Unseen Peril - Chapter 2

Unseen Peril

By Vanishingp2000

For disclaimer see Chapter 1.

~~~~~

Chapter 2

Two days earlier

“I’m tellin’ you Malcolm,” Trip began adamantly.

“So you said Sir,” Malcolm Reed interrupted patiently, “but the fact remains, your score was less than perfect.”

“Ninety eight percent,” Tucker raged, “it’s…..”

“Two percent short,” Reed interrupted again. “I’m afraid it’s not quite up to scratch.”

“Not up to scratch?” Tucker’s voice was rising with his temper and he failed to see the glint in the Armoury officer’s eye. He eyed the phase pistol in his hand and contemplated the flashing target balefully. Ninety eight percent meant that he had missed only one shot out of the fifty fired within the time limit. How many people could better that anyway? He sighed and looked over at Reed who was standing patiently waiting for him to begin again, a slight smirk beginning at the corner of his mouth.

Tucker blew out his cheeks in exasperation before letting his head drop with a sigh. “Dammit Malcolm, I swear if you do that again I’ll……..”

Reed smiled his enigmatic smile and reached out his hand for the pistol. “As I was saying,” he remarked glibly not a bad effort all told.” He dodged nimbly as Trip’s good natured swipe headed for his head but his chuckle was interrupted by the comm.

“All senior officers report to the bridge,” Captain Archer’s voice cut clearly across the armoury as Reed keyed the switch. All banter forgotten Tucker raised his eyebrows towards his friend in silent question as both quickly exited the room.

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

Tucker and Reed entered the bridge just as T’Pol was saying “I can get nothing further from my scans Captain.”

To Trip’s eyes she appeared frustrated but he was probably just assigning his own emotions to her again. He lifted his eyebrows in silent question to the captain but Archer just gestured towards the situation room where the rest of the senior staff was already waiting. Tamping down on his curiosity the engineer followed Reed to stand around the monitor. The display was filled with the image of a small planetary body. The planet was swathed in gaseous clouds that were tinged a greenish blue.

“The planet is Class N Captain,” T’Pol reported, “unsuitable for Human habitation.”

“The distress call definitely came from the planet?” Archer asked, looking at Hoshi Sato, his communications officer.

“Yes Sir,” she agreed promptly, “and we were hailed in English.”

Archer shook his head looking questioningly at his officers, seeking their opinions.

“English speakers or were they using some kind of universal translator?” Trip asked.

“Impossible to tell Commander,” Hoshi replied pulling a face, “I can’t get a strong enough fix on their signal to determine their signature.”

“So it could be a trap.” Reed mused with his customary caution. “How did they know our language?”

“They may be human Malcolm,” Archer pointed out.

“Is that likely Sir?” Reed countered. “As far as we know no human has got this far out before.”

“It is possible though Lieutenant,” put in Travis Mayweather the ship’s boomer. “Though you would have to have been travelling for a lot of years at warp 2 to get here.”

“Have we received any reply to our hails?” Archer asked cutting through the discussion.

Sato shook her head. “No Sir,” she replied, “I’ve got a continuous hail broadcasting at the moment.”

“Perhaps we’d better just go and take a look.” Tucker offered.

Archer smiled at his friend’s enthusiasm. “Could we safely pilot a shuttle through those clouds?”

Trip checked the readings on the monitor before replying. “I’ll need to reinforce the plating, there’s a strong gravitational field, but it should be OK. Give me a couple of hours.”

The captain nodded. “Get right on it,” he instructed. “I want you ready to go by 14.30 hours.”

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

Just under two hours later Trip cleared the last of his tools away into his toolbox and exited Shuttlepod two which he had prepared to go on the attempted rescue mission. Despite his enthusiasm he felt a strange prickling along the hairs at the back of his scalp but he put it down to anticipation and hurried to get into his environmental suit.

Archer arrived to see him off, together with Reed who was to go with him. They didn’t know what they might find and the captain was prepared to listen to reason when it came to the armoury officer’s hunch about a possible trap.

