Gateway- Part 4

Gateway

By Quills

Contact:the_quill_pen@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13, angst, drama, romance, humor, action/adventure
Disclaimer in Part One

Summary: Captain Archer is relieved of command for a secret mission into the 24th Century . To find and stop the Suliban renegade Silik. While he is gone, a Vulcan Starfleet Captain from the future is given temporary command of the Enterprise NX-01 with his own orders to investigate the 'Temporal Cold War'

PART FOUR (Chapters 10-12)

Chapter 10

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T'Pol grabbed the handrail as she steadied herself. She felt a sharp pain in her head and put a hand to her forehead. She could feel something wet touch her fingers and logically concluded that her injuries were greater than she had originally assessed.

Trip Tucker was extinguishing a fire at the engineering station. Enterprise had taken several direct hits that took out relays on three decks and overloaded the warp drive buffers. Tucker had managed to take the warp drive offline before they went into imbalance and exploded destroying the ship. He looked up and saw the bridge in disarray. Alarms were wailing as crewmembers tried to shout ship's system status through the smoke filled bridge. As he looked towards the Captain's chair he saw T'Pol leaning against the railing. She was holding her head and he could see green liquid running down her fingers.

"T'Pol!" he shouted as he ran over to her. He grabbed her, as she was about to fall , and carried her to the command chair.

Normally T'Pol would prefer to deal with her own problems, but even her stubborn resolve was in no condition to protest as she held onto Commander Tucker with no resistance. "Thank you Commander."

"T'Pol, we gotta get ya to sickbay." said Tucker as he examined her forehead. "Ya got a bad cut on yer forehead."

"My injuries are minor in comparison to what will happen if we do not stop the enemy ship." she told him.

He looked at her for a moment. He knew there was no arguing with her and she was right, they had to come up with a plan before the enemy ship took out any other ship systems.

She placed her hand on his shoulder, taking a deep breath and nodded at him. Turning in the command chair to the weapons station she addressed Lieutenant Reed's replacement. "Mr. Wang, where is the enemy ship now?"

"Two thousand kilometers directly aft , mam." he replied "She's closing in on us."

"Enterprise weapons?" she asked.

"Only torpedoes" said Lt. Wang "With the warp engines offline our phasers aren't functioning."

She turned to Commander Tucker but he already knew what she was going to ask "No way, it'll take hours to replace the buffers and reset the relays."

T'Pol looked at the view screen. She could see the enemy ship closing. Enterprise would be in the enemy ship's weapons range in less than two minutes. She had to do something fast, but what? Warp drive was offline...as were the phasers...they were barely managing half impulse power and the only weapons they had were rocket powered torpedoes....The enemy ship had managed to cripple the starship with it's surprise attack and it was only through the fast action of Commander Tucker that the warp drive didn't go critical blowing up the ship completely. This was obviously what the enemy commander had intended based on where the enemy ship targeted its firepower as well as the quick retreat she made. They had obviously believed Enterprise's warp drive would go into matter/antimatter imbalance and destroy itself. The enemy ship's retreated to a safe distance awaiting Enterprise's 'certain' destruction was the only thing that had worked in T'Pol's favor so far.

"Mr. Tucker, how long can you bring the warp core online before it goes critical?" asked T'Pol.

"A couple minutes at best..." he said not seeing where she was going with her question.

"Do it." she said as her breathing became slightly more labored.

"But the engines'll go into imbalance." he said "They'll blow up!"

"I'm counting on that Mr. Tucker." she told him. "Once you have the warp drive on line start venting plasma from the nacelle's. On my signal, divert all power to the impulse engines…cut into life support if you have to. We'll need to go to full impulse."

He looked at her for a moment...and he started to realize what the Vulcan was thinking. It was crazy and only slightly increased their odds of getting out of this alive.

She looked at Trip Tucker, desperately trying to keep her eyes in focus as her head throbbed. She was beginning to feel light headed and was in danger of passing out. "Trip...trust me." she said

That was all it took. He nodded and headed for the engineering station.

T'Pol readjusted herself in the command chair so she sat facing the forward viewer. "Mr. Mouhad, slow to one quarter impulse power and bring us to course 274......" she swallowed hard as the pain threatened to claim her once again"…course 274 mark 412."

"Yes, mam." replied the helmsman

*This had better work* she thought. They were only going to have one shot.

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Chapter 11

"Any suggestions Mr. Reed?" asked Soma as he crouched down behind one of the large stones.
The enemy fighters were making a strafing run on their position.

"There's nowhere to go Captain." said Reed "This stone circle is the only cover. If we try to run we'll be on open ground. Those fighters will have no trouble picking us off."

"Agreed." said Soma "and with the shuttle pod destroyed we won't last much time in this circle either."

