Chapter 6

The morning after Archer had breakfast with Malcolm and T'Pol.
Archer tried to have a little conversation, but she answered in monosyllables.
Malcolm was too busy in wolfing his breakfast and didn't say anything.
T'Pol seemed in a bad mood, so he asked: "Are you ok?"
"Yes, Captain."
"You didn't like the movie yesterday, did you? I noticed you didn't stay ..."
"I preferred meditating."
"What a pity ... it was very entertaining." he gave a ghost of a smile.
"I have no doubt you enjoyed yourselves very much." she said sarcastically.
"I beg your pardon?" he knitted his brow.
"I noticed you and Lt. Parker ... had fun."
"Yes, we did. Is something wrong?"
"Not at all" she stood up "You should hurry, Captain. Lt. Parker is waiting for you in Launch Bay, I'm sure you don't wish to be late."
"T'Pol!"
"I'll be on the bridge." she said and went away.
Malcolm scratched his head and said: "If I didn't know better, I'd say she was a little jealous."
Archer felt uneasy and didn't finish his breakfast.

On his way to the Launch Bay, he thought about T'Pol's behaviour ... Jealous?Nah! He shook his head. There must be another explanation. One thing is certain, this woman will drive me crazy one of this days...

When he entered Launch Bay, Niki was bent on a steel container checking equipment. The shape of her bottom was clearly visible under the uniform. Archer couldn't avoid gazing at it, then he felt awkward and cleared his throat.
Niki stood up and smiled: "Good morning, Captain!"
"Good morning, Lt. Parker."
"Shuttle's ready, Sir. I ran a full diagnostics of the instruments, I'm pretty sure we'll land on the surface without inconvenience."
"Why the third shuttle? You told me this was at an early stage of development ..." he asked perplexed.
"Oh, I worked a lot on it and eliminated the malfunctions ... now it's at the same level of the other two."
Archer looked at Niki hesitating. She made a gesture to invite him entering the shuttle.
"Shall we go?" she smiled.

Malcolm met Hoshi in the corridor.
"Good morning, Mal!" she said smiling.
"Morning, Hoshi. Did you sleep well?"
"Yes, wonderful. So Mal ... will you date me again?" she looked at him with a meaningful expression.
"What?"
"We had fun yesterday evening at the movie, didn't we?"
They stopped in front of the turbolift. Malcolm asked himself if she was flirting with him.
"... yes, we had." he answered, puzzled. To tell the truth, it had been a very pleasant evening, he thought, and Hoshi was so charming ...
"So?" she tenderly put a hand on his chest.
"So ... what?"
"Come on, Mal ... it's up to you to make the first move!" she entered the turbolift slightly swinging her hips.
Mal was speechless.
"Enter! We are getting late to the bridge!"

Archer and Niki were on the surface since two hours.
The bridge was quiet, everyone concentrated on his job.
Trip entered and went to Malcolm's console.
"Everything ok?"
"Yes, everything's quiet. The Captain went on a reconnaissance with Lt. Parker on the surface, the new shuttle's working good."
Trip giggled: "They stick together, uh?"
Malcolm scolded him, lowering his voice: "You shouldn't say that HERE!"
"Oh ... what about a coffee?" Trip winked.
"Ok ..."
As they left the bridge, Hoshi and Travis gestured to each other.
"And they dare to accuse women liking gossip..." said Hoshi shaking her head.
T'Pol tried not to show how disappointed she was, she only sighed and tried to concentrate on the console.
Phlox is right she thought I don't want anything to happen between Jonathan and Lt. Parker but ... she was surprised by calling the Captain by his first name in her thoughts. An image of his face came in her mind, saying that they were friends.
Suddenly she realized that friendship didn't suffice ...

