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 Five
"Mal, you have got to see this." There was an unmistakable gleam in Trip's eyes as he turned around and looked at the armory officer. Trip had held off as long as he could, then cajoled his friend on helping him explore the strange transport. As of now, the two men were standing in the hanger looking at the unknown vessel. Malcolm Reed had followed the engineer more out of curiosity than anything else. Actually, he knew the Commander would drag him there so he wouldn't be alone in his exploration.
"It's Lt. Reed to you," he countered with more than just annoyance in his tone of voice. "Is it anything like that one from the future?" Malcolm asked, hating that it made him sound like he was actually just as curious as Trip. He looked over the outer shell of the ship, easily noting all the scars from some sort of battle.
"Nope. I think this is something totally different," Trip drawled. "I've never seen something like this before in my entire life." He rubbed his hands together in obvious anticipation of what was to come. Holding up his tricorder, Trip opened the hatch. Because of the time it was open planetside, much of the previous stench had dissipated, but it was still there.
Reed scrunched up his nose as he raised his had to his face. "What is that?"
"Be lucky. The Cap'n and I had masks and and I could still smell it." Trip glanced down to his watch. It was almost an hour since they had brought back both the injured parties and then the transport. He didn't even want to even consider the thought that the younger one was probably dead.
"So is it as bad on the inside as it is on the outside?"
"Yeah." Trip frowned as he reached for a flashlight. He let the beam of light cut through the darkened interior. "C'mon."
Instead of heading towards the front of the ship, Trip turned towards the back area where he had not checked it out earlier. "I want to see what's in here." He turned to look at Malcolm. "You up to it?"
"I would be careful, you know." Malcolm's eyes narrowed as he took a step back.
"You know me." Trip smiled.
"You're right, sir, I do know you." He came up beside the higher ranked officer. Finding that the door was stuck, he added his strength against the now stubborn door. It took a bit of time, but eventually it wrenched open and the two officers almost tumbled into the dark space. Trip let his flashlight illuminate the dark room.
The place was a mess. Personal belongs, or what looked like them were strewn around the room. Against the wall and stacked on top of each other were two narrow beds. "Looks like this is where they slept." Trip took a step into the room as the beam of his flashlight swept around the room.
"I'm actually surprised that it's in as good condition as it is. Just looking at the outside would make you think otherwise. I wonder how this ship survived?" Malcolm stooped down and picked up one of many palm sized square objects that littered the floor. "You do you think you can find out what's on this?"
"Prolly." Trip took the object and turned it over. "It almost looks like those old memory discs from several centuries ago," he muttered. Turning his attention back to the armory officer he continued, "It'll probably have to be the older of the two who can tell us what's on these."
"I know."
Trip's brow furrowed. "How?"
This time Reed rolled his eyes. "I was on the bridge when they first appeared. Ensign Sato was surprised that there were humans this far out."
"And you?"
Reed closed his eyes, then turned to leave the room.
"Wait," Trip called to the retreating form. "I'm not trying to mess with you. The Captain told me afterward that the younger one was fatally electrocuted. He's probably dead by now."
Reed's back straightened. He turned, a pained look on his face.
"Yeah, I know. It looked as if he got a bad shock from the systems. You know how much electricity runs through one of these vessels." Trip set the square object down and then approached the Lieutenant. From there he passed him to exit the room. "Let's go."
"Dead. Ugh." Reed followed him back into the larger common room. At the front of the ship there was another door, but it was obvious that it had been forced open earlier. Trip was standing in the doorway and had the beam of his flashlight on what looked like a charred console. It moved to the side to show dark stains on a side console.
"Mal, one was there," he brought his flashlight back to it's original spot, "and the other was here."
Glancing down Trip found himself looking at an odd cylindrical object on the floor and against the bulkhead. He knelt down and was just about to pick it up when Malcolm stopped him. "I wouldn't touch that if I were you."
Trip looked back to Malcolm who was now looking at the readout on his tricorder. "It has a small, but powerful power cell. By the looks of it, it's some sort of weapon, and it's active."
