Children of Enterprise

Estellio

Rating: Pg-13 (T)

Summary: When Archer is kidnapped by unknown aliens and the Enterprise is dead in the water, it seems like there is no hope for rescue but there's more to this than meets the eye and it could have something to do with the child in Tpols arms.

A/N: I know everything comes together a bit fast in this chapter but I didnt see the point in dragging it out and telling you what happens to each and every character when its kinda obvious anyway. Still, hope you enjoy..

IOIOIO

No sooner had Archer left than Lizzie had slid down to the ravine below. One side was sheer and filled with cracks and crevices where the animals hid, the other sloped up more gently but was all scree making it impossible to climb up without slipping down. Tpol followed her down and watched her chase the little lemur she and Trip had seen earlier around. Since Tpol had no desire to chase after it or her she simply sat down on a rock while Lizzie ran to and fro. Although T'pol had reservations in being in such a constrictive passage way, at her back it slope gradually up till it reached the grasslands, an easy exit, and if worst came to worst her tricorder told her the ravine sloped gently up about a mile and a half down anyway. She briefly wondered what could have caused such an out of place feature in the otherwise featureless landscape around them. Apart from small swells in the land it really was just plain terrain.

Tpol noticed first the slight trembling of the floor beneath her, the little pebbles skittering along the floor and low ominous rumbling coming from behind them. Standing up she turned around and what she saw made her blood run cold. A dust plume was heading straight for them. T'pol had seen plumes such as this but only when the Napel, a racing animal on Vulcan, were stampeding and there weren't any animals in the vicinity…were there? Whipping out her tricorder the readings she saw horrified her. A large mass of life forms were heading straight for her and Lizzie and in the ravine there was no where to run.

"LIZZY!" She shouted, trying to catch her attention. "LIZZY! RUN!" T'pol easily outran the child, scooping her up into her arms as she darted by. She didn't have to look behind to see that the beasts had topped the slope and were heading straight for them. They were gaining ground fast and T'pol couldn't see anywhere safe to hide…unless they could get to one of the ledges on the sheer wall.

"Lizzie, climb up onto that ledge and keep climbing. Whatever you do, don't fall. Hang on no matter what." T'pol said, hoisting the girl up onto her shoulders and sliding her onto a small overhang covered in vines from the grasslands above. She pulled herself up after the child and they began to climb as the peaceful valley below them became a sea of heaving bovine bodies. Lizzie was halfway up when the rock her hand caught came loose and she plummeted below. An instinctive, if illogical, grab for her offspring sent both T'pol and Lizzie plummeting back into the animals below.

IOIOIO

Archer and Trip ran as fast as their legs would carry them. They had seen the Oryx begin to stampede, spooked by the crash landing, after they had dug themselves out of the dirt but hadn't been able to outrun them to warn T'pol and Lizzie. Why oh why hadn't they brought communicators?

"THERE!" Trip shouted, he was the first to see them, hanging to the ravine wall and trying desperately to climb up.

"NO!" Archer shouted, watching in horror as Lizzie slipped and T'pol plummeted after her into the stampede.

"Oh sweet Jesus, no." Trip breathed as they disappeared. The two scanned the stampede for any sign but could see none.

"THERE!" Archer shouted, pointing to the large boulder T'pol had been resting on earlier. Lizzie clung to it, screaming loudly with tears running down her face. "HOLD ON!" Archer shouted and leapt over the edge, sliding down the loose scree, stopping just before the river of Oryx. Lizzie climbed on top of the rock but when a large Oryx bull scrambled over it she was knocked off. Trip tore his eyes away from his Captain to search for T'pol and saw her clinging to the opposite side of the ravine. She was struck by a bull and torn away, back into the heaving sea only remerge even further down. Her battered body appearing in a brief clearing before she was swallowed up by the running animals. There seemed to be no end to the sweeping hoard and if he didn't get her out now, T'pol wouldn't survive. He slid down the sloping side of the ravine, scree scattering wildly before him before he dove amidst the heaving bodies. He ran with them, down towards where T'pol was. Keeping hold of a young buck's horns he managed to use it to shield himself till he reached T'pol. In one smooth motion he scooped her up and threw her across the same buck's shoulders. The extra weight was slowing it but it was still a lot faster than a human and safe. The barely conscious T'pol clung on for all she was worth and looked up, she wasn't able to shout out warning as a massive bull gored Trip from behind, its horns slicing through Trip's uniform and he dropped like a stone, lost far behind her in the stampede as the buck carried her away.

