Chapter Nineteen
"Travis, what's our status?" asked Archer, sitting perched on his chair after T'Pol had chided him for his relentless pacing around the Bridge. Emotions were heightened enough after Trip's sudden disappearance from Sickbay, and Archer's display of anxiety for his friend wasn't helping the crew's stress levels.
Lieutenant Reed had managed to get the nacelle repaired in record time, and T'Pol quickly picked up the Duordean ships Warp trail on sensors. The Duordean ship could achieve higher Warp speed due to her superior shielding, so Enterprise wasn't getting any closer to her quarry at first. Fortunately though, the Duordeans there ship had slowed sown to half their previous speed for unknown reasons, which had allowed Enterprise to catch up considerable.
"We're still more than ninety minutes behind, Sir," replied a dejected Travis.
"Damn!" muttered Archer and slammed his hand down on the edge of his chair. He was at a loss what to do. They were going at their top speed, but still they could hardly catch up with the Duordeans. He glanced over to T'Pol, stood up cautiously and walked towards her as she threw him an exacerbated glare. "T'Pol, can you--"
"As far as I can ascertain, he's not in any pain at this current time. It is safe to assume that the Commander is unharmed," interrupted T'Pol, guessing what was concerning the Captain. "Although, he is feeling agitated and very afraid."
"This bond is supposed to be a two-way thing," enquired Archer. "Can you communicate with him? Let him know that we're on their trail?"
"Under normal circumstances, that would be the case," replied T'Pol, "but at the moment his emotions are heightened. Any form of communication is extremely difficult to attain in his current state of mind."
Archer just nodded to indicate that he understood, and returned to sit down. He could tell that she was just as concerned for Trip's safety as he was. Vulcan's may not show their emotions, but he could see that T'Pol's whole demeanor exuded just as much frustration and anxiety for her mate as they all felt.
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On the Duordean ship, Bree and Trip's flight to the escape pods had gone undetected so far. Bree had managed to sabotage the ship's internal sensors and engines, causing them to slow down considerably. Something that Trip was grateful for, because it would give Enterprise a chance to catch up with them.
"That was quite something you did back there," said Trip quietly, impressed by Bree's engineering trick. "Do ya get a call for that often," he joked, trying to lighten the mood as they slowly crept along close to the bulkheads.
"Actually, yes," replied Bree in a serious tone. "It's a standard technique we use when infiltrating enemy territory for hit and run attacks."
"Oh!" Trip replied, silently cursing himself for putting his foot in proverbial mouth.
A minute later, they finally arrived at the escape pods.
"Here," the Duordean said, "climb in while I go to the control room to make sure no one notices the launch. Don't release the hatch until I give you a signal saying it's safe to do so."
"Are you going to be okay? After doing this, I mean. I wouldn't want ya to place yourself in danger."
"Don't worry about me, Trip," said Bree, placing his hand on Trip's shoulder. "You've given me hope, something I'd lost a long time ago."
After thanking his newfound ally, Trip climbed into the pod, closing the hatch tight and waited for Bree to indicate that it was safe to release.
Twenty minutes went by like this, but still there was no signal from Bree. "Damn," thought Trip, growing concerned that something had gone wrong. He realized he was now faced with a dilemma. Should he carry on waiting here for Bree's signal and risk being discovered -- which was a high possibility if Bree had indeed been caught --, or should he release the hatch and risk discovery because Bree hadn't disabled the external sensors yet?.
Trip bit his lip and decided that he stood a better chance off this vessel. He took a final scan of the controls, reached up, and punched the release button, before bracing himself for the rough turbulence that occurred when the shuttle left the escape pod dropped out of the Duordean ship's Warp field.
Trip waited several moments to make sure he was clear of the Duordean ship, before firing up the pod's impulse drive. He didn't dare yet to transmit a comm message to Enterprise, because he feared the signal would be picked up by the Duordeans, so his only other option was trying to focus hard on his bond with T'Pol, and hope that he could communicate with her. Sitting as comfortably as he could in the tiny space, he calmed his breathing, and tried to relax. Trip closed his eyes, and concentrated on the sole shining star that shone forever brightly in his heart, soul and mind.
"Please, T'Pol, if our bond is getting stronger and ya can hear me, I'm in an escape pod leaving their ship. You have to find me as fast as ya can, darling, I need ya."
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Back on Enterprise
T'Pol was concentrating hard. She focused on the bond between her and her mate. Even though their renewed relationship had strengthened the link, telepathic communication was not yet easily accomplished. She envisioned Trip's presence in the white room with her. She tried to share her thoughts and feelings with him, trying to calm him down with her presence. She could tell that Trip's fear had tempered off since earlier, when he'd been taken, but it was still unusually high. For a moment, T'Pol worried about Trip's blood pressure. Phlox had stressed that this problem could become a quite a serious threat for the pregnancy if it went unchecked, so it was vital that she helped him out in whatever way she could. That would have been so much easier, if she would be able to talk to him in the tranquil setting of the white room, but since that wasn't possible, she focused on channeling calming thoughts his way.
This had been going on for a few hours now, and T'Pol was exhausted, but she refused to give up until Trip was safely back on board. She was beginning to get a bit confused as she kept seeing faint images of him in a sitting position, apparently meditating.
Her fingers still rested on the sensor controls from earlier, when she had been tracing the Duordean ship's warp trail, and suddenly she felt a strange urge to update the scans to recalibrate the sensors for a more precise display. She couldn't detect anything out of the ordinary, but still she looked puzzled because she felt that something was amiss and somehow it was connected to her vision of Trip.
"T'Pol?" questioned Archer as he walked towards her console. "Is something wrong?"
"I'm uncertain, Captain," replied T'Pol as she leaned into her scanner for another look, before leaning back with a puzzled look on her face.
"Has they altered course?" asked Archer.
"No," she replied, before leaning back and pondering for a few minutes. "I believe, though, that we should alter ours." With that, T'Pol pointed at a position about 5 light years away from their current position.
"Why there?"
"I can't describe it, Captain. I keep getting a visual of Trip meditating in a very small environment, some sort of small ship. I believe it is vital we alter our course for that heading. You might call it intuition."
"Do you thing you think Trip could be trying to communicate with you?" queried Archer.
"It's a possibility, Captain," she replied, each looking at the other with a glimmer of hope in their eyes.
Normally, Archer wouldn't take the chance and go off on a tangent based on a hunch, but he trusted T'Pol. He knew that deep down she cared for Trip -- loved him even. She would never recommend anything that would place his life in jeopardy or danger. So if she believed that Trip had escaped and was now at those coordinates, then he was damn sure going to trust her judgment.
With a slight nod of acknowledgment, Archer turned to give Travis new orders. "Travis, change our course to these new coordinates."
"Captain," said T'Pol with some urgency.
"What's wrong?" enquired Archer.
"The Duordian ship has changed course to the same coordinates. ETA is 45 minutes."
"Hess," replied Archer, almost shouting into the comm because of his rising concern, "I don't care what you have to do, but we need our speed increased now. We've got to reach those coordinates before they do."
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