Captain Jonathan Archer lay on his bed and stretched. It was the early hours of the morning and he was certainly ready for it. He had a feeling something big was going to happen today, he just knew it.
He looked up and out the window. The beautiful black mass of the starry abyss was welcoming yet morbid. It had that aura around it; it was partly what attracted him to space in the first place. Not just his boyhood dreams or his father telling him stories of how he would be the greatest captain alive. He wanted to be out here and explore the unknown. Like those before him, there was just something that inspired him about space.
He felt movement near him and knew it to be the usual morning rustling of his dog pal, Porthos.
"Morning Port. Suppose I'd better get up eh?"
A small yip was all he got in return. Jon smiled and rose, the sheets falling from his bare chest. The temperature stat was playing up and it tended to be a little hotter these days. He'd had to have a little word to Trip about that.
He tossed the covers aside and stood. He stretched, pulling his back muscles by raising his arms and craning his neck forward. He went to his drawers and pulled out a black undershirt. Looking at his Beagle he put the shirt on, doing up the buttons whilst pacing the room.
He was about to go to the wardrobe when his buzzer went. He looked at the door in surprise but soon asserted himself. Mornings always made him a little slow. He pressed a button on the desk before returning to his earlier task.
"Come in!"
To his surprise Reed walked in. Reed wasn't the one for morning visits; he was half expecting it to be T'Pol or Trip but not Malcolm Reed. Jon turned, holding his uniform in his hand.
"Oh, hello Malcolm. Wasn't expecting to see you so early this morning," Jon said with a smile.
Malcolm took a moment to reply and Jon saw the slightly puzzled look before it vanished into thin air
"It's 08:00 hours Sir."
Damn, he thought it had been the early hours. Evidently not as it appeared. Jon frowned as he looked at Malcolm. He had evidently made Malcolm slightly uneasy as he saw Malcolm shift his weight.
"Really? Guess I got carried away with my sleep. What's wrong with the Comm.?"
"It's down for maintenance Sir. Apparently, something went wrong. Commander Tucker's fixing it right now."
Archer nodded. Trip had mentioned something about the Comm. System the night before and that he couldn't seem to find the root of the problem.
"Well, let me get my uniform on and then we'll head for the bridge,"
Malcolm nodded and turned to leave to wait outside.
Jon nodded, mostly to himself more than anything. Hurriedly, he worked on his jumpsuit, making sure at the last minute that it was on the right way round. He wasn't going to be called an ass by Trip today at least. It was an inside joke.
He patted Porthos on the head quickly before heading out of his quarters. Malcolm was waiting there, his back against the wall. As if he had anything else to do thought Jon as they walked to the bridge.
"Did Trip give a estimated time for when the Comm. System will be fixed?"
"He didn't say for sure Sir. When I asked, he said a few hours, maybe the whole day." Malcolm replied with his usual steady British accent. Jonathan never quite understood the reserved Englishman. There were a few things he liked and didn't like about the man and some of Malcolm's quirks; he knew he'd never be able to understand without asking the man.
They entered the turbo lift and Malcolm pressed the call button to go to the Bridge. Archer hated silences, not long ones anyway.
"You startled me back there," Jonathan spoke up, itching to just talk.
" I did Sir?" Malcolm was looking at him, politely but Jon could see the slightly raised eyebrow.
"Yeah. I was expecting to see Trip with his lousy morning jokes or T'Pol with her oncoming tales of logic. I wasn't expecting you…it was a surprise in the least."
"I didn't mean to Sir," Malcolm started but Jon put up a hand to stop him.
"It was different and sometimes, it's good have something unexpected to happen. As long as it's a nice surprise."
Malcolm didn't say anything, which Jon wasn't surprised about but he caught the nod of understanding. The doors opened to reveal the usual Bridge nothing had changed. The Captains' chair was in the middle as always, well not directly in the middle but close enough. Travis was in his usual seat at the helm, Hoshi was at hers and T'Pol was sitting in the Captain's chair. An ensign or crewman had filled Malcolm's place.
The Ensign or crewman, Jon couldn't say which, upon seeing his CO's removed himself and T'Pol stood from the chair to face Archer.
She was about to speak when a technical buzz came through.
"Hoshi?" Archer asked, wondering whether it was coming from inside Enterprise or from the outside.
"It's not from any nearby ships Sir…I'm guessing its Commander Tucker playing around with the Comm. System again," Hoshi replied, looking behind her to see Archer as she did so.
Archer chuckled. The buzz cut out and it didn't happen again.
"Sorry I'm late. My alarm didn't go off," Lame excuse but Jon couldn't come up with any better ones.
