Phoenix

Sequel to Road Map to the Stars

Beta’d by Dee and Kat. Thanks ladies

Thanks Dee for some technical assistance. Good to have an ER nurse around.

Disclaimer. Enterprise characters belong to the creators of the show. Only the OC’s and the story are mine. Any similarity to another show is the fault of the muses. No income is made by me. Everyone knows they don’t have money on Starships

Background: The 1/7th Rangers were never called Rangers in The Expanse. They came into being in my story "Into the Valley of Death". So far my OC’s are: Sergeant Major Benjamin Snowden, Sergeant Joe Layne, Sergeant Tina Alvarado, and Sergeant Manda Alvarado.

T’Pol, Hoshi and Joe Layne worked diligently in the Ready Room trying to decipher all the information recovered on Planet Mystery. The name was the brainchild of Joe Layne. Much of the hieroglyphs had been translated but the pictographs were proving to be more resistant to translation.

Commander Trip Tucker walked in with a PADD. "Sergeant Layne, here are the details of the control panel on that fighter you brought back."

Joe took the PADD. "Thanks Commander and please call me Joe." He looked at the information. "You haven’t taken it all apart have you?"

"Not yet. I am still trying to figure out that helmet. How can the helmet control the craft by thought, especially when you don’t know the language?"

Layne looked up. "Do you have the schematics on the old Stealth Fighters from the 21^st Century?"

"Maybe. Why?"

"That aircraft used a similar helmet. You might find a clue there."

Trip nodded. "Not a bad idea. I’ll be back." Trip raced out of the room.

Hoshi glanced at her two companions. "At least he is in a better mood."

T’Pol nodded. "The fighter has given him something to focus on." She moved her chair back and stood up. "I am going to meditate and then retire for the night after I see the Doctor."

Hoshi frowned. "Are you all right?"

T’Pol nodded. "Just a tension headache. As Joe has stated earlier, we have been burning the midnight oil for quite sometime."

Joe smiled. "Goodnight T’Pol. Hoshi, I think we should turn in also. It has been a long day."

Hoshi nodded and put down her PADD. "Sounds like a plan. I am going to my quarters. Alone."

Joe looked at Hoshi. "Alone?"

"Yes, I need some sleep and I won’t get any with you around."

"Yo comprendo. Buenos Noches, amiga."

"Komban wa tomodachi."

T’Pol opened the door to her quarters after seeing Doctor Phlox. She hesitated.

"T’Pol."

She turned her head. "Captain?"

"Hoshi said you were going to sickbay and then meditate. I thought I would see if I could meditate with you tonight. Are you up to it?"

"Yes, Captain that would be most pleasant. I have sensed that you have been rather tense."

"Tense." Archer laughed. "That is a good word for it, but please, we are off duty. Call me Jonathan."

T’Pol stepped over the threshold and picked up some candles, placing them on the floor. She lit each candle and arranged them in a tight circle with a large one in the center. "I am going to change. Please sit down and I will be back in a few minutes. Try to clear your mind."

Archer sat down and crossed his legs Indian style. He watched his First Officer go into the bathroom and close the door. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, he say T’Pol standing in front of him wearing her green pajamas and red Vulcan robe. He never took his eyes off of her as she slipped gracefully to the floor.

"Jonathan, take my hands and look into the center flame. Think back on pleasant memories, say when you were a boy. Now tell me what you see."

Archer took a breath and stared at the flame. "I am ten years and I am with my dad at the beach. He is teaching me to fly a radio-controlled spacecraft that we built from scratch. I keep crashing."

"Fortunately you have mastered the concept of piloting otherwise we may have ended up into a planet several times."

Archer looked at her and smiled. "Is that a joke I just heard from you?"

"Merely an observation. Now close your eyes and tell me everything you see. Don’t leave out anything. I want to feel the salt air, and the sun on your back."

