He Who Fights with Monsters

He Who Fights With Monsters

By Thalia Drogna

Rated: R
Genre: Action/Adventure; Angst; Hurt/Comfort

Disclaimer: I don’t own these characters, I’m just borrowing them.

Author’s Note: This is a sequel to What Does Not Kill Us, it will help a lot to read that first. The title is another quote from Nietzsche.

Archive: yes to EntSTcommunity, everyone else please email me for permission.

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The officers who had their quarters on B deck had become used to interruptions to their sleep and learnt to ignore them. The Captain had requested Engineering discreetly put in extra sound proofing in the surrounding quarters and no one said anything more about it. Captain Archer knew, that despite what Trip might say, he wasn’t okay, he wasn’t over it and he certainly wasn’t fine.

Trip had been back on duty in Engineering for over a week the first time it happened. He hadn’t reported for his shift that morning and wasn’t answering his com. Archer had arrived at Trip’s quarters to find the Engineer huddled in a blanket on his bed, shaking violently and staring across the room, eyes wide in terror. He’d managed to get out of him something incoherent about the Xindi, it was obvious he’d had a nightmare and it had spilled over into wakefulness. Archer had tried to comfort him but in the end had had to call Phlox. It had taken several hours of patient reassurance and some of Phlox’s drugs to get him to calm down. Trip missed his shift in Engineering while he wrestled with shadows of the Xindi. Until that point Archer had really believed that Trip was fine, it appeared that he’d just been doing a very good job of hiding how ill he really was.

Three months ago he’d been rescued from a Xindi ship. He’d been found beaten beyond recognition, drugged and infected with technology destroying nanoprobes. The injuries had faded and the nanoprobes had been rendered harmless, but the mental scars were deeper than anyone had realised. Trip was still seeing Phlox for regular counselling sessions, and then of course there were the nightmares.

Trip hated missing shifts, he felt he wasn’t doing his duty, which made him even more upset and the aftermath of the nightmares worse. The drugs that Phlox had to use weren’t good for him either if their use was prolonged. T’Pol stepped up the neuropressure treatments and it seemed to help a bit. The dreams were less vivid and Trip was more easily wrested from their grasp, but they didn’t go away.

Phlox had explained to Archer that Trip was reminded everyday when he went to work exactly what he’d been through, most of the Xindi’s questions had been about his Engineering knowledge. Trip loved his job and that dealt with the majority of the bad feeling but eventually it built up and poisoned his dreams. Most of the time he was doing well, back to almost being the Trip Tucker that everyone remembered before his kidnapping by the Xindi, and then it was as if he couldn’t keep up the act any longer.

Phlox had asked Archer to check in on Trip and so he tracked him down in Engineering, where he could be found most of the time since his return to duty. In fact, that was what Phlox had asked Archer to talk to Trip about.

“Hey, Captain,” said Trip when he saw his commanding officer approaching. He was working at a console tucked away down the side of the warp engine.

“Trip,” said Archer in reply. “Your shift finished three hours ago, what are you still doing here?”

“You know, stuff to do. I was away for a long time and I need to get back up to speed,” said Trip.

“Lieutenant Hess tells me that you’ve been back up to speed for the past two weeks. She also mentioned that she hasn’t seen you pull anything less than a double shift for a few days now,” said Archer. Lieutenant Hess was Trip’s deputy and had been in charge while he’d been away.

“She was just being polite about me being up to speed. I’ve got a way to go yet, and it’s going to mean putting in some long hours,” said Trip. He was praying that Archer would take his reply at face value but, to be honest, he knew his friend too well not to realise he wasn’t going to give in that easily.

“You need to rest,” said Archer.

“I’m fine,” said Trip, deliberately continuing with what he was doing, hoping that Archer would get the hint that he was busy.

“We both know that you’re not fine,” said Archer, gently.

Trip stopped what he was doing and looked at Archer. “So what?” said Trip, crossly. “None of us have been the same since the Xindi attacked Earth. I can deal with a few nightmares and bad days.” Archer noted Trip’s use of the phrase “bad days”, it had become code for when he had to spend time under Phlox’s care. Archer had had to fight with Phlox not to take Trip off the duty roster completely after his most recent attack. Archer knew Trip needed to work, but if he kept up his current behaviour he’d have to let Phlox have his way and he didn’t want that.

“Trip, you’re working too hard, you’re making yourself worse,” said Archer.

“I’m not ill,” said Trip, turning back to the console he was working on. It sounded as if he was trying to convince himself almost as much as Archer.

“Phlox says different,” said Archer. “When did you last go to the mess hall?” He still hadn’t put back all the weight that he’d lost during his time with the Xindi although his ongoing physiotherapy was at least putting the muscle back.

“The nanites remind me to eat. They need the energy as much as I do and I get kind of light headed if they start drawing power I don’t have,” said Trip.

“I didn’t say you weren’t eating, but Chef noticed that you haven’t been eating in the mess hall and Malcolm tells me that he brings you lunch most days. I get the impression you wouldn’t stop at all if it weren’t for the nanites,” said Archer.

“Captain, I really don’t have time to debate my eating habits with you. I’ve got to finish this diagnostic on the warp coils,” said Trip.

“Look, I wanted to do this the easy way but you won’t let me. Commander, I’m ordering you to take a break and I don’t want to see you in here tomorrow either. You’re coming with me and we’re going to go to the mess hall and sit down and have a proper meal. After that we’re going to watch a movie, drink some beer and you’re going to forget about Engineering.”

“You’re ordering me to watch a movie?” said Trip in disbelief.

“If that’s what it’s going to take to get you out of here, yes. When was the last time you went to movie night?” asked Archer.

“Erm, must be…” said Trip trying to think. He didn’t actually remember going to movie night since he’d been back on duty.

“Come on,” said Archer, “you can leave that until tomorrow.”

“Okay,” said Trip, resigned, and put down the padd he’d been working on. He followed Archer through the hatch and out of Engineering. Internally he told the nanites “work’s over for today, you can recharge your batteries.” They didn’t really need to recharge their batteries literally, but it was his way of telling them to change modes and quieten down. When he was in Engineering they would constantly feed him information from diagnostics and telemetry on the various systems. He liked their constant chatter, it made him feel as if he was part of the ship, but he also occasionally liked his head to himself. Today they didn’t get the message and continued their constant feed of information.

“Shut up!” he said.

“Trip?” asked Archer, slightly bewildered. He hadn’t said anything to his friend.

“Sorry, the nanites were being a bit loud. They don’t always get the message when I’m tired,” said Trip, running a hand through his dishevelled hair. “Phlox said something about my thinking being less directed when I need some rest.” The nanites had gone completely silent at his shouted command, so Trip told them more gently that they could start their usual low level of chatter again. He’d learnt to tune out most of their status updates but when he was awake he liked to hear them at the back of his mind. The nanites quietly apologised for misunderstanding his command before.

“I think that goes for more than just your communication with the nanites,” said Archer, relaxing slightly. There had been quite a few changes to Trip over the past few months which Archer had had to get used to. The far away look that he sometimes got when he was communicating internally with the nanites that now inhabited his body was one of them. Archer couldn’t even begin to imagine what it must be like to have machines constantly talking to you or to be able to do some of the things that Trip was now capable of.

Archer was worried though, he’d never yet heard Trip talk out loud to the nanites, and he’d certainly never seen him get angry with them. Trip had really taken the continued presence of the nanites in his body in his stride. He’d actually been far more interested in understanding their make-up than thinking about their intrusion into his head. Which made Archer wonder if he’d ever addressed how the nanites might change him and his feelings about the Xindi putting them there. Perhaps after everything he’d been through, it was one thing too many for him to be able to deal with at the moment.

“Come on, let’s go and get some food,” said Archer and led Trip to the mess hall.

Archer sat Trip down at a table, he looked so tired that Archer thought he could do with a bit of looking after so went to collect some food for both of them. It was later than most of the crew usually ate and the mess hall was almost empty. Archer selected a couple of dishes that he knew would meet with Trip’s approval and returned to the table to find him staring off into the distance again.

“Trip?” said Archer.

Trip’s eyes took a moment to refocus. “Sorry, Captain, did you say something?”

“No, but I got the impression that you wouldn’t have heard me if I had,” said Archer.

“I guess I’m more tired than I thought,” said Trip. Archer handed him a plate and some cutlery which Trip gratefully accepted. He didn’t seem to even take notice of what Archer had brought them to eat, he just ate.

“Trip, slow down,” said Archer.

“Sorry, I’m starved. Seem to be more hungry now I’m eating for two billion,” said Trip with a grin.

“You can always go back for seconds,” said Archer. Trip’s uniform was still hanging off him and Phlox had told Trip he was under strict orders to eat at least three square meals a day until he’d put back all the weight he’d lost. With that and the physiotherapy the doctor hoped to have Trip back to his previous levels of muscle strength in a month or so.

Archer was desperately trying to think of small talk to distract Trip from thinking about Engineering, but everything he thought up either was related to the ship or related to Trip’s recovery after his ordeal with the Xindi. He gave up and settled for asking Trip what movie he wanted to watch. Luckily that seemed to be a topic of conversation that Trip was happy to engage in so they spent the remainder of the meal talking happily about the merits of various films before heading back to Archer’s quarters to find beer and the promised film.

Archer had vetoed Trip’s suggestion of a “good” horror flick, but his friend’s love of sci-fi won through in the end and Archer found himself watching Bladerunner. As they watched the outdated version of what their ancestors thought the future of Earth would be like, Archer wondered what had prompted Trip to pick it. It was a little more serious than he had intended for that night’s viewing but it was, after all, an evening for Trip to relax and kick back in a safe environment. The main reason he had vetoed the horror film suggestion was because he didn’t want to trigger any of Trip’s bad memories of his Xindi torturers which would no doubt have led to another sleepless night for his Engineer. Perhaps his choice of film was yet another indication of the more serious, quiet nature that Trip had developed since his rescue from the Xindi. Archer hadn’t failed to notice that Trip had begun to prefer his own company a lot more recently and he worried that this was a permanent change in his friend.

Phlox had said that what Trip most needed was time. Time to reconcile his memories, time to get over what had happened and time to adjust to his new situation. Archer was determined that Trip would have that time and he would eventually be fully recovered. Phlox had already told him that this might be as recovered as Trip was ever going to get but Archer refused to accept that. Trip didn’t deserve to have nightmares and panic attacks for the rest of his life, he deserved to be able to put his ordeal behind him. It didn’t help that Enterprise was still in the Expanse, a place where they could meet Xindi at any time and they couldn’t turn around and go home until the mission was complete, no matter how badly that affected a member of his crew. Not that Trip would have wanted to be taken home, but it was another aspect of their situation that couldn’t be helping in Trip’s recovery.

They had just reached the scene where Deckard was being told that Rachael was actually an android, when Archer looked over at Trip and found he’d fallen asleep in his chair. He’d been pretty sure that Trip had been over working himself ever since his return to full duty, and this was just confirmation. At first Archer had believed what Trip had told him, he needed to put in the long hours to get back up to speed but as the days went on he knew it couldn’t just be that. When he’d found Trip huddled in a ball in his quarters unable to move, he’d finally realised that Trip wasn’t as recovered from his ordeal as he had pretended. It was what Phlox had been telling him all along, it was just that Trip was putting on such a good act that he’d fooled his best friend into thinking what he had wanted to believe, everything was back to how it had been before.

Archer reached over and nudged Trip to wake him. He would have liked to let him sleep but he’d only wake up with a sore back so Archer decided moving him back to his own bed would definitely be preferable.

“Come on, Commander,” said Archer, “time for you to go to bed.”

“I don’t know anything,” said Trip, half asleep, pushing Archer’s hand off.

“Trip?” said Archer, shaking his friend a little harder.

Trip sat bolt upright suddenly. He rubbed a hand over his face. “I hate waking up,” said Trip. “In fact I hate sleeping.”

“Is this why you’ve been working such long hours?” asked Archer, “because you don’t want to sleep?”

“Kinda, I mean I do have to sleep sometimes, it’s just easier when I’m so tired that I can’t stand up any longer,” said Trip. “T’Pol’s doing her best with the neuropressure but, well…” Trip trailed off.

“When you’ve been through what you went through, Trip, even T’Pol’s neuropressure sessions aren’t going to be able to deal with it. At least not on their own. You know I’m always here if you want to talk,” said Archer.

“Thanks Captain, but I’ve talked it to death. There’s nothing else to say,” said Trip. “Phlox keeps saying that humans can’t deal with traumatic events easily, well I think I’m the living proof of that. I’m sure the Doc is probably writing scientific papers about me for his medical exchange colleagues.”

“He’s doing his best,” said Archer. “He’s in constant communication with the psychiatrists back at Starfleet about how to help you deal with this.”

“Yeah, I bet they’re having a field day with it,” said Trip, obviously embarrassed by the idea of so many people discussing him. He hated the thought of them picking over the remnants of his life as if he was some sort of experiment.

“Phlox didn’t really have any choice. His human psychiatric experience is limited and you know what kind of state you were in when we brought you back. You hardly said anything for four weeks, I was afraid we’d never get you back.”

