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In Good Time

Author - Aeryn A | Genre - Action/Adventure | Genre - Drama | Genre - Romance | I | Main Story | Rating - PG
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In Good Time

By Aeryn Alexander

PART ONE (Chapters 1-5)
(Disclaimer: All characters and references to "Enterprise" belong to Paramount.)

Chapter One

The Silent Ship

When Commander Charles Tucker woke up that morning, the clock in his quarters was flashing all zeros. He knew instantly that he had over slept and chalked the flashing clock up to a minor glitch in ship’s systems, which he fully intended to deal with later. He threw his uniform on in a rush, cursed his ill luck, which had cost him his breakfast, and began purposefully trudging to engineering, where he was expected to be at 07:00.
As he strode through the corridors of the Enterprise, it struck Trip as very odd that no one else was around. The ship was normally bustling with activity in the morning. On an ordinary day he could expect to pass no less than five crewmen on his way to the lift from his quarters. Nevertheless, he continued toward engineering.
But it too was empty.

Commander Tucker walked around the empty, all too quiet engineering for several long minutes. Everything was in perfect working order. In fact the ship was traveling at warp four. Only the emptiness seemed wrong. Engineering was never left unmanned and unattended. If there were a list of rules for running a star ship, that would certainly have been at the top: never leave engineering unsupervised.

It was with great reluctance that Trip left engineering and climbed aboard the lift again. He knew that the next place he had to visit was the bridge.

The stars were passing before the great ship at an awe-inspiring speed as Commander Tucker glanced at the view screen. Everything was on-line and as it should have been, but the bridge was vacant and silent as he stood there, baffled.
"This is not happening!" he said out loud and feeling very much like it was all a bad dream.
Then, behind him, the lift doors suddenly whisked open ...

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


Chapter Two:
The Empty Ship


“Commander, are you aware that a significant number of the crew are not at their stations?” asked the cool, even voice of Sub-commander T’Pol. Tucker had never been so glad to hear her voice.
“T’Pol!” he exclaimed. She raised an eyebrow as he grinned with relief. “I thought I was the only one left!”
“Left, commander? Do you mean that the crew is ... absent from the ship?”
“I don’t know what I mean. I just know that engineering is empty and so is the bridge.”
T’Pol walked to the science station and brought up the internal sensors. The sensors showed only one other life form aboard the ship.
“Have you been to sickbay, commander?”
“No, I didn’t think it would help.” said Trip, cracking a smile as he watched her at her station.
“I am reading a biosign from that location. It appears to be Denobulan. It would seem that we are not entirely alone.”

The faint odor of burned out circuitry was in the air and the lights were out as they entered sickbay. Commander Tucker fiddled with the a panel by the door for a moment before the lights came on. Their illumination was sickly, but manageable.
“Hey, doc!” called Tucker as they stepped into sickbay.
“There.” said T’Pol, nodding toward the biobeds.
A pair of feet were sticking out from between two of the beds.
Tucker glanced at her and momentarily wished that anyone, even Malcolm or Hoshi, were stuck on the ship with him. The calmness and lack of concern in her voice chafed as he dashed toward the chief medical officer.
“Doc?” questioned Trip, kneeling next to the sprawled form.
“It looks as though he received a shock from the instrument panel.” said T’Pol as she joined him. One of the consoles near the biobeds showed signs of shorting out: faint scorching and a darkened screen.
“No kidding.” muttered Commander Tucker. He shook Phlox by the shoulders. “Doc, can you hear me?”
“He does not seem to injured severely.” said T’Pol as she ran a tricorder carefully over his body. “His right hand shows signs of a first degree burn” she added.
The doctor groaned and opened his eyes.
“What happened?” he questioned.
“That has yet to be determined.” T’Pol informed him, speaking more globally of the situation.
“We think you received a little shock.” Trip answered, glaring at T’Pol.
Phlox sat up slowly, looked at his singed fingertips, and nodded in agreement before saying, “Yes, commander, I believe you are right.”
“Do you require medical attention, doctor?” inquired T’Pol, finally tucking the tricorder away.
“No, I don’t believe so.” he replied.
“Then I’m afraid we have some more bad news.”

******

Chapter Three:
Where Have All the Soldiers Gone?


