A Thousand Years-Part 4

A Thousand Years

By Drogna

Rating:
Disclaimer: see part 1

****

Part 4 (Section 7)

T’Pol stepped onto the bridge and into a hive of activity. The crew of Tyrfing were well trained and each was performing their designated task to the best of their ability while under fire.

“T’Pol, are you still in contact with Trip?” asked Archer. Both of them knew what it would mean if T’Pol couldn’t hear Trip in her mind any longer, he would either be deeply unconscious or dead. Neither of which Archer or T’Pol particularly wanted to contemplate, but given the situation the question had to be asked.

“He is currently still in sickbay,” said T’Pol.

“Can he give us a status report on the rest of the ship?”

“Internal communications are down, but it was Commander Reed who sounded the intruder alert, so, at that point, the bridge was still intact,” replied T’Pol. “Power and life support are still functioning which suggests that the Romulans have not taken Engineering.”

Archer nodded and turned his attention back to the view screen and their Romulan target.

“Now, Ensign,” said Archer, and Ensign Fisher at the helm began to execute Archer’s plan.

Tyrfing dodged a disruptor beam and barrel rolled into an attack run on the Romulan ship. The Commander obviously wasn’t expecting such a strange or swift move because he or she failed to react in time and Tyrfing scored a hit on the Romulan ship’s engine. A cheer went up around the bridge.

“Direct hit on the area we weakened on the previous attack run, sir,” said Pietersen.

“Good work, Lieutenant,” replied Archer.

“Their engine is down,” said Austin, “I’m detecting a power surge!”

“Ensign, get us clear!” said Archer, urgently.

Romulan ships had notoriously badly designed engines and a hit in the right place could spell disaster. It looked as if Enterprise had hit the War-bird in exactly the right place to start a catastrophic chain reaction in the warp core. Tyrfing sped away to a safe distance, barely making it before the first explosion detonated within the hull of the Romulan ship. The first explosion was followed by a second and third forming a line across the hull before a final blast lit up the view screen. The bridge crew winced against the bright light, some of them shielding their eyes with their hands, others turning away from the screen. The War-bird’s crew of two hundred Romulans had gone down with their ship.

This was going to make matters much more complicated when the diplomats came to sit down and work things out. While ships had been damaged none had been destroyed and it raised the stakes of the game. The second War-bird had caught the edge of the explosion and had taken damage.

“Sir, the other War-bird is coming in for an attack run,” said Pietersen. “It looks like they’re coming in for a suicide run.”

T’Pol gripped the railing that ran around the edge of the bridge. “They will attempt to attain vengeance for their fallen colleagues.”

Archer caught T’Pol’s eye, acknowledging her comment, before he gave the command. “Attack pattern beta.”

“Yes, sir,” replied Pietersen.

Tyrfing executed a complicated series of manoeuvres, barely avoiding the disruptors of the second War-bird, before opening fire itself.

“No critical hits, sir,” said Pietersen.

“Ensign Fisher, let’s try that again and this time make your pass closer.” Archer sat forward in his seat and gripped the arm of the captain’s chair.

“I’ll do my best, sir,” replied the helmswoman.

“Their commander isn’t using his head, he’s too angry,” said Archer.

Tyrfing flew in fast and passed within a few metres of the hull of the War-bird, giving Pietersen a perfect shot at the nacelles. The armoury officer was able to take out the ship’s critical systems with a precision shot. Tyrfing finished their run and turned to look at the damage that they’d created to find that the Romulan ship wasn’t capable of any further resistance. Its warp engine was completely disabled and the majority of their weapons systems were down.

“Finish them off, Lieutenant,” said Captain Austin.

“No,” said Archer.

“If we don’t destroy them, they’ll only come back with reinforcements once they’ve made repairs,” replied Austin.

“We’ve destroyed one Romulan ship today and that’s enough. Excalibur needs us,” said Archer. “Now is not the time for this, Amanda.”

“Sir, they’ve fired a torpedo. Brace for impact!” Pietersen had been momentarily distracted by the argument that his commanding officers were having and failed to notice that one torpedo launcher was still functioning.

“Return fire and take evasive action,” ordered Archer.

Ensign Fisher did her best to get them out of the way but she wasn’t quite able to turn sharply enough to avoid the torpedo hitting the top of the saucer section. It wasn’t a direct hit but it was enough to bring down a support pillar and short out a couple of consoles on the bridge.

