The Good That Men Do - Andy Mangels [45]
Finally, Trip looked up at Archer again and spoke. “There are two people who will have to help me with this, besides yourself. Malcolm is the one that got me into this, for better or worse- better, I hope, eventually- and given his past experience with covert operations, he might figure it all out on his own and try something foolish if I were to try to hide this from him. And he can help make sure that any investigation into my… demise gets wrapped up as neatly as it needs to be.”
“And Phlox,” Archer said, nodding. “He’ll have to be the one to sign the death certificate.”
“Yep.”
“What about…? Are you sure?” Archer let his words trail off, trusting that Trip knew exactly who he was talking about.
“She can’t know,” Trip said, his face creasing as if he was about to weep again. “She’ll be fine. She’ll control her emotions and meditate and move on. Hell, after what we just experienced together on Vulcan, I think maybe she’s already starting to move on.”
“How are you going to do it?” Archer asked.
“That’s another area I could use your help with, along with Malcolm and Phlox. It has to happen soon. And it ain’t gonna be suicide.” He chuckled mirthlessly. “And to think I actually worried I might have committed career suicide in front of Admiral Gardner yesterday.”
Archer smiled gently in response to Trip’s valiant attempt to find humor where there really wasn’t any. “Should I call Phlox and Malcolm now?”
Trip closed his eyes and let out a long, stuttering breath, his hands clenching into fists, then unclenching. He opened his eyes and looked to Archer, then gave a slight nod.
Archer rose from his chair and tapped the button on the wall-mounted com panel nearby. “Archer to Lieutenant Reed and Doctor Phlox. Please join me immediately in the captain’s mess.”
As both men responded, each confirming his pending arrival, Archer stared at Trip, who rose from his seat. He still wasn’t at all certain that the engineer was doing the right thing. But given the same set of circumstances, he wasn’t sure he would do anything differently himself.
“Thank you, Captain,” Trip said, his eyes glistening. “For everything.”
Seated in the command chair in the center of Enterprise’s bridge, T’Pol stopped reading the report on the padd in her lap, and glanced at the turbolift behind her.
Captain Archer had been in some kind of secretive meeting in his private mess for some time this morning, leaving her to take over command of the alpha shift. She certainly didn’t mind- as first officer, it was her duty, after all- but it seemed strange that Archer had opted not to include her in the meeting, as he had included her in his consultations the previous day regarding the kidnapped Aenar and the possibility of an impending Romulan military incursion.
She wanted desperately to ask Ensign Sato who was in the meeting with Archer, but didn’t want to appear to be snooping. Instead, she moved over to her own station and slid her hands swiftly across the controls, accessing the ship’s computers.
What she found surprised her. Archer was currently meeting with Commander Tucker, Lieutenant Reed, and Doctor Phlox. She had expected him to be in consultation with Shran, and perhaps one or two of the others. But the Andorian was currently in the ship’s mess hall, as was the Aenar telepath Theras.
What could they be discussing? She anticipated that she would find out soon enough; it was certainly illogical for Archer to keep secrets from her.
Mayweather’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
“Commander, we have a definite lock on at least one Orion ship that shows the same warp-signature profile that Shran gave us.”
T’Pol returned to her seat. “Very good, Ensign Mayweather. Increase speed and set a pursuit course, but keep us just out of their sensor range.”
Now she had a reason to speak with Archer, though she resisted the urge to leave the bridge to do so. She tapped the communications console on the arm of the command chair.
“T’Pol to Captain Archer. We’ve found the Orions.”
Twelve
Friday, February 14, 2155
Enterprise Nx-01
IT WAS NOW