Daybreak - Chapter 3

Daybreak

by ShouldKnowBetter

Disclaimers in Chapter 1

Chapter 3 - Low Life

Tucker’s plan was simple: take Enterprise as close to Earth as possible, then use Mayweather’s ship to gain access to the planet. It might not be a good plan, but it had worked before. Even the problem of where to hide Enterprise was one that had already been solved. When T’Pol had visited Earth during her search for him, she had left the ship concealed in a gas field within a couple of light years of the devastated planet. The gas field was still there, but that was where things started to go wrong, when Tucker told T’Pol that she couldn’t go with him.

She stared at him, an eyebrow rising. “Major Hayes is perfectly competent to remain in command of Enterprise.”

“I know that. But there isn’t room on Travis’ ship for the two of us.”

“His cargo hold cloak conceals two life forms.”

“Yeah.” Now for the tricky part. “But Soval said Amanda wasn’t happy on Earth. We need the extra space to bring her out.”

T’Pol’s arms folded and Tucker winced: that was such a bad sign. “You need me.”

“Normally, I’d agree.”

“I see.”

“No, you don’t.” He stepped closer to take the slight shoulders in his hands. “I don’t need a science officer to screw information out of Ugarke. I’d like to have you with me because I hate the thought of going back to Earth. But I owe Amanda. If she’s in trouble, I have to help her.”

T’Pol’s full lips compressed. “Naturally.”

And where had he heard that tightening in her voice before? “T’Pol, I love you. But Amanda’s my friend. You have to accept that.”

She wouldn’t even meet his eyes. “I would not wish to stand in the way of your friendships.”

“Now that’s not fair! I wouldn’t betray you.” There was still no flicker of acceptance in the lovely face and he decided to play dirty. “Soval asked me to pull her out.” Not quite true, but he was damned sure the Vulcan would have done so if V’Lar had given him the chance.

“You never used to be so willing to accede to requests from Vulcans.”

“I always listened to you, honey. You had me licked almost from the start.” He leant in to kiss her unresponsive mouth. “T’Pol, I have to go. Can’t you just trust me?”

She nodded fractionally and he kissed her again, persuading a grudging response from her this time. “We’ll only be gone a few days. See if you can pull any of the free Caesarium out of the gas cloud. Life support reserves are running low.” She nodded again and he produced a teasing smile, rubbing his knuckles briefly against one smooth cheek. “You have the ship, sub-commander.”

“Yes, captain.”

He grinned, dropped a final kiss on her forehead and headed out onto the Bridge, where Mayweather was lounging in the command chair, chatting to Sato and Graveney. “Don’t get too comfortable, Travis. That’s my seat.”

“Got tired of waiting for you, captain.” The ex-helmsman bounced out of the chair, following Tucker to the lift. “Last minute orders?”

“Something like that.”

Tucker’s tone discouraged further comment, but Mayweather was not, strictly speaking, under his command and thought of himself as a friend. “So how are you and T’Pol doing?”

“We’re fine.”

The short answer still wasn’t discouragement enough. “Let me guess. She’s jealous because you’re going to see Amanda.” Nothing. “You come back to T’Pol after what? Four years? And she still thinks she’s not the one you really want?”

“She’s had a rough time.”

“And you haven’t?”

Forceful blue eyes met the younger man’s. “I had some good friends to help me. T’Pol didn’t.”

Mayweather found himself forced onto the defensive. “I guess you could be right. Enterprise’s crew didn’t exactly welcome her back with open arms when Archer took over again.”

That earned him a sharp look. “Why not?”

He shrugged. “It was pretty public knowledge that you and she had … Well, had had something going. Everyone reckoned it was the fact she was with Archer that sent you away.” He paused to catch Tucker’s eyes. “You were a good captain, Trip. We didn’t like losing you.”

“Enterprise was Archer’s.”

“Maybe. But we’d moved on and he hadn’t. We’d dealt with the Xindi attack on Earth. We’d accepted your view that the way to defeat the Xindi was to survive. Archer still wanted to attack, no matter what the cost.”

“How long did you stay?”

“A couple of months. Archer still treated me like a junior officer. He couldn’t grasp the fact that I’d been your first officer for two years. I was sidelined and I didn’t like it. Forrest’s offer to go solo was a way out.”

“Ever consider coming back?” They had reached the airlock that gave onto Mayweather’s ship and the younger man gave Tucker a long look along his shoulder as he slipped into the pilot’s chair. “Is that an offer?”

“We’re always short-handed, Travis, you know that.”

Mayweather held back from answering until he had manoeuvred the smaller vessel away from Enterprise, then asked facetiously, “Any chance of having my old job back?” He’d expected Tucker to laugh. When the captain didn’t, Mayweather glanced around to see the other man frowning and whistled softly. “T’Pol’s not going to like that.” All he got was a grimace. “Why wouldn’t you want her as your first officer?”

“She’s not well.” Tucker shook his head helplessly. “I don’t want her under too much pressure.”

“What is it with you, Trip?” Mayweather too shook his head, mostly in disbelief. “You get your life back and then fate just throws more crap at you.”

“Just lucky I guess.” The captain leant his head back against the support behind him, a reluctant grin forming. “But it’s not fate, Travis. I’m damn sure it’s Soval.”

~

Tucker retired to the cloaked cargo hold before Earth came into visual range of Mayweather’s ship, something for which he was thankful; he had no wish to see the ravaged planet from orbit again. He was surprised, therefore, when the helmsman called him before the ship had started orbital descent. He arrived on the small flight deck, carefully avoiding looking directly at the screen that was currently showing the southern hemisphere of the once blue-and-green planet. “What is it?”

