Title: Twilight

Author: T'eyla

AN: Thanks to WhtevrHpnd2Mary (music rules! esp. Aerosmith and The RHCP ;) ), Exploded Pen (don't want the story to lose consistency, that's why I'm updating daily :) ), lieutenants-lady (thank you! I tried to make this a little more than a typical short T/R - nice to hear I managed to do so :) ), KaliedescopeCat (here comes trouble ;) ) und Gabi2305 (Yep, 2mal. Macht nix, das treibt die Review-Zahlen hoch -gg-) for reviewing. And after a short fill of about five hours of sleep and a bloody boring schoolday we zoom right into the next verse...

Verse II/Chorus

"Well, ya know Malcolm, I ain't got nothin' against gettin' off the ship once in a while, but somehow I wished we'd choose our landin' sites a little warmer."

Malcolm looked up from his scanner, a genuinely surprised expression on his face. "It's not cold."

"Yeah, it is. The wind's cold."

"There barely is any wind."

Trip snorted and decided that pointing out that in fact there was enough wind to make him feel like he was freezing wouldn't do any good.

They were standing on a slight rise somewhere in the coniferous forest where T'Pol had located the caves. He let his eyes wander over the forlorn landscape around them, thinking that if there were creatures like dwarfs and trolls, they'd live nowhere but right here, then returned his attention back to Malcolm and Malcolm's scanner. "Pick anything up?"

"Lots of things. But not what we're looking- wait." He looked up, pointing in a direction slightly north of them. "There's a small cave over there where we won't have to climb further than... " He checked the scanner again. "Thirty meters down."

"Sounds good. Lead the way."

"With pleasure." Malcolm's mouth quirked, and Trip recognized the alert-yet-not-tense smile. He seen it quite often, mostly on away missions when everything was going smoothly. He liked it - he liked all Malcolm's smiles, the man did have quite a collection to choose from, come to think of it - but by far it wasn't his favorite. That he had seen only once or twice, it was a grin that spread on Malcolm's whole face, almost making the eyes disappear. Malcolm nearly never showed it, a fact which Trip found both regrettable and kind of sad. He knew the latter was a little silly, it simply wasn't Malcolm's way to run around grinning like a Cheshire cat, but all the same he couldn't help it.

Your sweet talking hip shaking walking gonna blow a man away

Kiss butt, guess what even double crossing dogs have their day

So forget about regret about you lying, afraid to say

He shook his head trying to chase the song out of his head and caught up with Malcolm who was walking a few steps ahead of him.

"It's creepy 'round here," he said.

"Why?"

Trip didn't respond immediately, surveying the silent trees and the ground that was covered with a spongy layer of fallen leaves and needles. "I don't know. It's... this forest is creepy. It's not really woods, way too small for that, and too sparse, but it's not a small happy forest where you expect to meet Bambi behind the next tree either."

"Bambi?"

"You know what I mean."

"I guess I do. But to be honest, I can't see anything out of the ordinary about this forest." Malcolm as well looked around, then at Trip. "It reminds me of the forests in Europe."

"You mean England?"

"No, not England. More Central Europe."

"England's central."

"More central central."

Trip laughed. "Right. I know exactly what you're talkin' about."

Malcolm smiled as well, then turned his attention back to his scanner. "According to these readings, the cave should only be a few feet away."

"Huh? Which direction?"

"Over there." Malcolm pointed ahead and a bit to the right. Trip squinted to get a better look at the area he was indicating.

"I can't see a cave anywhere."

Malcolm didn't answer, instead set off and walked around a small hill which was more an unevenness in the ground than a hill. Just when Trip was about to follow, the Lieutenant spoke up. "Oh, I see. Here it is, Trip."

Trip came up beside Malcolm, and now he as well discovered the rather narrow crack in the rocky ground, a black gap about one on half a meter. "That's our cave?"

"There's a cavern of about thirty-five cubic meter below."

Trip made a low whistle, and Malcolm handed him the scanner so he could unshoulder his backpack.

"After going down there, we'll only have to use the climbing gear two more times... here and here," Malcolm continued, pointing out the spots on the scanners display that showed a rough outline of the system of caverns they were apparently standing on top of.

Trip nodded. "Doesn't seem too hard."

"Shouldn't be," Malcolm agreed, pulling rope, snaplinks and harness out of his backpack. Trip watched him for a moment while Malcolm put on his climbing gear, and again felt that sensation of ease. As creepy as this forest was, Trip appreciated the atmosphere it created. Some kind of silent, all-embracing understanding of matters.

He shook his head and began to get ready for the climb as well. They had no problems finding a secure place to attach their rope, and few minutes later Trip found himself slowly, carefully sliding off the edge of the gap into the dark below. Of course, as soon as he was in it wouldn't be dark anymore, his flashlight would see to that, and anyway, Malcolm's scanner had shown that there was nothing dangerous down there. Still, it was not a pleasant feeling, and when not much later - the cave didn't seem to have a very high ceiling - he felt solid ground under his feet again, Trip noticed he was kind of relieved. Shining his light upward, he saw Malcolm following him, his movements measured and cautious.

Yeah 'cause I'm missing you,

Just like you want me to,

You made me trip into the grind

Now I can't get you off

When Malcolm's feet made contact with the ground, he immediately pulled his scanner from his pocket, with the other hand unfastening the rope from his harness. Trip took a few steps and came up beside him. "Something wrong?"

"I don't know. I thought I heard something up there, but I'm not sure. The scanner's not picking anything up, though." Malcolm frowned, the blue shine of the scanner's display outlining his hard features in an eerie way. Trip turned the scanner in Malcolm's hand so he could look at it as well. The display was blank, though, only glowing blue and showing no readings.

