CHAPTER 19;
UNEXPECTED HEROISM
Jonathan Archer could hear what had to be smashing and objects breaking from inside, as well as shouting, and something that sounded too much like roaring to be something other than the life form Porthos had tracked all the way here. Sure enough, after having passed through the fake wall, a perfectly normal corridor, leading towards a cargo hold was revealed, and they had followed Porthos' nose all the way down to this point, where Archer was typing in a code to open the locked door.
Phlox stood to his side, looking rather confused, and amazed at the noises coming from inside the locked room. His medical kit was held firmly in his hands, his knuckles seemingly turning white from the amount of pressure he was applying to his grip. Was the Denobulan scared? Did Denobulans get scared?
"C'mon!" he shouted at the door, as though demanding progress would make the inanimate object provide it.
To his surprise, the door flew open, and Archer's eyes immediately widened at the scene displayed before him. He quickly retrieved his phase pistol, having had it attached firmly to his hip ever since Travis had disappeared, not feeling safe without it.
He could see T'Pol leaning protectively over an unconscious form, one that he soon made out to be Trip. Even in the darkness, he could tell that it was his Commander.
On the opposite side of the room, Ensign Mayweather and Crewman Matheson were madly hurling objects at a huge, intimidating alien that walked slowly towards them, even as objects shattered against its gigantic mass.
And in the tight grip of one of the alien's forearms was Lieutenant Reed, visibly choking, fighting for air, desperately trying to remain conscious. Remarkably, Travis and Matheson avoided hitting the man.
Porthos immediately lunged for the alien, latching with sharp teeth onto the alien's large leg, growling, even through clamped jaws. It tugged on the alien's leg, and Archer could see red blood ooze from the wound his small dog inflicted.
The alien roared in pain, and tried to remove the beagle from its body by shaking its leg. Defiantly, Porthos remained firmly attached, as though the dog were trying to save Malcolm from the life form's clutches.
"Captain!" Phlox called to him, as Archer levelled his weapon with the alien's body, ready to fire, wondering whether stun would work on such a large being, even at the highest setting.
Archer turned his head towards the Denobulan, and listened as he shouted, "I wouldn't advise firing on the life form whilst Lieutenant Reed is in its grip, you could cause him further harm!"
Archer cursed lightly under his breath, and fumbled with the weapon, wondering what he could do now.
He watched his physician move over to T'Pol and Trip, and the Doctor immediately checked his Engineer's pulse, letting out a sigh of relief.
At least Trip was alive.
* * *
Malcolm, even over the sound of his own choking, and the smashing of bottles, on top of the roaring of the alien, had managed to hear Doctor Phlox's warning to Archer, and he decided that it was up to him to free up a shot for his Captain.
Mustering the remainder of his waning strength, he managed to swing his body forward at the alien's head, which was reasonably close to the Lieutenant, bringing his feet up, and slamming his boots straight into the alien's large face with a shocking amount of force. He heard something crunch.
With a squeal, the alien immediately released Malcolm, and shook its head, even as blood trickled from its nostrils.
Malcolm fell to the floor, hard, landing awkwardly on his side, and giving a cry as he felt something in his right arm give way painfully.
"Malcolm!" he heard Travis yell, even as the room began to spin. He shook his head violently, hoping his vision would clear enough for him to stand again without falling straight back down again.
Matheson continued to hurl random objects, as Travis ran over to Malcolm. His vision had successfully cleared up enough for the Lieutenant to scramble off of the floor, and away from the enraged alien.
"You okay?" Travis asked, moving with him to stand near Matheson, who was proving to have quite an accurate aim, and a powerful throwing arm.
Malcolm nodded. "I think I may have broken my arm when I landed. I wasn't expecting the bastard to let go as quickly as he did."
Travis smiled, obviously glad to see his friend okay.
* * *
Archer watched as Malcolm landed, and he knew that his tactical officer had taken damage when he heard the pained cry he let out. Ensign Mayweather immediately helped him away from the alien, and Archer took aim with his phase pistol once again, firing, hitting the alien square in the shoulder.
It let out a frenzied roar, and whirled on Archer, lunging at him with a hind leg, like a fighting kangaroo from the old cartoons Jon had watched as a child. Luckily, the leg was absent of a beagle, who was still clinging frantically to the other leg with his teeth.
Before the Captain could move out of the way enough to avoid the blow, it slammed into him, knocking him backwards, and clean out of the door once again.
He remembered nothing further.
* * *
He opened his eyes, and immediately let out a pained sound, attempting to push himself off of the ground.
He had had enough of being unconscious for one week. It was time for him to do something constructive.
Trip looked to his sides at the concerned faces of T'Pol and Phlox, and that was when he felt the pain in his head, on top of the burning in his side. Holding a hand to the area, he succeeded in locating a rather worrying head injury, one that proceeded to bleed. His temple was soaked, but even through the haze of agony, he stood from the ground, despite the attempts of the Vulcan and the Denobulan to keep him stationary.