“The Xindi are gone.” Tucker’s look was blank with disbelief and Mayweather gestured to the sensor output before him. “Their orbital surveillance satellites aren’t there any more. There are no ships in orbit or on the planet.”

Tucker swallowed, as a cold finger of fear ran gently up his back. “Life signs?”

“No Xindi that I can detect.” Mayweather’s mouth had tightened when he looked up again. “Some Human.”

“How many?”

“Less than a thousand. How many should there be?”

“I’m not sure. Soval said the death rate had gone through the roof this last year, but nearer three thousand than one.” The two men exchanged another grim look. “Take us down.”

~

The ship’s descent must have been spotted because there was a welcoming committee, composed of a large group of gaunt, filthy Humans and one very angry MACO. Tucker had always reckoned that Cole could have taken on anyone in Earth’s last settlement and won, and it looked to him as if this time she’d had to. She was as filthy as the rest, with what looked like the scorching from an energy weapon blackening her left shoulder, but she still managed to kick several others out of her path to reach him first as he halted in the airlock. “Where the hell have you been? Where’s Soval?”

“He’s on Vulcan.” That was the easier question to answer; the first required too long an explanation. “What’s happening here?”

“I’ll kill him!” she muttered fiercely. “He promised to get me out.”

“Amanda!” She glared at him. “Report!”

She steadied at the crisp demand, her expression firming back into the professional mask Hayes had required of all his team. “The Xindi garrison was evacuated a little over four hours ago. Before they left,” she paused, a grimace twisting her mouth as she struggled for control, “they spent the night shooting people.” She gestured to where Mayweather was surrounded by a crowd of jostling, pleading Humans. “The ones of us that are left, we don’t know what’s going on. But you can bet your bottom dollar it’s not good.”

“Damn.”

“Oh, great, Trip! The Xindi slaughter us and all you can say is ‘damn’? Why are you here? Did Soval send you?”

“No!” Tucker experienced a spurt of irritation at the ready assumption that he still worked for the Vulcan. “We came here to see Ugarke. Are you sure all the Xindi are gone?”

“Trip.” Mayweather’s shout forced Tucker to break off his interrogation of Cole and move across to where the younger man was face to face with an even taller individual, his wild look accentuated by the tangled mop of dirty white hair hanging to his shoulders. “Trip, this is Mr Kiligrew. He says he’s in charge here. Mr Kiligrew, may I present Captain Tucker of the starship Enterprise, a member of the Free Human movement.” And with a gesture that most eloquently said, ‘over to you’, he stepped back.

Tucker grimaced: nice one, Travis. “Mr Kiligrew, I’d be delighted to speak to you, but just now I have a mission to complete. Perhaps later.”

“Captain?” A hand came out to grip the front of Tucker’s shirt – he was regretting that the expectation of finding Earth swarming with Xindi meant that he had left his uniform behind. “I remember you. The drunkard that Vulcan foisted on us.”

Oh, great, a fan. “I got better. Now if you’ll excuse me?”

“We demand supplies to revitalise our planet.”

“If the Xindi really have left, we’ll see what we can do. But first, I need to find out what’s going on here.”

“We will accept your ship as a sign of good faith.”

“That wouldn’t be very sensible, now, would it?” Tucker was trying to be reasonable, but he’d forgotten just how desperate the situation on Earth had been, and how very unbalanced many of its inhabitants had become. No wonder Amanda hadn’t wanted to stay. He was just surprised she hadn’t insisted Mayweather take her with him months before. “Because I doubt you could fly it.”

“I will be guided.”

“Will you? Who by?”

“God.”

Briefly Tucker closed his eyes. This was one of those times when he fervently wished that he wasn’t captain. “I’ll get back to you on that one.” Keeping a wary eye on the zealot, he backed up to where Cole and Mayweather were standing close to the airlock, the woman now cradling the plasma rifle that had previously been slung across her back. “How dangerous is that idiot, Amanda?”

“He didn’t used to be. Soval attended his meetings once in a while.” Humour briefly warmed her voice. “The mean old Vulcan would tear him to bits, everyone would laugh, go home and forget about him. But the last few months, he’s been gathering more and more people around him. The Xindi started moving in, shooting his followers, but it made no difference. Now he’s saying that he foretold that the Xindi would leave. The unfaithful have been eliminated and only the true believers saved. That sort of crap.”
Tucker nodded acknowledgement. “Are you fit, Amanda?”

“I’m fine, sir.”

He smiled briefly at the swift answer. “Travis, get back in the ship. Seal the airlock. Stay on the ground if you can, but take her up if it looks like they’re gonna break in.”

“Where are you going, captain?”

“Amanda and I are gonna go check out the Xindi compound. Even if they’re gone, maybe we can pull something out of the computer core.”

~

T’Pol was in the launch bay when the call came, overseeing the modifications to the shuttle pod that would allow it to collect the Caesarium her captain had ordered. In response to her curt acknowledgement, Hayes’ voice was also cool. “Sub-Commander, we’re picking up fluctuations in the gravimetric field of the gas cloud.”

Unseen by the engineers working nearby, her eyes widened. “Tactical alert.”

“Sub-commander?”

“Do it. I’m on my way.”

