Walk in the Dark
By Drogna
Chapter 14
AN: Happy Easter everyone. Hope you all got lots of eggs.
Travis Mayweather wasn't happy about being the only person left aboard Enterprise, but someone had to mind the shop. Lieutenant Reed had been the logical choice to beam across to the station, but Mayweather wished he'd been able to join him.
The whole place was too quiet and he didn't like it. He'd grown up on a Boomer ship where you were lucky to get a cabin to yourself and usually Enterprise was no different. He was used to having lots of people around him. If it had felt empty with only the eight of them, then it was a ghost ship now. Their skeleton crew had been reduced to a single bone.
One of the sensors sounded an alarm and Mayweather jumped in surprise. He counted his blessings that no one was there to see that. He moved across to the tactical station and noticed that a ship was approaching.
"Columbia," said Mayweather to the empty bridge. They were very close now. With everything that had been going on, no one had thought to check whether they were maintaining speed. They were at least two hours early.
He jogged across to the communication station and opened a circuit. "Mayweather to Captain Archer."
There was no answer, just a lot of static. He looked down at the controls in front of him, trying to work out if there was something wrong with the communications at his end. Everything looked fine but he hadn't been trained as a coms officer. He didn't even know how to boost a signal. He took a couple of steps sideways and tried to scan the station for jamming frequencies, but the science console was a complete mystery to him.
"Come on, give me some help here. I'm a helmsman not an engineer."
Silence was the only reply. Enterprise wasn't giving up any secrets, even to her favourite helmsman.
The next thing Mayweather heard was, "Columbia to Enterprise." He swore loudly, using the special swear words that he reserved for occasions when the situation was going to hell more quickly than usual.
Mayweather took a deep breath and replied in as normal a tone as he could manage. "Columbia this is Enterprise. Go ahead."
"This is Captain Hernandez. Who are you and where is Captain Archer?"
"Ensign Mayweather, Ma'am, and I'm afraid Captain Archer is unavailable at the moment."
"I didn't ask if he was available, I asked where he was, Ensign."
"He's on the station, Ma'am."
"It sounds like you have a lot of explaining to do, Ensign. Unfortunately it will have to wait. I have orders to recover Enterprise and arrest her crew, prepare to be boarded."
"I can't let you do that, Ma'am," said Mayweather.
"Unless our sensors are wrong, you're alone aboard Enterprise. You can't exactly stop us."
"I can still fire on you and do some damage. I'd rather not do that, Ma'am, but until I get orders from Captain Archer, no one is boarding Enterprise."
"Then I suggest you contact the Captain and explain the situation to him," said Hernandez with annoyance.
"Communications with the station are down, Ma'am. So if you don't mind I think we should just sit tight for the moment."
There was silence for a moment from Columbia. Mayweather imagined Hernandez discussing the situation with her bridge crew, and being told that weapons range extended further than transporter range. She was probably asking for other options right now and hoping that she wouldn't need to fire on Enterprise. At the same time he hoped that she didn't call his bluff, he didn't want to fire on Columbia either and he wasn't sure that he could do it.
"Very well Ensign, no one will board Enterprise for now. In the mean time, it sounds like you could use some help. I don't know what's going on here and I'm not sure that I want to, but Captain Archer wouldn't be out of communicator contact if he could help it."
"It's a long story, Ma'am, and I'm not sure that I should be the one to tell it," said Mayweather. "We could use some help though."
"I've isolated the frequency," said T'Pol. She and Hoshi had managed to work out the frequency that the hand device used after Trip had pointed out that the receivers had to be set to detect that same frequency. Once T'Pol had found a receiver in the corridor, it was an easy task to see which frequency was being used.
"Good, how much longer until the jammer is ready?" asked Archer.
Hess had the intact pieces of the broken communicators laid out on a table beside the genetic resequencer machine. She had improvised some basic tools from the broken communicators, Phlox's medical kit and other items that she had found around the room. She was sitting on a stool, working on the jamming device while occasionally getting advice from her boss via the intercom.
"Just make sure you remove the signal booster from five of the circuits. Otherwise you'll end up with a pile of smoking plastic." Trip yawned.
"Okay, got it. Another couple of minutes, Captain," said Hess.
"You need to rest, Commander," said Phlox.
"Just another couple of minutes, Doc," said Trip, echoing Hess and yawning again. "How much longer have I got in this thing?"
"About another hour," said Phlox. He checked the vital signs of his patient and wasn't exactly happy with what he saw. "Commander, are you in any pain?"
"A little," replied Trip.
Phlox knew that was a lie. Trip's blood pressure was up and his muscles were tense. Everything pointed to discomfort of much larger proportions than Trip was admitting. The various IVs were still in place but it obviously needed a boost. Phlox prepared a hypospray, and then pulled the blanket away from Trip's legs so that he could gain access to a vein to inject the pain medication into. There was the sound of a hiss as the hypospray discharged.
