Chapter Two
Breech
Archer was not overly distressed by this pronouncement. If he understood her correctly, she was Third Officer of the ship in orbit with Enterprise, the Extikone, and he was sure that any mining agreement could be negotiated in time with the ship's captain. In the meantime, he was much more interested in the aforementioned colony.
"I'm sorry, Alir, we were not aware this planet was colonized. Our charts and scans did not show any inhabitants."
"Jalandin is -." Whatever she might have said about the planet was cut off by a sharp beep from the translator device on her left wrist. She brought it up, pressing a button upon it, then another, and at the same moment the communicator in Archer's right sleeve pocket beeped. He drew it out; keeping the circuit open as he stepped back one pace even as the woman started speaking into her own communicator.
"Archer here."
"Captain, we have been hailed by the other ship. Her Commander, or 'Deline', wishes to speak to you on her ship."
"Thank you. I have the feeling those orders are being relayed even now. What can you tell me about the commander?"
"Her name is Jessena. I have nothing more beyond what has already been mentioned by your 'contact'."
"All right. Keep this frequency open."
"Acknowledged." By the time he had put the open communicator in his sleeve, Alir had reactivated the translator.
"Daline Jessena wishes to see you and your senior officers aboard the Extikone."
"We'd be delighted." But when Alir indicated that they should use the silver ship, and Archer and Trip stepped forward, she hesitated, looking back to Cutler and then about to the other officers scattered about.
"Just the two of you?"
Jonathan Archer was nothing if not quick on the uptake. A female Commander and Third Officer, the others female as well; no mention of men; 'no woman must reach Caldis 3'; it seemed a bit too obvious to be missed. "No." He looked back at his crew. "Miss Cutler, Miss Samuels." He again turned back to Alir. "Sub-Commander T'Pol and my Communications Officer Hoshi Sato will also join us from the Enterprise." Once more back to take in all his people. "In the meantime, gather up everything and return to the ship." If this planet was going to be negotiated for, he wanted to make sure there would be as few points of contention as possible, and that made a discreet withdrawal the best tactic.
This all seemed to please, or at least satisfy Alir, and she led the four Enterprise officers to her ship.
---
As the four Enterprise officers entered the silver shuttle, they found the interior of the ship to be quite comfortably apportioned. The seats, of which there were nine, were spaced about the interior in easy reach of the various systems. There were two fore; backed by a single seat that not even differences in culture and design could be mistaken for any but to be used by the ship's commander. The remaining six lined the outer hull, three to a side, along the 'wings' of the shuttle. All were comfortably padded, fitted with harnesses designed to hold the occupant in place against turbulent flight – or aggressive attack.
One station, left of fore, was already occupied, and the look the turquoise gowned woman gave them as they entered was unfriendly indeed. Archer recognized that this woman might consider them somewhat to 'blame' for her own dressing down, but she was clearly someone who should be watched. He was not about to let his guard down by treating any of these unknown women as human. Several months of close contact with a Vulcan Science Officer, a Denobulan Doctor and an Auran Exobiologist had taught him that lesson quite thoroughly.
He took a seat to Alir's right as she, unsurprisingly, took the center seat. Trip took the corresponding seat near the hatch, with Ensigns Cutler and Farber taking respective seats beyond them.
"Let's go." Alir said simply, and missed the quick look that Trip gave to Archer. At a touch of the controls the hatch slid silently shut, and the ship lifted smoothly and silently into the air.
The launch was so smooth, in fact, that Trip turned to Alir. "What sort of fuel do you use?" There had been none of the expected thrust, and while he was willing to grant excellent inertial dampeners, he was not willing to go so far as to acknowledge the concept of perfect ones.
"No fuel." The woman answered surprisingly. "When leaving any planet, we use a gravity nullifier field, which negates the gravitational field of the planet. To gain altitude and escape orbit, we simply adjust the force of the field until it is greater than that of the planet. To maneuver, we adjust accordingly."
Tucker exchanged a very impressed look with his Captain. Archer could read the look in his friend's eyes: 'You've just gotta put this on the table!' He sent back a look of his own to say 'I'll do what I can.'
They left the atmosphere at a surprising rate, the view through the floor to ceiling screen rapidly darkening from blue through indigo to black, and the majestic expanse of stars becoming visible before them. The huge screen being easily three meters tall and five wide, it was as if the forward part of the ship were transparent, and they could see everything in a vast, unobstructed view that Archer and his people found themselves envying. Their own viewscreen on the bridge of the Enterprise, large though it was, seemed constricted by comparison.
Before them, lit from starboard by the sun, flew the Enterprise, a huge starship stunning in its majesty, but paled by the mirror-bright Bravinan ship that faced it. The silver ship was about ninety percent the size of Enterprise but was quite impressive in its own right.
"I'd say a single deck, no more than two." Trip mused. "No wonder Enterprise didn't report on them until they were already out of warp. Edge on; they present a very thin aspect."
"It's a considerable advantage." Alir agreed.
"We detected your ship more than a light year out." Kontees said from her station. It could have sounded like a criticism, but she managed to keep it just a hair's breadth short of such.
"Docking protocol." Alir directed succinctly. The shuttle banked and started to come around to the stern of the mothership. As they did so, a hatch opened in the unbroken smoothness of the hull, a chamber ringed with light. The shuttle aligned itself with this chamber and started its approach.
What happened next did so with the terrible suddenness characteristic of space disasters. There was a rapid sharp staccato of beeps from a control at the front of the shuttle, and the yellow gowned woman at left barely had time to exclaim "Collision alert – port!" when the ship was slammed by a climactic impact which blew a fist-sized hole in the rear hull!
-
Instantly there was a loud roar of escaping atmosphere and the shuttle, knocked off course, started to rotate to starboard out of line of the docking port. Over the roar, Alir yelled: "Get us inside the field!"
Trip and Archer, years of practice driving them, were out of their seats almost as soon as the ship started its erratic turn, rushing for the damaged hull, Cutler and Farber only an instant behind them. With the force of escaping air, they could hardly have avoided doing so as soon as they left their seats; they were almost blown to the hole!
As the ship leveled out, they looked about for something that could be used to plug the hole, but there was nothing loose or in reach! Archer ripped off his landing jacket, rolled it up and jammed it into the hole, cutting off the rush of air. If it didn't get blown out of the smaller hole, it should hold until they were aboard the mother ship.
"NO!" Alir cried, dashing out of her seat and down to the now silent section as the Enterprise crew gasped heavily, trying to get their stolen breath back. Alir brushed past all four startled officers and, grabbing the jacket, yanked it out of the hole!
Immediately the roar of air resumed, blowing both of them off balance as they fought to resist the powerful wind. Archer made a desperate grab for the jacket, but Alir held on to it with a death grip. Before anyone could establish enough traction or leverage to gain the upper hand, the pitch of the sound started up the scale to a high whistle, and then ceased altogether.
The air was again stilled, the barest breeze from the forward part of the ship showing that the shuttle was repressurizing as the four humans turned with varying degrees of astonishment to the breech.
There was absolutely nothing there. Not a crease, not a wrinkle, absolutely nothing to mar the perfect smoothness of the silver hull. "Thank you for your help." Alir said to the dumbfounded Archer as she handed back his somewhat rumpled landing jacket. "But as you see, it was not necessary." Archer took the jacket, putting it back on and looking again at the spot where a hole used to be.
"Very impressive."
"Damn impressive!" Trip agreed, but then caught himself, turning from the hull to see the expressions shared by his Captain and the three women surrounding him. "Er, sorry."