“If you guys hadn’t been there for me, Jon, I might never have made it to where I am now,” said Trip. “It’s just these damn nightmares keep pulling me back down there. And, you know, it’s pretty dark at the bottom of the abyss.”

“Yeah, I’m sure it is,” said Archer. “Come on, let’s get you back to your own bed.” Archer gave Trip a hand out of his chair. Trip swayed slightly on his feet, so Archer took him by the arm and guided him back to his own quarters even though Trip protested that he didn’t need an escort. “You’ve got the day off tomorrow,” said Archer, “I’ll let Hess know not to expect you. You need the rest and the last thing I need is my Chief Engineer dropping dead from exhaustion.”

Trip would have protested but he was too tired. “Okay, Captain,” he said, keying in his door code. Archer waved him a quick goodnight and Trip closed his door, taking care to double lock it.

****

T’Pol saw it first on the long range scanners, which of course was a great source of chagrin to Lieutenant Reed who prided himself on his vigilance. Archer decided to investigate, out here they had no idea what might be useful to their mission and what wouldn’t. Anything unusual was definitely worth a look. Certainly, this was unusual. T’Pol’s sensors picked up unknown materials and bizarre fluctuations in energy. Then there was its size, T’Pol estimated that Enterprise would have fitted inside the alien spaceship one hundred and twenty times.

The ship was beautiful, a cross between a gothic cathedral and an ice crystal, it shone like a Christmas decoration against the blackness of space. White, delicate, filigree towers rose from the main structure, giving the design an almost organic look. It was also completely dead in space, their warp core was offline. There were signs of life though, hundreds of them.

“Hoshi, open a channel,” said Archer.

“The channel is open, sir,” replied Hoshi.

“This is Captain Jonathan Archer of the Starship Enterprise,” said Archer. “Do you require assistance?”

“We would welcome your assistance and invite you aboard our craft the Rel Sevanne,” said a disembodied voice.

“Who am I talking to?” asked Archer.

“I am Ten En Ath Jeriad of the Tien. You may call me Ten En,” said the voice.

“What is the nature of your problem, Ten En,” asked Archer.

“Our warp engines are malfunctioning but we have also had computer problems. Our engineers are working on it but any assistance that you can offer us would be gratefully accepted.”

“I’ll send over an Engineering team with my Tactical officer, they should be able to help you,” said Archer.

“Thank you, Captain Archer. I look forward to meeting your people,” said Ten En.

Hoshi cut the channel.

“Think you can handle it, Lieutenant?” asked Archer.

“Yes, sir,” said Reed, getting up from his station. “Might I have a word in private first, sir.”

“Of course Lieutenant, T’Pol you have the bridge, I’ll be in my ready room if I’m needed.”

The two officers entered Archer’s ready room, Archer taking his usual place behind his desk. Reed stood to attention.

“At ease, Malcolm. What’s on your mind?” asked Archer.

“Sir,” said Reed, “don’t you think Commander Tucker should lead the away team.”

“I’m not sure that he’s ready for that,” said Archer.

“Maybe we should let him decide that, sir,” said Reed.

“Malcolm, in the last month we’ve had two away missions to wrecked ships and Trip hasn’t expressed any desire to go on those. I don’t want to push him into this. I’m willing to bet that if I asked him to go over to the Rel Sevann he’d take it as an order, he’d go and he’d pretend that he was okay and we’d be picking up the pieces afterwards,” said Archer.

“I think he’s stronger than that,” said Reed.

“I’m not saying he isn’t strong, Malcolm. I don’t know anyone else who could have gone through what he did and survived. But he still isn’t well. He’s been working himself so hard that I had to order him to take a day off and he’s still having what Phlox refers to as “episodes”. It’s just not fair to expect him to go over there as if nothing happened,” said Archer, and added to himself, as if the last time he went to repair a seemingly harmless ship, he wasn’t captured by the Xindi and tortured for information.

“I’m not saying that we should expect him to be back to normal after three months, I’m just saying that he should be given the choice about whether he wants to go or not. As Chief Engineer he is the best qualified to go on this mission and he’ll be more hurt if he’s kept out of the loop on things like this,” said Reed.

Archer looked at Reed, he did have a point, Trip liked to be involved. “Okay, Malcolm. I want you to talk to Phlox, if he says it’s okay to take Trip with you then go and ask him if he wants to come. It’s got to come from you, because if it comes from me he’ll think it’s an order. I don’t want him put under any pressure. Hess and a team of engineers should be able to handle it fine without him if he’s not up for it.”

“I understand, sir,” said Reed.

“Dismissed Lieutenant,” said Archer. “Oh, one more thing,” he said as Reed was turning to go, “look after him, Malcolm.”

“Of course, sir,” said Reed and went to find Phlox.

****

Gaining Phlox’s sanction to invite Trip to join them on the away mission had not been nearly as difficult as Reed had expected it to be. The doctor had been quite enthusiastic about allowing the Engineer to leave the ship, explaining that he thought facing another of his fears might be good for Mr Tucker and muttering something about cognitive therapy which Reed didn’t pretend to understand. Phlox so far hadn’t managed to coax Trip to enter sick bay and Reed suspected that was next on the doctor’s list of fears for Trip to conquer. Reed doubted that one would be easy for Trip to get over, sick bay apparently reminded his friend of the Xindi lab in which he’d been tortured and the one time Trip had been in sick bay since his return he’d worked himself into such a state that he’d had to be sedated. After hearing what Trip had been through at the hands of his captors he wasn’t at all surprised when Trip had broken down at the sight of sick bay.

Reed remembered how worried Trip had been that Phlox would be upset because of the scene he’d made. In actuality, the only person who’d been upset about it had been Trip who had set high standards for himself when it came to dealing with his experiences and his inability to cope was making him furious at his own perceived weakness. Reed could only imagine the emotions that were tearing at Trip, he knew some of it, the little Trip had been prepared to confide in him. He’d offered to listen whenever it was required but, for someone who didn’t always edit what he said before it came out of his mouth, the Engineer was surprisingly good at keeping his feelings to himself.

Reed now stood outside the door to Trip’s quarters trying to work out how he was going to handle asking if Trip wanted to come with them. Come on Malcolm, he said to himself, just ask him, he’s been fine the last few days. Reed pressed the door bell and waited. He heard a muffled cry of enter and opened the door. Trip was resting on the bed with a padd in his hand. Reed noted that he still looked quite tired but basically fairly relaxed. One of Phlox’s biomonitors was still in place on the wall beside the bed, keeping track of Trip’s vitals. Trip’s fear of sick bay had caused a few problems in his treatment and Phlox had insisted on the biomonitor so that he could check on Trip’s condition regularly. Originally this was to monitor the effect of the nanoprobes on Trip’s body but it turned out that it was also useful to alert Phlox when the regular nightmares turned into panic attacks. Trip had protested at the invasion of privacy but had eventually given in to the doctor’s wishes.

Reed had also installed a panic button in Trip’s quarters, he’d told Trip it was linked directly to the security alarm but actually he’d linked it to his own communicator and the com in his quarters. He hoped that it would help Trip sleep more easily knowing that help was easily at hand if required. Trip had appreciated the gesture, but Reed knew that he still double locked his door at night.

“Hey, Malcolm,” said Trip, looking up from the padd. He sent a silent command to the nanites to quieten down while he talked to Reed. He’d been working on an improvement to the warp engine and the nanites were running some simulations for him. He was tweaking the parameters as they fed him information, so far it wasn’t quite there yet but he thought he could see the things he’d need to correct in order for it to work.

Reed noticed the far away look and waited until Trip returned to the room. “So you’ll have noticed our guests,” said Reed indicating the view from Trip’s window of the Rel Sevanne.

“Yeah, I figured someone might be down to tell me what was going on,” said Trip. He had in fact got the nanites to listen in to the com traffic so he knew exactly what was going on, but he wasn’t quite sure the he wanted Reed to know that the nanites could do that.

“They’re having trouble with their engines and their computer. I was going to take Hess and a team of Engineers over but wondered if you’d like to come. I know it’s meant to be your day off but I thought you might like to join me, I cleared it with the Captain,” said Reed, hoping it didn’t sound as obviously fabricated to Trip as it did to himself. “Of course I’ll understand if you don’t want to work on your day off.”

Trip knew exactly what Reed was trying to do; give him an out that he could take gracefully without having to admit that he was scared stiff of going over to an alien ship. Hell, he’d done it dozens of times, gone to help stricken ships with their engine trouble in exchange for good will or information. That was before, of course. Now Malcolm Reed stood in his quarters tactfully asking him if he’d like to go and poke at some alien engines, something which was part of his duties as Chief Engineer and he would normally have jumped at. Instead he was torn between letting Malcolm know he was still Chief Engineer and didn’t need to be treated with kid gloves when it came to his duty, or crawling under a blanket and hiding. He didn’t like either option, so he settled for a compromise.

“You’re going to stick with me, right? If I go over there, I mean,” said Trip.

“Of course,” said the Armoury officer as if it was the most natural question in the world.

“Well, when you put it like that, how can I refuse?” said Trip with a grin.

****End of Chapter One****

“Son of a bitch, would you look at the size of that thing,” said Trip. He was staring at the Rel Sevanne through the window of Shuttlepod One. Rostov, Cook and Kelly sat in the back of the shuttle looking equally awed by the sight of the huge ship. Lieutenant Reed had also brought Ensigns Hooper and Scott with him from Security who although obviously interested in the Rel Sevanne were not quite as excited by it as the Engineering contingent.

“It certainly is impressive,” said Reed who was piloting them between the two ships. “I wonder what its weapons are like.” Their scans had been inconclusive about the defensive capability of the ship but Reed had definitely detected weapons of some kind.

“I’m sure you’ll find out,” said Trip with a smile. “Can you imagine the kind of engines that it would take to move that through space?”

“No, but I’m sure you are,” said Reed smiling back at Trip. It was nice to see the Engineer being so enthusiastic about something. He’d been kind of quiet of late.

“How many people are on board the Rel Sevanne, sir?” asked Kelly.

“T’Pol thought over two thousand, but our scans weren’t achieving complete penetration of the hull so it’s difficult to be sure how many people are on that ship,” said Reed.

“Over two thousand? Wow,” said Rostov. “Makes Enterprise seem like a shuttlepod in comparison.”

“Don’t let the Captain hear you say that,” said Trip.

“No fear, sir,” replied Rostov.

“Do we know anything about these people, Malcolm?” asked Trip.

“Not much, they’re called the Tien and we spoke to someone called Ten En Ath Jeriad. They asked for help and seemed friendly, so the Captain said we’d send an Engineering team over. At the moment they’re dead in space without their warp engines online and they also mentioned computer problems, but that’s all we know,” said Reed.

“But the Captain asked you to head up the away mission so he wasn’t sure about them being friendly,” said Trip, quietly so that the others in the pod couldn’t hear him.

“He was just being cautious, and I am an Engineer as well as being a Security officer,” said Reed.

“Yeah, but if he really wasn’t worried he would have sent Hess on her own,” replied Trip.

“Trip, I really don’t think you need to worry. Even dead in space, if they’d wanted to attack us they could have done it by now. The scans didn’t show much but they did show that we’d be well and truly out gunned if they wanted to fire on us,” said Reed. He didn’t add that three security officers wouldn’t do much good against over two thousand aliens, he was trying to reassure Trip not scare him. What he’d said to Trip was true though, they had no reason to assume that the aliens were hostile so far. However, Reed was already formulating plans for how to use three security officers to get the away team back to the shuttle safely if things did go pear shaped. He couldn’t do much on that front until he’d seen the interior of the ship though.

Trip nodded in an understanding manner at what Reed had said and went back to gazing at the impressive bulk of the Rel Sevanne. Huge structures emerged from the main body of the ship, some of them looked like stylised waves with intricate froth still attached to them, others were more like stalactites or the gothic pinnacles of a cathedral. It was less as if the ship had been built and more like it had been grown. Trip was dying to find out how it all fitted together from the inside, which was almost making him forget just how scared he was of boarding the alien ship.

“We’re approaching the docking bay,” said Reed.

Trip opened a channel on the radio, “this is Enterprise Shuttlepod One to the Rel Sevanne, we’re approaching the docking bay, please stand by to receive us.”

“This is the Rel Sevanne. Message received, Shuttlepod One, please proceed to docking bay five,” said a radio operator from the alien ship. Reed thought the voice sounded very similar to Ten En who they had spoken to before and wondered if all the Tien sounded so similar.

“We’ve got permission to land, Malcolm. Go ahead and dock,” said Trip.

“Yes, sir,” said Reed and guided the shuttlepod into the docking bay which was one of many along the segment of the ship they were now passing. Reed set the pod down gently and the away team waited for the air outside to become breathable. The docking bay didn’t have doors as such but seemed to utilise shields to seal the opening they had just flown through. It was only a few seconds before the atmosphere had cycled and the crew could get out of the shuttle.

Trip was the last to disembark, hanging back for as long as he could before leaving the safety of the shuttlepod. Reed stood waiting for him as he stepped out.

“You okay?” he whispered to his friend. “I can always take you back to Enterprise if you’re not feeling up to this.”

“I’ll be fine,” said Trip. “It’s just this is the first time I’ve been off Enterprise since, well, since…”

“We got you back,” finished Reed tactfully, realising Trip couldn’t finish the sentence.

