The Beast Within
Trip sat up on the bio-bed and listened to the doctors explain what was going on with him. He had been so angry at Malcolm and T'Pol that he had told Phlox to make them leave. But Trip was even more distressed now. Phlox had asked Malvek and Kaatia to join them over his objections, but Phlox explained that their presence was imperative in explaining Trip's condition.
"Okay, let me get this straight," Trip said after he had listened for a while. "What you're saying doc is that I was treated with alien gene therapy, three years ago and it has…somehow overridden some of my human DNA…and now I've got alien mutated genes in me!"
"Essentially Captain," Phlox replied. "The treatment you received on the Lisyrian ship has altered your DNA and you now have 15%, uh alien DNA in your genetic make-up, specifically, Lisyrian.
"So…I'm some kind of freak in other words?" Trip replied running his hand through his hair as he bent over in frustration.
"No Captain, you are no freak. But, that would explain your extraordinary strength," Vramarec interjected, "and what happened to you on the bridge when the crew said your eyes changed colors. According to everyone who witnessed it, they became fire red when you were angry and then black…when you blew up that Lisyrian ship."
Trip looked at Kaatia and Malvek. "Why did she do it?" he asked. "Why did Vendria use gene therapy on me! She knew I wouldn't have wanted that!"
"Vendria was trying to save your life," Kaatia said. "Our therapy is very effective. She was only using what was natural for us."
"There's nothing natural about it!" Trip replied. "All this time, I thought I had improved myself, changed into a better, stronger person because of my determination to be better and because I worked so very hard at it. Now I find out that everything I did to become stronger, better, it wasn't me at all…it was my … Lisyrian blood! Why now, why are we just finding out about this Phlox?!"
"Captain, our technology has never been able to detect the alien DNA. Dr. Vramarec saw variations in your blood and was disturbed by it. She thought you were perhaps infected with some type of parasite or that you were ill with some type of disease. It wasn't until we consulted with our Lisyrian friends here and used their equipment to run the necessary tests that we were able to detect the alien DNA."
"It has been there all along Captain Tucker," Malvek spoke up. "And being near us has triggered it. We have a connection to one another, it stirs our blood."
"Great!" Trip replied.
"Captain I understand that you worked very hard to get stronger, but the level of strength you now possess, your speed and agility, surely you must have sensed that something did not seem normal by human standards," Malvek said.
"I thought it was just adrenalin, endorphins. I don't know. I thought being able to snap someone's neck or break a jaw with one punch was just because I was doing it precisely and had perfected the technique. I just thought when I got really mad that everything just went up another notch and I-I just didn't know my own strength."
"Anger does fuel your abilities," Malvek said. "But there is something more."
"What?" Trip asked incredulously. Kaatia and Malvek looked at one another.
"You probably possess other abilities that you are not aware of as well," Kaatia said. "You more than likely have not accessed all of them because you have had no desire to, no need to."
"So what are we talking about here ladies?" Trip asked warily.
"You should allow one of our men to train with you," Kaatia replied. "To show you what is in you Captain. It may be helpful if you were to embrace who you are now. It may be useful in the very near future."
"You know before the Lisyrians took me, I was a different person. I loved being out here in space. It was an adventure of a life time. It felt great being just an engineer. I just did my job, I didn't think so much about getting hurt."
"That explains a lot," Phlox interrupted. Trip shot him a look. "Please continue Captain," Phlox said.
"I didn't worry about fighting, I could defend myself, and that was enough. That changed after I was kidnapped. But I thought I had worked at becoming stronger and tougher, I just willed myself to be better. I never thought I'd become some super-human freak that had to tip toe around life all the time. I was okay with who I was. Now… once again, I don't know who the hell I am!"
"Doctors," Kaatia said. "May I have a word alone with Captain Tucker?"
"Captain?" Phlox asked. Trip looked around and blew out a long sigh.
"Sure, why not." They all left Kaatia alone with Trip.
"Now, what so important?" Trip asked. "Are you gonna tell me some more bad news."
