—Chapter 32—
A month had passed since the joint rescue mission of the five thousand Vulcan slaves purchased in Orion Syndicate markets by the Happa, and as the rescue mission had been conducted by a joint strikeforce of Vulcan Navy/Marines allied with StarFleet personnel and MACO troops, the intelligence data gathered by that mission was likewise shared between the Vulcans and the Humans.
The Vulcan captives were all debriefed, and then gently mind-probed, both to ascertain further data which they might not have consciously recollected, as well as make certain that no Happa were mixed among the captives, given the Happa's essentially Vulcan physiology. Furthermore, the fifty or so wounded and captured Happa were interrogated, as well as forcefully mind probed by Vulcan V'Shar operatives in no mood to coddle these Happa given their crimes against Vulcans, and slowly a picture began taking shape.
These people were the Rihansu, and the name Happa was just a ruse, and the Rihansu were the dark side of the Vulcan soul, repudiated when Vulcan had chosen to follow Surak's Way of logic, save for a sizable portion of the population, who had chosen to retain their passions and their wars, and left Vulcan to seek a new homeworld amongst the stars.
"We will have to call Soval in on this," said V'Tek, a section chief in the V'Shar, the Vulcan Security Directorate, and the Vulcan in charge of this operation. "He will have to brief EarthGov and StarFleet's Admiralty Commission, while I brief our counterparts in StarFleet Intelligence."
"As you say, V'Tek," said his lieutenant. "I will contact Soval now, and begin to put things in motion."
"Good," said V'Tek.
"It is finally happening," said the lieutenant, for Vulcans had long expected that one day, their long departed brothers would return to Vulcan, and the bifurcation of the Vulcan soul would once more be expressed in the physical plane, though as the centuries had passed without contact, they had begun to hope that he Rihansu had gone their own way in peace, and forgotten the Vulcans.
"Yes," said V'Tek, thoughtfully. "Go now."
This same month had been spent in a much more meaningful fashion by Trip, at least so far as he and T'Pol were concerned. The first thing he'd done, once their three days of leave had passed and he'd managed to crawl out of T'Pol's bed, was to share the Admiralty Commission's documents with the captain.
"You magnificent bastard!" said Archer, giving Trip an Italian style kiss on both cheeks. "About time you officially made an honest Vulcan out of T'Pol! The girl's a catch!"
"Yep," said Trip, "she's a good egg."
"So official recognition of your relationship with T'Pol was the payoff for participating in this last mission of yours?" said Archer, curious over the matter.
"Actually, I didn't really care about their recognition," said Trip. "What I did care about was the promise that I could openly serve with my wife, Jon, that we wouldn't be separated from each other by StarFleet."
"I see," said Archer. "What if the High Command decides to transfer T'Pol? This was always supposed to be a temporary assignment for her."
"She's already notified the High Command that we are tel'su, Bondmates," said Trip. "That's an insoluble tie as far as Vulcans are concerned, but if they try anything, T'Pol is prepared to resign her commission, and offer her services to StarFleet."
"Well, I'm all for it," said Jon. "I'd hate to lose either of you. What can you tell me about your last mission?"
"We rescued about five thousand captive Vulcans, and confiscated a couple of hundred examples of alien technology," said Trip. "Other than that, I don't know anything, but I believe that if it goes anywhere we'll be in the thick of it. I think that's why HQ is keeping the Enterprise so close at hand, instead of sending us back out there to explore."
"Makes sense," said Archer, filling in the blanks: the Happa were somehow involved in this whole mess, somehow. "Call T'Pol now. Let's have a celebratory lunch. I have some good champagne on ice."
"That sounds great," said Trip, "but before I call T'Pol, I have a favor to ask of you."
"So ask," said Jon.
"Oh, yeah," said Trip, after a deep sigh, "that feels good."
The Chief Engineer laid flat on his stomach in T'Pol's bunk as the Vulcan straddled his back, and worked skillfully to release tension in the man's back, and as she did so, her mind reached out to him through the psychic Bond they shared, gently probing for information, only to have her inquiries deflected by the man with a skill that was surprising for one not raised with psychic sensitivity. Time for more mundane tactics.
"So what have you been up to lately, Commander Tucker?" said T'Pol. "I know that you are involved in some sort of mischief."
"Mischief?" said Trip. "What mischief?"
