Author Notes: Thanks for the feedback:) Finally, I am bringing Enterprise into it, sorry it took so long. Slightly worse language in this chappy.
Chapter 9: The Linlr
"Okay, Mal, I want you to go with Jamie and Ryan, and take Echo to the monastery. I'll stay here with Alex and try to cheer up Sara. You're sure weapons are allowed?"
Jamie nodded, "Yeah, but only to allow people to feel safer. Any shooting goes on and the Monastic Knights come bearing down on you."
"Alright, get back here as soon as possible. Oh, and Mal?" Malcolm turned back, "Don't get shot." Malcolm rolled his eyes smiling, and jumped down the gangway.
"Urgh. Commander? Commander, can you hear me?" Lieutenant Richmond gently tried to wake Commander Tucker up.
A slight groan sounded from Trip's throat, and his eyes slid open. He tried to sit up, but his head span and he was forced to lie back down, "Wha' happened?"
"The shuttlepod crashed. I think we hit some turbulence or summit." Richmond was just as groggy as his commanding officer. "I've tried to hail the Enterprise, but they're not responding."
Trip groaned again, "You hurt?"
"No sir, just a bit of a headache. I've checked you over, and I think you probably just have a concussion, if that."
Trip nodded, "We should salvage what we can and then try and find open ground; these trees might be interfering with the transmission."
Richmond nodded and began to gather together some supplies.
"Hail them. Now." Archer commanded Hoshi. She nodded and opened a channel.
"They're responding sir."
A Klingon captain appeared on the view screen, "You are trespassing human."
"You shot down two members of my crew!" Archer had had dealings with this particular Klingon before, and had long learned that he was beyond pleasantries.
"They were trespassing too. This planet was claimed by the Klingons decades ago. The penalty for trespassing is death; I already have scouts on the surface hunting for survivors. You must break orbit. I give you one hour" The screen went blank.
Jonathan bit his lip in thought. Mind made up, he said, "T'pol, you're coming down in Shuttlepod Two with me. I won't risk anyone else. Travis, you have command."
The whole bridge seemed to be in temporary shock. This order was so unorthodox; no one really knew how to respond. If the order was carried out, the four most senior members of the crew would be down on the planet. T'pol protested, "Captain-"
"I've made my decision." Knowing there was no arguing, T'pol inclined her head. Archer turned to Travis, "Remain in this solar system for twelve hours, after that time, return to Earth."
"Yes Captain."
Thankfully, Shuttlepod Two succeeded in making a safe landing in the undergrowth. Immediately, Archer and T'pol set off at a pace, praying to find their friends before the Klingons.
Meanwhile, Trip and Richmond trudged through the sweltering rainforest. There wasn't really much conversation material, as they never talked to each other outside of their shifts. Trip fiddled nervously with his phase pistol. After three hours of trekking in silence, Richmond suddenly spoke up, "Commander! There's something over there!" Trip's head jerked up and his grip tensed on his phaser, "It's some sort of building."
Visibly relaxing Trip squinted into the trees, then up though the branches to the setting sun, "Let's check it out. It's going to get cold; we might be able to find shelter."
The Lieutenant nodded, and followed Trip through the undergrowth. The building turned out to be some sort of ruin, made of sandstone. Trip tentatively made his way up the crumbling steps and into the cooling air of the ruins. He heavily dumped his makeshift pack on the floor, releasing a cloud of dust; Richmond followed suit. "We won't go too far into this place – I think it's a temple; doubt anyone would want to live here."
Richmond nodded silently in agreement.
The sun set below the trees, casting the temple in an eerie silvery light. As Richmond slept, Trip took the first watch. He stared pensively out into the jungle, watching the trees murmur to each other. He didn't know why, but there was something in the air of this planet that made him feel strange. True, it was making him increasingly jumpy, but there was also a sense of anticipation hanging in the air, as if the long dead civilisation was waking up.
A sound from the floor next to him caught his attention; his communicator was flaring into life, "Archer to Commander Tucker. Trip? Can you hear me?" There was a sigh on the other end, as if the person trying to contact them had been trying for a long time.
Trip grabbed the small silver device and flipped it on, "Cap'n? That you?" At the same time, he woke Richmond.
"Trip!" The voice was one of relief, "Where are you? Are you injured? The Klingons are on this planet looking for you too."
"We're both okay; in some kind of temple. Why are there Klingons? Where'd they come from?"
"They shot you down." Realization dawned on Trip as his brain was prodded by a fuzzy memory, "Listen, just sit tight, T'pol is trying to trace your location now." A pause, "We're less than 300m from your position, we'll be there shortly. Archer out."
