Hoshi shut off the com, looking in puzzlement at T'Pol. At the last check-in the captain was raring to go explore and now they were back? She noted that T'Pol looked pale, as if she had seen a ghost. She remembered seeing her stiffen at the science station, seeming to listen to an inner voice, then relax slightly right before Archer contacted them.
"Crewman Dulanski, get ready to go to red alert. Bring canons in line right now." There was no point waiting. If something had freaked out Archer down there, they were not going to wait passively until he came back on board.
"Captain Sato! We are getting a strange reading from the planet." Hoshi sat in shock. Did T'Pol call her captain? She must have wanted to make sure she had Hoshi's attention. And boy did she ever. Hoshi felt the blood rush through her in warning.
"What do you mean?" Hoshi walked to where T'Pol and Mahdin were intently staring at the console. T'Pol's looked up and Hoshi found herself staring straight into the vand. "There is a massive energy build-up on the planet. Origin undetermined. In close proximity to the previous energy source." Mahdin stepped away from the scanner, letting his commanding officer replace him. Hoshi noticed with surprise that T'Pol didn't seem to have any difficulty looking into the scanner. She had always assumed Mahdin or whomever was still there because T'Pol was not fully functional, even with the vand. But there were more pressing issues to worry about than whether T'Pol was looking into the scanner.
Hoshi turned to Travis' replacement. "Wojda, how far is the shuttle?"
"They'll be aboard in three minutes."
T'Pol's voice interrupted. "Directed energy flare from the planet! Helmsman, evasive action!"
Wojda turned back to his console, but it was too late. The ship shook as the pulse of energy from the planet hit it, throwing everyone on the floor.
Hoshi quickly got back to her feet. "Battle stations!" She wasn't sure what was going on but the ship didn't feel right.
"All weapons online." Dulanski confirmed.
T'Pol was already back at the science station while Mahdin was getting back to his feet. "Weapons will be ineffective. We have been grabbed by a massive tractor beam coming from the planet. I suggest we throw the engines in reverse."
Hoshi was on it before she finished speaking. "Bridge to Engineering!"
"Hess here. What hap-"
"Don't worry what happened. Bring the engines in reverse! Put everything you can in it!"
She sat tensely as Wojda started calling out their speed, the speed at which they would have been leaving the planet if they were not held in place by the massive energy beam. "Impulse power one, impulse power two." Nothing happened, the ship was still being dragged, though more slowly. Finally Wojda called "Maximum impulse power."
That stopped them moving. Hoshi opened the com to Engineering and was greeted by Hannah cursing a blue streak. "Hess to Bridge. I can't go to warp with the strain they're putting on the system or the ship will explode. If we stay at maximum impulse we're going to fry the engines. Then we'll have nothing left."
Hoshi looked at T'Pol, still bent over her console. After a few seconds the Vulcan looked up, speaking in Hoshi's direction. "We can reduce our speed to impulse five point six seven. That will optimize the amount of time we can fight against the tractor beam but we will keep being dragged." She turned to Wojda. "Where is the shuttle?"
"Still three minutes away." Hoshi realized that the ship had been pulled away as the shuttle was approaching. Hopefully Travis had noticed and adjusted.
The com rang just then. "Archer to Enterprise. Why are you moving away?"
"Hoshi here, Captain. We're caught in a massive tractor beam originating from the planet. Can you get back on board?"
"We'll do whatever it takes." Offline, they heard Archer instructing Travis to push the engines, then Trip advising the pilot how to get even more speed.
"Wojda, aft screen!" she called. On the screen, the shuttle sped up even as they were being dragged away. It was almost a minute before it became apparent that they would make it.
The com rang suddenly again. "Archer to Enterprise. Something was just fired from the planet. Opposite angle from you. You can't see it yet." At that exact moment T'Pol called from the science station. "Oncoming projectile. Dulanski, maximum power to ventral shields. Impact in nine minutes."
"Aye, sir."
"Any idea what is coming at us?" Hoshi asked. T'Pol shook her head without looking up. "The sensors are reading energy matter." She paused, this time looked up, her voice trailing "Biosigns..." Was the planet firing people at them? Hoshi looked in stupefaction at T'Pol, who was already back staring at the console. "Impact in eight minutes." The Vulcan called emotionlessly.
Hoshi sighed. This was not a good day. First a tractor beam and now something being fired at them, they didn't know what, and they couldn't escape, held as they were in the tractor beam. "T'Pol, any idea where the tractor beam is taking us?"
