EMV Part IV. Chapter 1
This is the 3rd sequel to my nearly-finished story Enterprise - The Maiden Voyage. I've decided to end the first part with Chapter 23 instead of turning it into another never-ending monstrosity. Part II will be my very AU version of the canon episode "Minefield" and Part III that of "Cold Stop". My hope is to end the series with Part VI, but we'll see.
Anyway, this is Chapter 1 of my version of "Shuttlepod One", featuring Hoshi and Reed instead of Tucker and Reed for reasons probably obvious for those who've read the first part. *hint, hint*
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
CHAPTER 1
Author’s notes: As it is obvious, I’ve combined certain elements from the episode “Sleeping Dogs” and the Voyager episode “Gravity” to create this very AU “Shuttlepod One” unit. Certain lines of dialogue are directly quoted from those episodes. The technobabble concerning gravimetric shears and other subspace phenomena is quoted from the Memory Alpha website.
Beta read by the most generous LoyaulteMeLie aka Eireann, whom I owe my gratitude.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Since the automated repair station had healed Charlie Tucker’s nerve damage and he thus no longer needed help with his physio, Hoshi didn’t have any more excuse to skip weapons training with her personal nemesis. Accepting the inevitable, she reported to the armoury at the usual time, trying to persuade herself that she wasn’t scared of being alone with an armed Reed.
So far she had not succeeded.
Reed acknowledged her arrival with his customary impersonal nod, handed her a loaded phase pistol and gestured towards a target projector that had already been set up.
“You have a ten second firing window. Ready?”
Hoshi was light years from being ready but she’d rather die than admit it. “Ready.”
“Go,” Reed pushed a button on his PADD. The 3D target started moving around and Hoshi, clenching her teeth in desperate effort, fired a lot of shots in its direction until Reed called “time”.
“Any better?” She asked, not really hopeful that it would be. Not with Reed breathing down her neck.
As expected, he shook his head, clearly not satisfied with the results. “Your hit to miss ratio is still below fifty percent. If those had been live rounds, you'd have blown out two or three bulkheads.”
Be glad they weren’t, Hoshi thought, frustrated to tears. I might have been tempted to blow out your frigging head!
“I never had this much trouble with the EM-33,” she muttered angrily.
“This is an entirely new weapon,” he explained with forced patience - not for the first time. “Unlike the EM-33 you don't have to compensate for particle drift. Just point straight at the target, and try and keep your shoulders relaxed. It's hard to aim accurately when you're tense.”
Yeah, geez, I wonder where that comes from, Hoshi thought sarcastically; then, seeing Reed’s pained expression, she frowned. “You all right?”
Reed grimaced again. “Yeah, fine. Just some remaining stiffness from the leg wound the station healed. Should not have skipped physio yesterday.” He turned his attention back to the target projector. “You'll get the hang of it. Let's try for twenty seconds this time.”
Before he could have reset the projector, though, the barely audible sound of he engines changed, signalling that the ship had dropped out of warp.
“I thought we were staying at warp for the next few days,” Hoshi said in surprise. “Since we’re behind schedule reaching the Delphic Expanse or so.”
Reed checked the monitor and frowned. “Apparently, the sensors have detected some unknown phenomenon and the captain decided to take a look. We can expect being called to the Bridge any moment.”
“So much for target practice,” Hoshi suppressed a sigh when Archer indeed called all senior officers to the Bridge only moments later. She’d have preferred to get over with it now.
“We'll pick it up tomorrow,” Reed replied with a shrug.
Which was the last thing Hoshi wanted to do, but there was nothing she could have done to avoid it.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“So, what is this exactly?” Jack Archer stared at the main viewer, on which the image of a large asteroid - or that of a very small planet - could be seen.
Only that said stellar body was swathed in several layers of what seemed to be electromagnetic fields. It had the shape of a flattened sphere and looked like some oddly iridescent Christmas tree ornament.
“According to my readings it is an unusually large Class D asteroid, with a nickel-iron/silicate surface and a tenuous hydrogen/nitrogen atmosphere,” T’Pol replied. “The iron core must be very dense to create such intense magnetic fields.”
“I had no idea asteroids could do that,” Charlie Tucker had come up to the Bridge to be inquisitive.
“As a rule they cannot,” T’Pol agreed. “Which is why there is a 78.9 percent probability that this is in fact a dwarf planet, only slightly larger than Ceres in your own solar system. It has an equatorial radius of 500 kilometres and a polar radius of 460 kilometres, equivalent in volume to a sphere with a diameter of 940 kilometres.”
“About 27 percent that of the Moon,” Charlie calculated. “That still don't explain the EM fields, though.”
T’Pol nodded. “Correct. Consequently, this planet is either of rare composition, or there is something down there, something artificial that creates those EM fields. Unfortunately, it also interferes with our scanners, so that I am unable to give you any detailed information beyond the fact that it appears to have a rocky core surrounded by a thick ice mantle.”
Tucker was deeply intrigued. “Again, just like Ceres. But if it is a planet, it ought o be a drifter. It doesnae seem to be part of any solar system. That’s unusual.”
“It is,” T’Pol agreed. “Some outside force must have pulled it out of its original orbit… wherever that was.”
“A tad suspicious, isn’t it?” Reed was frowning. “What if there is an artificial structure down there? Or even a well-concealed weapon? What if this entire planetoid is a weapon; if somebody is planning to use it as a spying outpost or as a planet killer?”
“Now you’re exaggeratin’,” Tucker shook his head. Reed gave him a sharp look.
“Am I? After all we’ve seen so far, can you leave the possibility out of consideration?” He turned to Archer. “Captain, I strongly suggest sending down a shuttlepod to investigate.”
Archer looked at Hoshi. “Can we clean up the signal?”
“I'm trying, sir,” She was working feverishly on her console but with little to no effect. “I’m sorry, sir. Too much EM interference. It sounds very strange.”
“Intense magnetic fields often create unique waveforms,” T’Pol offered.
“Let's hear them,” Archer ordered, his curiosity piqued.
Hoshi threw a switch; eerie electronic ‘music’ filled the Bridge.