The enemy fighters had begun their attack just as Captain Archer had leapt into the 'Guardian's' archway. Lt. Reed had instructed his security guards to take off in the shuttle, but it was to late. The lead fighter had made a strafing approach on the shuttle pod blowing it to bits on the first run and killing the two security officers onboard. With Enterprise fending off it's own attack the landing party was now on it's own.

Two of the three attack fighters came in for another run. As they made their approach, Reed leaned out and fired at the ships with his phase pistol. The energy harmlessly dissipated on the fighter craft's shields.

"Dammit, we can't even use our phase pistols." said Reed

"Mr. Reed, give me your communicator." said Soma

The Armory officer handed the Vulcan his communicator and he flipped it open. "Soma to Sato and
Mayweather, report."

There was static on the line, but after several seconds the sound of Ensign Sato came through "I'm here sir." she said "Ensign Mayweather is with me. His communicator was damaged but he's alright."

"Where are you?" asked Soma

"We're about 20 meters from your position sir." answered Hoshi

"Can you and Mayweather move to our location?" asked Soma as the fighters opened fire again.

"I...I don't think so sir." said Hoshi "It's one long stretch of open ground."

"Your going to have to try Ensign." said Soma "As soon as the fighters finish their next pass make a run for our position."

"Yes...yes sir." said the Ensign trying not to let fear overwhelm her.

The fighters had shortened their intervals between attack runs. It wouldn't give Hoshi and Travis much time to move. As the ship's came through for another attack run their weapons fire shattered several boulders that had been weakened by previous hits. The stones exploded sending fragments in every direction. One fragment sliced across Lt. Reed's leg, making a large gash through the muscle.

"Arrrrgh." he yelled in pain "Dammit!"

Reed lay exposed on the ground in plain site as he clutched his leg in pain. Captain Soma rushed out to pick him up just as Ensigns Sato and Mayweather arrived. Travis Mayweather helped the Captain carry Lt. Reed back behind the rocks.

"Lieutenant.?" said Soma "Lieutenant.!"

"Y...Yes sir." responded Reed.

"Stay with us Lieutenant." said the Captain. "I have a plan, but it means we have to leave the cover of these rocks."

"Captain, those fighters will make easy targets of us." said Travis

"I'm aware of that Mr. Mayweather." said Soma "But these rocks aren't going to afford us cover much longer. These fighters are just toying with us. I got a good look at the underside of one of those attack fighters on the last pass. Their armed with cobalt bombs. It's only a matter of time before they get tired of playing and start dropping them."

"What do we have to do?" asked Hoshi

"No time to explain, we need to make a break in that direction." said the Captain pointing to several large boulders. "Ensign, give me your scanner."

The Captain opened the device and took a reading "Good, it's still active." he said to himself
"When I give the signal, we all make a run for that outcropping. Ensign Mayweather, you'll need to assist Lt. Reed."

"Understood sir." replied the Ensign.

"Captain, leave me here." said Reed "I'll just endanger the rest of you."

Soma looked down at the armory officer "Mr. Reed?"

"Sir?" said Reed.

"Shut Up." replied the Captain

Hoshi and Travis smiled.

"Ready?" said Soma

All three nodded.

"Then on my mark." said Soma

The fighters came back for another run, but this time there were no disruptor blasts. Instead, the ground shook from the seismic upheaval of cobalt bombs exploding. The incendiary devices exploded in successive fireballs of conflagration.

"Damn!" said the Captain "Run! Now!"

The away team ran across the open expanse. They no longer had to worry about disrupter fire cutting them down while they were out in the open, but the cobalt bombs would make short order of them when they caught up to their position. Soma lead the team with a good fifteen foot run followed by Hoshi and Ensign Mayweather helping Lt. Reed. They were within twenty five feet of the outcropping when one of the cobalt bombs struck nearby. The force threw them off their feet. Captain Soma managed to dive towards the outcropping and dragged himself in just as several stones shattered and fell where he had been laying. He winced as he looked at his uniform sleeve. He had a deep laceration. Green blood started to trickle down his arm staining the sleeve. He pulled out Lt. Reed's communicator.

"Soma to Sato?" he said "Come in Hoshi!"

"Ensign Sato, sir." she replied

He breathed a sigh of relief "Are you all alright?"

"Yes sir" she said "The bomb missed us but struck a nearby column. It fell and we can't
get past it."

"Can you circle round?" asked Soma

"Negative Captain." she replied "We're pinned in."

This changed things. His plan involved the four of them. He still might be able to save himself, but what about the landing party? There was no way he could get to them and no way for them to get to his position.

"Ensign, hold your position." said Soma "I'm going to continue on. I'll try to get you out of there. Do not make a break for open ground unless you have to...clear?"

"Sir, we can't last long here." said Hoshi

"I'll move as quick as I can Ensign." said the Captain "Soma out."

