Between A Rock and… Another Big Rock

By Didi

Disclaimer: (Hate these things.) I do not own any of the recognized characters, places or things in this story. This is purely as pleasure writing and no profit shall be made from it. Any copyright infringement I may be committing is unintentional and without malice. I would be more than happy to STOP, just tell me. There, does that cover it all?

Rating: PG 13 for now.

Story Summary: The crew goes hunting underground.

Chapter Summary: Enterprise encounter a little added trouble. Hoshi deals with some difficulties.

Timeline: Set before the episode "Azati Prime" in Season 3.

Author's Note: This is a transition chapter so it's actually pretty boring but read it anyways; it makes the next few chapters a little more understandable. Oh, I changed a couple of things around cause I wanted to; the plot was just too boring for me to play with without a little added problems.

Spoiler: Everything up through "The Hatchery." (I'm being nicely cautious here.)

Key: "Spoken" "Thoughts"

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Chapter Five – Trouble with a Capital T

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"Bridge to Captain Archer?"

A sigh escaped Jon's lips before he could stop himself. "Archer. Something wrong, Sub-Commander?"

"Captain, I believe you will want to see this."

Since it was unlike his science officer to be cryptic, there was only a moment's hesitation before Archer was through the doors of his ready room. He was about to call out when he saw that the rest of the bridge crew was riveted by what was on the viewing screen. The vibrant reds and yellows caught his immediate attention. "What the hell…"

"I have converted the scanners to screen for heat signatures," T'Pol explained quietly, her impassive eyes dark watching the captain as she said it. She hadn't thought of this when they had discussed the mission. It wasn't until they had lost communication with the away team that she considered the idea a little more carefully. A part of her feared that the captain's impulsive nature was beginning to inadvertently influence her judgment.

"And?"

"I believe the away team is in the vicinity of an erupting volcano."

"What?"

"The red indicates center points of…"

"I see at least four points."

"It is most likely they are heading here," indicating with her hand toward the left region of the map. "The compound of the soil is too dense for a clear reading. I believe they are where the volcanoes have begun erupting."

"And the yellows?"

"Areas that are beginning to cool."

Shaking his head, "Do we still have a link with the team?"

"We lost communication fifteen minutes ago when the away team entered the caves."

"Great," Archer muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. The situation just keeps getting better and better. All he needed now was a squad of Xindi fighters to complete his day. "And do they know?"

"I do not believe so."

There was something about T'Pol's absolute calm that made an impression. "What aren't you tell me, Sub-Commander?"

"I believe the team is not in any danger."

Archer's brow rose in a manner that was reminiscent of T'Pol's when she finds human behavior illogical. "Really?"

"The caverns in which Ensign Sato believes the Xindi have commandeered are ancient, well preserved. The Jukinarians have obviously replied upon these caves to protect their society for centuries now. And while there are chances of the away team being danger, I do not believe these eruptions from the geological occurrences will pose any threat to these 'hiding place' that the Jukinarians have created. It is illogical for them to place their safety in a place where they cannot be insured of their survival."

Mayweather turned in his seat to stare at T'Pol for a moment. "Yeah, but doesn't mean accidents and miscalculations don't happen."

For a split second, T'Pol seemed offended by the questioning of her logic. But she is Vulcan and therefore prone to think things completely through; she accepted the reason of it. "That is true."

Surprised by her agreement, Mayweather sat with gapping like a landed fish.

Archer rubbed his aching head with his forefinger for a moment and pulled his thoughts together. "Is there any danger to the away team?"

"There are always dangers, Captain."

"I meant from the volcano," he said with a snap, more than a little irritated with his second-in-command's less then straightforward response.

"Not at the moment," T'Pol replied evenly.

Considering his options, none of which are too great to begin with, "Keep an eye on the happening via scanner, I want to know the minute anything happens. Put together a rescue team and keep them on standby. If there is even a chance it looks like our people could be in trouble, we'll extract them," he paused and considered it for a moment. "Put Lt. Mazer in charge and have Ensign Tanner there for translations. Mayweather, I want you to pilot if they end up having to go down."

"Yes, captain."

-&-&-&-

"Hoshi?"

