Forwarded by the ASC-VSO 
Posted: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 01:28:56 -0500  
In: alt.startrek.creative 
From: quills the_quill_pen@yahoo.com 
 

Title: "Enemy of the State" 10
Author: Quills
Contact: the_quill_pen@yahoo.com
Series: ENT
Rating: PG-13 
Disclaimer:  Paramount owns Star trek and I derive no financial gain
from this story.
Codes: A, T/Tu, Ma, S, R, P angst, drama, romance, humor,
action/adventure
Summary: The starship Enterprise is on a desperate mission to save
Vulcans, which threatens not only Earth, but the entire galaxy. Now it
is up to Archer and his crew, with the help of Soma, to unravel the
Xindi plot and prevent Earth and the galaxy from falling at the feet
of their greatest threat...Vulcan . ***Special note: This story takes
place after the season three episode, "Carpenter Street", but before
the episode "Harbinger".

"Chapter 10"

Soma made his way down the silent corridor. The night shift had been
on for just over five hours and most of the crew, who were off duty,
had taken the opportunity to get some much-needed sleep. The past
seventy-two hours had been hectic. The entire crew had been working
double shifts making whatever final repairs they could to Enterprise's
damaged systems. Archer had wanted the ship ready for any
possibilities. With systems repaired and the ship only a day from the
"Preserver Planet" there was little more to do than wait.

Soma rounded the corner of the tiny corridor. He had decided that
sleep was not going to visit him tonight, so a visit to the gym seemed
the logical choice to work out his frustrations. The Vulcan starship
captain had been unnaturally tense since this mission began. He'd been
on critical missions before. He'd even had crewmen, close friends, die
under his command, but this was different. The mission was different
and T'Cel was different. He couldn't help how he felt and no amount of
meditation was going to purge those feelings.

Coming to the end of the corridor, he came a large door that slid open
as he approached. Stepping through, he was greeted by two unexpected
but familiar faces. "Malcolm...Hoshi...what are you two doing up so
late?"

Lieutenant Reed and Ensign Sato were standing in the middle of the
room. Sato had two dumbbells in her hand while Reed was holding a jump
rope. Like Soma, they were both in their Starfleet athletic shorts and
blue tank tops. "Same as you, sir," replied Reed. "Not sleeping."

Soma shook his head and took several steps into the room allowing the
door to close behind him. "You don't mind if I join you?"

"Not at all, Captain," replied Reed glancing at Hoshi. Soma got the
impression he had interrupted something but whatever it had been the
two officers were finished with it…for now.

Soma gave them a smile and tossed his gray towel onto a nearby weight
bench. Walking over to the weight rack, he examined the dumbbells
looking for a suitable weight.
Frowning as he looked down the line, he could see the highest weight
the dumbbells went was sixty pounds. Definitely designed for humans,
he thought. Shrugging, he took the sixty-pound dumbbells off the rack
and walked over to a corner mat.

Standing on the mat, he gripped the dumbbells in each hand as he held
them at his side parallel to each other. Reed and Sato went back to
their own routines, but after a moment Reed turned to Soma and posed a
question. "What do you think we'll find when we get to the planet,
Captain?"

Soma's brow arched. "Difficult to say," replied Soma, his arms still
at his side. "Hopefully nothing more than some ruins and one
interspatial gateway."

"What if we encounter more of the Vulcans you mentioned in your
report?" asked Sato as she stopped in mid curl.

"As Captain Archer said," replied Soma. "We'll deal with that when we
reach the planet."

Hoshi shook her head and was about to start back with her weights when
she noticed something odd. Soma was still holding his dumbbells by his
side. The Vulcan looked over at the ensign and noticed the curious
expression on her face.

"Something wrong Hoshi?"

The ensign's eyes opened wide. "Um, what exactly are you doing, sir?"

"Lifting weights," replied Soma nonchalantly.

"But your just holding them," she responded as Reed stopped his own
exercise and stepped over to Hoshi's side. "You haven't lifted them
once."

Soma smiled at the ensign's confused look. "But I am lifting them
ensign. Just very slowly."

"Why would you want to do that?" asked Reed.
                                                       1.footnote
"It's more efficient," replied Soma. 

Reed and Sato studied the Vulcan.  After several moments they could
see that he had in fact lifted the weights as he said: Very slowly. It
was barely perceptible, but he had raised his arms.

"How can that possibly be more efficient?" asked Reed not trying to
hide his skepticism.

"By applying steady and methodical pressure," explained Soma, "I am
maximizing the exertion of my muscles."

Sato and Reed looked at one another. "Logical weight lifting?" said
Hoshi.

