Tripp let out a yawn as he worked in engineering. It was a hard first night without T'Pol and Charlie. His quarters were too quiet. When he looked around all he saw was his things, none of T'Pol's or Charlie's. He couldn't go into Charlie's room because he would expect to see his son laughing and playing. Charlie would smile and run into Tripp's arms. It was hard sleeping because he was so use to T'Pol sleeping next to him. The way she would cuddle into his side when she was sleeping. Tripp missed that.
"Commander Tucker," Tripp looked up and saw the new science officer. Tripp looked at the man and wondered if the man ever saw battle, or did he spend most of his time on the ground.
"Yes, Commander…" Tripp knew that he was Commander by the pips on his uniform.
"Coffin, Terrence Coffin," Coffin said. "I missed you at the meeting yesterday."
"Sorry, I was saying goodbye to my family," Tripp really wanted to say, you know that shuttle that you came on, my family was leaving on it, so yeah, I missed the meeting. Tripp felt that he could hear T'Pol in the back of his mind telling him to behave.
Commander Coffin looked him up and down. Tripp felt that he wanted to say something to him, but he was stopping himself. "Don't let it happen again," Commander Coffin turned and left Engineering. Tripp wanted to give him the finger. Tripp didn't think that he would like him. He knew that he should be better, but this man was replacing his wife. He only liked fighting with T'Pol.
He took a breath before getting back to work. The lieutenant just raised his eyebrow at Tripp. Tripp shook his head. "Get back to work," Tripp jumped down the stairs and made his way to his office. He had to take a moment.
Tripp didn't want to attend but the captain was having a dinner for Commander Coffin to get to know him, and he invited Tripp and Malcom to be there. Tripp would have been okay with just having dinner in his quarters.
When he got there, he saw that Malcom was already there. "I don't want to be here," He whispered.
Malcom smiled. "I'm sure you would rather be in your room and doing nothing," Tripp gave his friend a look. Malcom laughed. "I know you would wait until T'Pol calls you to tell you know that she is safe on the ship to Earth."
"I would," Tripp mumbled out of the side of his mouth as he saw the captain and Coffin make their way over to them. Jonathan had his head bent like he was listening to what the commander was saying.
Jonathan smiled at them. "Gentlemen," He showed him into his captain dining hall. The four men took seats around the table. The first course was brought out. "So, Commander Coffin, where did you grow up?"
Coffin told them where he grew up and how he fell in love with science. How he got into Starfleet. Tripp listen with half an ear and picked at his food. "I would like to have a meeting with all senior staff every few days to see how things are going."
Tripp ears picked up on that right away after Coffin said those words. Tripp traded a look with Malcom because they both had a lot to do and couldn't be in meetings every few days. And what if there was a battle going on were they to stop what they were doing to go to the meeting. Tripp looked from Malcom to Jonathan to see what he would say to this.
"That is a fine idea," Jonathan said, giving Tripp and Malcom a look like they were children in the wrong.
Commander Coffin smiled at them before putting his fork and knife down on his plate. "I should give my compliments to the cook," He stood and left the mess hall.
"Captain, you can't be serious?" Tripp asked. "We can't have a meeting every few days. I have too much on my plate right now and what if we are in a battle or something."
Jonathan put up a hand to stop Tripp. "Yes, I do. It might be good."
Malcom and Tripp traded a look. "Sir…" Malcom started.
Jonathan shook his head. "Let's give it a try before we dump it." He gave them a look and Tripp and Malcom both nodded. Jonathan stood. "I except both of you to both be there for the first meeting." He headed for the door.
"Yes, sir," They said as they watched Jonathan leave.
The two men stood. "I miss T'Pol," Malcom said as they headed for the door.
Tripp smiled as he threw his arm around his friend. "Me, too."
Tripp was standing at an engineering computer, looking over the work of an ensign. He turned to the ensign and opened his mouth when he saw Commander Coffin making his way over to them. "Everything looks good, Ensign Thomas," The ensign smiled. Tripp stepped away from the computer and started to walk away from Commander Coffin.
"Commander Tucker, I would like to talk to you," Commander Coffin shouted at him.
