The chair turned round and Lieutenant Malcolm Reed looked at his friend who was sitting further back in the shuttlepod looking at a data PADD. He turned back round to face his console.
"Having fun reading?" She looked up from the PADD and smiled at him.
"Yes thank you sir. How much longer till we arrive at the planet?" She stood up and moved into a chair to the left of Malcolm. Malcolm smiled. He was enjoying the young woman's company. He stretched his back muscles, raising his arms above his head as best he could in the cramped conditions.
"So what are you reading?" he asked as he laid his eyes on the view screen and checking his sensors.
"Not really sure." She paused for a second. "I'll ask again. How long till we reach the planet?"
"Sorry. 25 minutes" Malcolm replied remembering the forgotten question. The woman smiled lightly and laughed shaking her head. She knew now why Commander Tucker had not liked it that much when he was stuck in the shuttlepod for a few days with the British Armoury Officer. She had a closely guarded secret. A secret that she had only ever told one person... Malcolm. She really trusted Malcolm and felt it right that at least the person who she worked for knew about her. They drew nearer the planet as the minutes silently passed. Malcolm looked again at the view after momentarily looking at the girl in the back of the shuttlepod. The planet looked remarkably like earth but different nonetheless.
"How much longer?" she asked. Malcolm could tell that her breathing had deepened, and she was trying to control it.
"7 maybe 6 minutes" Malcolm replied whilst stretching some of his fingers.
"God, I hate this thing." She said sighing heavily as she continued to try and control her breathing. "I'll be happy once we land and get out. Why can't we use the transporter, and avoid getting shut in this thing?"
"We'll be out of it soon enough" Malcolm replied, thinking about others matters. He looked at the console in front of him. "5 minutes left" he reported.
"I'd prefer it if it were 5 seconds!" she said slightly raising her voice. She closed her eyes and concentrated she then began to picture a wide-open space. A field with hundreds of red poppies, gently waving around in the gentle breeze. A couple of robins flying through the field, singing their happy song. A bright blue sky with the sun shinning down and hardly a cloud to be seen. Her breathing immediately calmed. A voice however soon broke her train of thought.
"Archer to Shuttlepod 2." Came the all too familiar voice of their captain through the COMM system
"Reed here" Malcolm replied hitting one of the various buttons on the control panel in front of him.
"Malcolm, we've managed to get the co-ordinates of the alien settlement. Although it wasn't easy. We're sending to them to you now." A couple of bleeps alerted Malcolm that the shuttle had received the co-ordinates.
"We've got them" Malcolm reported back "Anything else Sir?" He asked.
"No, that was all. Just good luck. We don't know how they'll respond to strangers, so watch your backs."
"We intend to sir." The woman called from the back of the pod. Malcolm smiled. He really had trained her well.
"Thank you Sir. See you when we return" Reed then cut off. He looked again at the ETA. "3 minutes"
"I hope i can survive that long." She replied as she looked at where Malcolm was sitting. He smiled. She definitely had a good sense of humour. The pod landed in a field and they both jumped out. She was definitely feeling a lot better now that she was out of the cramped small craft. Malcolm gently placed a hand on her shoulder and she nodded. It was a well-known fact amongst most of the crew that she was claustrophobic – the main reason why she never went on many away missions and stayed on the ship in security detail ready for any intruders to come along. So it didn't really help when the whole crew had to hide themselves in the Catwalk for about a week – thankfully Phlox was able to give her some kind of sedative to keep her calm.
"Ok, Lieutenant. Which way do we go?" She asked turning to him. He looked at her and smiled.
"We go left of here. Let's go" Together they walked in the direction Malcolm had indicated. The walk didn't take too long but whilst it lasted they took in the countryside. The trees had purple flowers and flying objects, similar to bees. At least Reed thought they were some kind of bee, orbiting the flowers. Landing and lifting off simultaneously. There was also the planet's form of birds except they had a row of small spikes placed along their backs. Their songs weren't too pleasant, but it was interesting to hear what they sounded like. It was certainly unlike any other planet they had been to. Suddenly the young woman who Malcolm was with, called Raya Tagia, put out her hand and stopped walking. Malcolm stopped too.
"What's wrong?" he asked as he noticed the way Raya was hardly moving and listening intently to the sounds around her. Scanning for any movement in the trees and bushes.
"Someone's near. 3... no 4 people. Heading this way." Malcolm looked at his scanner and she was correct. There were indeed 4 bio signs heading towards them.
"You're right" Malcolm looked for some kind of available cover but there was none to be found unless they climbed up the trees.
"I'm always right about things like that, remember!" she said a little angry that Malcolm had forgotten what she was capable of. "Where do we go, Lieutenant?"
"We either wait for them or climb up a tree in the hopes they don't see us... which is very likely... so best to wait for them" Malcolm said, whilst lightly placing his hand on his trusted phase pistol.
