Welcome to another chapter. This one is the normal length, but it does move the story a long a little bit. We do not finish the whole klingon virus story, but we get close. Enjoy!

Dear Mom and Dad,

I am sorry for not bringing T'Pol over to see you. I was planning to, but I was ordered to return to the ship. A friend and a colleague of mine, Doctor Phlox, was kidnapped by aliens. I can't say what kind due to the sensitive nature of the mission. If I can, then I will tell you in person the next time that I see you.

Before all that shit went down, I asked T'Pol to marry me. She said yes. Can you imagine? Her marrying a fool like me? I hardly believe it myself. But I know that she loves just as much as I love her. I know that seems far-fetched considering she's a vulcan, but it's the truth. I've felt it.

You see, vulcans have an ability. It's called a Mind Meld. It's not something that they're too keen on doing with people. And up till recently, performing one was bad news for your career. You'd get drummed right out of whatever position you had. Just for doing something that is as natural as breathing for them. As a result, T'Pol used to believe that she COULDN'T do them. Boy, was she wrong! She is a natural.

I can't really describe what it's like to share one's mind. There are no secrets, no hiding, nothing. You touch each other in a way that's not possible any other way. If both parties are willing, then the experience is amazing. A true merging of thought and sensation. If they ain't then . . . Well, that ain't pretty. I think I understand better what T'Pol went through years ago. That's when another vulcan forced her. It had to be horrible. If I could find that SOB I would kick his ass for her. I don't care that he has three times my strength. I'd find a way.

Don't worry, I was a complete gentleman. It's just like you taught me. If the lady says no. Then she says no. A gentleman lets the lady take control. She sets the rules and calls the shots. You just follow along and tell her if she's hurting ya. That's that simple. I always stuck to those rules when making love. And I stuck to them in this meld. I made sure that T'Pol was alright.

As far as the wedding, don't know. It's not anytime soon. I know that. There's just too much going on. And we need to tell the Captain before anything happens. T'Pol hasn't done that yet. It will be a while. I'll let you know once I know more.

- Trip

Commander Charles Tucker exited his quarters after finishing his letter. Things were calm in Engineering at the moment, so he had the freedom to write. He wanted to let his parents know why he didn't bring T'Pol over, as he had originally promised that he would. He wanted to make it clear that it was not because she turned him down or that they weren't getting married. He left out a lot of details in his letter. He wished that he could tell them more, but it wasn't worth the risk to Phlox. Besides, he didn't know if he could properly describe a mind meld to someone who's never experienced it before. It was overwhelming in a good way. He loved watching T'Pol talk with Lizzie. Even if Lizzie said things that he wouldn't have wanted her to say. He could feel her, all of her. Feel as she felt. Hear her thoughts as clearly as if they were his. It was amazing. Trip was the first to admit that he got a little carried away. But can you blame a guy? He enjoyed the way that they were touching so much that he wanted more. She always left him wanting more. The power that woman had over him was frightening. Then again, the power that all women had over men was frightening. It was just stronger with her. Whatever she wanted, he would do. That was frightening to him.

They arrived at a debris field where the Regellian ship once was an hour later. Enterprise was stopped while they waited for the analysis to be complete. Trip really didn't have a lot to do with that. Archer could have asked him to assist, but he didn't. He must have all that is needed on the bridge. If that was the case, then that was fine with Tucker. He had plenty down here to worry about. He wanted to make sure that the ship was ready for combat if it was required. Which was becoming more and more likely by the minute. Now was not the time to fantasize about T'Pol. He had work to do.

About an hour or so of sitting there, staring at debris, a Klingon Bird of Prey appeared. They attacked and sent a boarding party on the ship. Tucker handed out phase pistols for his men and ordered them to only use them if necessary. He told them to avoid the klingons if possible. He told them to let Reed and Makos get rid of the Klingons. He wanted no heroes today. At least not in his department. He couldn't do a damn thing about other departments. He had to focus on his. Although if he said that he wasn't worried about T'Pol at all, he would be a liar. But he trusted her and the people that she was with. She would be fine. He had to believe that.

The encounter ended quickly with only a few casualties. Most were from security. Which was tragic, but not something he could worry about. Instead, he had to worry about what the Klingons had done to his ship and his engine. Tucker sent repair crews to where the Klingons were busy messing things up. Apparently, the Captain ordered a pursuit course, but the ship wouldn't move.

"Captain, I recommend that we don't go to warp until I get this figured out." Trip told Archer over the comm.

"You think that it might be dangerous?" Archer asked.

"Don't know. They messed with the ship. Did something bad. Just don't know what. Until then, I don't want to engage the engines."

"Are you sure, Trip?"

"Yeah, pretty sure."

There was a silence. Clearly this was not the answer that Archer wanted. "Alright. Just let me know the moment it's safe."

"Will do, Captain. Tucker out."