“Siren calls,” Mayweather commented. “That's what we called them when I was a kid. My dad would put them through the speakers whenever we flew by a gas giant. It gave me nightmares sometimes.”
“It is certainly headache-inducing,” Archer signalled Hoshi to stop the sounds.
T’Pol was clearly indifferent. “Other than keeping Ensign Mayweather up at night, I'm not sure what we expect to accomplish here. “I admit that this stellar body is… irregular, but hardly worth interrupting our course.”
“And what if it’s another Iconian outpost in disguise?” Reed demanded. “Captain, we cannot leave it unchecked; it could be dangerous!”
Archer grinned. “Are you volunteering, Mr. Reed?”
“If that’s what it takes then yes, I am,” he answered promptly. “I may not be as good as you or Ensign Mayweather, but I am a qualified pilot.”
“Good enough to steer a ‘pod through multiple magnetic fields?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Lieutenant Reed does have a point, Captain,” Travis offered. “It is never a good thing to leave unknown phenomena unchecked behind our backs.”
Archer thought about it for a moment; as somebody born and raised in space, Mayweather had unique instincts and experiences no-one on board could claim to have.
“All right,” he finally said, “but you’re not going alone.”
“He needs somebody with him who can patch up the ‘pod on site, should the EM fields mess up the board systems,” Tucker was clearly eager to see some action again. “An engineer who knows the ‘pod inside and out.”
Archer nodded. “Choose somebody; and no, Trip, you’re not going. End of discussion,” he added, seeing that Charlie was about to protest. “You’re needed here to keep an eye on those miraculous repairs, should they prove not to be so miraculous after all. You have a good team; Lieutenant Reed won’t need the chief engineer to keep the ‘pod in one piece.”
Hoshi stepped up to the captain's chair. “What he’ll need is a communications expert,” she said quietly. “Due to all that EM interference, he most likely won’t be able to maintain contact with Enterprise… unless he has help.”
“Are you volunteering?” Archer asked in surprise. “I’m sure Crewman Baird could do it just fine.”
Hoshi shook her head. “Crewman Baird is very capable with the routine stuff, but he didn’t help designing the comm system of the ‘pods. I did. The chance of getting any signal through those EM fields is slim; but if there is a choice at all I’ll find it,” she paused for a moment, then she added in a voice so low that aside from Archer only T’Pol could hear. “I realize that I haven’t always been the first one in line to volunteer for this type of mission, but I am prepared to go.”
“Even with him?” Archer’s voice was every bit as low as hers. She shrugged.
“I went undercover with him to get you and Travis out of that Tandaran prison. I’m still not comfortable being alone with him and probably never will be, but… Jack, I can do this!”
Archer gave her a small, private smile not many people had ever seen.
“I know you can, Hoshi; and I’m so proud of you!” He turned to Tucker and raised his voice again. “Who are you sending with them, Trip?”
“Crewman Walsh,” Charlie replied after a moment of consideration. “After havin’ spent weeks in coma thanks to the Shroomies, he’s eager to actually do somethin’ for a change. And he’s been doin’ shuttlepod maintenance for years.”
“Good,” Archer said. “Let him report to the locker room. I want the survey team suit up - they'll need it down there.”
“That's for sure,” Charlie agreed. “When do they depart?”
“In thirty minutes, tops. I don’t want to waste more time here than we absolutely have to.”
“Understood. Don’t worry; he’ll be ready in ten.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Charlie Tucker had clearly trained his people well. When Hoshi and Reed arrived at the locker room ten minutes later, Crewman Duncan Walsh - a somewhat stocky man who seemed unfazed by the mission - was already there, wearing his environmental suit (sans the helmet), waiting for them patiently. He even offered his help to Hoshi who accepted it, to Reid’s mild surprise.
“I thought you were acquainted with the environmental suit, Ensign,” he said.
“I am,” Hoshi replied. “I just prefer having an engineer check on the backup systems. I wouldn't want the emergency oxygen to fail during a hull breach.”
Reed rolled his eyes. “Trust me, Ensign. If there's a hull breach the pressure will crush you to something about this big,” he held up a clenched fist to demonstrate his meaning.
“That is reassuring,” Hoshi said dryly. “And we should leave the trust part out of this game for the moment, shouldn’t we?”
Reed stiffened, getting the hidden message. “I admit that your skills with the communications system would be a great help during this trip. But if you're uncomfortable…”
“I am perfectly comfortable,” Hoshi interrupted, deliberately misinterpreting his words. “I used to find the suits a little claustrophobic, but I'm getting used to them. I'll see you in the shuttlepod.”
With that she left the locker room, leaving the two men behind without a backward glance.
Walsh looked after her with a frown.“What was that supposed to mean?”
“Don’t worry about it, Crewman,” Reed’s voice was ice cold. “This is a private matter between Ensign Sato and me.”
Like everyone on board even remotely familiar with the armoury officer, Walsh knew when to shut up in the Englishman’s presence. When Lieutenant Reed declared something a private matter, getting any answer out of him was as hopeless as trying to invite T’Pol to a barbecue party. As Lieutenant Hess liked to put, the man had an iron rod up his ass; according to CPO Daniels ‘that was the English for you’. Being Welsh and proud of it, CPO Daniels was genetically prejudiced towards the English.
Pushing things with an obviously reluctant senior officer was detrimental to one’s standing at crew evaluations. Therefore Crewman Walsh wisely shut up and followed Reed to the launch bay. This promised to be a fun mission - NOT.
Fortunately, their trip to the dwarf planet was a short one. They had to put enough distance between them and Enterprise so that the magnetic fields of the mysterious stellar body wouldn’t interfere with the sensitive onboard systems. Those of the shuttlepod, being simpler and sturdier, were not endangered… or so they had thought.
Less than half an hour later they realized how wrong they had been.
“Entering the outer EM layer in twenty seconds,” Reed announced; those were his first words in the duration of their flight. “Report in, Ensign, in case we should lose communications with Enterprise.”
“Aye, sir,” Hoshi replied crisply and did just that. Archer acknowledged the report and wished them luck.
