C-28
Chapter 7
A/N: To all who have been waiting and waiting for this chapter I am truly sorry for leaving you all hanging. I honestly thought I had posted another chapter after 6. Little did I realize until tonight that I hadn't. (Thanks Aurora!) Anyway, thanks to all who are still reading and reviewing for putting up with me, and I hope to finish this up in the next few weeks. There should just be a couple more chapters now.
"Ow!" Jace yelped, and almost stumbled as something about the size of a golf ball hit him in the back. A moment later, Avery also cursed.
"Bloody hell!" came Reed's not-so-quiet words.
"What's going on back there?" Archer asked, slowing to a halt, which didn't take much considering the very slow rate at which Trip was able to move. Avery and Jace were behind them, with Reed bringing up the rear.
"Someone is throwing rocks, sir. Catapulting would be a more accurate description."
"Where are they coming from?" Archer asked, as he saw Jace duck, nearly dropping his armload of C-28.
"The direction of the building I would say, sir. I haven't been able to get an exact fix on their origin."
"You want a fix on the origin? I'm the origin!" came a shout from further behind them.
They squinted through the darkness, and Archer turned his light toward the voice, which he found to have an owner named Solead. A very angry Solead. "Our sale was not complete! You have no right to take the C- 28!"
Archer saw him raise what looked like a something between a crossbow and a slingshot, capable of shooting at least triple-projectiles. "Hit the deck!" Archer called out, lowering Trip to the ground as gently as he could before flattening against it himself. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the other three officers do the same. He watched for the incoming rocks, and was relieved when none of them made contact. At least Solead wasn't a consistent shot.
"If you would have just brought your engineer in the first place, none of this would be happening! Now I must protect my merchandise from thieves!" Solead called out as he reloaded.
"Well do it on your own bloody time!" Reed called back, having come out of his roll with his phase pistol drawn. Solead opened his mouth to reply, only to slump to the ground.
"Thank you, Mr. Reed."
"Don't thank me, sir. I had nothing to do with it." Reed stood and brushed the snow off of himself before collecting his C-28.
Archer looked at him, confused. "Who then?"
"Me." A young Draden stepped forward into Archer's flashlight beam.
"And you are?"
"Jirah. I have the unfortunate circumstance of having Solead as my uncle. I have been assisting your engineer in evading the Xindi bounty hunter. For the most part, he did not listen to my advice."
"Yeah, well, that's Trip for you."
"Hurry, we must go now. My uncle will not be pleased when he awakens. I ask your permission to return with you to your ship."
Archer looked at him.
"Temporarily," Jirah added. "My uncle, as you've seen, is irrational when upset."
"Come quickly then. Trip, we've got to move. Trip?" Archer put his fingers to Trip's neck when the engineer didn't stir. Finding a pulse, he lifted Trip over his shoulder and they continued on.
The rest of their journey to the shuttlepod was without incident, much to everyone's relief. Jirah was glad to avoid his uncle's wrath, at least at the present time. Reed was just glad he hadn't had to shoot the man. The Xindi hadn't made any more surprise appearances either, so Archer decided to take a moment to question Jirah while he got Trip settled into the shuttle and the others secured the C-28.
"So you say this Xindi is a bounty hunter?"
"Yes. He showed up here one day, and my uncle—miracle of miracles—talked the Xindi out of killing him. Uncle unknowingly read some Xindi intelligence reports of a sensitive nature, and foolishly told the Xindi that he would deliver your engineer in exchange for his life."
"Well, if Trip wouldn't have become ill right before the mission, Solead may have succeeded."
"At least you continue his losing streak for him."
Archer glanced at Jirah, not sure how to take the large amount of sarcasm and cynicism coming from such a young person. Archer wasn't about to defend Solead though, not after all the trouble he'd just caused.
"We're ready to go, Captain," Reed informed him from the front of the shuttle.
"All right. Contact Enterprise and alert Phlox to meet us in the shuttlebay."
"Already done, Sir."
