Reed's Armory -- A Malcolm Reed Fanfiction Archive ..

Title: Pandora's Hawk

Author: Taryn Eve

Author's e-mail: [email protected]

Fandom: Enterprise

Rating: PG

Category: Gen

Series: Mythology

Sequel to: Eden's Serpent

Summary: Reed has to leave the Armory behind when the ship is evacuated.

Comments: Pandora is from Greek mythology. She was given a box and told not to open it. All the things that make the world dark flew out of that box, but there was one thing left over.

Beta reader(s): Thanks to downinnewyork for the beta reading and the challenge of using a card. You're the Queen of Hearts.

Archived to Reed's Armory on 10/15/2003.

He looks around a last time, to make sure he is the only one remaining.

Captain Archer has given the evacuation order. It's a sound tactical maneuver, in light of their situation. The warp engine is down, perhaps forever. His weapons systems are beyond the efforts of Tucker's wounded people, and his own men and women have already been dispatched to the surface. Jupiter Station itself could not save the ship from its fate. Enterprise is a broken bird, flying endlessly above the burnt, red planet below.

Mindless of the tears in his uniform and the blood in his hair, he reaches inside the storage locker. He'd hidden the small green metal box there during his first day on duty, many months ago when space still held its innocence. Taking a deep breath, he holds the box up to the muted light. Still undamaged, after all this time.

He looks around at the battered stations, the crushed beams, and the stains darkening the deck. This had been his battle station, his refuge, and his home.

Now he is leaving.

Opening the box, he sets aside the picture of his family. A fleeting vision of time spent in Brighton one sunny weekend returns to him, so out of place amid the smoky darkness.

Next is a torn playing card. The ace of hearts, with one bullet hole in the top left corner. He'd been praised for his shooting skills at the time, but he'd meant to strike the thrown card's center. Underneath the card, wrapped in a blue silk handkerchief, is his last experimental project. Smiling, he admires the pristine lines of his prototype.

One of the ancient Greeks had sworn he could move worlds with a big enough lever.

He knows his lever can set worlds on fire. His wars would not be cold.

Never cold.

Captain Archer wearily pulls himself through the door. "Are you ready?"

His armory officer answers with a sharp nod.

Moving closer, Archer points at the box with a bruised hand. "What's in there?"

Reed's eyes light up. He is the hawk to Archer's dove.

"Hope, sir."

~the end~