“We’ll need it,” Reed muttered while steering the shuttlepod into the shifting EM fields.
In the next moment, as if proving his prediction true, the shuttlepod suddenly jolted, as if hit by something solid (even though Hoshi’s scanners showed nothing in close proximity) and started spinning out of control. The jolt, whatever had caused it, had thrown them off-course, and they were falling towards the planetoid’s surface, rapidly and uncontrollably. Reed tried to reverse thrusters but to no effect.
“Crewman Walsh, check the propulsion system and give me a status report,” he ordered through clenched teeth.
Duncan Walsh scrambled to the control panel and frowned. “We’re losing power, sir, but I can’t see any reason for it. This makes no sense!”
“Long-range sensor array is disabled,” Hoshi added. Short-range sensors are operating at thirty per cent efficiency. Comm system is down.”
While wrestling with the steering controls, Reed was already thinking several steps in advance.
“Try to find the problem, Crewman. I’ll do everything I can to keep us in one piece, but it seems we’re going to crash… unless you can stop the power loss.”
“Yes, sir,” Walsh moved over to an access point and pulled off the panel to take a look at the propulsion system - without any success. “I can’t find anything wrong with our systems, Lieutenant!”
“Forget it,” Reed said through clenched teeth. “Brace for impact; we’re going down.”
Before Walsh could have done so, though, there was another violent jolt; the crewman was thrown forward and slammed his head into the edge of the co-pilot’s instrumental board.
In the next moment the shaking and spinning stopped and the viewscreen cleared up. They had obviously crossed the EM fields and were now slowly descending to the planetoid below. The low gravity of the comparatively small stellar body saved them from a fatal crash landing but that didn’t mean they’d have been out of danger yet.
“Any chance to get a distress call through to Enterprise?” Reed asked.
Hoshi shook her head. “Not at the moment. I’ll need time - and a lot of finicky work - to find a break in the EM fields… if I can.”
“According to the captain you’re the best,” Reed shrugged. “I’m sure you’ll manage eventually. How’s Crewman Walsh doing?”
Hoshi scrambled over to the unconscious engineer and scanned him with the medical scanner that was part of every standard medkit in every shuttlepod.
“Not so well,” She tried to stay professional-sounding but couldn’t entirely keep the concern out of her voice. “He’s got a concussion… and some internal bleeding in the brain. He needs a doctor; and a proper diagnostic bed. I’ve got first aid training but that’s not enough to deal with an injury of this magnitude. What about you?”
“I’ve had field medic training but that was years ago,” her companion admitted glumly. “Let me set down the ’pod, and then we’ll try to stabilize him as well as we can.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Fortunately for them, some of the board systems came back online, now they had crossed the shifting EM fields. Emergency power kicked in and Reed managed to set down the shuttlepod with a minimum of jolting and bumping.
“Strange,” he muttered. “Based on the size of this planetoid we ought to be all but weightless; and yet we are not.”
“Surface gravity is 0.86 of the Earth norm,” Hoshi studied the sensor readings with a frown. “That’s considerably more than even on the Moon. How is that possible?”
“It isn’t; not by natural means,” Reed gave their injured comrade a worried look. “There’s something very odd going on here. We’ll have to go out and take a look at our surroundings.”
“That means keeping on the environmental suits,” Hoshi pulled a face. “We won’t be able to breathe in a hydrogen/nitrogen atmosphere. At least the planet has a borderline-walkable surface gravity. As long as we don’t make any sudden leaps, we ought to be safe.”
“Which is suspicious in itself,” Reed said while they entered the airlock and sealed the door behind them. “This rock is about half as large as the Moon but is composed of less dense materials. It shouldn’t have any higher surface gravity than roughly three per cent that of Earth,” seeing the surprise on Hoshi’s face, he shrugged. “I studied Ceres intently for a school project once. This asteroid should be similar in all accounts; and it certain things it is.”
“Except in everything that counts,” Hoshi commented, and Reed nodded.
“Which is why we must go out and take a look.”
“After you, sir,” Hoshi gave him room to move forward. He was the security officer, after all; and the one in command of the mission.
They secured their helmets, and then he opened the airlock and stepped out of the shuttlepod. She followed him, moving carefully. The surface gravity, although much higher than one would expect from a D-Class planetoid, still was low enough to make controlling their movements somewhat difficult.
The first task was to use her hand-held scanner to take preliminary readings of their surroundings.
“The planet’s crust contains 22.7 percent water ice,” she reported. “I don’t read any large surfaces of liquid water, but salty brines seem to be percolating through the outer mantle. The planet seems to be cryovolcanically active.”
“Again, like Ceres,” Reed commented; then he got a closer look at Hoshi’s scanner and frowned. “That’s not a Starfleet-issue scanner, is it?”
“I borrowed it from T’Pol,” Hoshi explained. “It is Vulcan-made and thus more efficient.”
“I’m surprised that she was willing to lend it to you,” he muttered. “As a rule Vulcans aren’t very forthcoming with their technology.”
“Being fair and friendly does pay off sometimes,” Hoshi couldn’t quite keep the dryness out of her voice.. “Besides, I think she wanted to come herself; in lieu of that, she wanted me to collect as much data as possible,” she checked her readings again and frowned. “That’s odd. This planet is a drifter, without a sun warming it; and yet the surface temperature is barely -10 degrees Celsius. It should be dipping into the triple digits below zero, at the very least.”
He looked around, scowling. “There are many odd things about this place.Let’s go a bit further and find a better vantage point. Perhaps we’ll find a few clues.”
As they’d landed in a shallow dell among shear rocky surfaces, their view was restricted at best. Fortunately, the low gravity made it easy to climb the nearest rock wall and reach a small plateau, from which they could see far and wide, the EM fields surrounding the planet providing some eerie illumination.
In front of them, about two thousand metres below their feet, there was another plateau; this one large and irregularly shaped, perhaps six hundred metres across its widest part. Like the rock walls themselves, the surface of the plateau was rough and uneven, of the colour of dirty, grey-green ice, and deeply furled.