Archer nodded, adjusting the blankets he'd wrapped around Trip before taking a seat himself. Reed initiated the launch sequence, and in another moment fired the thrusters and they were off. "I'm reading weapons fire," Ensign Jace reported.
"It looks like it's the Xindi, firing a rifle with long-range abilities," Avery added.
"Bloody bastard just won't give up, will he?" Reed muttered, glancing at the panel for the Xindi's position and easily avoiding the blasts.
"It's his most annoying quality...well, if you don't count those ugly spikes sticking out of his forehead," Jirah said dryly. Reed had to smile at that.
Phlox was already waiting for the shuttle when it arrived. His face mirrored Archer's look of concern as the captain carried Trip, barely conscious and trembling from the cold, out of the shuttlepod and carefully laid him on the waiting gurney. "How long has he been like this?" Phlox asked Archer.
"About twenty minutes. He was pretty alert until a few minutes before we left the surface, but we had to stop moving for a minute and he passed out. He woke up again just now."
"Doc?" Trip whispered hoarsely. "Sorry I....made more work for you."
"It's all right, Commander. Just try to relax," Phlox said, patting Trip's shoulder. He turned to Archer. "I need to get him to sickbay right away. I'll inform you when I have some news. I want to check you over later, too," the doctor said, noticing Archer's black eye.
Archer nodded, stepping back. He didn't like that he couldn't do something to help his friend, but he knew he would only get in Phlox's way if he followed the doctor to sickbay. That being as it was, he forced himself into captain mode and focused on what needed to be done with the C- 28.
"Jirah, how much do you know about C-28?" he asked the Draden.
"Enough to know that you were offering my uncle too much for it. Don't get me wrong, the stuff works like a charm, but it's not difficult for us to replicate, and therefore Uncle finds it very profitable when it comes to people in your situation."
"I see. Would you mind assisting my people in testing the C-28 with our trellium-D while you're here? It would make things go more smoothly to have someone with firsthand experience around."
"Not at all. The more time spent away from Uncle, the better. If assisting you will delay my departure, then so be it." Jirah grinned, then sobered. "And, Captain, could you please let me know when you hear of Commander Tucker's condition? I wish to speak with him for a moment when he's able."
Archer nodded. "I'll see what I can do. Wait here a moment while I speak with Lt. Reed."
"Sure."
Archer shook his head as he walked away from Jirah. The young Draden certainly had no qualms about sharing his dislike for Solead. In fact, Archer wasn't sure that he had qualms about sharing much of anything that was on his mind. It was curious that he had been so polite when inquiring about Trip, though. He had yet to discern the entire nature of his chief engineer's relationship with Jirah.
"Malcolm."
"Sir?"
"I'd like you to introduce Jirah to the rest of the engineers working with the C-28. He has agreed to help us out by providing his knowledge of the C-28 as needed. Keep an eye on him, though, and tell T'Pol to do the same. We don't know very much about him, and while it's a good sign that he seems to have great dislike for Solead, that doesn't mean he's harmless."
"My thoughts exactly, Captain. How do you suppose T'Pol will react to Jirah's less-than-professional demeanor?"
"I'll let you worry about that one." Archer smiled and then turned to go back to Jirah.
"Malcolm will show you our science labs and the cargo bay where we're working with the C-28. Good luck."
"Captain." Jirah nodded to Archer and then went to join Reed.
Not seeing anything else in the shuttlebay that required his immediate attention, Archer headed for the bridge.
"Captain." T'Pol greeted, standing up from his chair with the padd she'd been studying when he arrived.
"T'Pol. Do you have any new information to report regarding the C- 28?"
"Negative. Our preliminary studies show a high likelihood that C-28 will perform to our standards, but that is all I can tell you for certain at the present time."
"All right. I'd like you to meet with Lt. Reed and Jirah, a Draden from the planet. Jirah is apparently Solead's nephew and wishes to help us in order to delay his return to the surface."
T'Pol raised an eyebrow. "Do you believe he was involved in the incident with the Xindi?"
