Chapter 11

Three days had finally passed aboard Enterprise, during that time Trip had been ordered, and then threatened by both Doctor Phlox, and then the Captain to rest. Trip had managed to steal a few hours of sleep but every time the engineer closed his eyes, he dreamt of T'pol. The dreams were strange, but very vivid. It was as if he was her, and the dreams were from her perspective. She was being interrogated, Trip couldn't see her captors face's, or any thing else for that matter. It was bizarre - as if a fog was distorting his vision, however he was able to hear everything. They were demanding answers from her, threatening her for information, which could be very dangerous to Earth and Vulcan, if it got into the wrong hands. T'pol was resisting them and paying the price for her silence.

He had first believed that it had been the bond. After all he and T'pol had met in the white room and talked, even though they were on different ships! He could be…channelling T'pol; it could be possible, right? He knew it was more than likely just him getting his hopes up, wanting any contact with T'pol, even if it was bad. Regardless of that fact, he had still consulted every Vulcan text he could find about telepathic bonds. He even considered seeking advice from someone, Doctor Phlox or Sovek for instance. However, he knew the Vulcan would dismiss him as being foolish. Besides, he didn't think he wanted Sovek to know about the connection he had with his daughter, unless it was necessary.

As for Doctor Phlox Trip had dropped hints about the bond, not wanting it to become public knowledge. He believed the connection between him and his mate was something to be kept private; T'pol would have wanted the same thing. The doctor had informed him that his lack of sleep and over exertion had no doubt led caused the dreams and was to be expected. Phlox went on to remind the engineer of the nightmares he had had right after Lizzie - his little sister had died in the Xindi attack. Trip knew that the Denoblian was probably right, but that didn't quell the small part at the back of his mind that kept whispering that they were real.

After another restless night, Trip stepped onto Enterprise's bridge and was met by the apprehensive faces of the entire bridge crew. They were nearing the Tellarite vessel, and no one knew what to expect.

"Have we scanned the vessel?" Trip asked, walking over to the captain.

"We're just awaiting the results." Archer responded, as the words left his mouth the science station's console, which Sovek was seated behind beeped.

Sovek's eyes scanned the readings, his face revealed nothing.

"Scan's show the vessel's engines and life support are offline… There are no bio readings." he answered.

"That doesn't mean anything. Sir I request to lead an away team to investigate." stated Reed.

"Permission to join him." asked Trip

Archer shook his head, "let Reed take care of this one Trip."

Trip's face expressed his unhappiness at his Captain's decision but he went along with it. Archer had heard many rumours on Enterprise's grape vine, ones concerning his chief engineer and science officer. He didn't know how true they were but there was something there and he couldn't let Trip's emotions get in the way - it was for the best.

"Watch your back Malcolm." The captain told him. The security officer acknowledged and left.

Malcolm had quickly compiled his team, Sovek was joining them, the team needed someone who knew the layout of Tellarite vessels and their workings, and Sovek was the obvious choice.

The team stood on Enterprise's transport platform, within seconds their molecules were scrambled and then reassembled on the Tellarite vessel. Reed immediately raised his phase pistol, he scanned his surroundings for any dangers, and even though the scans showed no life signs, he was still going to be cautious. Confirming they were in no danger Reed split the team in two, two teams would cover the ship much quicker and time was not on their side. Reed instructed Sovek to lead their group to the command centre and within minutes, they were stepping on to the alien bridge.

Sovek walked over to a destroyed console, salvaging what he could of it, he soon found its use.

"I believe this is how our captors blocked your scans" he informed Malcolm.

"T'pol must have destroyed it, that's how we could beam you over." Reed supplied.

"Indeed." Sovek replied solemnly, if it hadn't been for T'pol it was more than likely he would still be being held captive, along with Tucker. She had saved their lives, possibly at the cost of her own.

Sovek walked over to another console and tried to access the data. A data screen appeared and he began to download the information on a portable unit. His eyes briefly scanned the data, nothing out of the ordinary jumping out at him. A nagging feeling licked at the corners of his mind, he looked around the room. Nothing was out of the ordinary, yet he couldn't quash the feeling that something was…wrong. Looking back down at the data being transferred to the unit, he let his mind stray to his daughter and the events that had led up to her capture.

His head swiftly snapped up, bringing him out of his thoughts. His superior hearing detected a distinctive, yet strange sound coming from the station one of Reed's men was using. The nagging feeling returned, full force, he scanned his memories. 'Where had he heard it before?'. Realisation hit him.

Sovek pulled out the communicator, given to him beforehand. "Captain, Beam back the team immediately."

"Sovek wh…" Reed started to ask, before he was beamed away, right in front of the Vulcan. Sovek picked up the data unit, part of the computer memory downloaded upon it; a second later he was aboard Enterprise.

The second the Vulcan had uttered the word transport Archer had done what he requested, the captain would ask questions later. He wasn't going to put any more of his crew in danger.

Sovek moved quickly over to the transporter room's com.

"Captain move Enterprise a safe distance away from the Tellarite vessel, I'll explain in due time." Sovek instructed, his voice taking on an authoritative tone.

The Captain detected the urgency in Sovek's voice, not wanting to put Enterprise in danger, had no choice but to do what the Vulcan had said.

"Mr Mayweather, three quarter impulse. Any direction away from the vessel." Archer ordered.

Travis, Enterprise's skilled pilot nodded and adjusted Enterprise's position, moving Enterprise quickly away. An explosion abruptly ripped through the vacuum of space, orange flames occupying the space where the Tellarite vessel had once been. The shockwave sent debris flying in every direction, small fragments impacted Enterprise's hull and shook the ship.

"Report."

