Forwarded by the ASC-VSO Posted: 6 Jan 2004 09:59:32 -0800 In: alt.startrek.creative From: shouldknowbettertt@yahoo.co.uk (shouldknowbetter) Title: Deception Series: ENT Begins with "A Logical Proposal" "Deception is fourth in the series Part: 4/4 Story 14/34 Series Author: ShouldKnowBetter Email: Shouldknowbettertt@yahoo.uk.com Rating: PG13 Codes: Tu/T, all "Enterprise" characters, eventually Soval and Forrest, action, angst, drama. Disclaimer: Paramount owns the characters, the Star Trek franchise and the universe. I just use them for my own private, non-profit making amusement. Summary: When Archer is critically injured in a shuttle pod accident, DECEPTION Part Four "Ensign." Reed grabbed Sato's arm as she left her cabin after her midday break and pulled her away. "A word." "What was wrong with the mess hall?" she demanded and tried to pull free. "Lieutenant, if Captain Krajewski sees us we'll be in trouble." Krajewski was never ‘the captain' to any of them. "I think we already are," he replied grimly and thrust her into his cabin. "Malcolm!" "I'm not making a pass at you," he said indignantly. "My cabin's not bugged. I checked." "None of the living quarters are on the surveillance net." "You can't be too careful." To emphasise his caution, the armoury officer bent closer, dropping his voice. "I want you to run some checks on that last transmission from Starfleet." "What am I looking for?" She wasn't reluctant, simply looking for guidance. "I don't know," he admitted. "Anything not quite right." "You think there's something going on?" "What do you think? That Captain Archer's a drug smuggler? That Sub-Commander T'Pol would approve?" "No." "Well, then. Just be discreet. Don't let Krajewski know what you're doing." "OK," she agreed. "Can I go now, Malcolm, or would you like to brainwash me into forgetting what you've just told me?" "Don't be facetious." From the helm, Mayweather announced, "Captain, there's a ship approaching." To Reed, keeping a cautious watch on the man, it seemed that a faint smile pulled at the straight mouth. "Hail them." "Should I polarise the hull plating, sir? We don't know what their intentions are?" "Negative. Ensign Sato?" "Putting them through, sir." The screen changed to reveal an alien female that the crew recognised as an Orion, her expression one of smug satisfaction. "Nice to see you, captain." The sarcasm on the rank was obvious. "Any problems?" "None." Krajewski was clearly smirking by now. "Care to join us?" "Of course." "Now just a minute!" Reed didn't know what was going on but he didn't like the feel of it one bit. "Captain Krajewski …" "Stand down, lieutenant. This is way over your head." "I don't think so." Infuriated, Malcolm began powering weapons and charging the hull plating. "Reed!" Automatically he looked up and into the barrel of a small weapon nestled in Krajewski's hand. "Step away." "I don't know who the hell you are, but I don't think you can give me orders." "Wrong." The man's smile was mocking. "Move." Reed dived for the weapons locker behind his console but he was too slow. The projectile from Krajewski's weapon tore into his shoulder and he cried out in pain as he hit the deck, the shock of the injury preventing him from making a move back to tactical. The only thing he could hear through the pounding of blood in his ears was Krajewski's laughter. The brig was situated near one of the docking ports and was less well sound proofed than other areas of the ship which meant that the sound of a mating ship was loud in the silence that had fallen. "Something just docked," Tucker observed unnecessarily and looked over at T'Pol. "We expecting someone?" "No visits were scheduled." "Is that enough proof for you?" They had spent the preceding hours trying to piece together a plausible theory from the bits and pieces of information they had. "Perhaps." "Then let's get out of here." "I would have no objection but this is a prison cell and we are on the wrong side of the door." Tucker reached into a pocket and produced a small device that he levelled at the door which obligingly slid open. "A key?" "Malcolm slipped it me. Bridge?" "Armoury." She pushed past him into the corridor. "Then the bridge." Krajewski was at the tactical station, punching controls and swearing, whilst covering the small group of Sato, Mayweather and a mostly unconscious Reed. "Damn it!" he roared at last. "How does this work?" "I don't know!" Hoshi snapped back from where she had her hand pressed hard against the wound in Reed's shoulder, trying to slow the bleeding. "Why don't you ask Malcolm? Oh, you can't can you? He's unconscious because you shot him!" She knew the armoury officer was pulling out of his faint and hoped he was lucid enough to take the hint and stay down. The gun swivelled directly onto her and she wished she hadn't been so outspoken. "You. Over here." She let Mayweather take her place by Reed and did as she was told, very conscious