"That should start to make you feel better," said Phlox.
"Thanks Doc," replied Trip, the tension already leaving his body as the edge was taken off his pain.
"I can finish this now, sir," said Hess.
"You could have built it without my help." Trip's eyes were getting very heavy now and he knew he couldn't stay awake much longer. His eyes closed despite his attempts to keep them open.
"It went a lot quicker with your input," replied Hess.
Trip quirked his lips into a half smile but he was definitely too far gone into sleep to reply.
"Is he going to be alright?" asked Reed. This was the first chance that he'd really had since arriving to check up on Trip. The improvement seemed remarkable but it was obvious that they still had a very sick man on their hands.
"Another hour and I'll be able to tell you, but he is doing a lot better. The only thing he is lacking is stamina." The doctor turned back to checking vitals and Reed took the hint and went back to where he, Archer and T'Pol had been discussing their plan of attack.
"If Hess and Trip are right with their sums then we'll have to get to within ten metres of her to block the signal, and we need line of sight," said Archer. "Leah and Abigail will be awake by now, so we'll probably have three of them to deal with."
"Captain, given the time frame, we should also assume that Columbia is here," said T'Pol.
"Yeah, and no doubt they're giving Travis a hard time. We'll have to assume that Enterprise has been captured," said Archer.
"Which means that once this is over, we'll be turning ourselves in," said Reed.
"I'm afraid so, Malcolm," said Archer. "It's earlier than we'd planned but we all knew it would come to this eventually."
"It's worth it, sir," said Hoshi, and there were affirmative nods from around the room.
"It's done," said Hess. "It's not pretty, but it should work fine." She held up the jamming device which looked like three communicators held together with surgical tape.
"Okay, let's go," said Archer. "Doctor, as soon as you can, get Trip out of here and back to Enterprise. Don't wait for us."
"Captain, I'd prefer to remain here," said Phlox.
"Neither you nor Trip are in any trouble. They can't court martial someone who isn't a member of Starfleet and Trip wasn't exactly a willing participant in any of this."
"I'm not worried about that, I'm more concerned about my piloting skills. I have only flown shuttles in simulation before now."
"As soon as we get back, we're giving you flying lessons, Doctor," said Reed, as he checked the settings on their single phase pistol.
"I shall look forward to that, Lieutenant," replied Phlox.
Archer nodded in agreement and slight exasperation at Phlox raising a problem with his plan. "Just get back to the shuttle and we'll meet you there. If the worst happens then Columbia can pick you up."
"Of course, Captain," beamed Phlox.
The Enterprise officers walked purposefully down the corridor. There was no point in hiding now. They had a weapon and as soon as they used it Rebecca would know what they had done. Once they had line of sight they could activate the jamming device and her hold over them would be broken. Getting into line of sight before she realised that they were there was going to be the tricky part but, with luck, everything would go to plan.
"Hoshi, this is where you leave us," said Archer.
"Yes, sir. I still think I could help," said Hoshi.
"We need you to complete the download. It's important, Hoshi," said Archer.
"Yes, sir. Good luck." Hoshi gave a brief nod of her head before taking the other branch of the corridor towards the computer room.
Archer led the rest of the party towards the central core. It took only a few minutes to complete the walk and take the elevator to the correct level. Now they needed to be stealthy in their approach. The main hatch to the central core was closed and locked from the inside as they had expected.
Archer used hand signals to indicate the grid covering the air duct. Reed gave Hess a leg up so that she could reach the vent and unscrew the cover. It took only a few seconds, but it was performed in nervous silence. Once the grid was off, Hess handed it back down to Reed and he boosted her so that she could climb into the exposed shaft. It was lucky that the engineer wasn't a big woman otherwise their plan would have failed at the first hurdle, but Hess was able to squeeze in and push herself along.
The difficulty here was that none of them were sure how long it would take Hess to move far enough along the shaft that she could reach the main control room. They now needed to open the hatch and hope that they'd given Hess enough time to get to where she needed to be. Reed and T'Pol had already removed the panel from the door lock and were just awaiting Archer's signal to short circuit the lock and open the door.
Archer counted down the five minutes that they had agreed to give Hess, and then gave T'Pol and Reed the nod to open the door. The hatch slid back and three identical women turned around.
"Starfleet, you must be more stupid than I thought," said the central one of the three, which Archer assumed to be Rebecca. "Do you want your friend to die?"
"No and he's not going to," said Archer. "Time to give it up, Rebecca. You're not leaving this station."
"Have it your way, Starfleet. I hope you can live with the fact that you just killed your friend." Rebecca pressed a small button on the hand device with her thumb. Archer held his breath, but realised that their plan had worked when the expression on Rebecca's face changed.
