disclaimer: Star Trek Enterprise is the property of Paramount Pictures, not mine.


Chapter 12

Divergence I

"Don't mean to be a pest, but could someone tell me what's going on?" Commander Tucker asked no one in particular on the open channel, seemingly unperturbed by clambering up on the tether between the ships flying at high WARP as if he was doing it every day.

"You are almost here, Trip. Keep going." Malcolm Reed encouraged his friend in response, eyeing the tether line with trepidation. He knew the maximum reach of it and was praying to whatever deity might be listening for it to hold on long enough.

The ship went on shaking all around Malcolm, announcing its precarious situation.
Malcolm noticed the flashing red warning sign on the tether's display.

"The tether is at its limit! Hurry up!"

The Armory Officer was staring at his friend, mentally urging him to speed up on the last few meters. He kept his other eye on the tether's moorings, mentally calculating how much force it would take to tear it loose. He didn't like the answer his quick mental calculation provided.

"Almost there!"

Trip was now level with the walkway he was standing on.

The safety clasp on Trip's harness had been quickly and efficiently disengaged by the Security Chief, dragging Trip on the walkway at the same moment.

Malcolm distantly heard the moorings tearing free above them. He acted on instinct – showing Trip with as much force as he could towards the operator's booth, getting him out of the immediate danger.

The torn piece of equipment caught him on the left side of his body, semi-catapulting him out from the walkway and towards the closed floor hatch on the other side of hangar bay.

The tether disappeared through the opened seal into the WARP 5 space outside.

Malcolm hit the unforgiving deck, feeling the impact through his EV suit, the breath driven from his chest and feeling more than hearing the resulting various cracks and snaps he made upon impact.

He blacked out for a moment from the sheer wrongness of it all.


Regaining consciousness was a study in torture itself.

Malcolm could physically feel the slowly mounting pressure in his chest, the strain of getting air into lungs that felt like breathing through a damp sponge pressed over his nose and mouth. It was curious, he realized detachedly, that there was no pain below his stomach.

His sight and hearing came back next, in small increments. Over the pounding blood in his ears, he could hear someone frantically shouting something. He slowly realized that it must be Trip, from the thick accent. But that's not right. Trip is on Columbia, not here. Why is he here?

"Jon, 'm not leaving him here! He is not respondin' ! "

"Trip, there are MACOs behind that door and Cutler is on her way. The moment the pressure is back on in Hangar Bay, you open that bloody door and run to Engineering. If you don't, this whole thing is going to be pointless! Enterprise is going to be blown to high heaven and all of us with her. There is no time."

The sound announcing that the hangar bay was successfully pressurized sounded at that moment.

The lower bulkhead door opened, admitting two MACOs and Ensign Cutler, running to the limp figure of Malcolm Reed on the other side of the hangar bay.

Trip eyed them shortly, torn between the need to see to his friend and to save the ship. His sense of duty won in the end. He knew that Cutler and MACOs will do their utmost to save the ship's Chief Tactical Officer. If he didn't solve their little problem with a WARP reactor about to go boom soon, then the injury his friend sustained would be pointless. He started to run towards the Engineering, shedding pieces of his EV suit as he went.


The MACOs transferred the broken body of the ship's Tactical Officer, strapped to a board to keep it immobile to the Sickbay's biobed. The readouts over the bed sprang to life, loudly informing the present medic about the amount and extent of damage dealt to the body of Malcolm Reed.

Ensign Socorro silenced it almost immediately, staring with a rising amount of dread at the readouts. She knew what she was looking at – the amount of damage was staggering.
An operation was out of the question as the bio signs of the injured man were all over the place and dangerously low, still dropping like a stone. She automatically started to sort through what medications could be administered to stabilize him for the moment.

" En…" the exhale was almost missed in the next shudder that ran through the ship.

But she was trained as a medical professional – sadly not a doctor, but she was studying to be admitted to a Starfleet medic training and had experience as a first responder before signing up with Starfleet. She caught it and immediately gave her attention to the man lying on the biobed.

"Lieutenant? Can you hear me?"

The grey eyes laboriously opened to small slits captured her.

"How bad?" another weak exhale.

"Lieutenant, it is not…good." She admitted, not sure what to tell the man. There was currently no one qualified on board to perform the required surgery. She was hoping to ask Columbia to send over their doctor to operate on him when the current crisis was over.
"Please hold on. I will administer some painkillers and…"

The comm crackled to life above their heads.

"Attention all personnel. Due to the assistance from Columbia and some quick thinking from Commander Tucker, we are in the clear now. We will be dropping from WARP shortly to perform some quick checks on the engines and then we will resume our mission. Archer out."

"Call...Capt'n..quick..please…" Lieutenant Reed asked hoarsely, clearly fighting to get the words out.

The bio signs took another plunge, getting even lower than before. It was a miracle that Reed was still conscious.

Ensign Socorro did not hesitate, pressing the comm.

"Sickbay to Captain Archer. Sir, please come down here. Lieutenant Reed is asking for you. It is urgent."


Jonathan Archer had almost run into the Sickbay. He knew that his Tactical officer was injured during the transfer, but something in the medic's voice told him that it was way worse than a mere injury.

He stopped at the other side of the biobed, not to be in the way of the medic monitoring Malcolm. Surprised, he noticed that the moment he stopped, the woman left, eyes glassy.

The lying man, strapped to a board, fought to speak in vain, trying to articulate.

The Captain bent down, trying to catch the words.

"Sir…failed y…please." the voice was there, weakening with every second ticking by.

Jonathan Archer suddenly realized why the medic left them, eyes glassy. This man was dying, and begging him to grant him an absolution in his last breath for sins committed, for being human. For a breathless moment, Archer was tempted to withhold his absolution, to punish the man for a deed done even unto death.

"Malcolm. I am sorry for what I said earlier. I forgive you." He whispered in the ear of the laboring man thickly, realizing that whatever he said to him earlier, he couldn't bear to let him go thinking he was unforgiven.

Malcolm inhaled shakily, but the last exhale was harshly interrupted by the biobed that started to wail incessantly, announcing the cessation of life signs.

Jonathan reached up and switched it off, staring down on the lax face and half-opened eyes.

He felt two hot tears making its way down his face. They fell, hitting the upturned face beneath. Blindly, he reached for a nearby blanket, pulling it over Malcolm's body reverently.

The door to Sickbay hissed open. Jonathan finished draping the blanket, turning to see who was coming in. The ashen face of his Chief Engineer…his former Chief Engineer came into focus. Trip was staring at the body behind him, mouth slowly and silently forming: "Malcolm…."


Author's note: Thanks for everyone who is still reading!

In the meantime, I would like to thank the gracious LoyaulteMeLie, who has come up with the nickname Jaguar and was willing to let me use it.
Em Gomes can also be considered as theirs (Im using this in deference to not knowing their preferred pronouns) and the same can be said about Em now - so please, if you want to enjoy some more quality stories, go and give theirs a chance!