“And you have no idea where the rest of the crew is?” questioned Phlox after Tucker and T’Pol had told him what had happened, that they were alone aboard the Enterprise.
“None.” said the Vulcan sub-commander impassively.
“Are we in orbit around a planet? Perhaps they beamed down or something.” suggested Phlox, shuffling his feet as he spoke.
“Impossible. We are traveling at warp speed.” said T’Pol.
“Speaking of that. Do you think we might ought to stop until we find out what’s going on?” asked Trip.
“Yes, that would be for the best. Where ever the crew has gone, it is very likely that it is somewhere behind us, therefore we are traveling away from them.” agreed T’Pol.
“I’ll go up to the bridge and put the brakes on then. The two of you should probably check the shuttle bay and take a count.”
“A logical suggestion.” said T’Pol approvingly.

“All shuttlepods are accounted for.” said T’Pol as the trio seated themselves in the situation room. That had been Commander Tucker’s idea. They certainly had a situation.
“So what we have on our hands is a mystery.” said Phlox.
“Eighty missing crew members.” sighed Tucker, who still desperately wanted to believe that it was a nightmare.
“Indeed.” said T’Pol.
“And we haven’t found any sign that the ship was boarded.” stated Trip.
“That is correct.” verified Sub-commander T’Pol.
“And the transporter has not been activated.”
“It was last used two weeks ago to beam up a mineralogy sample.”
Commander Tucker ran his hands through his hair and asked, “Do you suppose it’s time to contact Star Fleet?”
“Why not the High Council?” questioned T’Pol, raising an eyebrow.
“Because this is a Star Fleet vessel.”
“Under the command of a Vulcan officer.”
“Now, now,” interrupted Phlox before the conflict could escalate, “I don’t think it matters who we call as long as someone is notified. It was Commander Tucker’s suggestion, so why not let him contact his people and then you can contact yours, sub-commander.”
T’Pol considered this for a moment before, saying, “That seems equitable enough, for now.”
“Fine.” agreed Trip.

“What do you mean you can’t raise them?” asked Trip, almost thinking that she was going back on the agreement.
“I mean, commander, that I cannot reach anyone using the frequencies you provided. It is highly irregular.” answered T’Pol.
“Could there be something wrong with our equipment?” questioned Phlox.
“No.” answered T’Pol, concentrating on the communications station. “I cannot raise Vulcan either. It seems that all communications have been cut off. It is almost as though we are alone in the universe.”
“Have you tried the long range scanners? Are there any other ships out there?” asked Tucker.
“There are no ships within scanning range, commander.”
Tucker leaned against a nearby console and closed his eyes, asking no in particular, “Now what?”
“I see no clear alternative. We must retrace our steps. If the answer to this mystery is to be found, then it is behind us.”
“So we double back?”
“Yes, commander.”
T’Pol left the communications station and took a seat at the helm. She frowned as she began to set the course.
“Is something wrong, sub-commander?” asked Phlox as he watched her.
“Perhaps.” she answered. “When I last reviewed the ship’s course twenty-four hours ago, we were in an area of space with which I had some familiarity. We are still in that same sector, but the star Delta-649 has changed. It became a red giant approximately seventy million years ago. According to these readings, it is a much younger star than it should be.”
“What are you saying?” asked Commander Tucker.
T’Pol looked away from the helm and said, “It is possible that we have gone back in time seventy million years or more.”

***********

Chapter Four:
All Alone in the Night


“Then Star Fleet isn’t there.” stated Trip, taking a heavy seat at the tactical station.
“Nor is the Vulcan High Council.” said T’Pol.
Phlox and Tucker hung their heads, digesting the information that the science officer had given them. They were at least seventy million years in the past. Everything that they had ever known had yet to be, except for the Enterprise, which was missing eighty members of its crew.
“We can’t even go back to earth.” sighed Tucker with a slight rattle in his chest.
“Your planet is still there. It would not be as you remember it, but it is still there, commander.” said T’Pol, perhaps offering the words as a bit of assurance.
“Where can we go?” asked Phlox.
“Even though we are under-staffed, it would be quite possible to take the Enterprise to any number of places. Unfortunately, I don’t know of any planet with a humanoid civilization in existence at this time.” answered T’Pol.
“Then we just have to find a way back to our own time.” said Trip.
“I agree, commander, but that is more easily said than accomplished. For instance, we do not know how we traveled back in time, making it both difficult and unlikely that we should find our way back.”
“Difficult, hell, even impossible or not, we have to try.”
“I agree.” said Phlox.
“Then I will plot a course that we take us back to where we were yesterday.” said T’Pol, the complexities of the statement not lost on her as she turned her attention back to the helm.
“Take it slowly, T’Pol. We aren’t sure what we’re looking for.” suggested Tucker.