“Yeah,” said Trip. “Just give me a minute and I’ll be okay.”

“No problem, we’ll unload. Just remember those exercises T’Pol taught you,” said Reed.

Trip nodded. Along with the neuropressure, T’Pol had also been trying to teach Trip some Vulcan techniques for controlling his fear. As he understood it, Vulcan children were taught this stuff from an early age, how to suppress their emotions and gain the iron control which T’Pol now possessed. No one had ever tried to teach a human how to control their emotions, especially not an adult human so T’Pol had her work cut out for her. Trip had been grateful when she’d offered to try, it was another weapon he could add to his arsenal of ways to defeat his fears. So far it was only succeeding to a very limited degree but T’Pol thought they could work on it and it was better than nothing.

He closed his eyes, told the nanites to be quiet and concentrated on controlling his breathing. He thought about somewhere safe and calm. He lent his back against the shuttle and stood for a moment while he regained his composure.

“Welcome,” said a voice. Trip’s eyes flew open and were greeted by the sight of a beautiful alien standing in front of him. She was most definitely female and was tall, willowy and wore a light blue figure hugging cat-suit not unlike the ones T’Pol had taken to wearing recently. Her hair was white blonde and plaited in a long rope down her back. He pulled himself to attention, wondering what the rest of the away team were doing, but they all seemed to be busy unloading equipment.

“Uh, it’s a pleasure to be here,” replied Trip, flustered at her sudden approach. “Erm, I’m Commander Tucker, Chief Engineer of Enterprise.”

“My name is Shar Jen Sar Kerin, you may call me Shar Jen,” said the woman. “I am the Artificer of the Rel Sevanne.” She looked at Trip and it felt as if her eyes were looking into his very soul. He noticed small ridges down her cheekbones but other than her fragile build and unusual height she looked surprisingly human. Her eyes were an unnatural blue though, almost turquoise. It required a feat of will power to pull himself away from her stare and when he did he felt as if he’d left a piece of himself behind.

“I guess Artificer is like Chief Engineer,” he said, “you’re in charge of the engines?”

“And the repair of the ship,” she replied, with a nod.

“Let me introduce you to everyone else and then you can put us to work,” said Trip leading Shar Jen over to the entrance to the shuttlepod. Reed was supervising the stacking of various boxes and cases. “I’d like you to meet Lieutenant Reed, Enterprise’s Tactical Officer, these are Crewmen Rostov and Kelly and Ensigns Cook, Hooper and Scott. This is Shar Jen Sar Kerin, Artificer of the Rel Sevanne.” The crew politely greeted their host and Shar Jen welcomed the rest of the crewmembers aboard.

“Our Captain was wondering if it would be possible to meet with your leader,” said Reed.

“Unfortunately that will not be possible,” said Shar Jen. “Ten En Ath Jeriad is very busy.”

“Does he have a deputy?” asked Reed.

“Yes, his name is Kris Nor Vin Lusen and I can arrange for your Captain to meet with him. I was asked to invite you all to dinner with our ship’s senior council,” said Shar Jen, “as a small token of our thanks for your help.”

“Well I’m not sure how much help we’ll be, but we’d be happy to accept your dinner invitation,” said Trip.

“If you will follow me then I will take you to the engines,” said Shar Jen.

Although they all knew how big the ship was from what they’d seen during their flight across from Enterprise, nothing had quite prepared them for the sheer scale of the ship’s interior. Shar Jen led them out of the docking bay and down several long and winding corridors before they reached the central atrium which apparently ran down the full length of the ship and was about twenty storeys high as far as Trip could make out. Down the centre ran a transit tube, Trip had expected something like this as the Rel Sevanne was too big to walk from one end to the other. Aliens milled around them on their way to other parts of the ship and children played in a play grounds at intervals along the ship’s length. The sounds of laughter drifting towards them. They boarded a transit tube car and were whisked to their destination.

“This is just amazing,” said Trip. Outside they were moving past structures and gardens, play grounds and farms. The atrium was filled with greenery.

“Makes a bit of a change from the corridors of Enterprise,” said Reed, looking around him with equal amazement.

“How did they ever build this ship,” said Trip, “the amount of materials used in this must be phenomenal. I’m not even sure that Earth would have the resources to build something this scale. Most of the metal for Enterprise came from the Jupiter mining station but I don’t think there’s enough metal in the whole of Jupiter to build this.”

“So it was a big building project, they obviously found the materials from somewhere,” said Reed.

“Yeah, I’m just curious about where,” said Trip.

“Just remember where curiosity got the cat,” said Reed.

“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on going poking my nose in where it isn’t wanted. I’m just thinking out loud,” said Trip. He checked in with the nanites. “Can we interface with their technology?” he asked.

“Still trying,” said the nanites. “This technology is unlike anything we have interfaced with before. High probability that remote accessing is impossible. Suggest we try direct access.”

“I need to find a computer terminal,” said Trip to the nanites.

“Affirmative,” said the nanites.

“I’ll see what I can do,” said Trip. “Keep trying for the remote access you never know when it might come in handy.”

The transit tube car arrived at their destination and the away team got out, carrying their equipment with them. Trip caught up to Shar Jen who was at the front of the party guiding them through the labyrinthine corridors of the ship.

“So how long have you folks been out here on the Rel Sevanne?” asked Trip.

“Ten generations,” said Shar Jen, without any sign that this was anything unusual.

“Ten generations? You were born on this ship?” asked Trip, trying to take in what this meant.

“Yes,” replied Shar Jen. “Everyone on this ship was born here. We’re here,” she said standing beside a set of large double doors that were twice her height. She pressed a button at the side of the doors and they opened. She stepped over the lip of the bulkhead and entered the room which Trip assumed was Engineering. The sight that greeted him was not exactly what he had expected.

“The Rel Sevanne has five engines,” said Shar Jen. “They have names, Jerel, Lirat, Manira, Torit and Devas.” She pointed to each engine as she said its name.

“Damn, those are big,” said Trip.

“Understatement of the year,” said Reed, quietly, who had come in behind him. He was right, big didn’t even begin to cover it. Each engine was three floors high and almost as wide. Enterprise’s warp engine was an insect compared to the power and size of these five. Trip could hear the gasps of the other members of the away team as they entered the room.

“They are getting very old,” said Shar Jen.

“No kidding,” replied Trip. “Ten generations, huh?”

“They have been completely rebuilt in their lifetimes but in effect they are the same engines that the Rel Sevanne left port with. We think it may be Lirat that is causing the problems,” said Shar Jen.

Each engine had some marks on it in which looked like the Tien script they had seen around the ship on their journey to the engine room and Trip took to be name labels. The labels themselves had to be at least a storey high.

“I think this is what we’d call a granny’s broom situation,” said Trip. “They’re the same engines that the ship left port with but every single part has been replaced.” The engines were amazing but he couldn’t believe that they were ten generations old. Hell, he’d have had trouble believing that they were one generation old. Assuming that the Tien generations were the equivalent to human generations which wasn’t necessarily true, Vulcans lived considerably longer than humans.

“I don’t understand what a “granny’s broom” is but your assessment would be mostly correct,” said Shar Jen. “I believe that Jerel, Lirat and Devas still contain some original parts.”

“Okay, let’s get to work,” said Trip. These engines might be big but he was pretty sure they’d work on the same basis as his own warp five engine back on Enterprise. “We’ll start with Lirat and if it turns out she isn’t the problem then we’ll check the other four too.”

“She?” asked Shar Jen.

“All engines are female,” said Trip with a shrug.

“Lirat is a gender neutral name,” said Shar Jen, “as are the others. They were named after cities on our homeworld.”

“Well as far as I’m concerned it’s a she,” said Trip.

“Very well,” said Shar Jen. “Follow me.” A number of Tien engineers were already watching the Enterprise team as they walked across to Lirat and Shar Jen began showing them the ropes of the alien engine. Trip was slightly surprised to see so few of the Tien working on the engines, he was used to the bustling engine room of Enterprise and he filed it away as another thing to ask about if he got a chance.

Trip, Rostov and Kelly got to work taking readings of the engine’s functions. Lieutenant Reed helped out, although warp engines weren’t his speciality he knew enough to be useful, while Hooper and Scott were put to work fetching and carrying for the engineers. Reed was still vigilant but he’d already decided that the threat to the away team was either minimal or insurmountable. The aliens seemed friendly and the presence of children made him think it unlikely that they’d try to attack the away team, however he’d already worked out that if the Tien did decide to harm the away team there was very little he could do about it. The sheer distance between them and the shuttlepod was too far for them to make an easy retreat.

Trip was completely in his element, he worked alongside Shar Jen the two of them discussing the readings that they were taking as they came in, bouncing ideas off one another as to why Lirat should be causing them trouble.

“The five engines must work together or part of the ship is left in normal space while the rest goes to warp. There are automatic safety cut-outs that prevent the ship from going to warp if one of the engines is not online and drop us out of warp safely if there is a problem while we are travelling,” explained Shar Jen.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” said Trip, looking at the schematics that Shar Jen had pulled up for him. “Don’t want to rip the ship apart if there’s a failure.” He looked over the schematics on the screen in front of him, pretending to be absorbed but actually holding a conversation with the nanites. “So any luck with interfacing?” he asked them.

“There is an organic component to their technology. We are unable to act upon it. We can only obtain limited access,” said the nanites.

“Damn, I guess that will have to do. Start feeding me data about the warp engines, begin with their maintenance history,” replied Trip. He’d almost forgotten about one of the safety protocols that the nanoprobes’ designer had built in at a fundamental level, the nanites could not act upon living tissue. It had been intended to prevent the nanites being used as a weapon. Grenan Dath hadn’t wanted that. He’d been an Engineer, just like Trip, and had used the nanoprobes for helping him fix things and diagnostics. Unfortunately Grenan Dath’s son had other ideas about what the nanoprobes should be used for and had caused Trip quite a lot of trouble.

“You must remain in contact with the ship for the data flow to continue,” reminded the nanites.

“Yeah, I got the message, now hurry up before this beautiful Engineer standing next to me starts to wonder why I’m leaning on this console,” said Trip. He turned to Shar Jen, “what are these couplings here?” he asked pointing to an area on the schematics.

“Secondary power couplings and computer links. The computer controls the engines and the matter/anti-matter mixture. It also monitors all engine functions constantly for malfunctions and diagnostic purposes,” said Shar Jen.

“And that was how you figured out it was Lirat causing the trouble?” asked Trip.

“Yes, although there had already been some indications that Lirat was not functioning correctly,” said Shar Jen.

“Did you check to see if the plasma valves were fused?” asked Trip.

“They show as open on the indicator panels,” said Shar Jen.

“Never trust a computer when you can trust your own eyes,” said Trip. “Let’s have a look at those next. What about the phase coils? When were they last replaced?” He desperately wanted to ask Shar Jen about the organic component to their technology that the nanites had found but at the moment he wasn’t supposed to know about it. He just hoped that it would come up at some point when they were poking around in the warp engine. He knew that the Xindi used organic technology in their weapons and if he could gather some information about how the Tien used it, it might help them against the Xindi.

Suddenly all the nanites in his head were shouting at him all at once. He held his head and told them to be quiet, but nothing seemed to shut them up. He let out a cry of pain. It felt as if his head was about to explode, his legs wouldn’t support him anymore and he sensed that he was falling towards the floor. His vision blurred and he could see Shar Jen bending down beside him a concerned look on her face. He heard her calling for Lieutenant Reed, but everything hurt so much.

“Shut up!” he told the nanites. “Shut up!” He tried to curl into a ball, rocking himself as if that would help alleviate the pain that was pushing its way out of his skull and over his body. He couldn’t hear what the nanites were saying, they were all talking at once. Someone pressed a hypospray to his neck and he was mercifully unconscious shortly after that.

****End of Chapter Two****

Lieutenant Reed had heard Trip’s cry of pain and seen him fall to the floor just as Shar Jen called out to him. He thought it was a panic attack and grabbed the hypospray that Phlox had given him when Reed had suggested Trip accompany them. As he neared and heard Trip say twice “shut up”, he suspected that it might be related to the nanites rather than simply something setting off a fear response. He knew that the sedative in the hypospray could just as well be used to relieve Trip of pain as to calm him from a panic attack.

“I don’t understand,” said Shar Jen, “is the Commander ill?”

“I’m afraid so,” said Reed.

“We can take him to our sick bay,” said Shar Jen.

“No,” said Reed, “not sick bay. Commander Tucker has a phobia about medical facilities. Is there somewhere quiet we can take him? And if I have your permission, get our doctor over from Enterprise?”

“Of course. I sensed that he was in pain. I should have realised,” said Shar Jen.

“You sensed…? Never mind. Let’s just find somewhere for him to lie down,” said Reed.

“My quarters,” said Shar Jen, “they’re close. We can take him there.”

Reed flipped open his communicator and requested that Phlox come over on Shuttlepod Two to tend to Trip. He didn’t go into details, he didn’t want to worry anyone on Enterprise, hopefully they’d think that this was just another of Trip’s “episodes”. Not that that wasn’t worrying enough but less worrying than it being a problem with the nanoprobes which were still an unknown. Shar Jen brought over a couple of the Tien engineers and they carried the unconscious human to Shar Jen’s quarters, Reed following anxiously behind them, after taking a moment to tell Ensign Cook to carry on with the repair work.

