Things That Come in the Night- pt. 9

Things That Come In the Night

by The Watch Stander

Disclaimers in Part 1

****

Part 9

Things that come in the night pt 9

Lt Reed walked back onto the bridge and headed for his station at tactical. He still was upset with Archer for not listening to his advice. The Captain was becoming more distant as they moved into the Expanse on this mission and Reed wondered if the space around them was affecting the man mentally in the same way, it had the Vulcans.

T’pol seated in the Captain’s chair immediately noticed the look on Reed’s face.

“I take it you were unsuccessful in convincing the Captain to include a security detail?” Her voice was matter of fact as if she already knew what he ‘d say.

Reed smiled glumly, “Yes, I’m afraid I had no luck. However, I’ll still monitor their ship just in case. ”

“ A wise precaution, Lt.” She agreed, then went back to gazing out the front view port where the cargo ship hung in space before them.

Her concern didn’t show, but something was wrong. Captain Archer was becoming more reckless and was showing signs of stress. The loss of his friendship with Commander Tucker was having its affect as well. The captain no longer had any recreation to count on to relieve his stressful situation. She wondered if the Expanse was taking its toll on the humans as well.

Commander Tucker was also affected and it showed for his emotional distress last night was unsettling. She was concerned with the Commander’s well being and hoped he would be able to come to terms with what ever his trouble was. If he would tell the captain, then maybe the two men would find common ground to once more be friends.

For now, thought all she could do was wait.

************************

Archer carried Trip into the room that was considered the infirmary. He gently placed trip on a bed inside and immediately started to open the younger man’s uniform to check the wound. It was below his rib cage and still bleeding profusely. The first thing Jon needed to do was stop that flow.

Trip groaned and opened his eyes.

“Capt’n?”

“I’m here, Trip. Try to take it easy and lie still.”

Trip’s blue eyes were watery, but able to focus on Archer. “Why’d he shoot me?” His voice was soft and reflected the pain he was in.

Jon stopped what he was doing, trying to decide what he wanted to say to Trip. Then decided he might as well be honest with him.

“They’re using you as bait to catch the entity. Broetag seems to think she’ll come to find you.”

Broetag overheard the conversation as he walked over to the bed carrying the medical supplies and bandages he had found. He tried to offer an explanation.

“She only bonds with one person at a time and it just happens, Commander that you’re the one she’s chosen and she will not abandon you easily. If anything, she’ll come to you here.”

Archer was skeptical,” What makes you think you can catch her and just how are you planning to do it?”

Broetag patiently explained, “We have an area lined with electrical impulse equipment that will trap her once she is inside the room. When we have her Captain, you may leave with the Commander. She’s all we want and you can take the charts as well. I’ll hold up my end of the deal and nothing will be said of your presence here.”

Broetag thought he was being reasonable and hoped Archer would go along. He really didn’t want any more trouble, and least of all did he want to use force on either Archer or Tucker. The young engineer was badly injured and Broetag hoped they could secure the siren soon and get the man back to his ship and medical care to prevent his death. Broetag’s crew however were not so inclined to care; all they could see were the credits to be made and how their lives would change when they captured the entity.

Trip heard what Broetag had said and didn’t like the plan to capture the entity, but he was in no condition to say anything. The pain was so intense now; it was getting difficult to keep from passing out. His only comfort was that Jon was here and didn’t seem angry with him after all. Trip deeply regretted that they had not stayed close friends and wanted now more than anything to express that regret to Jon, but his eyelids grew heavy and finally he passed out.

As he listened to Broetag, this whole situation seemed unreal to Jon and he still wasn’t convinced that there was such a creature.

Maybe it’s all in Trip’s mind. They say the Expanse would drive you mad, and maybe that was starting to happen to Trip. He had suffered an emotional loss with his sister’s death and then the resulting lack of sleep could have made him vulnerable to the effects of the Expanse. Broetag and his men could also be delusional as well since they had been in the Expanse a lot longer.

