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He Who Fights With Monsters

By Thalia Drogna

Disclaimer: I don’t own these characters, I’m just borrowing them.

Rating: PG-13

Author’s Note: This is a sequel to What Does Not Kill Us, it will help a lot to read that first. The title is another quote from Nietzsche.

Archive: yes to EntSTcommunity, everyone else please email me for permission.

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The officers who had their quarters on B deck had become used to interruptions to their sleep and learnt to ignore them. The Captain had requested Engineering discreetly put in extra sound proofing in the surrounding quarters and no one said anything more about it. Captain Archer knew, that despite what Trip might say, he wasn’t okay, he wasn’t over it and he certainly wasn’t fine.

Trip had been back on duty in Engineering for over a week the first time it happened. He hadn’t reported for his shift that morning and wasn’t answering his com. Archer had arrived at Trip’s quarters to find the Engineer huddled in a blanket on his bed, shaking violently and staring across the room, eyes wide in terror. He’d managed to get out of him something incoherent about the Xindi, it was obvious he’d had a nightmare and it had spilled over into wakefulness. Archer had tried to comfort him but in the end had had to call Phlox. It had taken several hours of patient reassurance and some of Phlox’s drugs to get him to calm down. Trip missed his shift in Engineering while he wrestled with shadows of the Xindi. Until that point Archer had really believed that Trip was fine, it appeared that he’d just been doing a very good job of hiding how ill he really was.

Three months ago he’d been rescued from a Xindi ship. He’d been found beaten beyond recognition, drugged and infected with technology destroying nanoprobes. The injuries had faded and the nanoprobes had been rendered harmless, but the mental scars were deeper than anyone had realised. Trip was still seeing Phlox for regular counselling sessions, and then of course there were the nightmares.

Trip hated missing shifts, he felt he wasn’t doing his duty, which made him even more upset and the aftermath of the nightmares worse. The drugs that Phlox had to use weren’t good for him either if their use was prolonged. T’Pol stepped up the neuropressure treatments and it seemed to help a bit. The dreams were less vivid and Trip was more easily wrested from their grasp, but they didn’t go away.

Phlox had explained to Archer that Trip was reminded everyday when he went to work exactly what he’d been through, most of the Xindi’s questions had been about his Engineering knowledge. Trip loved his job and that dealt with the majority of the bad feeling but eventually it built up and poisoned his dreams. Most of the time he was doing well, back to almost being the Trip Tucker that everyone remembered before his kidnapping by the Xindi, and then it was as if he couldn’t keep up the act any longer.

Phlox had asked Archer to check in on Trip and so he tracked him down in Engineering, where he could be found most of the time since his return to duty. In fact, that was what Phlox had asked Archer to talk to Trip about.

“Hey, Captain,” said Trip when he saw his commanding officer approaching. He was working at a console tucked away down the side of the warp engine.

“Trip,” said Archer in reply. “Your shift finished three hours ago, what are you still doing here?”

“You know, stuff to do. I was away for a long time and I need to get back up to speed,” said Trip.

“Lieutenant Hess tells me that you’ve been back up to speed for the past two weeks. She also mentioned that she hasn’t seen you pull anything less than a double shift for a few days now,” said Archer. Lieutenant Hess was Trip’s deputy and had been in charge while he’d been away.

“She was just being polite about me being up to speed. I’ve got a way to go yet, and it’s going to mean putting in some long hours,” said Trip. He was praying that Archer would take his reply at face value but, to be honest, he knew his friend too well not to realise he wasn’t going to give in that easily.

“You need to rest,” said Archer.

“I’m fine,” said Trip, deliberately continuing with what he was doing, hoping that Archer would get the hint that he was busy.

“We both know that you’re not fine,” said Archer, gently.

Trip stopped what he was doing and looked at Archer. “So what?” said Trip, crossly. “None of us have been the same since the Xindi attacked Earth. I can deal with a few nightmares and bad days.” Archer noted Trip’s use of the phrase “bad days”, it had become code for when he had to spend time under Phlox’s care. Archer had had to fight with Phlox not to take Trip off the duty roster completely after his most recent attack. Archer knew Trip needed to work, but if he kept up his current behaviour he’d have to let Phlox have his way and he didn’t want that.

“Trip, you’re working too hard, you’re making yourself worse,” said Archer.

“I’m not ill,” said Trip, turning back to the console he was working on. It sounded as if he was trying to convince himself almost as much as Archer.

“Phlox says different,” said Archer. “When did you last go to the mess hall?” He still hadn’t put back all the weight that he’d lost during his time with the Xindi although his ongoing physiotherapy was at least putting the muscle back.

“The nanites remind me to eat. They need the energy as much as I do and I get kind of light headed if they start drawing power I don’t have,” said Trip.

“I didn’t say you weren’t eating, but Chef noticed that you haven’t been eating in the mess hall and Malcolm tells me that he brings you lunch most days. I get the impression you wouldn’t stop at all if it weren’t for the nanites,” said Archer.

“Captain, I really don’t have time to debate my eating habits with you. I’ve got to finish this diagnostic on the warp coils,” said Trip.

“Look, I wanted to do this the easy way but you won’t let me. Commander, I’m ordering you to take a break and I don’t want to see you in here tomorrow either. You’re coming with me and we’re going to go to the mess hall and sit down and have a proper meal. After that we’re going to watch a movie, drink some beer and you’re going to forget about Engineering.”

“You’re ordering me to watch a movie?” said Trip in disbelief.

“If that’s what it’s going to take to get you out of here, yes. When was the last time you went to movie night?” asked Archer.

“Erm, must be…” said Trip trying to think. He didn’t actually remember going to movie night since he’d been back on duty.

“Come on,” said Archer, “you can leave that until tomorrow.”

“Okay,” said Trip, resigned, and put down the padd he’d been working on. He followed Archer through the hatch and out of Engineering. Internally he told the nanites “work’s over for today, you can recharge your batteries.” They didn’t really need to recharge their batteries literally, but it was his way of telling them to change modes and quieten down. When he was in Engineering they would constantly feed him information from diagnostics and telemetry on the various systems. He liked their constant chatter, it made him feel as if he was part of the ship, but he also occasionally liked his head to himself. Today they didn’t get the message and continued their constant feed of information.

“Shut up!” he said.

“Trip?” asked Archer, slightly bewildered. He hadn’t said anything to his friend.

“Sorry, the nanites were being a bit loud. They don’t always get the message when I’m tired,” said Trip, running a hand through his dishevelled hair. “Phlox said something about my thinking being less directed when I need some rest.” The nanites had gone completely silent at his shouted command, so Trip told them more gently that they could start their usual low level of chatter again. He’d learnt to tune out most of their status updates but when he was awake he liked to hear them at the back of his mind. The nanites quietly apologised for misunderstanding his command before.

“I think that goes for more than just your communication with the nanites,” said Archer, relaxing slightly. There had been quite a few changes to Trip over the past few months which Archer had had to get used to. The far away look that he sometimes got when he was communicating internally with the nanites that now inhabited his body was one of them. Archer couldn’t even begin to imagine what it must be like to have machines constantly talking to you or to be able to do some of the things that Trip was now capable of.

Archer was worried though, he’d never yet heard Trip talk out loud to the nanites, and he’d certainly never seen him get angry with them. Trip had really taken the continued presence of the nanites in his body in his stride. He’d actually been far more interested in understanding their make-up than thinking about their intrusion into his head. Which made Archer wonder if he’d ever addressed how the nanites might change him and his feelings about the Xindi putting them there. Perhaps after everything he’d been through, it was one thing too many for him to be able to deal with at the moment.

“Come on, let’s go and get some food,” said Archer and led Trip to the mess hall.

Archer sat Trip down at a table, he looked so tired that Archer thought he could do with a bit of looking after so went to collect some food for both of them. It was later than most of the crew usually ate and the mess hall was almost empty. Archer selected a couple of dishes that he knew would meet with Trip’s approval and returned to the table to find him staring off into the distance again.

“Trip?” said Archer.

Trip’s eyes took a moment to refocus. “Sorry, Captain, did you say something?”

“No, but I got the impression that you wouldn’t have heard me if I had,” said Archer.

“I guess I’m more tired than I thought,” said Trip. Archer handed him a plate and some cutlery which Trip gratefully accepted. He didn’t seem to even take notice of what Archer had brought them to eat, he just ate.

“Trip, slow down,” said Archer.

“Sorry, I’m starved. Seem to be more hungry now I’m eating for two billion,” said Trip with a grin.

“You can always go back for seconds,” said Archer. Trip’s uniform was still hanging off him and Phlox had told Trip he was under strict orders to eat at least three square meals a day until he’d put back all the weight he’d lost. With that and the physiotherapy the doctor hoped to have Trip back to his previous levels of muscle strength in a month or so.

Archer was desperately trying to think of small talk to distract Trip from thinking about Engineering, but everything he thought up either was related to the ship or related to Trip’s recovery after his ordeal with the Xindi. He gave up and settled for asking Trip what movie he wanted to watch. Luckily that seemed to be a topic of conversation that Trip was happy to engage in so they spent the remainder of the meal talking happily about the merits of various films before heading back to Archer’s quarters to find beer and the promised film.

Archer had vetoed Trip’s suggestion of a “good” horror flick, but his friend’s love of sci-fi won through in the end and Archer found himself watching Bladerunner. As they watched the outdated version of what their ancestors thought the future of Earth would be like, Archer wondered what had prompted Trip to pick it. It was a little more serious than he had intended for that night’s viewing but it was, after all, an evening for Trip to relax and kick back in a safe environment. The main reason he had vetoed the horror film suggestion was because he didn’t want to trigger any of Trip’s bad memories of his Xindi torturers which would no doubt have led to another sleepless night for his Engineer. Perhaps his choice of film was yet another indication of the more serious, quiet nature that Trip had developed since his rescue from the Xindi. Archer hadn’t failed to notice that Trip had begun to prefer his own company a lot more recently and he worried that this was a permanent change in his friend.

Phlox had said that what Trip most needed was time. Time to reconcile his memories, time to get over what had happened and time to adjust to his new situation. Archer was determined that Trip would have that time and he would eventually be fully recovered. Phlox had already told him that this might be as recovered as Trip was ever going to get but Archer refused to accept that. Trip didn’t deserve to have nightmares and panic attacks for the rest of his life, he deserved to be able to put his ordeal behind him. It didn’t help that Enterprise was still in the Expanse, a place where they could meet Xindi at any time and they couldn’t turn around and go home until the mission was complete, no matter how badly that affected a member of his crew. Not that Trip would have wanted to be taken home, but it was another aspect of their situation that couldn’t be helping in Trip’s recovery.

They had just reached the scene where Deckard was being told that Rachael was actually an android, when Archer looked over at Trip and found he’d fallen asleep in his chair. He’d been pretty sure that Trip had been over working himself ever since his return to full duty, and this was just confirmation. At first Archer had believed what Trip had told him, he needed to put in the long hours to get back up to speed but as the days went on he knew it couldn’t just be that. When he’d found Trip huddled in a ball in his quarters unable to move, he’d finally realised that Trip wasn’t as recovered from his ordeal as he had pretended. It was what Phlox had been telling him all along, it was just that Trip was putting on such a good act that he’d fooled his best friend into thinking what he had wanted to believe, everything was back to how it had been before.

Archer reached over and nudged Trip to wake him. He would have liked to let him sleep but he’d only wake up with a sore back so Archer decided moving him back to his own bed would definitely be preferable.

“Come on, Commander,” said Archer, “time for you to go to bed.”

“I don’t know anything,” said Trip, half asleep, pushing Archer’s hand off.

“Trip?” said Archer, shaking his friend a little harder.

Trip sat bolt upright suddenly. He rubbed a hand over his face. “I hate waking up,” said Trip. “In fact I hate sleeping.”

“Is this why you’ve been working such long hours?” asked Archer, “because you don’t want to sleep?”

“Kinda, I mean I do have to sleep sometimes, it’s just easier when I’m so tired that I can’t stand up any longer,” said Trip. “T’Pol’s doing her best with the neuropressure but, well…” Trip trailed off.

“When you’ve been through what you went through, Trip, even T’Pol’s neuropressure sessions aren’t going to be able to deal with it. At least not on their own. You know I’m always here if you want to talk,” said Archer.

“Thanks Captain, but I’ve talked it to death. There’s nothing else to say,” said Trip. “Phlox keeps saying that humans can’t deal with traumatic events easily, well I think I’m the living proof of that. I’m sure the Doc is probably writing scientific papers about me for his medical exchange colleagues.”

“He’s doing his best,” said Archer. “He’s in constant communication with the psychiatrists back at Starfleet about how to help you deal with this.”

“Yeah, I bet they’re having a field day with it,” said Trip, obviously embarrassed by the idea of so many people discussing him. He hated the thought of them picking over the remnants of his life as if he was some sort of experiment.

“Phlox didn’t really have any choice. His human psychiatric experience is limited and you know what kind of state you were in when we brought you back. You hardly said anything for four weeks, I was afraid we’d never get you back.”

“If you guys hadn’t been there for me, Jon, I might never have made it to where I am now,” said Trip. “It’s just these damn nightmares keep pulling me back down there. And, you know, it’s pretty dark at the bottom of the abyss.”

“Yeah, I’m sure it is,” said Archer. “Come on, let’s get you back to your own bed.” Archer gave Trip a hand out of his chair. Trip swayed slightly on his feet, so Archer took him by the arm and guided him back to his own quarters even though Trip protested that he didn’t need an escort. “You’ve got the day off tomorrow,” said Archer, “I’ll let Hess know not to expect you. You need the rest and the last thing I need is my Chief Engineer dropping dead from exhaustion.”

Trip would have protested but he was too tired. “Okay, Captain,” he said, keying in his door code. Archer waved him a quick goodnight and Trip closed his door, taking care to double lock it.

****

T’Pol saw it first on the long range scanners, which of course was a great source of chagrin to Lieutenant Reed who prided himself on his vigilance. Archer decided to investigate, out here they had no idea what might be useful to their mission and what wouldn’t. Anything unusual was definitely worth a look. Certainly, this was unusual. T’Pol’s sensors picked up unknown materials and bizarre fluctuations in energy. Then there was its size, T’Pol estimated that Enterprise would have fitted inside the alien spaceship one hundred and twenty times.

The ship was beautiful, a cross between a gothic cathedral and an ice crystal, it shone like a Christmas decoration against the blackness of space. White, delicate, filigree towers rose from the main structure, giving the design an almost organic look. It was also completely dead in space, their warp core was offline. There were signs of life though, hundreds of them.

“Hoshi, open a channel,” said Archer.

“The channel is open, sir,” replied Hoshi.

“This is Captain Jonathan Archer of the Starship Enterprise,” said Archer. “Do you require assistance?”

“We would welcome your assistance and invite you aboard our craft the Rel Sevanne,” said a disembodied voice.

“Who am I talking to?” asked Archer.

“I am Ten En Ath Jeriad of the Tien. You may call me Ten En,” said the voice.

“What is the nature of your problem, Ten En,” asked Archer.

“Our warp engines are malfunctioning but we have also had computer problems. Our engineers are working on it but any assistance that you can offer us would be gratefully accepted.”

“I’ll send over an Engineering team with my Tactical officer, they should be able to help you,” said Archer.

“Thank you, Captain Archer. I look forward to meeting your people,” said Ten En.

Hoshi cut the channel.

“Think you can handle it, Lieutenant?” asked Archer.

“Yes, sir,” said Reed, getting up from his station. “Might I have a word in private first, sir.”

“Of course Lieutenant, T’Pol you have the bridge, I’ll be in my ready room if I’m needed.”

The two officers entered Archer’s ready room, Archer taking his usual place behind his desk. Reed stood to attention.

“At ease, Malcolm. What’s on your mind?” asked Archer.

“Sir,” said Reed, “don’t you think Commander Tucker should lead the away team.”

“I’m not sure that he’s ready for that,” said Archer.

“Maybe we should let him decide that, sir,” said Reed.

“Malcolm, in the last month we’ve had two away missions to wrecked ships and Trip hasn’t expressed any desire to go on those. I don’t want to push him into this. I’m willing to bet that if I asked him to go over to the Rel Sevann he’d take it as an order, he’d go and he’d pretend that he was okay and we’d be picking up the pieces afterwards,” said Archer.

