Disclaimer: I dont own this, Okeydokey? This is just for fun.
Hi guys! Don't worry; I'm not giving up on Remember Me? It's just, I had this story practically written in my head, so I decided to start it.
----------------------------------------------------
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed sat in the back of the shuttle pod amid boxes and boxes of supplies. Ensign Hoshi Sato sat next to him, absorbed in studying the data PADD in front of her which contained samples of several new languages that they had been introduced to on their supply mission to a distant planet.
Enterprise was currently involved in delicate negotiations with a difficult planet. The people of Bentak were precise, demanding, critical and picky, and required much work. The strengthening of diplomatic ties with new worlds was one of their mandates, no matter how difficult their leaders were. They had been there for a month already, and seemed likely to be in orbit for several more weeks before even setting foot on the planet, and had been running low on supplies.
The Bentak officials had refused to allow them to land to gather supplies until the negotiations had been completed, so T'Pol had searched the database and found a trade planet. Personally, Malcolm felt that people who wouldn't even let them land for supplies weren't worth much hassle, but the Captain seemed determined to open talks.
They were currently in largely uninhabited space, and the nearest trade planet was a twenty four hour trip by shuttle. The Captain ordered Malcolm, Hoshi and a pilot, Ensign Jack Martins, to gather supplies there. Their mission had been completed, and they were returning with food and medical supplies compatible to human, Vulcan and Denobulan physiology. They were almost half-way back to Enterprise, and so far, there had not been much in the way of conversation. The silence was broken by Ensign Martin at the helm of the small shuttle pod:
"One hundred green bottles, standing on the wall,One hundred green bottles, standing on the wall..."
He would have gotten farther if Malcolm hadn't interrupted him.
"Ensign, what are you doing?"
"Singing, sir."
"I see. May I ask why?"
"Just to break the silence."
Hoshi looked up from her work at that point.
"At least make it challenging Jack" she teased.
"Oh yeah? How?"
"Repeat after me:Ten thousand Green bottles, standing on the wall
Ten thousand Green bottles, standing on the wall..."
Jack laughed and joined in. They even got Malcolm to join in somewhere around 7,985 green bottles. By the time they got to 7,000, they were all laughing too hard to continue. Wiping the tears from his eyes, Malcolm cleared his throat.
"Status, Ensign."
"We will reach Enterprise in fifteen hours, seventeen minutes sir."
"That's good. Thank you."
Malcolm leaned back and closed his eyes. He was tired. The entire time they were on the planet, he had been on constant guard. As Tactical Officer, the safety of the two ensigns was his responsibility, and he felt the pressure. Added to that his growing feelings for the petit comm. officer beside him, and the struggle to hide them from her, and he was worn out.
He wished he could just walk up to her and say "Hoshi. I think I love you. Want to come with me to movie night?" and take it from there. He wished. Damned regulations!! He turned his head and pretended to sleep. In reality, he was studying Hoshi from beneath his lashes as she turned her attention back to her languages. She was so pretty, and kind and intelligent, and funny and brave... He let himself trail off, and was almost asleep when a warning alarm sounded from the helm.
"Martins, what's happening?" he asked, fully alert and leaning forward over the Ensign's shoulder. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Somehow, he knew something was going to go terribly wrong.
Hoshi put her PADD back in her bag, and leaned forward, next to Malcolm. As usual, when she was near him, she was distracted by his scent. It was something crisp and clean, and eminently Malcolm. Chiding herself for such thoughts about a superior officer, she focused her mind on their present, increasingly perilous situation.
"Sir" Martins sounded a little panicked as his hands flew over the controls. "We've hit an ion storm. It's throwing us off course, towards the fourth planet in the system."
Malcolm swore to himself. The sun of planetary system in question was dying, and emitting radiation. It had reacted strangely with the atmosphere of the fourth of five planets, all uninhabited. They had scanned the system on the way to the trade planet, and found that their systems could not penetrate the atmosphere. That in itself was worrying enough without an ion storm throwing them into the path of the planet.
"Sir!" Martins was really panicked now. "Sir, I cannot alter course. I'm reading several warning beacons in orbit around the planet, but I cannot get us away! We're going to crash!"
Hoshi whimpered and moved closer to Malcolm, who longer to comfort her, but he had to focus.
"Come on Ensign" he bit out. "Do anything! We cannot crash on that planet!"
"I'm sorry sir, but we will. And it's not going to be a smooth landing either! Get yourselves to the back of the pod. You have a better chance of surviving."
"Ensign..."
"Go now sir, Hoshi! You have to survive."
Malcolm conceded, and pulled Hoshi to the back of the small pod, and held on to her with one hand while he braced for impact.
The little ship hit the atmosphere at top speed, bucking and tumbling in a freefall. Martins tried to stabilize them, but failed, and threw up his arms to try to protect himself from the impact. Hoshi clung to Malcolm like he was a life line, and buried her face in his chest.
Malcolm held on tight to her, now with both arms. 'At least she'll be the last thing I see, and touch' he thought to himself as a massive thud sounded, and he was thrown against the bulkhead.
Darkness overcame him.-----------------------------------------
On board the Enterprise, Captain Jonathan Archer was not in a good mood. The people of Bentak were getting on his last nerve, and he had a monster headache. He tried counting to ten in his head before answering the man on the screen on the bridge.
"Ambassador..."
"Those are the terms Captain. Accept them, or do not. Good-day!" was the curt reply.
"Friendly folk" muttered Trip sarcastically from the background as the screen went blank.
Jon was just about to agree, when Hoshi's counterpart spoke up from the comm. station.
"Sir" Crewman Al Graves said. "We are receiving a transmission, visual and audio. It's coming from a planet several light years from here."
"Several light years?"
"Yes sir."
"On screen"
The screen flickered and the face of an alien appeared. He had light green skin, blue hair and red eyes. Despite that, he looked relatively harmless.
"I am Captain Jonathan Archer of the Starship Enterprise. What can we do for you?"
"My name is Morak of the Tosscaj people. I understand that you have a shuttle en-route to your ship, several light years from here."
Archer was instantly suspicious. "Yes, how did you know that?"
"My people have wide ranging territories. Three hours ago, we detected a small shuttle crashing onto one of our planets. Our sensors are very sensitive and powerful, and we managed to scan the shuttle before it crashed. We traced the alloy that the shuttle was made of and traced it back to you. Your people are in danger captain."
Archer was shocked "What proof do you have of this?" he demanded.
Morak pressed some buttons on the console in front of him, and on screen came the image of their shuttle. It tossed and bucked like a piece of paper in a hurricane, before crashing into the atmosphere.
Morak's face replaced the image. "The planet is uninhabited. I am sending you the co-ordinates now"
T'Pol said to Jon "Sir, receiving scans. They indicate a small planet several light years from our current position."
"How long would it take us to get there?"
"At Warp 5, six hours."
"Alright. Travis, break orbit. T'Pol, contact the Bentak. Tell them we have to go. Trip..."
"Captain Archer" Morak's voice interrupted his instructions. "There is something else. We are sending a ship to meet you. Jolan will help you prepare a rescue party for the planet. It is... unusual."
"In what way?"
"The sun in that system is dying. The radiation it is emitting has changed the atmosphere. Time is different there."
"Meaning...?"
"For every standard hour in space, roughly three months passes on the planet"
Archer looked shocked. "Three months?"
"I'm afraid so."
"You said they crashed three hours ago. It will take us six hours to get there. That's nine hours. By the time we get there, the away team will have spent almost two and a half years alone on the planet!!"-------------------------------------
So, what do ye think?
Please review. Y'all know how much I love 'em!
