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.

Gammara: Okay, I knew I shoulda been clearer on this. Charles, Nemat and Lizzy are John's kids, Lorian is Trip's. Rialta is...complicated but she's not one of T'pol's kids. She just looks after Lizzy as a favour to Archer. Her 'parents' are on the ship but I'm staying quiet on that one. All will be revealed soon but as my friend said when he read this 'I'm an evil cow who has an obsession with plot twists, cliff hangars and Vulcans' Which is kinda true I suppose: )

Rose68: I'm always worried about bringing in Oc's to fics asI dread the evil Mary-Sue (hiss) If you were worried about Rialta before thenI suggestyou give this chapter a skip because by the end of it you'll be biting your nails. As for T'pol...wellI have this habit of answering a question then asking two more. What can I say, I suppose I am just evil : )

IOIOIO

T'pol lay on her bed, staring at the wall. She had been in her room nearly an hour and no one had paged. With the ruckus of recent events she wasn't surprised but that didn't quell the fear deep in the pit of her stomach. Something wasn't right, ever since she had entered the null she had been feeling odd. Though she had eaten a light brunch only an hour before the briefing she found her stomach clenching with unfamiliar hunger pangs. She had slept seven long hours and meditated for two more yet now she was exhausted beyond all belief…then there was what happened during the briefing. It had started as a warm feeling in her stomach, she presumed it was just the hunger pangs easing off, but it had spread, enveloping her body in an uncomfortable prickly heat. The air became thick and unbreathable around her, like she was submerged in water and her eyesight had failed her, dissolving in a flurry of painful white dots. The panic that rose up inside her even now at the thought of what had happened made her shiver and she could only imagine how she appeared in the briefing. When it had ended she had only been too happy to flee...and then he had touched her. The moment his skin had come in contact with hers, a fire had enveloped her body and if it had lasted a second longer she was sure she would have burned up there and then. She didn't know what it was but what T'pol did know was that she was going to avoid Archer as long as possible.

Or would she?

She had to admit that although the sensation was foreign and frightening there was a familiarity about it. Something that she associated not with fear but with something else…something…something she didn't fear yet couldn't place. Before she could delve too deep into thought and track the source of the familiarity her door chimed.

Sitting up and straightening her uniform she ordered them to 'come' and in stepped Archer. Immediately she cringed. She didn't need this, not now.

"Captain?" She croaked as her throat tightened.

"T'pol, I was wondering if we could talk." He looked as uncomfortable as she felt so she decided to indulge him and gestured to the chair across from her. "T'pol, I've been talking to Elizabeth…err…our daughter."

"I know who you are talking about." T'pol said, a twitch of her eyebrow. He was hardly talking about Queen Elizabeth, a woman Malcolm Reed often referenced.

"Well, uh…As you know she's our youngest child in this future…we have two older boys. Charles and Nemat." T'pol's eyebrow shot up.

"Nemat?"

"Yes, does that name mean something to you?"

"Yes, that was my brothers name. He was killed by a wild Sehlat during his kahn-swan." John nodded, swallowing uncomfortably. He seemed unwilling to carry on so T'pol picked up for him. "So we have three children? Two boys and a girl?" John nodded.

"Yeah, Charles is the eldest. He's Seventeen and Nemat is only ten." T'pol nodded, taking in this information. Finally she spoke.

"Why are you telling me this?" She asked and saw John shrug, looking more uncomfortable than ever.

"I don't know. Lizzy's been asking for you a lot. She's with Hoshi now. I don't' know what she said to her but Hoshi's been as distracted as Porthos in a kitchen." He chuckled and sat back, relaxing slightly but regarding T'pol with a sceptical eye. "You're not comfortable with this, are you?"

"No."

"The fact that we have children?" T'pol shook her head.