With deliberately slow movements, Trip stood and backed away. "I'll see if there's another one. There were two on this ship."
"Right." Reed squatted down in front of the object giving him a chance to get a better look at it.
After a bit of searching, Trip did find the other one; it was near where the other human sat. "Mal, I found it."
"Like I said earlier, don't touch it. I want to make sure they're both safe. Then they will go into the armory closet." The two began immediately securing what they could.
"You know, I thought I'd find both of you here."
"Cap'n," Trip whirled around in surprise. He had his flashlight still in hand. Realizing he had it directed into the Captain's face, he flicked it up to the ceiling so there would be more light for everyone.
Malcolm with one of the cylinders in hand had it pointed towards the Captain as if it were a weapon.
"What's that?"
Reed shook himself out of his startled stare. "Sorry, sir. From what I can tell, it's some sort of weapon." Only after realizing he was still pointing it, he lowered the unknown weapon.
"That's all right, Lieutenant. I came to see if you found anything else."
"Other than these, not much." Trip shook his head. "I still haven't had a good look at the engines yet."
This elicited a smile from the Captain. "Trip, I believe you just might be in luck. These humans have some peculiar abilities. One of them is to go into a healing trance."
"So he's gonna live?"
"It looks like it. And I did find out that it will be the younger one you will have to speak to concerning the engines."
"Okay. So when will I be able to talk to him?"
The smile on Jon's face disappeared. "I don't know. Qui-Gon, the older one, I suspect has already been released from sickbay."
Trip turned his attention to the two apparent weapons that Malcolm was now holding very carefully. "Do you think he might be able to tell us what those are?"
"Commander," Malcolm began, his voice pointed, "No. Until then, they are going into the armory closet where they belong. I don't want anyone carrying any unauthorized weapons around this ship even if they are secured."
"All right." Trip frowned before turning his attention back to Jon. "Any reason why you don't know when I can talk to the younger one?"
"He's still unconscious. Phlox never did say, but it looked like he was in a coma."
Eventually Trip nodded.
Turning his attention back to Reed, Jon moved to the side so that the Armory Officer could get out of what was apparently the cockpit.
"Captain," Reed acknowledged him as he passed by. From there he disappeared out of the ship. Eventually he returned, sans the odd weapons.
"There's one more door that I haven't checked out." Trip was already moving through the door. Reaching the last unopened door, the three struggled to get it open. Like the others, it gave way after a groan and then a screech.
Trip's flashlight cut through the darkened room. He breathed in awe, "Wow."
"Is that an engine?"
Trip ignored the question as he approached the large object in the middle of the room. "I've never seen anything like this before. It actually looks to be some sort of power generator."
"Well, it's either shorted, or burned out." Reed added his flashlight to the room.
"I'll just let you two continue on with your exploration." Jon's voice had a smile in it.
"Aye, Cap'n," it was obvious that Trip was distracted. He turned to his friend, "Do you think there's any power left in it?"
Reed pulled out his tricorder once again. He scanned it for a few minutes, "Maybe. It looks as if most has bled off."
"Yeah, not all that surprised." Trip's voice lowered to a whisper, "This is nothing like a warp core."
Malcolm put his hand on Trip's shoulder. "You're right. Although, I'd be afraid to touch anything."
This time Trip snorted, "I don't think it'll hurt us unless we do something stupid."
"The question is, how do we know we haven't done anything stupid?" Malcolm countered.
Trip turned his full attention back to the armory officer. "You know something, you can be really scary sometimes."
"Well, not to scare you off, we need more light in here before we do anything."
"Good idea." Trip turned to leave. He threw over his shoulder, "I'm going to engineering to get some tools and the light we're going to need."
Reed watched as Trip left the room. After a few minutes he headed back into that first room they explored. Being neat by nature, he started gathering up all the odd objects and placed them on the small table in stacks. As soon as Trip returned he left the room and followed the engineer back into what they were now calling the engine department.
TBC…