More changes. I added a new Chapter 46 - The Plucking and also added Chapter 49 - The Delivery. Chapter 50 is the old Chapter 49, nothing else has changed.


xxx

Sickbay

"What exactly did you think you were doing?!" Phlox was furious, the muscles on his neck jutting out. Trip balanced from one foot to the other, trying to see over the doctor's shoulder into sickbay but Phlox interposed his whole body, barring him from checking on T'Pol. Trip finally focused back on the doctor.

"They ionized the chip before they put it in," he hazarded a reply. He didn't think it would help to pretend he didn't know what Phlox was referring to.

"Ionized?! In a non sterile environment?! Do you understand they might as well have done nothing?!" Every exclamation point was marked by Phlox getting up on his toes. Trip had never quite seen him so angry.

"But she'll be okay, right?" he swallowed hard. He again threw a glance inside the Sickbay, trying to see past the white privacy curtains.

"Little thanks to you!" The mention of his patient served to calm Phlox down somewhat. "She's septic. I'm pumping her full of all the broad-class antibiotics on board and then some." He half-turned towards the sterile field.

"Can I see her?"

Phlox scoffed in response. "I wouldn't expect her to be coherent."

He finally relented, stepping aside to give access to Trip. "Oh, and by the way, that fake bullet you put in? Captain Archer has custody of it." Trip nodded absent-mindedly. He would have pointed out he wasn't the one who put it in, but didn't think Phlox would be a willing listener. As to who had the data, as in Vulcan or the Federation, it really didn't matter. T'Pol's father was right, state secrets were fleeting at best. All that mattered was that they got out of Romulan space and that T'Pol was in Phlox's sickbay.

At first he'd been overjoyed when he saw Enterprise looming on the Orion main screen, couldn't believe his luck. Then there'd been the tense minutes during which Archer haggled with the Orion over the matter of paying for them. Haggled. He still couldn't believe his best friend had been haggling with his life in the balance. With their life in the balance. Then finally the Orion captain and Archer had reached some kind of understanding and a shuttle had come over and latched itself to the Orion transport.

Except that hadn't ended there. It was Reed who stepped out, Reed and Dr. Phlox. Reed had perfunctorily acknowledged Trip with a nod while Phlox rushed to where T'Pol lay, obviously all these questions about who paid what to whom were of no interest to him. Trip had gone with him, then when the medical aide and Phlox had shooed him away, gone right back to the bridge.

To wait for interminable minutes while Reed downloaded some kind of software on the Orion's padd, apparently that was the 'key'. He didn't know what happened next but twenty minutes later the Orion captain had smiled and nodded, made some comment that the funds had transferred. And told them they had five minutes to make their exit.

Trip had carried a comatose T'Pol to the shuttle, held her the entire length of the trip back to Enterprise. The moment he stepped out of the shuttle on the floor of the Enterprise was one of the top ten moments of his life.

And then everything had gone to hell in a hand basket.

First, it was Jon and Malcolm, stopping him on his way to Sickbay, seeming very serious. Trip kept an eye on the stretcher that carried T'Pol, thinking they wanted to welcome him and he'd be on his way.

What a welcome that had turned out to be. Jon was furious, reminding Trip he was AWOL, had jeopardized he mission, letting him know he would throw him in the brig but for what he'd been through, confining him to quarters instead. Then Malcolm stepped forward with two of his goons, stiff-lipped and formal as ever, not even a 'happy you're back', and marched him there. He'd spent the rest of the day agonizing with worry until another guard detail came to bring him to Sickbay so Phlox could yell at him some more before letting him see T'Pol.

Cathruusa was starting to have its charms in comparison. He shook off the pall settling on him, relieved to see she was looking a lot less haggard, even if she was still unconscious. There was a sizable sterilization unit over the bed. But he'd got her out in time.