Not quite in the middle of the plateau an artificial structure stood, shaped like a trefoil around a bulky, segmented, dark blue-grey middle section that rested on short, sturdy pillars. The side walls of it looked like old-fashioned solar panels or rows upon rows of small, tinted windows.
Three large, round sections extended from this central unit, shaped a bit like the Iconian gateway station that got blow up on that unnamed planet, just on a much smaller scale. These were attached to the rock walls with grappler-like extensions of unknown purpose.
On the fourth side of the central unit there was a platform, large enough for a shuttlepod to land. The whole area was desolate and bleak; and yet somebody clearly had once lived here.
Or still did live here, and was keeping very quiet about it.
“Any biosigns?” Reed asked when they’d exchanged startled glances.
Hoshi studied her readings; then she shook her head. “None; unless the entire complex is shielded.”
“Can you get any readings from the inside?”
“Just the basics. The atmosphere and the temperatures inside the complex are the same as outside. The gravity, though, is twenty per cent higher, and I can detect traces of eysilium.”
“The stuff Archer’s comet was made of?” The lieutenant tried to suppress a shiver; he’d come dangerously close to dying under the ice of that comet.
Hoshi nodded. “That might explain the gravity.”
“Perhaps,” he allowed, though his tone was doubtful. “Well, we won’t find out more by standing here and staring down at this thing. We need to get closer.”
She hesitated, reluctant to remind him in case it came across as a criticism. "We can’t leave Crewman Walsh unsupervised for long. His condition could change for the worse any time.”
“I don’t intend to,” Reed replied. “This complex offers us a perfect landing pad. I intend to put it to use.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile on Enterprise Jack Archer - and the rest of the crew - were desperately searching for their lost shuttlepod.
“Come on, come on!” The captain paced the bridge like a caged lion. “It's been over an hour since the ‘pod disappeared from sensors. Something has clearly happened to them.”
“I am not detecting any debris,” T’Pol reported. “We have lost contact - and sensor data - at the moment they have entered the outer layer of the EM fields, which was expected. Our sensors cannot penetrate them from this distance.”
“Then let us get closer,” Archer said impatiently.
“I advise against that. We have specifically sent the shuttlepod to spare the ship’s systems.”
“In case you’ve forgotten, we have three of our people in that ‘pod,” Archer's reply was perilously close to a snarl. “Travis, get us closer. Thrusters only.”
“Aye, Captain,” Mayweather cautiously steered Enterprise closer to the odd planetoid. Everyone else - with the possible exception of T’Pol - held their breath… and not without a good reason.
Only moments later the big starship shuddered as if it had collided with something solid, the impact reverberating through all decks. Several crewmembers fell out of their chairs, including Crewman Blair currently manning Hoshi’s station, who slammed his head against the edge of his console and lost consciousness.
“What the hell was that?” The captain turned to Ensign Soccorro, standing in for Reed at Tactical. “Scan the region. Look for plasma emissions or EM displacements. Anything that might indicate another ship… or more cloaked mines like the ones we ran into lately.”
Soccorro performed the requested scan; then she shook her head. “Aside from the EM fields of the planetoid itself, there’s nothing out of the ordinary, Captain. Just hydrogen, helium and space dust.”
“Unacceptable. There has to be something out there. Space dust won’ hit a ship this size so hard.”
T’Pol looked up from her scanner. “That is correct, Captain. What hit us was a gravimetric shear.”
“Which is what exactly?” Archer demanded.
“The same thing we call spatial turbulence,” Charlie Tucker replied in T’Pol’s stead. “A type of gravimetric distortion. Basically, we're caught in some kind of subspace sinkhole. It's pullin' us in.”
“Is that what happened to Shuttlepod One?”
“There is a 97.6 percent probability for that,” T’Pol said. “A subspace sinkhole is capable of producing an extremely strong gravity well that poses a potential hazard to any spacecraft that navigates too close. I recommend putting considerably distance between Enterprise and the planetoid.
“We can’t leave our people behind!” Tucker protested.
“We cannot help them when Enterprise gets trapped, too,” T’Pol pointed out. “These sinkholes pull anything that has become caught within their gravitation wells into a subspace pocket.”
“A subspace pocket,” Archer repeated slowly. “Now why does that sound familiar? Can those fish monks be at work here, what was their name again?”
“The Solanae,” T’Pol supplied. “Their involvement is not entirely impossible, although subspace sinkholes are usually naturally-occurring subspace phenomena. In either case, we must retreat and work out a strategy to free the shuttlepod and our three crewmembers.”
“The gravimetric shear is increasing,” Tucker warned, as the turbolift door opened to admit Doctor Phlox and his med team arriving to treat the injured.
“Helm, get us out of here,” Archer ordered. “Reverse thrusters and go to full impulse.”
“No effect, sir,” Mayweather reported unhappy moments later.
“And we can't go to warp, either,” Tucker was punching commands into his console, his brow furrowed. “I can't establish a field.”
“Then we need more power to the impulse engines.”
“That wouldn't be enough, Cap’n. We gotta find a way to counter the gravitational pull.”
“Vent three million isodynes of plasma from the nacelles,” T’Pol suggested. “And reverse the polarity of the deck plates. “
Tucker looked at Archer and - after getting the nod - he started working feverishly, hoping to God that T’Pol knew what she was suggesting and wasn’t just guessing… as unlikely as that would have been for a Vulcan.
The ship began shuddering around them as the different forces fought for control of her. But gradually it started to subside.
After several endless moments Mayweather looked up from his console. “We're clear, Captain”
“Move us away,” Archer ordered; then he looked at Ensign Soccorro. “Stand down yellow alert. Secure all stations. T’Pol, calculate the minimum safe distance; we’ll stop there until we find out what exactly is happening and how can we get our people all. Call in Beta shift. Summon all senior officers to the situation room within the hour. And invite GG to the briefing; she might have useful insights.”
“Aye, sir,” the officers on duty echoed in unison.
Phlox and his helpers finished treating the injured. Aside from Crewman Baird, who had a concussion and whom they took to Sickbay, there were only minor cuts and bruised. About ten minutes later Beta shift arrived to the bridge to relieve the senior officers, who then piled into the situation room, and soon afterwards CPO Daniels showed up with a large tray of sandwiches and soft drinks.
