Missing Scenes from Season Three - The Council

Spoilers: "The Council" and "E2" and it will probably make little sense without them.

Disclaimer: All things Star Trek belong to CBS/Paramount. "The Council" was written by Manny Coto.

Author's Note: "The Council" doesn't have many opportunities for our heroes to interact, but I squeezed in what I could, and also tried to explain what I saw as some rather odd behavior from T'Pol in that episode. Along the way I pay homage to one of my favorite movie lines of all time (yes, it's from Airplane. What, were you expecting something classy?)

Thank you, kind reviewers. I so enjoyed your yummy feedback on the last one! 

The next time Trip saw T'Pol was when they were waiting with the rest of the senior staff in the situation room for the captain to join them. Archer was just returning from his meeting with Degra and wanted to brief them on next steps.

"Still no sign of the other Enterprise?" he asked her.

"None," she said, without quite meeting his eyes.

As the captain briefed them, she stood across the table, arms crossed, avoiding his determined stare. Yep, she was definitely still in full retreat. Whatever lobbying the older version of T'Pol had attempted on his behalf clearly hadn't worked any magic.

Not that he really had time to worry about that. Ready or not, Jon wanted them to follow Degra right into the belly of the beast. "I could use more help in Engineering," Trip told him.

Archer nodded as if he'd expected as much. "Malcolm, can you spare anyone?"

"Respectfully, sir: No, not if you want us to regain anything close to our normal defensive capabilities."

"I do. There's no guarantee we won't encounter more opposition," Archer said. "According to Degra, the Reptilians might attack despite their escort."

"Can I have T'Pol?" Trip said. "She knows her way around Engineering."

Archer looked between the two of them - T'Pol's face had turned to stone - and gave him a slight scowl. "Ask Hayes if he can spare anyone. On our way to the Council we will be passing close by this sphere." He tapped its position on the situation table monitor. "T'Pol and Malcolm are going to take a shuttle and try to gather more information. They'll rejoin us when they're done."

"Hopefully we'll be able to discover a tactical weakness or two," Malcolm said.

Trip didn't see the point of that. "Don't we have a full set of scans from inside and out?"

"This time we're going to attempt to access the sphere's memory core," T'Pol said. "We also need to determine whether there are any key differences between the interior of that first, malfunctioning sphere we scanned, and one that is fully functional."

Trip stared at her for a moment, before turning to the captain. "Didn't you just say the Reptilians might attack us? A shuttle wouldn't stand a chance against any of their ships."

"That's a risk we'll have to take," Archer said firmly, and gave him his Now Shut Up look.

But that's my future wife you're talking about, Trip thought, before he noticed that said future wife, who clearly didn't consider him high on her list of potential suitors at the moment, was giving him a rather pointed Shut Up stare all her own. Even Malcolm's mouth had settled into a disapproving line.

Fine. He'd shut up.

For now.

x x x

"You know, I still have that risotto."

Commander Tucker had somehow managed to jump into the turbo-lift with her. T'Pol kept her gaze resolutely forward and ignored him.

He moved closer to her and lowered his voice. "We need to talk, T'Pol."

She stood there, close enough to feel the heat coming off his body, only because she refused to give any ground. "After the mission," she said.

"There might not be any 'after the mission'."

"In that case any discussion would be pointless."

"I know she talked to you about it."

She felt her jaw tighten. "You went over there despite her wishes?"

"No, but I did have a conversation with her. And it was pretty damned amazing."

T'Pol swallowed. Had her older self said anything to him about the Trellium-D? "Their situation was entirely different than ours," she said. It was true. That T'Pol had had no other options - certainly she'd had no opportunity to return to Vulcan.

"She asked for one of my shirts," Trip said. "She said she missed the way I smell."

She finally looked up, and his eyes bored into hers as if staring alone could somehow make her believe what he was saying. Apparently he didn't realize what his scent already did to her. It was especially distracting in close quarters like these. Thankfully, the door opened.

"I have work to do," she said brusquely, and headed out.

"At least be careful," he called out, and she looked back just in time to glimpse his anxious, half-wounded expression as the door drew shut.

It occurred to her that while the other versions of them had enjoyed years in which to work out their relationship, she might never see him again. Both Enterprise and the shuttle faced significant peril today. Perhaps she should have attempted a warmer farewell.

But there was nothing she could do about that now. She turned resolutely and headed for the launch bay. She had important preparations to make. Their priority must be the mission.

All other considerations must wait.

x x x

On board the shuttle craft, however, it was clear the other Humans also continued to be preoccupied with revelations from the other Enterprise.

"So, does Corporal McKenzie have a boyfriend or anything?" Mayweather asked Hawkins.

Hawkins grinned. "She does, actually. He's stationed on Mars."

"Oh." Mayweather sounded disappointed.

"Hey, you never know," Hawkins said.

"Who'd you end up with on the other ship?" Mayweather asked.

"Nobody," Hawkins said. "Apparently there was an away mission very early on that I didn't return from."

"Oh, man. I hate it when that happens," Mayweather said, and all the Humans, inexplicably, chuckled.

"You must be relieved we didn't end up in the same situation they did," Reed said. "I know Iam." His tone turned distinctly mischievous. "How about you, T'Pol? Are you relieved we didn't get thrown back in time?"

"I believe that goes without saying," she said.

"At least you had a husband," Reed said, with an amused glance at Mayweather.

"Indeed," she said coolly, hoping that she wouldn't have to warn them to keep their conversation within appropriate boundaries. "We should review those interior schematics again. Time may be of the essence once we gain entry to the sphere."

"Just how are we going to do that?" Mayweather asked.

T'Pol opened her mouth to tell him, and then closed it. "I believe it is simply a matter of directing the shuttle to the correct coordinates," she said, with deliberate obscurity.

Yes, perhaps this would teach them not to tease her about Commander Tucker.