of the blood still wet on her hands. "Call someone to escort our ‘guests' from the docking port to the bridge." She gestured to her own workstation. "I need to go over there." The gun pressed painfully under her chin and her eyes widened. "Then go over there; and if you try anything clever I'll blow your pretty head off." Reluctantly she obeyed, hoping that people would forgive her for being a coward. The first thing T'Pol and Tucker saw when they exited the brig was a group of armed Orions being escorted along a crossing corridor by a solitary member of Reed's security team. Tucker would have launched himself after them if T'Pol hadn't caught a handful of uniform. "Your action is impulsive." "They're gonna steal Enterprise!" "Not if we proceed with caution." "Fine! What's your plan, sub-commander?" The turbo lift disgorged the ‘guests' onto the bridge and before the luckless crewman had time to register that his chief was sprawled on the deck in a bloody heap, the nearest Orion felled him with a vicious, double-handed blow to the back of the neck. The woman gave him an approving nod and sauntered forward, grinning. "Good work, play-actor. Ship undamaged and the officers neutralised, just as ordered." "I'm glad you appreciate my work." ‘Krajewski' slumped into the command chair. "I never was recognised for my Henry V." "So you keep telling me. Be happy with a percentage." "As long as it's gross, darling, as long as it's gross." Any hint of a command persona had fled. "Your job's not over yet, play-actor." One of the woman's party had taken up a position at the helm, another at the engineering console. "Order the crew to evacuate." She gestured at the clump of Enterprise officers who were watching the play unfold with stunned surprise. "What are these?" "Helm, comm.s, tactical." "Where are the first officer and the engineer?" "In the brig. Would you believe the Vulcan was letting him screw her?" "I'll believe anything, play-actor, once we have this ship securely in our hands." "Shall I space them, madam?" It was another of the boarding party, his weapon levelled on Reed, Sato and Mayweather, the latter of whom was wishing that he had taken his chance earlier. He knew Orion pirates when he saw them and popular myth didn't deal kindly with them; just as Orion pirates didn't deal kindly with prisoners. "Later. Evacuation orders, play-actor?" "Encore, don't you mean, darling?" "Do you want your percentage reduced?" "Now, now. I need the pretty one to help." "No." Sato had found her courage again. "I am not going to help you kill the rest of the crew." "Do it." Reed's voice was low and strained, but she heard him clearly enough. "They've got the guns, Hoshi. Do as they say." "Malcolm!" "That was an order, ensign," and where the hell were Trip and T'Pol when they were needed? If he found out that he'd lain here in agony and watched his ship put at risk because its first officer and chief engineer were making out in his brig, he would personally kill them both, however nice a bum one of them had. The order to evacuate came when Tucker and T'Pol were still in the armoury. The engineer growled something obscene under his breath and glared at T'Pol who was starting to think that his bad temper was permanent. "Wanna re-think your plan, sub-commander?" She slapped a holstered phase pistol into his sternum with enough force to make him step back with a grunt. "We must assume that they have taken hostages. Use of either the transporter or an anaesthetic would give time for them to be executed. Do you wish that to occur?" Tucker headed for the door, fastening the utility belt as he went. "And we can't recruit help because who would believe us." He glared at T'Pol over his shoulder. "My team would trust me." "They are not combat trained." "Neither am I!" She didn't bother dignifying that with an answer; he was lying just for the sake of disagreeing with her. T'Pol's plan was simple and, as far as Tucker was concerned, uncomfortable and dangerous. Yes, there was an access hatch behind the science console but it had been designed only for maintenance of bridge equipment, not to allow someone with his breath of shoulder to crawl into it from the turbo lift shaft behind. He couldn't even take any satisfaction from the fact that the science officer wasn't tall enough to reach the lip of the hatch and had required his help to hoist herself up. He was still furious with her for her brutal rejection because that way it didn't hurt as much, and having his hands on her just reminded him that she had led him on and then called a halt just when it started to get interesting. Damn tease! Finally they were crouched side by side in the cramped space and T'Pol braced a hand on the access panel, looking to him for the sign to go. Tucker swallowed his anger and tried to concentrate on the job in hand; being blindly furious would only make it more dangerous. "Go," he mouthed and T'Pol thrust the hatch