This promised to be a very long briefing.
~TBC~
Anyway, this is Chapter 1 of my version of "Shuttlepod One", featuring Hoshi and Reed instead of Tucker and Reed for reasons probably obvious for those who've read the first part. *hint, hint*
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
CHAPTER 1
Author’s notes: As it is obvious, I’ve combined certain elements from the episode “Sleeping Dogs” and the Voyager episode “Gravity” to create this very AU “Shuttlepod One” unit. Certain lines of dialogue are directly quoted from those episodes. The technobabble concerning gravimetric shears and other subspace phenomena is quoted from the Memory Alpha website.
Beta read by the most generous LoyaulteMeLie aka Eireann, whom I owe my gratitude.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Since the automated repair station had healed Charlie Tucker’s nerve damage and he thus no longer needed help with his physio, Hoshi didn’t have any more excuse to skip weapons training with her personal nemesis. Accepting the inevitable, she reported to the armoury at the usual time, trying to persuade herself that she wasn’t scared of being alone with an armed Reed.
So far she had not succeeded.
Reed acknowledged her arrival with his customary impersonal nod, handed her a loaded phase pistol and gestured towards a target projector that had already been set up.
“You have a ten second firing window. Ready?”
Hoshi was light years from being ready but she’d rather die than admit it. “Ready.”
“Go,” Reed pushed a button on his PADD. The 3D target started moving around and Hoshi, clenching her teeth in desperate effort, fired a lot of shots in its direction until Reed called “time”.
“Any better?” She asked, not really hopeful that it would be. Not with Reed breathing down her neck.
As expected, he shook his head, clearly not satisfied with the results. “Your hit to miss ratio is still below fifty percent. If those had been live rounds, you'd have blown out two or three bulkheads.”
Be glad they weren’t, Hoshi thought, frustrated to tears. I might have been tempted to blow out your frigging head!
“I never had this much trouble with the EM-33,” she muttered angrily.
“This is an entirely new weapon,” he explained with forced patience - not for the first time. “Unlike the EM-33 you don't have to compensate for particle drift. Just point straight at the target, and try and keep your shoulders relaxed. It's hard to aim accurately when you're tense.”
Yeah, geez, I wonder where that comes from, Hoshi thought sarcastically; then, seeing Reed’s pained expression, she frowned. “You all right?”
Reed grimaced again. “Yeah, fine. Just some remaining stiffness from the leg wound the station healed. Should not have skipped physio yesterday.” He turned his attention back to the target projector. “You'll get the hang of it. Let's try for twenty seconds this time.”
Before he could have reset the projector, though, the barely audible sound of he engines changed, signalling that the ship had dropped out of warp.
“I thought we were staying at warp for the next few days,” Hoshi said in surprise. “Since we’re behind schedule reaching the Delphic Expanse or so.”
Reed checked the monitor and frowned. “Apparently, the sensors have detected some unknown phenomenon and the captain decided to take a look. We can expect being called to the Bridge any moment.”
“So much for target practice,” Hoshi suppressed a sigh when Archer indeed called all senior officers to the Bridge only moments later. She’d have preferred to get over with it now.
“We'll pick it up tomorrow,” Reed replied with a shrug.
Which was the last thing Hoshi wanted to do, but there was nothing she could have done to avoid it.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“So, what is this exactly?” Jack Archer stared at the main viewer, on which the image of a large asteroid - or that of a very small planet - could be seen.
Only that said stellar body was swathed in several layers of what seemed to be electromagnetic fields. It had the shape of a flattened sphere and looked like some oddly iridescent Christmas tree ornament.
“According to my readings it is an unusually large Class D asteroid, with a nickel-iron/silicate surface and a tenuous hydrogen/nitrogen atmosphere,” T’Pol replied. “The iron core must be very dense to create such intense magnetic fields.”
“I had no idea asteroids could do that,” Charlie Tucker had come up to the Bridge to be inquisitive.
“As a rule they cannot,” T’Pol agreed. “Which is why there is a 78.9 percent probability that this is in fact a dwarf planet, only slightly larger than Ceres in your own solar system. It has an equatorial radius of 500 kilometres and a polar radius of 460 kilometres, equivalent in volume to a sphere with a diameter of 940 kilometres.”
“About 27 percent that of the Moon,” Charlie calculated. “That still don't explain the EM fields, though.”
T’Pol nodded. “Correct. Consequently, this planet is either of rare composition, or there is something down there, something artificial that creates those EM fields. Unfortunately, it also interferes with our scanners, so that I am unable to give you any detailed information beyond the fact that it appears to have a rocky core surrounded by a thick ice mantle.”
Tucker was deeply intrigued. “Again, just like Ceres. But if it is a planet, it ought o be a drifter. It doesnae seem to be part of any solar system. That’s unusual.”
“It is,” T’Pol agreed. “Some outside force must have pulled it out of its original orbit… wherever that was.”
“A tad suspicious, isn’t it?” Reed was frowning. “What if there is an artificial structure down there? Or even a well-concealed weapon? What if this entire planetoid is a weapon; if somebody is planning to use it as a spying outpost or as a planet killer?”
“Now you’re exaggeratin’,” Tucker shook his head. Reed gave him a sharp look.
“Am I? After all we’ve seen so far, can you leave the possibility out of consideration?” He turned to Archer. “Captain, I strongly suggest sending down a shuttlepod to investigate.”
Archer looked at Hoshi. “Can we clean up the signal?”
“I'm trying, sir,” She was working feverishly on her console but with little to no effect. “I’m sorry, sir. Too much EM interference. It sounds very strange.”
“Intense magnetic fields often create unique waveforms,” T’Pol offered.
“Let's hear them,” Archer ordered, his curiosity piqued.
Hoshi threw a switch; eerie electronic ‘music’ filled the Bridge.
“Siren calls,” Mayweather commented. “That's what we called them when I was a kid. My dad would put them through the speakers whenever we flew by a gas giant. It gave me nightmares sometimes.”