Now came the nearly impossible job of figuring out what in the world they did to his engine. He had almost all of his people trying to go over each system, trying to figure out what was wrong. They found that the physical connections were fine. That was not an issue. Everything looked good. Looked normal. But that only served to put Tucker ill at ease. He saw the command to engage the engine. He saw the ship not respond. It could be a helm issue, but his instincts told him no. Something else was wrong. Something huge. He just couldn't find it.

Trip was so engrossed in the diagnostics that he almost didn't notice T'Pol enter Engineering. She wasn't trying to sneak up on him or anything. He just wasn't paying that close attention. He knew that she was there, even though his back was turned, and chaos erupted around them. He also could feel that she was there in an official capacity, not a personal one. Which, right now, would be the only reason why he would allow her here right now. He didn't have time for anything else.

"Commander Tucker. Captain Archer sent me to assist."

It was obvious that the Captain was getting antsy to get underway. Tucker understood the need, but all of his instincts told him to stay put. He was certain that if they were to move, then they would be in a lot of hot water. He just couldn't prove it.

"You think something is terribly wrong." T'Pol said out loud for him.

If any other telepath had blurted out what he was thinking, Tucker would have been annoyed. But this was T'Pol. They had been inside each other. She had permission to go there. He just wished that she hadn't done that right this moment, that's all.

Trip scratched his face. "Yeah, I do. I just can't find it!" Frustration crept into his voice. That was not what he intended to do. He did not like the others to hear him get frustrated.

T'Pol reached out and touched his arm. Immediately, he felt the calming effect that her mind had on him. He felt more centered, more focused. "It will be fine. We'll find it."

He nodded, then got back to work. He thought about it for a minute: If it was not physical damage, then it might be in software. That could be the problem. He ordered several people to abandon checking the physical system and start checking the software. They were going to need to go through the subroutine by subroutine and see what they had done.

Fortunately, T'Pol was well suited to this task. She had an eye for detail. So, she took on that task with him. They worked side by side. Coordinating with ease. She seemed to know what he needed before he asked. Finally, they found the rogue subroutine that didn't belong. This was the culprit. This is what they did to his engine.

"Damn." Tucker exclaimed. "This is going to be a pain to get out!"

"How do you think we should do it?" T'Pol asked.

Trip thought about it for a while. "We could try to decrypt it. But it could take hours. I bet Captain's chomping at the bit to go. That's not going to work. It would take too long."

At that moment, the engines sputtered to life. "What the . . .?" He yelled as he ran to the comm.

"Tucker to Bridge. What are you doing?" He couldn't hide his frustration. Which was not how he liked to talk to his Captain.

"Sorry, Trip." Archer fired back. "The ship jumped to warp on its own. We're trying to stop now."

Tucker hit the bulkhead with his fist. "Dammit!"

He heard Travis's voice kick in. "The pressure is approaching critical."

Archer asked Travis. "Can we drop to impulse?"
"Wouldn't do that, Captain. The reactor would breach." Tucker answered for Travis. He didn't need to look at a readout to know things were bad. "We need to either maintain or increase speed. Do it as slowly as you can. Give me more time."

"More time?" Archer asked.

"Yeah, need as much time as I can get to figure this out, Captain."

"Get to work, Trip."

Tucker disconnected the comm and then flew into work. By his estimate, they had half an hour to an hour to a warp core breach. As it stood, right now, he couldn't do anything about it. Not with that subroutine making trouble. He needed it out of the system. Then he could get things back to normal. Not before.

"I need options, people."

"We could try to decrypt the subroutine and remove it that way." One of his engineers said.

"Ya, but it would take too long. We have an hour at most before we have a warp core breach on our hands. We need something faster."

"We could do a cold start. Wipe the subroutines clean." Another one of his people said.

"At high warp? It would never work!" Another yelled back.

Tucker thought about it for a minute. "No, it could work. It would be dangerous, and we need to keep at warp speed at the same time, but it could be done."

T'Pol interrupted. "How would we maintain warp if the warp core is shut down?"

"We can't, but if we had access to a warp core that wasn't trying to breach. Then we could do it."

Tucker did not fully explain what he was planning. It wasn't that he was trying to cut them out. It was that he was lost in thought and couldn't explain it well. Fortunately, Commander T'Pol understood what he was thinking and explained to the engineers.

"Commander Tucker is planning to ask Columbia to merge our warp field with theirs. Then shut down the warp core quickly and attempt a cold restart while Columbia maintains both ships' speed."

If they were any other team, then he would have heard a ton of rumbles about this plan. As is, there was some murmuring about the danger of such a maneuver. It was certainly not in the manual. But it was possible. Particularly, with Commander Tucker in charge. If anyone could do it, then it was him.

"T'Pol, get on those calculations. I need precision. You're the best woman for the job." Tucker went on as if no one complained about anything. "Cutler, Pierce, I want you to work on helm control. Get it back online. Lefler, Paris, I want . . ." He went on to list the job that he wanted each of his people to do. Once he was done, he called the bridge and asked the Captain to call Columbia. Fortunately, she had just left Spacedock an hour ago. She wasn't far. Hopefully, his people could restore helm control. Which would allow them to divert to Columbia. Which would cut down the time it would take for the two ships to meet up. They needed every minute that they could get.

