A Thousand Years
By Drogna
AN: Updated slightly later than planned. Some RL problems got in the way. Hopefully the next chapter will be up by the end of the week. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, you make me feel all warm and fuzzy, and that's something I really need at the moment.
Tyrfing was a beautiful ship, there was no doubt about that in Trip's mind. Her warp engine purred like a whole basket full of kittens and made the floor vibrate pleasantly. Until they were underway, Trip hadn't realised just how much he'd missed being onboard a ship. He would have really enjoyed being Chief Engineer on one of the Excalibur class, but if the past six months had taught him anything it was that he had to let things go. For example, he couldn't stay up as late as he used to be able to, or work as hard as he had, or walk for long distances or even fight off the common cold in a reasonable amount of time. Those were just things that he had to live with and so was the fact that his days of being Chief Engineer on the flagship of the fleet were over.
Trip was rational about it, but that didn't stop it hurting a little to watch the engineering crew of Tyrfing doing things that he couldn't. Just to rub salt into the wound, when the Chief Engineer of Tyrfing was summoned it was someone he never would have give an Engineering job to ever again. Commander Kelby. He had finally been given a promotion that couldn't be taken away and, to make up for the fact that Trip had once cost him a promotion, he was making Trip's life as difficult as he could. At first he had refused to sign off on the sensor modifications, then, when Captain Austin ordered him to sign off, he had insisted that Trip follow every Starfleet regulation in force when it came to actually performing the work. That meant full safety gear, following exact routes for circuit connections, testing everything to various standards and getting his completed work signed off by Kelby. Luckily Admiral Archer had put his foot down and told Kelby that there wasn't time to do it by the book. This of course just put Kelby's back up more, because he thought he was being picked on.
Trip found himself tucked away in a cramped conduit space next to a Jeffrey's Tube, being "supervised" by Kelby. Everything Trip did was watched by the Chief Engineer as if he was an Ensign straight out of training. Every so often Phlox would demand that he stop what he was doing, take a break and be given hyposprays full of various medications. Given all these distractions, no one was more surprised than Trip when they reached their destination and all he had left to do was replace the sensor housings.
He headed to the bridge to check the connections there and found T'Pol and Archer waiting for him. T'Pol was once again at the science station, checking the new sensors were functioning.
"Everything appears to be functioning at optimal levels," she said as Trip stepped out of the turbo lift. "I am detecting the same readings as we intercepted on Deep Space One. It will take me a moment to refine the sensor frequencies and receive more detail."
"Ma'am," said the communications officer, "I'm picking up a faint transmission. It sounds like a distress signal from a civilian vessel."
"I guess we know why Excalibur went into the Neutral Zone then," observed Archer.
"Seems likely," said Captain Austin. "Can't imagine Captain Watanabe not stopping to help a civilian ship."
"You know him well?" asked Archer.
"We were at the academy together," said Austin.
"Malcolm might have been a bit more wary though," said Trip. "Could be a trap."
"I have detected four ships in the Neutral Zone," said T'Pol. "One of them matches Excalibur. I am not detecting weapons fire but energy readings indicate that all four ships are armed."
"Can you identify the other three?" asked Trip.
"Two are Romulan. The third is a civilian ship of Earth origin."
"So Admiral, it's your call, what do you want to do?" asked Austin.
"I don't see that we have much choice. Excalibur can take on a Romulan war bird, but two might be pushing it. They should still be able to make a run for it though. Something's keeping them there and I'm guessing that they're protecting the civilian ship."
"Two Excalibur class ships should be capable of taking down the Romulans," said Trip.
"We would be violating the Treaty of Alpha Trianguli," pointed out T'Pol. "This could lead to a second Romulan War."
"Excalibur has already violated the treaty and so have the Romulans," replied Trip.
"We could further complicate things by also entering the Neutral Zone," said T'Pol.