"The Tellarite vessel just exploded sir. If we'd stayed we would've gone with it. We left just in time." The Ensign at T'pol's station reported.

"Contact Sovek and Reed, tell them I want them on the bridge." Archer ordered of his communications officer. Hopefully now he could find out what the hell was going on, and especially why their only lead for finding T'pol had gone, quite literally up in flames.

T'pol had been transferred off of the ship earlier today; she couldn't find any indication of where she had been taken. Her eyes were still damaged and her loss of sight limited her finding out much at all. The loss of one of her sense however had led to the others becoming slightly more attuned. Her hearing replaced her eyes; she had listened to her surroundings when she had been moved, and from what she had heard, it appeared to be a meeting place for some of the galaxy's more questionable, and dangerous occupants. She had heard screams, shady deals and violent attacks taking place. This was surely not a place you would want to ever visit, but unfortunately T'pol didn't have a choice.

T'pol had found that this place, wherever it was, was specialised in anything dangerous and illegal. That was one of the reasons she was currently hanging from chains, while an unidentifiable, liquid was slowly being absorbed in to her bloodstream, a drip attached to her arm. She had been trained to resist torture. To suppress pain, but every second the chemicals were being absorbed by her body it became more and more difficult. Her arms pulled on her restraints; she had been trying to get free, her superior strength giving her an advantage, but not much of one.

The 'doctor' who had given her the drip sounded as if he was enjoying its effects on T'pol

"You should have started to feel the effects now, I must say it is quite an effective mix. I made it myself." He gloated, his voice sickeningly cheerful. He was a Denoblian; his ethics however were the complete opposite of the rest of his species. He took pleasure in the pain that he caused others, a reason why he had been exiled from Denoblia.

T'pol ignored the Denoblian, blocking him out, her body ached all over but she ignored it, and concentrated on getting out of her restraints. They had become slightly looser and she knew this would be one of her best chances of escape, if only she could manage it.

"It targets specific neural pathways, the parts of the brain that controls emotion and for a short while the chemicals take away your control. It is surprising how different a Vulcan becomes with emotion, they experience so much, but fear is always the emotion that shows the most. They are more than willing to cooperate by then." The Denoblian grinned.

A figure entered the room with his distinctive Vulcan appearance and long jagged scar on his eyebrow marring his otherwise flawless features- Telak.

"Has it worked?" he uttered

The doctor nodded furiously. "What about my payment." he asked

Telak reached into his pocket and withdrew a small pouch; he threw it to the Denoblian. "Leave us now." Telak growled. The Denoblian looked upset to leave, he knew not to say anything though, he valued his life too much and so left.

"Are you prepared to talk yet Vulcan?" T'pol shot him a glare as menacing as a Vulcan could. Even after all she had been through, she hadn't stopped resisting. Telak took this in his stride; he walked over to T'pol and ran a finger across her face. T'pol pulled away from him.

"It is a pity you are choosing not to co-operate, I could have found a much more pleasurable purpose for you." he raised an eyebrow, "Shame" he muttered as he backhanded her across her face.

"You will co-operate, that is one thing I am sure of Vulcan." his lips curled slightly

"This way will just hurt far more". He pulled out a device from his pocket and touched T'pol's side; this time she couldn't suppress the scream, which escaped her lips…

Sovek and Reed had arrived on the bridge; the Vulcan was currently detailing what had happened on the other ship.

"…Over time my senses have become extremely attuned to my environment, a skill that has worked to my advantage numerous times. My hearing especially is advanced" he informed them.

"When we were on the vessel I detected a very unusual sound being emitted from one of the consoles. If I hadn't heard it before I would more than likely ignored it. It took me a few moments to place it, I had heard it once before when I had visited a distant colony, a colony that was destroyed by the Romulans."

Sovek paused. His mind replaying the images that had occurred on the colony. Blood, screaming, bodies sprawled everywhere. Their limbs bent at crooked angles, or just missing. He had gone to the colony to elude a Romulan that was trying to track him down- Telak. The Romulan had activated a bomb just to try to eliminate Sovek; he had killed hundreds, many women and children included. Sovek had never forgiven himself for the event, if he hadn't had gone there hundreds of people would still be alive, he had only survived due to a lucky fluke.

"Sovek?" The captain interrupted his musings. Sovek was pulled out of his train of thought.

"I apologise Captain my mind was elsewhere."

The Captain continued, "So what you're saying is the Romulans have T'pol."

"Unfortunately yes, Captain. And I believe she is running out of time."

The Captain had come to the same conclusion, "we lost our only lead when the ship exploded. Do you have any idea where she would be taken?" He asked, the question directed at Sovek.

Sovek thought over the question for a couple of moments. "I believe there many be one place she could have been taken." He said inputting coordinates into the computer. The screen changed and showed its position relative to Enterprise, no information about the destination scrolled across the screen. It appeared it wasn't a very documented or explored region.

"We could get there in around four days at warp five." Sovek said reading the computers calculations.

Sovek hadn't revealed how he knew the place but the captain's intuition got the idea that it wasn't a place of fond memories for the Vulcan.

"Mr Mayweather set a course. Mr Reed make sure we are prepared, I get the impression we aren't going to be entering peaceful territories."

The captain couldn't be more right Sovek thought grimly to himself. On one hand he wanted to find T'pol, but he'd give almost anything not to find her where Enterprise was heading. He had experienced first hand the 'specialities' of the place. He wouldn't wish them on anyone. He prayed to a higher power that if T'pol was there she would be strong enough to resist them, to stay alive until they could rescue her. He still had nightmares of his time there, a part of him never fully recovering from the experience. He hoped his daughter would be different.