The four Starfleet officers stood on the transporter platform aboard the Endeavour.
"Ready?" Jennifer asked.
"Jen wait." Malcolm said. "How are we going to contact you to make sure everything's gone to plan?" he asked.
"You're right." She said and began rooting around in her pocket. She pulled out a resistance communicator and threw it to him. "For emergencies only." She warned him, though the corners of her mouth twitched slightly. The others exchanged glances but Archer only shook his head.
"Right." Malcolm said.
"Ready?" She repeated. They all nodded as she pressed a button on the console in front of her
.The senior staff were all sitting at their stations on the bridge, all barring Trip that is. They had successfully got all the crew and equipment safely aboard the Enterprise in time. Now all they had to do was wait.
With the help of the Endeavour's engineers they had brought main power back online, and most of the ship's systems. Among the few that were still in-operational were the transporter, the engine and the weapons. Although this left them at a disadvantage it meant they could see what was going on outside, and polarise their hull plating if need be.
"According to Commander Tucker's time limit, they should be destroying the target's in one minute and eleven seconds." T'Pol informed them.
"Malcolm." The Captain turned to face him. "Polarise the hull plating." He ordered.
"Yes sir."
"Hoshi broadcast this shipwide." She nodded in acknowledgement. "All hands, brace for impact."
"Ten seconds, eight . . ."
"De ja vous." Archer muttered.
". . . five, four, three, two, one." There was silence for a few seconds.
"Sir they've destroyed the targets, but there's a shock-wave, a big one." Malcolm had barely got the words out when the entire ship shook violently. The bridge staff held on tightly and managed to keep their seats.
"Reports coming in sir." Malcolm said. "I'm detecting, yes sir, one hundred explosions on the surface of the planet."
"So they did it." Archer said.
"It would appear so." T'Pol stated
Malcolm jumped slightly when he heard a beeping noise coming from his pocket. He unzipped it and pulled Jennifer's communicator out, pressing the button to activate it he answered, "Reed."
"Hey Malcolm." Came Jennifer's voice.
"Jen?"
"Yeah, look Mal, it didn't work."
"It, it what?"
"Pass the communicator to Hoshi, tell her to connect it to the main screen." Doing as he was told Malcolm walked across the bridge and passed it to her. She plugged it into her station and quickly pressed a few buttons, and Jennifer appeared on the screen. Giving them all a half smile she directed her attention to the captain.
"Sir, it didn't work."
"I think we've established that." he said shortly.
"Right. Well we successfully destroyed the machine things." Archer raised an eyebrow. "But the radiation that they had already emitted is still preventing us from starting up our engines."
"And?" Archer asked.
"And we're working on it." She said.
Malcolm, who was standing just behind Hoshi and leaning against the console against the wall, raised his hand slightly. "Jen." He said thoughtfully. "Couldn't the other ship, use their," he hesitated "'grappler' to pull us up out of the planet's atmosphere." He was sure she heard the quotation marks around the word grappler by the look on her face.
"That's an excellent idea Malcolm, and they can now enter orbit as the radiation doesn't reach that far anymore. Great, I'll pass the idea along to Trip, once we're up, we'll use both ship's . . ." she paused ". . . grappler's to pull Enterprise up."
"You'll contact us before you do that right?" Archer asked her.
"Of course, talk to you soon." And with that she cut the transmission.
Archer had retreated to his ready room, Malcolm wasn't surprised, he probably wanted to do some pacing in private. There wasn't much to do on the bridge but sit and wait, so that was exactly what they were doing.
Malcolm leaned on his station and put his head in his hands. He ran his hands through his hair then leaned backwards.
"Lieutenant, are you feeling well?" T'Pol asked.
"A little tired."
"Erm, sir." Hoshi said timidly.
"I think this message is for you." She said. Frowning he made his way over to Hoshi's station, and saw a message on the screen.
I SHOULD THINK SO TOO.
"It would appear Miss. James is listening in on us." He said with a smirk.
THAT'S RIGHT HONEY.
Hoshi looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "How's she doing that?" she asked.
"I don't know exactly. But you've got her comm. unit hooked up to the computer, she can probably tap into any system on the ship."
"That's highly unlikely Lieutenant." T'Pol said.
"I wouldn't put anything past her."
CLEVER BOY.
Malcolm rolled his eyes and turned round to head back to his station, when a voice came from the unit. "Hang on." Malcolm turned round and the view screen came to life. "We're in orbit, it worked." She smiled.
"Hoshi . ." Malcolm began.
"Yes sir." she said, pressing a button on her station. "Captain Archer to the bridge." Seconds later he emerged from his ready room. He raised an inquisitive eyebrow at Jennifer.
"Ready?" she asked.
"As we'll ever be." He responded.
"Don't worry sir, we'll make sure it's a smooth ride."
"I'm sure you will." He said taking his seat.
"You can start up your engines as soon as you've left the atmosphere." He nodded his acknowledgement. "James out."
Malcolm began to make his way back over to his seat, when the ship began to move with a jolt. Grabbing a hand rail he pulled himself into his seat.
"I didn't feel any grappler hits" Archer said in puzzlement.
"We aren't detecting any." Malcolm told him.
"Captain." T'Pol said. "It's a tractor beam."
"They have a tractor beam?!" Archer asked, to no-one inparticular, he received a response nevertheless.
"It would appear so." T'Pol stated coolly.
"Sir, they've pulled us out of the atmosphere." Travis said.
"Start up the engines."
"They're online, impulse and warp."
"Sir." Malcolm said quickly. "I'm picking up a ship, its power signatures match the radiation emitters on the surface sir."
Hey peeps! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I did just start Post 16, so much homework! And I thought GCSE was tough! Blimey!
Anyways, I hope you liked the chapter, review please! and i'll try to get another chapter up as soon as I can, thanks x