"Or simplify them. I bet the Romulans won't like the odds anymore if we show up. They might run for it," said Trip.
"If you two are finished with your debate…" said Archer.
"Sorry, Admiral," said Trip.
Archer looked at the view screen in front of him. This was not a decision to be taken lightly, he would be risking the lives of the ninety five crew members plus some very good friends of his. Leaving a ship to the mercy of the Romulans was not an option either however and Excalibur had a crew in danger too. "Take us into the Neutral Zone, Ensign Fisher. Plot a direct course to Excalibur using T'Pol's sensor data."
"Yes, sir," replied the helmswoman.
The Neutral Zone was only one light year across, and it took them just under a day to reach Excalibur and the Romulan ships. It was obvious as they approached that damage had been sustained on all sides. Excalibur looked as if it had taken the worst of it.
"Hail Excalibur, Ensign Riley," said Austin.
"They're hailing us, Ma'am," replied the Ensign. "So are the Romulans."
"On screen, Excalibur first," commanded Austin.
"Malcolm!" said Trip in alarm at the picture that greeted them. Lieutenant Commander Reed sat in the captain's chair, his arm in a sling and blood on his face from an open gash over his left eye that still looked fresh.
"Trip!" said Reed in surprise. "Admiral, T'Pol. What are you doing on Tyrfing?"
"Looking for you," said Archer. "What happened, Malcolm? We'd better make this quick, our Romulan friends are getting restless."
"We detected a distress signal from a civilian transport ship that had strayed into the Neutral Zone due to a navigation error. Captain Watanabe decided to answer the distress call and enter the Neutral Zone. At first we were lucky but then the Romulans spotted us. We tried to explain that we were on a rescue mission but they attacked us. The transport tried to provide support but they only have limited weaponry. We fought them to a stand still but it cost us dearly. Captain Watanabe is dead, sir. Commander Street is in sickbay, critically injured. Commander Zukov and half his engineering staff have been exposed to dangerous levels of radiation and are now going through decon. Doctor Sonok expects all of them to have severe radiation sickness. I'm currently the ranking officer."
"We need to get you and those civilians out of here," said Archer.
"Agreed, but Excalibur's warp drive was damaged in the fight and even if we weren't dead in the water, the civilian transport was damaged too. On a good day their maximum speed is warp three. That's a lot slower than the Romulans," replied Reed.
"The Romulans are damaged too," said T'Pol, looking at he sensor readings.
"Their warp drive and weapons, yes, but we have another problem. They put in a call for reinforcements. In approximately twelve hours there's going to be a lot more than two Romulan War-birds to worry about."
"So we have three ships, two of which are too badly damaged to go to warp and an unknown number of approaching Warbirds," said Archer. "Can we contact Durandal and Athena to act as reinforcements?"
"The Romulans are still jamming long range communication," said T'Pol. "If we can get closer to the edge of the Neutral Zone then we may be able to break through the jamming."
Trip moved over to the science station, an arm wrapped around his ribs as he did so. "First of all someone needs to go over there and see if the warp engine's repairable. If it isn't, I've got an idea that might work, but it's never been done like this before, as far as I know."
"I'm open to options," said Archer.
"We could extend Tyrfing's warp field around Excalibur and tow her out of here. Then all we'd have to do is transfer the civilians onto the two ships. We wouldn't be able to make warp seven but we could probably manage warp five."
"Is that even possible?" asked Austin.
"Columbia and Enterprise did it," said Archer, tentatively.
"The situation was different. Both ships were already travelling at warp. Tyrfing would have to tow Excalibur to impulse speed and then extend the warp field," said T'Pol.
"Tyrfing has a grappling hook. It shouldn't be a problem," replied Trip.