Gary Richmond allowed himself a small smile, but his relief was short lived. Shouts and the sound of phase pistols firing echoed through the once peaceful night. "Shit." Both men scrambled to their feet and grabbed their weapons.
Crashing through the undergrowth came a human and a Vulcan, running as fast as possible. The shots that pursued them prevented Trip and Gary from descending the steps and attempting to meet with their superiors, so Archer and T'pol ran up the steps instead. Without an exchange of words, the four members of Starfleet ran further into the darkness of the temple in a hope to lose the Klingons. Every so often, a shaft of silvery light crept down from the roof, illuminating the swirling patterns of detritus as it was stirred up by the retreating people.
Trip skidded to a halt as they reached a vast pillared hall, with no other exit. The Klingons pursued them so closely that to turn back would mean having to engage them in a fire fight in a confined, straight passage. A phaser beam hit a nearby pillar, leaving an innocent black smudge where it had landed. The Enterprise team returned fire, attempting to find cover. Trip ran towards the back of the hall in the hope of finding another doorway, but all he found were some strange pictorial writings etched into the aged stone. Another shot narrowly missed him, forcing him to press himself against the wall. Then, everything shifted.
A horrible sensation filled Trip's being; a tingling that he could both feel and hear that spread from his neck and down his spine. Sound distorted as the shouts that echoed everywhere began to dim and sharpen simultaneously. The rock against which he pressed smoothed itself, and then seemed to liquefy. Without having any control over his body, Trip fell backwards into the encompassing abyss of the viscous liquid.
Trip fell backwards onto the hard floor into a white marble room. He sat bolt upright as soon as his head stopped spinning. He wanted to throw up. Suddenly, the wall from which he had come from rippled, spitting out Captain Archer, followed by T'pol and finally Lieutenant Richmond. All four were in a state of shock, unable to move, until Archer began to clamber to his feet, "The Klingons might follow, come on."
They set off at a jog, trying to find a way out, "Where are we?" asked Trip.
The four suddenly reached a doorway onto the outside world after turning a sharp corner. Blinking in the sharp sunlight, Archer raised an eyebrow as they stared at the serene woodland of deciduous trees. Cursing and coarse syllables echoed around the marble, snapping them out of their temporary paralysis; the Klingons had followed. Without a second thought, the tiring humans and Vulcan ran into the woods.
"We should be getting back – Katrina will be worrying." Jamie commented, smirking, "It was nice to see you again Laura. You'll look after Echo?"
Jamie's older sister smiled, "Of course."
Malcolm, Jamie and Ryan followed Laura out onto the wooden balcony that jutted from the stone rooms of the monastery that were cut into the white rock. Laura was about to bid everyone goodbye, when a small girl, a Cardasian no older than six, padded out in one of the white robes that was the trademark of the followers of the monastery they were leaving Echo to. Laura frowned, "What is it?"
The child shifted nervously, "There is a shimmering lady asking for the Head of the Order."
Laura blinked, "Show me." All followed the girl back inside, curious of this turn of events.
Sure enough, in the centre of the room was a flickering image of a woman who belonged to a race that Malcolm did not recognise. She repeated the same phrase: Urgent message for the Head of the Order.
"It's a hologram." Muttered Jamie.
"Don't state the obvious, do you?" Ryan responded.
"I am the head of this Order." Laura spoke in an authoritative voice, and then proceeded to say a phrase in another language.
The hologram flickered, and then relayed its message: The Linlr has been activated. Weapons fire is detected in the northern quadrant. This monastery's Knights will be the quickest to respond. How shall the situation be contained?
Laura visibly blanched. She composed herself and turned to Malcolm, Ryan and her brother, "You'd better leave now. I don't know who this is, but they'll have a lot of arms power if they're daring to assault the Sanctum, and I dread to think what a Linlr is. Go back to the Eclipse and Jump as quickly as possible; I have to contact the Covenant on this and I don't want you around." Laura turned back to the hologram, "How many Knights do we have?"
Ten
"Deploy three to assess the situation. If it is dire enough, deploy four more. Keep the remaining three in reserve."
The hologram bowed and flickered away.
The three crewmembers of the Eclipse darted through the woodland to try and reach the landing site. A roaring sound above them caught their attention, "What the hell..?" Ryan craned his neck to see three rockets fly over and then hover to land not far away.
"The Monastic Knights." Jamie supplied.
Malcolm sighed, "They're androids? Bugger. We're moving. Now."
