Chapter Seven

Come What May

Christopher Pike watched the young doctor leave and leaned back in his chair, tired of keeping up his appearance of good health. He closed his eyes briefly and sighed as he tried to ignore the ache that seemed to manifest itself in every joint in his body. He got one full minute to himself before the doorbell chimed again. The captain blinked heavy eyelids open and straightened in his chair, a half-smile present on his lips as he let his visitor inside. "Come," he said.

"Captain," Spock acknowledged as he stepped into the room closely followed by his sister.

"Doctor Culber said you were allowed back on light duties," Michael informed softly with a faint yet warm smile.

Pike nodded as he mentioned for them to take a seat opposite him. "Apparently the good doctor thought I was only well enough to talk," he said with a smirk as he leaned forward and placed his elbows on the desk.

"With all due respect, captain, you looked pretty out of it yesterday," Michael stated.

"Let's talk about something else," Pike managed.

Although the captain's voice was kind and smooth there was something in it that cautioned her not to bring up the subject again. She filed it away for later consideration, for now she would simply accept that he didn't like to show vulnerability in front of the crew.

"Very well," Spock said. "Have you had time to study the report concerning the scanner and camera array onboard the Discovery?"

Pike frowned and then shook his head. "I'm sorry, Spock, I wasn't aware there was a problem onboard the ship," he said seriously as a shiver went through his body which, unfortunately, didn't go unnoticed by his science officer.

Spock arched an eyebrow. "Are you cold, captain?" he asked in an even voice, although, someone used to the nuances in the tone could easily pick up a slight concern.

Pike managed to look somewhat surprised. "No," he replied.

"Captain," the Vulcan began. "The temperature in this room is ideal for a human, unless you're feeling unwell I see no reason-"

Pike held up his hand to stall him. "I can assure you that Doctor Culber ran every possible test this morning before he certified me fit for duty."

"Light duty," Michael corrected.

Chris looked from Spock to Michael and then back again. "You do have some annoying similarities," he remarked softly.

"As you may recall, the signal was lost during your away mission," Spock said. "Michael thought it was a malfunction."

"Yes, although I had a run in with Bryce on my way here and he told me there was another black-out later when the mission was over and that it had been ruled out as a distortion from something on the planet," Pike explained.

"That is partly correct," Spock replied succinctly. "How do you want to proceed with this matter?"

"Because of our little mishap we didn't have time to do a complete survey and even if we had, I'd still recommend that we send down another landing party," he said.

"Do you believe we'll find the red signal on the planet?" Michael asked curiously.

Pike looked from brother to sister. "I don't know, commander, but I think it's worth a try. Whatever is down there brought us here for a reason."

"That's the thing," Michael said. "There is nothing down there. The sphere data mentioned a long lost civilization. No one knows what happened to them."

"It is not likely that there are any survivors from whatever caused the population to decrease in numbers. Further analysis is required but there is a possibility that all life was extinguished. The theory is supported by the fact that we haven't been able to pick up a single life-sign," Spock reasoned.

Pike stiffened in his chair, Commander Saru's voice echoing at the back of his mind. "I'm reading multiple biosigns, captain. However, I don't think they're humanoids."

"Captain?"

Pike looked up to see two concerned faces studying him. He groaned inwardly as he realized he'd zoned out for a moment. He settled for a casual frown. "Yes?"

"Are you sure you are feeling all right?" Spock asked.

Deciding to wave away the concern directed at him Pike got out of his chair and began to walk around the table without as much as a hint of pain or sickness and motioned for them to follow him out of the room. He stopped at the closest wall-mouthed intercom and pushed the button. "This is the captain. Commander Nhan, Commander Saru and Commander Reno join me in conference room two in ten minutes," he informed over the ship-wide channel.

OOOOOO

Ensign Tilly glanced up from the medical board she was currently studying and frowned while watching the loud-speaker situated just below the ceiling to her right.

"Isn't the medical board interesting enough?" Doctor Pollard asked with a smirk.

