Let the Dead Bury the Living
By Thalia Drogna
The quarantine on Enterprise had been lifted since Trip was no longer on board. That meant that the corridors had turned into a hive of activity as the first shift prepared for shore leave. Reed was among those going down to the surface in the first wave. In contrast to most of the crew, he carried only a duffel bag and it certainly wasn't full of beach wear. Archer had offered to accompany him but he'd refused stating that this was his mess and he had had to sort it out himself. Besides this was more of a one man job. Reed felt like a man who had a lot of misdeeds to repay, he needed to atone for his sins and no one could do it for him.
While Reed went to find Jessica, Archer and T'Pol were going to attempt to use their contacts to find Trip. Reed hoped that their contacts would have some information about where to find the Commander. He had a few contacts of his own that he thought he might be able to get something out of.
He started at the Warp Five Complex, it was where Jessica was posted at the moment. He needed a start point, the place she'd been when she'd been taken. The only way he could get that was by asking a few well placed questions about her movements that day, but he was careful who he asked. If it got back to Jessica's captors that he was looking for them then he would be placing Jessica in danger.
Jessica's message had been simple, twenty minutes north east. Assuming that they'd kidnapped her as she was leaving the warp five complex, then he was guessing the Black Hills were his best bet. They were about twenty minutes away by hover car. He got out the map, measured the distance and drew an arc where he estimated the furthest range of their travel to be and then another where the least distance they could have travelled was. He hoped they hadn't been driving Jessica around in circles but he guessed she would have spotted that. From Jessica's video he knew what kind of building he was looking for, although there'd been very little to go on. There was a metal wall behind her. He had originally guessed a warehouse, but, given the country, he thought it was more likely to be a barn.
He got together his gear, hired a hover car and went up into the mountains. There were several buildings on his maps that he wanted to check out. To help him in his search he'd taken some aerial photographs from Enterprise that picked out the layouts of the buildings. He had a list of attributes that the house had to have for it to be the one that he was looking for. It had to be no more than two miles from a main road because the recording had picked up the sounds of hover truck motors. It also had to be no more than five miles away from the flight path of the nearby airport, the video had picked up some engine sound from the planes. It had narrowed his search area considerably.
He spent most of the afternoon driving up and down dirt tracks. He had visited about ten buildings before he came across one which looked promising. Most of the buildings he'd been to had been farm houses with barns and had been very obviously occupied. He had used the excuse of being a lost tourist asking for directions to go and check them out. This one was different, there was no activity around the house and it looked deserted, except that he was picking up residual heat signatures. People had been in the building less than six hours previously. He went into the barn and found further evidence that it had been occupied. There were chairs upended on the floor and beside one of the chairs lay a pile of ropes.
He took out his scanner and waved it across the ropes. As he had predicted there were traces of human DNA on the ropes and it matched Jessica's. They had been here but had obviously moved on and it looked as if it wasn't that long ago. He'd been steeling himself against the possibility that Jessica was already dead, but there was no body so he continued to allow himself to hope that she was alive.
He caught the glint of something gold lying on the floor. He went to investigate and immediately recognised it, he'd given it to Jessica on their second anniversary. It was a thin gold chain and on it was a capital letter J pendant. Reed knew that Jessica had left it behind on purpose, to tell him that she knew he was looking for her. He'd had no idea that she still wore it. He tucked the necklace safely in his pocket. He intended to give it back to Jessica himself. He hoped that she could hang on a bit longer.
If they had left only a short while ago then it was possible that he could track them. The air was relatively clear so he could probably pick up the exhaust of any vehicles that they had used, at least until they hit the main road. It should be enough to give him an indication of which direction they'd gone in. He ran back to his car and set off again, following the route that the scanner gave him. Luckily for him they seemed to be purposely sticking to the back roads, probably to avoid any unnecessary contact. It was a sensible move, if you didn't meet anyone then there was much less chance of discovery.
He travelled for hours, leaving the mountains behind. Finally he saw buildings up ahead and the trail led up the driveway where there was a hover car parked. Night had fallen and he was beginning to get tired, but he was so close to his goal that he refused to rest now. He used the scanner and discovered that there were three people inside the building. One of them had to be Jessica, which left her with two guards. However he also detected three other people moving around the edge of the property, Davis had posted perimeter guards. Five men to deal with in total.
Reed had brought a small arsenal of weapons with him but hopefully all he'd need was his phase pistol. However he certainly didn't intend on underestimating his opponents. These men were probably rogue Security officers just like Davis so would have had exactly the same the training as he had. Which meant that one of them was watching the approach. At the first sign of trouble they'd be on alert. Reed had to figure out a way to get in without alerting anyone to his presence.
