PART 51
Author: Witezon@aol.com
Pairing: A/T
Rating: PG-13
Everything belongs to Paramount/UPN
BACK ON BOARD THE VERGENT
"BEEP." In the heavy silence that sounded extraordinarily loud.
At T'Pol's nod, Reed walked back over to his console, and she looked back to everyone else.
Quietly, "Jonathon and I want to thank you for your support and understanding during this situation." She paused for a second, "That is the Gegan announcing its arrival, please return to your stations."
"Sub-Commander, Captain Sertam is on the line." Turning she went to sit in the Captain's chair.
"On-screen."
"Greetings, T'Pol. We should be arriving in 10 of your minutes, but we have noticed the appearance of sensor ghosts. Too many to merely be gas clouds or remnants from other ships' warp trails. Upon arrival, we will transport over two of our engineers, two medical personnel, and two bridge and environmental systems specialists. They will not takeover the Vergent, but enhance your crew currently there. My First Officer, Batag, will eventually takeover command when we are ready to leave this sector. Unfortunately, due to some repairs we need to make due to a medical contamination breach, she will not be available for approximately 6 hours."
"Understood." She nodded at Reed, who put the Vergent on alert. Womack began making sensor sweeps of the area to overlap the area the Enterprise was sitting.
Sertam spoke up again, "Have you and your mate made a decision?"
"Yes, we want them to participate in the trials and we thank you for giving us this opportunity."
"Very well, we will be there shortly. At that time, our Medical Specialist, Nybm, will provide the test vaccine to the Akaali. Gegan out."
Womack broke into the silence, "Sub-Commander, I've just picked up the Gegan at coordinates 349 mark 87."
"Have you detected any other possible ships?"
She tapped more buttons, "I want to say yes, but I don't have any definable proof. They keep disappearing as the sensors try to lock on."
"How many ghosts?"
"Two, Ma'am."
"Lt, please open a channel to the Enterprise."
ENTERPRISE
Everyone in Sickbay stared at the Captain, then noticed that Stalen had moved over to Trip's side.
"CAPTAIN TO THE BRIDGE."
Walking over, he pushed the intercom button, "I'll be right there."
He turned back to everyone in the room, "T'Pol and I thank you for everything you've done for us and for Jon. I can't tell you how much we both appreciate it." He looked at them one more time, "Dismissed."
VERGENT
T'Pol quickly briefed Jonathon on what Sertam had told them. "...Ensign Womack has also identified two sensor ghosts and she is maintaining a sensor sweep around the area. I would suggest that Bagera reinforce his sweeps directly opposite the Vergent on Enterprise's far side."
"Agreed. Ensign Mantusco, yellow alert."
"Aye, sir, yellow alert," was heard in the background.
Archer sighed, staring at her, 'I'll be glad when you're back on Enterprise. You've been over there way too long, I miss having you here with me.'
A gentle smile passed through her thoughts into his, 'Yes, I want to be with you, too. How is Jon? And everyone else?'
Staring at her, 'Jon is fine, he also wants to know when you're coming home.' At that he felt a sadness flow through and disappear. 'Everyone else is shocked, but coping. I think we're gonna have a sad ship for awhile.'
"SUB-COMMANDER!" Broke into their personal conversation.
She twisted around to Womack and Archer listened in, "Ma'am, I've got sensor lock on the Gegan, and its being followed by two ghosts."
Nodding, she turned to Reed, "Lt, bring weapons up and standby to bring up the shields as soon as the Gegan has transported over her crew. Torres, standby for evasive maneuvers. Womack, continue to track those ghosts."
In the background, she could hear Archer giving like instructions, and he put Enterprise up on Red Alert.
"T'Pol to Kowalski and Cutler, standby for transport from the Gegan of engineering and medical personnel and to engage in defensive maneuvers."
As they acknowledged their orders, Reed spoke up, "Sub-Commander, the Gegan is in transporter range and has stated that 6 personnel will transport over."
"As soon as we confirm transport, put up shielding."
Two individuals started to appear on the bridge, causing both Reed and Torres to reach for their phasers.
She held up her hand when it looked like they were going to speak to her, "Lt Reed?"
"Aye, Ma'am. Shields and armor plating up."