"It's the fact I have children at all. On Vulcan having three children is considered a large family and a blessing…I'm now up to five and I haven't even been pregnant yet! It is…It is distressing." She said at last, her voice cracking. "I can't deal with this, I just can't!" John could see her shaking and the distress on her face was evident. All vestige of emotional control slipped from her and she fell to the floor, gasping for air as it turned to soup in her throat, reaching blindly out for some purchase of the real world as she felt herself slipping further and further into her own mind…Then she felt it. A hand grasping her own and another on her shoulder. A knee lightly touching her side and a worried face over her. Now she remembered where she felt this…Koss. During their bonding ceremony. The Pon Farr that culminated beneath the surface of cool logic that every male put forward had burned within her as his mind sought that of its mate. The prickly heat that ran up her skin had nothing to do with the heat of Vulcan's rising sun and all to do with the primal urge that drew a man and a woman together. She could not enter Pon Farr herself, not without being bonded to a male or unless she had not conceived a child till her one hundredth birthday, then her mind would automatically begin the mating cycle but she was only sixty six years old and no longer bonded to a Vulcan. Why was her body acting like this, like a mate of a male in Pon Farr? If the bond between her a Koss were still active, or even between her a Trip, she wouldn't feel it like this, not like this. She had to regain control, had to find some way to cool the fire that swept over her, turning her logic to ash. No matter what the cost…

IOIOIO

Trip swung the bread roll in his hands into the air and caught it on its downward arc. To the outside observer he looked rather content. Whistling some abstract tune he was sure he heard off Phlox, he looked like he did most other days. But most other days he wasn't about to have a conversation with the love of his life that could change their relationship forever. He tore a chunk out of the tiny bread roll and stepped into the turbolift where Malcolm was already waiting.

"Good morning Commander." He said yawning.

"Malcolm, it's two in the evenin'. Mornin' came and went." The look on Malcolm's face would have been comical is it wasn't for the genuine horror in the Brit's eyes.

"What? That's impossible. That means I'm six hours late for duty! I'm never late for duty! How could this have happened." Trip took a step away from the agitated Tactical Officer.

"Calm down, Mal. It's alright. We're in a temporal anomaly. This is meh lunch, a bread roll, you know what I usually have for lunch? As much as I can but I don't feel hungry. You know how strange that is, Mal, I'm usually the first to devour everything on the table."

"A temporal anomaly? Why wasn't I informed?" Trip thought back and realised he hadn't been at the meeting with them at midday."

"Mal, you know that kid we found in Archer's closet?" Malcolm nodded. "Guess who she is?"

"His illegitimate daughter?" Malcolm asked, meaning it as a joke.

"Bingo."

"…" Malcolm turned slowly, abject horror frozen onto his face. "What?" the doors slid open at Deck Five, where T'pol's quarters were.

"Ask Hoshi ta fill you in…Oh, wait. Does she know? Damn, this place has been scattered since we entered the null. The Captain will probably have a full Bridge Crew briefing or somethin' but most of this is classified…probably. You know, go talk with the Captain. I'm sure he'll tell you what ya need ta know an' all. Now, I gotta go talk with the Commander." He stepped out, giving Malcolm a little wave and tossing the last half of the bread roll towards him.

"I'll see ya later, Mal." He said, ringing the door chime and waiting for T'pol to enter. What he heard shouting from behind the door and then a loud thud.

"MAL! GET OVER HERE!" Trip shouted. "Enter your Security override!"

"What, why?" Malcolm asked, confused.

"NO! THAT'S AN ORDER LIEUTENANT!" Malcolm keyed in the override and the door slid open. What he saw was not what he expected at all. While Trip ran in to intervene Malcolm moved to the Comm.

"Reed to Phlox, medical emergency, Commander T'pol's quarters."

IOIOIO

Lorian paced worriedly behind Phlox, the only sign of impatience in the halfling was his incessant course of wall to wall in sickbay, otherwise his face was calm enough to do T'pol proud.

"I have run a check and there is nothing in our data base on Katarians. The only thing we know is that the Tellarite used to conduct trade with them before the Klingon Empire's borders encompassed it. All we have is physical and some basic biological information I recorded when she came in. I'm sorry, Lorian." Lorian stopped his pacing and turned to face Phlox. His eyebrows were drawn together and forehead creased with evident worry.

"If she gets much hotter it could have fatal consequences for her. I may not know much about her physiology but she's already 5 degrees too hot and as far as I can tell it shows no sign of abating. She's running a fever that should have her bed ridden and she's hardly even sweating."

