Unexpected - Chapter 3

Unexpected

by Orion9

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

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Chapter Three: Explanations

The Sapphire Room, The Royal Zenandrian Palace
Zenandria
2145 hours

“Yer kiddin’, right?”

Trip looked from his captain to T’pol then back to Archer again. Beside him, Hoshi’s eyes were wide with mute surprise.

Archer shook his head.

“I’m afraid not, Trip.”

Trip closed his eyes and gave an unsteady laugh. He then blew out a breath, crossed his arms and looked pointedly at T’pol.

“Would someone care to explain how’d this happened?”

“My knowledge of the Zenandrian royal traditions is minimal, Commander,” she began. “However, I do know that the princess chooses her potential lifemate from five Royal Suitors, who will be pre-selected by herself or by any other member of the royal family during a certain period of time.”

“Five men? And I thought dating one at a time was hard enough,” Hoshi said to herself. She stole a peek at the Chief Engineer. Poor Trip. He looks rather pale all of a sudden...

“And Trip was selected…how?” Archer asked.

“These suitors are … informed … of their eligibility when they are offered the chance to partake the sher’lk, the bright blue liquid that Commander Tucker consumed a moment ago at the banquet hall.”

“What?! For cryin’ out loud…!” Trip exclaimed, still completely rattled by the revelation that he was in the running for a place in the Zenandrian royal family.

“The one chosen may, of course, decline the drink, unless he does so wish to court the princess.”

“An’ how was I s’pposed to know that?! It was jus’ a strange drink with a weird name I couldn’t ev’n pronounce!” Trip’s southern accent was suddenly more prominent than ever as the volume of his voice slowly increased.

“Calm down, Trip,” Archer said, putting a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “It’s not your fault.”

“Not completely,” T’pol agreed. “Although it would have been prudent not to accept drinks from strange women.”

“Now wait just a da–“

“However,” she interrupted him, “if blame must be assigned, the bulk of it should go to me.”

Her answer left Trip open-mouthed in astonishment. Even Archer failed to conceal his surprise.

“Princess Xadria’s conduct in the Great Hall did give a strong impression that she was considering Commander Tucker’s suitability as a Royal Suitor. However, I did not take those suspicions seriously,” T’pol continued, unperturbed by their reaction.

“Why not?” Hoshi asked.

“There has never been an inter-species marriage in Zenandria, be it royalty or otherwise. I had assumed Princess Xadria merely wanted to make use of Commander Tucker’s presence to arouse jealousy, perhaps in someone whom she is fond of but had declined to partake the ceremonial drink with her.”

“Great…,” Trip muttered darkly. “Now I’m jus’ rebound guy?”

He shook his head at T’pol’s questioning glance.

“Never mind.”

Archer remembered his uneasiness during dinner. He turned to T’pol.

“Our sitting arrangements in the banquet hall?”

“Yes, Captain, it would appear that they were intentionally arranged that way.”

“She wanted the Sub-Commander out of the way because she was the only one among us who would’ve known what the drink signified,” Hoshi said, shaking her head.

Trip glared at T’pol.

“You could’ve at least warned me!” he said accusingly. “Especially after all that … that pledging back there in the Great Hall!”

“Pledging?” Hoshi repeated curiously.

“Yeah, a word of advice, Hoshi. If ‘nyone here asks you if yer pledged to someone else, jus’ say yes,” Trip replied tersely, still glaring at T’pol. “It’ll sure save you a whole lot of trouble.”

“Perhaps it was an error of judgment on my part, Commander, but I did not wish to alarm you unnecessarily at the time. As I had mentioned before, I was unaware that Princess Xadria was able to partake the sher’lk with someone who was not Zenandrian.”

“I know, I know,” Trip sighed, his anger fading as fast as it had appeared. “It isn’t really your fault…”

He suddenly brightened.

“Well, let’s just get outta here right now. Then–“

“I’m afraid that would be impossible,” T’pol interjected.

“Why’s that?”

“Because the moment a suitor is chosen, he will be placed under royal protection until the Ceremony of Choosing.”

T’pol indicated the main entrance of the room. Standing silently at attention there were two armed Zenandrian men in red and gold uniform.

“The Royal Zenandrian Guards,” she clarified to her stunned audience.

Trip stared in disbelief at the men in question before turning back to the Sub-Commander.

“Yer tellin’ me that I’m under guard?!”

“It is only for your own protection, Commander. Royal suitors have been known to … disappear … in the past under dubious circumstances. Due to this, they are now forbidden to leave the palace grounds until the ceremony is over.”

“Oh … Now there’s also danger involved. This jus’ keeps gettin’ better and better, doesn’t it?” Trip muttered to no one in particular. He sighed.

“Are you absolutely sure there’s no way I can get outta this?”

“I’m sorry, Commander. Not to my knowledge.”

“So now what?”

“The Royal Guards will stay by your side until the ceremony is complete.”

“And this happens…”

“The ceremony will take place in four days’ time,” T’pol finished evenly.

Trip’s head, which had begun to droop slightly between his shoulders during the question and answer session, snapped up suddenly at T’pol’s reply. Archer felt a rush of sympathy for his unfortunate friend. Being cooped up in the palace for the next few days and followed around by two huge Zenandrian guards was definitely not anyone’s idea of a relaxing shore leave.

“What about us?” Archer demanded. “Are we supposed to just leave him here?”

“I do not know, Captain. This situation has not arisen before.”

“Never mind. Let’s see if we could find Dakr’a and get some answers from him.”

He turned to Trip.

“You stay here with T’pol in case they decide to spring any other surprises on you. Hoshi and I will see what we can find out.”

“We could all go, Cap’n.”

Archer exchanged a quick look with T’pol and then shook his head.

“We could, Trip, but we’ll be two people too many. I want to see if I could get them to bend some of their rules here without starting any rumours along the way.”

Trip nodded glumly. He stood there silently until Archer and Hoshi had left the room.

“T’pol?”

“Yes, Commander?”

“Uh… ‘bout this Choosin’ Ceremony bit…,” Trip began reluctantly.

“I believe it is called the Ceremony of Choosing.”

“Yeah… right… the Ceremony o’ Choosing…”

There was a long pause.

“Your question, Commander.”

A myriad of expressions crossed Trip’s face as he struggled to find the right words. Finally, he let out a pent up breath and blurted it out.

“It doesn’t involve ‘nyone gettin’ pregnant, does it?”

TBC

A/N: For those of you who caught it: The ending and the title of the story – an honest coincidence. I already had this part in mind for some time before I even thought of the main title. No pun or whatsoever intended. :)

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