“I think he’s stronger than that,” said Reed.

“I’m not saying he isn’t strong, Malcolm. I don’t know anyone else who could have gone through what he did and survived. But he still isn’t well. He’s been working himself so hard that I had to order him to take a day off and he’s still having what Phlox refers to as “episodes”. It’s just not fair to expect him to go over there as if nothing happened,” said Archer, and added to himself, as if the last time he went to repair a seemingly harmless ship, he wasn’t captured by the Xindi and tortured for information.

“I’m not saying that we should expect him to be back to normal after three months, I’m just saying that he should be given the choice about whether he wants to go or not. As Chief Engineer he is the best qualified to go on this mission and he’ll be more hurt if he’s kept out of the loop on things like this,” said Reed.

Archer looked at Reed, he did have a point, Trip liked to be involved. “Okay, Malcolm. I want you to talk to Phlox, if he says it’s okay to take Trip with you then go and ask him if he wants to come. It’s got to come from you, because if it comes from me he’ll think it’s an order. I don’t want him put under any pressure. Hess and a team of engineers should be able to handle it fine without him if he’s not up for it.”

“I understand, sir,” said Reed.

“Dismissed Lieutenant,” said Archer. “Oh, one more thing,” he said as Reed was turning to go, “look after him, Malcolm.”

“Of course, sir,” said Reed and went to find Phlox.

****

Gaining Phlox’s sanction to invite Trip to join them on the away mission had not been nearly as difficult as Reed had expected it to be. The doctor had been quite enthusiastic about allowing the Engineer to leave the ship, explaining that he thought facing another of his fears might be good for Mr Tucker and muttering something about cognitive therapy which Reed didn’t pretend to understand. Phlox so far hadn’t managed to coax Trip to enter sick bay and Reed suspected that was next on the doctor’s list of fears for Trip to conquer. Reed doubted that one would be easy for Trip to get over, sick bay apparently reminded his friend of the Xindi lab in which he’d been tortured and the one time Trip had been in sick bay since his return he’d worked himself into such a state that he’d had to be sedated. After hearing what Trip had been through at the hands of his captors he wasn’t at all surprised when Trip had broken down at the sight of sick bay.

Reed remembered how worried Trip had been that Phlox would be upset because of the scene he’d made. In actuality, the only person who’d been upset about it had been Trip who had set high standards for himself when it came to dealing with his experiences and his inability to cope was making him furious at his own perceived weakness. Reed could only imagine the emotions that were tearing at Trip, he knew some of it, the little Trip had been prepared to confide in him. He’d offered to listen whenever it was required but, for someone who didn’t always edit what he said before it came out of his mouth, the Engineer was surprisingly good at keeping his feelings to himself.

Reed now stood outside the door to Trip’s quarters trying to work out how he was going to handle asking if Trip wanted to come with them. Come on Malcolm, he said to himself, just ask him, he’s been fine the last few days. Reed pressed the door bell and waited. He heard a muffled cry of enter and opened the door. Trip was resting on the bed with a padd in his hand. Reed noted that he still looked quite tired but basically fairly relaxed. One of Phlox’s biomonitors was still in place on the wall beside the bed, keeping track of Trip’s vitals. Trip’s fear of sick bay had caused a few problems in his treatment and Phlox had insisted on the biomonitor so that he could check on Trip’s condition regularly. Originally this was to monitor the effect of the nanoprobes on Trip’s body but it turned out that it was also useful to alert Phlox when the regular nightmares turned into panic attacks. Trip had protested at the invasion of privacy but had eventually given in to the doctor’s wishes.

Reed had also installed a panic button in Trip’s quarters, he’d told Trip it was linked directly to the security alarm but actually he’d linked it to his own communicator and the com in his quarters. He hoped that it would help Trip sleep more easily knowing that help was easily at hand if required. Trip had appreciated the gesture, but Reed knew that he still double locked his door at night.

“Hey, Malcolm,” said Trip, looking up from the padd. He sent a silent command to the nanites to quieten down while he talked to Reed. He’d been working on an improvement to the warp engine and the nanites were running some simulations for him. He was tweaking the parameters as they fed him information, so far it wasn’t quite there yet but he thought he could see the things he’d need to correct in order for it to work.

Reed noticed the far away look and waited until Trip returned to the room. “So you’ll have noticed our guests,” said Reed indicating the view from Trip’s window of the Rel Sevanne.

“Yeah, I figured someone might be down to tell me what was going on,” said Trip. He had in fact got the nanites to listen in to the com traffic so he knew exactly what was going on, but he wasn’t quite sure the he wanted Reed to know that the nanites could do that.

“They’re having trouble with their engines and their computer. I was going to take Hess and a team of Engineers over but wondered if you’d like to come. I know it’s meant to be your day off but I thought you might like to join me, I cleared it with the Captain,” said Reed, hoping it didn’t sound as obviously fabricated to Trip as it did to himself. “Of course I’ll understand if you don’t want to work on your day off.”

Trip knew exactly what Reed was trying to do; give him an out that he could take gracefully without having to admit that he was scared stiff of going over to an alien ship. Hell, he’d done it dozens of times, gone to help stricken ships with their engine trouble in exchange for good will or information. That was before, of course. Now Malcolm Reed stood in his quarters tactfully asking him if he’d like to go and poke at some alien engines, something which was part of his duties as Chief Engineer and he would normally have jumped at. Instead he was torn between letting Malcolm know he was still Chief Engineer and didn’t need to be treated with kid gloves when it came to his duty, or crawling under a blanket and hiding. He didn’t like either option, so he settled for a compromise.

“You’re going to stick with me, right? If I go over there, I mean,” said Trip.

“Of course,” said the Armoury officer as if it was the most natural question in the world.

“Well, when you put it like that, how can I refuse?” said Trip with a grin.

****End of Chapter One****

“Son of a bitch, would you look at the size of that thing,” said Trip. He was staring at the Rel Sevanne through the window of Shuttlepod One. Rostov, Cook and Kelly sat in the back of the shuttle looking equally awed by the sight of the huge ship. Lieutenant Reed had also brought Ensigns Hooper and Scott with him from Security who although obviously interested in the Rel Sevanne were not quite as excited by it as the Engineering contingent.

“It certainly is impressive,” said Reed who was piloting them between the two ships. “I wonder what its weapons are like.” Their scans had been inconclusive about the defensive capability of the ship but Reed had definitely detected weapons of some kind.

“I’m sure you’ll find out,” said Trip with a smile. “Can you imagine the kind of engines that it would take to move that through space?”

“No, but I’m sure you are,” said Reed smiling back at Trip. It was nice to see the Engineer being so enthusiastic about something. He’d been kind of quiet of late.

“How many people are on board the Rel Sevanne, sir?” asked Kelly.

“T’Pol thought over two thousand, but our scans weren’t achieving complete penetration of the hull so it’s difficult to be sure how many people are on that ship,” said Reed.

“Over two thousand? Wow,” said Rostov. “Makes Enterprise seem like a shuttlepod in comparison.”

“Don’t let the Captain hear you say that,” said Trip.

“No fear, sir,” replied Rostov.

“Do we know anything about these people, Malcolm?” asked Trip.

“Not much, they’re called the Tien and we spoke to someone called Ten En Ath Jeriad. They asked for help and seemed friendly, so the Captain said we’d send an Engineering team over. At the moment they’re dead in space without their warp engines online and they also mentioned computer problems, but that’s all we know,” said Reed.

“But the Captain asked you to head up the away mission so he wasn’t sure about them being friendly,” said Trip, quietly so that the others in the pod couldn’t hear him.

“He was just being cautious, and I am an Engineer as well as being a Security officer,” said Reed.

“Yeah, but if he really wasn’t worried he would have sent Hess on her own,” replied Trip.

“Trip, I really don’t think you need to worry. Even dead in space, if they’d wanted to attack us they could have done it by now. The scans didn’t show much but they did show that we’d be well and truly out gunned if they wanted to fire on us,” said Reed. He didn’t add that three security officers wouldn’t do much good against over two thousand aliens, he was trying to reassure Trip not scare him. What he’d said to Trip was true though, they had no reason to assume that the aliens were hostile so far. However, Reed was already formulating plans for how to use three security officers to get the away team back to the shuttle safely if things did go pear shaped. He couldn’t do much on that front until he’d seen the interior of the ship though.

Trip nodded in an understanding manner at what Reed had said and went back to gazing at the impressive bulk of the Rel Sevanne. Huge structures emerged from the main body of the ship, some of them looked like stylised waves with intricate froth still attached to them, others were more like stalactites or the gothic pinnacles of a cathedral. It was less as if the ship had been built and more like it had been grown. Trip was dying to find out how it all fitted together from the inside, which was almost making him forget just how scared he was of boarding the alien ship.

“We’re approaching the docking bay,” said Reed.

Trip opened a channel on the radio, “this is Enterprise Shuttlepod One to the Rel Sevanne, we’re approaching the docking bay, please stand by to receive us.”

“This is the Rel Sevanne. Message received, Shuttlepod One, please proceed to docking bay five,” said a radio operator from the alien ship. Reed thought the voice sounded very similar to Ten En who they had spoken to before and wondered if all the Tien sounded so similar.

“We’ve got permission to land, Malcolm. Go ahead and dock,” said Trip.

“Yes, sir,” said Reed and guided the shuttlepod into the docking bay which was one of many along the segment of the ship they were now passing. Reed set the pod down gently and the away team waited for the air outside to become breathable. The docking bay didn’t have doors as such but seemed to utilise shields to seal the opening they had just flown through. It was only a few seconds before the atmosphere had cycled and the crew could get out of the shuttle.

Trip was the last to disembark, hanging back for as long as he could before leaving the safety of the shuttlepod. Reed stood waiting for him as he stepped out.

“You okay?” he whispered to his friend. “I can always take you back to Enterprise if you’re not feeling up to this.”

“I’ll be fine,” said Trip. “It’s just this is the first time I’ve been off Enterprise since, well, since…”

“We got you back,” finished Reed tactfully, realising Trip couldn’t finish the sentence.

“Yeah,” said Trip. “Just give me a minute and I’ll be okay.”

“No problem, we’ll unload. Just remember those exercises T’Pol taught you,” said Reed.

Trip nodded. Along with the neuropressure, T’Pol had also been trying to teach Trip some Vulcan techniques for controlling his fear. As he understood it, Vulcan children were taught this stuff from an early age, how to suppress their emotions and gain the iron control which T’Pol now possessed. No one had ever tried to teach a human how to control their emotions, especially not an adult human so T’Pol had her work cut out for her. Trip had been grateful when she’d offered to try, it was another weapon he could add to his arsenal of ways to defeat his fears. So far it was only succeeding to a very limited degree but T’Pol thought they could work on it and it was better than nothing.

He closed his eyes, told the nanites to be quiet and concentrated on controlling his breathing. He thought about somewhere safe and calm. He lent his back against the shuttle and stood for a moment while he regained his composure.

“Welcome,” said a voice. Trip’s eyes flew open and were greeted by the sight of a beautiful alien standing in front of him. She was most definitely female and was tall, willowy and wore a light blue figure hugging cat-suit not unlike the ones T’Pol had taken to wearing recently. Her hair was white blonde and plaited in a long rope down her back. He pulled himself to attention, wondering what the rest of the away team were doing, but they all seemed to be busy unloading equipment.

“Uh, it’s a pleasure to be here,” replied Trip, flustered at her sudden approach. “Erm, I’m Commander Tucker, Chief Engineer of Enterprise.”

“My name is Shar Jen Sar Kerin, you may call me Shar Jen,” said the woman. “I am the Artificer of the Rel Sevanne.” She looked at Trip and it felt as if her eyes were looking into his very soul. He noticed small ridges down her cheekbones but other than her fragile build and unusual height she looked surprisingly human. Her eyes were an unnatural blue though, almost turquoise. It required a feat of will power to pull himself away from her stare and when he did he felt as if he’d left a piece of himself behind.

“I guess Artificer is like Chief Engineer,” he said, “you’re in charge of the engines?”

“And the repair of the ship,” she replied, with a nod.

“Let me introduce you to everyone else and then you can put us to work,” said Trip leading Shar Jen over to the entrance to the shuttlepod. Reed was supervising the stacking of various boxes and cases. “I’d like you to meet Lieutenant Reed, Enterprise’s Tactical Officer, these are Crewmen Rostov and Kelly and Ensigns Cook, Hooper and Scott. This is Shar Jen Sar Kerin, Artificer of the Rel Sevanne.” The crew politely greeted their host and Shar Jen welcomed the rest of the crewmembers aboard.

“Our Captain was wondering if it would be possible to meet with your leader,” said Reed.

“Unfortunately that will not be possible,” said Shar Jen. “Ten En Ath Jeriad is very busy.”

“Does he have a deputy?” asked Reed.

“Yes, his name is Kris Nor Vin Lusen and I can arrange for your Captain to meet with him. I was asked to invite you all to dinner with our ship’s senior council,” said Shar Jen, “as a small token of our thanks for your help.”

“Well I’m not sure how much help we’ll be, but we’d be happy to accept your dinner invitation,” said Trip.

“If you will follow me then I will take you to the engines,” said Shar Jen.

Although they all knew how big the ship was from what they’d seen during their flight across from Enterprise, nothing had quite prepared them for the sheer scale of the ship’s interior. Shar Jen led them out of the docking bay and down several long and winding corridors before they reached the central atrium which apparently ran down the full length of the ship and was about twenty storeys high as far as Trip could make out. Down the centre ran a transit tube, Trip had expected something like this as the Rel Sevanne was too big to walk from one end to the other. Aliens milled around them on their way to other parts of the ship and children played in a play grounds at intervals along the ship’s length. The sounds of laughter drifting towards them. They boarded a transit tube car and were whisked to their destination.

“This is just amazing,” said Trip. Outside they were moving past structures and gardens, play grounds and farms. The atrium was filled with greenery.

“Makes a bit of a change from the corridors of Enterprise,” said Reed, looking around him with equal amazement.

“How did they ever build this ship,” said Trip, “the amount of materials used in this must be phenomenal. I’m not even sure that Earth would have the resources to build something this scale. Most of the metal for Enterprise came from the Jupiter mining station but I don’t think there’s enough metal in the whole of Jupiter to build this.”

“So it was a big building project, they obviously found the materials from somewhere,” said Reed.

“Yeah, I’m just curious about where,” said Trip.

“Just remember where curiosity got the cat,” said Reed.

“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on going poking my nose in where it isn’t wanted. I’m just thinking out loud,” said Trip. He checked in with the nanites. “Can we interface with their technology?” he asked.

“Still trying,” said the nanites. “This technology is unlike anything we have interfaced with before. High probability that remote accessing is impossible. Suggest we try direct access.”

“I need to find a computer terminal,” said Trip to the nanites.

“Affirmative,” said the nanites.

“I’ll see what I can do,” said Trip. “Keep trying for the remote access you never know when it might come in handy.”

The transit tube car arrived at their destination and the away team got out, carrying their equipment with them. Trip caught up to Shar Jen who was at the front of the party guiding them through the labyrinthine corridors of the ship.

“So how long have you folks been out here on the Rel Sevanne?” asked Trip.

“Ten generations,” said Shar Jen, without any sign that this was anything unusual.

“Ten generations? You were born on this ship?” asked Trip, trying to take in what this meant.

“Yes,” replied Shar Jen. “Everyone on this ship was born here. We’re here,” she said standing beside a set of large double doors that were twice her height. She pressed a button at the side of the doors and they opened. She stepped over the lip of the bulkhead and entered the room which Trip assumed was Engineering. The sight that greeted him was not exactly what he had expected.

“The Rel Sevanne has five engines,” said Shar Jen. “They have names, Jerel, Lirat, Manira, Torit and Devas.” She pointed to each engine as she said its name.

“Damn, those are big,” said Trip.

“Understatement of the year,” said Reed, quietly, who had come in behind him. He was right, big didn’t even begin to cover it. Each engine was three floors high and almost as wide. Enterprise’s warp engine was an insect compared to the power and size of these five. Trip could hear the gasps of the other members of the away team as they entered the room.

“They are getting very old,” said Shar Jen.

“No kidding,” replied Trip. “Ten generations, huh?”