"Sir, with all due respect. I think it would be safer if we climbed the trees. Remember what Captain Archer said. We don't know how they would respond to strangers." she said, putting her hands on her hips. Malcolm sighed. He knew Raya was right, she usually was about things like this. He had indeed trained her well, maybe a bit too well.
"After you then." Malcolm said and indicated up the tree. Raya looked at him.
"You first. I can't climb trees." Malcolm went up. Raya kept looking behind to see where the people were. Malcolm was soon up and he reached down a hand for Raya to grab. She jumped for it... but missed. Malcolm tried reaching a little lower. Raya jumped again, but this time she missed due to the force of her being knocked unconscious from an alien weapon. They had seen her trying to climb into the trees. She landed face down on the soft grass of the woodlands. Malcolm stayed very quiet from his position on the branch amongst the foliage watching the scene below him. The aliens spoke in a tongue that he didn't quite understand. They stood around the fallen girl eyeing her suspiciously. One of the four, who looked very stern and somewhat agitated, spoke again. Two of the four aliens nodded and moved away. After a few minutes they returned shaking their heads.
"Glungit re martar wass." he said. Two of them picked up Raya and walked away with her. Her weapon fell on the ground as they began to move her. Malcolm was now annoyed. Not only was he going to have to rescue one person, but two! He knew he couldn't do it on his own.
The other two aliens stayed for a few seconds longer looking around. Malcolm had to hold his breath in the silence so that they couldn't detect him. They very soon moved off and Malcolm was able to sigh relief, left on his own. Now he had to figure out what he was going to do. He soon dropped out of the tree, landing on his feet, picked up Raya's phase pistol and then moved off in the direction the aliens had taken. At least following them would give him an idea of where they were taking Raya. He followed them, being careful not to be seen or heard, to a building on the very outskirts of the main town. Malcolm was glad it was on the very outskirts, even with the delicate artwork Phlox had constructed on his face earlier on Enterprise he didn't particularly want to head into the main town.
Staying hidden behind a tree the officer watched as his young friend was taken in and the door slammed shut behind them. Now at least he knew where Ensign Mayweather was as well. He instantly could tell the building was for the police, a jail of some sorts. Most of the windows had bars on them and in a couple of the rooms he could see a couple of people. To his surprise one was Travis! Malcolm began to contemplate his plan of rescue. If he tried to go up to the building he'd surely be caught and that would be the end of that... Archer would never trust him with a rescue operation again. No one was quite sure how Travis had managed to get himself captured by these people, but the fact remained that he was captured and needed to be rescued. Noting that Travis was in a ground floor cell he decided to go over and see if he could speak to Travis. He knew he was risking a lot but he didn't exactly have many other options. No doubt Captain Archer would soon be calling in to see how everything was going for his top two security personnel.
He wasn't looking forward to giving Archer the latest news. He carefully drew nearer the building, being careful not to be seen by unwanted spying eyes. He eventually reached the window. He carefully looked inside.
"Travis?" He called. Inside the cell Travis heard the small voice and moved over to the window. He smiled at the sight of the Lieutenant.
"Malcolm! Boy am i glad to see you!" he said happily, but a bit too loud for Malcolm's comfort
"Keep your voice down" Malcolm said quietly. He looked around him to make sure no one was coming, inspecting why they might be hearing voices from their prisoners.
"Sorry." he apologised before continuing his chat with Malcolm. "Please tell me you're here to get me out? The food here is terrible!"
"Yes I am." Malcolm thought for a moment.
"You didn't come alone did you?" Travis asked as he looked through the bars and realised he couldn't see anyone else that he recognised from the ship. Malcolm explained to him that he originally came with Raya but she, unfortunately, had been caught back out in the woods. Travis' eyes closed briefly but soon opened again.
In another part of the building the aliens who had Raya dumped her into a cell and left. Almost as soon as they had locked the door she began to regain consciousness. She looked around her and noticed the window. She moved over to it and noticed she was on a first floor. She could also hear voices. Grabbing the bars and standing on tiptoe she looked down below and could see Malcolm down there.
"Malcolm!" She called in a whisper. Upon hearing his name Malcolm stepped back and looked up at his friend. A small smile washed over his face.
"Raya. Are you all right?" Malcolm replied back. Being careful not to be too loud.
"Yeah. I'm ok." He noted that she was on the first floor, directly above Travis' cell. Raya knew what she had to do. She looked down at Malcolm and smiled weakly. She let go of the bars on the window and suddenly she was gone from the window, in a flash of bright blue light. Malcolm knew what she had done. She soon appeared a few feet away from him out by the wall and out of the cell, in a flash of bright green light. She knew now that Travis would have to know her secret. A secret she wasn't proud of. And they weren't out of danger yet.