STAR TREK: Enterprise - Shockwave

by Paul Ruditis (Novelization)

  The library he was standing in was a hundred times the size of his library back home, but it reminded him of home nevertheless. Certainly much of the information he had looked at as a child had been stored on computers, but the old book rooms were nowhere near extinction in his time. Daniels’s surprise over seeing the books was yet another bit of information that Archer could do nothing with.

  Daniels and he moved into the room. The sign above them indicated that they were in the fiction section. Or, more appropriately, the science fiction section, he thought. Well, at least everything’s written in English, he thought. A clue, perhaps, as to where he had been taken.

  Archer was tempted to see what books might still be popular in whatever time this library had been abandoned. Maybe this was Earth’s future. That possibility was becoming more real to him than it had been a short time ago. That meant he was walking on ground that he should never have set foot upon and seeing things that no one else he knew would ever see. It was as exciting a concept as it was frightening. He was sure that he would have appreciated it more for its educational value if there had even been the slightest hint that he could ever go back to the time in which he belonged.

  Chapter 14

  Enterprise was dead in space. Dozens of cell-ships hung around it, blocking off any means of escape. Not that the crew was going anywhere. Three of the Suliban vessels had docked with the Enterprise and deposited their crews. Suliban soldiers had quickly overrun the ship with teams conducting various scans as well as a physical search of the vessel. T’Pol had been allowed to make a brief announcement to the crew, ordering them to stand down and allow the boarders to proceed, but some members of the Enterprise crew were having a difficult time following orders.

  A trio of Suliban could not get into Captain Archer’s quarters. A snarling four-legged creature guarded the open door. It didn’t look particularly vicious to the Suliban, until they considered its teeth, which had been bared. This was the one room they knew needed to be searched and this life-form was not going to stand in their way. The lead Suliban raised his weapon, making sure it was on the “kill” setting.

  [139] “Hold on,” a woman’s voice defiantly called from down the hall.

  “Do not interfere,” one of the soldiers said, glaring at her.

  Crewman Cutler approached the Suliban fearlessly. “He’s just a harmless little dog,” she said, stepping between the invaders and Porthos. “Nothing to worry about. I’ll get him out of your way.” She bent to pick up Porthos and take him out of the line of fire.

  “See to it that he does not disturb us any further,” the lead Suliban ordered as they stepped into the captain’s quarters.

  “Certainly,” she replied, hurrying away with the dog. “Did the big green men scare you?” she asked Porthos once the soldiers were out of earshot.

  The dog just growled in response.

  “I didn’t think so,” she giggled. “You could have taken them.”

  Cutler continued through the halls of E-deck, passing another team of Suliban in the mess hall. They had rows of crewmen lined up against the wall as they tore the place apart. Chef did not look at all happy with the invasion of his kitchen. Luckily the Suliban hadn’t seen Cutler as she passed or else she probably would have been pulled in there as well.

  The corridors were pretty much empty as she wound her way around the deck. Cutler assumed that most of the crew had taken to their posts. It was one thing to cooperate as T’Pol had ordered, but it was quite another to allow the aliens to run rampant through the ship unchecked. She had been heading for sickbay to look in on the doctor when she had run into Porthos and the Suliban. No telling [140] what the Suliban could do with the collection of serums the doctor held in sickbay.

  “What have we got here?” Phlox asked as she entered the room.

  “Just another guest,” Cutler replied, referring to the collection of fauna that the doctor kept around for medical purposes. “I hate to put him in a cage, but I think it might be in his best interest if we kept him out from underfoot of the Suliban.”

  “A good idea,” the doctor said as he took Porthos from her arms. “I don’t have anything free right now that he would be comfortable in, but I think the decontamination chamber would keep him safe while still allowing him room to move.”

  Phlox deposited Porthos in the chamber, making sure that the environmental controls were set at a comfortable level. Cutler took a bowl out of one of the cabinets and filled it with water. She left it with Porthos and the doctor closed the dog safely into the room.

  “How are you holding up?” Cutler asked.

  “Well, it’s not the first time we’ve been overrun by uninvited visitors,” Phlox said with his trademark smile. “I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

  “At least it keeps you on this ship for a little longer,” Cutler added.

  “Indeed,” Phlox replied, sensing they were about to get into that uncomfortable territory that she seemed to enjoy so much.

  The sickbay doors opened and a pair of Suliban [141] entered, breaking the flirtatious tension with more serious unease. Cutler thought she recognized them as part of the group that had been in the mess hall, but they all sort of looked alike to her, at least from a distance.

  “Remain where you are,” one of the soldiers ordered with his weapon trained on them. Cutler knew it was more a show of strength than an actual threat. They were here to explore and retrieve, not kill.

  The other soldier searched the room with his complex scanning device. He passed it over all the objects large enough to conceal something the size of a full-grown man. He stopped once he reached the door to the decontamination chamber.

  “I’m reading a life sign in here,” he said to his partner. “Very faint.”

  “Is that where your captain is hiding?” the other officer demanded.

  “Certainly not,” Phlox quickly replied. “It’s just ...”

  “Open the door,” the Suliban with the scanner insisted.

