The Expanse - J.M. Dillard [74]
He fought not to interpret her touch upon his skin as sensual, and failed entirely.
Chapter 16
Archer stood on the Enterprise bridge and felt the deck shudder ever so slightly as the ship dropped from warp to impulse power; on the main viewscreen, the stars ceased their streaming and crystallized into separate, individual orbs. The screen panned until one particular distant star was in sharp focus.
The Captain was not the only one on his feet: Trip and Reed stood nearby, joining the usual complement of T’Pol, Hoshi, and Mayweather. All of them gazed intently at the flickering star.
“Tactical Alert,” Archer ordered Reed. “Stand by weapons.”
The Captain had spent the previous night dreaming—restless, anxious dreams of the Xindi planet, several of them, all with different outcomes.
In one, Enterprise had arrived at Kessick’s coordinates only to find a duplicate Earth. The ship had sailed into spacedock, where Trip Tucker’s sister waved, smiling, at them. Admiral Forrest was waiting there, too, and for some reason, Archer could hear him as he said, You’ve been away far too long, Jon.
And his dad, Henry Archer, was busy being interviewed by a throng of reporters; he’d paused in midsentence to tell them, There he is—there’s my son!
On the bridge, Trip had been angry, weeping. Don’t trust them! It’s all a trick. They want us to think they’re human. We’ve got to kill them, kill them all now ... !
T’Pol, in her diplomat’s uniform, turning toward him slowly. I must concur with Commander Tucker’s assessment.
A second dream had followed swiftly, a brief one in which Enterprise had arrived at the Xindi planet, only to find a planet filled with beautiful, gleaming cities ... and not a single soul. A ghost planet ...
Archer had awakened, pulse pounding, the image of Enterprise being blown to bits in his mind.
If they truly were going to find the Xindi homeworld, he’d worried, how would he protect his people? The Xindi were clearly technologically advanced; how close dared Enterprise come to their planet without putting her crew in danger?
How did Archer know an entire army wasn’t waiting?
There was, of course, no way to know what awaited them. He’d known going into this mission that there were no guarantees, only hope.
The ship went to Tactical Alert; Archer turned to Reed again. “Any indications that we’re being scanned?”
Reed manipulated several controls on his console, then consulted the readout; his eyebrows lifted in surprise, he gazed back up at the Captain. “No, sir. No vessels, no signs of technology ... nothing.”
This was becoming uncomfortably like one of his dreams; Archer turned toward T’Pol, who was leaning over her viewer.
“How many inhabited planets?” he asked.
She did not look up, but continued to study the readout. “I’m not detecting any planets, inhabited or otherwise.”
Archer felt a flare of pure rage. “That son of a bitch lied to us ...”
Trip’s voice revealed both disappointment and denial. “Phlox said the Xindi used his dying breath to give us these coordinates. Why would he lie?”
Out of sheer meanness, Archer thought, but he held his tongue out of a desire not to add to Trip’s hurt.
“Sir,” Mayweather announced suddenly, his gaze fixed on his console, “I’m picking up a debris field.”
“A ship?” Archer asked.
“It’s a lot bigger than that,” the helmsman replied.
“Put it up,” Archer told Hoshi.
She complied. On the viewscreen, the image of the solitary star shifted, then enlarged to reveal a vast ellipsoid of debris partially encircling it.
Attention still focused on her scanner, T’Pol reported, “It’s nearly eighty million kilometers long ...” She delicately fingered a few controls, then looked up at Archer, her gaze pointed. “It was a planet.”
Her words charged the bridge with excitement. Archer kept his tone even and did not permit himself to look at Tucker as he said, “Move us in closer.”
He hadn’t known what to expect; he had certainly not expected this.
Mayweather worked the helm; Enterprise responded,