"Perhaps it is a natural biological occurrence." Phlox offered. Lorian nodded, resuming his pacing.

"I thought of that, if she were a Vulcan then I would have an educated idea of what was happening to her but…"

"But she's not Vulcan." Phlox finished, sighing. "I'm sorry, Lorian, I just don't know. Do Katarians have a mating cycle?"

"Not that I know of." Lorian said, shaking his head. He sank down onto the edge of a biobed, running a hand through his shortly hair. "She wont tell me what's wrong but I know she's worried. Perhaps it is some social mores that prevent her from telling me but if it threatens her life we have to do something."

"Try not to worry." Phlox said, forcing a smile. "I'm sure it's nothing. Who knows, the fever may break on its own. It hasn't had any other detrimental effects. It could be perfectly natural."

"Could be?" Lorian sighed. "You know, Doctor, sometimes I find Rialta brings out the human in me. I'm so worried about her I'm distracted and all she does is try and push me away. She's begun acting strange, hostile, defensive. The only other time I know of people acting like this is during the Vulcan mating cycle…and that kills." Phlox nodded, seeing the same look in Lorian's eyes as he had seen in countless others who had graced his sickbay. Sitting by the beds of those they cared about, worried, helpless…afraid.

"Perhaps…" Phlox began, half raising.

"Yes?" Lorian's head raised, hope flickering in his eyes for the first time since he had entered sickbay nearly fifteen minutes before, though it was hard to judge time in the anomaly.

"Her ship…That would have records on Katarian physiology, wouldn't it?" Lorian nodded, a half smile gracing his lips.

"You're right Doctor." Something dawned on him and his smile faded. "But all the power cells are burned out."

"Couldn't you just…I don't know, take out a memory cell or something?" The Doctor asked but Lorian just shook his head.

"It runs on bineural circuitry that is incompatible with this ships software."

"There has to be some way to interface it with our ship, how else would you be rigging power?" Lorian shrugged.

"I could try but I don't have much time, I told Rialta I was checking in with my father, if I spend to much time away she may come looking for me."

"Oh I'm sure she's just glad you've stopped proctoring her." Lorian raised an eyebrow.

"Proctor, Doctor? Certainly not, I am merely…keeping an eye on her."

"A close eye, a very close eye." Phlox chuckled. "Don't worry Lorian, I understand how Vulcan's get when someone they care about is hurt. I've watched T'pol and countless other Vulcan's hovering for too many years to believe all that about 'no emotions' or…what is it you call it, Arie-manure?"

"Arie'mnu, the mastery of passion and emotion."

"It's still Arie-Manure as far as I'm concerned. Don't worry, I'll do everything I can and I very rarely fail to solve a problem once it catches my attention…and this has my full attention." This seemed to relieve some of Lorian tension and he rose.

"I'll make my way to her ship now and see if I can…" He was cut off by the comm.

"Reed to Phlox, medical emergency, Commander T'pol's quarters." Phlox moved over to the communications panel and pressed a button.

"On my way, Lieutenant." He grabbed his field medical kit and headed towards the door, Lorian in tow. "I thought you were going to go to the ship?" Lorian faltered, torn between his duty to his mother and to his friend.

"I'm sure this will not take a moment, I wish to see what is wrong with my mother."

"It may not be your mother at all. Mr. Reed said that the emergency was in T'pol's quarters, not necessarily T'pol. I'll comm. you if something serious has happened, rest assured young man, I'm sure it's nothing." Lorian nodded and headed towards the hangar at the base of the ship where Rialta's shuttle was situated. Once there he entered and immediately saw Rialta slouched over the console, unconscious. He pulled her off the console and an empty hypo went rolling across the floor.

"Rialta, what have you done?"

IOIOIO

A/N: Oh how I love cliff hangars...even if I am a little afraid of heights...oh...get me down from here! (whimper) anyway, sorryI took so long to update, an inconvenient thing called life has been dragging me away from my beloved computer a lot lately, sometimes for hours at a time. (My precious! No!) thank you all for your reviews, you guys are the best (Mexican Wave) and yes, once again I am on a caffeine high...I think there are gnomes after me. I better run and hide...(Flees)