Shuttle One

"Dislocated," Archer said in the semi-darkness.

"Figures," Trip replied, nursing his injured shoulder. Archer hadn't had much trouble getting the weight off him, turns out it had been a chair after all, Hoshi was right, but still Trip hadn't been able to move. Hoshi had joined him and they had finally managed to get a swearing and sweating Trip up and out of the position he was pinned in. And Archer had just found out what the issue was.

"Do you feel that?!" Hoshi suddenly called out.

Both men stopped and looked up. Trip winced, every move was excruciating. It was impossible to see anything, though. There was just enough glow in the cabin to make out the rough outlines of shapes. "Feel what?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Archer said over him. After the bit with the chairs on the ceiling, he had renewed appreciation for Hoshi's perceptions.

"We're not moving anymore!" Hoshi said, "There's no waves."

Trip listened carefully, keeping as still as he could. "She's right," he said to Archer. The constant jostling that had let him know they were in the middle of the ocean had stopped.

Archer and Hoshi turned to stare out the windows, incongruously low to the ground now that the shuttle was upside down. Archer squinted against the dark luminescence outside but he couldn't really see anything. Trip sat where he was, listening for sounds of crackling or water. He couldn't hear any.

It was Hoshi who broke the silence. "The light... it's going...," she said. Almost as if on cue the last glow illuminating the cabin disappeared. They were back in complete darkness. Complete darkness and the eerie stillness of absence of movement...

"What's going on?!" Archer asked of no one in particular.

"We're sinking," Trip calmly replied. He'd been in and around the sea long enough to know.

"Sinking?!" Hoshi took a sharp breath, "What do you mean?!" She was not going to panic, she was not. "Will the shuttle hold?" She asked, trying to keep her tone level, hoping the men wouldn't hear how her throat was constricted by fear.

"The shuttle will hold...," Trip answered, though without the absolute certainty that would have convinced her.

"If it can go in space, it can hold under water... and we've been down under before," Archer added reassuringly.

No need to add what he knew Trip was also thinking, that they didn't know how far down they were going, or how much being almost digested by the alien had weakened the structural integrity of the shuttle.

xxx

Sacred Grounds

It was inconvenient that the reduced oxygenation led to shallow, rapid breathing, which in turn served to heighten the strain on the lungs and therefore required further oxygenation. T'Pol put the thought aside, it was a statement of facts and did not help her situation. Logic dictated she only attend to tasks that minimized the draw on energy, and non-productive thoughts were a waste of such. She adjusted her robe, her body temperature was increasing as her system became more taxed, making the air feel increasingly cold. She noticed her hands had taken the dark green hue which was a reliable marker of a lack of oxygenation. Eventually her skin would acquire a rich copper tint, once her blood was no longer being properly cleansed. Another non-productive thought.

She brought her attention back to the platform, where the participants were in various stages of ceremonial dishevelment. The audience moved around freely, walking to and from the ceremonial platform in what looked like randomized distribution in order to physically take part in the Joining. Which seemed to require the divestment of various parts of the Eylordene's body, according to a ritual about which her guide was uncharacteristically quiet. At some predetermined point or possibly once the participants had had enough, they would come back to their stone seats to continue looking in mesmerized silence or to sleep.

Fortunately, her status as alien dignitary precluded her from having to serve as an active participant. It seemed that her role as an Attendant had been enough to satisfy the Eylordenes. This allowed her to maintain the optimal resting position, as she had been for what now seemed hours on end. She did not consult her wrist monitor to confirm that Lieutenant Reed should have been back already. Time had extended beyond the point where the monitor could be accused of malfunctioning. That too would be a non-productive use of energy. The only necessary piece of information was that Lieutenant Reed had not come back yet.

She thought she heard the low vibration of an approaching vessel and waited, all senses on alert. The buzzing sound did not disappear, but no craft appeared. A careful analysis pointed to the blood coursing through her veins as a source of the sound. She had to attribute the misidentification to the effects of the Eylordene atmosphere. Vulcans did not harbor such false hopes.

xxx

Somewhere in the A'EA Straights

Yes! that was it! How come he didn't think of it sooner! Reed whirled on Zheezhill, "Enterprise!" he exclaimed, "I need to talk to my ship!"

