Dark Mirror (IN)

[Varshanka]

T'Pol on the Bridge

Turning she faced the console and within seconds had all the systems operation, and if she was Human people would make claims of it being able to sing.

Instead she was Vulcan, so the system was operating at peak efficiency, and providing more information that the Orion had been able to force from it.

"All systems are green. Life support is at 99.9998% Operational efficiency."

"Crew compliment is 100%. All crew have reported for duty."

"Very well. Begin pre-departure scans, and review the flight plan. I want the most efficient course to Rigel X. The sooner we get there the sooner we can get this job done." he ordered her with a snarl in his voice showing his growing dislike for her.

"Yes, Sir." she said. "Sir.. we have a problem.. This.. code. it shouldn't be here."

"What code?" he asked as he moved over to where she was. He got real close to her, he was well into his second shift so he knew he was sweaty. He also knew that Vulcan females have a heightened sense of smell so he didn't mind causing her any discomfort.

"These lines of code are not authentic. They shouldn't be here. I'm not sure but there position is indicative of Warp Core Protocols. And this links in thruster control, and this .. this line opens all the airlocks and shuts off detainment fields."

"It will take several minutes but I will be able to locate the trigger and all effects."

 

[Varshanka]

T'Pol on the Bridge

"Well get to work on it Lt. Commander." he said as he actually took the time to walk around until he was behind her and watched her go about her work.

Typing quickly T'Pol brought up a new window. A window that compared the running code against another set of code. But the second set was in Vulcan and binary.

Squinting, her eyes flickering across the codes she finally stopped and looked up. "Shut down the core. As soon as preflight fire up is performed the internal containment fields will fail. The airlocks will open and everyone gets sucked into space. Fifteen seconds later the core breaches and everything within 1,000 Kilometers will be vaporized."

"What?!" Jackson asked. "Your telling me that someone has inserted some sort of virus into out computer?"

"Yes sir. It can be purged. But it will mean a shutdown of the entire system."

He reached over her and activated the comm unit. "Bridge to Commander Tucker we need you to shutdown the core. I repeat shutdown the core."

Trip was on his way back to engineering when he heard the call come through. He walked over to the nearest comm unit and activated it. "This is Commander Tucker, what do you mean shutdown the core? What the hell for?"

"No time for that Mister Tucker. But if you don't shut it off now, we'll all be dead soon."

Trip didn't even bother to close the channel and just broke off into a sprint towards engineering. He got there in time to see Kelby about to bring the core back online. Trip tackled him and knocked him off the platform. He then got up and reversed the controls, shutting them down. Then activated the comm. "Tucker to bridge, the core is shutdown. Now will someone tell me what the hell is going on?"

"In a moment Mister Tucker." Jackson said and than closed the channel. "T'Pol I want you and Mister Tucker to fix this, and I also want the two of you to find out who put that virus into our computer. Also make sure we don't have any others."

"Yes Sir. I'll begin a full scan of every line of code in the system."

"I'll let the Captain know." Jackson said as he walked over to the ready room and after buzzing he entered the room in order to inform the Captain of what they had just found.

 

[Varshanka]

The Bridge

April 4, 2151 0700 hrs

Archer came out of his ready room and looked around his bridge. Commander Jackson and every member of the bridge crew were standing next to their station. Just a few days ago they had averted disaster, when his new science officer had discovered a virus that would have destroyed the Enterprise. Together with Lt. Commander Tucker they had removed and made sure this launch today was possible. So far they had yet to find any other little Jack-In-The-Boxes. “Stations.” He ordered and watched as everyone sat down, he was the last one to sit.

The new command chair was a lot better then the older one. It felt more stable, and was defiantly more comfortable. “Take us out Mr. Jackson.” Archer ordered. He then watched as the Helmsman / XO worked the controls.

In his mind Archer could see the umbilical supports popping off the their placements. When he felt the familiar vibrations of the impulse thrusters kicking in, he couldn’t help but smile as he looked at the screen and saw the Enterprise heading out into open space.

T'Pol was pretty much useless for this, so she simply scanned the region, making sure nothing out of place was happening. No unscheduled shuttles or workbee were in the area, and after the virus incident nothing was allowed to be in the area.

If the virus hadn't been found and removed, the resulting explosion would have erased the dry-dock facility from existence, as well as the Enterprise and it's entire crew.

Once the Enterprise was at full impulse, it didn’t take them long to get past the moon. Archer then activated the control on the arms of his chair that opened a direct channel to engineering. “Mister Tucker are we ready?”

