Red Rain

By Thalia Drogna

When Trip arrived in sickbay he found Fenner sitting on the edge of a biobed. He looked slightly singed and a little older than when Trip had last seen him, but apart from that he seemed to be okay. The doctor was standing next to him engrossed in the readings from his scanner.

"God damn, Trip, it's been a long time," said Fenner leaping off the biobed as Trip came in and holding out a hand to be shaken.

"It sure has, James," replied Trip, taking the offered hand and shaking it warmly. Fenner clapped him on the arm in a friendly manner.

"I know both of us were hoping that we'd never see each other again," said Fenner.

"Nah, I got over that. I'll fill you in on the whole story of what happened when the Colonel came for a visit a couple of months back," said Trip. "Besides I always kept in touch with Hathaway, Arroya, Kanatova and Rush. It was just that you disappeared off the map."

"What can I say, Veras isn't exactly on a major trade route," said Fenner. "I don't get much news out here from Earth. Even sub-space takes a while, although its all got a lot better since Enterprise dropped echo one a couple of years back."

"Yeah that was when we were still the new kids on the block," said Trip.

"If you gentlemen wouldn't mind postponing your conversation for a moment, I would like to treat my patient," said Phlox, his tone showing his annoyance at the interruption.

"Sorry, Doc, he's all yours," said Trip, moving to lean against a counter out of the way while Fenner hopped back up onto the biobed.

"You have sustained a few minor burns," said Phlox while he worked.

"Control panel exploded beside me," said Fenner. "Damn power conduits got overloaded. Could have done with you, Trip. I've been doing my own ship maintenance and despite everything you taught me, I just don't have your touch."

"I hate to break this to you, but maintenance is the least of your worries. The warp core went critical and she exploded. We only just got you off in time," said Trip.

Fenner just stared at Trip for a moment. "Are you telling me that I don't have a ship anymore?" said Fenner.

"Afraid so," said Trip.

"Of all the bad luck," said Fenner. "I spent years saving up for Bluebird."

"Bluebird?" asked Trip.

"After Donald Campbell's boat. The one that broke all the speed records," said Fenner.

"I know what it is, I'm just surprised that you do," said Trip. "Didn't realise that you were interested in engineering history."

"I'm not, just the history of speed," said Fenner.

"Then what were you doing with that bucket you were piloting. From the scans we took, I'm guessing she could do warp two maximum," said Trip.

"Don't disrespect the ship, she served a purpose. You can't compare everything to Enterprise or the..." he tailed off with a glance at Phlox. "I learned that pretty early on."

Trip knew Fenner was referring to the Thak Tikh, the Andorian ship that Special Projects had stolen. That operation was still classified, of course, and they couldn't talk about it openly, even when it was only Phlox.

"There's something that you should know," said Trip, suddenly changing to a more solemn mood. "Few days ago, back on Earth, someone killed Terri Arroya."

"What?" asked Fenner in disbelief. "How? I mean Arroya was hard as nails."

"I know, but it happened. They threw her out of her fifth floor apartment window," said Trip.

Fenner sat quietly unable to think of anything constructive to say.

"Why were those ships chasing you?" asked Trip. "They didn't match anything in our database and they were armed to the teeth."

"Raiders I guess," said Fenner. "I don't know. They came out of nowhere and usually raiders don't venture this close to a planetary system, they're only interested in the big cargo ships, not the little guys like me."

"Why didn't you just send out a general mayday signal?" asked Trip.

"Well, they hadn't done anything yet when I sent the message to you, but I just had this feeling that they weren't good news. I changed course a couple of times and they matched me turn for turn," said Fenner.

"But you sent a tight beam transmission to Enterprise and you used the SP code, Red Rain," said Trip.

"This is going to sound weird, I'd swear that I recognised them, but I can't remember where from. Something told me that I shouldn't be broadcasting their existence to everyone. I don't know, maybe it's just that Special Projects training never wears off," said Fenner.

"I know what you mean," said Trip.