~

The journey to the Xindi base seemed shorter than it had done the last time Tucker made the trip, for which he was profoundly grateful: the fact that he could keep up with Cole’s fast pace and only be slightly out of breath at the end of it, meant that she couldn’t nag him for being out of shape. His breathing was only a little faster than hers when they dropped flat behind the scant cover of a low ridge to take stock of the facility below them. “The force fields are down.” It didn’t require the best Human engineer alive to deduce that, but he said it anyway.

“Yeah.” Cole wasn’t impressed by his acumen, but then she never had been. “And we’re not the first to notice. See?”

Tucker looked where she was pointing and grimaced. Within the old perimeter of the compound, figures were moving, identifiably Human even at a distance. “Come on. We can’t afford for them to smash up the evidence.”

The other Humans hadn’t yet made it to the former centre of the Xindi administration on Earth. The building was intact, and when Tucker and Cole reached the control centre, they found that not every Xindi had been evacuated. Ugarke was sprawled behind his desk, eyes focussed with undue attention on the ceiling, humming gently to himself.

He barely stirred when the barrel of Tucker’s phase pistol pressed against his ear, merely tilted his head slightly to take in a peripheral view of the two Humans. “The Vulcan’s whore. And another one.”

“That’s a lie!” Cole joined her rifle to Tucker’s phase pistol, shooting a defensive look at him. “After you left, Soval let them think that. It stopped me being pestered.”

“Hey, we’re talking Soval here!” he protested, then concentrated on the Xindi-Humanoid, dismissing as pure fantasy the idea of the Vulcan and Amanda in bed together. “What’s going on, Ugarke? Where have the rest of the Xindi gone?”

“Gone? They’ve gone where the living go. Into space.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

The man smiled up into Tucker’s angry face. “It means we’re dead, Human. We’re as dead as your species.”

“He’s drugged,” Cole observed unnecessarily. “That’s how we controlled him. But it never used to be this bad.”

“That,” the Xindi-Humanoid put in mildly, “is because we weren’t dead before.”
“What are you saying?” Tucker leant in close, one hand closing on the man’s shoulder in an effort to focus his attention. “What’s happening here?”

Ugarke’s smile was wide. “We’ve been betrayed - by our own species. Who’d have thought it? The Guardians never mentioned this.”

Tucker exchanged an uncomprehending look with Cole, who shrugged. “This betrayal – what’s gonna happen.”

“We’ll die. That’s what’ll happen.”

“How!” Frustrated, the Human slammed Ugarke violently backwards, and the Xindi laughed.

“How? How do you think? By sending another weapon to your planet. But this time, it’s me who’ll die. So amusing, don’t you think?”

~

Hayes left the command chair as T’Pol entered the Bridge, but she ignored it to approach the science station, briefly reviewing the results her relief had collected before turning towards the helm. “Ensign, take us out of the cloud, course 312 mark 030.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Graveney set about his task, while Hayes frowned at the first officer. “What’s the problem, sub-commander?”

The answer came, but not from T’Pol. Graveney gave a yelp of alarm, raising his eyes to the view screen, while, almost simultaneously, Sato said anxiously, “We’re being hailed.”

Hayes cast a quick look at the main screen and dived for the tactical station, almost elbowing his deputy out of the way. “There are four of them.” He raised his head to give T’Pol the benefit of his blankest stare. “Xindi-Reptile. We’re outgunned.”

“They’re hailing us again, sub-commander.”

T’Pol moved stiffly to the front of the Bridge, her expression set. “Respond.”

~

It proved impossible to extract anything further from Ugarke and eventually Tucker called Mayweather in to join them for a strategy meeting. He hadn’t wanted to risk any civilians who might still be mobbing the ship, but it seemed that there was a bigger risk facing them all. He spent the time it took the helmsman to join them in searching through the computer system, but it had been wiped. T’Pol might have been able to reconstruct some of the lost data, but it would have taken even her a good deal of time, and it was a task well beyond his competence.

Mayweather looked grim when he joined them, gesturing out into the compound. “It’s not pretty out there, Trip.”

“I know.” Cole had wanted to try to impose some order, but Tucker had reluctantly stopped her. There were too many hysterical Humans running riot, and the two of them just weren’t enough to make a difference. They’d have been attacked themselves, and he had no intention of giving the Xindi the satisfaction of killing him, even indirectly. “Travis,” he’d already filled the man in on Ugarke’s news over the comm., “d’you know what happened to the orbital hotels?”

Mayweather blinked, the odd question throwing him. “They’re still up there. The Xindi blew the airlocks, but didn’t bother destroying them.”

“Have you go an EV suit on your ship?”

“Sure. But, Trip, what are you planning? Even if you can reactivate life support, how are we going to get people up there? I can’t take more than twenty per trip.”

“There’s a transporter on the base.” Tucker caught the other man’s grimace and sighed. “Yeah, I feel the same, but it’s the best chance we’ve got. Maybe we’ll lose some, but it’s better than losing them all.” He got a reluctant nod and continued, “Stay here. Familiarise yourself with the transporter. Amanda, can you contact the rest of the resistance?”

She hesitated, shaking her head doubtfully. “Maybe. But they won’t listen to me, Trip. You know they never really accepted us and since you left …” She broke off, shrugging.

Tucker sighed in frustration: so much for all being on the same side. “Don’t put yourself in danger, but try. We’re gonna need more people to make this work.” He shared a reassuring look between his two former crewmates. “I’ll call when I’ve got life support back on-line.” From outside the room, there came another crash of breaking glass. “And I think I’ll take Ugarke with me. I’d sooner he wasn’t lynched before we get anything more out of him.”