“Hoshi has pinpointed the signal to within a radius of ten miles, just north of the equator,” Archer said, completing the briefing. “The climate down there is far from settled so I don’t want you taking any chances,” he continued. “If you can’t land safely then get out of there and we’ll think again.”

“Has there been any response to our hails Capt’n?” Trip asked.

“No,” Archer shook his head. “I’m beginning to think it may be an automated distress signal, or maybe there’s no one left to find.”

Reed looked sceptical, his tactical instincts coming to the fore but he said nothing, merely climbed awkwardly into the shuttle in his bulky environmental suit. He settled himself into the pilot’s seat putting his helmet on the floor beside him. Tucker took his position behind him ready to monitor ship’s systems and Archer sealed the door from the outside, reluctantly leaving them to go without him.

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

The shuttle launch was uneventful but once they began the descent towards the planet the effects of the gases surrounding it became more apparent.

“Whoa,” yelped Trip clinging to the console in front of him for support as the shuttle was flung violently to the side by a particularly vicious eddy. Malcolm said nothing but steeled himself to remain in place, concentration evident on his face.

The wild ride continued for the next several minutes, causing numerous bruises to its occupants. Trip monitored the ship’s systems as best he was able under the circumstances and gave brief reports to Reed who, as pilot, he didn’t want to disturb any more than he had to.

Finally the small craft levelled out barely one hundred metres above the ground as they entered a patch of stable air. Reed held the position as they scanned the area beneath them for bio signs. Visibility was poor with masses of dark swirling clouds of gas making the landscape one of the most inhospitable they had seen.

“I’m reading a landmass beneath that cloud,” Tucker reported, chewing on his lip contemplatively. “Parts of it are pretty high, as in much higher than we are at the moment.”

Reed pulled a face. “When we go up I’ll not have much control. Looks like we were lucky not to hit anything coming in.”

Trip nodded. “Stay put for the moment and keep scanning, I’ll try and contact the ship, see if they’ve heard anything.” With that he keyed the comm controls. “Tucker to Enterprise.”

“Enterprise…………………..hardly……………………….you.” The reply was barely discernable through the static and Tucker turned the volume down instinctively. “If you can hear me Enterprise,” he began, “we are hovering about a hundred metres above the ground. All we can see is a mass of cloud and no distress signal yet. We’ll keep looking and get back to you in thirty minutes.”

He cut the transmission and went back to scanning for life signs, developing a search pattern grid to tie in with Malcolm’s manoeuvres. Silence descended on the shuttlepod as they worked, punctuated by the occasional beep from a console as they reached the end of a search pattern. Finally, after almost twenty minutes Tucker spoke up cautiously. “Hold it there Malcolm,” he said, “I think I may have something.”

Reed halted the shuttle and waited for Trip to speak again. The engineer was frowning at his readout but eventually sat back and offered. “I think that must be it. In the northern quadrant.”

He showed his results to Reed who cautiously agreed. “It certainly looks like a distress signal but I don’t like the look of the land.”

The mists had lifted slightly as they had flown slowly over the search area and they could see peaks and troughs of land beneath the shuttle but nowhere could they see anywhere flat enough to land safely. Indeed much of the area beneath them seemed to be made up of areas of wild sea. The water was being whipped up into vicious waves tens of metres high which were flung in their turn against the land mass.

“I’m with you,” Trip shuddered, “I don’t see how we can set down in that. But we can’t just ignore a distress signal.”

“I could try closing in a little on the signal,” Reed offered, “maybe we could…….”

He was interrupted as the shuttle gave a violent shudder and suddenly veered towards the ground as they hit a particularly dense pocket of gas. Reed fought to right the craft as Tucker fed power to the engines but the surge had been too great and the small craft plummeted quickly towards the sea as it gave up its battle to stay aloft, its two occupants hanging on grimly in a vain attempt to stay in their seats.

TBC

Continue to Chapter 3

Return to Chapter 1

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!