Disclaimer: Enterprise and her crew belong to Paramount. I'm just borrowing them for a while.
Bottled Up – Part 1
Jonathan Archer crept silently through the trees, phase pistol held out in front of him. He hadn't glimpsed the alien he was tracking for some minutes now, but he wasn't going to let down his guard even for a second. Why a member of an alien race would fire on him without provocation was a mystery to him, but fired the alien had. Luckily, he had missed, leaving Archer unhurt but most definitely wanting to find out what was going on. So he had pulled out his phase pistol and hurried after the retreating form of his attacker as quietly as he could.
Suddenly, Archer's communicator chirped. Cursing under his breath, the Captain pulled it out, intending to silence it before it could give away his position. However, he was too late.
"T'Pol to Archer."
Frustrated, Archer flipped open the communicator. "What is it?" he hissed.
"Are you all right, Captain? We were supposed to rendez-vous ten minutes ago. Commander Tucker was becoming quite concerned."
"I'm fine," Archer started to say, but he was interrupted by a crashing sound above him. Jerking his head back, he saw his alien attacker descending on him from the branches of the tree above. The force of the impact knocked Archer to the ground, sending his phase pistol spinning out of reach. Gasping for breath, he pulled himself to his knees, noticing as he did so that the alien had also lost his weapon. However, whatever small advantage this gave Archer was quickly lost, as the alien launched himself at the Captain again, and set about systematically beating the pulp out of him. Still winded from the initial attack, Archer could barely protect himself, and it was several seconds before he got the opportunity to fight back. Eventually, he managed to plant a foot on the alien's chest, propelling him backwards, and giving Archer some breathing space. Almost immediately, however, Archer realised his mistake, as he saw the alien straighten up, now pointing the Captain's own weapon at him.
"Bahlan moc apanat incho hyte!"
Archer had no idea what the alien was saying, and without the Universal translator, or even Hoshi Sato, his Communications Officer, it wasn't likely that he was going to understand any time soon. However, what was obvious was that the alien was being very hostile towards him. The only bright spot in this confrontation was that his weapon had been set to stun as opposed to kill, and while Archer didn't fancy being shot at all, he supposed temporary unconsciousness was preferable to death. He just prayed that the alien didn't figure out how to change the phase pistol's settings. Raising his hands placatingly, Archer figured his only current option was to try diplomacy.
"My name is Jonathan Archer, and I'm Captain of the Starship Enterprise," he began, knowing the alien couldn't understand him, but hoping that his conciliatory tone of voice would convey something of what he was trying to say. "I don't know what I've done to upset you, but I hope that we can work this out."
"Rapat!" The alien dealt Archer a stunning blow round the head, blurring his vision and sending him reeling. Consequently, he only heard rather than saw the next burst of weapons fire, and it took him several more seconds to realise that the firing hadn't been aimed at him, and that he wasn't unconscious, or even dead. He looked up to discover that although the alien was still standing over him, his attention was no longer focused on the Captain of the Enterprise. Turning his head, Archer saw that the alien was now the one who had a weapon pointed at him, that weapon being held by a very irate looking Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III.
"Sorry about that Cap'n," drawled Trip. "I seem to have missed with my first shot, but as I always say, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again."
The alien, however, obviously did not want to wait and see if Tucker's aim improved. Delivering one final swift kick to Archer's torso, he darted off into the thickest part of the trees. Choking and gasping for breath, Archer heard Tucker curse, fire his weapon again, and then set off running.
"Commander, wait," gasped Archer, but he might as well have been whispering for all the good it did. The Captain raised his head just in time to see Tucker disappear in pursuit of the alien.
Seconds later, T'Pol appeared from the opposite direction. "Captain, are you all right?" she asked calmly.
"I'm fine," Archer wheezed, struggling to his feet. "We have to go and help Commander Tucker. He's pursuing a hostile alien."
"Captain, you are in no fit state to go anywhere," replied T'Pol. "Let me help you back to the shuttle, and I will contact Lieutenant Reed and ask him to assist Commander Tucker."
"Like hell you will," grated Archer. "Trip could be dead by then."
T'Pol raised one Vulcan eyebrow, and seemed about to reply with yet another oh-so logical remark. However, she was interrupted by the sound of more weapons fire coming from the forest. Archer just gave her a grim look, and then staggered off in the direction of the sound.
Only a minute or two later, Archer and T'Pol had discovered the source of the weapons fire. Rounding a huge tree trunk, the pair discovered Archer's not-so-friendly alien standing over the inert form of Commander Tucker. Seeing the Captain and the Vulcan again, the alien dropped the Starfleet phase pistol and set off at a run again, this time unpursued. Archer's attention was wholly taken up by the unconscious form of his Chief Engineer. Checking his pulse, the Captain discovered a shallow yet steady heartbeat. The pistol had obviously remained on its stun setting throughout the whole incident. Archer flipped open his communicator.
"Archer to Reed."
"Reed here."
"Lieutenant, Commander Tucker has been injured. I need you to make your way to our position, and bring a stretcher from the shuttlepod with you."