A/N: Dennis I think I am beginning to address your concern. Thanks.
Chapter Eight
He was gone. I looked at the darkened monitor. Just like that he was gone. I tried reasoning with my thoughts, rationalizing what had just happened. I hadn't followed Harris's instructions. I was so cold I was shaking.
His words were vivid in my mind, beating at me. He had used his hypnotic tone and his soft words and then they had turned into sharp demands, pounding into my brain, just as they had before. He had almost succeeded in pulling me in, hadn't he? He had almost overpowered me, again. Then, I had felt my child move inside of me.
I reached up and removed my glasses, wiping the tears away.
The door opened, Jonathan and Malcolm came into the room. Instantly Jonathan was at my side, kneeling, he rubbed my hands, his own trembling uncontrollably, stroking the side of mine with his. He knew that I wouldn't allow outward signs of intimacy; he was doing the only thing he could think of to calm me, a Vulcan form of intimacy. Our fingers touched. I closed my eyes and deeply inhaled his scent as he leaned across me coming close to my ear.
"T'Pol, please forgive me for getting you involved in all this. I have been so selfish, consumed with getting at that animal; I let my hatred of him blind my judgment. I let Malcolm and Harris talk me into using you to get to Ral. Can you ever forgive me?" I took his hand and brought it to my lips and then pressed it to my cheek rubbing it against my temple. 'I Love thee, Jonathan.' I wanted his scent all over me.
I heard footsteps; someone else had entered the room. He was to far away for me to make out who was quickly coming towards us.
"What the hell were you doing, T'Pol? That wasn't what we told you to do!" The stranger was Harris, Malcolm's colleague from Section 31.
Before I could open my mouth in protest, Jonathan had reeled around, stood up, and grabbed Harris by the neck of his uniform slamming him into the wall.
"Jonathan, please release him." I could feel his rage; he wanted to kill him.
I raised myself up out of the chair and moved as quickly as I could towards him. "Jonathan, this isn't helping, let go of him." 'Jonathan, please, he isn't Ral, don't kill him.'
His eyes flashed at me, suddenly realizing what he was doing, Jonathan relaxed his hold. "You're very lucky today, Harris, right now I have a very compelling need to kill someone. You almost filled that need."
Jonathan was tightening his grip again, "If you ever talk like that to my wife again you're going to need help getting your balls out of your ass, you got that. You've got one minute to get out of my sight, and you're never to talk to her again, unless I'm present, is that clear?"
Jonathan pushed him toward the doors and after they opened he shoved Harris out into the hall nearly causing him to loose his balance.
As the doors closed Phlox caught hold of Jonathan's shoulder and escorted him over to one of the bio-beds ordering him to sit down and cool off.
Malcolm slowly walked around Jonathan and came over to me. Keeping his back to Jonathan and speaking very softly, he asked, "Why didn't you follow my script, T'Pol?"
"Walk me over to my bio-bed, please." I took his arm and leaned into him as he led me to my sleeping chamber. "Malcolm, I will not submit to Ral's demands again." Half speaking to myself, I uttered, "Never, ever again."
Malcolm had a look of surprise on his face. "Then, I don't understand; why did you say that you would work with us, if you never intended to follow our instructions in the first place."
"Oh, Malcolm, its not that I didn't intend to, when you're face to face with a predator like Ral, it becomes a matter of survival and your natural instincts are all you have, they take over.
"I did everything Ral asked of me during our first encounter, Malcolm. Still, if you recall, Phlox's medical findings said I was all but dead when you found me, wasn't I. His true intentions were to kill me very slowly and very painfully and I did nearly loose my life." I hesitated, trying to find the right words. "You are our friend, Malcolm, I am telling you this in confidence. I now have two lives to protect. Mine and that of my child, Malcolm."
I searched Malcolm's eyes. Suddenly surprise and understanding flickered to the surface, and then a broad smile spread across his face. Without thinking, he grabbed both of my hands and then he grabbed me, hugging me extremely tight, until I groaned from the pain exuding from my shoulder.
Embarrassment filled him, immediately, he quickly realized what he had done and released me. "Please forgive me for that outburst, Maam." He was beside himself. He stepped back out of my personal space, looking around the room until his eyes fell on Jonathan. "Admiral, Sir, could you come here for a moment, please."
I waited patiently, sitting on top of the bed, amusing myself at the redness of Malcolm's face.
Jonathan quickly approached. "I'm sorry about that outburst, I don't know what got into me, what do you need, Malcolm?"
"Do you think that you and T'Pol could meet me in the conference room in, say, about an hour and a half. I think it's time that the two of you knew what's really going on here. Will you two do that for me?"
"Is Harris going to be there?" Jonathan asked.
"Yes sir, but I'll make sure he keeps his mouth shut unless he's asked a question, how's that.
"There's a lot more going on here than the two of you have been told. The stakes are very high. We've got to get this right the first time, Sir, there won't be a second opportunity.
"Admiral, why don't you make sure T'Pol gets some rest. I'll come for you after I take care of some important matters."
