Consequences

Rating: T+
Summary: All choices have consequences whether they be good or bad
Disclaimer: All cannon characters are owned by the Great Flanneled One, and now Disney. All Enterprise characters are owned by the Great Bird of the Galaxy. All others are mine. I make no money off this.
Note: This is a sequel to Choices

Timeline: 40BBY

Speech: " "
Training Bond communications: /
Internal thoughts: italics

Chapter Two

"What the hell was that?" Ensign Travis Mayweather furrowed his brow as he watched an anomaly forming. Several minutes later a ship of unknown origin or design was spit out and tumbled towards a nearby uninhabited planet, one that they had recently arrived at. As the small ship approached, the gravitational pull captured it, and pulled it down to its surface, leaving a fiery trail in its wake. He turned to look back at the anomaly. For now it remained in place. Being born and raised in space, he had seen a lot of things, but never this.

"Captain?" Mayweather turned his head around, but not all the way.

"I see it." Captain Jonathan Archer leaned against the side of his chair, his elbow propped up on the arm while he rubbed his bottom lip with his thumb.

"Capital, I'm not sure what that is." Mayweather indicated the anomaly.

"It's an anomaly of some sort."

This time Jon rolled his eyes. "Yes Mr. Mayweather, I can see that."

"Captain," Sub-Commander T'Pol and their Vulcan representative, and science officer decided to speak, "At this point it is stable, which is abnormal for this type of anomaly."

"And the ship?"

T'Pol turned her attention back to her workstation. After a few minutes she frowned. "There is no record of that type of craft."

Jon frowned, and the rest of the crew who were stationed on the bridge all turned towards their Vulcan representative. "You're sure?"

"Yes, Captain," she kept her voice even, but it was obvious she was annoyed with his comment. Vulcan's may have complete control over their emotions, but there were some things that still slipped through.

Jon rose to his feet and moved over to her station. Looking over her shoulder, he remained at a respectful distance. He maybe the captain, but he also knew how the science station worked and how to interpret its readouts. "And the shuttle. Were you able to pick up any life signs?"

T'Pol ran the program again, this time over the ship that had already disappeared into the atmosphere. "Two life signs," an up-swept eyebrow raised, "And they're human."

Jon took a step back, "Mr. Mayweather?"

"Sorry, sir," the Ensign shook his head. "I've never been this far out from Terra. I'm not even sure if any spacers ever made it out this far."

"Do you think it might be Cochran?" Ensign Hoshi Sato from the communications spoke for the first time.

"Could be," Jon turned to look back at the large screen. They were deep inside the vessel, so what they had was just a large video screen, similar to the movie theaters from the 20th and 21 centuries. "From what I remember, I don't think he had anyone with him when he disappeared." Then again, they could also be from the future. Jon made a mental note to go and look through Daniel's database just in case. For now, though that would take a back seat. There was a small shuttle with two humans who were most likely stranded on the planet below. Hopefully they had full life support, for their earlier scans only showed that the atmosphere was marginally breathable at best.

"Ensign Sato, see if you can hail them."

"Aye, sir," she turned her attention to her workstation. After a moment, she started muttering while shaking her head. "No response to my calls, sir. Either they don't have the same frequencies, or their communications are completely out."

Jon stood there for a moment, a frown on his face. "Ensign," he turned and headed towards the lift, "have Commander Tucker meet me in shuttle bay 1 and have Pod 1 prepped." Just before the doors closed he glanced over to the Vulcan, "T'Pol you have the bridge."

It didn't take all that long for the lift to deposit him just outside the main docking area for the ship. Jon stopped and placed a hand on the wall while smiling. He still had a difficult time grasping the fact that here he was, captain of the first true exploratory vessel that humanity had ever created. Even with other more technologically advanced races, like the Vulcan's, keeping information from humanity, it only made humans more determined to reach out and explore. It had taken years of negotiations, but at least it was successful, and now they were traveling at faster than light speed with warp technology at their disposal.

Although, it wasn't without its drawbacks. The Vulcans still insisted that at least one of their kind be on board. Jon felt her presence hanging over him passing judgment on every decision he made. Even though they were new to space and space travel in general, their craving for knowledge easily overcame any thoughts on having Vulcans there for every decision.

A few moment later Commander Charles Tucker, III aka Trip came around the corner. "Cap'n?" the sandy hair engineer drawled as he neared. In previous centuries, people with a southern American accent were considered not the smartest of people. Trip, as Jon was want to call him, was the best human engineer that was alive. And as captain of the Enterprise, he wanted the best of the best.

"It looks as if we found some stranded humans."

Trip blinked as he stumbled to a stop, "Come again…sir?"

Jon palmed the door to the main hanger bay open and stepped inside. "Yes, Trip, you heard me right. There are two humans that probably need some help."

Trip followed him into the large space, only pausing to make sure the door sealed closed. "Now wait a minute, sir. I thought we were the furthest humans out in space." He paused while catching up, "You think it might be Cochran?"

"Hoshi already asked. I'm not really sure, especially since there were two humans on the shuttle that that anomaly spit out. And they're alive."

"So, something must have happened?" Trip asked as he followed Jon into the shuttle and sat down while looking over the information the engine panel was giving him.

"Don't know. Like I mentioned they were spit out of an anomaly and tumbled towards the planet we've been orbiting. The gravity snagged them and they were pulled down."