He crept up to the guard who was furthest away from the main entrance. He waited until he was sure that the guard was looking in the other direction and stunned him. The guard dropped to the ground, unconscious. He quickly disarmed the perimeter guard, looking around to check that no one had seen him.
He proceeded stealthily towards the house, using the shadows as cover. He glimpsed through the windows the scene inside. Jessica sat on a chair, bound and gagged with two guards watching her. Reed thought she looked cross rather than scared. One kidnapper sat opposite her, phase pistol trained on Jessica, the other paced around the room nervously.
He moved behind the hover car, using it to hide himself. He found a small stone on the ground and hurled it at the window of the house, it wasn't enough to break it but it was enough to alert the guards inside. Reed waited for one of them to leave the house to come and investigate. Sure enough after a few seconds one of the guards appeared at the door, outlined by the light from within the house he was an easy target. Reed stunned him and was moving towards the house when the second kidnapper appeared.
The guard saw Reed and fired at him. Reed dropped to the ground rapidly, still moving forwards, but lost his grip on his own phase pistol in the process. He ducked behind the hover car and stayed completely still. He waited for the guard to come looking for him. Reed heard the crunch of feet on the gravel of the drive and as the guard rounded the side of the hover car Reed jumped him. He knocked the phase pistol out of the guard's hand before he could fire again.
The guard was taller than Reed and heavier, however it was exactly this sort of situation that Reed spent most of his time training for. Reed also had the added advantage that he had the experience of the Expanse to draw upon, which if nothing else, had honed his fighting skills. Xindi Reptilians were stronger than humans and Reed had had to develop tactics to deal with that.
Reed allowed the guard to get in one good punch before he used his own momentum against him and threw him to the ground. The guard kicked out and took Reeds legs out from under him. Reed landed heavily, but rolled with the fall, righting himself before his attacker could take further advantage. The guard had pulled himself to his feet, but Reed was already executing a flying kick which sent the guard into the side of the hover car. The guard's elbow shattered the window of the hover car with the force of his fall and that set off the car's alarm.
The alarm shrieked loudly through the still of the night, scaring birds in the trees. Reed used the distraction to hit the kidnapper's head against the car again and knock him unconscious. He pulled open the door of the hover car, quickly found the wires that would silence the alarm and ripped them out. However, he was fairly sure that it was already too late. His stealthy approach had just gone up in flames.
As if to confirm Reed's assessment of the situation, there was the sound of a the guard's communicator activating.
"Echo one to echo three, what was that alarm?" asked a voice that he recognised.
"Ensign McLaughlin," muttered Reed.
"Echo three, report," said the voice urgently.
Reed rifled through the unconscious guard's pockets and found the communicator. He put on his best impression of an American accent. Teasing Trip had given him enough practice to make him pretty good.
"Echo three to echo one, we set the alarm off by accident, nothing to worry about," said Reed.
"Nice try Reed," snarled the voice over the radio, "but Echo three doesn't have an American accent."
Reed swore, he'd gambled and lost. He had to get Jessica out now, before McLaughlin and her guards came looking for him. Reed scooped up his phase pistol from where it had fallen and ran through the door of the house, over to Jessica. He ripped off her gag.
"Malcolm, thank god," said Jessica with relief, while Reed untied her hands and feet from the chair she was sat on.
"I'm afraid we're going to have company very shortly," said Reed.
"It'll take them about ten minutes to get in from the perimeter," said Jessica. Then she gave Reed a smile. "I knew you'd find me."
He lent forward and kissed her quickly on the lips. "Sorry it took a while. There were a few complications," said Reed.
"What have you got yourself caught up in?" asked Jessica. "This is what happens when I'm not around to look after you."
"I'll explain everything on the way back to town," said Reed. "I don't want us to be around when those reinforcements show up."
"Agreed," said Jessica. "I'll be happy to get out of here."
"My car's just down the road," said Reed. He undid the final knot and pulled Jessica to her feet. She wobbled slightly but otherwise seemed unharmed.
"My legs have gone to sleep," she explained. "Too long tied up, just give me a second."
"We don't have a second, we have to get going now," said Reed, helping Jessica out of the house and to the hover car. He opened the bonnet of the vehicle and began poking about in the engine.
"You're going to disable their transport," said Jessica, immediately understanding what Reed was up to.
"If I can," said Reed. He pulled out a couple of vital components. He was no engineer like Trip but he knew how to break a hover car. Just for good measure he tossed one particularly important looking piece of the engine into the trees. Jessica took the opportunity to stretch out her sore legs.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Yes, let's go," she said and the two of them ran down the path towards Reed's car.