I was thankful that Malcolm had finally left. I wanted to be alone with Jonathan, but I knew Starfleet Medical wasn't exactly conducive to what I wanted. So I concentrated on mundane matters, bombarding him with questions like, Jonathan, where are we going to live? And, do you realize that we don't have even a change of clothing?
ooooo
True to his word, Malcolm showed up exactly one and a half hours later. I had taken a short rest while Jonathan attempted to ascertain the answers to my questions. However, I was not pleased with his findings. As usual, my tastes are extremely different from Jonathan's when it comes to living quarters. I shall have to intercede as soon as Phlox dismisses me. My attention flashed back to Malcolm, he was attempting to include me in the conversation.
"We have a conference call with the Prime Minister of Salan, and Ambassador Shran in about an hour.
"I wanted to try to explain some things to both of you first. The Federation Council met behind closed doors an hour ago. They released Harris and have put me in charge of this investigation. Neither, Mr. President nor Admiral Marshall had been aware of what Harris was trying to do. We'll call in Ambassador V'Lar and Phlox after I'm finished.
"Where do I begin since, I don't know all of the story, I came into the middle of this mess long after Harris had screwed it up big time." Malcolm looked at me; he was choosing his words very carefully.
"Malcolm, I have always believed it's easier to start with what you know, then fill in with what you believe to be the case." I raised my eyebrows, trying to assure him I wasn't going to be offended with whatever he was going to say. But I suspected it wasn't me that he was concerned about, it was Jonathan's reaction that was causing him to be cautious with his comments.
"For Crissakes, Malcolm, spit it out will you. If you're worried about me, just stay on the other side of the table, okay." Jonathan was trying to make light of the situation but he knew that what Malcolm was going to say was probably going to upset him.
"Okay, here it is in a nut shell. Two years ago, the government of Salanacon contacted us, their Prime Minister did, to be exact."
Immediately, Jonathan interrupted. "Do you mean they contacted Starfleet, Section 31 or the Federation?"
"Sorry Sir, I'm a little nervous, they contacted Starfleet, later they turned it over to Harris. The Salan government wanted help taking down a gang of marauders who were dealing on the black market. Their cargo was in such demand that they had been brazenly attacking small settlements all over Salanacon."
Jonathan broke in again, "What kind of Cargo, Malcolm?"
Malcolm looked down at his feet, "I was getting to that, Sir. They deal exclusively in female slaves for S & M purposes, Sir."
My heart quickened. "Excuse me, but what is S & M, Malcolm?"
He hesitated, wetting his lips, then, he looked down at me. "T'Pol, it's Sadomasochism, a combination of sadism and masochism. Do you know what that is T'Pol?"
"Jonathan has used the word a few times, I'm not familiar with the terminology."
"Their sex perverts, they get off on inflicting pain and suffering on their victims during sexual exploitation, they get aroused by being cruel to their partners."
I was shaking again; Jonathan knelt down in front of me, 'Can, you go on, T'Pol?' I nodded.
"I'm sorry T'Pol, I know this is difficult, but it gets worse. Starfleet turned it over to Harris because it required covert operations. I came aboard when Harris called in a favor last year. I had recognized the name of the planet, T'Pol. Harris uncovered abductions happening on several other planets, they included our members of the Federation. At last count, ninety-three bodies have been recovered on Salanacon, not all of them are Salanese. Nearly three hundred total are unaccounted for, several different species are involved. As far as we know, T'Pol, you're the only survivor."
"Harris wanted to use T'Pol as bait, didn't he, Malcolm?" Jonathan was a ghastly white; his knuckles were pale from grabbing the edge of the table to hard.
I felt sick, but I didn't want to postpone this any longer. "Please go on Malcolm."
"Yes, they wanted to use T'Pol to lure them out. Use her as the bait in the sting. We didn't know about Ral, not until he refused to talk to anyone but you, T'Pol. We didn't know then, that, he's their ringleader. He's trying to back track, he knows you can identify him. He's trying to change the playing field."
Now I was confused, "Playing field? I don't understand, what do you mean by playing field?"
'He's trying to divert attention from himself to the Prime Minister and you, T'Pol. His communiqué infers kidnapping plots against you and his Prime Minister. He's even offering descriptions of his cohorts, implicating them. I might add, I doubt very seriously that they know he's targeted them. He wants it to look like he's warning you, that he's trying to protect you, T'Pol."
"What now Malcolm, how do you plan to handle this mess?" Jonathan waited, a little to calmly; I could sense his anger.
Inhaling deeply and turning to me, Malcolm answered him. "I want T'Pol to work with me. She knows him better than anyone. Ral wants the Prime Minister's appointment. He's power hungry and he doesn't want Salanacon to become a member of the Federation. But, he has baggage that he needs to dispose of first, his past has caught up with him."
I was startled. "What makes you think that Ral is somehow involved in those ninety-three deaths, or any of the others, for that matter?"
"We didn't until a few days ago. Your identification of Ral and his men set off a chain reaction. I gave Phlox the file on one of the victims found just hours after her death. DNA proof shows that the men who attacked you also attacked her. T'Pol, she was the daughter of the Prime Minister of Salanacon. Her body was deliberately deposited on his doorstep with a note attached. It said something like 'You were warned to step down.' That was two years ago."
"What exactly do you want from me, Malcolm?"
TBC
8