Red Rain

By Thalia Drogna

"There's only one man on this ship who could transform a shuttlepod into a something that's capable of warp speed," said Archer.

"Trip," said Reed.

Archer nodded. "Although how he did it, I'd be interested to know."

"And he's been missing for at least the last couple of hours," said Reed.

"Where's T'Pol?" asked Archer.

"I haven't seen her since I left her in Engineering," said Reed.

"Archer to Engineering," said Archer into the com.

"Hess here, go ahead Captain," said Hess.

"Is Sub-commander T'Pol with you?" asked Archer.

"No, sir, she went down to the shuttle bay. It looked as if someone was trying to launch a shuttle so she went to investigate," said Hess.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," said Archer and turned to Lieutenant Reed. "Can we track the shuttlepod?"

"Normally yes, but our main sensors have been disabled, and they're the ones that we'd need to track a warp signature," said Reed. "Once they're fixed we might be able to pick up their trail."

"Commander Tucker is going to have a hell of a lot of explaining to do when I get hold of him," said Archer angrily. "How the hell was he able to do this?"

"He is the Chief Engineer, sir. If anyone knows which systems to disable in order to launch a shuttlepod undetected then it would be him. According to these diagnostics, he not only disabled the warnings that would alert us to a shuttlepod launch but he also disabled the diagnostics that would have told us that there was a problem. In fact, he was cleverer than that, he rigged it so that the diagnostics would read that everything was green," said Reed.

"Well I don't want it to happen again," said Archer. "I want a full investigation into how he was able to pull the wool over our eyes so comprehensively and I don't want to be caught out this way again. Even by the Chief Engineer."

"Yes, sir," said Reed.

"Phlox to Archer," said the com.

"Archer here, go ahead Doctor," said Archer.

"I thought you'd want to know that Sub-commander T'Pol has just been brought into sick bay. She's been stunned by a phaser. Nothing serious and she should be awake in a few more minutes," said Phlox.

"Thank you, Doctor," said Archer. "I'm on my way down to sick bay. Archer out."

"Trip shot T'Pol?" asked Reed with both dismay and disbelief.

"I don't know. Lieutenant, you have the bridge. Hopefully T'Pol will have some answers," said Archer and headed for the turbo-lift.

"We did it!" said Fenner, excitedly.

"Yeah, we sure did," said Trip, in flat tones. He couldn't be excited by the fact that he'd just shot one of his closest friends and stolen a shuttlepod from his own ship.

"This thing is amazing, Trip," said Fenner. "What the hell did you build it out of?"

"Spare parts mostly, the hard part was making sure no one noticed what I was up to," said Trip. "Took a lot of doing but I was able to keep everyone out of the shuttle bay for the past few days, so I could do all the fabrication in the actual shuttlepod then. That was just installing the warp coil mainly. It's a bit cramped in here now, with all the supplies and the warp engine taking up so much room."

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, you're a goddamned miracle worker," said Fenner.

"Don't know about that, we still have to get there. Did you send the message?" asked Trip. "I disabled the main sensor array but it won't be long before they get it fixed and pick up our trail. At warp two, they'll have no trouble catching us up."

"Yeah, the message is sent. If it all goes according to plan we should be at the rendezvous this time tomorrow," said Fenner. "Hang on, I've got a warning light on the panel."

Trip turned back to his own panel. "It's okay I've got it. Looks like the intermix ratio was set a little high, it should stabilise now. Sorry, this thing really is held together with duck-tape and willpower, it needs careful handling and we're going to have to watch her."

"Hey, it's better than nothing," said Fenner.

"I hope I'm doing the right thing," said Trip.

"Trip, it's a bit late to be having second thoughts," said Fenner.

"I guess so," said Trip, but he didn't really sound that convinced.

"You know, we really should give this baby a better name than shuttlepod one," said Fenner.

"You've got a point there. How about Bluebird II?" said Trip.

"Why not?" said Fenner, "it'll make up for the one I lost."

When Archer reached sick bay T'Pol was already sitting up in bed and looking as if she wanted to be out of there as quickly as possible. Phlox was scanning her in a stoic manner, ignoring his patient's obvious restlessness.

"Captain," said T'Pol before Archer could speak. "I am sorry that I was unable to prevent the Commander's departure with the shuttlepod."

"It wasn't your fault, T'Pol," replied Archer, wearily. "Just tell me, was it Trip who shot you?"

