A/N: Thank you so much to those of you who have left reviews...

Roaring Mice - LOL, thanks - I hadn't noticed that. I must have been getting carried away...thanks for pointing out the mistake - I'll be more careful in future. Thanks also for the praise - I admire your work and it means a lot to hear that from you.

Volley - Thank you - I intend to get the rest of this up soon. Just so you know, there will be eight chapters.

KaliedescopeCat - Thank you! Hope you enjoy the next couple of chapters. It's encouraging to know that people are reading this!

Disclaimer: Don't own them. They're not mine. I just torment them a bit.

Chapter Four

"Great," Archer sighed, staring at the expanse of water before him, "now what? We can't go back; there's no way out and we'd only run into our friendly survivors."

"There's a ladder on the other side of the hanger," Hoshi pointed, "there are other hanger bays higher up. If we can swim across and climb to a higher deck we might be able to reach one of those."

Archer was nodding slowly, but he knew of one big flaw in Hoshi's plan. Malcolm. There was little chance that the lieutenant would be able to swim across at the best of times; with a bullet in his shoulder, he had no chance. Hoshi couldn't know of his phobia, but she did realise the physical difficulty when he shifted uncomfortably. The emergency dressing was already stained red, and there was a pallor to his face that had little to do with his fear of the nearby deep water.

"Sorry," Hoshi apologised, "maybe there's another way…?"

Her question was cut off by a gunshot, and she let out a high-pitched yelp of shock as the bullet barely missed her. Reed swung around to return fire, gasped in pain, and almost fell over. Archer turned; the three aliens had teamed up, and were shooting at them from sheltered positions further down the corridor.

"We've no choice!" he realised, "Hoshi! Go!"

Without a backwards glance, Hoshi dashed through the door, dived into the water, and began to swim with long strokes. Archer laid down cover fire as he glanced across at Reed, torn as to what to do. He didn't have much choice.

"Malcolm…?"

"I can do it, sir."

The two of them stepped back through the door in unison, onto a walkway on the other side of the door, up to their knees in water. Archer hit the door switch, and then fired his phase pistol, destroying the mechanism and sealing them in. Hoshi was already halfway across the bay. Archer glanced across again as Malcolm's hand went nervously to his wounded shoulder.

"Can you swim?" Archer asked, not knowing if someone so afraid of water would be able to.

"Another thing my father insisted on, sir," Reed swallowed, and nodded, "I just…don't. It's not so much the water…it's the drowning part."

"I won't let you drown. Come on…"

Archer crouched down, and launched into the water gracefully. He treaded water easily, as Malcolm closed his eyes, one hand still pressed to his shoulder. He was shaking his head slowly.

"Lieutenant," Archer said, slowly, keeping his voice low and calm, "I order you to get into the water, now."

Reed nodded, carefully.

"Yes, sir," he whispered.

He crouched down, and used his good arm to swing himself into the freezing water. Still clinging to the metal, he took two or three deep breaths before he could open his eyes, and Archer saw that they were wide with terror.

"Come on, lieutenant," Archer said, in the same calm voice, "we've got to go."

From the door, Archer could hear the alien's pounding on the metal – it would not be long before they managed to override the lock and get through. Reed glanced back. His knuckles were white on the metal walkway. Then, with a kick, he released it, and began to swim with awkward strokes, his breath coming in pained gasps. Archer kept pace with him, glancing around. Hoshi had made it to the ladder, and had climbed free of the water; she was watching their painfully slow progress with wide eyes.

The banging on the door had ceased; no doubt their pursuers had decided to work on a more constructive way of getting through. Archer brought his attention back to Malcolm; the younger man's progress was slowing, his breathing becoming more laboured, and they were only half way across the bay. The water behind them was tinged red with a thin trail of blood, and Archer shivered in the cold water that sapped at his strength and his energy. Suddenly, with barely a sigh, the lieutenant's eyes slid shut, and Archer was left treading water in momentary shock as he slipped beneath the surface of the water.

"Captain?" Hoshi's voice rang out in concern.

Without bothering with a reply, Archer drew in a lungful of air, and dived. The salty water stung his eyes, but he forced them to remain open as he caught Malcolm by the collar of his uniform, wrapping his arm around the lieutenant's neck, pulling him above the surface. With powerful strokes learned from a lifetime of swimming and playing water polo, he made it across to the ladder. Easing the younger man around, Archer managed to get him onto his shoulder, in a fireman's carry.

"Go!" he ordered, to Hoshi, "let's get out of here!"

They began to climb, Hoshi considerably faster and nimbler than Archer, weighed down as he was. They were almost to the hatch when the aliens made it through the door. A bullet bounced off the ladder near Archer's head, and Hoshi was through the hatch. He scrambled after her, and all he heard were the alien's furious hisses as he crawled onto the deck, dropping Reed rather unceremoniously as he gasped for breath, and Hoshi sealed the hatch.

For a moment, the three of them lay there, Archer and Sato panting breathlessly, Reed unconscious on the deck. Archer reached over, checking his pulse. It was there, weak, but steady. Suddenly, the lieutenant twitched, convulsed, rolled over and began to cough up water. The fit subsided and he lay there, spent, gasping in air. Archer got to his knees, and looked around, as Hoshi knelt beside Malcolm.

"We've got a problem," Archer sighed, looking around, "the shuttle is gone. It looks like the other survivors beat us to it."

"Damn," Reed groaned, as Hoshi helped him to sit up, "perhaps…the bridge…?"

Archer pulled out his communicator and tried hailing T'Pol again, bust there was no response as the alien ship was mercilessly battered by the howling gales and lashing seas. Archer sighed. He was used to being cut off from the ship, but he wasn't used to feeling so damn helpless. They were stuck on a sinking ship with no escape pods, no shuttles, no transporters and three aliens seemingly hell bent on killing them. He reached down, and pulled Malcolm to his feet.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, sir," he nodded, through gritted teeth.

"We'll make our way back to the bridge," Archer decided, "seal ourselves in. See if we can get some control over the ship. Maybe the communications system will be powerful enough to get a message through to Enterprise…"

"We might be able to figure out what happened here," Hoshi said, optimistically, "maybe figure another way off this ship."

"G-get control of life s-support," Reed muttered under his breath, "it's bloody c-cold in here…"

The ship was, in fact, freezing. In their wet clothes, the three Starfleet officers were soon shivering with cold, staggering about with the rolling of the decks in the swell of the sea with all the grace of drunks. They were all numb and exhausted, but they kept going. In the water of the hanger bay, Hoshi had lost the medical kit; Archer had lost his phase pistol; Reed had lost his communicator. Reed was also still loosing a lot of blood, and was rapidly going into shock. He lagged behind the other two, staggered, and almost fell. Catching the wall, he pressed one hand to his shoulder and paused to catch his breath. He felt light-headed and weak, and he willed himself not to pass out.

"You all right, Malcolm?" Archer had stopped, glanced back at him; Reed could see the concern in his gaze and felt embarrassed by it.

It was then that he saw the indistinct figure moving at the end of the hallway – no…wait…there were two…three of them, moving like shadows. He opened his mouth to call out a warning, but no sound came. A wave of dizziness hit him, and he felt himself pitch to his knees. The shadows were closer, no longer indistinct. Reed saw a flash of grey fur, heard Hoshi's scream, and then he collapsed into darkness.

A/N: I'm not happy with the way this chapter came out. Reed got into the water far too willingly for someone with a phobia…its just filler to get them where I want them to be. Next chapter up soon…