In engineering Trip was looking at his status monitors, and he was confidant that they were ready. He pressed the button so he could speak to the Captain. “Aye Cap’n warp drive at your command.”

“Commander Jackson take us to warp 6.” Archer ordered.

 

[Varshanka]

The Bridge

“Aye sir warp six.” Jackson responded and then placed his hand on the throttle and pushed it up ward. As the ship reached a new warp factor he called out their speed.

"Hull plating at operational levels. Warp Core output within safety perimeters. Radiation levels.. minimal. All systems at normal operational levels." T'Pol stated. It wasn't precisely her job to provide the information unless asked. But she wasn't one top gawk at stars and she was bored, so she provided the information to the Captain and Executive Officer.

Within three minutes they were leaving the Sol system and on their way to Rigel. That’s when Archer ordered the change in speed to go to 6.5. Again Jackson began calling out the ship’s velocity. Every increase in speed was a new record set. When the ship reached warp 6.25 the deflector resequenced, adapting to the new speed. It was a shutter that could be felt through the deck plates. It resequenced again at warp 6.4, and then finally everything seemed to stabilize upon reaching warp 6.5 “Target speed achieved Captain. Estimated Time to Rigel system is just over 33 hours.”

“Very good. Mister Reed I want battle drills every 3 hours.” Archer ordered. After all the Enterprise was a warship, they better start getting used to how she fought.

T’Pol watched the power and stress levels, as well as power consumption usage in every section of the ship. Finally she looked up, "Captain, all systems normal. All lights are green."

“Very good Lt. Commander. Get together with Mister Tucker at your earliest opportunity. I want those traitors that tried to blow my ship up." he told her.

"Yes sir."

 

[Varshanka]

The Suliban

::Five Hours later::

The first battle drill had gone okay, however Archer was not impressed and he wanted a 10% improvement on the second drill which was about an hour away. Currently in command was Commander Jackson, as the Captain was eating lunch in his ready room.

“Commander T’Pol is there something wrong with our sensors?” Reed asked her, with a rather disturbed look on his face.

"Negative Major. The sensors are operating at 100% last diagnostic was completed thirteen minutes twelve seconds ago. I have noticed a 6% decrease in the targeting computers effectiveness over the last two test firings."

“What’s wrong Mr. Reed?” Jackson asked from the command chair.

“I’m not sure sir, but like the Commander said there has been a 6% drop in the effectiveness of the targeting computers, and I’m also seeing something… I don’t know what it is.”

“Something what?” Jackson asked as he stood up and began to walk over towards the tactical station. He got about half way when the ship was rocked by weapons fire, which cause him to fall on his ass.

“Action stations, this is not a drill I repeat action stations this is not a drill.” Reed called over the comm. As he simultaneously activated the shields and the hull plating.

Archer stormed out of his ready room “Report!”

 

[Varshanka]

The Suliban

“Under attack, by unknown force or forces. Shields are holding” Jackson replied as he moved the younger human helmsmen out of his way and took over the controls of the ship.

“Shields are 94%. Hull Plating 98%. Sensors show the weapons fire from quadrant 34.45 Range.. 300 Kilometers. But I’m not showing anything there.”

"Mr. Reed lay in a tracking pattern using their weapons fire. It's obvious that there's something there, if it's a ship then they should have a ion trail of some sort. Scan for that T'Pol." Archer ordered as he held on tightly to his arm rests.

Swiveling back to her scanners T'Pol began analyzing the space directly around the Enterprise, gas chromatagraphs, ion particles, lightwave disruption, anything that might possibly indicate a vessel.

It took several minutes, as the ship was impacted by several more shots, but she was rewarded with success. “Major Reed, we have 4 targets. Small, possibly two man vessels. Sending data now.”

Reed didn’t say anything at first he was busy using the data that the alien have given him. “I’ve go them,” he said.

“Fire!” Archer ordered

Which is what Reed did. Phase cannon fire lashed out from the hull of the Enterprise. Striking the smaller ships was difficult as it was, as a result of their size, but with Commander Jackson’s evasive maneuvers it was even harder. But eventually he was able to destroy one vessel and damage the other three before they retreated.

 

[Varshanka]

The Suliban

Tapping into transporter control T'Pol shifted one of the alien vessel out of reality, and into the pattern buffers. "Captain, I have one of the Alien Vessels in the pattern buffers of the transporter system."

