Wreaking Havoc
Three Months Later.
Captain Charles Anthony Tucker, III with his massive, monstrosity of a war ship was kicking ass and taking names. The war had taken a turn and it was all because of Invictus. It had not lost a battle and it had been in fourteen over the last three months. One would think the Captain's superiors would have been happy, that they would be thrilled that Starfleet had finally made a mark in this war. Just a few months ago the Romulans had Starfleet on the run, then came Invictus.
Two war birds de-cloaking Captain just off…." Hoshi started.
"Where?!" Trip demanded.
"Right on top of us!" Travis called out. Suddenly Invictus was hit with a borage of weapons fire. She barely noticed it. Then…
"Captain, two more war birds…starboard bow!" Carter called out.
"XO?" Trip said. "Why the hell didn't our long range sensors pick anything up?"
"Uncertain Captain," T'Pol said as the ship shook. "It appears they may have had upgrades to their cloaking technology."
"Damned Voltarians!" Trip shouted. "Evasive manuvers Travis!"
"Aye Sir!" the helmsman replied. Invictus shifted and tried to come about but they were met by yet another war bird that seemed to come from nowhere, another followed directly behind it.
"Captain!" Several of the bridge crew called out as they went flying.
"Shields!? Trip shouted.
"Down to 49% Sir," Carter said. "They're really hammering us!"
"We are surrounded," T'Pol said with a slight elevation in her voice.
"Ambush! They came here to bring Invictus down and they sent six warbirds to do it!"
"We could handle them if we could separate," Reed said.
"That's why they snuck up on us, didn't want to give us a chance to. Can't separate with our shields up and we can't put 'em down right now either."
"Precisely Captain," T'Pol added. "However, if they are successful in bringing our shields down, we will be extremely vulnerable. They will be able to destroy the ship."
"Well, not today fellas!" Trip shouted. "Bridge crew, let's get to work. Commander Reed, make weapons hot! Then fire at will."
"My pleasure Captain," Reed replied. He then nodded at Carter and Moss, the other armory officers. They nodded back and prepared to fire weapons. Invictus let loose a borage of fire power from its array of nine phase cannons.
"Move us around counterclockwise Travis," Trip ordered. "I wanna give all five birds an equal opportunity blasting. Target their engines." In a few minutes, one of the war birds started to explode. Another tried to retreat.
"Get after that bird helmsman!" he shouted. "Commander Reed, keep those phase cannons targeted at those other birds, I want those shields down!"
"Aye Sir!" Reed replied. Moments later the war bird that Invictus was chasing erupted in fire.
"That's two down," Trip said. "C'mon people impress me. They attacked us, we gonna let 'em get away with that!"
"Hell no!" Carter shouted and sent out a round from her station. Suddenly all three remaining warbirds came flying directly at Invictus. "Captain, they intend to ram us! They're going to kill everyone on those ships to take us out!"
"Pull up Travis," Trip shouted. I want you to pull up. Get us right over the top of those birds. Do it, now!"
"Aye Sir!" Travis replied.
"Malcolm, get weapons hot, I wanna blast 'em as we're flying over and Travis, we're gonna jump to warp like…
"Sir?" Malcolm and Travis said at the same time.
"Just do it!" Trip replied. "We can do this, trust me, trust yourselves."
Malcolm and Travis looked at one another. Malcolm nodded. "Aye Captian, Aye sir," they said.
Within moments, the ship started to climb. "Hold on to something!" Travis shouted.
Then Invictus pulled up and flew directly over the top of the war birds. There was a borage of weapons fire as the ship jumped to warp. One of the enemy ship was hit by the edge of Invictus as it flew over. It went hurdling into space and erupted. Invictus' crew went flying again, crashing into consoles and the bulkhead.
"Now bring her about Lieutenant," Trip ordered and the helmsman brought her about, and was now chasing what was left of the last two war birds.
"Commander Reed! Give 'em everything you got!" Trip shouted. "Blast 'em to hell!" In a few moments, the war birds disintegrated. Everyone cheered. They had been ambushed by six war birds and lived to tell about it.
"Captain… I-I…" Lt. Hall started. I've never seen anything like that before, and, and it was…magnificent!"
"Travis if I must say so, that was some kind of maneuver," Malcolm said. "They were going to ram us with all three birds. That could have taken us out."
"It was like nothing I'd ever seen," Hoshi added.
"And it happened so fast," someone else said. "It was amazing! Scary, but amazing!"
Travis grinned, "just following orders," he beamed.
"Captain, may I speak with you in private," T'Pol said rising.
"Certainly," Trip replied, "my ready room. Malcolm, get a damage report from engineering and Carter, check on the injured, make sure everybody gets to sick bay. Hoshi, get Phlox and Vramarec on the comm, tell 'em to get ready."
"Aye Captain, Aye Captain" they all responded.
Inside of Trip's ready room, T'Pol was incensed. "Permission to speak freely Sir,"
"Of course," Trip said, wiping a trickle of blood off his forehead where he had banged his head on the navigation console.
