Between A Rock and… Another Big Rock

By Didi

Disclaimer: One more time: I don't own STAR TREK. I don't make profits from anything written here. I don't even like half of what I write. Okay? That covers it?

Rating: PG 13 for now.

Story Summary: The crew goes hunting underground.

Chapter Summary: The away team has to come up with a new plan. Hayes makes a few observations of Hoshi. Archer deals with their new situation.

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

Author's Note: Don't you just hate it when people change the story on you in the middle of a story? Yeah, well… get over it. That's what I'm doing, I apologize in advance but it kind of turned out this way. Another kind of non-action chapter… in fact, most of my stories are pretty much conversational stories since I majorly suck at writing action, no good with the movement descriptions.

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

Key: "Spoken" "Thoughts"

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Chapter Six – Changes in Plans

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"Take a nap, Hoshi."

"Sir…"

"Take a nap, Ensign. That's an order."

Shocked, "Trip!"

"An order, Ensign," Cdr. Tucker repeated as he gave her a gentle push toward her pack, which had been set against the wall in the middle of the little cavern they had chosen for their resting place. The girl literally looked like death warmed over. "Get some rest, darling; we've been walking all night."

"But the mission…" she argued with almost a whine.

"Still needs a little strategizing," he concluded for her with a smug grin. "Look, we're all tired and a little turned around here - except for maybe you. We need to sleep- hell, I need to sleep - now seems as good as any. I gotta go talk to Malcolm and the major 'bout our next step. You've done your part, now let us do ours, okay?"

"You sure, sir?"

"Positive," he replied handed her a ration from his pack, he also managed to pack too many. "Have some… cream corn and strawberry jell-o?" his face twisting with exasperation. Sighing, he made a mental note to write home about these ridiculous flavors of rations. "Never mind, go hungry. It's probably more merciful on your tummy not to mention your taste buds."

Hoshi gave a weak laugh and nodded her head. She was exhausted. Not use to this much strenuous activity, combined with her lack of sleep lately, plus the fact that she's been fighting her need to scream like a twelve year old for hours now; she was well beyond tried. All she wanted now was to catch some z's – preferably on her bed. But her robe and cloak acting as pillow and blanket will do just as well for the moment.

"Secure the area and lock us down for six hours," Hayes ordered quietly as his team took positions across the room from the rest of the away team. "Coates, you and Romero guard the entrance until I complete my meeting with the commander and the lieutenant. We'll keep watch during the sleep cycle, one hour rotation starting with me, Coates, Romero, Kemper and Sanchez. I'll ask the Lieutenant about rotating him and DeMarco into the watch. If Cdr. Tucker and Lt. Jamison want to take a turn, I'll rotate them in with one of you. Ensign Sato sleeps through the night, got it?"

None of the MACOs commented upon the Major's unusual order. When they nodded their understanding, the group spread out and found locations to situate themselves down to rest. Joining Tucker and Reed at the other end of the little cavern off to the side of a long tunnel in a more secluded area of this maze they were in, Hayes took a moment to glance over at Ensign Sato for a moment, assuring himself that she was alright. But she wasn't. "If she pushed herself any harder, she'll collapse."

"Major?" Reed interrupted quietly. His eyes took in the other man's object of thought. "She's fine," he pronounced when he finally got the MACO commander's attention.

"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."

"Then Hoshi oughta count herself lucky not to be a MACO," Trip replied with a grin. "Though ah'd like to be there when you try to force that girl into anything she ain't willing to do on her own. It's like trying to move Mt. Fuji."

"She's not that stubborn, Commander," Reed said in her defense and privately agreed with the major. Ensign Sato didn't appear in the best of health and really ought not to be here under these conditions.

"Oh yes she is," Trip argued with a nod. "You've seen that girl when she gets her mind set on something. Remember that soup incident? I thought she was going to kill Lt. Kelly over carrots."

Malcolm's lips twitched for a second. "She was under an alien influence, sir."

"Nevertheless--"

"Perhaps we should talk bout what we are going to do, commander?" Hayes interrupted with some amusement. It was like watching brothers squabble.

"Right, Matt," clapping his hand on the major's shoulder. "Ah can call you Matt, right?"

Reluctantly amused by the man's openly friendly nature, "Yes, sir."