T'Pol raised a quizzical eyebrow but just nodded slowly and went back to her post. She was wearing a purple uniform today, though Jon couldn't say it suited her and as usual, he couldn't tell what she was thinking through her dry façade.
Down in engineering, Trip had been working his ass off trying to fix the damned Comm. System. He got up extra early to sort it out, which was very unusual for him. As a child, he loved the morning lye-ins. Having the responsibility of choosing your own get up time on weekends and holidays was the best thing back in his childhood and he was pretty sure it was the same with every other kid.
It was just after he returned from the bridge earlier that morning that he found the problem. A wire was very lose from its connection. He put it back to what it should be. He moved towards the Comm. Button on the wall.
Back on the bridge, Archer and T'Pol were in deep discussion.
"I supposed the meeting has been temporarily postponed?" Archer stated whilst moving towards his chair. Reed sat at his station and Jon could see he was checking things. Probably thinking on the next brilliant weapons upgrade he could think, that Jon could wager.
"It has. Commander Tucker said he'd return when someone fetches him unless he fixes the Comm. problem"
"Tucker to the Bridge?" Came a hesitant call. Archer smiled, Trip managed to find the little bug in the system then.
"Yes Trip?" He said, pressing the nearest button, which happened to be on T'Pol's work station.
"I think the Comm. System is working. I found the root of the problem; one of the wires had come lose. It was a pesky thing ta find." Trip reported back, pride filling his southern accent.
"Well-done Trip. I'm glad you got the problem fixed. Oh, before I forget we're having the usual morning meeting so could you grab Phlox and come up here?" Archer asked.
"Sure Cap'n. We'll be on our way,"
"Thanks Trip," Archer cut off. He smiled slightly and sat down waiting for Trip and Phlox to arrive. The silence was agonising. Archer was literally counting the seconds it took for them both to arrive.
They entered a minute later. Trip was wearing a usual expression on his face when all the senior crew turned to the Situation Room.
"So. What's on the cards for today?" Archer asked, not caring who answered even though he felt he knew the likely suspect.
It was actually the annoyed Commander whose voice was now as it usually was.
"Well, not a lot. Just an M-class planet with a population of five hundred thousand," Trip drawled with excitement. Archer could tell he was itching to get down there
"How do you know?" Archer queried.
"I was up here for the usual meeting time but you were late, so I ran back to engineering to find the Comm. Problem and I found it Cap'n," Trip grinned back to his friend.
His friend nodded slowly and Trip got a little impatient
"Well, what do ya think Cap'n?"
"I think we should go and explore," Archer said with filled enthusiasm. He was expecting the usual criticism this morning but none came. He made no comment not wanting the bad news to fill the room. "Malcolm, can you prep a shuttle pod?"
The Brit nodded and immediately left the Bridge. Archer smiled. He knew that if Malcolm had a job to do, he would get it done quickly and efficiently. That's how it went in the Armoury as far as Jon could tell.
"So what can we tell about this planet T'Pol? I assume you have some interesting information"
"Indeed I have Captain. Forty-three percent of the planet's surface is land mass. The other fifty-seven percent is water. I detected a plentiful array of animal life from what I could tell from the sensors, together with the five hundred thousand inhabitants" Her face remained neutral but Jon didn't miss her twinge of curiosity
"That sounds fantastic. Let's go." Archer commented. Only Travis and Phlox were left behind not that they minded. Travis was happy not to go round breaking his left leg or any other part of his anatomy for a change.
888
An hour later they were on the biggest continent they could possibly find. The birds, or what they thought were birds sang their fine-tunes in the high bare stemmed trees. The tree came in two varieties here, it seemed as T'Pol commented. One was like the monkey trees otherwise know as redwoods that could be found in Chile. The other was like a Birch Tree except it had large, orchid like flowers sprouting from the tip of twigs. "So where are these life forms?""300m from our current position" Came a British reply he knew was Malcolm's. When Jon looked at the Englishman, he saw that the man's face was white as a bone. Jon never recalled a time that he had seen his Armoury officer so pale. The man was evidently trying to hide it as he was looking away slightly but alas for him, Archer had already noticed.
T'Pol also had seemed to pick up on this, well she doesn't miss a beat does she though Jon as he waited to hear Malcolm's reply.
"Lieutenant Reed, is there something troubling you?"
"These life forms are in the middle of an ocean" Malcolm said slowly, Hoshi could feel the creeping morbidity in his clipped voice. "Not just are they in the middle but they are under it, well, in it to be exact"
He let his words sink in. He used the silence to figure out what was going on, going though possible theories in his head.
It was Commander Tucker who broke the grave silence.
"In the water?"
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter...chapter two coming soon! Please review and add some constructive criticism please if any. let me know...