Reed turned back to Soma; still not convinced. "If it's so efficient,
captain, then why aren't more people doing it?"

"Because most people are not Vulcans lieutenant," smiled Soma as he
raised the weights slightly. Reed could see that the captain was
making an effort. Perspiration began to form on the Vulcan's forehead
as he held the weights at what was now a ten-degree angle.

"So you have to be a Vulcan to do this efficient weight lifting," said
Reed.

Soma arched his brow again. He could detect the mild annoyance in
Reed's tone. "Not at all lieutenant," replied Soma. "It's just that
most species do not have the discipline to complete the maneuver. This
particular exercise will take nine minutes and twenty seven seconds to
complete."

The armory officer looked at Soma incredulously. He had to admit that
he didn't think he could manage holding the weights let alone raising
them slowly for nine minutes. "How much weight do you have?"

"Sixty pounds," replied Soma. "Each dumbbell."

"Sixty?" said Hoshi in disbelief.

Soma nodded his head in a shrug. "It's the largest you had."

Suddenly the door slid open, Reed and Sato looked toward it while Soma
remained still. Stepping through the opening was Trip Tucker. He was
wearing gray sweat pants and a baggy maroon shirt with apparently the
same intention as his fellow senior officers "Malcolm, Hoshi," he said
nodding and then stopped dead when he saw Soma. 

Soma glanced over at Tucker. He looked at the man for a moment and
then returned to his exercise. Reed and Sato looked at both men and
then glanced at each other. The heated exchange that had gone on in
the command center briefing three days ago was still fresh in their
minds. The two men hadn't seen much of each other since the meeting,
with Trip in the engine room and Soma on the bridge with the captain
and T'Pol. 

For a moment, Reed contemplated what he should do. Stay and see what
happened or make a discreet exit and let the two men have a few
minutes alone. A tug from Hoshi decided the matter for him. 

"Well captain," said Reed. "I think I'm going to call it a night.
Maybe get some juice in the mess hall," he glanced down at Hoshi.
"Care to join me Hoshi?"

"Sounds good," came Hoshi's quick reply. She was already heading for
the exit. "See you later captain...commander."

Tucker nodded at Hoshi as she passed him. Reed followed her, glancing
at Soma and then Trip. "Don't do anything stupid, Trip," he said
quietly as he passed his friend and exited the room. 

When the door closed behind them, Trip Tucker stood in the middle of
the gym. His fists tightly balled up as he looked over at Soma, who
was still focusing on his exercise. 

"Don't do anything stupid," he thought. What the hell does he know.

Trip Tucker walked to the opposite side of the room and dropped down
on a weight bench. Lying down, he hadn't even bothered to check the
weight setting. As he slid under the bar, he tried to lift the bar off
the holder and found it was too heavy. Sitting up, he let out a low
curse. Looking over at Soma, he could see the Vulcan was apparently
not looking in his direction. Getting up, he examined the weight
setting as he tried to choose something he could handle. Suddenly, he
turned and faced Soma.

"So how do you live with yourself?" he asked the Vulcan.

Soma let out an audible sigh as he tried to ignore Tucker's comment;
continuing to focus on his exercise.

 "Its just you and me now," said Tucker taking several steps closer to
Soma. "Cap'n Archer isn't here. Neither is the senior staff."

Soma raised his brow. "Very astute observation."

Tucker took several more steps till he had closed the distance between
them to little more than three feet. "So why don't you answer the
question? Or do you like hidin' behind Cap'n Archer."

Soma turned to face Tucker. Gripping the weights in his hand he
replied. "I don't hide behind anyone Commander"

"Coulda fooled me," smirked Tucker leaning towards Soma.

"What is it you want me to say?" 

"I want you explain how you can casually allow seven million people to
die!" spat Tucker.

"I explained this to you before," replied Soma. "I have a duty..."

'Bullshit!" yelled Tucker as he cut him off.

Soma relaxed his arms, giving up any further interest in completing
the exercise. Turning to face Tucker, he looked him in the face.
"You're being insubordinate." 

"What are ya gonna do," said Tucker sarcastically. "Tell the cap'n?"

Soma remained silent for a minute as he debated what to do. Tucker was
baiting him. Obviously the human had no idea what he was getting
himself into. The logical and safest option was to simply leave. 

Stepping of the mat, Soma walked past Tucker and headed to the
dumbbell rack. Tucker turned and followed him apparently not ready to
give up. Soma reached the rack and replaced the weights on the rack.

