Chapter Three
Trip was in his element. These engines were amazing, and studying their design gave him some great ideas on how to improve Enterprise's specs. Plus Trevella and Allion really knew what they were doing when it came to engineering repairs. They taught him quite a few tricks when they modified the spare parts he'd brought in order to align them with their ship's systems. Trip was impressed: in just less than 48 hours they had completed nearly three quarters of the repairs without significant trouble or problems being encountered.
"Commander, it's been a while since you've last eaten, so why don't you stop for a break?" Trevella proposed. "I could give you the rest of that tour I promised."
"Let me just finish adjusting these," Trip replied, stretching his arms to reach the panel that had been toying with him for the last five minutes, "'cos it's really beginning to annoy me."
Trevella smiled. He really liked this young Commander. His eagerness for work and his never ending questions were quite refreshing. The thought that they'd have to use him for their advantage wasn't a pleasant one, but unfortunately desperate times called for desperate measures.
Their home world was on a straight course to self destruction. Two long warring factions competed for power, and they were determined to blow each other up at all costs. The Daledians, an unbiased faction from a neighbouring system had been brought in as peace negotiators in the hope of ending the war with a cease-fire treaty. Part of that treaty was the arrangement for the son and the daughter of the two reigning families to be joined in union. The Daledians viewed strong family values as the main aspect for maintaining a steady and successful society, so it seems the most appropriate place to start.
One element of maintaining the bloodline was the condition that each powerful ruling family provided gamete samples, which were successful combined and stored in cryo storage. The Daledians proposed that the young couple also comply with this condition as part of the treaty. This embryo would then be housed in cryo storage on Daled V, and should anything happen to its parents; the Daledians would take the embryo to a guardian who would begin preparations for her birth. The Guardians would then care for the child in safe seclusion, returning with her once she reached adulthood, in the hope that she would bridge the divide and unite her people.
The Daledians knew they could trust the Guardians because they had stabilized their own society this way hundreds of years ago. The referred to and looked upon them as Gods, following their rules and laws that were set out on a set of sacred scriptures.
The young couple's marriage did bring peace for a short period of time, but the Daledians underestimated the violent nature of the two factions, and before to long they were assassinated by an unknown assailant. Hostilities returned in full force, so Trevella and Allian were given the mission of secreting the embryo away to the guardians, who the Daledians would contact. They would transfer her to a host and take care of her in a secret location once she was born.
Unfortunately each of the two factions sent undercover operatives into Daledian territory to recover and destroy the embryo. Ransacking their cryo storage and destroying their head quarters, they uncovered the plans for Trevella and Allian's mission, and hence forth set out after them. During the destruction and carnage Trevella and Allian had received a short cryptic message warning them of what was transpiring, but they were cut off before they could find out if the Guardians had been contacted. They had managed to elude them for the time being, but being far from the designated meeting place and unaware if the Guardians had been contacted about the transpired events, Trevella and Allian were now faced with a desperate situation.
At last, Trevella put these thoughts aside, and smiled at the human.
"I'll inform Allion to prepare some nourishment for you."
"Thanks," Trip replied without looking up from the repairs he was doing. Trevella left the room, and made sure the door was shut behind him before addressing Allion who was working nearby. "Make preparations to bring the embryo out of storage, so we can transfer her into Commander Tucker."
"Are you sure about this?"
"We don't have any other options. It's been two weeks since we left Dalad IV, we haven't heard from the Guardians despite repeated hails, and our engines are almost dry from trying to outrun the Doradians and the Duordean's. With the damage the engines sustained, we won't be able to elude them much longer – even with the repairs."
Allion wasn't convinced yet.
"What if the Doradians and the Duordean's find us before we manage to contact the Guardians? What will happen to the child then? The Humans are in no way obligated too carry out our mission."
"Introduce the conditioning program after the procedure," Trevella replied, "that will prevent any inclination towards termination. Once she has been implanted awaken Commander Tucker and pass on the coordinates to the meeting place, transmission codes and knowledge of who the Guardians are and what they look like. Once contacted, and I have every faith they will be, they will know how to proceed to ensure success. Have faith in the Gods, Allion; they haven't failed us yet."
"Conditioning him will take time," Allion pointed out. "What if his ship mates try to contact him?"
Trevella grinned. "I'll divert them. Maybe the time has come to take up their Captain up on his offer for dinner and a tour."
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20 minutes later, Trevella walked back into their Engine Room and addressed the Human in a friendly tone. "How's it going?" he asked.