"What did you think you were doing?" T'Pol scolded. "That was extremely dangerous and illogical."
"T'Pol, three big ass war birds were heading right for us, at the moment, I didn't see that we had a lot of options!"
"You could have been killed. You had no idea that that a ship this size could perform such a maneuver. Why would you give such an order!"
"Because it was my prerogative!" Trip countered. "Last time I looked I was Captain of this boat and I made a decision!
"It was a foolish decision!"
"Well it was mine to make! And Commander, you are getting very close to insubordination so I suggest you dial it back a couple of notches, before you wind up cooling off in the brig!"
T'Pol stood there clenching her fists and fuming. She wanted to hit Trip right in the mouth. Then she realized she was acting like a frightened spouse and not the second in command of the ship. She calmed herself and he felt it.
"You are correct Captain. I have no right to question your orders. I apologize." Then she turned to go.
Feeling her extreme distress and anxiety, Trip gave another order. "Hey, I want you to go to quarters, you're relieved for the rest of the day," Trip said in a calm voice.
T'Pol started to protest, but Trip cut her off. "Look," he said moving closer and taking her hand, "we've all been under a lot of stress these last few months. We've been in seemingly non-stop battles, we're all on edge. Go meditate, I know you've been neglecting to do it. But, I need you to be on top of your game, alright."
T'Pol closed her eyes and exhaled deeply "Yes Captain," she said calmly, then walked out of the door.
When the report got back to Starfleet about how Invictus had taken on six war birds at one time and defeated them, everyone was amazed. Within the next couple of weeks, Invictus engaged in three more encounters with several more enemy vessels. But these attacks had been initiated by Invictus. They had discovered a ship yard and two space stations operated by the Romulans. They had destroyed new enemy vessels that had not left space dock with no fatalities. Captain Tucker and Invictus was almost single handedly turning the war around.
Three Weeks Later.
Trip was frustrated with his superiors. Why couldn't they understand what he was saying, they had the Romulans on the run, they had gone on the attack rather than being on the defensive three times in the last month and destroyed a ship yard and two star bases. They had pushed the Romulans into hiding and Trip didn't want to let up. He wanted to stay out there and be on the patrol, be on the hunt. He wanted to stay on the offensive, not the defensive.
"We can't let up," Trip argued, "if we do, we'll regret it. We'll be giving them time to regroup, to re-fit, to get more ships out of their space dock. They'll get a chance to plan new strategies."
"Tucker, they're in hiding," Admiral Black said. "How would you suggest we find them? We don't have coordinates to their home world, and no one has seen a Romulan ship in two months."
"Sirs, listen to me," Trip said. "When we went after the Xindi, we had no idea how to find them. We had no leads and no friend out there. We started with nothing and we found them. It took months, almost a year, but we did find them and stopped the weapon. We can do it again. But we gotta be out there!"
"Tucker listen," Admiral Gardner replied. "You've done a great job. You have made United Earth feel safe again. Take some time off, go home, take a vacation. If things stir up again, we'll have you back out there on the front line in a heartbeat."
"Are you serious?" Trip said rising. "Take a vacation! That's absurd."
"Who do you think you are?" Admiral Wells replied.
"I mean no disrespect Sir," Trip responded.
"No? Well Captain," Gardner said. "We've given you a lot of leeway. You have done a great service to your planet and never shirked your responsibility, you have been outstanding. But, I'll be damned if you're gonna barge in here and talk to us like one of your little crewmen! You forget yourself!"
"Like I said I meant no disrespect. It's just that I am the one out there on the front line. I'm the one in the thick of the battle, I'm the one fighting this war, not you. You wouldn't listen to me when I told you we needed stronger, faster ships, so I had to take matters in my own hands!"
"And just what are you suggesting?" Black asked. "That we don't know our business Tucker? That without you Starfleet would just go directly to hell!"
"I'm just saying what is painfully obvious, that without Invictus, things would be headed in a much different direction, and hell seems like the designation to me!"
"Captain Tucker, you are getting closer and closer to insubordination with every word you speak!" Admiral Wells said. "So I suggest you stand down before you find yourself spending time in the brig!"
Jeffries had not spoken, he just sat listening hoping Trip would shut up and sit down. Trip stood stoically for a few moments. "May I be dismissed," he finally said, realizing he needed to get out of there before he got court marshalled.
"Trip," Admiral Jeffries said rising and moving closer. "You need to calm yourself. Go have a drink, forget about this for a couple of days. Then we'll talk again." The other Admirals all began to protest and murmer.
"Aye Sir," Trip said, and turned on is heels and left the room.
"Damn it Jeffries why the hell did you do that?" Gardner growled.
"Because he's right!" Jefferies shouted. "And if you'd all stop this petty vendetta against Tucker, maybe you could see clearly. What do have against him!?"
"He's got too much power," Wells said. "Invictus has made him more powerful than Starfleet. And now he is immensely popular with the press, the public. He has become the darling of this war."
