Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek, though I wish I did.
I watched the remake of Poseidon tonight and it sort of inspired me to write this. I was just thinking about Malcolm's reaction to the film while I was watching and it made me laugh. So, I thought I'd torture him with water XD
This is my first ever Enterprise fanfiction, so tell me what you think :D
Also, it's quarter to five in the morning here in England, I neeed sleeeeeeep.
-.-.-.-.-.-.
"You understand what you're supposed to do, right?" Captain Archer addressed the query to the four people in question.
"Aye aye sir," Tucker replied "Deliver the goods, trade with the aliens and get out of there."
"In one piece I might add," Malcolm interjected "This species is renowned for its violence and hostility towards other races. We should be armed to the teeth, instead we fly out in a shuttle pod with nothing but phase pistols."
Archer cocked an eyebrow "Well, Ensign Sato should be able to keep their anger at bay with her translation skills."
"Quite," Malcolm interrupted again "At least we'll be able to know what they're saying when they attack us."
"Always the pessimist," Trip clapped Mal on the back, perhaps a bit too forcefully as Malcolm stumbled forwards slightly.
"Now Ensign Mayweather has been studying the maps carefully-"
"I know my way around that planet like the back of my hand Captain," Travis smiled.
"Safe journey, and I'll see you when you get back," Archer smiled, opening the door to his quarters and letting the four crewmen passed.
It was a routine mission, trading goods which would help Enterprise and the alien race with repairs it shouldn't have taken longer than an hour or two, which is what Captain Archer had told them. Yes, the species was hostile but they hadn't had too much trouble with hostile species in the past, besides, all they were doing was trading goods. What harm would that do? It wasn't as if they were offended by the slightest thing, such as eating in public, as the Kreetassan's were.
Trip, Malcolm, Hoshi and Travis climbed into Shuttlepod One. It was slightly cramped with four of them in there, but it wasn't going to be for long. Enterprise was in orbit above the alien planet, so they would be able to land on the alien planet and leave the confines of the shuttlepod in no time. Travis clicked a few switches and sat down at the helm, the familiar sound of the engine whirring to life filled their ears. Malcolm was in the small store room filled with provisions at the back of the shuttlepod, checking the amount of food and water that was there.
"Relax, would you Malcolm? You're makin' me feel nervous," Trip told him in his relaxed Southern drawl.
"I'm just checking that we have the right amount of water and food for the four of us, in case of an emergency," Malcolm responded "Luckily we have."
"You worry too much Malcolm," Hoshi agreed with Trip "Sit down, enjoy the ride."
"That's an order," Trip smiled at the agitated look on Malcolm's face.
Travis took the controls and the shuttlepod left Enterprise and entered into the stars. The views could have been described as breathtaking, if the crew hadn't gotten so used to them. Every day they would look out of their windows and see the black sheet of space and stars. When they eventually went home, back to earth, they would find it odd to see the sun rise every morning and set every night. They were now so used to the dark beauty and endlessness of space.
The planet was steadily arriving closer to them in the window of the shuttlepod. It was mostly a dense forested planet, but trees had been cut down in many places in order for civilisations to grow. A lot of the forest had remained intact, despite the growing population. The shuttlepod shook slightly as they entered the planet's atmosphere, but that was all normal and routine, nothing to be worried about.
The shuttlepod was suddenly violently jerked to one side, causing Trip, Malcolm and Hoshi to fall from their seats to the metal floor. That was something to be worried about.
"What was that Travis?" Trip asked, getting up from the floor and looking out towards the planet.
"I'm not sure," Travis flipped a few switched before being violently jerked again "They're shooting at us! I can't believe this, don't they know that we're coming?"
"Can you get a com signal?" Trip questioned Travis, leaning over him to get a good look.
"Negative," was Travis' reply "That last shot fried our communications. We can't contact them or Enterprise!"