The sound of someone clearing his throat made him turn around. Malcolm was there, managing to look slightly apologetic. Trip understood. Archer had let him out so he could check on T'Pol, now he'd go back to his quarters until forever. He sighed. Now that he knew she was ok, it wasn't such a big deal anymore.

xxx

Bridge

Archer was elated. His commanders were back on board, the real ones, not the jokers Starfleet had sent as a replacement to rub his nose in it, and he was elated. Silently elated. And careful not to show it. Which was relatively easy considering how angry he was at Trip.

When he'd first seen his friend on that Orion transport, smudged all over with engine grease, scruffy-looking yet impressively fit, he'd felt like his team had won the national water polo title. He'd looked over at Reed, caught a rare beam of pleasure cross the British man's face, and the two of them had silently exchanged glances of celebration.

Once Trip was safely aboard, the happiness had turned to anger. The man had flown off with a bunch of rebels without even knowing T'Pol was on a mission. He was in deep trouble with Starfleet. And his Captain. Who on top of everything now had to figure out how he could get him out of court-martial. Because if he were, and things went even further south, Archer would once again find himself without his commanders. He knew that as one went, so would the other. And to top it off, he'd brought T'Pol back deathly sick, because of something he'd done apparently. At least if he understood Phlox's livid harangue, the doctor was almost strangling himself with fury. It had been touch and go, and he'd given orders to bring Trip to Sickbay so he could say good-bye, just in case. Except that this being a starship and all, by the time Reed's people dragged Trip's ass to Sickbay, she'd turned the corner.

Talking about Reed, he swiveled his chair around. The chief of security gave him a knowing glance and a nod. Archer swiveled back towards the screen. Time for the second part of the mission. "Travis?"

"Yes, Captain?"

"Set a course 500 miles parallel to the Romulan boundary, impulse speed, towards Gamma Verda III."

"Sir?"

"You heard me, helmsman. 500 miles out." That would keep them so close they could be surprised by anything coming out of Romulan space, but if everything went according to plan they would be right where they needed to be. "Hoshi?"

"Captain?"

"Reach out to Starfleet, let them know we're holding in proximity... but no exact coordinates."

He scanned the Romulan space barrier, shimmering in the distance, looking deceptively tranquil. He wished he could look through it and find out where the danger would be coming from.

"Everyone in my ready room, now!" Archer's voice rang over the bridge. Hoshi and Travis exchanged side glances. Now what was that all about?

xxx

Lead rebel ship

The skiffs were fast, built for attack, with little in the way of comfort or redundancies, nothing that would weigh the ship down. Survival was not part of the plan.

They had crossed Romulan space in record time, taking the most direct route out of Cathruusa, one that stayed away from planets and spaceports. They would rush out into Federation space like a swarm of hornets and lay a course straight for Gamma Verda III. Or rather, lay an intercept for the course that the Enterprise would follow to reach Gamma Verda III.

Jivak stored the v-pad back in its storage nook. Based on current information, they would breach ahead of the ship by a couple of hours. There were enough war skiffs to create a subspace distortion, forcing the starship to drop out of warp. To hope it would be where it needed to be was illogical. There were only permutations of facts and potentialities leading to different probable outcomes.

He turned to Spivac. "The stealth device is ready to be activated?"

A brusque nod answered him. Jivak allowed himself a small measure of satisfaction. Spivac must be in the process of determining the favorable outcomes of a range of potential actions, most of which logically involved getting rid of Jivak and Poryk after he detonated the device. Jivak was quite set on not granting him the pleasure. As soon as Spivac gave the order for destruction, he would deal with him. He thrust the comm unit at Spivac. "Stand ready to enter the firing sequence. I will let you know when we're in range."

Everything was proceeding according to plan.

xxx

Bridge

"Anything?"

"Nothing yet, Captain." Hoshi kept her features still in spite of her great inclination to snarl back at Archer 'since you last asked, I've gotten ten messages that the Romulans were at our door, but oops, silly me forgot to mention it!'

"Keep on it."