"I haven't seen you for weeks now," said T'Pol. "We lunch together, and you come to my quarters every night, but other than that, you're impossible to get hold of these days. Once your shift ends, you lock yourself in your cabin, and you never answer the door. I've even been forbidden to approach your quarters by the captain."
"Well, you'll have to talk him about that, T'Pol," said Trip. "It was his order."
"Once," said T'Pol, speaking as if Trip had not even made his objection, "I even 'accidentally' forgot his orders, and tried to enter your quarters."
"Did you now?" said Trip, with a barely suppressed smile.
He'd added T'Pol to his security protocol exceptions after they'd Bonded, giving her fingerprint access to his quarters, as she had given him the same access to her quarters, but he'd recently rescinded that access for T'Pol, with good cause.
"Yes, I did," said T'Pol. "Curiously, I was denied access."
"That's odd," said Trip. "I'll have to check it out. Must be some kind of a glitch in the system."
"A glitch," said T'Pol, still rubbing her mate's back. "I then attempted a security override. I was also denied access. That is a StarFleet violation, if I am not mistaken. I am your superior officer. You can not bar entry to a superior officer, Commander Tucker. Turn over."
T'Pol lifted her weight from Commander Tucker, and the man spun round beneath her to then rest on his back, and then T'Pol sat down once more, straddling her mate as her hands rested on his chest. His busy hands refused to rest though, as the man apparently felt free to caress her thighs, and given that she was just wearing a green silk nightie and a black thong, the man's hands were not restrained, and soon after they were caressing her backside in a most agreeable way.
"As a matter of fact, my dear T'Pol," said Trip, "you're not my superior officer. You're not StarFleet. I just happen to consider you a fine officer so I usually choose to act on your mostly logical suggestions."
T'Pol frowned at that. Her mate was correct. She was still officially on loan from the High Command, and the computer would have no reason to grant a visitor access to the commander's quarters. She'd integrated herself so completely into this crew, that she'd forgotten that she was not one of them… officially, at least. Well, that was something to consider another day, so far as T'Pol was concerned, for she recognized her mate's maneuver to distract her from her initial point.
"That still does not answer my questions, Commander Tucker," said T'Pol. "What are you doing in your quarters, and why are you being so secretive about it?"
"You're being silly, T'Pol," said Trip. "I'll check things out, and you'll have your access to my quarters back in no time at all."
As a former V'Shar operative, T'Pol noted the subtle signs of deception in her mate, but she knew better than to mistrust the man. They'd been through too much, and he'd proven himself too many times to count. Whatever mischief he was involved in behind closed doors, he meant her no harm. Of that she was certain.
"If you say so," said T'Pol, content to let Trip play his games.
Captain Archer received a high priority encrypted communique, as had every other StarFleet personnel of captain rank, and above. Ambassador Soval had briefed the President of EarthGov, as well as StarFleet's Admiralty's Commission on their intelligence findings, where the Rihansu were concerned, and the information was troubling.
Apparently these Rihansu were purchasing Vulcan captives from the Orions and going over their genetic code with a fine comb, seeking to isolate the genetic sequences which corresponded with Vulcan psychic powers, and presumably comparing it with their own genetic code, for some of the psychic Vulcan captives had subtly probed the Rihansu, and determined that the Rihansu wished to discover if they still had the innate capability to develop psychic disciplines, and powers, and further they determined that if the Rihansu found that such genetic sequences no longer existed within their own genetic code, they would breed them back into the race, using the captive Vulcans.
More troubling still, the psychic readings taken by the captive Vulcans during their imprisonment, combined with aggressive mind probes of the captured Rihansu by the V'Shar, made it clear that these people, these Rihansu, were an offshoot of the Vulcan species who had departed Vulcan during the Time of Awakening, after angrily rejecting Surak's message of logic and controlled passions as the new guiding principle of Vulcan life, and moreso they viewed Vulcan's adoption of Surak's Way as an insult to the true Vulcan soul, and the Vulcans, traitors one and all.
Worst of all, it seemed that these Rihansu were determined to war on the Vulcans, sooner or later, and the fact that they'd conducted sabotage and assassinations on Earth and Earth's colonies, using agents such as Ke'Relle, meant that the Rihansu meant to war on Humans as well, for being allied to Vulcan. Accordingly, both StarFleet, and the Vulcan High Commmand began preparing for war, and the first step was this, letting the facts be known, and getting everyone's mind in the game.