As Archer detailed the sand dunes and the wind catching the shuttle, T’Pol silently reflected on her first unauthorized excursion during her first trip to Earth. It had been twenty-five years ago and she remembered sneaking away from a Vulcan group that was visiting the Fleishacker Zoo. She had walked down to the sea and traversed the sand dunes when she had encountered a man and a boy flying a small shuttle. The craft kept crashing and she had always wondered what had happened to the boy. She remembered the boy looked her way and had stared at her for a few minutes until she turned and left. T’Pol opened her eyes and looked at Jon.

"T’Pol, I remember seeing a young Vulcan female watching us. That was you."

"I believe it was. Until now, I did not realize that the boy was you. I always wondered what had happened to the boy with the desire to fly. I do remember hearing the boy mention something about Ambassador Pointy."

Archer laughed. " That was my name for Ambassador Soval. I would appreciate your not telling him."

"He once asked me why you appeared fascinated by our ears and I told him you were envious."

Jon Smiled. Maybe however Earth mythology is full of people with pointed ears. There is Pan in Greek Mythology, Elves and of course Leprechauns. Many evil creatures also have pointed ears. I suppose that when I looked at Vulcans I saw the evil. You however remind me of an Elf."

"Is that good?"

"Yes, T’Pol, very good. Elven women are beautiful."

T’Pol arched an eyebrow. "Jon what would you do with an Elven woman?"

"This." He leaned forward over the candles and kissed her on the lips. He quickly backed away as his shirt started to catch fire. The two of them slapped the fire out.

T’Pol eyed her Captain. "If you do that again . . ." Archer gulped and blushed. "I suggest you do not lean over a candle." She took his hands as she stood up and pulled him to her. She moved her face close to his and kissed him.

Dana rolled over in her sleep, pulling the bedcovers around her. The man rolled over and placed his right over the cover thief and pulled them back over him. Dana reached back and grabbed the covers again. Ben sighed and reached for the covers again.

"You touch this blanket and I will cut your hand off."

Ben jerked his hand back as if burned. "Damn it woman, bring your own blankets."

Dana rolled over and stared Ben in the eyes. "If you want warmth, then I think I can warm you up." She pulled the blankets over them both and ducked her head under them.

Sergeant Major Snowden looked over the report from Sergeant Layne concerning the mission to the surface and the recovery of the alien fighter. He looked up as he heard the door open and snapped to attention when Major Hayes walked in.

"At ease Ben. Have a good night sleep? You know I don’t stand on ceremony with my Command Sergeant Major. You led the unit better than I did before we had to tell Archer that I was a Major. I still don’t understand why you refused a commission not once but twice."

"Yes I did sleep comfortably. Actually it was three times, Major. Officers have too many ulcers. Besides, You have to take orders from Lieutenant Reed."

"Don’t remind me. I know Starfleet and MACO are not in the same line of command, but taking orders from a Lieutenant? That will give me ulcers."

"Major, if I may. We are here to give some teeth to this mission, not take over. I don’t have a problem with taking orders from Reed. I did hear him say that after the rescue on that mining complex a couple of weeks ago, Reed wasn’t too sure that his boys could have done any better than ours. I think he has a new respect for the Rangers."

"I’ll give him that Ben. At least he was able to admit it. I have run into his type before."

"You mean Navy family?"

"No, British Navy. There is a difference. They are by the book all the way. Rangers are different. You know we have to throw the book out since the enemy hasn’t read the book."

Ben laughed. "You know the troop is getting a little nervous the deeper we go."

"I know. We just have to make sure they stay focused. By the way, were you going to meet with the Bridge crew?"

"Damn, forgot about the time. Thanks Major."

Combat Command Center

T’Pol and Archer walked into an empty Command Center. Hoshi and Joe came in right behind them Archer opened his mouth to speak when an excited Tucker entered.

"Captain, You aren’t going to believe what I found on that fighter." He put a package on the table.

"Trip it must be Christmas. I haven’t seen you this excited in a long time. Is the fighter still in one piece?"