Tripp turned and smiled at him. "Yes, sir."
"I didn't see you at my meeting," Commander Coffin crossed his arms.
"Sorry, I was busy making sure the ship was running smoothly," Tripp turned and headed for another part of engineering.
"Make sure that you make it to the next meeting," Commander gave Tripp a look.
Tripp saluted him as he started work on another computer. Tripp looked over the screen to see Commander Coffin leave engineering. Tripp let out a sigh before getting to work.
Tripp left Engineering and made his way back to his quarters. He entered and took a sigh because there was no little boy running into his arms or his wife sitting on the couch with a book in her hands. Tripp went to turn on a light before making his way to his desk. He saw how messy it was and looked over to T'Pol's desk to see that it was cleaned. Tripp turned on his computer to see if he had any messages. He saw that he had one from his parents, but he had hoped there would be a message from T'Pol, but it was too soon for her to message him. He read the message from his parents before turning off his computer and heading to bed.
The next day, Tripp checked his messages but there was nothing from T'Pol. He knew not to worry, but he felt that he would hear from her by now. Letting him know that they made it safely to the ship that was taking them back to Earth. He would just like to see his smiling son and T'Pol's face as she looked at Charlie.
Tripp missed another meeting and didn't care because he thought that he would have heard from his wife now, but nothing. He was starting to worry because something could have happened to them. If he didn't hear from her in the next couple of days, he would talk to the captain because something would be wrong.
"Commander Tucker," Tripp heard Coffin's voice behind him. Tripp let out a moan and turned to face the commander.
"Yes, Commander," Tripp said in a mocking voice.
Coffin raised an eyebrow. "You missed another one of my meetings."
"I was busy making the ship run," Tripp continued walking down the hall.
"I'm going to have to talk to the captain about you missing the meetings," Coffin said.
"Go ahead," Tripp waved him off. Jonathan was going to do nothing to him. Tripp knew that he was in the clear as he didn't hear Commander Coffin say anything.
He made his way to his quarters to see T'Pol had messaged him and there was nothing. Trip settled on the couch and wondered if he should tell the captain that he hadn't heard from T'Pol or was he worrying about nothing. T'Pol would leave a message when she could. Tripp was still debating about what to do when he was called to the captain's ready room.
Tripp sighed. He knew that Coffin had run to the captain about him missing meetings. He stood and left his quiet quarters. When he got to the captain's ready room, he saw that Coffin was there. Tripp knew that T'Pol would have handled this in a different way. For the first thing, T'Pol wouldn't have meetings with the senior staff and if she had something to tell you, she would come and find you. The conference room was only used for times of need not weekly meetings.
Jonathan looked up from his PADD to Tripp there. He didn't smile as Tripp tried to smile at him. Jonathan sighed before speaking. "I've heard that you haven't been to any of the meetings that Commander Coffin has had."
"Yes, sir, I have been busy in Engineering," Tripp didn't look Jonathan in the eyes.
Jonathan raised an eyebrow at Tripp and knew something was up with him. He turned to Commander Coffin. "Can you excuse us?" Coffin nodded and left the ready room. Jonathan waited until the door was closed all the way before speaking to Tripp. "Tripp, I need you to play nice with him. He isn't just reporting to me, but Starfleet headquarters." Tripp opened his mouth to say something when Jonathan raised his hand to stop him. "I know he isn't T'Pol, but he is still Starfleet. I miss her, too."
"Jon, I think this is his first time in space and he doesn't know what it is like. I'm not sure that I want to see him in battle. Travis and Hoshi have more experience than he does and they are Ensigns."
"I have the same feeling, but we need to help him figure out the ropes of space and I need to count on my second officer," Jonathan raised an eyebrow to remind Tripp that he was his second officer.
Tripp felt like some cod. There were others that looked up to him and he needed to be a leader and show others that he could take orders. "Yes, sir. I try." Tripp thought that it was best to tell Jonathan that he hadn't heard from T'Pol in a while when a message appeared on Jonathan's computer.
Jonathan read the message and his face went white. He took a breath before turning to Tripp. "T'Pol never made it to USS Juniper,"