Children of Enterprise
Estellio
Rating: Pg-13 (T)
Summary: When Archer is kidnapped by unknown aliens and the Enterprise is dead in the water, it seems like there is no hope for rescue but there's more to this than meets the eye and it could have something to do with the child in T'pol's arms.
A/N: Before the TT or AT fans get up in arms half way through this fic (You'll see why) read to the end. There are a lot of rather bizarre revelations in this fic I think you'll find surprising, especially the true identity of Techie and Lizzy.
archangemon : I never said I'd stop writing if I didn't get reviews because if I did I'd be lying. I write for the love of writing. Reviews are simply a spiffy bonus and while yes, I am a review whore, nothing short of a barrage of flames could stop me writing and even then, not for long. I'm sorry if it came across that way but I didn't mean it like that at all. I was only joking.
IOIOIO
"Sabotage?" T'pol repeated, picking up the broken dilithium crystal.
"First they over rode the damn warnin' system and rerouted the diagnostic patterns then they took the plasma injectors offline causing the build up in pressure. Once we had that damn problem fixed we tried ta restart the warp core and found that we couldn't. The sneaky bastard had taken three of the five the dilithium crystals out of their Matrix. We can't take the strain of running the whole ship with only a few crystals, this one already broke! We'll have to shut down all non essential systems and as for phasers, shields, scanners, hell, even getting the warp core back online! Forget it!" T'pol placed the crystal back on the desk and looked up a Trip.
"We have replacements?"
"They're gone!" Trip exclaimed, beginning to pace furiously. "And you wanna know who the computer has logged into the locker room last? ME! According to the computer I did all of this. It's all meh access codes!" Trip balled his fists, eyeing everything in the room with the intention of smashing it. He was too furious for words.
"Trip." She said softly. "Control your emotions. I'll have extra security details placed around all the major equipment and in Engineering. We shall find who ever has done this."
"…YEAH? And meanwhile, the Cap'n is off god knows where havin' god knows what done to him!" Trip sank down onto the couch, head in hands. "T'pol. How could someone get on board and do this? We're bein' manipulated on all sides an'…an' I jus' feel so god damn helpless." T'pol got up from the Captains desk and sat beside Trip, putting an arm around his shoulders in the Terran form of comfort. He placed a hand over her own as she spoke.
"Trip, we'll do whatever we can. When we have the ship up and running we'll go looking for the captain. If I know him he'll already be formulating and executing a plan. There is a high probability he is on his way back here right now." Trip smiled.
"Ya always know what to say ta cheer me up, T'pol. I'll give ya that."
"I'll have security search the ship top to bottom and I'll do a scan for any cloaked vessels. Even the slightest nutrino trace will be looked into. You better get back to Engineering." He nodded, getting to his feet and rubbing the back of his hand against his tired eyes.
"Who'd do this T'pol?"
"We have made a few enemies among the Orions and the Klingons. There is even a chance it could be the Romulans." He nodded slowly.
"Alrigh', dang, I forgot just how many people out there hate our guts. Somethin' to write home ta mom about."
"You can inform her of her endeavours when you send her the picture?"
"The wha'?"
"The picture…of the nebula?" He smirked.
"I had forgotten abou' that. I'll see ya later T'pol. Mah engines are callin' meh." T'pol nodded solemnly to him as he left. She stood there for several moments before moving to the porthole to gaze out at the stars. She slipped into a light form of meditation and tried to sort out her feelings, her stomach was in a tight knot of worry for her Captain.
That is an illogical thought, he is not solely my Captain, he commands the rest of the crew.
Before she could delve any deeper into that train of though the ship was hit several times by weapons fire. She ran out onto the bridge and demanded a report.
"We have no power Captain." Reed said, his British accent viciously strong with his worry.
"We're being hailed!" Hoshi said, as surprised as T'pol was but showing it more clearly. "They're demanding to speak with Captain Archer."
"On screen." T'pol said, making her way to the centre seat. Immediately a man dressed all in black with a scarf tied over his eyes, obscuring most of his upper face with only two eyeholes in it to let him see.
"T'pol? Where is Captain Archer?" The man demanded. His voice was coarse as gravel and thickly lathered with disgust as was his stare. His thin lips twisted into a grimace upon the news that Captain Archer had been kidnapped nearly six hours ago and a motion to the people behind him had a full sensor sweep done on the area.
"It's Ria's ship, Captain." One of the men behind him said and he shot up from his chair.
"That harlot! How did she get here before us?" There was silence as he marched off screen.
