Two Hours Thirty Minutes Later…
The Vulcan crew had been transported aboard the Coalition ships as the Enterprise Battle Group had arrived on the scene, with the flight data recorder recovered and a copy downloaded into the Excalibur's main computer banks, the task of piecing together what had happened to the ship had begun as Sub-Commander Netaan had begun to work with Cortez and two engineers to slowly piece together the events. With much of the file corrupted and damaged almost beyond recovery, the task was to be a long and difficult one.
For the first time since, Captain Jonathon Archer, Commanders Tucker and T'Pol had beamed aboard the Excalibur, barely able to control himself, Commander Tucker had made his way down towards the engine room to examine the new design for himself while Archer and T'Pol had arrived on the bridge, smiling slightly Archer and his First Officer walked towards the newly promoted Captain Franks as he looked over the many displays in the situation room behind the bridge.
"Captain Franks, Commander T'Lana… impressive ship you have here"
"Welcome aboard sir" Franks smiled as he shook Archer's hand. "Where is Mister Tucker?"
"Engineering, he was excited about looking over your new engines"
"I bet he was" T'Lana laughed slightly.
Slowly a raised eyebrow crept over T'Pol's face as she heard the laughter coming from another Vulcan.
"I see you have experimented with emotions Commander T'Lana"
"More then that, You'd be surprised how much fun it can be to experiment once in awhile"
"Ladies, we have a job to do" Franks laughed.
"Of course, what have you discovered?" T'Pol said slowly.
"We've picked up three individual warp signatures… one of them is known to Starfleet"
"I assume that they are of Romulan origin?"
"Yes. Eight months ago, Starfleet got word of a Romulan ship making waves by attacking just about anything that wasn't Romulan. Best guess is this ship has tolled up an impressive thirty confirmed kills, officially we don't know it's name… but unofficially it's been codenamed…"
"The Black Heart" Archer sighed.
"Yes, Cortez and Netaan are working on the flight recorder now, it seems is if they used the other two ships to run interference while the Black Heart moved in for the kill. When they detected our approach and your fleet not far away they warped out"
"Can you track their warp signature?" Archer asked.
"I already have, this is what puzzles me… take a look"
Using the console before him, he called up a map of the sector.
"Each red dot represents an attack on Coalition forces over the past four weeks and the green dots are active ships on standard patrol, now watch what happens when I show the same map five weeks ago…"
On the screen to the left, a duplicate map appeared. The map was filled with blue dots scattered throughout the sector.
"Do you see? The fleet has broken up… it's leaving this system completely unprotected. I intend to take the Excalibur and any ships you can spare into this sector, something doesn't feel right to me"
"You think they are based in this one system?" Archer replied.
"It's possible, however this system is dead… a small four planet system orbiting a star at the end of it's life, it's become a red giant… the inner planets have been vaporised by the expanding star eons ago, the gas giants are having their atmosphere stripped away by solar winds… however records show one moon orbiting the outermost gas giant, it's barely class M and could support life, well almost"
"Alright, I'll authorise it… take Excalibur and scout that system. I can't spare any other ships at this time, get in… scan the system and get out as fast as you can"
"It'll take at least eight hours to get there at Warp six, Walsh has been working on a way to disperse our warp signature making us difficult to track"
"Excellent, remember one thing Franks, if possible try not to engage any ship unless fired upon first" Archer ordered.
"Aye sir, however I think that won't be a problem… if they have a fleet in that system…"
"I understand…" Smiling Archer pointed to one of the maps "… Meet us here, we'll have a little surprise waiting for them if they try to follow you" He smiled.
"Understood, well… you should find your engineer so we can get underway"
"Assuming he hasn't torn apart your warp core to look inside" Archer laughed.
"We'll send you the bill if he has, cash only… no check!" T'Lana smiled.