"Pretty much." He turned on the vid screen and a picture of the fighter became visible. "The fighter is 8.85 meters long and carries two pulse plasma bolt weapons. There are three ion engines powered by a hybrid reactor system. One is an energized single fuel system and two are fusion reactors. We estimate that it is an extremely fast sub light craft in both space and in an atmosphere."

Archer nodded. "Impressive."

"Yeah. It also has a form of a Ram-Scoop jet intake system that processes hydrogen in space and in the atmosphere, which in turn powers the fusion reactor and engines. It is pressurized and the cockpit can turn into a an escape pod."

Joe whistled. "How fast can she go? It took off as fast as a Stealth Fighter."

"We think greater than Mach-3 in the atmosphere. The thing uses liquid mercury that is stored in the wings. All in all, it is a very efficient craft."

Archer stood up. "Can you build one?"

"I can fabricate everything but the engines. I don’t have any fusion reactors. There was something else we found. In the body we found a storage area of two cubic meters and three hand held weapons." He opened the package as T’Pol moved closer. "This is some sort of laser weapon, but we don’t think it is a true laser. It is more powerful than our phase pistols. There is no stun setting. Lieutenant Reed test fired one and vaporized twenty five centimeters of metal."

T’Pol looked at Trip. "Did you say vaporized?"

"Yeah. It looks like a thin cutting beam is included in the stream."

Joe took a closer look. "What about the fighter? What does it fire?"

"It carries two highly concentrated plasma weapons which fires bolts of charged deuterium. It fires highly concentrated plasma burst. I wish we could find more of these."

Joe laughed. "If we did they would probably be shooting at us instead of laying around for us to pick them up. What damage can these fighters inflict on Enterprise or the shuttles?"

"Unknown. The ship has 4.2 centimeters of re-enforced armored hull."

The door opened and Sergeant Major Snowden walked in. "Sorry I am late. Can anyone join the party?"

Archer looked up and gave a half smile. "We were just discussing the fighter that Joe donated to the cause."

Snowden grinned. "He has always been good at appropriations." He dropped the smile. "Major Hayes and I were discussing this situation. Has anyone thought about where the fighter came from?"

Everyone looked at T’Pol. She put up a visual of Planet mystery. "I have not at this time, Captain. I need to analyze the trajectory. "

Archer walked to the vid screen and then turned around. "This mission is reliant in taking all the pieces of things we have found and putting them together. In the future I want everything analyzed immediately. We have enough people and state of the art equipment. We might as well use it."

Reed walked over to the screen and pushed a button. "If I may Sir, based on the speed and trajectory of the craft, I believe we will find the base in one of these two moons." He pointed to one moon. This one was visible while we were in orbit and there was no indication of any activity. I believe the second moon will be the one we should concentrate on."

Archer glanced at T’Pol and then Reed. "Life signs?"

T’Pol went to her station. "We were out of range to scan the second moon, but the first one showed no life signs. It does however have a large cavern."

Archer turned to T’Pol. "How large?"

"Large enough to place at least 10 Enterprises in it with ease."

Archer arched his forehead. "What about the other moon? Any ideas?"

"I would anticipate a similar base."

Snowden coughed. "Captain if there are any life signs, I want to take Sergeant Kemper, Sergeant Heard, Corporals Chang and Romero and do a snoop and scoot. Sergeant Layne can fly the fighter as cover for the shuttle. Sergeant Tina Alvarado will pilot the shuttle. We may even find friendlies down there."

Reed turned to Snowden. "Pardon me Sergeant Major, but they shot at us."

Archer chuckled. "What would you do, Lieutenant if an alien ship landed and destroyed something like a pyramid or even the Vatican?"

Reed’s face showed a crooked smile. "Blow the hell out of them."

"Exactly. Joe fired at the other fighter in defense of the shuttle. It might be a matter of communication. We wont known until we try."