"Yes, Captain, it was," said T'Pol. Archer sighed, he'd hoped it hadn't been Trip. "Although only because I reached for my own weapon. I believe he would have let me leave unharmed otherwise. He should still be within range of our sensors," said T'Pol.

"He went to warp," said Archer.

"That is impossible, he stole a shuttlepod," said T'Pol.

"He turned the shuttle into a warp capable ship. It probably only does warp one or two, but it's enough to get him away from us, especially with our sensors off line," said Archer. "Hess is busy reconnecting everything that Trip disconnected so that he could leave undetected."

"The Commander is very resourceful," said T'Pol.

"I don't care if he is, T'Pol, I want him found," said Archer. "Apart from anything he owes me a shuttlepod. And I want to know how he turned an impulse driven shuttle into something that's capable of warp two. Then I'm going to throw him in the brig for insubordination."

"That is only one of the many regulations that he has broken," said T'Pol.

"I'll start with that one," said Archer.

"We have to find him first," said T'Pol, getting off the biobed.

"I don't suppose that there is any point in telling you to rest," said Phlox to T'Pol.

"None," replied T'Pol.

"Then I won't waste my breath," said Phlox.

"Trip, I've got a sensor contact," said Fenner.

"Enterprise?" asked Trip, coming forward to look at the sensors. He'd been checking on the engine, which still seemed to be running fine although he wasn't happy about staying at warp for too long.

"Too small," said Fenner.

"And I'd be really impressed if T'Pol got the sensors back on line that quickly," said Trip. "Maybe it's Hathaway?"

"She'd be early," said Fenner.

"Not her then, Hathaway would be on time," said Trip. "Which only leaves one other possibility, we've got some unwanted company."

"Don't suppose you installed some weapons on this thing?" asked Fenner.

"Sorry, had to strip them out to make room for the warp core. I can only work so many miracles in one go," replied Trip, with grim humour.

"So what do we do?" asked Fenner.

"Way I see it, we've got three choices. One, we turn around and head back to Enterprise. Now I don't know about you, but after all the trouble we went to getting out of there, I'd rather not go back. Two, we make a run for it in the direction we think Hathaway will be coming from," said Trip, he paused.

"What about three?" asked Fenner.

"Three, we stay here, they catch us and we die," said Trip.

"So really we only have two options," said Fenner.

"Engineers like to give people all the facts," replied Trip. "I know you're going to say option two, but if Hathaway's coming from Earth then that's right past the noses of our visitors."

"Rather be doing something than nothing," said Fenner.

Trip nodded. "I guess we'd better see how much speed I can squeeze out of this thing then. I'm going to full power." The small craft shuddered as Trip locked in all the power that he could to the engine.

"Okay, we're at warp two point five," said Fenner. "That sensor contact just resolved itself into three fighters and they're heading straight for us."

"Where the hell did they come from? We're in deep space and they're not built for long range flights," said Trip.

"That, my friend, is the least of our worries," said Fenner.

"Damn, we're not moving fast enough," said Trip. "They're catching up with us." He thought desperately, trying to figure out a way to keep them alive. "James, check your scanner, about two o'clock. We're coming up on a brown dwarf, and it looks like it has an accretion disk."

"You're right," said Fenner. "Why didn't we pick it up before?"

"The scanners on this thing don't have great resolution and brown dwarves don't give off any visible light. Plus the low radiation that they emit, we didn't have a hope of detecting it until we got closer," said Trip.

"Can we make it?" asked Fenner.

"Maybe," said Trip. "It's better odds than open space. You're the pilot. Do you fancy taking us into that accretion disk?"

"No, but I guess it's the only way," said Fenner, pointing the nose of Bluebird II towards the brown dwarf and the ring of broken rocks around it.

"Those fighters have weapons that Malcolm would give up his favourite phase pistol for," said Trip, looking at the sensor data.

"And they're still gaining on us," said Fenner. "Is that all the power we've got?"

"Every drop," replied Trip. "I told you this thing is held together with chewing gum and wishful thinking, don't push it too hard or we'll be walking home."

"If I don't push it we'll be dead," said Fenner. "You take care of the engine and I'll worry about keeping us in one piece when we get to the accretion disk."

"Smart ass pilot," muttered Trip, "why is it that no one listens to the engineer. Just remember who got us this far."

"For which I'm truly grateful, now strap in, Commander, and hold on," said Fenner.