Like there was anything else she could do. Hoshi made minute adjustments to her headphones, straining to hear any man-made noises over the constant infrasound hum of space. Whoever said there was no sound in space should try to sit in her chair for a while. Space was actually a cacophony of belches and whistles carried along by clouds of gas and dust. She winced at a passing screech, probably from a long-ago-exploding asteroid.

Still nothing. She absent-mindedly started drumming her fingertips along the edge of her console. Come on, they had to be out there somewhere.

xxx

Lead rebel ship

Those who claimed Vulcan had no curse words were wrong. There were plenty, each more graphically descriptive than the one before. Vulcans needed more than a single word to encapsulate the breach of emotional shields that resulted in cursing. Jivak was V'Shar and had lived in Romulan space for seventy years, mostly among war-minded rebels. The range of his vocabulary as he strung together cuss word after cuss word impressed Poryk, who quickly made a note of those sentences that were un-understandable to him. It was most logical to seek enlightenment before their ship disappeared in a blaze of glory.

Which was going to happen very soon, based on all appearances.

The biggest appearance of which was the huge ship looming in the frontview screen, already huge even though it was hundreds of space miles away. A distance that was closing fast as the rebel armada had come out of Romulan space at full speed and was too shocked to lower that speed.

Jivak cursed again, drawing another puzzled eyebrow from Poryk. Of all the potential outcomes, the one he had not given weight to was that they would erupt out of Romulan space right on top of Enterprise. Not two hours ahead as planned, not two hours behind. Right on top. Which was not what the plan had called for. The element of surprise now went both ways.

There were two hundred warships in his wake, and an encounter with the starship was unavoidable unless they slowed down or veered off course. But an encounter with the starship was exactly what all the skiffs behind him were aiming for. A collision, actually.

There was no time to lose. "Brace yourselves!" he shouted at the other two.

xxx

Bridge

"Sir!" Travis bellowed, calling the bridge attention to the main screen.

They all looked up, staring at the dots of light that were streaming out of Romulan space, first one, then ten, then dozens. A stupefied silence fell over the bridge. The dots of light kept coming, one hundred, many more. The screen magnified them into individual ships, narrow-bodied deathly-looking crafts coming straight at Enterprise. None showing any sign of slowing down.

"Red alert!" Archer called. "Engineering, get us out of there! Warp five!"

"Captain! No!" Seagull shouted over the din of the bridge, rushing to explain. "They're too light and close! If we suck one in it'll destabilize the field!"

Archer nodded briskly. He'd seen the remains of ships flattened when that happened. "Engineering! Belay that order!"

"Captain!" Pantella was talking at the same time. "I don't think — OK, no warp."

"Reed, shields at maximum!" Archer was barking orders at fire speed. "Pantella, give us all the speed you can!"

On the screen, the crafts veered in pursuit of Enterprise. "Travis, evasive action! Let's try to shake them! Sankrit, aft sensors!"

Enterprise's head start could not last, the ships would eventually catch up. Archer's hands gripped the arms of his chair tightly. If they could separate the ships from each other, he could double-back and pick them off one at a time. He willed Enterprise forward with every fiber of his body. But the skiffs were too fast, swarming close behind.

The bridge crew watched in silence as a couple of faster ships separated from the others, coming straight at them.

"Mr. Reed." Archer's voice was calm, his command almost tranquil. The two ships exploded as Reed's aft canons found them. That was the signal the armory crew was waiting for. Blazing explosions starting dotting the outside as their weapons kept finding their mark. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.

Except there were too many fish.

xxx

Sickbay

The doors closed on the guard detail and Trip approached the bed, glad Phlox was not around to read him the riot act again. T'Pol looked a lot better than the day before, when she had looked a lot better than the day before that. The sterilization unit had disappeared, as far as he could tell she was back to normal. Sleeping, perhaps?

"Hey, how are you doing?" he let his fingertips gently graze her hand.