aside and was through the exit in one agile move while he followed as quickly as he could, phase pistol at the ready. They had the element of surprise but the pirates were used to armed violence. T'Pol's superior reflexes allowed her to take out two of the Orions while Tucker dropped the one at the Engineering console on the grounds that he didn't want anyone tinkering with his ship, then the woman and ‘Krakewski' started to shoot back – the actor was handy with a gun – forcing Enterprise's officers to take cover again. Breathing hard, Tucker glanced at T'Pol and swore aloud at the sight of green blood staining the sleeve of her uniform. "You OK?" She nodded, entirely focussed on their mission, and he swore again, this time at having been fooled into worrying about her, while T'Pol looked around for the remainder of the bridge crew, hoping they were in a position to provide support, but they were hopelessly exposed and Reed was clearly injured. Perhaps coming to the bridge had not been a good idea after all; it seemed that she was incapable of intelligent thought at the moment. "You!" It was the Orion woman. "Throw down your weapons and come out." "Why should we?" Tucker's tone was belligerent. "Because otherwise," the pirate said callously, "we will kill your colleagues." "What will become of us if we surrender?" T'Pol's voice was calmly inquiring, but in the meantime her body language was suggesting another option to Tucker. He grimaced but nodded – there were occasions when knowing each other so well was an advantage – and gave her the countdown on his fingers. On zero they went for it, breaking cover to fire at the three remaining people threatening their friends. They were lucky. The pirates had not been anticipating such a potentially fatal reaction and were just a little slow off the mark. The two Orions dropped unconscious although Krajewski caught only a glancing blast from Tucker's phase pistol and staggered dazedly into the command chair. The engineer crossed the distance between them in a couple of strides, twisting the gun viciously away from the slackened grip and taking a firm grip on the man's throat. "Just who the hell are you?" It was unlikely that the man was capable of making a sensible answer but he wasn't given the opportunity as a slim hand appeared over his shoulder and applied strong and accurate pressure. He dropped out of Tucker's hold and T'Pol stepped over his body to glare into the engineer's equally annoyed gaze. "Your reaction was illogical." "So was yours." Her eyes were just a little hotter than normal. "Tell me you didn't enjoy that." "Would you two mind finishing your argument later?" Reed's pained voice snapped them apart and T'Pol went straight to business. "Ensign Mayweather, take the helm. Ensign Sato, hail the other ship." It was still visible on the view screen. She quickly assessed Reed's condition and deduced that he couldn't make it to his feet, let alone man his station. "Commander Tucker, take Lieutenant Reed's station." They obeyed promptly and soon Sato reported, "They're responding, sub-commander." "On screen." The image of another Orion appeared. "Would you care to explain your presence here?" "Who are you? Where's Captain Felmet?" T'Pol cast a contemptuous look at the deck by her feet. "She is indisposed." "Are you one of Enterprise's crew?" "Please state your business with us." The screen went blank and Tucker said urgently, "They're powering weapons." "Charge the hull plating and prepare to return fire." "Charging. Deploying phase cannons." He spared a glance behind him. "Any tactical advice, Malcolm?" "Shoot the buggers." "I can do that. Weapons ready." Enterprise shuddered. "They targeted our hull plating power feeds. No damage." "Target their engines and fire at your discretion." T'Pol was perched on the command chair. "Ensign Mayweather, set a course towards the Moreni system and prepare to engage, warp 4.5." "Warp 2! There's no one in Engineering. Are you …" "Warp 2, ensign. Commander Tucker, fire!" "I missed," he admitted. "Targeting scanners are out of alignment. Re-calibrating." "Engage, ensign." T'Pol wasn't waiting any longer although Enterprise shook again before Mayweather could bring the warp drive on line. "They're following, sub-commander," he reported after only a few seconds, "and gaining." "What is the status of our weapons, commander?" By the sound of it, a negative response wouldn't have been a good idea but fortunately Tucker had completed the re-calibration. "Ready to fire." "Then do so." This time the energy beam impacted accurately on the other ship's warp nacelle and Mayweather reported eagerly, "They're venting plasma." "Again." Tucker's satisfied, "Yes!" told them that the other ship had been disabled even before the helmsman's official confirmation. "They've dropped out of warp." "Ensign Mayweather, return to our previous position and begin bringing the life pods on board. Ensign Sato," the