—Chapter 24—

The next morning, by ship's time, T'Pol was to meet Captain Archer for a working breakfast, and seated herself just moments before the captain entered the Captain's Mess, Phlox in his orbit.

"Good morning, T'Pol," said Jon as he took his seat.

"Captain," said T'Pol, "Doctor."

"Good morning, SubCommander," said Phlox with a smile.

The Captain's steward entered the room and waited expectantly.

"Go ahead, SubCommander, "said Jon.

"Hot blueberry tea, please," said T'Pol, "and a small fruit platter."

The steward nodded, looked at the Captain.

"Two breakfast tacos, two scrambled eggs, refried beans, side of pico de gallo," said Archer.

"Very good, Captain," said the steward. "And for you, Doctor Phlox?"

"Tall stack of buttermilk pancakes, please, with caramelized bananas. Maple syrup, coffee."

The steward nodded and left the room, as Jon looked at them both.

"I suppose, the first thing I should tell you both, is that Trip will be gone for five years or so," said Jon, looking at T'Pol.

Although no one 'officially' knew Trip and T'Pol were together, everyone knew they were together by now. Although they'd always given the rumor mill plenty of reason to suspect that there was something going on between them, something had definitely changed between the Chief Engineer and the Vulcan after his return from his last mission, and it was undeniable. When they spoke to each other, their eyes touched, when riding in a crowded turbo-lift the SubCommander pressed herself unconsciously into the Chief Engineer, violating his personal space in a way she never did with any other crewman, and when she looked at the man, the cool, poised Vulcan gave the appearance of a femininity she never displayed so overtly with any other.

"I couldn't tell anyone until now, SubCommander, but as my second in command, you have a 'Need to Know'."

T'Pol seemed to doubt the Captain's veracity, and said, "Is that so, Captain?"

"Yep. StarFleet is opening a large breeding farm in Syndicate space," said Archer, "and Trip will stand at stud, breeding a whole new generation of sexy officers to serve StarFleet's purpose of reaching out to new worlds, and new civilizations. They're importing thousands of alien hotties from all corners of the galaxy to... stimulate the Commander."

"I am not amused, Captain," said T'Pol.

"No?"

"Not in the least."

"Ok then, moving on," said Jon, looking at Phlox. "Doctor, it gives me great personal pleasure to inform you that we will soon be on a heading for the Denobula Triaxa system."

Phlox was indeed pleased at that, practically grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh, that is fantastic news, Captain," said Phlox. "For what reason?"

"Furthering diplomatic ties between our two worlds," said Archer. "We're due for some personal leave, it should be a treat for the crew, and it will give you a chance to spend some time with family."

It took twelve hours at warp 4, before the shuttle which had carried Trip and Malcolm dropped out of warp in system of a red dwarf star, and after ten minutes or so at sub-light speed, the shuttle drew close to a huge asteroid. After receiving clearance, the shuttle entered a huge shuttle bay built into the hollowed out asteroid. From an engineer's point of view, Trip was fascinated by the industry this outpost represented, and soon after, they exited the shuttle, to be greeted by a StarFleet Ensign.

"Commander Tucker, Lieutenant-Commander Reed, welcome. I'm Ensign Lau. Now if you'll follow me, I'll show you to your quarters."

"What's the size of this asteroid?" said Trip to the Ensign.

"I believe it's 100km long, and from 30-80km wide, and from 10-52km tall, depending on where in particular you take such measurements, sir."

"When did StarFleet get into the business of building bases like this?" said Malcolm.

"This is actually a Vulcan installation now, Lieutenant-Commander. Used to be an Orion stronghold, three years ago, and then the Andorian Imperial Guard paid them a visit," said the Ensign. "They often venture into Syndicate space on hunting expeditions and when they fell on this place they put every Orion and Nausicaan to the sword. That's how the Vulcans found the place, it was a bloody mess. They vented the atmosphere along with all the corpses into space then dragged it away from its coordinates in Syndicate space. It takes thirty-six Vulcan cruisers with their tractor beams to move it at warp speed, and a somewhat lessor number to move it at sub-light speeds. It even has berths for almost forty Vulcan battle-cruisers, and you know the size of those ships. Anyway, the Vulcans grabbed it, and now they use it as a mobile base, and it's a hell of a mobile base."

