Tripp entered his quarters to find T'Pol stepping out of the shower with only a towel around her. Tripp moaned. T'Pol raised an eyebrow at him. Tripp went and laid on the bunk, he liked watching T'Pol getting dressed. T'Pol removed the towel and Tripp looked her up and down. He stopped at her round belly. His son was in there.
Tripp stood up and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed the back of neck. "We could skip dinner and I could worship you."
"We can't. I need you to and go shower," T'Pol pulled out of his arms. She turned around and looked at him. "How did you get so dirty?"
"Working," Tripp mumbled. T'Pol pushed him towards the bathroom.
"Go and I'll reward you tonight," T'Pol watched Tripp go to the bathroom.
"Fine," Tripp said before closing the door.
They entered the Mistress Crars house. Tripp had to put his hands behind his back. He felt like he would break something. There was fanciness to the house that didn't fit Tripp. They were led to a sitting room. Mistress Crars stood. "Captain T'Pol," She shook her hand as Tripp gave T'Pol a look. "This is my wife, Nohie and our daughters, Crole and Foltie." Mistress Crars daughters looked like they were teenagers.
T'Pol greeted Mistress Crars' family. "This is my husband, Commander Charles Tucker the Third," All the woman looked at Tripp. The young girls looked at Tripp with wide eyes because they have never seen a man before. T'Pol thought that it strange that there wasn't the same look on the older woman's face.
"Ladies," Tripp said. T'Pol was not surprised by him being a gentleman.
"Please take a seat. Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes," Mistress Crars pointed to a sofa that made Tripp feel uncomfortable. Tripp helped T'Pol sit on the sofa before taking his own seat next to her.
"You are not the same species," Foltie, the younger daughter stated. She could see T'Pol's ears were different than Tripp's.
"Yes," Tripp said to her.
"How did you two meet?" Foltie asked.
"In the captain's ready room on the first day our ship went into space. I think I smelled that day," Tripp charmed the young woman. T'Pol saw a blush on her face.
"Dinner is ready, Mistress," A young woman opened the door.
"Thank you," Mistress Crars said.
Tripp helped T'Pol stand. They followed the others to the dining room. "Please no talking with your mouth open," T'Pol whispered to her husband.
"Yes, Captain," Tripp mumbled back to her. T'Pol gave him a look. "Do you want me to call you captain, tonight," Tripp said as he helped her take her seat. Tripp saw a small smile on T'Pol's face. He knew it was only for him. Tripp took his own seat.
They spent the dinner talking about how their families and their cultures. T'Pol thought that the dinner went well for a first contact. She didn't like that she was lying to them about what was going on in their ship. She could feel Tripp's hand on her leg, and it brought her comfort. T'Pol knew that she needed this man in her life and nothing was going to stop that. She was going to have to thank hm later for what he did tonight. The finished the night with tea and cookies.
When the Tuckers got back to the ship, Archer could see that they weren't ready to talk about the dinner. He dismissed them. Tripp and T'Pol tried to look professional as they entered the lift. They rode in silence as the lift took them to their floor. Once the doors opened, they basically ran to their room. The door closed behind Tripp and T'Pol had him against the door with her lips on his. They spent the rest of the night in each other's arms.
T'Pol woke reaching for Tripp because she was cold. Tripp was a heater in bed and that was one thing she liked about him. She didn't feel him. She opened one eye to see if he was around. She saw the clothes that he had worn last night on the floor where they had taken off him. She glanced at the bathroom to see if he was there, but the light was off. T'Pol stood and grabbed her robe that was hanging near the bed and put it on. She looked around the room to see if she saw any way that he could have gone to engineering. T'Pol saw his Starfleet issue briefs on the floor. He would have put them on before doing anything. She was ready to call him when her chime to her room went off.
T'Pol made sure that her robe was tied before answering her door. She saw Ensign Sato standing there. "Commander, there are no men on the ship. The only males are the animals and," She glanced down at T'Pol's belly. "Your son."
T'Pol placed a hand on her belly. She knew that Hoshi was telling the truth. She normally could feel Tripp when he was on the ship. She knew that he was still alive because she would have felt it if he died. "Alright. Meet me in the captain's ready room. At this moment you are my first officer. I need you to take a head count of everyone on the ship."
"Yes, sir," Ensign Sato said before she left to count everyone in the ship.
T'Pol went and got dressed. Before she left, she picked up Tripp's shirt. She smelled it and took in his smell of engine room, peaches, and sawdust. Her son let out a kick. "I know, son. We will get Papa back."
T'Pol took a breath before she exited her quarters. She went to the captain's room to see about Porthos. The dog knew her and started to bark asking where his master is. T'Pol took the dog and brought him to the ready room with her. She would find someone to take the dog to take care of until they get the men back.
She was there before Ensign Sato. She took a seat behind the desk. She knew that she was going to have to let Starfleet know what is going on. Right now, she needed the men back. There was no way they could run a ship on only women. There wasn't enough on the ship. She leaned back because she really wanted her husband back. She wanted him to wrap his arms around her and tell her everything was going to okay. When did she need him so much? She knew that she should be able to live without him, she needed him like she needed air or water. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes.
T'Pol tried to call out to Tripp, but she got nothing. She knew that their bond was strong and that she should feel him and call out to him when she needed him. She was getting nothing, and she didn't think that Tripp would close her off when he was missing. He would know that the way to be save would be to be opened to her. T'Pol sighed.
