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Sins of the Father - Chapters 14 and 15

Author - Hoshissis
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Sins of the Father

by Hoshissis

Rating: PG-13
Genre: Friendship/angst

~~~

Chapter Fourteen

A few hours later, Charles Tucker II walked down the corridor to the airlock accompanied by Captain Archer. Archer could tell by Mr. Tucker’s somber mood that something had happened between him and Trip, but he didn’t want to pry into something that was obviously personal between the two of them.

“I’m sorry you’re leaving so soon,” said Archer.

“It’s probably for the best,” replied Mr. Tucker sadly. “Tell Trip I--”

He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence because he suddenly saw Trip standing at the airlock door waiting for them. He obviously knew his father well enough to know that this would be his next move.

“Ya not leaving are ya?” asked Trip.

“Wasn’t sure if ya still wanted me to stay.”

“Nothin’s changed … Dad,” said Trip softly. “An’ to answer ya question from earlier, yes ya have done all of those things.”

Charles Tucker II sighed a deep breath of relief and clasped his son in a huge bear hug. “That’s good to hear …” After a few minutes he turned around with a large grin, “So Captain Archer, how about breakfast instead of that dinner you promised us?”

“It’ll be a pleasure, Charlie,” replied Archer, glad to see that the two had gotten over their rift from last night. “If you’ll follow me, I’ll have Chef prepare us something.”

“Cap’n, Dad, if you’ll excuse me for a moment, I have to see someone first,” asked Trip. He was trying to be as vague as possible because he hadn’t seen Phlox yet and the slight tremble in his hand was an indication that he was overdue for his daily injection.

“Can’t it wait till after we’ve had breakfast?” asked Mr. Tucker, curious as to who was so important for Trip to see right now.

Feeling cornered from their close scrutiny, as any further explanation would require going into details that he didn’t want to divulge just yet, Trip smiled and said, “It’ll wait,” before following them both down the corridor to the Captain’s Mess.

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Thirty minutes later, Trip was slowly tucking into blueberry pancakes, feeling acutely embarrassed as his dad regaled numerous tales of his exploits as a young boy to Captain Archer who was relishing his discomfort.

“It sounds like Trip was quite a handful”, chuckled Archer, as Charles finished telling a story about how Trip had taken apart their dining table one Thanksgiving.

“I’d say. He had this fascination for taking Sue’s kitchen appliances apart so he could understand the mechanics,” laughed Charles. “It got so bad, she took to hiding them.” Glancing at Trip, Archer smiled at this, remembering how young Sim was just as inquisitive as a young boy.

Trip said nothing to this exchange. His head was throbbing through the sheer concentration it was taking to maintain a tight grip on his fork.

“Are you okay … Son?” asked Charlie, noticing that something was not quite right.

“Trip?” enquired Archer, also noticing that something wasn’t quite right.

“Can … can you … call Phlox?” asked Trip quietly, as he dropped his fork and rubbed his forehead. “He’ll know what to do.” He really didn’t want to involve his dad and Captain Archer just yet, but right now, he just didn’t feel well at all. Not only was his hand trembling quite badly, but he was beginning to feel light-headed as well.

As Captain Archer went to the comm. unit to call Phlox, Charles Tucker grasped Trip’s hand in a reassuring hold to let him know that everything would soon be okay and that help was on its way. Trip smiled at his dads non-vocal sign of support. Captain Archer came and sat down with them after he’d put the call through, concerned about his young friend and brother.

After a few minutes, Phlox hurried into the room carrying his medical bag. “How bad is it?” he asked, as he scanned him with his tricorder. “Same symptoms as before?”

“Yeah, but I’m feeling a little dizzy as well.”

“That’s to be expected. You’ve never been this late with your medication before,” he said, while injecting Trip with a hyperspray, much to Archer’s and Charlie’s surprise. “This should start to relieve your symptoms in a few moments.” With a quick glance at Captain Archer and Charles Tucker II, Phlox indicated to Trip that he was going to leave. “I want to see you in sickbay after breakfast for a quick examination, just to make sure that everything is okay.”

“Sure, Doc,” replied Trip, as he shot a quick glance at his father and Commanding Officer, who were both anxiously waiting for an explanation of the events that had just transpired.

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“Medication?” asked Charles Tucker, looking at Captain Archer and Trip.

“I’m just as much in the dark as you are, Charlie,” replied Captain Archer, as he also turned a questioning look at his friend.

“Yeah … medication,” answered Trip, looking them both in the eyes. “I’ve got Clarke’s Syndrome.” Charles Tucker and Captain Archer stared back at him with white, shocked faces.

“Are you okay?” asked Charles Tucker, after a few minutes when the initial shock had worn off.

“I’m okay. Phlox is monitoring me and providing daily medication for the initial symptoms.”

“How long have you known?” asked Captain Archer. He couldn’t believe the unfairness of it all, having first watched his father suffer from this disease, and now having to do the same with his baby brother.

“Not long,” replied Trip. “I’ve been suffering from constant headaches for a while. Phlox did some tests and found out what was causing them. I was gonna tell ya … I just needed time to get used to this myself. It’s not easy finding out ya only going to live about another five or six years at best, ya know,” he said with a slight humorous undertone, as though trying to lighten the atmosphere.

Charles Tucker stood up and pulled him into a huge bear hug. “Hey … really I’m okay, I’m coping with this …” came Trip’s muffled voice, as his father hugged the living daylights out of him, more as a kind of support for himself, as it was for Trip.

“I know, Son …” said Charles, trying to keep the emotional turmoil that he was feeling from showing in his voice. “Just give me a moment, will ya …”

