Star-Trek: Enterprise
Prologue
Author's note: Another fan-fiction by moi! This one will be fairly short, only the length of a normal Enterprise episode (5-10 chapters)(, I hope, so hang with me. This won't become long and boring like the rest of 'em, or even be cut off halfway through.
Disclaimers: I don't own Enterprise, never have, never will. I will owe Paramount any money I make from this, though that will be zilch, nada, zero, so I have made no rash promises! All characters etc. belong to the brilliant minds that created them. May they live long and prosper!
Hoshi looked up from her panel, held the receiver to her ear, and shook her head.
Archer sighed. Long, and deep.
They had been travelling through space for nearly a month since the connection with the Andorians again, and they hadn't encountered a single interesting phenomenon. Not one. No communications, not even a radio signal from the Earth's past messages. Sure, they could use the Vulcan maps and star charts, but where was the exploration then? It took the fun out of things then, like Trip said. The only bit of excitement that Archer had seen for quite a while was when the engines shut down for four hours. He had decided then to set a course for an area of space where the Vulcans had thought there was Dilithium crystals, in case they ran out. But nope, the Vulcans had royally stuck it up them again. What kind of area of space could there be that didn't hold something in? It just wasn't possible. It wasn't natural.
He sighed again. Now he was just being paranoid.
T'Pol raised an eyebrow at him, then returned to her tasks. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Damn, she could be so annoying at times. She just stood there, doing calculations and watching sensors that she had newly installed. From time to time, like when the Captain sighed or fidgeted, she would look at him and raise an eyebrow disdainly. That was the height of her emotional pinnacle. The only bit of humour he had had from T'Pol the last month, no, the last year, was when her nasal block had stopped functioning for a week. Boy, she had been a riot then. He groaned inwardly, realising his thoughts were turning as black as space, because humour should not come from misery, no matter the circumstances.
Trip entered the bridge, bringing with him a dusty, grimy smell and quite a few stains. He walked to a console and started to tap away at it. Archer, in his severely bored state, saw that wherever Trip touched, a nice puddle of oil gathered. It wasn't his fault that he had fixed the engines again only a few hours before, and wasn't even off-duty for another few hours, but, dammit, he should get his clothes cleaned before he came to the bridge! Archer glanced toward T'Pol, who was only now realising Trip was in the room. He caught her eye, then cleared his throat as Trip turned to leave the bridge.
"Uh, Trip?" Trip turned and stood to attention.
"Yessum, Cap'n?" he asked in his drawl.
"Is there anyway to make you look, well, respectable?"
"Excuse me, Cap'n? Did you just say what I think you said?" Trip growled, and suddenly seemed a whole lot taller. "Well excuse me for fixing th'engines! They can just go fry next time, which is what they're like at the moment! I come off-duty in a few hours, Cap'n, and then, only then will I clean these overalls! Now I'd better get back to engineering…"
"Get cleaned up. Now! That's an order, Commander!" Archer roared at him.
"If I had nothing better to do than sit in that chair, Cap'n, then I wouldn't get much dirtier, either!" Silence fell upon the bridge, and Tucker immediately fell silent. He had crossed the line. Archer got out of his chair.
"What did you say, Commander?!" he said quietly.
"Nuthin, Cap'n…" Trip moaned.
"Excuse me, Gentlemen," came a voice across the room.
Both the men shot daggers at T'Pol, who just stood with her arms folded and with a look of amusement on her face. She knew she had to break up this fight, which was only caused by their tiredness with being kept in cramped spaces. This would never have happened on a Vulcan ship, but she had learnt a thing or two on Enterprise. She tapped her control panel for emphasis.
"We have a planet, Gentlemen. Would you like to study it, or would you prefer to continue on your present course of action?" She looked at them with a steady gaze, recognising the familiar habits of boredom in humans, and tapped her console again. Their eyes were glazed over now, and they shuffled weakly over to the console. They mumbled their apologies and looked at the console.
The planet she had detected was an M-class planet, capable of supporting life, and looked about the same as Earth. Archer looked at Trip. Trip looked at Archer. They grinned and looked at T'Pol.
"Say, T'Pol. How would you like to come down to the planet?"
"I would, indeed, Captain." Archer nodded, and then signalled for 2 more ensigns, including Hoshi, to accompany them. T'Pol felt she needed to give a reason. "The Vulcan's have never come across this planet before, and it would be an excellent opportunity to collect data. Unless, of course, we have other things to do?"
