TITLE: A Drunken Salute Part Two - In the Midst of Battle
AUTHOR: Erin Chase
SUMMARY: After the Ta tem incident, Reed has not improved.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any characters from Enterprise or anything.
NOTES: Some of the lovely people who reviewed have asked for more, so here we go.
FEEDBACK: Always a pleasure
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was a week since the 'incident' as Trip had dubbed the poor behavioural display Reed had put on back on Ta Tem. As promised, he hadn't brought up the matter again, with anyone, but it was proving more and more difficult seeing as the tactical officer's conduct had grown increasingly disturbing, not to mention apparent.
Luckily - if that was the right word to use - no-one else had seemed to notice. Enterprise had been orbiting an inhabited ice planet for four days and the whole crew were excited. The inhabitants were a new species of aliens that humans had never before come into contact with (Though Vulcans had.)
The Enterprise was currently in en route to a planet inhabited by a species called the Jemti. Humans had never met with them but Vulcans had. T'Pol thought a visit to the planet was an unnecessary risk that could easily be avoided. The Jemti planet was in a system where an ongoing war was taking place - although not involving the Jemti.
Jonathon hadn't been able to quell his eagerness and decided they would go anyway. Besides, they probably wouldn't come into contact with the fighting aliens since the Jemti homeworld was a way away.
The other crew members were happy about the decision. They hadn't been anywhere for a week, not since the ship was docked at Ta Tem for repairs.
Hoshi had been studying the language of the Jemti and she was having a whale of a time. You couldn't pry her away from the language database even if you wanted to.
Enterprise would reach the planet in around half an hour. The bridge was relatively quiet. Captain Archer was in his room trying his best to get some sleep. This was probably a good thing seeing as Reed had just turned up for his shift late again.
"You're late again Lieutenant Reed." T'Pol said.
"Sorry Sub Commander, it won't happen again."
"That's what you said last time and you have yet to remedy the problem." She responded.
Reed shifted uncomfortably. Did she really have to bring this up in front of everyone? At least Captain Archer had the decency to talk away from the rest of the bridge crew. "I'm sorry." He repeated, not knowing what else to say, and not wanting to explain that he just didn't really want to be there.
"See that it doesn't happen again."
Reed nodded and looked around at the others, causing them to look away and pretend to do something else. Reed ignored it.
Around ten minutes went by before Mayweather furrowed his brow and said "Sub Commander, I'm detecting three alien vessels in the vicinity. They're headed right for us."
"Captain Archer, please come to the bridge." T'Pol called over the com link. The Jemti probably wouldn't come out this far since their ships weren't that advanced.
When Jon arrived T'Pol informed him of the ships. Naturally, he wanted to try and contact them. "Hail the lead ship." He asked Hoshi. She pressed a few buttons.
"No response."
"What about the other ships?"
After a moments silence, Hoshi said "They're not responding either Captain."
"Do you think they're hostile?" Jon asked T'Pol.
"If they are involved in the war, they will see us as intruders."
"And what if they're not? Hoshi, I wanna make sure they hear this." Sato nodded at the Captain's request.
"My name is Jonathon Archer onboard the Enterprise. We are on a mission of exploration. Please respond." He spoke in an even and controlled voice.
There was silence. "Sir, they're here." Mayweather said.
A ball of light shot from one of the three smaller ships. The crew saw it coming and Archer barely had time to shout 'Brace for impact!' before the ship was shaken violently. For such a small ship, they sure had superior fire power.
"Try hailing one more time." Hoshi acknowledged. "This is Enterprise, cease you attack or we will be forced to fire on you." He shouted, regaining his composure after stumbling during the hit.
The enemy ships fired simultaneously. "Evasive manoeuvres!" Archer shouted but there was no time to do anything.
"Hull breach on decks seven and eight...damn it! Sensors are out!" Mayweather shouted.
Trip's voice shouted over the com. "Bridge, what the hells going on?! We're takin' heavy damage down here!"
"We're on it Trip" Archer yelled back over the noise of explosions. He left the com link open.