Shar Jen’s quarters were just along the corridor and apparently were always occupied by the Chief Engineer, or Artificer as the Tien called her. The quarters were much larger than even the Captain’s quarters on Enterprise. They consisted of a bedroom, lounge, kitchen and bathroom, all at least as large as Reeds own quarters. The lounge was draped in velvet and other fabrics giving it a cosy feel, and it had a large couch.

“Put him on the couch. I’m sorry my rooms are not bigger,” said Shar Jen, “the Artificer is expected to spend most of their time in the Engine room.” The Tien engineers deposited Trip on the couch and left Shar Jen and Reed to look after him. Shar Jen went to the bedroom and returned with a blanket to put over Trip.

“They’re larger than my own quarters on Enterprise,” said Reed, looking around him. “And Commander Tucker would agree that the Chief Engineer should spend most of their time in the Engine room. Lately he’s been spending too much time there.”

“He is in pain, I sensed it,” said Shar Jen. “Sit down, Lieutenant, while we wait for your doctor to arrive.”

Reed sat down in an armchair and Shar Jen sat cross legged on the floor. “You said that you sensed he was in pain before. What did you mean?” asked Reed.

“The Tien are sensitive to others. We are all empathic to a certain degree, some more than others. Your Commander is…radiating darkness, pain. It’s hard to explain to a non-empath, it’s as if we see people coloured by their emotions. Something terrible happened to him. What was it?”

“He was captured and tortured for information by our enemies,” said Reed quietly, looking at the sleeping Engineer. “They had him for two months before we were able to rescue him.”

“This was recent?” asked Shar Jen.

“Yes, we rescued him just over three months ago,” said Reed.

“That is what I felt then. There is something else that you haven’t told me,” said Shar Jen.

“There’s quite a lot that I haven’t told you,” said Reed.

“But that is all that you’re going to say?” asked Shar Jen.

Reed nodded.

“I must introduce you to our Weapons Master, Nils Fen. The two of you would get on well,” said Shar Jen.

“I look forward to you introducing us,” said Reed. Trip stirred in his sleep and mumbled something.

“The Commander is still ill,” said Shar Jen. “He is having difficulty putting his ordeal behind him.”

“Yes, he is,” said Reed.

“He has good friends,” said Shar Jen. “I can feel your concern.” Reed looked down at his hands, embarrassed at what Shar Jen was saying. “And your guilt.” Reed’s head snapped up and he looked into Shar Jen’s turquoise eyes. He felt she was staring directly into his soul and he couldn’t pull away from her gaze. He had thought that he had been hiding his guilt at allowing Trip to be captured by the Xindi, but obviously not well enough. He’d known it was still there but he’d been doing his best to push it down so deep inside him that it would never surface again. Trip hadn’t ever suggested that it was Reed’s fault that the Xindi had captured him but that didn’t stop Reed thinking it. He felt as if he was losing himself in Shar Jen’s eyes.

A beep sounded, breaking the spell and Shar Jen stood. “Your doctor is here,” she said. “I will go and meet him. Will you be able to look after the Commander while I am gone?”

“Yes, he should sleep for another couple of hours,” said Reed, still wondering what had just happened.

“Please make use of my kitchen if you need anything. I should be no more than twenty time divisions,” she said and left Reed with the unconscious engineer.

“Oh, Trip,” said Reed, sighing as he settled back in the chair. “Why do I get the feeling that there is something going on with the Tien that we don’t know about?”

****

Trip woke up slowly. His first thought was that his head hurt and the more aware he became the more he realised how much pain he was in. He opened his eyes and then quickly screwed them shut again, putting a hand to his head as if that would ease the pain he felt. He’d been dreaming, something he’d been dreaming on and off for the past few weeks, he’d dreamt that the nanites were controlling his body. This time there had been an extra dimension to the dream, this time it had been as if he were turning into a machine.

“Damn, not again,” he said, surprising himself when he heard the words out loud.

“Trip?” said a familiar voice.

“Malcolm, what colour are my eyes?” asked Trip anxiously, looking up into the face of Malcolm Reed.

“Blue, Trip, they’re blue,” said Reed slightly puzzled.

“Thank god for that,” said Trip, letting out a deep breath.

“You’re okay,” said Reed, squeezing his friend’s shoulder. “Why did you ask about your eyes?”

“Last time I had a headache this bad it was because Ven Dath activated the nanoprobes’ homing program. I woke up and…” he couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence.

“And you weren’t you anymore,” finished Reed.

“Yeah, it was like I was trapped in a bad dream and my eyes had turned silver,” said Trip.

“Mr Reed, if you wouldn’t mind moving so that I can perform my scans I would be very appreciative,” said Phlox.

“Sorry, Doctor,” said Reed and moved to the other end of the couch so that the doctor could have access to Trip.

“How do you feel, Commander?” asked Phlox.

“Like my head is about to fall off,” said Trip, wincing at the pain in his skull.

“I’ll give you an analgesic for the headache and then I’d better give you a full check-up,” said Phlox.

“Okay Doc,” said Trip and let the doctor give him a hypospray full of painkiller.

“Do you remember what happened?” asked Reed.

“Erm, I was trying to access the computer and suddenly I had this blinding headache and the nanites were all screaming at me at once,” said Trip. “I think they were trying to warn me about something, but I never got to hear what the warning was for.”

“You were trying to get the nanites to access the Tien computer? Sometimes I wonder if you even have the sense you were born with, Commander,” said Reed, pacing around the room. “This is a completely alien technology. We have no idea how the nanites might react to it or what security precautions they have in their systems. You could have been killed instead of escaping with a headache!”

“Yeah, I know, I just didn’t think about it that way. I guess I got burned when I put my fingers somewhere I shouldn’t have,” said Trip. He knew Malcolm was concerned about him but he didn’t understand why the Lieutenant was so angry, apart from a sore head he was fine.

“These nanites aren’t toys,” said Reed, barely keeping his anger under control. “You have to be more careful. I’m not losing you again.”

“Okay, Malcolm, no more messing about with strange systems. I’ll be more careful,” said Trip, finally working out why Malcolm was so upset. He really could have been killed. “Where am I?” he asked taking in surroundings.

“Shar Jen’s quarters,” said Reed. “She offered to take you to their sick bay but I didn’t think you’d be too happy about waking up there.” Reed recognised the look of fear which had briefly passed across Trip’s features at the mention on sick bay.

“Thanks, Malcolm, you’re probably right about that,” said Trip.

“Well apart from your overloaded neurons, I can’t detect any problems,” said Phlox.

“So I can get back to work?” asked Trip, sitting up.

“I suppose so, but I don’t want you using the nanites to interface with the Tien computers or overdoing it. Mr Reed has been briefed to make sure that you finish your shift on time and don’t over-exert yourself.” Reed gave a small nod at this comment to verify it. “Not only that we have all been invited to attend dinner with the senior council and it would be rude to be late. I’m told that it will be followed by traditional Tien entertainment.” Phlox smiled a big grin, obviously thoroughly excited by the prospect of witnessing the culture of their hosts. “Shuttlepod Two will be returning this evening with the Captain, T’Pol and Hoshi.”

“Don’t worry, Doc, we’ll be there and I promise I’ll try to take it easy for the rest of today,” said Trip, feeling better now that his head had stopped throbbing. He remembered that he’d told the nanites to shut up earlier so they were quiet now. “How are you guys doing?” he asked the nanites.

“We are functioning within required parameters,” replied the nanites. They fed him some statistics which he reckoned looked fine, although he noticed the nanite die off and replacement rates had increased when his headache had hit. They seemed to be back to normal now so probably nothing to worry about. The defunct nanites were absorbed by their brethren anyway and their material used to produce new functioning nanites. None of the nanites lived very long and there was a constant turnover and replacement cycle running.

“So what happened?” he asked.

“Unknown,” replied the nanites. “We were attempting to interface when we detected another presence within the network. It produced a feedback loop and we were temporarily overloaded. We managed to obtain some information but the download was incomplete.”

“Another presence?” Trip thought.

“Nature of presence unknown,” replied the nanites.

“How did I know you were going to say that,” replied Trip.

“Unknown,” replied the nanites.

“That was a rhetorical question,” thought Trip.

“Sorry, we’re not good at understanding those yet,” apologised the nanites, “more data is required.”

“Somehow I doubt you’ll ever get the hang of sarcasm or rhetorical questions,” said Trip. “Thanks for making the attempt anyway.”

“We are programmed to integrate as well as possible with our host,” said the nanites.

“I’m sure you are. Is there any way we can stop you from frying my brain next time something like this happens?” he asked.

“More data required. We can run simulations on possible safety precautions if you would like?”

“Sounds good to me, would be nice not to be writhing on the floor in agony next time we accidentally trip a booby trap,” said Trip.

“Commander?” said Reed.

“Sorry, just checking in with nanites,” said Trip.

“Everything okay?” asked Reed.

“All functions within required parameters,” replied Trip without thinking. “I mean yeah, they’re fine. Where’s Shar Jen?”

“She went back to the Engine room to supervise the repairs. She told me that she is responsible for hundreds of Tien who keep this ship running. Everything from making sure the ship doesn’t fall apart to warp theory to plumbing,” said Reed.

“I guess that’s why her title is Artificer not just Chief Engineer,” said Trip. “Makes sense she’d need a lot of people to keep all those systems in repair. Do you know the way back or do we need to call for an escort?”

“It’s not far. Seems that the Artificer’s quarters go with the job and they’re purposely near the Engine room. Do you want to come with us Doctor?” asked Reed.

“Thank you Lieutenant but Shar Jen said she would send someone to take me for a tour of their medical facilities. They should be here in a few moments,” said Phlox.

“Have fun, Doc,” said Trip, rising from the couch and following Reed towards the door. He had no doubt that the Denobulan medic would be in seventh heaven exploring an alien sick bay.

It took most of the rest of the day to repair Lirat. Trip and Reed only briefly saw Shar Jen again as she was called away to report to the senior council on their progress. Trip started to work on the charging array for the warp reactor which seemed to be a major part of the problem, Ensign Hooper assisted him by passing him tools and checking readouts on the various diagnostic instruments the Tien used to keep track of the engine’s performance.

Trip was finding that working without the background of engineering data being fed to him by the nanites was difficult to get used to. He’d never expected to actually miss anything about the nanites, he’d spent so long trying to get rid of them that he was surprised to find himself liking their constant chatter. He hadn’t realised how having that much engineering data directly fed into his head coloured his every action, not to mention how he prioritised his work and managed his staff’s workload. He felt as if he’d had a layer of understanding removed from him. At least they were still able to help him with calculations and the hundreds of other things that they now did which he didn’t even think about anymore.

Suddenly it struck Trip just how much he had come to take the nanites for granted. He treated them as if they were part of his own natural body, instead of what they really were, machines which had originally been designed to disable Enterprise and eventually kill them. He’d resigned himself to the fact that they were part of him now but just what did that mean? He hadn’t really thought about it. He wondered if he could really even call himself human anymore now that his blood teemed with machines. How much of him was Trip Tucker and how much of him was the nanites?

****

Shar Jen reported to the senior council chamber. The council chamber was as near to the centre of the ship as was possible since it was the heart of their ship and their society.

“Ah Shar Jen,” said Ten En. “I gather we had an incident in the Engine room with one of our visitors.”

“Yes, Commander Tucker, their Chief Engineer, collapsed. I could not obtain from them any answers as to why this happened. They did not wish me to take him to sick bay so I was unable to take the scans you asked for,” said Shar Jen.

“It is of no consequence now. We know Commander Tucker is what we have been looking for. We also know why he collapsed, he interfaced with the computer,” said Ten En.

“How?” asked Shar Jen.

“He appears to be carrying some type of nano-technology. It should make him perfect for our needs,”
said Ten En. “Not only that he seems to be highly intelligent with an advanced knowledge of science and engineering.”

“I don’t think he will want to stay with us,” said Shar Jen. “He is valuable to their ship as well. We should choose someone else.”

“I’m getting old, Shar Jen. There is no one else. He must be persuaded to stay or if he cannot be persuaded we will have to make him. We don’t know when we will meet another race who are compatible,” said Ten En.

“This goes against everything that we have been taught,” said Shar Jen. “He is a good person. He truly wants to help us and he trusts me. I don’t want to destroy that trust.”

“Our survival is at stake,” replied Ten En. “He likes you. Use that to our advantage, make him want to stay willingly. It will be easier for us all that way.”

“They lack the empathic faculty,” said Shar Jen.

“You know that is not a requirement,” said Ten En. “I know how you feel about this, but it is for the good of the Tien. We must preserve the Rel Sevanne. Commander Tucker must stay with us. Remember the words of the Book “the goddess gave the sky to the Tien that they might take what they needed to survive the darkness,” he was sent to us and therefore he is for us. The darkness is coming Shar Jen, we have no choices remaining to us.”

“The words of the Book can be taken to mean many things,” said Shar Jen.

