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"Love can't exist without fear. If the thought of losing someone doesn't scare you, then it's not love."

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Chapter 3

The bridge crew had never been so afraid of T'Pol in their lives. Sure, they had seen a few arguments between her and Captain Archer; and there was no end to her disputes with Commander Tucker. But this was more terrifying that any of those instances combined. T'Pol sat on the edge of the captain's chair, her back ramrod straight; her fingers grasping so tightly to the ends of the armrests that her hands looked like claws. The barely contained fury on her face made this situation even more terrifying for the bridge crew. They all held their breath as she finally responded to the person on the view screen.

"You will tell us where Commander Tucker and Captain Archer are." She said in a deadly calm voice. The face on the viewscreen grinned.

"Well, well. It seems that one of the missing crewmen is close to you, Vulcan." T'Pol did not change her posture in the slightest, and the crew's eyes were bouncing back and forth between the two. "Which is it? Captain Archer?" T'Pol did not flinch. The person on the screen examined T'Pol's face. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully with his forefinger and thumb. "I see… but it cannot be Commander Tucker. No… he is too human. I am sure that many human females have interest in him." T'Pol's grip tightened ever so slightly, so that her knuckles were now white. It seemed that the man on the screen had seen what he was looking for; and he clapped his hands together. "Ah, yes. It is the commander." He seemed thoughtful, resting his chin on his forefingers in front of him. "If you, and the starship you command do not deliver us 100 phase pistols and all of the dilithum you carry, the commander will die. You have twelve hours." Then the view screen went black. T'Pol turned to Lieutenant Reed, her eyes wide, but full of determination.

"Have a plan ready to rescue the captain and commander in four hours."

"Four hours?!" He began to exclaim, but stopped abruptly at the glare from T'Pol. He gulped and nodded. "Yes, of course." And skirted away quickly, exchanging a glance with Hoshi before the turbolift door closed behind him. The bridge was silent as they took in what had just occurred. T'Pol did not retake her position at the captain's chair, and was instead pacing the floor in front of it. Hoshi was the first one who took the chance of speaking up.

"Do you really think that we have a chance of getting them back without delivering the goods?" She asked in a small voice. T'Pol stopped pacing, and looked at Hoshi with a look that was both intense and frightened.

"All I do know is that if we do not, they will die. If we supply the weapons, they will likely kill Commander Tucker anyway. And if we do not, I have no doubt he will follow through with his promise." She shared a glance with all of the bridge crew. "If we do not have successful plan in place, then we will never see the commander alive again."

XXX

Two hours later…

Malcom had come no closer to reaching a solution on rescuing his commanding officers. At this point, he felt like they should just rush in and shoot. He doubted that T'Pol would accept that plan. He sighed, and leaned forward on the console in front of him, burying his face in his arms. He should never have allowed those two to go down to the planet. The captain had found the planet, and had been insistent about going down.

*" Captain, I don't think this is a good idea." Malcolm said, crossing his arms over his chest. The captain swung back to look at him, the grin on his face dissipating slightly.

"What do you mean Malcolm? Looks safe enough to me." Malcolm uncrossed his arms.

"We know nothing of these people! At least let me go down with a team, scout, undercover." Archer nearly rolled his eyes at Malcolm's insistence.

"I'll be safe! I'll even bring Trip for backup!" He said, and turned back to the viewscreen. *

That had been the end of the discussion. And it should not have been; he was the chief security officer, it was his duty to keep his captain safe, and he had failed in that duty. Now he had to face the wrath of T'Pol, who seemed to want an answer five minutes ago, actually, scratch that, yesterday. He lifted his head off his arms. Not that he blamed her at all. Not only was Commander Tucker in danger, but her relationship with him was endangering the ship. He pulled himself up, and took another look at the schematics. He had never failed the captain yet, and today was not the first day he was going to. After a moment, something caught his eye. Yes, this could be the answer. And he had… one hour fifty minutes to make it presentable to T'Pol.