"Excellent, but now what do we do with it? If we rematerialized it can fire it's weapons or even crash through our hull." he said as he got up and walked over towards the science station.

"I say we send them back out into space, but instead of rematerializing them we spread their atoms all over this part of space." Jackson said from his station.

"It may be possible to rematerialize the vessel inside the shuttle bay. But it will take massive amounts of power. A MACO crew can then secure the vessel." T'Pol suggested.

“What’s to stop them from being able to fire their ship’s weapons once they are in the shuttlebay? The MACOs are good, but even they can’t stop weapons fire from a ship.” Jackson told her.

"If you'd like I can rematerialize the vessel in space and remove panels from it's hull. But that will reduce the effectiveness of interrogation.. and studying their technology."

“We don’t have a choice. As much as I’d love to have that ship intact, the safety of the Enterprise comes first.” Archer told her. “Beam them back into space and proceed with your plan. Beam the crew on board as soon as you can. Mr. Reed get down to the transporter with some MACOs and take whoever they are into custody.”

"Mr. Reed. Can you send an Electro Magnetic Pulse from the Phase Emitters?" T'Pol asked.

 

[Varshanka]

The Suliban

"I suppose, but it's never been attempted." he told her.

"Try it please. If you can, we may be able to disable the vessel. And leave it intact for study."

Reed shook his head. He didn’t like this, but he liked being shot at by unknowns even more. His hands immediately began flying over his controls as he reconfigured one of the phase cannons. As he did it, he knew his people would then have to spend a few hours repairing the cannon since reconfiguring it would damage it’s internal components. “Alright I think I have it.”

"If you would be so kind as to fire a torpedo, and then disable it with the EM pulse. we can then verify that they are properly aligned and operational. Before we use the Alien vessel."

"Do we have time for that?" Archer asked. The transporter was still a fairly new piece of technology and holding that ship had to be a strain on the pattern buffers.

"As long as Mr. Reed does not dally. The buffers can hold the pattern for three minutes and four seconds. Remaining time.”

Reed loaded an exercise torpedo and fired it. He then tracked it and fired the modified cannon. The torpedo immediately lost power. “It works.” He said as he began preparing for another shot. One that he better make because the control circuits were already wearing down. From the modifications.

“Do it T’Pol!” Archer ordered.

 

[Varshanka]

The Suliban

Tapping quickly T'Pol began the process of rematerialization. Much harder to do from her station, but still effective. "Target 48.56 range 100 kilometers." she said as she engaged the transporters coils, and returned the enemy vessel to reality.

Reed fired as soon as the targeting scanners detected the vessel. The alien ship managed to fire off one shot before losing all power. “The ship is completely powerless, we can tractor it into the shuttlebay easily now.” He said with joy in his voice.

“Do it. But before you bring it in I want that bay full of MACOs.” Archer ordered.

Reed nodded and motioned at one of his junior officers to take over as he went to lead the unit.

Archer turned around and looked at T’Pol “Nicely done Lieutenant Commander.”

"Actually. I may have burned out several of the transporter coils in the rematerialization of the enemy vessel. They may need to be replaced."

Archer activated his direct link to engineering. “Mr. Tucker take a look at the transporter and make any repairs to it that are necessary.”

“Aye Cap’n.” came the reply.

Archer shut the channel. “Mr. Jackson we have a mission to complete, resume course and speed. Also let’s cancel action stations, but maintain a high alert status in case these people try and attack us again. Jackson you have the CONN, I’m on my way to the brig to over see the interrogation of these aliens.” He said as he went to the turbolift and left the bridge.

Jackson got up from the helm and turned it over to an Ensign. Not once did he look at T’Pol.

Sensing the XO's resentment T'Pol said nothing. Instead she sent the coordinates of the alien vessel to tractor control, so they could bring it aboard.

 

[Varshanka]

Trip ran the diagnostic tool over the transporter pad. He had removed the cover and was digging into it’s guts. And the more he looked at it the angrier he was getting. The pattern buffer was on the verge of collapse, and the phase transition coils would need to be completely replaced. He was looking at a four or five hour job. He got up off the padd and hit the comm. Unit “Tucker to bridge.”

"Bridge," Hoshi replied, almost purring over Tucker. She found him to be incredibly sexy, and would enjoy him immensely. "How can I assist you Mr. Tucker?"

Ensign Hoshi Soto, not a bad looking woman. In fact if it wasn’t for the fact that she seemed to be going after half the men on the ship, Trip probably would have fucked her already. Truth be told he still might, he hadn’t decided on if he would have a relationship with any of the crew on this ship. “Ensign, can someone tell me who screwed up my transporter?”

