—Chapter 35—
—Trip! sent T'Pol, and undercurrent of alarm in her psyche, for she felt an echo of her mate's pain in her mind. What is happening to you?
—I'm getting the stuffing beat out of me, sent Trip.
—Why? sent T'Pol.
It took a few moments for her mate to respond, and it that time T'Pol felt a knee driven into her mate's stomach, then an elbow slammed against the side of his head.
—Does it matter? sent Trip. How long 'till the cavalry gets here?
—We are still two hours out, sent T'Pol, then winced to herself, as she felt a boot slam on her hand, well her mate's hand, probably breaking some bones.
Only a mental grunt from her mate in response.
—I hate to press you now, sent T'Pol suppressing her emotion, but can you give us any information that might be of use to us? The Andorians have the best sensors among us, and even they can't tell us anything about that system.
A momentary pause, and the sensation of her mate screaming, then her mate sent message.
—There's a great deal of minute debris in this system, so some kind of major planetary collision might have taken place insystem recently, speaking on a geological timescale, sent Trip. I suspect that there's also a higher than normal radiation load as well. The Romulans have kept their shields up, even though there's no danger for them here.
Another pause while Trip took some more hits, then the man's thought stream resumed.
—We've pulled in at a space station which orbits the green gas giant. We've counted ten Romulan ships at the station. As for us, they're sorting us out into groups. Men separated from women, Humans from aliens, officers from crewmen.
T'Pol understood the Romulan's purpose in doing so, and waited silently for the better part of four minutes, as Trip was assaulted viciously once more, then waited silently for Trip to deal with the pain.
—I believe they'll move us to the station in a while, but now they're making an example of the officers, and select others, that resistance has a cost. The Tellarite envoy was first for striking a Romulan and he might be dead by the looks of it, then Malcolm took a beating, now it's my turn, then Jon, then the rest of the Lieutenants and Ensigns.
—Hang in there, please! sent T'Pol. We are coming!
1st Prefix Vrujal, the Romulan commander put in charge of this alien filth moved past an unconscious Trip, and then Archer as two troopers dragged the bleeding Human to the side of the room.
"That one," said Vrujal.
The Prefix had pointed out a dark-skinned Human and the four Romulans administering the beatings moved for Travis with grins on their faces, and moments later Travis's beating had begun.
"You are still alive for one reason only," said Vrujal, "and that is to provide us with information. Whether or not you live after that is up to you. Cooperate with us, and you will be sent to one of our labor colonies afterwards, where you may have hope of one day purchasing your freedom."
A Romulan's foot kick landed against the side of Travis's head with a nasty degree of force, and the man went limp immediately.
"Resist us," said Vrujal drawing his disruptor pistol from its holster, "and you will die."
With casual disregard for sentient life, the Romulan discharged his weapon twice into the body of the Tellarite. If he wasn't dead before, he was dead now.
"Suggestions," said L'Rass.
The Vulcan Admiral had just briefed the other captains on the situation, and looked at the Bridge monitor, where the captain's images were displayed in a grid pattern.
"We go in blasting," said Korsos, the Tellarite captain. "We outnumber the Romulans, and we kill them all."
"That seems the logical way to go," said L'Rass, who wished to send the Romulans a message that the Vulcans would not be easy game, then looked at the Andorians, although technically only Captain Shran's opinion would matter, for he was the senior captain, and the Imperial Guards were a strongly hierarchical organization.
"We are agreed, but I suggest the following modification to our simple plan," said Shran, and briefly described his plan. "The Imperial Guards will handle that part of it."
"I like it," said Captain Hernandez of the Columbia, and the other captains nodded their agreement.
For her part, T'Pol was just relieved that she was drawing closer to her mate with every second which passed.
The allied attack came as a complete surprise to the Romulans, for the same interference which hindered the allied sensors also hindered the Romulan's own detection sensors, which would have warned them of danger. The seven Vulcan ships came first, flanked by the Tellarite and Human ships and they made way directly for the Romulan warships, phasers and torpedoes lancing out ahead of the ships to make first contact with the enemy. Meanwhile, the five Andorian ships made way directly for the troop transport ship, blasting the Bridge of that ship to hell with massed phaser fire, decompressing the Romulan Bridge, and killing every Romulan on duty there. Three of the Andorians then turned to the fray, while the other two Andorian ships locked tractor beams onto the transport ship and warped out of the system at high warp.
"Attack!" said Malcolm, for Trip was still unconscious, and Captain Archer barely moving.
The Lieutenant jumped to his feet, along with every other crewman, and charged the ten Romulans in their section of the troop transport. Every Romulan reached for their disruptor, and got some two dozen shots into the crew of the Enterprise, before being overcome and killed in turn.
The battle in space was won by the allied forces, at a cost. The Tellarite ship was destroyed, though half of the crew was saved. The Human ship Columbia, was in bad shape, and would need to be hauled back to Vulcan by tractor beam, where Vulcan engineers would have her back up in a matter of weeks. Four of the Vulcan ships were badly damaged as well, but that damage could be repaired. Of the ten Romulan ships, seven had been destroyed, and three had warped out of the system. The allied forces blew the station to bits, then warped out, heading for home.
Trip woke in a most elegant Sick Bay, colored in two shades of gray, and one shade of blue, only to be greeted by an Andorian doctor.
"What happened?" said Trip.
