—Chapter 10—
The next several days went by peacefully enough, and despite her opposition to the idea of her daughter mating with Captain Tucker, T'Les could not help but notice that the two were in love, in the Human sense of the word, as a matter of passion, as opposed to the logical Vulcan view of love being something which developed over time after a properly arranged marriage. Still, there was nothing to be done over it at the moment, as T'Les saw it, for she knew T'Pol well enough to know that the foolish girl would simply pack her bags and disappear with Captain Tucker if pressed too hard.
It was clear that the two were having physical contact as well, to some degree or other, but thankfully, they were discreet enough, both at the house, and in public, although T'Pol's infatuation with the man was plain to see even so, whereas Captain Tucker was more controlled, or perhaps it was just that his body language differed enough from the Vulcan norm to make it seem so.
More so, T'Les had not heard from Koss, and was unsure of what had taken place between he and T'Pol that night, but she'd known Koss since he was a child, and he was not one to let things go, but the logical thing to do was wait for further developments, rather than speculate, but then the course of events took an unexpected turn on Vulcan.
A bomb was detonated at the United Earth Embassy to Vulcan, killing forty-three Humans, Admiral Forrest of StarFleet among them, and Administrator V'Las, head of the Vulcan High Command, made it clear whom he held responsible for the bombing: the Syrranites, a fanatical group of ideologues who stood in opposition to the High Command, and more precisely, V'Las blamed T'Pau, one of the leading Syrranites, for physical evidence had been found at the site of the explosion which linked T'Pau to the bomb, and word over the Vulcan newsnets was that the High Command would not stand for this act of terrorism. Trip and T'Pol discussed the matter for a time, but T'Les seemed obsessed with it, and when T'Pol switched the newsvideo feed while T'Les was out of the room, T'Les returned and actually screamed at T'Pol, something which she had never before done in her life.
It was two nights later that things went to hell for Trip, which was about par for the course where Trip and desert planets were concerned. He, T'Pol and T'Les had spent the evening at home, where Trip showed T'Pol the proper construction method for a lentil, mushroom and rice pilaf and a fattoush salad, while T'Les spent the evening glued to one of the living room couches, still fixated by the newsvideos of the bombing and the Syrranite connection, but eventually, they all turned into their respective beds, as T'Pol had thought that sleeping with Trip might be too much for T'Les to handle on their first visit.
Trip, unable to sleep easily this evening had gone for a glass of iced tea, and taken that tea to the backyard rock garden, where T'Les had set out a few lounges, as she had a good view of the night sky, so much brighter than Earth's, and the distant Fire-Plains, and the view was quite exquisite. To Trip's astonishment, and his displeasure, he noticed movement and saw that three masked men had made a discreet entry into T'Les' house. They moved for the bedrooms, and they'd missed him, as he was concealed by darkness and had remained motionless until they passed his line of sight.
He sprang into motion now, grabbing a poker from the unlit fire-pit, and moved for the patio door, wishing he had a phaser pistol instead. He gently slid the patio door aside, and moved towards the back of the house, yet long before he reached the bedrooms, he heard the electric whine of a phaser rifle, and he fervently prayed that it was set on stun, for it was coming out of T'Pol's bedroom. Furious, yet disciplined, he entered T'Pol's bedroom and came upon on of those men, on the way out, and slammed the poker against the man's head, dropping him like a sack of flour. Trip then bent down to take the man's phaser rifle, when he heard a sound behind him, and turned to see two Vulcans, holding an unconscious T'Les, rifles aimed at him. It was a most unpleasant feeling, much worse than the feeling of two energy discharges shot into his body.
"Trip! Trip!"
Slowly, Trip's awareness expanded, and he slowly became conscious of T'Pol's face hovering over him, and with a groan, he rose to a sitting position.
"What the hell?"
"I found you unconscious in my bedroom, when I woke," said T'Pol.
"Yeah, I got the one in your bedroom," said Trip, "then two others shot me, phasers thankfully set on stun."
"Me too," said T'Pol. "They took my mother, Trip. Why would they do that?"
"I don't know," said Trip. "We need to cont—"
"What?" said T'Pol, seeing that look on Trip's face, and recognizing it.
"Get your comm unit," said Trip.
T'Pol spun to follow Captain Tucker's orders: it was why they made such a good team. They trusted each other's intelligence, and she had come to trust his hunches as well. Seconds later, she handed the unit to Trip, brow raised with unasked questions. Trip activated the comm unit.
"Captain Tucker to the Columbia," said Trip.
"Ensign Burr, sir. What can I do for you?"
"Get me Captain Hernandez," said Trip. "It's an emergency."
"Yes, sir. Please hold."
T'Pol started to speak, but Trip said, "Get dressed, and get my clothes."
T'Pol moved while Trip stood. He put the comm unit in speaker mode, set it down, and began dressing when T'Pol returned with clothes for them both, until Captain Hernandez answered his hail.
"Erika here, Trip. You have an emergency?"
"Yes, Captain," said Trip. "I need you to see if you can locate my comm unit on the planet below.
T'Pol looked inquisitively at Trip, and Captain Hernandez said, "Yes, I have it."
"Scan and report please, Captain."
"I have four life signs. Vulcan. Moving south," said Erika. "The relatively slow speed of movement indicates a terrestrial vehicle, as opposed to a shuttle."
"Good," said Trip. "Do you have MACOs or ship's security forces at the ready?"
"Both," said Erika.
"I need you to assemble a team for deployment," said Trip, then remembering the professionalism of the MACOs which he'd commanded on the Seleya, he said, "make them MACOs please."