Zheezhill looked at him in puzzlement. The shuttle was deep in the ocean, the alien starship was way high up over the stratosphere. Surely, the lieutenant was looking in the wrong direction. But she was duty-bound to honor the alien's wishes, however misguided they were. She turned to the radio officer, "Hail the alien ship!"

The Eylordene turned to the circular micdisk but Reed was already at his elbow, leaning over him. "Lieutenant Reed to Enterprise," he spoke loudly, "Reed to Enterprise! Come in Enterprise!" he said directly in the round disk.

Static answered him.

"Reed to Enterprise, come in!" Reed raised his voice, even though he knew that would not help much, "Enterprise!" he bellowed. He could almost feel Zheezhill's eyes boring in his back, wondering if he was losing it.

A scratchy sound suddenly resounded through the cabin, "En…pri… Spe..list.. don.. ur...»

Reed turned in frustration to the radio officer. The crewman was already adjusting the feed, his tentacles moving with exquisite precision.

"Reed here! Is that you Gordon?!"

"Affir…ative, Lieu…nant." The feed was at least intelligible.

"Is Travis there?!" Reed shouted. Of course Travis would be there, what did he expect?

"Lieute..t!" he recognized Travis' voice. "What.. going..?" Beside him the radio officer was frantically manipulating the controls, seeking better reception.

"Travis! We've found the shuttle! It's sinking!" Reed shouted, "Any way you can get a lock on it?!" He waited, hoping what he said came through.

On Enterprise, Travis bounded out of the captain's chair straight to his station, leaving his replacement just enough time to make way. "Do you have the coordinates?!" he called out.

"Sending them!" the radio officer replied.

"Leffowsky!" Travis shouted over his shoulder to the science console, "Put them on the screen!"

"Coordinates up!" the call swiftly came back from the science station.

Travis quickly scanned the coordinates. They were on the other side of the planet, there was no way they could scan for the shuttle. He checked possible routes, putting the ship in motion before he'd even formulated the thought. He called "Impulse 0.5!" out of habit, there was nobody to call to, he was both captain and pilot. "Gordon, get me Lieutenant Reed!" he commanded.

"Still patched in, Sir!"

"Lieutenant! We'll be there in five minutes!" Travis called out. No point asking if that was enough time, it had to be enough time.

Reed nodded to the radio officer in approval. The line was now loud and clear. "Travis, keep scanning as you go. I need a lock on the shuttle location, stat! Before they sink too far!" He waited for confirmation, head bent.

Travis nodded, then realized that the lieutenant could not see him. "Aye, aye, Sir!" he said out loud.

"Scanning ahead," Leffowsky called from the science station.

Travis motioned for Gordon to mute the com before turning to the scientist. "What about interference from A'Er'Orl's atmosphere?" he asked.

Leffowsky looked up in understanding, "I'm drawing energy from all systems to amplify the radar array," he explained, "We're going to get double or triple echos, but I hope there'll be enough definition that we can triangulate back..."

"All systems..." Travis let the words trail. So in short they'd be exposed and defenseless for an outside chance at locating a needle in a haystack. When there were already feet on the ground to locate the shuttle. Could he really take that risk? The entire crew depended on him. What would Captain Archer do? He repressed a sigh, he couldn't afford to look at a loss. He couldn't think of what the Captain would do. All he had was what he, Travis Mayweather, could think of doing.

And that would have to be good enough.

He motioned for Gordon to unmute the feed. "We'll be overhead in four minutes, Lieutenant. We'll have the shuttle located before then." An assurance he was far from feeling but that Lieutenant Reed and everyone else listening in needed.

He shut off the feed and leaned back in his seat. He was in command of Enterprise, invested with protecting its hundred souls.

He had never felt more alone in the world.

xxx