I'm shortening the time period in which this story takes place to in between "Judgment" and "The Expanse". I know, I said there would be spoilers for the 1st and 2nd season, but I might slip up and write about something from a later season. Not the actual events, just character details that come to light, i.e. in "Affliction" and "Divergence".
THE RING- CHAPTER TWO
Malcolm climbed the ladder up to A–deck and slipped out into the small room housing sensors. Not the hallway he wanted, but it was close enough. He could still hear what was taking place on the other side of the door. From the sound of it, the last of the bridge crew was being hustled off in the turbolift. He wanted to storm on to the bridge and stop these intruders, but his tactical mind knew that he would be overpowered and end up in the same boat as the rest of the crew. No, he had to get in contact with the captain, and probably Müller as well, to organize a plan for the retaking of Enterprise.
Knowing there was nothing else he could do from this position, he hurried back down the access tube, this time descending almost three decks. Just before he came to the opening in the tube on to D-deck, he opened a door in the side that went into the crawlspaces above the deck. There were a few out-of-the-way computer consoles tucked away up here that he could use.
Calling upon his hacking skills, he broke into the main computer. He accessed the internal sensors and pulled up a map of Enterprise. On a normal day, he should have read 81 human biosigns, a Vulcan, a Denobulan, a canine and an assortment of other signs emanating from Phlox's menagerie. Now, he read all of those biosigns and fifteen Klingons. Only fifteen? In spite of himself, Malcolm felt a little disappointed in his crew. To be completely crippled by only fifteen Klingons! Anyway, back to business.
The Klingons were confining the crew to quarters, but not all of them: four humans, a Vulcan and a Denobulan were being escorted toward the Cargo Bays. That'll be the rest of the command crew, he surmised. If he could sneak down there, maybe get in contact with the captain, he would have a clearer picture of how to begin his rescue plan. Before leaving, he checked the map again. Now they were in Cargo Bay Two and all but one of the Klingons were standing on the other side of the door, or walking away from it. The six people he was more concerned about were in the corner furthest from said door. Right next to a vent, Malcolm realized he smiled grimly.
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Glancing out of a higher-up vent than the one he really wanted, Malcolm saw this was going to be a lot harder than he had previously anticipated. From his vantage point, he observed that there was not much of a way to talk to the captain, or to any one of the hostages for that matter, without being discovered. About to move on, the conversation below caught his attention. The one Klingon left in the room, presumably the leader of the boarding party, said something in his own language. Hoshi immediately translated.
"He says that he's capturing you to collect the price."
Archer looked up. "Price?"
"You most likely earned a bounty after your escape from Rura Penthe," T'Pol clarified in her usual, unflappable manner. She may have continued if the Klingon who was speaking had not glared at her.
The Klingon possibly realized how fruitless this confrontation was without both parties being able to understand Klingonese, so he pulled a device out of his pocket and switched it on. It took a moment but the UT, as it was, caught on to his speech and began to translate. "– prisoners of the Klingon Empire. With the exception of Archer, you will be sent with a trade delegation to an Orion processing station." The tall alien glared at the group. "However–"
"Captain Kramur!" The UT picked up on another Klingon's voice as he entered the bay. "One of the crewmembers is unaccounted for: the security officer Reed."
The Klingon captain switched off the UT and angrily strolled toward the other one, talking in an increasingly loud voice. He apparently was berating the offending subordinate and sent him double-timing out of the room. Kramur rounded on the hostages and turned the UT back on.
"Where is he?"
Archer remained unperturbed. "I don't know." He was backhanded in the face for that, and nearly knocked over by the force of it. He only remained standing when Trip and Travis caught him from behind.
"Answer the question, human! Where is your security officer?!" Archer kept silent. Kramur did not strike him again. Instead, he backed up a little and continued talking. "We will look for him on our own, but if he is not found soon, I will question each of you, starting with you," he said with a leer to Hoshi, who gave him a drop-dead glower in return.
I'm going to make you live to eat those words, Malcolm thought ferociously at the filth. Of all the crewmembers on board Enterprise, he was the most protective of Hoshi.
The Klingon captain moved off into a corner where he continued to ogle Hoshi furtively. She threw another scowl and stepped behind Archer. The proverbial saying 'if looks could kill' did not begin to express the positively lethal glare he was giving the Klingon. With that, Malcolm continued to make his way down to the vent he had been trying to reach all along. He knew he was moving along nearly silently, but T'Pol's sensitive hearing picked up on him. She was looking directly at the grate when he came into view. However, she did not look at him. Oh yes, she was looking at the vent, but it was as if she could not see him.
The ring, he thought with a grimace. But he could not take it off, for at that moment two Klingons enter the Cargo Bay, speaking one over the other. Kramur called for silence. "Talk, Mortaag."
"We accessed internal sensors. They show that the missing human is somewhere in this room." Archer and Malcolm alike flinched a little at this. How could I be so stupid, Malcolm berated himself. He might be invisible to the naked eye, but not to technology!
The Klingon captain snatched a hand scanner from Mortaag's belt and turned it on. He began to home in on Malcolm's location, his subordinates following him with their disruptors out and trained on the group. As he approached, the hostages moved aside, the males placing Hoshi and T'Pol behind themselves. Kramur knelt to peer through the grate. He looked directly at Malcolm, then glanced to the left and right of him. Malcolm could practically see the Klingon's thought processes working behind that thickly-ridged skull: he could not understand how both the ship's sensors, and his own handheld sensor, registered another human when it was obvious that there was not one.
He stood and stepped closer to Archer. "I will make good on my promise to question you." He motioned to the two behind him and they forward as well. "You," he barked at Hoshi, who stood behind Phlox and Trip. "Come with me!"
"No." All Denobulans, Vulcans, and visible humans present, spoke with utter and finality. Kramur raised a hand to swat the doctor and chief engineer out of his way when Archer spoke alone.
"Wait. I'll go with you quietly if you let the rest of my crew go." Kramur sneered down at him.
"I'll take you whether you go quietly or not." At that point, Malcolm could not stand it any longer. He kicked the vent open. While the group near him stared at the grate that had flown off its hinges of its own accord apparently, he scuttled out of the hole and away from them. A good thing too, for they all took it as a signal to begin beating the Klingons up.
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I know, another short chapter, but I'm out of time, so I'll let you all chew on this for a bit while I write the next one. Hopefully it won't be more than three or four updates longer, but I really don't know where this plot bunny is taking me.