"I did not see you at dinner tonight. I thought that you might continue your work on the Vahklas," T'Pol said to her husband as she got ready for their neuropressure session.

"I was there but you had your frustrated laymata expression on and I didn't want to get between you and your prey," Trip smirked. "Besides, there's no way I'm going to miss this." He laid out the mat on the floor.

"You think I looked like a frustrated laymata?" T'Pol asked; eyebrow arched.

"Yeah, like you had a nice juicy meal right in front of you but you couldn't get to it because someone had put up an invisible barrier. I'm guessing that the Captain told ya to play nice."

"He believes that perhaps some of the techniques the V'tosh ka'tur use would be able to help me handle your emotions."

"Translation please?" Trip asked.

"Vulcans without logic; they have rejected the teachings of Surak," T'Pol explained.

"So that's why Kov is so curious about Humans," Trip said. "And you don't think that their teachings would work."

"No, not only will their techniques not work, Tolaris wishes me to join him. His arguments were illogical, juvenile, unsupportable, inane and an insult to my intelligence!" T'Pol said. "He is most persistent but I have no wish to be without logic. I require a way to handle your emotions. My control of my own emotions is adequate."

The uneasy feelings that Trip had upon seeing Tolaris solidified. The man was after his wife. He would deal with that later. Right now his wife needed him here, not out gunning for a Vulcan Don Juan. "And Jon wouldn't let you rip his arguments to shreds."

"You are correct. What is worse, I believe that Tolaris believes that I have been persuaded to believe his arguments are valid!" T'Pol had to stop and concentrate on her control. She had no wish to take her frustrations out on her mate.

Trip lit the candles T'Pol was setting out. "You've called me most of those things from time to time," he pointed out. He knew that there was an extreme difference between the two as T'Pol usually enjoyed their discussions but he wanted to hear what she would say.

T'Pol turned to face him. "You are Surak compared to Tolaris," she proclaimed flatly.

Trip burst out laughing at that comparison. The idea of him being anything like the father of Vulcan logic was ludicrous. "Oh honey, it sounds like you've had a worse day than I did."

"The Vahklas' repairs are that extensive?" she asked, concerned.

"Tavin must have bought that thing out of a junkyard. Here let's skip neuropressure tonight. I've got something I want to show you." When T'Pol looked at him like he had grown a second head, Trip persisted. "I want to give you a message. It's similar to neuropressure but I've always reserved it for very bad days."

Intrigued by the idea of Human neuropressure T'Pol gave in without further fuss. She had to admit that Trip was correct, today had been particularly difficult. Trip arranged her on her front and started with her feet. "So Tolaris was persistent?" Trip said. "What does he want you to do?"

T'Pol sighed as Trip rubbed her feet. "He wanted me to stop meditating before sleeping so that I might experience my dreams," she said.

"But we don't meditate before bed. We meditate before going on shift," Trip said puzzled.

"Your dreams are very interesting. I found the one about shore leave on the beach to be quite illuminating," T'Pol said sleepily.

Trip had to admit, "I liked that one too. Been dreaming that one since our little trip to the decon chamber together."

To Trip's astonishment T'Pol said, "Perhaps we can recreate it on our next shore leave. I have been thinking of suggesting Risa to the Captain."

"Sounds good to me darlin'!" Trip said.

By then he had reached T'Pol's thighs and she was a quivering mass of goo. She thought that Trip was very logical to reserve this for extremely stressful days. If he did this every night she would be too relaxed to function the next day.

Trip was pleased that his efforts were appreciated. He had never heard T'Pol make those small sounds before and he found that he liked them. He slid his hands up under her silk top and began working on her back. It was hard to believe that just two months ago Captain Kirk had told him they were bonded. At the time the very idea of being T'Pol's bondmate was shocking, horrifying and a tiny bit of wonderful.

"How can something be shocking, horrifying and wonderful?" T'Pol asked sleepily.

Trip realized that she was picking up his thoughts through the bond and physical contact. "Sometimes Human reactions are like that sweetheart, all hopelessly jumbled. It didn't take me long to sort things out though. That's what I was thinking about, how quickly we've adapted to being bonded. Now it's just wonderful."

"I was quite disturbed as well," she admitted. "But now the fact that you are my mate is quite satisfying."

Trip settled down to making sure that every single muscle T'Pol had was completely free of any tension. As he did so, he slipped into what had become one of his favorite daydreams, making love to T'Pol on a Florida beach. The feeling of being watched slowly crept up on them. Occupied as they were with each other's minds, they didn't notice at first that anything was wrong. Then suddenly the daydream was taken over and Trip was shoved out of the dream.

Where the mind touch of the Vulcan Healer had been cold and impersonal, this was malevolent and possessive. Trip had a flash of another man taking his place in the dream before the pain started. Both Trip and T'Pol arched up screaming in pain. They both reacted instinctively, lashing out together mentally at the intruder.