Hoshi walked over to the communications station. "Why don’t we try and hail them? I think the UT will work. If that doesn’t work then the Sergeant Major can do his snoop and scoot."

"Bridge to Captain Archer."

"Go ahead Travis."

"Captain we are in scanning range of the moons."

Archer turned to T’Pol who was concentrating on her station. She looked over at her Captain. "The scan on the second moon shows a similar cavern. It is twice as large as the first moon. I detect three large craft and twenty smaller craft."

Archer walked over to the screen. "Life signs?"

"Estimated two hundred life signs. Captain, they are human."

"Human or humanoid?"

"Human. Logically if these people did in fact populate your planet, they would be human."

Archer nodded. "Weapons?"

Reed tapped his vid screen with his finger. "There are fifteen large plasma weapons. I would estimate that they are capable of destroying Enterprise."

Archer turned from his Chief of Security to his First Officer. "Range?"

"I would not get any closer than 250,000 kilometers. We are 500,000 kilometers away at this time."

"Archer to Bridge. Put the brakes on. Impulse power to just within hailing range." He looked at Ben. "Still want to snoop and scoot?"

Ben nodded "Absolutely."

"Get your team together and get ready to go. We will try and hail the moon. I am sure they know we are here. I will be on the Bridge." He looked at his bridge crew. "Time to go to work."

A few minutes later the bridge crew took their places. Hoshi turned to Archer. "Captain there is an incoming message."

Archer nodded. "This is Captain Jonathan Archer of the Earth ship Enterprise. Who am I speaking to?"

The screen lit up and a man in a black uniform and wearing a powder-blue cape with purple trimming appeared. "This is Commander Manethô of moon base Ptolemy. What are you doing here?

Archer looked at the floor and then at the screen. "We want to talk to you."

"You come here, destroy a holy site and now you want to talk? That is not logical."

Archer looked at T’Pol and smiled. "Commander, we observed the structure and saw some star charts on the doorway. We went to investigate and while inside, one of the balconies collapsed. That is what caused the destruction."

"And the theft of an artifact?"

"One of our people had broken a leg. When your ship entered the atmosphere, we evacuated the structure. The injured man sat in the fighter, as he knew he could now go out the way he came in. The ship came alive and launched. Fortunately our man was able to control the ship and when he came back to the shuttle, he found the shuttle was under attack. He fired in defense of the shuttle."

The alien Commander nodded. "That is a plausible explanation, but I ask you again why did you come here?"

"Our planet was attacked by the Xindi. Do you know of them?"

Manethô grew somber. "Yes Captain we know of the Xindi. Perhaps you would like to come here and discuss them?"

"We will be in an hour. In the mean time we would like to send a shuttle down along with your fighter."

"That would be acceptable. I will send you the landing coordinates. Maybe we could come up and see your ship."

"That would be nice. We will meet you at the airlock."

A half-hour later on the bridge, T’Pol turned to Archer. "Six ships are approaching, Captain. Five fighters and a shuttle."

"Very good. T’Pol, Reed, Tucker Hoshi, Joe, Ben come with me. Travis you have the con. Try not to run over anyone."

"I’ll try, Captain."

As they left the bridge, Archer turned to Reed. "Malcolm, you and the Rangers go armed as an honor guard."

The airlock opened and six soldiers wearing khaki uniforms with brown leather jackets and side arms marched aboard and split into two groups to form a corridor. A man and a woman wearing black uniforms and purple capes walked through the airlock.

The man came forward. "I am Commander Manethô and this is my First Officer Isis."

Archer stepped forward and stretched out his hand. I am Captain Archer and this is my First Officer, T’Pol." He introduced the rest of the bridge crew and Rangers.

"Captain, may I meet the man who was able fly our fighter?"

"Of course, Commander." He turned to the Ranger. "This is Sergeant Layne."

Layne, with his leg in a cast came to attention.