T'Pol could feel Trip's thoughts building the plan and working out the details of the implementation. When it came to engineering projects, Trip was not logical, but he was thorough, she could see the plan laid out. Occasional flashes of remembered schematics were brought up and noted, before Trip's thoughts moved to who would be best to do the work. She saw faces of Enterprise crew members appear in Trip's mind before they were quickly dismissed as unavailable, instead he concentrated on specialisms, not knowing Tyrfing or Excalibur's crew. Then he raised a question in his own mind. Someone was going to need to go over to Excalibur to look at the warp drive, install the correct programs, monitor things, and he could think of only one person who could do that.
"No," said T'Pol. "You are not going to Excalibur."
Trip looked at T'Pol, surprised, and she realised that he hadn't yet voiced his plan to go to Excalibur, merely thought it.
"I'm the only person who can," said Trip.
"Not all of Excalibur's engineers are suffering from radiation poisoning," said T'Pol.
"But their Chief Engineer is, and this is going to need someone with experience," Trip pointed out. "This isn't like bumper cars. We're only going to get one shot at this."
"Hold it," said Archer. "I haven't said that we're even doing it yet."
"Well?" asked Trip.
Archer gave Trip a look at his tone and lack of "sir". "Does Tyrfing have enough power to get out of the neutral zone with Excalibur in tow?"
"If we transfer all available power to the warp field," said T'Pol.
"Should give us forty eight hours, enough time to get us the hell out of dodge and then some," said Trip. "We'll be pushing the engine to its limit but she should be able to take it."
"Columbia was only able to sustain the warp field for a couple of minutes," said Reed.
"Things have moved on since then, Malcolm. Tyrfing and Excalibur both have GenFour engines. That's four iterations on from Columbia's engine. As much as I hate to admit it, Enterprise is a bit out of date these days."
"Trip, if the warp field fails, Excalibur will be torn apart," said Reed.
"I know, and if it looks like it's failing we'll drop back to impulse. I can rig something up that gives us an early warning," said Trip.
"How soon can we get this set up?" asked Archer.
"Couple of hours," said Trip.
T'Pol was quietly seething, Trip could feel it. She was aware that this would mean more work for Trip and what that would probably mean for his health.
"So do I get to go to the Excalibur?" asked Trip.
"Take Phlox with you, sounds like they could use him over there," said Archer. "Malcolm, are your docking bays able to receive shuttles?"
"Yes, sir. Starboard bay is still pressurised. We'll be waiting for you. Excalibur out," said Reed and the screen went blank.
"Admiral, Captain Tucker is not fit enough to go to Excalibur," said T'Pol.
Trip winced. When T'Pol used his rank he knew he was in trouble.
"I know that, T'Pol," said Archer. "That's why Phlox is going with him and Captain Austin is going to send a team of Engineers over that he can tell what to do."
"Hey, I don't need a whole load of people getting in my way," said Trip.
"You'll do what I tell you, Captain," said Archer. "You're going to sit down, and order people around, and that is all. Do I make myself clear?"
Trip looked like a startled rabbit. "Yes, sir."
"I will be briefing Phlox and Commander Reed to that effect as well, so don't think you'll get away with it once you're on Excalibur. Satisfied, T'Pol?"
"Yes, sir," said T'Pol, somewhat meekly.
"Good, now that's settled, let's get moving," said Archer.
"Admiral, we're being hailed by the Romulans again," said Ensign Riley.
"Put them through, Ensign," said Archer. As usual the Romulans didn't use a visual component to their communication.
"I am Commander Tamek of the Imperial Romulan Warbird Evarra. You have no business in the Neutral Zone, I suggest that you leave immediately," said the imposing voice of a male Romulan.
"My name is Admiral Jonathan Archer, currently of the Federation Starship Tyrfing. We are here on a rescue mission, which is allowed for by the treaty of Alpha Trianguli."
"The treaty states that permission to enter the Neutral Zone must be sought from the local Romulan authorities. That permission was denied to your search party and I received no notification that any ship named Tyrfing requested permission."
"The nature of the situation meant that we had to act quickly, Commander. Romulan ships are also supposed to seek permission, Commander, and I don't recall any such request."