“They have been completely rebuilt in their lifetimes but in effect they are the same engines that the Rel Sevanne left port with. We think it may be Lirat that is causing the problems,” said Shar Jen.

Each engine had some marks on it in which looked like the Tien script they had seen around the ship on their journey to the engine room and Trip took to be name labels. The labels themselves had to be at least a storey high.

“I think this is what we’d call a granny’s broom situation,” said Trip. “They’re the same engines that the ship left port with but every single part has been replaced.” The engines were amazing but he couldn’t believe that they were ten generations old. Hell, he’d have had trouble believing that they were one generation old. Assuming that the Tien generations were the equivalent to human generations which wasn’t necessarily true, Vulcans lived considerably longer than humans.

“I don’t understand what a “granny’s broom” is but your assessment would be mostly correct,” said Shar Jen. “I believe that Jerel, Lirat and Devas still contain some original parts.”

“Okay, let’s get to work,” said Trip. These engines might be big but he was pretty sure they’d work on the same basis as his own warp five engine back on Enterprise. “We’ll start with Lirat and if it turns out she isn’t the problem then we’ll check the other four too.”

“She?” asked Shar Jen.

“All engines are female,” said Trip with a shrug.

“Lirat is a gender neutral name,” said Shar Jen, “as are the others. They were named after cities on our homeworld.”

“Well as far as I’m concerned it’s a she,” said Trip.

“Very well,” said Shar Jen. “Follow me.” A number of Tien engineers were already watching the Enterprise team as they walked across to Lirat and Shar Jen began showing them the ropes of the alien engine. Trip was slightly surprised to see so few of the Tien working on the engines, he was used to the bustling engine room of Enterprise and he filed it away as another thing to ask about if he got a chance.

Trip, Rostov and Kelly got to work taking readings of the engine’s functions. Lieutenant Reed helped out, although warp engines weren’t his speciality he knew enough to be useful, while Hooper and Scott were put to work fetching and carrying for the engineers. Reed was still vigilant but he’d already decided that the threat to the away team was either minimal or insurmountable. The aliens seemed friendly and the presence of children made him think it unlikely that they’d try to attack the away team, however he’d already worked out that if the Tien did decide to harm the away team there was very little he could do about it. The sheer distance between them and the shuttlepod was too far for them to make an easy retreat.

Trip was completely in his element, he worked alongside Shar Jen the two of them discussing the readings that they were taking as they came in, bouncing ideas off one another as to why Lirat should be causing them trouble.

“The five engines must work together or part of the ship is left in normal space while the rest goes to warp. There are automatic safety cut-outs that prevent the ship from going to warp if one of the engines is not online and drop us out of warp safely if there is a problem while we are travelling,” explained Shar Jen.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” said Trip, looking at the schematics that Shar Jen had pulled up for him. “Don’t want to rip the ship apart if there’s a failure.” He looked over the schematics on the screen in front of him, pretending to be absorbed but actually holding a conversation with the nanites. “So any luck with interfacing?” he asked them.

“There is an organic component to their technology. We are unable to act upon it. We can only obtain limited access,” said the nanites.

“Damn, I guess that will have to do. Start feeding me data about the warp engines, begin with their maintenance history,” replied Trip. He’d almost forgotten about one of the safety protocols that the nanoprobes’ designer had built in at a fundamental level, the nanites could not act upon living tissue. It had been intended to prevent the nanites being used as a weapon. Grenan Dath hadn’t wanted that. He’d been an Engineer, just like Trip, and had used the nanoprobes for helping him fix things and diagnostics. Unfortunately Grenan Dath’s son had other ideas about what the nanoprobes should be used for and had caused Trip quite a lot of trouble.

“You must remain in contact with the ship for the data flow to continue,” reminded the nanites.

“Yeah, I got the message, now hurry up before this beautiful Engineer standing next to me starts to wonder why I’m leaning on this console,” said Trip. He turned to Shar Jen, “what are these couplings here?” he asked pointing to an area on the schematics.

“Secondary power couplings and computer links. The computer controls the engines and the matter/anti-matter mixture. It also monitors all engine functions constantly for malfunctions and diagnostic purposes,” said Shar Jen.

“And that was how you figured out it was Lirat causing the trouble?” asked Trip.

“Yes, although there had already been some indications that Lirat was not functioning correctly,” said Shar Jen.

“Did you check to see if the plasma valves were fused?” asked Trip.

“They show as open on the indicator panels,” said Shar Jen.

“Never trust a computer when you can trust your own eyes,” said Trip. “Let’s have a look at those next. What about the phase coils? When were they last replaced?” He desperately wanted to ask Shar Jen about the organic component to their technology that the nanites had found but at the moment he wasn’t supposed to know about it. He just hoped that it would come up at some point when they were poking around in the warp engine. He knew that the Xindi used organic technology in their weapons and if he could gather some information about how the Tien used it, it might help them against the Xindi.

Suddenly all the nanites in his head were shouting at him all at once. He held his head and told them to be quiet, but nothing seemed to shut them up. He let out a cry of pain. It felt as if his head was about to explode, his legs wouldn’t support him anymore and he sensed that he was falling towards the floor. His vision blurred and he could see Shar Jen bending down beside him a concerned look on her face. He heard her calling for Lieutenant Reed, but everything hurt so much.

“Shut up!” he told the nanites. “Shut up!” He tried to curl into a ball, rocking himself as if that would help alleviate the pain that was pushing its way out of his skull and over his body. He couldn’t hear what the nanites were saying, they were all talking at once. Someone pressed a hypospray to his neck and he was mercifully unconscious shortly after that.

****End of Chapter Two****

Lieutenant Reed had heard Trip’s cry of pain and seen him fall to the floor just as Shar Jen called out to him. He thought it was a panic attack and grabbed the hypospray that Phlox had given him when Reed had suggested Trip accompany them. As he neared and heard Trip say twice “shut up”, he suspected that it might be related to the nanites rather than simply something setting off a fear response. He knew that the sedative in the hypospray could just as well be used to relieve Trip of pain as to calm him from a panic attack.

“I don’t understand,” said Shar Jen, “is the Commander ill?”

“I’m afraid so,” said Reed.

“We can take him to our sick bay,” said Shar Jen.

“No,” said Reed, “not sick bay. Commander Tucker has a phobia about medical facilities. Is there somewhere quiet we can take him? And if I have your permission, get our doctor over from Enterprise?”

“Of course. I sensed that he was in pain. I should have realised,” said Shar Jen.

“You sensed…? Never mind. Let’s just find somewhere for him to lie down,” said Reed.

“My quarters,” said Shar Jen, “they’re close. We can take him there.”

Reed flipped open his communicator and requested that Phlox come over on Shuttlepod Two to tend to Trip. He didn’t go into details, he didn’t want to worry anyone on Enterprise, hopefully they’d think that this was just another of Trip’s “episodes”. Not that that wasn’t worrying enough but less worrying than it being a problem with the nanoprobes which were still an unknown. Shar Jen brought over a couple of the Tien engineers and they carried the unconscious human to Shar Jen’s quarters, Reed following anxiously behind them, after taking a moment to tell Ensign Cook to carry on with the repair work.

Shar Jen’s quarters were just along the corridor and apparently were always occupied by the Chief Engineer, or Artificer as the Tien called her. The quarters were much larger than even the Captain’s quarters on Enterprise. They consisted of a bedroom, lounge, kitchen and bathroom, all at least as large as Reeds own quarters. The lounge was draped in velvet and other fabrics giving it a cosy feel, and it had a large couch.

“Put him on the couch. I’m sorry my rooms are not bigger,” said Shar Jen, “the Artificer is expected to spend most of their time in the Engine room.” The Tien engineers deposited Trip on the couch and left Shar Jen and Reed to look after him. Shar Jen went to the bedroom and returned with a blanket to put over Trip.

“They’re larger than my own quarters on Enterprise,” said Reed, looking around him. “And Commander Tucker would agree that the Chief Engineer should spend most of their time in the Engine room. Lately he’s been spending too much time there.”

“He is in pain, I sensed it,” said Shar Jen. “Sit down, Lieutenant, while we wait for your doctor to arrive.”

Reed sat down in an armchair and Shar Jen sat cross legged on the floor. “You said that you sensed he was in pain before. What did you mean?” asked Reed.

“The Tien are sensitive to others. We are all empathic to a certain degree, some more than others. Your Commander is…radiating darkness, pain. It’s hard to explain to a non-empath, it’s as if we see people coloured by their emotions. Something terrible happened to him. What was it?”

“He was captured and tortured for information by our enemies,” said Reed quietly, looking at the sleeping Engineer. “They had him for two months before we were able to rescue him.”

“This was recent?” asked Shar Jen.

“Yes, we rescued him just over three months ago,” said Reed.

“That is what I felt then. There is something else that you haven’t told me,” said Shar Jen.

“There’s quite a lot that I haven’t told you,” said Reed.

“But that is all that you’re going to say?” asked Shar Jen.

Reed nodded.

“I must introduce you to our Weapons Master, Nils Fen. The two of you would get on well,” said Shar Jen.

“I look forward to you introducing us,” said Reed. Trip stirred in his sleep and mumbled something.

“The Commander is still ill,” said Shar Jen. “He is having difficulty putting his ordeal behind him.”

“Yes, he is,” said Reed.

“He has good friends,” said Shar Jen. “I can feel your concern.” Reed looked down at his hands, embarrassed at what Shar Jen was saying. “And your guilt.” Reed’s head snapped up and he looked into Shar Jen’s turquoise eyes. He felt she was staring directly into his soul and he couldn’t pull away from her gaze. He had thought that he had been hiding his guilt at allowing Trip to be captured by the Xindi, but obviously not well enough. He’d known it was still there but he’d been doing his best to push it down so deep inside him that it would never surface again. Trip hadn’t ever suggested that it was Reed’s fault that the Xindi had captured him but that didn’t stop Reed thinking it. He felt as if he was losing himself in Shar Jen’s eyes.

A beep sounded, breaking the spell and Shar Jen stood. “Your doctor is here,” she said. “I will go and meet him. Will you be able to look after the Commander while I am gone?”

“Yes, he should sleep for another couple of hours,” said Reed, still wondering what had just happened.

“Please make use of my kitchen if you need anything. I should be no more than twenty time divisions,” she said and left Reed with the unconscious engineer.

“Oh, Trip,” said Reed, sighing as he settled back in the chair. “Why do I get the feeling that there is something going on with the Tien that we don’t know about?”

****

Trip woke up slowly. His first thought was that his head hurt and the more aware he became the more he realised how much pain he was in. He opened his eyes and then quickly screwed them shut again, putting a hand to his head as if that would ease the pain he felt. He’d been dreaming, something he’d been dreaming on and off for the past few weeks, he’d dreamt that the nanites were controlling his body. This time there had been an extra dimension to the dream, this time it had been as if he were turning into a machine.

“Damn, not again,” he said, surprising himself when he heard the words out loud.

“Trip?” said a familiar voice.

“Malcolm, what colour are my eyes?” asked Trip anxiously, looking up into the face of Malcolm Reed.

“Blue, Trip, they’re blue,” said Reed slightly puzzled.

“Thank god for that,” said Trip, letting out a deep breath.

“You’re okay,” said Reed, squeezing his friend’s shoulder. “Why did you ask about your eyes?”

“Last time I had a headache this bad it was because Ven Dath activated the nanoprobes’ homing program. I woke up and…” he couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence.

“And you weren’t you anymore,” finished Reed.

“Yeah, it was like I was trapped in a bad dream and my eyes had turned silver,” said Trip.

“Mr Reed, if you wouldn’t mind moving so that I can perform my scans I would be very appreciative,” said Phlox.

“Sorry, Doctor,” said Reed and moved to the other end of the couch so that the doctor could have access to Trip.

“How do you feel, Commander?” asked Phlox.

“Like my head is about to fall off,” said Trip, wincing at the pain in his skull.

“I’ll give you an analgesic for the headache and then I’d better give you a full check-up,” said Phlox.

“Okay Doc,” said Trip and let the doctor give him a hypospray full of painkiller.

“Do you remember what happened?” asked Reed.

“Erm, I was trying to access the computer and suddenly I had this blinding headache and the nanites were all screaming at me at once,” said Trip. “I think they were trying to warn me about something, but I never got to hear what the warning was for.”

“You were trying to get the nanites to access the Tien computer? Sometimes I wonder if you even have the sense you were born with, Commander,” said Reed, pacing around the room. “This is a completely alien technology. We have no idea how the nanites might react to it or what security precautions they have in their systems. You could have been killed instead of escaping with a headache!”

“Yeah, I know, I just didn’t think about it that way. I guess I got burned when I put my fingers somewhere I shouldn’t have,” said Trip. He knew Malcolm was concerned about him but he didn’t understand why the Lieutenant was so angry, apart from a sore head he was fine.

“These nanites aren’t toys,” said Reed, barely keeping his anger under control. “You have to be more careful. I’m not losing you again.”

“Okay, Malcolm, no more messing about with strange systems. I’ll be more careful,” said Trip, finally working out why Malcolm was so upset. He really could have been killed. “Where am I?” he asked taking in surroundings.

“Shar Jen’s quarters,” said Reed. “She offered to take you to their sick bay but I didn’t think you’d be too happy about waking up there.” Reed recognised the look of fear which had briefly passed across Trip’s features at the mention on sick bay.

“Thanks, Malcolm, you’re probably right about that,” said Trip.

“Well apart from your overloaded neurons, I can’t detect any problems,” said Phlox.

“So I can get back to work?” asked Trip, sitting up.

“I suppose so, but I don’t want you using the nanites to interface with the Tien computers or overdoing it. Mr Reed has been briefed to make sure that you finish your shift on time and don’t over-exert yourself.” Reed gave a small nod at this comment to verify it. “Not only that we have all been invited to attend dinner with the senior council and it would be rude to be late. I’m told that it will be followed by traditional Tien entertainment.” Phlox smiled a big grin, obviously thoroughly excited by the prospect of witnessing the culture of their hosts. “Shuttlepod Two will be returning this evening with the Captain, T’Pol and Hoshi.”

“Don’t worry, Doc, we’ll be there and I promise I’ll try to take it easy for the rest of today,” said Trip, feeling better now that his head had stopped throbbing. He remembered that he’d told the nanites to shut up earlier so they were quiet now. “How are you guys doing?” he asked the nanites.

“We are functioning within required parameters,” replied the nanites. They fed him some statistics which he reckoned looked fine, although he noticed the nanite die off and replacement rates had increased when his headache had hit. They seemed to be back to normal now so probably nothing to worry about. The defunct nanites were absorbed by their brethren anyway and their material used to produce new functioning nanites. None of the nanites lived very long and there was a constant turnover and replacement cycle running.

“So what happened?” he asked.

“Unknown,” replied the nanites. “We were attempting to interface when we detected another presence within the network. It produced a feedback loop and we were temporarily overloaded. We managed to obtain some information but the download was incomplete.”

“Another presence?” Trip thought.

“Nature of presence unknown,” replied the nanites.

“How did I know you were going to say that,” replied Trip.

“Unknown,” replied the nanites.

“That was a rhetorical question,” thought Trip.

“Sorry, we’re not good at understanding those yet,” apologised the nanites, “more data is required.”

“Somehow I doubt you’ll ever get the hang of sarcasm or rhetorical questions,” said Trip. “Thanks for making the attempt anyway.”

“We are programmed to integrate as well as possible with our host,” said the nanites.

“I’m sure you are. Is there any way we can stop you from frying my brain next time something like this happens?” he asked.

“More data required. We can run simulations on possible safety precautions if you would like?”

“Sounds good to me, would be nice not to be writhing on the floor in agony next time we accidentally trip a booby trap,” said Trip.

“Commander?” said Reed.

“Sorry, just checking in with nanites,” said Trip.

“Everything okay?” asked Reed.

“All functions within required parameters,” replied Trip without thinking. “I mean yeah, they’re fine. Where’s Shar Jen?”

“She went back to the Engine room to supervise the repairs. She told me that she is responsible for hundreds of Tien who keep this ship running. Everything from making sure the ship doesn’t fall apart to warp theory to plumbing,” said Reed.