"Just finished." Trip answered. He appeared to be please with himself as he stood and brushed the dirt off his hands onto his uniform. "I don't think that system is going to give us any more problems now."
"Why don't we get some food now?" Trevella offered, and lead the Human out of the room to some quarters where he could wash and change. "If you'd like, I'll show you the specs of our engine during dinner."
Trip's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Are ya sure? I mean, ya won't get into trouble by that, will ya?"
"After all the effort and hard work you've put into helping us during the last few days, Commander, it would be an honour."
Thanks!" Trip had suddenly developed the ability to produce one of Phlox's huge smiles.
Ten minutes later, he was tucking into some really delicious Deledian food, all the while devouring a data pad of engineering specifications. He was so engrossed in his reading that nothing else in the room seemed to register -- much to Trevella's delight, who slipped a knock out agent into the Human's drink. "See anything of interest?" he asked with a glint of humour in his eye.
"Oh yeah ..." replied Trip, who was in his element soaking up all the information that he could. "This is amazing! How long have you had this technology?"
Trevella began to explain some of the history of his people, but Trip was finding it harder and harder to keep his eyes open. The images began to get blurry and swim around his vision. / what the hell// he thought and passed out into unconsciousness at last.
Travella took the Human's pulse and scanned his bio sign. He had to make sure the Human would not be aversely affected by their drugs; he didn't want to harm the young man. When he was satisfied that everything was fine, he notified Allion to begin the transfer. "You've got five hours. I'm not sure if I can distract them any longer than that."
"That should be long enough," said Allion as they carried Trip to their Medical Bay.
"Don't answer any hails or acknowledge anyone until I return," Trevella informed the other man, "I'll lock the bay and will tell anyone who asks that you and Commander Tucker are not to be disturbed since you are performing critical and repairs. That and me having dinner with their Captain should leave you undisturbed."
Allion nodded, before proceeding to prepare Trip for the operation. He wasn't happy about this deception, but as Trevella had said: desperate times called for desperate measures.
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Chapter Four
"What the hell happened?" Trip demanded to know the moment he opened his eyes. He tried to ignore the throbbing headache as well as the overall feeling that he'd just been hit by a ten tonne truck.
"Phlox seems to think you had a bad reaction to our food," lied Allion, trying to look sincere as he helped Trip sit up on the bio bed.
"I can't remember… I don't even remember sitting down for dinner."
Allion handed him some water to drink. "Don't worry, I'm sure it will all come back."
"Thanks," Trip said softly as he slowed sipped it down.
"How are you feeling?"
"I've been better," Trip replied, "but it's nothing to worry about. I'm just a little dizzy, and I've got a killer headache."
"Here," said Allion, injecting him with a hypo spray, "Phlox left this for me to give you when came round. I'll help you back to your quarters so you can get some rest. Me and Travella can finish up here."
"Preciate that," said Trip, as Allion helped him down and guided him back to Enterprise. He was not normally the sort of person to spend time resting, especially when there was work to finish, but he simply didn't have the strength to do anything at the moment.
"We appreciate everything you've done for us … and what you are doing for us," said Allion softly. "We all owe you a huge debt."
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After escorting Commander Tucker back to his quarters and helping him settle, Allion returned to his ship to begin preparations for their departure. Trevella had just sent word that his extended tour, dinner and drink with Captain Archer and T'Pol was ending and that if all 'vital repairs' were completed, it would be best if they got back on their way.
"Captain, thank you for all your help," said Trevella as he bid farewell at the airlock to T'Pol and Captain Archer. "Please give my regards and thanks to Commander Tucker after he has rested."
"I'm sure he wouldn't mind coming down here to say goodbye."
"Please no, Captain. I don't want to disturb him after his hard work in the last few days; he looked quite exhausted when I last saw him."
"Maybe we should accompany you on your journey?" Captain Archer offered. "Our mission is to seek out new worlds after all, and this region of space is new to us."
"Normally I wouldn't mind, Captain, but our clients are quite wary of strangers. I don't want to jeopardise our trade agreement."
"Maybe next time then," said Captain Archer as they bid each other farewell.
"Well I think that went quite well for a change," smiled Captain Archer as they both walked into the turbo bridge back to the bridge.
"Indeed," T'Pol said dryly, "most unusual."
