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Chapter 5
"Come in," Captain Archer called in reply to the door buzzer. Trip stepped through the open door and perched on the arm of the chair just inside the door. Archer studied his third-in-command wondering why he looked everywhere except at him. "Commander, what can I do for you?"
Speaking quickly Trip said, "I want to run a diagnostic on the warp engines. I need the engines to run at warp 4.5 for about 15 minutes; I want to compare the data we have from a year ago to today's and see if there is a difference in the engines performance."
Amused by Trip's agitated demeanor Archer countered, "I'm not in any hurry to run tests on the engines. We'll do it sometime next week." Getting up from his desk Archer walked over to Trip and placed a hand on his shoulder saying, "remember the old saying, "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"? I think that applies to you so I'm ordering you to take some time off, go to the gym, or find someone to play pool with, anything that doesn't involve your job." He removed his hand from the younger man's shoulder and stepped back to observe his reaction, he didn't have long to wait.
Trip stood up abruptly and started pacing in front of the captain, "Look, I'll do what you ask as soon as I run this test," he said urgently, "but I need to do this first, it's very important."
"Why is it so important it has to be done now?"
Trip stopped and looked out the window watching the stars wiz by like blurred lights, turning to face the captain he quietly replied, "Sir, please don't ask me that, if ya let me conduct this test it will become clear why."
Sighing deeply, "Alright Commander you can run your test."
"Thanks Cap'm you won't regret it," Trip said excitedly. He exited the ready room heading straight for T'pol.
"The cap'm gave his o.k. Malcolm is goin' to monitor the armory systems so we don't overload and blow out the power shunts. Any sign of trouble T'pol and we'll shut it down."
T'pol stared at Trip gravely, "I understand Commander." Trip smiled at her and headed for the lift.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Trip jogged from station to station making sure all systems were functioning correctly. His team watched him expectantly, something big was about to happen and they were waiting for the commander to tell them what it was. Engineering was crowded with two shifts the commander had requested be present. He jumped up the stairs to the catwalk that ran from one end of engineering to the other and turned to face the sea of faces below him.
Grinning down at them Trip said, "I suppose you're all wondering why you're here. You are all goin' to be part of something historic. Today we will become the first human starship to achieve warp 7," he paused as the crowd below him started murmuring and looking at each other. "Ya heard correctly, warp 7. With the help of Sub-commander T'pol, Lieutenant Reed, and all of you, Enterprise will become the first warp7 capable ship in Starfleet history. Now if you'll return to your stations, underneath each console there is a switch, press it, and the new data will show on your screens. Monitor them closely during this test if they start to red-line let me know immediately, understand?"
Everyone replied, "Yes Sir!" They all scattered towards their different assignments and waited for the commander's orders.
Trip pointed to his two Lieutenants, James, and Hess, "I want you to keep things under control on the floor, make sure things continue to work smoothly." They chorused, "Yes Sir," and moved off to start their rounds.
Pressing the comm. button Trip spoke to Malcolm first, "ya ready Lieutenant?"
"All set here commander, let's see what she can do."
"T'pol, are you set?"
"Standing by Commander." T'pol looked toward the captain and continued, "we're all here."
"Good, have Travis bring us to warp 4.5 and hold her nice and steady. I'll keep the comm. open so we can coordinate our efforts." Trip quickly ran down the steps of the catwalk and up the stairs in front of the warp reactor, his eyes swept the monitor taking in all the information. Speaking above the noise of the reactor he said, "o.k. Everyone look sharp, I don't want any mistakes, if you think there's a problem sing out." A sea of heads nodded in his direction.
"Commander," Travis said over the comm., we are at warp 4.5, what do you want me to do now?"
"Sit back and enjoy the ride," Trip replied with a grin.
Trip's fingers flew over the console in front of him, taking control of the engines. He pushed a small lever forward a few millimeters.
