ARCHER, YOU ARE HEADED INTO A TRAP. ROMULAN SNEAK ATTACK COMING, BY REMOTE CONTROL. FREIGHTER NOT SAVABLE. TURNENTERPRISE ABOUT IMMEDIATELY, MAX WARP.
As he finished the third iteration of his message, Trip made direct eye contact with Sopek. He wondered for an instant whether the turncoat captain suspected anything, or if he was merely trying to extract some perverse enjoyment out of Trips reactions to the coming disaster.
“Commander, whats that in your hand? Sopek said, confirming the former while not ruling out the latter. Turning his head, the captain nodded toward the hulking armed uhlan, who reacted by displaying the self‑satisfied expression of a man who had finally been issued a license to do something very nastysomething hed been forced very reluctantly to refrain from doing for far too long.
Oh, crap.
Before the uhlanmanaged to close half the distance that separated them, Trip jumped over the chest‑high railing that stood between him and the sublieutenant whose hand guided the rudder. Taking advantage of the split second of surprise the maneuver had bought him, he shoved the helmsman out of his chair, sending the young man sprawling across the decks hard duranium gridwork. Then he grabbed the momentarily untended throttle and opened it up all the way.
As he slammed the portside lateral thrusters open, sending the bird‑of‑prey into a hard starboard turn, he grabbed the helm console with his free hand to prevent the heaving, cockeyed deck from throwing him off his feet. Trip turned his head to the left just in time to observe that Sopek had been neither fortunate nor skilled enough to do the same.
Focusing his attention on the central viewer at the front of the bridge, Trip watched as one of the dirty‑gray ice bodies of Tezel‑Orokos Kuiper belt drew inexorably closer, its shape visible mainly as a dim, distorted crescent of reflected stellar light.
Too bad Sopeks damned telecapture doohickey isnt on this ship,he thought. Id mind dying a whole lot less if I knew I was taking that thing with me.
Then something blunt and heavy struck Trip very hard across the back of the head, casting him abruptly into darkness.
FORTY‑NINE
Gamma Hydra sector, section ten Enterprise NX‑01
A RCHER WAS AFRAIDhe knew what Hoshi was going to say before she said it. “Sorry, Captain,said the communications officer via the intercom unit on Archers ready‑room desk. “The subspace modulations carrying that signal have juststopped.
“Thanks, Hoshi. Keep scanning for any follow‑up transmissions. He closed the channel before pushing the chair beneath him away from his compact desk. Looking up at TPol, he said, “Trips message stopped right in the middle of that last repetition. A tight fist of worry clutched at his guts.
TPol stood tensely in the center of the small chamber, hands clasped behind her back.
“Did you understand the message, Captain?
“I did, Archer said, nodding. “Ill admit Im a bit rusty at Morse code, but evidently not much more rusty than whoever sent that message.
Her head tilted slightly in evident curiosity. “Morse code?
“An Earth communications code thats even older than EM‑based luminal‑speed radio. He took a moment to confirm the brief messages exact verbatim contents with Hoshi via the intercom, and shared the information with TPol in the process. “What the hell do you suppose happened during that last repetition? he said as his XO considered the message in silence.
The Vulcan woman raised an eyebrow, making Archer think that she might be wondering if his question had been purely rhetorical. “It would appear that Trip is no longer transmitting.
“If it really wasTrip transmitting, Archer said.
Her reply was as devoid of doubt as the rocks outside the New Berlin lunar settlement were free of water. “It was. What do you intend to do about his warning?
“I wish I knew, Archer said. “I need a little bit more to go on to justify leaving a whole ship and crew out here to diestarting with why the transmission was cut off. Did the Romulans find out what he was doing? Or did he have to stop transmitting in order to keepfrom being discovered?
TPol shook her head, responding again with bedrock certainty. “He hasbeen discovered, Captain. Trip is in extreme danger again.
Archer allowed himself a puckish smile, despite the pain in his face and the distinct lack of humor in this situation. “Another Vulcan hunch, TPol?
“An objective fact, she said, an almost mournful expression lengthening her olive‑toned face.
The shrill whistle of the intercom interrupted his search for a reply that might both encourage and convince her. “Captain, the Romulan vessel is on the move,Reed said, sounding alarmed.
Archer hopped out of his chair and leaned on the reply button on his desk. “On my way.
Leading the way through the hatchway that connected the ready room to the bridge, Archer wasted no time taking a seat in his command chair. The main viewer displayed a computer‑enhanced image of the blast‑damaged, almost completely unilluminated Kobayashi Maruas it continued its slow, unpowered tumble through the stygian void.
“Ive dropped us out of warp, Captain, Mayweather said. “Decelerating at impulse to match velocity with the Kobayashi Maru,at a current distance of just over eleven kilometers.
“Sensors read approximately two hundred life signs, Captain, said Hoshi. “Some of them very faint.
Two hundred people,Archer thought. He couldnt abide the idea of just leaving them out here to die, Romulan sneak‑attack warnings or fire‑breathing dragons notwithstanding. But if Trips message was to be believed, the Marus problem was an insoluble one, no matter what he tried to do about it.
“Position of the Romulan bird‑of‑prey? Archer said.
“Thats strange, said Malcolm, speaking from behind the captains chair at the aft tactical station. “The Romulan vessel seems to have moved directly into the path of one of the cometary bodies. Theres been a collision, but the ship appears to be intact.
Archer looked away from TPol. I hope to hell she was wrong about Trip being aboard that ship,he thought, even though he knew that she had a singular habit of being right about such things.
“So the Romulan ship might still be able to direct an attack against us remotely, Archer said.
“Thats possible, Reed said. “Its also possible that the Romulans have installed their remote‑hijacking device aboard one or more of their captured Klingon vessels by now.
“At least the communications jamming has stopped, Hoshi said. “It coincided exactly with the moment that Romulan ship hit the iceberg. Whether or not its directing other ships, the bird‑of‑prey must have been the source of all the com interference.
Nodding an acknowledgment to the com officer, Archer said, “Commence rescue operations on the Kobayashi Maru. Though he was addressing the entire bridge crew, his gaze settled on TPol, who had begun working at her science console. “Once that job is done, well investigate the crash of the Romulan ship.
He approached TPol closely, and spoke in a volume intended for her ears alone. “Maybe the sneak‑attack plans we were warned about crashed along with that Romulan ship.
Looking more stricken than reassured, TPol merely glanced down at her console and said, “Both shuttlepods have launched, Captain. Lieutenant ONeill is running the transporter.
Archer nodded. Opening an intercom channel on the console adjacent to TPols, he said, “Archer to ONeill. Report.
“The systems having some trouble establishing a positive lock on any of the survivors, Captain,said D.O.; her tone suggested that she might soon give the finicky transporters control console a swift kick in the annular confinement circuits.