"Look Trip, I know you are not pleased with what has happened to you," she said. "I know you blame Vendria, blame us. But you cannot change it. You have alien blood running through your veins and there is nothing you can do about it. So embrace it…"
"How do I do that Kaatia? No offense, but being part Lisyrian practically turns my stomach." Kaatia lowered her head.
"I'm sorry," Trip replied. "It's just that not all of your people are like you and your friends. I know that better than anybody."
"I can understand that Trip. But you cannot let that stop you from doing what you must. That is learning all you can about what's inside of you. You need to understand what you have become."
"What do you mean?" Trip asked getting alarmed. "What else is gonna happen to me? Am…am I gonna grow fangs and hair all over my body?"
"No, no. It's nothing like that. Your physical appearance will not alter I assure you. According to my research and the test the doctors ran on you, the changes will have only to do with ability. Your eye sight will get stronger over time. All of your senses will heighten, smell, hearing. You are already carnivorous, but you may also develop a taste for blood."
"What? A taste for blood! What the hell!"
"That is what I'm telling you; now that you have accessed the rage for the first time, you need to know how to control it. It has been inside of you since you were first treated on our ship, but now that you are in close proximity to other Lisyrians it has caused the rage to manifest itself, that along with your own anger. You need to accept what you have become. You may find yourself wanting to do things you've never done before, terrible things. You may even want to devour raw flesh…live flesh."
"Oh hell no!" Trip said jumping off the bio-bed. "I am not a cannibal!"
"And neither am I!" Kaatia replied. "But it is because I understand what's in me; I understand the blood thirst and how to conquer it. Encountering the rage for the first time can be very frightening and you must learn how to master it, or you may one day have an overwhelming desire to bite into the flesh of your house pet. Or you may develop an uncontrollable urge to spill the blood of your own kind, then drink it!"
Trip was horrified. It sounded like he was going to become a vampire or something. "Okay, okay. I'm listening, what do I need to do?"
"Let Rajah train you. He can show you how to control your physical strength and to unleash it at the appropriate time. If you do not and the rage of fire consumes you, you will then enter into what's called the blood chill. You will then tear through this ship, maiming and killing everything that moves…and you will consume your kill!"
"I would never do something so vicious or vile!" Trip yelled getting closer to Kaatia.
"Perhaps not, but the beast inside you would. My colleagues, Bra'ron and Kellis will teach you to suppress and control the blood rage and the thirst. You have only a small percentage of our DNA, you may never even experience these things. But it is best to know what to do in case you ever do."
"No!" Trip shouted. "I want nothing more to do with this. I don't want anything do with…Lisyrian blood, Lisyrians, period…I want nothing more to do with you! So leave me the hell alone!"
Phlox then came running. "Captain, please, you must calm down!" he said. "We are still monitoring your condition and it will be most unfortunate and dangerous if you became too angry. You must remain calm. Kaatia, you of all people know you cannot provoke him. I must ask you to leave."
"Yes doctor, at once," she replied. "Trip, think about what I have said." But, he refused to even look at her. She then turned and left sick bay.
Trip thought about what Kaatia had just told him and he couldn't believe it. Why did everything in his life have to be so complicated? Why did his life have to always be so hard and full of crap, he thought.
He could feel himself getting more and more angry. He left sick bay against doctor's orders and found a Jeffries tube and crawled in to it to think. Over the last few days he had gone from being paralyzed with fear to being angry as hell. He was having nightmares and the thing he feared the most had come upon him. Now he had just been told that he had a vicious animal inside of him.
Trip thought about the things Malvek had said to him; that he should have noticed that his strength and speed was not normal for a human. Dr. Vramarec had been bugging him for months about his abnormal looking blood work. She thought he was ill. 'I guess I am', he thought to himself, 'if I've got friggin Lisyrian DNA in me, I am sick! I'm sick as hell!'
Trip thought about some of the hand to hand combats he had been in over the last few years. Had he known somehow that the things he could do, he should have not been able to do? He thought about one particular fight he had had on the bridge of the Aphrodite, over three years ago when he had been on a special mission.