“Perhaps I should arrange for someone else to speak with the Commander. Perhaps your duties are too taxing and you would prefer to stand down as Artificer,” said Ten En.

“No, I will do what is required of me,” said Shar Jen.

****End of Chapter 3****

The feast had been spectacular to say the least. Trip had never seen anything like the amount of food that the Tien brought out for their guests. Apparently it was all grown in their farms on board the ship, which was a marvel in itself. The seven who had come across in the first shuttlepod had been joined by Phlox, T’Pol, Hoshi and Captain Archer. They were now sat in what their Tien hosts referred to as the Star Chamber, a room which was situated on the back of the Rel Sevanne. It was a completely transparent dome of glass, so it seemed as if those in the room were sitting amongst the stars and the towers of the Rel Sevanne rose majestically around them from the ship’s hull.

The Enterprise officers had been joined by the senior council of the Tien. This consisted of five civil officials, Shar Jen, Nils Fen Lon Dulas, the Weapons Master, and Kris Nor Vin Lusen, Exarch which was the Tien term for “first officer” as far as Hoshi was able to understand. The Tien seemed to be reluctant to use their titles though and expected their visitors from Enterprise to call them by their first and second names.

Ten En Ath Jeriad’s title was Patriarch which was more equivalent to Leader than Captain but he was ultimately in charge of the Rel Sevanne, however he was unable to join the Enterprise crew for dinner as Shar Jen had stated earlier. Shar Jen explained that Ten En had a busy schedule that left him little time for anything other than work. He regretted not being able to meet with Captain Archer but the demands of the ship came first. Captain Archer understood the ship coming first, it was something he had grown used to while he had been Captain of Enterprise and he sympathised with the Patriarch.

Trip was given special attention by the Tien who served them their meal, having been responsible not only for getting most of the repairs to Lirat completed but also because Shar Jen had told them that he had been ill earlier in the day. Trip was slightly embarrassed by the attention that he was receiving but with Shar Jen sat next to him on one side and T’Pol on the other he was feeling quite happy. They had been discussing aspects of Tien culture and Shar Jen had been interested to hear about the differences between human culture and her own. Shar Jen had a way of putting him at ease and he couldn’t remember a time when he’d last been this relaxed. For the first time in a long while he was beginning to enjoy himself.

The Captain had cornered him before the dinner and given him a lecture about messing about with the nanites and alien computer systems, but it hadn’t been more than a friend telling another friend to take more care of himself. Trip reassured Archer that he wouldn’t do it again and the incident was forgotten. He knew the Captain was just worried about him, the last few months had been pretty hard on their friendship. Trip was under no illusions about what his capture and recovery had put Archer through, it was understandable that he’d be a little overprotective of his Chief Engineer for a while.

The dinner was followed by entertainment as promised. The Tien played instruments and created beautiful music that tore at the emotions. The music sounded like snowflakes colliding but underneath was a hidden tribal beat that eventually took over the song, becoming more urgent and primal as the music continued. Dancers entered the room, wearing brightly coloured garments and swirled around the floor in intricate patterns in time to the music. Shar Jen sat beside him explaining the instruments and some of the theory behind the music, but as the music went on she became quiet and they let it wash over them. Trip hardly noticed when Shar Jen put her hand over his on the table.

T’Pol was more observant. She didn’t like the way that this alien woman was behaving towards Commander Tucker, she felt that something was wrong with this ship and the Tien but she couldn’t pin down what it was. Vulcans did not get “gut feelings” but that was the closest analogy she could think of to describe her current thoughts. It was disturbing her somewhat that she had such a reaction to what should otherwise have been a routine first contact situation. She would have dismissed it as a side effect of her time spent with humans, except that she suspected it was more than that.

The dancers left the floor and the music became more restful again. The party began to move into small groups to talk further. Shar Jen led Trip towards some comfortable chairs around the edge of the dome where they could look out at the stars and talk more privately.

“Did you enjoy the music, Commander?” asked Shar Jen.

“Trip, call me Trip, and yes, I enjoyed it very much,” said Trip.

“I am glad, Trip,” said Shar Jen and smiled.

“So you said you’d been out here for ten generations?” said Trip and Shar Jen nodded to let him know he was correct. “I mean what are you doing out here? Why haven’t you found a planet and settled down?”

“We originally intended to find a planet to settle upon,” said Shar Jen, “but our plans changed. It was no longer practical. I can’t tell you more than that.”

Trip looked at Shar Jen but decided not to try to elicit more information on something which seemed to be a touchy subject. “What about your homeworld? Don’t you want to go back there?”

“We can’t go back. Our homeworld was destroyed. We are the last of the Tien. We cannibalised most of the internal planets of our system to build the Rel Sevanne. That gap between those two stars there is all that is left of Tien,” said Shar Jen pointing out to the star field in front of them.

“I’m sorry,” said Trip, it was inadequate but he had no idea what else to say.

Shar Jen smiled at him. “It was a very long time ago. We survived and built a life for ourselves on the Rel Sevanne. It is the only life that we have ever known. I have seen more and done more on the Rel Sevanne than I ever would have done had we remained on Tien.” She paused looking out at the stars. “We have a saying “space is not empty, it is only distance that makes it seem so”. Space sent you to me, if we had never left Tien we would never have met.” She turned to look at Trip again. “Enough about our past. Let us talk about you instead.”

“Me? Well there isn’t much to say really,” said Trip. Shar Jen reached out and put a hand gently on his cheek.

“I know your life has not been easy recently, Trip. Lieutenant Reed told me you were captured by your enemies,” said Shar Jen, a look of sadness in her eyes. “I sensed something was wrong when I saw you standing alone in the docking bay.”

“He had no right to tell you about that,” said Trip, suddenly on the defensive. Shar Jen dropped her hand and sat upright in her chair.

“The Tien are an empathic race, we are sensitive to our surroundings and each other. I sensed that you were hurting from something terrible that had happened. I asked him why you were in pain and he told me,” said Shar Jen. “You couldn’t have hidden something this great from me while we were working so closely together.”

“I only just met you. I’m not comfortable baring my soul to everyone I meet,” said Trip.

“I’m not like everyone. We already have a connection. I know that you have felt something between us. Give me your hand,” said Shar Jen.

“Why?” asked Trip.

“It will help you,” said Shar Jen. Trip put his hand in Shar Jen’s. “Now look at my eyes,” she said and Trip looked into the turquoise eyes that seemed to pierce him to his heart. The room faded away around them, there was simply the two of them. “You felt alone, you were afraid that your ship would never come for you,” she said.

“Yes,” said Trip, his own voice sounding distant.

“You were determined not to betray your ship but you worried that you already had,” said Shar Jen. “And…someone else, you weren’t just doing it for Enterprise. Your sister. You worried that you would be letting your sister down. You felt despair that you would die without seeing Earth again, without completing your mission.”

“Yes,” said Trip again, the word little more than a whisper. A single tear ran down his cheek.

“And you felt invaded, they did something to you. When you returned you were ashamed that you hadn’t done enough to stop them. You no longer deserved the love and concern of your friends. You felt…numb. I can sense anger at yourself and at your inability to do things, anger because you were scared. Anger because you are still scared that they will come to take you back.”

Trip couldn’t break away from staring at Shar Jen. How was she doing this? It was more than empathy, it was as if she was reading his mind. It was like a catharsis, he felt her taking some of the weight from him as she spoke about his emotions.

“Let the pain go, it serves no purpose. You are safe now,” said Shar Jen. She had rarely ever felt such sadness before, this man was carrying so many terrible, horrible memories.

“I wish I could let it go,” replied Trip quietly.

Shar Jen blinked and Trip was suddenly pulled back to the room. “If you were Tien, I could help you more. How do you feel?” asked Shar Jen.

“Like I just poured out my soul,” he said blinking and wiping tears from his eyes. “How did you do that?”

“I told you we are an empathic race. I am slightly more than that,” said Shar Jen.

“I kind of got that feeling,” said Trip. “That’s one hell of a talent you have there.”

“Emotions are connected to memories and I can sometimes pick up on those memories, especially if they are connected to strong emotions. In some situations I can relieve the stress of bearing those emotions. I wasn’t sure if it would work at all with another species but it seems we are similar enough that I can help you to a small degree. If you had been Tien then I might have been able to help you let the pain go completely,” said Shar Jen.

“I’m not sure I’d want you to. It’s part of being human, it makes us who we are,” said Trip.

“It is not the pain, it is the experience that makes us who we are,” said Shar Jen.

“Yeah, I know but if it’s all the same to you, I’ll work through this in my own way,” said Trip.

“I understand,” said Shar Jen. “I also detected curiosity from you today, would you be interested in seeing our computer?”

“Sure, that would be great,” said Trip, smiling at the Tien Artificer. He was wondering what else she had picked up while she was in his head and he hoped he hadn’t been too obvious about the fact that he found her attractive. The chances were that Enterprise would be leaving in a couple of days and he’d never see her again after that, nothing could come of this. But, damn, she was beautiful.

“Excuse me for a moment while I make the arrangements,” said Shar Jen.

****

Shar Jen found Kris Nor talking with Captain Archer and politely asked for a moment of his time. The two of them left the Star Chamber and went out into the corridor. They talked in hushed tones even though the corridor was empty.

“The Enterprise crew members will be leaving the ship soon,” said Kris Nor. “We must act tonight.”

“I can’t believe that we are even considering taking another being to preserve our own lives. This is not our way,” said Shar Jen.

“This is hard on all of us, it goes against what we have been taught, our ethics and values, but we have no choice. You know that the Senior Council have already agreed to this course of action and Ten En will only live for a few more days at most. Shar Jen, you know that without our computer the Rel Sevanne will cease to function, we will be the last generation of Tien. The Rel Sevanne needs an organic component or we will all be dead,” said Kris Nor. “Do you want the lives of thousands of Tien on your hands when the sacrifice of one life will save us?”

“If he was Tien it would be different. He doesn’t understand. He has been through so much already, he doesn’t deserve this,” said Shar Jen.

“This is our survival we are talking about,” said Kris Nor. “We can’t wait any longer. This is the right thing to do.”

“If this is the right thing to do then why does it feel so much like betrayal?” asked Shar Jen.

“We must do this for our people, for the Tien, for the Rel Sevanne. It is the only way. You must see that.”

“I see it but I don’t like it. I’m an Engineer not a kidnapper.”

“All you have to do is get him to the computer room we will do the rest,” said Kris Nor.

“I understand the plan. I will do what is required of me for the good of my people,” said Shar Jen and turned on her heel to return to Commander Tucker.

****

Trip gazed out at the stars and was startled when he saw the reflection of T’Pol behind him. “Something I can do for you, Sub-commander?” he asked.

“You seem to be getting on well with the Artificer,” said T’Pol. She had watched the two of them together and had been concerned by what she saw. Shar Jen had initiated what T’Pol knew a human would describe as intimate contact with the Commander, touching his cheek and then taking his hand. That however would not have worried her had it not been for the look in the Commander’s eyes; they had suddenly been clouded by pain and his features had taken on a distant appearance. She wondered what had transpired between them. She had no reason to think ill of Shar Jen but something was going on.

“Yeah, she is something else. I spent most of this morning with her trying to work out what was up with their engines. Her knowledge of this ship is just amazing. Shame we’re leaving soon, I’d liked to have spent more time with her discussing the Tien approach to warp theory,” said Trip.

“I trust you will keep your interest in the Artificer confined to her engineering expertise,” said T’Pol.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Trip, twisting quickly to face T’Pol.

“I was merely suggesting that anything else is not our concern,” said T’Pol.

“Yeah, I’m getting your message loud and clear, T’Pol,” said Trip. “You seem to be looking a little more green than usual, perhaps you should get Phlox to check that out.”

“I assure you, Commander, I am a completely natural colour for a Vulcan,” said T’Pol, slightly puzzled by the Commander’s reference to her colour.

“Never mind,” said Trip, crossly. He had spotted Shar Jen approaching from the other side of the room and decided that now was a good time to finish this conversation before he said something he’d have to apologise for later. “If you’ll excuse me, Shar Jen is going to take me for a tour of their computer.”

T’Pol watched Commander Tucker as he went to meet the tall Tien Artificer. She felt unsettled. It was late in the evening ship’s time and she had yet to meditate, perhaps that was why she was feeling this way. She decided that must be the reason and went to find the Captain.

Lieutenant Reed had also watched the scene from across the room where he was talking to Nils Fen, the Weapons Master. Shar Jen had been completely correct in her assessment that the two of them would get on. He was more interested in where Trip was going with Shar Jen at the moment though, as he watched the two of them exit the room. Damn it, Trip, he thought, you’re not supposed to wander off alone, I would have thought that you of all people would remember that.

“Excuse me, Nils Fen, I had better go and keep an eye on Commander Tucker,” said Reed.

“I’m sure Shar Jen will look after him,” said Nils Fen with a slight smile. “Best to let the two of them have some privacy. I believe she wanted to show him our computer.”

Reed shrugged. “I suppose a few moments couldn’t hurt,” he said. Privately, he was wondering if there wasn’t more that she wanted to show Trip.