comm. officer had started towards Reed, "kindly hail Starfleet Command." "What about Malcolm?" Tucker was bending over Reed, feeling for a pulse. "He's out cold. Sorry, Hoshi, but the best thing for Malcolm is to get our people back." Sato returned to her station, although not before casting an apprehensive look in the Englishman's direction, and began to put the call through. "Lieutenant Reed asked me to run some checks on the last transmission we received. I think I found a problem. I'm going to use a different carrier. It might take a while to re-configure." She was still working on the problem once they had retrieved the evacuated crew. If the security team were surprised to be ordered to put their captain in the brig they hid it well, hauling the six unconscious bodies to one side, leaving the lift free for the medics to whisk Reed away first. So the bridge was clear by the time Sato said, "I have Admiral Forrest, sub-commander." She patched the call through without being asked and T'Pol rose to her feet as the man appeared on the view screen, but she got no chance to speak before he began aggressively, "What the hell do you think you're playing at, Sub-Commander T'Pol? Taking off with Enterprise without orders, failing to respond to hails. If Captain Archer hadn't assured me of your loyalty, I'd have alerted the Vulcan High Command and asked them to send ships after you." Tucker joined T'Pol in front of the view screen, latching onto one fact. "The Cap'n's OK?" "He's worried by Enterprise's unauthorised departure which isn't good for his recovery but I'm assured that he's doing fine." Tucker drew a relieved breath. "Would you care to explain yourselves, sub-commander, commander?" "It would appear, admiral," she said calmly, "that we have been the victims of a hoax." "Explain." "Did you send us a replacement captain, admiral?" Tucker asked and received an irritated look from the man. "No, of course I didn't. What would be the point? Captain Archer will be fit for duty within a reasonable timeframe." "And yet you told us that that was your intention." T'Pol took over again. "What?" "As I said, admiral, a hoax." "They were after Enterprise," Tucker explained. "It took us a while to figure it out. Guess we were all off balance after what happened to Cap'n Archer." "I'm going to want a full report on this. Really, sub-commander, I find this very hard to credit." "A review of security procedures may be in order," she agreed. "We have several of the perpetrators in custody. I will append their testimony to my report. Do we have your permission to return to the Moreni system, admiral?" "I think that would be as well, sub-commander. And this time, please remain there until you receive valid orders. Starfleet out." Tucker growled. "We are never gonna live this down." Then he reached out a steadying hand as T'Pol sunk into the command chair a shade too quickly. "You. Sickbay. Now." "Momentarily. First, I …" "Now!" She gave him an assessing look, seeing resolution but no relenting, and gave in; it was becoming an effort to maintain her blood pressure within acceptable tolerances. "Very well. You have the bridge, commander." "Fine." He slipped into the vacated chair. "I'll make a start on that report. Hoshi," he added as T'Pol headed for the lift, "make sure the sub-commander gets to sickbay." "Of course, sir." The comm. officer left her station, frowning slightly. Tucker sounded as if he didn't give a damn and yet a few days before she had seen him sobbing in the Vulcan woman's arms while she comforted him, more compassion in her expression than Sato had ever thought to see. She didn't understand it at all. Archer insisted on returning to his ship as soon as Enterprise regained orbit around Moreni Prime so T'Pol didn't have far to go to deliver her report, but while she was pleased that the captain was sufficiently recovered to receive her, she was not impressed at the hilarity the report provoked. She was forced to stare reprovingly at Archer who was laughing so hard he had to sink back against his pillows, hand pressed to his still healing side. "I am glad you find the incident amusing, captain." "I can't believe you fell for it!" "There is a Captain Krajewski in Starfleet. His character and appearance as reported in Starfleet's database were consistent with those of the man impersonating him." "But he was an actor! Didn't you notice the lack of a technical background?" "There was no reason to. He limited himself to a small range of standard orders and minimised his interaction with the senior staff. His general plan of action was to keep us unsettled," and she and Tucker had done their best to cooperate with that aim, but that was not for the official report. Archer was still smiling even as he shook his head. "That'll teach me to leave my ship." T'Pol would have liked to suggest that it might teach him to avoid unnecessary risks, but suspected her advice would be