~

The face that appeared on Enterprise’s view screen wasn’t one that T’Pol recalled seeing before, but the sight of another gloating Reptile sent a tremor of fear through her body that she hoped none of the Humans could detect. Not only was she Vulcan, but she had been left in command, and commanders of Enterprise did not reveal that they were terrified.

“What a surprise.” The gravelly quality of the Xindi-Reptile’s voice couldn’t disguise the mocking tone. “Our favourite Human ship. Where’s your captain?”

T’Pol paused before answering, silently considering what information might have filtered through to Xindi intelligence. “Captain Archer is dead.”

“Old news, Vulcan, although I rejoiced when I heard it. The new one – Tucker.”

“He’s not on board.”

“Then we’ll wait for him to return. Prepare to be boarded.”

“No!”

The reptilian’s head snapped back at the defiance in T’Pol’s voice and he gestured decisively behind him, Enterprise rocking a moment later as weapons’ fire impacted the hull. “They’re targeting the Bridge, sub-commander,” Hayes reported, to the accompaniment of continued shaking.

“Return fire.”

“Ma’am,” the MACO left the tactical station to come to her side, dropping his voice, “this is suicide. We can’t fight on their terms.” She turned an angry look on him and he said forcefully, “Surrender, ma’am. If we’re dead, we can’t fight back. Captain Tucker’s not caught yet. He won’t let them get away with this.”

She knew he was right, but it didn’t make it any easier to give the order. “Lt Sato, tell the Xindi that we submit. Inform the crew not to resist.” She sank down into the command chair to await developments, silently promising herself that she would never, ever, allow Tucker to leave her alone again. Coping without him was intolerable.

~

There had once been a dozen orbital hotels, where Earth’s population had been able to spend weekend breaks, pretending that they were daring the dangers of space, while being luxuriously wined and dined, to the accompaniment of excellent views of their planet of origin. Since he’d worked in space for real, Tucker had never visited one, preferring to spend his leisure time on land – or in the sea, for preference – but he’d heard that they weren’t to be missed. He would happily have missed the one with which he had docked, however. Mayweather had been right: when the Xindi attacked Earth, they had destroyed every communication and defensive satellite, but they hadn’t bothered with the hotels. At least, they had only bothered to the extent of ensuring that no one had been left alive.

He had selected the least damaged of the facilities, managing to dock Mayweather’s ship with a maintenance hatch, because the docking ports had been destroyed. That had been the easy part. Less pleasant was finding the corpses. He hadn’t been expecting it. With the airlocks blown, he’d assumed that the last unfortunate guests had been sucked out into space, but he had forgotten the safety protocols that had been built into the facility. Emergency bulkheads had snapped shut, trapping people into sealed compartments – trapping them with no hope of rescue, because there was no one left to save them. They’d died there and often they hadn’t died easily.

Sickened and furious all over again, Tucker was glad that he had left Ugarke secured in Mayweather’s ship. If the Xindi had been with him, he wasn’t sure that he would have trusted himself not to shoot the other man – in cold blood and through the head. There were times when he envied the Vulcans their ability to put aside emotion. This was one of them.

The well-protected environmental control room of the hotel was intact. There was even, as Tucker had hoped, a trickle of power to the controls. That was what had kept the facility in orbit, of course: the solar panels had supplied enough power for the automatic thrusters to maintain position. Shoving his anger to one side, he brought up a schematic, identifying those areas still capable of containing an atmosphere, closing bulkheads remotely where he could, until he had a core of usable space. It would be tight if they managed to transport everyone, but better cramped than dead. The main reactor fired up reluctantly after four years and an emergency shutdown, but fire up it did, and Tucker allowed himself a grim smile. Whatever the rest of the universe chose to think of Humanity, they’d been good engineers.

His suit compressed around him as the external air pressure rose, then bleeped to inform him that there was breathable atmosphere outside. With instinctive caution, he cracked the face plate, wrinkling his nose at the smell that he didn’t want to identify, but it was still better than extinction at the hands of the Xindi. He activated the suit’s built-in communicator. “Tucker to Mayweather.”

“Go ahead.”

“I’ve got atmosphere up here. Are you ready?”

“I guess.” The younger man didn’t sound confident. “But the civilians aren’t happy, Trip. That madman Kiligrew has them convinced they should stay on Earth. They’re not listening to us.”

“Did Amanda contact the other resistance members?”

“Yeah.”

“Are they with us?”

“Sort of.”

He didn’t bother asking for an explanation of that one; there wasn’t time. “Are they armed?”

“Yes.”

“Then start sending the civilians up – unconscious if necessary.”

“Captain?”

“You heard me, Travis. I don’t care how you do it, just get the damn fools up here.”

~

“I do not know where Captain Tucker is.” T’Pol had repeated that claim several times, but Commander Malik still did not believe her – unless he simply enjoyed terrorising his prisoners.

He gestured to one of his guards and they hauled Graveney forward from where the rest of Enterprise’s Bridge crew had been herded into the small space beyond the science console. He disobeyed T’Pol’s order not to fight, desperately trying to free himself, too terrified to recognise the futility of the action. T’Pol could sympathise with the terror. Only Tucker knew that she still woke at night from dreams of Beseker leaning over her, questioning her, ripping her mind apart to leave her defenceless. Beseker was dead, but this other Xindi-Reptile was likely to benefit from his actions; she wouldn’t be able to resist for long this time.

Malik reached out one long arm to grip the helmsman’s head, claws digging into flesh. “Where is your captain?”

“Don’t tell him, ma’am.” Graveney was gasping with fear and pain, but trying very hard to be brave. Then he screamed as the claws tightened.

