Ghost Ship by Ancastar
Chapter 2
Trip breezed through the mess hall on his way to the captain's private dining room, grateful for the summons. While the captain, T'Pol and he often shared dinner together, an invitation to breakfast was a bit more uncommon. Something must be up. Hopefully that something would be served with a plate of Chef's special blueberry pancakes and pork sausage. Trip had rolled out of bed that morning with quite an appetite.
Entering the captain's mess, Trip saw T'Pol and Captain Jonathan Archer had beaten him to the table. T'Pol sat sipping her orange juice, the captain stirring his coffee.
"Sorry I'm late," Trip said, pouring his own cup of java at the beverage bar. "Rostov caught me outside of Engineering with a question about next week's duty roster. Hope you weren't waiting too long."
"Not at all," Jon said as a crewman entered with that morning's fare. Eggs Benedict for the two men. Hot cereal and fruit for T'Pol. Catching a whiff of his savory dish, Trip found he was not overly disappointed to be served eggs instead of flapjacks. Truth be told, in Trip's eyes, Chef couldn't do much wrong. "I was just beginning to fill in T'Pol on my reason for asking you two to breakfast this morning."
"What's up, Cap'n?" Trip asked, sliding in to the chair opposite his Vulcan crewmate.
"First off, I'd like to apologize," Jon began, smoothing his napkin into place across his legs. "I know you two have spent the last couple of days recalibrating the sensors to properly analyze the molecular cloud off Marope Prime. I'm afraid that's going to have wait."
"Bigger fish to fry?" Trip asked, slicing into his meal.
"I got a call from Starfleet. We have been requested to assist a people known as the J'Hardinne," Jon explained around a mouthful of Hollandaise drenched eggs. He turned to his science officer. "T'Pol said she had heard of them."
T'Pol nodded. "Yes. They are a people known for colonizing uninhabited worlds. Their kind are found scattered throughout the galaxy, sometimes with no more than a few thousand in residence on any given planet."
Trip frowned. "Why the urge to spread out? Are they looking to build some kind of empire or something?"
"Not at all," T'Pol assured him. "They are, in fact, pacifists. The J'Hardinne home world was rendered uninhabitable over two centuries ago. They merely seek to find other suitable environments. The practice of settling on multiple planets is to provide autonomy for their various cultures."
"What happened to their home planet?" Jon asked, taking a sip of his coffee.
T'Pol chewed thoughtfully for a moment before responding. "The planet was embroiled in a decades long world war. As tensions escalated, nuclear weaponry was utilized as well as various biological agents. Many large urban centers were obliterated; the eco-system became fouled beyond repair."
"Geez," Trip murmured, shaking his head. "Sounds an awful lot like what almost happened to Earth not so long ago."
Jon nodded, his expression grim. "Only we stopped short of polluting our planet so badly we had to look for another one."
T'Pol lifted a brow. "Ironically, it was the destruction of the J'Hardinne's home world that brought hostilities to a halt. Those who had escaped annihilation worked together to evacuate survivors. This first generation lived largely aboard their fleet of rescue ships."
"You said they tend to focus their colonizing on uninhabited planets," Jon said, spearing a bit of muffin and Canadian bacon. "Is that to avoid future conflict?"
T'Pol dipped her head. "Yes. Rather than running the risk of inciting further land disputes, the J'Hardinne have chosen to populate planets that have not yet been claimed by other species. Their scientists have focused much of their time and energy on the development of advanced terra forming techniques."
"How advanced?" Trip asked. "It's taken Earth more than fifty years to terraform Mars to its current state. Are the J'Hardinne moving faster than that?"
"Much," T'Pol said after a dainty bite of fruit. "Their methods are so sophisticated the Vulcan Science Directorate recently requested permission to study their findings. According to reports coming from the J'Hardinne's leading scientific authority, the newest refinements to their technique promise to shorten the time even more."
"What are we talking here?" Jon asked, reaching for his coffee. "Five years? Ten?"
"Little more than one," T'Pol replied.
Trip whistled softly under his breath. "Damn. What I wouldn't give to take a look at their research. Don't suppose the Vulcans will share what they learn?"
T'Pol dabbed at her mouth with her napkin for a moment rather than immediately answer. When she chose to speak, she did not meet the eyes of either dining companion. "The Vulcans have not yet learned anything. The J'Hardinne have failed to agree to a diplomatic exchange of scientific research."
Trip really didn't think he was going to be able to respond with a straight face, but he gave it a valiant effort nonetheless. "Wow. The J'Hardinne are holding back information from the Vulcans? Imagine the High Command wanting to know something and being told they'd have to figure it out for themselves. I don't believe I've ever heard of such a thing. Have you, Cap'n?"
Jon was having little more success hiding his smile than was his chief engineer. "I believe that may be a first."
T'Pol scowled heartily in first one direction, then the other before murmuring, "Negotiations are ongoing."
The captain took pity on his science officer and smoothly redirected the conversation. "Well, perhaps if all goes well over the next few days, we might be able to assist the Vulcans in achieving their goal."
Trip followed Jon's lead as effortlessly as a relay runner accepting a handoff. While it was a heck of a lot of fun teasing T'Pol, he didn't want to go overboard and risk riling her too badly. Vulcan/Human relations was still a subject they navigated carefully. "Don't tell me the J'Hardinne are asking us for a favor."
Jon nodded. "They are, indeed. It seems a shipload of settlers heading for a planet they've named J'Hillar have gone missing. Following our present course, we're only a few hours away and they've asked us to look into it."
"Away from what?" Trip asked. "You said the ship was missing. Are we coming up on their last known location, their last transmission—what?"
Jon smiled. "Actually, I didn't say the ship was missing. I said the settlers were."
Trip frowned. "I don't get it."
"The J'Hardinne have been in constant contact with the ship, the Br'Teyn, since it left space dock a month and a half ago with close to hundred people on board, many of them women and children. Two days ago, the captain of the Br'Teyn failed to make his morning status call. The Resettlement Committee that oversees all colonization efforts has been trying to get in touch with the ship almost continually ever since, to no avail. According to their long-range sensors, the ship appears to be sitting nearly motionless in a largely uninhabited quadrant of space. However, they can detect no sign of exterior damage or system malfunction. They want us to see what's going on."
"I will need to consult the Vulcan database to be certain, but as I recall, the J'Hardinne require an environment not unlike that of Earth or Vulcan," T'Pol contributed, her prior annoyance apparently forgotten. Trip had to hand it to her—although her human crewmates might sometimes annoy the heck out of her, T'Pol seemed almost incapable of holding a grudge. "We should be able to board the Br'Teyn without use of an EV suit."
"That's good news," Trip said, pressing his napkin to his mouth before balling it atop his empty plate. "Those things are the heaviest, clumsiest—"
"Tools for keeping you alive in a hostile setting—," Jon contributed with a wink.
"That I can think of," Trip concluded with a sheepish grin.
T'Pol didn't so much as arch a brow at their antics. "Captain, how long before we reach the Br'Teyn?"
"We should pull alongside at approximately 1300 hours," Jon replied. "I'd like you, Trip and Malcolm to be the ones to board her. I don't know whether it was some kind of internal problem that caused the ship to go silent or some kind of external enemy. But it seems to me you three would be the ones best suited to find some answers."
"Sounds like a plan," Trip said, pushing away from the table. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to finish up a few things in Engineering before we head out on our rescue mission. Thanks for the meal, Captain. Sub-Commander, I'll see you at 1300 hours."
To be continued in Chapter 3