"Enterprise,do you copy? This is Shuttlepod One."

Silence answered his hails, a hush so complete that Trip couldn't help but to fear the worst. Even if she had been on the periphery of the system, Enterprise should have been able to respond, should have been able to detect the shuttle's departure from New Elysium.

If she was able.

Trip reached down, popped open the comm access panel and began studying the circuits within. He was confident that his earlier repairs had been sufficient, was positive that everything was functional, but it never hurt to double-check. Or, in this case, quadruple-check. Standing at his back, Sergeant Reynolds shifted awkwardly. Little had been said since Trip had "relieved" T'Pol, little needed to be said. Reynolds had seen Tucker's face when the engineer finished the med-scan on the Vulcan, had witnessed the soul-wrenching terror in Trip's expression, had understood their sudden urgency.

A crackle of static emerged from the comm speakers and Trip looked up, glanced at the board once more. Everything was functioning properly. His face remained creased in a frown as he hit the transmit button again.

"Enterprise, this is Commander Tucker. Medical emergency, repeat medical emergency. Please respond."

A distant flash abruptly filled the viewport and Trip felt his stomach lurch as he recognized it at once. He immediately began mental calculations: yield of the explosion determined from the size of the detonation, distance to the epicenter, estimated time to that point at their maximum speed. Anyone who knew him just as the 'good ole boy' engineer who seemed to run his department by the seat of his pants would have been stunned at the analytical nature of his thoughts, the almost Vulcan-like precision he applied to his thought processes.

T'Pol hadn't been surprised in the slightest.

"What was that?" Reynolds asked.

"Breached warp core gone critical," Trip replied softly. His fingers danced over the sensor board; they weren't much, especially after the crash, but might give him an idea of what had happened.

"Does that mean-?" The MACO did a good job of keeping his sudden fear reined in but Tucker could still hear it. Trip wished that he could share it but his thoughts, his fears were elsewhere, somewhere ... closer.

"No way to tell," he said, his tone composed and even. By Tucker's estimation, the core had been ejected before it exploded - the detonation was simply too visible for it to have occurred on-ship. The sensor board beeped as it detected a profile matching the one he was looking for. Tension drained from him faster than when his Vulcan applied neuropressure and he felt years younger. There was still time.

Enterprise was still there.

"Strap in," Trip ordered as he set a course. There was still time. Hold on, T'Pol. Just a little longer. There was no response, no hint that she had heard the mental plea, no clue that she was even aware of his presence. He could feel only one thing through the bond, a singular sensation that seemed to radiate from her, that threatened to crush his self-control and send him spiraling into despair.

He felt pain.