What Does Not Kill Us- Chapter 13

What Does Not Kill Us

by Thalia Drogna

Rating: R
Genre: Action/Adventury, Angst, Hurt/Comfort

Disclaimer: I don’t own these characters, I’m just borrowing them

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Chapter 13

After contacting Reed, Archer then informed Phlox that they would be leaving the gas giant’s atmosphere in less than ten minutes. Trip was still sleeping so Phlox wouldn’t have any trouble sedating him so that he simply didn’t wake up for a while. Archer was pretty sure that there would be hell to pay when Trip found out he’d missed the battle, but Archer was prepared to risk his wrath. Trip had a habit of pushing himself and it was usually up to his friends to see that he didn’t push too hard, this was just another one of those occasions. Phlox was needed in Sick Bay and wouldn’t have the time to look after Trip with wounded requiring treatment.

He turned to T’Pol. “Are the sensor adjustments complete?” he asked her.

“Yes, Captain. We should be able to conduct limited scans for the Xindi ship now,” said T’Pol.

“Good, let’s see if we can work out where they’re hiding,” said Archer.

Lieutenant Reed stepped out of the turbo lift and took up his usual position at the Tactical station. Lieutenant Hess manned Trip’s station and she nodded to Reed as he took his position. It had taken Reed nearly the whole time Trip had been away to get used to seeing someone else at the Engineering position. He guessed it had been just as strange for Hess as it had for him, but she had proved herself to be a capable officer and he hoped Archer would give her the acknowledgement she was due for the hard work she had put in while Trip was out of the picture.

“All weapons are online, sir,” reported Reed, as his eyes quickly interpreted the readings from the tactical station. “Hull plating is polarized.”

“Are you picking anything up, T’Pol?” asked Archer.

“My readings indicate that they are above us,” said T’Pol after a short pause. “We should drop back to intercept them from the rear.”

“Ensign, take us out and get us into position to try Mr Reed’s torpedoes,” said Archer.

“Aye, sir,” replied Mayweather.

“Hopefully we can get this over with before they even know that we’re there,” said Archer.

“That scenario is highly unlikely,” said T’Pol.

“Let’s give it a go anyway,” said Archer, giving his Science Officer a stern look. T’Pol remained quiet.

Enterprise rose out of the angry looking brown and orange atmosphere of gas giant like a dolphin leaping out of water, the gas from the atmosphere trailing off the nacelles. Mayweather just had a millisecond to contemplate how beautifully Enterprise handled even in these difficult conditions before they were bearing down on the Xindi ship.

“We have a visual on the Xindi ship,” said Hoshi, who was helping T’Pol with her scanners since she wouldn’t be needed for communicating with the Xindi ship. Archer certainly had no plans to talk to his enemy this time.

“Lieutenant?” asked Archer, waiting for his Tactical officer to tell him what he needed.

“We need to be closer,” said Reed. Even he could hear the stress in his own voice. “The modified torpedoes don’t have the range of the conventional ones.” He adjusted the targeting scanners trying to get a lock onto the enemy ship as quickly as he could.

“We will also be within range of their transporters if we approach more closely,” said T’Pol.

“We’re prepared for boarding parties, Sub-commander,” said Reed, in clipped efficient tones.

“Take us closer, Travis,” said Archer.

“Yes, sir,” replied Mayweather.

Enterprise approached the Xindi ship and there was no indication that they had been spotted yet, perhaps the Xindi still had their attention trained on the gas giant below. Whatever it was, Archer knew it couldn’t last, they’d be detected any moment.

“Close enough, Mr Reed?” he asked, tension in his voice.

“Just a little nearer,” said the Lieutenant, his concentration completely absorbed by the readings on his console. “Sorry, sir, but I need the extra proximity for this to work.”

“Captain, I am detecting transporter signals on decks D and E,” said T’Pol.

“Damn,” swore Archer. “Malcolm, it’s now or never.”

“Yes, sir, I think we’re close enough to give it a go. Firing torpedo one,” said Reed. His thoughts briefly turned to Ensigns Scott and Hooper, he had chosen them to guard Trip because they were the best he had, neither of the two women would do less than their very best to protect Trip if it came down to it. He hoped that the best he had would be enough to protect Trip.

Reed tracked the torpedo as it made its way towards its target. He could already see that it was pulling to the left slightly, it wasn’t going to hit in the right place. His hands automatically made the necessary adjustments on the next torpedo to compensate for the drift left. The closer they could get the better, the modifications he had made in order for the torpedoes to carry the carefully contained payload of nanoprobes had made the four torpedoes very temperamental. The less distance the torpedoes had to travel before they hit the more likely it was that they would score a direct hit on the exhaust port. He watched as his first precious torpedo impacted harmlessly off the hull, shattering into thousands of pieces as it was designed to do.

“First torpedo missed the target, I’m loading the second,” he reported calmly. He fired the second torpedo, this one was flying true, but, just as he thought he’d got, it the Xindi ship fired. “Incoming weapons fire!” he shouted and prayed that the hull plating would hold. “Second torpedo was caught in the wake of their phaser blast and destroyed before impact.”

Enterprise rocked with the impact of weapons fire from the Xindi ship. Hoshi ducked to one side as one of the relays in her panel blew, casting sparks across the floor.

“Hull plating holding,” reported Hoshi.

