Author's note:
Hi! I'm back with a second fic, and an even worse title than before!! I'd like to thank Midnight Dove, Dorothy "Dotty" Lee, Rae, Erin Chase and Feathers for their very kind reviews of "Bane and Shadow", the first one…it meant a lot to me. Thank you. Oh – and this one's not finished yet. So you'll just have to wait for chapter 2. Sorry…
Synopsis:
Seemingly without cause, things go massively wrong on the Enterprise, and just as suddenly correct themselves. When two officers appear to be dead, Archer wants to get to the bottom of what happened. Is the Enterprise under attack…or worse?
Spoilers:
None so far.
We All Know The Risks
By Bittersweet
Archer wondered slowly through the corridors of the Enterprise, nodding occasionally to crewmen who acknowledged his presence. Behind him, Porthos followed avidly, wagging his tail and generally looking very pleased with having run of the ship. Archer's thoughts turned to their latest mission – nothing hugely interesting; they were mapping a particularly empty sector of space. He made his way down towards his quarters, and keyed open the door, gesturing for Porthos to enter first. The beagle skipped over the doorframe, and immediately headed towards his food dish; as Archer sat down to make his log entry for the day. Before he could even open the correct computer files, however, a slight vibration began to shake the desk. It started out gently at first, causing a few things to rattle, and then became more intense. Objects began to fall from the shelves, and Porthos let out a whine of dismay, cowering beneath a chair. Archer staggered to his feet as the ship seemed to be shaking apart around him. He reached for the communications panel, managing to open a channel.
"Archer to bridge, what on earth's going on?"
"Unknown captain – your presence may be required."
"I'm on my way."
Archer headed for the door, and then stopped, glancing back at Porthos. The dog whined pitifully. Archer sighed, and picked up a chunk of cheese, throwing it gently. Despite his terror, Porthos grabbed it greedily, and Archer knew his pet would be fine. He turned, and strode purposefully towards the bridge.
"We're not receiving any transmissions of any kind," Hoshi reported, raising her voice to carry over the noise of the vibrations, as Archer came onto the bridge, "nothing to indicate a presence, hostile or otherwise."
"I'm not showing anything on sensors," Reed confirmed.
"There are no spatial phenomena to account for the turbulence," T'Pol reported, "I am detecting…nothing."
"Do we ever come across anything which isn't a mystery?" Archer asked, rhetorically, taking his seat, "Archer to Trip."
"Trip here - it's nothin' wrong with the engines, cap'n, I swear…!"
"Just checking. Archer out."
Just then, just as he signed off the communication with Trip, Archer felt it – an intense pressure that seemed to pin him to the back of his chair. He glanced down at his hands – they seemed to be…phasing…in and out of each other, like he was seeing double…he glanced up, realising that the other crewmembers had noticed the phenomena too, in themselves and in each other. Then, just as suddenly, the heavy pressure was gone. In fact, Archer noted, all pressure was entirely gone – the artificial gravity was down. He gripped the armrests of his chair, managing to hold himself in place in an attempt not to drift off. From the muffled exclamations and curses from the rest of the bridge crew, several of them hadn't been so lucky. Archer took a quick look around. Travis, the experienced "space boomer" was expertly holding himself in place with one hand while steering with the other, a slight smile on his face. Hoshi had somehow turned around in her chair and was gripping the backrest tightly, her arms and legs wrapped around it for dear life. Archer had a feeling they weren't going to be contacting anyone until gravity was restored. T'Pol clung to her station one handed, her knuckles almost white with the exertion, as she braced her feet against the wall to hold herself in place, attempting to use the scanners. Two crewmen were clinging to a railing near the back of the bridge, while a third was floating helplessly in midair. Reed had somehow curled under the edge of his console, bracing himself in place with his knees while leaving both hands free to operate tactical.
"Archer to Trip…"
"Trip here - I'm workin' on it!"
"Just checking. Archer out."
"We are receiving a hail," T'Pol reported, after a few minutes, "audio only."
She shot a significant glance at Hoshi.
"Let's hear it," Archer told her.
Hoshi snaked out one hand to touch a button, before wrapping it quickly around the back of the chair again. There was a soft hiss of static, and then a voice came over, speaking in clear English.
"We have scanned your ship and downloaded your language files," the voice told them, "you cannot see us, because we have forbidden it. However, your species…you 'humans'… may have some small potential. Far more interesting than the Vulcans, at any rate…we shall see."
Archer opened his mouth to reply, but T'Pol cut him off.
"The transmission has been lost, captain."