She nodded at the Mezzians, the one in the blue stepped forward, "Sub- Commander T'Pol? I am Bridge Systems Specialist Zengen and this is Environmental Systems Specialist Katelk. Captain Sertam would like us to work with your crew."
She nodded, "Please take your stations." They went to the two unmanned consoles, and Reed transferred the controls back to the original stations.
"Cutler to Bridge."
T'Pol answered, "Bridge, here, Ensign."
"Sub-Commander, I wanted you to know that their doctor, Nybm, is getting ready to reverse the stasis process on Riann, and it should take approximately 2 hours. Then he'll inject her with their vaccine."
"Understood, Ensign. Please monitor the process and keep me advised. T'Pol out."
TWO HOURS LATER
Both the Gegan and Vergent were taking patrol sweeps, watching the sensors ghosts and trying to detect if anymore were out there, leaving the Enterprise to patrol the area between the two larger ships. It had been agreed between the three, that if they were attacked again, Enterprise would take position close to Vergent. As before, they would use Enterprise's maneuverability to their tactical advantage.
"Sub-Commander! There's two ships coming towards us from 598 mark 26."
Nodding, "Lt Reed, standby phasers. Ensign Torres move us between them and the Enterprise."
'Jonathon.' "Vergent to Enterprise and Gegan." Reed put three video blocks on the large screen, still maintaining the view of space where the birds of prey were coming from. He murmured under his breath, "I'm going to hate losing all this technology."
'T'Pol.' "Vergent, we see them and we're moving in behind you."
"Vergent this is the Gegan, we see the ships and are moving into position." The Gegan had moved to a half lightyear from the Vergent. They combined their sensor nets to enhance their readings.
Simultaneously, all three ships confirmed the presence of a third Klingon Bird of Prey. Without any warning, all the Klingon ships formed an arrow formation and fired a fierce barrage of weaponry at the three ships. The Gegan and Vergent's shields absorbed the impacts, shuddering at the explosive shockwaves, whereas Enterprise only received a glancing blow as they quickly moved behind the Vergent's shields.
In the next heartbeat, Archer glanced at video blocks on this view screen (The Mezzians had been sharing some of their lower level technology with the Enterprise, and Tucker and Storen had been implementing it in the Enterprise's systems) and ordered, "Implement Plan Alpha 3."
Both Sertam and T'Pol nodded, issuing orders to their ships. Gegan led by angling off to the left, Vegent angling right, with Enterprise just behind the Vergent. All three ships targeted the Klingon's engines, along with their weapons and sensors arrays. A barrage of continuous phaser and torpedo fire hit the Klingon ships in the same place every time, weakening their shields and getting through to blow some arrays. The Klingons quickly returned fire, this time ignoring the Enterprise and attacking only the Vergent and Gegan. Both ships jerked with the multiple hits.
A panel on the Vergent's bridge blew, showering sparks and smoke onto the bridge. "Sub-Commander, shield strength has decreased to 60% on the port side, section A7."
"Reed, continue to fire. Zengen, divert power to the shields."
Aye, Ma'ams, sounded in the background. She was watching the bridge of the Gegan, they also had damage controls teams working. The Enterprise didn't have any damage.
Archer ordered a change, "Implement Beta 1."
All ships moved to the different coordinates and fired another barrage on the Klingons. This time one of the Klingon ships moved drunkenly away. They hit a nacelle, causing energy to dance along its carriage, and blew up one of its larger sensor grids. The other two ships joined together for continuous fire of photon torpedoes - pounding away at the Mezzian ships.
One torpedo hit the weakened area sharply shoving the Vergent backwards, tossing everyone around. A ceiling panel dropped directly on top of T'Pol.
"Sub-Commander!" Reed cried out as he watched the ceiling fall on her. Archer jerked up to look at the view screen. All he saw was a pile of panels where T'Pol had been sitting.
Watson jumped up from the Engineering Station, running over to where she had disappeared. He quickly pulled the panels off, uncovering her. She pulled herself up in her chair, nodding her thanks to Watson, and glancing up at Jonathon on the screen. He exhaled in relief, when she gently touched his mind. He didn't mention the blood, though his jaw tightened as it slowly ran down the side of her face.
"Report, Lt."
"The Klingons have pulled back, Ma'am. It was a hit and run. Shields down on the port side, we also have environmental depressurization on decks 10 and 12, but no impact on the ship. Weapons and sensors are still working at optimal efficiency."