  Cutler tried not to laugh. It looked to her like Porthos was going to have a taste of Suliban no matter what. “I’m not so sure that’s a good ...”

  “Silence!” the armed soldier ordered, glaring at her. “Do as he said.”

  “You heard the man,” Cutler said, smiling at Phlox. She was interested to see how this little scene played out.

  “Hey, watch it!” Rostov said as a soldier pushed him roughly against a wall. He shot a look at Crewman Kelly [142] who had been shoved beside him. He could see in her eyes how tempted she was to reach down and take out her weapon. The Suliban saw it first, however, and removed it for her.

  This was the first search party the crewman had seen on D-deck. He assumed they were working their way up from the bottom of the ship. Nine soldiers had pushed past them to make their way into engineering while the two others that had actually forced him and Kelly against the wall took up position around the door. It wasn’t long before the Enterprise engineering team was forced out of the room and lined up in the hall beside them.

  “I think we can take the two guards,” Kelly whispered to him. “We outnumber them.”

  “And they outgun us,” he said through clenched teeth. “Not to mention their friends giving engineering the once over.”

  “We have to take back the ship,” she insisted.

  “Sub-Commander T’Pol ordered us not to interfere,” he reminded her. “They’ll probably let us go once they figure out the captain isn’t on board.” He didn’t actually believe what he was saying, but he wanted to keep his friend calm.

  “What do you think happened to him?” she asked, trying to ignore the noises coming from engineering. It sounded like the Suliban were tearing it apart.

  “Beats me,” he said. “There’s a whole lot of stuff going on here that we’re just out of the loop on.”

  “I don’t know whether to be bothered about that or thankful,” Kelly replied.

  [143] “Probably a little of each,” Rostov agreed. He knew that it was
the nature of their lower rank to be excluded from some of the more important goings-on of the ship. The senior staff certainly couldn’t take the time to brief the crew on every facet of their mission. Although the situation was understandable, it didn’t help things when the ship was under attack or the captain turned up missing. But some things just had to be accepted.

  One of the armed Suliban came out of engineering, training his sights on the crewmen lined up against the wall.

  “Report to your quarters,” he ordered. “Now!”

  The collection of crewmen reluctantly left engineering behind as they made their way to the turbolift. Rostov could tell that the engineers were reluctant to leave the warp engine in the hands of the Suliban, but there was nothing any of them could do. He and Kelly hung back a little as they moved through the corridors.

  “What do you think the odds are that the Suliban are just going to leave once they find out the captain really isn’t on board?” Kelly asked.

  “Let’s just say that’s one bet I wouldn’t take,” he replied. “But I’m sure T’Pol’s got the situation under control.”

  While his men continued to search the ship for Archer, Silik had other more pressing concerns on the bridge. He cordoned off the bridge crew, with guards keeping them in check at the back of the bridge. Silik’s attention was focused on the communications officer, while T’Pol looked on from her perch beside the captain’s chair. He glanced [144] back to confirm that one of his men was running an analysis on the stolen discs.

  “They haven’t been duplicated,” the soldier reported once his scans were complete.

  Silik turned to the women. He trusted his officer’s information, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t time for a little show of strength. He lifted his disrupter and held it to Hoshi’s head. “Is he correct?” he asked.

  To Hoshi’s credit, she didn’t play into his game by answering the question. She did her best to hide her feelings as the metal of the disrupter dug into her temple. All of her past fears about space exploration were becoming reality, yet she was handling herself better than she had ever thought she would.

  “Don’t you believe your scanners?” T’Pol asked, attempting to divert his attention from Hoshi.

  “Is he correct?” Silik asked, pressing the disrupter harder against Hoshi’s skin.

  “We didn’t have time to make a copy,” Hoshi finally admitted with only the slightest hint of a quiver in her voice.

  “Leave her alone!” Trip said, unable to watch any longer. He started toward them, but was stopped when a weapon was shoved in his own face by one of Silik’s guards.

  “Lower your weapon,” Silik calmly instructed the guard as he removed his own disrupter from Hoshi’s forehead. He turned his attention to T’Pol. “If we find Captain Archer aboard this vessel, you’ll all be punished for lying to me.”

  [145] T’Pol refused to break the Suliban’s stare.

  The turbolift doors opened, releasing Suliban Commander Raan onto the bridge. Armed soldiers flanked the commander as he reviewed the information on the hand scanner he held in front of him.

  Silik turned to the commander, expectantly.

  “He’s not here. Unless he’s dead,” Raan reported, handing the scanner to his leader. “But we did find this.”

  Silik eyed the readings with concern. “Where?”

  “In that lift,” Raan indicated behind him. “It’s an hour old. Maybe two.”

  Silik shifted his attention back to T’Pol. “When I saw him last, your captain spoke of a”—he pretended to search for the words as if he were not already familiar with them—“ ‘Temporal Cold War.’ What was he talking about?”

  T’Pol had no interest in playing Silik’s game. She kept her answer simple and precise, yet intentionally misleading. “The Captain believed Crewman Daniels was from the future. But if I recall, you killed him.”