There was noise behind them as the kidnappers saw their escape and then discovered the broken hover car. Reed and Jessica ducked into the trees as phaser fire erupted in their direction. They pushed their way through the undergrowth, aware that the kidnappers weren't far behind them. Reed stopped a second to fire back at their pursuers but it seemed as if they had enough of a head start that they were going to make it.
Reed had never been so pleased to see a hire car in his entire life. He wondered if the collision damage waiver covered him for phaser damage. It was only when they were safely inside the hover car and on their way back to civilisation that Reed flicked open his communicator.
"Reed to Enterprise, I've got her."
Eventually the pain inducing drug had worked its way through Trip's system. Trip was exhausted and he had pulled so hard on the restraints that the sharp edges had dug into his flesh. A doctor had come and released him from the restraints and bandaged his wrists and ankles. He was told that as long as he behaved he wouldn't be placed in restraints again unless the tests specifically required it. He hadn't tried to use the nanites again to access the computers, he knew any attempt would end in more pain and probably be futile. He was better saving his strength.
Time passed. He had no idea how long he'd been in the cell, he guessed it had been a couple of days, but they'd taken his watch and the cell was permanently illuminated. Day and night were indistinguishable and it made it very hard to sleep, but he seemed to be permanently tired at the moment so he spent a lot of time dozing anyway. He wondered if they were putting drugs in the water, or his food, perhaps trying to keep him docile.
If he moved too quickly then he seemed to get a dizzy spell, it was back to how it had been when he'd fallen down the steps in Engineering. He guessed that they had upped his dosage of immuno-suppressants and it was interfering with the nanites' communication with his body. The nanites were certainly reporting back some strange substances in his blood chemistry, but at the moment he didn't even know if he could trust what the nanites were telling him. What he did know was that his captors were more interested in the nanites than they were in his own health. He started to try to work out how long it would be before the immuno-suppressants stopped working and the nanites started to poison his blood again, but he gave it up as being too depressing.
When someone entered the room he was given the instruction to stand up and face the opposite wall. He knew that his captors had complete power over him in this environment but he couldn't just give in and co-operate, it wasn't in his nature. That morning, he'd tried to overpower the person who had entered his cell to give him his breakfast but he'd been stunned before he'd even known what had hit him. As punishment, he'd been put in restraints again and left without food or water, which, given the amount of power the nanites were drawing at the moment, had ended up being very uncomfortable.
He got the impression that he was very much an experiment to them. He lay strapped down on the bed while men and women in white coats came and took blood samples from him and, although he tried to talk to them, they never said a word to him. There were other tests as well, some of them painful, most of them made him feel like he was just a piece of meat to them. They were obviously testing how the nanites reacted to various stimuli. They never took him out of his cell, so he had no idea what the rest of the building looked like or even where the building was. He suspected that his captors knew what the nanites could do if they allowed him anywhere near a computer link.
He didn't want to admit it, but he was very afraid, although he was damned if he was going to let the sons of bitches know. The whole situation reminded him of his time as a prisoner of the Xindi. He shivered despite himself at the thought of his torture. He was also beginning to feel very lonely. He wasn't used to spending so much time by himself, he was normally quite a sociable person and he was finding it hard to adjust to so little human contact. He hoped that someone from Enterprise was looking for him, he really wasn't enjoying being a test subject.
Archer was on his way down to Sick Bay. It had been three days since they'd taken Trip and he was no closer to finding his Chief Engineer. After Reed's call that Jessica was safe Archer had shifted the search into high gear. He'd called in every favour that he could, but so far he'd drawn a blank.
Nash had proved to be untouchable. Archer was certain that the Senator was involved, even more so after Hoshi had shown him the tape of the riot outside the Vulcan compound. However, proving it was going to be extremely hard and, without proof, Archer had nothing. Whatever organisation Davis was working for, he had made sure that there were no links back to Nash. All of Davis' orders had come via Star Fleet channels, although no one was quite sure who had issued the orders when they were traced back. Questions were being asked about some of Star Fleet's administration procedures and Forrest had instigated a full investigation.
Davis himself, and his men, had disappeared. No one had seen them since they had left Enterprise. All records of the shuttle flight that had taken Trip from Enterprise had been wiped from the system. Even Enterprise's sensor logs had been purged, a program hiding within the computer that was timed to produce a sensor malfunction at just the right moment.
There was no doubt in Archer's mind that Davis had been serious about keeping Trip. They weren't meant to have any leads to him. There would be no video messages to prove that he was alive. Davis' people didn't care if Archer thought Trip was dead, Archer had nothing that they wanted.