"Robots?" Ryan groaned.
Jamie gave his younger friend a less than reassuring smile, correcting him, "Killer robots that home in on weapons fire."
"Bloody perfect."
The three broke into a run, concentrating on not tripping over any protruding tree roots. Shouts and gunfire filled the air, which they tried to block out. As Malcolm ran, something nagged at the back of his mind. Suddenly, he ground to a halt. Both of his friends almost ploughed into him, "Mal!" Jamie hissed, "Come on!"
Malcolm suddenly went pale, "I know that." He muttered. He then turned to the other two, "Go back to the Eclipse, I need to see who is attacking this place."
"Are you nuts?" Ryan stared.
"The weapons fire is not like the rounds we shoot. I swear it sounds like…" Malcolm trailed off, and then looked directly at the others, "Go! Tell Katrina I won't get killed."
If Jamie and Ryan had not trusted Malcolm so much, they would likely have protested further, but instead they ran.
It was chaos. It had only been barely manageable when the Klingons had been shooting at them, but now some psycho sword wielding androids had joined in the fun. It was only by running rather than shooting that they were all still alive at all; two Klingons had already had their heads chopped clean off.
Trip saw that Captain Archer was in trouble, being closed in upon by one of the Klingons, so he stopped short and opened fire. Unfortunately, his concussion was making it difficult for him to focus and he kept missing the target. Behind him, a robot finished off another Klingon and turned its head towards the organic shooting a weapon.
Malcolm followed the sound of what he was now sure to be shots from a phase pistol. He skidded over the crinkly leaves, darting between the trees. A stray red beam of energy hit a tree nearby, and Malcolm saw a Klingon firing at a Knight. In the same glance, he also observed a man, who he didn't recognise, wearing the blue uniform of Starfleet. Malcolm scanned the pandemonium to assess the situation, and then his eyes locked on a familiar figure; Trip. Malcolm's mind struggled to register what was going on; a friend he had not seen in two years was standing in the middle of a fire fight. It only took a few seconds for his instincts to kick in, and he drew his gun, only to replace it back in its holster when he remembered the Knights' tendency of shooting anyone with a charged gun.
A flash of silver caught Malcolm's eye, and he watched in horror as one of the Knights raised its sword and stalked over to Trip. Before he could consciously think about what he should do, he had already covered then distance and rugby tackled Trip to the ground; both nearly lost their legs.
The world blurred as something impacted Trip and took him to the ground. His phase pistol was wrenched out of his grasp and there was a sound of it being deactivated. He began to struggle in the grasp that held him firmly to the ground, and then glimpsed the claw like feet of one of the robots prowl away back into the fight; his attacker had saved his life.
Trip twisted to sit up as his was released, and froze. He could swear the person staring down at him was Malcolm, but it couldn't be. Besides from the fact that his friend was a slave in the far distant reach of space that was the Borderlands and very likely dead, this man just didn't look like Malcolm should. The clothes carried the air of a bounty hunter more than a human, with black cargo pants and boots, and a dark red t-shirt covered in strange black designs. Then there was the issue of the hair; black mingled with green, tousled with mud from the fall. However, Trip's denial only lasted a few seconds when Malcolm opened his mouth and hissed, "What are you bloody sitting there gawping for? Tell anyone else that you don't want to be decapitated to deactivate their guns. We're on holy lands, it's forbidden to fire."
Trip immediately flipped open his communicator and instructed the others. As soon as the act was carried out, the robots reversed course and zeroed in on the Klingons; the closer they got, the more they were hopelessly fired upon. Malcolm hauled Trip to his feet as the other three ran over, all wanting to get as far away as possible from this place. Archer and T'pol soon adopted the same look as Trip was currently sporting, although T'pol did it in a far more reserved, Vulcan-like manner. Archer spoke first, seemingly oblivious to the danger around them, "Malcolm..?"
"No shit." Malcolm spat out; however much he was pleased to see them, he did not want to be responsible for the capture of the Eclipse's crew, "We can talk later, but the Interplanetary Guard will be here in less than ten minutes from the nearest outpost and more of the Knights will be turning up too. Follow me."
The Enterprise team stared as Malcolm broke into a run and then followed him, trying to catch up. Trip was beginning to rethink his judgement of who this person was; the old Malcolm would never have sworn at the Captain.
Katrina raised her gun as she heard the crashing of people running through the woods. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was Malcolm, and then she frowned, "Mal, what the hell?" She was referring to the four others who accompanied him.
