The Captives

Chapter 1

Disclaimer :Enterprise and it's characters are propriety of CBS/Paramount.

Rating: PG/PG-13

Time-line: Takes place a year after Terra Prime (January 2155) in the beginning of the year 2156, the start of the Earth-Romulan war (2156-2160).

Authors note: I used one sentence from the screenplay of the ENT-episode Fusion, because it fit so nicely. The character Gus, the husband of Anna Hess is inspired by Alelou's excellent stories. I would like to thank the people on TRIS for their inspiration. This story was my first attempt to write an English fic. A special thanks to my beta, KKGlinka.

Summary: Trip meets a old Vulcan friend.

The first thing he noticed was the coldness of the place. Underlined by the blue colors humans seemed to like so much and the use of metallic materials, the temperature of the building made him shiver with cold. He suddenly appreciated the warm dark-yellow, almost brownish colors of Vulcan buildings and ships, the colors of his warm, desert-home planet. He entered the complex together with the Starfleet officer, by the name of Herikson, who had escorted him from the shuttle into one of the many caves on this rocky moon. Hidden into in the cave was his destiny: facility 545. He followed Herikson down the corridor and they stopped at a door. Herikson used his code and the doors slid open. He stepped inside in a room, crowed with Starfleet personnel, all dressed in blue.

His arrival caused some curiosity amongst the working engineers. They looked at him and waited. A man with blond hair approached him. Two blue eyes that reminded him of a picture he once saw of Earths redundant oceans, confronted him. He looked somewhat familiar, like a friend he met only shortly, but somehow had made a impression that lasted. But, there was something different about him.

When the chief of engineering raised his hand to give the traditional Vulcan greeting, the young Vulcan responded to this friendly gesture by extending his hand to imitate the way of greeting he had seen before by Humans.

The engineer took his hand and while shaking it, his eyes shifted for a moment from his face to his ears. A sudden wave of emotions washed over the Vulcan. Due to the training any Vulcan received and the techniques learned at the V’tosh Ka’tur, he could easy identify the emotions: Grief, regret, loneliness. There was something more, something he had felt at a crucial time in his life, but he could not put a name to this emotion yet. Then their hands lost contact and and the feelings were gone.

A fraction of a second he studied the men before him. He was thinner then he remembered, his posture not so straight anymore and his hair was darker. And his eyes.... He remembered them sparkling with the joy of life and a kindness that made him feel very comfortable. The kindness was there, but the spark was gone. It was the fatigue and sadness in his eyes that shocked him. He looked older in some way, but it was him.

He greeted his chief for the coming weeks with the joy of meeting an old friend. “Commander Tucker.”

“Kov", Tucker greeted back.

His coming had been communicated to Tucker, but still the commander seemed surprised to meet him at this unusual place. Tucker explained that Star fleet was busy reorganizing and that his ship, Enterprise was in dry-dock. In the meantime, the crew of the Enterprise were sent on different assignments.

His explanation was as short as Tucker's. He told the commander about his accidental meeting with another Starfleet officer, when he was working on the maintenance crew on Deep Space 1588. The officer, who had heard about Kov's background, had told him that Star fleet was looking for another engineer. They wanted a open minded Vulcan engineer, loyal to the Coalition, with knowledge about non-human engineering systems and languages, to offer a the Starfleet research team a fresh, new look at the object to be studied.

According to the officer, he fit the profile exactly.

When members of the Starfleet research department contacted him, they did a thorough background check, asked him all kind of questions ranking from his political views, his engineering skills, his ideas about Romulans (the human word for the Rihannsu), his views on Humans and if he knew anything about ancient Vulcan handwriting. He had studied many ancient Vulcan books in the V’tosh Ka’tur in the attempt to explore his inner self, so he had the knowledge.

Of course they asked him why he left the V’tosh Ka’tur. He answered that after the discovery of the Kir'shara and the way it prompted large-scale re-examination of Vulcan customs, he no longer felt the need to continue his independent study.

He still vividly remembered when he got the job by CommanderWillows of the research department.