“I guess that’s why her title is Artificer not just Chief Engineer,” said Trip. “Makes sense she’d need a lot of people to keep all those systems in repair. Do you know the way back or do we need to call for an escort?”

“It’s not far. Seems that the Artificer’s quarters go with the job and they’re purposely near the Engine room. Do you want to come with us Doctor?” asked Reed.

“Thank you Lieutenant but Shar Jen said she would send someone to take me for a tour of their medical facilities. They should be here in a few moments,” said Phlox.

“Have fun, Doc,” said Trip, rising from the couch and following Reed towards the door. He had no doubt that the Denobulan medic would be in seventh heaven exploring an alien sick bay.

It took most of the rest of the day to repair Lirat. Trip and Reed only briefly saw Shar Jen again as she was called away to report to the senior council on their progress. Trip started to work on the charging array for the warp reactor which seemed to be a major part of the problem, Ensign Hooper assisted him by passing him tools and checking readouts on the various diagnostic instruments the Tien used to keep track of the engine’s performance.

Trip was finding that working without the background of engineering data being fed to him by the nanites was difficult to get used to. He’d never expected to actually miss anything about the nanites, he’d spent so long trying to get rid of them that he was surprised to find himself liking their constant chatter. He hadn’t realised how having that much engineering data directly fed into his head coloured his every action, not to mention how he prioritised his work and managed his staff’s workload. He felt as if he’d had a layer of understanding removed from him. At least they were still able to help him with calculations and the hundreds of other things that they now did which he didn’t even think about anymore.

Suddenly it struck Trip just how much he had come to take the nanites for granted. He treated them as if they were part of his own natural body, instead of what they really were, machines which had originally been designed to disable Enterprise and eventually kill them. He’d resigned himself to the fact that they were part of him now but just what did that mean? He hadn’t really thought about it. He wondered if he could really even call himself human anymore now that his blood teemed with machines. How much of him was Trip Tucker and how much of him was the nanites?

****

Shar Jen reported to the senior council chamber. The council chamber was as near to the centre of the ship as was possible since it was the heart of their ship and their society.

“Ah Shar Jen,” said Ten En. “I gather we had an incident in the Engine room with one of our visitors.”

“Yes, Commander Tucker, their Chief Engineer, collapsed. I could not obtain from them any answers as to why this happened. They did not wish me to take him to sick bay so I was unable to take the scans you asked for,” said Shar Jen.

“It is of no consequence now. We know Commander Tucker is what we have been looking for. We also know why he collapsed, he interfaced with the computer,” said Ten En.

“How?” asked Shar Jen.

“He appears to be carrying some type of nano-technology. It should make him perfect for our needs,”
said Ten En. “Not only that he seems to be highly intelligent with an advanced knowledge of science and engineering.”

“I don’t think he will want to stay with us,” said Shar Jen. “He is valuable to their ship as well. We should choose someone else.”

“I’m getting old, Shar Jen. There is no one else. He must be persuaded to stay or if he cannot be persuaded we will have to make him. We don’t know when we will meet another race who are compatible,” said Ten En.

“This goes against everything that we have been taught,” said Shar Jen. “He is a good person. He truly wants to help us and he trusts me. I don’t want to destroy that trust.”

“Our survival is at stake,” replied Ten En. “He likes you. Use that to our advantage, make him want to stay willingly. It will be easier for us all that way.”

“They lack the empathic faculty,” said Shar Jen.

“You know that is not a requirement,” said Ten En. “I know how you feel about this, but it is for the good of the Tien. We must preserve the Rel Sevanne. Commander Tucker must stay with us. Remember the words of the Book “the goddess gave the sky to the Tien that they might take what they needed to survive the darkness,” he was sent to us and therefore he is for us. The darkness is coming Shar Jen, we have no choices remaining to us.”

“The words of the Book can be taken to mean many things,” said Shar Jen.

“Perhaps I should arrange for someone else to speak with the Commander. Perhaps your duties are too taxing and you would prefer to stand down as Artificer,” said Ten En.

“No, I will do what is required of me,” said Shar Jen.

****End of Chapter 3****

The feast had been spectacular to say the least. Trip had never seen anything like the amount of food that the Tien brought out for their guests. Apparently it was all grown in their farms on board the ship, which was a marvel in itself. The seven who had come across in the first shuttlepod had been joined by Phlox, T’Pol, Hoshi and Captain Archer. They were now sat in what their Tien hosts referred to as the Star Chamber, a room which was situated on the back of the Rel Sevanne. It was a completely transparent dome of glass, so it seemed as if those in the room were sitting amongst the stars and the towers of the Rel Sevanne rose majestically around them from the ship’s hull.

The Enterprise officers had been joined by the senior council of the Tien. This consisted of five civil officials, Shar Jen, Nils Fen Lon Dulas, the Weapons Master, and Kris Nor Vin Lusen, Exarch which was the Tien term for “first officer” as far as Hoshi was able to understand. The Tien seemed to be reluctant to use their titles though and expected their visitors from Enterprise to call them by their first and second names.

Ten En Ath Jeriad’s title was Patriarch which was more equivalent to Leader than Captain but he was ultimately in charge of the Rel Sevanne, however he was unable to join the Enterprise crew for dinner as Shar Jen had stated earlier. Shar Jen explained that Ten En had a busy schedule that left him little time for anything other than work. He regretted not being able to meet with Captain Archer but the demands of the ship came first. Captain Archer understood the ship coming first, it was something he had grown used to while he had been Captain of Enterprise and he sympathised with the Patriarch.

Trip was given special attention by the Tien who served them their meal, having been responsible not only for getting most of the repairs to Lirat completed but also because Shar Jen had told them that he had been ill earlier in the day. Trip was slightly embarrassed by the attention that he was receiving but with Shar Jen sat next to him on one side and T’Pol on the other he was feeling quite happy. They had been discussing aspects of Tien culture and Shar Jen had been interested to hear about the differences between human culture and her own. Shar Jen had a way of putting him at ease and he couldn’t remember a time when he’d last been this relaxed. For the first time in a long while he was beginning to enjoy himself.

The Captain had cornered him before the dinner and given him a lecture about messing about with the nanites and alien computer systems, but it hadn’t been more than a friend telling another friend to take more care of himself. Trip reassured Archer that he wouldn’t do it again and the incident was forgotten. He knew the Captain was just worried about him, the last few months had been pretty hard on their friendship. Trip was under no illusions about what his capture and recovery had put Archer through, it was understandable that he’d be a little overprotective of his Chief Engineer for a while.

The dinner was followed by entertainment as promised. The Tien played instruments and created beautiful music that tore at the emotions. The music sounded like snowflakes colliding but underneath was a hidden tribal beat that eventually took over the song, becoming more urgent and primal as the music continued. Dancers entered the room, wearing brightly coloured garments and swirled around the floor in intricate patterns in time to the music. Shar Jen sat beside him explaining the instruments and some of the theory behind the music, but as the music went on she became quiet and they let it wash over them. Trip hardly noticed when Shar Jen put her hand over his on the table.

T’Pol was more observant. She didn’t like the way that this alien woman was behaving towards Commander Tucker, she felt that something was wrong with this ship and the Tien but she couldn’t pin down what it was. Vulcans did not get “gut feelings” but that was the closest analogy she could think of to describe her current thoughts. It was disturbing her somewhat that she had such a reaction to what should otherwise have been a routine first contact situation. She would have dismissed it as a side effect of her time spent with humans, except that she suspected it was more than that.

The dancers left the floor and the music became more restful again. The party began to move into small groups to talk further. Shar Jen led Trip towards some comfortable chairs around the edge of the dome where they could look out at the stars and talk more privately.

“Did you enjoy the music, Commander?” asked Shar Jen.

“Trip, call me Trip, and yes, I enjoyed it very much,” said Trip.

“I am glad, Trip,” said Shar Jen and smiled.

“So you said you’d been out here for ten generations?” said Trip and Shar Jen nodded to let him know he was correct. “I mean what are you doing out here? Why haven’t you found a planet and settled down?”

“We originally intended to find a planet to settle upon,” said Shar Jen, “but our plans changed. It was no longer practical. I can’t tell you more than that.”

Trip looked at Shar Jen but decided not to try to elicit more information on something which seemed to be a touchy subject. “What about your homeworld? Don’t you want to go back there?”

“We can’t go back. Our homeworld was destroyed. We are the last of the Tien. We cannibalised most of the internal planets of our system to build the Rel Sevanne. That gap between those two stars there is all that is left of Tien,” said Shar Jen pointing out to the star field in front of them.

“I’m sorry,” said Trip, it was inadequate but he had no idea what else to say.

Shar Jen smiled at him. “It was a very long time ago. We survived and built a life for ourselves on the Rel Sevanne. It is the only life that we have ever known. I have seen more and done more on the Rel Sevanne than I ever would have done had we remained on Tien.” She paused looking out at the stars. “We have a saying “space is not empty, it is only distance that makes it seem so”. Space sent you to me, if we had never left Tien we would never have met.” She turned to look at Trip again. “Enough about our past. Let us talk about you instead.”

“Me? Well there isn’t much to say really,” said Trip. Shar Jen reached out and put a hand gently on his cheek.

“I know your life has not been easy recently, Trip. Lieutenant Reed told me you were captured by your enemies,” said Shar Jen, a look of sadness in her eyes. “I sensed something was wrong when I saw you standing alone in the docking bay.”

“He had no right to tell you about that,” said Trip, suddenly on the defensive. Shar Jen dropped her hand and sat upright in her chair.

“The Tien are an empathic race, we are sensitive to our surroundings and each other. I sensed that you were hurting from something terrible that had happened. I asked him why you were in pain and he told me,” said Shar Jen. “You couldn’t have hidden something this great from me while we were working so closely together.”

“I only just met you. I’m not comfortable baring my soul to everyone I meet,” said Trip.

“I’m not like everyone. We already have a connection. I know that you have felt something between us. Give me your hand,” said Shar Jen.

“Why?” asked Trip.

“It will help you,” said Shar Jen. Trip put his hand in Shar Jen’s. “Now look at my eyes,” she said and Trip looked into the turquoise eyes that seemed to pierce him to his heart. The room faded away around them, there was simply the two of them. “You felt alone, you were afraid that your ship would never come for you,” she said.

“Yes,” said Trip, his own voice sounding distant.

“You were determined not to betray your ship but you worried that you already had,” said Shar Jen. “And…someone else, you weren’t just doing it for Enterprise. Your sister. You worried that you would be letting your sister down. You felt despair that you would die without seeing Earth again, without completing your mission.”

“Yes,” said Trip again, the word little more than a whisper. A single tear ran down his cheek.

“And you felt invaded, they did something to you. When you returned you were ashamed that you hadn’t done enough to stop them. You no longer deserved the love and concern of your friends. You felt…numb. I can sense anger at yourself and at your inability to do things, anger because you were scared. Anger because you are still scared that they will come to take you back.”

Trip couldn’t break away from staring at Shar Jen. How was she doing this? It was more than empathy, it was as if she was reading his mind. It was like a catharsis, he felt her taking some of the weight from him as she spoke about his emotions.

“Let the pain go, it serves no purpose. You are safe now,” said Shar Jen. She had rarely ever felt such sadness before, this man was carrying so many terrible, horrible memories.

“I wish I could let it go,” replied Trip quietly.

Shar Jen blinked and Trip was suddenly pulled back to the room. “If you were Tien, I could help you more. How do you feel?” asked Shar Jen.

“Like I just poured out my soul,” he said blinking and wiping tears from his eyes. “How did you do that?”

“I told you we are an empathic race. I am slightly more than that,” said Shar Jen.

“I kind of got that feeling,” said Trip. “That’s one hell of a talent you have there.”

“Emotions are connected to memories and I can sometimes pick up on those memories, especially if they are connected to strong emotions. In some situations I can relieve the stress of bearing those emotions. I wasn’t sure if it would work at all with another species but it seems we are similar enough that I can help you to a small degree. If you had been Tien then I might have been able to help you let the pain go completely,” said Shar Jen.

“I’m not sure I’d want you to. It’s part of being human, it makes us who we are,” said Trip.

“It is not the pain, it is the experience that makes us who we are,” said Shar Jen.

“Yeah, I know but if it’s all the same to you, I’ll work through this in my own way,” said Trip.

“I understand,” said Shar Jen. “I also detected curiosity from you today, would you be interested in seeing our computer?”

“Sure, that would be great,” said Trip, smiling at the Tien Artificer. He was wondering what else she had picked up while she was in his head and he hoped he hadn’t been too obvious about the fact that he found her attractive. The chances were that Enterprise would be leaving in a couple of days and he’d never see her again after that, nothing could come of this. But, damn, she was beautiful.

“Excuse me for a moment while I make the arrangements,” said Shar Jen.

****

Shar Jen found Kris Nor talking with Captain Archer and politely asked for a moment of his time. The two of them left the Star Chamber and went out into the corridor. They talked in hushed tones even though the corridor was empty.

“The Enterprise crew members will be leaving the ship soon,” said Kris Nor. “We must act tonight.”

“I can’t believe that we are even considering taking another being to preserve our own lives. This is not our way,” said Shar Jen.

“This is hard on all of us, it goes against what we have been taught, our ethics and values, but we have no choice. You know that the Senior Council have already agreed to this course of action and Ten En will only live for a few more days at most. Shar Jen, you know that without our computer the Rel Sevanne will cease to function, we will be the last generation of Tien. The Rel Sevanne needs an organic component or we will all be dead,” said Kris Nor. “Do you want the lives of thousands of Tien on your hands when the sacrifice of one life will save us?”

“If he was Tien it would be different. He doesn’t understand. He has been through so much already, he doesn’t deserve this,” said Shar Jen.

“This is our survival we are talking about,” said Kris Nor. “We can’t wait any longer. This is the right thing to do.”

“If this is the right thing to do then why does it feel so much like betrayal?” asked Shar Jen.

“We must do this for our people, for the Tien, for the Rel Sevanne. It is the only way. You must see that.”

“I see it but I don’t like it. I’m an Engineer not a kidnapper.”

“All you have to do is get him to the computer room we will do the rest,” said Kris Nor.

“I understand the plan. I will do what is required of me for the good of my people,” said Shar Jen and turned on her heel to return to Commander Tucker.

****

Trip gazed out at the stars and was startled when he saw the reflection of T’Pol behind him. “Something I can do for you, Sub-commander?” he asked.

“You seem to be getting on well with the Artificer,” said T’Pol. She had watched the two of them together and had been concerned by what she saw. Shar Jen had initiated what T’Pol knew a human would describe as intimate contact with the Commander, touching his cheek and then taking his hand. That however would not have worried her had it not been for the look in the Commander’s eyes; they had suddenly been clouded by pain and his features had taken on a distant appearance. She wondered what had transpired between them. She had no reason to think ill of Shar Jen but something was going on.

“Yeah, she is something else. I spent most of this morning with her trying to work out what was up with their engines. Her knowledge of this ship is just amazing. Shame we’re leaving soon, I’d liked to have spent more time with her discussing the Tien approach to warp theory,” said Trip.

“I trust you will keep your interest in the Artificer confined to her engineering expertise,” said T’Pol.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Trip, twisting quickly to face T’Pol.

“I was merely suggesting that anything else is not our concern,” said T’Pol.

“Yeah, I’m getting your message loud and clear, T’Pol,” said Trip. “You seem to be looking a little more green than usual, perhaps you should get Phlox to check that out.”

“I assure you, Commander, I am a completely natural colour for a Vulcan,” said T’Pol, slightly puzzled by the Commander’s reference to her colour.

“Never mind,” said Trip, crossly. He had spotted Shar Jen approaching from the other side of the room and decided that now was a good time to finish this conversation before he said something he’d have to apologise for later. “If you’ll excuse me, Shar Jen is going to take me for a tour of their computer.”

T’Pol watched Commander Tucker as he went to meet the tall Tien Artificer. She felt unsettled. It was late in the evening ship’s time and she had yet to meditate, perhaps that was why she was feeling this way. She decided that must be the reason and went to find the Captain.

Lieutenant Reed had also watched the scene from across the room where he was talking to Nils Fen, the Weapons Master. Shar Jen had been completely correct in her assessment that the two of them would get on. He was more interested in where Trip was going with Shar Jen at the moment though, as he watched the two of them exit the room. Damn it, Trip, he thought, you’re not supposed to wander off alone, I would have thought that you of all people would remember that.