"Name's Trip seeing as how we'll be spending a couple of days in each other's company," Tucker said with a grin as Malcolm pulled out the PADD that Hoshi had given them. "Now, our plans will have to change in accordance with everything we've learned while down in this rat maze…"

"Our goals are still the same: find the de-stablizer and destroy it," Reed pointed out.

"You love every chance to blow something up, don't you?" Trip teased with a laugh.

"I'm stating the mission," Reed replied with a touch of annoyance. They man's exuberate spirit was difficult to deal with at times. "And must you make a joke out of everything."

"Sorry," Trip had the grace to blush though he looked anything but. "Ah'm still in the 'Keep Hoshi Calm' mode."

"How is that going?" Hayes asked quietly, sneaking another glance at the ensign, who was sitting with Coates on the far side of the cavern… next to the entrance. The two women appeared to be chatting quietly even as Coates's eyes never ignored from her duties. Matt's eyes narrowed as his mind analyzed the situation and went through several scenarios in a blink of an eye. Decision made; "Sergeant!" Both women turned to look at him, making Matt suddenly feel self-conscious for no apparent reason. "Trade positions with Kemper."

Coates stood slowly; the question on her face. "Sir?"

"Do it, Sergeant!" Hayes's voice carried across the room without any effort.

Nodding, Katie disengaged her weapon and removed herself from the cavern entrance, letting Kemper move into position as she and Hoshi walked back to the center of the room, away from the doorway.

Hoshi's eyes were apologetic. "I'm sorry if I got you into trouble."

"Forget it," Katie answered, more puzzled than anything else. "I'm sure the major has his reasons." And while she didn't say what she thought those reasons were, watching the major watching them, added to his order earlier, gave her some clues.

"What was that about?" Tucker asked quietly.

"I don't want Sato near the entrance," was the explanation given.

"Just doing your job, huh?"

"Yes, sir."

Trip nodded his head slowly, as if trying to convince himself. "Ya sure that's it?"

Hayes didn't even bat an eye. "Yes, sir."

Reed raised a brow, not all together sure if he believed the bluntly honest major or not. There was something in the man's eyes… But that was a problem to be dealt with at a later time. "The Reptilians," bringing their attention back to the subject at hand.

"Hoshi's pointed out three generators that she knows of," Tucker said quietly as they studied the map. "Logically, that's where the uglies are gonna wanna be at, which means we've got to check them all out." He wasn't exactly thrilled with having to search for the right one but at least he knew that he won't be leaving the Jukinarians high and dry and without a generator for their underground facilities. A couple of extra days of crawling around in the dark were a small price to pay for a guilt free conscience.

"Here's our biggest problem," Reed continued, his brows furrowed together with concern. "According to what Hoshi is telling me and my calculations, we didn't bring nearly enough explosives." He didn't want to add that even if he did, it didn't guarantee much without of reading of what they're dealing with. "If the Reptilians are using the generator as a booster, we're going to need a power source of our own."

"Can we tap into the generator the Reptilian's are using?" Hayes asked, his eyes studying the two men. They were brilliant, he didn't doubt that. He was there more as a sounding board then really a strategy session; a perfectly fine position to him.

"Too dangerous," Tucker crossed his arms and leaned back against the side of the cavern. "We risk overloading the system too quickly putting us at risk 'cause we don't know what kind of system they have. And ah ain't going get a whole lot of time to study it if we get a hit on one."

"Plus I'd feel better if we have the explosive setup already before moving in," Reed pronounced looking blindly at the map before them. This mission is getting more complicated by the moment. "Our objective is to destroy it, with or without readings."

"Attach and blow?" Tucker asked a little surprised.

"Best method if we get into a firefight," Reed answered with a shrug. "Less danger to our people."

"I'd like to give the captain something," Tucker muttered.

Hayes felt the need to interject, "I think the captain would rather have his people back then information on a weapon that the Xindi aren't going to be able to use once we kill it."

"Agreed." Reed gave Tucker a smug look.

"Fine, fine," Trip rolled his eyes. "Sheesh, you boys sure can take the fun out of an outing."

"We're here to do a job, Commander," Reed reminded him indulgently.

"Don't mean we can't get something out of it," Trip groused.