Bluebird II dived into the accretion disk of the brown dwarf, dropping to impulse as it did so, warp speed would be suicidal in an asteroid field. They were followed closely by three black fighters. Fenner looped in and out of the asteroids, cutting his turns as fine as he could.

"They're still on our tail," said Trip, "damn but they're good."

"Yeah, but I've never met a pilot that I couldn't beat," said Fenner. He was beginning to wonder when the fighters would make a mistake though, so far they hadn't. He'd expected to lose at least one of them to a wrong move or a stray asteroid by now.

The fighters behind them opened fire and Fenner broke right just in front of a large asteroid, the fire from the fighters impacting upon the asteroid behind them. He wove around a small group of rocks and pulled a tight turn so that he was facing his pursuers.

"What the hell are you doing, James?" said Trip nervously.

"They're too good, Trip, every move they make is perfect. But I'm betting that they're not good at thinking out of the box," said Fenner.

"So you're going to fly right at them?" asked Trip, incredulously.

"No, I'm going to use the asteroid field as cover and fly between them," replied Fenner. He was already concentrating on going against the orbital drift of the asteroids, which was making the task of dodging the rocks much harder anyway. Suddenly he was on their attackers and they turned to follow his path as he flew through the middle of the three ships. One fighter came to bear on the shuttle but wasn't fast enough to catch it and was just opening fire as Bluebird II had passed. It hadn't realised that its fellow fighter was pulling exactly the same manoeuvre on the other side of the shuttlepod. Neither pilot managed to stop firing in time to prevent damage to the other fighter. One fighter exploded in a burst of flame and the other had its right engine ripped off, unable to get out of the way due to its impaired mobility, it slammed into an approaching asteroid.

"And you said I was a miracle worker," said Trip. "You just evened the odds pretty damn successfully."

Trip had just finished the sentence when the third fighter appeared from its hiding place and opened fire. Suddenly alarms sounded and gas began to vent into the cockpit.

"Should have kept my big mouth shut," shouted Trip over the sound of sirens and warnings. "He got the left thruster controls and it looks as if we've got a leak in the life support system too." Trip unstrapped his harness and got up to investigate the damage. He managed to seal the gas vent but that wasn't their only problem.

"Trip, if you're going to do something then you'd better do it now because we just became a sitting duck," said Fenner. Navigating the field with only one thruster was next to impossible.

"I've only got one pair of hands," said Trip in retort. He'd opened up a panel in the ceiling of the shuttle and was elbow deep in electronics. He was well aware of the fact that if Fenner hadn't been such a good pilot they'd be dead already.

"Brace yourself, he's coming in for another attack run," said Fenner, monitoring his opponent's moves whilst doing his best to get out of his direct line of fire. Fenner broke left, attempting to hide behind another asteroid before their enemy could get another shot in. Unfortunately he wasn't fast enough and the first volley of fire caught the tip of the shuttlepod's stubby right wing. Trip was thrown to the floor, but Fenner didn't have time to check if the Engineer was okay as the fighter was moving in for the kill.

Then there was another trace on his scanner and Fenner detected incoming fire from another source. He watched as the phaser beam sliced towards the oncoming fighter and then the fighter was no more.

Trip pushed himself up onto the chair, he'd already discovered that he had a gash down the left side of his forehead where he'd fallen heavily. He was trying to ignore the blood that was dripping down his face.

"We've got an incoming transmission," said Trip. He put it on the loud speaker.

"Can't I leave you two alone for a moment without you getting yourselves into trouble," said a familiar voice.

"Major, I've never been so pleased to hear your voice," replied Trip. "We had a bit of difficulty but that seems to have been dealt with."

"What in god's name is that ship you're in? It looks like Frankenstein designed a shuttlepod," said Hathaway.

"She's called Bluebird II. But you're not far wrong, it's Trip's invention, a shuttlepod that does warp two," said Fenner.

"I might have guessed," said Hathaway. "You okay to dock with us or do we have to come and get you?"

"We should be okay," said Fenner, "it could take a few minutes though."

"Okay, but don't take too long, there may be some friends of those fighters around and I'd prefer to engage them on our terms rather than theirs," said Hathaway.

"Yes, Ma'am," replied Fenner. "We'll be with you shortly. Bluebird out." He turned around to look at Trip. "What happened to your face?" he asked.

"Hit my head when I fell over," said Trip. "It's just a scratch, but you know how head wounds bleed."

"Are you going to be okay to fix that control circuit so that I can get us out of this asteroid field?" asked Fenner.