Hoshi stood in front of the door to the ready room, and took a deep calming breath. If no one else was going to check on T'Pol, then it was her job. She was a member of StarFleet, an angry Vulcan shouldn't scare her. Or maybe it should either way… before she could even think about it her hand had risen to the comm button, and she waited for T'Pol's response. "Come in." Came the reply; Hoshi straightened her posture, and then entered. What she saw before her caused her to pause. If she didn't know better, she would have thought that T'Pol had just finished crying. Her eyes were green around the edges, and she was sitting rather droopingly in the chair. Hoshi had never seen T'Pol like this, not even when baby Elizabeth had died. There had been no doubt that the loss was unsurmountable, but the stoic Vulcan had not shown a reaction in public. Maybe it would be better if she was left alone.

"Has Lieutenant Reed come up with a plan to rescue the captain and commander?" T'Pol asked, shocking Hoshi out of reverie. She had almost forgotten why she had come, and now she had to answer the one question she would rather not. She hesitated, which was enough of an answer for T'Pol. Hoshi scrambled for words in an attempt to alleviate the situation.

"That doesn't mean that we can't rescue them. We still have …"

"Not enough time." T'Pol said, standing now. "Without having a plan in the four hours, we will not have time to refine the plan. And without refining the plan in time, we will not have time to make a rescue attempt." She placed her hands behind her back in a vise like grip. "And yet we cannot supply this group with the weapons they ask for. It is not up to Enterprise to intervene with a planet's war." They both knew this of course; they had been faced with similar situations many times in the past.

"May I speak freely, Commander?" Hoshi asked, feeling that this was her one opportunity to convince T'Pol to go ahead without a plan. The commander nodded, the tip of her chin dipping. "Maybe they are bluffing, using the commander against you." T'Pol looked surprised in the Vulcan way, which would look like no reaction to a non-linguist. Hoshi held in a smile; what did T'Pol think? That no one on the ship knew about the two of them? Everyone on the ship knew about the two of them before the couple knew it themselves. It was a wide-open secret that no one talked about. "Maybe they have no way to defeat us, and are using the commander's relationship with you to make us think they are a serious threat." It seemed like a light bulb went off in T'Pol's head.

"Then perhaps they will not be ready if we attack before the twelve-hour deadline. They will believe that Enterprise has not be able to find a solution." Hoshi thought this over quickly. She knew that Malcolm was already struggling with the four-hour deadline. And initiating the plan could take even longer than that. But… maybe they could catch these people unaware. They would never think that T'Pol was willing to put the commander at risk.

"I'll contact Lieutenant Reed and see if his plan is ready." Hoshi said.

"Dismissed." T'Pol said. Just as Hoshi's back was turning she heard T'Pol say quietly, "thank you, Ensign." Hoshi did not react, but smiled to herself as she entered the bridge.

Less than a half-hour later the senior staff was standing in front of the main screen. Malcolm's haphazard plan was on the screen. He wasn't completely satisfied with the plan, but it was better than nothing. Travis had his arms crossed, a skeptical look on his face. "How we supposed to know that this plan is going to work anyway? What if they're just waiting for us to ambush us?" T'Pol, who had been standing at the head of the table now rounded it, to stand in front of Travis, her face an unreadable hard plain as she addressed Travis.

"I cannot ask any of you to partake in this rescue attempt. There is a high probability that the attempt will end in failure." She looked around at each senior officer with the same intensity. "I have no doubt that if it were any of us that were the hostages, the commander and the captain would follow through on a plan such as ours. I plan to." None of the senior officers responded. They had taken part in plans hobbled together less comprehensively than Malcolm's current one. Many had been on the receiving end of such a rescue led by Commander Tucker or Captain Archer. On top of this reality was also the fact that this crew felt like they were a family. There would be no way that they would leave one of their own behind. Travis steadied himself and took a step forward.

"You'll need a good pilot." He said. "I've never been one to shy away from a difficult situation." Malcolm and Hoshi took a step forward at the same time. They smiled at each other.

"We're in." They said at the same time. T'Pol's eyes seemed to soften for a moment before she spoke.

"Then it is settled. We depart in an hour for the surface." They all turned, to put all of their efforts in order.