"How do we destroy it?" Hayes asked, getting them back on the topic. The Fleeters have such wondering minds.

"We need more juice," Tucker stated, "It's going to be as simple as that. Amp up the power on our explosives so we're not relying on chance."

"The storage units," Hayes reminded him. "Sato said there are several different areas where they are storing energy. If they're portable…"

"That's a big 'if,'" Reed pointed out but considered it. "Do we know?"

Tucker groaned and looked over at Hoshi. The girl was sitting up straight, her cloak wrapped tightly around her shoulder as she chatted with Sgt. Coates. "Ah hate doing this…" he mumbled before calling out to her. "Hoshi!"

She jumped as if someone had stabbed her with a hot poker. Turning with wide deer-in-the-headlight eyes, "Yes, sir?"

Frowning with concern, "Ya alright there, darling?"

"Fine," she answered an octave higher than her normal serene tone.

Completely unconvinced and not exactly sure what was going on, Trip waved her over. "We need a moment with ya."

Turning, she stared for one panic moment at Sgt. Coates, who gave her a shooing motion, before scrambling to her feet awkwardly. "Yes, sir." She tripped halfway between where she was and where she was going, only managing to catch herself with her hands. Blushing madly and rolling her eyes at her own clumsiness, Hoshi got to her feet again quickly and sat down by Trip with a sigh. "Yes, sir?"

"You sure you're all right?" Trip asked, peering at her red face.

Swallowing hard, "Of course," she squeaked before clearing her throat, her eyes darting everywhere but at the commander's face.

Major Hayes looked at her curiously before turning to Sgt. Coates, who was watching with keen interest. Frowning at his old comrade, he gave her a questioning look that only produced a blush with no context before Coates looked away. "What were you and Sgt. Coates discussing just now, Ensign Sato?"

Hoshi's eyes came up then down again quickly. "Nothing, sir."

"Well now, that's just plain ain't true, Hoshi-girl," Tucker teased. "Jon's right, ya got the worse poker face in the world. Come on, share with your ole' pal."

"No way," she gave him a light shove because he was being more friend than commander. "You like to gossip too much and this is personal."

"How personal?" he asked, more than interested now.

She shook her head firmly at him. "You wanted to see me about something, Commander?"

Placing his hand over his heart, he winced as if wounded. "Ouch," then ruined it by beginning to laugh hysterically.

Ignoring the commander, Hoshi looked pointedly at Lt. Reed. "Sir?"

Malcolm gave the uproarious chief engineer a 'knock it off' look and handed the PADD to Hoshi. "Can you tell if any of these energy units are portable?"

"Portable?"

"Explosives aren't gong to be enough," Hayes explained briefly wondering if he needed to get the commander's attention back on this as the man seemed to be unable to stop rolling on the ground with laughter.

"I'm not all together sure, sir," her finger tapping lightly at the PADD to zoom in. Her eyes darted to the chief engineer for a moment before prodding him the toe of her boots.

"Commander," Reed said exasperated.

Trip wiped the water from his eyes. "You were talking about men, weren't you Hosh?"

Hoshi gave him a reprimanding look. "Don't flatter yourselves. Girls actually do talk about other things besides boys and their…"

"Ensign," Reed cut her off quickly with a frown.

Rolling her eyes, "I don't know where your mind was sir, but I was going to say boys and their egos." The look she gave the lieutenant was so innocently sweet it sent Trip into another peal of laughter and even brought of slight smile to Hayes's face.

Blushing a horrid shade of pink, Reed cleared his throat and attempted to get back to the subject at hand. "The storage units, Ensign?"

Her lips twitching with amusement, "Give me a few minutes," and began to scroll through some of the scanned photos of the mural map. "And give me the specs on what you need," waiting while Lt. Reed handed over a rough estimate of what energy output he thinks was going to be required. Her impish smile faded as she began to concentration on the translations, her pale face illuminated by the light units the MACOs had setup around the cavern. "Hum--"

Trip opened his mouth to ask what the "Hum--" meant when the major stopped him with a quick shake of his head. Taking a cue from the two men next to him, he stayed quiet and watched Hoshi work.

