"Commander T'Pol. We should be at the USS Juniper in few hours," The pilot of the shuttle said.
T'Pol nodded and held on to Charlie, who wanted to be let down. T'Pol knew that it wasn't a good idea because Charlie was going to get into something. She glanced at Crewman Edgerton to see that she had her head leaning back against the shuttle with her eyes closed. T'Pol sighed, she needed to get Charlie down for a nap. He had been crying for an hour because they couldn't go back and get Tripp. T'Pol and Crewman Edgerton traded him back and forth until he settled down. She knew that it was going to hard with Tripp not here, but she would have to handle their son alone. There would be no handing him off to his father when it became too much.
T'Pol started to rock Charlie in her seat and sing to quietly so he could sleep. Charlie pressed his head into her chest. T'Pol looked down to see that Charlie was asleep. He looked so much like Tripp when he slept. T'Pol held him close and closed her eyes. Charlie could take a lot out of someone.
T'Pol woke to see space around them. Crewman Edgerton was talking with the pilot about something. T'Pol glance down to see Charlie was up and playing with a toy that Crewman Edgerton had given him.
"How much longer, Ensign?" T'Pol asked.
"Just about…" He couldn't finish when a large ship appeared in his view. "What the hell?" His eyes widen. "Sorry, Commander," He quickly looked back at her. T'Pol waved him off.
"Starfleet, please drop your shields to let us board," A voice played through the shuttle.
The pilot looked to T'Pol to see what they should do. T'Pol nodded. There was no way they could stop this from happening. The pilot lowered the shields, an arm reached out, and grabbed the shuttle. They brought the shuttle into the ship.
They couldn't see anything because it was dark in the docking bay. Charlie started to cry, T'Pol held him close, and tried to cover his cries. She told him to be quiet as the door to the shuttle opened.
A phaser led the way in. Someone stepped in and looked around the shuttle. Someone walked in behind them. They looked like Vulcans, but something seemed something different about them. T'Pol let out a squeak when she realized that they were Romulans. She had never seen a Romulan this close. She could see that they had the same ancestor.
An older Romulan came in and the first Romulan pointed her out. The older one smiled as he looked at T'Pol. The older one turned to the other and spoke to him. T'Pol soon knew what he was saying when he turned his phaser on the pilot and Crewman Edgerton and shot them both.
T'Pol gasped and the older one looked back at her. "Hello, you must be T'Pol," His voice was deep and scratchy.
T'Pol didn't want him to be right. "Who are you?" She asked.
"Balab," The way he said it was like she was to know who he was.
T'Pol shook her head. "Never heard of you."
Balab growled and turned to the other Romulan. He switched to Romulan to spoke to him. T'Pol didn't know what was being said when he reached for her. T'Pol pulled her arm back. He growled at her before grabbing her arm. He pulled her up as she held on to Charlie. T'Pol could see the tears running down his face.
T'Pol stepped out of the shuttle to see five other Romulans holding phasers at her and Charlie. The one that held her led the way to somewhere else on the ship. T'Pol could only think of one place that they would take her and that was the brig.
"What do you mean T'Pol shuttle never made it to her ship?" Tripp growled. "It should have only taken them a couple of hours."
Jonathan raised his hand to stop Tripp. "I said never she her shuttle didn't make it. From the report I'm reading, when the shuttle didn't return, they went looking for it. It took them a couple of days to find the shuttle. When they opened the shuttle, they found the pilot and Ensign Edgerton both dead. There was no sign of T'Pol and Charlie. We must assume that they are still alive."
"I have to find them," Tripp turned towards the door.
"Tripp," Tripp didn't turn around. "Commander Tucker," Jonathan said in his commanding voice.
Tripp turned around and ran his hand through his hair. Tears were running down his face. "My wife and son are out there, and we don't know if they are alive or not. I must know."
"I know," Jonathan said in a quiet voice. "We will find them," Tripp wiped his face and nodded. Jonathan gave his friend a look before calling Commander Coffin to his ready room. He turned to Tripp. "You can stay or leave when explain the situation with Commander Coffin."
Tripp shook his head. "I'm going to leave," He made his way to the door.
"Tripp, take the rest of day off," Jonathan said as Tripp walked through the doors.
Tripp saw Commander Coffin making his way to the ready room. Commander Coffin gave him a look before heading into the ready room. Tripp took a breath before making his way to his quarters.
T'Pol paced the cell. She looked over to the hard cot and saw that Charlie was still sleeping. It took while but she finally got him to sleep. They needed a way out of here. T'Pol didn't know what this Balab had planned for them. She glanced out of the cell to see where the guards were and she saw that they were standing at the end of corridor, talking not paying attention to her. T'Pol took a breath and constrained.
'Tripp,' She called out. She got nothing. She tried again and still nothing. He must sense that something is wrong, but his mind isn't cleared. She tried one more time before she heard someone making their way to her. She glanced back at Charlie to see that he was still sleeping.
T'Pol glanced back and saw Balab standing in front of her. He was looking at Charlie. "Your son doesn't look like you," He looked back at T'Pol. "It even looks like you never had a child." T'Pol didn't say anything and didn't put a hand on her still flat stomach. He didn't need to know that she was pregnant with her second child. Balab noticed that she didn't say anything. "There is a rumor that you married a human. Is it true?" Still T'Pol didn't answer him. "Answer me," Balab shouted.
