Author Notes: Hi everyone! This idea has been nagging at me for a while, and so I finally decided to put pen to paper, erm, so to speak. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.
Beyond Endurance
Chapter 1
"Nice view." Trip commented, peering below as he piloted the shuttlepod over the vast wooded region.
Captain Archer came and looked over his shoulder, shortly followed by Lieutenant Reed. The forest was indeed beautiful. It seemed to span beyond the horizon, and was so thick, the ground could not be seen. The trees were beginning to lose their summer leaf green, giving them a yellow and red tinge, but not yet enough to make the leaves fall. The terrain was rugged, with the trees growing just about everywhere, on any sort of gradient. The only break in the green was a barely visible river that showed itself at intervals within the forest. Jonathan smiled, "Could be home."
The planet that they were about to land on had been detected three days ago on long range scanners. At first, it had appeared to be perfectly innocuous, but then further scans had showed an incredible power source, perhaps indicating raw energy or a civilisation. Thus, on T'Pol's strong advisement, Captain Archer had put together his away team of three to investigate. Reed frowned, "How long until we reach the source?"
"Shouldn't be- what the hell?" Trip paused mid sentence, frowning as his eyes skimmed over the readings.
"What?" Archer asked.
Trip frowned, "Scans and navigation are being thrown off…it might be a side effect of flying this close to the power source." A horrible juddering sound rang through the shuttle, which turned into a spluttering, and then died, "Oh god! The engine's cut! I'm gonna have to glide us in! Brace for an emergency landing!"
Neither Archer nor Reed made a sound as they hurriedly moved back. Trip wrestled with the controls, attempting to pull up from their sharp descent. The shuttle smashed into the branches of the tallest trees, and then impacted.
"Urgh." Malcolm opened his eyes, blinking furiously to clear the grey veil that seemed to cover his vision. It didn't clear. As his senses reawakened, his throat filled with air that was not oxygen, and his nose smelt burning. Bolting upright, Malcolm yelled through the smoke, "Captain? Commander?"
"I'm here. Can't see a damn thing. The life support's gone haywire, pumping out the smoke from the systems." A bout of coughing interrupted Trip's panicked words, "We've got to get outta here! Captain?"
"I'm stuck." Words fraught with pain met their ears, "Something's crushing my leg – I think it's broken."
Trip swore, "Malcolm? Can you see him? I'm gonna try and get this damn door open." More coughing, worse this time, "Malcolm!"
"I'm on it, Commander." Malcolm's hoarse, but calm voice broke through the sound of burning. He moved to his right, having been furthest from the door, feeling blindly for another person. He thought he felt a hand, "Captain?"
"Yeah." The words sounded strained, as if spoken through gritted teeth.
Squinting, Malcolm cast his eyes around, trying to make out a form. His hands suddenly met metal, heated by the warm atmosphere. A sharp cry from Archer indicated that he had found the thing crushing the leg. Part of the shuttle's shelving had caved, depositing a tonne of weight, easily snapping the brittle bone. Malcolm's head was starting to feel faint as the lack of oxygen started to get to him. He couldn't see a thing, couldn't get a good hold. A sudden yell from Trip caught both their attention, "Get down!"
Not even thinking, both men flattened themselves as Trip finally managed to open the door. A roaring sound filled the air as the fire rushed out towards the oxygen. Smoke and flame alike billowed out. In the split second of clear air, Malcolm grabbed the shelf, and wrenched it off the Captain's leg, causing a pained cry. Both uninjured men then grabbed Archer and flung themselves out of the shuttle. Not stopping there, they crawled away, dragging the injured man as they went. Only until they were over ten metres away, and could only see the shuttle from the smoke, did Trip and Malcolm finally relent. All three men submitted themselves to the hacking coughs caused by the fire, until Malcolm gasped out, "Shouldn't we move? That fire's going to burn the forest."
Trip shook his head, "Cap'n can barely move. 'Sides, ground's wet, wood's sodden. It must've rained recently so it won't catch; fire's not that big."
Jon sat up, using a tree for support, "I thought those shuttle's were meant to have safe guards against fires like that happening." He ground out, half to himself.
Trip frowned, breathing easier now that they were inhaling pure air, "The systems went nuts. Half of them shut down, while the other half started going against all their programming." He shook his head, "That energy, it must've knocked everything out as we got close."
Malcolm scrubbed at the soot covering his face, "Bloody wonderful."
Archer shook his head, and then fumbled at his sleeve, "We'll contact Enterprise and tell them to send a rescue party."
Trip glanced up, raising an eyebrow, "No use, they'll just get knocked out too. Anyway, we glided far into the region that must be covered by the energy, so-" he broke off, watching grimly as the communicator gave a pathetic bleep, and then died, "-no technology will be working anytime soon."
Archer groaned, and leaned back against the tree, "Then we'll have to wait until the fire dies; see what we can salvage."
The fire exhausted itself around dusk. Leaving Archer sitting where he was, Malcolm and Trip went back to the wreck. It was blackened and still smouldering. "Don't touch any metal, Mal, it's still pretty hot."
Malcolm rolled his eyes, "Most of this shuttle is metal, Commander."
"Trip." He replied absently, "For the last time, it's Trip."
The pair picked their way through the wreckage. The odd thing that wasn't a charred mess was electronic, and therefore, useless. Malcolm shook his head, "No supplies. No emergency packs or first aid…"
Trip lost his patience, "Well what do we have?"
Malcolm slipped his hand out of a small black compartment that used to be under the seat, gingerly holding a standard issue knife between his thumb and forefinger, "This."
"I meant besides weapons, Mal."
He shook his head, "I mean it, Trip, this is all we have. It only survived because it landed in a small niche; everything else just as charred and damaged as the hull of this damned craft."
Trip sighed in defeat, "Let's get back to the Cap'n."
After they relayed what they had found, or what they hadn't found, to be more accurate, the three Starfleet officers tried to figure out what to do next. Archer waved his hand in the direction of the wreck, "You can still see what direction it came from, we should follow that heading, try and get out of this zone."
Trip shook his head, "The controls cut at different times, sending us into a spin. I have no idea which direction we came from." He cast his eyes heavenward, through the trees, "And there was no sunlight, the day was overcast. I can't say where to go."
The three men looked between themselves, none of them wanting to voice the reality. Malcolm sighed, and looked down, "So we're lost."
Trip swallowed, acutely aware of the coming night and their Captain's injury, "Yeah, we're lost."
To Be Continued…
Author Notes: So there's the first chapter! Please let me know what you thought - good, bad, whatever - I love to hear opinions!