An hour later, they were in shuttlepod two, as the commander and captain has taken shuttlepod one on their original mission. Hoshi was still on Enterprise, monitoring communications on the surface, and was in charge of the bridge while the other officers were away. It had been her idea to stay behind, because she wanted someone on the ship able to help the others on the surface. "Four minutes to landing." Travis called from the pilot's seat.

"Alright, we all know the plan?" Malcolm asked, looking between the others. Travis had to hold himself back from rolling his eyes. They had gone over the plan about a thousand times in the last ten minutes; from the moment they began the walk to the shuttlebay. Malcolm began the speak again, "we'll land about twenty kilometers from the area we know they are holding the commander and captain. Then we will sneak in…"

"And we will rescue the commander and captain." T'Pol supplied, cutting off the lieutenant's rant. Travis chuckled slightly to himself, and looked down at the controls for a second to get himself back under control. T'Pol was getting funnier and funnier by the day. Maybe it was because of the time she was spending with humans, or rather, a particular human, that was making her funnier. Or maybe he had just gotten to know her, and was just starting to understand her sense of humor.

"One minute until landing. Brace yourselves." He called out. The landing was a bit bumpy as they entered the atmosphere, and ground was not solid, as he landed the pod skidded across rocks. He had been more difficult landings in the past however; and was able to get the landing under control in mere seconds. He powered down the shuttlepod and turned to Malcolm and T'Pol. Malcolm looked slightly apprehensive. Who could blame him. This plan was put together like a puzzle missing a few key pieces. But they couldn't put together all the pieces until they they had found the two missing officers. He grabbed his phaser from its holder and gestured towards the door. "Ready?" Travis asked. Malcolm took a stabilizing breath, and grabbed his own phaser. T'Pol's eyes were unfocused for a moment, then her eyes came back into focus, with such determination her eyes seemed aflame.

"Agreed." T'Pol replied, and pulled her own phaser out, leading the way out of the shuttlepod.

XXX

It had been easy to find the tunnel into the facility. In fact, it felt too easy for Malcolm. They had thought they were surprising these kidnappers. Maybe it was the kidnappers who were surprising them. "This feels too easy." Malcolm whispered to T'Pol as they were nearing the tunnel.

"Agreed." T'Pol replied. She withdrew her phaser again, which had been reholstered when they

"It's a little too quiet, don't you think?" He asked, turning 360 degrees. They were now in an open room, with hallways on every side. "Which way do we go?" He asked desperately. Then, he felt a gun tip sitting between his shoulders. He did not have to move to know that his two comrades had guns to their backs.

"I knew you would come." The voice came from behind him, to his right. He recognized the voice from the viewscreen; it sent chills down his spin. This man had somehow known that T'Pol was not going to follow through with the twelve -hour deadline. He had known that she would not risk the commander's life, even if it would mean putting the rest of the crew in danger. "The commander will be disappointed to learn that I was correct."

Travis and Malcolm were shoved into a dark room. The door was closed and locked behind them. There were only two other occupants of the room; who although looked exhausted were none the worse for wear; and were a good sight for the eyes. "Commander! Captain!" Travis shouted, and hugged each man quickly. Even Malcolm could not resist the urge to hug his commanding officers. Trip looked grim.

"I was hoping that I wouldn't have ta see ya guys; no offense." He rubbed the back of his head with a hand. "I was hoping that her Vulcan logic would prevent her from acting out a rescue mission."

"Actually sir, it was her idea." Malcolm supplied, delighting in the commander's surprise. What? Did he think that T'Pol wasn't going to try to rescue the two of them? Malcolm knew that if were T'Pol who was the one missing, Trip would not hesitate for a second to rescue her. He had been present when Trip had to restrain himself from defending T'Pol in situations much less serious than this one.

"Well, I'll be damned." Trip breathed out, blushing when he suddenly realized that he was still in the presence of others. "Wait, where is T'Pol?" he looked concerned. If this had been any other situation, Malcolm would have poked fun at his reaction. Unfortunately, this could be one of those situations that as too serious to ever get a laugh out of .

"They've got her." Malcolm supplied, and watched the blood drain out of Trip's face.

"Well, Vulcan, it appears I have you right where I want you." T'Pol watched him as he paced around her.