Tilly turned to her dumbfounded and then kicked into gear. "What? No-I mean of course it is. It's just that I got distracted by the captain's voice," she explained. "Isn't he supposed to rest?"

"Sitting in a conference room shouldn't be that taxing," Tracy replied amusedly. "Unless he keep at it the whole day."

"Somehow I can picture him doing just that," Tilly blurted truthfully.

Tracy leaned in toward her. "Then we'll go and get him out of there," she replied somewhat impishly.

Tilly chuckled, pleasantly surprised to see that light and soft side of the usually so stern doctor. Pollard always told her what to do and not to do in a no nonsense tone of voice every time she woke up in sickbay but she supposed that was different now when they were colleagues, not doctor and patient.

"You have exactly one hour before the debriefing starts," the doctor added.

Tilly excitedly picked up a medical tricorder to complete her examination of the faked injury of her hand she was currently working on. "So we are going down to the planet's surface then?" she asked brightly.

Tracy nodded. "All of the CPT participants and a few extras will beam down with Doctor Culber. He's going to fill the position as attending medical officer on site. A bunch of security officers and engineers will get to play injured and your coordination officer for the day will be Commander Saru," she explained.

"But I thought Commander Saru was injured?" Tilly asked in surprise.

Tracy made a face. "As long as he's not doing anything strenuous, tripping over rots or chasing the lot of you I don't see any reason for him to be kept onboard ship. The injury is healing fast and can be seen as equal to a sprain at the moment."

"Doesn't the injury protocol state-" Tilly began as she turned to the medical board once again.

"You have been reading up," she commended jovially. "A word of caution. Sometimes you have to be the judge. Is the person taking your advice seriously, can the person be trusted to rest when told to do so etcetera etcetera. A protocol is a protocol, Ensign Tilly. It's a good thing to lean back on and it comes with good advices but it doesn't work in the real world. For example, I'm sure Captain Pike is aware of every flight pattern available to him but he has to choose the order in which to deploy them when facing an enemy. The point is that the protocol isn't a living thing, it's unchangeable even though the situation might be shifting into a new scenario."

She nodded. "I definitely see what you mean," Tilly said.

OOOOOO

"As you all know, the last away mission was not completed," Pike said seriously as he glanced around the table. "Partly due to disturbance from the planet's atmosphere Discovery's sensors went off-line during the mission and sometime afterwards. What we tried has never been done before and it's likely that the constant use of the camera array burned out the sensors."

Reno nodded as she leaned forward in her chair. "The camera array was never meant to take snapshots in short sequences over long periods of time. The video feed is set for open channel display, sound and picture, for thirty minutes optimum. That fact and the, at the moment, unknown disturbance from the planet caused overheating in the array," she explained and then shrugged. "Whoever came up with that crazy idea in the first place?"

Spock arched an eyebrow but it was Saru who provided the answer.

"I believe it was Ensign Tilly who suggested that as a mean of extra security," he replied.

"Do you believe it is one of the red signals, captain?" Nhan spoke up curiously.

Pike turned to her. "I do admit that I find it a bit odd to have sphere data on it but it's similar to the rest of the red signals that have appeared in the sky," he answered.

"I agree with the captain," Spock said seriously. "We have no reason to believe that it is not one of the red signals."

Saru nodded. "It appeared to us for a reason, like the rest of the signals that we have encountered. It might be that this is actually the origin of the red signals," he theorized.

"Then it might be set for automatic, like the one Jacob had rigged on Terralysium," Michael suggested.

"Let's find that out," Pike said. "Commander Nhan, Lieutenant Spock and Commander Reno. I want you to form a team and head down to the planet as soon as you're ready."

A chorus of 'Yes, sir,' could be heard as they got out of their chairs.

"What do you expect us to find?" Reno asked curiously.

"If it is an automated signal," Pike began foxily. "I want you to track it down, figure it out, take it offline and report back to me."

Jett broke into a grin, always up for a challenge. "No problem, captain," she assured him confidently.