Lieutenant Pietersen once more targeted the Romulan War-bird and this time he disabled the remaining weapons.

“She’s done for, sir,” said Pietersen.

“I’m getting damage reports from across the ship,” said Austin. “Kelby reports that he has crews working on it, but we’re in poor shape.”

“Tell Kelby to do his best. Turn her around and let’s go and help out Excalibur,” said Archer.

“Yes, sir,” said Fisher.

Archer turned to talk to T’Pol and realised that his former first officer wasn’t standing where she had been a moment ago. Instead she was lying in a crumpled heap on the floor, a green dribble of blood pooling under her head. He moved quickly to the Vulcan’s side and felt for a pulse. He was gratified to find that it was strong, but the head wound worried him.

“Get a medic up here,” Archer snapped to the com officer. He looked down at the wounded Vulcan and added under his breath, “Trip is going to kill me.”

****

Trip winced at a pain running through his head and knew that something had happened to T’Pol. The pain wasn’t his and this was a phenomenon that he’d experienced only a couple of times before. When T’Pol was hurt he could sometimes experience her pain. He tried to contact her across the bond but he could feel that she was unconscious, her thoughts were muddled and incoherent. He wished again that he’d decided to stay on Tyrfing, but unfortunately he had to trust that T’Pol was in good hands. There was nothing he could do from where he was. With difficulty, he turned his attention back to the emergency bulkheads that he had managed to close to protect the corridor.

Trip heard voices outside the closed bulkheads, which was followed by the sound of banging on metal. He retreated back towards the barricades that the occupants of sickbay had erected. The barrier that they had constructed wasn’t exactly well made, it consisted of gurneys lying on their side and detached wall panels. Trip had found some wire to tie the whole thing together, but he didn’t think it would take more than a few hits from Romulan disruptors.

Phlox and Dr Sonok were doing the rounds of their patients. Everyone who was too ill to fight had now been moved inside sickbay proper, which was very overcrowded. Trip knew that he’d disrupted the doctors’ well-run sickbay and had probably worsened the conditions of a lot of their patients, including himself. Once again Phlox had been forced to give him medication that he considered to be ill advised and Trip would probably have to pay for later. Suddenly he heard shouting from inside sickbay.

“Get off me, Doctor,” said an annoyed female officer in a sickbay gown.

“Commander, you have extensive internal injuries,” said Phlox.

“I know my condition. I can hold a phase rifle, so I’m going to support my crew,” said the woman, angrily. “Now, where the hell did you hide my uniform?”

“What’s the problem?” asked Trip.

“Commander Street seems to feel that she is well enough to join the defence force,” said Phlox. Trip realised that this was the executive officer of Excalibur. She was a small woman with close cropped blonde hair and she looked very ill. Her skin was pale and her eyes sunken. Trip caught sight of the top of bandages beneath her sickbay gown.

“Captain, these are my crew and I need to be with them,” said Commander Street.

“She is recovering from surgery,” said Phlox, pointedly.

“If you fall over, Commander, then I can’t guarantee anyone will pick you up. If you feel you’re up to it then see Lieutenant Jones and grab a phase pistol.”

“Yes, sir,” said Street.

“And Phlox, give her back her uniform,” said Trip.

“Very well,” sighed Phlox, once more going into sickbay to find a uniform for another uncooperative patient.

“What’s the situation, sir?” asked Street.

“The Romulans are about to come through those emergency bulkheads any moment. We’ve got a hell of a fight on our hands.” Trip paused, looking Street up and down. “I know none of us is at our best at the moment, but if you’re feeling worse, you get back into sickbay.”

“With respect, sir, if you’re not going to take your own advice, then I’m not taking it either,” said Street.

Trip smiled. “You got me there, Commander.”

An Ensign brought out a uniform for Commander Street and she scrambled into it, not bothering to remove her gown.

“They’re coming through,” Jones shouted back from his position crouched behind the barricade. A fiery red dot had appeared on the emergency bulkhead. Street gave Trip a nod and they joined the Lieutenant behind the barricade.

“How long will it take them to get through?” asked Jones.

“Depends what they’re using,” replied Trip. “But I’d say…”

“About ten minutes,” supplied Street. “I used to be Chief Engineer…”

“On Challenger,” finished Trip, a memory suddenly clicking into place.

