Disclaimer: see chapter one.
a/n: Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! Really. You guys are great! I'd been bit nervous about how the beginning would go over. Thanks for all the encouragement! Now, on with the story…
Trip woke with a start. He was cold. That was the only thing he could be certain of initially.
The world was a soft blur which slowly began to sharpen. He blinked, and while his vision cleared slightly, his mind felt like it was wrapped in cotton. The unfamiliar environment consisted of a small bare room, void of anything save its six planes. He shivered in the cool air, glancing about. There was no visible door. A hole, not big enough for his fist to fit through, appeared to be the sole source of illumination. Light from outside cut a clear path through the dimness of the cell.
He lifted his head off the floor, and consequently discovered he was bound hand and foot. Tightly to. He winced as the rope, or whatever had been used, bit at his wrists.
He'd know all this had been too easy. Voices suddenly echoed from above.
He let himself go limp as a panel slid open in the ceiling and a ladder dropped down. He closed his eyes.
Someone let out a breath of disgust. "No, he's not awake yet," he called. Trip could here the scuffling noise of another descending.
"How much did you give him?"
"Not that much…" came the puzzled response. "What are we supposed to do with him?"
"As soon as he's awake? Same as we've always done with 'em. But they'll want us to try and find out what he was doing with all that plasma first, among other things. This is not a good sign, right in the middle of the market…"
The other grunted, and nudged at Trip with his foot. Trip didn't react. "Looks like we'll have to come back later. Any sign of the others?"
"Not yet, but they won't get far. Come on."
Trip listened to there foot steps move across the floor. The light from above vanished as the door was bolted back into place. He let out a breath in the darkness.
Malcolm tapped his foot impatiently as he leaned against a silvery tree trunk. "I don't like this," he informed Hoshi for the thirtieth time since the Captain had gone back into the market place. "It wasn't a good plan."
Hoshi glanced up at him, from her seated position on a nearby log, and resisted sighing at his repetitive commentary. She glanced out of the wooded area on the city's outskirts, their designated transport point, towards the city.
"How long has it been now?" he asked his eyes continued scanning the area.
"A little over three hours," Hoshi shifted slightly on the log. "Maybe we should contact Enterprise? It's going to be dark soon," she added noticing the extreme angle of the sun's rays shooting between the long thin tree trunks.
Malcolm hesitated. "We'll give them a little longer. Thirty minutes more." His jaw clenched as he fell silent. A tell that signified his unease.
"These Vier…" He stumbled over the name.
"Viaeri." She said automatically.
"Right. You don't know anything about them being a hostile race, do you?"
She shook her head, "There was nothing observed that indicated excessive aggression. Why?"
"No reason." He answered quietly, his expression remained tense.
She turned back to her thoughts. The forest was very still, and flooded with the orange light of late afternoon.
Malcolm's communicator chirped at an alarming volume a few moments later. Hoshi started, but Malcolm's face relaxed.
"Reed."
"Lieutenant, we have encountered some unanticipated events, the away team must return to Enterprise immediately. Do you have Captain Archer and Commander Tucker with you?" T'Pol's voice was intelligible, but not clear.
"No, the Captain hasn't returned from searching for Commander Tucker yet, and our scanners still aren't operating correctly. Can't Enterprise locate them?"
"We are experiencing increasing difficulties with our instrumentation as well. There is significant interference that we are attempting to work around. A shuttlepod will be deployed to the surface as soon as the team is assembled."
"A pod? Isn't that kind of risky?" he started, then paused and asked, "What do you mean by 'events'?"
The Captain exited what felt to him like the thousandth unbearably hot vendor's tent in search of his engineer. It was getting late, and despite his searching he hadn't managed to turn up any sign of Trip. The crowd had been thinning out as the day waned. With a frown he stepped into the deepening shadows of a building. Malcolm and Hoshi and not hailed him, so Trip hadn't returned to the transport point.
"Archer to Reed." No response. Brow furrowed he was about to try Enterprise, when he felt a sharp pressure on his neck, and he slipped into darkness.
"Bloody hell, this is just perfect," Malcolm growled, as they carefully made their way back towards the civilization that was beginning to twinkle with lamp lights in rapidly approaching twilight.
"You don't think it will take twelve hours to find them do you?" Hoshi asked, hurrying to keep up with his quick strides.
"I don't know, it shouldn't, but that doesn't mean it won't. Maybe these beings will be reasonable about it. If, and most likely not, T'Pol can stall them for us we may have more of a chance," he said glancing over his shoulder at her, noticing she was a few paces behind. "Quickly." he made a slight gesture, as they entered the darkened city.
The activity that there had been a great deal of earlier had dwindled to a few passersby. Most of the vendor's tents were rolled up. Lights had flickered to life in many windows.
"Stay close, it shouldn't be too hard to find them now that the crowds dispersed…" Malcolm began turning slightly to speak to the Ensign behind him. But out of the corner of his eye didn't catch the expected glimpse of her. He turned fully around, "Hoshi?"
She was no longer in sight.
"UP!"
Trip was roughly hauled to his feet, and slammed, with what seemed to him unnecessary force, against a stone wall of his cell.
"Where were you taking that plasma?" a second alien demanded.
Trip grunted softly against the pain that ran though his chest but made no other attempt to answer them.
"I won't ask you again, and don't play dumb. We know what you are, abomination." He spoke the last word with deep revulsion. He threw the engineer to the floor, knocking the wind out of him.
Trip coughed, and tried to grasp what was going on, what did that mean? Momentary panic hit him, did they know…? How…? No, it wasn't, couldn't be possible, could it? The engineer couldn't get it worked out in his mind to make sense. Not from what he knew about their limited technology.
The alien sneered at the sudden look of confusion that passed over the prisoner's face.
"ANSWER US!" the other shouted, not amused by Trip's unresponsiveness. Trip's already clenched jaw tightened, he maintained his silence. He was drug back up and received another hard blow, which sent him stumbling backward before losing his balance. He crashed back down to the hard floor. His hands were still bound, leaving him no effective method with which to break his fall.
"We will find out what's going on here, and what you are planning." The other said voice becoming dangerously smooth.
A third alien entered the cell with a large burden thrown over his shoulder. He dumped the weight unceremoniously to the floor.
Trip's eyes widened with recognition.
The alien's lip curled, as he pointed a weapon the unconscious form, "Now you have a reason to answer. Shall we try again?"
TBC…
Reviews of all sorts are most welcome and most appreciated!
a/n: Thanks to Rinne for the beta-ing!