The Good That Men Do - Andy Mangels [80]
Archer thought he was finally beginning to see where she was going with this. “You’re proposing a Vulcan mind-meld.”
Shran took a step back. Archer turned toward him, and saw an unmistakable look of dread cross his face. “You want me to open my brain up… to a Vulcan?”
“Settle down, Shran,” Archer said. “Hear her out first before you run away.”
“Don’t push your luck, pinkskin,” Shran muttered.
T’Pol shook her head and adopted a long-suffering expression that was clearly intended for both men. “Actually, I am proposing no such thing.” She turned back toward her console and silently entered another command.
An image appeared on the monitor screen at the center of her console, a depiction of a small, delicate mass of improvised-looking wiring and circuitry. Archer recognized it immediately, and understood. The device made him think somberly of Trip.
Archer glanced at Shran, whose approving nod showed that he understood T’Pol’s plan as well.
The Vulcan rose from her chair and stood for a moment at crisp attention beside her station. “If you’ll excuse me, Captain,” she said, “I have some work to do elsewhere.”
Archer grinned. “Agreed.” She nodded once, turned on her heel, and disappeared into the turbolift.
“Perhaps you won’t need to offer the administrator that bribe after all,” Shran said, his azure face split by a fierce gird-for-battle smile.
Archer chuckled, then headed back for his command chair.
Before he could settle into it, he noticed the look of horror that had colonized the death-white features of Theras, whose antennae both sagged toward his shoulders, displaying his obvious emotional distress.
“Theras, what’s wrong?” Archer said.
“I fear I have erred grievously in not informing you earlier about Shran’s link to Jhamel,” Theras said. He appeared to be on the ragged edge of tears. “In the name of Infinite Uzaveh, what have I done?”
“What have you done?” Archer said as he laid a hand gently on the albino’s slight shoulder. “Theras, you may have just saved the day for us all.”
Twenty-Two
Thursday, February 20, 2155
Somewhere In Romulan Space
AN ALARM ON THE HELM CONTROL of the Branson suddenly began blaring, causing Trip’s sleepily drifting attention to focus like a mining laser.
“We’ve got trouble!” he yelled to the aft part of the vessel, where Phuong had lain down to rest several hours earlier.
Even as the other agent ran forward, the communications light flashed. Trip tapped a control in the center of the instrument panel.
“Ullho hiera, mos ih ihir nviomn riud ih seiyya!” The voice was stern and angry. The translator implanted within Trip’s ear immediately translated the warning.“Unidentified vessel, prepare to be boarded or destroyed!”
Phuong put a finger to his lips and tapped the communicator off as he sat down hurriedly in the main pilot’s seat. “We don’t respond to them,” he said. His newly elevated eyebrows enhanced his look of surprise.
Trip’s eyes widened, both surprised and alarmed himself. “What do we do, then?”
Phuong began manipulating verniers and toggles and tapped the buttons at the helm. “We polarize the hull plating and run like hell. And find a way to shake them.”
Trip felt the ship accelerate, and strapped himself into the copilot’s chair with the seat’s safety harness. He tapped the console, activating a small screen, which displayed an image of a semi-familiar ship. It was gracefully curved, with two struts on either side holding up the engine nacelles. The hull of the ship was greenish and had an intricate design painted on its ventral surface: the stylized image of a swooping predatory bird.
“It’s a Romulan warship,” Trip said, remembering the encounter that Enterprise had had with two similar ships two years earlier. “I don’t know where the hell they came from.”
“They’re opening fire,” Phuong said, sliding his hand over the controls. A moment later, the Branson shuddered from what must have been at least a glancing impact, and the two men braced themselves against the helm as the hull plating and the inertial dampers struggled to keep the ship intact and