Tucker stopped a few feet behind him as he placed his hands to his
hips and shook his head in disgust. "You just hide behind your
regulations, playin' it safe while other people suffer...even die.
You're a god damn coward!"

Tucker's words echoed in Soma's ears as the captain closed his eyes.
Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly. Don't do it Jonathan, he
told himself as he slowly turned around. Sidestepping Tucker, he made
his way for the exit.

Moving quickly past the captain, Tucker stepped in front of Sona,
blocking him from leaving. "I'm not finished."

"No," replied the captain trying to move around him, "but I am."

Tucker put his hand on the captain's chest to stop him from moving. It
was the last straw. Soma grabbed the man by the wrist, applying enough
pressure to force him to release his grip. Instinctively, Tucker threw
his arm out, hand balled in a fist, connecting with Soma's face and
forcing him to let go of Tucker's wrist. Tucker took a step back,
grabbing his wrist in pain. Wincing, he looked up at Soma just in time
to see him lunge forward grabbing him by his shirt. Faster than he
thought it was possible for a man to move, Soma hoisted him off the
deck and swung him through the air until his back connected with the
bulkhead on the adjacent wall.

"You listen to me, you self absorbed son of a bitch," spat Soma as a
white hot rage threatened to consume him. "You aren't the only one who
lost someone in this damn war!" He shook his grip on Tucker causing
him to shudder against the bulkhead as he winced from the pain. "I
lost a woman I cared about and never had the chance to tell her how
much she meant to me."

Tucker stared at Soma's face. Through his own anger and fear he could
see the rage and anguish in the Vulcan's features. "Cap'n...," said
Tucker not knowing what to say.

Soma gritted his teeth and released his grip on Tucker allowing him to
slide down the bulkhead. Soma stood in front of the dazed Tucker for a
long moment. His breathing was labored and haggard as he fought to
suppress his primal Vulcan instincts. Raising his hand slowly, he
pointed at Tucker as he walked towards the exit.

"You stay the hell out of my face and just do your damn job," said
Soma looking up at Tucker. "And THAT...is a fucking order commander."

Turning, he exited the room as the doors slid open. After a moment
they closed and Trip Tucker sunk down to his knees as he placed a hand
on his bruised and pained shoulder.

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

T'Pol sat on her bed in her red silken pajamas. She had taken to
wearing them ever since Commander Tucker had made the off hand comment
that he thought she would "look good in silk". It was a minor
indulgence, but she liked how the material felt against her warm skin.

Like many of the crew she was finding sleep difficult and had decided
to indulge in some reading. The book she was thumbing through was one
the captain had loaned her, The Collected Works of Voltaire He had
told her it was a good example of one humans view of the good and evil
in humans. 

The sudden chime of her door made her look up reflexively. She looked
over at her clock. It was entirely to late for visitors. Putting her
book down, she got up and walked to the door. Sliding open, she was
greeted by an unexpected visitor.

"I'm not disturbin' you?" said Commander Tucker.

"Not all, I was just reading," she said gesturing him to come in.

"I know it isn't our regular night for nuero-pressure," said Trip as
he entered the room. He put his hand to his shoulder and rubbed it the
tender muscle. "But I was wonderin' if you minded a short session."

"You are having difficulty sleeping?"

"Kinda," he replied wincing "I pulled a muscle in my neck. I'd take
some pain medication but the Doc told me he wanted me to avoid any
while we we're doin' the nuero-pressure."

T'Pol nodded and extended her arm toward the floor. "Take off your
shirt and assume the Ch'al Tan posture as we practiced."  

Tucker squatted indian style on the floor as he slowly removed his
shirt; the pain in his shoulder increasing the higher he lifted his
arm. Once he had the shirt removed, he relaxed his arms letting them
drop to his sides.

T'Pol examined his neck and shoulder, slowly drawing her index finger
across the muscles. Trip sucked in a breath, partly from the pain and
partly from her touch.
She looked down past his shoulder and saw a deep red blotch just above
his right scapula.

"There is considerable swelling," she said in concern. "How did this
happen?"

"I backed into a bulkhead," he replied and then thought better of it.
Lying to T'Pol wasn't why he had come here. Neither was the
neuro-pressure. Not really. "I had a little help," he shrugged.
"Captain Soma."

T'Pol looked down at him in surprise and shock. "Jonathan did this to
you?"

Trip turned slightly, the pain in his shoulder preventing him from
moving any further. He looked up at T'Pol for a long moment. Her
relationship with Soma was always a point he was never certain of. She
always seemed to teeter on the edge between friend and stranger. 

"I sorta provoked him," said Tucker shamefully. "We were alone in the
gym. I cornered him about Lizzy again."