The first thing agreed upon, was to say nothing of the Rihansu, and their shared heritage with Vulcans, at least for now. If word of the Rihansu got out among Vulcans, it would agitate them greatly, for the realization that brother would soon kill long lost brother would be a most illogical, and yes, painful, thought. Better to allow brother to kill brother among the stars, and keep that fact from the Vulcan populace at large, until and unless circumstances made that admission absolutely necessary.
As far as Humans went, if news that Vulcans were related to these Rihansu and were almost identical in appearance, both Vulcans and Rihansu agents would come under much closer scrutiny, which was good, but the intelligence services would then be flooded with millions of bits of irrelevant data when every Human started seeing a Rihansu agent in any Vulcan: no the intelligence services would track their Rihansu quarries in the shadows, and war with the Rihansu in the shadows. Accordingly, both Earth and Vulcan agreed to name this enemy, Romulan, and leave it at that.
T'Pol, who as a Vulcan needed less sleep than Humans, woke in the middle of the night, 04:00 hours to be precise. She was acutely aware that Trip had left her bed, as he did quite often these past few weeks, doing whatever he was doing… With a yawn, and a sigh, T'Pol rose, slipped into a silk robe and headed to the Mess Hall for some hot coffee. She had four hours to kill before her shift on the Bridge, so she resolved to crank out some personnel reviews which she'd been pushing aside for days now, only to be distracted by the sight of Commander Tucker, dressed in a worn overall suit, and quite incomprehensibly sleeping at their usual table, head down on the table, cup of coffee next to his head. T'Pol determined that the coffee was barely warm, and barely touched, so Trip had fallen asleep shortly after coming here for coffee. She slipped the cup from his hand, and got two new coffee cups, hot, and sat next to the man, looking at him with quiet amusement for a bit.
Eventually, she had enough of that, and shouted, "Warp Core Breach! Warp Core Breach!"
Trip shot bolt upright, then looked round the Mess Hall, dazed. He groaned when he saw T'Pol, and realized that she was simply tormenting him, and sat back down at the table. As a peace offering, T'Pol slid one of the coffee cups to her mate.
"That was a nasty thing to do to an engineer, T'Pol," said Trip, running a hand over his face.
"So," said T'Pol, ignoring the commander's words, "you leave my warm bed, to come sleep in the Mess Hall?"
"It's your fault," said Trip. "You hog all the blankets, and I freeze."
"Nonsense," said T'Pol, knowing that the commander's accusations were untrue. "Now I have had enough of this game, Trip. Time for you to come clean with me."
"Fine," said Trip, with a weary smile. "Come to my quarters after your shift."
"Can I get in," said T'Pol, "or am I still locked out?"
"You're still locked out," said Trip, "so call Engineering before you leave the Bridge."
"So you admit that you locked me out!" said T'Pol. "I knew it was no malfunction."
"You got me," said Trip, standing. "I'm going to take a shower, then stretch out for three hours of sleep."
As the Mess Hall was empty at this hour, Trip bent down in order to taste T'Pol's lips at his leisure, before leaving the Mess Hall, and a satisfied Vulcan behind.
'I finally get to see the renovations to his quarters," said T'Pol, for the logic was inescapable, and she was certain that Commander Tucker had spruced up his quarters, in preparation for rendering invitation to his mate to move in with him.
A seemingly long eight hours later, T'Pol made her way for Commander Tucker's quarters, only to be greeted by the man, cloth sash in hand. The commander made motion with his hand, and T'Pol spun wordlessly, waiting impatiently as Trip blindfolded her, then led her into his quarters. A faint scent of varnish and cleaner tickled her nose, and Trip heard her sniffle.
"Yeah, we'll give it a day or two to air out," said Trip, as he removed T'Pol's blindfold. "What do you think?"
T'Pol was speechless.
Trip had apparently gotten permission from the captain to expand his quarters, so he'd removed the starboard wall in order to expand into the next cabin, essentially doubling the space in his quarters. More so, it was clear that Trip had stripped everything, and then rebuilt everything, yielding a long rectangular room with three large portholes, and one small porthole in each bathroom.