Out of the open door, he could see Jonathan Archer lying on his back, eyes closed, dropped phase pistol close near his hand.
Across the room stood Matheson and Travis, hurling objects of all shapes and sizes at the alien, who was apparently becoming rather aggravated by the attempt to distract it. And to the side of Travis stood a freed Malcolm, who was now cradling his right arm, and leaning against a container, eyes closed tight.
On top of all this chaos, Trip could see Porthos latched firmly onto the alien's hind leg, and causing quite a lot of damage in the attempt.
Without a second thought, Trip ran out of the door, hell-bent on getting to Jon before the alien did. It was almost to the door now, lowering itself to the ground to try and fit through the opening.
Passing by the alien, hoping beyond hope that it wouldn't notice him in time, he skidded through the doorway, sliding to a halt beside Jon, taking a firm grip on the phase pistol that his Captain had obviously dropped. He quickly heard the little beagle running up beside him, having released the alien.
As quickly as he could manage, Trip switched the phase pistol to 'kill', more than a little pissed off with this alien S.O.B. now. He didn't care if he killed it. It was either that, or it killed all of them instead.
He hurriedly took aim, and pulled the trigger, watching as the energy struck the alien full on in the chest.
The blast was enough to knock the being back through the doorway. The wail that escaped its throat was enough to give anyone a chill, and for a moment, it simply looked in Trip's general direction, as if wondering what it had done wrong to deserve such treatment.
Trip looked back at the eyeless being, and it suddenly occurred to him that it may have been unnecessary to kill the being. maybe it wasn't intending to kill them.
After a few moments that seemed to stretch on for hours, the gigantic bulk of the alien crashed completely to the floor.
Porthos trotted up to the alien, and sniffed at its head, which was far larger than the small dog. The beagle let out a pine, and cocked his head.
Trip dropped the weapon, and reached out to feel for Jon's pulse, locating one quickly. He let out a thankful sigh, and wavered, the pain increasing with each passing second.
Phlox, T'Pol, and the others emerged from the dark cargo hold, and looked down warily at the prone form of the fallen alien, and then to Trip.
He looked T'Pol in the eye, and then hissed in pain, holding a hand to his side.
"If there are no objections, I would like you all to report to sickbay," Phlox said, and moved over to Trip, who sat beside Archer.
"Do you feel as though you can walk?"
Almost as if in reply, Trip passed out, falling to the ground near to Archer.
UNEXPECTED HEROISM
Jonathan Archer could hear what had to be smashing and objects breaking from inside, as well as shouting, and something that sounded too much like roaring to be something other than the life form Porthos had tracked all the way here. Sure enough, after having passed through the fake wall, a perfectly normal corridor, leading towards a cargo hold was revealed, and they had followed Porthos' nose all the way down to this point, where Archer was typing in a code to open the locked door.
Phlox stood to his side, looking rather confused, and amazed at the noises coming from inside the locked room. His medical kit was held firmly in his hands, his knuckles seemingly turning white from the amount of pressure he was applying to his grip. Was the Denobulan scared? Did Denobulans get scared?
"C'mon!" he shouted at the door, as though demanding progress would make the inanimate object provide it.
To his surprise, the door flew open, and Archer's eyes immediately widened at the scene displayed before him. He quickly retrieved his phase pistol, having had it attached firmly to his hip ever since Travis had disappeared, not feeling safe without it.
He could see T'Pol leaning protectively over an unconscious form, one that he soon made out to be Trip. Even in the darkness, he could tell that it was his Commander.
On the opposite side of the room, Ensign Mayweather and Crewman Matheson were madly hurling objects at a huge, intimidating alien that walked slowly towards them, even as objects shattered against its gigantic mass.
And in the tight grip of one of the alien's forearms was Lieutenant Reed, visibly choking, fighting for air, desperately trying to remain conscious. Remarkably, Travis and Matheson avoided hitting the man.
Porthos immediately lunged for the alien, latching with sharp teeth onto the alien's large leg, growling, even through clamped jaws. It tugged on the alien's leg, and Archer could see red blood ooze from the wound his small dog inflicted.
The alien roared in pain, and tried to remove the beagle from its body by shaking its leg. Defiantly, Porthos remained firmly attached, as though the dog were trying to save Malcolm from the life form's clutches.
"Captain!" Phlox called to him, as Archer levelled his weapon with the alien's body, ready to fire, wondering whether stun would work on such a large being, even at the highest setting.
Archer turned his head towards the Denobulan, and listened as he shouted, "I wouldn't advise firing on the life form whilst Lieutenant Reed is in its grip, you could cause him further harm!"
Archer cursed lightly under his breath, and fumbled with the weapon, wondering what he could do now.
He watched his physician move over to T'Pol and Trip, and the Doctor immediately checked his Engineer's pulse, letting out a sigh of relief.