Archer was having his own problems. He didn't think of running with the Oryx or using one to shield himself and he was tossed about by the bucks and cows that were straggling. He fought his way through and climbed onto the rock with Lizzie, using his own body to cover her. As another buck scrambled over the rock he was hoofed badly in the head and back but he held on, using his body as a shield. Lizzie screamed in terror beneath him, shaking in his grip but he held on, whispering assurances to her. He saw the bovine hoard thinning and scooped Lizzie up, making a break away as an large, old, bull trampled over the rock, his heavy cloven feet cracking huge chunks off it. Archer cradled Lizzie against him as she screamed, running against the thinning tide till he broke free. Only a few straggling young bucks or older, sicker ones making a half hearted lope away. Looking out he saw the carnage of what the stampede had done. The bodies of more than one Oryx lay mangled on the once peaceful ravine floor, more importantly, a navy clad body lay mangled amidst them.

"TRIP!" Archer ran for all he was worth but Lorian got there first. Sliding down the loose scree side and running to his father, a heart wrenching 'No' torn from his already stricken throat. Turning him over Trip was seen to be covered in bruises and gashes, a large wound across his back and thighs testament to the giant bull that had pulled him down. Rialta stood some way away, her arms wrapped around her midriff as she stared on in horror.

"Rialta, no, say it doesn't happen this way." Archer said, turning to her, his eyes tearing up at the sight of his friend. Rialta shook her head.

"I can't tell you…I can't…"

"RIALTA!" She nodded.

"I know he died saving your life…I didn't know. I didn't know!" She sobbed, opening her stricken eyes. Lorian was busy doing chest compressions, trying to restart his fathers heart. Archer stared in horror at Trip as Lorian breathed air into his lungs, willing him to breathe.

"Lorian." Rialta said softly, pleading with his futile efforts. Lorian gave a shake of his head and started chest compressions again. He administered two breaths and Rialta gasped as Trip began to cough and convulse.

"He's alive!" She exclaimed, shock clearly on her features as Trip curled up, coughing out dried blood onto the dusty floor.

"T'pol." He groaned, grabbing onto Lorian for support. Archer stood back up and looked around, his elation at Trip's resurrection overshadowed now by the disappearance of T'pol

"Where's T'pol?" Rialta asked, not seeing her anywhere.

"I don't know, I can't see her among the bodies but…" Archer began but stopped, a sudden awareness sprang to mind and he flinched away. The unaccustomed sensation causing his bodies natural reaction to anything scary. Despite his own injuries he broke off at a run down the ravine the way the Oryx had gone.

"What the…ARCHER!" Rialta loped after him, "ARCHER WAIT!"

"I KNOW WHERE SHE IS! SHE'S IN TROUBLE!" He shouted, racing after the dust plume.

Lorian itched to go with Rialta but he stayed, helping his father. Lizzie came up behind him, still sniffling with tears streaking down her dirt caked face.

"Is Mister Tucker gonna be okay?" She asked, wiping a grimy sleeve across her eyes.

"He needs to get help. Lizzie, you know where the medkit on Rialta's ship is?" The young girl nodded, trying hard to compose herself despite the tremors that still shook her tiny body. "Now I know you've had a big scare but you're going to have to run get it or Mister Tuckers not going to be okay, try and get back here as fast as you can. The ship is just up that slope and over the small rise, now run Lizzie, run." Lorian turned away to reset the broken arm that lay at an odd angle to Trip's body, undoubtedly the source of a lot of discomfort. Lizzie nodded and turned away but before she left she spoke softly.

"I know he's your daddy." She said and ran as fast as her tiny legs would carry her. Lorian pondered the oddness off that statement for only a few seconds and turned back to Trip. He and Rialta had just got there in time, it seemed. Scaron's warbird had taken them by surprise as they made their way to pick Archer up and he had easily shot down their ship. With no where to go but the planet they had managed a somewhat awkward crash landing. After they emerged they had seen the stampeding animals and heard Lizzie's screams even above the thunderous roar. A testament to half-Vulcan hearing and as it were, half-Vulcan screaming.

"Lorian." Trip groaned, one bloodied hand coming up to twist in his collar. "M'boy."

"You're going to be alright. Lizzie is getting the medikit and…" Trip shook his head smiling.

"I'll be alright, but you gotta listen to me. There's some things I shoulda told ya but I wasn't around. Now you gotta hear them. I know you and Rialta care for each other, you have to act on that now or else the chance might slip away and you'll be kicking yourself forever. Did I ever tell you the story of…" He got into a fit of coughing and Lorian cradled him close, begging him to stop talking and to conserve his strength. "No, you gotta hear this. Sometimes, chances in life pass you by and there ain't nothing you can do about it. But do everything you can about it if you can. You understand me."

"I think so, listen, please Tucker, there's something I must tell you…"

"Let me finish boy!" Trip snapped, coughing again. "I love your mother, heart and sole, but we didn't have the opportunities like we had in your timeline. I let her pass me by and you don't know how that's breaking my heart. Don't let Rialta pass you by…"

"Father, I have good news. I wont let her pass me by, in fact, I haven't. She and I are married…" There was a pause and Lorian thought his father had fallen unconscious when Trip began to laugh, he threw back his head and let out a wanton, carefree laugh that would have brightened anyone's spirits if it wasn't from such a battered and bruised body.

