TITLE: The Games - Conclusion -
SUMMARY: The prisoners have one last chance to escape.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything trek related blah blah blah
NOTES: Last chapter! Hope everyone's enjoyed, thanks for r & r-ing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Travis and T'Pol caught Archer when he was thrown into the cell. "Okay, we probably don't have long..." He began, out of breath.
"Sir, are you alright?" Travis asked.
"Fine, fine, look there's not much time. I stole this from Nolin's office." He said as he brought out the communicator. "Call Enterprise. I'll just be.....sitting over here...." The worn out Captain exhaled.
T'Pol checked that the guards were out of sight then held the communicator up. "T'Pol to Enterprise." She said in a hushed voice.
"Enterprise here. Are you alright Sub-Commander? What happened?" The familiar sound of Lieutenant Reed spoke. But T'Pol didn't have the chance to reply. Nolin came storming through the corridor like a bat out of hell and shot her with a phase pistol. Jon went to her side right away. *Still alive. Thank god.*
Then Nolin snatched the communicator back. "Do you think I'm an idiot?" He snapped. Jon thought it best not to answer that one. "What did you tell your ship? To destroy the entire planet or just my corner of it? I've had enough. You will ALL be executed for the games finale tonight! No fights, no winners or losers, just you four, DEAD" With that Nolin stormed off, the guards in tow.
"Well that could have gone better." Trip said. Archer knew he was using humour to refract all the panic Trip was in about his vision. He hated to think that on top of their impending deaths and their last chance having just been taken away, that Trip was dealing with the possibility of not getting his sight back.
"No kidding." Jon retorted, and tried to wake T'Pol.
"Is she alright?"
"She'll be fine, it was set on stun."
There was a moment of silence until Travis asked something that had been eating him. "So what's the plan?" He hadn't been on many away missions but the ones he had usually went wrong. But the risks were what made the job such a rush. To Travis, this was just another challenge.
Jon sighed. "I'm working on it."
"Captain..." A female voice whispered. But T'Pol was still unconscious. The others looked around.
"Katin?" Katin, the woman who led them into an ambush when they'd first arrived, emerged from the shadows. Archer hadn't expected to see her again. Thinking back he remembered Katin being in two minds about something. Obviously her conscience had gotten to her.
"You have to understand how sorry I am for leading you here...."
"Sorry?!" Trip suddenly broke. "I don't think sorry quite covers it!"
"Trip, she's come to help....." Jon said then looked back at Katin. "You are here to help aren't you?"
"Yes but I can only do so much. I can't get you out of here yet, but during the games tonight I'll create a distraction. If you can get out the building I'll be waiting to take you to your shuttle. I only ask that you take me with you."
"You have my word."
So the plan was set. Katin crept out without being noticed. Archer wondered what the 'distraction' she spoke of could be. It would have to be big enough to stop the games and that wouldn't be an easy task.
T'Pol, who'd been lying on the poor excuse for a bed, opened her eyes.
"How are you feeling?" Archer asked.
"Were you able to contact Enterprise?"
"Nolin crashed the party." Trip interjected.
"No." Archer clarified, then told her about the plan.
~~~~~~
That saying 'Time flies when you're having fun' would be more accurate as 'Time flies when you really don't want it to'. The shouts from the arena had been drifting to the cell for around an hour. The games were coming to a close. So far, no distraction from Katin.
"Maybe she changed her mind." T'Pol suggested.
"No she wouldn't do that, not now." Jon countered.
"Even so, it would not hurt to have a backup plan."
"Maybe, but I'm a little strapped for ideas right now."
Archer looked round at his crew. Mayweather looked like he was going to fall asleep at any second. He was the only one of the four that hadn't been in the arena and maybe this was for the best. Archer, Trip and T'Pol only barely survived. For a moment Jon wondered what the situation would be if anyone else from Enterprise had come along. He quickly dismissed the thought with a shudder. There was no use worrying about things that might have happened.
Things that were going happen - now there's what to worry about.
Archer started to wonder how Reed was handling things on Enterprise. After the brief communication from T'Pol he was bound to act.
