XX Doubt Thou The Stars Are Fire XX
It had taken so long to find his heart. And then . . .
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This particular day, the Enterprise was patrolling in a random pattern close to Romulan space, yet still in territory controlled by the allies that included Earth. There had been reports of sightings of an unknown, most probably Romulan vessel in the area. Starfleet researchers thought that it might be a scout looking for weaknesses in the defensive buffer that had been set up – admittedly it was impossible to guarantee complete safety as 'space is vast'.
When Malcolm Reed, captain of the Enterprise, happened to be on the same shift as Admiral Archer – it was not unusual for him to be at the security desk, either alone or training his officers in the finer points of using the sensor equipment. So it was this day that Reed was occupied for the first part of the shift observing one of his security officers using the sensor array, and showing how to get the best results. (Later he would wonder if he missed something, but then Malcolm decided that he hadn't, for to dwell on that was madness. He knew that he was skilled at his profession if anything . . .)
The Admiral was in the midst of describing an unusual meal that he had had whilst on Vulcan – something about a foul-smelling fruit called durian. T'Pol was at her position at Science, but had not expressed an opinion as to his knowledge of the matter; Reed didn't have the heart to tell Archer that the fruit was actually from Earth (Hoshi would have gently explained . . .) He was in the midst of this thought when the attack occurred . . .
The sensor array swept in a pattern that made Reed immediately react, but since there was 'an act' he was responding to – well, it was too late. A Romulan craft had dropped into existence, and fired its powerful energy weapon at the Enterprise.
It impacted, violently shaking the Enterprise, even as the captain fired in response, quickly raining superior, precision, phased-beams that raked fiery hell stem to stern; the Romulan broke in pieces even as klaxons blared aboard the Enterprise, indicating a hull breach. Reed slammed at the ship's intercom and snarled when it was obvious that that form of communications had failed.
He used the still operable sensors (turned inward) to find out where the Romulan weapon had hit – a direct rupture of the superstructure of the ship including his quarters, normally possessing of a remarkable view, bore the brunt of the attack. Numbness, (which physically Malcolm had known as 'shock' when injured) coursed through his body, and he thought for just a moment of the numerous times he had taken 'first aid' – 'how odd, so this is that feeling – I will have to tell Hoshi . . .' and knew this was forever an impossibility.
The security officer that he was training – 'Anton Chambers', Reed only remembered vaguely – had positioned himself between his captain and the main view screen and was attempting to push him back toward the rear part of the bridge in the direction of the seldom used screen-table. Malcolm was aware though that the rest of the bridge staff was staring, fixated on the forward screen. He too, looked at that screen. Chambers said in an odd tone, "Sir, don't . . . don't look Malcolm, please don't look . . ."
He looked. At first he wasn't sure what he was seeing. It appeared to be a manikin floating in front of their vessel, such as one might find in an old-fashioned department store. (Most of the Americans aboard the Enterprise would have thought this an oddity as it was 'old-fashioned', but Malcolm had been to many places even as a child so the idea was not strange.) The 'manikin' had long flowing hair – such as that of Hoshi – and it was wearing the exact same sleeping attire that she wore.
Malcolm inhaled sharply then exhaled. 'Hoshi', he said heart-broken; this was the last time, unless prompted, that he spoke her name in the presence of others. (The Fear that he had known all his life, laughed in his face. You thought I was vanquished; but only Hoshi held me in check. I have returned.)
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