"Umm.. I'm not sure sir. Would you like to speak Commander Jackson?"

"Whoever it takes Ensign." Tucker said as he began to sound even more frustrated.

"Commander Jackson, Lieutenant Commander Tucker would like to speak with you." Hoshi called out sweetly. She wouldn't be the one to satisfy his anger, but she'd love to satisfy his "other" needs.

Now with the XO.. she'd helped him out several times, and he'd helped several of her needs..

Jackson opened the channel from the command chair. “Jackson here, report Mister Tucker.”

“Well Commander, the pattern buffer is just about dead, and the phase transition coils are also shot to hell. However did this just gave us a world of work that we didn’t need.” Tucker explained.

 

[Varshanka]

“Well Mister Tucker that you can blame on our Science Officer. But it seems that the Captain has forgiven her because by pulling her little stunt we got a hold of a ship that apparently has technology that we don’t.” Jackson told him with a smile on his face. But it wasn’t over the fact that they got that ship, but because he now had Tucker on his side against the new Vulcan. “If you need some help I’ll be happy to send some down to you.”

“That would be great, I have some people already going to help Reed with the phase cannon, and I know the Cap’n is going to want me to get on this ship we’ve acquired as soon as possible. So the sooner we get the transporter back up and running the better.” Tucker replied.

“Very good, help is on the way.” Jackson said. He then looked at the Vulcan science officer. “Go help Mister Tucker.” Was all he said.

"Phase Coils, Transporter Control, or Alien Vessel?" T'Pol asked.

"Until he doesn't need you anymore." Jackson snarled.

"Where would you like me to start?" T'Pol clarified.

"Go to the transporter and ask him. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to tell you." Jackson replied

"Very well.." The Vulcan replied as she walked out.

 

[Varshanka]

Walking around the corner T'Pol approached Transporter control, and Tucker. "How can I assist you most efficiently?" she asked.

Trip was busy disconnecting on of the phase transition coils. "You mean besides not operating my transporter again?" he snapped. He knew he was pissed off, and really shouldn't be at her. "I'm sorry, I just take the conditions of all the systems of this ship seriously. Perhaps more seriously than I should. It's part of being human." he told her.

"The damage to the Transporter systems was unavoidable, and is compensated by the amount of technology and biological data we will obtain from the aliens we have captured." She replied, her voice cold and unemotional.

"The damage was avoidable if one doesn't push the technology beyond it's limits. Look maybe one day we'll be able to beam a small moving ship like that into a shuttlebay with no problem. But our technology doesn't support that yet, the system just can't take that strain. And we still don't know how much we'll learn from that ship or it's crew so I wouldn't go counting your chicks before they're hatched just yet." he told her. "You can start helping by removing the pattern buffer from the transporter control hub. I've already sent for the replacement parts and additional tools.

"the system was able to handle the strain of the vessel and crew in the buffers for seven minutes 31 seconds. Which was three minutes longer than I calculated. It was only on the rematerialization that the system became damaged." T'Pol replied, moving to kneel across from him. Opening the required panel she reached inside.

Damn stubborn Vulcan, he thought to himself as he went back to disconnecting the first coil. When he was done he pulled it out and then began to work on the next one. As he worked he found himself humming as he got into a rhythm.

Looking up T'Pol turned her head slightly but didn't see, or hear, anyone in the corridor. "For what purpose is the noise?" she asked, oblivious to how revealing her uniform was at this angle.

 

[Varshanka]

"Huh noise?" Trip asked as he looked up and have a very clear view of her barely covered breasts. As a result it took him a bit longer than he would have normally to realize what it was she was talking about. "You mean my humming? Sometimes humans work faster and more efficiently when they develop a rhythm. The humming helps me keep my rhythm." he explained.

"Fascinating." T'Pol replied, before returning to work. "Vulcan's meditate to work more efficiently."

"There are some that consider humming meditation." he told her. It was probably true, something to do with brain waves. But since she found it, as she said, fascinating maybe she'd try it like she did whistling. "You should try it sometime."

"Perhaps." She replied, pulling out the charred and cracked transducer. "This needs to be replaced."

"Just toss it on the floor with all the other junk." he said point to where he had placed the coil. "You seem awfully interested in some human customs. Hasn't anyone else ever told you these things before?"

