Chapter Nine
Petty Officer Julianne Munoz was the night shift science officer. She actually volunteered for the unpopular mid-watch, the midnight to six AM shift. She liked the quiet, nothing really happened on the night shift.
Ensign Jackson was the officer of the watch, at least until the Sub-Commander showed up. She never actually assigned herself the mid-watch, but sometime between oh-three hundred and the end of the shift she always showed up to relieve the Lieutenant.
"Hey Julie" none of them could really pronounce Hakim's full name. He was from Nigeria and his mother had gone with the tribal tradition rather than the popular culture. Everyone called him Hakim, though, and he was a satisfactory pilot. His real skill lay in actual navigation. He could plot a course better than anyone in Starfleet could.
"Yeah" she stretched her legs out under the console; it was long shift sometimes.
"Take a look at this willya?" he had peculiar accent, but when he smiled it was the most delightful face she had ever seen. He was frowning now though. "It looks odd"
"Can you be more specific?" she asked, bemused.
"No not really" He sent her the information, it was a course correction, and there was some kind of distortion in the upper left quadrant.
"What is it?" asked Jackson form the tactical station.
"Looks like a distortion in the next parsec over, probably just the sensors getting a bit fuzzy, lemme run a diagnostic" she dialled in the specs for a full spectrum diagnostic on the main array. It wouldn't take more than ten, fifteen minutes.
"Attention on deck!" Jackson barked sharply. She hit a few buttons before getting to her feet, but by that point, the Sub-Commander had already waved them back to their seats.
"As you were," she replied mildly, crossing over to the Captain's chair that none of them felt comfortable taking, even if they were entitled as the officer of the watch.
"Your report Sub-Commander!" Jackson presented her with the padd he'd been keeping the ships log on. He stood stiffly at attention but she simply raised a brow in the characteristic gesture.
"As ease Ensign, and thank you, I appreciate it" Everyone had noticed that, since Betazed, the Sub-Commander had been much more relaxed. She'd eased up on her insistence on protocol. Not her performance standards, she was Vulcan, but she'd gone out of her way to be more open and courteous to the crew. Among some of the crew, there had been vulgar suggestions as to why, but most thought it was a nice touch.
As far as Julie was concerned, she'd liked the Sub-Commander from the get go. The first officer was the disciplinarian. She was in charge of the daily running of the ship. She needed to have and to hold standards that the crew were required to meet. Knowing The Sub-Commander and Trip both, she was actually satisfied that T'Pol had gotten the job. She really couldn't see Trip being the wicked witch of west, one of the more tame nicknames the crew had come up for T'Pol.
"Very well Ensign, everything seems in order. I relieve you as officer of the watch." She clicked the padd into the console of the command chair, copying his log onto the ship's official log.
"I stand relieved," he snapped to attention again and went back to tactical. Julie sighed, that was Lt. Reed shining through his Armoury boys; they were anal about protocol.
The console beeped. The diagnostic was finished. There was nothing wrong with the main sensor array. That was odd. It looked just like an echo effect, an effect that should have appeared on the diagnostic.
"Is there a problem?" Oh crap, the Sub-Commander had turned her laser-like gaze on her. Crap. Crap. Crap.
"Uh, no ma'am, I was just running a diagnostic on the sensor array."
"For what reason?"
"There's a…echo in the upper quadrant of the parsec over. Hakim was…I mean the helmsman, he was…he wanted to make a course correction and found the distortion. I just ran it through the diagnostic though, and it's fine"
"On screen" T'Pol commanded softly, obligingly Julie punched up the viewer window on the main screen. "T'Pol to engineering"
"What can I do ya for?" Trip ran a considerably looser ship down in the bowels of main engineering. His watch commander was as irreverent as the commander himself was.
"There's a sensor distortion on screen that isn't appearing the automated diagnostic. Can you run a manual inspection for me please?" the engineer grumbled a bit, but gamely ran the diagnostic.
"Wait a minute, is it moving?" Hakim was looking at the screen. The distortion had appeared in the dark side of a gas giant's largest moon. It was now halfway past the third planet in the system.
"Sensor's check out fine Sub-Commander, your distortion isn't a mechanical problem." she acknowledged the engineer and cut the channel.
"How large is that distortion?"
"A kilometre wide and couple long, you think it's a ship?" she asked.
"No petty officer, I think it's several ships." She stood up on the deck, "Contact the Cardassians and the cargo ship."
"Yes ma'am"
The ugly, bare strutted interior of the Cardassian cruiser pulled up on the main screen. The person who answered the hail was female, but that was being kind. Julie didn't like these people. The Betazeds had been more than friendly, coming aboard to socialize, doing some crewmember exchanges, cross training … y'know courtesy stuff. The Cardassians had just sat there, plugging along at warp 1.3.
