A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Now we find out why, in part, that T'Pol is willing to help Hoshi get back home.

CHAPTER 30

Hoshi was momentarily speechless. There was a way to send her home? Even more shocking was that they hadn't told her it could be done.

"How long have you known this?" Hoshi finally asked.

"Not long," T'Pol said. "A few days. The process to send you back would take some effort, but it can be done, provided the conditions are right."

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" Hoshi demanded.

"Commander Tucker and I reported our findings to the captain. The captain ordered that you not be told."

Hoshi whirled to face the closed door, on the other side of which was the person who, for all intents and purposes, had been holding her captive. She remembered he'd told her that finding a way to send her back wasn't a high priority. Since then, she'd assumed that Tucker and T'Pol hadn't had a chance to look into it, that they'd been too busy with other things.

But she'd thought Archer would have told her when a way to do it had been found. "I wonder why he didn't want me to know."

"The captain did not explain his reasoning," T'Pol said. "However, if I were to hazard a guess, it would be that there is no Hoshi Sato in this universe. You have unique abilities that could benefit the captain's career. Your help in resolving the situation on Balanti IV comes to mind, as well as your expertise with covert communications which uncovered the Andorian plan to attack Panmikar. I suspect that your facility with languages, which is unparalled in this universe, is the original reason he installed you as his 'captain's woman,' if only in name."

Hoshi wasn't going to ask for more explanation on that last part. She had a good idea of what was expected of a full-fledged captain's woman; the closet full of skimpy clothing had been more than adequate explanation.

So, Archer had let the crew think she was his captain's woman because, while it had afforded her some protection, it was more for his benefit than hers. He had been keeping her close because he considered her a valuable commodity that had to be safeguarded. So valuable, in fact, that he'd assigned her a bodyguard.

She felt the first stirrings of anger. Didn't he think of her as a person, with her own needs and desires, foremost of which was that she wanted to go home?

She shook her head. She was being distracted from what was important. "You said you would help me return to my universe."

"If you keep your part of the bargain," T'Pol said, "yes."

That acknowledgement made Hoshi feel better. But it seemed strange that T'Pol was going to tell her who she thought had tried to kill Archer but didn't want the captain to know. "All right. Who do you think did it?"

T'Pol took a deep breath and looked away, her head hanging. In a human, her posture would have been a sign of shame. "I believe it is..." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "...Commander Tucker."

She wasn't saying anything that Hoshi didn't already suspect. In fact, it only served to validate her own suspicions. But she needed to know why T'Pol thought Tucker was the guilty party. The first time she'd seen the two of them together, at her debriefing about the Xindi conflict, her impression had been that T'Pol detested Tucker. Her unVulcanlike demeanor now, however, suggested otherwise.

"I would think you would be pleased if Commander Tucker was no longer around," Hoshi said.

"Yes...and no."

If T'Pol had been human, Hoshi would have automatically added up her hesitancy, her obvious discomfort, and even her need to keep this conversation private, and come up with the reason for her behavior. Vulcans weren't the best at handling any emotions, however, much less the one Hoshi believed was afflicting T'Pol. It wasn't something that the Vulcans she knew discussed, except maybe in the abstract.

Hoshi almost felt sorry for T'Pol, but she had to ask. "You love Commander Tucker, don't you?"

T'Pol lifted her gaze to look almost defiantly at Hoshi. "It would be more accurate to say that I need him."

"Oh!" If Hoshi thought she'd been embarrassed when T'Pol had referred to her "in name only" status as captain's woman, the Vulcan woman must be humiliated to bring up the subject of pon farr. Mate or die was a burden Vulcans had to bear. Tucker must have helped her through that. That had to be what she was talking about.

"We have bonded," T'Pol told her. "Through that bond, I find that I can draw upon his innate ability, as a human, to control and identify emotions. I have difficulty doing that when surrounded daily by those with volatile emotions. I must not only control my own emotions, but understand those of others around me if I am to survive in the Terran Empire."

That didn't explain why T'Pol loved Tucker. "But--" Hoshi started to say, but T'Pol spoke over her.

"In having access to his thoughts, I have learned there are many admirable qualities about Commander Tucker. His devotion to duty, his love of family, even his ability to make friendships with others." A slight greenish blush stained her cheeks. "He has been kind to me at times."

And other times he hasn't, Hoshi thought, recalling the snide comments Tucker had made at the debriefing. She wondered if T'Pol could distinguish between Tucker's natural charm, which he could wield to get what he wanted, and genuine kindness.