"Damn," Archer muttered, "I wonder what all that meant?"
Any further reflection on the strange transmission was cut short, as muffled thumps, curses and growls signalled the sudden return of artificial gravity.
"Trip to Archer."
"Archer here – I take it the gravity's back online?"
"Just checkin'. Trip out."
And then all hell broke loose.
Sirens blared on and off around the bridge, as the bridge crew stood in dazed shock for barely a second, and then scrambled to check their stations.
"Sir, helm control has been completely shut down!" Travis shouted out, first, "I'm not getting any response from any of my systems! I'm still trying to…"
Lost in the confusion of voices shouting reports, Archer left him to it, trying to listen to everyone at once.
"Communications are down, both ship-wide and ship-to-ship," Hoshi was saying, "the universal translator is going haywire and I'm picking up dozens of malfunction reports, half of which wouldn't be received if there were malfunctions in those areas, and…"
"Sensors showing multiple anomalous reading around the ship," T'Pol's cool voice cut through the sea of panic, "I suggest we polarise the hull."
"I wish I could!" Reed shot back, "it seems the hull plating isn't responding to my commands – damn it! We've got an intruder alert in shuttle bay two!"
"Get down there!" Archer ordered.
"Security team meet me in bay two, we have an intruder alert…"
"Sir, we're dead in the water," Travis shouted out, "nothing's responding on my board!"
"I wish I had your problem," Hoshi's fingers moved rapidly across her console, "I'm receiving multiple transmissions from all decks, many of which are ghost signals…the communications system's going to overload if I can't shut it down!"
"I'm re-routing power from your console, ensign," T'Pol spoke up, "systems are beginning to overload ship wide, captain."
"What the hell caused this?" Archer demanded, as the lighting flickered dangerously, "the ship's falling apart!"
"Unknown, captain."
Archer glanced up at the view screen. It showed nothing but stars, as he turned back to the bridge crew. Things seemed to be gradually coming back under control.
"Captain," T'Pol's voice reached him again, "I'm receiving sensor reports that engineering has been flooded with radiation."
"What?!"
"Decompression alert in cargo bay two!" cried a crewman near the back of the bridge.
Archer felt himself go cold. Trip? Reed? The crew of engineering? The security team?
"I need confirmation," he heard himself say, slowly, "find out what the hell's going on around here!"
Hi! I'm back with a second fic, and an even worse title than before!! I'd like to thank Midnight Dove, Dorothy "Dotty" Lee, Rae, Erin Chase and Feathers for their very kind reviews of "Bane and Shadow", the first one…it meant a lot to me. Thank you. Oh – and this one's not finished yet. So you'll just have to wait for chapter 2. Sorry…
Synopsis:
Seemingly without cause, things go massively wrong on the Enterprise, and just as suddenly correct themselves. When two officers appear to be dead, Archer wants to get to the bottom of what happened. Is the Enterprise under attack…or worse?
Spoilers:
None so far.
We All Know The Risks
By Bittersweet
Archer wondered slowly through the corridors of the Enterprise, nodding occasionally to crewmen who acknowledged his presence. Behind him, Porthos followed avidly, wagging his tail and generally looking very pleased with having run of the ship. Archer's thoughts turned to their latest mission – nothing hugely interesting; they were mapping a particularly empty sector of space. He made his way down towards his quarters, and keyed open the door, gesturing for Porthos to enter first. The beagle skipped over the doorframe, and immediately headed towards his food dish; as Archer sat down to make his log entry for the day. Before he could even open the correct computer files, however, a slight vibration began to shake the desk. It started out gently at first, causing a few things to rattle, and then became more intense. Objects began to fall from the shelves, and Porthos let out a whine of dismay, cowering beneath a chair. Archer staggered to his feet as the ship seemed to be shaking apart around him. He reached for the communications panel, managing to open a channel.
"Archer to bridge, what on earth's going on?"
"Unknown captain – your presence may be required."
"I'm on my way."
Archer headed for the door, and then stopped, glancing back at Porthos. The dog whined pitifully. Archer sighed, and picked up a chunk of cheese, throwing it gently. Despite his terror, Porthos grabbed it greedily, and Archer knew his pet would be fine. He turned, and strode purposefully towards the bridge.
"We're not receiving any transmissions of any kind," Hoshi reported, raising her voice to carry over the noise of the vibrations, as Archer came onto the bridge, "nothing to indicate a presence, hostile or otherwise."
"I'm not showing anything on sensors," Reed confirmed.
"There are no spatial phenomena to account for the turbulence," T'Pol reported, "I am detecting…nothing."
