Missing Scenes from Season Two - The Crossing

SPOILERS: "The Crossing"

DISCLAIMER: Star Trek belongs to CBS/Paramount.  "The Crossing" was written by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you as always, reviewers and beta jT.

Trip had fanned his people out to every station in Engineering, trying to quickly analyze why both sets of engines had shut down, or if not that, at least ascertain what condition systems were in before he attempted a restart.

He'd retreated to his work station in Engineering, calling up each report in turn, when he felt rather than heard her come up behind him.  "Sub-Commander?" he said.  "What can I do for you?" 

How odd that he'd just known she was there.  Was this some sort of remnant of his experience in the ether?  He remembered brushing past T'Pol, and now it was if he now recognized something about her that he wouldn't have, before ... except that if he actually tried to put his finger on what it was, he couldn't.

"Captain Archer wants to know when we can expect warp drive."

He sighed.  "Look, you don't just fire up engines that stopped for no good reason without checking to make sure there's nothing in the system that's going to blow up when you do.  There could be damage of some kind, or pockets of---"

"I was not attempting to hurry you, Commander.  I'm sure you understand the urgency of our situation.  I'm simply asking for an estimate."

Trip tried to swallow his impatience.  Archer tended to be more cavalier about ship's systems than he was, but that was nothing new.  "So far everything is checking out okay.  I'll know for sure within half an hour.  From there, if nothing crops up as an issue, it'll be about another twenty minutes to get everything ready to go.   I'll keep you both informed."

"Thank you."

Trip turned back to his monitor and had already pulled up the next report and started checking it over when he realized T'Pol hadn't left.  "Was there something else?"

"If I may ask ... who is Hopalong Cassidy?"

Trip grinned and turned back to his reports.  He could do two things at once.  "A cowboy hero from old movies set in the American West.  My dad is an old movie buff, so I saw a lot of stuff like that when I was a kid."

"I see.  And Lisa? I believe the captain referred to her as your girlfriend?"

Trip stopped even pretending to read the report.  "Old girlfriend," he said.  He turned around.  "Why do you ask?" He wondered a little wildly if one of those wisps taken over T'Pol.

To his surprise, she flushed just faintly, but her answer convinced him that she was the same Vulcan science officer he'd known all along.  "I am merely trying to ascertain a pattern to your experiences in a non-corporeal state.  It's somewhat striking that you interacted with both real and fictional people.  Were the events you 'experienced' something you had witnessed before, in some form or another, or were they new to you?"

Trip stuck his tongue in his cheek as he thought about it.  "Lisa and I did go diving in Tarpon Springs and snow sailing in New Zealand.  I guess it was sort of like reliving the highlights of that.  I thought she had the most amazing spirit of adventure.   I was always trying to think what I could come up with that she hadn't done before.  Then when she broke up with me she said it was just too exhausting always doing all that stuff."  He shook his head.  "I would have happily scaled back!  I told her that, too, but she said there was more to it than that."  He scowled and turned back to his report.  "Obviously I never actually rode along with Hopalong Cassidy.  I used to daydream about how much fun it would be, though."

He still sometimes wondered if he should have tried harder to work things out with Lisa.  But it had shaken him badly, to discover she was so unhappy when he had thought things couldn't be going better.  His mother had told him not long ago that Lisa was already married and had a baby girl.  So probably it was just as well.  He wouldn't have wanted to leave a wife and child behind to come out here.

T'Pol was still standing there, watching as he scanned quickly through Rostov's report.  "Was there anything else?" he asked.

"The captain suspects the aliens of malicious intent.  Would you say that these experiences were possibly designed to distract you from the loss of your corporeal state?  Perhaps to lull you into a false sense of well-being?"

"I don't know," Trip said.  "I can tell you I had absolutely no sense of threat or danger.  Raking leaves with my dad ... Hopalong Cassidy ... they both hearken back to simpler days for me.  Lisa ... I'm not sure what that's about, but I guess they were times when I was really happy.  I definitely wasn't thinking about how she was going to break my heart in the end.  So I don't know.  Maybe it was lulling.  Or maybe it was just fun."  He shrugged.  "You know, if the cap'n wants warp speed I should probably focus on that."

"Of course, Commander," T'Pol said.  She sounded subdued. "Thank you for answering my questions."

Trip ignored his reports a little longer to watch her walk away. Somehow he couldn't help thinking that she had seemed a lot more interested in Lisa than in Hopalong Cassidy.

Then he frowned and shook his head, dismissing the idea, because it was ridiculous.  Especially after he'd admitted to fantasies of being a cowboy.  If he'd wanted to impress a Vulcan science officer, which he didn't, he was pretty sure that wasn't the way to do it.

Of course, he'd tried to impress Lisa, too, hadn't he, and that hadn't exactly worked out for him.  After that he'd resolved that it was far better to just be himself, and forget about any woman who didn't make what she wanted pretty damned clear.  Of course, he also knew from experience that it could be awfully hard to stick to that resolve when a pretty woman caught his eye . . .  or when it had been a long time. 

And that was usually exactly when he really got into trouble.  Like Risa.

Hell.  Focus, Tucker, focus.  Warp speed.  The captain wants warp speed.  They both want warp speed.  

Warp speed, coming right up.