Tomorrow is Yesterday - Chapter 3

Tomorrow is Yesterday

by Mctrip7

Rating: PG-13, a little cussin’
Genre: Suspense, Angst
Archive: Trip/Archer
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Paramount and will not be sold.
Summary: A beginning

~~~~~~~

Chapter 3

“Malcolm, what brings you to the Transporter Room? Going somewhere?” Trip kidded his friend.

“No, I’m looking for Roberts. He’s supposed to be keeping an eye on Hugo; but he’s not responding and the Bridge has the computer tied up.

“You should still be able to locate him. This terminal is down, but the one in Sickbay should work fine. He can’t have gone far,” Trip drawled.

Malcolm turned. “Where is your charge? Thought he was supposed to be helping you in Engineering. Did he get bored so soon?”

“Very funny! We brought back the pod full of metal pieces. They’re in Shuttle Bay 2. Kirk is going through them. When I get the transporter back on line, we’ll bring some more on board.”

“Try to get Roberts again.”

Malcolm tried his com badge, but there was no response.

“Let me see it,” Trip said as he held out his hand.

Malcolm slapped it in his hand, sticking him with the pin as he did so.

“Damn, Malcolm! Why’d you do that?”

Unaware of the results, Malcolm shot back “Do what? You’re sure getting touchy. Must be losing sleep again.”

If looks could kill!...Malcolm felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

“There’s nothing wrong with your com badge,” was all Trip said as he hit his own.
Static. He tried again. Only static.

“Let’s go see Phlox,” Trip and Malcolm headed for Sickbay.

As they came through the door, a startled Phlox wanted to know what happened.
“We need to use your intercom,” Trip said as he pushed the button.

“Capt’n., Captain Archer.” More static. “Looks like the system is down.”

Two steps and Trip was out the door, heading for Auxillary Control. Right behind him, Malcolm, switching to emergency power, tried contacting his security team. Intermittant
static.

“Jones, can you hear me? I’ve got to locate Roberts. Do a door-to-door search, if necessary, then you cover Sickbay. Hugo might try to contact Jim. Report in every 15 minutes,” Malcolm told his man through the static

In Auxillary Control Trip found that most of the intercom circuits were fried. “This was.
no accident,” he said to no one in particular.

*****

Meanwhile, Kirk was preoccupied with sorting out the pieces in Shuttlebay 2 and was unaware of all of the problems. He didn’t even look up when Hugo appeared at the door with a crow bar in his hand. Hugo quickly shifted it behind his back.

“How’s it going? You found anything?” he asked Kirk.

“It’s too soon. We’ll probably need to bring more pieces aboard.”

Hugo sounded sincere, but when Kirk asked him to give him a hand, he said he came down to check on the shuttle. “Need to see if it’s operational, so we can make another run. I’ll give you a hand when I finish.” Though Hugo still had the crow bar, he decided he might not have to use it after all as he headed for the launch bay.

********

The Captain’s intercom sounded. “Archer here.”

“It’s Trip, Jon. I’m gradually getting the intercom back on line. I’ll let you know when I’m done. Trip out.”

“Trip, hold on! Hoshi is having trouble with her Communications console. I need this.”

“Jon, this was no accident. Somebody really knew how to crash these circuits! I’ll be up there in a minute. Has Malcolm found his man and that guy he was watching?”

“No. Malcolm said he’s stationing men in Sickbay, the Transporter Room, both Shuttlebays and the Mess Hall in addition to those on the move. Nothing yet”.

“T’Pol says her sensor array is fluctuating, that your repair work is interfering.”

“Well, that’s just too bad! Nothing I have done would affect her sensor array. She can just reset it!”

“Trip, we’re all stressed. Stay with it till we get communications up and running. Archer out.”

“Shuttlepod 1 just launched, Captain!” Travis announced as Malcolm entered the Bridge.

“I’m reading only one biosign, Captain. It’s Hugo, Sir.”

Malcolm tried to contact his man, but there was no answer. “Security alert! Check Shuttle Bay 1.”

“T’Pol, can you pick up the shuttle on your sensors?”

“I’ll try Captain. . . . I have it. He appears to be heading for the Orion System.”

“Don’t lose him, Travis. We need that Shuttlepod!”

“Tucker to the Bridge.”

“Go ahead, Trip”

“I’m back in Engineering, Cap’n. Kirk believes Hugo’s heading for Pirates Cove, an asteroid near Rigel. Seems that’s a well known hang out for smugglers.”

“Well, we’re right behind him. See what else Kirk can tell you about their operation. Archer out.”

“You heard the man! What else was going on with your crew?” Trip confronted Kirk.

“Nothin’ much. Most of the guys were just trying to make a living. Some had families back home, some were Space Jocks; but there’s always a few who keep to themselves – never mix in with the group. You always wonder about them; but unless they cross you, you leave them alone.”

“Was Hugo one of those?” asked Trip.