"What did you do?" asked Rebecca, accusingly.
"Blocked the signal with a jammer," said Archer.
"Give me the jamming device, or I will kill you all," said Rebecca.
"Sorry, but it's safely out of the way," said Archer. "I suggest you put down your weapons. You've lost, Rebecca."
"Not by a long way. Leah, Abigail, take their weapon and subdue them."
"Yes, Rebecca," chorused the two clones. The two women stood in front of the group of Starfleet officers.
"My name is Leah," said one. "You will not win against us."
"I am Abigail," said the other. "You would be best to give up now."
Reed fired his phase pistol and hit Abigail but it barely seemed to slow her down. Before any of them could react they were in the grips of the two clones. Reed's phase pistol had been snatched from his hand, and a blow to the head had sent him stunned to the floor. Archer hadn't been able to move quickly enough to help Reed and was now held struggling in a head lock. T'Pol had a small advantage in that she was stronger than the average human, she and Leah were exchanging blows. T'Pol wasn't as fast as Leah but her fighting skills were superior, it was enough to make them even, but T'Pol wasn't exactly winning.
Archer caught movement out of the corner of his eye and saw Hess kick the cover off the ventilation shaft that she had been hiding in. She was tackled by Rebecca before she could get much further however. This wasn't exactly going according to Archer's plan. They were very gradually losing to the clones, despite their superior numbers.
Then there were flashes of light and suddenly the odds had changed. Phase pistols fired and fired again on a higher setting. The clones collapsed to the ground, stunned.
"You always were trouble, Jonathan," said Hernandez. Four security officers and Columbia's Tactical Officer stood behind her, their phase pistols drawn.
Archer rubbed his neck and stepped over Abigail's body. "I'm not sure whether I should be pleased to see you or not."
"A thank you for saving your life would be nice," said Hernandez.
Archer grinned. "Thank you." For a tiny moment, it was like they'd never left that mountain top back on Earth. Unfortunately reality reasserted itself.
"Augment clones?"
"There are more on level five in cold sleep," said Archer.
"Now perhaps you'd like to tell me what's going on here?"
"We found a cure for Trip," said Archer. "Unfortunately it's a product of illegal genetic research."
"And you knew that Starfleet would never let you use it, so you kidnapped Commander Tucker and stole Enterprise. There had to be another way, Jonathan."
"Not that I could see. Trip was running out of time."
"I hope he knows how lucky he is, to have friends like you," said Hernandez.
"Personally I think we're the lucky ones," said Archer. "Now, do what you have to do and let's all go home."
Hernandez sighed. "Captain Jonathan Archer, under section twelve of the Starfleet code of justice, I hereby arrest you and your crew for the theft of Starfleet property."
Archer gave a tired nod.
"But given your past good record, I'm prepared to let you take Enterprise home, as long as you give me your word you won't attempt to escape. I'll place a couple of security officers on board just to make it official. Do I have your word?"
"You have my word," said Archer.
"Captain," said T'Pol and two heads turned in her direction. "Archer," she added. "The energy drain we detected earlier, that was interfering with our communications, has become more pronounced. I think we should investigate."
Archer looked to Hernandez. She was the one in charge here now, but he hoped that he conveyed that he thought that this was important.
"Okay, let's take a look. Where are the rest of your crew?"
"Phlox and Trip are in a treatment room on level three. Hoshi's in the main computer room, downloading some information for me."
Hernandez ordered a couple of her men to go to the locations given and take everyone back to the shuttle pods. "Where's this energy reading, Commander T'Pol?"
"The lower level of the central core," said T'Pol.
The two other Columbia security officers were ordered to keep the prisoners under guard, and Hernandez led them forward into the central core. They had to climb down a metal ladder to the lower level. They entered the circular room, much smaller than the one above it.
Filling the curved sides of the room were rows of hundreds of glass jars, each with an embryo inside, floating in slightly pink, translucent liquid. The Starfleet officers were caught between shock, revulsion and wonder.
"My God," said Hernandez. "What were they doing here?"
"I'll explain later," said Archer.
"They are all Sarina Kaur clones," said T'Pol as she scanned the embryos. "Until recently all these embryos were merely genetic material, kept in cold storage. They are now experiencing accelerated growth."
"She was creating an army," said Reed.
"It's drawing a hell of a lot of power." Hess went to the nearest control panel and began to access data. "Oh this is so not good."
"What's the problem?" asked Hernandez.
"It's drawing too much power," said Hess. "This technology has been sitting here for years without any maintenance and she just switched it on, full power, without a warm up. This is delicate equipment, drawing huge amounts of power. Some of the incubators aren't working and it's all acting like a great big battery, trying to store too much power. Unless we can turn it off, it's going to destroy the whole station."
"If we turn it off then the embryos will die," said T'Pol.