"No. Human Vulcan interaction is suggested to be kept at a minimum. Human's are an interesting species. As a race Human's seem to be preoccupied with non-essential functions."

Trip chuckled "I guess I never thought of some of the things we do in that way." he told her.

T'Pol didn't say anything, instead she reached into the open panel and began feeling for more damaged parts.

 

[Varshanka]

Trip didn't say anything although he did continue to hum, and would periodically look up and watch the Vulcan at work. By the time he had finished removing the second coil, some of his men had arrived with the replacement parts for the transporter. It was Crewman Grayson, who normally serves in the shuttlebay, that told Tucker and T'Pol that no one was recovered from the captured craft. The two crewmen were dead.

Sitting back on her heels T’Pol collected pieces and began installing them. Slowly and methodically. Not making a sound as she worked. Efficiently.

Trip immediately went to work installing the new coils. After he installed one he would check it visually and then again with his scanner to make sure everything was as it should be. He was actually able to finish a lot sooner than he thought he would, granted the near silence could have been part of it. A silence which he finally broke as he placed the pad onto of the newly installed replacement circuitry. "Alright how are you doing over there?"

"I've been finished for two minutes seven seconds. I was merely waiting for you to complete. Are you ready for test runs?"

"By all means." he said as he got up and stepped over to the control panel. First thing he did was begin a diagnostic of the entire system. "Alright they check out there way. Go ahead and put that test cylinder on the pad."

Straightening up T'Pol crossed the hall and bent over, collecting the test cylinder. Returning she placed the item on the padd and then stepped back. "Begin."

Trip nodded and chose a set of coordinates in cargo bay 3, it was empty so if something went wrong there was nothing to damage. After a few moments he activated the transporter and beamed the Cylinder away. After he received the signal that the cylinder had reintegrated he checked the internal sensors to make sure that the cylinder was where he wanted it to be. "Alright that part of it looks like it worked." he told her.

 

[Varshanka]

"Good. Bring it back."

He activated the targeting scanners. It took a few minutes to lock on since they were slightly out of alignment. But once he had them realigned he beamed the cylinder back to the pad. "Go ahead and scan the cylinder and make sure everything is as it should be." Trip told her.

"Obviously.." T'Pol murmured. Stepping forward with a scanner she analyzed the container several times. "Why did it take so long to return the item?" She asked as she worked.

"Targeting scanners were out of alignment. Had to recalibrate it on the fly." he told her.

"IS the calibration complete?"

"Yes." he nodded. "How is the cylinder are we missing any molecules?" he asked her.

"Scans show the cylinder to be 99.999% complete. But there is a .001% factor of error in the scanner. It is within acceptable Human limits."

"Only thing that was changed was the additional power." He said as he went over to the panel and yet again readjusted the power settings. Returning them to normal." When he was done he did the full test yet again, sending and then retrieving the cylinder. This time he didn't say anything as he waited word from T'Pol.

Scanning the cylinder T’Pol said nothing. At least until the scans were complete. “The system is obviously out of calibration. Perhaps one of the replacement pieces is damaged?”

 

[Varshanka]

"Nope if they were it wouldn't have worked as well as it did the first time we tested it." he said. "No there's something else going on here. He pulled the maintenance panel off the controls and removed his scanner from his pocket and began to run a check on it. "Lt. Commander how familiar are you with the controls of the transporter?" he asked.

"I overrode them from the Bridge." she stated. "Perhaps the part was damaged and is degrading as it's used?"

"No look at this." he said as he pointed at a small rectangular circuit that was next to the transtator. "That shouldn't be there." he told her.

Looking over his shoulder T'Pol analyzed the position of the unknown piece. Raising her scanner she'd barely begun scanning it when she saw a power spike.

Her hand dropped to his shoulder and she pulled, twisting as she threw him away from the console.

The explosion was micro-seconds later. In fact both of them were still in the air as the panel and several other parts of the transporter system vaporized, including where a controller would be standing.

Trip sat up, and to say he wasn't happy was an understatement. "Alright someone is starting to piss me off. He said as he scrambled to an access panel and removed an extinguisher. He then fired it on the fire that was consuming the control panel.

Staggering to her feet T'Pol looked at Tucker, a dark green line across her forehead. A matching line was on the edge of a shard of torn shrapnel. "Fascinating," she murmured as green blood dripped to the floor.

Turning she began to walk towards sickbay, the burned edges of her uniform flaking off as she staggered. She'd barely made it seven feet when her top fell off, the few remaining pieces of it unable to hold together any longer. Two more steps and she collapsed, unable to even attempt stopping her fall, she crashed to the floor.