“Yeah, ate by himself. Hardly ever spoke. One time the First Officer caught him trying to contact another ship on a low frequency. Hugo spent a few days in the Brig! Never did hear what it was about. We all knew smugglers and counterfeiters were becoming a real problem, but before my ship was sold, it ran a first-rate operation. Since then I’ve seen a few questionable things going on. That’s part of the reason I was planning to head back to Earth. I’ve had a good life out here, made good money – no reason to push my luck! Besides, I have a young son at home. Don’t want him to grow up never havin’ his old man around. He’ll be four years old in March I own some land in Iowa. That’s where my wife, Mary, and little Sam live. Beautiful country! That’s where I plan to head when I get back to Earth!

“Sounds like a wise thing to do,” Trip commented, thinking of his own life. “Some day I might want to settle down, too. But getting back to your ship . . . tell me again where you were headed?”

Kirk let the daydream go. “This was one of our regular runs to Andromida. We made it every other month. Anyone could have known that. It wasn’t my job to check the manifest, but I usually knew what was on board . . . mostly dilithium ore, prefab material, some steel from the mills and an assortment of things for the colonists. Nothing worth hijacking unless the new Company had something going. If they were trying to cut themselves in on an existing operation, then we were “fair game’ for the Orion Bunch.”

While they were talking, Kirk was watching Trip run a diagnostic on the intake manifold.
“How do you know if the manifold pressure isn’t fluctuating?”

“Tells me right here.” Trip showed him his padd. “Any above normal readings and it starts flashing. Then I take a more detailed scan of it. If it needs fixing, I fix it!”

“Can’t you tell more about it with your hands on it?” Kirk sounded skeptical.

“Machines today are too complicated and often sealed within a structure; but they can be scanned. Taking them apart every time you checked them would be dangerous because you would be weakening the structure.” Trip thought he did a good job of explaining his routine.

Kirk just shook his head. “You kids don’t know what it is to hold a ship together with chewing gum and bailing wire! I remember one of my earliest hauls. We were on our way to Alpha Centauri – a ten day run. On our third day we passed through what looked like clouds to me. Suddenly the ship started shimmying back and forth. The warp core came loose! We propped it up with everything we could find – box frames, beam braces. We even used bailing wire to tie it down. It was a sight, but we managed to keep operating till we reached orbit of Alpha Centauri.” Kirk chuckled at the memory.

Tucker was aghast at the thought. As he started to ask Kirk a question, the comm beeped.

“Trip, have you learned anything? Senior officers meeting in ten minutes. Can you make it?” Archer wanted to know.

“Be right there, Capt’n.” Trip signed off. To Kirk he said “I’ll be right back. Remember, you can look all you want, but DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING.”

****

When Trip joined the group, they were discussing the sounds Hoshi had picked up at her station. Archer was saying “It definitely could have been an explosion.” They all turned to Trip.

Archer said “Anything, Trip?”

Commander Tucker proceeded to relay Kirks comments. As he finished, he said “I don’t think he is holding anything back, Capt’n.”

“Good, I had Admiral Forrest check the men out. Kirk has a clean record, but I can’t say the same for the rest of them. The one who is critical, his name is Doug Bailey, has had a few brushes with the law – most of them a long time ago, though. At first they couldn’t locate anything on ‘Jim.’ Seems he didn’t exist until about three years ago. Before signing on the Achernar he was berthed on the Mandalay out of Alpha Centauri. Likeable, but kept to himself. No serious offences but lots of questionable situations. We need to keep an eye on him. Hugo was once a First Mate on another freighter, but he got caught altering the manifest. Got a prison term but he disappeared before he was to report to the authorities. They are really anxious to apprehend him!”

Archer turned to Travis. “Are you still following his ion trail? Are we getting any closer? The shuttlepod can’t keep up this speed indefinitely!”

Ensign Davis, at T’Pol’s station, lifted her eyes from the viewer. “Cap’n, he’s gone. There’s not a trace of him!”

“Travis, what do your sensors show?”

“The only thing on my screen is the big ship, about 70,000 klm from here! If there’s a vortex here, there are no signs of it.”

T’Pol was back at her station realigning the long range sensors. “There has to be something we’re not picking up.”

“Could we have been following a shadow image?” asked Trip.

“Don’t think so, Trip?” Archer was skeptical. “Let’s return to our last point of contact. Maybe we missed something”

TBC

Continue to Chapter 4

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Two folks have made comments

ooooohhh... cant w8 to work this 1 out. :)

^^ What he said! :D