Archer reached sick bay and opened the door to be greeted by the sight of all three biobeds occupied. Enam sat on one playing a game with Ghanima, Shran was on the middle one, sleeping despite the noise coming from the bed beside his, and at the far side of sick bay was Ensign Carruthers, sitting on the edge of a biobed while Phlox tended to her. A worried looking Lieutenant Reed stood beside Phlox.
Reed had brought Jessica back to Enterprise in order to protect her better, he certainly didn't intend on letting anyone snatch her again. Luckily, apart from the rope marks around her wrists and ankles, she seemed to be unharmed, if rather tired.
"Welcome to Enterprise, Ensign," said Archer as he approached the far bed.
"Thank you, sir," said Jessica. "I wish it was under better circumstances."
"So do I, Ensign," said Archer. "While you were a captive did anyone mention anything about Commander Tucker?"
"No, sir, they didn't say very much at all. Someone mentioned something about returning to base but nothing about where it was," said Jessica.
"Some of my contacts came back to me," said Reed, "they backed up the rumours about a renegade group within Starfleet Intelligence, but no one has been able to get any evidence that it exists."
"And if no one knows whether they even exist then they certainly don't know where their base is," said Archer.
"I'm sorry, sir," said Reed.
"Sorry won't get him back, Malcolm," said Archer. He saw the look of guilt on Reed's face and immediately regretted the remark, Reed was working as hard as any of them to find Trip. Jessica reached out a hand and put it on Reed's arm.
"T'Pol thought she might be able to do something with the sensor records which could at least give us something to go on," said Archer. "For the moment that's our best bet."
"I've got an idea how you might be able to find Commander Tucker," said Shran and everyone turned around to look at the now awake Andorian. He carefully sat up, dangling his legs over the side of the bed. He was still feeling shaky.
"How?" asked Archer.
Shran hesitated a second.
"Well spit it out," said Reed, impatiently.
"My current command is a listening post," said Shran. "We also have surveillance equipment in your solar system."
"Surveillance equipment?" asked Archer. "You're spying on us?"
"You're allies of the Vulcans, and therefore potential enemies of the Andorians," said Shran.
"For how long?" asked Reed.
"What do you think we were doing when we helped you out with the Xindi?" asked Shran.
"So that stuff about navigating through the subspace vortex to find us was just a line?" said Archer.
"We did navigate the subspace vortex but with orders to plant surveillance equipment, not help you against the Xindi," said Shran.
"I did think it was a bit convenient," said Reed.
"I guess we were just so happy to see you that we didn't wonder why you were here," said Archer.
"Regardless of how they got there, the devices we planted have been monitoring shipping in this area for the past couple of months. They will have recorded the route of the shuttle that took Commander Tucker from Enterprise. At the very least we'd know if they took him back to Earth," said Shran. He jumped off the bed and held onto the side for a moment before straightening his pose. "Get me to a com unit and I'll download the data for you."
"Commander, you're not well enough to be standing," said Phlox.
"Doctors," spat Shran. "I'm not one of your Starfleet weaklings. You don't have any authority over me. Get out of my way and let me do my job." It would have been an impressive display of defiance except that the green tinge had returned to his face, which Archer knew was the equivalent of a human becoming pale.
"Shran, Phlox doesn't tell people what to do for fun, it's for your own good," said Archer. "Get back to bed, I'll arrange for what you need to be brought to sick bay. If that's okay with the Doctor?"
Phlox hesitated a moment and then nodded. Shran, however, remained standing by his bed.
"Malcolm, I want you and T'Pol to arrange everything that Shran needs," said Archer, more for Shran's benefit than theirs, his officers knew what was required without needing any orders from him.
"Yes, sir," said Reed.
"Commander Shran, perhaps you should rest while you're waiting," said Phlox tactfully.
Shran looked as if he might be difficult and continue to object, but he finally nodded and climbed back onto the biobed. Phlox came over and began fussing over his patient, pulling the blanket back over the Andorian.
"Doctors," murmured Shran with derision. The poison had taken its toll on his body, making him weak. He was actually quite relieved to be able to lie back down, despite his protestations. His Andorian stubbornness wouldn't allow him to admit that he wasn't well enough to get out of bed and help. He wasn't used to being ill or having others take care of him, and he didn't like having control of his own life taken away from him.
"Can I go, Doctor?" asked Jessica.
"I don't see why not," replied Phlox. "Let me know if you have any further problems with the abrasion injuries."
"Yes, Doctor," said Jessica. "I'd feel a lot better if I was helping, especially since I guess I'm at least partially responsible."