"No promises"
After a brief tour of the ship, Archer and T'Pol had left the Excalibur as Commander Tucker had requested to stay onboard as an observer while the fastest ship currently serving in Starfleet leapt into high warp beyond the capabilities of any Starfleet ship. Although the journey would take eight hours, the Captain of the ship had requested that both guests would join him and his first officer for dinner in the captain's mess later that evening.
"So Trip, what do you think of our little ship?" T'Lana smiled.
"Amazing, I'd love to get under the hood of this thing… I could spend a month crawling around inside her" He laughed.
"I bet you could" She replied. "Walsh was very impressed with your questions about the new engine, he helped design it"
"He told me, many times"
"He does seem to droll on a lot more then normal" Franks smiled as he sipped on his drink. "So, I understand that Enterprise has one of the best chefs in Starfleet… I'm not sure how we'll compare… she was assigned after our last… mission"
"If you can call it that" T'Lana mumbled.
"This is fine, it's been a long time since I had… what is this?"
"No idea… and you're not very good at lying" Franks laughed. "Sub-Commander, how's the leg?"
"It should be healed within a few weeks, you physician is most impressive"
The look on the Vulcan's face told them everything they needed to know as he took his first small bite of his meal and placed his fork down with respect.
"I think next time we're on Earth, I'll ask for a new chef" Franks laughed.
"Where the hell did she come from?" Trip sighed as he placed his fork down.
"No idea, I think it was Command's idea of a joke. Forget this, I've got a bottle of scotch hidden in my cabin, who's up for a drink?" He winked.
"Ohh, you can count me in" The engineer smiled.
"Me too" T'Lana winked.
"Vulcans do not drink Alcohol… however, I feel a taste test may be in order" Netaan nodded slightly.
Ten minutes later, the four officers had assembled in the cabin of the Captain as he pulled a small panel off the wall, reached inside and pulled out a large and dirty full bottle of whiskey. Smiling slightly too himself he replaced the panel before stepping down from a chair he was stood on.
"My mother bought this bottle before I was born, we where meant to share it on the day I joined the Marine Corps… that didn't work out of course"
Slowly he handed the large bottle to the Enterprise's engineer, as he examined it a date could be seen on the old style label.
"Bottled 04-05-78, 2078 Good year!"
"No Trip, that's 1978" Franks laughed.
"1978... Franks, this is over 170 years old" He said in shock.
"I believe that Netaan is that old. Don't get any on your uniform… it may stain" He laughed.
Opening the ancient bottle, Franks took a short small of the aroma, smiling slightly he poured out four drinks and handed them too each of his companions before he spoke.
"To the G'Kar, she was a fine ship, with a fine crew" He toasted.
"To the G'Kar" They said in unison.
Taking a short sip, Trip smiled slightly as the warming liquid moved down his throat forcing a slight cough as he sat down with a look of content on his face.
"An interesting experience. And I am younger then this drink by ten earth years" Netaan said as he took a second sip.
"Well I'll be damned, was that a joke sir?" Trip smiled.
"Perhaps" The Vulcan nodded. "Captain, you mentioned about the Marines, why did you not join?"
"Alright, screw it…" Franks sighed. "… My dad was a Gunnery Sergeant with the MACOs, since I was a child he trained me in everything I needed to join. Weapons, explosives, piloting even a few alien languages. From an early age it was agreed that I would follow in his footsteps, but I had other ideas… I wanted to join Starfleet, when I joined he disowned me. Near the end of my final year at the Academy, my mother passed away, I hadn't spoken to him for… awhile"
"Do Humans often disown their children?" Netaan said with interest.
"No, my… Father, is an ass. He saw my joining Starfleet as a personal insult against him. He wasn't even at my graduation, only my sister and her fiancé"
"That was fun" T'Lana smiled.
"I see, Commander Tucker. I understand that you had a relationship with Commander T'Pol, was it difficult…"
"Why the questions?" Trip barked.
"I am merely… interested, it is a matter of biological fact that a Human and Vulcan are very different species"
"We're not so different" T'Lana smiled.