“Where is he?”

“Earth.” T’Pol heard the tremor in her voice, but couldn’t prevent it. “He went to Earth.”

The reptilian threw Graveney away from him, even as he tossed back his head, laughing. “Earth! Yes, very fitting.” He sneered down at T’Pol’s fearful, puzzled expression. “You’ve seen the last of your captain. Earth is about to be destroyed.”

~

Tucker had just completed the transport of another twenty of Earth’s reluctant population and handed them over to a pair of Cole’s fellow resistance cell members to escort to their temporary holding area when Mayweather’s voice came over the comm., sounding more worried than he had in hours. “Trip, we’ve got a problem.”

“What is it this time?”

Last time, it had been Kiligrew claiming that it was all a conspiracy, aimed at selling them into slavery. Cole had dealt with him in a way that would have made Hayes proud: she’d stunned him before he got beyond the initial accusation. “The Xindi tracking equipment’s detecting an incoming sub-space corridor.”

Tucker mouthed a silent curse, but he’d been prepared for the possibility. “Re-route the transporter controls up here. I’ll beam you and Amanda and the rest of the resistance up.”

“Trip,” Mayweather faltered, although he must have foreseen the eventuality, “what about the others. There are still a couple of hundred waiting.”

“Leave them.” It was the Free Human captain speaking, the one who’d been forced to make intolerable decisions before. “You’ve done all you can. Now re-route the controls.”

“Ay, sir.”

With the others safe – or as safe as they could be when they didn’t know what might be approaching – Tucker re-set the hotel’s proximity sensors to give them a view of a segment of Earth’s orbit, then powered down life support, leaving them in almost impenetrable blackness. One of the resistance cell protested and, when Tucker didn’t bother answering, Mayweather said grimly, “Better it gets a little stuffy than they notice we’re here.”

“There.” Cole’s eyes were fixed on the screen and Tucker nodded confirmation as the corridor formed, hearing the woman’s sharply indrawn breath when the spherical object emerged. “It’s one of their weapons – isn’t it?”

“Oh, yeah.” Her eyes were scared when he looked around, but then so were those of everyone else in the room. “Keep calm, people. We’re not dead yet.”

On the small screen, the probe was arming, and Tucker felt Cole press against him, one hand curling into the fabric of his shirt and, looking around, he saw that Mayweather had his hands on the woman’s shoulders. Better to face death with a friend, certainly, but he hadn’t counted on this when he set out for Earth. T’Pol needed him; if he died here, he wasn’t at all sure how she’d react, but it wouldn’t be pretty.

The beam shot out from the probe to the accompaniment of gasps from the group watching, hitting the last inhabitable spot on Earth’s surface and Tucker flinched, knowing that, below them, one hundred and eighty two more Humans had just died. Then the sphere disintegrated, the debris flying outwards, and everyone instinctively ducked as the sound of impacts was transmitted though the bulkheads to where they stood, deep inside the facility. Quickly, Tucker brought up power again, checking for damage, but for once fortune had favoured them – the facility was still more or less intact.

“Okay.” He spoke firmly to snap people out of the shock of the last few hours – and to stop them thinking too much about what had just happened. “We’ve got a lot to do here. Travis, set up a couple of search parties. Have them look for any food supplies that are still usable. Amanda, have your people get stared on organising living accommodation for the civilians.”

“And who put you in charge, Tucker?”

Tucker looked over at the man who had spoken, one of the resistance cell, although no one he remembered – which wasn’t actually saying much. His memories of Earth were hazier than he cared to admit. “That’s Captain Tucker, and I guess I’m taking charge because I don’t see anyone else stepping forward.”

“We don’t want any Starfleeters here. You caused all the trouble with the Xindi in the first place. So you can leave now, and take the Vulcan’s whore with you.”

He caught Cole’s arm before she could take a swing at the man, trying not to let his contempt show. “How long d’you think you can stay alive in here without help?”

“We’ll manage.”

“Will you now?”

“Trip.” Mayweather’s tone was conciliatory, making Tucker aware that he was very close to losing his temper. “You heard the man. Let’s go.”

“Travis is right, Trip.” Cole joined in, although she was making no attempt to hide her disgust. “Why should we bother? Let them starve.”

“We’re all Human.” It wasn’t entirely clear whether Tucker was speaking to his friends or to the group facing them. Perhaps he didn’t even know himself, but he let himself be backed out of the room, then turned on his heel and strode off in the direction of the docking port where he had earlier left Mayweather’s ship. “Damn fools.”

“What’s the plan, Trip?” Mayweather’s question was ignored and he sighed, rolling his eyes at Cole. “Captain?”

“I’ll call Enterprise in.” To be fair to Tucker, he’d ignored the other man the first time because he hadn’t finished finalising a plan. “I doubt the Xindi’ll be back, so it should be safe enough. We can get the recycling facilities functioning. They’ll be okay until Forrest can send someone they will listen to.” He scowled over his shoulder at Cole. “How the hell did everyone get the idea that you and Soval slept together?”

“Finding him in her bedroom did it for me.”

There was an edge of bitterness to Mayweather’s dry comment, and Tucker reacted appropriately. “What?”

“I told you!” Cole was furious, her angry gaze threatening to turn the younger man’s head inside out. “I was ill. He was helping me.”

“And we all know where neuro-pressure leads, right?”