"I don't know. His entire demeanor suggests that he's not, but that doesn't make it a fact."
"Agreed." T'Pol paused for a moment, glanced down at the padd, then looked back to Archer. "What is Commander Tucker's condition?"
"He's conscious, but his leg is badly injured. Beyond that, Phlox would be in a better position to give you information." The captain looked T'Pol in the eye, but her expression was unreadable. She simply nodded.
"Of course. If that will be all, I shall go to meet with Lt. Reed?"
"Dismissed."
T'Pol nodded and disappeared into the turbolift without another word. Archer sat down in his chair and stared at the viewscreen, at the image of the planet slowly rotating below them. Why did each useful item or piece of information on this mission come with so high a price? First, obtaining the trellium-D had nearly cost T'Pol her sanity. Now Trip lay in sickbay with hypothermia and worse because of their endeavors to obtain the substance that would hopefully cure the original problem.
Archer pulled his mind away from those thoughts. He told himself that everything would balance out down the road and everything turn out all right, but at the moment, he didn't even believe his own reassurances. Sighing quietly, he got up and went to the science station that T'Pol had recently vacated. He started running a few scans of the surface to see if he could find out what the Xindi was up to, if anything.
After several minutes he located a ship in the region of their meeting place. The readings indicated a ship very similar to some Xindi ships they'd previously encountered. He worked the controls and attempted to get an exact reading on the ship's location, but there seemed to be some sort of sensor dispersal device in use. There was definitely a ship there, but the further he closed in on it, the more 'blurred' the sensor readings became. "Travis, I'm sending you some coordinates down on the planet. See if you can get a better fix on the ship in that general location and as many detailed scans as you can."
"Yes sir."
"And I want to know immediately if it moves or heads in our direction."
Mayweather nodded from his station, already playing with the sensors in progression toward the captain's request. "Sir, would you like me to locate the Xindi for you as well?" "Anything you can manage would be great, Travis. I'll be in my ready room if you find something."
"Aye, Captain."
TBC...
Chapter 7
A/N: To all who have been waiting and waiting for this chapter I am truly sorry for leaving you all hanging. I honestly thought I had posted another chapter after 6. Little did I realize until tonight that I hadn't. (Thanks Aurora!) Anyway, thanks to all who are still reading and reviewing for putting up with me, and I hope to finish this up in the next few weeks. There should just be a couple more chapters now.
"Ow!" Jace yelped, and almost stumbled as something about the size of a golf ball hit him in the back. A moment later, Avery also cursed.
"Bloody hell!" came Reed's not-so-quiet words.
"What's going on back there?" Archer asked, slowing to a halt, which didn't take much considering the very slow rate at which Trip was able to move. Avery and Jace were behind them, with Reed bringing up the rear.
"Someone is throwing rocks, sir. Catapulting would be a more accurate description."
"Where are they coming from?" Archer asked, as he saw Jace duck, nearly dropping his armload of C-28.
"The direction of the building I would say, sir. I haven't been able to get an exact fix on their origin."
"You want a fix on the origin? I'm the origin!" came a shout from further behind them.
They squinted through the darkness, and Archer turned his light toward the voice, which he found to have an owner named Solead. A very angry Solead. "Our sale was not complete! You have no right to take the C- 28!"
Archer saw him raise what looked like a something between a crossbow and a slingshot, capable of shooting at least triple-projectiles. "Hit the deck!" Archer called out, lowering Trip to the ground as gently as he could before flattening against it himself. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the other three officers do the same. He watched for the incoming rocks, and was relieved when none of them made contact. At least Solead wasn't a consistent shot.
"If you would have just brought your engineer in the first place, none of this would be happening! Now I must protect my merchandise from thieves!" Solead called out as he reloaded.
"Well do it on your own bloody time!" Reed called back, having come out of his roll with his phase pistol drawn. Solead opened his mouth to reply, only to slump to the ground.
"Thank you, Mr. Reed."