"Damn right," said Trip. "How do the Vulcans know that it was Andorians which destroyed this place?"

"The Andorian Imperial Guards hit a hundred and seventeen Orion bases, all exactly at high noon, Laikan time," said the Ensign. "Laikan is Andoria's capital city. Anyway, the Vulcans were naturally monitoring the gathering of such a number of Andorian battle-cruisers, given their history with the Andorians."

"Did the Orions strike back?" said Malcolm.

"Are you kidding? They scatter like pigeons before the Imperial Guards, unless they outnumber the Andorians by a factor of twenty," said the Ensign. "Here we are, sirs. We're offering room service for the first three days until everyone gets settled in and familiar with the layout. It's just after 14:00 local time, so feel free to order some lunch after you refresh yourselves. Tomorrow you'll get a tour of the place."

"Who's going to tell us why we're here?" said Trip.

"People are still arriving, sir, and they'll keep coming through this day and through the coming night. You'll be briefed at 08:00 tomorrow, sir."

"You are all about to embark on a magical journey," said Doctor Phlox, facing into the camera, "for Denobula is a magical place. A planet of twelve billion inhabitants, all living on a huge continent, the one and only continent, Denobula is a place of—"

"Ok, that's good, Doctor," said Hoshi, "but the way you're waving your arms around makes me think you're trying to fly."

Phlox laughed, and said, "I am sorry, Ensign. I'm just excited at the thought that the Enterprise is visiting my home."

"I understand, Doctor, but restrain yourself a bit, and your presentation will be that much more effective. We have two more days before we reach Denobula, so let's relax, and let's do it right."

"Yes, Ensign. Thank you."

"Listen," said Lieutenant Hess. "I know we're all excited to visit Denobula, but no one's going down, unless Engineering is shipshape. No way Commander Tucker is sneaking back aboard and catching us with our drawers down, so let's get it done."

"So," said Archer to T'Pol, during their nightly meal in the Captain's Mess, "it seems that the entire crew has caught Denobulan fever."

"Denobulan fever, Captain?" said T'Pol, moving her food around the plate absentmindedly.

Chef had cooked T'Pol a delicious lentil and rice pilaf, four falafel and a mint and tomato salad with the merest touch of garlic yet the SubCommander's appetite seemed off.

"Excitement, T'Pol. Everyone's looking forward to our visit there. What about you?"

"I look forward to it as well, Captain. You should take full advantage of it as well. You need some relaxation more than any, to function efficiently."

"I'm fine, T'Pol, but I'll take leave if you do the same."

"Very well," said T'Pol.

The captain's steward entered the room, and said, "Admiral Ryan wishes to speak to you, Captain."

"I'm sorry to be rude, T'Pol," said Archer, rising.

"No matter, Captain. It is about time for my meditation."

Once the Captain had left, the steward approached T'Pol, and said, "I'd be glad to bring you something else, SubCommander. You've barely touched your food."

"Actually, it is quite delicious," said T'Pol. "If you would be kind enough to put it into a go-box, I will eat it after I meditate."

"Yes, SubCommander," said the man, and returned a few minutes later, paper bag in hand.

An hour later, after meditating, she opened the bag to pull out her go-box, and noticed that the steward had slipped in an extra box with her meal. Opening it, she found a palm-sized fruit tart. The man knew that T'Pol had developed a weakness for such things, corrupted by Commander Tucker's insatiable appetite for sweets. Pushing the rest of her food aside, T'Pol sat on the bed and ate her fruit tart by the dim light of her meditation candles.