"Spock," Pike called. "I want you to scan everything down there, record as much as possible and feed it into the memory banks, that way we can ran the data through the sphere archive as well."

"Yes, captain," he acknowledged.

"Nhan," the captain said, his lips curling upwards cunningly. "I don't need to tell you what to do down there. You keep them safe and sound."

She nodded with a cunning smile of her own and headed for the door.

Saru lingered in the conference room as the rest of them filed out. Pike leaned back in his chair and looked at his Kelpien XO. "Something on your mind, Mr. Saru?" he asked curiously.

He looked uncomfortable for a moment and then leaned forward in his chair, two seats opposite the captain. "I was wondering,- back on the planet, did you see or hear anything?" he asked carefully.

Pike leaned forward, looking haunted for a moment but then shook his head. "I don't know," he finally said. "I'd say there was something or someone down there but I can't explain it."

Saru managed to look both sheepish and hopeful at the same time.

"You said there where life-life signs but I don't recall reading that in your report," he added seriously.

The Kelpien sighed dejectedly. "I think you should know, captain, that I thought I was reading multiple life-signs but when I looked again they had vanished. When we got back I asked for Doctor Pollard to perform a scan for hallucinogens in my system but she found none. In the end I filed it away as vivid imagination."

"I heard a murmur of voices," Pike offered, his eyes distant as he spoke. "I couldn't make out what they said and I didn't see anyone."

"I-" Saru began hesitantly, regrettably even, "-I saw them."

Pike snapped out of it and turned to face his XO, his eyes narrowing. "I thought you said you imagined it?" he said seriously.

"They were semi-transparent, like a hologram of some kind, they gave me-" he paused and searched for the right words. – "as to phrase Ensign Tilly - the creeps."

Pike's lips curled upwards in amusement despite the seriousness.

"I have a confession to make, captain," Saru said sounding weary all of a sudden. "I didn't trip on a root, well, I might have but the point is I tripped on it because those people appeared out of nowhere right in front of me."

Pike clasped his hands together in front of him as he pursed his lips into a thin line of displeasure. "You do realize that based on your recommendation I let Doctor Pollard go ahead with the medical field day," he said.

Saru had the decency to look away for a moment, staring off into space through the window behind his commanding officer.

"It isn't like you to throw caution into the wind, Saru," Pike said softly yet there was a note of warning in his voice.

"There is nothing to circumstantiate the theory that anything is alive back there. Nothing at all," Saru replied hollowly. "I cannot recommend the medical department to stay away from something that may or may not be dangerous without backing it up."

Pike sighed as he leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes and ran a hand over his forehead.

The Kelpien frowned as he took a moment to study the captain. Pike appeared paler than usual, his temper shorter than normal and the twinkle missing from his blue eyes. If Saru didn't know any better he'd say the captain was ill. He shook his head in disbelief, there had to be something else going on. Doctor Culber would never have agreed for Pike to return to any kind of duty if that was the case.

"You're right, Saru," Pike finally said with a half-smile that was far from reassuring. "Will you be overseeing the exercise or have the good Doctor Pollard restrained you to report writing?"

Saru broke into a sheepish grin as a genuine smile now creased the captain's lips. "I will personally see to it, sir, and while the medical practice takes place I'll take a moment for looksee and see if I can bring some clarity to what I thought I saw."

"Sounds good," Pike mused softly. "But don't stray away on your own, take a security team with you."

Saru motioned for the door. "Are you coming?"

Pike held up his hand. "In a moment, I'll meet you on the bridge. I have a few things to sign. I might as well do that first," he reasoned, trying to keep the eagerness for his XO to leave the room out of his voice.

"Very well, sir," the Kelpien replied as he stepped out in the corridor.

Pike sagged in his chair, his eyes turning into slits. "Go away," he whispered as he felt a petite hand on his shoulder.

"Chris," Vina whispered softly. "You must help us."

OOOOOO

To be continued

A/N: I wish I could reply to all the guests too. You should know that I value all the feedback I get. You inspire me to write more ;)