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It had been 3 days since Enterprise had parted with the Daladians' ship, and everyone aboard had quickly gotten back to their routine. Not so Trip. He carried on as usual in Engineering, but he still couldn't explain what had happened to cause his reaction on board the Daladian's ship. To make matters worse, there seemed to be slight after effects. He felt dizzy and extremely tired, no matter how long he slept. He considering seeing Phlox about it, but decided that it probably would go away on its own.
Scans had indicated the ship was within a day's range of an unknown M-class planet, so preparations were made for teams to be dispatched to go down and explore it. In fact, Captain Archer had called for the senior staff to meet up in the briefing room this morning to discuss the survey plans. T'Pol, Reed, Travis, Sato, and Phlox were already there when Archer entered to start the meeting.
"Where's Trip?"
"We're still waiting for him to arrive," said T'Pol, "he may have been delayed in Engineering."
The Captain nodded, and then reached for the next comm. panel. "Archer to Engineering .."
"Engineering, Sir … Kelby here."
"Can you put Trip on, please?"
"He's not here, Sir…"
"I thought his shift started 30mins ago?"
"It's possible that he was called away on an urgent matter, Sir. Do you want me to send someone to look for him?"
"No, it's all right," replied Archer, and switched the comm. off. Then he indicated for T'Pol to scan for Trip's bio sign.
"He is in his quarters," she said, a little surprised at Trip's unusual behaviour.
The Captain reached for the comm. panel again. "Archer to Commander Tucker, please respond."
It took almost two minutes before an extremely sleepy Commander Tucker reacted at last. "Trip here …"
"Forget to set your alarm clock, Commander?"
"Damn it," cursed Trip, and then they could hear him stumble out of bed. "I'm sorry, Sir. I'll be there in five minutes."
True to his word, a hastily dressed and washed Trip rushed into the briefing room five minutes later, mumbling an apology to the others before taking his seat.
"Let's begin then," Archer said and threw Trip a concerned look. When the meeting had ended, and everyone was getting up ready to leave, Archer approached his friend and asked him whether he had a minute?"
They waited until the others had left the room before Trip asked: "Is this about me being late? I'm really sorry about that, Cap'n."
"Forget about it. Even the best of us are entitled to an off day. Are you feeling okay though? Anything bothering you?"
"Yes and no to both of your questions. I'm fine, Sir; there's nothing to worry about. I've just been a little tired the past few days. I guess, things just caught up on me," Trip explained. "I'll be a good boy and get an earlier night tonight."
"Okay, Commander," smiled Archer as he playfully tapped him on the arm and followed him out. "Why don't you go and help T'Pol prepare for the upcoming survey? I think she wants her science station scanners looked over."
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On the Bridge
"Hey," Trip greeted T'Pol, "the Cap'n said you wanted your station looking at?"
"Yes, the sensors appear to be out of alignment. There are numerous discrepancies and errors when trying to get detailed scans."
"Well, scoot over and let me look," said Trip as he leaned down under her console and started checking the wires.
"How are you?" T'Pol asked him. Her voice sounded a little hesitant and unsure.
Trip gave her a quick glance, and then carried on with his work.
"I'm fine."
"Are you eating well?"
"I'm getting enough. Why do ya ask?"
"You have not been eating with the Captain for the past few days."
"Yeah, I've been a bit tired recently, so I grabbed some food and had early nights."
"You still appear to be tired. You are quite pale, Commander. Maybe you should see Dr. Phlox after you've finished here?"
"Watch out, T'Pol," Trip teased her, "you sound like you're concerned. Before ya know it people may think ya care."
Her voice was unusually soft when she answered "There has never been much doubt about that … Trip."
Trip looked into her big brown eyes for a moment, and felt bad for having accused her. "Sorry, that was uncalled for. I know you care, T'Pol. I guess, I'm just feeling nostalgic for bygone times."
She nodded as if to accept his apology.
"I am concerned about you, Trip. You don't seem well, even more so with your lateness for this mornings meeting."
"I appreciate your concern, T'Pol but I'm fine. This morning was just a one off; it won't happen again."
T'Pol didn't appear convinced at all, so Trip pushed more. "Why don't we meet up after our shift? We could have dinner in ma quarters. It's been a while since we've had a chat and a game of Go. You can make sure I'm tucked up in bed early enough, and I'll even let ya set ma alarm clock."
T'Pol nodded with a strange expression on her face. "Is seven o'clock agreeable?"
"It's a date," Trip said and winked to show that he was teasing her. Then he went on to look at her console.
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