Lifeless.

"Fascinating?! What the hell is fascinating about almost being killed" Trip asked as he took care of the fire. He turned around in time to see T'Pol collapse. He moved over to her and saw the blood pooling under her. "Oh great." he said as he picked her up, not worrying about the fact that she was topless, or for that matter how warm the skin of her back was. The only thoughts in his mind was to get her to sickbay.

 

[Varshanka]

When she finally opened her eyes T'Pol was laying on her back, which had a faint burning sensation. Much like if she'd crossed the Forge without anything on. But only a mentally destabilized individual would attempt that.

Reviewing her memories she recalled working on the transporter. And something had been wrong with a scan.

Looking around she realized she was covered by a thin white sheet. And nothing else. "Interesting," she murmured, moving a couple fingers.

Sitting up slowly T'Pol shifted her legs over the side and then eased herself to the floor. Leaning against the bed she watched as the sheet that had been covering her fell to the floor in slow motion.

"Take it easy Lt. Commander." came a voice that she hadn't heard as yet. "You should lay down." the voice said again this time placing hands on her shoulder. He the source of the voice soon stepped in front of her, a Denobulan. "Tell me what you remember."

Turning her head to face the new face T'Pol watched as the room tilted slightly, slowly reasserting itself to a more normal angle.

"I was u'gal-glashaun.. something.." she murmured.

Phlox ran his medical scanner over her. "Yes that's correct you were scanning some of the transporter controls. What else do you remember?" He said as he ran the medical scanner over her bare chest.

"Kum'i. Here. No longer was asleep." T'Pol replied, reaching out and laying her hand on the bed.

 

[Varshanka]

"No your not sleeping. But you should remain still." When Phlox was done and satisfied that she was fine he waved to Tucker who was also there. "She's awake Lt. Commander."

Trip entered the are and bent down and picked up the sheet that had fallen to the ground and then placed it on her. "Was wondering when you were going to finally wake up." he said.

"Kumi, yes. Not asleep." T'Pol said. "pla'dor. fal." she murmured, trying to reach up and touch his face, as she crumpled once more.

"What she say doc?" Trip asked. Obviously the UT hadn't registered what she was trying to say.

"She said her back is hot. it's a result of the dermal regeneration from within the imaging chamber. She’ll feel that for a few hours yet." The Doctor replied.

Since she had some how fallen over on the side where he was standing Trip found himself picking her up for the second time this day. Only this time she was completely naked.

"I"m afraid she'll be drifting in and out of consciousness until she has fully recovered." Phlox said as Trip laid her back onto the bed.

Opening her eyes again, T'Pol could hear the Human's heart beating against her ear. Or rather her ear was against his chest, and she could hear his beating heart. She tried moving her arms but for some reason she couldn't move them.

Perhaps because someone was holding her, but she wasn't sure.

Trip held her down, as Phlox gathered the restraints and began to fasten them around her. Phlox didn't mind when his patients were in pain, as long as it was he that was causing it and not themselves by tying to get out of the bed before they were ready.

Struggling against being held, T'Pol lashed out. A memory of horror filling her mind. A memory. Or a nightmare. Her fist struck something. Hard and satisfying. She heard the sound of broken bone and the spurting of blood.

Trip didn't expect her to be that strong and had lost his grip on her hand. But as quickly as he could he pulled her fist back and placed the wrist in the restraint. Phlox for his part had taken a wicked shot to the face. "That'll teach me not to restrain my patients before I wake them." He said as he walked over towards the counter and picked up a towel to wipe up all his blood. He then placed his hands on his nose and reset it.

 

[Varshanka]

Opening her eyes, T'Pol writhed on the bed for a moment, fury and hate filling them as she twisted and contorted. Much like a human female in the throes of passion. But her motions were of that of someone trying to get free.

“Let go.. Mr. Tucker,” She said. Her eyes suddenly clear and cold. Almost as cold as her Vulcan voice.

"Are you going to calm down?" Trip asked as he struggled with her. Thankfully he had leverage over her or else he'd have difficulty in explaining how he could hold her down.

"I am in control of myself," she replied, her eyes as emotional as a computer. Correction, less emotional than a computer. "It was a bad memory. Nothing more. I apologize for my outburst."

"That most have been some bad memory." he said as he released her. "Alright let me get that restraint off of you." he said as he walked around and undid it. By the time he was done the Doctor had returned after stopping his own bleeding.

