With Malcolm as back up, Buffy presented her case of security teams on all away missions with marginal success.
"It would smack of lack of trust on first contact missions." The Captain protested and Buffy snorted, "I'll bet that every first contact had their own security, obvious or not."
Malcolm cleared his throat, "Sir, I have to agree with her. There are several instances that if I had been there we may have avoided problems." He said quietly. The Captain looked at them and sighed, "Let's do it on a case by case basis. Will that suffice?" Malcolm and Buffy nodded unhappily and he smiled, "Dismissed."
Buffy sighed and roller her shoulders, "Well, he didn't throw us out on our ears." She said wryly and Malcolm laughed. They both headed to sickbay and exchanged rueful looks, "Great minds obsess alike?" she teased as they walked into sick bay.
Dr. Phlox looked up, "Not injured I hope?" he greeted them jovially and they both shook their heads. "Just wanted to see how Ensign Lang was coming along." Malcolm asked, his eyes moving to the quiet figure on the bio bed.
"He'll be fine. He credits you Buffy for his survival." Dr. Phlox said and Buffy looked at him surprise. "Really?"
"Indeed. Something about your classes and rolling quicker." Buffy smiled, "Well I'm glad I'm doing something right." She shrugged and Malcolm looked at her, "You are doing great things for this crew, don't belittle yourself. Not in my presence!" he said fiercely. Buffy met his eyes, "Yes Sir." She replied softly. Dr. Phlox shooed them out, "The Ensign will sleep until morning, go do what you need to be doing." And the door closed on them.
"Well, I think we've been kicked out!" she said, a little piqued.
"I believe that you are correct." Malcolm stated dryly.
T'pol had spoken about an inhabited planet called Sarona VIII in the section of space that they were entering.
"It has a tropical climate and they welcome visitors." She stated and the rumor had flown through the ship. Unfortunately when Hoshi tried to make contact there was no response.
"That is illogical, their entire population relies on tourism. There is something amiss." T'pol stated emphatically. The Captain shrugged, "Let's take an away team down and see for ourselves." He turned, "T'pol, Buffy, Trip and myself. Meet in launch bay one in 10 minutes. Lt. Reed? You have the bridge."
"Aye Sir." Malcolm replied. He contacted Buffy to let her know and smiled at the excitement in her voice.
Buffy was jazzed; it was her first away mission. As the shuttle flew down onto the landing pad, the view was spectacular. Tropical flowers in an abundance of colors, tall trees swaying in the tropical breezes, all surrounded by an impossibly turquoise blue ocean. Buffy exited the shuttle first and immediately felt uneasy. She activated her communicator, "Malcolm?"
"Buffy?" His voice made her smile, "No one's met us. I have a bad feeling."
"Understood." This little exchange was their code for getting another shuttle and extra personnel ready just in case. She then let the others out of the shuttle, her body tense. Buffy smiled innocently at the Captain as he raised an eyebrow. "Just doing my job." She said and he snorted.
Her eyes were alert as they scanned the area. "There is someone out there." She said quietly.
T'pol murmured assent, "I smell them." This reminded Buffy of Angel and she smiled to herself when she saw a flash.
"Light, to our right, low in the trees."
The Captain nodded, "I'm Captain Jonathon Archer. We're from the Enterprise and we mean you no harm."
Buffy and T'pol's heads were scanning slowly when a figure walked out of the trees. He gave off enough fear that Buffy could almost see it come off of him in waves. Buffy moved in front of the Captain, shaking her head sharply at his protest.
"Hi, I'm Buffy. Where is everybody?" She smiled and the sight of the beautiful woman made the man relax.
"Please excuse our lack of hospitality. We have had…difficulties shall we say. I'm Wes. Welcome to Serona VIII." He was tall and dark with being in the sun frequently, silver hair grown long to his shoulders and handsome. He greeted each of them then he laid an arm over Buffy's shoulders and asked, "So you're from a starship? How exciting." He said.
Buffy glanced over her shoulder and saw the Captain smirking at her. Trip was unhappy. Buffy mentally shrugged, 'can't be helped.'
Buffy flirted lightly with the man as he led them to a local tavern called the Blue Parrot. He seated them and a visibly nervous man took drink orders. As the drinks were brought Wes came back and sat down. He looked over at T'pol, "So you're a Vulcan?"
"Yes." She replied. He smiled, "We haven't had Vulcan's here in many years. Not really the party types are they?" He said.
"Boy, is that an understatement." Trip muttered and Buffy kicked him under the table, catching his grin. She looked at the Captain who nodded for her to go ahead.
"So what happened?" she asked quietly. She watched him fidget nervously, seeing him watch the staff. She turned around to see where his gaze landed and was struck by something obvious.
"Tell me Wes, where are the women?" She knew the question startled the crew because they looked around too.
Wes started, "Um, a ship entered our orbit, the crew indicating they want shore leave. Of course we were happy to oblige." He sighed, "They were violent, killing several people before they left."
Trip looked at Buffy and his Captain, "Are they coming back?" and they watched as Wes nodded. "In two days time."
"What do they want?" Buffy asked, almost afraid she knew the answer.
"Women." Was the stark reply.
Now the Captain asked the questions, "Are they slavers?" he asked quietly.
"I don't know, just that they were willing to be violent." Was the man's despairing answer. Buffy was looking around, then stood and gestured for the Captain to follow her.
She looked at Wes, "I need to talk to my Captain for a minute." She watched hope bloom on the haggard man's face and hoped it wasn't going to be dashed.
She led the Captain to the water's edge so the surf would drown out their voices. She looked into his handsome face and saw the weight of command on his shoulders and knew the feeling. "I have an idea." She said without preamble. "I want to be here when the ship arrives. I want to have our women waiting and take these guys out once and for all. Then we have the Vulcan's take a regularly scheduled trip by here so they have protection." She finished, her eyes pleading with his.
"Won't it be too dangerous?" he asked quietly. Buffy shook her head no, "There's always a risk, but our women are trained to kick ass."
He nodded slowly, "Ok. Get Malcolm down here too."
A shadow passed over Buffy's face and she slid off her shoes to dip her feet in the water. "Buffy?"
"I want Trip to go back to the ship." She said and the Captain shook his head, "Oh no, I'm not getting in the middle of this." He stated, holding up his hands. Buffy sighed impatiently, "We haven't talked about me putting myself in danger. He's not ready for me doing this." She buried her toes in the sand. "I guess this will be our first test."
Captain Archer took Buffy's shoulders in his hands, feeling her quiver, "Trust Trip."
Her eyes met his, "I'll try." But she had a bad feeling.