"That is an accurate assessment. As I was not in your presence earlier, and now I am." The man chuckled darkly.

"Yes. Commander Tucker said that you would not come. That you would put your crew above anything else. I am lucky that he was wrong, and I was right. That you would put him above anything else." T'Pol glowered at the man, but said nothing. He was right. Her feelings had clouded her judgment. She had put her entire crew at danger.

'this doesn't seem right' Hoshi thought as she sat at her station on the bridge. There was no sign of the officers on the surface, and although they had agreed to radio silence, they should have contacted her already about rescuing the commander and captain. "Sato to Corporal McKenzie."

"McKenzie here."

"Meet me at the transporter with a team in ten minutes. We're going to the surface."

"Understood." She was in charge of the Enterprise, and like so many leaders before her, she was going to rescue those that needed help. "Ensign, you have command of the bridge." She said to a wide -eyed man sitting at the helm. "don't worry," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder "we'll be back before you know it." As the turbolift door closed behind her, she couldn't help but hope that she was right, that they would indeed be back.

"Hoshi? What are you doing here?!" Malcom nearly yelled, as Hoshi pushed her way into the room with a phaser in her hand. Behind her was a team of five MACOS all yielding guns. Hoshi was smiling ear to ear.

"Let's just say that they won't be a problem anymore." She handed the four men their missing phasers. Trip reholstered his phaser, and stood. He looked behind the team as though looking for someone in particular, then looked disappointed. Hoshi knew who he was looking for. "We didn't find her yet commander. But we know where she is."

The man stood over T'Pol, who was on the floor. Green blood was dripping from the side of her mouth. "Still, Vulcan. You will not share with me the secrets of the Vulcans' warp drive? Or their missions to my planet?" T'Pol did not respond, and received another kick to her ribcage. The only sound she made was a grunt as the foot connected with her ribs. "Don't worry Vulcan. Sooner or later, I will get my answer." Another kick, and another. She could feel her façade beginning to slip. No, she could not give in, she would not give in. Another kick. Her consciousness was beginning to slip even as she resisted. Another kick should be coming, but it never did. A loud bang behind her was the clue that her interrogation was now over.

"T'Pol!" She knew that voice. That voice belonged to Trip. So her rescue attempt had been successful. He was safe. Trip crouched beside her and picked her up. He brushed her bangs to the side gently. "We gotta get her back to the ship." He said, barely holding back tears.

XXX

"T'Pol, wake up." The voice sounded distant, as though at the end of a tunnel. "T'Pol, please, wake up." Trip… that was Trip's voice. Now she remembered. Her relationship with Trip had been used against her, and she had let it be used against her. It had almost cost her the life of her colleagues as well as the entire ship. This was an unacceptable consequence. They must call off their relationship before it caused any more damage. She had to tell Trip. She willed her eyes to open; slowly gaining consciousness. Trip was standing over her, holding her hand. "Hey." He said gently, brushing her bangs with his free hand. "it's okay, you're on Enterprise. Everyone's safe." She pushed herself up with her arms, with the help of Trip. She began wringing her hands in her lap, uncertain of how to broach this subject. Trip put his hands over her wringing ones. T'Pol took a shaky breath.

"Trip… this… situation has made it clear that our relationship is a security risk." She avoided his gaze, "I believe it would be for the betterment of Enterprise if we end this relationship."

"T'Pol." She still refused to look up at him. "T'Pol." She raised her view a few centimeters so that she could now see his eyes. "We knew that this could happen. This may be the first time, but it won't be the last." He held up a hand to prevent T'Pol from responding. "Even if we weren't together, they could still use my feelings for you against us." He took one hand off of hers to motion, "so why should we be apart and miserable to try to prevent something that will happen whether or not we're together?" T'Pol didn't look convinced. "Look; if someone holds a gun to your head, whether or not we're together, I will do anything to get ya back." T'Pol cocked her head to the side.

"I believe I would do the same for you." She finally answered.

"I'll try my damnest not to have another gun held to my head."

"I will attempt to do the same." T'Pol replied, to Trip's chuckles.

A/N: well, there it is. Let me know what you guys thought!