“Yes,” said Street quietly.

“I sure do miss my NX class engine,” said Trip.

“They don’t make them like that anymore. Don’t let Zukov hear you say that though. You know how engineers are about their engines.” Street grinned.

Trip returned her grin with one of his own. Everyone knew how Chief Engineers tended to treat their engines. Protective didn’t even cover half of it. The three officers ducked as a spark flew towards them from the door. Trip turned and rested his back against the barricade, grasping his phase pistol more tightly. He took a deep breath, trying to clear his lungs and ready himself for the impending battle.

“Any final advice, Lieutenant?” Trip asked Jones.

“Just keep your head down, sir,” replied Jones.

“Good advice,” murmured Trip, just as the Romulans finished burning a hole in the emergency bulkhead. A jagged oval of metal clanged onto the floor. “Showtime,” Trip breathed as he turned around to face the Romulans that were climbing through the hole.

The officers behind the barricade fired on the Romulans that stepped through. When they realised what they’d walked into, the Romulans opened fire too. Soon there was a fierce fire fight being waged through the hole in the bulkhead. The hole in the bulkhead acted as a choke point and meant that Romulans could only enter one at a time, and they were easy pickings for the defenders. The Romulans couldn’t get a foothold in the corridor outside sickbay because they couldn’t use their superior numbers.

“So far, so good,” shouted Trip to Jones. They were successfully holding off the Romulans, although they didn’t have the upper hand by any means. If they carried on like this then they just might hold up the Romulans long enough that Tyrfing might be able to send help.

“Not so much, sir,” replied Jones and indicated the other end of the corridor. The bulkhead there was beginning to glow red.

“Damn, they worked out that they could get us from both sides,” said Trip.

“They just halved our odds of surviving this,” replied Street. She ordered half of the defenders to the set of barricades at the other end of the corridor.

“I want you to take your rank insignia off,” said Trip to Street. “That goes for you too Lieutenant. You’re the two people in sickbay who have the most knowledge about this ship. If they capture us, there’s no need to let them know who they’ve got.”

“I think they’d be quite happy to capture the ex-Chief Engineer of Enterprise too,” said Commander Street, detaching two of the pips from the front of her uniform. She instantly became an Ensign. She gave Trip an expectant look.

“Why is it that all the women in my life want to give me orders?” he mumbled as he too demoted himself to Ensign. “Anyone else here who should be taking off their rank insignia?”

“No one who’s wearing a uniform,” said Jones after a quick survey of the corridor.

“Sir!” shouted an Ensign. The Romulans were coming through the bulkhead at both ends of the corridor. Trip dove for cover, along with Jones and Street. Unfortunately Phlox took that moment to step out of sickbay and into the line of fire.

“Get down, Doc!” Trip could only watch as Phlox took a disrupter hit high on his shoulder. Phlox went down and hit his head against the door frame. No one had time to check on the doctor as the Romulans had decided to take a shortcut to clearing out the corridor. A grenade was thrown through the hole in the door. Trip’s eyes widened. “Move!” he shouted to everyone at the barrier.

Trip saw Jones reach for the grenade and grabbed him, bodily propelling him away from the danger, just as an explosion blossomed behind them. The first grenade was followed by a second that brought the ceiling down on top of the defenders. Already weakened support beams were bent and broken by a third grenade. At the same time the doorway to sickbay was blocked by a piece of bulkhead. When the dust settled, no one was moving.

****

Reed was under siege on his own bridge and it was only a matter of time before the Romulans forced their way in. They had been monitoring the progress of the Romulan boarding party through the ship. Reed had been surprised when the team on their way to the Armoury was held up in the corridor to sickbay. The floating fourth team was called down to help. When Ensign Harmison turned on the camera on the sickbay corridor, Reed was able to see what Trip was up to. His stand was holding up two teams of Romulans and diverting a considerable amount of attention. Unfortunately, the Romulans were also cutting their way through the doors to the bridge and Reed had to take cover before he found out how Trip was doing.