“Excuse me, Nils Fen, I had better go and keep an eye on Commander Tucker,” said Reed.

“I’m sure Shar Jen will look after him,” said Nils Fen with a slight smile. “Best to let the two of them have some privacy. I believe she wanted to show him our computer.”

Reed shrugged. “I suppose a few moments couldn’t hurt,” he said. Privately, he was wondering if there wasn’t more that she wanted to show Trip.

“So you have been on board Enterprise for three years?” asked Nils Fen. The Tien Weapons Master was slightly taller than Shar Jen but he also had the same white hair that the rest of the Tien had, except his was cut short. He seemed to be older than Shar Jen but Reed couldn’t be sure if Tien aged in the same way that humans did.

“Yes,” said Reed. “I know it’s nothing compared to your ten generations.”

“Ten generations by necessity rather than desire. I gather your race is new to space faring but three years is long enough gain a lot of knowledge. After all, I understand from Shar Jen that your Chief Engineer has been of great help with sorting out the problems with Lirat,” said Nils Fen.

“Commander Tucker is the best Engineer in the fleet,” said Reed. “Although don’t tell him I said so, his head is quite large enough.”

Nils Fen laughed. “And a friend of yours?” he asked.

“Yes, a good friend too,” said Reed. He guessed Nils Fen had detected his feelings of concern and friendship for Trip. “It must be a useful attribute for a Weapons Master, being empathic.”

“Sometimes it is, but only when dealing with people. My ability is limited by distance, like most Tien so of little use when we are being attacked by another ship,” said Nils Fen. Reed filed that piece of information away for future reference. “Not all of us are as sensitive as Shar Jen.”

“Have you often been attacked? I would have thought a ship this size would have deterred most attackers,” said Reed.

“We have our enemies,” said Nils Fen. “The Expanse has slowed us considerably with the anomalies that we keep encountering and we came across some pirates who thought they would have a go at us while we fixed our ship’s damage. Luckily I was able to repair enough of the weapons systems to fight them off without any further damage being caused us.”

“Yes, we had a similar encounter with some marauders who thought we’d be easy prey. They stole some of our supplies. I don’t think they expected us to come after them and get the supplies back,” said Reed, a small smile forming on his lips.

“A good Weapons Master is always prepared for the unexpected,” said Nils Fen.

“That’s what I keep telling my Captain but I usually just get accused of being paranoid,” said Reed.

“I understand completely,” said Nils Fen in a sympathetic tone. Somehow Nils Fen doubted that Reed would be able to be prepared for what he had planned this time though.

****

Shar Jen led Trip through the corridors towards the heart of the ship, the computer. The room that they entered was lined with banks of computers and in the centre was a cylinder which was currently covered by a smooth, hard, black shell.

“This is amazing,” he said. Enterprise’s computer was considerably larger and from what Shar Jen had told him, considerably less powerful. “Everything is controlled from this room?”

“Yes,” said Shar Jen. “Water, light, heat, engines, weapons. Everything.” She moved closer to him and reached out, her finger tips brushing against his cheek. Trip looked at the Artificer and smiled at the contact.

“You said you were having computer trouble. Is it anything we can help with?” asked Trip.

“One of the components is getting very old,” said Shar Jen. “It needs to be replaced, but we don’t have a replacement.”

“Oh? Which part is it? Maybe Enterprise could spare something.” said Trip, looking around in fascination at the alien technology.

“I’m sure Enterprise can help us. Let me show you the heart of our computer,” she said and led Trip to the cylinder in the centre of the room and pulled open the black covering. Inside the cylinder was one of the Tien, surrounded by electronics so that only his face and upper half of his body were visible. He lay at a forty five degree angle to the floor, his body was supported by a cradle of black material. He seemed to be asleep or dead, Trip couldn’t tell which.

“I don’t understand,” said Trip. “I thought you said this was the heart of the computer?”

“He is,” said Shar Jen, looking at the Tien who was lying peacefully in the cylinder. “This is our Patriarch, Ten En Ath Jeriad. You can see why he was unable to attend the feast and meet your Captain.”

“You’re telling me that your Patriarch is part of the computer that controls this ship? This is just unbelievable. You lied to us,” said Trip accusingly, moving away from Shar Jen. She reached out to him but he brushed off her hand.

“No, we just didn’t tell you the whole truth,” said Shar Jen. “Ten En is the central processor of our computer. He is vital to the running of the ship, it could not function without him. He also makes the majority of command decisions with help from the computer and the senior council. The only way our ancestors could find to build a computer this sophisticated was to incorporate a Tien into the matrix.”

“But how is he able to interface with the computer?” asked Trip.

“Our ancestors genetically engineered a line of Tien so that they could interface with the computers on the ship. Ten En is the last of that line and he is dying, there are no more Tien to replace him and we have lost the knowledge to genetically engineer more. When Ten En dies the ship will die with him,” said Shar Jen.

“Are you asking for our help?” said Trip. “Maybe Phlox could take a look at him…” Shar Jen shook her head and Trip fell silent.

“He is beyond the help of even our doctors and our medicine is more advanced than yours,” said Shar Jen.

“Then why are you telling me this if you don’t want our help?” asked Trip.

“The Tien wish to extend an invitation to you, Trip,” said Shar Jen. “We want you to stay with us. We want you to take Ten En’s place.”

“You want me to become part of your computer?” asked Trip, he couldn’t quite believe what was happening.

“Yes,” said Shar Jen.

“No, no way am I becoming part of some machine,” said Trip backing away from Shar Jen and the cylinder containing the Patriarch.

“Trip, please just listen to what I have to say. The survival of the Tien is dependant upon you,” said Shar Jen.

“Why me? Why am I more compatible than any other human or Tien for that matter?” asked Trip, trying desperately to understand the situation that he found himself in.

“When you tried to access our computer Ten En detected the presence of nano-technology in your body. They should facilitate your ability to interface with our computer,” said Shar Jen.

“I seem to remember last time I tried to interface with your computers I got my brain fried, what makes you think that won’t happen again?” he asked.

“The reason you were hurt was because Ten En detected your presence and sent you a warning to leave. We didn’t quite expect it to have the effect that it did, but it was not a function of the technology,” said Shar Jen. “Trip, I am offering you a great opportunity, to save an entire race.”

“You’re asking me to give up everything that makes me human. Would I even be aware of anything?” said Trip.

“Ten En feels everything that goes on in the ship through the sensors. The Rel Sevanne itself is empathic, it feels the emotions of all the Tien aboard and it touches us.” Shar Jen looked directly at Trip, “I have felt your emotions, Trip. I know how alone you have felt since your return, even when you are with your friends you feel set apart by what you went through. You would never be alone again. We would take care of you,” said Shar Jen. “You would be a part of us.”

“You’re asking me to abandon my duties on Enterprise, to leave my friends and my life behind. Enterprise needs its Chief Engineer to complete its mission and I can’t leave them,” said Trip. “There must be another way.”

“No, the computer needs an organic component to function. If the Rel Sevanne dies then the Tien die with it. We are the last of our race and you are our final and only option,” said Shar Jen.

“I’m sorry, Shar Jen, but the answer is no. We’ll help you with the problem in any way that we can, but I can’t stay,” said Trip.

“I’m sorry too, Trip,” said Shar Jen sadly, “but I must protect my people and I have my orders.” She closed her eyes and looked away from Trip. He turned to look at Ten En and Trip was surprised to see the lifeless body of the Patriarch open its eyes. Guards appeared around the room from nowhere and Trip found that he was surrounded. It only took him seconds to realise that he wasn’t going to be given a choice about whether he wanted to stay on the Rel Sevanne.

“Shar Jen, don’t do this,” said Trip as he backed away. She opened her eyes but wouldn’t look at Trip. He looked for another exit but the only way out was the door through which he and Shar Jen had entered. That exit was now blocked by one of the Tien guards who carried some kind of weapon.

“Please don’t make this any harder than it already is,” said Shar Jen.

“This won’t work, Enterprise won’t leave without me. They need their Chief Engineer. Shar Jen, you know there has to be another way,” said Trip. He felt the wall against his back and knew that he was trapped. He only had one course of action left open to him so he decided to take it. Talking his way out of this wasn’t working. He hit the guard who was nearest to him and made a grab for their weapon. Although the Tien looked fragile they made up for it with strength and agility, the guard dodged his grab at the weapon and another of the Tien landed a blow on Trip’s back which sent him sprawling to the floor. He was too stunned to do more than struggle weakly as the guards pulled him to his feet.

“Shar Jen, you can stop this!” shouted Trip urgently. “You know this isn’t right.” The guards dragged him away to a side room as he did his best to wrestle himself from their grasp. It was futile though, three Tien were more than a match for a single human. “For an empathic race, you’re pretty insensitive to other people’s feelings,” said Trip bitingly, “let me go, you bastards!”

Shar Jen remained silent. She watched as they took the struggling Engineer into a side chamber and strapped him onto the biobed that awaited him there. She closed the door behind them which blocked out Trip’s calls to her to do something. There was nothing for her to do. Ten En was dying and Trip had been sent to them as his replacement. He might not realise it, but he would be better off with them than in the world of raw emotions and hurt which he currently existed in.

“It is done, Patriarch,” said Shar Jen.

“Good,” said the disembodied voice of Ten En. “See that he is prepared for conjoining and we will begin my removal as soon as he is ready.”

“I will see to it,” said Shar Jen. She stood for a few minutes trying to feel the emotions of the Patriarch but they were faint and waning. They had found Trip just in time.

Ten En’s eyes were shut again. She drew the black covering back over the cylinder, Ten En deserved his peace, he had served the Tien well for his entire life.

“Excuse me, Shar Jen,” said a voice behind her. “But I was wondering if you had seen Commander Tucker?”

She turned to see Lieutenant Reed. “I’m sorry Lieutenant, he is not here.”

“I thought you were taking him for a tour of the computer?” he said.

“Yes, he left a moment ago,” said Shar Jen, “you have only just missed him.” The Tien were not good liars, their empathic faculty had meant that it was almost impossible for another Tien not to know when they were being lied to. However, they had become experts at telling half truths and omitting important information.

“Oh, I’m sorry to have bothered you,” said Reed and left Shar Jen to her thoughts once again. She could already feel the concern for his friend radiating from the human and she felt her own guilt at what she had done. She was very glad that the humans were not an empathic race.

****End of Chapter Four****

Archer stood in the docking bay of the Rel Sevanne beside Shuttlepod Two. Trip was late and Archer wasn’t pleased. Or, at least, twenty minutes ago he hadn’t been pleased, now he was worried. Unfortunately something about the structure of the ship meant that their communicators didn’t work so they couldn’t even try to contact Trip.

“I’m sorry, sir,” said Lieutenant Reed. “I went to the computer room but Shar Jen said he’d already left.”

“Shar Jen was still there though?” asked Archer.

“Yes, sir,” said Reed. “She said that I’d just missed him. He’s probably just got distracted by some piece of alien technology.”

“Have you ever known Trip to miss a check in or rendezvous if there wasn’t a very good reason for it?” asked Archer.

“No, I haven’t,” said Reed. Trip always stuck to protocol when it came to checking in and he was very rarely late for anything. People thought that Trip was laid back, and to a certain extent he was, but it was in a very specific way. He didn’t tolerate mistakes in his Engine room and he was equally careful when it came to procedures. Not following procedures on a starship was a good way to get yourself killed.

“T’Pol, when did you last see Commander Tucker?” asked Archer.

“I saw him leave the Star Chamber with Shar Jen shortly after the entertainment finished,” said T’Pol. “I don’t believe that he has been seen since then by any of us.”

“Let’s go and talk to Kris Nor,” said Archer. “Perhaps our hosts can help us locate him.”

Reed grabbed the nearest Tien, a technician who happened to be working in the docking bay, and asked him where they could find the Exarch. After he had explained to the technician that one of their crewmembers was missing, he was only too pleased to help and seemed just as concerned for the Commander’s safety as Reed was. The technician went to an intercom and called for Kris Nor to come down to the docking bay as soon as he could.

Archer sent the engineering team back to Enterprise with Hoshi, Hooper and Scott in Shuttlepod One, there was no need for everyone to hang about while they found Trip.

“Captain,” said T’Pol. “I believe I should raise my concerns with you about Shar Jen’s behaviour towards Commander Tucker earlier.”

“What concerns?” asked Archer.

“They were becoming overly friendly after dinner,” said T’Pol.

“Overly friendly? I’m not sure I see that as a cause for concern,” said Archer. Unless, he thought, Trip has been doing something he shouldn’t have, but then they’ve only known each other for a day and for most of that time Trip was fixing their engines.

“It is more the manner of their friendship. There is something about the Tien that I find…unsettling,” said T’Pol.

“Unsettling?” said Archer, “you’re not giving me much to go on here, T’Pol.”

“I don’t know if it’s relevant,” said Reed, “but Shar Jen told me that the Tien are an empathic race. Maybe your Vulcan control of your emotions if clashing with their sensing emotions.”

“Are you saying that they can detect our emotions?” asked Archer.

“Yes, Captain,” said Reed. “I’m not sure how it works but as Shar Jen explained they all have the ability to some degree.”

“Interesting,” said T’Pol. “I have heard rumours of empathic races before but Vulcans have not yet made contact with one. Perhaps that is indeed why I have been feeling so unsettled on this ship. Emotions obviously play a very important part in Tien culture, something which as a Vulcan it is difficult for me to comprehend. It may be skewing my perceptions.”

“That’s all very interesting but it doesn’t help us find Trip,” said Archer.

“What I was trying to convey, Captain, was that I believe Shar Jen may be hiding something from us. Perhaps we should talk to her again,” said T’Pol.

“I agree Captain, she was showing a lot of interest in the Commander,” said Reed.

“Okay, let’s find Shar Jen,” said Archer, and turned to leave the docking bay.

“Ah, Captain Archer,” said Kris Nor who had entered the docking bay at just that moment. “What seems to be the trouble?”

“Commander Tucker is missing,” said Archer. “He was last seen with Shar Jen.”

“I will contact Nils Fen and ask him to start a search,” said Kris Nor.

“We’d like to talk to Shar Jen,” said Archer.

“And I’d like to be involved in the search,” said Reed. “I’m sure Nils Fen won’t object to having an extra pair of hands to help him out.” Reed knew that Kris Nor’s reaction to this would tell them a lot about whether the Tien did have anything to hide regarding Trip’s disappearance. If they had nothing to hide they would have no reason not to let Reed tag along with their security forces.

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” said Kris Nor, “I’m sure that Nils Fen will be able to handle the search with our own security forces.”

“And Shar Jen?” asked Archer.

“She is currently engaged in some delicate repairs to our computer. Once she has finished I’ll be pleased to ask her to talk to you,” said Kris Nor.

“Perhaps Shar Jen could interrupt her repairs since Commander Tucker is missing,” said T’Pol.

“I’m sorry but as I said, the repairs are extremely delicate in nature and she cannot be disturbed until they are completed. If you would like to wait while we search, I can provide a place for you to do so,” said Kris Nor.

Archer wasn’t happy that Kris Nor had evaded his questions and he wasn’t even able to talk to Shar Jen. He certainly wasn’t going to leave until they had found Trip. “Thank you, we’d like to wait,” said Archer. “Please keep us informed of any developments and let us know when Shar Jen is available to speak with us.”

“Very well, follow me,” said Kris Nor. “I feel your concern for your friend. Don’t worry, I’m sure we can locate him.”

“Thank you, Kris Nor, the sooner we know where he is the better,” said Archer. The three remaining members of the away team followed the Exarch to a well furnished room with comfortable chairs and he left them there with instructions to call one of the stewards if there was anything that they required. Archer didn’t fail to notice that before he left Kris Nor also instructed two Tien to stand guard outside the door of the room.

“I don’t trust him,” said Reed after the Exarch had left.

“Neither do I,” replied Archer, “but we didn’t catch him in a lie either. Something is definitely going on.”

“Could it not simply be that Commander Tucker has had one of his episodes and is unable to summon help?” asked T’Pol.