"Reed, fire torpedoes, take them out." Archer ordered his Lieutenant.
The three ships were smaller and therefore more manoeuvrable. They had circled back and were coming in for another hit.
"Reed! What the hell are you doing?!? Fire now!"
Reed stared down blankly at the controls. Or at least they looked like the controls.....right now they resembled smudges of colour blending into one another. Something exploded behind him but this did little to break his trance.
Reed felt somebody push him out of the way. It was T'Pol. She pressed a sequence of buttons and Enterprise finally fired on her enemy. "Direct hit. Targets have ceased their attack and are moving away." She stated when the enemy ships fled.
Archer breathed in deeply. That was too close. "Trip." He called. The com link was still open and Trip had been listening to what was going on. Amongst all the chaos of trying to fix everything down in engineering and put out all the fires, he had been kicking himself for not talking to Reed sooner. But he never thought Malcolm would freeze in a battle.
"Sir" He acknowledged before his mind could carry on his train of thought.
"Damage report." The captain asked. His voice wavered over the bad link-up.
"It's pretty bad Sir, I don't think we'll be going anywhere any time soon." He shouted over the sound of the noise. "Two of my crew have been injured, they're on their way to sick bay now." Back on the bridge Archer only barely caught what Trip had said. The link-up was failing. "Warp nacelles are damaged, thrusters, sensors, everything's down."
A slight beep indicated that the link-up had failed. "And that includes communication." Trip sighed.
Archer got the gist of the situation. The whole ship was busted and two crew members - and probably a few more unreported - were injured. He turned Reed and spoke in a quiet but intensely threatening voice. "Reed, follow me"
It was only then that Reed looked the slightest bit focussed. He made eye contact with Archer and followed him out of the room. As did everyone else on the bridge with their gaze.
"What just happened in there?!" He shouted when he was sure they were out of earshot of anyone else. Though the level of his voice would probably carry right down to the planet below it was so loud.
Malcolm opened his mouth to reply but he couldn't think of anything to say. Archer had plenty. "When I give you an order, I expect you to follow it. Especially when we are in combat! You do not just stand there and allow my ship to be crippled. Now do you want to tell me just what you were doing back there?"
"I'm sorry Sir."
"Is that it? That's all you have to say?" Archer countered, astonished. There was silence. "Report to your quarters. Don't leave until I tell you, do you understand?" He warned, finally lowering his volume but not his temper.
Reed said nothing but instead turned away and walked in a hurried pace to his quarters. Archer watched his officer leave then set off for engineering.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trip was fusing two wires together that had melted during a fire when Captain Archer entered. "Cap'n" He addressed.
"Everything under control?" He asked, scanning the large room. People bustled everywhere. A couple of fires were being tackled, everyone looked extremely busy.
"More or less." Trip replied. Then, on seeing the look of uncertainty of the captains face, he added. "Nothing we can't handle."
Archer looked a little better but not much. Trip got up and opened a panel above his head and immersing his entire arm, pulled out something from inside. Out of concern, he decided to find out about Reed. "Say, uh, what went on with the delayed weapons fire?"
"Lieutenant Reed. I gave him a direct order, loud and clear. He just froze." The last sentence was said with more care.
Trip looked away.
"What is it with this crew and staring into nothingness?" Archer remarked. "Do you know something about Reed?" He asked, reading his friends reaction.
A moment's hesitation gave him his answer but Trip countered it. "No, nothin'."
Archer had acknowledged that something could be wrong with his tactical officer but prior to this moment, he'd been too angry to take it into account. "Trip, if there is something wrong, I need to know. Reed could have cost everyone's lives."
Trip's mind worked fast. Could he tell Archer about Ta Tem? Should he have done that in the first place? Truth was, if he came clean now, he'd be jeopardising his career as well as Reeds. Though he'd done a pretty good job of that already. A welcome excuse not to answer came along. "Sir, I need you help." Someone asked Trip.
"Uh, excuse me Cap'n." He mumbled.
"Trip." He asserted. The commander turned. "Why don't you go and talk to him. He's confined to quarters." He told him, and left without another word.