"There, all done," said Phlox. "Now please remember that burns can easily become infected. Come back tomorrow and I'll change the dressings. Perhaps you'd like to show Mr Fenner to the guest quarters, Commander?"

"Sure, no problem," said Trip, but he didn't get any further as the com sounded.

"Sato to Tucker," said Hoshi.

"Go ahead, Hoshi," said Trip into the wall unit.

"Commander, I've got an urgent call for you from Earth. It's a Major Ellen Hathaway," said Hoshi.

"I'll take it in my quarters," said Trip and he signalled for Fenner to follow him.

"They're calling it an accident," said Hathaway to Trip after she had told him about the Mars shuttle explosion.

"Like hell it is," said Trip. "It's too much of a coincidence. Enterprise just rescued Fenner from three raider craft. Someone is hunting down ex-Special Projects unit members and killing them."

"It looks that way, but why?" asked Hathaway.

"I don't know," said Trip.

"Trip, they killed over a hundred people in that shuttle explosion, they're serious and they don't care about hurting other people," said Hathaway. "I think we should consider sending a Red Rain Alpha code."

"I think it's the only thing we can do," said Trip. Fenner nodded his agreement.

"Where's the Colonel?" asked Fenner.

"He's on his way back to Earth from somewhere," said Hathaway. "He was a bit vague on the details. It was an open com channel."

"Sounds like the Colonel. Is there anyone else on Earth?" asked Trip.

"Carter maybe, he's Starfleet these days and I never know where he is. Don't have the contacts there that I used to have," said Hathaway, a slight smile on her lips. "Didier, I haven't heard from in a while. He went back to school and started research again. He's probably a professor of some university in Europe by now."

"What about Kanatova and Rush?" asked Fenner.

"Kanatova is on Vulcan, she's part of the Interspecies Medical Exchange programme. Rush was blowing stuff up on Mars last I heard. They were excavating some new areas for habitat domes and on a tight time schedule so he couldn't get back for the memorial service."

"Send the signal," said Trip. "We'll see you at the rendezvous. What are you going to do about transport?"

"I've got an idea of where I can find a ship," said Hathaway. "I'm more worried about Kanatova. It's a long way from Vulcan."

"She's pretty resourceful," said Trip.

"What are you going to do about Enterprise?" asked Hathaway.

"I don't know," said Trip. "I'll work something out with the Captain. I can't stay on Enterprise. If they're after me, then that makes Enterprise a target too."

"Just watch your backs until we can figure this out," said Hathaway.

Paul Didier, Professor of Xenolinguistics at the University of Vienna, was beginning to wonder why he had decided it was a good idea to spend the first month of his summer vacation climbing in the Alps. It had been fine when he'd been in good shape, being part of Special Projects had certainly meant that he'd kept his fitness levels up, but now that he spent most of his day divided between the classroom and the library it was definitely hard work. Pulling himself up the side of a mountain on a rope just wasn't the same fun that it used to be. However reaching the top still gave him an unbelievable buzz, which was definitely worth it. He only had to look out at the incredible view to remind himself why he was doing this.

He mainly went up into the mountains these days to get away from everything. He hadn't been in communications range for over a week now and he was enjoying the peace and quiet of the mountains. It allowed him time to clear his head and put things in perspective.

He heard the sound of rocks rattle down from above him and automatically shielded his head. He looked up and saw three figures in black climbing gear on the ledge above him.

"Hey, watch those rocks," said Didier, in German.

The three men abseiled down towards him. So far none of them had said a word. He tried again in French, on the Alps it wasn't unusual to meet French climbers. Instead the man nearest to him reached out with his boot and stamped on the fingers of Didier's left hand forcing him to hold all his weight with his right hand.

"What are you doing?" asked Didier, in French again.

"Killing you," replied the man in a language that was neither French nor German, but Didier understood what he'd said. Didier barely had time to wonder what the language was when his assailant hit his right hand fingers with his boot. Didier let go and fell backwards down the cliff side, his rope catching him before he could fall too far. He hung on the end of the rope like a fish on a line, struggling to regain his balance. He swung himself so that he could reach the rock face, but he needed a couple of swings before it was in his reach. He could see the men abseiling towards him again.