“I had thought of that,” said Archer, “but surely someone would have found him by now. There are enough Tien wandering around this ship that you would think one of them would spot a lost alien visitor. I think something has happened and the Tien don’t want us to find out about it. Malcolm, we have to get out of here. Have you got any ideas?”

“I still have my phase pistol, but three of us aren’t going to be much use against the small army of security officers that the Tien have. We’ll have to use stealth rather than force.” Archer and T’Pol hadn’t brought their phase pistols with them because they had been coming for dinner not a fight. “If we could leave this room undetected that would be a good start but the only exit I can see is that door, which is currently being guarded by two Tien security officers. After speaking with their Weapons Master, I can guarantee that they will be very well trained,” said Reed despondently. “And we have another problem, we also need a way to find the Commander once we’re out of here.”

“I believe that we should be able to use their internal sensors to locate Commander Tucker,” said T’Pol. “Shar Jen spoke about the sensors being linked to their computer. If we can reach their computer room then we should be able to access the sensors and scan for a human biosign.”

“Okay, so we have a way to find him once we’re out. What about the guards?” said Archer looking at Reed.

“There’s only one person in this room who’d have a hope of sneaking up on them undetected,” said Reed looking at T’Pol. He handed her his phase pistol. “I’m betting that you can control your emotions well enough that they won’t be able to sense them until its too late.”

“There is only one way to test that hypothesis,” said T’Pol, moving towards the door.

“Be careful,” said Archer. “If Malcolm’s right about their level of training, two against one won’t be easy.”

T’Pol simply nodded. She approached the door and put the hand with the phase pistol in it behind her back, before hitting the button to open the door with her other hand.

“Excuse me, I would like to speak with your superior officer,” she said. Before either of the guards had time to react she had stunned one with her phase pistol and made use of a Vulcan nerve pinch on the other. Both guards lay at her feet within minutes of her opening the door.

“I must get you to teach me that at some point, Sub-commander,” said Reed, coming to assist T’Pol as she pulled the guards inside the room.

“I would be glad to show you how, although caution is recommended in its use until you are fully proficient. A very similar technique can be used to cause death,” said T’Pol.

“Remind me not to get on your wrong side,” said Reed.

“I don’t believe that you will require a reminder,” replied T’Pol without a trace of emotion.

“Let’s hurry this up,” said Archer, slightly impatiently. The three of them moved the guards into the room and hid them under some cushions so that should anyone enter the room they would not be immediately spotted. “Come on, let’s go and find Trip,” said Archer and led his three officers towards the computer room.

****

Trip lay strapped down on the biobed in the room that was next to the central computer chamber wearing nothing but his underwear. He’d struggled at first, but had soon realised that it was a futile exercise, the straps across him were too tight and strong. It was obvious that this room had been created specifically for the procedures that they were now performing on him, to prepare a living being to become part of the computer. He wondered if they had added the restraints specially for his benefit or if some of his predecessors had been equally unwilling to “conjoin” as the Tien called it.

The Tien had spent some time simply taking scans and analysing the information that they collected. Shar Jen had joined them once his uniform had been stripped off and had supervised the procedures he was now undergoing. He’d started out by trying to reason with the Tien, then had resorted to calling them all the names he could think of, followed by threatening them with what he would do if he ever got free. He was desperately trying not to panic but being strapped immobile on a biobed was bringing up a lot of bad memories. He decided that anger was his best weapon against fear so he spat more insults at his captors. This had simply been met with a hypospray of something which knocked him out.

He had awoken to find that he now had six small black plugs inserted at equally spaced points into his arms, three on each arm. More plugs had been grafted onto his legs. He could also feel two small cold metal circles on his forehead.

Shar Jen looked down at him. She brushed his hair off his forehead with one of her hands. “Do not worry, this is all for the best,” she said. “It will be over soon.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” said Trip. “Please don’t do this, Shar Jen. It’s not too late to let me go and we can forget this ever happened.”

“It isn’t that easy, Trip,” replied Shar Jen. “I am truly sorry. If there was another way then I would take it, but there isn’t. Not long now and we’ll be ready for the conjoining.” She fixed wires to the silver discs on his forehead.

“No! I don’t want to be conjoined, or whatever you call it. Let me go!” shouted Trip.

“You know that I can’t do that, I’m sorry,” said Shar Jen. “Once you are conjoined it will take a little while for you to integrate into the system. Ten En tells me it can be disorientating to begin with but you should quickly become completely connected. We need to sedate you while we carry out the conjoining, otherwise the shock can be damaging. Don’t worry.” Trip was about to shout out again that he didn’t want this but the last thing her heard was a hiss as Shar Jen pressed another hypospray to his neck and he fell into darkness again.

“He is ready. It is time to remove Ten En,” said Shar Jen to her assistants. She turned around to see Nils Fen enter the room.

“Shar Jen, we have encountered a difficulty,” said Nils Fen.

“What is it?” asked Shar Jen.

“Archer, Reed and T’Pol have left the waiting room. They are trying to find Trip,” said Nils Fen.

“Why don’t you ask Ten En where they are?” said Shar Jen. “The ship’s sensors should be able to detect them.”

“Ten En isn’t answering anymore,” said Nils Fen. “I can’t even feel his emotions now.”

“We must hurry then. When Ten En dies life support will shut down and we will only have minutes to conjoin Trip before power fails completely,” said Shar Jen. “You must stop them from getting to the computer room. I need time to perform the conjoining and then we will have him. Once he is conjoined they cannot take him from us without killing him.”

****

Archer, T’Pol and Reed made their way down the corridor carefully. They suspected that the Tien would know about their departure from the waiting room by now.

Archer crept forwards, hearing voices from around the corner and saw five Tien security guards coming towards them. He signalled silently to T’Pol and Reed to fall back, he took one quick look over his shoulder and followed them. They ducked into a storage room along the corridor and shut the door.

“I do not believe that this will work,” said T’Pol, quietly. “Both of you are broadcasting your emotions.”

“Then you’d better help us,” said Archer. “What was all that stuff that you were teaching Trip?”

“It is complex. We don’t have time for me to teach you control,” said T’Pol.

“Just do the best you can,” said Archer.

“Very well,” said T’Pol. “Start with breathing, follow what I do and try to calm your thoughts.” T’Pol sat cross legged on the floor and Archer and Reed did the same. T’Pol breathed in and out slowly and Reed and Archer tried to follow her rhythm. “Close your eyes,” she said and the two humans obeyed. “Imagine that your thoughts and emotions are like the wind in a storm, they are in turmoil at the moment but you are able to calm them. The wind is fierce now but it is dying away,” said T’Pol quietly. “With each moment the wind becomes calmer until the air is still. The sun is shining and the storm is gone. Think about how the air feels when the wind has died, imagine its tranquillity and stillness.”

She used her Vulcan hearing to keep one ear on the footsteps of the guards outside, she fell silent as they approached, willing her human companions to keep their emotions in check. As she concentrated on suppressing her own emotions, she heard the guards walk past. She knew that it was impossible, her human companions could not control their emotions like she did. She expected the guards to turn around at any moment and come back but after a few minutes they had still not come for them.

“They have gone,” said T’Pol. Reed and Archer opened their eyes and looked at her with relief on their faces. “I am surprised that you were able to attain such a level of control. As humans are obviously able to control their emotions it makes me wonder why you don’t make use of such skills more often.”

“That was bloody hard work, Sub-commander,” said Reed.

“If you practised more often it would become less difficult,” said T’Pol.

“Come on,” said Archer. “We’re wasting time.” Archer checked that there were no more Tien in the corridor and they carried on their careful journey towards the computer room. Suddenly the lights flickered and went out.

“What the hell is this?” asked Archer.

“It seems that the Rel Sevanne is experiencing power fluctuations,” said T’Pol, a disembodied voice in the darkened corridor. “Life support has failed.” The pale back light of a tricorder was visible now.

“How long before it becomes a problem?” asked Reed.

“It would be several days before enough heat and air dissipate from the Rel Sevanne to cause us any difficulties,” replied T’Pol.

“We’re never going to make it to the computer room in the dark,” said Archer.

“I think we can still keep moving if we keep one hand on the wall to guide us,” said Reed. “The Tien are at the same disadvantage that we are.”

“Okay, we’ll give it a go,” said Archer. The three of them made their way along the pitch black corridor feeling their way carefully.

It seemed as if they had been stumbling through the dark for a long time but Archer knew that it was still less than an hour. The lights blinked on, taking a while to warm up before they returned to their previous brightness. “Well, whatever the problem was, they’ve fixed it,” said Archer.

He had a really bad feeling that the blackout that they had just experienced was a significant piece of the puzzle for what was happening on the Rel Sevanne but he just wasn’t sure how it fitted in. Could they want Trip to help fix some mechanical problem that they were having? That didn’t make any sense though, Enterprise had offered the services of its Chief Engineer willingly they didn’t need to kidnap him to obtain his help. Unless of course they wanted Trip’s expertise on a more long term basis, but again they had their own engineer who seemed perfectly competent, why would they need Trip too?

The Tien hadn’t told the Enterprise crew much about themselves and it seemed as if they were purposefully being enigmatic now. Trip had been getting on well with Shar Jen though, and that alone had made Archer feel the encounter had been worth it, just to see Trip relax and smile again. He should have known then that nothing could be that easy, Shar Jen had obviously been trying to lure Trip into some kind of trap. He prayed that Trip was okay but settling at the back of his mind was a feeling of dread.

It was only a little further and they would be at the computer room. They rounded the final corner and in front of them was the door to the computer room, unfortunately it was guarded by a number of Tien security officers. All of whom turned to look in his direction as he drew back around the corner.

“Malcolm, we have a problem,” said Archer in a whisper to his Armoury officer.

****End of Chapter 5****

When Trip woke up, he knew something was different. He tried to remember what had happened before he went to sleep but his memories were a jumble. There was something very important that he needed to remember but he couldn’t quite grasp on to what it was. He attempted to open his eyes but they wouldn’t move.

“Why does it feel like I’m awake but like I’m asleep at the same time?”

“Unknown,” said the nanites in reply.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“We have been integrated into a new system,” replied the nanites.

“Trip,” said a voice.

“Shar Jen?” he asked.

“Yes, it’s me. The conjoining was a success. You are now the core of the Rel Sevanne’s computer,” said Shar Jen.

“Why can’t I see you?” he asked.

“You need to access the surveillance cameras. They are your eyes now. You’ll be able to tap into any sensors across the ship,” said Shar Jen. “Listen to the ship, it will talk to you. I know that you are used to separating out what the nanites say to you, just do that with the ship and you will be able to access any system that you want to.”

Trip reached out and felt the ship. It was as if his body had suddenly extended. His skin was now the hull of the Rel Sevanne, he felt the internal warmth and the external cold of space. The internal temperature was correct, he knew instinctively. The nanites were working overtime, feeding him information from hundreds of different systems but somehow his brain was coping with the increased flow of data. He felt the warp engines pulsing as if they were his heart. He detected the Tien life signs inside the ship, thousands of them, and two humans and one Vulcan. He registered that the humans and the Vulcan were important but he couldn’t work out why.

He accessed the cameras and saw Shar Jen standing in the computer room. In front of her was the black cylinder and Trip knew there was something about that which he was forgetting. “I can see you,” said Trip. “This is amazing.”

“Trip, there’s something else you need to do,” said Shar Jen. “There are invaders on the ship. We need to find them and remove them.”

“I can see them,” said Trip. “I think I know them.”

“You do know them, but they are not Tien and should return to their own ship,” said Shar Jen. “They don’t belong here anymore. Tell Nils Fen where he can find them.”

“I’m not sure I should tell you where they are. There’s some reason that I shouldn’t,” said Trip.

“You are part of the Tien now Trip,” said Shar Jen. “You must protect the Rel Sevanne and that means we must apprehend these aliens.”

“Why can’t I remember who they are? Why can’t I remember what happened?” he asked urgently.

“Your memory will return as you become more alert. It is a side affect of the conjoining,” said Shar Jen. She was monitoring Trip’s vitals and had noticed an increase in his heart and breathing. “It’s okay, Trip. Everything is going to be fine. Just relax and listen to the ship.”

“It’s just I don’t think I should be here,” said Trip. “Something is really wrong about this.”

“Everything is fine. This is where you are meant to be. You are being looked after. Now tell me where the aliens are,” said Shar Jen.

“Erm, okay. They’re here,” said Trip.

“Here?” asked Shar Jen.

“Yeah, they’re waiting in the corridor. I don’t think they like your guards very much. Malcolm just stunned one of them with his phase pistol. Hey, I know what he’s called and the others are Captain Archer and T’Pol. Maybe my memory’s coming back,” said Trip.

“Call Nils Fen and tell him to send another security team,” said Shar Jen.

“Yes, Ma’am,” replied Trip. “You’ve got a rather one sided fire fight going on in your corridor.” In the background he could hear his own voice asking Nils Fen to send security to their section. Another piece of memory returned to him, he knew that he was part of a computer, and with a flash he had visions of everything that had happened to him the past few days.

“Damn, you did it, didn’t you?” he asked Shar Jen. “You plugged me into your computer even when I told you I didn’t want this.”

“I’m sorry Trip, but we had no choice,” said Shar Jen. “Now you have access to our databanks you can see for yourself why we had to do it.”

“I don’t care about your databanks, get me out of here!” said Trip.

“I can’t. Ten En is dead. If we remove you from the computer, the Rel Sevanne will cease to function and we will all die,” said Shar Jen. “You have the data, you know that I am telling you the truth. Search the databanks and see for yourself.”

“Damn,” said Trip, the nanites had returned the data Shar Jen had told him to look for. “You’re right, if you disconnect me, you all die. Two thousand Tien, men, women and children.” He knew he couldn’t do it, no matter how much he wanted to go back to Enterprise he couldn’t just let the Tien die.

“You’re part of the Rel Sevanne now and part of the Tien. You’re one of us now, Trip,” said Shar Jen.

“I’m not one of you and I never will be. I didn’t ask for this, you kidnapped me, drugged me and wired me in. I’m not going to stop until I’ve found a way out of this. I may be stuck here but I don’t have to like it,” said Trip.

“Denying your circumstances won’t make them go away. This is your life now and the sooner you accept it, the sooner you will be happy here,” said Shar Jen.

“I’m not denying anything. I know what’s got to happen,” said Trip. “But I can hope.”

“Have the guards caught your friends yet?” asked Shar Jen.

“No, Malcolm is putting up quite a fight, he’s got your guys pinned and a nice defensible position in a doorway.” He put the image up on the view screen so that Shar Jen could see it too. “You are going to let me see them before you send them back to Enterprise, aren’t you?” said Trip.

“I somehow doubt that we would have been able to persuade them to leave without seeing to you first,” said Shar Jen. “It was never our intention to kill them, just keep them occupied until we had conjoined you.”

“Yeah, I hoped that was what this was all about,” said Trip. “I hoped that I hadn’t been wrong about you. I think I could probably get Malcolm to put down his phase pistol, do you mind if I talk to them? Might save everyone a hell of a lot of trouble.”

“Go ahead, you are the Patriarch, it is your prerogative to handle the situation as you see fit. Although the Senior Council will be watching you until we are happy that you have settled in,” said Shar Jen.

“I understand, you just want to make sure the power’s not going to my head. What are you going to do if I’m not up to it?” he asked.

“We can cut you out of the decision making process and confine your duties to running the ship’s systems. There are also emergency manual overrides for most systems. If you were to refuse to co-operate completely we have ways to make you compliant, but so far we have never had to make use of those,” said Shar Jen. “I doubt the Senior Council would have the courage except in the most desperate of circumstances.”

“What sort of ways?” asked Trip, although he wasn’t really sure he wanted her to answer.

“We can disable the higher brain functions of anyone who is conjoined if necessary. You would be reduced to the intellect of a child and would do everything that we told you to,” said Shar Jen.

“I see. You just need my brain, you don’t need me,” said Trip.

“It is not that simple. There is a reason why our Patriarch is conjoined,” said Shar Jen, “you have information easily accessible that we would take time to access in a crisis. You are the best informed person about the status of the ship and its people. That knowledge makes you the best placed person to lead us. We don’t want to loose that if we can avoid it.”

“I get the picture, you’d prefer it if I didn’t give them reason to take my mind,” said Trip.