"You miss him," T'Pol didn't hear Hoshi come in.
T'Pol nodded. "I saw him last night and now he is gone. When did I need him so much?"
"He is your bond mate," Hoshi smiled "You and Commander Tucker have something special. You both know where the other is and if they are hurt. I know how that baby came to be, but that baby was made from love. We will find them," Hoshi had a look in her eyes like she was missing one of the men. T'Pol wondered who it was.
T'Pol took a breath and collected her emotions. She had to do her job. "So how many do we have on the ship?" T'Pol asked.
Hoshi knew it was time to get down to business. "The only people on the ship are the women. All twenty of us. We cannot get home with that number."
"So, the logical thing is we get the rest of team back," T'Pol had a thoughtful look.
Hoshi smiled. "Yes, sir. It seems like we are going to need them to get home. What are we going to do?"
"We need to get on the planet, and I need to use my connection with Commander Tucker because I am getting nothing from him right now and something is blocking it. I need to use our connection to find them because I don't think they would make it easy for us to scan the land."
"They must have a way to discourage us from finding our men." Hoshi said.
The look T'Pol had on her face had Hoshi worried. These women didn't know not to mess with T'Pol and her man. There was bond that no one messed with. Every woman on the ship knew to leave Commander Tucker alone even before they got together. Hoshi was glad to be with T'Pol than against her.
"No one can say no to a pregnant woman," If T'Pol could smiled Hoshi felt that it would be evil smile from a villain from one of those movies that Commander Tucker made them watch.
Hoshi smiled. "No, they can't. I've talked to some of women down there, you should hear what they say about their wives when they are pregnant."
"Good I think it is time we contact the Mistress about our missing men," T'Pol said.
"Yes, sir," Hoshi left the ready room to contact the surface.
"We are coming, my husband," T'Pol whispered to herself.
Tripp woke to someone throwing something at him. He saw that it was clothes. He wondered why T'Pol was throwing clothes at him when they were in their quarters. He looked up and saw Malcom standing over him. "What the hell are you doing in my quarters?"
"As much as I want to see your bum, we are not in your quarters," Malcom stood over Tripp. Tripp looked around him to see the other men from the ship putting on clothes. Tripp quickly put on the clothes that Malcom gave him.
"Thanks, man," Tripp said after he was dressed. Malcom nodded in understanding. Tripp was the only one that was naked. He remembers a memorable night with his wife. "Where is the captain?"
"Over here with Travis and Phlox," Tripp followed Malcom over to where the captain and pilot were standing.
Jonathan looked at his Chief Engineer and smiled. "It's a good thing you put some clothes on."
Tripp gave his friend a look. "Do we know what is going on?" Tripp asked.
"I don't know. We all went to bed last night and woke up here," Tripp looked around. They were in barracks of something.
The door at the end of barracks opened and another man came in. He looked like one of the women that Tripp had met the night before.
"Welcome to Holding Cell 23," The man said. "I am 3782743," Tripp traded a look with Jonathan. What kind of planet is this that their men are just numbered? "I see you are all dressed. Follow me," He led them out of the barrack.
Jonathan made his way to the front of the line with Tripp, Malcom, and Travis behind him. "I am Captain Jonathan Archer of the starship Enterprise and I need to get back to my ship."
3782743 stopped where he was and looked at Jonathan. "You should forget your ship and your name. After breakfast you will be given a number and that is what you will go by from now. We have gotten new males from different species; they don't come back for you." 3782743 turned around.
Tripp reached around and grabbed the man's arm. "I can't stay here. My wife pregnant with my son, and I need to be there."
3782743 shrugged off Tripp's shoulders. "Don't worry about them. You will father many children while you are here," 3782745 handed a tray to Tripp. "Eat," 3782743 started to put food on his tray. Tripp and the others followed him. They followed him to a table and sat around him. Jonathan looked around his for his other men to see what that they were sitting down at tables with food. Jonathan saw males from different species, too. He thought that he might have seen a Klingon or Vulcan, but most of the men were Ducran.
Jonathan looked at 3782743. "What do you mean by fathering many children? I thought that the Ducaran had found a way to procreate without men."
3783743 laughed at him. "Let me tell you the true history, Centuries ago, women were taking over everything. One year, the council was all women and they started to make laws that made it hard for men to do anything. It was hard for a man to get a job. Soon men were made to stay at home and take care of the children. Well men didn't like that and revolted against the government, we just wanted rights again. They put down the revolt and placed all the men an island continent. They use us for breeding. If a woman has a boy they get sent here," 3782743 turned around and looked a barrack that had young boys come out. Tripp saw boys as young as six months come out with older males carrying them out.
"What do you do during around here?" Jonathan asked.
"We live like everyone else. We learn and work. They don't want stupid children. Once a month we make a deposit at the bank," 3782743 pointed out a building where a few men were coming out. "Come on," 3782743 picked up his tray and took it to a stack near kitchen. "I'll take you and your men to get registered and get jobs."
A young boy almost ran them down. "4011894, slow down," 3782743 grabbed the boy's arm.
"Sorry, 378743, I have to get to school," 4011894 smiled at the other men with 3782743. 3782743 let the boy go.
Tripp and the others followed 3783743 into a building. There was a man standing by a table. "These are new males that came from last night, 3783737."
Thank you, 3782743," 3782743 left the group.
Tripp really wanted to get out and find his wife, but he followed Captain Jonathan Archer to the start of the line. It didn't long until Trip was number 43452301 and he was fixing things.