Before T'Pol could answer she heard a cry from the cot. Balab and she looked over and Charlie had tears falling down his face. She gave Balab a look. "Thank you for waking my son," T'Pol looked back at Charlie. "Come here," T'Pol watched as Charlie jumped from the bed and made his way over to T'Pol.
"Mama," Charlie held out his arms for T'Pol to pick him up. T'Pol reached down and picked up Charlie. Charlie rested his head on T'Pol's shoulder. He had one blue eye on Balab.
"He doesn't look Vulcan," Balab stared at Charlie.
"He looks like his father," T'Pol made circle on Charlie's back to calm him down.
"His human father," Balab's eyes widen. T'Pol didn't say anything. Balab eyes narrowed at her. "When we get to our base you will be speaking," Balab turned and left the brig. He said something to one of his men and T'Pol couldn't make out what he said.
"They sent us their last position," Jonathan said to the team at the table behind the captain's chair.
Tripp looked at the spot where his wife and son were last known. He reached out and touched the spot. Everyone around the table saw what he was doing and didn't say anything for moment. They also didn't say anything about the lone tear that fell from his face. Tripp took a breath before looking at his captain.
"Are we going there?" He asked in a quiet voice.
"Yes," Jonathan only said that one word.
"Okay," Tripp said.
Jonathan took a breath. "Travis set course for the spot," Travis nodded and went to the helm.
"Captain, can I talk to you?" Commander Coffin asked.
"Yes," Jonathan headed for his ready room. He stopped by Travis. "How long will it take?"
"A few hours," Travis said. Jonathan nodded and left the bridge with Commander Coffin following him.
Malcom came and stood by Tripp. "Don't worry we'll get them back."
Hoshi and Malcom looked at him. Neither one knew why T'Pol and Charlie left in the first place. Tripp and T'Pol didn't want to tell people until they were sure that the baby was there for good. Tripp kept thinking about how they might lose the baby.
Tripp turned to his friend. "I know but at what cost," Tripp left the bridge. Neither Hoshi nor Malcom knew what he was talking about.
T'Pol took a breath as the guard came over and unlocked her cell door. She held on to Charlie as she exited the cell. The guard motioned with his phaser for her to start walking. Charlie was softly crying because he was hungry. They had brought food for them an hour ago and T'Pol knew that they needed to eat. She tried to show Charlie how to eat the food, but he was having none of it. He was used to the cook on the Enterprise cooking. He also didn't know Romulan cooking. He only knew human and Vulcan food. T'Pol ate because she was pregnant and needed to eat.
When she left the brig, there was another guard waiting to lead her to another part of the ship. As they walked, she realized that they were going the same way that they came down before. They stopped at shuttle in the shuttle bay. The guard that led her motioned with his phaser to tell her to get in. T'Pol did as she told. The two guards got in after her. One kept a phaser pointed at her as the other one started up the shuttle.
As shuttle starting flying Charlie looked up at her with his father's eyes. "Papa," He thought that they were going home to Tripp. She saw the hope in his eyes.
"No," She didn't want to tell him that, but she had too. She saw his bottom lip quiver. She pulled him close and started to whisper in his ear. Telling him that Papa was going to find them. Charlie wrapped his arms around her.
T'Pol watched as the shuttle flew from the ship to planet that didn't look habitable. They broke the atmosphere and T'Pol saw a base that was bigger than a normal sized town. It was all based on red rock. She couldn't make anything out. Something came over the comms and the pilot flew to the right. He flew until he came to a pad and landed the shuttle.
The guard holding the phaser in front of her opened the door of the shuttle. He stepped out like the air was breathable. The pilot motioned with his phaser for her to leave the shuttle.
She stood, holding Charlie. "Is the air breathable?" She asked. He didn't say anything only motioned for her to get off the shuttle. "My son," She started but he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her off the shuttle.
She took a breath and found that the air was breathable. The guards led her through a set of doors to an elevator, the first one stepped in and T'Pol followed him in. The other guard followed her in. The guard that came in last punched in a code. The elevator started going down and T'Pol held on to Charlie.
When the elevator stopped, the doors opened to a long corridor. It was dimly lit. The first guard stepped out and T'Pol knew to follow him. The other guard followed them. T'Pol followed the first down the corridor and glanced at the doors that they passed but there was nothing to see if she looked in.
She almost ran into the first guard when he stopped in front of an open door. He waved with his phaser for her to go in. T'Pol stepped in and saw a six-by-six cell. There was a small cot along one side and something of a hole for the bathroom. How was she and her son going to live in this place until they were recused by Starfleet? If they even find them in time.
T'Pol took a breath because this was home for a moment, and she needed to put on a happy face for Charlie.
Enterprise stopped at the spot that was given to them. They saw nothing but space around them. Tripp stood around the table behind the captain's chair listening to what was being said as how to find them. He couldn't take some of their suggestions but bit his tongue from responding. They wanted to save T'Pol too.
"We should see if there is any warp signature out there that is different from Starfleet," Commander Coffin said.
"You think," Tripp snapped.
"Commander Tucker, you need to calm down. We will find them," Commander Coffin turned to Captain Archer, ready to say something when Tripp spoke.
"I will calm down once we know where they went."
"Commander Tucker, you are too close to this," Commander Coffin crossed his arms.
"Of course, I'm too close to this, it is my pregnant wife and son are out there, and I don't know where they are," Tripp shouted at him.
Happy Holidays. I hope you enjoy this little gift that I am giving you. -sjt