"No problem, I just need to re-route a couple of things. It's only a temporary fix but it'll do until we get somewhere safer. It's a hell of a lot easier to do this stuff when we're not being shot at," said Trip, rising from his seat and reaching up towards the panel he'd opened earlier. Fenner pretended not to notice the fact the wound on the side of Trip's head was definitely more than a scratch and that Trip was gripping onto the side of the panel to keep himself steady. He knew Trip wouldn't appreciate being fussed over at the moment and there'd be plenty of time for that later.

Trip had the necessary repairs made in less than ten minutes and then they were on their way again, climbing out of the asteroid field.

"Bluebird to Hathaway," said Fenner. "We're on our way up to you."

"Acknowledged," said Hathaway.

They poked their nose above the asteroids and got their first look at the ship that Hathaway had arrived in.

"My god, is that what I think it is?" said Fenner.

"It's the NX-Theta," said Trip, looking out of the cockpit window at the ship in front of them. "But it can't be. It was mothballed along with the rest of the NX prototypes." The NX-Theta had been the first one of the prototypes that had looked like a starship, it had even had a small crew, no more than ten people, mainly engineers that were measuring efficiency and performance. Trip knew the ship like the back of his hand, he'd been one of the engineers who'd taken her out for her test run. He didn't remember her having phase cannons though.

"Bluebird, you are cleared for docking," said Hathaway. Bluebird II came in for a less than perfect docking manoeuvre in the shuttle bay but considering the damage the ship had taken, Fenner was reasonably happy with it.

Hathaway was waiting to meet them. They climbed out of Bluebird and Trip and Fenner saluted their former commanding officer. Which was followed by Trip collapsing in a heap on the floor of the shuttle bay as he let go of the shuttlepod, the only thing that had been keeping him upright. He moved to push himself up off the floor but found the room was spinning alarmingly.

"Just a scratch, huh?" said Fenner sarcastically as he crouched down beside Trip. He propped the engineer up against the side of the shuttlepod.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" asked Hathaway.

"I don't know," said Trip. "You keep moving them."

"Concussion," said Hathaway. "You know how serious this can be Trip, why didn't you say anything?"

"We were busy," said Trip, it sounded lame even to him.

"You haven't changed a bit, still as stubborn as ever," said Hathaway. She went to the com. "Hathaway to the bridge, could one of you two bring the first aid kit down to the shuttle bay."

"On my way, Major," said a familiar sounding voice, but Trip couldn't quite place it. It wasn't until Mike Rush appeared in the doorway brandishing the first aid kit that Trip fitted the voice to the face.

"Sergeant Rush, my man, it's got to have been at least ten years," said Fenner enthusiastically, clapping the MACO on the back in a friendly manner as he approached.

"It's Corporal Rush now," said Rush returning the enthusiastic greeting briefly before turning to Trip. "Trip, buddy, what happened?" he asked as he opened the first aid kit and knelt beside his patient.

"The floor came up and hit me, or it may have been the side of the control console, I'm not sure," said Trip. "Either way, it was the Lieutenant's piloting skills which made me hit my head."

"I haven't been a Lieutenant for years," said Fenner. "And my piloting was fine. You're just lucky you've got such a hard head."

"You've got a mild concussion," said Rush, taking readings with the medical scanner. "How do you feel?"

"Dizzy, and everything's a bit blurry," said Trip.

"We should get him somewhere that he can lie down and then monitor his condition. He'll probably be fine in a few hours after some rest and painkillers," said Rush to Hathaway. He put the scanner away and took out cotton-wool and antiseptic and began to clean the wound.

"Crew quarters," said Hathaway. "We've got a couple of cabins ready for you guys."

"I'll be happier once we hook up with Kanatova and then she can give him the once over," said Rush. He'd never really been happy with doubling up as medic when Kanatova wasn't available.

"So will I," said Trip, with a teasing smile. "So did you pick up everyone who was on Earth?"

Rush and Hathaway exchanged looks.

"I collected Rush and Carter," said Hathaway. "We were too late for Didier, they'd already got to him. He died in what's being called a climbing accident, but I think we can say that it was no accident."

"What about Kanatova and the Colonel?" asked Fenner.

"I don't know," said Hathaway. "The Colonel just said he'd meet us at the rendezvous. Kanatova left Vulcan two days ago but I haven't been able to track her, she's either doing a good job of hiding or she's already dead."