They reached the piton that he had embedded into the rock face earlier. One of the men grabbed the steel peg by its head and pulled it out of the rock. Didier couldn't believe that the man was strong enough to do that with his bare hands. Didier fell again, once more pulled up short by the rope. He swore vividly in six different languages, this was becoming ridiculous. He swung once more and hit the cliff face but this time he bounced back, unable to maintain his handhold. When the men reached him for the third time, there was nothing that he could do except watch as they cut through the rope above him.

He had plenty of time to wonder who had killed him as he fell to his death on the rocks below him.

Trip really wasn't looking forward to talking to the Captain. Their friendship had only recently recovered from the revelation that Trip had been involved with a black ops unit. How Archer would react to the fact that Trip was about to ask him for, at the very least, a leave of absence, he didn't know. He thumbed the door buzzer on the Captain's Ready Room, feeling apprehensive.

"Come," came the shout from inside.

Trip took a deep breath and entered the room. Reed stood in front of the desk, he had obviously been discussing something with the Captain.

"Captain, Malcolm," said Trip in greeting.

"Trip, we were about to call you," said Archer.

"You were?" asked Trip

"I did some further investigation of Lieutenant Arroya's death with the help of MACO Security," said Reed.

"How's Amanda doing?" asked Trip.

"She's fine. How did you know Corporal Cole transferred to MACO Security?" asked Reed, a little bit disappointed that his thunder had been stolen.

"Major Hathaway told me she was working on Arroya's case," said Trip. "So you called her?"

"Yes, I wanted to get all the facts of the investigation before I went any further. She called me back earlier and gave me some further information. We came to the conclusion that Arroya wasn't taken by surprise, which makes it very unlikely that she was killed by an opportunist thief," said Reed.

"I told you that already. Terri wouldn't have been caught out like that. What else did you find out?" asked Trip.

"There were some inconsistencies. Lieutenant Arroya called Security but the message wasn't recorded. Corporal Cole thinks it may have been deleted on purpose and I'm inclined to agree with her. Also whoever threw Arroya out of the widow had to be strong, she fell a long way away from where you would expect if she'd just been pushed off her balcony," said Reed. "Corporal Cole thinks that we're looking for an alien."

"Makes sense, they would have been strong enough to overpower Terri even with her MACO training. Why didn't anyone spot them?" said Trip.

"We don't have any reports of anyone leaving the scene. It was late at night, most people were asleep in bed. Which is probably exactly why they picked then to attack her," said Reed.

"Yeah, it's what I would have done," said Trip.

Archer looked at Trip with slight surprise. He still forgot that his friend had once led a very different life to the one he led now and had been almost a different person. Comments like the one Trip had just made, jarred with the Trip Tucker that he knew.

Trip continued. "They'd probably been watching her for days, waiting until she was most likely to have her guard down."

"We wanted to talk to you, Trip, because this puts a new slant on things," said Archer. "I don't think that it's a coincidence that James Fenner, a former member of the Special Projects Unit, was attacked. I think that someone is taking out the members of the Special Projects Unit."

"You don't have to convince me, Captain," said Trip. "I just got off the com with Major Hathaway. A Mars to Earth shuttle was destroyed, killing everyone on board. One of the passengers was Captain Ian Dempsey, former Special Projects Intelligence Officer."

"That's pretty conclusive," said Reed.

"That's why I came to talk to you, Captain," said Trip. "They killed over a hundred people on that shuttle, to get one man. They won't hesitate to attack Enterprise to get to me and Fenner. The Major just issued the Red Rain Alpha code."

"Red Rain Alpha?" asked Archer. "You said Red Rain was the code for being under attack. What does Red Rain Alpha mean?"

"It's the code for the whole team being under attack by enemy or enemies unknown. It's the code that we agreed on for this exact scenario," said Trip.