Reed was down to his final option. It was time to activate the self-destruct and hope that his crew could get to the escape pods. Reed made his way to the helm and the number pad where the self-destruct code was input. The string of numbers, known only to the senior staff, was long and had to be entered correctly twice. Reed entered the number once and the display indicated that the code had been accepted. He entered it a second time and once again the display showed that the code had been input correctly. The computer asked him for the countdown time and he set it for twenty minutes. That would give them enough time to leave the ship, assuming that they didn’t encounter heavy resistance.

He pressed the button to confirm the time and an error flashed up on the screen. Self-destruct failure. Reed swore loudly and vigorously, not caring that his subordinates heard him. If he ever got out of this then he would be having a word with the engineers who designed a self-destruct system that didn’t work. Admittedly Excalibur was in poor shape but he hadn’t ever thought that his final solution would fail.

The Romulans finally cut their way through the bridge hatch.

“Take cover,” shouted Reed drawing his phase pistol. He ducked down behind the captain’s chair as his officers dived for their own cover.

****

Tyrfing approached Virideth and Excalibur.

“Captain, we need to take back Excalibur from the Romulan boarding party,” said Archer. “Use the transporter.”

“Understood, sir,” replied Austin. She was the obvious choice to lead the liberation team, Pietersen was needed on the bridge to tackle Virideth and someone had to command Tyrfing. Austin quickly made her way to the turbo lift, giving Archer a sharp nod as she stepped through the doors and turned to face the bridge. Amanda Austin might have her faults but lack of courage was not one of them, the effort to reclaim Excalibur was in good hands.

Archer paced in front of the captain’s chair. “As soon as the away team have disembarked, we’ll make our move on Virideth.”

Valdore was probably watching them and wondering what their next move would be. Excalibur was currently shielding the Romulan war-bird from Tyrfing’s guns but, as soon as they were in position, both ships would open fire and then all hell would break lose.

Although he would never admit it to his crew, Archer wasn’t sure that he could win this one. Tyrfing was damaged and Virideth was definitely a match for their armaments. His plan to protect both ships had ultimately failed, and Archer wondered why Reed hadn’t activated the self-destruct on board Excalibur. The only explanation that he could come up with, that Reed hadn’t been able to because he was injured or dead, was not something he liked to contemplate.

What should have been a simple rescuing of a civilian ship from the Neutral Zone had disintegrated into an impossible nightmare. At the moment it was fifty-fifty whether any of them would be alive to explain what had happened. Archer was mindful that he had a cargo bay full of civilians to protect, but equally he couldn’t abandon Excalibur to the Romulans after they had come this far.

Captain Austin checked in to let them know that they had arrived safely on Excalibur. Her assessment of the damage sustained was depressing to say the least, but at least life support was still functioning. They had encountered some Romulans already but they were sure that there had to be more. Austin was going to head for the bridge and hope that she wasn’t too late to help the bridge crew.

“Sir, Virideth is coming around. Looks like they’re moving out to meet us,” said Pietersen.

“That’s fine by me,” replied Archer. If they were concentrating on Tyrfing then they weren’t attacking the already crippled Excalibur.

“They’re moving in the wrong direction to get a firing lock on us,” commented Fisher from the helm.

“Sir, it isn’t us that they’re moving for,” said Riley. “I’m being hailed by Durandal.”

Archer allowed himself to smile. “Put them through.”

“Admiral Archer, this is Captain Vaughan of Durandal. Can we be of assistance?”

“We are very glad to see you, Captain,” said Archer, with relief. “It looks like our Romulan friends have decided that today isn’t a good day to take us on after all.”

Virideth was running for it, with the second Romulan ship limping after it as best she could on impulse power. Archer certainly had no intention of giving chase. He was pleased to see the back of them and enough lives had been lost.

“Athena is right behind us,” added Vaughan. “We had a hard time finding you, the Romulans are jamming everything in this area. I was surprised that you got a signal out at all.”

“I had some very good people working on the problem. Right now we need to get to Excalibur and see what the damage is. They’re going to need medical and technical help before we can get underway again. Their communications are down but I’ve got an away team over there now.”

“Sir, Captain Austin reports that the Romulans attacking the bridge have been dealt with,” said Riley. “She also reports that Lieutenant Commander Reed wants to know what took us so long.”

****

T’Pol awoke in Tyrfing’s sickbay with her subconscious screaming that something was wrong. Her head hurt and she raised a hand to gingerly feel a bandage. She registered the fact that she was lying on a biobed and, when her vision cleared, she noticed someone was sitting beside her.