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

Chapter Five:
Left Behind I - Lieutenant Reed’s Mystery


“It’s strange, sir, but Commander Tucker didn’t show up for his shift either.” said Lieutenant Reed with a worried frown. He had just returned from checking Sub-commander T’Pol’s quarters, which had been empty.
“So two of my officers are missing?” questioned Captain Archer.
“Three, sir. Dr. Phlox has been reported absent from sickbay.”
“Have you instituted a ship wide search?”
“That was going to be my next course of action, pending your approval, sir.”
“Do it, Malcolm. I want those officers found.”
“Yes, sir.” said Malcolm. He looked uncertain. “I don’t think they are aboard ship, sir. I don’t pretend to know where they are, but if Commander Tucker were on board, he would have been in engineering and on time this morning.”
“I know, but we have to be sure. Report back to me when the search is finished.”

It was two hours later when Lieutenant Reed found himself standing in the captain’s ready room again. He looked at the floor for several seconds before he had the strength to lift his head and speak.
“Sub-commander T’Pol, Commander Tucker, and Dr. Phlox are not aboard at this time. It is my unhappy duty to certify them as missing, sir.”
“We have been traveling at warp four for several days. How could they get off the ship, even if they wanted to?”
“The shuttlepods are all accounted for, the transporter has been off-line for more than a week, and there are no signs that the ship has been boarded. I cannot even say for certain that they left the ship. I only know that they are no longer here, sir.”
Malcolm had been thorough. He had checked every possibility, even the most remote ones before he made his report. Even as he spoke to Captain Archer, security personnel were going over the quarters of the missing officers and sickbay with tricorders and a fine toothed comb. If there was any evidence relating to their disappearance, Reed knew that they would find it. But deep down in the pit of his stomach, he also felt that it was very likely that there were no clues.
“Sir, I may have more to add to the report in a few hours.” Malcolm told the captain as he looked at the data pad.
“Thank you, lieutenant. I know you will do your best to solve this mystery.”
“I will, sir. I can promise you that.”
When the lieutenant had left his ready room, Archer slowly shook his head and laid the pad aside.
“A mystery.” he said softly. Is that what it was when three crewmen disappeared without a cause and left no trace?

“The middle console, sir.” Lieutenant Reed told the captain, pointing to a panel in sickbay that showed slightly scorch marks.
“What happened here?” Archer asked.
Reed frowned and said, “It isn’t easy to say, sir. It looks as though the console was in the process of shorting out and catching fire, but then it suddenly stopped.”
“Did someone put it out?”
“No, sir. There would be at least some traces of extinguishing agents or other chemicals. It seems to have spontaneously stopped burning.”
“And you don’t know why?”
“No, sir, but we did find something else here.”
“What?”
“Burned skin cells from a Denobulan.”
“Malcolm?” questioned Archer, blanching slightly as he thought of the jovial doctor being electrocuted by a console.
“Oh, no, sir. There were only a few cells. Dr. Phlox couldn’t possibly have been killed or vaporized by the console. It just couldn’t happen.” said Reed hastily.
“Good.” said Archer with a barely audible sigh of relief.
“It doesn’t really put us any closer to solving the mystery, but it is a clue. Or at least I hope it’s something, sir.”

“I have had the entire ship searched, sir. There is nothing more than can be learned about the disappearances.” Malcolm told the captain, giving his a data pad that contained his supplemental report.
“Your recommendation?” questioned Archer, looking the lieutenant in the eye. The armory officer’s eyes smoldered with helpless frustration.
“Reverse course, sir. They must have been taken off the ship without our knowing. I cannot think of anything else that makes any sense.”
“Fine.” said Archer, who had been thinking of doing just that. “And make one more search while we are en route. It can’t hurt.”
“Of course, sir.” said Malcolm, his tense shoulders relaxing. Something was being done.

“And you think this is a clue?” questioned Archer, leaning down to look at the blinking clock.
“Yes, sir. The only malfunctioning clocks are in the quarters’ of the missing officers and in sickbay. The rest appear to be operating normally.” Malcolm informed him. “I can’t believe we missed it our first time through.” he added, mentally kicking himself.
“It’s all right, lieutenant.” said Archer. “Do you have any theories about how your clues fit together?”
“The two phenomena, the clocks and the console in sickbay, are both electrical in origin. Perhaps some kind of electrical or electromagnetic disturbance ...” said Malcolm, faltering.
“Lieutenant?”
“If you don’t mind, sir, I would rather go over the sensor logs before I begin speculating.”
“Do it, and get all the help you need.”
“Thank you, sir.”



Continued in Part 2

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