"Lorian, m'boy. So that's what took you so long. You eloped to Vegas?" Trip laughed.

"No, no…we just bonded. It was the only way I could save her, Rialta I mean. She…well her species…they…they age faster than humans but…well…she just hit puberty and they have to take a partner then and have a child…"

"…You mean, that sickness that's been affecting Rialta…it was puberty? Damn, I thought I had it bad with a croaking voice and acne but at least it doesn't kill ya." Trip got into another fit of coughing and a fresh wave of nearly black blood leaked out of his side.

"Dammit, where is Lizzie." Lorian groaned, pulling off his jumper and tearing it in half, using it as a crude binding on his side.

"Hell boy, did you say bonding or bondage? Your backs covered in scrawl marks." Lorian straightened up and immediately regretting taking his shirt off. Still, his fathers health was more important than his modesty. So what, he was damned if he couldn't copulate with his wife. Wife, he hadn't really thought of her like that until now…Some honeymoon.

"Stop talking and save your strength." Lorian snapped, worried at the paleness of his fathers skin and the blueness of his lips.

"I've lost too much blood, I feel weak. If I use my last breath embarrassing my son then so be it. I want one of my grandkids to be names after me, mind. The Charles Tucker tradition is a long one. You shoulda been called Charles."

"It's my middle name, and if our child's a boy I'll call him after you." Lorian promised, praying for Lizzie's speedy return.

"Your only going to have one? Don't. Have lots. Have at least five, but don't let John tell ya how to name them. He'd probably call one Dartangion or something strange like that…"

"I hope to have a large family but I'm taking it one child at a time." Trip stayed quiet a while, finding it hard to stay conscious.

"You mean you've already…"
"The Katarian gestation period is about ten months. Rialta says it's a girl but I don't think she can possibly know this early on. It wasn't a bonding required to break her illness it was…" Lorian looked uncomfortable. "Fertilisation. The bonding was a by product of being so deep in her mind during…Surely you know all this." Trip smiled at him and winked before weakness over came him.

IOIOIO

"John! JOHN!" Rialta ran for all she was worth but the last few hours had been…strenuous, to say the least and although the inertial dampeners on her ship were good, she had still injured her leg in the crash landing. "JOHN! SCARON'S PATROLS WILL BE ALL OVER THIS PLACE IN MINUTES! WE HAVE TO GET YOU OUT OF HERE!"

"I know T'pol is close, I can…I can feel it." He panted as he ran. His side ached painfully and he sported more injuries than the adrenaline pumping through his system was allowing him to feel. Rialta could see the dark patches on his uniform and although he wasn't as bad as Trip, she could tell that he couldn't go on much farther. Catching his arm she spun him around and held him tightly by the biceps.

"John, please, we have to get you out of here. They're not looking for T'pol. Please, come with me and ––." She was cut off by laughter that echoed around the ravine they were in and looking up she saw T'pol being held loosely like a rag doll against a giant Klingon's arm.

"Mohgrak." Rialta said, turning slowly. "Let her go."

"I don't think so, Rialta. I've signalled Scaron, he and the others will be here shortly and all of you will be exterminated." Rialta sighed and broke into a grin.

"Klingons," She sighed, "all major in amateur dramatics you know. It's a mandatory subject in school along with ridge maintenance and growling." Rialta pointed at the Klingon and began to laugh. As the Klingon puffed himself up in rage a beam lanced from her hand and hit him square in the chest sending him tumbling down the loose scree and onto the ravine floor. Archer immediately ran to T'pol's side, glancing up at Rialta in awe.

"How did you do that?"

"Wrist phaser, look." She indicated the large silver bracelet she had on. Archer smiled at the far more obvious answer than spontaneous laser beams shooting out of her hands. He levered the Klingon off T'pol's prone body and gathered her up in his arms.

"How did you get that mark?" Archer asked as he secured his hold on T'pol.

"What mark?" Rialta asked as she scanned the ridge, conscious of the Klingons threat that there'd be more coming.

"On your neck, it looks like a…like a bite mark!" Rialta's hand slapped over it.

"Pesky lemurs. We better go before anyone else gets here…" Lizzie appeared on the lip of the ravine and began to climb down, something slung over her shoulder as she scaled the wall with far too much ease. What did that child get up to in her timeline? When she hit the floor she turned and smiled at Archer but her smile soon turned into a look of shock.

"DADDY!" She screamed and ran forward, Archer turned in time to see the green beam streaking towards him and he was able to dodge out of the way only to watch in horror as the beam struck Lizzie.

"I have you now." Scaron stood on the lip of the ravine, high up with six armed officers behind him. "Open fire!"