“It is certainly headache-inducing,” Archer signalled Hoshi to stop the sounds.
T’Pol was clearly indifferent. “Other than keeping Ensign Mayweather up at night, I'm not sure what we expect to accomplish here. “I admit that this stellar body is… irregular, but hardly worth interrupting our course.”
“And what if it’s another Iconian outpost in disguise?” Reed demanded. “Captain, we cannot leave it unchecked; it could be dangerous!”
Archer grinned. “Are you volunteering, Mr. Reed?”
“If that’s what it takes then yes, I am,” he answered promptly. “I may not be as good as you or Ensign Mayweather, but I am a qualified pilot.”
“Good enough to steer a ‘pod through multiple magnetic fields?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Lieutenant Reed does have a point, Captain,” Travis offered. “It is never a good thing to leave unknown phenomena unchecked behind our backs.”
Archer thought about it for a moment; as somebody born and raised in space, Mayweather had unique instincts and experiences no-one on board could claim to have.
“All right,” he finally said, “but you’re not going alone.”
“He needs somebody with him who can patch up the ‘pod on site, should the EM fields mess up the board systems,” Tucker was clearly eager to see some action again. “An engineer who knows the ‘pod inside and out.”
Archer nodded. “Choose somebody; and no, Trip, you’re not going. End of discussion,” he added, seeing that Charlie was about to protest. “You’re needed here to keep an eye on those miraculous repairs, should they prove not to be so miraculous after all. You have a good team; Lieutenant Reed won’t need the chief engineer to keep the ‘pod in one piece.”
Hoshi stepped up to the captain's chair. “What he’ll need is a communications expert,” she said quietly. “Due to all that EM interference, he most likely won’t be able to maintain contact with Enterprise… unless he has help.”
“Are you volunteering?” Archer asked in surprise. “I’m sure Crewman Baird could do it just fine.”
Hoshi shook her head. “Crewman Baird is very capable with the routine stuff, but he didn’t help designing the comm system of the ‘pods. I did. The chance of getting any signal through those EM fields is slim; but if there is a choice at all I’ll find it,” she paused for a moment, then she added in a voice so low that aside from Archer only T’Pol could hear. “I realize that I haven’t always been the first one in line to volunteer for this type of mission, but I am prepared to go.”
“Even with him?” Archer’s voice was every bit as low as hers. She shrugged.
“I went undercover with him to get you and Travis out of that Tandaran prison. I’m still not comfortable being alone with him and probably never will be, but… Jack, I can do this!”
Archer gave her a small, private smile not many people had ever seen.
“I know you can, Hoshi; and I’m so proud of you!” He turned to Tucker and raised his voice again. “Who are you sending with them, Trip?”
“Crewman Walsh,” Charlie replied after a moment of consideration. “After havin’ spent weeks in coma thanks to the Shroomies, he’s eager to actually do somethin’ for a change. And he’s been doin’ shuttlepod maintenance for years.”
“Good,” Archer said. “Let him report to the locker room. I want the survey team suit up - they'll need it down there.”
“That's for sure,” Charlie agreed. “When do they depart?”
“In thirty minutes, tops. I don’t want to waste more time here than we absolutely have to.”
“Understood. Don’t worry; he’ll be ready in ten.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Charlie Tucker had clearly trained his people well. When Hoshi and Reed arrived at the locker room ten minutes later, Crewman Duncan Walsh - a somewhat stocky man who seemed unfazed by the mission - was already there, wearing his environmental suit (sans the helmet), waiting for them patiently. He even offered his help to Hoshi who accepted it, to Reid’s mild surprise.
“I thought you were acquainted with the environmental suit, Ensign,” he said.
“I am,” Hoshi replied. “I just prefer having an engineer check on the backup systems. I wouldn't want the emergency oxygen to fail during a hull breach.”
Reed rolled his eyes. “Trust me, Ensign. If there's a hull breach the pressure will crush you to something about this big,” he held up a clenched fist to demonstrate his meaning.
“That is reassuring,” Hoshi said dryly. “And we should leave the trust part out of this game for the moment, shouldn’t we?”
Reed stiffened, getting the hidden message. “I admit that your skills with the communications system would be a great help during this trip. But if you're uncomfortable…”
“I am perfectly comfortable,” Hoshi interrupted, deliberately misinterpreting his words. “I used to find the suits a little claustrophobic, but I'm getting used to them. I'll see you in the shuttlepod.”
With that she left the locker room, leaving the two men behind without a backward glance.
Walsh looked after her with a frown.“What was that supposed to mean?”
“Don’t worry about it, Crewman,” Reed’s voice was ice cold. “This is a private matter between Ensign Sato and me.”
Like everyone on board even remotely familiar with the armoury officer, Walsh knew when to shut up in the Englishman’s presence. When Lieutenant Reed declared something a private matter, getting any answer out of him was as hopeless as trying to invite T’Pol to a barbecue party. As Lieutenant Hess liked to put, the man had an iron rod up his ass; according to CPO Daniels ‘that was the English for you’. Being Welsh and proud of it, CPO Daniels was genetically prejudiced towards the English.
Pushing things with an obviously reluctant senior officer was detrimental to one’s standing at crew evaluations. Therefore Crewman Walsh wisely shut up and followed Reed to the launch bay. This promised to be a fun mission - NOT.
Fortunately, their trip to the dwarf planet was a short one. They had to put enough distance between them and Enterprise so that the magnetic fields of the mysterious stellar body wouldn’t interfere with the sensitive onboard systems. Those of the shuttlepod, being simpler and sturdier, were not endangered… or so they had thought.
Less than half an hour later they realized how wrong they had been.
“Entering the outer EM layer in twenty seconds,” Reed announced; those were his first words in the duration of their flight. “Report in, Ensign, in case we should lose communications with Enterprise.”
“Aye, sir,” Hoshi replied crisply and did just that. Archer acknowledged the report and wished them luck.
“We’ll need it,” Reed muttered while steering the shuttlepod into the shifting EM fields.