The Vulcan had a ready answer, as if she'd figured it out a while ago already and was just waiting for someone to think about asking. "Based on the vector and angle of the tractor beam, we are being dragged to the planet surface."
"To the planet surface?" But this would destroy the ship, if it didn't burn its occupants as they entered the atmosphere. "Can we launch the shuttles or escape pods?" If they couldn't save the ship, could she at least save her crew?
"Impact in seven minutes." T'Pol replied, before adding "The shuttles would be caught in the tractor beam also. Though we do not know if it is strong enough to pull Enterprise and the shuttles, we have to assume that a beam strong enough to hold us at maximum impulse speed would. The escape pods may not be able to escape the tractor beam either. One option would be -"
She was interrupted by Archer running onto the bridge with Trip, Reed and Travis, all still in their enviro suits. Hoshi quickly stepped down from the chair. T'Pol stared at Archer coolly, as if he weren't standing there in a bulky survival suit, his hair slick with sweat, helmet in hand. "T'Pol, debrief!" he growled, peeling the rest of the suit off as she talked then signaling a bridge cadet to bring him a fresh uniform. When it came, he hesitated then pulled it on over his sweat stained undersuit. He had more pressing issues.
Meanwhile T'Pol was back where they had interrupted. "One option would be to release the escape pods from the aft. The beam might stop operating once the ship is down and the pods would resist re-entry." She didn't need to add that the survivors would be cooked by the radiation as soon as they came out of their pod.
Archer scowled. That wasn't an option. "We need to get Enterprise off."
"Impact in three minutes" was his First Officer's response. Archer glared at T'Pol, torn between annoyance that she was still counting and relief that she was still counting.
"Any idea what's in those projectiles?" Nothing like being held in place with an array of unknown weapons coming at you.
"A total of thirty projectiles were launched from the planet. Each one reads as a biosign. It is impossible to tell if they are weaponized."
Like a reverse escape pod. The thought crossed Archer's mind. Perhaps these biosigns were trying to get off the planet. If that were the case, Enterprise would be released from the tractor beam as soon as the projectiles got on board. But what about what or who was in those? If they were facing an invasion... "Are the MACOS ready?" he asked Reed.
"We have a dozen teams positioned throughout the ship. Armory is distributing weapons to all crew members."
"What about the bridge?"
"They should be on their way. Everyone is getting the standard MACO weapons, a phaser and a laser rifle."
Archer nodded. Malcolm knew what he was going.
"Two minutes to impact." T'Pol announced.
"The tractor beam is still dragging us?" Archer asked. He knew that T'Pol and Mahdin were working on it.
"We're still being dragged." Travis confirmed.
The doors to the turbo lift opened and crewmen walked in with weapons, proceeding to hand them out. T'Pol accepted hers, ignoring the man's hesitation as he obviously wondered if she should get one. "Impact in one minute." She called emotionlessly. Travis turned around to look uncertainly at the rest of the bridge crew. He couldn't believe this was happening. Hoshi was staring fixedly at the planet, as if it could help stop their descent.
"Shields up?" There was nothing more they could do.
"Fore and ventral shields are at 100%." Reed answered. "The cluster has a broad dispersion angle. We cannot focus them as tightly as we'd like." Next to him, Dulanski nodded. He had asked her to stay, they could use the help.
Everybody fell silent, waiting in tense expectation. Archer got up from his chair, wanting to pounce. Reed was looking all around. Trip was frowning at the display of engine power on his console. Mahdin was glued to the science scanner.
The ship shook as the first pods hit the shields. "Shields at 60%" Reed called. He looked up, blanching. "I don't know what it is, the drain on the shields is enormous." More shaking followed as more of the projectiles hit, each time seeming to fizzle against the shields before going dark. "Shields at 20%." More hits. "Shields are buckling!"
"They broke through the shields!" Mahdin yelled at the same moment. They felt the bump of something against the outer hull. More bumps followed in quick succession. Then silence fell. The impact was anticlimactic. Everyone on the bridge was looking all around, trying to guess what had happened.
"Where are they?" Archer finally asked.
"The projectiles have latched on the outside of the ship." T'Pol answered.
"Travis, get us a shot of the outside of the ship!" On the screen, they could see what looked like pods stuck to the ship.
"How many do we have?" It reminded Archer of the Romulan mine that had anchored itself to the ship years before.
"There are a total of ten pods affixed to the outer hull." T'Pol replied.
"They're not mines." Reed commented, obviously thinking about the Romulan minefield. He reflexively started stroking his thigh at the memory.
"You said you read biosigns?" Archer directed the question at T'Pol.