Bridge, Aphrodite.
The ship had been boarded. The aliens had beamed right over to various places on the ship, including right on the bridge. Trip ran toward the intruder, who got off a couple of phase pistol shots. Trip barely dodged the first one and the second one hit him in his left shoulder, but he kept coming. Then, turning and flying, he threw a very precise kick to the intruder's chest who flew backwards, dropping his phase pistol. Trip leaped on him and thrust his fingers into his throat. The intruder fell over, dead.
Trip did not think much of that incident. That seemed to him just to be the result of training and hard work.
Then he thought about another incident, that actually had disturbed those who had witnessed it. He had been disturbed by it himself.
Engineering, Enterprise. Three Years Ago.
Before Trip could react, someone grabbed him from the back and held their arm around his neck. He jabbed his elbow into their mid-section, bit the alien's arm and bent over throwing the alien over his shoulder. Once he landed in front of him, Trip kicked him in the head rendering him unconscious.
He then ran to assist Rostov. He quickly came up behind the alien beating Rostov and twisted his neck, killing him instantly.
Another alien reptilian attacked Trip. They fought for several minutes. Then Trip administered a blow to the creatures' mid-section. His hand penetrated the alien's body and Trip withdrew his hand, bloodied from the alien's insides as Rostov and several others watched in horrific awe. The alien fell to the floor dead.
Present Day.
Trip didn't like to talk about what had happened in engineering that day when he had killed that Xindi Reptilian three years ago. He had practically forgotten about it, but his mind had summonsed the memory to re-evaluate whether or not he should have been able to penetrate the flesh of another being with his bare hands.
He thought about some other incidents over the years. He had once killed an alien hostile with one punch. He had actually broken the alien's neck with a punch. But no one cared because they were under attack and those aliens were trying to kill him and his away team.
T'Pol had told him several times that he had become stronger and he had blown it off. Then he thought about how he had caused her to be bruised and sore after a sexual encounter. But he did know that over time he had become as strong as T'Pol was and eventually stronger than her. He had just not wanted to explore the reason why.
The Lisyrians had infected him with a disease, a parasite, with what he hated more than anything, themselves. He started to shake and could actually feel his blood boiling within him. He was just so angry with the Lisyrians ruining his life. He wanted to kill them, beat them mercilessly, the way he had been beaten. He wanted to crush their large skulls, to break their thick, hairy necks with his own two hands! He wanted to bite their throats until he drew blood…
What the hell was he thinking! What was he talking about! He didn't want to bite anybody, anything… or did he?
Trip looked down at his arm and quickly pushed up the sleeve of his uniform. He saw his veins popping out, protruding and pulsating as the fire raged within him.
He leaned over as he sat on the floor and banged his fist on the floor several times. He had to calm himself. He felt his face and neck and felt the throbbing veins there as well. It was happening again, and this was not a good thing. As he sat there trying to get control of himself, suddenly he got an overwhelming urge. He quickly crawled out of the Jeffries tube and hurried back up to the turbo lift. He took the service lift in the back of the ship and found himself headed to the galley. Beta shift was almost over, so dinner was over and the corridors were not as crowded.
Trip made it to the galley which was empty. It was locked down, but no matter, he grabbed the door panels and pried it open enough to get his fingers through a crack in the door. Then he just took one side of the door and ripped it out. He tore through the kitchen and started going through the large metal refrigerators throwing things everywhere and making a big mess. He dented the door of one and ripped off the door of another one. He finally found what he was looking for. Steak, raw beef, bloody, raw meat. He devoured it.
The Next Morning.
The entire ship was abuzz about what had happened to the galley last night. The chef was infuriated, but frightened and puzzled as to who or what could have done this. Malcolm hurried to see it for himself. He advised security and the chef that he would be doing the investigation himself. He was startled at whose finger prints he found on the ripped up door and through out the galley. He had expected to find evidence that one of the Lisyrians had been there. Perhaps he had.
