—Chapter 34—
The flight and fight of the Enterprise lasted a surprisingly long time of just over five hours, but at the end of it all, the ship was boarded and the crew imprisoned, for the Enterprise had given all that she could give in defense of her crew, and given the distances involved, it was six hours later before the first of the reinforcements began trickling in even at high warp speed, and they then immediately began taking sensor readings, and recovering physical evidence of the attack.
By the time T'Pol reached the scene some three hours after the first responders in the Vulcan vessel named Sellera, she found six Vulcan cruisers, a Tellarite frigate, two Andorian battlecruisers, and the Human sister ship to the Enterprise, named the Columbia. They were all combing through the wreckage, when T'Pol received orders to accompany the captain of the Sellera to the Vulcan flagship To'Mak. Once there T'Pol and the Sellera's captain were guided by a Vulcan officer to a large conference room, where she saw the captains of every other ship waiting for them. The meeting was chaired by the Vulcan Admiral L'Rass, and he wasted no time bringing the latecomers up to speed.
"It is clear that we have located the Enterprise here, and we have studied the ship's wreck and the debris field with both energy scanners," said Admiral L'Rass, "and found two dozen corpses in the process, but this number does not account for the full complement of the crew or the special envoys and their aides."
"The bodies could have been dispersed by the energy of the explosion, no?" said Korsos, the Tellarite captain.
"Given the relatively low-speeds we're speaking of here," said L'Rass, "they would still be well within our short ranger sensor range, but even so, we've sent out some two dozen shuttles to finely scan the region, and they have located nothing."
"That means that these were battle casualties," said Captain Erika Hernandez, the commander of the Columbia. "The Romulans took the living captive."
"Your logic is sound, Captain, but we can improve on that, I believe," said L'Rass, pointing towards T'Pol. "That is why she is here."
"What can you do, T'Pol?" said Erika, looking curiously at the Vulcan, for she'd heard of the Vulcan through her private communications with Captain Archer.
Every eye turned to T'Pol, and she said, "Given the time which has passed since the attack in the Enterprise, the Romulan warp trails have dispersed, and the Romulans will likely be feeling secure over the matter. However, Commander Tucker, the Chief Engineer of the Enterprise, and I are mated, which means we share a psychic bond, and I believe that we can use that bond to locate the rest of the crew, and then use it to our advantage to rescue our people."
"I mean no disrespect," said Korsos the Tellarite, looking at T'Pol, "but how do you know that your mate is not among the corpses we've recovered? You just got here."
"When one of a Vulcan mated pair dies, the other dies soon after, within hours, or within days," said T'Pol, "and the loss of the other is felt immediately, and painfully. I have not felt that loss, so my mate still lives. He is unconscious now, but when he wakes, I hope to get some useful data from him."
"So we wait here until T'Pol makes contact with her mate?" said Shissian, one of the Andorian captains.
"We have recently conducted a large raid, with the aid of StarFleet," said L'Rass, "which freed some five thousand Vulcans and gave us a good deal of data on the Romulans, including navigational data. In addition, we captured and mind-probed some fifty Romulans captured by our soldiers. I think it is safe to assume for now, that the Romulans are heading towards their own sector of space with the Enterprise's crew. We should set course in that general direction, while we wait for Commander Tucker to regain consciousness."
"I can also give a rough heading and distance to some degree, and I agree with the Admiral," said T'Pol. "My mate is far from here, moving at high warp speed. We should move in pursuit without further delay."
"Three more Andorian battlecruiser will be here within the hour," said Shissian, "and if we wait here another day or so, we can have ten more, three days and we add another fifteen, and so on. I suggest we wait for reinforcements."
"I truly appreciate your offer, Captain," said T'Pol, "given the history of our two peoples, but in this case, time may be the most important factor. We should wait here for the three of your ships which are expected within the hour, but we can not wait for the rest."
"All right. I'm in," said Shissian. "Those Romulans took an Andorian envoy captive, and two of his assistants were among the corpses we found. The Imperial Guards must make a gesture of displeasure which these Romulans will understand. Killing some Romulans should do well enough."
Bel Orass, the other Andorian captain nodded his agreement with Shissian, as did Korsos, the Tellarite captain.
"We are of like mind then," said Admiral L'Rass.
Some forty-three minutes later, the three expected Andorian battlecruisers, captained by Shran, Aber and Oshroll made the scene, and after brief introductions, this formidable little armada of fourteen ships set course for the Romulan sector at Warp 5.
Trip grew conscious slowly, and painfully. His head felt about ready to explode, not to mention the pain coming from the burn on his right shoulder. At least these Romulan pricks had allowed a medic to care for, and bandage that burn. Trip groaned, opened his eyes, and slowly rose to a sitting position. He looked around the dimly lit interior of the ship, to see what was left of the Enterprise's crew and the various envoys, then noticed both Malcolm and Jon making their way towards him.