“So you have been on board Enterprise for three years?” asked Nils Fen. The Tien Weapons Master was slightly taller than Shar Jen but he also had the same white hair that the rest of the Tien had, except his was cut short. He seemed to be older than Shar Jen but Reed couldn’t be sure if Tien aged in the same way that humans did.

“Yes,” said Reed. “I know it’s nothing compared to your ten generations.”

“Ten generations by necessity rather than desire. I gather your race is new to space faring but three years is long enough gain a lot of knowledge. After all, I understand from Shar Jen that your Chief Engineer has been of great help with sorting out the problems with Lirat,” said Nils Fen.

“Commander Tucker is the best Engineer in the fleet,” said Reed. “Although don’t tell him I said so, his head is quite large enough.”

Nils Fen laughed. “And a friend of yours?” he asked.

“Yes, a good friend too,” said Reed. He guessed Nils Fen had detected his feelings of concern and friendship for Trip. “It must be a useful attribute for a Weapons Master, being empathic.”

“Sometimes it is, but only when dealing with people. My ability is limited by distance, like most Tien so of little use when we are being attacked by another ship,” said Nils Fen. Reed filed that piece of information away for future reference. “Not all of us are as sensitive as Shar Jen.”

“Have you often been attacked? I would have thought a ship this size would have deterred most attackers,” said Reed.

“We have our enemies,” said Nils Fen. “The Expanse has slowed us considerably with the anomalies that we keep encountering and we came across some pirates who thought they would have a go at us while we fixed our ship’s damage. Luckily I was able to repair enough of the weapons systems to fight them off without any further damage being caused us.”

“Yes, we had a similar encounter with some marauders who thought we’d be easy prey. They stole some of our supplies. I don’t think they expected us to come after them and get the supplies back,” said Reed, a small smile forming on his lips.

“A good Weapons Master is always prepared for the unexpected,” said Nils Fen.

“That’s what I keep telling my Captain but I usually just get accused of being paranoid,” said Reed.

“I understand completely,” said Nils Fen in a sympathetic tone. Somehow Nils Fen doubted that Reed would be able to be prepared for what he had planned this time though.

****

Shar Jen led Trip through the corridors towards the heart of the ship, the computer. The room that they entered was lined with banks of computers and in the centre was a cylinder which was currently covered by a smooth, hard, black shell.

“This is amazing,” he said. Enterprise’s computer was considerably larger and from what Shar Jen had told him, considerably less powerful. “Everything is controlled from this room?”

“Yes,” said Shar Jen. “Water, light, heat, engines, weapons. Everything.” She moved closer to him and reached out, her finger tips brushing against his cheek. Trip looked at the Artificer and smiled at the contact.

“You said you were having computer trouble. Is it anything we can help with?” asked Trip.

“One of the components is getting very old,” said Shar Jen. “It needs to be replaced, but we don’t have a replacement.”

“Oh? Which part is it? Maybe Enterprise could spare something.” said Trip, looking around in fascination at the alien technology.

“I’m sure Enterprise can help us. Let me show you the heart of our computer,” she said and led Trip to the cylinder in the centre of the room and pulled open the black covering. Inside the cylinder was one of the Tien, surrounded by electronics so that only his face and upper half of his body were visible. He lay at a forty five degree angle to the floor, his body was supported by a cradle of black material. He seemed to be asleep or dead, Trip couldn’t tell which.

“I don’t understand,” said Trip. “I thought you said this was the heart of the computer?”

“He is,” said Shar Jen, looking at the Tien who was lying peacefully in the cylinder. “This is our Patriarch, Ten En Ath Jeriad. You can see why he was unable to attend the feast and meet your Captain.”

“You’re telling me that your Patriarch is part of the computer that controls this ship? This is just unbelievable. You lied to us,” said Trip accusingly, moving away from Shar Jen. She reached out to him but he brushed off her hand.

“No, we just didn’t tell you the whole truth,” said Shar Jen. “Ten En is the central processor of our computer. He is vital to the running of the ship, it could not function without him. He also makes the majority of command decisions with help from the computer and the senior council. The only way our ancestors could find to build a computer this sophisticated was to incorporate a Tien into the matrix.”

“But how is he able to interface with the computer?” asked Trip.

“Our ancestors genetically engineered a line of Tien so that they could interface with the computers on the ship. Ten En is the last of that line and he is dying, there are no more Tien to replace him and we have lost the knowledge to genetically engineer more. When Ten En dies the ship will die with him,” said Shar Jen.

“Are you asking for our help?” said Trip. “Maybe Phlox could take a look at him…” Shar Jen shook her head and Trip fell silent.

“He is beyond the help of even our doctors and our medicine is more advanced than yours,” said Shar Jen.

“Then why are you telling me this if you don’t want our help?” asked Trip.

“The Tien wish to extend an invitation to you, Trip,” said Shar Jen. “We want you to stay with us. We want you to take Ten En’s place.”

“You want me to become part of your computer?” asked Trip, he couldn’t quite believe what was happening.

“Yes,” said Shar Jen.

“No, no way am I becoming part of some machine,” said Trip backing away from Shar Jen and the cylinder containing the Patriarch.

“Trip, please just listen to what I have to say. The survival of the Tien is dependant upon you,” said Shar Jen.

“Why me? Why am I more compatible than any other human or Tien for that matter?” asked Trip, trying desperately to understand the situation that he found himself in.

“When you tried to access our computer Ten En detected the presence of nano-technology in your body. They should facilitate your ability to interface with our computer,” said Shar Jen.

“I seem to remember last time I tried to interface with your computers I got my brain fried, what makes you think that won’t happen again?” he asked.

“The reason you were hurt was because Ten En detected your presence and sent you a warning to leave. We didn’t quite expect it to have the effect that it did, but it was not a function of the technology,” said Shar Jen. “Trip, I am offering you a great opportunity, to save an entire race.”

“You’re asking me to give up everything that makes me human. Would I even be aware of anything?” said Trip.

“Ten En feels everything that goes on in the ship through the sensors. The Rel Sevanne itself is empathic, it feels the emotions of all the Tien aboard and it touches us.” Shar Jen looked directly at Trip, “I have felt your emotions, Trip. I know how alone you have felt since your return, even when you are with your friends you feel set apart by what you went through. You would never be alone again. We would take care of you,” said Shar Jen. “You would be a part of us.”

“You’re asking me to abandon my duties on Enterprise, to leave my friends and my life behind. Enterprise needs its Chief Engineer to complete its mission and I can’t leave them,” said Trip. “There must be another way.”

“No, the computer needs an organic component to function. If the Rel Sevanne dies then the Tien die with it. We are the last of our race and you are our final and only option,” said Shar Jen.

“I’m sorry, Shar Jen, but the answer is no. We’ll help you with the problem in any way that we can, but I can’t stay,” said Trip.

“I’m sorry too, Trip,” said Shar Jen sadly, “but I must protect my people and I have my orders.” She closed her eyes and looked away from Trip. He turned to look at Ten En and Trip was surprised to see the lifeless body of the Patriarch open its eyes. Guards appeared around the room from nowhere and Trip found that he was surrounded. It only took him seconds to realise that he wasn’t going to be given a choice about whether he wanted to stay on the Rel Sevanne.

“Shar Jen, don’t do this,” said Trip as he backed away. She opened her eyes but wouldn’t look at Trip. He looked for another exit but the only way out was the door through which he and Shar Jen had entered. That exit was now blocked by one of the Tien guards who carried some kind of weapon.

“Please don’t make this any harder than it already is,” said Shar Jen.

“This won’t work, Enterprise won’t leave without me. They need their Chief Engineer. Shar Jen, you know there has to be another way,” said Trip. He felt the wall against his back and knew that he was trapped. He only had one course of action left open to him so he decided to take it. Talking his way out of this wasn’t working. He hit the guard who was nearest to him and made a grab for their weapon. Although the Tien looked fragile they made up for it with strength and agility, the guard dodged his grab at the weapon and another of the Tien landed a blow on Trip’s back which sent him sprawling to the floor. He was too stunned to do more than struggle weakly as the guards pulled him to his feet.

“Shar Jen, you can stop this!” shouted Trip urgently. “You know this isn’t right.” The guards dragged him away to a side room as he did his best to wrestle himself from their grasp. It was futile though, three Tien were more than a match for a single human. “For an empathic race, you’re pretty insensitive to other people’s feelings,” said Trip bitingly, “let me go, you bastards!”

Shar Jen remained silent. She watched as they took the struggling Engineer into a side chamber and strapped him onto the biobed that awaited him there. She closed the door behind them which blocked out Trip’s calls to her to do something. There was nothing for her to do. Ten En was dying and Trip had been sent to them as his replacement. He might not realise it, but he would be better off with them than in the world of raw emotions and hurt which he currently existed in.

“It is done, Patriarch,” said Shar Jen.

“Good,” said the disembodied voice of Ten En. “See that he is prepared for conjoining and we will begin my removal as soon as he is ready.”

“I will see to it,” said Shar Jen. She stood for a few minutes trying to feel the emotions of the Patriarch but they were faint and waning. They had found Trip just in time.

Ten En’s eyes were shut again. She drew the black covering back over the cylinder, Ten En deserved his peace, he had served the Tien well for his entire life.

“Excuse me, Shar Jen,” said a voice behind her. “But I was wondering if you had seen Commander Tucker?”

She turned to see Lieutenant Reed. “I’m sorry Lieutenant, he is not here.”

“I thought you were taking him for a tour of the computer?” he said.

“Yes, he left a moment ago,” said Shar Jen, “you have only just missed him.” The Tien were not good liars, their empathic faculty had meant that it was almost impossible for another Tien not to know when they were being lied to. However, they had become experts at telling half truths and omitting important information.

“Oh, I’m sorry to have bothered you,” said Reed and left Shar Jen to her thoughts once again. She could already feel the concern for his friend radiating from the human and she felt her own guilt at what she had done. She was very glad that the humans were not an empathic race.

****End of Chapter Four****

Archer stood in the docking bay of the Rel Sevanne beside Shuttlepod Two. Trip was late and Archer wasn’t pleased. Or, at least, twenty minutes ago he hadn’t been pleased, now he was worried. Unfortunately something about the structure of the ship meant that their communicators didn’t work so they couldn’t even try to contact Trip.

“I’m sorry, sir,” said Lieutenant Reed. “I went to the computer room but Shar Jen said he’d already left.”

“Shar Jen was still there though?” asked Archer.

“Yes, sir,” said Reed. “She said that I’d just missed him. He’s probably just got distracted by some piece of alien technology.”

“Have you ever known Trip to miss a check in or rendezvous if there wasn’t a very good reason for it?” asked Archer.

“No, I haven’t,” said Reed. Trip always stuck to protocol when it came to checking in and he was very rarely late for anything. People thought that Trip was laid back, and to a certain extent he was, but it was in a very specific way. He didn’t tolerate mistakes in his Engine room and he was equally careful when it came to procedures. Not following procedures on a starship was a good way to get yourself killed.

“T’Pol, when did you last see Commander Tucker?” asked Archer.

“I saw him leave the Star Chamber with Shar Jen shortly after the entertainment finished,” said T’Pol. “I don’t believe that he has been seen since then by any of us.”

“Let’s go and talk to Kris Nor,” said Archer. “Perhaps our hosts can help us locate him.”

Reed grabbed the nearest Tien, a technician who happened to be working in the docking bay, and asked him where they could find the Exarch. After he had explained to the technician that one of their crewmembers was missing, he was only too pleased to help and seemed just as concerned for the Commander’s safety as Reed was. The technician went to an intercom and called for Kris Nor to come down to the docking bay as soon as he could.

Archer sent the engineering team back to Enterprise with Hoshi, Hooper and Scott in Shuttlepod One, there was no need for everyone to hang about while they found Trip.

“Captain,” said T’Pol. “I believe I should raise my concerns with you about Shar Jen’s behaviour towards Commander Tucker earlier.”

“What concerns?” asked Archer.

“They were becoming overly friendly after dinner,” said T’Pol.

“Overly friendly? I’m not sure I see that as a cause for concern,” said Archer. Unless, he thought, Trip has been doing something he shouldn’t have, but then they’ve only known each other for a day and for most of that time Trip was fixing their engines.

“It is more the manner of their friendship. There is something about the Tien that I find…unsettling,” said T’Pol.

“Unsettling?” said Archer, “you’re not giving me much to go on here, T’Pol.”

“I don’t know if it’s relevant,” said Reed, “but Shar Jen told me that the Tien are an empathic race. Maybe your Vulcan control of your emotions if clashing with their sensing emotions.”

“Are you saying that they can detect our emotions?” asked Archer.

“Yes, Captain,” said Reed. “I’m not sure how it works but as Shar Jen explained they all have the ability to some degree.”

“Interesting,” said T’Pol. “I have heard rumours of empathic races before but Vulcans have not yet made contact with one. Perhaps that is indeed why I have been feeling so unsettled on this ship. Emotions obviously play a very important part in Tien culture, something which as a Vulcan it is difficult for me to comprehend. It may be skewing my perceptions.”

“That’s all very interesting but it doesn’t help us find Trip,” said Archer.

“What I was trying to convey, Captain, was that I believe Shar Jen may be hiding something from us. Perhaps we should talk to her again,” said T’Pol.

“I agree Captain, she was showing a lot of interest in the Commander,” said Reed.