Manethô smiled. Sergeant how were you able to decipher our language so quickly?"

"I am a pilot and an exolinguist. I have studied ancient Earth languages and yours is similar. When I put the helmet on, I seemed to know what required to fly the craft."

"We are always looking for new pilots. If you want to transfer, I would love to have you."

"Thank you Sir, but we have a mission to complete."

The Commander nodded his head and turned to Archer. "Now Captain let’s see this ship of yours and discuss why you think our worlds are related."

Archer led the Commander and his entourage to the briefing room. The Soldiers and Rangers talked quietly as they followed behind.

Manethô looked at the pictures of Earth and of the pyramids. He pointed to the star chart. "The chart appears accurate but something is not correct. Our ancestors sent word about a planet with eight continents. Yours has only seven." He studied the hieroglyphs and the mysterious markings in the mountains of South America that can only be seen from the air. "I think I have the answer. It seems that the continent that they inhabited was destroyed and the survivors took refuge to the East and West."

Archer looked puzzled. "What was the name of the continent?"

"It was named for the leader of the expedition, Commander Atlantian. They called the land, Atlan."

At 0900 hours, the shuttle, piloted by Tina and carrying Snowden, Dana, Kemper and Romero left the Enterprise followed by the fighter piloted by Joe Layne. Hoshi monitored the ships and also kept an open link to Dana’s personal comm unit.

The ships were half way to the moon when T’Pol heard a beep and turned to her telescopic monitor. "Captain, I am detecting two vessels entering the system as warp speed."

Archer stood up. "On screen."

As the screen came alive, T’Pol turned to the Captain. "They have dropped from warp and are charging weapons."

Archer walked behind Travis. "Estimated time of arrival?"

"Three minutes."

"Archer to Ranger one and fighter escort. We have two ships charging weapons."

"Snowden here. We are sitting ducks. We are halfway to the moon and will take us four minutes to either land or return. We are going to land."

"Ben can you put a little more speed into it? They will be here in three minutes."

"Will try Captain."

"Layne to Enterprise. I will attempt to head them off and give the shuttle a little extra time."

As the fighter turned towards the enemy they heard Joe start a chant that was picked up by all the Rangers on the shuttle.

"Lo there do I see my father.

Lo there do I see my mother and my sisters and my brothers.

Lo there do I see the line of my people, back to the beginning.

Lo they do call to me, they bid me take my place among them,

In the halls of Valhalla where the brave may live forever!"

The Bridge crew watched as the fighter veered off to intercept the incoming ships. A plasma bolt shot from one of the ships and missed the fighter. Joe zigzagged toward the enemy and fired, scoring a direct hit. Explosions rocked the first ship as Joe fired a second time. The second ship fired at the fighter. Hoshi sobbed as the fighter was vaporized in a flash of flame.

"Dana to Enterprise. Joe is gone. We are closing on the landing site. Moon base is firing at the enemy ships."

"Archer to Dana, we see them."

Two moon-based blasters locked onto the lead ship and fired plasma bolts. Bright light flashed on the screen.

"T’Pol looked up from her viewer. "The lead ship has been destroyed. The shuttle is almost . . ." She stopped.

The second ship fired at the shuttle and struck the port side.

Archer turned to Reed. "Fire phase canons."

Two blasts from the Enterprise launched at the enemy ship. Fires stared breaking out on the starboard side.

"Dana to Enterprise. Port thrusters down. Heavy damage. Three Rangers down. Losing helm control. Fire in aft section."

The second ship exploded as two more plasma bolts from the moon struck the enemy simultaneously. Over Dana’s comm unit the Bridge crew could hear Snowden yelling.

"Hang on Dana we’re going in hot." The sound of screeching metal and the yells of Snowden and Dana echoed through out the Bridge and then silence. The bridge crew stood in shocked silence at the dead air. Hoshi put her hand to her head set as another hand to the console. She tightened the wavelength and increased the amplification. Dana’s weak voice could be heard. "Ben, Ben we have got to get out of here."

