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"May the Wind Be at Our Backs" by Lady Rainbow Rating: PG-13 The Vulcans are different from the canon universe. They have their own agenda. The Away team gets into trouble. Of course. (I kinda guesstimated Hoshi’s and Liz’s heights to be less than five foot five, or about 1.6-1.7 meters. I’m only five-three myself. :) Thanks, as usual to Pesterfield. :) Seven Travis Mayweather wiped sweat off his brow, but even the heat didn’t erase his satisfied grin. Doctor T’Marui’s team established a base camp just outside the main dig site; Commander Phlox’s engineering teams were currently setting up modular buildings for temporary living quarters. Lieutenant Commander Trip Tucker’s Armory teams marked out security perimeters and set up silent alarms on the site. So far, the mission was moving smoothly. “Commander Mayweather, I require your assistance,” called T’Marui. The Vulcan had divided her people into groups. Lieutenant Jon Archer and Ensign T’Pol stood nearby with scanners and other electronic equipment. Travis nodded and joined them. “This is Area Forty-Seven A,” T’Marui said, pointing to an area on the holographic projector. “We will start here. I will take Group Alpha to the north side of the site, T’Iilya will take Group Beta to the south, Commander Mayweather will take Group Gamma to the east, and Lieutenant Archer will take Group Delta to the west. All groups will take preliminary scans and holopictures of their assigned areas. We will all rendezvous back here in three hours. Is that clear?” There were sounds of affirmation from all four groups. Travis noticed that his Group Gamma was equally split between T’Marui’s Vulcans and his science department. He readjusted his scanner, then said, “All right, people. Let’s do this.” Area Forty-Seven A was a flat area, with a stone wall bordering it on the east. Travis gestured for Lieutenant Ellen Varianis to take readings on the wall, while he and some of the Vulcans made scans of the general area. “Commander, over here!” called T’Yalle. The archaeologist waved Travis to her side. “Here is some sort of stone arch leading into the next area. The wall narrows here—“ she indicated a passageway, “—as if this was some sort of inner hallway.” “Part of a building,” Travis thought aloud. “Some kind of structure spanning Areas Forty-Seven A and Forty-Eight A.” “Indeed. I will scan the section to see if any of its foundation remains.” “Good job, T’Yalle.” He smiled at her, then left her to do her scans. More scans later, they determined that a stone foundation ran deep into Beta Polaris’s soil. The building had been of considerable size, but very little of it remained, aside from a few interior walls. “Archer to Mayweather.” Travis spoke softly into his communicator. “Mayweather.” “Commander, we’ve found some stone mosaics on the ground here. I think the west side used to be a courtyard of some sort.” “That’s awesome, Lieutenant. Pictures?” “It’s hard to tell; they’re incomplete and faded. I’ll have to do a more thorough analysis.” “Keep at it, Lieutenant.” Travis snapped his communicator shut as Lieutenant Varianis called him to her side. The three hours seemed like three minutes. Apparently, Doctor T’Marui also felt that their mission was going so well that she agreed to extend the deadline by two more hours. Travis's team decided to gather as much information as possible within the new deadline. “There’s a depression in the ground here,” called Lieutenant Ellen Varianis. “The soil’s sunk a good half a meter. Ensign Yung thinks there’s some kind of underground chamber, but the ceiling’s collapsed on it.” “That would match the planetary scans we took from orbit,” Travis said. He gazed at Ensign Rachel Yung, the ship’s junior geologist. “Careful, Rachel. We don’t want to fall into it and be trapped.” Yung nodded. “Yes, sir, I’ll be careful.” She glanced down at her scanner and added, “This particular chamber’s completely filled in—“ “Commander!” Travis’s head snapped up at T’Yalle’s shout. “We’ve found a stairway!” “Where?” Travis asked as he, Varianis, and Yung came over to the Vulcan’s side. T’Yalle pointed towards a tall stone column at one corner of the foundation. An opening had been cut into the column and cleverly concealed in the late afternoon shadows. Travis took a closer look at it; he wouldn’t be able to enter it because it was designed for someone much shorter and slimmer than he was. “How far does this thing go, T’Yalle?” he asked. “As far as the scanner can reach,” she answered with a raised eyebrow. “At least fifty meters.” “That’s a ways down,” Varianis commented, “and it looks like a tight squeeze for most of us.” “Yeah, I wouldn’t be able to fit in there,” Travis said, eyeing the dark interior with a suspicious expression. “The