Blinking for a moment, T'Pol shifted her legs and sat on the edge of the medical bed, the sheet laying beside her. The only sign of discomfort was her nipples, hard from the cold room. And the goosebumps on her arms.

Reaching down she collected the sheet and wrapped it around herself as she stepped down, her feet making a soft sound as the meet the floor.

"Lt. Commander you should remain in bed until I've cleared you for duty." The doctor warned her

"Doc's right. You were pretty missed up when I brought ya in here." Trip added.

 

[Varshanka]

"I will remain in my quarters if you desire, but not here. If there is a saboteur on board, these beds may be needed soon."

"Speaking about that. The Captain wants it kept quite that there was another attempt of sabotage." Trip told her. "Seems that some radical group has been making claims that they were going to destroy us on our maiden voyage, so if we keep quite about someone trying to blow us up they'll try something again and we'll have a chance at catching them."

"A logical decision." T'Pol replied, pulling the sheet into a more comfortable position, although it revealed the soft smooth slope of cleavage between her full breasts, the crisp fabric pulled taunt by still erect nipples.

"For now he's explaining the transporter incident as... an attempt on your life and mine by someone that was trying to move up in rank. As such he has assigned two guards to each of us." he told her. "As of right now the only ones that know the truth besides you and I are the Captain, and the Doctor here. Reed is still looking for whoever sabotaged my engine, but even he doesn't know about this incident." He added as he found himself periodically looking at her now covered breasts. He found himself thinking it was a shame to cover such beauties.

"My clothes?" She asked, looking at the Doctor. For the moment she seemed to be not noticing Trip's noticing her chest.

"I had a nurse go to your quarters and retrieve another uniform for you. The other was no longer in acceptable condition." Phlox told her and motioned to the small area on Tucker's side. "It's in the small cabinet."

"Well since your finally back on your feet. I'll be heading back to engineering. We'll be arriving at Rigel X in less than an hour. You should probably get as much rest as you can, the Cap'n mentioned wanting you to go down as part of the landing party." Trip told her and was about to leave so she could dress and do what she needed to do

 

[Varshanka]

"Your effort is appreciated, Doctor." T'Pol replied as she looked at Tucker. "How long was I unconscious?" she asked, the sheet slipping from her shoulders and billowing around her feet as she bent over and began pulling the imperial blue boy shorts on. Then the nearly skin tight breeches that rode low on her hips.

Imperial issue gloss black boots followed, before she straightened up and reached for the uniform top.

"Just under 27 hours. Which I hadn't expected since I didn't use that much anesthetic, however I am aware how the Vulcan mind can place its body in a trance in order to speed up healing." Phlox told her.

"Yes, we are capable of such feats." She said, slipping the top on, zipping it up slightly. But then again, it wasn't possible to zip it up much. The zipper was short, made to reveal cleavage. But T'Pol used less than half of the available zipper, or rather her breasts didn't allow her to use more than that as they strained the material, preventing closure.

Trip found that to be interesting, and wondered what else Vulcans were capable of. He know some of the basics. 3x stronger than humans, 2x faster, they had an inner eye due to the harshness of the Vulcan desert which took up most of their world. And of course that they all had excellent hearing, and the women also possessed enhanced sense of smell. And of course their vast intellect. But now wasn't the time to indulge in his curiosity, he had to get back to engineering and finish the final report on the repaired transporter as well as the damaged Suliban vessel.

"When possible Lt. Commander I would love to talk to you more about your people. I would be very interested in hearing about your mating practices." Phlox said.

 

[Varshanka]

Turning to look at the Doctor T'Pol raised an eyebrow. "Vulcan mating habits are not discussed with outsiders. It has been discovered that they find them to be unsettling, hence they are no longer.. discussed."

"Ever." She finished, walking out of sickbay.

Pausing in the door she turned and looked at the Doctor. "And I expect my jewelry returned. Within the hour Doctor. Or I’ll find out how long a Denobulan can survive the vacuum of deep space."

Then she crossed the threshold and walked to her quarters, the door sliding closed behind her. Silent as a tomb. Or a cold death threat.

"Well since you won't discuss them I'll have to observe them for myself." Phlox thought to himself as he went over to where he had placed her jewelry. He called the nurse over to him and instructed her to take them to the Lt. Commander. After the nurse left he went to the lab and began to prepare for a little experiment.