When Kaatia heard what had happened, she sought out Reed. She insisted on speaking to him.
Malcolm's Office.
"Commander, it is imperative that I speak to you at once!" Kaatia demanded.
"Kaatia, I'm sorry," Malcolm replied, "but I am in the middle of an investigation. I will schedule some time to see you later."
"This cannot wait. I heard about what happened in your galley." Damn ship gossip! Malcolm thought. Why couldn't people mind their own business?
"Aright," Malcolm said, gesturing for her to sit down. She did.
"Commander, just last evening I told Captain Tucker something. He was not happy about it. But Dr. Phlox had summonsed Malvek and me to sick bay. He wanted us to talk to the Captain about what happened to him when he was on our ship three years ago."
"Go ahead," Malcolm said, listening intently, all the while afraid to hear what Kaatia was about to tell him.
"When Captain Tucker was on our ship, he was abused mercilessly by Master Klegg, the Captain of our ship. He was also Vice Chancellor on our world. A very high position, comparable to your Commander in Chief of the Military forces."
"I know who Klegg is. He paid us a most unwelcome visit just recently you know."
"Yes, I am aware of that. I am sorry."
"It's not your fault. What does this Klegg have to do with what happened in our galley?"
"Captain Tucker was injured by Master Klegg to the point of death several times. He could have died, would have died if our physician, Vendria, had not treated him. As I told your doctor and Captain Tucker, Vendria treated him with Lisyrian gene therapy." Malcolm rose from his seat and stared at Kaatia.
"What?"
"The Lisyrian genes have overridden some of the Captain's genetic code. He now has Lisyrian DNA in his system." Malcolm began to pace around the floor.
"What exactly does that mean? Does this have anything to do with what happened to him on the bridge yesterday? With what happened to him when T'Pol and I tried to talk to him? He became angry and his eyes turned red as fire. Red veins started to pop out of his face and neck!"
"It is called the rage of fire, or the blood rage. My people experience it when anger cannot be controlled. It invokes…the blood thirst. It is what causes us to crave raw flesh…even live flesh."
"You have got to be kidding me,' Malcolm said. "Why now? Why haven't we seen this before and why is it that the doctors haven't been able to detect the alien genetic code?"
"It has been inside Captain Tucker all along, however it has just now began to manifest itself. Lisyrians affect one another. We sense one another and react to one another's presence. Our presence in addition to the Captain's hatred and anger of us has triggered the rage in him."
"Just feaking, fraking great!" Malcolm said throwing his hands into the air. "Now what do we do? You know I found Trip's fingerprints all over the galley. He was the one who broke in there."
"He was looking for raw flesh," Kaatia said.
"Well, he found it," Malcolm replied. "What do we do now; other than dropping me off at the nearest space station or M class planet, and saying to hell with all of this!"
"You and his mate must go to Captain Tucker. You must convince him to allow us to teach him about what is inside of him. He must learn to control it. If he does not, the consequences can be deadly, for everyone on this ship."
"In the meantime, if he doesn't become angry, he'll be okay?"
"Yes, somewhat. He mustn't become enraged. Anger can be contained, rage cannot. I have already offered the teaching, he refused."
"Oh well, that's encouraging," Malcolm said sarcastically. "I will speak to T'Pol. We will take care of it."
"Time is of the essence," Kaatia said, then rose and left Malcolm standing alone.
Later That Day.
Trip relieved himself of duty after speaking with Malcolm, T'Pol and Phlox. He knew he was in trouble. Malcolm had not disclosed to anyone other than T'Pol and Phlox that it was Trip that had torn up the galley and raided the refrigerators looking for raw meat.
He had started having nightmares since his encounter with Klegg. After the galley incident, he barricaded himself in his quarters for days. In that time, the nightmares became worse and the fear escalated.
T'Pol had tried to help him with meditation and neuro pressure, but nothing seemed to help. Trip was not himself and everyone was concerned, but no one knew exactly what to do to help him. Trip's future as a Starfleet Captain was not looking promising.