“Engineer Kov, you are accepted. Let me give you some details about your new assignment. A few months ago, a captain of Star fleet was traveling back from a diplomatic mission. His escort responded to a distress call from a colonial shuttle pod. The pilot was from Earth, but lived in a Human colony on a nearby planet. The area they traveled had many dangerous nebulae and the shuttlepod was trapped in a gravitational disturbance. When the rescued colonist met Captain Archer, he told the captain that he had found something very interesting on the surface of his planet. Captain Archer went down to the planet and discovered the remains of a Romulan ship. Starfleet took the ship apart and transported it to a facility nearby for further study. We would like you to help us.”

With all the rumors about the Romulan threat and the struggles of the founding of the Coalition, Starfleet was eager to find as much of information about Romulan technology as possible.

“Where exactly was the ship found?” he asked.

“We call it the Kajina-system, famous for its beautiful enormous orange moon,” Commander Willows answered.

It was a once in a life-time job, which offered him the opportunity to learn more about other species and new engineering techniques. And after all he had heard about the warlike manner of the Rihannsu, he could hardly be called a friend of them. He was ready to help.

The new job was – like as Starfleet had promised – very fascinating. Three small teams, each with their own specialties, were working in the facility. There was the conference room where the heads of the teams met every morning, together with Commander Tucker who supervised the teams. Further the facility consisted of a small mess hall, the rooms where the team worked, the gym and of course the cabins of the crew members.

The observation of Humans kept his investigating mind busy. He learned quickly. He tried very hard to have a good working relationship and they respected his skills as an engineer, but at first the crew hesitated to make contact and still waited for him to make the first move. He noticed that people wondered why he, the only non-human on in the facility, was asked to join the research team. Especially in this time, with the threat of war and Vulcan's hesitance to become involved, being Vulcan was not popular and prejudices ran high. He did not judge the Humans, remembering his prejudices against Humans as well, but the more time he spent with Humans, the more he realized how very Vulcan he really was. Only Commander Tucker talked to him from the start, asking him if he was not too cold or if he liked the food. Commander Tucker – Trip – seemed to like his company. He thought of him as a friend too. In his relationship with Humans, the one with Trip was the most friendly. He seemed to accept him just as Kov.

His cabin was small, but the furthest from the other crew members, which provided him the necessary silence to meditate. His closest neighbor was Commander Tucker who had the same size cabin. He heard him waking up every morning, early, going to the gym to exercise and before taking a shower. Between showering and breakfast he heard hardly any noise for almost a hour.

He wondered about this behavior, as he was becoming more intrigued by Commander Tucker – Trip - by each passing day. Trip worked diligently, hard, focused, professional. He was a good leader, but oddly enough he hardly employed his unique style of humor. It was like sadness was his company, where ever he went. Maybe it had something to do with the rumors he had heard.

He had noticed that his arrival had stirred up some old rumors about Commander Tucker and the Vulcan commander of Enterprise. To his astonishment he also heard some gossip that she had admitted to having an intimate relationship, outside marriage with a non-Vulcan. Even the Vulcans who broke with a lot of traditions, would not share such personal details with others. It was very strange.

Beside Commander Tucker, he developed the most contact with his team members. He was part of a team of five people, Lieutenant Anna Hess and Ensign Micheal Rostov of Enterprise and the Lieutenants Giovanni Azzurri and Jessy Warner of Columbia.

The first thing he noticed with Lieutenant Hess was that she was with child. It was not like Vulcan custom to let a pregnant women work and he tried to help her. One day he heard her complain to Commander Tucker about him being too protective. It was a conversation he was not supposed to hear, like many talks he heard at the facility. He did not think any one remembered that Vulcan hearing was better then Humans.

“He is driving me mad, Commander,” she argued with Tucker. “All the time, he's picking up my tools, offering help to carry things and just not letting me do my job! He would carry me around if he had the nerve. He's worse then Gus!”

“Have you tried to talk with Kov about it?” the Commander wanted to know.

“What's the use? He wouldn’t listen. Nobody does.”

