Another Day in Paradise
by Mana
(A/N: I started this story a while back, but real life got in the way. Now that all the chaos and dust has settled, I'm back in the saddle. I hope you enjoy and please remember to comment. I live off feedback.
Also, this story WILL contain some instances of Archer and T'Pol relationship issues. If that doesn't float your boat, then back away now. Just a little helpful reminder :) )
The Espousian homeworld was a beautiful planet, a planet unlike many that Jonathan Archer, Captain of the starship Enterprise, had seen before. It was a tropical planet; there were no deserts. Crystal blue oceans surrounded each continent; oceans so clear that one could see directly to the bottom. The continents were not very large, the biggest was about the size of Australia on Earth; the rest varied from small islands, smaller than Hawaii, to larger ones. The planet was compromised of more than a hundred continents, which just added to its beauty from space.
Archer looked through his large window that took up the back wall of his quarters down at the world below and smiled. The Espousians seemed to be a very benevolent race. The Enterprise had been passing through their solar system when they'd discovered that there was significant life on the fourth planet from the giant yellow star. They'd found this out when they were hailed from the planet's surface.
It seemed that the Espousians were a warp capable species, and had been for at least a millennia, but had discovered their love for their planet was much stronger than their love for exploring. They still had ships that could take them places, but had found that they preferred to stay on their planet much more. As Archer looked down at the planet, he theorized that the reason they had decided to stay was because, after looking at their planet, he doubted they'd ever find one as beautiful as theirs.
Archer's thoughts were disrupted as he heard his door chime. He turned around and smiled. It had been a long while since they had come across a race that he actually looked forward to meeting.
"Come in," he called out and bent down to pet his loyal beagle, Porthos.
His door hissed open and his Vulcan first officer, T'Pol, stepped over the threshold. Meeting her eyes he smiled slightly. She returned his expression with a raised eyebrow and a slight twinkling in her eye. He'd noticed ever since they had returned from the Expanse that her emotions seemed closer to the surface than ever before. Also, he'd heard rumors circulating around the ship that she and his best friend, the ship's engineer, Commander Tucker, were an item, a fact which he wasn't exactly happy with.
"T'Pol," he said and gestured for her to sit down in an armchair.
She looked at the chair and back at him. "Captain. I cannot stay very long, as I am busy on the bridge, however I wished to bring by the results of my survey of the planet. It seems that this planet is what most humans would call, perfect. In my research of the planet, it seems the temperature never goes above 75 degrees Fahrenheit and rarely goes below 60." She handed him the gray PADD she'd been holding.
"Sounds like Hawaii," he mused and set the PADD on his bed.
"That is what Commander Tucker said," she replied, looking down at the beagle that had trotted over to her.
Archer looked up, hearing his best friend's name. "Speaking of Trip, is he ready to go yet?"
"I am unable to say. The last time I spoke with him was almost an hour ago when he came to the bridge looking for Lieutenant Reed."
"Malcolm? What did he need with him?" Archer asked, picking up his bag.
"Again, I am unable to say. He did not tell me. If you do not need anything else, may I return to the bridge? I still have calculations that I am running." She said, turning slightly to the door.
"Sure thing. I'm going to head on down to the shuttle bay. I'll see you when we get back. You have command of the ship until then," he replied as they both walked out the door.
She turned to the left to return to the bridge but Archer stopped her with a hand on her elbow. T'Pol turned back to her captain, an eyebrow raised to question his gesture.
"Take care of Enterprise," he said with a slight smile.
"You know I will, sir," she nodded her head slightly and moved away from him. He watched her round the corner, then turned himself, and headed to the shuttle bay.
As the doors to the shuttle bay whooshed open, Archer saw his team loading up the shuttle. For a moment, he wished that T'Pol was going with them. However, she had used her logic against him saying that she needed to stay on board to run her calculations and that it was more beneficial to leave the first officer in charge while the captain was away than any other crew personnel. However, he was more than happy with the team going down with him: his engineer: Trip Tucker, security expert: Malcolm Reed, linguistic translator: Hoshi Sato and his best pilot: Travis Mayweather.
