Warning: coarse language ahead

Chapter 10

The feeling of cold, unimaginable cold, followed by pain. Shocking, oppressive pain was the only thing Lieutenant Reed's body registered as he felt himself slip further into the darkness. He was unable to move his limbs as they seemed strangely detached as though they no longer belonged to his body. This is how I die, he thought. It was not as frightening as he once believed. Drowning, as it appeared, was really fairly simple. It was living that was tough, and somehow in that moment, it was the more difficult choice as falling deeper into the frozen darkness was almost blissful as he lost all sensation in his body.

But, suddenly, in the back of Reed's mind he remembered that T'Pol had fallen too, and was somewhere in here, wherever this was, in the freezing blackness. Reed found himself struggling to move, to regain some control. But for every labored stroke, every fruitless kick of his legs, his lungs soon began to burn, and he knew he was close to the end. With one final effort, one he was unsure he would survive, he kicked his legs as hard as he could and, miraculously, he reached the surface and drew breath.

Sucking in deeply, he began breathing quickly, almost to the point of hyperventilation, as the freezing water seemed to suck the air out of his lungs. Frantically splashing around, he could not see T'Pol. He was unaware that at that moment T'Pol was sinking like a stone. Her Vulcan body was designed to withstand a planet with nearly three times the gravity of Earth, so naturally her bone density was nearly three times that of a Human. Such density made swimming a rather laborious task for any Vulcan under the best of conditions, but under these it made it nearly impossible. Still T'Pol struggled and fought as she sank for she was not one to give up, but she soon found herself growing weary. As she drifted down further still, she found herself losing hope in the deafening silence. Perhaps it had been out of instinct or out of love, but she found herself involuntarily calling out to her mate in a last good-bye as she closed her eyes. To her surprise it was not Koss's name on her lips, but Commander Tucker's. Trip!

Her thoughts flew to him as she began struggling with renewed urgency against the blackness when suddenly she heard him. She heard Trip call her name. T'Pol! She knew it was impossible, and it was beyond illogical, but she was sure she had heard him, at least in her mind. The thought of Trip, and the desire see him again was enough for T'Pol to find the strength she needed to fight to swim upwards. Clawing furiously against the freezing blackness, her vision beginning to dim, she finally breached the surface. Sputtering and heaving, she turned and saw Lieutenant Reed fighting to stay afloat nearby in the water, and the two of them bobbed unsteadily, gasping for air as the others scrambled to rescue them.

"I need rope! Or a pole. Something!" Corporal Diaz bellowed as Lieutenant Talas scrambled back into the shuttle to fetch what he asked for. Corporal Carr had already sprinted across the ice and launched herself, belly first, onto the frozen surface sliding toward the hole in an effort to distribute her weight. The ice beneath her groaned, but did no more than that and she silently prayed that it would hold. She was not exactly sure how the ice had collapsed beneath them, her best guess was that perhaps there had been thin spot caused by an air pocket, but the how of it no longer seemed to matter as Lieutenant Reed's and Commander T'Pol's lives were moved to the forefront of her thoughts.

She could see T'Pol bobbing, her arms reaching out, pawing in vain, for the slippery edge as Aries slid closer. When she reached the edge of the hole the Corporal stuck out gloved hands as she tried to grab T'Pol, however the effort proved futile. Her gripped slipped, and T'Pol was plunged under the water momentarily before returning again to the surface, gasping. Aries then tore off her gloves, and reached again for T'Pol's hands, and finally interlaced their fingers. With all her strength she pulled the Commander to the edge. Corporal Carr tried desperately to drag her out of the water, but she was too heavy and T'Pol was too weak to be of help. Aries, unable to do anything, held on tightly. She felt with every passing minute T'Pol growing wearier as her grip on Aries fingers slackened.

"We are going to get you out of there. Just hold on," implored Aries staring at T'Pol. The Commander had grown on her over their many weeks spent together sparring. Even despite her insufferable snoring, Aries had come to consider them friends. T'Pol, unable to speak as the shock of the cold had rendered her speechless, only stared back at her, her lips an unnatural dark green, no doubt from the cold, though she seemed to understand. Lieutenant Reed on the other hand was clearly growing ever weaker as he was barely able to keep his head above the water and began alternately bobbing and sinking and then bobbing and sinking again below the surface.