"Must be the rock. It's probably interfering-" He broke off as Malcolm tensed beside him. "What is it?"

"The rock's crumbling. I felt small stones coming down from the ceiling. This cave's not stable." Quickly, Malcolm tucked the scanner into his pocket and turned back to the dangling rope. "We need to get out of here."

Trip blinked in confusion, but the urgent undertone in Malcolm's voice told him the man wasn't joking. He really thought it wasn't safe here, and if there was any sixth sense Trip relied on, it was Malcolm's. Trip took the few steps over to his own rope and was just about to attach it to his harness when he heard a low rumbling. A second later a bunch of pebble-sized rocks hit the cave's bottom between him and Malcolm, spraying small splinters in all directions. Trip looked up and saw that Malcolm was unhooking the snaplink on his harness again.

"We can't climb up anymore." Malcolm was speaking in his usual level voice, but all the same Trip had trouble understanding him and realized that the rumbling sound hadn't ceased, had, quite the opposite, gotten louder. He let go of his rope.

"We need to get further back into the cave!" Trip called over the noise, already setting off into the pitch-black in the back of the cavern. "That front part's gonna come down any second." He thought he heard an affirmative from Malcolm but wasn't sure. Turning around, he saw that the Lieutenant was still standing beside the cave's wall. "Come on, Malcolm! Get movin'!"

In the dancing halo of the flashlight that shone through the dust that seemed to be hanging in the air all over the place all of a sudden, Trip could make out Malcolm who was just letting go of the rope and turning towards him. "Hurry!" he called, and the next second jumped as the rumbling reached a climax and suddenly turned into a crunching. Then the first big rock crashed onto the ground only a few feet from where Malcolm was. A second one followed, and soon Trip felt close to panic as he couldn't make out the Lieutenant anymore between the falling rocks and the dust.

"Malcolm!" he shouted but barely heard himself over the noise. "Malcolm! Where are you?"

After a moment the racket of the falling rocks ceased, and a part of Trip felt relieved as he realized that this obviously wasn't a complete cave-in. His other half, however, was still with all its will fighting the panic that was threatening to overwhelm him. He coughed, then called again. "Malcolm, answer me!"

Suddenly he thought he heard a small sound, and stood silent, listening intently. There it was again, from somewhere to his left. His head snapped around, and he let his flashlight's shine wander over the pile of rocks. "Malcolm?"

"Over here, Trip." Definitely left. He took a few more steps, batting away the dust that was hindering his vision, and thought he caught a glimpse of something blue between the grey of the rocks. Quickly, he walked around a bunch of rocks and dropped to his knees beside Malcolm who was lying on the floor in a prone position. With a sinking feeling Trip saw that most of the Lieutenant's legs was buried under rubble.

"Malcolm," he said, settling a hand on the man's shoulder. "Are you okay?" He could feel Malcolm's back rise and fall quickly under his fingers, and as the Lieutenant coughed a few times, the muscles tensed up.

"I... " A few coughs and gasping breaths. "I think my leg's broken."

The voice was low and strained, and Trip closed his eyes for a second, inwardly cursing fervently. "Which one?"

"Right."

Trip swallowed and turned his head to look at the heap of loose rocks that covered Malcolm from the waist down. He was just about to open his mouth to say something more when the chirp of his communicator made him startle. He fumbled it out of his pocket and flipped it open. "Tucker here."

"Trip, are you alright? T'Pol picked up some seismic activity around your position."

Seismic activity. That would explain the cave-in, then. Trip let out a short sigh. "I am, but Malcolm's not. We're in a cave, and half the ceilin' came down. Malcolm's leg's broken." Trip thought he heard Jon mutter a few expletives, then Archer's voice came again.

"We'll transport you out of there."

"Won't work. Scanner's not working down here, either. Something in the rock." This time the expletives weren't muttered, and Trip almost smiled. Almost.

"Can you get out of there without-"

"No. The cave's kinda underground."

A short pause, voices in the background. Then Jon again. "We'll get you with shuttlepod two, but it might not be advisable to land it right on top of your cave." Trip bit down on a sarcastic statement that crossed his mind and listened without interrupting. "The caverns extend pretty far, but T'Pol says it's safe if we land a little further away from your position. It'll take us some time to get to you, though. Will that be a problem?"

Trip quickly glanced down at Malcolm's back on which he still had his hand resting. Malcolm's breathing hadn't quieted down, if anything, it had gotten more irregular. "Hope it won't. How long?"

"About three hours, maybe a little longer."

"Alright. See you then. Tucker out." He flipped his communicator shut, then bent down so he could see Malcolm's face. The Lieutenant had his eyes closed, his mouth was a thin line. Trip tightened his grip on his shoulder. "Malcolm."

No response.

"Malcolm!" This time Trip even shook him - very gently. All the same Malcolm's eyes flew open and he pulled in a sharp breath. Trip immediately let go of his shoulder. "Sorry. Malcolm, did you hear what the Cap'n said?"

Malcolm blinked a few times. "He'll get us with shuttlepod two?"

"Exactly. It'll take them about three hours. Malcolm, can you hold up till then?"

The Lieutenant closed his eyes again. "Yes." He swallowed. "There should be a med kit in one of the backpacks. Would you-"

"Of course." While digging through the packs, Trip mentally kicked himself for not thinking of it earlier. Well, of course he'd thought of it. For not getting it earlier.

He knelt back down beside Malcolm, the hypospray with the painkiller in his hand. Gently, he brushed the dust off Malcolm's neck, then held the hypo against the warm skin. There was a low hiss, and a few seconds later Malcolm relaxed visibly.

"It's not a very strong one," said Trip, putting the empty hypo aside. "I don't know how long it'll be till it wears off."

"I'll be fine, Trip."

Yeah, sure. You always are.

TBC...

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