As he stepped into the room, Hoshi looked up and waved at him. "Hey Captain, you ready to go?"
Trip looked over at him. "Yeah, Cap'n," the younger man said, his voice the epitome of southern twang, "did it take ya long enough? We've been waitin' on ya." He grinned from where he was sitting in the open door of the shuttle.
"Don't listen to them Captain, we haven't been here very long," the British voice of Malcolm Reed, piped up from behind Trip.
"Well it does look like you guys are eager to get down to the planet," Archer laughed as he tossed his bag in the compartment located under the shuttle's belly.
Travis leaned his head around from the pilot's seat where he had been fiddling with the controls. "Of course we are sir, it's supposed to be a paradise down there."
Hoshi smiled. "I'm really looking forward to it."
Archer grinned over at her. "I am too. What are we doing waiting here then? Let's hit the road."
With that, the team climbed into the shuttle and fastened themselves in. T'Pol's voice came over the conn. "You are cleared to leave, Captain. Have a nice visit."
Archer smiled and gestured to Mayweather. Mayweather beamed at him and switched the shuttle on.
"Let's go," he said and the shuttle made it's way out of the belly of Enterprise and towards the awaiting paradise below.
The shuttle landed with a soft thud and the occupants scrambled out into the open air. On the journey down they'd received the exact co-ordinates where to land the shuttle: on the largest continent, the home of the Espousian government.
As Archer took his first step onto the alien world, he inhaled a deep breath. The air was sweet; a soft hint of something that reminded him of jasmine filled his nostrils. Smiling, he looked over at the small group of diplomats that were standing in the sunlight in front of a huge building. Archer took a few steps towards them.
"You must be Captain Archer," a tall dark-haired man dressed in deep blue said.
Archer smiled, "And you must be Magistrate Sagissius." Archer instinctively held out his hand in greeting. Instead of the man grabbing Archer's extended palm, he clasped his hand on Archer's shoulder and bowed his head slightly.
"Welcome to Espousia, Captain," he said as Archer mimicked his greeting.
"Thank you, Magistrate, and please call me Jonathan."
"You may call me Sagissius," the man smiled and turned to the four remaining members of Archer's shuttle.
Archer turned. " Let me introduce my chief engineer, Trip Tucker, my head of security, Malcolm Reed, my pilot, Travis Mayweather and our language expert, Hoshi Sato."
Hoshi smiled shyly at Sagissius and he returned the gesture. "We are very pleased to meet you. This is my second in command," he waved to another tall man with bright yellow hair. "Octian." Octian bowed his head slightly. "And this," he held out his hand which was taken by a beautiful woman, "is my daughter, Arien."
Arien looked to be in her late twenties in Earth years. She had hair the color of fire, dazzling red and gold. Her eyes were bluer than the oceans Archer had observed from orbit. Arien smiled brightly, her eyes sparkling.
"It is an honor to meet you, Captain. We always look forward to meeting new people." She bowed slightly as her eyes locked with his.
Archer was mesmerized. He had never seen such an exotically beautiful woman before in his life. Well, except for T'Pol. When Archer had first met T'Pol he had been dazzled by her muted beauty. Ever since then, he had only grown in his appreciation, for not only her outward beauty, but her inner beauty as well.
However, Arien was nothing like T'Pol. From her radiant hair, to her expressive eyes, to her dark tanned skin -- physically they were both beautiful, but visually very different. It wasn't often he saw a tan redhead, perhaps that's what made her so exotic.
"My daughter has obtained lodging for you and your crew in our regent's house," Sagissius said, observing the two gazing at each other. He turned to the large building behind them. "It is our finest honor. Tonight, we have planned a celebration in honor of you. Until then, feel free to partake in all our world has to offer." Sagissius smiled. "Now I must see to the celebration plans.
"If you will follow me, I'll show you to your quarters," Arien said.
"Then perhaps I will take you on a tour of our world."