Nodding, she turned to Katelk, "Specialist, what about the cylinder room?"
"It is still stable. I've closed down several sections of the ship to ensure we maintain the environment only where this crew is or would be."
"Thank you. Zengen, Watson - shields?"
Zengen answered, "Sub-Commander, we're diverting more power. But it will have to be manually done from Engineering. Your Lt Kowalski and Ensign Hondo and our Mezzian engineers, Htar and Braek, are attempting to do this now."
She looked speculatively at Watson as he came back over with a first aid kit in his hand. He pointed at her forehead, "You're bleeding, Ma'am."
"Womack?"
"I've been tracking them and surveying the surrounding area. I can't find any additional ships and the damaged one is no longer in the sensor area, Ma'am."
"Torres?"
"Warp drive and navigation are functioning a peak performance, Sub- Commander."
"Thank you. Please continue to monitor the area. Lt Reed, do we know the Gegan's status?" Before he could answer, Sertam did, "Sub-Commander, we have minimal damage and its being repaired as we speak. We thank you, again, for continuing to protect our ship. It will be good for all of us to leave this area."
Archer broke into the conversation, "Since the Klingons have momentarily left the area, why don't we do the same? Bagera located a small system where we could hide and make repairs until we're all ready to leave."
Both Sertam and T'Pol nodded in agreement. Bagera transferred the coordinates, and the ships started to move out.
The Vergent would be first, as she was the most damaged. "Torres, please take us to the coordinates, warp 1."
Acknowledging her orders, he inputted the coordinates and engaged the warp drive.
As soon as the warp drive was engaged the Vergent started shaking violently and dropped several feet down from their present location.
They all grabbed their chairs as they were tossed around. "Report!"
Zengen was running some checks, "Sub-Commander, that was caused by an internal explosion in an empty cargo bay, that is now open to space. We momentarily lost gravimetric controls and vertical thrusters which caused us to drop, but they are back on-line."
"What caused it the explosion and what impact does it have on the ship?"
Just as Reed started to answer, the 'lift doors opened, dumping three people on the bridge. The first was Ensign Cutler, the second could only be the Mezzian doctor Nybm, and the last was Riann.
CONTINUED IN PART 52
BACK ON BOARD THE VERGENT
"BEEP." In the heavy silence that sounded extraordinarily loud.
At T'Pol's nod, Reed walked back over to his console, and she looked back to everyone else.
Quietly, "Jonathon and I want to thank you for your support and understanding during this situation." She paused for a second, "That is the Gegan announcing its arrival, please return to your stations."
"Sub-Commander, Captain Sertam is on the line." Turning she went to sit in the Captain's chair.
"On-screen."
"Greetings, T'Pol. We should be arriving in 10 of your minutes, but we have noticed the appearance of sensor ghosts. Too many to merely be gas clouds or remnants from other ships' warp trails. Upon arrival, we will transport over two of our engineers, two medical personnel, and two bridge and environmental systems specialists. They will not takeover the Vergent, but enhance your crew currently there. My First Officer, Batag, will eventually takeover command when we are ready to leave this sector. Unfortunately, due to some repairs we need to make due to a medical contamination breach, she will not be available for approximately 6 hours."
"Understood." She nodded at Reed, who put the Vergent on alert. Womack began making sensor sweeps of the area to overlap the area the Enterprise was sitting.
Sertam spoke up again, "Have you and your mate made a decision?"
"Yes, we want them to participate in the trials and we thank you for giving us this opportunity."
"Very well, we will be there shortly. At that time, our Medical Specialist, Nybm, will provide the test vaccine to the Akaali. Gegan out."
Womack broke into the silence, "Sub-Commander, I've just picked up the Gegan at coordinates 349 mark 87."
"Have you detected any other possible ships?"
She tapped more buttons, "I want to say yes, but I don't have any definable proof. They keep disappearing as the sensors try to lock on."
"How many ghosts?"
"Two, Ma'am."
"Lt, please open a channel to the Enterprise."
ENTERPRISE
Everyone in Sickbay stared at the Captain, then noticed that Stalen had moved over to Trip's side.
"CAPTAIN TO THE BRIDGE."
Walking over, he pushed the intercom button, "I'll be right there."