At least Trip was alive.
* * *
Malcolm, even over the sound of his own choking, and the smashing of bottles, on top of the roaring of the alien, had managed to hear Doctor Phlox's warning to Archer, and he decided that it was up to him to free up a shot for his Captain.
Mustering the remainder of his waning strength, he managed to swing his body forward at the alien's head, which was reasonably close to the Lieutenant, bringing his feet up, and slamming his boots straight into the alien's large face with a shocking amount of force. He heard something crunch.
With a squeal, the alien immediately released Malcolm, and shook its head, even as blood trickled from its nostrils.
Malcolm fell to the floor, hard, landing awkwardly on his side, and giving a cry as he felt something in his right arm give way painfully.
"Malcolm!" he heard Travis yell, even as the room began to spin. He shook his head violently, hoping his vision would clear enough for him to stand again without falling straight back down again.
Matheson continued to hurl random objects, as Travis ran over to Malcolm. His vision had successfully cleared up enough for the Lieutenant to scramble off of the floor, and away from the enraged alien.
"You okay?" Travis asked, moving with him to stand near Matheson, who was proving to have quite an accurate aim, and a powerful throwing arm.
Malcolm nodded. "I think I may have broken my arm when I landed. I wasn't expecting the bastard to let go as quickly as he did."
Travis smiled, obviously glad to see his friend okay.
* * *
Archer watched as Malcolm landed, and he knew that his tactical officer had taken damage when he heard the pained cry he let out. Ensign Mayweather immediately helped him away from the alien, and Archer took aim with his phase pistol once again, firing, hitting the alien square in the shoulder.
It let out a frenzied roar, and whirled on Archer, lunging at him with a hind leg, like a fighting kangaroo from the old cartoons Jon had watched as a child. Luckily, the leg was absent of a beagle, who was still clinging frantically to the other leg with his teeth.
Before the Captain could move out of the way enough to avoid the blow, it slammed into him, knocking him backwards, and clean out of the door once again.
He remembered nothing further.
* * *
He opened his eyes, and immediately let out a pained sound, attempting to push himself off of the ground.
He had had enough of being unconscious for one week. It was time for him to do something constructive.
Trip looked to his sides at the concerned faces of T'Pol and Phlox, and that was when he felt the pain in his head, on top of the burning in his side. Holding a hand to the area, he succeeded in locating a rather worrying head injury, one that proceeded to bleed. His temple was soaked, but even through the haze of agony, he stood from the ground, despite the attempts of the Vulcan and the Denobulan to keep him stationary.
Out of the open door, he could see Jonathan Archer lying on his back, eyes closed, dropped phase pistol close near his hand.
Across the room stood Matheson and Travis, hurling objects of all shapes and sizes at the alien, who was apparently becoming rather aggravated by the attempt to distract it. And to the side of Travis stood a freed Malcolm, who was now cradling his right arm, and leaning against a container, eyes closed tight.
On top of all this chaos, Trip could see Porthos latched firmly onto the alien's hind leg, and causing quite a lot of damage in the attempt.
Without a second thought, Trip ran out of the door, hell-bent on getting to Jon before the alien did. It was almost to the door now, lowering itself to the ground to try and fit through the opening.
Passing by the alien, hoping beyond hope that it wouldn't notice him in time, he skidded through the doorway, sliding to a halt beside Jon, taking a firm grip on the phase pistol that his Captain had obviously dropped. He quickly heard the little beagle running up beside him, having released the alien.
As quickly as he could manage, Trip switched the phase pistol to 'kill', more than a little pissed off with this alien S.O.B. now. He didn't care if he killed it. It was either that, or it killed all of them instead.
He hurriedly took aim, and pulled the trigger, watching as the energy struck the alien full on in the chest.
The blast was enough to knock the being back through the doorway. The wail that escaped its throat was enough to give anyone a chill, and for a moment, it simply looked in Trip's general direction, as if wondering what it had done wrong to deserve such treatment.
Trip looked back at the eyeless being, and it suddenly occurred to him that it may have been unnecessary to kill the being. maybe it wasn't intending to kill them.
After a few moments that seemed to stretch on for hours, the gigantic bulk of the alien crashed completely to the floor.
Porthos trotted up to the alien, and sniffed at its head, which was far larger than the small dog. The beagle let out a pine, and cocked his head.
Trip dropped the weapon, and reached out to feel for Jon's pulse, locating one quickly. He let out a thankful sigh, and wavered, the pain increasing with each passing second.
Phlox, T'Pol, and the others emerged from the dark cargo hold, and looked down warily at the prone form of the fallen alien, and then to Trip.
He looked T'Pol in the eye, and then hissed in pain, holding a hand to his side.
"If there are no objections, I would like you all to report to sickbay," Phlox said, and moved over to Trip, who sat beside Archer.
"Do you feel as though you can walk?"
Almost as if in reply, Trip passed out, falling to the ground near to Archer.