"Archer to T'pol".
Silence.
"T'pol come in", Captain Archer waited again, trying to keep a feeling of dread from coming over him.
"Captain", spoke Lt. Reed, who was coming up towards him, "we *really* must hurry, Sir. .Dr. Phlox said the radiation –"
"Yes, yes", Archer cut in impatiantly, "I'm well aware of the doctors warnings regarding the resistance of the EV suits, thank you".
"Yes, sir", uttered Reed, "but we can't seem to find the sub commander and we need to leave in 6 minutes…" he insisted.
"I've been trying to contact her", Archer said, frowning.
"Perhaps it's the radiation sir, interfering with communications?" offered Major Hayes, standing quietly to his right up until then.
"OK, that's it",Taking another look at his chronometer, ,the Captain abruptly stated. Lt., you're with me, he motioned with his hand for Reed to follow. Major, have your people split up, find her and lets get the heck off this ship. There's no one left to resccue here". He turned to the left corridor, with Reed on his heels and silently added to himself, *I'm damned if I'm leaving one of my people to die with the rest of them*.
Proceeding through what appeared to be the science deck of the medium sized Vulcan ship at a half run, he automatically squashed the little voice inside of him that was mocking him, *yeah, right, you'd be running around hysterically looking for ANY member of your crew… right!*
*Well, I'm justifiably worried*, he argued with himself, *perhaps the radiation affected her physiology differently, or maybe because of the P'nar syndrome…*
He quickly sought to distract himself from these thought, focusing instead on Reed's comm malfunction theory.
It's been approximately two and a half hours since the Enterprise has received an automated distress call from a Vulcan science vessel. They have been unable to get a response to their hails, and having scanned the ship and determined there was no life support, a crew was assembled to look for possible survivors and attempt to determine the cause for their death.
Typically, the first officer, a Vulcan, would be an ideal choice for leading the team on this mission, however the Captain, having not set foot outside Enterprise for two months, argued his way in.
Reaching the end of the corridor, the Captain turned to face Reed who was close on his heels, "Well, she's not here. Let's try the bridge, in case she returned there after we've le—"
"T'pol to Archer", his speech was was cut off by the transmission.
The Captain struggled not to show his delight at this development, but his relief seeped into his voice "T'pol…"
"Captain", she continued, "I request your presence immediately at the medical lab on deck 4. It is of utmost urgency."
His mood quicly shifting, Archer shot an annoyed look in Reeds direction, who was looking back at him with his eyebrows raised in question.
"T'pol, whatever it is, tell me about it after we've reached Enterprise. We must get off this ship immediately." Interesting, he thought to himself, It was usually T'pol making sure they never lost track of time… oh, well…
Considering the crisis averted, Archer motioned for Reed to follow, "Malcolm, let Major Hayes know we found her and to meet us at the airlock".
"Aye, sir", Reed proceeded to make the call.
"Captain, I am aware of that, however----"
Archer stopped in midstride at this, realizing she wasn't already halfway to the decompression chamber, as he'd assumed.
"Sub Commander", he almost shouted, making Reed jump at his unexpected and uncharacteristic response, his fear for her safety manifesting itself in the form of anger " I don't care what it is! just get yourself to the airlock NOW, that's an order!"
Instead of the calm even tones of his T'pol (where did THAT come from??) , Archer thought he could hear desperation and pleading in her usually monotone voice "Sir, I must—"
Archer stopped dead in his tracks.
"Captain, we have 3.5 minutes to leave sir, and the Major's crew is already standing by", Lt. Reed stated.
Jon hesitated for a split second, then turned his attention back to his first officer. Forcing himself to control his fear induced anger, he spoke "Alright T'pol… just tell me where you are and I'm coming over".
Seeing Reed opening his mouth to object, he preempted "Malcolm , I know.. look there's something wrong with her, you go on, I'll get her and catch up with you."
Reed hesitated.
"I said Go!"
"Sir—"
"Go!!"
With this Archer took off in the opposite direction. Quickly reaching his destination, he was for the first time greateful for the Vulcan's efficiency and logic in the ship's design. A little short of breath, he caught sight of T'pol gazing into what appeared to be a refrigeration unit at the far end of the room, her back towards him.
"T'pol?". Well, at least she's fine, physically, he thought to himself…
"we have to leave NOW!!", Jon kept approacing.
Apparently spellbound by whatever that is she was looking at, T'pol failed to acknowledge his presence.