"Hold," said Erika. Her connection was suspended for some thirty seconds, then her voice returned to say, "They'll be ready to go in ten minutes. What now."
"Please continue to track that vehicle."
"Will do," said Erika. "Now, what's all this about?"
"Commander T'Pol's mother was just kidnapped by three men," said Trip. "We need to track them to their location, then beam the MACO team, along with Commander T'Pol and myself to that location, to free her mother."
"Understood," said Erika: that she would aid T'Pol's mother was never in question, given T'Pol's service in the Expanse. "I'll contact you when we're ready."
"Right," said Trip, turned off the comm unit, and handed it back to T'Pol.
She was already dressed, and now looked curiously at Trip as he hurried into his clothes, then said, "Why does my mother have your comm unit on her person?"
"We're lovers," said Trip.
"Trip," said T'Pol. "Now is not the time."
"Right," said Trip. "Look, your mom's been lounging around in her pajamas all evening long, and she's been absentmindedly fiddling with my comm unit all night long, and I didn't have the heart to say anything to her about it, because she's so upset over this Syrranite bombing. Her pajamas have pockets, and I didn't find my comm unit after she went to bed, so I figured there was a chance it was still on her."
T'Pol nodded, and they waited restlessly for some forty minutes before Captain Hernandez hailed them.
"Your four Vulcan life signs have come to a standstill in what seems to be an industrial park," said Erika. "Lightly populated at the moment. No other life signs in the particular building they're in. What now?"
"How big of a building, Captain?" said Trip.
"Big," said Erica. "Looks like a huge warehouse on the first two levels, offices on the third level. Sensors do not reveal any security systems, but it's possible that they draw too little power for us to detect them. What now?"
"Please show your MACOs squad leader your sensor scans," said Trip, "then beam them onsite, and then do the same for T'Pol and I."
"Understood," said Erika, and ten minutes later, Trip and T'Pol dematerialized, and then materialized inside a darkened building, a lone MACO standing some ten feet away from them."
"Sergeant Hicks, sir," said the squad leader to Trip and T'Pol, after he'd closed the distance between them.
"Glad to have your help, Sergeant," said Trip. "You've been informed of the situation?"
"Yes, sir," said Hicks, then the man looked at T'Pol. "We'll get her out safely, Commander."
T'Pol just nodded in return, too nervous to speak.
"Now, we don't know what we're dealing with, Sergeant," said Trip, "so we don't kill anyone unless absolutely necessary to rescue T'Les, and we don't reveal our species unless necessary. The Vulcans would have a cow that we're acting alone in this matter, so let's build in some plausible deniability, just in case we need it."
"No problem, sir," said Hicks. "My team is already deployed, and waiting for my mark. Please remain here, until I call for you."
T'Pol started to speak, but Trip caught her eye, and said, "Will do, Sergeant. Don't let us keep you."
Hicks nodded, and moved off to join his team. Ten minutes later, still nothing, and T'Pol was getting restless, but five minutes later the sudden blast of sound and flash of light announced the use of flash-bangs, followed a split second behind by the electric whine of phasers. Ten more seconds, and the sound of a man's whistle reached Trip and T'Pol. They ran for the source of the sound, to see one of the MACOs working on bypassing the electronic lock on the handcuffs which restrained T'Les. In a bit he had it, and T'Les approached them, but instead of the expected subtle signs of fear, or gratitude, Trip saw determination.
"We need to speak privately, the three of us," said T'Les.
"All right," said Trip, and pointed to a spot some twenty feet away, "let's go over there."
"One moment, Captain Tucker," said T'Les, and walked back in order to thank the MACOs for her rescue.
The MACOs were busy securing the prisoners, but all of them looked up to T'Les and acknowledged her thanks.
"Anything for T'Pol's mom," said Hicks, dropping a sack over the head of a prisoner: it would keep them from seeing their captors once they overcame the effects of the phaser's stun bolts and awoke.
T'Les walked back to them, and caught the tail end of a conversation between Captain Tucker and her daughter.
"...we should notify the authorities of these people."
"No!" said T'Les. "They are agents of the authorities."
"What do you mean by that, mother?"
"They are agents of the High Command," said T'Les. "I mean they're probably a secret force of one sort of another, or they would simply have sent constables to arrest me in broad daylight, but they are working for the High Command, one way or another."
"How can you be sure?" said Trip.
"I heard them speaking while they thought I was passed out," said T'Les. "These men are no amateurs. They have a command and control structure. They're armed, skilled and efficient."
"Let us approach this from another angle, mother," said T'Pol. "Why are you wanted by the authorities?"
"Ok," said Trip. "I see we need to talk about this, and we can't do it here. Sooner or later these guys are gonna come to, or someone will come looking for them when they miss a scheduled check in, and I'd rather be gone by then. We need to get out of here."
"Your words are the essence of logic, Trip," said T'Les. "I could actually warm up to you, if it weren't for the fact that I'm certain that Koss means to chop you into mince meat as soon as he can get his hands on you."
"That's good to hear," said Trip,
"Wait," said T'Pol. "I want an answer. Why would the authorities want you, mother?"
"Because I am a Syrranite," said T'Les calmly.
"Excuse me?!" said T'Pol, flabbergasted. "I can not believe I am just finding this out, mother. What could you possibly gai—"
"See what I meant about T'Pol being difficult, Captain Tucker," said T'Les, ignoring T'Pol's questions. "It is not too late to cut your losses."
Trip looked at T'Pol, and noted that the girl was allll worked up, and a bit bug eyed now with incredulity, at both, her mother's admission, and her advice to Captain Tucker, and Trip said, "You have a point, T'Les."