"We were reacting to a violation of the Neutral Zone," said Commander Tamek.
"It was a civilian ship with a navigation error and you attacked it," said Archer.
"It was armed," said Commander Tamek.
"Its weapons aren't a match for even one Warbird, let alone two, Commander," replied Archer. "They certainly didn't pose a threat."
"That is for us to decide, Admiral. Certainly the second ship to violate the Neutral Zone was well armed, as you can see from the state of our ships. Unfortunately your scanners will have shown you that I am currently in no position to enforce the treaty but we will be taking this treaty violation up at the highest level. I should also warn you that we have reinforcements arriving and I suggest you leave before they get here. My fellow Commanders will have working weapons and they will not show the mercy that I have."
The Romulan Commander cut the connection.
"Charming as ever," commented Trip, sarcastically.
Trip left T'Pol with instructions on how to set up everything on Tyrfing, before he got on the shuttle to Excalibur. He arrived on Excalibur with Phlox and a team of four engineers. They were met by a young Ensign in the shuttle bay.
"Where's Lieutenant Commander Reed?" asked Trip.
"In Main Engineering, sir," said the Ensign.
"What's he doing there?" asked Trip.
"Helping with the repairs, sir," replied the Ensign.
"Commander Reed is helping with repairs? Let's hope he hasn't made things worse," said Trip, heading towards Engineering, his entourage following him. Malcolm was a great Armoury Officer but he made a lousy Engineer. When it came to the warp drive he knew just enough to be dangerous, in other words he knew enough to break it but not fix it. Trip entered Engineering to find it sparsely crewed and Reed standing by the warp engine.
"Malcolm, get away from that engine before you break something," said Trip.
"She's all yours, Captain," said Reed, with a smile. "I don't think there's much to be done anyway. As far as I can tell there's been a catastrophic failure of the warp coil."
"You don't carry a spare?"
"According to the parts manifest, it was in cargo bay three. Which no longer exists," replied Reed. "Besides that isn't the only problem we have. The cooling system's down. Even if we could get the warp engine back up we couldn't turn it on."
Phlox approached Reed with his scanner. "Commander, your arm is broken and you have a mild concussion. You should be in sick bay."
"Sick bay is rather crowded already, Doctor," replied Reed. "Besides I gather that I'm not the only walking wounded." He pointedly looked at Trip.
"I keep telling everyone that it's just a little pneumonia. I'm fine."
"Even if I did believe that, the Admiral's orders were very clear. You're to supervise only. Is this your engineering team?" asked Reed indicating the four officers with red trim on their uniforms standing behind Trip.
"Yes, Tyrfing's finest. Lieutenant Flintoff and Ensigns West, Julius and Ohta. We've got a lot of systems to rig up if this is going to work, so we'd better get started."
"I have your station prepared for you," said Reed and indicated the main Engineering control panel. It had a chair placed beside it, obviously specially put there for Trip.
"Since when do I need a chair?" asked Trip, annoyed.
"Since Admiral Archer made it very clear that you were my responsibility and that if I didn't take good care of you he'd make sure my next posting was to the Ice Wastes of Andoria," replied Reed.
To make matters worse T'Pol took that moment to chime in with her two cents. "The Admiral will be most displeased if you disobey his orders. I suggest you make use of the chair." Sometimes this bond thing was more trouble than it was worth. T'Pol was already cross enough with him and he didn't want to make things worse.
Trip sighed and went and sat down.
"I'm needed on the bridge. Com me when you're ready," said Reed.
Trip nodded, already engrossed in the engineering information in front of him. Phlox sidled up to Trip with a hypospray and administered it before Trip could protest.
"What was that?"
"Your hourly antiviral, combined with a painkiller and something to help your breathing. I noticed that you were out of breath earlier."
"Just tired, doc, and these days I'm always out of breath," said Trip.