"What did I say about emergencies?" Malcolm raised an eyebrow "You can never be too careful with alien races we have barely met."
A direct hit. The four of them were thrust aside. Travis looked to the damage report briefly and tried to turn the shuttlepod around and out of the alien planet.
"Thrusters are down!" Travis was pulling the shuttlepod controls this way and that, but the shuttlepod wasn't responding "We're freefalling! There's nothing I can do!"
The four of them were now looking out of the window. The biggest expanse of blue that they had ever seen was now filling it. Gallons of churning harsh waters were filling their eyes. They watched helplessly as the tremendous ocean came closer and closer, knowing that they were unable to do anything about it. They couldn't even contact Enterprise or send a distress signal.
"Brace for impact!" Trip cried, the four of them scrambled over to the seats and grabbed onto anything that was nailed down.
Shuttlepod One hit the water hard. Their heads snapped back with the force of the impact, Hoshi banging her head hard off the back wall. Dazed for a moment she let go of the rail she was holding onto and Travis had to grab her fast to stop her from falling over. The shuttlepod descended with great ease into the murky depths, until it settled softly onto the sand at the bottom. The water wasn't as deep as they had first suspected, but it was still pretty deep. The four of them, as if they had all been holding their breaths at the same time, let out a brief sigh of relief, thankful that they landed in the sea. If they had crash landed onto the earth at the speed they were going, they may not all have survived. Well, everybody apart from Malcolm Reed was thankful that they landed in the sea, he would have rather crashed into an erupting volcano than this.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-..
"How're they doing?" Archer directed this question at T'pol who was in her usual spot on the bridge.
"Fine," she replied in her emotionless voice "They've landed safely on the planet. They should commence trading soon."
"Good," Archer smiled, and sat back in his chair
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-..-.-..-.
The shuttlepod went dark for a few moments until emergency power kicked in. The four of them tried to get their bearings, Hoshi rubbing her head where she'd hit it. Malcolm got up from the floor, bleary eyed and rubbing a bump on his head also.
"Everybody okay?" Trip was the first to speak, the concern for his friends plastered across his face.
"I cracked my head," Hoshi replied, removing her hand from the back of her head to see that her fingertips were red with her blood "I'll be fine."
"Malcolm, get the First Aid kit, we have to get that sorted out," Trip sat down next to Hoshi and inspected the back of her head "I'm no doctor, but it doesn't look too bad to me. Better to make sure though."
Trip took the kit from Malcolm and sprayed the gash on her head with antiseptic. Hoshi winced, she had never been too good around blood, or pain for that matter. She remembered falling off her bike when she was eight and badly grazing both knees. She never went back on a bike again after that.
"That should do it," Trip cleaned away all of the blood that he could and set the med kit down on the floor.
"Why do you think they shot at us?" Travis asked "I thought they wanted our trade?"
"Obviously not," Trip answered "Lulled us into a false sense of security. Maybe they get their kicks from preying on friendly races.
Malcolm, who had not spoken since they landed spoke up, his voice sounding smaller than he had hoped "How are we going to get out of this?"
"We've just got to get back to the surface and hope that Enterprise has realised that we've been fired upon."
"And how do you propose we get up to the surface?" Malcolm enquired, looking at Trip dead in the eyes.
"We swim," Trip responded, and seeing Mal's face change suddenly to a rather worried expression, he realised what the answer meant to him "You don't like water, do you?"
"Never been fond of it no," was Mal's short reply.
"Well, it's either swimming or suffocating," Hoshi told him, she thought she heard him mumble 'I'd rather suffocate' but she couldn't be sure.
"Is there any other way?" Malcolm tried to sound as unconcerned as he could, but was failing miserably.
"'fraid not," Trip shrugged, Malcolm practically reeled "If there were somethin' else, I'd tell you. But there ain't. Sorry."
"Just leave me in here to die from loss of air then," Malcolm said grimly.