Jon decided to play along till he had a chance to contact Enterprise. However, he didn’t like the plan either, for it would mean delaying getting medical help for Trip.

Taking the bandages that Broetag had brought over, he started to pad the wound and then wrapped it in an attempt to stop the bleeding. All the while thinking about how wrong he’d been in not being more involved with his crew, and one officer in particular. Now there was a possibility that he would lose his friend and his heart ached at the thought. The man lying here was all he had left of what he had considered his family. Trip had worked with Jon and his father on the warp 5 engines and had made a considerable contribution to its development. Henry Archer had practically adopted Trip since the young engineer found himself staying at their house more than his own apartment whenever he stayed late to work on the engine. They were close then, like brothers and Jon missed that. He promised himself things would change if he could just get Trip out of this situation alive. He didn’t think that Broetag would kill them, but Trip was in a bad way and he wasn’t sure the younger man could survive much longer further medical attention.

Finally, he'd done all he could. The bleeding had slowed, but Trip seemed very weak and was now unconscious. His pale face was covered with perspiration and reflected his pain. Archer looked at him once more resting his hand on Trip’s shoulder, then turned to Broetag.

“I’ve done what I could, but he may die before your entity even arrives.”

“It’s a chance I have to take, Captain, “ Broetag offered regretfully. “You must come with me now, as I have to ready our containment field. It won’t affect the Commander, but your presence here might keep her away.”

Jon saw his chances of contacting Enterprise slowly evaporating. If he went with Broetag there wouldn’t be any way of using his communicator. Reluctantly, he got up and after taking one more look at Trip turned to leave. Neither Jon nor Broetag noticed the entity as she came into the room from the air duct then quickly entered Trip.

*******************************

Reed had just been glancing at his scans of the Cargo ship that had been taken earlier, when he noticed an unusual reading. It showed a weapon discharge inside the ship that had happened a few minutes before. It captured his attention and he started to analyze it. There were still two humanoids on board and their life signs were there as well, but he decided to bring it to T’Pol’s attention. Something wasn’t right.

*********************************

Trip was on the beach once more, but he was lying on the sand watching the entity come down the shore toward him. For some reason he couldn’t stand and then he remembered being shot. There was pain, even here, but he ignored it for he knew he must tell her to flee before they trapped her. It wasn’t important that she had used him for she meant him no harm.

Her beautiful face reflected her concern as she gracefully kneeled beside him and a tear trickled down her cheek as she looked down at him. Trip wanted to say something, but she bent down and kissed his lips instead and he found himself captivated by her beauty once more. There was no passion in his feelings, for there was too much pain and somehow he knew inside that he was dying.

He pushed that thought aside for it wasn’t important now only that she must escape. Her thoughts came inside his head just as before and they were softly spoken and comforting.

“ They have harmed you and it is because of me. I’m sorry, for I never meant for you to be injured.” More tears made their way down her cheeks from her beautiful pale blue eyes.

His hand trembled as he reached up and tried to wipe away her tears.

“You have to leave before they trap you!” He pleaded with her when he felt the pain increase as the darkness slowly tried to claim him.

Looking up at her one last time, “Please go!” he gasped for there was no more strength left in him to argue. Already the darkness was enveloping him and he was slowly slipping away like a leaf being blown in the wind.

“I cannot, I must help you.” She gently placed her hand along side his face and closed her eyes. Trip no longer felt anything.

************************

Broetag had shown Archer their set up for trapping the entity that they had placed in another room nearby. They had planned on placing Trip inside. Archer had then insisted on returning to the infirmary to check on Trip. Something told him to and when he touched Trip’s hand, it was cold to the touch. Fearing the worst, he searched for a pulse. When he couldn’t find one everything inside him suddenly went cold as despair overwhelmed him.

I’m too late! Trip’s gone!

He’d just lost his last family member and best friend and there was nothing he could do.

TBC

Continue to Part 10

Return to Part 8

Back to Fan Fiction Main Menu

Have a comment to make about this story? Do so in the Trip Fan Fiction forum at the HoTBBS!