"Archer to Dana. What is your status?"

"Ranger One has crashed. I am the only one alive and I am pinned under a support beam. The cabin is on fire. Oh God my legs are on fire." She screamed. "My hands are burning. My skin is melting." A sheer terrified scream of pain, "Ben I love you!" echoed throughout the bridge, then silence.

A sheer terrified scream echoed down the corridor on Enterprise on the deck occupied by the Rangers. Several running feet pounded the deck as five Rangers raced to the point of the scream. Fingers punched in the entry code to Snowden’s quarters. The men opened the door and found a terrified and bewildered Dana in a fetal position on Ben’s bed. Snowden sat down and pulled her into his arms. Dana was covered in sweat and her breathing was erratic. He stroked her head with his hand. "Dana, it’s all right. It was just a nightmare." Under his hand he could feel her heart racing. "Get her a drink of water."

Dana became aware of a weight upon her, encompassing her upper body. She struggled to free herself but could not. She heard noises all around her and fought to comprehend. She no longer felt her flesh melting or burning. The sound comforted her, as it was Ben’s voice calling her. "Dana, Dana, it’s all right. She opened her eyes and starred into Ben’s. "Ben, you died, I was burning." She looked at Joe. "Joe you were vaporized while flying the fighter."

Joe came up to the bed with a glass of water. "Dana, what fighter?"

She took a drink. "The one you flew back from Planet mystery. You know the one in the pyramid."

Joe patted her leg with his hand. "Dana, it was just a bad dream. How long have you been having these nightmares?"

"Several weeks. Ever since Joanna died."

Joe and Ben exchanged looks. Ben took Dana’s head in his hands. "Dana, Joanna died yesterday. How long do you thing we have been in the Expanse?"

"Nine or ten weeks."

"Dana, it has only been two. What is the last thing you remember?"

"I was burning alive."

Joe grinned. "Well it looks like you are a Phoenix as you have returned alive from the flames."

Ben motioned to the Rangers. "I think Dana and I need some time alone, if you don’t mind."

Dana turned to Ben as the last Ranger left and the door closed. "Ben if you ever die on me, I swear to God that I will kill you."

"Dana my love, I have no intention of dying." He traced her lips with his fingers then gently kissed her. "Come little Phoenix, let’s see the fire inside you." He slipped her shirt from her shoulders as his lips traced her throat.

"Ben make love to me now as if it were the last time."

Ben chuckled. "I intend to my dear, I intend to."

Bridge

T’Pol turned to Captain Archer. "Captain I am detecting a planet approximately a light year away. It is an M class planet a little smaller than Earth. No apparent life signs, however we have detected several structures." She looked at Hoshi. "Ensign Sato, please bring the planet on screen."

Hoshi nodded as her fingers flew over her console and the vid screen displayed the planet.

T’Pol walked to her station as the other officers moved in front of Archer’s command chair. "Ensign go in tighter, enough to display the structures."

The screen refocused and the image of a pyramid shape structure appeared.

Archer squinted. "Is that writing I see?"

Hoshi glanced at her Captain. "I believe so, Sir." She tightened the focus and lettering appeared. "It appears to be some sort of hieroglyphics. With your permission, I would like to have Sergeant Layne see this." When Archer nodded, Hoshi hit the intercom. "Sergeant Layne, please report to the bridge."

Snowden’s Quarters.

Dana shot upright out of bed. "Oh no, Ben, it’s happening, we are going to die."

"Dana, if indeed you had a premonition, then we will just have to make sure that the events you dreamed don’t reoccur."

Dana settled back into Snowden’s arms. "I don’t care what happens as long as you and I do not get on a damn shuttle. The only ride I want is you."

Fini

Note: Similarities to Battlestar Gallactica and the Novel on Perry Rhodan are deliberate. (Perry Rhodan was a series that started as a Newspaper novel in Germany.)