"Hey, Malcolm. Ain't suffocating sort of the same as drowning? Trying to breathe but not being able to get a breath-"
"Are you playing on my fears!" Malcolm spat "I don't want to be reminded about how somebody drowns thank you Commander Tucker!"
"Calm down Malcolm!" Hoshi interjected "Trip was just trying to help in his own little...strange way."
"Well I don't need your help!" Malcolm had briefly turned his fear to rage, after this short outburst fear washed over to him again and he lapsed into a silence.
The sound of the shuttlepod creaking from the motions of the water was all around them. It was never truly silent. Travis stood and started towards the helm. He pushed a few buttons, flicked a few switches. Nothing. There was no way the shuttlepod would be getting back out of the water without help. Hoshi found watching the water through the window quite soothing and it calmed her nerves. Malcolm found the water quite sickening looking and had turned so his back was facing away from the window. Trip looked out of the window and upwards, his forehead pushing against the reinforced glass. He could see the sun's rays coming through the water. It wouldn't take more than a minute or two to swim up to the surface, as long as everybody took a large enough gulp of air, they'd be fine. Malcolm was feeling woozy, his entire body was shaking and his skin had turned a pale shade, almost white. He had his head down, looking through his knees and onto the metal floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. He was trying his hardest to get his mind off the fact that they only had one way out of the shuttlepod and that included holding your breath and swimming through a tremendous amount of water to get to the surface. He had to try not to think about the inevitable, so he kept his eyes focused on the metal floor. Water. Water. Water, water, water water water water . He could not get it out of his head. He couldn't take his mind off it. His stomach tightened and he suddenly felt violently ill. Him, Malcolm Reed, would have to get out of the shuttlepod and swim to the surface. He could barely brave the shallow end of a swimming pool, never mind the vastness of this ocean spread out towards him. He closed his eyes to try and stop thinking altogether, but that one word remained, floating around in his skull, teasing him. Besides Malcolm didn't even know how to swim. The situation unravelling before him wasn't looking good.
Minutes had passed without a word being said before Hoshi spoke up "The sooner we get up to the surface the sooner we find a way to contact Enterprise."
"She's right," Trip replied, standing up and addressing the three "We have to head out."
"Leave me here," Malcolm said weakly "If the three of you go up and get word to Enterprise you can tell them that I'm stuck in a shuttlepod in the bottom of an ocean."
"Who's in?" Hoshi and Travis raised their hands, Malcolm groaned "Sorry, not possible. If the three of us go out, we'll have to open the door. That'll mean that all of the water from outside will come crashing inside. The shuttlepod would fill with water and you would drown. Is that really what you want?"
Malcolm shook his head.
"Good, that's settled," Trip cracked his knuckles "Anyway, it's not much water. It won't be that bad."
Hoshi and Travis readied themselves in front of the opening hatch, Trip behind them. Malcolm slowly stood and made his way over to them. He was shaking so much that his legs were wobbly and he had to try and stop himself from falling over. He crouched down next to Trip and swallowed hard.
"Hang on," Malcolm's voice was barely audible, he cleared his throat "Give me a moment to compose myself."
Malcolm was still shaking. He didn't want to embarrass himself in front of his friends, but he couldn't help it. He brought his knees up beneath his chin and began to rock back and forth without realising at first. Trip put a hand on Mal's shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly.
"Just take a deep breath and don't think about it," Trip said.
"Easy for you to say," Malcolm whispered.
Travis had his hand on the release for the door. Malcolm was practically hyperventilating. He shut his eyes tight and bit his bottom lip, almost chewing a hole through it. His heart was pounding, fit to burst against his ribcage. The only sound he could hear was the beating of his heart and the circulating of blood ring in his ears.
"Go," everyone stopped and looked at him "Go now before I change my mind."
Travis looked from Malcolm, to the door and back again. Malcolm opened his eyes.
"NOW!"
The door was opened, and all hell broke loose.