 

[Varshanka]

The hatch to the shuttlepod 1 was opened and out stepped out a young MACO, he was soon followed by the head of the Captain's guard Sgt. Mayweather. Then two more guards came out before Reed exited. His men looked around a bit and then Reed looked back into the shuttle and told the Captain it was clear to exit. As he did so Shuttlepod 2 which was carrying the XO, and Lt. Commander's Tucker, T'Pol, and two more MACO's landed about 15 feet away.

Stepping from the shuttlepod T’Pol looked around, her expression stoic, but to the unaware it looked like she was glaring at everyone, and everything.

Moving forward, T’Pol felt the comfortable weight of her matched boot blades, and the phase pistol on her hip.

Trip was the next to exit. He really didn't like the idea of leaving the ship, especially with someone out there trying to blow it up. But the Captain wanted him on this landing party so he came. He felt the cold wind hitting him and wondered about how it was messing with T'Pol, she was from a hot weather planet and this place being Class P was barely capable of supporting life. "He removed his scanner from his pocket "Temperature is dropping rapidly we better get inside quick." he said just as Jackson and his guard got out of Pod 2.

"Once more you surprise me with a logical deduction, Mr. Tucker." T'Pol said, already moving towards a door her own scanner indicated was an entry to the lower levels. And something warmer.

"Always happy to do that T'Pol." is what he said, however in his mind he was thinking how much other things about him would surprise her. The Starfleet contingent made their way to a nearby access hatch. 3 of the MACOs entered first to make sure the area was clear, and then the rest were allowed to enter. Once inside they made their way to the administrator’s office. Trip looked around, even though he didn't want to be here originally he had to admit this was rather interesting. This was his first alien world he had been on after all.

 

[Varshanka]

T'Pol was forced to wait, and slowly freeze, as the humans inspected the room beyond the door. Finally she had enough of their mindless incompetence, which would stretched even the patience of Surok.

Stepping past the guards she moved forwards, nearly walking on Tuckers heels when he entered. Only when she was inside, and out of the blistering cold wind did she stop moving, and that was to stand as close to a warm air duct as possible, albeit discretely.

Archer and a few of the guards had entered the office. Archer had planned to just simply bribe the Administrator for the information on where the Klingons were instead of needing to look all around for them. However it turns out that the Administrator was an honest man, so Archer fell back on plan-B. When he and his MACOs came out again, the one called Mayweather was all sweaty. "We have to go to level 20. He said they like to hang out down there, because they can get live food. Unfortunately level 20 is the largest level of the facility, so we'll have to split up. Reed and Mayweather with me we'll check out the North end. Jackson, you and your two guards check out the South end. Tucker and T'Pol take the Private and look at the Eastern section. It's awfully close to the reactor, but he said they might be there since they like the heat."

Nodding T'Pol saluted the Captain, then motioned for the Private to lead. She followed, and indicated Tucker should follow her with a motion of her hand. She didn't like being between two Humans, partly because of their stench, but she'd rather have an enemy she knew at her back, then a surprise knife in her spine.

 

[Varshanka]

When they arrived on level 20 the stench hit Trip like a fist to the stomach. How the hell anyone could stand that smell was beyond him. He scrunched up his nose and continued on. He removed his scanner and attempted to scan for the bio signs of a Klingon that the Doctor had programmed their scanners with. However being so close to the facilities reactor was causing to much interference. "Well since we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way and these Klingons love heat, let's go closer to the reactor."

Pausing as the door opened T'Pol stepped back from the air and tried to tap Tucker on the shoulder, but, like so many humans he was impatient.

Opening her coat she pulled out a small vial and inhaled as deeply as possible from it. Seconds later she closed the vial and returned it to her coat pocket. Now she could stand next to the nastiest Human possible, and Reed fit that bill quite amply, and not even notice.

Moving up she nodded, the thrum of the reactor and it's coolant unit making it illogical for her to yell for him to hear her. As it was she barely heard him.

The young Private really didn't know what he was doing. He was supposed to be there to protect Trip and T'Pol but some how he had gotten himself behind them. He tried calling out to them, but he could barely hear himself, so it was doubtful that they'd hear him. As such he just pressed out remembering the Commander saying something about closer to the reactor.

Unfortunately he was so busy trying to regroup with the other two, that he forgot to watch his back. He didn't see the nearly seven foot tall Klingon until it was two late. He tried to fight him, but the Klingon was just too strong, first he knocked the rifle away from the MACO. Then the two engaged in a battle of blades, actually it was more like a massacre. But the Klingon was impressed enough that the fool died with honor.