"We've encountered a sensor distortion on the nearby spatial grid. I'm sending you the information now," Julie quickly prepared the data packet and sent it to the Comm, where it routed to the ship. "I believe it may be Orion ships in some kind of scattering field."
"We've received your information. Contact us if you have anything more concrete." The channel cut out.
"Well that was polite." Julie remarked under her breath. The Sub-Commander didn't seem to notice. The Betazed cargo ship opened a channel next.
"Yes Sub-Commander?" it was Leading Crewman Charis, one of the late shift communications officers.
"We've encountered a sensor distortion on the nearby spatial grid. I believe it is Orion ships in a scattering field. You might want to put the crew on alert." T'Pol didn't really change her tone at all, but Julie got the distinct impression that she was more concerned about the cargo ship than the battle cruiser.
"Not much we can do Sub-Commander. We got a comet buster cannon, no torpedoes or phase cannons."
"Can you increase speed?"
"Negative," the usually good natured Betazed looked worried, "We only have so much deuterium fuel. We increase now; we won't make it all the way to the colony. There's no way we could outrun them if that's what you're thinking"
"Understood, make your best time, Crewman" T'Pol signed off then turned to Julie, "You need to disperse that scattering field."
"Yes ma'am" Julie's heart started to pound.
"Where's their location?" she leaned over Hakim's shoulder, trying to fix the distance in her mind.
"Ten minutes away on an intercept course" Hakim's voice was tight. Dog fighting was not his best area of piloting.
"Put us between the cargo ship and the pirates, we need to draw their fire." He drew up on the port side of the cargo vessel. The Cardassian ship drew up on the starboard, more for their protection than the cargo ships.
"Should I go to tactical alert?" Jackson looked almost eager.
"No," T'Pol sat back down, "Activate weapons, but leave the plating. We don't want them to know they've been spotted."
It was a tense few minutes. Sweat poured into Julie's eyes. She was trying desperately to punch through the scattering field, but they seemed to be impenetrable.
"Petty Officer?"
"I'm working on it ma'am" she was breathing heavily.
"Prepare a full spread of torpedoes and phase cannon fire. As soon as they're in range, open fire. Polarize the hull plating immediately after firing."
"Yes, ma'am"
They crept closer and closer, "I got something, it's not much…"
On screen, three fat blobs replaced the one large blob. The first layer of scattering had been a rotating adjustment. She'd just found the right frequency. She got a sudden idea. "Can I extend the grappler? It has the quantum beacons."
"We don't want to tip them off. Wait until they're in range"
The seconds ticked by. "Ten seconds to firing range, nine, eight, seven… they're coming in range now."
"Fire at will" cool as a cucumber, the Sub-Commander leaned forwards as if urging the torpedoes on by sheer force of willpower.
There was a massive explosion. For a second the scattering field dropped. "There are six of them! Well there were anyhow!"
"I can't get a lock!" Jackson focused on his console.
"Switch to manual" T'Pol's voice was calm.
The whole ship rocked, Julie rocked with it. After that brief moment, she lost the ships in the scattering field. "I'm extending the grappler"
There were several hits in rapid succession. Her eyes blurred and her stomach squicked. Do not get sick do not get sick…. She hit the commands to cycle through the scans on the grappler array.
"There we go!" Jackson sounded excited, "Got 'em"
Several shots in rapid succession landed on the Orion vessels, which had cleared up considerably. They responded by shooting at the belly of the ship.
"We lost it" Julie said softly, "Omigod, we lost the grappler!"
That got T'Pol's attention. She started to walk over. "Is it still attached?"
"I think" Julie squeaked, then berated herself, 'You're a grown woman, a professional, there will be no squeaking.'
"Petty officer, I have every confidence in you, however…"
Julie cut her off, "Take it" she leapt out of her chair and offered it to the Sub-Commander. Now was not the time for silly pride issues, T'Pol was the head bridge officer if anyone could crack that scattering field it was her.
"You have the bridge"
NO. No No No No No No No No. Not bridge. Who the hell was she to take command? The single lowest ranked enlisted person on the scene, that's who. The ship rocked again. She looked to T'Pol but the science officer had dropped into her own world, trying desperately to break the scattering field.
"The cargo ship has dropped out of warp" Hakim's voice rung over the deck.
"Go to impulse" she said reflexively, then thought. What if we're damaged? How many ships are left? Can they knock out our engines? Can the cargo ship fight?
"I can't get a lock on anything!" Jackson shouted.