"I'll explain later," Malcolm switched back to from English to Common, "They're from my old life and I can't leave them here to get captured. Please."
Katrina looked into her friend's pleading face and nodded, "If you vouch for them?"
"I do."
During this exchange, T'pol had activated a universal translator, allowing the language to snap into focus. They caught the last part from the woman, "-what you're doing."
The woman turned on them, "This is my ship, so you obey my orders. Betray Mal's trust and you're out the airlock. I'm Katrina by the way. Now get in."
T'pol raised an eyebrow in an attempt to find some logic in their situation. Upon finding none, she quickly followed her crewmates up the gangway.
The Eclipse broke from the Sanctum's atmosphere. Archer told Katrina, "Our ship should be in orbit of this planet; the Enterprise." The four of them had come to the conclusion that the thing that they fell into was a form of transporter for the use of the planet's inhabitants to travel between continents. It didn't cross their minds that the transporter was slightly more long range than that.
Alex scanned the reading, "No ships in this solar system."
Archer frowned, turning to T'pol, "How long were we on that planet?"
"It is possible that Ensign Mayweather took the Enterprise back to Earth" Her deduction elicited a snort from Ryan.
"What are you on?"
"Excuse me?"
Before Ryan could elaborate, Alex cursed, "Shit. Cap'n, three, no, wait, bloody hell, seven Covenant ships have just exited Jump. Two are breaking off."
Malcolm jumped over to his consol, "They really don't want to chat. They're charging weapons."
Katrina grabbed the Jump controls, "Engaging Jumpdrive!"
Malcolm instinctively grabbed the bulkhead, and then after a second's thought, grabbed the arm of the person closest to him; Trip. The Eclipse gave a lurch – sharper than usual due to the speed in which the Oribium crystals were activated. Trip would have been thrown off his feet had it not been for Malcolm, as would have T'pol if Ryan had not been standing behind her. Archer and Richmond were not so lucky, however, as both were thrown from the floor to impact a very hard wall. Despite the situation, all members of the Eclipse's crew couldn't help but smirk; it was always funny when someone travelled Jump for the first time without warning.
Turning her attention back to the task in hand, Alex turned to her consol. As expected, both Covenant ships were following. Suddenly, a high pitched alarm went off; a very bad sound. "Alex?" Katrina prompted, "What the hell is that?" A strange anomaly had appeared on the Jump navigation screen.
Alex frowned, and then realisation dawned, making her eyes widen, "It's a drop off! It fills the whole sensor scope! There's no avoiding it!"
This made absolutely no sense to anyone from the Enterprise, so Trip turned to Malcolm in hope of an answer; the fear he saw on the ex-armoury officer's face was not comforting. Malcolm asked shakily, "Katrina? Please tell me you've piloted a drop off before."
Katrina bit her lip, "Honestly? The Covenant doesn't even train people for drop offs in simulations they're so rare and deadly, so I think it would be a good idea to hold onto something." She said this over a shipwide communication so Jamie and Sara could prepare.
The drop off loomed on the screen. It was a vertical wave, cutting downwards through all of the horizontal waves that ships used for travel. The impact of the Eclipse onto the drop off wave alone could destroy it if Katrina did not turn and catch it in time, and then of course they would have to ride it and get back onto another horizontal wave. Regardless of the Enterprise's crew's lack of knowledge, even they could feel a sense of dread.
Katrina had to use all of her willpower not to close her eyes, and then the adrenalin took over, "Oh, fuck it." She muttered under her breath, pushing the Eclipse into acceleration. With one jerk of the controls, the ship's back-end bucked upwards off the wave to flip and catch the drop off. Immediately, the Eclipse began to creak and shake worse than it did when it entered the atmospheres of planets. Katrina flipped the controls one more time and instantaneously exited Jump; there was no sign of the Covenant ships. The Eclipse had exited in an empty area of space, far away from stars and their planets.
Katrina groaned and collapsed forwards onto her consol in relief; her hands were shaking. Malcolm steadied himself and clambered over to check on her, while everyone else merely slid to a sitting position on the floor (except T'pol of course, who just leaned against the wall). The ship was silent from a few minutes while everyone recovered, until Malcolm murmured, "You are way too lucky. Please don't do that again."
Katrina let out a breathy laugh, and then composed herself. She rose from the chair with Malcolm and then told Alex to go and collect Jamie and Sara and meet them in the living area. Katrina then set her sights on Archer and the others, "You ready to explain yourselves?"
To Be Continued…
Author Notes: There we have it! Mal is reunited with the others. Smile and be happy!