The three Enterprise officers looked at one another. Whatever Soma had planned he had better move fast.

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

Chapter 12

The Enterprise maneuvered sluggishly as the enemy ship closed in for the final attack. As instructed, Chief Engineer Tucker brought the warp core back online. The unstable matter/antimatter engines were once again approaching critical. When that happened the protective shielding that prevented complete matter/antimatter mixture would collapse and the entire energy source would explode with enough force to obliterate the ship.

"Warp core's going critical" shouted Trip.

"Vent the warp drive plasma, Mr. Tucker." said T'Pol.

"Venting plasma." he acknowledged.

"Mr. Mouhad, adjust ships angle by twenty five degrees starboard." she said. "Then allow us to spiral."

Mouhad turned and looked at the Vulcan. "M'am?"

"You heard me Mr. Mouhad." she said trying her best to keep her resolve. "Be prepared to regain control on my command and proceed at full impulse power."

The helmsman hesitated for a moment and then replied, "Yes, m'am."

T'Pol turned to the temporary armory officer, "Mr. Wang, time till we are in the enemy ship's weapon's range?"

Wang looked over his instruments, "Thirty seconds Sub Commander."

"Mr. Tucker, time to super critical explosion?" she asked leaning into the command chair armrest for support.

"A minute, maybe less." he said.

"Prepare...prepare to jettison the warp core on my command." she told him. "Then transfer all power to the impulse drive."

Tucker nodded...he could see she was in bad shape. She was trembling and she looked like she was ready to collapse. He just hoped her plan worked or they would all be finished in one big warp core explosion.

"Enemy ship still closing Sub Commander." reported Wang. "The high ionization from our venting warp nacelles is blocking their sensors. They don't know the core is going critical."

"They must think we're trying to stabilize the engines by purgin’ ‘em." added Tucker.

"As you would say Commander 'so far...so good' " replied T'pol.

As Enterprise limped at one quarter impulse power she suddenly began to list to starboard by twenty five degree...just as planned. This was followed by a controlled spiral, which gave the appearance that the ship was losing attitude control. The ship began spiraling into its own plasma clouds as the enemy vessel closed in on the apparently helpless starship.

The enemy commander gave the order to standby to finish the crippled starship off as soon as they were close enough to cut through the heavy ionization from Enterprise's venting plasma.

"We're within her weapons range ma'm." reported Wang. "She's preparing to fire."

"Now T'Pol?" asked Tucker.

T'Pol put up her hand weakly "Not yet." she said. "They need to be closer."

The enemy ship might need to be closer he thought, but the warp core might have its own ideas.

T'Pol waited, She knew this ship better than anyone, save Commander Tucker. She knew the engines wouldn't last much longer, but she was counting on them last long enough. The Enemy ship was now at the outer boundary of the plasma cloud.

"Now Commander!" she yelled. "Eject the warp core, full power to the impulse drive."

Trip Tucker's hands moved at lightening speed across his console sending commands to the warp core housing to perform an emergency dump. In almost the same instance he initiated the preset power reroute diverting all but minimal life support and sickbay power into the impulse drive.

"Mr. Mouhad, bring us about any heading away from the warp core." she said "Full impulse power."

"Aye" replied the helmsman.

Enterprise's warp core came out of her midsection, dropping into the swirling clouds of opaque plasma. The enemy ship, not seeing the warp core ejection continued to close in as Enterprise suddenly righted herself and came out of the swirling mass of plasma on a direct collision course for the enemy ship. The commander of the enemy vessel ordered evasive maneuvers. The enemy ship veered to port evading a collision as Enterprise rocketed past under full impulse. The vessel came about bringing it's weapons to bear and trained her disrupters on the fleeing starship. She had a positive lock and her weapons pulsed as disruptor bolts prepared to discharge and obliterate the Enterprise. The disruptors fired one second too late.

The warp core that had been obscured in the swirls of vented plasma had finally gone critical initiating a chain reaction that caused it to implode in on itself and then explode with fury outward. The fiery shockwave struck the enemy ship enveloping it's shields and send it spiraling out of control as it's crew tried to regain control of systems that refused to respond. In one great secondary explosion the aft section of the ship exploded in a fireball sending what remained of the vessel shooting across the open expanse.

Cheers were heard throughout the bridge of the Enterprise as they saw the results of Sub Commander T'Pol's plan. They had defeated the enemy ship and narrowly escaped destruction themselves.

"You beautiful Vulcan, you did it!" shouted Trip as he looked at what was left of the enemy ship on the view screen.

He knew a comment like that wouldn't go without a response. So when he didn't receive one, he looked over at the command chair. What he saw drained the color from his face. T'Pol had slid down into the chair which was now supporting her still and lifeless body.

***********

Continue to Part 5 (Chapters 10-12)

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