  “What else?”

  “Nothing else,” she replied.

  “There’s a temporal signature in your turbolift,” he said, indicating the scanner that Raan had given him. “What do you know of that?”

  T’Pol was not sure what a “temporal signature” was but she could make a logical inference based on the name. Once again, she reminded herself of the Vulcan Science Directorate’s position on time travel. She was certain that the explanation for the captain’s disappearance had to be [146] something more plausible but she had yet to come up with it.

  “The last time we saw Captain Archer, he was entering that turbolift,” she replied.

  Silik thought over the situation for a tense moment. He intentionally drew out the silence, knowing the entire bridge was focused on him. “Perhaps you haven’t been lying to me,” he said.

  The Suliban leader allowed the silence to continue while he formulated his plan. “You,” he said, indicating Commander Tucker. “Shut down all com systems and computer terminals with the exception of engineering and the bridge.” He then turned to Raan. “Confine all of them to their quarters. If anyone resists ...” he left the end of his sentence open to the commander’s interpretation.

  “Understood,” Raan said with the slightest hint of a smile.

  Raan nodded to a guard who raised his disruptor to Trip and gave the commander a jab in the ribs to emphasize his point.

  “Hey!” Trip exclaimed, shooting the guard a withering look.

  The Suliban guard answered back with another poke to the midsection.

  T’Pol looked at Trip. “Under the circumstances,” she said, “it would be best to do what he says, Commander.”

  Trip considered her words and reluctantly moved to a console to start implementing Silik’s orders. His mind was working on how to send a different message out by way of their communications satellite but the guard was [147] watching his every move. He was going to have to do as ordered, for now at least.

  Silik nodded to a pair of guards who took the helm and tactical stations. “Plot a course to the Helix,” he commanded. “It’s time to make a report.”

  The helmsman programmed the information. Moments later Enterprise and its company of cell-ships made a slow turn, reversing direction and heading off at high impulse.

  The tense silence that filled the Enterprise bridge as it cut its way through space was in stark contrast to the heated discussion taking place light-years away concerning the ship’s location. At Starfleet Headquarters, Admiral Forrest was still focused on the headache that was now a few days old. It was the only thing keeping him from pointing out that Ambassador Soval was coming dangerously close to expressing emotion.

  “They’re three days overdue,” the ambassador repeated information that was already well known by the occupants of Forrest’s office. A pair of Vulcan dignitaries and Commander Williams rounded out the members of the meeting.

  Forrest shot a look at Williams. They both knew this meeting was not going to solve any of their problems. “I told you, Ambassador,” the admiral persisted. “Archer said he was returning with proof that they weren’t responsible for the tragedy at the Paraagan colony.”

  Soval leaned back in the guest chair. “You also told me that Starfleet had ordered him to deliver Sub-Commander [148] T’Pol and his medical officer to the Vulcan ship, D’kyr,” the ambassador reminded him. “They’re three days overdue.”

  “The D’kyr has long range sensors,” Williams interjected, trying to move the conversation forward. “Have they detected Enterprise?”

  Soval’s impatience bordered on anger. “Captain Archer’s negligence caused the death of over three thousand colonists,” the ambassador persisted. “Your superiors instructed them to return to Earth. Their mission is over. They haven’t followed those instructions.”

  Now Forrest was getting angry. He concentrated on the shooting pain in his head rather than the one sitting in front of him. “You didn’t answer the commander’s question,” he said. “Has your ship detected Enterprise?”

  Soval took a moment to consider the question. Forrest was quite fa
miliar with the ambassador’s pauses. They generally meant that the Vulcans had more information than they were letting on. The moment was solely for Soval to decide whether or not he was going to share what he knew. More often than not, the pause ended with more silence.

  “The D’kyr said they were joined by a number of other vessels,” Soval finally relented in saying. “They’re no longer within sensor range.”

  “What kind of vessels?” Williams asked.

  Forrest wanted to know as well. This was a key piece of information. Enterprise had made contact with a variety of races since leaving Earth, but Forrest knew of no people with “a number of vessels” who would render aid in this situation. He could only assume that they were in trouble.

  [149] “They were at too great a distance to identify,” Soval said, abruptly dismissing the important fact. “Enterprise has ignored our hails and defied Starfleet’s orders. I have no choice but to send the D’kyr in pursuit.”

  “Jonathan Archer doesn’t report to you,” Forrest said.

  “No he doesn’t,” Soval acknowledged as he stood with his aides flanking him. “But Sub-Commander T’Pol does. And since she would never comply with his present actions, I have to conclude that she is being held against her will.”

  And they say that we are guided by unreasonable emotions, Forrest thought, but chose not to say. There were some lines that shouldn’t be crossed at the moment.

  Commander Williams spoke instead, saving the admiral from taking the argument to the next level. “I know you don’t think much of Archer, Ambassador, but he’s not in the habit of kidnapping Vulcans.”

  Forrest knew that Soval’s suggestion was ludicrous, but it did add one more difficult component to the equation. Is it possible that Enterprise may need assistance? he thought. We may need the Vulcans to get involved no matter what they may expect from the outcome.