Almost a half hour later, Columbia was within two thousand kilometers. It was time to begin the dangerous procedure. Travis was at the helm. He was the only one capable of the precision flying required here. Columbia signaled that they were ready, and they began. She moved within 50 meters of the hull. As she approached, both ships shuddered from the warp field contact. A second later, she had extended her warp field around Enterprise. It was go time.

Tucker got onto the top of the engine (a place one was never supposed to go while the engine was in normal operation). He forced the engine to shut down immediately. Which was going to cause a lot of explosions. Which was one of the many reasons why people weren't normally allowed up there. It didn't matter here. He had to get her down as fast as possible.

Once he was done, he got off the engine as fast as possible. He yelled to his staff. "Stay away from the bulkheads!" Explosions rocked engineering. He silently apologized to his engine. This was not the way it was supposed to be shut down.

Columbia was now maintaining the warp field for both ships. This could not stay this way for long. It was time to do the cold restart.

He started issuing new orders. "T'Pol, prime the injectors. Jenkins, Man the relays."

He started pulling out panels on the main reactor to get to the circuit boards. He heard the captain ask on the comm, "How much longer, Trip?"

"Another minute."

"We don't have a minute."

"Understood."

To T'Pol, he ordered. "Get ready to initialize the matrix."

His hands worked as fast as they could. Going from panel to panel, readout to readout. All while firing out instructions. "Almost there!" He told the captain. To his people, he ordered. "Full Power to Containment!"

Archer called out. "15 seconds."

Tucker heard him but said nothing. He had no time to respond. He ordered his people to fire up the antimatter stream. This was going to be close! T'Pol started to count down from 10. They were going to make it!

"Here we go!" Tucker called out as he turned on the engine. He got down to 3 seconds before the engine came on. Within a few seconds, the reaction stabilized. They were able to go on their own power. He breathed a sigh of relief, then called the bridge. "Engineering to Bridge. Subroutines have been purged. I'd like to drop to impulse for a while, Captain. Just to check things over."

"Stand by." Archer said. A minute later, his voice returned on the comm. "Dropping to impulse now. Let me know when we can go to warp. Archer out."

The next few hours flew by. T'Pol stayed in Engineering to help out. She followed his lead. Only stopping him to force him to rest or to calm him down. Certainly, his crew noticed how many times she reached out to touch him. Which almost never happened with vulcans. T'Pol was no exception. She rarely touched someone unless it was absolutely necessary. Now, she was touching the Commander a fair amount. She touched him more than was comfortable for most humans. They had no idea what exactly the two of them had been doing, but it was obvious that it was more than friendship. They were acting like a married couple.

After almost 7 hours, they were ready to resume their course. Things had calmed down enough in Engineering that Trip could finally go off duty. It had been almost sixteen hours since he started. He was exhausted. He didn't even bother going to get something to eat. He just went to his quarters and flopped into bed. A few minutes later, the door opened to reveal T'Pol carrying a plate of food that she would never touch. "You need to eat." She reminded him. She made it clear that this was not an option. It was a command.

Slowly, Tucker pulled himself out of the cot. It felt like each movement took way too much effort. He sat down at his desk as she placed the plate on the table. T'Pol then went over and sat on his bed. She was watching him.

"Are you going to watch me?"

"I want to make sure that eat."

He shook his head. "You don't trust me?"

"No. You tend to take poor care of your biological needs. You worked too long without a break today."

"Hey, someone messed up my engines bad today."

T'Pol was not impressed by his weak argument. "You have other people to assist you. You need not do everything yourself."

"I didn't. There was a ton of damage. Took hours to fix."

"And in that time, how many breaks did you take? When was the last time that you ate?" She demanded.

Tucker tried to retort, but failed. "Um . . . I . . ."

"Didn't do either of those things." She finished for him. "Trip, you must eat and rest periodically."

"Are you telling me that as my CO or my mate?" He teased.

"Both." T'Pol answered. "Now, eat. I have no intention of leaving until you do so."

Tucker thought about teasing her some more, but thought better of it. She was serious. He could not get out of it. So, he started to eat. Once he was done, he rose to go back to bed. However, T'Pol stopped him. "Shower next." She ordered.

"Are you saying I stink?"

"Yes, now go, shower." She was all business. There was no getting around it. He had to shower.

So, he reluctantly did as she commanded. As he was showering, she went through his dresser to find clean nightclothes. She laid them out on the bed for him. When he came out (naked as a jaybird), she pointed to the clothes and ordered. "Put them on and go to bed. I'll see you in the morning." Trip tried to inject, but she did not listen. She walked out of his quarters and did not come back. Leaving a confused and mystified Tucker behind.

"Women." He muttered to himself as he got dressed and went back to bed.

Well, that's it for Chapter 8. More changes are incoming! Thank you for reading and reviewing.