise started to occur. Trip looked down and saw a bright light coming towards him. "What's going on!"

Kessick looked down. "Oh, no."

"What!" Archer yells back.

"They've opened the vents!"

"So!"

"The vents are leading to a large, magma-filled cavern...with super hot air!"

"So!" Trip asked again.

"We're going to be burned to death if we don't reach a maintenance hatch!" Kessick said, now scrambling up the ladder. He forced Archer to go faster and left Trip to hurry behind.

"Where is it at?" Archer asked, moving as fast as he could, sweat pouring down his face, whether from exertion or the hotter and hotter air surrounding him, he didn't know.

"There...that small circle in the wall! Push it as hard as you can...now!"

"Alright! Hold on!" Archer steadied himself against the ladder and started pushing as hard as he could. Try as he might, it would budge. Pulling himself up beside the captain, Kessick joined his strength with the captain's and together they got the small hatch to open. Both jumped in and Kessick began to close the door.

"Wait for me!" Trip yelled as he started to come closer to the hatch.

"What are you doing?" The captain demanded as Kessick continued to close the door.

"There's no time to wait!" Kessick explained, only to be pushed aside as the captain opened the door and leaned out to help Trip in. They both fell to the floor and watched as Kessick struggled to get the door shut. Hot air was pouring in and almost synchronously scooted back as their feet started to get hot. Kessick let out a moan as the door started to heat and finally got it shut and locked.

Turning, he practically hissed at the two humans on the floor. "Look! Look what you made me do!" He showed him his hands, now severely burned where he had closed the door. "You should have let me lock him out! Then this wouldn't have happened!"

"This man is my friend and I would never have done that! I'm not that kind of man," the captain gritted through his teeth. "Now, what? We're stuck in what smells like a sewage pipe."

Kessick gritted his teeth right back. "That's cause it is." Kessick walked off down the tunnel, holding his burned hands close to his body. Captain Archer followed and Trip slowly rose from the water to follow. If only T'Pol could smell me now.

Kessick didn't make it, but Trip felt little sympathy for the man. True, he did give them the coordinates of his homeworld, but looking out his quarters' window, Trip felt ripped off. There was no planet here, and they were at the same standstill they'd been in days before. With a mission they had no way to complete. They were supposed to be out here, taking care of the Xindi problem! They'd been in the Delphic Expanse for six weeks and they'd met a total of one Xindi. Now Phlox was telling them that there were five different Xindi species! How were they to know which one was attacking Earth? How would they recognize all of them?

Trip turned at the beep of his consul and debated answering. No, tonight, he was nowhere near ready to tell T'Pol that they wouldn't be back for a longer time. He doubted he could take the disappointment...his, not her's.

Haha! What do we think? I'm evil, yes? I know...