"You planned for this?" asked Archer.

"Colonel Darwin planned for everything, sir," said Trip. "Special Projects made a lot of enemies. There was always the possibility that someday someone would decide to pick us off one by one."

"So you think someone is taking revenge on you for something that Special Projects did over ten years ago?" asked Reed.

"I think that's the most likely explanation, Malcolm," said Trip. "Although, right now, I'm not discounting anything."

"They're going to an awful lot of trouble for a few MACOs," said Archer.

"Like I said, we made a lot of enemies," said Trip. "The point is, Captain, that Fenner and I need to leave Enterprise and get to the rendezvous point."

"What rendezvous point?" asked Archer.

"We agreed a rendezvous point that we would all attempt to get to if Red Rain Alpha was ever issued. The idea is that we're harder to pick off as a team. Colonel Darwin set up a bolt-hold for us, somewhere that we could defend ourselves, well away from innocent civilians. I guess we were a bit late issuing the code," said Trip, the last sentence said with real regret. "I wanted to ask your permission for a leave of absence. Aldebaran Spaceport isn't far off our course and Fenner and I could get a transport from there if Enterprise dropped us off."

"Trip, your life is in danger," said Archer, "the safest place for you to be is on Enterprise, where we can protect you." Malcolm was nodding in agreement too.

Trip shook his head. "Uh uh, I can't put Enterprise in danger. Not just because of me. I've got no idea who we're up against here and I've got no idea what kind of resources they've got. They've already killed two people that I thought could look after themselves and if it hadn't been for Enterprise, Fenner would be dead too," said Trip.

"Why do you think you'll be able to protect yourself any better with the other MACOs?" said Archer.

"It's not about whether we can protect ourselves any better, it's about protecting everyone else," said Trip. "If they come gunning for me I want to be as far away from Enterprise as possible."

"I'm not going to argue with you over this, Trip," said Archer. "You're not a member of Special Projects anymore, you're part of Starfleet, and that means you're my responsibility. You're not leaving Enterprise to run off on some damn fool mission with Colonel Darwin."

"What are the rendezvous co-ordinates?" asked Reed.

"I can't tell you, that's classified information," said Trip.

"Classified or you just don't want to tell us?" asked Reed.

"Fine, it's not classified, but it sure ain't a good idea to be shouting about it," replied Trip slightly angrily. He didn't like the way Archer and Reed seemed to be playing tag-team with him. "If there's one thing that I got damn good at while I was in Special Projects, it was keeping my mouth shut." In his world you didn't say anything about the mission unless you were protected by an anti-listening device and had scanned for bugs.

"Trip, do you have a death wish?" asked Archer.

"No, sir," said Trip.

"Then why the hell are you making this so hard?" said Archer. "We're trying to help you."

"With respect, sir, you can help me by dropping me off at the spaceport at Aldebaran," said Trip.

"No Trip, you're staying on Enterprise and that's final," said Archer. "Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," said Trip, grudgingly.

"Dismissed," said Archer. Trip turned and left the Ready Room without another word.

"I want to know what's going on, Malcolm," said Archer.

"Yes, sir," said Reed. "So do I."

"This is your top priority. I want to know why two MACOs are dead and a third was attacked, and most of all I want to know who is trying to kill my Chief Engineer."

Fenner had been waiting for Trip in his quarters.

"Well?" Fenner asked. Trip went to his cupboard and started pulling boxes out before he found the one that he was looking for. "What happened?" he asked again.

Trip set down a small black box on the desk and flicked a switch on its side.

"Now we can talk," said Trip. "Every time I think I've put this thing away for good I end up needing it again."

"What did the Captain say?" asked Fenner.

"He's not going to let me leave Enterprise. He thinks I'd be better protected here," said Trip.

"So what do we do?" asked Fenner.

"We're going to plan B," said Trip.

"And what exactly is plan B?" asked Fenner.

"Something that I've been working on for a while," said Trip.