T'Pol added a caveat. "He is, however, a product of this universe. He has many qualities that are not admirable."

Hoshi made the intuitive leap. "He forced Phlox to try to poison the captain."

There was a flicker of doubt in T'Pol's eyes, gone as quickly as it had appeared. "I have no proof, but I believe that is the case. People who are bonded share thoughts. Lately, there have been many times when Commander Tucker has thought about advancing his position in the fleet. He resents that the captain hasn't seen fit to help him, considering what he has done to please the captain."

Curious, Hoshi asked, "What was that?"

"Commander Tucker killed Zefram Cochrane."

The surprises were coming almost too fast to comprehend. Hoshi sat in the nearest chair before her legs could give out. "He told me that the captain had done that himself."

"No," T'Pol said. "Commander Tucker had yet to meet either Zefram Cochrane or the captain when Henry Archer was killed, but his admiration for the captain's father led him to rash action. Afterward, he told the captain what he'd done. When Enterprise was commissioned a few years later, the captain remembered and rewarded him with the position of chief engineer."

"Tucker admitted doing this?" Hoshi asked.

"No." T'Pol averted her gaze. "I was curious about him when we bonded during pon farr."

Pon farr was a deeply private matter for Vulcans, and until now, T'Pol had verbally danced around actually mentioning it by name. By speaking of it aloud, Hoshi understood that T'Pol was trying to express how important it was in her belief that Tucker had arranged for Archer to be killed. She'd been curious about Tucker, so she'd peeped into his mind during pon farr. "I take it that the bonding involved a mind meld?"

"Yes," T'Pol said, her voice barely more than a whisper. "I accessed his memories, and to this day, we retain a telepathic bond."

So she could telepathically pick up on what Tucker was thinking. When she considered that the bond might work both ways, Hoshi shot to her feet in alarm. "Can he tell what you're thinking right now?"

T'Pol shook her head. "No, I am able to easily shield my thoughts from him. At the most, he can tell my general location on the ship.

"But, I am aware of his thoughts," T'Pol continued. "Recently, there have been several occasions when his thinking was muddled, as if he were deliberately trying to make his thought processes more illogical than usual. But there were also two times in the last several days when I have been totally blocked." At Hoshi's quizzical glance, she added, "Humans can learn to block the meld connection. Commander Tucker has done it a few times when he didn't want me to know something he was doing." She paused. "I believe the most recent occurrences were when he was blocking me from obtaining knowledge of his attempt to kill the captain."

"Oh, boy," muttered Hoshi.

T'Pol left, exiting through the captain's cabin, after receiving assurances from Hoshi that she wouldn't inform Archer of their suspicions concerning Tucker. T'Pol also promised to bring a data chip with information about the process to send Hoshi back to her universe as soon as she could.

Hoshi remained for a time in her own cabin, pondering the things that T'Pol had told her.

Between the two of them, all they had were suspicions. In Hoshi's case, her interpretation of Tucker's behavior was subjective with no foundation in solid evidence. And as far as T'Pol's suspicion went, well, just because she hadn't been able to read Tucker's thoughts a couple of times didn't mean he was up to no good.

For all Hoshi knew, there could be another explanation, such as the effects of alcohol on the brain. Which made her wonder why Tucker had been drunk to begin with when he'd visited Archer's cabin. Maybe the pressure of being acting captain was getting to him. Or maybe he was worried that, if Archer was out of the way, he'd be next in line for assassination.

This universe was a terrible place to live. She couldn't wait to get back to her own universe where she trusted and respected the people with whom she worked. Now that she knew she could go back, it was almost impossible to think of anything else.

Still, it was good to know that Archer hadn't killed Zefram Cochrane. Hoshi tended to believe T'Pol on that count, although how much of that was due to the axiom in her own universe that Vulcans didn't lie, or because of T'Pol's obvious distress about Tucker. Knowing that Archer hadn't killed Zefram Cochrane made her a lot more comfortable sharing the adjacent quarters. But she still didn't know for sure who had tried to kill Archer, or what Archer had thought had gone wrong with his deal with Shran.

Until T'Pol gave her the information about the return process, the best Hoshi could do was keep protecting Archer. She was once again biding her time, but now she had an actual goal in sight.

She glanced at the chronometer. It was time to give Archer another injection of antibiotic.