“Admiral,” she said. Her voice sounded weak to her own ears and it made her wonder how long she had been unconscious.

“T’Pol, how are you feeling?” asked Archer, his attention jerked away from the padd that he had been reading. He was smiling, but obviously concerned.

“I am confused. How did I sustain a head injury?”

“The Romulans managed to get a hit near the bridge. It brought down a support beam and you were hit. The doctors don’t seem to think that you’re in any danger, but you have a concussion, so they need to keep an eye on you.”

T’Pol carefully pushed herself into a sitting position. She was becoming more aware of her surroundings and the bustle of Tyrfing’s well-equipped sickbay around her. It was very crowded and she recognised officers from Tyrfing’s various departments.

“Is Excalibur safe?”

“Virideth turned tail and went home, after Durandal and Athena arrived to lend us a hand,” replied Archer.

Suddenly T’Pol realised why she felt as if something wasn’t right. “Where is Trip?”

“We don’t know. Excalibur’s sickbay was pretty much destroyed by the Romulans and Tyrfing didn’t have room for all the wounded, so they’ve been transferred to one of the other ships…” started Archer.

“I am unable to receive anything from him through our bond,” said T’Pol. “He must be unconscious.”

“T’Pol, we didn’t recover anyone above the rank of lieutenant from Excalibur,” said Archer, the pain at what he was telling T’Pol already showing in his eyes. “They did find Phlox, but he’s unconscious at the moment. Once he comes round he might be able to tell us what happened.”

“Trip is not dead,” said T’Pol.

“But if you can’t feel anything from him…” said Archer letting the unspoken words hang in the air between them.

“He is not dead,” repeated T’Pol with absolute certainty.

“The rescue team had to dig the survivors out from underneath two broken support beams and a bulkhead, T’Pol. They couldn’t even open the door to sickbay until they’d cleared some of the rubble. I don’t want to think the worst, but he’s not on the list of wounded.”

“Is he on the list of the dead?” asked T’Pol.

“No, but there are a few unidentified bodies.” Archer paused before he continued, his voice faltering slightly as he spoke. “The Romulans used grenades, and a lot of the dead are too badly burned to recognise.”

“He has been “dead” before. Until I see that he is no longer breathing, I will not believe it.”

Archer looked at T’Pol and saw the determination in her eyes. “We set up a temporary morgue in a cargo bay on Athena.”

T’Pol gave a slight nod of her head and threw off the blanket that had been covering her.

“Are you sure that you’re well enough to be getting up?” asked Archer.

“I will not be able to rest until I have ascertained Trip’s status,” replied T’Pol. Archer knew that he had to take T’Pol to survey the dead because neither of them could rest until Trip had been found. Dead or alive.

Part 5 (Section 8)

Return to Part 3 (Section 6)

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A whole mess of folks have made comments

Wow...pretty intense. I'm rooting for a nice reunion! Please update soon! Good work so far..

Good paced action again Drogna, don't leave us in suspense too long!!!............

Nice cliffhanger! Poor T'Pol and Archer, not knowing the fate of Trip.

Suspenseful chapter! I enjoyed it very much.

Very well done. I like the intensity and that's a wicked cliffhanger...

I'm not much for battle scenes, but for a battle this was very interesting. I like the way you present T'Pol as determined to find Trip but not hysterically emotional. Good suspense too.

Great writing! Your battle scenes were so intense, I almost missed my Metro stop! I download the stories to my PDA and read them to and from work.

I loved it great job on the battle,,,,, an I cant ever get enough of TnTs bond,,, wouldnt it be great to be constatly in contact with the one we all hold so dear in our lives,,,,,, Of course then their the downside of knowin an worryin when ever somethin bad happened to them an it affects on us,,,,,, Oh well that would still be a great thing,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Ok I ve got one question,,,, Is Archer stupid or somthin??? They just got done fightin a War with the Romulans an Trip knew the Romulan tactics when boardin a ship an knew enough to remove his rank to protect important information,,, so why the heck wouldnt Archer know this??,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Well great story cant wait to see the reunion of TnT.

Arrgghh!!! Cliffhangers!!!

I can't wait for the next installment... I love this story.

Stupid cliffhangers garbage face... Anyway. Intense, well done, more please! :)

enjoying it! let's see some more soon.