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In sickbay Dr. Phlox was puttering around with his menagerie when an alarm went off. Quickly checking it he realized it was the passive medical alarm for the officer's quarters; the Tucker's cabin. A second alarm rang out seconds later, calling a second medical emergency in the guest quarters. Phlox hit the comm while grabbing up a med kit. "Phlox to Captain Archer! Medical emergency among our guests and with the Tuckers! Crewman Cutler and I are enroute!" As the two ran out of sickbay Phlox directed Cutler to the guest quarters while he headed for officer country.

Archer and Tavin ran for sickbay, knowing that their people would be brought directly there. When they got there Lieutenant Reed and his people were carrying Tolaris, T'Pol and Trip into sickbay. Strangely Reed and one of his men were carrying the Tucker's side by side, making sure not to physically separate them. They were clinging to each other's hands.

"What's going on?" Archer demanded, springing forward to help Malcolm set T'Pol on a biobed. Surprisingly Phlox directed the Armory crewman to set Trip on the same bed.

"We found them on the floor writhing, screaming and holding hands. The doctor warned us not to separate them," Reed reported for Phlox. "He's speculating some sort of psychic attack. Tavin, contact your people and find out if anyone can 'hear' anything or if anyone else is being affected. It we're lucky someone may have noticed something."

"Do you know what you're asking us to do?" Tavin said astonished.

"One of your people is being attacked as well Tavin!" Archer snapped. He didn't want to take his stress out on the congenial Vulcan but this was an emergency and Tavin was supposed to be a Captain. That meant more than just deciding where to go and giving orders. It meant putting yourself on the front line for your people.

Meanwhile Phlox had run his scanners over both Trip and T'Pol and was now scanning Tolaris. "That is not necessary gentlemen," he said furiously. "Tolaris is the one attacking."

"That's impossible!" Tavin said. "Tolaris has no reason to attack anyone!"

"Check the readings yourself. I may not be a telepath but I have been trained in what to look for. There are only three brain wave patterns present and they belong to Commander Tucker, SubCommander T'Pol and Tolaris." While Tavin checked Phlox's readings, Phlox partially sedated Tolaris and all three patients relaxed. Trip and T'Pol cuddled into each other on their biobed while Tolaris went limp. Phlox checked to make certain that Tolaris would not be able to move or summon more energy for attacking. There was nothing more that he could do. Any more medication would cause further damage in all of his patients. At least the Vulcan could not escape in his condition.

Tavin did not want to believe that one of his people could be responsible. "I still do not see any proof that it was Tolaris who was attacking. It could have just as easily been the SubCommander," he said. But they could tell that he was deeply disturbed by what he had seen and heard so far.

Phlox snorted. "It could not have been her," he stated plainly. "Mr. and Mrs. Tucker were otherwise occupied at the time of the attack."

Malcolm looked down at the sleeping couple. 'I had thought that he'd said he wasn't getting any. He certainly was quick to chide me about being a gentleman every time I teased him about it. He was quick to point out that they had only known that they were bondmates for two months and married for one. That was damned quick for intimacy for a Vulcan. Then again, maybe Phlox was talking about something else.' They had found the couple lying on the floor on a mat, clutching each other's hands. Malcolm couldn't get their screams out of his mind. He had never thought he'd ever hear a Vulcan screaming in pain. He never wanted to again.

"Mr. and Mrs. Tucker?" Tavin repeated surprised.

"They have a chosen mate bond," Archer explained. "They've had a Human wedding ceremony and they'll have a Vulcan one the next time we get shore leave on Vulcan."

"They were more shocked than the rest of us to find out they were bondmates," Malcolm said as he moved aside for Phlox.

"How are they?" Archer asked.

"Very lucky," Phlox said. "If the attack had gone any longer at that intensity they could have sustained irreversible brain damage. As it is, they both will be experiencing symptoms similar to concussions. They will recover but it will take a few weeks. That is if Tolaris stops in his attack."

Archer nodded, "And how do we get Tolaris to stop attacking?" Personally he would love to shove the Vulcan out an airlock but as Captain he couldn't take that route. He had to take care of the situation in such a way that the authorities of both races could agree that Tolaris had been properly dealt with.

"We don't," Phlox said. "Either he stops on his own or the Tuckers must defeat his attack. Not even a Vulcan Mind Healer could separate them at this point."

Archer didn't like it but he realized that he could do nothing about a psychic attack. "Lieutenant, place a round the clock guard on Tolaris. Phlox; do whatever you can and let me know when this is over. I'll need to have Trip and T'Pol tell me what happened for the record. Tavin, I'm sorry but I'm placing Tolaris under arrest. Lieutenant Hess will head up the repairs for your ship." With that he left and Reed followed a moment later. Tavin stared about in bewilderment. He couldn't believe that after this Archer was still willing to help them. No Vulcan would have done the same. They would have condemned the entire group for the actions of a single man.