rejected, probably with offence. She was surpassing herself at offending people at the moment. "So it was definitely Orion pirates?" "Indeed. Their leader cooperated in giving evidence against her fellow captains in exchange for a commuted sentence on Orion." She regarded her captain sternly. "Apparently the attack against you was in retaliation for Enterprise's involvement in suppressing the slave trade in this sector." "Which I don't regret," Archer put in firmly before T'Pol could point out that if he had taken her advice and not become involved with the pirates in the first place, this latest incident would not have occurred. "Yes, doctor?" Phlox had approached the biobed and was ostentatiously observing the readouts. "I think it's time for Sub-Commander T'Pol to be leaving. We don't want too much excitement, do we?" He got a dirty look from both captain and first officer, but T'Pol could see for herself that Archer was tiring and nodded her acceptance of the dismissal. "I will bring you a daily report of the ship's status, captain, Dr Phlox permitting." She hesitated. "I am pleased that you have returned to us. Good evening, gentleman." Archer watched her go, wondering why Tucker hadn't come with her. Having left sickbay, T'Pol set out to track down Enterprise's chief engineer. She wanted to apologise. Tucker still wasn't talking to her and when he couldn't avoid being in the same location it was clear that he was still in a simmering temper. She had analysed her behaviour leading up to the unfortunate encounter in his cabin and come to the conclusion that she had been at fault. Her concern had led her to far too many demonstrations of affection, undoubtedly giving him the impression that she had rethought the situation between them. She would apologise and reiterate the need for constraint and an absence of physical contact and then they could be friends again. Charles had been sensible before, she was confident he would be so this time and she missed his friendship too much to allow the current situation to continue. It was unfortunate that Tucker was in his quarters. T'Pol took a firm grip on certain of her memories and pushed them a long way down before buzzing for entry, then stepped back, hands clasped behind her out of temptation's way. The scowl she received when Tucker opened the door wasn't promising. "Commander Tucker, I …" "Don't," he said harshly. "Whatever you're gonna say, don't." She blinked. "I …" No." His voice was hard. "I can't do this anymore." She remained silent and he continued in the same tone, "I can't just be your friend, T'Pol. I want you too much. I thought I could do it, but I can't." So it was over then. "I will send a request for recall to the Vulcan High Command." "No." He took a deep breath, mouth pulling to one side, perhaps in distaste. "The Cap'n needs you here. He needs me too and I'm sure not busting my career over you. You said it before, we just have to do our jobs. We don't have to see each other apart from that." "We do not." "I have to move on from you." She wondered which of them he was trying to convince. "I'll date whoever I can. Hell, I'll sleep with a different alien every week if that's what it takes! I'm sorry, sub-commander, but I'm only human and it's too hard." "You do not need to explain yourself, Commander Tucker. Your proposal is entirely logical." Entirely logical and it was hurting so that she could hardly breath. It was easy to understand Tucker's anger now; rejection was appalling. "I will see you as ship's business necessitates." For a second she thought he was going to say something further, but then he gave her the curtest of nods and stepped back to allow the door to slide closed between them. T'Pol walked the short distance to her own cabin, fumbling only a little for the door release, and sunk down on her bed. It was time for her nightly meditations but she couldn't, not just yet. There was a pillow within easy reach and she curled around it, hugging it to her chest. It made no difference, none at all, if she lost Charles now or in a year or so when she could no longer find any justification for her continued presence on Enterprise. So why were tears gathering in the corners of her eyes, threatening to trickle down her checks, for the first time since early childhood? END of "Deception" Continued in "So'Ke'Fe'" -- Stephen Ratliff ASC Stories Only Forwarding In the Pattern Buffer at: http//trekiverse.crosswinds.net/feed/ Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ASCL/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:ASCL-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. From ???@??? Wed Jan 07 23:31:23 2004 Status: U Return-Path: Received: from n16.grp.scd.yahoo.com ([66.218.66.71]) by vulture (EarthLink SMTP Server) with SMTP id 1aErQb4Zu3NZFl50 for ; Wed, 7 Jan 2004 20:32:14 -0800 (PST) X-eGroups-Return: sentto-1977044-12841-1073536260-stephenbratliff=earthlink.net@returns.groups.yahoo.