“I have no doubt that you would prefer it that way too. When we chose you, we also hoped you would make a good Patriarch and not only a new component for our computer,” said Shar Jen. “Talk to your friends, tell them to put down their weapons and the guards will bring them to the computer room.”

“Okay,” said Trip. He reached out into the ship and separated the system that he needed from the rest of the noise and opened the intercom channel to the corridor where Reed, Archer and T’Pol were holding off the Tien guards. “Malcolm, this is Trip, put your phase pistol down.”

“Trip?” said Malcolm. He heard the familiar southern accent but couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Yeah, it’s me. You can stop blasting the hell out of the Tien now,” said Trip. “Nils Fen, if you wouldn’t mind escorting Lieutenant Reed, Captain Archer and Sub-commander T’Pol to the computer room.”

“Hold it,” said Archer. “Malcolm, don’t do anything. Trip, what’s going on? Are you okay?”

“I’m…erm…well I guess I’m okay. This is going to take some explaining, you’d best come to the computer room with Nils Fen and I’ll tell you what this is all about.”

“How do we even know that you are Trip?” asked Reed. “This could all just be a trick to get us to surrender.”

“Typical Malcolm, always looking for the trap. Erm, let’s see. Okay, I know that your favourite food is pineapple cake and I know that Jon’s dog is called Porthos,” said Trip.

“That isn’t exactly top secret,” said Reed.

“I know that T’Pol broke off her engagement to stay on Enterprise,” said Trip.

“I can confirm that is Commander Tucker,” said T’Pol.

“Engagement?” asked Archer, “I didn’t even know that.”

“It was a personal matter and Doctor Phlox suggested that I discuss it with someone that I trusted,” said T’Pol. “Since the Commander had already opened a personal communication, he already knew the details and was the logical person to discuss it with.”

“I’m sorry, T’Pol, I couldn’t think of anything else that only you’d know about,” said Trip. He knew that only a tiny part of his mind was on the conversation at all, the rest of it was occupied with ship’s business and the various systems of the Rel Sevanne.

“That is quite alright, Commander. I believe the circumstances demanded it,” replied T’Pol. Trip could tell that she wasn’t exactly pleased with him though.

“If you would follow me,” said Nils Fen to the three officers. Trip saw Reed holster his phase pistol and inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. He had no idea what his body was doing, he couldn’t feel it anymore and curiously he wasn’t bothered by that. He guessed that he had too much else on his mind, running a ship was taking up a lot of his mental energy. He watched as the guards ushered his friends towards the computer room.

“Hi Captain, Malcolm, T’Pol,” said Trip.

“Trip, where are you? Shar Jen, what is going on? I want to see Trip now!” said Archer in angry tones.

“Show him, Shar Jen,” said Trip, “There isn’t any other way that he’s going to believe this.”

Shar Jen went to the black metal cylinder that dominated the room and pulled open the covering to reveal the human inside. Trip lay supported by a cradle of black material, covered in electronics with wires emerging from his body. His eyes were closed and his face peaceful. It was the first time that Trip had seen himself and it made him feel cold inside to see himself immobile and so lifeless looking.

“What the hell have you done to him!” shouted Archer at Shar Jen, she stood impassive not even flinching at his shout. “Get him out of there now, we’re going back to Enterprise immediately.” Beside him Trip noted that Malcolm had quickly hidden his look of utter surprise and was now reaching for his phase pistol and thinking about finding someone to shoot. T’Pol had, in true Vulcan fashion, pulled out her tri-corder and was taking scans.

“It’s not quite that simple Captain,” said Trip. “You see I’m integrated into the Rel Sevanne’s computer and if you remove me then a lot of Tien are going to die. As much as I’d like to come back to Enterprise with you, I can’t with all these people depending on me.”

“Trip, just start from the beginning. How did this happen?” said Archer, going up to the cylinder and looking into the unmoving face of his friend.

“Well, the Tien computer has an organic component. The previous guy to occupy this position was Ten En, you remember him?” said Trip.

“I didn’t actually ever get to meet him,” said Archer.

“That’s because their Patriarch is part of their computer. He was part of a long line of Tien that were genetically engineered to be able to join with the Rel Sevanne’s computer. The only problem is that Ten En didn’t have any kids, so when Ten En died the Rel Sevanne would be dead in the water because the computer doesn’t work without an organic component. So basically they needed a replacement part and when I came along they realised that was me,” said Trip.

“You’re saying that you did this willingly?” said Archer in disbelief.

“Well no, I was kind of dragged kicking and screaming, but now I’m here I’m sort of stuck with it,” said Trip. He saw Archer start to get angry again.

“Why you?” asked Archer, his anger very nearly spilling over.

“Because of the nanites. They mean I can interface with the computer and ship’s systems. I’m the only option that they had. They were pretty desperate, Captain. Ten En is dead. He was really old and died when he was removed from the computer. You must have seen the power failure when they took him out and before they plugged me in? The ship can’t function without someone to act as the central processor for their computer.”

“They forced you into this and you’re defending them?” said Archer angrily.

“I guess I’ve developed a slightly different perspective on things now that I’ve got two thousand people depending on me,” said Trip.

“I don’t believe this,” said Archer, turning on Shar Jen. “We offered you help and you kidnap my Chief Engineer to make him part of your computer.”

“We are grateful for your help, Captain Archer,” said Shar Jen, “but you have to understand we really did have no other choice. If we had not found Trip, we would all be dead. I didn’t want to force him into this, it is against our ethical code but there was no other way to save our people.”

“T’Pol, is what they’re saying true?” he asked. “Will the Tien die if we remove Trip?”

“I believe that they are telling the truth,” said T’Pol.

“Is he okay in there?” he asked her.

“His vitals are all strong. It seems as if there are a number of monitoring devices keeping track of his biosigns. They have connected him to a life support system, he should be able to survive indefinitely like this,” said T’Pol.

“No more pecan pie though,” said Trip, trying hard to lighten the mood, but it wasn’t working. Archer couldn’t get over the strangeness of hearing his friend’s voice but not seeing his lips move. His face was still peaceful as if he was asleep.

“That’s the least of our worries, Trip,” said Reed. “What are we going to do, Captain? We can’t leave him like this.”

“I don’t think we have much choice for the moment, Malcolm,” said Archer. “T’Pol, I want you to take as many scans as you can and get to work on some way that we can get Trip out of here.”

“It won’t work,” said Trip. “The Tien have already tried to find a way to stop the computer from depending on an organic central processor, they started their research when they realised the Ten En was the last of his line. I can give you the files, T’Pol, but it won’t help.”

“Nevertheless I will examine them before I come to a conclusion regarding whether it is possible or not,” replied T’Pol.

“Captain, there’s only one way this is going to play out,” said Trip. “You’ve got to leave me here and continue with the mission.”

“Trip, you’re being ridiculous,” said Reed. “We’re not leaving you behind.” Archer gave Reed a look which said it all, he wasn’t sure that they weren’t going to be leaving Trip behind.

“There isn’t any other way, Malcolm,” said Trip. Reed didn’t know what to say so he decided not to say anything. “We could still use Enterprise’s help finishing the repairs to the Rel Sevanne though, so we’ve got a couple of days to come up with something. If we’ve got nothing by then, well, we’ll just have to go our separate ways.”

“Trip, if we do that we don’t know when or if we can get back to you. The Rel Sevanne could be anywhere by then and I know those engines do a lot more than warp five,” said Archer.

“Yeah, they do more than warp five,” said Trip. “I’m not expecting you to come back for me. I may not have wanted this, but it’s happened, and I’m just going to have to make the best of it. I’ve got a whole race depending on me to look after them. I guess you’d better consider this my official resignation from Starfleet.”

****End of Chapter 6****

Reed really didn’t like the idea of leaving Trip behind at all. They had nearly lost him once and Reed had promised that he wouldn’t let anything happen to him again, but here they were in the impossible situation of either killing two thousand Tien or leaving Trip where he was, a living part of a computer. Archer had been furious but there was very little he could do with Trip surrounded by Tien security officers. He and T’Pol had decided to take the shuttlepod back to Enterprise to examine the data that T’Pol had collected. Archer had not accepted Trip’s resignation, pointing out that it was premature. He hadn’t wanted to leave Trip alone on the alien ship so Reed had agreed to stay. Reed was now sitting on the step beside the black cylinder holding a bizarre conversation with the disembodied voice of his friend.

“How can you be so calm about the whole thing?” asked Reed, when they were alone. He had expected Trip to be more angry, perhaps even scared, he knew that he certainly would have been. He hadn’t expected him to be handling this so well. He was very afraid that the Tien had done something more to Trip than just connect him to their computer.

“Well, I don’t really have much choice. This might not be my idea of how my life was going to work out but I can’t just ignore two thousand people. Fighting this isn’t going to do me any good. I mean I’m pissed about the whole damn thing, but the Tien were desperate and I can’t say we wouldn’t have acted the same way if we’d been in their situation,” said Trip.

“I hope to god that isn’t true,” said Reed. “I hope we never force a living being to do something like this just for the sake of our own survival.”

“When survival of your race is on the line people do desperate things,” said Trip.

Reed didn’t want to tell Trip that he’d already seen Archer do things that he would never have believed the man capable of before the Xindi attack on Earth. The possibility of having one’s race wiped from the face of the planet certainly did put a different perspective on things, but he personally hadn’t agreed with everything Archer had done. Just because the Xindi had killed millions it didn’t mean that humans had to loose what made them human.

“Besides,” said Trip, “I’m fine. I’m not hurt or anything. I’m just not going to be able to go back to Enterprise.” Trip felt something from the sensor net. He was still trying to get used to the sensors, especially the emotion sensors. It was as if everything he saw was coloured subtly and that colour indicated an emotion. “Malcolm, you don’t need to feel guilty,” said Trip working out what had disturbed him. “None of this was your fault.”

“You can feel my emotions?” asked Reed.

“Yeah, the Rel Sevanne is empathic, like the Tien. I’m not the only organic technology in this ship. It has emotion sensors. I’m just getting the hang of them but from your reaction, I’m guessing I pegged you pretty well,” replied Trip.

“It is my fault,” said Reed. “I should have been sticking to you like glue the whole time we were on board this ship. Instead I’m off having fun chatting to their Weapons Master about the size of his guns. What kind of security officer am I? And more to the point, what kind of friend does that make me?”

“A pretty damn good one,” replied Trip. “You’re the one who’s sitting here chatting to a voice in an empty room. It isn’t your fault, everything I’ve done, everything that’s happened, has been down to me. If I hadn’t got distracted by Shar Jen I might have been a bit more wary about the Tien and what they were hiding.”

“And I suppose it was your own fault that you got kidnapped by the Xindi too,” said Reed.

“Oh I get it, that’s what this is really all about. You think it was your fault that the Xindi captured me on that ship,” said Trip. “Well that wasn’t your fault either. You told me to keep my phaser handy and instead I was playing around with those alien engines. I had a weapon but I put it down when I was trying to crawl into a conduit, it kept bashing into my leg. It was my own stupidity that got me caught by the Xindi. Besides the way I heard it, it was you who pulled my sorry ass out of there.”

“I was the one who found you,” said Reed with nothing but pain in his voice. He still had bad dreams about finding Trip beaten half to death on the floor of the cell in the Xindi ship.

“Oh god, Malcolm, I’m so sorry,” said Trip as he felt Malcolm’s hurt too through the sensor net. He knew it had been tough on his friends the last few months but he had never understood just how hard Reed had taken the whole thing until now. No wonder he’d been so angry when he’d heard Trip had tried to interface with the Tien computer. After Reed had taken so much care over keeping Trip safe it was like a slap in the face for Trip to casually neglect his own safety.

“Why should you be sorry? You nearly died and I’m responsible for that, and the situation you find yourself in now,” said Reed.

“Oh Malcolm, give it a rest, will you,” said Trip. “I’m the Chief Engineer of a starship not a kindergarten teacher! I knew when I signed on that it was going to be dangerous, we all did. The Captain gave everyone the option of getting off when we were docked at Jupiter station and we all decided to stay. Anything which has happened to me while we’re out here is down to me and no one else. You can try and make things less dangerous but you’re never going to be able to make it risk free. Now promise me that you’ll stop beating yourself up over this.”

Reed nodded. “I’ll try,” he said.

“Good,” said Trip.

“So, what’s it like?” asked Reed.

“Weird,” said Trip.

“Weird? That’s the best description you can manage?” asked Reed.

“Well what do you want me to say? It’s impossible for me to describe. I guess it’s like my body is the Rel Sevanne and the sensors are my senses. The air recycling plant is my lungs, the hull is my skin and the warp engines are my heart. I can see anywhere in this ship where there are cameras and I can sense the emotions of two thousand Tien walking around the corridors. It’s pretty damn well indescribable.”

“I imagine it would be,” said Reed.

“There’s a whole load of fascinating stuff in the databanks as well, I’m just scratching the surface so far. This ship was grown, not built. Well some of it was built, but the outer hull was grown onto the superstructure. The Tien had to leave their home world so they built the Rel Sevanne to evacuate the remaining population. You remember me wondering where they got the materials to build such a huge ship?”

“Yes,” said Reed, it had only been that morning although it now seemed like much longer ago than that.

“They broke up the inner planets of their solar system to get the building materials. It must have been amazing watching it all come together,” said Trip.

“I’m sure it was,” said Reed.

They continued talking about how the Rel Sevanne was built, until Trip sensed Reed was getting tired.

“You should get some sleep,” said Trip. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Captain Archer told me to stay with you, and that’s what I’m going to do,” said Reed.

“You’re dead on your feet, Malcolm. I don’t think the Captain expected you to stay awake all night,” said Trip. He silently sent some commands to a couple of Tien technicians to find a camp bed and set it up in the computer room.

“What about you? You must be tired too?” said Reed.

“I don’t think that I need sleep anymore. My body isn’t exactly functioning as normal,” said Trip. “Just get some sleep, Malcolm.”

“I’ll be fine,” said Reed, just as the Tien arrived with the bed. “This is going to take a little getting used to,” he said.

“You have no idea,” said Trip, who at that moment was monitoring over a hundred systems and was ordering the final repairs to the engine, Lirat. He had just noticed that Devas and Jerel needed complete overhauls as well, he would have to talk to Shar Jen about organising those. “Go on, get some sleep. I’ll wake you if anything important comes up.”

“Okay, Commander,” said Reed and made his way to the camp bed in the corner of the room. He thanked the Tien technicians and laid down, suddenly realising just how fatigued he actually was.

“You’d better start calling me Patriarch,” replied Trip.

“Until we’ve exhausted every single option for getting you out of here, I’m not calling you anything other than Trip or Commander,” said Reed and drifted into sleep.

****

Reed was awoken by Trip and Shar Jen having a discussion. “Why can’t you just keep calling me Trip?” asked the Commander.

“It is part of the ceremony. You need to take an official name. There has never been a Patriarch who was not Tien and it would make it easier for the people to accept you,” replied Shar Jen.

“What were you thinking of calling me?” asked Trip.

“The Senior Council suggested Trip En Ath Tucker,” said Shar Jen.

“Trip En, after Ten En?” asked Trip.

“Yes, the first two of our names are our given names, by our parents, the second two are our family names. You asked us to call you Trip, that is your given name. You need four names so it seems appropriate to use two of Ten En’s to make up those that you are missing,” said Shar Jen. “They must be single syllables apart from your last name.”

“I guess so. Why not?” said Trip. “I need four names, it’s only fitting that I get two from my predecessor.”

“Commander, you don’t need any more names, you’re Commander Charles Tucker III, Trip to your friends,” said Reed, sitting on his makeshift bed and rubbing his eyes to get the sleep out of them.

“It’s only a ceremonial name, I’ll still be Trip,” said Trip.

“That isn’t the point,” said Reed. “You’re not staying.”

“Malcolm, don’t make me go over this again,” said Trip. “I might not be leaving.”

“I just don’t think you should be choosing a new name yet, that’s all,” said Reed.

“We need to perform the ceremony in the next two days,” said Shar Jen. “Once the ceremony is performed he will be legally part of the Tien people.”

“Fine,” said Reed. “Two days, we’ll be finished the repairs to Lirat. You can have your ceremony then. Until then, you’re still just Trip.”

“As you wish,” said Shar Jen, “we can wait two days. Trip isn’t going anywhere.”