"Pursuit course. I'll have her heart for this and Archers HEAD! CUT THE CONNECTION!" The screen blinked off and she watched their ship warp off in the same direction the three alien ships had taken.
"What was that about?" Travis asked, still staring at starlit view, afforded by the screen.
"Seems to me whoever kidnapped Archer was trying to protect him." The Brit said from his console. "Hold on…Ria…Ria…Elizabeth was talking about a woman called Ria when I was with her. She said she stowed away on her ship and that Ria had come to help a friend in trouble. She said she beamed down to the ship while Ria and a man called Techie were here." T'pol raised an eyebrow.
"Do you think the girl knows where Archer is?"
"It's worth a shot, but she refuses to say anything more. She said that 'Techie' said to not tell us anything."
"Could Techie be whoever is sabotaging the ship?" Mayweather asked and Reed nodded.
"It's likely, but if they're here to help Archer then why are the sabotaging the ship?" T'pol pondered this a moment.
"Perhaps so that we would not leave this area of space and pursue Archer." Hoshi piped up from her console. T'pol rose.
"Idle speculation will not aide the Captain, I'll speak to the girl myself. Mister Reed, you have the bridge." He nodded to her and moved to the centre seat as she made her way to the turbolift. Her mid was racing with questions all the way there and by the time she got to sickbay she had a brief, comprehensive list to ask the child, whom she found sitting crosslegged on the floor in front of a small portable lamp. Her head was bowed and eyes closed with her soft sable hair making curtains on either side of her face.
"Elizabeth?" T'pol asked and the girl looked up, a smile blossoming on her face.
"Ta-mehk!" She exclaimed, getting to her feet. T'pol froze as the entire list flew from her mind.
No one had told her the child was Vulcan.
Although her features were softer and chubbier than most Vulcan children, and her eyebrows not as slanted as her own, there was no denying the evident green cast to her skin and slender, pointed ears. Her eyes were blue and hair lighter than T'pol's and she was sure that she had seen the child somewhere before. It was something in the structure of the cheeks and the nose, maybe the crooked line of her mouth or the way she stood. It was all too familiar to T'pol…Then it hit.
"Elizabeth, state your full name." The girl puffed herself up.
"Elizabeth T'less of the clans Niikhirch and Archer." T'pol felt her legs go weak. The girl had already called her mother and there was no denying it. She had her fathers eyes and nose but T'pol's slender jaw and build. There was a definite air of Archer about her, in the way she stood and moved and T'pol could tell the girl spent more time with him than her.
"How…how?" The girl walked forward and reached out to take her mothers hand, sending reassuring feelings to her mother.
"Did I do something wrong, Ta-mehk?" T'pol pulled her hand away from the girl slowly as Doctor Phlox came out from one of the labs.
"I was just about to come and tell you, I got the result of the DNA test back. I'm sure you've guessed who the father is." He said quietly. T'pol nodded, looking down at the child.
"How?" She asked again.
"The same way I came about, mother." A far older, masculine voice stated and a man stepped out from the shadows afforded by the low illumination Phlox had granted the child for meditation.
"Techie!" The girl exclaimed and moved to hug his legs. "Something's wrong with mommy."
"She's just a little surprised, Lizzy. That's all. It'll pass." At that T'pol straightened, her Vulcan mask slipping into place.
"The question still remains of how you are here." Techie smiled at her.
"All will be revealed soon, mother. I'm sure they've found the Dilithium Crystals by now and Rialta will be returning with Archer. If we could retire to somewhere more private I'll explain everything." T'pol nodded and followed the older man through the doors of sickbay leaving a smiling Phlox.
"Well this could be interesting." He said cheerily to himself and set about feeding his creatures, whistling an abstract tune he had heard one of his interns hum that morning.
IOIOIO
After the explanation Techie had given her, T'pol had been stunned into silence, it all seemed too improbable not to mention fantastical. However, she trusted him and so they waited. Six hours of waiting later the ship was back up and ready to go but Techie was adamant that they stay, otherwise Rialta wouldn't be able to find them.
"I suppose you were never meant ta be discovered, were ya?" Trip asked and Techie shook his head.
"No, if anyone on board this ship had seen me then there would have been uproar, especially you or T'pol." Trip nodded then a question occurred to him that had to be asked.
"How'd ya get here, I thought you were dead." Techie's lips lifted in a hint of a smile.
"Not quite dead, merely a paradox."
"…What?"
"I wont get into the finer points of temporal dynamics but I exist as a paradox. Since I interfered with the Enterprise in the expanse I shouldn't have existed but if I didn't exist then I couldn't have helped you therefore causing my creation…so on, so forth." Trip nodded, he thought he got his head around it but it was giving him a headache none the less.