She opened her eyes, blinked at the light, turned to look at him. "Dr. Phlox says I should be released today."

"That's good. I'll be glad for the company." Trip had been wondering how to break the news.

An eyebrow rose elegantly in response.

"Archer allows me to come and say 'hi' once in a while but otherwise I'm confined to quarters."

That bright the slightest frown. "Confined to quarters?" she was trying to compute what happened.

"Don't worry, I'm fine where I am. Can't get in any more trouble, at least."

He would never know what she was about to answer. The ship shook and the lights flickered. "What in holy blazes!" He was already at the door. The guard detail was nowhere to be seen, red alerts were blaring all over the place. The noise filled the entire bay. The ship shook again. He was in the doorway, holding the jamb for balance, preventing the doors from closing.

xxx

Bridge

"Behind us!" Reed yelled.

Travis was sweating with concentration, trying to keep the ship away from the armada. There were too many of them. Another two flew to the side. He couldn't keep track of all of them, dancing around Enterprise like hell-bent furies.

Two more explosions rocked the ship.

"They're using thermal heads!" Seagull yelled to nobody in particular.

Travis saw from the corner of his eye three dots separate from the main group and disappear. "Three of them!" He shouted behind him.

"I've lost them!" Reed shouted at the same time. The sensors were pointing in every direction, trying to get a trace back on the ships.

One of the three crafts crashed straight into the shields, rocking the ship. "Shields at 40%!" Reed called. Travis kept looking around. He had seen one more ship from the corner of his eye. Where was it?

Suddenly a junior bridge member shouted "Below! They're below us!" and he lost track.

"Travis!" Archer bellowed. He already knew there was nothing Travis could do.

Reed looked up, blinking in disbelief. "They're aiming for the engines!"

Archer rose from his chair "Travis! Do whatever you can but keep them away from the aft! Engineering! We need more power!" If they lost power, they would be dead in the water.

The ship shook horribly, throwing half the bridge crew on the floor. Travis braced his boots against the inside of the console, hanging by one hand, his fingers dancing over the controls, pulling and pushing to try and face the attackers. It was too late, The bridge went dark. Then emergency lighting came up.

xxx

Sickbay

There was another shock, then the ship buckled as if it had been hit by a tidal wave. The horrible shriek of metal against metal came over the intercom as the ship lurched. The lights flickered and went off. Emergency lighting came on, smoke was filtering through from somewhere in the ship.

The lights flickered back on, then Archer's voice sounded over the intercom. "Captain to Engineering. Engineering, please reply. Engineering!"

Trip glanced back at T'Pol. He was greeted by an elegantly raised eyebrow and the word "Go!" They would have countless future arguments about it, T'Pol claiming she never said 'go' and he swearing she did.

For now, he was already sprinting through the corridors to engineering. There was mayhem everywhere, corridors filling with smoke, crew members putting out fires as they could. The ship shook again. Another hit.

He entered Engineering at a run. The place was filled with black soot, keeping him from seeing in front of him. He almost stepped on something on the ground, jumped aside at the last second as he recognized a Starfleet uniform. Whoever it was, was still alive and was also much fatter than any crew member he knew. He leaned over, took in the horribly burned face and hands. The man wouldn't survive.

Suddenly Hess was at his elbow, coughing up smoke. "Breach on tube 5! Contained." She folded at the waist and started retching.

"Where's the guy in charge?!" Trip was already climbing up the ladder to the engine bridge.

Hesse pointed with her hand, still doubled over, "Pantella."

Trip wasn't sure if that was a name but if didn't matter. He was already checking the dials and gauges. He winced as the ship listed, first on one side, then the other. He palmed the intercom. "Engineering here. I'll give you power but please try to keep these guys off our tail!"


Notes from the author: I called this chapter "the Fire" because apart from the fire of battle, Trip may feel he went from the frying pan into the fire, with respect to his not so warm welcome aboard Enterprise.