"Damn," Trip muttered as he shook his head. He raised his voice a little, "Ready whenever you are, Cap'n."

Jon did a few last minute adjustments and then they were released and now floating behind the Enterprise. The hum of the engines let both men know that everything was operating properly. Knowing what atmospheres were like, the shuttle jostled somewhat as they entered it.

"Do you know where we're headed?" Trip tightened his hold on the controls as the turbulence increased.

"Don't worry where we're going, just make sure that the engines work properly so we can get out of here. I don't want to use the transporter unless it's the only way off this planet."

The turbulence lessened to almost nothing, and soon Jon had them skimming over the surface of the planet. The small ship was relatively easy to find, especially with the trail of destruction it left it its wake. Jon had their pod land close enough to reach their destination with ease. From there they went to the back and retrieved oxygen masks. The air was thin and considering what they were about to do, they both felt it better to have the extra oxygen. When ready Jon led the way out of the shuttle pod with tricorder in hand. The unknown shuttle was battered and scarred all over, but in one piece. Jon turned to Trip, an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Looks like it's been through Hell." Trip examined the outer hull with a practiced eye.

Jon easily agreed with the younger officer. He began moving slowly around the small ship, looking for a hatch or anything that they could open and get inside. Checking the tricorder again, he noticed that the life-signs were weaker, which wasn't all that surprising.

"We need to get inside," Jon called back over to where Trip was still at.

Instead of grunting in agreement Trip answered, "Cap'n, can you get back over here? I think I found the hatch."

Jon retraced his steps and found the engineer on the original side, but near the other end of the ship looking at something with great interest. There was an indentation along with several color coded squares that had the oddest looking characters imprinted on them. "You think the computer can get the code?"

"Prolly," Trip, though, was already working on getting it open.

After several long minutes the tricorder beeped. There was a pop, followed closely by a hiss of escaping air. The door in front of them pulled back and then slid to the side revealing a dark interior, along with the smell of something burning.

Pulling out a flashlight, Jon waved it around, wanting to see what was inside, and to make sure that he didn't trip over anything. The place was a mess. Anything that wasn't bolted down was strewn anywhere and everywhere. Stepping up into the darkness, it took Jon a moment to realize that the smell they were almost overwhelmed with was from flesh, specifically human flesh.

"Tricorder states they're still alive," Trip answered after coughing. Their masks removed some of the stench, but not all of it.

"If the smell is anything to go by, we need to get them to Dr. Phlox as soon as possible." Jon turned to the side, once again pointing the beam of light anywhere and everywhere. The webbing around the chairs was interesting, and not something they would have thought of. There also didn't look to be any computers. It was as if they were much more primitive compared to what they had in the shuttle pod.

It was apparent that the ship suffered through a very brutal trip, but it wasn't possible to know what it was. Then there was the landing. If it was Jon's bet, the ship was probably unusable. Still, he wanted to get the ship into the hanger of the Enterprise so it could be fully examined. Reaching the door on the side of could be considered a common room, he reached out and touched it with his fingers. It hissed, and as it began to move it stopped as if it were jammed. At first he pushed with his hands. When nothing happened he used his shoulder and weight to try and get it open further. It was obvious that the smell was from the other side. When it still didn't move he called back, "Trip, can you give me a hand with this?"

A moment later the engineer appeared beside him. "They're in there, aren't they, Cap'n?"

"Yeah."

With the added strength they pushed against the door again. There was loud groan and then a screech as the metal gave way. The room beyond, now exposed, was much smaller, a cockpit of sorts, and two humans slumped over different control panels. Trip turned and reached for the larger of the two, but was stopped with a hand to his arm. "He looks to be okay, it's him I'm worried about."

Jon leaned over the younger man while pointing his tricorder at him. After a beep, he pulled him back to get a better look. What was left of the injured one's clothing was charred. A slight trickle of blood came from his nose and ears, while his skin was swollen from an obvious burn. His hands remained curled, almost as if his fingers were fused into that position. The scorched end of the thin braid that hung from the side of his head made them both realize where the burnt smell came from.

Jon had to make a quick decision. He really didn't want to use the Transporter, but at this point it was the only viable option. He turned back to Trip, "Transporter for this one. We can bring the older human back in the pod." Not waiting to waste another minute, he pulled out his communicator, "Archer to Enterprise, come in Enterprise."

"This is the Enterprise. Any problems down there Captain?" Hoshi's voice came across the small speaker.

"Ensign, we're going to have to use the Transporter for one of the humans. Have Dr. Phlox bring a stretcher to the Transporter room. We'll bring the other by shuttle."

"Aye, sir."

"Have Lt. Reed use my coordinates. Archer out." And with that he cut the transmission. After placing the communicator on the human's lap, he nodded to Trip and waited for Malcolm to transport the critically injured human to the ship so he could get the care he so desperately needed. A few minutes later the tell-tale sound of the transporter sounded in the room. As soon as he was gone they went to work getting the larger one off the ship and into the shuttle. It took a bit of doing, but they managed. When they made it back to the shuttle pod they strapped him in one of the beds then went and strapped themselves in so they could leave the planet safely. Jon wanted to bring the starship down into the atmosphere so they could get their hands on the engines of that unknown ship. He already knew that Trip wanted to see what made that strange ship move.

TBC…