"Don't thank me, sir. I had nothing to do with it." Reed stood and brushed the snow off of himself before collecting his C-28.
Archer looked at him, confused. "Who then?"
"Me." A young Draden stepped forward into Archer's flashlight beam.
"And you are?"
"Jirah. I have the unfortunate circumstance of having Solead as my uncle. I have been assisting your engineer in evading the Xindi bounty hunter. For the most part, he did not listen to my advice."
"Yeah, well, that's Trip for you."
"Hurry, we must go now. My uncle will not be pleased when he awakens. I ask your permission to return with you to your ship."
Archer looked at him.
"Temporarily," Jirah added. "My uncle, as you've seen, is irrational when upset."
"Come quickly then. Trip, we've got to move. Trip?" Archer put his fingers to Trip's neck when the engineer didn't stir. Finding a pulse, he lifted Trip over his shoulder and they continued on.
The rest of their journey to the shuttlepod was without incident, much to everyone's relief. Jirah was glad to avoid his uncle's wrath, at least at the present time. Reed was just glad he hadn't had to shoot the man. The Xindi hadn't made any more surprise appearances either, so Archer decided to take a moment to question Jirah while he got Trip settled into the shuttle and the others secured the C-28.
"So you say this Xindi is a bounty hunter?"
"Yes. He showed up here one day, and my uncle—miracle of miracles—talked the Xindi out of killing him. Uncle unknowingly read some Xindi intelligence reports of a sensitive nature, and foolishly told the Xindi that he would deliver your engineer in exchange for his life."
"Well, if Trip wouldn't have become ill right before the mission, Solead may have succeeded."
"At least you continue his losing streak for him."
Archer glanced at Jirah, not sure how to take the large amount of sarcasm and cynicism coming from such a young person. Archer wasn't about to defend Solead though, not after all the trouble he'd just caused.
"We're ready to go, Captain," Reed informed him from the front of the shuttle.
"All right. Contact Enterprise and alert Phlox to meet us in the shuttlebay."
"Already done, Sir."
Archer nodded, adjusting the blankets he'd wrapped around Trip before taking a seat himself. Reed initiated the launch sequence, and in another moment fired the thrusters and they were off. "I'm reading weapons fire," Ensign Jace reported.
"It looks like it's the Xindi, firing a rifle with long-range abilities," Avery added.
"Bloody bastard just won't give up, will he?" Reed muttered, glancing at the panel for the Xindi's position and easily avoiding the blasts.
"It's his most annoying quality...well, if you don't count those ugly spikes sticking out of his forehead," Jirah said dryly. Reed had to smile at that.
Phlox was already waiting for the shuttle when it arrived. His face mirrored Archer's look of concern as the captain carried Trip, barely conscious and trembling from the cold, out of the shuttlepod and carefully laid him on the waiting gurney. "How long has he been like this?" Phlox asked Archer.
"About twenty minutes. He was pretty alert until a few minutes before we left the surface, but we had to stop moving for a minute and he passed out. He woke up again just now."
"Doc?" Trip whispered hoarsely. "Sorry I....made more work for you."
"It's all right, Commander. Just try to relax," Phlox said, patting Trip's shoulder. He turned to Archer. "I need to get him to sickbay right away. I'll inform you when I have some news. I want to check you over later, too," the doctor said, noticing Archer's black eye.
Archer nodded, stepping back. He didn't like that he couldn't do something to help his friend, but he knew he would only get in Phlox's way if he followed the doctor to sickbay. That being as it was, he forced himself into captain mode and focused on what needed to be done with the C- 28.
"Jirah, how much do you know about C-28?" he asked the Draden.
"Enough to know that you were offering my uncle too much for it. Don't get me wrong, the stuff works like a charm, but it's not difficult for us to replicate, and therefore Uncle finds it very profitable when it comes to people in your situation."
"I see. Would you mind assisting my people in testing the C-28 with our trellium-D while you're here? It would make things go more smoothly to have someone with firsthand experience around."