"Yes, commander?" she answered absentmindedly as she continued her rapid pace pacing of the small cavern. She was frightened, tired and cold; and on top of that, she's got a headache the size of the cavern they were currently occupying. The only thing that could make this worse is if there was suddenly an earthquake. That would just be the topping on her otherwise rotten day. And though she wasn't aware, the rest of the away team was following her very agitated step as she drove them to distraction.

"Could you stop that?"

"Sorry, sir," she replied without thought and continued her pacing. Step, bang; step, bang; step, bang… Every step seemed to aggravate the headache, which was shooting her concentration to hell.

"HOSHI!" Trip yelled, causing more than one person to jump. "Quit with the pacing, you're making me sea sick." Big doe eyes stared back, hurt. He felt like the underbelly of a snake. "Darling, just relax; you're doing fine."

"Fine?" she asked, going from hurt to outrage in two microns. "I'm not doing fine. I can't read half this crap on the wall," gesturing agitatedly to the crudely drawn map with more letters and symbols than one of Trip's preliminary blueprints of Enterprise. "If I can't read it, we're not going anywhere!"

"Okay, okay," Trip said eyeing her carefully. There was just no understanding women. "Just take your time."

"Take my time," she muttered just under her breath, her brows furrowed with anger and concern as she continued to fiddle with her UT. "We're over a thousand feet below the surface of a freaking planet loaded with volcanoes and the man wants me to take my time," Hoshi made an irritated sound with the back of her throat and muttered some more in another language.

"I think she just cursed you in Vulcan, sir," Reed whispered, his hand ready on his weapon even as one corner of his lip jerked upward.

Trip grunted his agreement.

"Klingon," Hoshi snapped without looking up. "It was in Klingon," nothing was better for cursing than Klingon which had quickly replaced Russian as her cursing language of choice.

Reed made a face and whispered in an even lower tone, "Forgot about her 'miracle' ear."

"Apparently," she answered perfectly audible.

Katie offered the two commanding officers a sympathetic look. "She's just frustrated, sirs."

The two nodded their understanding.

None of them could have anticipated finding yet another dialect within the actual caves. Hoshi had been more than dismayed; she had down right freaked out. It was speculation, mostly by a muttering Hoshi as she paced next to the wall of information that she couldn't quite read, that this was a more ancient form of the modern Jukinarians language. But what she was translating using the modern form as a basis didn't make any sense.

"Is she allowed to talk to them like that?" Sanchez asked when it appeared that the ensign was once more engrossed in her analysis of the wall, which meant she was going to ignore everything and everyone else around her until she completed what she was doing, or someone was stupid enough to interrupt her again. She's been like that for more than an hour now.

DeMarco shrugged, hefting his rifle again. "Hoshi gets away with things most of us can only dream of."

"You think the drugs worn off yet?" Jamison asked, his eyes on the translator. He was dying to get a look at Hoshi's UT.

"Doubtful," Romero replied, guarding the entrance like a hawk. So far, only two people have passed the base area, both of them appeared to be school children that dared each other into the caverns and scurried out the minute they heard something… like Romero tossing rocks against the stone walls. "Else she wouldn't have talked back to the commander that way."

"She's a spitfire without all the structural restraint, isn't she?" Kemper observed with an appreciative rising of the brow.

"Careful, Chang's called it already," Sanchez grinned.

"So?" Kemper grinned, merely wiggling his brows. "All is fair in love and war, and therefore, may the best man win."

"Gentlemen," Major Hayes's harsh warning cut through like a cleaver on butter. He was thoroughly wishing he had chosen a less gossipy bunch.

Eyes on the wall, Hoshi played with her UT some more. Finding the map had been gold. It was a good indication that these tunnels and caverns were well maintained and had some logic to them. And while the blackened areas obviously showed them where caverns and tunnels had collapsed, there were writings, symbols and a key in various dialects that was suppose to tell them other things. Hoshi understood some of it, but a majority has written in a dialect that she's not seen before. And she couldn't seem to find a common source. There has to be a way to break through though. None of the dialects she's encountered so far has been particularly difficult once she figured out what the… of course, she was studying the other stuff without the pounding headache that was currently distracted her to no end. With a hissing sigh, she rubbed her eyes.