"Captain," Travis said puzzled, "we just went to warp 4.8, and I didn't do it." He turned and looked at the captain to see his reaction to this news.
Standing up he went to the helm and looked at the readout, "T'pol?" Archer turned to look at her.
T'pol looked at the captain calmly and replied, "Commander Tucker has re- routed helm control to engineering for this test; he is in charge of our speed."
"What!?" Archer asked infuriated, "He didn't say anything about taking control of the helm for this test. What's going on Sub-commander?" He walked to T'pol's workstation and stared down at her.
"If you will speak to Commander Tucker I'm sure he will give you an explanation."
"I and everyone in engineering heard every word you said," Trip amusingly replied. "If you'll wait another five minutes Cap'm my motives will become clear. Just relax Sir, you're in good hands."
Archer said through clenched teeth, "Mr. Tucker, how can I relax when the Chief Engineer does something to my ship without informing me? When this is over I want to see you.immediately!" Trip knew the Cap'm called him Mr. Tucker in that tone only when he was deeply angry with him.
The crew in engineering looked up at the commander expectantly, most had a look of apprehension on their faces. They knew when the captain spoke like that someone was in deep trouble and this time it appeared their Chief Engineer was going to take the brunt of his displeasure.
Trip gulped a few times and replied in a strong voice, "understood Cap'm." Trip nodded to his crew to get back to work. "Malcolm, how are things in the armory?"
"Couldn't be better Commander, everything is in the normal range, I believe we should push on."
Trip moved the lever slowly upward calling out, "4.9, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, and 5.3, any problems people let me know." Sweat began to bead on Trip's forehead as he continued, "5.4, 5.6, 5.8, 6.0," taking his hand away from the lever; he wiped the moisture from his face. "Bridge what is your status?" T'pol replied, "Commander, everything is within normal parameters."
"Malcolm, what does your board say?"
"It says your one crazy engineer but you pulled it off," Malcolm chuckled.
"Cap'm, with your permission I'd like to take her to warp 7."
Archer quietly replied, "Go ahead Mr. Tucker."
Trip rolled his eyes, this was not good. He wondered how long he'd be in the captain's doghouse this time.
"I'm moving the lever forward, 6.2, 6.4," a small jolt ran through the entire ship.
"What was that Commander?" Captain Archer asked anxiously.
"I'm checking it now." Trip scanned his monitor, everything was in perfect balance. "James, Hess, report!"
"All systems are still showing green," Hess replied.
"The temperature of the plasma is beginning to rise, but it's still within acceptable limits," James maintained.
"Commander," Malcolm said, "I thought it might be a power surge from here but everything still reads normal."
"Cap'm," Trip declared, "whatever that jolt was isn't showing up in any of our data. The plasma temperature rose a little but that's to be expected."
"Commander, are you still increasing our speed?" Travis asked. "My readout says we're now at warp 6.6 and climbing."
"What!?" Trip exclaimed. Alarmed, he quickly scanned the monitor, "son-of- a-bitch, your right Travis. Malcolm cut off power to the shunts."
"Done Commander, the power readings are now at zero. What's going on?"
"I wish I knew," Trip replied puzzled.
"Commander, T'pol calmly stated, "we are continuing to accelerate, warp 6.8, 6.9."
"Mr. Tucker take the warp reactor off-line. now," Archer demanded.
"I'm workin' on it Cap'm." Trip stated grimly. His fingers began hitting buttons and switches cutting power to the reactor, "Lieutenant James, what is our status?"
In a panicky voice she said, "Sir, according to our readouts we are still receiving power including from the armory, and power output has increased by twenty-five percent. Our systems are overloading...."
A powerful explosion ripped through Enterprise sending anyone not secured flying through the air. Alarms reverberated throughout the ship announcing the presence of fire and smoke. The ship spun through space like a drunken top and came to rest at a forty-five degree angle.
TBC: I hope you guys like it. I love cliffhangers don't you?
