Sirens woke the crew in their quarters. T"Mir rushed to slip on a suitable suit, and sprinted down the corridor.
She burst out of the turbolift as the Bridge was in full chaos. "Captain." she alerted him to her presence.
He nodded. "We've got four ships out there. So far, we've been able to keep out of too much trouble. I've got Trip shutting down the core."
She nodded in response and smoothly made her way to tactical, punching in the codes for the waiting Lieutenant. "Remember, seek to destroy. This is our last chance."
"Understood." he said, and landed a square blow on the lead ship.
"Cap'n," Trip called over the comm., "I've got the engine off line. I'll keep whatever power I can to the shields."
"Great, Trip." called the Captain. "I'll –."
"Commander." T'Mir interrupted, "Meet me in the shuttle bay."
"Aye." he took her orders without question, leaving a very miffed Captain Archer.
"We will provide 'backup'." she explained, before rushing out as quickly as she had come.
x x x
"Commander, please." even through her stony expression, she was begging him to just listen.
"We'll be killed." he yelled back.
"Perhaps, but we will be killed all the same if we don't do this now." she remained calm, although the side of her nose twitched.
"I'm not goin', and I'm not lettin' you go either. You've taken a lotta liberty since ya got here, and it's time for someone to put their foot down and say 'no' to yer hair-brained schemes."
"Commander..."
"Now, come on, get to Sick Bay, it's the safest place on the ship for children." He reached out to grab her.
"NO!" she whipped away from him, "Ya've been dead too long to be my parent again. Now, get on the damn shuttle." She looked a little embarrassed by her Southern outburst, but turned defiantly with Vulcan grace to her waiting Shuttlepod.
He just watched her, until she reached up to close the hatch. "Now, wait here, yer not goin' out there by yerself."
"Well." she pointed to the Shuttle to the left and raised her eyebrows suggestively.
"Fine." he muttered, and scrambled into the other Shuttlepod 1.
"Depressurizin'." he yelled, after opening a channel between the two pods.
"Understood. Powering up impulse engines. Keep the warp coils offline and we'll be fine, trust me."
"Heh," he laughed, "That's great, 'cause this shuttle's got no warp coils, and I've known ya all of five days."
"You have the phaser modulations?"
"Yep. Let's go."
x x x
"What in hell are they doing?!" Archer cried out, as soon as he saw the two shuttles sprint away into the firefight.
No one on the Bridge spoke as they watched in horror. Until the two shuttles single handedly destroyed the fourth ship in a matter of minutes.
"Crikey." Malcolm muttered, and remembered his task at hand.
The battle waged on. The first ship had been destroyed, and the second was giving them a hard time, but looked like it was on it's way out.
"Captain." a garbled voice called over the comm, "What is your status?"
"We're holding in, T'Mir. How's that shuttle holding together?"
"Fine, thank you, Captain. I believe Commander Tucker and I will be able to finish the second ship if you would turn your fire to the last ship. We will come to assist you when we have finished."
"Alright, then." Archer nodded to Malcolm and cut the link.
x x x
T'Mir relayed the information to Trip, and targeted the weak points on the hull. The left wing of the warbird was no more than a jaggedy stump, and still the ship waged war. Frustratingly, they just wouldn't die. T'Mir made pass after pass at them, and Trip followed.
Warp plasma streamed from a tear in the central body of the ship, and they fired again, just narrowly missing T'Mir's shuttle.
Trip had had enough, he opened a channel to T'Mir. "T'Mir." he shouted across the static.
She saw what he was going to do, partly because she had thought of doing it herself. "Commander, I can't let you." she shouted back at him, watching as the shuttle pointed for the ship's core.
"It's the only way." he said, "If I can save them, then I will."
"Trip." she begged, but he turned off the comm.
The shuttle went down, Trip keeping a steady hand on the phasers. He gulped, 5... 4... 3...
x x x
3... 2... 1... T'Mir tapped the controls and held her breath. The shuttle crashed into the warbird, destroying it completely.
"Hey." a disgruntled cry came as the shuttled veered sharply. Trip braced himself against the bulkhead, and laughed, "What the...?"
T'Mir turned to look at him, and raised her eyebrows deviously, "I had it fully equipped. I thought I had made it clear that I wasn't going to let you die in battle. Now, assist me on tactical."
x x x
The Bridge Crew watched in horror as one of the shuttlecraft obliterated itself on the Romulan ship. They didn't know who it was, the two shuttles were identical. They didn't have long to mourn, the other shuttle had already started to engage the final warbird.
x x x
The battle was over, and the shuttle was heading back to the launch bay. "Do you wanna take it in?" T'Mir asked Trip.
"Ya talk like me sometimes, why is that?" he asked her.
"You did teach me how to talk." T'Mir answered, "It's just natural for me. Kov was rather put off though."
Trip laughed, and she was glad to see it. "I think you'll be alright to take 'er in." he answered.
"You know, I've only ever had one flying lesson. I'm probably not the best person for the job."
"You what?"
She shrugged and moved away from the controls.
A highly anxious Trip jumped in. "You flew us all around that and you've not ever flown before."
"It was easy enough to pick up." she said in defence.
Trip sighed his acceptance as he initiated the final docking sequence.
x x x
The Captain burst into the launch bay as soon as it was safe to do so, T'Pol immediately behind him. He saw T'Mir jump out of the hatch once it opened.
"Trip." T'Pol's voice caught in her throat. She was certain he was still alive, she would have known otherwise through the bond they shared. Her control started to give way to an emotion, grief, when she saw him step down out of the shuttle.
The Captain ran towards the pair, calling "Trip!"
"This gal is one hell of a miracle worker." Trip smiled exuberantly as he hugged T'Mir close to him.
The Captain hugged them both. "You're both alright." He was relieved, but his question begged answering.
"T'Mir's got transporters in her shuttle." Trip answered, "I need to have a better look at that thing."
T'Pol came up to them, walking as briskly as she could. She nodded, "I am glad you are both alright."
"Good to see you too, T'Pol." Trip laughed, and pulled her into a bear hug.
T'Pol tried to back away from the contact, but was stopped by another forceful hug from behind: T'Mir. She sighed, and relaxed a little, allowing the contact.
"So, she stays then." Archer laughed, mostly at the poor Vulcan trying not to squirm.