“We’re talking Soval here,” Tucker put in quickly, before Cole could explode again, although the look he directed at her was dubious. “Get a grip, Travis, he’s well past it.” They reached the ship and, with an absent minded request for Mayweather’s permission, he dropped into the pilot’s chair and activated the comm., drumming his fingers when it took longer than anticipated for Enterprise to respond. Then T’Pol’s familiar voice acknowledged the hail and he launched into speech. “Sorry we’re a little late. Everything okay with you?”

“Charles.” For a second he stiffened, even as she continued evenly, “We’re fine.”
“Good. There’s been a change of plan. We need a new rendezvous. Can you meet us,” for a captain putting a pre-formed plan into effect, he seemed hesitate, almost as if performing some frantic mental calculations, “just outside Pluto’s orbit?”
There was a corresponding pause before T’Pol replied. “Yes.”

“How long?”

“Two hours.”

“Okay.”

There was another pause, then Enterprise’s first officer said softly, “I’ve missed you, Charles.”

“I get the message, honey.” Tucker’s voice was warm and reassuring. “Don’t worry. I’ll see you soon. Tucker out.”

~

Malik smiled as the channel closed and removed his claws from Granevey’s skull, oblivious to the fact that the helmsman slumped to the deck, blood streaming down his face. “Very good, Vulcan.” He gestured with a blood-stained hand and T’Pol retreated to the huddle of other officers, while the Xindi-Reptile paraded in front of them. “I’m glad your captain survived. It gives me the pleasure of killing him personally. Very, very personally.”

~

The airlock cycled open and Tucker stepped out, pulling up short, eyes widening as half a dozen Xindi weapons targeted his chest. “What the hell …?”

He never got to finish the protest as the butt of one rifle sunk into his stomach, then clipped him sharply around the head as he doubled up. He was too dazed to protest further as he was dragged away – certainly too dazed to give any indication as to whether he really was as stupidly careless as the Xindi seemed to think.

~

Tucker was sufficiently recovered by the time his captors reached the Bridge to note the look of disgust on Hayes’ face and the alarm on T’Pol’s, before he was flung onto the deck at the feet of another Xindi-Reptile. A hand gripped the back of his shirt to drag him to his feet before he had a chance to get up with dignity, and a cold face sneered into his.

“Tucker, the engineer who betrayed us.”

“That’s me.” He grunted in pain as he was backhanded across the face, feeling the start of a warm trickle of blood from a split lip.

“This time we’ll make sure you don’t have the opportunity.”

“I’m flattered you still want me.”

He was hit again, the Xindi-Reptile leaning in almost to spitting distance this time, to snarl, “I just destroyed the last of your planet, Human! Do you believe I won’t kill your crew? I will – the moment you try to resist me. Shall I prove it?”

“No!” Tucker’s answer was more urgent than he had intended, but he was damned if he was going to allow anyone else he cared for to be destroyed. “I’ll cooperate.”

“Good.” He was slapped again, just because the Xindi wanted to, and thrust roughly towards the cluster of his officers, while Malik beckoned Graveney forward. “You: set a course for my ship.”

The young man shot his captain a frightened look but, at Tucker’s nod, took the helm. Tucker sank down on the floor beside T’Pol, leaning his aching head back against the wall and slipping an arm around the Vulcan’s slender body as she turned to him, inspecting his injuries, her eyes scared. “I’m okay.”

She gave him a doubtful look, but settled besides him, pressing into his side, while Hayes scowled. “We were hoping you’d have the sense to stay away, captain.”

“Sorry.” Tucker turned his head to press his mouth to T’Pol’s temple, meeting the MACO’s eyes over her head. “I never was that hot on discretion.”

“So I see!” Hayes faced front again, arms folded, jaw set. “Damned amateurs.”

“That’s what Amanda said.”

The other man’s head snapped around, then resolutely back again, although Tucker could see a muscle twitching along his jaw. “Pity she’s not here.”

“It sure is.” T’Pol’s body had gone rigid, telling him that she hadn’t got the message, but at least Hayes knew to expect something. Tucker settled himself to wait – and to compose an explanation of his remarks to T’Pol.

~

With T’Pol tucked against him, his arms around her, Tucker didn’t notice the temperature drop on the Bridge until Hayes shifted uncomfortably, raising his cupped hands to blow on them. “It’s getting a little chilly, captain.”

“Yeah.” Tucker took T’Pol’s hands in his, chaffing them gently. “I guess these guys don’t know Enterprise too well.”

He had drawled the comment quietly, but the nearest Xindi guard overheard and snarled for silence, lashing out with a rifle butt. Tucker ducked, twisting to ensure that his body was between T’Pol’s and the guard, swearing as he received another painful blow to his left shoulder.

Malik prowled over, glowering. “You enjoy pain, Tucker? That can be arranged.”

“I’ll give it a miss, thanks all the same.”

The Xindi sneered and turned away, approaching the command chair. “Engineering.”

“Commander Malik, sir.” Tucker scowled at the thought of Xindi in charge of what he still considered to be his engineering department, but Malik’s question and the subsequent answer were some compensation.

“Check the environmental controls. The temperature on the Bridge is falling.”

“The problem’s affecting the whole ship, sir. We’re looking into it.”

“Hurry! It’s cold.”

“Yes, sir.”

Malik slapped the line shut and growled, hunching his shoulders as he resumed pacing. The small group of Humans and one Vulcan drew a little closer together and waited patiently.