Chapter 5
"Come in," Captain Archer called in reply to the door buzzer. Trip stepped through the open door and perched on the arm of the chair just inside the door. Archer studied his third-in-command wondering why he looked everywhere except at him. "Commander, what can I do for you?"
Speaking quickly Trip said, "I want to run a diagnostic on the warp engines. I need the engines to run at warp 4.5 for about 15 minutes; I want to compare the data we have from a year ago to today's and see if there is a difference in the engines performance."
Amused by Trip's agitated demeanor Archer countered, "I'm not in any hurry to run tests on the engines. We'll do it sometime next week." Getting up from his desk Archer walked over to Trip and placed a hand on his shoulder saying, "remember the old saying, "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"? I think that applies to you so I'm ordering you to take some time off, go to the gym, or find someone to play pool with, anything that doesn't involve your job." He removed his hand from the younger man's shoulder and stepped back to observe his reaction, he didn't have long to wait.
Trip stood up abruptly and started pacing in front of the captain, "Look, I'll do what you ask as soon as I run this test," he said urgently, "but I need to do this first, it's very important."
"Why is it so important it has to be done now?"
Trip stopped and looked out the window watching the stars wiz by like blurred lights, turning to face the captain he quietly replied, "Sir, please don't ask me that, if ya let me conduct this test it will become clear why."
Sighing deeply, "Alright Commander you can run your test."
"Thanks Cap'm you won't regret it," Trip said excitedly. He exited the ready room heading straight for T'pol.
"The cap'm gave his o.k. Malcolm is goin' to monitor the armory systems so we don't overload and blow out the power shunts. Any sign of trouble T'pol and we'll shut it down."
T'pol stared at Trip gravely, "I understand Commander." Trip smiled at her and headed for the lift.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Trip jogged from station to station making sure all systems were functioning correctly. His team watched him expectantly, something big was about to happen and they were waiting for the commander to tell them what it was. Engineering was crowded with two shifts the commander had requested be present. He jumped up the stairs to the catwalk that ran from one end of engineering to the other and turned to face the sea of faces below him.
Grinning down at them Trip said, "I suppose you're all wondering why you're here. You are all goin' to be part of something historic. Today we will become the first human starship to achieve warp 7," he paused as the crowd below him started murmuring and looking at each other. "Ya heard correctly, warp 7. With the help of Sub-commander T'pol, Lieutenant Reed, and all of you, Enterprise will become the first warp7 capable ship in Starfleet history. Now if you'll return to your stations, underneath each console there is a switch, press it, and the new data will show on your screens. Monitor them closely during this test if they start to red-line let me know immediately, understand?"
Everyone replied, "Yes Sir!" They all scattered towards their different assignments and waited for the commander's orders.
Trip pointed to his two Lieutenants, James, and Hess, "I want you to keep things under control on the floor, make sure things continue to work smoothly." They chorused, "Yes Sir," and moved off to start their rounds.
Pressing the comm. button Trip spoke to Malcolm first, "ya ready Lieutenant?"
"All set here commander, let's see what she can do."
"T'pol, are you set?"
"Standing by Commander." T'pol looked toward the captain and continued, "we're all here."
"Good, have Travis bring us to warp 4.5 and hold her nice and steady. I'll keep the comm. open so we can coordinate our efforts." Trip quickly ran down the steps of the catwalk and up the stairs in front of the warp reactor, his eyes swept the monitor taking in all the information. Speaking above the noise of the reactor he said, "o.k. Everyone look sharp, I don't want any mistakes, if you think there's a problem sing out." A sea of heads nodded in his direction.
"Commander," Travis said over the comm., we are at warp 4.5, what do you want me to do now?"
"Sit back and enjoy the ride," Trip replied with a grin.
Trip's fingers flew over the console in front of him, taking control of the engines. He pushed a small lever forward a few millimeters.
