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Star Trek Enterprise: Hear We Stand

Chapter 14:

The Aftermath pt1

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Work on the damaged sections of the ship was limited by the bulkheads and the engineering crawlspaces, this was long before the Jeffries tubes had become completely standard and ubiquitous on starships, so the crew of the Enterprise had been forced to deconstruct bulkheads and pull-out computer components to get to damage and fix it. What Jeffries tubes-like structures did exist didn't reach every space of the ship as their future counterparts do.

These inconsistencies in the engineering access had slowed the repairs to a crawl but they had managed to reach Warp 4, with the ship rattling like an old earth jalopy. With the inertia dampeners only working at around 75 percent functionality the trip had been disconcerting, to say the least.

Some crewmembers like Ensign Sato had been taken to staying in the sickbay as the buffeting and shaking was inducing some crippling seasickness, but with a wing and a prayer, and a lot of help from two Vulcan science ships they had made it to the Plant Vulcan.

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Horatio smiled as the mostly red sandy planet came into the viewer, the shaking had lessoned immensely when they dropped to impulse in the Vulcan system.

"Thank God." Said Hoshi as she held her gut with one hand and her forehead with the other while leaning back in her chair. She was pail and her skin had a much greener pallor to it looking remarkably Vulcan in its colour. "I don't know how much longer I could have lasted." Horatio knew that she had meant that the trip had been a nightmare for her for the past few days. According to the ship's Chef, she hadn't eaten solid food for the entire time the ship had been in warp and the doctor had to give her sedatives to get her to sleep even for the small amount of time she had.

"Don't worry ensign by the time Commander Tucker and I are through the ship will be back to normal even better even."

"I can't wait." She said her voice shaking slightly with fatigue.

"When we get into Orbit of Vulcan you can spend some time staying at the embassy to get your land legs back."

"Thank you, sir," she smiled, her eyes were red and slightly puffy because of tears.

"Don't thank me Ensign" he said gently as she began to input on her console. "Captain Archer made the request I just approve of the choice."

"I'm going to get him something nice for his birthday." She said gently as she finished her input "we have clearance to enter high orbit I've sent the coordinates to the pilot's station."

"Excellent, you can finish your shift now if you like to ensign."

"thank you, sir." She said getting to her feet on shaky legs, she picked up a metallic box that she had taken to carrying with her when she was out of sickbay.

Horatio's arm had been strapped tightly immobilising it so it can heal properly. The Doctor had spent the better part of seven hours reattaching tendons and repairing broken bones and fixing cracked ones. While Horatio had been injured, he was not the worst crewman injured though, one of tuckers engineers had been doing repairs and was on the second level of the catwalk and he had gone through both catwalks to the deck below almost two and a half stories he would walk again but his active carrier was officially over.

Horatio reached up to his comm before he tapped the button.

"Beta shift comm officer report for duty." He then tapped it again shutting it off, regulations usually said that duty shifts should be reported over ship-wide for record reasons but the comm used the same system, so it didn't really matter.

He made his way over to the communications station wincing as his ribs back and arm protested the movement.

Using the subspace system he opened the UE News Network, the broadcaster that acted like the BBC used to do for the British empire as the opening video played at the familiar chiming of the bells ended a large room with a desk was suddenly illuminated.

"Good morning, Worlds." Came the familiar refrain of the Anchor, "I'm Chad Washington and this is the News." The camera shot changed to his right and he turned to look at it as the sound of a chiming bell sounded, he raised a very sculpted eyebrow as he turned before allowing it to slowly drop. "Todays Top Story The Cruiser Enterprise has arrived in the Vulcan system after a run it with a Pirate fleet the number of ships she encountered has not been released but through the tireless work of ENN journalists we have a ballpark figure of over ten but under fifteen." The image on the side shows a pick of the enterprise in the dry dock

"After an extended battle that reports say lasted over an hour the Enterprise was successful in routing the pirates reducing the fleet to ruins and carrying out a highly classified mission for the Vulcan High Command and while there were no fatalities it was not without some cost several crewmen were injured with one confirmed medical retirement." He turned back to his left the camera cutting to its first position the image changed to an image of Admiral Forest.

"when asked directly for official comment Admiral Forest's office issued a no comment and then directed us to Star Fleets PR department who themselves said they will be issuing official comments in a preconference at eight o'clock Earth Standard Pacific time all broadcasters will issue their own time slot for the rest of the colonies."

"well, at least they're on our side, for now." He said as he turned off the viewer Vulcan once again filling the screen as he got a smile from Malcolm and a nod from Travis.

"I think for now is the best we'll get." Said Malcolm as he crossed his arms

"Why Sir?" asked Travis

"the public won't just forget the barrage of negative press they the NX project had for the six months before launch." He answered, "nor will Captain Archer forget the accusations of nepotism and favouritism that he was bombarded with when he was made Captain."

"let it be a lesson for you young Mayweather, the press is a fickle bitch and will turn on you in a second." The younger man nodded gravely "we're going to have to be very careful when we get to Vulcan. I hate the press they'll construct their own narrative if one isn't handed to them, and until star fleet issue a statement they're going to be ravenous."

"it's going to be like tip-toeing through a mind field," Malcolm said as he watched the planet grow larger in the viewer. "I'll have a word with the section leaders." Horatio nodded before reassuming the seat.

There was a beep on the main console, Ensign Mayweather turned in his chair

"I'm getting a Star Fleet signal." Horatio sighed before he spoke.

"Probably Admiral Forest."

"yep, I'm reading the IFF it's the Swan." The Viewer showed off an Intrepid type of starship. the half saucer and large nacelles gave a very unique silhouette, especially amongst the red ships that surrounded it.

"Captain to the Bridge." Malcolm had taken the liberty to do it as he knew that Horatio was still in a lot of pain even just reaching for the comm on his chest. The door to the bridge opened and the young Latina jogged over to the position.

"The Swan is opening communications." Said the Beta shift comm officer as she assumed her seat adjusting the height of the chair.

"on screen." Ordered Horatio as he adjusted himself and struggled to stand, he managed to get to his feet when the screen changed to "Admiral Forest."

"Commander," the Flagg officer acknowledged his subordinate. "I've seen you on better days." Horatio nodded "Where is Captain Archer?"

"On his way sir." As he replied to his superior the bulkhead door opened and out stepped a very dirty and very tired Captain Archer.

"Captain on Deck." Called Malcolm, Archer winced at the sound level of his security officer.

"Sorry I'm late Sir, had to pull the man buss on deck three we're rerouting most of our main power."

"How bad is she, Jon."

"To be honest sir, It's a full yard job my engineer says it could be six months on just repair work alone but we're hoping to cut that in at least half."

"we'll talk more at the embassy tonight I want a full rundown then."

"aye, sir."

"and Archer, Give Tucker my best."

"I will sir." Archer nodded as the screen turned back to a view of the planet, and he practically collapsed into his command chair. "god I hope this is as bad as it gets, I don't think I can handle anything getting worse right now."

There were three simultaneous sighs with one "bloody hell sir" coming from Malcolm

"What?"

"you jinxed us, sir." Said Mayweather

"I'll go prepare something in the armoury." Said Horatio making his way out leaving behind a tired and confused Captain Archer