~

Half an hour later, the temperature was five degrees below the freezing point of water, and the two Xindi-Reptile guards were in trouble, responding only sluggishly to Malik’s frequent shouts for them to keep their weapons trained on Enterprise’s officers. But it wasn’t enough, and Tucker tensed still further when one of the guards finally collapsed. Malik snatched his fallen gun, turning it on the Humans. “This is your doing, Tucker.” The Reptile’s voice was slurred as the cold took effect on his metabolism, but the weapon’s aim was still steady. “Damn Humans! Should have obliterated your world from the first.”

Gently Tucker put T’Pol from him and climbed to his feet. “You did a pretty fair job on it.”

The Xindi moved towards him and Tucker stepped in front of T’Pol, who had risen with him despite the efforts of Hayes to prevent her. “Tucker.” The name was turned into a curse. “Human. You’ve lived too long.”

“I don’t think so.” The interjection was in a Floridian accent, but the voice was female. Malik started to turn, but, in his torpid state, was far too slow. The bolt from a plasma rifle took him out and then another dropped the second guard, who hadn’t even been able to take aim. “That was fun,” Cole murmured appreciatively, and nodded to Hayes, her expression settling back into MACO-approved blankness. “Major.”

“You’re paid to fight, corporal,” he said harshly, “not talk,” and scooped up Malik’s gun. “Stay here, captain. We’ll secure the rest of the ship.”

“It’s done, sir,” Cole offered politely. “This was the last area where hostiles were still operating.”

Tucker sighed. “Ever heard of securing the Bridge first, corporal?”

“No, sir.”

The answer was suitably docile, but he caught the flash of impudent laughter in the woman’s eyes and sighed again; Amanda had never taken him terribly seriously as a commanding officer. He crossed to the command chair and repeated Malik’s earlier hail. “Tucker to Engineering.”

“Captain,” Hess’s voice came back almost at once, ‘are you all right, sir?”

“We’re fine, Anna, just a little chilly. You’ll find that the main environmental controls have been bypassed on C-deck. Get them fixed, will you?”

“Have you been creating work for me again, captain?”

“Blame this one on Travis, Anna, not me. Tucker out.” He turned to survey the Bridge, the momentary, relief-induced good humour fading as he took in Graveney’s blood stained face and T’Pol’s pallor. Another captain might have gone for a more dramatic solution, but he preferred to minimize the risk, and at least none of his crew had died in retaking the ship. But that wasn’t a lot of consolation to those who had suffered again in Xindi hands. “Peter, report to Sickbay. You too, Amanda.” She didn’t appear to have suffered any more injuries, but she was still carrying the evidence of the earlier massacre on Earth. “Round up the Xindi, major.”

“And do what with them?”

Tucker hesitated, exchanging a look with T’Pol. There was an easy answer to that question, and a hard one. It was his job to give the answers, and hers to see that he gave the right ones. “Secure them in the cargo bay.”

“Sir?”

“You heard me.” He’d executed a few prisoners in the early days, but not anymore. Not in cold blood, anyway. He’d seen what happened to people who went that route and he didn’t like it. He waited until Hayes had left to follow his orders, then activated the comm. again. “Bridge to Mayweather.”

“Go ahead, captain.”

The ex-helmsman sounded far too cheerful to Tucker; it made him speak more harshly than normal. “Did the Xindi find Ugarke?”

“No, captain.”

“Then bring him up to the Bridge. Tell him I’ve got a proposition for him.”

“Ay, sir.”

Tucker snapped off the line and looked over at T’Pol’s querying expression. “We were on route to a Xindi ship, right?” She nodded. “I think it’s time to see if we can’t replace one of the ships we lost at the ß-colony.”

~

The expression of the Xindi-Reptile on Malik’s ship was dubious as he regarded the Xindi-Humanoid sprawled in Enterprise’s command chair. “Major Ugarke. I understood that you had been left on Earth.”

“An oversight. Commander Malik was kind enough to retrieve me.”

“Where is the colonel?”

“He’s a little busy at the moment. Torturing Humans takes so much time, don’t you find?”

“He caught the engineer he wanted?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Good. We have many plans for him.”

“I’m sure you do.” Ugarke smiled insincerely at his fellow Xindi. “Prepare for docking.”

Out of the line of sight of the video pickup, Tucker gestured to Sato and the screen cut to a view of the Xindi ship they were approaching, roughly the size of Enterprise but an entirely different configuration. “I told you to keep it simple.”

“But I find simplicity so boring.” Ugarke raised a hand to his forehead. “Where is your physician?”

“On his way.”

“I do hope so.” The Xindi-Humanoid slumped lower in the chair. “And I do hope you were right about his drug supply.”

Tucker gave him a disgusted look and turned to Mayweather, who had taken his old position at the helm. “How long until we dock?”

“If nothing goes wrong,” the younger man spared his captain a brief grin for the unlikelihood of that scenario, “five minutes.”

Tucker nodded and turned to Hayes, back behind the tactical station. “You’ve got your target?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then you have the Bridge, sub-commander.” He headed for the lift, making a brief detour to squeeze T’Pol’s arm as she passed him to take the command chair, trying not to notice her strained expression. Later he really would find the time to let her tell him that he was a fool who took unnecessary risks – and let her cry about it if she needed to – but right now he had a ship to capture.

~

Enterprise was little more than 100m from the docking port of the Xindi ship when her phase cannons fired, the ultra-short range burst immediately overloading the power grid: one benefit of his year on Ceti Alpha V was that Tucker had a detailed knowledge of the layout and vulnerabilities of many classes of Xindi vessel. Enterprise docked barely 15 seconds later, before the crew of the other ship had had time to react to the unexpected threat, and certainly before anyone had thought to secure the airlock. The MACOs threw stun grenades in first to be sure, but it was hardly necessary, although it did have the benefit of taking out Malik’s second, who had come to join the Human-torturing party that he thought was occurring on Enterprise. Acting on prior orders, one party of MACOs stayed behind to hold the airlock, the others heading for the engine room, along with their captain.