Lieutenant Hess seemed a bit agitated. Things were not going well in the research and as one of the team leaders, Lieutenant Hess felt the pressure. “Look Anna, just tell him. Kov is a reasonable guy, he understands. Vulcans are just very protective of their children."

“And we are not?” Hess blazed. Then suddenly, her voice became very soft.

“You okay? Sorry about that, I wasn't thinking. Must be hell,” she said earnestly.

“I am okay, Anna. Just a headache. Talk to Kov. "He could clearly hear, by the tone of his voice, that Commander Tucker was dismayed.

They continued with their work and so did he, till he would meet them again in the mess hall for lunch. His team had developed the habit of eating lunch together and it proved an opportunity to talk with them. He had noticed that this innocent chatter about nothing helped working relationships. Sometimes Commander Tucker would join him them, because he had the practice of joining a lunch group. He always ate breakfast and diner alone.

A couple of times before, Lieutenant Harris of the science team had asked if she could join them for lunch. There was never any objection. As soon as Harris was seated, she tried very hard to make conversation and asked him all kind of questions about Vulcan. He understood her curiosity very well – he always liked to ask questions himself - so he tried to answer them.

Lieutenant Harris finished early and when the lady left, Lieutenant Warner made the remark that Harris had a crush on Kov. “Maybe you should ask her on a date, she might like that.”

He did not think that Lieutenant Harris was crushed in any way.

Ensign Rostov quickly explained to him the human metaphor that the hearts of men were broken by women. His explanation earned a raised eyebrow from Lieutenant Hess, who said Rostov was joking, the phrase “a crush on” was an expression of interest.

Most of the women on the facility were more impressed by the charms and looks of engineer Azzuri or Warner, so he replied that he didn’t think she was interested. “But I am some what intrigued by the concept of dating. What is the purpose of it?”

Lieutenant Warner looked amused and talked about getting to know a girl better by taking her out to some place, like a movie.

He did know movies – Movies night was the talk of every Friday night. “So if you want to get to become acquainted with a female better, you take her to a dark room with lots of people to watch a movie. But how can you talk and get to know each other better in such a place?" he asked.

Commander Tucker – with a little smile on this face, that made his face much younger, said “So you'd rather go to your quarters and read a book together?”

He responded that indeed that a Vulcan way of getting to know each other was to study and discuss philosophical matters together. “With your betrothed of course. On Vulcan parents choose the partners of their children, so most Vulcans know from early age who they are going to marry and take steps to get to know that persons better.”

Commander Tuckers smile disappeared as quickly as it had come.

“So you are married, Kov," Hess asked him.

He went cold inside, but due to his Vulcan training, nothing showed outside. “No, I am not," he said.

“You didn't like the girl your parents picked," Warner guessed and with a quick look at Commander Tucker, added “and you broke it off. So nothing is stopping you from dating. You'd make a nice couple," he teased.

Somehow the thought that he would make a couple with someone else beside T’Rel was very disturbing. As a matter of fact, he had come to the conclusion that she had been excellent choice. “I had some disagreement with my parents about certain ideas of Vulcan society. I had distanced myself from my family and also from my betrothed. So I am living alone,” he tried to explain without contradicting Warner's assumption.

Warner found it very fascinating but, not as interesting as the environmental controls. The coldness of the place was a popular topic and had led to naming the moon where the facility was based to all kind of interesting names. Warner started complaining to Ensign Rostov why he hadn’t fixed the environmental controls, because he was freezing his butt off. They others laughed and finished their lunch.

He ate his in silence, his mind busy with the past. When he looked up, only Lieutenant Hess and he were still in the mess hall. The others had left, back to their work. He took the opportunity to apologize for his behavior. “I noticed that I offended you by helping you with your work. I am sorry.”

Hess sighed. “You didn’t offend me. You just don’t have to carry my stuff. I'm maybe four months pregnant, not a invalid."

He still didn’t understand why she was less pleased, when he was only trying to help. “Vulcan women with child don’t work or do only very light work.”

“Well, that sounds a little old-fashioned to me,” Hess said in her typical accent.