“Make the last two count, Malcolm,” said Archer.

Reed didn’t need to be told, but he knew Archer was only voicing the concern of the whole bridge crew. Everything rested on those last two torpedoes and Reed’s ability to hit a target no bigger than a couple of metres across. “Loading third torpedo,” was Reed’s only reply. “Firing.”

It looked good, Reed felt it in his heart that this one was going to hit. Even though it only took seconds for the torpedo to reach the ship, everything seemed to be moving so slowly as he held his breath waiting for the impact. It was exactly on target when it did collide with the Xindi ship and Reed followed it swiftly with the fourth and final torpedo, which locked onto the previous torpedo’s homing device, a clever addition that Reed had thought to add at the last moment to make his life a bit easier. The Xindi ship was still firing on them though.

“Two on target hits, sir,” reported Reed.

“Good work, Mr Reed,” said Archer. “How long before we know if it’s worked?”

“It’s going to be a while before the nanoprobes work their way through the entire ship but it should only be a few minutes before enough critical systems are compromised that they won’t cause us any more trouble,” said Reed.

“Travis, turn us around and get us out of here,” said Archer, he was hoping that they could put some distance between themselves and the Xindi while the nanoprobes did the required damage to shut the Xindi ship down. The Xindi were still firing and, although Travis was doing an admirable job of dodging their torpedoes, they couldn’t keep this up forever. Enterprise headed into open space.

****

Major Hayes had been ready for the Xindi. Since their last encounter he and Lieutenant Reed had worked on ways to make their phasers more efficient at disposing of the Xindi, and Commander Tucker had developed a coating for their body armour which repelled the acid like substance that the Xindi had used before. He was proud of the way his men handled themselves in the tight corridors of Enterprise, if he could have picked the battle ground then this wouldn’t have been it, but they did at least have the advantage of home turf.

Several Xindi now lay dead at his feet and those of his team. Quickly, the other security and marine teams around the ship reported in. A few injuries had been sustained, but none of them serious. He was about to order his team to do a final sweep for any Xindi they had missed when he realised that one team hadn’t reported in, Ensigns Scott and Hooper who had been assigned to protect Commander Tucker at Reed’s insistence. Hayes didn’t believe that the Commander was in any further danger, he thought that the Xindi had probably taken everything that they wanted from the Engineer or at the very least wouldn’t consider it worth their time to re-capture him. It seemed he had been wrong.

He rapidly rounded up his team again and headed for B deck where Commander Tucker’s quarters could be found. He hoped that he wasn’t going to arrive to find two dead Ensigns and a dead Engineer but being a marine he knew that the worst case scenario all too often turned out to be the most likely one. Hayes had a grudging respect for Reed, it had taken a while for that respect to be built and he knew that Reed trained his security officers well, but if they had been faced with superior numbers then they wouldn’t have stood a chance.

They were still a couple of corridors away when they heard phaser fire. Hayes tried to hail Scott and Hooper again but neither Ensign answered. He indicated silently to the security officers and MACOs to take up positions, he had already arranged for a second team to approach the Commander’s quarters from the other direction. As they rounded the corner he saw a number of Xindi making a concerted attack against the two Ensigns who were using the doorway of the Commander’s quarters as cover. Scott looked as if she had been wounded, her right shoulder was covered in blood and she held her phase pistol awkwardly in her left hand. Hooper had moved around to cover her wounded colleague and was targeting the attacking Xindi, but the Xindi had taken refuge in another crewman’s quarters a little further down the corridor and now both parties were pinned down.

Hayes arrival hadn’t really improved the situation. There was no easy way to attack the Xindi position. As he was about to formulate a plan to take the Xindi’s position he watched helplessly as Hooper took a direct hit to her chest and went down hard against the door frame, hitting her head as she did so. The Xindi rushed the door, the MACOs opening fire as the Xindi left their cover and hit two of the attackers but the remaining two had pushed Ensign Scott aside and before Hayes could react, one of the Xindi had emerged with Commander Tucker slung, still unconscious, over his shoulder.

However, when the Xindi shimmered briefly as if they were about to transport and then returned to normal, Hayes thanked whatever gods there were in the universe that their luck had changed. The Xindi seemed to be having trouble transporting, no doubt due to Lieutenant Reed’s new torpedo finally starting to do its work. Enterprise shuddered as it took a hit from the ship chasing it and Hayes remembered that they certainly weren’t out of danger and might not be for a few minutes yet.

At least now the Xindi were pinned down in the same way that Ensigns Scott and Hooper had been. Or at least he thought that they were, they had a brief discussion, turned and went back into the Commander’s quarters, shutting the door behind them. As the door shut Hayes and his team reached the two wounded Ensigns.

“Get them to sick bay,” ordered Hayes and two of the security detail peeled off to minister to Hooper and Scott. “Open this door, Ensign,” Hayes added to one of Reed’s men. The Xindi had managed to figure out the door controls and lock themselves in. It only took the Ensign a few moments to short circuit the door controls but when Major Hayes opened the door to Commander Tucker’s quarters, the Xindi were gone and there was a big hole in the ceiling which Hayes realised led straight into one of the ship’s Jeffries tubes.

Hayes took a second to tell the Ensign to contact the bridge with a status report before he climbed into the Jeffries tube to follow the Xindi.

Continue to Chapter 14

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