Even with his additional duties as Enterprise’s tactical officer, Hayes had kept his team up to scratch, the new recruits he had collected over the years being as well drilled as the veterans. They fought their way with relative ease to the doors to the Engineering compartment, which had been sealed against them. It took Tucker only a few moments to override the lock-out, however, and the doors slid aside to allow the MACOs to pitch their grenades in, count to ten, then follow up.

Diving in with them, Tucker detected the strangeness almost as soon as the professional soldiers: no one was shooting at them. Sheltered behind a bank of equipment, he exchanged a puzzled look with Hawkins, who shrugged back and indicated that they should hold their position in case it was a trap.

“Hello?” The tentative call came from deeper inside the room. “We’d like to surrender, please.”

Captain and MACO exchanged another startled look, then Tucker squirmed around, trying for a clearer view into the compartment. “Who’s that?”

“My name’s Malfor, chief engineer.” The deep, gruff voice was familiar and certainly not Reptilian. “Can we surrender?”

“Sure.” Tucker was confused, although still wary. “Throw out your weapons.”

“We don’t have any.”

“Right.” He wasn’t naïve enough to believe that anymore. “Step out into the open.” Towards the rear of the room, a number of burly figures appeared, moving slowly forwards.

“Arboreals.” Tucker nodded agreement with Hawkins’ observation and started to ease himself out. “Captain!”

“They’re probably safe enough,” and if not, he was an idiot.

“Trip!” The surprised exclamation came from one of the approaching figures, which pushed to the front of the group, mane-ringed face split into a pleased smile.

Even more surprised, Tucker retained just enough presence of mind to knock up Hawkins’ gun as the MACO sprang out to defend his captain. “Bernin?”

Still smiling, the Xindi-Arboreal turned to his companions. “It’s Trip, the Human engineer I told you about. The one who worked with us on Ceti Alpha V.” He looked back at Tucker, who was wondering just how small the universe was. “I’m sure he’ll help us.”

~

The atmosphere in the ready room was strained, even though the Xindi ship still docked with Enterprise was securely in Human hands, without any serious casualties on their side. Both Tucker’s ranking officers were at odds with him, and he was starting to wonder if he was right in encouraging full and frank debate on Enterprise.

“You can’t trust them, sir,” Hayes put into the brief pause when T’Pol stopped to compose a further accusation of irresponsibility on her captain’s part. “They’re Xindi.”

“They’re Xindi-Arboreal,” Tucker emphasised. “They don’t like the Reptilians any more than we do.”

“So they tell you!”

“I know some of them. They worked for me.”

“But you are not responsible for them.” T’Pol’s tone was disapproving, and grew more so when Tucker’s mouth twisted in a rueful grimace. “You were on Ceti Alpha V under false pretences.”

“They didn’t know I was a spy.” He paused to catch the eyes of Hayes and T’Pol in turn. “We can’t afford to pass up this opportunity.” This time they let him continue. “Maybe they can explain the political situation. Even if they can’t, we need allies. And we need that ship.”

“The evacuees from the ß-colony are vulnerable,” Hayes admitted. “Plus there are those civilians you extracted from Earth.”

“Which is why I want you to take command of the Xindi ship, major.” The MACO stiffened, although it was the Vulcan woman who showed the most surprise, eyes widening as they fastened onto Tucker’s face. “Take as many of the MACOs as you want to help supervise the Xindi-Arboreal crew. I’ll assign you Commander Hess and some of Enterprise’s engineers in exchange for Malfor and a few of his team. Then get that ship back to the rest of the fleet. It’s faster than Enterprise, it shouldn’t take you long. And don’t let anyone touch the Arboreals when you get there.”

“What about Enterprise, captain?”

“We’ve got a conference to attend.”

“You’ll be short-handed.”

“So what’s new?” Tucker grinned at Hayes. “Go think it over, major. Decide who you need to make it work.”

“I’ll need Sergeant Kemper.”

“Whoever you need.”

“Yes, sir.” Frowning, the usually imperturbable man left and Tucker’s smile faded as he turned to T’Pol, who was glaring at him.

“How do you propose to operate without a chief engineer?” she enquired sarcastically. “By performing that task yourself, in addition to your role as captain?”

“I’ll promote Rostov.”

“He is not capable.”

“He’ll be okay.”

“He will not!” she snapped, and turned away abruptly. “You have no time to spend with me currently.” There was the suggestion of a tremble to her soft voice. “This will make it worse.”

“No, it won’t.” Tucker moved behind her, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist, resting his chin on her down-bent head. “Travis has already agreed to stay on. He can cover for Hayes. We’ll work something out.”

T’Pol relaxed back into him, but he knew he hadn’t allayed her fears. If he was honest, she was right: captaining Enterprise and giving her the love and support she needed was proving a hell of a lot harder than he had expected. “And who will replace Sergeant Kemper?”

“I’ll think of something.” He already had, in fact, but this wasn’t the time to mention it. Instead, he rubbed his cheek against T’Pol’s soft, straight hair. “Come on, honey, it’s been a long day. Let’s go to bed.” She let him lead her from the ready room to her cabin, but he knew they hadn’t really resolved anything; he was just too damn tired to talk the matter through properly – and he had no idea when that would ever change.

~

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