"Fire…randomly. Cluster shots. Try to find them," she said, the next blast knocking her off her feet, tumbling onto the deck, "All cannons, save the torpedoes"
She picked herself off the deck, her nose bloodied. Great. Just great. "Where the hell are the Cardassians?"
"They're…still at warp" the comm officer, reported
"Open a channel!!" she shouted, angry as hell. As soon as the bare strutted ship appeared in the screen she shouted, "Where the hell are you going? We have an agreement!" A split second later she grimaced, Oooooo. Not the best thing to have said. Let's go ahead and insult our allies. It didn't seem to phase them either way.
"We agreed to travel together; we did not agree to be eaten alive by pirates. Die bravely Enterprise. We are leaving this parsec." The channel cut out.
"Shit" she shouted, and for once didn't care who heard her. "Where's the cargo ship?"
"They're trying to separate the module section. They're receiving heavy fire."
"On screen" A large, oversize distortion blurred the entire screen. No wonder they couldn't get a lock. Angry red streams burst out of Enterprise, some connecting, but most just disappearing off into space. The cargo ship, trying to separate into a fighting unit, was directly in front of them.
"Can you barrel roll in this thing?"
"Barrel roll?" Hakim sounded flabbergasted, "Why?"
"Do it, right around the body of the cargo ship. That ought to give them enough breathing space to separate. Fire at will at… them" she grabbed the back of the command chair to keep upright as the inertial dampers complained about the maneuver.
"Hull plating down to forty percent" They completed the roll as the cargo ship separated.
"Emergency power?" she asked, timidly. Jackson nodded.
"Got it" T'Pol's voice rang out.
"Fire at will" Julie shouted. Another massive explosion rocked the ship. It wasn't from enemy fire. Jackson had got another one. Her butt dropped into the command chair. It was the only place that wasn't rocking violently.
"Send the data to the cargo ship"
"Already on it" T'Pol's calm voice responded, working at her post to synchronize their information.
"They've put some kind of beam on the cargo section." Hakim sounded confused, "It's moving!"
"A tractor beam" T'Pol identified.
"Try to disrupt it." Julie clung to the arms of the chair with a white knuckled grip. The Orion ships went to warp, taking the cargo section with them.
"They're gone" she asked, "Are they gone?"
"Yes" T'Pol replied.
She didn't hear the door slide open, but a warm hand placed itself on her shoulder. "I think I can take it from here Petty Officer."
She had never been happier to see Jonathan Archer in her life. "They're gone, sir. They're gone!"
"So I see. You might want to take care of that." He let her go and she stumbled over, past the science console. Realizing just now that blood from her nose was pouring all down the front of her uniform; she put a hand to her face to staunch the flow.
Some one caught it, placing a firm, hard grip on her shoulder.
"Excellent, excellent work Petty Officer" T'Pol made it clear she wanted the crew to hear her, pitching her voice over the residual clamor, "That was above and beyond the call of duty."
The bridge almost stopped. No one could quite believe T'Pol's open compliment. Even Julie had a hard time formulating a response. "Th-thank you ma'am"
"The cargo ship is hailing," Hoshi took the conn.
"On screen" Julie said, at the same time Captain Archer commanded. She blushed deeply, still holding her nose; it wasn't her call to take anymore.
"Captain…" the cargo vessel looked as though it had taken heavy damage, "Thank you, you've likely saved my crew from slavery."
"I just got here," he said, steering Julie back into the command center, "You'll have to thank my officer of the watch."
"Then I thank you Petty Officer, but I fear I have bad news." The Betazed man sighed, "We lost six crewmen on the cargo section. One of them was Chief Spencer."
Spencer? Julie's gut dropped down into her shoes and she sat heavily on the captain's chair. James? He was gone. Two crewmembers traded over to the cargo vessel to help with some Engineering improvements: Chief Spencer and Crewman Randall.
She sent a furtive look to Captain Archer, who nodded approvingly, before she asked, "What about Crewman Randall?"
"She's fine" he hung his head, "I'm very sorry for your loss"
"They're not lost yet" Archer's voice sounded steely, "We're going after them"
"I'm afraid that's impossible Captain, the Orion's mask their ion trails. There's no way you can track them" the Betazed man, nodded orders to his helmsman, "Thank you for the escort Captain Archer, but I'm afraid we have to go back home"
"Turn your ship around." T'Pol's voice was as hard and angry as anyone had ever heard it. She stood and gave the Cargo Captain 'the look'. "We've risked our crew to pull your ship out of danger; I think we deserve the same courtesy. We will not leave our man behind."
"No one has ever been able to track an Orion vessel," he said with finality.
"I will" T'Pol lifted her chin in a defiant challenge.