"Do we ever come across anything which isn't a mystery?" Archer asked, rhetorically, taking his seat, "Archer to Trip."
"Trip here - it's nothin' wrong with the engines, cap'n, I swear…!"
"Just checking. Archer out."
Just then, just as he signed off the communication with Trip, Archer felt it – an intense pressure that seemed to pin him to the back of his chair. He glanced down at his hands – they seemed to be…phasing…in and out of each other, like he was seeing double…he glanced up, realising that the other crewmembers had noticed the phenomena too, in themselves and in each other. Then, just as suddenly, the heavy pressure was gone. In fact, Archer noted, all pressure was entirely gone – the artificial gravity was down. He gripped the armrests of his chair, managing to hold himself in place in an attempt not to drift off. From the muffled exclamations and curses from the rest of the bridge crew, several of them hadn't been so lucky. Archer took a quick look around. Travis, the experienced "space boomer" was expertly holding himself in place with one hand while steering with the other, a slight smile on his face. Hoshi had somehow turned around in her chair and was gripping the backrest tightly, her arms and legs wrapped around it for dear life. Archer had a feeling they weren't going to be contacting anyone until gravity was restored. T'Pol clung to her station one handed, her knuckles almost white with the exertion, as she braced her feet against the wall to hold herself in place, attempting to use the scanners. Two crewmen were clinging to a railing near the back of the bridge, while a third was floating helplessly in midair. Reed had somehow curled under the edge of his console, bracing himself in place with his knees while leaving both hands free to operate tactical.
"Archer to Trip…"
"Trip here - I'm workin' on it!"
"Just checking. Archer out."
"We are receiving a hail," T'Pol reported, after a few minutes, "audio only."
She shot a significant glance at Hoshi.
"Let's hear it," Archer told her.
Hoshi snaked out one hand to touch a button, before wrapping it quickly around the back of the chair again. There was a soft hiss of static, and then a voice came over, speaking in clear English.
"We have scanned your ship and downloaded your language files," the voice told them, "you cannot see us, because we have forbidden it. However, your species…you 'humans'… may have some small potential. Far more interesting than the Vulcans, at any rate…we shall see."
Archer opened his mouth to reply, but T'Pol cut him off.
"The transmission has been lost, captain."
"Damn," Archer muttered, "I wonder what all that meant?"
Any further reflection on the strange transmission was cut short, as muffled thumps, curses and growls signalled the sudden return of artificial gravity.
"Trip to Archer."
"Archer here – I take it the gravity's back online?"
"Just checkin'. Trip out."
And then all hell broke loose.
Sirens blared on and off around the bridge, as the bridge crew stood in dazed shock for barely a second, and then scrambled to check their stations.
"Sir, helm control has been completely shut down!" Travis shouted out, first, "I'm not getting any response from any of my systems! I'm still trying to…"
Lost in the confusion of voices shouting reports, Archer left him to it, trying to listen to everyone at once.
"Communications are down, both ship-wide and ship-to-ship," Hoshi was saying, "the universal translator is going haywire and I'm picking up dozens of malfunction reports, half of which wouldn't be received if there were malfunctions in those areas, and…"
"Sensors showing multiple anomalous reading around the ship," T'Pol's cool voice cut through the sea of panic, "I suggest we polarise the hull."
"I wish I could!" Reed shot back, "it seems the hull plating isn't responding to my commands – damn it! We've got an intruder alert in shuttle bay two!"
"Get down there!" Archer ordered.
"Security team meet me in bay two, we have an intruder alert…"
"Sir, we're dead in the water," Travis shouted out, "nothing's responding on my board!"
"I wish I had your problem," Hoshi's fingers moved rapidly across her console, "I'm receiving multiple transmissions from all decks, many of which are ghost signals…the communications system's going to overload if I can't shut it down!"
"I'm re-routing power from your console, ensign," T'Pol spoke up, "systems are beginning to overload ship wide, captain."
"What the hell caused this?" Archer demanded, as the lighting flickered dangerously, "the ship's falling apart!"
"Unknown, captain."
Archer glanced up at the view screen. It showed nothing but stars, as he turned back to the bridge crew. Things seemed to be gradually coming back under control.
"Captain," T'Pol's voice reached him again, "I'm receiving sensor reports that engineering has been flooded with radiation."
"What?!"
"Decompression alert in cargo bay two!" cried a crewman near the back of the bridge.
Archer felt himself go cold. Trip? Reed? The crew of engineering? The security team?
"I need confirmation," he heard himself say, slowly, "find out what the hell's going on around here!"