Jon heard footsteps. They were coming and still no distraction. Katin was cutting it close. Or maybe T'Pol was right and she'd changed her mind. Either way the guards arrived and led the four to the arena.
The familiar screams and shouts greeted them as they reached the very centre of the floor and were forced to their knees.
"I wonder how they'll do it." Travis mused.
"They intend to kill us, I don't see the relevance in the methods they will use." T'Pol said.
"We're not dead yet." Archer told them. Everyone was being so pessimistic! There was still a chance Katin would come through. "Trip, how's your vision?"
"What does that matter?"
"Trip."
"I can only see blurs of colours." He replied.
At that point four different guards entered the arena. They looked more important than the others. They were carrying guns.
"What's goin on?" Trip asked Travis who was next to him.
"Four guards just came in with guns."
"Guns? That's a little low key, isn't it? You woulda thought they'd come up with somethin more special than that."
"Like what?"
"I don't know. I just always saw myself dying in some fantastic way, savin' the world or somethin'."
"Really? I don't plan on dying at all. So far so good."
Archer listened to the conversation in awe. The mere fact that they were having a conversation was amazing seeing as they were about to die. *Now who's the pessimist?*
The guards reached took formation ten feet away from each one of them. The crowd went quiet. Archer preferred the uproar to the silence that now shrouded the room. He glanced at Nolin in the stands. He was grinning like a madman and holding the microphone device. He held it to his mouth. The guards held their guns ready. All Archer was thinking was *I wonder why Katin changed her mind.* His eyes were fixed on Nolin. Before the man could speak, something amazing happened.
Through the silence a deafening noise erupted. The roof was caved in by a huge energy beam, which, unless Archer was hallucinating (Which was very possible), it was from the phase cannons on Enterprise.
The room exploded with screams, this time of terror. Debris showered from the caved in roof and people were scrambling over each other, no longer caring about the fate of the four 'outsiders'.
"I think we've got our distraction!" Jon bellowed over the incredible noise. "Come on!"
The four crewmen, acting on pure adrenaline (They were too astounded to be thinking), made a break for it with Archer guiding Trip towards the doors. With one last look at Nolin, they escaped.
The sunlight outside stopped them from seeing Katin it was so bright. It took a moment for their eyes to adjust. "Hey! Over here come on!" She shouted. "Your shuttle is this way."
People were flooding out of the arena shortly after them. Nolin was one of them, practically in a hysterical rage but in all the chaos he didn't see Archer and the others getting away. Looking into the sky Jon saw Enterprise in a low orbit. He'd never been happier to see anything.
The shuttle was just as they left it but it had been moved. It seemed Nolin hadn't decided what to do with it yet. Travis slipped into the pilot seat like he'd never been away and they took off.
"Archer to Enterprise, thanks for dropping in. We're on our way home."
"Good to hear your voice Sir. Is Katin with you?" Reed asked.
"Yes....." Jon replied, and turned to her. "You contacted Enterprise?"
"You needed a big distraction didn't you? I contacted your ship and your Lieutenant was more than happy to use your weapons to help."
"I'm sure he was." Trip laughed.
~~~~~~
Everyone on Enterprise was beaming when the away team finally came home and despite being battered and worn out, they were glad to be there too.
The four went straight to sick bay (Doctors orders). Archer insisted Trip be the first one checked over and Phlox obliged. Apparently his blindness was temporary caused by slight swelling of the brain due to head trauma. Trip had never been so relieved in his life, though he tried not to show it.
Archer was next, then T'Pol. Travis was the best off, though Phlox ordered everyone to rest for at least four days.
~~~~~~
"I'm glad none of you were too badly hurt. I can't apologise enough for taking you to that terrible man in the first place." Katin said. She was speaking from her families ship. They'd come to pick her up as soon as she contacted them. Now that Nolin was ruined, she could finally leave with her consciences in tact.
"You did the right thing in the end." Jon reassured.
"Thank you for taking me with you. I hope we meet again some day." Katin said and stepped onto her ship.
"Me too."
Katin disappeared from the screen and the ship went into warp. Jon sat in his chair which seemed like luxury after the cold floor of his previous reside.
"Next time someone invites me to a feast, shoot me."
END