"Oh, this is nice, Trip," said T'Pol, slipping out of her boots, and running her feet across the firm but supportive mat which covered the floor, and was a great improvement over the heated, but still hard metal floor she'd become used to since boarding the Enterprise. "What is this?"
"Risan floor matting," said Trip. "We took on enough to cover some three thousand square feet when we thought we'd ferry their ambassador to Earth, but when that was delayed due to the ambassador's heart attack, we were stuck with it.
"It is so luxurious," said T'Pol, and then her eyes were drawn to the now textured walls. "And the walls? They're beautiful!?"
Trip had left half the walls plain steel, and applied stucco in the Italian style on the other half of the walls, giving them variety, and enhancing the beauty of the space.
"It looks like Vulcan stone!"
"That was the idea," said Trip with a smile, pleased that his work was appreciated.
T'Pol was blown away.
"The furniture!" said T'Pol. "When did you buy it? It's beautiful."
"I made it, T'Pol," said Trip. "The reason you like it, is because there's a common thread running through Human Art Deco, Japanese aesthetics and the Vulcan design motif which I used as inspiration for the furniture. Mostly to do with straight lines, a purposeful restraint and an expression of quality through painstaking attention to the smallest details, and I've kept the uncluttered feel to our quarters with tons of built in shelves, furniture and cabinetry."
That was apparent even to T'Pol's untrained eye, as the port wall was concealed floor to ceiling, end to end with a large cabinet with a dozen some doors, and when she opened one door, noted that the large cabinet was some two feet deep. She closed the door, turned, and ran her hand over the elegant table Trip had built, admiring the sheen given the table top by a dozen or more layers of lacquer. She raised brow at Trip.
"I do most of my paperwork in my office in Engineering," said Trip, "so you can use it for your work if you like, and if we ever feel like it, we can host a dinner party. It seats eight people."
T'Pol nodded, eyes lingering over the elegant chairs, then back to the cabinet, then the table.
"As you can see, I have the framework of the couches already built, but I thought I'd leave the fabric choices up to you," said Trip. "I built a long, rectangular coffee table to go with the couches, and a long narrow shelf to line that wall, but it's still in Engineering, as I have to lacquer it a dozen times or so before I bring it here."
"This is all sooo beautiful, Trip," said T'Pol, "Functional and elegant in equal measures."
She peeked into Trip's original bathroom, and noted that while it had been updated and rebuilt, it looked much the same.
"Come check out our master bathroom," said Trip, and T'Pol followed eagerly.
They had to walk through the bedroom, and T'Pol noted that same built in cabinetry which she was certain would come in so handy, and noted that the queen sized modern bed was laid atop a dais. Though she found it an attractive styling choice, she raised brow at that, out of curiosity.
"That bed will serve as an altar on which I'll do unspeakable things to you, T'Pol," said Trip, with a perverted grin on his face.
"I am looking forward to that, Commander Tucker," said T'Pol, admiring the bedroom, only to move towards the bathroom, when Trip motioned her over.
The sink and the toilet had been removed from this bathroom, and the entire room had been waterproofed with tile and glass.
"This side of the room is a shower or a sauna," said Trip, "depending on what you're in the mood for."
He pointed out the custom made shower heads in the ceiling and the additional water jets projecting out horizontally from the walls, and then pointed out the wide bench seat for use when in sauna mode, and all this contained within a glass enclosure, then led T'Pol through that enclosure to show her an impressive looking copper tub, with sides six inches thick, shaped round and tall, rather than the more common shape, low and long, of the Human tubs she'd seen before. T'Pol raised brow at that.
"Come on," said Trip, climbing into the empty tub fully dressed, and helping T'Pol climb in. "It's an Japanese style soaking tub. You sit in it, on purpose made ledges, rather than stretch out in the tub. That side is yours. It's a bit higher."
"It's very, very, nice," said T'Pol, practically feeling herself submerged in hot water to her chin. "Let us try it out tonight!"
"Ok."
"I love it all, Trip," said T'Pol truthfully. "We had best not allow Captain Archer to see your quarters, or he will commandeer them for himself."
"Our quarters," said Trip, "and he's already seen them this morning, but I'm paying him off with some custom work in his own cabin, so we're good."
"I did not know that Captain Archer could be so corrupt as to blackmail you, or accept a bribe," said T'Pol.
"You have no idea," said Trip with a laugh, because Jon truly could play some truly dirty pool sometimes.