He had thought many times that Vulcan society was rather old-fashioned, but not in this case. “In pregnancy Vulcan mothers tend to be unbalanced, especially in the first months."

“So that’s what Vulcans call it?" Hess interrupted him.

He tried again to explain. “Vulcans are touch-telepaths. A mother can also feel the emotions of her child, before and after birth. It’s a very special time. I think that is reason why we have this custom.”

Hess looked more understanding. “Well, human mums are pretty good in reading their kids as well.”

“It also a way for a parent to let her affection feed the child,” he added. “When a child is born, a custom is to give wishes like ‘without water a Indukah-tree can not grow, so can a child not grow without affection’. He hoped he had translated his fore-mother's favorite proverb Indukah mashau-fam to-ovau, kanbu-kam ashau-fam to-ovau correctly into English.

Hess smiled. “That is a good one. I'll try to remember it.” She stood up from the table. “It’s been interesting. I must confess, I didn’t like the idea of working with you. I am sorry about that. Commander Tucker was right to appoint you in my team. He seems to know you pretty well."

“I consider Commander Tucker a friend,” Kov replied.

Hess looked curious. “Did you hear the stories about him?”

“And about Commander T’Pol, yes I did,” Kov answered.

“Well, you don’t beat around the bush.” Hess grinned.

Because there was no vegetation to hit on this rock, he decided that the phrase was just part of the colorful human language. He grasped the opportunity to ask a question that had been on his mind. “I do not understand the stories, especially about a child. Maybe you can explain.”

Hess sighed and she looked sad. “Starfleet is trying to keep in under wraps. A group called Terra Prime created a child form from Commander Tucker and T’Pols DNA. Their child. It was a sort of plan to scare people and keep Vulcan and Earth separated.”

“Is a Human-Vulcan child seen as a scary thing? A child is innocent,” Kov said, feeling passion rising in his blood.

“The child is innocent. It was a stupid idea. But it turned out very tragically for commander Tucker and T’Pol, when the child was…ehh..gone. At first it looked like they were comforting each other. I still remember seeing them in the memorial service, holding hands.”

“They were holding hands?” Being a human, Lieutenant Hess didn't understand the significance of this gesture, but he did.

Hess nodded. “Yes, I kind of felt good for Commander Tucker that T’Pol was helping him. But then everything changed. Starfleet wouldn't easily talk about it, but I know there was an investigation surrounding them. At least one of their conversations was leaked. Someone spread the word that T’Pol had said their relationship was in the past. After the investigations, she was gone. I haven't seen her in a while.”

“Where is she?” he wanted to know.

“Some people say she is grieving on Vulcan, but nobody really knows. She isn’t in Starfleet. Or on Earth.”

He had one more question. “About this relationship, you mean friendship?”

Hess smiled quickly. “Take it from the second in command at Engineering, there was more going on. And T’Pol talked about intimate relations, that’s a bit more than just friendship.”

“Intimate... This is the part I don't understand. She admitted to have a very private relationship with a human, which she was not married to, in public? To her superiors? That is very unlikely behavior. Relationships are taken very seriously in Vulcan society.”

Hess didn't see the problem. “Well, she is an unusual Vulcan.”

“She is still a Vulcan. I am sorry, Lieutenant Hess, but most of my people are extremely uncomfortable talking about such things. You can call it inhibitions, but we don’t talk about our private lives in public to no one. Especially not when you are a very high placed female Vulcan...”

Hess agreed. “You may have a point. You know, a lot of people care about Commander Tucker. I do. He's been my boss for five years now and he is good guy and he's been through a lot. Gus and I tried to help, but maybe he needs help from another old friend. Maybe he needs some one with more feeling and insight into Vulcans. I really hope that would help him, because frankly he is not a happy man right now. We're all worried.”

Firmly Kov replied, “If he is my friend, I must help him.”

Translation of Vulcan words
Indukah – a tree with leaves found near an oasis and water
Fam – without, not
Mashau – water
Kan-bu – child
Kam – love (suffix)
Ashau - love