A/N I hope you all will like the first chapter of my new story. Please review at the end!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Star Trek Franchise. That is paramounts property not mine.
The ship shook hard as another torpedo smashed against the polarized hull. Captain Jonathan Archer, captain of the first warp five ship in Starfleet's existence braced himself on his chair as his ship rocked.
"Fire aft phase cannons and prepare torpedoes!"
The only acknowledgement he received was his tactical officer tapping commands fiercely at his console. The ship rocked again and a plasma conduit exploded in the aft section of the bridge. Captain Archer spun around to inspect the damage and found the ionized plasma corroding the circuit panels and displays wherever it touched.
"Will someone seal that conduit?!" He shouted over the chaotic bridge noises. Moments later the conduit was sealed but it had left its mark.
The strong duranium alloys that made up the bulkheads looked like melted ice cream on a hot summers day as it dripped down the once pristine walls.
"Zanton vessel has lost forward shielding and I am detecting power fluctuations in their warp reactor" came the strong, clear voice of his science officer. Suddenly, the ship stopped lurching for a few moments, which gave the officers enough time to get their bearings and prepare for another assault.
After almost a minute of waiting for another volley of the enemies torpedoes, T'pol spoke in a calm demeanor as her Vulcan logic processed events.
"The Zanton vessel has lost all power and I am detecting in overload in their port nacelle" as soon as the words were out of her mouth, the veiwscreen lit up in a brilliant glory as the enemies' nacelle exploded, sending out waves of colorful warp plasma and debris.
The Enterprise shook one final time as the shock wave hit them but they were in a lot better shape than the Zanton vessel.
"Travis, get us out of here, NOW" the captain said and soon they were underway, heading for a nearby N-type planet.
With the battle behind them, the captain spoke over the ships communication system to all decks that were still operating.
"This is the captain, we are heading for a nearby planetary system to make repairs, please do all you can to make sure we get there in one piece, Archer out."
He pressed the button on his chair to stop broadcasting and stood up to walk around the bridge and asses the damage done to his ship. These battles had been going on almost everyday for the last two weeks. Jonathan had met a few xenophobic species before but never quite like these Zanton were.
They were aggressive, territorial, and extremely belligerent as the captain had soon found out. Captain Archer had tried diplomacy on this culture, trying to explain that they were trying to explore space and that the Zanton empire was simply too large to circumnavigate, but they wouldn't listen!
Each time they had detected a Zanton cruiser, they had opened hailing frequencies, but every time, the only response they got was weapons fire. The only other time the ship had been this damaged, was at Azati Prime, but not by much. Luckily, their hull was still intact for the most part, the real damage was the power systems.
These Zanton had a sophisticated weapon the destabilized their plasma network and they had already had a least five conduit breaches like the one that had just happened on the bridge. The captain walked over to his science officer and inspected the latest damage report that was displayed on her screen. He stared long and hard at those readings before finally sighing.
"You have the bridge T'pol, I'm going to engineering to asses the damage firsthand. T'pol simply nodded as Jonathan walked over to the turbolift and pressed the correct button to open the door. The door slid halfway and a groaning of metal was heard as the door suddenly stopped.
Captain Archer had to bit his tongue to keep from yelling at the inanimate object before he finally just sighed and slid his body through the opening and into the turbolift. The door grinded shut and he was on his way to engineering to talk to Trip. The ride was short but eventful as the turbolift dropped fast on occasion before slowing back down to its' normal speed.
He reached his destination and stepped out onto the deck and made his way towards engineering. The ship looked like it did when it was being constructed again, crewmen in the corridors carrying plasma torches, trying to repair some of the damage that the Zanton had made in two short weeks.
He reached the heavy door and pulled the handle. He was greeted with the acrid smell of burnt conduit and smoke as he entered.
"Get a team up on B-deck! They're sayin' two plasma conduits are unstable up there and I'd rather not have to replace another two sections of bulkhead!"
"Trip, got a minute?"
"More like a second, but fer you cap'n, I can make the time".
Jonathan smiled slightly at the joke before walking with Trip over to his workstation.
"What did ya need cap'n?" Trip drawled.
"I needed my chief engineer's damage report. I know that T'pol has it at her station but the report lacks that certain quality I've come to expect from you as of late."
"I'm sorry cap'n but with all this damage floatin around, I didn't have time to punctuate and capitalize."
Jonathan raised his hands in a mock surrender "I know, actually I was wondering how you were doing, if I remember the repairs that were made after Azati Prime, Phlox had to order you to sleep, do I need to get him on the comm.?"
Jonathan knew when his best friend was exhausted, hell, they all were exhausted, but he needed his chief engineer, and more importantly, his friend, to be alert so that he may keep them from being vaporized by their own power systems.
"I don't think that will be necessary Cap'n, I was just gonna seal off the conduit on D-deck and then I was gonna go take a break."
"How about this Trip, take your break now and come eat something with me, and then go and seal off those conduits, from what I understand, they're not leaking plasma-"
"But cap'n! They have a risk of rupturing!" Jonathan just lifted an eyebrow and Trip squirmed slightly under his beloved captains gaze.
"Ok, well, there is only a marginal risk for a rupture, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be attended to!"