Getting up, Trip went next to her, offering water from a container. The drugs were wearing off and he could see that they had left some residual effects upon the ensign. "Take a break, Hoshi," he said softly, concern for her obvious in his eyes. "You're pushing yourself too hard."

"I have to get this done, sir," her voice full of regret and anger, at herself. With a sigh, she looked at him with sorrowful eyes, "I'm sorry about earlier."

"It's okay," he said sincerely, he'd take her angry over frightened any day. "Ain't your fault that these people can't pick one language and stick to it."

She laughed as he had meant her to and nodded her head. "Thanks, commander."

"It's Trip, remember?"

"Trip," she repeated obediently.

"That's my girl," he grinned, giving her shoulder a quick squeeze. "We should have us some supper," he pronounced loudly, dragging Hoshi away from the wall. "Anyone want some 'delicious' Star Fleet rations?"

The rest of the Star Fleet personnel groaned, including Hoshi.

"Hell yeah," Sanchez lowered his weapon and dug into his pack with one hand. "It bets the military rations any day."

"Eat in shifts," Hayes ordered, his weapon still trained on the entranceway. He shook his head at Sanchez. Cdr. Tucker's casual command and manner has taken its effect. "Ramero, Kemper, keep your post. Coates, Sanchez, take second shift."

Lt. Reed's nodded his agreement and gave the okay for Lt. Jamison and Ensign DeMarco to eat with the MACO's while he covered security as well. He and Hayes had reluctantly agreed on their positions; the MACOs, with the exception of Major Hayes, will secure the perimeters while Reed and his man watched the engineers, Hayes will watch Ensign Sato as per Captain's request. "Hoshi, how much longer?"

"I don't know," she replied honestly, rubbing her eyes to ease her exhaustion. She wasn't sure what was worse, the bone deep exhaustion or the nerve wrecking headaches or the rising tide of fear from seeing nothing but rocks on all sides of her.

"I need an ETA, Ensign," Reed pushed gently. He didn't want to, but he had a job to do.

Taking a breath and pushing all other concerns to the back of her mind, Hoshi stared at the wall map again, wishing she could break through whatever language shield had been placed over it. "I need at least another hour."

"You've got forty minutes," Reed pronounced, his eyes going to a frowning Cdr. Tucker's for a moment, subtly shaking his head. "We can't keep wasting time here; if you can't figure out the map by then, we'll simply have to keep moving and hope for the best."

The unfurling ball of panic in her stomach made its way up her throat. Hoshi choked it down with some difficulty. "Yes sir."

Tucking his irritation away, Trip sat down and pulled open his survival pack. He hated rations with a passion since having to live on them for fourteen days during survival training. But for the sake of everyone, he was going to put up as good a front as any. "So, what's your pleasure, Hoshi?" pulling out several nutrient packets.

She responded to Trip's lightheartedness with a grateful smile. "What's on the menu?"

"Let's see," pretending to pull up his sleeves and grinned at her as he picked up a packet, "We have," squinting slightly in the dim light, "Roast beef and banana," he frowned, not sure he had read it correctly. But second reading didn't produce a better result. "Geeze, who comes up with these flavors?"

Hoshi laughed, bringing a smile to everyone else's faces.

"Turkey and peaches," Trip made a face and shuddered. "Meatloaf, split peas and grape?" he groaned. "This just gets worse and worse." Shaking his head, he moved on to the next one. "Succulent shrimp and apple sauce. Pancake and…" he was startled as Hoshi suddenly grabbed his arm.

"What did you just say?" her eyes wide with surprise.

"Pancake and…"

"No, before that," she interrupted.

Frowning with confusion, he picked up the packet he had dropped to the side. "Succulent shrimp and…"

"Succulent," Hoshi repeated, the word resented with something else in her mind. Her eyes wondering to the wall with a frown, "Secular," there was a long silence as she pondered it for a long moment. "Of course," nodding to herself.

"Of course what?" Sanchez asked much to the dismay of his teammates, who immediately elbowed him, hard. One does not derail the idea-train without a damn good reason.

