Title: Two Places at Once
Author: Naomitrekkie
Rating: K+
Synopsis: A transporter accident makes 3 people go missing and T'Pol's jealous of a much younger woman.
Timeline: ENT world, a year after "Terra Prime" (ignoring "These Are The Voyages") and VOY world, somewhere after "Child's Play" but before "Life Line."
Note: This is my first time writing an Enterprise fic (which it is, although it does crossover to Voyager), but I have to admit I was inspired by hisluv's story "Trials and Dribbleations," as well as the TNG episode "Rascals" and the ENT episode "Harbinger." I love Enterprise and Voyager, so I had to write a story with both. P.S. please don't kill me about technobabble terms b/c science is definitely NOT my strong suit (just look at it when you see my report card).
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek Voyager or Enterprise or their characters, no matter how much I wish I did.
Enjoy!
Chapter 1: The Accident
Captain Jonathan Archer sat in his ready room, staring out into the stars. He had paperwork to do, but he wasn't in the mood. They were still on their mission of exploration, but they hadn't found anything interesting for weeks, minus one occasion he'd rather forget. Archer stared out into the stars, hoping something, anything, interesting would happen.
His ready room door rang and he spun around in his chair.
"Come in," he said to whomever was waiting outside.
The door opened to reveal T'Pol in her red uniform. She stepped in, holding a PADD in her hands.
"Have you found anything?" he asked hopefully. He would take anything as long as it allowed him and the crew to do something.
"I have," she said, handing over the PADD containing the relative data. "It's a Minshara class planet containing some vegetation and small animal life. It's also giving off some strange gravimetric distortions. At warp three we could be there in thirteen hours." Archer scanned the information as a formality for the most part, his mind made up from T'Pol's briefs summary.
"Tell Travis to change our course, warp three."
"Yes, sir." She walked out of the ready room, leaving Archer to his thoughts. Finally.
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Trip was down in the shuttle bay, frustrated. Those damn Vicindrions and their civil war! I still can't fix the damage they've caused to the shuttles. Originally, he had told Archer it would take five days to fix both shuttlepods, but two weeks had past and he was still finding more hidden damage. Those terrorists must have put some sort of virus into the shuttlepods' computers because every time we come close to fixing these things, a new malfunction pops up.
He got up from where he had been working on the shuttlepods to take a break. Frustration never helped him fix things. He needed to concentrate and clear his mind or these shuttlepods were going to drive him crazy.
He looked at the time, discovering it was well past the end of his shift. He decided to get some sleep, hoping that would give him the solution he needed. As he walked to leave, he felt the ship change direction. I hope the Captain found something that won't be needing shuttlepods otherwise we're all in trouble.
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Trip headed into the Mess Hall to get something for a late dinner, expecting the place to be empty. He saw T'Pol sitting there, eating and reading a PADD, back to him. He decided he wasn't hungry anymore and left. He was still friends with T'Pol, kind of, but it was still awkward after Elizabeth's death. He wasn't sure why exactly — if it was because of the fact that she died or the fact the people who made her had intentionally messed up the cloning process — but he knew that being alone in the same room was awkward and that he was too tired to try to ignore her.
T'Pol had felt Trip's presence as he came into the Mess Hall and left through their bond. She wished he would stay but she knew that if he had, they would have ended up ignoring each other or talking. She wasn't sure which was worse. She wanted to talk to him but she knew it would be uncomfortable. It is illogical to be wishing Trip had stayed. He did not, and there is nothing you can do about it. She went back to her work, trying to get Trip out of her thoughts, unsuccessfully.
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The next day, they arrived at the planet. Archer sat in his command seat, staring down at the planet from his viewscreen. It was a site for sore eyes. Finally, there was something to do. It would be even better if he wasn't experiencing such a terrible headache.
"T'Pol, can you find the source of the gravimetric distortions on the planet?"
T'Pol checked her scans before answering, then double checked them.
"The planet is the source of the distortions."
"Would it be safe to go down there?"
"It would appear so."
"Is there anything else special about this planet?"
She checked her scans again, checking for any mineral the planet could possess that would be worth going down to the planet. She double checked her findings before reporting them.
"It has large deposits of dilithium. Larger than any known source to date."
"I'd say that's worth investigating." He pressed a button on the arm of his chair, activating the comm system. "Trip, how are those shuttle repairs going?"
"I think we've found the problem but it's still gonna take us a day or so."
"Thanks, Trip," he said, ending the call.
"T'Pol, would it be safe to transport down?"
"As long as we stay above ground, the transporter should work."
"Then that's settled. T'Pol, you and Trip will beam down to check out potential mining locations."
"Sir," Malcolm began, "I must advice you send someone from security down, just in case."
"All right, Malcolm, you can go too. Be ready to transport in one hour." T'Pol and Malcolm nodded in understanding, then left the Bridge to get ready. Archer called down to Trip again. "Trip, you're going on a dilithium hunt. We've found what appears to be a good source of it. In an hour, you along with T'Pol and Malcolm will be beaming down to investigate."
"Got it, Capt'n."
With that out of the way, Archer put Hoshi in charge of the Bridge so he could see Phlox about his headache.
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"Captain, I can't find anything wrong with you."
"Phlox, are you sure? I've got this headache and it's only getting worse."
"When did it start?"
"I noticed it at breakfast." Phlox nodded his head as he continued to scan Archer.
"Captain, I have no idea what is wrong with you, but I'll give you something for the pain." Phlox injected him with something and whatever it was worked because his headache dissipated within seconds.
"Thanks, Phlox."
"Anytime, Captain." Archer left Sickbay while Phlox turned his attention to his animals.
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Archer was back on the Bridge when the time to transport came. He called down to the transport pad, waiting for Ensign Porter to be ready for transport.
"They're are here and ready for transport," Porter reported.
"Initiate." With that command, Porter initiated the transport. He watched as Trip, T'Pol, Malcolm, and their gear disappeared from the transporter pad, then checked the sensors to be sure they had made it successfully to the planet's surface. The record claimed to have completed the transport, but their bio-signs were not at the beam down location.
"Captain, we seem to have a problem. I'm not picking up their bio-signs."
"What about their communicators? Hoshi?"
"They aren't responding," Hoshi reported.
"I think I can get a lock on their communicators, sir."
"Then get a lock and beam them back."
Porter followed his orders, hoping it would work.
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T'Pol, Trip, and Malcolm hand just barely made it to the surface when they found themselves being transported again. When they felt themselves reassembled, they looked around, finding themselves not on the transporter pad but in some sort of ship they had never seen before.
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Tal Celes tried to beam the landing party back up, but instead, she had beamed up what looked like two human and one Vulcan teenager. Celes scanned the planet for the away team but there was no sign of them.
"Captain," Celes said through her combadge, "I think we have a problem."
To Be Continued . . .