"They'll die anyway if the station is destroyed," said Hess.
"Do it," said Archer. Hernandez gave a nod of agreement and Hess turned back to the control panel.
"She's locked it down. It's not accepting my commands," said Hess. "Hoshi might be able to crack it, but I could take a while."
"How long before it blows?" asked Reed.
"Twenty minutes at most," said Hess.
Archer checked the time. Trip would be finished his treatment by now and hopefully Phlox was already on his way back to the shuttle with his patient, possibly with the help of two of Columbia's security officers.
"We don't have time," said Archer.
"Agreed, let's get out of here," said Hernandez.
They climbed the ladder back to the main room. "We're leaving," said Hernandez to the security officers which were guarding the clones. "Bring the prisoners."
"Captain, these two are dead," said the security officer, indicating Leah and Abigail.
"Your weapons were set to stun?" asked Hernandez.
"Yes, Captain," said the security officer.
T'Pol had her scanner out and was examining the two dead clones. "They were suffering from replicative fading. Their bodies were unable to take the shock of repeated stun blasts."
"What about her?" asked Hernandez, looking at Rebecca.
Rebecca's eyes were open, fixed on her dead sisters. She sat on the floor, her hands bound by standard Starfleet issue cuffs and the security officers were watching her carefully.
"She is healthy, although also suffering from replicative fading to a lesser extent," replied T'Pol.
"Bring her," said Hernandez.
The security officers pulled Rebecca to her feet and everyone turned to leave. Suddenly Rebecca had pulled free from the security officers and broken her handcuffs. They fired at her but she was too quick for them and she was already out of the door before they were able to collect their wits. The security guards were a little sore from the punches from their prisoner but were ready to give chase.
"Leave her," said Hernandez. "We don't have time to chase after her. Come on."
They made it to the shuttlepods as quickly as they could. "Everyone here?" asked Hernandez.
"The doctor and his patient are already on the shuttlepod, Captain," said one of the security officers.
"Where's Hoshi?" asked Archer.
Hernandez flicked open her communicator but was once again met with only static. "Damn this interference. Where are they?"
There was the sound of running from further down the corridor. Hoshi and escort came into view, both running flat out.
A breathless Hoshi, panting as she talked stopped just in front of Archer. "The station," she pulled air into her lungs, "going to explode, ten minutes."
"We know," said Archer. "Get those shuttlepods started up. Why'd you cut it so fine?"
"Had to complete the download," said Hoshi, slightly more calmly as she climbed onto the shuttlepod. "Then the computers started going wild and telling me that the station was going to explode."
Everyone climbed into a shuttlepod, Archer heading for the one that he knew contained Phlox and Trip. Reed took the controls, aware that his Captain would prefer to be with Trip. Hernandez directed two of her security contingent to go with Archer, although he got the impression this was more for appearance sake than because she thought Archer would break their deal.
"How are you doing?" asked Archer, looking down at Trip's pale form lying on the stretcher, still hooked up to every medical monitor that Phlox possessed. He was swathed in blankets to make sure that he remained warm in the air-conditioned shuttlepod.
"Most excitement I've had in months," replied Trip, weakly, holding up a shaking hand for Archer to grip.
"Hang in there a little longer and we'll have you back to Enterprise in no time," said Archer.
"Hey, I feel better now than I have done in long time," replied Trip, closing his eyes. "Just so damn tired."
Archer looked up at Phlox, as Trip's hand went limp in his.
"Just sleeping, Captain. He'll be doing that a lot over the next few days," said Phlox.
Archer nodded and took his seat on the bench at the back of the pod so that he could keep an eye on his friend.
The shuttlepods took off from the station and set off towards the two Starfleet ships. For the moment everyone was going back to their own ships, but a security contingent from Columbia was joining the Enterprise crew.
"Reed to Enterprise."
"Good to hear your voice, sir," said Mayweather. "Welcome home."
The launch bay doors opened and the shuttlepod came to rest.
"You know the drill, everyone. We need to get out of here as quickly as possible, preferably before that station blows," said Archer.
There were shouts of "Aye, sir," and everyone ran to their posts. Archer turned briefly to look back at Phlox and Trip.
"Don't worry, Captain. I'll take good care of the Commander," said Phlox.
"Thanks, Doctor," said Archer with genuine gratitude and ran for the bridge.
The two Starfleet ships engaged engines and flew away from the station, just as the first explosion blossomed within the structure of the inner core. It was followed by further devastating blasts and soon fire raged across the entire station, consuming the oxygen within the habitable areas. Finally the fire reached the generator core and hit the antimatter reactor, destroying the station in a final triumphant detonation of explosive material. Shards of dismembered metal flew outwards from the centre of the blast, along with other charred debris, but by that point Columbia and Enterprise had made the jump to warp speed, outrunning anything which could have damaged the ships.