In the next moment, as if proving his prediction true, the shuttlepod suddenly jolted, as if hit by something solid (even though Hoshi’s scanners showed nothing in close proximity) and started spinning out of control. The jolt, whatever had caused it, had thrown them off-course, and they were falling towards the planetoid’s surface, rapidly and uncontrollably. Reed tried to reverse thrusters but to no effect.
“Crewman Walsh, check the propulsion system and give me a status report,” he ordered through clenched teeth.
Duncan Walsh scrambled to the control panel and frowned. “We’re losing power, sir, but I can’t see any reason for it. This makes no sense!”
“Long-range sensor array is disabled,” Hoshi added. Short-range sensors are operating at thirty per cent efficiency. Comm system is down.”
While wrestling with the steering controls, Reed was already thinking several steps in advance.
“Try to find the problem, Crewman. I’ll do everything I can to keep us in one piece, but it seems we’re going to crash… unless you can stop the power loss.”
“Yes, sir,” Walsh moved over to an access point and pulled off the panel to take a look at the propulsion system - without any success. “I can’t find anything wrong with our systems, Lieutenant!”
“Forget it,” Reed said through clenched teeth. “Brace for impact; we’re going down.”
Before Walsh could have done so, though, there was another violent jolt; the crewman was thrown forward and slammed his head into the edge of the co-pilot’s instrumental board.
In the next moment the shaking and spinning stopped and the viewscreen cleared up. They had obviously crossed the EM fields and were now slowly descending to the planetoid below. The low gravity of the comparatively small stellar body saved them from a fatal crash landing but that didn’t mean they’d have been out of danger yet.
“Any chance to get a distress call through to Enterprise?” Reed asked.
Hoshi shook her head. “Not at the moment. I’ll need time - and a lot of finicky work - to find a break in the EM fields… if I can.”
“According to the captain you’re the best,” Reed shrugged. “I’m sure you’ll manage eventually. How’s Crewman Walsh doing?”
Hoshi scrambled over to the unconscious engineer and scanned him with the medical scanner that was part of every standard medkit in every shuttlepod.
“Not so well,” She tried to stay professional-sounding but couldn’t entirely keep the concern out of her voice. “He’s got a concussion… and some internal bleeding in the brain. He needs a doctor; and a proper diagnostic bed. I’ve got first aid training but that’s not enough to deal with an injury of this magnitude. What about you?”
“I’ve had field medic training but that was years ago,” her companion admitted glumly. “Let me set down the ’pod, and then we’ll try to stabilize him as well as we can.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Fortunately for them, some of the board systems came back online, now they had crossed the shifting EM fields. Emergency power kicked in and Reed managed to set down the shuttlepod with a minimum of jolting and bumping.
“Strange,” he muttered. “Based on the size of this planetoid we ought to be all but weightless; and yet we are not.”
“Surface gravity is 0.86 of the Earth norm,” Hoshi studied the sensor readings with a frown. “That’s considerably more than even on the Moon. How is that possible?”
“It isn’t; not by natural means,” Reed gave their injured comrade a worried look. “There’s something very odd going on here. We’ll have to go out and take a look at our surroundings.”
“That means keeping on the environmental suits,” Hoshi pulled a face. “We won’t be able to breathe in a hydrogen/nitrogen atmosphere. At least the planet has a borderline-walkable surface gravity. As long as we don’t make any sudden leaps, we ought to be safe.”
“Which is suspicious in itself,” Reed said while they entered the airlock and sealed the door behind them. “This rock is about half as large as the Moon but is composed of less dense materials. It shouldn’t have any higher surface gravity than roughly three per cent that of Earth,” seeing the surprise on Hoshi’s face, he shrugged. “I studied Ceres intently for a school project once. This asteroid should be similar in all accounts; and it certain things it is.”
“Except in everything that counts,” Hoshi commented, and Reed nodded.
“Which is why we must go out and take a look.”
“After you, sir,” Hoshi gave him room to move forward. He was the security officer, after all; and the one in command of the mission.
They secured their helmets, and then he opened the airlock and stepped out of the shuttlepod. She followed him, moving carefully. The surface gravity, although much higher than one would expect from a D-Class planetoid, still was low enough to make controlling their movements somewhat difficult.
The first task was to use her hand-held scanner to take preliminary readings of their surroundings.
“The planet’s crust contains 22.7 percent water ice,” she reported. “I don’t read any large surfaces of liquid water, but salty brines seem to be percolating through the outer mantle. The planet seems to be cryovolcanically active.”
“Again, like Ceres,” Reed commented; then he got a closer look at Hoshi’s scanner and frowned. “That’s not a Starfleet-issue scanner, is it?”
“I borrowed it from T’Pol,” Hoshi explained. “It is Vulcan-made and thus more efficient.”
“I’m surprised that she was willing to lend it to you,” he muttered. “As a rule Vulcans aren’t very forthcoming with their technology.”
“Being fair and friendly does pay off sometimes,” Hoshi couldn’t quite keep the dryness out of her voice.. “Besides, I think she wanted to come herself; in lieu of that, she wanted me to collect as much data as possible,” she checked her readings again and frowned. “That’s odd. This planet is a drifter, without a sun warming it; and yet the surface temperature is barely -10 degrees Celsius. It should be dipping into the triple digits below zero, at the very least.”
He looked around, scowling. “There are many odd things about this place.Let’s go a bit further and find a better vantage point. Perhaps we’ll find a few clues.”
As they’d landed in a shallow dell among shear rocky surfaces, their view was restricted at best. Fortunately, the low gravity made it easy to climb the nearest rock wall and reach a small plateau, from which they could see far and wide, the EM fields surrounding the planet providing some eerie illumination.
In front of them, about two thousand metres below their feet, there was another plateau; this one large and irregularly shaped, perhaps six hundred metres across its widest part. Like the rock walls themselves, the surface of the plateau was rough and uneven, of the colour of dirty, grey-green ice, and deeply furled.
Not quite in the middle of the plateau an artificial structure stood, shaped like a trefoil around a bulky, segmented, dark blue-grey middle section that rested on short, sturdy pillars. The side walls of it looked like old-fashioned solar panels or rows upon rows of small, tinted windows.