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Chapter Fifteen

Later that day, Captain Archer was walking Porthos down the corridor for his daily run. Trip was spending some quality time with his dad. “And knowing Trip that probably means he’s giving him the unorthodox tour of Engineering”, thought Archer with a smile. Unfortunately though, this left him pondering what Trip had told them earlier in his private mess.

He just couldn’t get over the shock of finding out that Trip was suffering from Clarke’s Syndrome. The more he thought about what Trip was going to go through made him want to bash the nearest bulkhead and vent his anger at the cruel twist of fate. Fate that had granted his greatest wish on one hand and who was going to snatch it away with the other. It was just so damn unfair.

Research on the disease showed him that it was still ruthless in how it attacked, sparing its victims no dignity with its painful and degenerating symptoms. Science had enabled sufferers more chance of life with stronger and more effective medication for the symptoms, but the end result was still the same. Death was inevitable and the prospect of a cure was unfortunately slim and decades away.

Images of him and Trip, two brothers side by side in their exploration of a New Frontier, were snatched away and replaced by memories of what his dad’s last few years of life had been like. This wasn’t what he’d pictured or envisioned for him and Trip, and damn it, the thought of being denied this fueled his anger even more. What right did Fate have, to torture him like this? For once, he wished she would pack it in and let things go his way. Was that too much to ask for?

“Bridge to Captain Archer …” came the voice of Hoshi over the comm.

“Archer …”

“Sorry to disturb your walk, Sir, but you have a call from Starfleet Command.”

“Can you route it to my ready room, Hoshi?” asked Archer. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”

With a whistle for Porthos to follow, he turned around and walked back to his quarters.

-------------------------------------------

Reaching over to the LCD display, Captain Archer commed Hoshi to put through the transmission from Starfleet. He had an idea what it was going to be about. “Probably informing me of our next mission.”

The image of Admiral Forrest appeared on the viewscreen, cutting off his train of thought. “Jon, how are things going with the refit?”

“Fine, Admiral, Trip says we’re just about through with the repairs and the upgrades. We should be ready to depart on our mission in two days.”

“We have a slight detour for Enterprise before you can commence with exploring,” said Forrest.

“Detour?” asked Archer.

“You may not be aware, but since the end of the Xindi conflict, tensions have been rising with regards to visiting alien species.”

“I was aware of a few minor incidents from the newsreels, but I thought they were contained and not related,” replied Archer.

“Our intelligence reports indicate that they may be part of a larger organization out to make Earth xenophobic and bring it back to its roots. They blame alien contact for the disaster in Florida and are determined to drive away all alien visitors. It seems their goal is to make Earth strong again.”

“I didn’t realize it had gotten so bad,” replied Archer, looking concerned.

“It’s still at the stage where we can contain it,” said Forrest. “Hopefully, it will fizzle out in a few months and we can get back to establishing ourselves within the stellar community. We want to put in place a few precautions first to prevent them from proceding with their ‘stronger Earth’ goal. That’s where Enterprise comes in.”

“What do you want us to do?” asked Archer, not understanding where Enterprise fitted into the equation.

“You are aware that we’ve been holding a Dr. Soong in one of our Starfleet security facilities ever since he was convicted of crimes against humanity with his augmentation and genetic experiments?” asked Forrest.

“Yes, I was aware of that.”

“It seems one of our operatives has uncovered a plot to by this organization to break him out, so they can involve him in their quest to make humanity strong again.”

“How?” asked Archer.

“By helping him commence his augmentation experiments again,” replied Forrest in disgust.

“Do you think they are anywhere near organized or large enough to succeed?” asked Captain Archer, surprised that Starfleet was actually taking this threat seriously.

“Personally, no, but Starfleet isn’t prepared to take any chances where Soong is concerned,” replied Forrest. “We want Enterprise to transport him to a top secret facility in a nearby sector where we can be sure of his safety and be sure that he is out of reach of these fanatics.”

“What are the coordinates?” asked Captain Archer.

“We’ll transmit them once Soong is safely transported aboard Enterprise. Good luck, Jon.”

Captain Archer sat back in his chair once Forrest had signed off. It seemed unbelievable to him that something like this was actually happening on Earth, and even more so, that Starfleet was actually taking it seriously enough to take precautions like this. Feeling curious, he brought up the files on Doctor Soong on his computer. Flipping through various reports and interviews, his eyes grew wide as he took in all the written information about this genius who had been lead astray and turned insane by his powerful accomplishments.

Glancing quickly at all the information, he recoiled back in shock and sat up straight against the back of his chair. It seems the hand of Fate was once more taunting him by dangling his wish in front of him like a carrot on a stick. There were unconfirmed rumors floating around the scientific community that Soong had developed cures for the initial stages of Clarks Syndrome through his previous genetic experimentations, along with various other diseases. No one could actually prove this as Starfleet had banned and destroyed all of his work before his incarceration, along with his handwritten notes that he now took to scribbling through his long hours of solitude. “If knowledge of a cure does exits though, maybe there’s hope for Trip after all,” thought Archer. “Lets just hope the price isn’t too high.”

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TBC


Continue to Chapters 16 and 17

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