"C'mon guys! The Lieutenant is not doing too hot over here," yelled Aries. Suddenly, Reed's head dipped below the surface once more, but this time it did not come back up. Aries stared at the water as she held onto T'Pol distraught that while she was helping one she was failing the other. Just then Corporal Diaz returned with a length of rope along with Thelin. They both slid across the ice on their stomachs, and with the added weight of more people, the ice below them creaked perilously.

"Uh, that doesn't sound good," Corporal Diaz shouted as he and the Andorian slid toward the opening.

"Reed just went under!" screamed Aries, turning to look at them. Thelin seemed to be the only one to hear her, and before she could protest further the Andorian slid antennae first into the water. Aries stared horrified after him, a part of her wondering if he meant to dive into the water or if he had terrifically miscalculated his slide.

"What the fuck!" said Corporal Diaz staring after him, equally shocked. "Is he fucking crazy?"

"Help him!"

"What do you want me to do? Jump in after him?" Aries and Apollo stared into the hole at the surface of the water. It lapped quietly, the inky blackness affirming their worst fears. For a moment, they just stared unable to make sense of what just happened, but then, without warning, Thelin returned to the surface, gasping, with Lieutenant Reed. He swam to the side and pushed Reed over to the edge. Apollo grabbed Reed under his arms and dragged him out of the water. By then Corporal Romero and Lieutenant Talas had joined them.

"Romero, help me get T'Pol," said Aries. Romero slid over and grabbed T'Pol under the arms and the two of them dragged the Vulcan out of the water and scrambled across the ice to a safe distance from the opening as Talas helped Thelin out of the water.

"Damn, she's heavier than I thought," said Romero. Aries moved to turn T'Pol over when she saw Apollo at a distance crouching over Lieutenant Reed, his ear to his mouth, listening for breath sounds.

"Uh, he's not breathing," called Apollo. Lieutenant Talas then rushed to his side, and nearly knocked Apollo over.

"Get out of the way," said Talas as she moved to crouch over the unconscious Reed. Without hesitation blue lips sought pink as she began trying to resuscitate Lieutenant Reed. The others could only stare, half in fear that it was too late for the Lieutenant, half in shock that the Andorian seemed to know how to perform CPR on a Human, granted her knowledge of the current procedure was rather dated. Earth had done away with the rescue breathing portion long ago as it was deemed no more effective than chest compressions alone, and yet Talas continued alternating between giving him breaths, her mouth against his, and pumping his chest.

Talas continued her task, and as she lowered her lips to Reed's once more he suddenly sputtered and coughed spewing up a rather copious amount of water, and the Andorian sat back, antennae straightening, as she exhaled a breath of relief. Lieutenant Reed stared up at her for a moment clearly confused by the situation, but eventually spoke.

"T'Pol!" he hissed, almost frantically, as he seemed to remember what had happened.

"She's alright. They got her out as well," said Lieutenant Talas indicating in the direction of where they had dragged T'Pol. Malcolm seemed to relax briefly before starting to shiver uncontrollably.

"You do know they did away with mouth to mouth resuscitation quite a bit ago," Reed said stumbling on the word resuscitation as he looked up at Talas, teeth chattering.

"Not on Andoria," said Talas, venturing a small smile. "Here we need to get you up before you freeze to death," she said. Corporal Romero ran over to help Talas get Lieutenant Reed standing as they made their way to the shuttle. Thelin, still dripping, made his way toward Aries who had managed to flip T'Pol over in the snow. It appeared that T'Pol had lost consciousness, and when Aries turned to look down at her face she gasped. The face she was staring at was not T'Pol's, but Helen's.

"Helen," she yelped, barely able to keep her voice from sounding like a strangled cry, as she fell back on her behind as she struggled to back away from her, slipping on the ice. Corporal Carr looked pale and was breathing hard as Thelin stared at her. Corporal Diaz appeared a moment later, and frowned at Aries.