“Okay, let’s find Shar Jen,” said Archer, and turned to leave the docking bay.

“Ah, Captain Archer,” said Kris Nor who had entered the docking bay at just that moment. “What seems to be the trouble?”

“Commander Tucker is missing,” said Archer. “He was last seen with Shar Jen.”

“I will contact Nils Fen and ask him to start a search,” said Kris Nor.

“We’d like to talk to Shar Jen,” said Archer.

“And I’d like to be involved in the search,” said Reed. “I’m sure Nils Fen won’t object to having an extra pair of hands to help him out.” Reed knew that Kris Nor’s reaction to this would tell them a lot about whether the Tien did have anything to hide regarding Trip’s disappearance. If they had nothing to hide they would have no reason not to let Reed tag along with their security forces.

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” said Kris Nor, “I’m sure that Nils Fen will be able to handle the search with our own security forces.”

“And Shar Jen?” asked Archer.

“She is currently engaged in some delicate repairs to our computer. Once she has finished I’ll be pleased to ask her to talk to you,” said Kris Nor.

“Perhaps Shar Jen could interrupt her repairs since Commander Tucker is missing,” said T’Pol.

“I’m sorry but as I said, the repairs are extremely delicate in nature and she cannot be disturbed until they are completed. If you would like to wait while we search, I can provide a place for you to do so,” said Kris Nor.

Archer wasn’t happy that Kris Nor had evaded his questions and he wasn’t even able to talk to Shar Jen. He certainly wasn’t going to leave until they had found Trip. “Thank you, we’d like to wait,” said Archer. “Please keep us informed of any developments and let us know when Shar Jen is available to speak with us.”

“Very well, follow me,” said Kris Nor. “I feel your concern for your friend. Don’t worry, I’m sure we can locate him.”

“Thank you, Kris Nor, the sooner we know where he is the better,” said Archer. The three remaining members of the away team followed the Exarch to a well furnished room with comfortable chairs and he left them there with instructions to call one of the stewards if there was anything that they required. Archer didn’t fail to notice that before he left Kris Nor also instructed two Tien to stand guard outside the door of the room.

“I don’t trust him,” said Reed after the Exarch had left.

“Neither do I,” replied Archer, “but we didn’t catch him in a lie either. Something is definitely going on.”

“Could it not simply be that Commander Tucker has had one of his episodes and is unable to summon help?” asked T’Pol.

“I had thought of that,” said Archer, “but surely someone would have found him by now. There are enough Tien wandering around this ship that you would think one of them would spot a lost alien visitor. I think something has happened and the Tien don’t want us to find out about it. Malcolm, we have to get out of here. Have you got any ideas?”

“I still have my phase pistol, but three of us aren’t going to be much use against the small army of security officers that the Tien have. We’ll have to use stealth rather than force.” Archer and T’Pol hadn’t brought their phase pistols with them because they had been coming for dinner not a fight. “If we could leave this room undetected that would be a good start but the only exit I can see is that door, which is currently being guarded by two Tien security officers. After speaking with their Weapons Master, I can guarantee that they will be very well trained,” said Reed despondently. “And we have another problem, we also need a way to find the Commander once we’re out of here.”

“I believe that we should be able to use their internal sensors to locate Commander Tucker,” said T’Pol. “Shar Jen spoke about the sensors being linked to their computer. If we can reach their computer room then we should be able to access the sensors and scan for a human biosign.”

“Okay, so we have a way to find him once we’re out. What about the guards?” said Archer looking at Reed.

“There’s only one person in this room who’d have a hope of sneaking up on them undetected,” said Reed looking at T’Pol. He handed her his phase pistol. “I’m betting that you can control your emotions well enough that they won’t be able to sense them until its too late.”

“There is only one way to test that hypothesis,” said T’Pol, moving towards the door.

“Be careful,” said Archer. “If Malcolm’s right about their level of training, two against one won’t be easy.”

T’Pol simply nodded. She approached the door and put the hand with the phase pistol in it behind her back, before hitting the button to open the door with her other hand.

“Excuse me, I would like to speak with your superior officer,” she said. Before either of the guards had time to react she had stunned one with her phase pistol and made use of a Vulcan nerve pinch on the other. Both guards lay at her feet within minutes of her opening the door.

“I must get you to teach me that at some point, Sub-commander,” said Reed, coming to assist T’Pol as she pulled the guards inside the room.

“I would be glad to show you how, although caution is recommended in its use until you are fully proficient. A very similar technique can be used to cause death,” said T’Pol.

“Remind me not to get on your wrong side,” said Reed.

“I don’t believe that you will require a reminder,” replied T’Pol without a trace of emotion.

“Let’s hurry this up,” said Archer, slightly impatiently. The three of them moved the guards into the room and hid them under some cushions so that should anyone enter the room they would not be immediately spotted. “Come on, let’s go and find Trip,” said Archer and led his three officers towards the computer room.

****

Trip lay strapped down on the biobed in the room that was next to the central computer chamber wearing nothing but his underwear. He’d struggled at first, but had soon realised that it was a futile exercise, the straps across him were too tight and strong. It was obvious that this room had been created specifically for the procedures that they were now performing on him, to prepare a living being to become part of the computer. He wondered if they had added the restraints specially for his benefit or if some of his predecessors had been equally unwilling to “conjoin” as the Tien called it.

The Tien had spent some time simply taking scans and analysing the information that they collected. Shar Jen had joined them once his uniform had been stripped off and had supervised the procedures he was now undergoing. He’d started out by trying to reason with the Tien, then had resorted to calling them all the names he could think of, followed by threatening them with what he would do if he ever got free. He was desperately trying not to panic but being strapped immobile on a biobed was bringing up a lot of bad memories. He decided that anger was his best weapon against fear so he spat more insults at his captors. This had simply been met with a hypospray of something which knocked him out.

He had awoken to find that he now had six small black plugs inserted at equally spaced points into his arms, three on each arm. More plugs had been grafted onto his legs. He could also feel two small cold metal circles on his forehead.

Shar Jen looked down at him. She brushed his hair off his forehead with one of her hands. “Do not worry, this is all for the best,” she said. “It will be over soon.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” said Trip. “Please don’t do this, Shar Jen. It’s not too late to let me go and we can forget this ever happened.”

“It isn’t that easy, Trip,” replied Shar Jen. “I am truly sorry. If there was another way then I would take it, but there isn’t. Not long now and we’ll be ready for the conjoining.” She fixed wires to the silver discs on his forehead.

“No! I don’t want to be conjoined, or whatever you call it. Let me go!” shouted Trip.

“You know that I can’t do that, I’m sorry,” said Shar Jen. “Once you are conjoined it will take a little while for you to integrate into the system. Ten En tells me it can be disorientating to begin with but you should quickly become completely connected. We need to sedate you while we carry out the conjoining, otherwise the shock can be damaging. Don’t worry.” Trip was about to shout out again that he didn’t want this but the last thing her heard was a hiss as Shar Jen pressed another hypospray to his neck and he fell into darkness again.

“He is ready. It is time to remove Ten En,” said Shar Jen to her assistants. She turned around to see Nils Fen enter the room.

“Shar Jen, we have encountered a difficulty,” said Nils Fen.

“What is it?” asked Shar Jen.

“Archer, Reed and T’Pol have left the waiting room. They are trying to find Trip,” said Nils Fen.

“Why don’t you ask Ten En where they are?” said Shar Jen. “The ship’s sensors should be able to detect them.”

“Ten En isn’t answering anymore,” said Nils Fen. “I can’t even feel his emotions now.”

“We must hurry then. When Ten En dies life support will shut down and we will only have minutes to conjoin Trip before power fails completely,” said Shar Jen. “You must stop them from getting to the computer room. I need time to perform the conjoining and then we will have him. Once he is conjoined they cannot take him from us without killing him.”

****

Archer, T’Pol and Reed made their way down the corridor carefully. They suspected that the Tien would know about their departure from the waiting room by now.

Archer crept forwards, hearing voices from around the corner and saw five Tien security guards coming towards them. He signalled silently to T’Pol and Reed to fall back, he took one quick look over his shoulder and followed them. They ducked into a storage room along the corridor and shut the door.

“I do not believe that this will work,” said T’Pol, quietly. “Both of you are broadcasting your emotions.”

“Then you’d better help us,” said Archer. “What was all that stuff that you were teaching Trip?”

“It is complex. We don’t have time for me to teach you control,” said T’Pol.

“Just do the best you can,” said Archer.

“Very well,” said T’Pol. “Start with breathing, follow what I do and try to calm your thoughts.” T’Pol sat cross legged on the floor and Archer and Reed did the same. T’Pol breathed in and out slowly and Reed and Archer tried to follow her rhythm. “Close your eyes,” she said and the two humans obeyed. “Imagine that your thoughts and emotions are like the wind in a storm, they are in turmoil at the moment but you are able to calm them. The wind is fierce now but it is dying away,” said T’Pol quietly. “With each moment the wind becomes calmer until the air is still. The sun is shining and the storm is gone. Think about how the air feels when the wind has died, imagine its tranquillity and stillness.”

She used her Vulcan hearing to keep one ear on the footsteps of the guards outside, she fell silent as they approached, willing her human companions to keep their emotions in check. As she concentrated on suppressing her own emotions, she heard the guards walk past. She knew that it was impossible, her human companions could not control their emotions like she did. She expected the guards to turn around at any moment and come back but after a few minutes they had still not come for them.

“They have gone,” said T’Pol. Reed and Archer opened their eyes and looked at her with relief on their faces. “I am surprised that you were able to attain such a level of control. As humans are obviously able to control their emotions it makes me wonder why you don’t make use of such skills more often.”

“That was bloody hard work, Sub-commander,” said Reed.

“If you practised more often it would become less difficult,” said T’Pol.

“Come on,” said Archer. “We’re wasting time.” Archer checked that there were no more Tien in the corridor and they carried on their careful journey towards the computer room. Suddenly the lights flickered and went out.

“What the hell is this?” asked Archer.

“It seems that the Rel Sevanne is experiencing power fluctuations,” said T’Pol, a disembodied voice in the darkened corridor. “Life support has failed.” The pale back light of a tricorder was visible now.

“How long before it becomes a problem?” asked Reed.

“It would be several days before enough heat and air dissipate from the Rel Sevanne to cause us any difficulties,” replied T’Pol.

“We’re never going to make it to the computer room in the dark,” said Archer.

“I think we can still keep moving if we keep one hand on the wall to guide us,” said Reed. “The Tien are at the same disadvantage that we are.”

“Okay, we’ll give it a go,” said Archer. The three of them made their way along the pitch black corridor feeling their way carefully.

It seemed as if they had been stumbling through the dark for a long time but Archer knew that it was still less than an hour. The lights blinked on, taking a while to warm up before they returned to their previous brightness. “Well, whatever the problem was, they’ve fixed it,” said Archer.

He had a really bad feeling that the blackout that they had just experienced was a significant piece of the puzzle for what was happening on the Rel Sevanne but he just wasn’t sure how it fitted in. Could they want Trip to help fix some mechanical problem that they were having? That didn’t make any sense though, Enterprise had offered the services of its Chief Engineer willingly they didn’t need to kidnap him to obtain his help. Unless of course they wanted Trip’s expertise on a more long term basis, but again they had their own engineer who seemed perfectly competent, why would they need Trip too?

The Tien hadn’t told the Enterprise crew much about themselves and it seemed as if they were purposefully being enigmatic now. Trip had been getting on well with Shar Jen though, and that alone had made Archer feel the encounter had been worth it, just to see Trip relax and smile again. He should have known then that nothing could be that easy, Shar Jen had obviously been trying to lure Trip into some kind of trap. He prayed that Trip was okay but settling at the back of his mind was a feeling of dread.

It was only a little further and they would be at the computer room. They rounded the final corner and in front of them was the door to the computer room, unfortunately it was guarded by a number of Tien security officers. All of whom turned to look in his direction as he drew back around the corner.

“Malcolm, we have a problem,” said Archer in a whisper to his Armoury officer.

****End of Chapter 5****

When Trip woke up, he knew something was different. He tried to remember what had happened before he went to sleep but his memories were a jumble. There was something very important that he needed to remember but he couldn’t quite grasp on to what it was. He attempted to open his eyes but they wouldn’t move.

“Why does it feel like I’m awake but like I’m asleep at the same time?”

“Unknown,” said the nanites in reply.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“We have been integrated into a new system,” replied the nanites.

“Trip,” said a voice.

“Shar Jen?” he asked.

“Yes, it’s me. The conjoining was a success. You are now the core of the Rel Sevanne’s computer,” said Shar Jen.

“Why can’t I see you?” he asked.

“You need to access the surveillance cameras. They are your eyes now. You’ll be able to tap into any sensors across the ship,” said Shar Jen. “Listen to the ship, it will talk to you. I know that you are used to separating out what the nanites say to you, just do that with the ship and you will be able to access any system that you want to.”