"It wasn't your fault that you got dragged into all this, Ensign," said Archer. "But with a third of the crew on shore leave, and another third due to go down to Earth today, we can do with all the help we can get. Why don't you give Lieutenant Reed a hand getting together everything that he needs?"
"Yes, sir," said Jessica, with a small smile. Lieutenant Reed was waiting for her by the sick bay doors so she hopped off the biobed and the two of them left sick bay together.
It was T'Pol who returned to sick bay with the com equipment that Shran required. Lieutenant Reed had been called away by Hoshi to take a call from a possible lead on Commander Tucker's whereabouts. She entered sick bay to find Shran and Archer arguing about the surveillance equipment that the Andorians had somehow managed to sneak into Earth's solar system.
"I thought that we had an understanding," said Archer, just as T'Pol entered.
"There are no "understandings" when it comes to the safety of my people," said Shran.
"Why would you think that Earth was your enemy?" asked Archer.
"You have an alliance with our enemies," said Shran.
"Has Earth ever attacked Andoria? We helped negotiate a peace treaty between you and the Vulcans," said Archer, getting more angry by the moment.
"It was deemed to be a necessary precaution," said Shran.
T'Pol gave a small cough and Archer and Shran both turned to look at her.
"T'Pol, is everything ready?" asked Archer, quickly regaining his calm demeanour.
"Of course," said T'Pol. "I have programmed this padd with the necessary data. It will act as a link to the ship's main com system. It will allow you to utilise the ship's communications array but adjust frequencies and download files."
"Will this do it?" Archer asked Shran.
"It should. The surveillance satellite will require codes to access the files that it has already stored," said Shran. "We'll just have to hope that they didn't decide to change them while I was away."
T'Pol passed Shran the padd which she had programmed to interface with the com system and watched as the Andorian input codes and adjusted frequencies to link to the satellite.
"It has accepted my codes," said Shran. "I'm downloading the files directly to your computer."
T'Pol took out her own padd and thumbed through the files until she reached the sensor data that she was looking for.
"T'Pol?" asked Archer.
"It shows the shuttle leaving Enterprise and travelling towards Earth," said T'Pol.
"The resolution should be good enough to pick up where the shuttle went," said Shran.
"In theory," said T'Pol. "However the direct path of the shuttle is hidden by the Earth's moon."
Archer went to the empty biobed and lent against it, pressing both palms into the bed's soft mattress. "Another dead end," he said. He wanted to throw something, anything. They had been so close this time.
"No doubt the Commander's kidnappers planned their escape to be hidden," said T'Pol. "I may be able to extrapolate further from the data we have and discern the shuttle's eventual course."
"Do it, T'Pol," said Archer. "Every minute that Trip's in their hands it puts him in more danger."
"Yes, sir," said T'Pol. "I will begin my analysis immediately." She left sick bay and Archer turned to Shran.
"I guess thanks are in order," said Archer.
"I told you that we're even after this, your thanks aren't required," said Shran. "Now go away and let me get some sleep." Shran rolled over and pointedly ignored Archer. Archer smiled and nodded, some things didn't change. Then Archer remembered that there was something else he had wanted to talk to T'Pol about. He dashed out of sick bay and ran down the corridor in the direction he thought T'Pol had gone.
She was wandering along the corridor reading her padd whilst walking.
"T'Pol!" shouted Archer.
T'Pol stopped, turned and waited for Archer to catch up with her.
"Can I do something for you, Captain?" she asked.
"I just realised that I hadn't asked you how your Dohn Zhu went?" said Archer. The two continued walking down the corridor towards the turbo lift.
"It has not been concluded, I must wait another three days before the verdict is given," said T'Pol.
"Do you think that you persuaded them not to send you back to Vulcan?" asked Archer.
"I am not confident that the outcome will be in my favour," said T'Pol.
"Why not?" asked Archer.
"My prosecutor was Selak," said T'Pol.
"Who's Selak?" asked Archer.
"He was my tutor of Vulcan law during my diplomatic training," said T'Pol. "He not only knows the way that I think, but he is considerably better versed in Vulcan law than I am."
"I see," said Archer. "How does that make a difference? It doesn't change the fact that what you did was the right thing to do."
"Even stating the case to the best of my ability I was unable to counter all the points that Selak made," said T'Pol. "It is illogical to worry about an event which is outside my control. I prefer to concentrate on retrieving Commander Tucker."
"I suppose that does make sense," said Archer. "Although, if you're not here when Trip gets back, he might never speak to me again."
"I think that is unlikely," said T'Pol.
"I'd rather not find out," said Archer. "I suppose we'd better make the most of having you around for at least the next three days."