"The pods have an organic signature." She replied. "We do not know if there is organic material inside or if the pods themselves are organic." Archer looked up at her then stared at the pods imbedded on the skin of the ship. He was getting a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"They're moving!" Travis yelled.
Archer whipped around. "What do you mean they're moving?"
"The pods are moving!" Reed confirmed in turn.
"T'Pol! What are those?!" She was hunched over the console, brought her head up. She said a couple of words to Mahdin and stepped aside while he leaned in turn over the screens. She stood facing Archer, hands behind her back, seeming to look at the main screen though he couldn't see her face behind the vand. "Computer, show us images taken one hundred and eighty seconds ago." That was when the pods hit. "Now superimpose images taken two seconds ago." They could see each of the pods had moved a few yards.
"Where are they going?" Trip asked. Nobody answered. They were all mesmerized by the slowly crawling pods that may or may not be alive. "Perhaps they're the planet's idea of cockroaches?" Trip was rolling his tongue against his cheek.
Archer shot a dark look at Trip while T'Pol's eyebrows indicated she was nonplussed. "Not funny, Commander." Hoshi stifled a nervous guffaw, earning herself another glare from Archer and another eyebrow from T'Pol. Archer glanced at T'Pol. "Later." He'd let her husband do the explaining.
"Reed, anything we can do to shake them off?" Archer was not happy. First his ship was held hostage by some tractor beam and now they had organic things crawling all over it. It was enough to develop a phobia.
The security officer shook his head. "If we fire at them, we risk breaching the hull."
"We could try an electric surge to the outer hull." Trip suggested.
Archer whipped around to T'Pol. "Any chance that could work?"
"We cannot know for sure if this would disrupt the organic matrix. But until we can examine the pods more carefully the idea has merit."
That was a rare accolade. "Trip, get to it. See who can help you. But don't leave the bridge. I need every hand on deck." He turned to T'Pol. "When are we crashing on the planet surface?"
"Based on the current drag rate and assuming engines remain functional throughout, we will make landfall in seventeen point six hours."
Archer sighed. Peachy. Just peachy. Things crawling all over and seventeen hours to their death. Unless the tractor beam released them whenever those crawlies reached their destination. No matter the angle, not a pretty picture.
xx
"This is Captain Archer to the crew. As per prior instructions, make sure you're at least two feet away from the inner hull. Do not, I repeat, do not touch the hull. We'll alert you when it's over." Archer turned to Trip, gave a brisk nod.
"Here goes. If this doesn't fry them, nothing will." Trip drawled, punching a code sequence on his console and activating the routine that would redirect the ionized charge from the engines to the hull, turning Enterprise into a nice electric zapper.
They followed on the main screen as shots of lightning started fizzling around the pods. Nothing seemed to happen. The pods remained otherwise undisturbed. After a couple of minutes, Archer asked the bridge "Anything?"
Mahdin looked over at T'Pol, shaking his head. Archer noticed she had not been at the science console for a few minutes now, got the distinct impression she had reached some type of physical limit. On the screen the pods seemed unaffected. Minutes crept by.
"Captain, the drain on the engines is reaching a critical level. We're going to need to lower our speed. That will increase our drag rate." Trip called to Archer.
"Shut it off. Now!" Archer wasn't going to give up one more yard than he had to.
"We have a pod at an airlock." T'Pol calmly announced, as if it were an everyday event. "Deck E, third airlock." Obviously the electric charge had had little effect.
Reed hit the intercom "Security team to Deck E, Airlock 3-TS!"
Archer looked at T'Pol with dawning understanding. "That's where they were moving to! Trip, get us the cameras for that airlock! Reed, can we prevent access?!"
The security chief shook his head. "Everything we've done so far has been unsuccessful. And we can't risk using heavy weapons and causing a hull breach."
That was not what Archer wanted to hear. He slammed the arm of his chair, earning himself a couple of jumps and two eyebrows. He ruefully eyed his bridge crew. He needed them to figure out how to get away from the tractor beam and he needed them to prevent the pods-whatever from getting on Enterprise. Each required different set of skills. His decision was made.
"Trip, take the bridge, you and T'Pol try and see what we can do about the tractor beam. Reed, with me to Deck-E." They left at a run. Trip was already at the science station, ready to help T'Pol and Mahdin pore over everything, see if perhaps there was a mechanical solution.
"Cockroaches?" she softly said as he came by. So she had found time to check the reference. He smiled at her. "Seems like the only thing that could still be alive." He whispered back. The eyebrow over the vand eloquently expressed what she thought of the idea.