"I would have preferred it if you had not persuaded the Admiral to let you come over to Excalibur," said Phlox. "You should still be in sickbay."
"I just need to keep going for few more hours. Once this is set up, I'll get some rest. I promise. And once we've got Excalibur out of the neutral zone, I'm all yours."
"I will hold you to that, Captain Tucker. If you need me I'll be in sickbay assisting Dr Sonok," said Phlox. With that, he bustled out of Main Engineering.
"Lieutenant Flintoff," shouted Trip. "Look, at these readings." He pointed the young female Engineer to the impulse drive's telemetry. "This is definitely salvageable. There's no point trying to get the warp engine up and running again, Malcolm was right. The repairs we need to make would just take too long even if we did have the parts. If we can get the impulse drive working then Tyrfing won't need to tow Excalibur up to impulse speed and that's one less thing to go wrong."
"Yes, sir," said Flintoff, "I'll get the team on it."
"I'll set up the monitoring systems and check over the engine management programs. Let me know how you get on."
"Yes, sir," replied the Lieutenant and called to the team members that she needed before racing away to carry out the task assigned.
The evacuation of the civilian transport hadn't taken as long as Archer had feared. Captain Austin had an efficient crew that had managed the transfer of personnel well, turning the cargo bays into temporary accommodation. Archer had taken up residence in the Captain's ready room, at Austin's insistence. She had deferred to him, pointing out that she only had one ship to worry about whereas he had three, even if only temporarily.
"Our calculations are complete. Tyrfing is ready to extend its warp field," said T'Pol, stepping into the room. "I have installed the monitoring programs as per Captain Tucker's instructions."
"Captain Austin tells me that the evacuation is complete. I guess as soon as we get word from Malcolm and Trip, we'll be ready to try this."
"I am concerned about Trip," said T'Pol. "He is exhausted. He is doing his best to hide his discomfort from me but he is not as skilled at shielding as he could be. We should bring him back to Tyrfing."
Archer looked at the Vulcan woman in front of him. It had taken him years to learn how to read T'Pol and the subtle shadows of emotion that played across her face. It wasn't anything that anyone else, except maybe Trip, would have seen, but it was there none the less. T'Pol was worried.
"You have to let him do this, T'Pol. He needs his independence and he needs to be able to feel useful. Ever since the incident back on Enterprise, he's felt he isn't pulling his weight. Every time he calls me it's what he talks about. He's been on light duties or part time ever since he got out of hospital and it's hard for him to accept that things aren't the way they were."
"I realise that he has been having difficulty adapting, but he will have to accept his condition at some point. He seemed to be improving in this respect, but Excalibur's disappearance has made things more difficult again. I am doing everything in my power to help him, but I cannot stand by while he does himself harm. I am finding it difficult to understand his motivations at the moment. He continually shuts me out."
"I know you care for him, and I don't pretend to understand this bond that you have, but you have to talk to each other as well. Trip shuts people out when he's hurting and sometimes he needs his space. Just this once let him have his fun. He's got Phlox with him and Malcolm keeping an eye on him. Once he's back, I know Phlox has a long stay in sickbay planned for him and you can have a long talk. It will all work out, believe me."
"Very well. If you believe that he will be fine, then I will accept your assurance," replied T'Pol.
Archer hoped that he was right and he wasn't just giving Trip rope to hang himself with. He was just as worried about Trip as T'Pol was, but he knew how depressed Trip had been while he was in hospital. Trip had been happy when he'd received his posting to Deep Space One, but since then he'd been frustrated by the barriers that had been placed in front of him. Trip was doing his best to put a brave face on things but every conversation he had always included a gripe about how Phlox wouldn't let him do his job. Being an Engineer defined Trip, it wasn't just what he did, it was a part of who he was. At least this way Archer had done everything that he could to make sure Trip was safe while he did what he had to, and now he just had to hope that it was enough.