Chapter 2:
As the Enterprise edged her way into a tight orbit, Ensign Travis Mayweather sat attentively at the helm. The crew was all too familiar with the cost any complacency could have. One split second hesitation could mean the difference between life and death and the Ensign much preferred the former. Hoshi sat at the comm monitoring for activity and T'Pol stood at the Science station scanning for any potential abnormalities. When she was satisfied there nothing amiss, T'Pol signaled the Captain in his quarters.
"Bridge to Captain Archer. We have entered orbit around the fourth planet in this system as ordered," T'Pol indicated, her posture stoic and face expressionless.
The planet below appeared to be an uninhabited mixture of desert, tundra, and temperate rainforest. She quickly identified several potential landing sites in close proximity to the deuterium deposits. The doors of the turbolift swished open, revealing the Captain's frame. He advanced to his chair and turned to face his first officer.
"Report?" he questioned as he nimbly sat in his chair.
"Captain, we are holding steady orbit around planet Theta Atlas IV. I have pinpointed three potential landing sites that are well-within the optimal zone for us to harvest the deuterium deposits."
The Captain waited for her to elaborate, drumming his fingers next to the controls on his armrest.
"The first site is within the middle of the desert location. While the climate is less than ideal for the crew, it is the site with the most plentiful deposits. If we make haste on our collection efforts, we should be able to minimize any difficulty for the crew"
Jon's brow furrowed, "We haven't exactly had the best luck on desert worlds," ruefully recalling a dehydrated Trip Tucker and a treacherous expedition through the Forge with Surak's katra hitching a ride in his head.
T'Pol countered, "It is fortunate then that Vulcans do not believe in luck. If we take the proper precautions, Doctor Phlox believes we should be able to lower the risk to acceptable margins."
Captain Archer blinked.
"Acceptable margins" he echoed.
He let the words weigh on his consciousness for several beats. He wondered silently whether Crewman Taylor or Major Hayes or a dozen others would have thought there was any such thing. There was a time where such concepts would be unthinkable to him. That time had passed when Earth was attacked. He extracted himself from the disconcerting thoughts. As he well knew, going down that road led to some dark places and he wasn't keen to revisit them while his ship was nearly crippled.
"What are the other options?" he asked, not satisfied until he considered all the choices.
T'Pol smoothly related her competent analysis of the other two landing sites, both of which had a number of perils of their own. The rainforest held a variety of aggressive carnivorous species which would be difficult to avoid, while the tundra region held substantially less deuterium deposits than the other two sites. It seemed they would be needing their desert survival gear after all.
After due consideration, Archer rose. "Have Trip meet you in the launch bay with his team. I want you to extract the deuterium and get the hell out of there, understood?"
T'Pol nodded her assent and departed the Bridge.
Dressed in their tan desert survival gear, The landing party began their slow descent to the planet's surface.
A thoroughly irritated Trip Tucker sat brooding in the pilot's chair of Shuttlepod One as he maneuvered the spacecraft towards the planet surface. He had tried to get out of this mission. He felt he was needed making repairs in Enterprise and besides, deserts were not his forte. Unfortunately, the Captain would have none of that. It was strange to think there was a time he would have begged to go on each and every away mission. Besides his desire to avoid the heat of the desert, he was also keen to avoid the heat spawned in him by the Vulcan sitting to his right, her face never taking her eyes off the scanner. They hadn't spoken since he unceremoniously drove her from Engineering and he could feel the tension coursing across the latent recesses of their bond. Trip turned to her. They couldn't avoid each other forever. After a moment's hesitation, he opened his mouth to speak, but it was time to commence landing. Their talk would have to wait.
"I'll set her down on that ridge." the Engineer said, skillfully landing the Shuttlepod. As the doors opened, the blast of heat that emanated into the Shuttlepod hit them abruptly. Grabbing their gear, the landing party filed out of the Shuttlepod. It was going to be a long, hot day.
Hours passed in the oppressive heat as the team worked to accomplish their objective. T'Pol busied herself, taking copious scans of the fauna and flora to bring back for further study aboard the ship as she considered herself a science officer, first and foremost. The engineering team worked diligently while the temperature climbed to over 43 degrees Celsius. Across the terrain, T'Pol noted the Commander to be sweating more profusely than his team members. Beads of sweat collected along his forehead and dark sweat circles were prominent on his shirt. As his breathing appeared labored, T'Pol brow furrowed slightly in concern. She walked across the sandy landscape, steeling herself for the debate that would surely follow.
"Commander, have you hydrated yourself adequately?" she asked, attempting to effect a casual tone of voice, revealing no more concern for her estranged bondmate than she would for any other member of the landing party.
He grunted, while adjusting the pump. "No time to stop. The captain wants this completed asap and I still have to work on the injector assembly when we return to the ship."
T'Pol frowned, assessing him discreetly with her scanner. As she looked at the readout, she realized he would end up in sickbay or worse if he continued at this pace without cooling his core body temperature, however, getting him to admit to this vulnerability would be a challenge given how intransigent the Commander could be. "Perhaps I can relieve you while you rest. Vulcans are better suited to this environment" she offered casually.
"Sorry, Commander. You may have me beat in the amount of hours you can go without drinking, but we'll be here forever if I don't do this myself."
Commander. There it was. She wondered when he stopped calling her by her name. How had they fallen so far in such a short time?
"Surely a member of your team could assist you while you rehydrate? You need to regulate your body temperature. Drink. That's an order" she stated firmly, brown eyes boring into blue.
Slamming his tool down, he circled behind her to retrieve his canteen. He gulped down the last of his water supply, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He leaned forward toward the back of her head.
"Satisfied I won't drop dead now?" he spat, the warm breath from his mouth reaching the tips of her ears.
An imperceptible shiver ran through her body as he stormed away to resume his work. No, she was not nearly satisfied.