He turned back to everyone in the room, "T'Pol and I thank you for everything you've done for us and for Jon. I can't tell you how much we both appreciate it." He looked at them one more time, "Dismissed."
VERGENT
T'Pol quickly briefed Jonathon on what Sertam had told them. "...Ensign Womack has also identified two sensor ghosts and she is maintaining a sensor sweep around the area. I would suggest that Bagera reinforce his sweeps directly opposite the Vergent on Enterprise's far side."
"Agreed. Ensign Mantusco, yellow alert."
"Aye, sir, yellow alert," was heard in the background.
Archer sighed, staring at her, 'I'll be glad when you're back on Enterprise. You've been over there way too long, I miss having you here with me.'
A gentle smile passed through her thoughts into his, 'Yes, I want to be with you, too. How is Jon? And everyone else?'
Staring at her, 'Jon is fine, he also wants to know when you're coming home.' At that he felt a sadness flow through and disappear. 'Everyone else is shocked, but coping. I think we're gonna have a sad ship for awhile.'
"SUB-COMMANDER!" Broke into their personal conversation.
She twisted around to Womack and Archer listened in, "Ma'am, I've got sensor lock on the Gegan, and its being followed by two ghosts."
Nodding, she turned to Reed, "Lt, bring weapons up and standby to bring up the shields as soon as the Gegan has transported over her crew. Torres, standby for evasive maneuvers. Womack, continue to track those ghosts."
In the background, she could hear Archer giving like instructions, and he put Enterprise up on Red Alert.
"T'Pol to Kowalski and Cutler, standby for transport from the Gegan of engineering and medical personnel and to engage in defensive maneuvers."
As they acknowledged their orders, Reed spoke up, "Sub-Commander, the Gegan is in transporter range and has stated that 6 personnel will transport over."
"As soon as we confirm transport, put up shielding."
Two individuals started to appear on the bridge, causing both Reed and Torres to reach for their phasers.
She held up her hand when it looked like they were going to speak to her, "Lt Reed?"
"Aye, Ma'am. Shields and armor plating up."
She nodded at the Mezzians, the one in the blue stepped forward, "Sub- Commander T'Pol? I am Bridge Systems Specialist Zengen and this is Environmental Systems Specialist Katelk. Captain Sertam would like us to work with your crew."
She nodded, "Please take your stations." They went to the two unmanned consoles, and Reed transferred the controls back to the original stations.
"Cutler to Bridge."
T'Pol answered, "Bridge, here, Ensign."
"Sub-Commander, I wanted you to know that their doctor, Nybm, is getting ready to reverse the stasis process on Riann, and it should take approximately 2 hours. Then he'll inject her with their vaccine."
"Understood, Ensign. Please monitor the process and keep me advised. T'Pol out."
TWO HOURS LATER
Both the Gegan and Vergent were taking patrol sweeps, watching the sensors ghosts and trying to detect if anymore were out there, leaving the Enterprise to patrol the area between the two larger ships. It had been agreed between the three, that if they were attacked again, Enterprise would take position close to Vergent. As before, they would use Enterprise's maneuverability to their tactical advantage.
"Sub-Commander! There's two ships coming towards us from 598 mark 26."
Nodding, "Lt Reed, standby phasers. Ensign Torres move us between them and the Enterprise."
'Jonathon.' "Vergent to Enterprise and Gegan." Reed put three video blocks on the large screen, still maintaining the view of space where the birds of prey were coming from. He murmured under his breath, "I'm going to hate losing all this technology."
'T'Pol.' "Vergent, we see them and we're moving in behind you."
"Vergent this is the Gegan, we see the ships and are moving into position." The Gegan had moved to a half lightyear from the Vergent. They combined their sensor nets to enhance their readings.
Simultaneously, all three ships confirmed the presence of a third Klingon Bird of Prey. Without any warning, all the Klingon ships formed an arrow formation and fired a fierce barrage of weaponry at the three ships. The Gegan and Vergent's shields absorbed the impacts, shuddering at the explosive shockwaves, whereas Enterprise only received a glancing blow as they quickly moved behind the Vergent's shields.
In the next heartbeat, Archer glanced at video blocks on this view screen (The Mezzians had been sharing some of their lower level technology with the Enterprise, and Tucker and Storen had been implementing it in the Enterprise's systems) and ordered, "Implement Plan Alpha 3."