Thank goodness Hoshi wasn't paying Sanchez the least bit of attention, her mind was otherwise occupied. "What didn't I think of this before?" rushing to the wall, picking up her UT as she went. Stepping up the surface of the ragged rocks, she ran her fingers along the symbols, reading along without any difficulties and nodded to herself. The rest of the away team, with the exception of Sanchez, stood and watched; half expecting the stream of data that was obviously running through her mind to be reflected in her bright eyes. "It makes perfect sense."

Knowing that the storm had passed, Cdr. Tucker cleared his throat softly. "And it says?"

Waving them all over, "There isn't just 'one' energy unit, there are eight."

"Eight?" was the disbelieving exclamation.

"Remember the old saying, 'Don't put all your eggs in one basket?' Well, the Jukinarians have the same idea. See these," pointing to several along streams of words that looked nothing alike. "These are power units, built at different times for different capacities. They all have a different function; some are for lighting, some for recycling air, some of heating. These right here," her hand sweeping over the blackened areas, "Don't indicate cave-ins. They're actually flooded areas where the quakes had damaged structural support and immersed certain parts. These," pointing to the section where horizontal lines had been drawn across, "Are the cave-in sections. And this," pointing to a box of words on the bottom, "Tells me that this map is subject to changes."

"You're joking," Reed said with a frown. "They have a disclaimer on their map?"

"Apparently."

"Okay," Trip clapped his hands together. "We got ourselves a working map to play with. Clean up people, let's find ourselves a nice place to park it for the night and work out the details."

"Where are the Xindis?" Coates asked quietly to Hoshi as the rest of the team prepared to go; they can always eat on the road.

"To be honest, I'm not sure," indicating to a spot in the southerner west area. "Logically they would be using the generator to power whatever it is they're powering," pointing to a red marking, "These are generators that have been marked."

"How many are there?"

"Three," pointing them out on the map with some concern. "They are scattered across the labyrinth," which was the only word for it, "And pretty much are at the junction of the major hiding places." She didn't add that they all appeared to have been built at different times for different reasons. And if there were ones that had been built and not marked on the map, it would make locating it nearly impossible.

"Do you have this saved somewhere?" Katie asked, her eyes becoming cross with all the weird symbols and words. Cryptology was never one of her strong suits.

"Yeah," turning her UT over to show her as she continued to study the recording on the wall. "Funny."

"What?"

"For people that have their history recorded by word of mouth, they sure do have a rather elaborate system to writing."

Coates hadn't considered it, of course it wasn't her job to consider it, but it made sense in her mind. "Hey, what was all that about succulent and secular?"

"Oh, that," Hoshi grinned. "Word association in the most bizarre way. I realized that the writing didn't make sense because I was reading it in secular form. If I read it in religious form and replace some of the archaic adjectives with their modern equivalents, then it made perfect sense to me."

"Their secular and religious writings are different?"

"Yeah."

"How complicated!"

"Yeah."

"No wonder you look like you're about to kill someone."

"Yeah."

"Ready to go?"

Hoshi made a face as she looked at the map. If she knew Lt. Reed, and she did, he'll want to camp somewhere out of the way with an easily defensible position. And the closest place she can see on the map that would meet those requirements would take them another thousand feet below sea level. Her stomach turned and all thoughts of food vanished. "Yeah."

-&-&-&

"Sir?"

Looking up from the PADD in his hand, Archer frown for a moment, not recognizing the voice that had spoken from the station normally occupied by Ensign Sato during the alpha shift. "What is it, Ensign?"

"I'm picking up something, sir," Anderson answered with distress.

"What?"

"Captain," T'Pol's impassive voice rolled through.

"What is it, T'Pol?" annoyed that things were cropped up so fast.

"I think I've found the source of Ensign Anderson's disturbance."

Archer waited a beat. "Show me."

T'Pol nodded toward the main screen.

Jon slowly stood from his seat, silently cursing his earlier thoughts. Anderson was the only one that made a sound as they stared at three Reptilian light cruisers bearing down on the planet.

"Well," Archer muttered dryly, "If I had any doubts about Hoshi's findings, they're all gone now."

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Teaser line from next chapter: "With all due respect, sir, I don't think she is," Hayes replied with a shake of his head. Anyone can see she was anything but. "She's skin on bones running on raw nerves. If she were one of my men, I'd order her two days of uninterrupted sleep before force feeding her a couple of weeks."