"Good to have you back, Trip," said Malcolm, and Jon nodded.
"Where are we?" said Trip. "What is this ship?"
"A Romulan troop transport," said Jon, "or a livestock transport. Who the hell knows, so take your pick. How's your head?"
"Throbbing," said Trip. "How long has this ship been moving?"
Jon made a guess, looked to Malcolm, who confirmed it with a nod.
Looking out a small porthole, and judging speed, Trip said, "We're moving at about Warp 5 now. Have we maintained this speed this entire time?"
"Yes," said Jon. "What's with all the questions?"
"I'll tell you in a bit," said Trip. "Now I need a few minutes of silence."
"Sure," said Jon, assuming that Trip was dealing with an excruciating headache.
Trip closed his eyes, silenced his mind for a bit, then reached out for T'Pol.
—Trip! sent T'Pol to her mate's mind. I am so glad to hear from you!
—Hey, baby, sent Trip. I bet you're glad we dropped you off on Vulcan now, eh?
—No, I am not. Do you know where you are?
—No idea, T'Pol, but we've been moving at Warp 5 for ten hours or so."
—We have your general heading, Trip, and paired with your information, we can make a decent guess as to your location. Hang on! We are coming for you.
—I don't know baby, sent Trip with grim humor. Maybe this is the universe's way of telling me that I need to find a sweet Romulan girl and settle down, leave the rat race, raise a family. You and Jon could hook up, and probably both make Admiral in ten years.
—You know how bad your head feels now? sent T'Pol. It will feel worse when I get my hands on you, because I plan to bat it around like a pinata!
—Temper, temper, T'Pol, sent Trip along with a mental chuckle. Vulcans should not allow anger to get the best of them.
—I am not angry, Commander Tucker. I am a Vulcan. We do not get angry.
—Right, sent Trip. I have to go now, fill Jon and Malcolm in on our conversation, have them pass word around to take notice of any physical data when we drop out of subspace, then I need to sleep some more.
—Ok, sent T'Pol, and her undercurrent of worry for her mate was clear to Trip. I love you Trip.
—I know, baby. I love you too.
The Romulan captives hovered in this limbo for ten days as the Romulan ships took their charges to an unknown destination, and Trip spent much of that time in silent commune with T'Pol, but eventually, at the end of the tenth day, Malcolm shook Trip awake, and motioned him to join him and the captain at one of the small portholes.
"Time to work your magic with T'Pol, Trip," said Jon, as Trip drew close.
"What's up, Captain?" said Trip, noting that the ships had dropped out of warp.
"I think we've reached our destination," said Archer, "and you need to pass this info to our rescuers: blue star, two ice planets, a green gas giant, and a rocky planetoid. There may be others planets out there that we missed, but the blue star and green gas giant should be enough for them to hone in on us."
"Right," said Trip, then an instant later, said, "Done."
"That's a neat trick you two have," said Malcolm.
Trip snickered, and said, "And this is the least of it, Malcolm."
"What do you mean?" said Jon, taking an interest in the conversation now.
"Forget it," said Trip.
"No, damn it," said Jon. "We've been stuck in this tin can for ten days, and I need something juicy."
Malcolm nodded his agreement with the captain.
"Ok," said Trip, "but if this gets back to T'Pol, I'll kill you both. I won't even bother trying to discover which one of you is the guilty party."
"Deal," said Jon, and Malcolm nodded his agreement.
"Well, the Bond T'Pol and I share is a mental construct, you understand?," said Trip. "We can meet physically if you will, inside this mental construct, and the way we experience this construct is greatly shaped by imagination."
"Ok," said Jon, and Malcolm said, "Yes. So what?"
"So last night while you two were humping those straw mats the Romulans have deigned to give us," said Trip, "T'Pol felt playful, and came to me in an Orion dancer's outfit, with long hair, and and Orion's green skin, and she danced for me, and then we did more than dance, all night long. And it all felt as real as you and I speaking now. I think tonight I'll ask her to be a Klingon. T'Pol will look cute with head ridges. And tomorrow nigh-"
"You cock!" said Malcolm with real venom in his voice.
"You bastard!" said Jon, after first muttering a much fouler insult.
"Hey, come on guys," said Trip, with a shit-eating grin.
"Shut the hell up!" said Malcolm, who had been attracted to T'Pol in the past, and had nursed some idle fantasies before his best friend claimed her.
"Malcolm's right!" said Jon. "Shut your pie hole, Trip, or I'll shut it for you!"
"Easy, easy," said Trip, laughing at them. "We need to get our heads back in the game."
"I guess," said Jon, giving Trip a dark look, matched by the one Malcolm gave Trip.
Despite his own advice, Trip couldn't help but start laughing again, and once he started, he couldn't stop.