Coming closer, he noticed both her hands were flat against the glass surface, and an unidentifiable expression on her face.
T'pol actually jumped when his hand touched her shoulder, as if waking from a trance – with a sharp intake of breath: "Captain!"
"T'pol we have to go", Jon reiterated, making a mental note to have Phlox check her out, she was being a little weird, even for her.
Only when T'pol moved to face him did Jon get a full look at the container.
"Oh My God!" he started.
"T'pol, is it…."
"Yes sir." T'pol anticipated his question
"Is it—"
"--alive? Yes sir. There is breathable atmosphere inside the unit, and it is also shielded from the radiation caused—"
"Hayes to Captain Archer."
"On our way Major", Jon promised, shutting down the link.
Taking a deep breath, he turned to T'pol, forcing himself to look her in the eye.
"T'pol, I'm sorry but we have to go". Her sad eyes left his at this, moving back to stare at the tiny face throgh the thick glass.
"Captain…"
"No T'pol. You know we can't get him…or her… out, he'll suffocate, and the transporter won't work through the disturbance".
Archer found himself wanting to believe his own words "another ship will pick him up…the Vulcans…"
"The energy for life support of this device will only hold for approximately 10 more hours, and there are no other Vulcan or other ships close enough", T'pol stated.
He was fast becoming anxious, trying to think up ways he could forcibly get her to the airlock, reaching his hand to check for his phase pistol..
He decided to try reasoning with her one last time. After all, isn't logic what Vulcans did best?!
"You said so yourself, there is no other way.."
T'pol turned to look into his eyes for a few seconds. "On the contrary, Captain, *there is* one other way, the only possible way, for which I require your assistance".
At his questioning look, she whispered "I trust you, Jonathan". Her eyes boring into his… begging his understanding… asking his forgiveness for actions not yet committed, before adding "– but I know what youre about to do. I apologize sir---"
Before he could try to interpret her meaning, in one swift move Jon's phase pistol was yanked from his suit and thrown, right along with hers, to the other end of the room.
"T'pol, what the hell—" he started angrily, completely shocked.
"I am sorry sir, but I cannot permit you to stop me, though I will require your assistance should I not be able to complete this endeavor….I am… sorry, Jonathon", she repeated before springing into action. Turning around, T'pol keyed a few buttons, and with a hiss the stasis chamber opened in front of a frozen in shock Archer.
T'pol took a deep breath, reached up and with a practised flick of her wrist released the seal on her helmet, before taking it off completely.
Fully lifting open the chamber door, she quicly reached in, picking up and placing the baby on her chest and covering his little head and half his body with the oxygen providing piece. A split second later she was at as fast a walk as the suit would permit. Completely horrified, Archer could only follow her, trying to keep up with her speed.
Opening his comm, he called "Archer to Reed, were coming in, get in the airlock and get ready!"
"Acknowledged, sir", came Reed's prompt reply.
When he was almost sure they'd make it just fine, T'pol suddenly slowed to a stop, falling to her knees before he could reach her, though keeping a strong hold on the precious burden in her arms.
Not hesitating for as second, Jon bent and picked up both T'pol and the baby, plus some 20k's worth of EV suit, and kept going.
Making the final turn to where the rest of the team was anxiously waiting, spotting his predicament, Reed rushed to take the child from his arms while Hayes relieved him of T'pol.
Archer stumbled the rest of the way into the chamber and hit the button. Five seconds later they were in the breathable atmosphere of the shuttle. Still gasping for breath from exertion, Jon opened his helmet and went to check on T'pol, after barking an order to Mayweather to get them to Enterprise on the double and alert Phlox to the situation.
Jon felt his heart stop at the sight of his Sub Commander lying limply on the floor of the shuttle pod, face as white as a sheet, with Major Hayes breathing oxygen into her depleted lungs, with seemingly little results…
His knees suddenly bucled under his weight and he collapsed into a seat, his breathing increasing rapidly as he started hyperventilating, black dots appearing before his eyes, when he felt someone push his head down between his knees.
"Sir, just take slow, deep breaths… focus on your breath" the owner of the hands, Corporal… Cole? he thought through the haze surrounding him, moved to her knees in front of him.
"I'm sure she'll be fine sir". At the understanding look in her eyes, Jon dropped his face into his hands, one thought going around in his head *oh, God no… please, let her be ok…. Please, oh God... please … *
End part 1…