She gave him a disapproving look. She wouldn't admit that was what it
was, but he knew. 

"He looked mad as hell," explained Tucker. "I've never seen him that
angry."

She shook her head. "He is a Vulcan who does not suppress his
emotions," she replied quietly. "That can be a dangerous thing to
antagonize."

"T'Pol," started Tucker uncertain if she could or even would answer
his next question "That Vulcan woman that was with the cap'n. Do you
know anything about her?"

"T'Cel," she said softly as she applied slight pressure to his
muscles. "I assume you mean in regards to Captain Soma."

Tucker shook his head.

"The captain did not say anything directly," said T'Pol "However, from
the reaction Captain Archer relayed when he was informed of her death
and the manner in which he spoke of her in later conversations, I
would have to say they were…intimately acquainted."

Tucker closed his eyes, letting his head fall. "Damn," he muttered
softly. "I didn't know. I didn't know he'd lost someone special." He
shook his head, letting out a long sigh.

T'Pol raised her hand, hesitating as she reached to stroke his head.
Changing her mind at the last moment, she let her hand settle on his
shoulder, which she considered more neutral ground. "You have not
spoken of your sister in many weeks."

Raising his head he nodded. "I know. I-I thought I was finally gettin'
past it. I was findin' my focus again...and you've been like an angel
giving me back a good nights sleep...and my sanity."

She looked down at the back of his neck as he relayed his confession
to her. He had not spoken to her of how he truly felt.

"But when the cap'n showed up and said he knew all about the Xindi and
their plans," said Tucker shaking his head. "It was like it started
all over again. I saw a glimmer of hope for Lizzy and all the stuff I
had tried puttin' behind me just came back all at once."

She considered what her response should be, if any. Even though she
had served with humans longer than any other Vulcan, she still found
many facets of their psychology difficult to comprehend. She settled
on a suggestion.

"I believe it is Captain Soma who should hear that and not me."

Trip glanced at her for a moment, and then shook his head. "Guess your
right," he said. "We both got open wounds we each made worse without
meaning to."

T'Pol considered Trip's words. He never ceased to surprise her. The
understand and compassion he was capable of once he looked past
himself was something wondrous and though she would never admit it to
him, he stirred emotions in her she could not quite comprehend.

Just then the chime rang again. They both looked up, but T'Pol placed
her hand on him gently. "Remain in this posture. I will see who it
is."

She rose and walked over to the door. As it slid open she was greeted
by a second surprise in the same evening.

"Hello," said Soma smiling at her. She nodded at him and he looked
past her into the room. Seeing Tucker on the floor, his smile faded.
He pursed his lips and gave her a raised brow.

Tucker turned and seeing Soma he suddenly felt a panic overcome him.
"Cap'n," he said. "Um...its not what you think." All Tucker could
think of was that he was sitting half naked on T'Pol's floor with only
the light from the view port and a handful of candles. 

"It looks like the Ch'al Tan posture, Mr. Tucker," replied Soma
non-chalantly.

Tucker looked up at Soma with a confused expression. "Uh...ok...it's
exactly what you think it is." Tucker turned his back to both Vulcans
feeling he had embarrassed himself enough for one night. He had
considered talking to Soma, but remembered what the Vulcan had said to
him. It would be better to let him cool off and then talk to him.

"T'Pol," said Soma as he handed her a data padd. "I wanted to drop off
this list for the away teams."

T'Pol looked at the padd, scanning down the away team assignments.
Looking up, she eyed Soma curiously. "You have removed Corporal Cole
from the security detail. Is they're a problem with the corporal."

Soma gave her a smile. "Trust me, you'll thank me later."

She considered asking him exactly what he meant by that, but suspected
she did not in fact want to know.

"Well," said Soma. "I'll let you get back to Commander Tucker. Good
night." She nodded at him slightly as he turned away. Stopping he
turned back. "Oh and Sub-Commander," he said with mischievous grin.
"Don't keep him up too late. He has a big day tomorrow."

T'Pol's eyes widened at the comment and Soma was quite certain she
blushed. Turning away, he headed down the corridor. She watched him,
still stunned by his comment, until he disappeared around the corner.
Turning around abruptly, she headed back to Tucker as the door closed
behind her.

TBC...

Footnote
1.) Just to give credit where credit is do, I did not invent 'logical
weightlifting'. I read it in either a Trek novel or someone else's fan
fiction. I thought it made sense for Vulcans to find a logical and
efficient way of exercising so I borrowed the idea.

--
Stephen Ratliff
ASC Stories Only Forwarding

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