We Are Celestians

Chapter 1

In the beginning...

A few days prior Enterprise had discovered a nebula that wasn't in the Vulcan database. Captain Archer was excited to have the chance to explore an area that the Vulcans hadn't been to before or even know had existed. After taking initial scans of the nebula from a distance, he decided he wanted to get inside to get a better look.

Trip had voiced concerns of the possibility that dust particles would get sucked up into the exhaust intakes, clogging the plasma manifolds and suggested that entering the nebula by shuttle would be the best course of action to protect the ship from possible heavy damage. In reality, if there should be any small particles to clog up systems, he would prefer it be a smaller craft to deal with the clean-up. Archer agreed with his assessment and he, Trip and T'Pol set out in a shuttle pod to get their readings.

They realized that they would be out of communication contact while in the nebula, as there was some sort of interference blocking transmissions. So it was prearranged that the shuttle would spend the next three days inside the nebula, taking scans and gathering as much details as they could, reuniting with Enterprise on the opposite side of the nebula cloud.

They were on their second day inside the nebula, taking their scans, making their charts and Trip having one fight after another keeping the particle sludge at bay when Jon could see the cloud of the nebula beginning to clear. "Are we on the other side, entering into normal space?" He asked T'Pol.

"No sir. According to the scans we obtained on Enterprise, we couldn't have possibly made it to the other side this soon. This must just be simply a pocket of area where the density of the nebula cloud isn't as thick as the rest of the area." T'Pol explained.

Trip's eyes grew wide as he pointed out the window. "Uh. Is that a planet?"

Jon and T'Pol turned to look at where Trip was pointing. It did appear to be a small planet in the middle of this nebula. Even though it wasn't unheard of for a planet to exist inside of a nebula, it was still an exciting and unexpected discovery.

"T'Pol, scan for life signs." Jon said with excitement.

T'Pol took her scans then gave her report. "I'm not reading any life signs. It is oxygen rich. Not quite a Minshara Class planet, but close."

Trip grinned at the sound of that. "After three days, I don't think Enterprise would mind if we're a couple hours late. We could just go down and take a quick look around."

Jon thought that sounded like a good idea, after all, they were there to explore. He set the shuttle's course towards the planet. The shuttle didn't make it into orbit when all hell broke loose. The shuttle jerked and was spinning out of control towards the planet as Jon fought the controls to stop the spinning. They were going to crash, but he was doing everything he could to make sure they would survive. "What the hell happened?" He yelled.

Trip checking instruments. "I don't know! We're losing power!" He said as he jumped out of his seat to look over Jon's shoulder and check the navigational instruments. Not finding an answer there he began moving about the shuttle, pulling at panels in the hopes of finding the problem and prevent the inevitable crash landing.

"We're going down!" Jon yelled. Before Trip could brace himself the shuttle hit the land hard causing him to be thrown forward and slamming his head into the edge of the comm station. Trip reached up and grabbed his forehead. He pulled his hand away looking at the blood that covered it.

As Jon checked the navigational systems, T'Pol grabbed the med kit and tended to Trip's wound. Jon opened the hailing frequency. "Shuttle Pod One to Enterprise. Come in Enterprise." The response was static. "Archer to Enterprise. Are you reading?" Static. Jon made some adjustments then tried again. "Archer to Enterprise do you copy?" More static. Jon looked over and saw T'Pol looking at him with a cocked eyebrow. "What? With any luck, with the clearing in the nebula, we might get a signal through." T'Pol tipped her head. She couldn't argue with his logic.

After a few moments and more adjustments Jon gave up and tapped a button that would send a continuous automated distress call in the hopes that Enterprise would receive it.

After Trip was patched up, he started out to check the damage to the shuttle. As he opened the hatch, he was greeted by a blast of hot air. He instantly took off his jacket and tossed it on one of the chairs.

While Trip worked, Jon decided that he and T'Pol take a look around the area. Trip had found the problem, but couldn't figure out how it happened, and wasn't able to fix it. They were stuck here.

At some point, Trip had taken off his shirt, leaving him in his tank top, as the air was hot and humid. He was sitting against the shuttle, contemplating stripping off his pants, when he heard a rustling in the bushes.

He grabbed his pistol, he figured that it was either T'Pol or the Captain returning but didn't want to be caught unprepared. A small creature with light grey fur hopped out. It had the face of a rabbit and ears that were twice as long as its body and stood straight up. It was smaller than Earth rabbits and its hind legs, feet and tail reminded Trip of a kangaroo. Trip put down his pistol and reached out his hand, making kissing noises at it. He was mildly surprised when the animal hopped over to him.

"You're an odd looking thing. Kinda cute though." Trip said as he gave the creature a scratch on the head between its ears. Trip had always been in tune with nature and figured that the animal sensed he wasn't a threat to it. It wiggled its nose at Trip, wiggled its nose at the shuttle before hopping over to the shuttle for a better look. It hopped back to Trip for another scratch on the head before hopping away. "Bye little rabaroo." Trip called as it hopped away.

A short while later, Archer and T'Pol returned, leaving Trip to break the bad news. "We've lost over ninety percent of our power. I don't understand how it could've happened, there isn't any damage to the plasma cells, it's like someone stuck a straw into the engine and sucked out all the power in one gulp."

"Do we have enough power to at least break orbit?" Jon asked with concern.

"Cap'n, we don't have enough power to break the tops of the trees, let alone orbit. We're stuck here."

After eating their meals of rations, Jon decided it would be best for them to sleep in the shuttle for safety.

Jon couldn't sleep worrying about how they would get off the planet without power. He rolled over in the tight space and looked at Trip and T'Pol who were cuddled against each other. Trip was lightly snoring and Jon wondered how T'Pol, with her sensitive hearing, could sleep but figured she must have gotten used to the noises Trip makes in his sleep.

Jon got up and went outside. Even at night it was still warm and he looked up at the night sky. He was surprised that he could see a few stars that showed through in the clearing of the nebula cloud. He wondered if Enterprise was up there somewhere looking for them. He knew that they weren't expecting them back until tomorrow and wouldn't have any need to worry until they didn't show for their rendezvous, unless somehow his transmission had gotten through.

He heard a rustling in the bushes and a small rabbit-like creature hopped out. "What are you? A cross between a rabbit and kangaroo?"

He was startled by a voice behind him. "I called it a rabaroo." Trip bent down and put his hand out. The rabaroo hopped over to him for a scratch on the head.

Jon chuckled. "Made a friend huh?"

"Yeah. I guess so. If this is the most dangerous animal here, we'll be ok until Enterprise rescues us. How long do you think it will take for them to find us?"

Jon thought about it for a moment. "They won't start to get worried until after tomorrow and depending on how long it takes to stumble on our little planet here, few days, a week maybe.