tallest person would have to be, what, a meter and a half?” Varianis nodded. “A little over five feet five inches. Whoever they were, they were pretty short.” “It would be logical to assume that this is their method of accessing the lower levels and that there should be other stairways at all corners of this building—“ The ground trembled under their feet. Travis automatically reached out to steady T’Yalle’s arm, forgetting the Vulcan taboo on invading personal space. He felt a slight jolt up his arm, as if he’d touched a live current and he jumped. The feeling was quickly forgotten as they all saw a cloud of dust rising on the horizon. Travis did the calculations in his head. The west. Jon Archer’s group. “Archer to Reed!” came Jon’s shout over the comm. “We’ve got injured here!” “Acknowledged,” replied Malcolm Reed’s accented voice. “Ellen, take over,” Travis said. “T’Yalle, with me.” They took off at a run, T’Yalle rapidly outpacing him with her Vulcan speed. When they reached Archer, he was sitting on the ground with Lieutenant Cutler hovering over him. Jon waved her to one of the Vulcans leaning against another one of the stone columns. “What happened?” Doctor T’Marui demanded. She came up from behind Jon, dropping to her knees next to the lieutenant. “Underground collapse,” Jon said hoarsely. “Ensign T’Pol and two others were examining the column...she stepped just inside to take scans of the interior when the ground just went. She’s down there with T’Lun and T’Niura...Sonak and his team ended up sliding down an incline directly into one of the lower chambers. Sonak says they’re all right, other than some bumps and bruises, but Ensign T’Pol hasn’t answered any of our hails—“ Travis was immediately on the line with Hoshi Sato on Enterprise. The captain immediately ordered scans to locate all of the missing Vulcans and told the transporter room to stand by. The news was not optimistic. “T’Pol and the others are about thirty meters down,” Hoshi said. “Their bio signs are pretty strong, but they might still be injured. Chief Raymer’s having trouble locking on to them.” Doctor Reed’s voice cut in. “Captain, we’ve reached Sonak and his team. Request permission to beam them to Enterprise. We’ve got some injuries that I can’t treat properly here.” “Granted, Doctor Reed. Relay your coordinates to the transporter room.” Hoshi paused, then addressed Travis again. “Travis, can you and Trip lead a rescue team?” Travis glanced at Trip Tucker, who was talking rapidly with Doctor T’Marui and Security Officer Sysek. He gestured for Trip to come over and talk with Hoshi. The Armory Officer’s face was pinched with worry and concern. “Travis and I can’t get down there, Cap’n. The stairways and the passages are too narrow for us. We’re gonna need people who’re about five-five or shorter. I’ve got two people here who’ll fit, but most of us are taller’n that.” “All right. Travis, I want you to go ahead and bring all of our extra personnel back up to the ship. We’ve got enough information to analyze for a while. Tell Lieutenant Cutler to stand by...I’m coming down.” “What?” The word was out of Trip’s mouth before he could stop it. He wasn’t the only one, for he heard a low growl from Doctor Reed’s end of the line. Travis nearly managed to get a protest in, but Hoshi cut him off. “I fit the height requirement; you gentlemen don’t, and I need Cutler with me in case I need a medic.” Hoshi’s voice was firm. “Trip, tell your security personnel to stand by. I’ll be there in ten minutes. Sato, out.” Trip sighed and rolled his eyes heavenward. “Damn it, woman. Stubborn as hell.” Travis shook his head. He was worried about T’Pol, and now his captain was going to be in danger as well. No wonder Trip was so tense; Doctor Reed wasn’t too happy about it either. Maybe...no, though Reed was shorter than average and had a wiry build, he still wouldn’t make it down the stairway. Hoshi and Liz were T’Pol’s best hope. Time to take command. Hoshi and the others depended on him. “All right,” he shouted over the chaos. “Let’s get moving...everyone to the shuttles.” “We will not leave our colleagues behind,” Doctor T’Marui answered. There was a dangerous glint to her eyes. “We don’t know if the ground will fall out from under us again,” Travis pointed out. “Captain Sato will get them out. Right now, your safety is the most important thing to us. Please, Doctor T’Marui.” She glared at him and for a moment, he worried that she would defy him, but then she nodded abruptly and snapped an order to her colleagues in Vulcan. They obeyed her, though grudgingly, and Travis saw anger deep within their carefully contained looks. “So much for the smooth missions,” Travis muttered to himself, and he heard Trip’s soft agreement next to him. |
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