They glared at her.
Prologue
Author's note: Another fan-fiction by moi! This one will be fairly short, only the length of a normal Enterprise episode (5-10 chapters)(, I hope, so hang with me. This won't become long and boring like the rest of 'em, or even be cut off halfway through.
Disclaimers: I don't own Enterprise, never have, never will. I will owe Paramount any money I make from this, though that will be zilch, nada, zero, so I have made no rash promises! All characters etc. belong to the brilliant minds that created them. May they live long and prosper!
Hoshi looked up from her panel, held the receiver to her ear, and shook her head.
Archer sighed. Long, and deep.
They had been travelling through space for nearly a month since the connection with the Andorians again, and they hadn't encountered a single interesting phenomenon. Not one. No communications, not even a radio signal from the Earth's past messages. Sure, they could use the Vulcan maps and star charts, but where was the exploration then? It took the fun out of things then, like Trip said. The only bit of excitement that Archer had seen for quite a while was when the engines shut down for four hours. He had decided then to set a course for an area of space where the Vulcans had thought there was Dilithium crystals, in case they ran out. But nope, the Vulcans had royally stuck it up them again. What kind of area of space could there be that didn't hold something in? It just wasn't possible. It wasn't natural.
He sighed again. Now he was just being paranoid.
T'Pol raised an eyebrow at him, then returned to her tasks. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Damn, she could be so annoying at times. She just stood there, doing calculations and watching sensors that she had newly installed. From time to time, like when the Captain sighed or fidgeted, she would look at him and raise an eyebrow disdainly. That was the height of her emotional pinnacle. The only bit of humour he had had from T'Pol the last month, no, the last year, was when her nasal block had stopped functioning for a week. Boy, she had been a riot then. He groaned inwardly, realising his thoughts were turning as black as space, because humour should not come from misery, no matter the circumstances.
Trip entered the bridge, bringing with him a dusty, grimy smell and quite a few stains. He walked to a console and started to tap away at it. Archer, in his severely bored state, saw that wherever Trip touched, a nice puddle of oil gathered. It wasn't his fault that he had fixed the engines again only a few hours before, and wasn't even off-duty for another few hours, but, dammit, he should get his clothes cleaned before he came to the bridge! Archer glanced toward T'Pol, who was only now realising Trip was in the room. He caught her eye, then cleared his throat as Trip turned to leave the bridge.
"Uh, Trip?" Trip turned and stood to attention.
"Yessum, Cap'n?" he asked in his drawl.
"Is there anyway to make you look, well, respectable?"
"Excuse me, Cap'n? Did you just say what I think you said?" Trip growled, and suddenly seemed a whole lot taller. "Well excuse me for fixing th'engines! They can just go fry next time, which is what they're like at the moment! I come off-duty in a few hours, Cap'n, and then, only then will I clean these overalls! Now I'd better get back to engineering…"
"Get cleaned up. Now! That's an order, Commander!" Archer roared at him.
"If I had nothing better to do than sit in that chair, Cap'n, then I wouldn't get much dirtier, either!" Silence fell upon the bridge, and Tucker immediately fell silent. He had crossed the line. Archer got out of his chair.
"What did you say, Commander?!" he said quietly.
"Nuthin, Cap'n…" Trip moaned.
"Excuse me, Gentlemen," came a voice across the room.
Both the men shot daggers at T'Pol, who just stood with her arms folded and with a look of amusement on her face. She knew she had to break up this fight, which was only caused by their tiredness with being kept in cramped spaces. This would never have happened on a Vulcan ship, but she had learnt a thing or two on Enterprise. She tapped her control panel for emphasis.
"We have a planet, Gentlemen. Would you like to study it, or would you prefer to continue on your present course of action?" She looked at them with a steady gaze, recognising the familiar habits of boredom in humans, and tapped her console again. Their eyes were glazed over now, and they shuffled weakly over to the console. They mumbled their apologies and looked at the console.
The planet she had detected was an M-class planet, capable of supporting life, and looked about the same as Earth. Archer looked at Trip. Trip looked at Archer. They grinned and looked at T'Pol.
"Say, T'Pol. How would you like to come down to the planet?"
"I would, indeed, Captain." Archer nodded, and then signalled for 2 more ensigns, including Hoshi, to accompany them. T'Pol felt she needed to give a reason. "The Vulcan's have never come across this planet before, and it would be an excellent opportunity to collect data. Unless, of course, we have other things to do?"
They glared at her.