"Paradox, right, got it, but that still doesn't explain how you got here." Before he could respond Malcolm's voice came over the intercom.
"Commander, two ships have just come in range, they're firing on each other." Everyone in the readyroom leapt to their feet and made their way onto the bridge. Techie sat at the science console and scanned the ship.
"It's Rialta and Scaron. Fire on this ship." He inputted the specs for the ship that had hailed them earlier. Once the two ship were in firing range a few well placed hits had the enemy ship turning tail and fleeing.
"Sir, the remaining ship is requesting permission to dock." Hoshi said, a hand on the Feinberg in her ear. "They said they've Captain Archer."
"Give them permission." T'pol said and Hoshi nodded.
"Docking bay two."
"You have the bridge Commander." She said to Tucker who was coming after her. He nodded begrudgingly and sat down. She and Techie entered the lift and ordered it to the Docking bay.
"It is…agreeable to see you again." T'pol said as the lift made its way to the far side of the ship.
"And you mother. I didn't think I'd ever get a chance to see father again, or you and the ship." T'pol looked up at the man beside her, he stood nearly a head taller.
"I thought you were dead, when your ship didn't break through the anomaly I…" He turned to her and smiled, barely a lift of his lips.
"I'm here now."
"…How long are you going to be staying?"
"Until we make sure you're safe. Scaron and his team came back in time to stop the Tri-Federation ever being founded and to do that they had to stop the Federation being founded." T'pol raised an eyebrow.
"You didn't mention that in the briefing." He shook his head.
"No, I didn't."
"What's the Tri-Federation?"
"An alliance of Empires. The Romulans, the Klingons and the Federation, at some point far, far in the future will join to fight against a common enemy and to prosper. The galaxy will be at peace and will flourish under the joint works of three great empires. Some loyalists don't believe in what the Tri-fed stands for and are trying to break it up. Not everyone was pleased to have one superpower controlling 58 of the known galaxy." Techie rolled his shoulders back. "You need not concern yourself with future politics. That is over eight hundred years away. The heart of the matter is that if Archer is killed then he can't found the Federations. It is through him that the other species are forced to ally and form the foundations of peace in the galaxy. That is why Rialta returned, to protect her interests in the matter." T'pol considered this as the turbolift doors opened and they made their way to the cargobay.
"She is from the future?"
"Not as far as you'd think. Maybe ten, twenty years. She was recruited by an organisation known as the Inter-Dimensional, Time and Spatial Police to stop the Loyalists in her time, I was asked to stop them in mine and when they launched an attack on this particular time line both she and I decided to pull our resources. I stayed on the ship to make sure nothing happened to you or father." T'pol paused in front of the airlock.
"What about the girl?"
"Elizabeth? From what Rialta told me, she's your youngest and with Archer's insatiable curiosity. She obviously snuck aboard Rialta's ship and got pulled into this." T'pol absorbed his words.
"…youngest?"
"You have an older son. Ten I believe. Rialta and I did not dwell on the matter as it came to a conflict of interests where your husbands are concerned." T'pol heard the lock click and the hiss of pressurisation.
"Where does Rialta fit into this? You are my son but I do not know her." Techie shrugged.
"She never told me. She simply said she's family but I do believe she was speaking figuratively. Ask her yourself, she'll be through in a moment." The doors slid open and Archer and the woman whom she presumed was Rialta stepped out.
"T'pol." Archer said, tugging against the bonds that tied his hands. "A little help?"
"You tied him up?" Techie asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Bite me." She said, running a hand through her blonde hair and showing him the two pointed ears.
"What is on your ears?"
"Prosthetics, smart ass. I hardly watered them and let them grow." He rolled his eyes.
"Ktarian humour at its best." She rolled her eyes back at him and untied Archers hand.
"So much for 'keep out of sight' and 'no contaminating the timeline'."
"My hand was forced."
"Indeed." Archer looked between the two of them.
"Someone want to tell me what's going on here?" His eyes rested on Techie a moment, brows furrowed as he tried to place where he had seen him before.
"My god…Lorian?"
"Hello Captain Archer, it is agreeable to see you again." The young half Vulcan, half human nodded to him.
"Okay, someone really needs to tell me what's going on!"
IOIOIO
A/n: For those of you who didn't see E2, Lorian is the son of Trip and T'pol (He's the Vulcan with really big ears, they're huge! And of course the funky hair. I just love Lorian's hair.) The plot grows thicker, lol. Don't worry, it'll all fall into place soon. Mwahaha. (Sorry, caffine high, it'll pass.)