"Do you hear yourselves?" Jeffries asked. "Aren't you forgetting something? He works for us! And he's pretty damned good at his job on top of that."
"He's arrogant," Gardner spat out.
"Trip Tucker is one of the most humble guys I've ever met," Jeffries said.
"Maybe before all this, "Black replied. "Pretty soon he'll be pushing Starfleet around. He'll be telling us what to do."
"Trip isn't like that. He's only interested in doing the right thing," Jeffries tried to assure his colleagues.
"He was the youngest Starfleet Commander and Captain. He was the reason we were able to get our fleet ready for this war," Gardner said. "He helped build Intrepid, and handed us Invictus, free of charge. If he has his way I'm sure he'll be the youngest Admiral inside another year, with Archer out of commission, Hernandez pregnant and A.G. Robinson dead."
"Is that what's bothering you? Trip taking your job! Are you crazy?"
"All I know is that Tucker is on an awfully high horse and he needs to be brought down a peg," Gardner spat out. "The only reason he isn't pushing harder now is because he doesn't realize just how much power he really has. But one day that won't be the case. Mark my word gentlemen, one day he's gonna realize who he really is! Then where will we be?!"
Trip's Quarters, Invictus.
"Your meeting with the Admirals did not go well," T'Pol said a few moments after he had entered the room.
"Understatement of the year darling," he replied. "They just won't listen to me. I don't get it, Trip said as he started to peel off his uniform."
"What is it that you do not get ki'diwa?"
"Well, they promote me," he began as he crawled up on the bed and lay next to her. "But, they don't value my opinion, they listen to nothing I say. Hell, they act like they don't even like me."
"They do not have to like you Trip. But they should value your opinion and respect you. You are a decorated officer and you have been performing at an outstanding level since you became Captain of Invictus."
"But something has changed I'm tellin' you. I just don't know what it is. I'm beginning to think that the only reason they promoted me was because of Jon. Maybe he influenced them to make me a captain. Maybe they never believed I had what it takes to do the job."
"That is illogical, T'Pol said. "Your service record speaks for itself. If no one else believes in you I am certain Admiral Jeffries does. He has always been one of your strongest advocates."
"Yeah, you're right. I worked on his team and we worked like hell getting all those frigates and Daedelus class ships ready for this war. We built Intrepid together. He knows me, knows how I work. Ramirez has always been supportive too, but she wasn't there."
"What about Admiral Wells, does he not support you? He has spoken highly of you in the past."
"Oh that damned Wells isn't worth two plug nickles!" T'Pol raised her eyebrow. "An old Earth saying," Trip explained. "Anyway, Wells is just so wishy-washy."
"Wishy-washy?" Trip rolled his eyes.
"I mean he's inconsistent, can't make a decision on his own. He just goes back and forward, so he's hard to read. One day I think he's on my side, the next, he's on my ass like Gardner and Black is all the time."
"It is unfortunate that Commodore Archer is incapacitated. He would have been a fine Admiral, and you would certainly have his support."
"He will be a fine Admiral," Trip said. T'Pol knew Trip was thinking of Erica.
"Were you able to see Captain Hernandez while you were on the surface?" she asked.
"Yeah, I did," Trip replied. "Don't tell her I said it, but she's big as a house, carrying twins and all. She's gonna have to take maternity leave sooner than she thought." T'Pol felt a wave of sadness course through her mind.
"I am concerned for her," she said. "She is alone."
"Well babe, there's something I need to tell you," Trip said sitting up. "I agreed to be with her at the delivery if Jon is still, you know." T'Pol stared at Trip for a few moments before speaking.
"That is an honorable gesture," she finally said. Trip lay back on the pillow and T'Pol laid her head on his chest as he draped an arm around her. "I do not know what I would do if I were delivering our child, and you were not there with me."
This time Trip felt the sadness emanating from T'Pol through the bond. He kissed her on the top of her head.
"Darlin' if you were deliverin' my baby, nothing could keep me away. Not wild horses, not Starfleet, not even death."
"What does that mean?" T'Pol asked puzzled.
"Just means that I would be there for you and our kid, come hell or high water." T'Pol was just about to say something but Trip cut her off, "Never mind babe, never mind," he said and kissed her on the head again. She began kissing him on the neck passionately. After a few moments she found his mouth and devoured it. She moved on top of him, but he flipped her over on her back and covered her. They fought for dominance for a few moments, he won. T'Pol tried to overpower him as she had done in the past, but could not.
"When did you become stronger than me?" she asked. "You have become very strong over the last few years, but you have never been this strong."
"You let me win," he grinned as he kissed her on the neck over and over again.
"I did not," she said, "you have become stronger."
"Ssshhh," he said kissing her on the mouth. He deepened the kiss when she relented. Their coupling seemed more aggressive than usual. She was used to having rough sex with her mate. But usually she was the rough one and Trip often ended up bruised and sore. This time however, it was the other way around.