Both Sertam and T'Pol nodded, issuing orders to their ships. Gegan led by angling off to the left, Vegent angling right, with Enterprise just behind the Vergent. All three ships targeted the Klingon's engines, along with their weapons and sensors arrays. A barrage of continuous phaser and torpedo fire hit the Klingon ships in the same place every time, weakening their shields and getting through to blow some arrays. The Klingons quickly returned fire, this time ignoring the Enterprise and attacking only the Vergent and Gegan. Both ships jerked with the multiple hits.
A panel on the Vergent's bridge blew, showering sparks and smoke onto the bridge. "Sub-Commander, shield strength has decreased to 60% on the port side, section A7."
"Reed, continue to fire. Zengen, divert power to the shields."
Aye, Ma'ams, sounded in the background. She was watching the bridge of the Gegan, they also had damage controls teams working. The Enterprise didn't have any damage.
Archer ordered a change, "Implement Beta 1."
All ships moved to the different coordinates and fired another barrage on the Klingons. This time one of the Klingon ships moved drunkenly away. They hit a nacelle, causing energy to dance along its carriage, and blew up one of its larger sensor grids. The other two ships joined together for continuous fire of photon torpedoes - pounding away at the Mezzian ships.
One torpedo hit the weakened area sharply shoving the Vergent backwards, tossing everyone around. A ceiling panel dropped directly on top of T'Pol.
"Sub-Commander!" Reed cried out as he watched the ceiling fall on her. Archer jerked up to look at the view screen. All he saw was a pile of panels where T'Pol had been sitting.
Watson jumped up from the Engineering Station, running over to where she had disappeared. He quickly pulled the panels off, uncovering her. She pulled herself up in her chair, nodding her thanks to Watson, and glancing up at Jonathon on the screen. He exhaled in relief, when she gently touched his mind. He didn't mention the blood, though his jaw tightened as it slowly ran down the side of her face.
"Report, Lt."
"The Klingons have pulled back, Ma'am. It was a hit and run. Shields down on the port side, we also have environmental depressurization on decks 10 and 12, but no impact on the ship. Weapons and sensors are still working at optimal efficiency."
Nodding, she turned to Katelk, "Specialist, what about the cylinder room?"
"It is still stable. I've closed down several sections of the ship to ensure we maintain the environment only where this crew is or would be."
"Thank you. Zengen, Watson - shields?"
Zengen answered, "Sub-Commander, we're diverting more power. But it will have to be manually done from Engineering. Your Lt Kowalski and Ensign Hondo and our Mezzian engineers, Htar and Braek, are attempting to do this now."
She looked speculatively at Watson as he came back over with a first aid kit in his hand. He pointed at her forehead, "You're bleeding, Ma'am."
"Womack?"
"I've been tracking them and surveying the surrounding area. I can't find any additional ships and the damaged one is no longer in the sensor area, Ma'am."
"Torres?"
"Warp drive and navigation are functioning a peak performance, Sub- Commander."
"Thank you. Please continue to monitor the area. Lt Reed, do we know the Gegan's status?" Before he could answer, Sertam did, "Sub-Commander, we have minimal damage and its being repaired as we speak. We thank you, again, for continuing to protect our ship. It will be good for all of us to leave this area."
Archer broke into the conversation, "Since the Klingons have momentarily left the area, why don't we do the same? Bagera located a small system where we could hide and make repairs until we're all ready to leave."
Both Sertam and T'Pol nodded in agreement. Bagera transferred the coordinates, and the ships started to move out.
The Vergent would be first, as she was the most damaged. "Torres, please take us to the coordinates, warp 1."
Acknowledging her orders, he inputted the coordinates and engaged the warp drive.
As soon as the warp drive was engaged the Vergent started shaking violently and dropped several feet down from their present location.
They all grabbed their chairs as they were tossed around. "Report!"
Zengen was running some checks, "Sub-Commander, that was caused by an internal explosion in an empty cargo bay, that is now open to space. We momentarily lost gravimetric controls and vertical thrusters which caused us to drop, but they are back on-line."
"What caused it the explosion and what impact does it have on the ship?"
Just as Reed started to answer, the 'lift doors opened, dumping three people on the bridge. The first was Ensign Cutler, the second could only be the Mezzian doctor Nybm, and the last was Riann.
CONTINUED IN PART 52