"If I know you as well as I think I do Trip, as soon as we finish, you'll be scurrying down to D-deck." Jonathan had to hide a smile at the sheepish grin that ran across Trip's face. Trip finally gave up his argument and began walking towards the hatch.
"You comin' or what?" Trip asked before walking out the hatch. Jonathan just rolled his eyes and jogged to catch up to his long time friend.
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"I've been looking over the sensor logs from the last attack and I think I have a reason as to why the plasma conduits keep rupturing."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, apparently, the Zanton's torpedoes use a tachyon propulsion matrix the propel the torpedoes. All in all that isn't too interesting but I found that there is an adverse reaction when these particles come into contact with polarized energy, for example, our hull. It begins a chain reaction that travels along the polarized energy pathways till it gets to the source, our polarization emitters. The energy isn't high enough to damage the emitters, but when it reaches the conduits powering the emitters, it bombards the duranium casing and leaves microscopic fractures. I'm guessing the effect in cumulative though. Remember the half of the first week of attacks? There was literally no damage to the power systems, but now, it's damn near impossible to keep power running."
As If on cue, the lights in the messhall flickered as if threatening to go offline.
"I have Malcolm working on modifying the emitters so they will disperse the tachyon particles but it's slow going, as you know, there are over fifty emitters on board. He has already set up the vital emitters covering the bridge, engineering and the armory."
Trip just sighed and looked at Jonathan in amazement.
"So you figured this out all on your own? Forgive me for sayin' so cap'n, but I remember you telling me that you had a hard time passing elementary particle mechanics at the academy, I just find it hard to believe that's all"
Jonathan saw this as a valid argument and nodded "We have been out here for five years Trip. In space, you're bound to learn new things all the time."
"That is true, for example, I recently learned that Starfleet has started working on a Warp Six engine, pretty soon, Enterprise will be obsolete."
"Who knows Trip, maybe they will refit Enterprise with one of those engines."
"It would cut the time it would take to get to Risa" Trip joked. Jonathan smiled at him at the hidden implications
"Why do you want to go to Risa? Have some 'tension' you need relieving?" Jonathan joked. Trip just grinned and finished his pecan pie before setting down his fork and wiping his mouth with the napkin. He stood up and walked over to the captain and clapped him on the shoulder before saying
"I'll let you figure that one out" before walking out the door in the direction of the turbolift, leaving the captain pondering the meaning behind his words.
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The ship shuddered slightly as it dropped out of warp near a twin star system.
"Captain, I have detected high levels of duranium and poly-metallic sources on the sixth planet. It's Class-N."
"Class N?" Hoshi asked.
"Yes, the difference between a Class-M and N is the fact that a Class-N planet has higher concentrations of Oxygen and Argon and a substantially smaller amount of Nitrogen."
"Will it be safe to breath?" Captain Archer asked.
"Yes, in short intervals" T'pol responded.
"How short of a period are we talking about?" Archer asked.
"No more that three hours, after that, Argon poisoning will begin to set in. The symptoms of which are not…pleasant" T'pol stated.
Captain Archer just nodded and sat in his chair. Eventually they reached the planet and began a standard orbit around the planet. Jonathan had never seen such a beautiful planet. The planet was blanketed with high altitude clouds of the brightest green. The air was more of a reddish yellow color. The water was the color of the most colorful blue Jonathan had ever seen.
"It's beautiful!" Hoshi exclaimed and most of the bridge crew agreed, all except T'pol of course.
"Prep a shuttle pod for launch, I want to see this planet close up." Archer said.
Malcolm nodded and went to the turbolift to get to the shuttle bay. Archer waited a few minutes and leaned back into his chair to listen to the noises around him. He was trying to get rid of the lingering thought of what Trip had said earlier "I'll let you figure that one out". What had he meant by that? It could mean almost anything because of it's seemingly hidden innuendo.
What surprised Jonathan more was the fact that he wouldn't mind so much if he had meant it as a personal encounter. He had never really thought of Trip as more than a friend, but the thought actually excited him. He was a man of exploration after all and the fact that this was a homosexual adventure did give him a little pause, but upon reflecting he thought back to the social history of Earth. From what he had learned, homosexuality was looked down upon at first, even discouraged and prosecuted, but now, humans were a lot more accepting of these things.
They have realized that segregation and prosecution of something different was wrong, hell that's how World Wars Two and Three were started, and now, Earth was quickly becoming a paradise for anyone and everyone. The comm. Alarm sounded and Jonathan pressed the correct button "This is the bridge"
"Captain" Malcolm's voice rang out through the bridge.
"I have the Shuttle pod prepped and ready for launch at your leisure Sir."
"Understood, I'll be down in a few minutes, Archer out." He signaled for T'pol to follow him before they slid into the half open turbolift. They began their descent and Jonathan pressed a button on the panel beside the door.
"Archer to Tucker, Care to go on a away mission with us? We may need your expertise with the duranium samples. We need to know if it's up to par."
"Sure Cap'n, I'll be in the shuttle bay in three minutes."
"understood, Archer out." The rest of the ride was uneventful as Jonathan thought about how to approach the situation with Trip.