"What the hell happened, Carr?" Aries tore her gaze away from Helen's face, and looked up at Apollo unable to speak. But when she looked back down, Helen's face had disappeared, and she found herself staring at T'Pol again.

"I – I don't know. Nothing," she finally managed.

"Never mind, help me get her up," he said reaching for T'Pol. Aries scrambled to stand and the three of them carried the Commander back to the shuttle.

Once inside, they made quick work of undressing both Lieutenant Reed and Commander T'Pol, and began drying them and then covering them in Mylar blankets. Lieutenant Reed seemed to be coming round, however T'Pol continued to slip in and out of consciousness.

Thelin returned to the front of the shuttle having changed out of his wet garments, and into fresh Andorian leathers, and he crouched down next to Lieutenant Reed who was watching T'Pol. She was tossing her head back and forth, and mumbling incoherently.

"She's badly chilled. And she's Vulcan so she's probably the least tolerant of the cold out of all of us," said Aries.

"She's probably hypothermic," said Corporal Romero.

"Yeah, well I'm no doctor, but I think we need to get her back to the Kumari," said Apollo looking around at the others. Suddenly, T'Pol's hand shot up and grabbed Aries by the neck. Corporal Carr began to choke and turn red and she clawed at T'Pol's hand around her neck trying to peel back her fingers. Lieutenant Talas and Corporal Diaz moved forward with lightning speed to release the Vulcan's vice like grip of the Corporal's neck.

"NO!" T'Pol growled. "You have to get the supplies. For Trip–" She croaked as her gripped slackened and Aries fell to the ground coughing and gasping. Her eyes were watering as she rubbed her neck.

"Fucking Christ!"

"You okay?" asked Lieutenant Talas.

"What do you think?" asked Aries angrily, and Talas's antennae flattened on her head.

"You see you can never trust a Vulcan," she said. "When will you Pink-skins learn?" They stared at T'Pol who had lost consciousness again, and Lieutenant Reed cleared his throat.

"She's right though, you know," Reed said. "We still have to get the supplies otherwise everyone on the Columbia is as good as dead not to mention Commander Tucker and Ensigns Sato and Mayweather."

"You aren't looking all that well yourself, Lieutenant," said Corporal Romero.

"Well, what do you bloody expect? I just fell through ice into a bloody frozen lake for Christ's sake," he said. He was angry, but it appeared it was directed more to himself. "I'll be fine. We just need to focus on the task."

"Well, the plan seems to have gone to shit hasn't it? You and T'Pol are clearly out," said Corporal Diaz. Corporal Carr was still rubbing her neck looking uneasily at T'Pol.

"Umm, can I just say one thing? Whose bright idea was it to land the shuttle next to a frozen lake?" asked Corporal Romero.

"We don't have detailed scans of the planet. We pick a different landing location each time we come," said Talas.

"But, you couldn't have picked another location? One with less ice, maybe? You are Andorians, you know. You would think that you guys could smell that shit in your sleep being that your entire planet is covered in it," said Romero.

"It's actually a moon, you idiot, and it's not that simple," said Talas. Romero scoffed as Talas shot him an icy glare, her antennae pointed forward menacingly.

"Enough!" Lieutenant Reed groaned as he shifted uncomfortably. "The plan will remain the same, however Corporal Carr will substitute for Commander T'Pol, and either Romero or Diaz will go in my place. We all know the plan back to front and we all have the list so it should be quite simple," said Reed. Talas glanced at Thelin and their antennae swiveled as they appeared to be communicating through a sign language of sorts that no one else was privy to. Talas finally sighed.

"Alright, take Romero," said Talas. "Otherwise I might kill him." Corporal Romero winked at Talas who only looked away in disgust.

"Fine, Romero, then. Thelin, Carr, and Romero will go to make the rendezvous in Tre'du Fah," said Reed. "Lieutenant Talas, Corporal Diaz, and I will stay with the shuttle and try and get the autopilot back up and running, and look after T'Pol." Thelin nodded and stood. Corporals Romero and Carr stood glancing at each other as they began redressing in their winter gear to face the cold once more.

"And you should move quickly as there isn't a lot of time. Good luck," said Lieutenant Reed as the three of them made their back out into the frozen landscape.