"Ahh yes, if memory serves. Both yourself and Captain Franks here where once considered… what is the human word for it… 'An Item?'
A look of shock ran over the face of the Engineer as he looked back and forward between the two officers. He remembered that once during the Xindi mission, Enterprise had encountered a second version of itself, during which he and T'Pol had a married and had a child, he also remembered the child Enterprise had encountered a year later sharing the DNA of both himself and T'Pol.
"What? You two?"
"That was a few years ago…" T'Lana blushed. "… we are merely good friends now"
"Wow, I made a Vulcan blush!" He laughed.
"Yep, she always goes that cute tint of green. So trip, I assume you haven't stolen any of our secrets?" He laughed.
"Ohh, I have a few ideas for Enterprise. What are your plans for this Romulan ship?"
Laughing slightly, he took another sip of his powerful drink before he placed it down on the floor before him as he spoke.
"Cripple her, board her and take the ship back to Earth"
"What about the crew?" Netaan asked.
"Depends if they put up a fight. That cloak of theirs could be of enormous value to Starfleet. Imagine a fleet of ships all equipped with a Cloak…"
"We'd have the tactical advantage against the Romulans. I assume you intend to share the Cloak with the Coalition?" Tucker smiled.
"Of course, but in the end… that would be Starfleet's choice. But, I think we make a copy of the technical details for our allies"
"The Database would be of enormous value to the Coalition Captain Franks" Netaan replied.
"Captain Archer's orders are clear…" Tucker sighed.
"I know, don't shoot unless they do. Excalibur can handle a Romulan ship… A ship I intend to give to Starfleet, can I rely on you to help?"
"I'll do what I can to help" He nodded.
"Well then, I guess all that is left is too…"
Before he completed his sentence, a voice crackled over the intercom speakers.
"Bridge to Captain Franks, we are receiving a message from the Enterprise"
"Never gives you a moment does it?" Trip laughed.
"You noticed that…"
Slowly Franks stood and walked towards the nearest intercom unit and activated it before he spoke.
"Franks here… go ahead"
"Sorry to disturb you sir, Captain Archer is ordering us to hold position and await further orders"
"What? How long before we reach the target?"
"Less then two hours sir" The coms officer replied
"Did he give any reason?"
"No sir, just to hold position and await further instructions"
"Trip?" Franks said quickly.
"Archer knows what's going on, he wouldn't order a full stop mid-warp without a good reason" He said quickly.
"Did he give any reason why?" Franks said slowly.
"No sir, we're just to hold position and await instructions"
"Damn it. We're on our way. Franks out. Alright, lets see what is going on"
Franks knew that drinking before a dangerous mission wasn't exactly standard procedure, however he needed to relax before the mission and clear his head. With a true hero of Starfleet onboard he felt that something had to be done to show off his new ship to the commander and his old Vulcan friend. Without taking another sip of his ancient drink he left his quarters, quickly followed by the others as he made his way towards the bridge. Upon entering he looked around as the nightshift had begun to give way to the almost exhausted command crew of the ship.
"What the hell is going on?" He barked.
"No idea sir, we're dangerously close to the target"
"Alright, shut down all none essential power… lets make like a hole in space until we figure this out. You science guy…"
"Ensign Anderson sir" She smiled.
"Very well, Anderson… prep a long range probe and launch it into the target system…"
"Sir, that goes against Captain Archer's orders" She replied nervously.
"I don't give a crap! Launch the drone. I want eyes in that system. Trip… do me a favour, man the engineering console, I could use your expertise on this"
"Of course" He smiled.
"Bridge to engineering, we're about to go dark. Walsh, I got Tucker up here… keep him updated"
"Aye sir" The Chief Engineer replied.
"Drone prepped and way sir"
"Rigging for silent running" Trip smiled.
"Alright, lets make like a hole in space… I want complete silence until authorised. Hands off consoles people, any signal the Romulans will find it, if they're out there"