"Captain," Travis said puzzled, "we just went to warp 4.8, and I didn't do it." He turned and looked at the captain to see his reaction to this news.
Standing up he went to the helm and looked at the readout, "T'pol?" Archer turned to look at her.
T'pol looked at the captain calmly and replied, "Commander Tucker has re- routed helm control to engineering for this test; he is in charge of our speed."
"What!?" Archer asked infuriated, "He didn't say anything about taking control of the helm for this test. What's going on Sub-commander?" He walked to T'pol's workstation and stared down at her.
"If you will speak to Commander Tucker I'm sure he will give you an explanation."
"I and everyone in engineering heard every word you said," Trip amusingly replied. "If you'll wait another five minutes Cap'm my motives will become clear. Just relax Sir, you're in good hands."
Archer said through clenched teeth, "Mr. Tucker, how can I relax when the Chief Engineer does something to my ship without informing me? When this is over I want to see you.immediately!" Trip knew the Cap'm called him Mr. Tucker in that tone only when he was deeply angry with him.
The crew in engineering looked up at the commander expectantly, most had a look of apprehension on their faces. They knew when the captain spoke like that someone was in deep trouble and this time it appeared their Chief Engineer was going to take the brunt of his displeasure.
Trip gulped a few times and replied in a strong voice, "understood Cap'm." Trip nodded to his crew to get back to work. "Malcolm, how are things in the armory?"
"Couldn't be better Commander, everything is in the normal range, I believe we should push on."
Trip moved the lever slowly upward calling out, "4.9, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, and 5.3, any problems people let me know." Sweat began to bead on Trip's forehead as he continued, "5.4, 5.6, 5.8, 6.0," taking his hand away from the lever; he wiped the moisture from his face. "Bridge what is your status?" T'pol replied, "Commander, everything is within normal parameters."
"Malcolm, what does your board say?"
"It says your one crazy engineer but you pulled it off," Malcolm chuckled.
"Cap'm, with your permission I'd like to take her to warp 7."
Archer quietly replied, "Go ahead Mr. Tucker."
Trip rolled his eyes, this was not good. He wondered how long he'd be in the captain's doghouse this time.
"I'm moving the lever forward, 6.2, 6.4," a small jolt ran through the entire ship.
"What was that Commander?" Captain Archer asked anxiously.
"I'm checking it now." Trip scanned his monitor, everything was in perfect balance. "James, Hess, report!"
"All systems are still showing green," Hess replied.
"The temperature of the plasma is beginning to rise, but it's still within acceptable limits," James maintained.
"Commander," Malcolm said, "I thought it might be a power surge from here but everything still reads normal."
"Cap'm," Trip declared, "whatever that jolt was isn't showing up in any of our data. The plasma temperature rose a little but that's to be expected."
"Commander, are you still increasing our speed?" Travis asked. "My readout says we're now at warp 6.6 and climbing."
"What!?" Trip exclaimed. Alarmed, he quickly scanned the monitor, "son-of- a-bitch, your right Travis. Malcolm cut off power to the shunts."
"Done Commander, the power readings are now at zero. What's going on?"
"I wish I knew," Trip replied puzzled.
"Commander, T'pol calmly stated, "we are continuing to accelerate, warp 6.8, 6.9."
"Mr. Tucker take the warp reactor off-line. now," Archer demanded.
"I'm workin' on it Cap'm." Trip stated grimly. His fingers began hitting buttons and switches cutting power to the reactor, "Lieutenant James, what is our status?"
In a panicky voice she said, "Sir, according to our readouts we are still receiving power including from the armory, and power output has increased by twenty-five percent. Our systems are overloading...."
A powerful explosion ripped through Enterprise sending anyone not secured flying through the air. Alarms reverberated throughout the ship announcing the presence of fire and smoke. The ship spun through space like a drunken top and came to rest at a forty-five degree angle.
TBC: I hope you guys like it. I love cliffhangers don't you?