Three large, round sections extended from this central unit, shaped a bit like the Iconian gateway station that got blow up on that unnamed planet, just on a much smaller scale. These were attached to the rock walls with grappler-like extensions of unknown purpose.
On the fourth side of the central unit there was a platform, large enough for a shuttlepod to land. The whole area was desolate and bleak; and yet somebody clearly had once lived here.
Or still did live here, and was keeping very quiet about it.
“Any biosigns?” Reed asked when they’d exchanged startled glances.
Hoshi studied her readings; then she shook her head. “None; unless the entire complex is shielded.”
“Can you get any readings from the inside?”
“Just the basics. The atmosphere and the temperatures inside the complex are the same as outside. The gravity, though, is twenty per cent higher, and I can detect traces of eysilium.”
“The stuff Archer’s comet was made of?” The lieutenant tried to suppress a shiver; he’d come dangerously close to dying under the ice of that comet.
Hoshi nodded. “That might explain the gravity.”
“Perhaps,” he allowed, though his tone was doubtful. “Well, we won’t find out more by standing here and staring down at this thing. We need to get closer.”
She hesitated, reluctant to remind him in case it came across as a criticism. "We can’t leave Crewman Walsh unsupervised for long. His condition could change for the worse any time.”
“I don’t intend to,” Reed replied. “This complex offers us a perfect landing pad. I intend to put it to use.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile on Enterprise Jack Archer - and the rest of the crew - were desperately searching for their lost shuttlepod.
“Come on, come on!” The captain paced the bridge like a caged lion. “It's been over an hour since the ‘pod disappeared from sensors. Something has clearly happened to them.”
“I am not detecting any debris,” T’Pol reported. “We have lost contact - and sensor data - at the moment they have entered the outer layer of the EM fields, which was expected. Our sensors cannot penetrate them from this distance.”
“Then let us get closer,” Archer said impatiently.
“I advise against that. We have specifically sent the shuttlepod to spare the ship’s systems.”
“In case you’ve forgotten, we have three of our people in that ‘pod,” Archer's reply was perilously close to a snarl. “Travis, get us closer. Thrusters only.”
“Aye, Captain,” Mayweather cautiously steered Enterprise closer to the odd planetoid. Everyone else - with the possible exception of T’Pol - held their breath… and not without a good reason.
Only moments later the big starship shuddered as if it had collided with something solid, the impact reverberating through all decks. Several crewmembers fell out of their chairs, including Crewman Blair currently manning Hoshi’s station, who slammed his head against the edge of his console and lost consciousness.
“What the hell was that?” The captain turned to Ensign Soccorro, standing in for Reed at Tactical. “Scan the region. Look for plasma emissions or EM displacements. Anything that might indicate another ship… or more cloaked mines like the ones we ran into lately.”
Soccorro performed the requested scan; then she shook her head. “Aside from the EM fields of the planetoid itself, there’s nothing out of the ordinary, Captain. Just hydrogen, helium and space dust.”
“Unacceptable. There has to be something out there. Space dust won’ hit a ship this size so hard.”
T’Pol looked up from her scanner. “That is correct, Captain. What hit us was a gravimetric shear.”
“Which is what exactly?” Archer demanded.
“The same thing we call spatial turbulence,” Charlie Tucker replied in T’Pol’s stead. “A type of gravimetric distortion. Basically, we're caught in some kind of subspace sinkhole. It's pullin' us in.”
“Is that what happened to Shuttlepod One?”
“There is a 97.6 percent probability for that,” T’Pol said. “A subspace sinkhole is capable of producing an extremely strong gravity well that poses a potential hazard to any spacecraft that navigates too close. I recommend putting considerably distance between Enterprise and the planetoid.
“We can’t leave our people behind!” Tucker protested.
“We cannot help them when Enterprise gets trapped, too,” T’Pol pointed out. “These sinkholes pull anything that has become caught within their gravitation wells into a subspace pocket.”
“A subspace pocket,” Archer repeated slowly. “Now why does that sound familiar? Can those fish monks be at work here, what was their name again?”
“The Solanae,” T’Pol supplied. “Their involvement is not entirely impossible, although subspace sinkholes are usually naturally-occurring subspace phenomena. In either case, we must retreat and work out a strategy to free the shuttlepod and our three crewmembers.”
“The gravimetric shear is increasing,” Tucker warned, as the turbolift door opened to admit Doctor Phlox and his med team arriving to treat the injured.
“Helm, get us out of here,” Archer ordered. “Reverse thrusters and go to full impulse.”
“No effect, sir,” Mayweather reported unhappy moments later.
“And we can't go to warp, either,” Tucker was punching commands into his console, his brow furrowed. “I can't establish a field.”
“Then we need more power to the impulse engines.”
“That wouldn't be enough, Cap’n. We gotta find a way to counter the gravitational pull.”
“Vent three million isodynes of plasma from the nacelles,” T’Pol suggested. “And reverse the polarity of the deck plates. “
Tucker looked at Archer and - after getting the nod - he started working feverishly, hoping to God that T’Pol knew what she was suggesting and wasn’t just guessing… as unlikely as that would have been for a Vulcan.
The ship began shuddering around them as the different forces fought for control of her. But gradually it started to subside.
After several endless moments Mayweather looked up from his console. “We're clear, Captain”
“Move us away,” Archer ordered; then he looked at Ensign Soccorro. “Stand down yellow alert. Secure all stations. T’Pol, calculate the minimum safe distance; we’ll stop there until we find out what exactly is happening and how can we get our people all. Call in Beta shift. Summon all senior officers to the situation room within the hour. And invite GG to the briefing; she might have useful insights.”
“Aye, sir,” the officers on duty echoed in unison.
Phlox and his helpers finished treating the injured. Aside from Crewman Baird, who had a concussion and whom they took to Sickbay, there were only minor cuts and bruised. About ten minutes later Beta shift arrived to the bridge to relieve the senior officers, who then piled into the situation room, and soon afterwards CPO Daniels showed up with a large tray of sandwiches and soft drinks.
This promised to be a very long briefing.
~TBC~