Archer nodded and picked up his bag, which had fallen on the ground sometime during the conversation. "Sounds like a plan."
Arien turned and walked towards the building, Archer and his group followed closely behind.
The interior was nothing like Archer had thought it would be. He had been expecting opulence, bright colors and luxurious fabrics. However,
the inside was painted in muted colors: peaches, yellows and tans. It was still cheery enough, but also had a kind of sterility to it. There was only just enough furniture to be called efficient, but it leaned towards the sparse side.
The group followed Arien through the large lobby into an indoor courtyard with a small waterfall cascading into a small pool of water.
There were beautiful plants with colorful flowers so vibrant Archer couldn't name the colors.
They passed through the courtyard and into a short u-shaped hallway with 7 doors; 3 on each side and one at the very end. Again, it was sparsely decorated, neutral colors and a few abstract paintings on the walls. Each door had a different symbol on it. Archer figured they must be Espousian numbers.
Arien turned to them. "We have prepared separate rooms for you, but perhaps you would all prefer to share one room?"
Trip and Malcolm glanced at each other for a split second then Mal spoke up. "Separate rooms, please."
Arien let out a short chuckle. "I always prefer to make sure. A few orbits ago, there was a species that we had met. They were invited to stay, like you, and we put them in separate rooms, which apparently was an insult, and spawned distrust against our species. They are a very social species and cohabitate together; separating them conveys that you are not to be trusted."
Archer laughed. "We've had a few misunderstandings along our way as well."
"Perhaps we can swap stories later tonight at the celebration then"
Arien suggested, her eyes locking with his.
"That sounds great. I'm looking forward to it," Archer replied.
"Well, that's settled." She gestured to the last 5 rooms. "These rooms are yours. Settle in and I'll be back before the party to escort you and show you around."
She turned and left the way they had come in. Archer turned and watched her go. Travis smiled and leaned to his right interrupting Archer's sight.
"Something catch your eye, sir?"
Archer turned and smiled. "Just checking out the local scenery, Ensign."
"The local scenery is out the window, sir," Hoshi cracked and Trip and Mal laughed.
"She's definitely pretty hot, that's for sure," Trip agreed. He, too,
had turned to watch Arien leave.
"Nice bum," Malcolm remarked.
"You and your bums," Trip laughed and slapped his friend on the back.
"What can I say? I enjoy the finer things in life."
Hoshi rolled her eyes. "Men. If you don't mind I'm gonna get off the testosterone shuttle here." She moved and opened one of the doors and walked in. "I'll see you guys in a few hours." With that she closed her door.
"Yeah, I'm thinkin' I might take a nap before tonight's dinner. I'll see you later." Trip walked into his room, right next to Hoshi's.
"Well, sounds like a good idea. Let's all go in and get showers and get ready for tonight. Be ready in 2 hours. I'm not sure what time Arien will be back." Archer said, his eyes resting on the two remaining men in the hall.
Malcolm and Travis nodded and made their way into their respective rooms which were directly across from Hoshi and Trip's. Archer turned to the remaining room, the one at the end of the short hallway.
Opening the door, he walked in.
The room was spacious, with a bed, table, chair and dresser. Above the dresser, there was a large picture frame containing only a clear piece of glass. For a moment, Archer wondered what it was, and then realized it must be the Espousian version of television. He smiled at that and dropped his bag onto the dresser. To his left, back near the door, was an open bathroom area. It was lower than the rest of the room, and the floor was tiled, while the rest of the room was not. A silver bowl was connected to the wall: a toilet. A faucet hung from the ceiling, and on the floor directly under it was a drain.
'Good to see I'll be able to get a decent shower here,' thought Archer, stifling a yawn. Traveling on a shuttle always made him a little sleepy. This combined with the obvious change in atmosphere made him more than exhausted. Perhaps a nap wasn't such a bad idea.
Setting his alarm for an hour, he plopped down on the bed, sighing as it pillowed around him. Not a minute after his head hit the bed, he was sound asleep.
(Well, do you guys want more?)