—Chapter 11—
The Happa withdrew a comm unit and excused himself for a few moments to speak to his 'friends'. Trip did the same, filling Malcolm, Hoshi and Travis in on the situation, and the goal.
Travis, who had remained aboard the ship, said, "I'll be in place by the time you get here, Commander. And ready."
"Good," said Trip. "I have to go. He's looking my way. Malcolm, Hoshi, meet us at the main gate."
"Yes, sir," said Reed.
When the Happa returned, Trip explained that he speaking to his crew, and a few minutes later, flagged Malcolm and Hoshi as they came into view.
"I need to pick up a few items," said the Happa, his weapons ticket in his hand, as he looked speculatively at Malcolm.
"We could do the same," said Trip, "or we could go unarmed up to my ship, and pick our goods up when I drop you off back here. Your call."
"All right," said the Happa, after quickly doing a series of mental calculations. "Let's go."
Twenty minutes later, the Happa was unconscious on the floor of the Silin's shuttle bay. Travis had set an ambush for the alien in the Cargo Bay, with a phaser rifle set on stun, as instructed by Trip, yet even with the element of surprise they'd almost bungled it anyway. The Happa had a warrior's fifth sense, for as they exited the shuttle and walked the halls of the Silin towards the Cargo Bay, the alien showed no unease, yet a few dozen steps outside the Cargo Bay, he acted.
Correctly judging T'Pol, a few feet behind him and to his left, the most dangerous opponent, he stopped abruptly and drove his elbow into her face with brutal force, before turning to Malcolm, and slamming the Lieutenant into the wall. Malcolm grabbed the Happa, intending to wrestle the alien to the ground, but the fucker was strong. The Lieutenant did not have to worry about the matter much longer though, for the Happa banged the rim of his helmet into Malcolm's forehead, causing Reed to go limp. It was not all going the Happa's way thought, for just as he released Malcolm and turned to assess the situation, Trip slammed a metal fire extinguisher canister against the side of the Happa's helmet, rocking the creature and forcing it to one knee. Still, it managed to wrest the bottle from Trip and with a bellows rose forward to dispatch the human. It was then that the Happa felt a vise like pressure against his trapezius muscle, where it met the neck, and slipped into unconsciousness.
"Ok, I hate these Happa," said Trip vehemently, looking at the bruised face of his commanding officer. "You okay?"
T'Pol merely gave him a cool glance, and said, "I am fine, Commander."
Hoshi was already at Malcolm's side. She'd been receiving some First Aid training from Dr. Phlox and was as close to a medic as they had aboard the Silin.
"Hoshi?" said Trip as he knelt next to the Comm Officer.
"I'm not sure. Get some water," said Hoshi, then a moment later, yelled after Trip. "And a First Aid kit."
As Trip ran for the Galley, T'Pol knelt next to Hoshi. The Ensign looked at the Vulcan's face with concern.
"That was a nasty blow, SubCommander. Any broken bones in your face? Do you feel numbness or tingling?"
"I am fine, Ensign. Just a bit put off with myself. He caught me off guard."
"Not your fault, SubCommander. This bastard moves like a cat."
Just then Travis exited the Cargo Bay, having heard the ruckus and crawled down from his perch. Taking a quick overview he moved next to the Happa and stood ready to stun him if he stirred.
Trip returned with water, and after Hoshi splashed some on Malcolm's face, the Lieutenant began to stir. Two minutes later he was close to normal, if still a bit dazed. Operating on instinct, he searched the Happa's body quickly, for any item that might have meaning for either the StarFleet or Vulcan intelligence agencies. T'Pol looked on approvingly, as the Lieutenant missed nothing, finally depositing a handful of items in his pockets.
"He's clean," said Malcolm.
Trip fiddled with the Happa's helmet for about twenty seconds, then said, "I can't find any latch on this thing. We could smash the face mask, but if he really needs that contraption to breathe he'll probably die. I'd like to determine his species though."
"I got you covered," said Hoshi, digging through the First Aid kit, finally pulling something out.
Bending next to the Happa, Hoshi flicked the cover off a syringe and jammed it into the alien's arm. A needle pierced the aliens flesh, collecting a sample of flesh, blood and hair, any and all of which contained the creature's DNA.
"Ok," said Hoshi, pushing the cap back over the needle.
Malcolm nodded to her, then looked at T'Pol, then Trip.
"What the hell do we do with him now?" said Trip. "We could wait for him to wake, then try to interrogate him, but I have a feeling he won't talk. We'll have to kill him, or imprison him in the Cargo Bay. I don't want him aboard the Silin. If he escapes he just might finish us all off."
"We can't kill him," said Hoshi, shocked at even hearing the Commander speak aloud that possibility.