Niki was digitizing some data on her PADD.
They had collected samples and scans, the vegetation was poor but interesting.
Archer watched Niki absorbed in her job and thought how she was different from the girl he had dated the night before.
Very professional and respectful, she hadn't mentioned anything about their rendezvous.
He was going to ask her about the shuttle, but suddenly their attention was captured by a strange noise.
Archer checked the scanner and whispered: "5 bio-signs approaching."
"Maybe they're civilians" she said "Wasn't this area supposed to be desert?"
"Yes, but ..." Archer couldn't finish what he was going to say, because he was shot in the shoulder.
He fell on the ground crying out with pain.
Niki's reaction was rapid. She dragged Archer behind a bush and started to return fire.
But suddenly someone coming from behind pointed a weapon against her head.
"Don't resist." he said.
Archer seized his leg with the uninjured arm, making him lose his balance. Niki took the opportunity for disarming him and with a quick caper she knocked him down.
"Nice move" was Archer's comment.
"Are you ok?"
"Seems to be a flesh wound, but I'm not sure." he panted. He was bleeding plentifully. "Where are the others?"
She checked the scanner: "Right in front of us."
Archer tried to contact Enterprise, but realized the communicator couldn't grab the signal.
Also Niki's communicator was not working.
"Crap!" she hissed "They're shielding our transmissions!"
Archer watched the unconscious humanoid on the ground "I don't recognize this species." The humanoid had some feline features on his face and leopard spotted skin.
"We must reach the shuttle as quickly as we can." Niki said.
"Any idea?" he asked.
"We could run in semicircle behind those rocks" she showed him "You go first and I will cover you."
"Forget it, I'm not leaving you!"
"Captain, you're bleeding and getting weaker! It's pointless acting differently."
He knew she was right, but he still hesitated.
"I'll be right behind you, now go!" she reassured him with a smile.
He ran as quickly as he could. He reached the shuttle door and was opening it, but a voice behind made him stop.
"Not so fast, human."
He turned around and saw another humanoid of the same feline species.
He tried to use the phase pistol, but the humanoid shot him in the leg and Archer collapsed on the ground in pain.
"Don't be stupid, human. If you surrender, you won't be harmed any further."
Niki came out suddenly and attacked the humanoid.
"You, bastard!" she hissed.
Archer saw her moving fast and hitting him with a series of rapid punches and kicks.
Then she grasped him by the head and broke his neck, killing him at the moment.
She ran towards Archer and lifted him easily with her arms.
"How the hell could you..." Archer muttered, really surprised by her strength.
"There's no time, the others are approaching!"
She entered the shuttle and laid Archer on the floor.
He had lost consciousness.
Niki started the engines. She was trembling with anger.
It was not supposed to be this way, Daniels! I swear I'll kill you! she thought.
The shuttle quickly left the surface.
"Enterprise, please respond! We are under attack!"
Hoshi answered: "Enterprise here, what's happening?"
"We were attacked by humanoids of an unknown species on the surface. Captain Archer is injured! I left the surface with the shuttle, we'll be there as soon as possible."
"We don't pick any starship's signal around the planet, you should ..."
The shuttle was heavily hit in that moment.
"There may be no starship, but something's targeting us!" Niki said "We'll be in the transport range in 60 seconds, beam aboard the Captain first, I'll try some evasive manoeuvres."
"Acknowledged."
Archer's body disappeared and Niki gave a sigh of relief when Enterprise confirmed he was safe aboard.
The shuttle was hit again.
She wanted to return fire but the instruments gave her no target, it seemed like the enemy was completely invisible.
Then she realized that the shuttle had been hooked and they were trying to tow it.
She released the rescue capsule from the shuttle and murmured: "Goodbye father".
The capsule faded away as it didn't exist anymore, but the shuttle was still hooked.
Niki shouted: "You've got what you want, now let me go!"
Nothing.
So she digitized some codes on the console.
An automatic voice said: "Self-destruction initialized ... input the final sequence."
She tapped the sequence.
"Self-destruction in 15 seconds, 14, 13 ..."
"Enterprise, one to transport, quickly!"
"9, 8, 7 ..."
"Understood."
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1"
The shuttle exploded ... and then there was only the silent and cold space.