"Not at all. The more time spent away from Uncle, the better. If assisting you will delay my departure, then so be it." Jirah grinned, then sobered. "And, Captain, could you please let me know when you hear of Commander Tucker's condition? I wish to speak with him for a moment when he's able."
Archer nodded. "I'll see what I can do. Wait here a moment while I speak with Lt. Reed."
"Sure."
Archer shook his head as he walked away from Jirah. The young Draden certainly had no qualms about sharing his dislike for Solead. In fact, Archer wasn't sure that he had qualms about sharing much of anything that was on his mind. It was curious that he had been so polite when inquiring about Trip, though. He had yet to discern the entire nature of his chief engineer's relationship with Jirah.
"Malcolm."
"Sir?"
"I'd like you to introduce Jirah to the rest of the engineers working with the C-28. He has agreed to help us out by providing his knowledge of the C-28 as needed. Keep an eye on him, though, and tell T'Pol to do the same. We don't know very much about him, and while it's a good sign that he seems to have great dislike for Solead, that doesn't mean he's harmless."
"My thoughts exactly, Captain. How do you suppose T'Pol will react to Jirah's less-than-professional demeanor?"
"I'll let you worry about that one." Archer smiled and then turned to go back to Jirah.
"Malcolm will show you our science labs and the cargo bay where we're working with the C-28. Good luck."
"Captain." Jirah nodded to Archer and then went to join Reed.
Not seeing anything else in the shuttlebay that required his immediate attention, Archer headed for the bridge.
"Captain." T'Pol greeted, standing up from his chair with the padd she'd been studying when he arrived.
"T'Pol. Do you have any new information to report regarding the C- 28?"
"Negative. Our preliminary studies show a high likelihood that C-28 will perform to our standards, but that is all I can tell you for certain at the present time."
"All right. I'd like you to meet with Lt. Reed and Jirah, a Draden from the planet. Jirah is apparently Solead's nephew and wishes to help us in order to delay his return to the surface."
T'Pol raised an eyebrow. "Do you believe he was involved in the incident with the Xindi?"
"I don't know. His entire demeanor suggests that he's not, but that doesn't make it a fact."
"Agreed." T'Pol paused for a moment, glanced down at the padd, then looked back to Archer. "What is Commander Tucker's condition?"
"He's conscious, but his leg is badly injured. Beyond that, Phlox would be in a better position to give you information." The captain looked T'Pol in the eye, but her expression was unreadable. She simply nodded.
"Of course. If that will be all, I shall go to meet with Lt. Reed?"
"Dismissed."
T'Pol nodded and disappeared into the turbolift without another word. Archer sat down in his chair and stared at the viewscreen, at the image of the planet slowly rotating below them. Why did each useful item or piece of information on this mission come with so high a price? First, obtaining the trellium-D had nearly cost T'Pol her sanity. Now Trip lay in sickbay with hypothermia and worse because of their endeavors to obtain the substance that would hopefully cure the original problem.
Archer pulled his mind away from those thoughts. He told himself that everything would balance out down the road and everything turn out all right, but at the moment, he didn't even believe his own reassurances. Sighing quietly, he got up and went to the science station that T'Pol had recently vacated. He started running a few scans of the surface to see if he could find out what the Xindi was up to, if anything.
After several minutes he located a ship in the region of their meeting place. The readings indicated a ship very similar to some Xindi ships they'd previously encountered. He worked the controls and attempted to get an exact reading on the ship's location, but there seemed to be some sort of sensor dispersal device in use. There was definitely a ship there, but the further he closed in on it, the more 'blurred' the sensor readings became. "Travis, I'm sending you some coordinates down on the planet. See if you can get a better fix on the ship in that general location and as many detailed scans as you can."
"Yes sir."
"And I want to know immediately if it moves or heads in our direction."
Mayweather nodded from his station, already playing with the sensors in progression toward the captain's request. "Sir, would you like me to locate the Xindi for you as well?" "Anything you can manage would be great, Travis. I'll be in my ready room if you find something."
"Aye, Captain."
TBC...
