Missing Scenes from Season Two - Marauders

SPOILERS: "Marauders"

DISCLAIMER: Star Trek belongs to CBS/Paramount, not me.  This also obviously owes a debt to the original episode's writers - Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, and David Wilcox.  Also, thanks to JustTrip'n for her ongoing beta help, especially with this one.

She and the captain and Lt. Reed were discussing additional precautions the colonists could take against hostile visitors when Commander Tucker poked his head in the door and beckoned the captain with a slight nod.  Archer said, "Excuse me" and headed over to the chief engineer.

She heard Tucker say, "Cap'n, when we first landed I told our young friend Q'Ell that I would give him a tour of Enterprise. Any chance I could make good on that before we go?"

"E'lis doesn't mind?"

"She wants to go along, too."

"It's fine with me, but don't make it too leisurely.  I want to break orbit by 1800."

T'Pol compared the relative merits of remaining here in a discussion that was being ably handled by the captain and tactical officer, or returning to a ship that had been mostly without its senior officers for the last four days.  When Archer rejoined them, she said, "Perhaps I should return to the ship as well."

Archer nodded his agreement, no doubt already distracted by his effort to rejoin the discussion, so T'Pol hurried to follow the engineer.

 "Sub-Commander," Tucker said in greeting.  She had caught up to his little group just as they reached the shuttle pod.  "I'm going to give a tour of Enterprise to our friends here."

"So I heard," T'Pol said, and he gestured her into the pod.

Tucker closed the hatch and sat down in the pilot's seat.  "I think I need to remember that Vulcans can hear a whole lot more than Humans do."

The boy Q'Ell stared curiously at her ears.  "If you're not from the same species, how come you're with them?" he asked, prompting an embarrassed "Hush!" from his mother.

But T'Pol considered it a reasonable question.  "Vulcans have been in space much longer than Humans.  We have a strategic interest in helping Humans to succeed in this phase of their development."

"In other words, Sub-Commander T'Pol came along to help us keep from screwing up." Tucker's drawl had grown more pronounced, often an indication that he was about to launch one of his little conversational torpedoes.  "Not that we always take her advice.  Vulcans are very cautious."

She could hardly let that stand.  "Humans, on the other hand, can be quite reckless."

"Can they?" E'lis said.  Her tone was a bit grim. 

T'Pol suddenly understood that in her zeal to counter Commander Tucker's remark she had unwittingly raised the woman's concerns, and hurried to correct her error.  "Sometimes the Human willingness to take risks can have positive results.  Klingons never back down from a battle when it is a matter of honor, but they also do not consider it honorable to lose their lives for mere commercial gain.  I do not anticipate that you will experience further difficulties from Korok or his crew."

E'lis did not say anything, but her expression lightened.

Her boy's face, however, had twisted into an unpleasant scowl.  "Why didn't we kill them when we had the chance?  After all, they killed ..." And he stopped, choked with emotion.

E'lis pulled him into a hug, burying the boy's face in her chest.  T'Pol noted that she did not attempt to dissuade him from his opinion.  Perhaps she felt the same way. 

Tucker said, "I could understand feeling like that after what happened to your daddy and the others.  But we couldn't have helped you if that was what you wanted."

Their passengers said nothing.  Tucker shot T'Pol an anxious look. 

"Humans and Vulcans both seek to avoid any unnecessary loss of sentient life," T'Pol said.  "Although we do, of course, regret your loss." 

More silence.  Tucker's eyes met hers again:  What now?

What, indeed?  Fortunately, at that moment Enterprise came into view and proved to be a sufficient distraction.

She did not, of course, accompany Tucker and his guests on the tour when she could instead address the growing backlog in her regular duties.  He had let her know that he would end the tour in the mess hall, so she went there when it was time to return to the planet. Mother and son were sampling a sweet confection Tucker called "Rocky Road" ice cream and exchanging an amused analysis of its unusual features.

 Tucker smiled a welcome to her, then excused himself from the others and pulled her aside.  "Do you really think they'll be safe down there?" he asked softly.

"I doubt they will be any more in danger than they were when we found them. Small, undefended colonies where valuable resources are being produced are always at risk."

"But what you said about the Klingons was true?"

"Of course."

He looked intently at her, and she had to tamp down a spark of irritation.  After P'Jem, she could no longer confidently declare that Vulcans did not lie, but surely he did not think that she would?

"I hope you're right," he said.  "I'd feel terrible if anything happened to them."  He turned and his eyes lingered on the boy.  Once again, Tucker had quickly formed an affectionate bond with an alien, though she felt this particular relationship was less of a threat to the smooth operation of Enterprise than some of his past entanglements.

"You appear to relate well with children," she observed, though even as she said it she wondered if it might not be more accurate to say he related well with people in general: aliens of almost all species (though there was little hope of pleasing a Kreetassan), children, beautiful young females, wizened elders, itinerant traders, religious pilgrims, the senior officers above him and the enlisted crewmen below.

His cheeks had flushed just the slightest bit pink.   "There's nothing special about it," he said.   "You just take them as they come, same as anyone."

Was that it, then?  Was that the secret of what Captain Archer had once described to her as "the Tucker charm"?  Was it simply that Tucker accepted a person as he was?

T'Pol felt something finally click into place in her understanding of their chief engineer.  Indeed, this was his operational mode with everyone.  Although it was strangely seductive - that feeling that he saw you and understood you and accepted you exactly as you were, as opposed to the many others who were generally content with a much more glancing acquaintance - in truth it did not indicate any special status in your relationship with him at all.  It was simply the way he was.   

"I believe it's time we departed," she said smoothly.  "If you would collect your guests, Commander."

She watched him go over -- how the boy smiled, basking in that attention.  E'lis looked charmed, too.  How effortlessly Tucker shepherded them on their way, back to their uncertain future on a lonely planet. 

It would be exactly the same between him and her someday, when this posting was over.  He would wish her well -- and truly mean it -- and then move on.

She must remember that.