Order, Order

A/N This has always been a point with me. The crewman/woman who labors hard, is exposed to the same dangers, never receives their due. Generals, commanders are feted and given awards. Too often they are never in danger or even near combat. Ships captains are, as would be Enterprise commanders. Commanding the Enterprise twice in a dangerous situation, Trip showed how competent he was as a commander. I believe he is the type of man who would have done as I depict him doing in this story. SB

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"Stop moving," said T'Pol.

"Hurry up," replied Trip.

"Almost finished," said T'Pol.

T'Pol was putting the finishing touches on Trip's formal full dress uniform.

"There, finished," she said.

"Do I have to wear this?" groused Trip.

"Yes. Formal full dress, medals, decorations and orders are required. Besides, this presentation is at your request and you are doing the presenting. I want everyone to see how handsome my husband is," said T'Pol.

"Good thing you are wearing a formal full dress too," retorted Trip.

"I decided to wear the long skirt with it rather than the trousers," said T'Pol.

T'Pol had on a dark blue uniform blouse and a light blue long skirt with a dark blue stripe down each side of the skirt. The skirt reached the top of her shoes.

"I was going to wear that slinky white long dress I bought," she said with a hint of amusement in her eyes.

"Better not wear that. Damn thing looks like it has been painted on you. Just like a second skin. Your bra and panties can be seen outlined under it," said Trip.

"I don't wear a bra. I don't wear panties with the dress because the legs and top seams show," replied T'Pol.

"Well, that isn't for the public. Only for me when we have a private dinner," grinned Trip.

T'Pol stood on tip toe to kiss Trip as a reward for him.

"Ready?" asked Trip.

"Yes, we can't be late," replied T'Pol.

Trip and T'Pol arrived at the hall, checked their coats and entered the main room. They walked to the head table with the dais in front of it. There was a smaller table next to the dais. It had a number of small cases with names in gold lettering on them.

Trip and T'Pol greeted the others sitting at the head table.

"Admiral Gardner, Admiral Smyth, Admiral Symington. Ambassador Soval, Commander
Shran. Where is Archer?" said Trip.

"He will be along shortly," said Gardner.

"Just like him," muttered Trip. "Tied up with business."

They sat down at the table near the dais.

"Hope you are ready Captain Tucker," said Gardner.

"Ready as I ever will be," replied Trip.

A few minutes later Archer entered the hall and made his way to the head table. He took a seat near the end of the table. It was not going to be his night.

The hall was quickly filling up with Starfleet members and a handful of civilians.

When the hall was filled and the doors closed dinner was served. It was a typical banquet dinner: chicken, green salad and a side.

After the meal and coffee Admiral Gardner rose, walked to the microphone on the dais and said:

"Captain Tucker has requested your presence tonight. He will tell you what the occasion is. Captain Tucker."

Trip walked to the microphone and spoke:

"Recently I was awarded two orders. The 'Order of the Vulcan Star' and the Andorian 'Order of the Axe'. I have had small replicas of these orders made at my own expense. I want to present these small copies to each member of the Enterprise crew who were in the actions that I was awarded these orders for. I will call your names in alphabetical order instead by rank. The parents of the dead crewmen who participated in the first action will accept their childrens' awards for them. Please do not salute or try to shake hands. My hand would be too sore to hold a beer if you do and my arms would fall off from all that saluting. I have received permission from the Vulcan and Andorian governments to do this. It will not dishonor the awards in any way," smiled Trip.

T'Pol walked to the small table, stood by it and prepared to hand Trip the small cases as he called out each name. As each name was called a crewman walked to the dais and accepted a case, turned and walked back to his or her table. Finally Mrs. Taylor came to the dais.

"Captain Tucker, thank you for your letter about our daughter, it was such a comfort," she said.

"She was a fine engineer and a good friend. She has been missed by all of her friends and co-workers."

"Thank you again," said Mrs. Taylor. She looked as if she wanted to say more but Trip looked towards the others and she moved on.

At last all the crew members and the parents had received their copies of the two orders.

T'Pol walked back to the table and sat down. Trip remained. He looked around and then spoke:

"No commander is an island. He cannot do anything without his crew. It is true that the captain gets the headlines, medals, high schools named after him. But without his crew he could accomplish nothing. In battle or impending battle the whole crew has battle stations. The cooks, stewards and other mess hall personnel are stretcher bearers. The maintenance crew are stationed on all decks to repair any damage before it becomes critical or they secure the doors to seal of the damaged area. The quartermaster crew carries medical supplies to sickbay and helps the maintenance crew clear damaged material. All of the engineering staff fall out for duty, even those who have been sleeping. Security takes station to prepare for borders. All personnel are armed because they will have to join in repelling any borders. The magazine crew has to keep the forward and aft weapon position torpedoes and reloads arriving on time. The forward and aft weapon positions must maintain a steady rate of fire. The science section must forward data for the trajectory of the torpedoes and the phase canon fire. The helmsman is very important because he must guide the ship in maneuvers to avoid enemy fire if possible and keep Enterprise in the best position to fire on the enemy. Our helmsman, Travis Mayweather, can make the Enterprise tap dance when he wants to. Communications must continue in scanning the enemy giving damage reports to the commander and forward any new data to the science section. In battle or impending battle there are no non-combatants. Not even Dr Phlox, who has the difficult task of selecting which of the wounded he will treated first as they are the most seriously wounded. He also has to decide if a wounded person is beyond medical care. He will give them something for the pain to allow them to die in peace. Not a happy position."

"The Captain must have the trust of his crew. His decisions can mean the difference between victory and defeat or life and death. The crew must accept that their lives are in the commander's hands."

"The Captain is part of this team. Without it he is just a man; with it he is a victor."

"This is why it is a team, a crew that wins. A trained crew who works together like a machine. This is why we have the constant drills and simulated battles to instill this teamwork. It is a pain for the crew but pays off later."

"That is why I had the replicas of the two orders made for the crew. They deserve the recognition that they very seldom receive," said Trip in his speech.

Trip started to leave the dais and there was a storm of applause. He acknowledged it with a wave of his hand and continued to the table.

As he came around the table T'Pol stood and walked with him to the men walking towards them. She stood aside as they grouped around Trip. Then she walked down to the main floor where the crewmembers were sitting.

Up at the table Trip was being congratulated for his short speech and generosity to the crew.

T'Pol was approached by a female member of Trip's engineering staff.

"It was so nice of Captain Tucker to do this. He is a wonderful person. The whole engineering staff, and I guess the crew, are devoted to him and are intensely loyal to him. One of our men said that if he charged hell with a bucket of water everyone would grab a bucket and go with him. You are a lucky woman to be his wife," she said.

"Thank you, I am fortunate," said T'Pol.

"How did he pay for all of these? They look expensive," asked the crewwoman.

"We have a fairly large amount of back pay coming and my husband is getting royalties for some inventions. He sold the rights to a company that agreed to pay the royalties in addition to the rights they paid for."

"I thought Starfleet owned everything he invented," said the woman.

"No, he has a workshop at home where he tinkers and he came up with some things that do not have to do with anything Starfleet is interested in. His mind is constantly searching for new things and these ideas just seemed to pop up in his head," said T'Pol proudly.

"Well, tell him thank you from his engineering staff and the Enterprise crew. All of them say they will gladly serve under him any time in the future," said the woman.

T'Pol watched her walk away. She felt a warm glow of pride. Trip never ceased to please her. She wondered what Trip was talking about with the admirals. She looked at them closely. Would any of them do what Trip had just done? No, it would never occur to them. This is what made Trip so different. He constantly had the crew in mind: their well being, their safety, problems, anything he could do to protect them. He would even stand between them and authority if he thought they were right. For that the crew adored him and was more loyal to him than any other officer on board the Enterprise.

At the table Admiral Smyth said "Congratulations Captain Tucker. You impressed everyone here."

"Sure did," agreed Admiral Symington. "Although don't you think that handing out replicas of orders you have been awarded was a bit too much for the crew?"

"No, I don't. I would not have done so if I thought they did not deserve it," said Trip.

"Of course not. But still you are an officer and should be awarded and honored with those orders. Making replicas and giving them to the crew lessens the impact of your status as an officer who has been honored with orders from two species."

"I could not have done what I did without the crew. With them it was done, without them it would not have been done. That simple. I turned the orders over to those who really won them," said Trip. "I am proud to be one of them," Trip said.

Trip then approached Archer.

"You surprised me, Trip," Archer said. "It's not something I would have thought of."

"I know," said Trip. "You agree with what I did, don't you?"

"With reservations," replied Archer "I would have given them to the officer section heads but not the enlisted crew."

"That is where you and I differ. To me the enlisted crew are as important as the officers. They are all crewmembers," replied Trip.

"I guess we will have to leave it at that," said Archer.

"I must return to my wife," said Trip.

Archers face tensed for a moment. When Trip and T'Pol married she had resigned her commission because they planned to start a family. Archer lost his science officer and one of his top senior officers. He still was not happy about that. "Of course, say hello to her for me."

Trip found T'Pol waiting for him. "Well?" he asked.

"I am proud of you my husband. I always knew you were a leader of men. Now I know the reason why the crew will follow you into your hell," she said.

"Guess we can leave now. I am finished here and tired. Want to go home and sit with my wife in our easy chair," Trip smiled.

"Agreed," said T'Pol.

As they left the crew lined up and applauded as they walked between the rows of crewmen.

Finis