"You were rescued, and your ship avenged," said the Andorian, for his clip on comm unit translator app was now programmed with English. "A number of your crew were killed, or badly wounded during the course of the rescue, and we brought the wounded aboard."
"How many dead?"
"Some three hundred spread out among all of us. From your crew, fourteen dead," said the Andorian, "and another ten wounded, in addition the those of you who took a beating. All the living will make a full recovery in time."
"Good," said Trip. "What's my condition?"
"You'll be all right," said the doctor. "In pain for two or three weeks, but I'll give you some pills to help you through it."
"Where are we?" said Trip, and the Andorian was about to answer, when the door opened, and another Andorian entered Sick Bay.
"Ah," said the newly come Andorian, noting that Trip was conscious and making way to his bedside. "It's good to see you wake, PinkSkin. I was told the Romulans did quite a number on you."
"They did," said Trip. "I'm grateful for your assistance…"
"Shran," said the Andorian. "I'm this ship's captain."
"Well, I owe you one, Captain," said Trip.
"I was just about to say that, PinkSkin," said Shran with a grin.
"Trip, or Commander Tucker, Captain," said Trip. "Take your pick."
"Is he restricted to Sick Bay?" said Shran, looking at the doctor.
"No," said the doctor, "just don't challenge him to a wrestling match."
Shran laughed, and said, "Come on, Trip. Have lunch with me. I'll introduce you to Andorian Ale. You won't even remember your pain."
"I'm all for that, Captain," said Trip, rising slowly from his bed.
"Call me Shran."
Hours later, Malcolm woke and painfully swung round on his bed, feeling like he'd been run through a cotton gin. An attractive Andorian female watched him, then raised the top half of her bed with the press of a button. She watched Malcolm with a bold, yet still femine look, which Malcolm found intriguing. He nodded to the Andorian, and she reached for her comm unit and spoke in Andorian, which was quickly translated to English.
"What the hell happened to you, Human?"
"I took a beating."
"Did you hit them back?"
"Considering that Romulans reward resistance with death, I chose the cowards way out," said Malcolm, "and took my beating with a smile."
The Andorian chuckled at that, then winced, for three of her ribs were fractured, and said, "You'll get them next time."
"How do you know there will be a next time?" said Malcolm.
"I always trust my feelings, Human," said the Andorian, "and I have a good feeling about you."
"Oh?" said Malcolm, taking note of the Andorian's cute face, shapely figure just barely concealed by the thin blanket, and the one sexy leg which laid exposed atop her blanket. "I'm Lt-Commander Malcolm Reed."
"Pleased," said the Andorian. "I'm Lt. Talas."
"Well, Lt. Talas," said Malcolm, "I'm going to hop on over to the Mess Hall and get something hot to drink. May I get you anything?"
"Our chef took on some juicy Risan grapes at our last stop," said Talas. "I could eat some, but it pains me to raise my arms. Perhaps you could lay next to me when you return, and feed them to me?"
Malcolm grinned, and said, "Gladly, Lt. Talas."
"I'm sorry things turned out so badly, Ambassador," said a bruised and beaten Archer to Soval, who was visiting with the wounded, he having fortunately avoided any physical harm during this entire escapade.
"It was not your fault, Captain," said Soval. "You and your crew did everything possible, and if anything, all of our peoples now see the value of cooperation against the Romulans, and perhaps that will give the Romulans pause before initiating a war."
"Here's hoping," said Archer, knowing deep down that the Romulans would not stop, ever, unless they were soundly beaten: still, Soval was likely right, and this episode bought them all some time, before the shooting started.
That night, in Shran's quarters, for the Andorian captain had a pull out couch and made Trip an offer he found preferable to returning to Sick Bay, Trip was about to fall asleep, when he received T'Pol's sending through the Bond.
—Your place?
—Yes, he sent.
T'Pol had a dirty little secret, in that she preferred the use her mate made of his private place, for where her private place was a featureless nothing of white, all the better to aid her in meditation, her mate's place was series of lush tropical islands surrounded by blue and green waters overflowing with fish, as the island was populated by all manner of birds and harmless wildlife.
Given that T'Pol could enter into a meditative trance in a matter of seconds, while her mate took ten minutes or so, T'Pol got there first, at the large island on which Trip had imagined his gear, and which he considered his home base. She looked up at the towering mountain covered to the top with vegetation, then to the large bamboo tree house in which they'd spent quite few nights, looked then around the clearing, noted the friendly Siamese cat named Samantha which kept Trip company when he came here alone. Movement out on the water drew her attention, and she noted Trip approaching swiftly in his slender twenty foot long sea kayak, wearing nothing but a smile an a pair of shorts. Oh, he loved this place, and she loved it too, and loved him as well. Now if only she could get out of this armor quickly, in order to enjoy the sun and water on her skin!
The next morning Trip woke as Shran allowed his steward to roll in a cart with two breakfast trays, a pot of hot tea, and a pot of hot coffee, and soon Human and Andorian were breaking bread in amiable silence.
Finally, Shran said, "What was all that whimpering I heard last night?"
"What?"
"You whimpered half the night," said Shran.
"Oh, sorry about that," said Trip. "I was dreaming about T'Pol."
"Yes," said Shran, "your Vulcan mate. Whatever possessed you to mate with a Vulcan? It's an act of madness!"
"I don't know, Shran," said Trip, remembering the pleasure he'd taken in stripping armor off the Klingon T'Pol, and making her pay a heavy price for transgressing on his special place, "but it has it's perks."