They all looked at T'Pol. As the ranking officer it was her choice.
"Given our options—"
The glitter and sparkle of a transporter beam interrupted T'Pol, and a moment later, the Happa was gone.
Trip looked at Travis, and said, "Get us out of here. Now!"
"Where to?" said Travis.
"Anywhere," said T'Pol.
"And make sure we're not followed," bellowed Trip to the back of a fast moving Travis.
"What happened," said Hoshi.
"He was probably supposed to check in with his friends after boarding the Silin and seeing the Vulcans," said Malcolm, looking at Hoshi. "When he failed to do so, they suspected foul play, and beamed him out."
"But now they know what we look like," said Hoshi. "They know our ship."
"Fortunately," said Trip, "our Vulcan friends were prepared for something like this. We'll be ok."
Twelve hours later, the Silin came to a stop in a binary star system. None of the six planets in-system were habitable and there was no activity of any kind detectable to their sensors, so this was a relative desert in space. It was here that Trip and Malcolm walked on the exterior of the Silin, their magnetic boots making the task a simple one. Trip had a small canister on his back and a metal wand in his hand, which was connected to the canister on his back by a braided steel hose. With the flick of a switch, a stream of ionized gray paint which matched the color of the hull, was sprayed towards the ship's metal skin, isolated from the dispersive effects of open space by a weak force field. Within minutes the ship's name, painted in Risan script, was erased. Once Malcom had laid out some large magnetized stencils on the hull, Trip flicked a switch and painted a new ship's name, ST9K-001, in orange. Twenty minutes later, they'd done the same on the other side of the ship.
Trip and Malcolm made their way inside and stripped off their space suits, just as T'Pol opened the airlock's door.
"Any problems, SubCommander?" said Malcolm.
"None on our end, Lieutenant," said T'Pol. "Ensign Sato has already replaced the transponder with another, which matches our new designation."
"It will take Malcolm and I an hour or so, to pop the hull," said Trip.
T'Pol nodded her agreement, and said, "Very well, Commander. I will examine the Happa's DNA, which the Ensign has extracted from the alien. Perhaps it will tell us something useful."
"How's it feel, Admiral?" said Travis, looking at Hoshi.
Hoshi leaned back in the captain's chair, groaned, and said, "I was made for command."
Travis laughed.
"If we're successful in our mission, you could kill us all and return home with a good story, the lone triumphant survivor. They'll push Captain Archer aside, and make you the captain of the Enterprise on the spot."
"Don't give me any ideas," said Hoshi, laughing at Travis' ridiculous suggestion. "But now, your commanding officer could use some coffee, Travis. Get something for yourself as well."
"Yes, sir," said Travis, giving an elaborate salute before leaving the acting captain's presence.
The ST9K-001 had been equipped by Vulcans, which meant there was an adequate, if small, laboratory onboard. Given that T'Pol was a science major, the task of analyzing the alien's genetic sequence to see if the Happa was a member of any of the known species was laughably easy. A moment after analyzing the results which the computer had generated, and verifying it visually using the electron microscope, T'Pol was rocked.
After unfastening several hundred bolts over the course of an hour, Trip and Malcolm looked at each other.
"That's it, Malcolm."
"Thank God for mechanized tools, eh?"
"Yeah, no kidding. Let's pop the magnetic locks, and we're done. Call T'Pol."
"Right," said Malcolm and pressed the ship's comm button recessed in the wall panel by his side. "Reed to Bridge."
"Yes, Lieutenant," said T'Pol, who had just recently arrived back on the Bridge.
"We're about to pop the mag locks. Please monitor the release to make sure the detachments are clean and the sections clear the hull."
"Will do, Lieutenant," said T'Pol, and gestured to Hoshi.
The Ensign turned on the ship's external cameras and the main video display was subdivided into twelve separate views.
"Ejecting section one of three, SubCommander," said Malcolm, and a second later a section of the ship's hull detached from the main body and slowly floated off into space.
"Section one is clear," said T'Pol.
A minute later the process was repeated, and after a similar delay, repeated for the last time.
The ship which had once been named Silin looked completely different now, after the ejection of three sections of the hull which had been originally built only to give the ship's operators this option. What had once been a plain tube shaped ship which was clearly a freighter, quickly turned into something which resembled a horseshoe crab, made of steel, save that the tail was three times thicker than a real crab's, but T'Pol had seen the specs and knew the reason for that was to house the extensive sensor array built into that appendage.
"T'Pol, how we looking?" said Trip.
"Like a new ship," said T'Pol. "Let's all meet in the Mess Hall."
"Malcolm and I need forty-five minutes to put away our tools away and clean up."
"Affirmative, Commander."