Matt Hayes's eyes were watching the emotions flutter across the Ensign Sato's face. If he didn't know better, Matt could have sworn she was troubled by the content more than the translations. She was chewing lightly on her bottom lip, her eyes riveted by what she was doing, her body tense with stress and her face pale and thin from malnutrition. "It's like watching a train wreck," he thought, "You can see what's happening but you can't do anything to stop it. She's working herself one foot into the grave." He could never understand how anyone could neglect their health for sake of their work.

Unbeknownst to the major, the rest of the away team was watching him.

"Okay, I think I've got it. There are actually three portable units," Hoshi turned the PADD over and handed it to the commander, the highest ranking person on the team. "But there's a problem."

"Ain't there always?" Trip said groan as he watched the screen blinked up at him. He didn't understand any of it. Because the blinking light was making him slightly dizzy, he handed it off to Reed. "Let's hear'em."

"Well, the three units were built around the same time," she explained pulling her knees up to her chest to retain more warmth. One would think that being underground with two live volcanoes around them would make the place warm but they had no such luck. The damp cold air had numbed her face and fingers sometime in the last two hours but she couldn't have been bothered with it, not when she was trying to watch the signs and stories written on along the tunnel walls in the limited light she was allowed. And while the headache had receded along with the fuzzy haze induced by medication, she still hadn't been able to concentrate solely on their mission, not with all those walls closing in on them. Taking a breath, she gathered her wondering thoughts. "The Jukinarians had this idea that if they built portable units, they can move it around so that they don't need to keep building it when the old ones get lost in cave-ins and floods."

"But?" Reed encouraged when she paused a little too long.

Her throat felt parched. "But portable units can't handle the kind of capacity that the normally grounded ones can."

Trip nodded his head with understanding. "Of course, so they had to abandon it when they realize it ain't gonna work."

"But it just might work for us," she concluded.

"And the problem would be?" Hayes prompted, turning back to the first line of questions.

"Sometime ago, they abandon the units when they started to built new ones. Of the three units, two have already been buried under rubbles from cave-ins. No way to get to them without several days and a ton of excavation equipment."

"And the third?" Reed asked, already dreading the answer.

"May be submerged in a flooded area. The good news is that even if it were, these things are waterproof. It's probably still viable… just very wet."

"Oh, great."

-&-&-&-

"Can they see us, T'Pol?" Archer asked in an unnecessary whisper.

"I do not believe so, the gaseous masses on this moon will interfere with their visual sensors," she paused for a moment. "It will also make it impossible to detect us audibly."

Mayweather's lips twitched, "Holding pattern sir?"

"Keep us behind this moon, Ensign," Archer ordered with a glare for T'Pol. Right now was really not the time to be messing with him. "I don't want those Reptilians seeing us until we're good and ready for them to see us."

"Aye, aye, captain."

"Captain," T'Pol stood from her position. "A moment, if you please?"

Tilting his head to his ready room, he allowed her to precede him. "What is it, T'Pol?" he asked as he got behind his desk with a sigh. He was tired, hungry and tense. Worse of all, he felt guilty; and he wasn't a particular fan of the emotion either.

"Enterprise cannot withstand an engagement with three Reptilian cruisers." She wasn't pointing out anything the captain shouldn't already know. "It is illogical to put the ship at such a risk." Yet, she has observed the something irrational behavior displayed by the captain and several of the senior bridge officers.

"I wasn't exactly consulted on this either, T'Pol," Archer muttered as he looked out his window. "But the fact is there are three enemy ships over a planet that I've just sent ten of my people into. What do you think is going to happen when they're discovered? They'll know we're around." He raised his brows at his Sub-Commander with some interest. "And then we'll be in a firefight whether we like it or not."

If the Vulcan officer was surprised or annoyed with the suddenly logic being directed at her, her only reaction was a carefully raised brow that questioned the captain for a second before nodding her head and turning about.

"We're not leaving without them," Archer reminded her in a slightly raised voice.

"Understood, Captain," she replied and left the room. She hadn't expected anything less.

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Teaser Line from Next Chapter: Rubbing her shoulder blade, Coates made a face at Sato, who was doing a horrible job at containing herself. "You know, this is the problem with being a MACO: everyone thinks of you as one of the guys. How's girl ever to get herself a guy if they all think of you as a guy?"