Trip reached out and felt the ship. It was as if his body had suddenly extended. His skin was now the hull of the Rel Sevanne, he felt the internal warmth and the external cold of space. The internal temperature was correct, he knew instinctively. The nanites were working overtime, feeding him information from hundreds of different systems but somehow his brain was coping with the increased flow of data. He felt the warp engines pulsing as if they were his heart. He detected the Tien life signs inside the ship, thousands of them, and two humans and one Vulcan. He registered that the humans and the Vulcan were important but he couldn’t work out why.

He accessed the cameras and saw Shar Jen standing in the computer room. In front of her was the black cylinder and Trip knew there was something about that which he was forgetting. “I can see you,” said Trip. “This is amazing.”

“Trip, there’s something else you need to do,” said Shar Jen. “There are invaders on the ship. We need to find them and remove them.”

“I can see them,” said Trip. “I think I know them.”

“You do know them, but they are not Tien and should return to their own ship,” said Shar Jen. “They don’t belong here anymore. Tell Nils Fen where he can find them.”

“I’m not sure I should tell you where they are. There’s some reason that I shouldn’t,” said Trip.

“You are part of the Tien now Trip,” said Shar Jen. “You must protect the Rel Sevanne and that means we must apprehend these aliens.”

“Why can’t I remember who they are? Why can’t I remember what happened?” he asked urgently.

“Your memory will return as you become more alert. It is a side affect of the conjoining,” said Shar Jen. She was monitoring Trip’s vitals and had noticed an increase in his heart and breathing. “It’s okay, Trip. Everything is going to be fine. Just relax and listen to the ship.”

“It’s just I don’t think I should be here,” said Trip. “Something is really wrong about this.”

“Everything is fine. This is where you are meant to be. You are being looked after. Now tell me where the aliens are,” said Shar Jen.

“Erm, okay. They’re here,” said Trip.

“Here?” asked Shar Jen.

“Yeah, they’re waiting in the corridor. I don’t think they like your guards very much. Malcolm just stunned one of them with his phase pistol. Hey, I know what he’s called and the others are Captain Archer and T’Pol. Maybe my memory’s coming back,” said Trip.

“Call Nils Fen and tell him to send another security team,” said Shar Jen.

“Yes, Ma’am,” replied Trip. “You’ve got a rather one sided fire fight going on in your corridor.” In the background he could hear his own voice asking Nils Fen to send security to their section. Another piece of memory returned to him, he knew that he was part of a computer, and with a flash he had visions of everything that had happened to him the past few days.

“Damn, you did it, didn’t you?” he asked Shar Jen. “You plugged me into your computer even when I told you I didn’t want this.”

“I’m sorry Trip, but we had no choice,” said Shar Jen. “Now you have access to our databanks you can see for yourself why we had to do it.”

“I don’t care about your databanks, get me out of here!” said Trip.

“I can’t. Ten En is dead. If we remove you from the computer, the Rel Sevanne will cease to function and we will all die,” said Shar Jen. “You have the data, you know that I am telling you the truth. Search the databanks and see for yourself.”

“Damn,” said Trip, the nanites had returned the data Shar Jen had told him to look for. “You’re right, if you disconnect me, you all die. Two thousand Tien, men, women and children.” He knew he couldn’t do it, no matter how much he wanted to go back to Enterprise he couldn’t just let the Tien die.

“You’re part of the Rel Sevanne now and part of the Tien. You’re one of us now, Trip,” said Shar Jen.

“I’m not one of you and I never will be. I didn’t ask for this, you kidnapped me, drugged me and wired me in. I’m not going to stop until I’ve found a way out of this. I may be stuck here but I don’t have to like it,” said Trip.

“Denying your circumstances won’t make them go away. This is your life now and the sooner you accept it, the sooner you will be happy here,” said Shar Jen.

“I’m not denying anything. I know what’s got to happen,” said Trip. “But I can hope.”

“Have the guards caught your friends yet?” asked Shar Jen.

“No, Malcolm is putting up quite a fight, he’s got your guys pinned and a nice defensible position in a doorway.” He put the image up on the view screen so that Shar Jen could see it too. “You are going to let me see them before you send them back to Enterprise, aren’t you?” said Trip.

“I somehow doubt that we would have been able to persuade them to leave without seeing to you first,” said Shar Jen. “It was never our intention to kill them, just keep them occupied until we had conjoined you.”

“Yeah, I hoped that was what this was all about,” said Trip. “I hoped that I hadn’t been wrong about you. I think I could probably get Malcolm to put down his phase pistol, do you mind if I talk to them? Might save everyone a hell of a lot of trouble.”

“Go ahead, you are the Patriarch, it is your prerogative to handle the situation as you see fit. Although the Senior Council will be watching you until we are happy that you have settled in,” said Shar Jen.

“I understand, you just want to make sure the power’s not going to my head. What are you going to do if I’m not up to it?” he asked.

“We can cut you out of the decision making process and confine your duties to running the ship’s systems. There are also emergency manual overrides for most systems. If you were to refuse to co-operate completely we have ways to make you compliant, but so far we have never had to make use of those,” said Shar Jen. “I doubt the Senior Council would have the courage except in the most desperate of circumstances.”

“What sort of ways?” asked Trip, although he wasn’t really sure he wanted her to answer.

“We can disable the higher brain functions of anyone who is conjoined if necessary. You would be reduced to the intellect of a child and would do everything that we told you to,” said Shar Jen.

“I see. You just need my brain, you don’t need me,” said Trip.

“It is not that simple. There is a reason why our Patriarch is conjoined,” said Shar Jen, “you have information easily accessible that we would take time to access in a crisis. You are the best informed person about the status of the ship and its people. That knowledge makes you the best placed person to lead us. We don’t want to loose that if we can avoid it.”

“I get the picture, you’d prefer it if I didn’t give them reason to take my mind,” said Trip.

“I have no doubt that you would prefer it that way too. When we chose you, we also hoped you would make a good Patriarch and not only a new component for our computer,” said Shar Jen. “Talk to your friends, tell them to put down their weapons and the guards will bring them to the computer room.”

“Okay,” said Trip. He reached out into the ship and separated the system that he needed from the rest of the noise and opened the intercom channel to the corridor where Reed, Archer and T’Pol were holding off the Tien guards. “Malcolm, this is Trip, put your phase pistol down.”

“Trip?” said Malcolm. He heard the familiar southern accent but couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Yeah, it’s me. You can stop blasting the hell out of the Tien now,” said Trip. “Nils Fen, if you wouldn’t mind escorting Lieutenant Reed, Captain Archer and Sub-commander T’Pol to the computer room.”

“Hold it,” said Archer. “Malcolm, don’t do anything. Trip, what’s going on? Are you okay?”

“I’m…erm…well I guess I’m okay. This is going to take some explaining, you’d best come to the computer room with Nils Fen and I’ll tell you what this is all about.”

“How do we even know that you are Trip?” asked Reed. “This could all just be a trick to get us to surrender.”

“Typical Malcolm, always looking for the trap. Erm, let’s see. Okay, I know that your favourite food is pineapple cake and I know that Jon’s dog is called Porthos,” said Trip.

“That isn’t exactly top secret,” said Reed.

“I know that T’Pol broke off her engagement to stay on Enterprise,” said Trip.

“I can confirm that is Commander Tucker,” said T’Pol.

“Engagement?” asked Archer, “I didn’t even know that.”

“It was a personal matter and Doctor Phlox suggested that I discuss it with someone that I trusted,” said T’Pol. “Since the Commander had already opened a personal communication, he already knew the details and was the logical person to discuss it with.”

“I’m sorry, T’Pol, I couldn’t think of anything else that only you’d know about,” said Trip. He knew that only a tiny part of his mind was on the conversation at all, the rest of it was occupied with ship’s business and the various systems of the Rel Sevanne.

“That is quite alright, Commander. I believe the circumstances demanded it,” replied T’Pol. Trip could tell that she wasn’t exactly pleased with him though.

“If you would follow me,” said Nils Fen to the three officers. Trip saw Reed holster his phase pistol and inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. He had no idea what his body was doing, he couldn’t feel it anymore and curiously he wasn’t bothered by that. He guessed that he had too much else on his mind, running a ship was taking up a lot of his mental energy. He watched as the guards ushered his friends towards the computer room.

“Hi Captain, Malcolm, T’Pol,” said Trip.

“Trip, where are you? Shar Jen, what is going on? I want to see Trip now!” said Archer in angry tones.

“Show him, Shar Jen,” said Trip, “There isn’t any other way that he’s going to believe this.”

Shar Jen went to the black metal cylinder that dominated the room and pulled open the covering to reveal the human inside. Trip lay supported by a cradle of black material, covered in electronics with wires emerging from his body. His eyes were closed and his face peaceful. It was the first time that Trip had seen himself and it made him feel cold inside to see himself immobile and so lifeless looking.

“What the hell have you done to him!” shouted Archer at Shar Jen, she stood impassive not even flinching at his shout. “Get him out of there now, we’re going back to Enterprise immediately.” Beside him Trip noted that Malcolm had quickly hidden his look of utter surprise and was now reaching for his phase pistol and thinking about finding someone to shoot. T’Pol had, in true Vulcan fashion, pulled out her tri-corder and was taking scans.

“It’s not quite that simple Captain,” said Trip. “You see I’m integrated into the Rel Sevanne’s computer and if you remove me then a lot of Tien are going to die. As much as I’d like to come back to Enterprise with you, I can’t with all these people depending on me.”

“Trip, just start from the beginning. How did this happen?” said Archer, going up to the cylinder and looking into the unmoving face of his friend.

“Well, the Tien computer has an organic component. The previous guy to occupy this position was Ten En, you remember him?” said Trip.

“I didn’t actually ever get to meet him,” said Archer.

“That’s because their Patriarch is part of their computer. He was part of a long line of Tien that were genetically engineered to be able to join with the Rel Sevanne’s computer. The only problem is that Ten En didn’t have any kids, so when Ten En died the Rel Sevanne would be dead in the water because the computer doesn’t work without an organic component. So basically they needed a replacement part and when I came along they realised that was me,” said Trip.

“You’re saying that you did this willingly?” said Archer in disbelief.

“Well no, I was kind of dragged kicking and screaming, but now I’m here I’m sort of stuck with it,” said Trip. He saw Archer start to get angry again.

“Why you?” asked Archer, his anger very nearly spilling over.

“Because of the nanites. They mean I can interface with the computer and ship’s systems. I’m the only option that they had. They were pretty desperate, Captain. Ten En is dead. He was really old and died when he was removed from the computer. You must have seen the power failure when they took him out and before they plugged me in? The ship can’t function without someone to act as the central processor for their computer.”

“They forced you into this and you’re defending them?” said Archer angrily.

“I guess I’ve developed a slightly different perspective on things now that I’ve got two thousand people depending on me,” said Trip.

“I don’t believe this,” said Archer, turning on Shar Jen. “We offered you help and you kidnap my Chief Engineer to make him part of your computer.”

“We are grateful for your help, Captain Archer,” said Shar Jen, “but you have to understand we really did have no other choice. If we had not found Trip, we would all be dead. I didn’t want to force him into this, it is against our ethical code but there was no other way to save our people.”

“T’Pol, is what they’re saying true?” he asked. “Will the Tien die if we remove Trip?”

“I believe that they are telling the truth,” said T’Pol.

“Is he okay in there?” he asked her.

“His vitals are all strong. It seems as if there are a number of monitoring devices keeping track of his biosigns. They have connected him to a life support system, he should be able to survive indefinitely like this,” said T’Pol.

“No more pecan pie though,” said Trip, trying hard to lighten the mood, but it wasn’t working. Archer couldn’t get over the strangeness of hearing his friend’s voice but not seeing his lips move. His face was still peaceful as if he was asleep.

“That’s the least of our worries, Trip,” said Reed. “What are we going to do, Captain? We can’t leave him like this.”

“I don’t think we have much choice for the moment, Malcolm,” said Archer. “T’Pol, I want you to take as many scans as you can and get to work on some way that we can get Trip out of here.”

“It won’t work,” said Trip. “The Tien have already tried to find a way to stop the computer from depending on an organic central processor, they started their research when they realised the Ten En was the last of his line. I can give you the files, T’Pol, but it won’t help.”

“Nevertheless I will examine them before I come to a conclusion regarding whether it is possible or not,” replied T’Pol.

“Captain, there’s only one way this is going to play out,” said Trip. “You’ve got to leave me here and continue with the mission.”

“Trip, you’re being ridiculous,” said Reed. “We’re not leaving you behind.” Archer gave Reed a look which said it all, he wasn’t sure that they weren’t going to be leaving Trip behind.

“There isn’t any other way, Malcolm,” said Trip. Reed didn’t know what to say so he decided not to say anything. “We could still use Enterprise’s help finishing the repairs to the Rel Sevanne though, so we’ve got a couple of days to come up with something. If we’ve got nothing by then, well, we’ll just have to go our separate ways.”

“Trip, if we do that we don’t know when or if we can get back to you. The Rel Sevanne could be anywhere by then and I know those engines do a lot more than warp five,” said Archer.

“Yeah, they do more than warp five,” said Trip. “I’m not expecting you to come back for me. I may not have wanted this, but it’s happened, and I’m just going to have to make the best of it. I’ve got a whole race depending on me to look after them. I guess you’d better consider this my official resignation from Starfleet.”

****End of Chapter 6****

Continue to Part 2

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