“We’ll see about that,” said Reed. He realised that he didn’t like Shar Jen, she was trying to keep Trip and he was doing his best to take him away from her. The two goals were mutually exclusive and he was getting the impression that she didn’t like him very much either. It worried him more that Trip seemed not to care that he might never leave the Tien ship. Reed couldn’t understand why his friend wasn’t fighting this harder than he was.

“After the ceremony we will expect you and your ship to leave,” said Shar Jen. “We will take care of Trip from now on.”

“Oh yes, like you’ve been taking care of him so far!” shouted Reed.

“Malcolm, stop it,” said Trip. “This isn’t helping.” Reed fell silent. Trip was right, shouting wouldn’t help anyone.

“I’ve got a shuttle coming in,” said Trip. “It’s the Captain, T’Pol and Phlox.”

“I’ll go down and meet them,” said Reed, glad of an excuse to get away from Shar Jen.

“Okay, Malcolm,” said Trip. “They’re in docking bay three.”

****

When Archer had contacted the Rel Sevanne for permission to dock he had nearly fallen off his seat when a familiar southern accent had answered his hail and directed him to docking bay three.

“Trip?” he had asked, but the voice hadn’t shown any signs of recognition.

“Please proceed to docking bay three,” had been the reply. They landed and were met by Lieutenant Reed.

“How are things, Malcolm?” asked Archer when he saw the Lieutenant approaching them.

“Pretty much the same as when you left, sir,” said Reed. “They’re talking about some sort of official inauguration ceremony for the new Patriarch. They’ve agreed to wait two days until we can at least see if we can come up with some sort of solution to this problem.”

“At least that’s something,” said Archer.

“I also got the impression that they would be much more loath to let Commander Tucker go once the ceremony is performed. Shar Jen said something about him legally being part of the Tien after the ceremony,” said Reed.

“We’d better come up with something in the next two days then,” replied Archer.

“There is something else to consider,” said T’Pol. “If we delay any longer we may jeopardise the mission.”

“I’m aware of that, T’Pol,” said Archer. “But I have to try to get Trip out of this. He didn’t ask for this and I can’t just leave him behind. This would be a lot easier if we didn’t have two thousand Tien lives to consider.

“And the fact that we’re seriously out-gunned, as well as out-numbered. I take it the Rel Sevanne has its weapons locked on Enterprise,” said Reed.

“Your assumption is correct, Lieutenant,” said T’Pol.

“Well perhaps I can help you come up with something,” said Phlox. “Although T’Pol’s scans were most useful in ascertaining Commander Tucker’s condition, I do need to look at the life support devices that are currently sustaining him if we are ever going to disconnect him successfully. My medical tri-corder should provide us with more information.”

“Follow me, doctor,” said Reed and he led the way back to the computer room.

“How’s he doing in himself?” asked Phlox.

“He seems to be doing remarkably well,” said Reed. “Almost too well. It’s as if he doesn’t really care what happens to him. He seems to be completely resigned to the fact that he’s stuck here.”

“I’d best see him,” said Phlox. “I can only imagine the psychological strain this is putting on him.”

“Were you able to find out any more about the Tien?” asked Archer.

“A little, Trip has access to their databanks and told me about how the Rel Sevanne was built. He did tell me something else interesting, there are no more Tien, the two thousand odd on this ship are the last of their race,” said Reed.

“What happened to the Tien homeworld?” asked T’Pol. “Why are these the only Tien?”

“I don’t know,” said Reed. “Trip might be able to tell us.”

“I want to know what happened on their homeworld,” said Archer. “I want to know why they’re even out here and most of all I want to know why they haven’t found some planet to settle on. We know they must have a good reason to stay on the ship if they’re prepared to plug living beings into their computer.”

“That does not necessarily follow, Captain,” said T’Pol. “They may not see life as part of the Rel Sevanne’s systems as any less fulfilling than any other occupation.”

“No, but the Captain does have a point,” said Reed. “They must have passed dozens of suitable planets in the ten generations that they’ve been out here.”

“Maybe they are simply happy with their current way of life,” said T’Pol.

“And maybe they have something to hide,” said Archer. “Either way, these people kidnapped my Chief Engineer and I want to know more about them. So far they haven’t told us a thing about themselves.”

The four of them entered the computer room to see Nils Fen ordering guards be posted around the black cylinder which currently housed Trip.

“What’s going on?” asked Archer.

“Just a precaution ordered by Kris Nor,” said Nils Fen. “Trip is ours now, we won’t let you take him from us.”

“I tried to tell them that you wouldn’t do that, Captain,” said Trip’s voice from somewhere in the room. “You know there’s more than just my life riding on this.”

“Yes, the entirety of the Tien race as I understand it,” said Archer, only his voice’s flat tones betraying his annoyance.

“You are correct, Captain,” said Nils Fen. “We are all that is left of the Tien.”

“Just how did an entire race come to be diminished to only two thousand people?” asked Archer.

“That is not your concern,” said Nils Fen.

“Trip? What are the Tien hiding?” asked Reed.

“Hey, if they don’t want you to know then I don’t think I can tell you either,” said Trip. “Besides I don’t have access to everything until after the ceremony, there are bits of the databanks that are closed to me at the moment.”

“If we gave him access to everything, it could overload his neurones,” said Shar Jen. “We have to build up gradually.”

“Pretty much what I told Malcolm last night is all I know,” said Trip. He wasn’t entirely telling them the truth but the Rel Sevanne had secrets that it would not let him divulge to an alien. He also had no desire to tell his Captain everything that he knew, the Tien were his people now and he had to protect them. “I heard your conversation in the corridor and I have to say I think you’re wrong.”

“You heard us?” asked Reed.

“Yeah, there are sensors all over this ship that pick up everything that goes on, I was tracking you from the docking bay,” said Trip.

“What were they talking about?” asked Shar Jen.

“They were mostly wondering about why you haven’t found some nice planet to settle on,” said Trip to Shar Jen. “And trying to figure out if there’s any way they can get me out of here.”

“Trip!” said Archer. He couldn’t believe Trip had just casually given out the details of their private conversation to an alien. “That was a private conversation between myself and my officers.”

“Nothing on the Rel Sevanne is private,” said Shar Jen. She felt Archer’s anger and under that was a feeling of betrayal. It was the same feeling that she had felt from Trip when he had been being prepared for conjoining. Instead all she felt now from Trip was contentment, he was settling into his new role well and the ship was running as efficiently as it had when Ten En had been at his prime.

“If I may be allowed, I would like to take some scans of the Commander,” said Phlox.

“Patriarch, his title is now Patriarch,” said Shar Jen.

“Not for another two days, it isn’t,” said Reed.

“Let’s not get into this again,” said Trip. “I don’t care what you call me. Trip will do just fine.”

“Do I have your permission to take the scans I need?” asked Phlox.

“Sure, Doc, go ahead,” said Trip. He was briefly reminded of a similar request from the doctor when he had been lying in his quarters recovering from his injuries acquired at the hands of the Xindi. Those memories were so distant now that it was almost as if they had happened to a completely different person and they seemed to be fading away even more, replaced by the bright, shining thing that was the Rel Sevanne in his mind. Each system was like a silver thread running through his mind, he could choose which thread to focus on and suddenly the thread would resolve itself into information. The nanites translated for him, carrying the pure data to him in terms that he could understand. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced. He was a living, breathing part of the living, breathing entity that was the Rel Sevanne and her people. He felt safe. He felt as if he belonged and he felt that this was where he should be.

He watched Phlox perform his scans with a kind of detachment. It had overtaken him gradually since he had been conjoined, but the feeling was overwhelming now. He wasn’t Commander Tucker anymore, he was Trip En Ath Tucker, conjoined Patriarch of the Rel Sevanne.

“I think it’s time that our guests returned to Enterprise,” said Trip. “Nils Fen, would you please escort them back to the docking bay.” It was time to cut the ties to his past.

“Trip? Don’t you want us to stay?” asked Reed.

“Malcolm, you don’t belong here,” said Trip.

“And you do?” said Reed not believing what he heard his friend saying.

“I may not have known it, but this is where I belong, now and for the rest of my life,” said Trip.

“Trip, listen to yourself,” said Archer. “This isn’t you talking. You’re the Chief Engineer of Enterprise. Enterprise needs her Chief Engineer, remember? We need you to finish the mission, to find the Xindi, to stop more people dying on Earth. For Lizzie, Trip. For your sister.”

“I remember, but my priorities have changed. I can’t help you anymore. Lizzie would understand,” said Trip.

“I’m not so sure that she would, Trip,” said Archer.

“It doesn’t matter anymore, once the repairs are complete the Rel Sevanne will be leaving and I don’t think we’ll be running into each other again,” said Trip.

“Lizzie doesn’t matter?” asked Reed incredulously. “What the bloody hell are you saying Trip? This wasn’t the way you felt last week. You do remember the nightmares don’t you? The ones in which you were trying to save Lizzie from the Xindi attack? The ones that stopped you from sleeping?!” His voice got louder with each question until he was shouting at the room.

“I remember them, they just don’t hurt anymore,” said Trip. “And what’s so wrong with it not hurting? Don’t you think I’ve had more than enough hurt for one lifetime? Lizzie, the Xindi, it’s just too much. I’m part of something now. I’ve never felt so much like I belong. This is where I’m meant to be.”

“What did you do to him?” asked Archer, angrily, looking at Shar Jen.

“Nothing,” said Shar Jen. “Being conjoined has a way of giving a person a different perspective on life.”

“Commander, your behaviour is very illogical. Perhaps you should examine your motivations behind this,” said T’Pol.

“Trip, you have to fight this,” said Archer. “This isn’t you, it’s the ship trying to absorb you.”

“No, this is me, I just never realised it before. Nils Fen, remove Captain Archer, Lieutenant Reed, Sub-commander T’Pol and Dr Phlox from the computer room. Don’t hurt them, if you can help it, but get them off my ship,” said Trip.

****End of Chapter 7****

“Well, that went well,” said Archer sarcastically, when they were back on their way to Enterprise in the shuttlepod.

“I don’t understand,” said Reed. “He seemed fine last night. A bit cross about the whole thing, not worried but definitely not exactly happy. Then this morning I wake up to find him chatting to Shar Jen and suddenly he wants us off the Rel Sevanne. Now he’s talking as if he’s pleased to be staying.”

“I don’t think that it’s exactly all him, Malcolm,” said Archer.

“I think we can assume that being part of a ship the size of the Rel Sevanne will have some interesting effects upon the human mind,” said Phlox. “Not only that but he has a whole new sense to deal with. Humans may be used to dealing with their own emotions but they have no experience of an empathic sense.”

“Could they have drugged him?” asked Archer.

“They are giving him various drugs,” said Phlox, “but none of them would cause this mental state. In fact they are taking very good care of his body.”

“That doesn’t help us with how we get him out of this, Doctor,” said Reed.

“No, but I now have more detailed scans and that should help give me a clearer picture of what is going on. I also managed to scan some of the Tien while you were engaged in your discussion with the Commander,” said Phlox.

“Good work, Doctor,” said Archer.

“I do not see why we require further scans,” said T’Pol. “Commander Tucker has made it clear that he wishes to stay on the Rel Sevanne. The logical course of action at this point would be to continue our mission.”

“As you never tire of telling me, T’Pol, humans are not logical,” said Archer. “We’ve still got a day and a half to come up with something. I’m not leaving until then.”

“Very well, Captain, if you think that is the best course of action,” said T’Pol, making it clear that she did not think that this was the best course of action at all.

“Why are you so keen to leave, T’Pol?” asked Archer.

“I simply think that it would be most beneficial to continue on our mission as rapidly as possible,” said T’Pol. “Commander Tucker is beyond our help, and Shar Jen may have been correct when she said that he is better off with the Tien.”

“How can you even suggest that?” asked Archer. He noted that Malcolm had turned to stare at T’Pol.

“Commander Tucker has been having a great deal of difficulty dealing with his treatment at the hands of the Xindi. Not only that but he had been experiencing persistent nightmares about the nanoprobes controlling his body,” said T’Pol.

“How do you know that?” asked Archer.

“He told me,” said T’Pol.

“He told you? He hasn’t even mentioned it to me,” said Archer, his last sentence more introspective than resentful.

“He felt you already had enough burdens to bear,” said T’Pol in a tone that would have signalled understanding in a human.

“Interesting,” said Phlox, “I had wondered what the Commander thought about the nanites. He seemed to have integrated them successfully into his body but he was never prepared to talk about his mental state with regard to them. I suppose I now have an answer as to why that was.”

“Are you telling us that Commander Tucker was afraid that the nanites would take him over?” asked Reed.

“That is exactly what I’m saying,” said T’Pol. “He did his utmost to hide this from you.”

“Why? We would have understood,” said Reed.

“He was simply unwilling to let anyone else help him. He knew that I would not tell anyone anything that he spoke to me about,” said T’Pol.

“You’re telling us now,” said Archer.

“I felt it might be relevant to our current predicament,” said T’Pol. “The Commander Tucker that we spoke to today was not the Commander Tucker that I have come to know during our neuropressure sessions, this made me realise that the information that I have gathered could be relevant to our situation.”

“How does knowing about Trip’s nightmares help us get him out of there?” asked Archer.

“It doesn’t,” replied T’Pol. “It helps us understand why we should leave him with the Rel Sevanne without any regret.”

“So you’re saying that because he is no longer in emotional turmoil we should leave him with the Tien?” asked Archer.

“Exactly,” said T’Pol. “It would be the kindest thing to do.”

“I don’t care what you say, Sub-commander, the Trip that I know wouldn’t want to be left on the Rel Sevanne as a living part of their computer. We have to do something,” said Reed.

“She does have a point, Malcolm,” said Archer. “Trip has been through the wars lately and if he thinks he’s happy where he is then maybe we should just leave him there.”

“It doesn’t matter if he’s happy. It isn’t him, it’s what the Tien have turned him into. Trip didn’t want this to happen,” said Reed vehemently.

“Maybe that’s true, but if he’s happy now does it matter whether this is what he wanted or not?” asked Archer.

“I can’t believe that you’re suggesting that we leave him behind,” said Reed, shaking his head as if to get rid of the unpleasant thought he was having.

“If we can do anything to get Trip back, we will,” said Archer. “But the deadline still stands.”

****

Reed’s first stop when they returned to Enterprise had been the Armoury to check on the status of the weapons that the Rel Sevanne had pointing at them. He still couldn’t scan them as fully as he would have liked but the fact that they were locked on Enterprise was unmistakable. He began the work of recalibrating the scanners to compensate for the oddities of the Tien technology in the hope that they could take some more accurate readings. The more they knew about the alien vessel, the more likely it would be that they could get Trip out of there, and more to the point the more likely it would be that Reed could blow it to pieces if necessary. He doubted Enterprise could do much against something of the size of the Rel Sevanne, but he had to try. He’d discovered at an early age that just because the enemy was bigger than you didn’t mean they had the advantage, and anyone who’d ever taken on Malcolm Reed had learnt that to their cost. Firepower was more of a worry, but he wasn’t Tactical Officer for nothing and they’d faced tough enemies before.

They had been back on Enterprise for a few hours when Phlox called them down to Sick Bay. Archer, T’Pol and Reed stood looking at a monitor with the doctor trying to make sense of the display on the screen.

“These are the scans which I took of Commander Tucker,” said Phlox.

“What are we looking at Doctor,” asked Archer.

“This is Commander Tucker’s brain activity at the moment. The other image is his most recent scan before the nanites were introduced into system. You can see that the current activity is considerably heightened compared to usual human brain activity,” said Phlox.

“Is that because of the nanites?” asked Reed.

“Not completely,” said Phlox. “This is a scan that we took last time I was able to get him into Sick Bay, just after the nanites were introduced. The activity was elevated but not as much as it is now.”

“So this is due to his connection to the Rel Sevanne,” said Archer.

“I believe so,” said Phlox.

“Doctor, what does this indicate?” asked T’Pol.

“In a normal human this would be extremely dangerous. What is happening to his brain is almost akin to overheating. His synapses are firing too fast and too often, if this continues his brain will simply burn out,” said Phlox.

“Burn out? Brain damage?” asked Archer.

“Yes, I’m afraid so. It isn’t a rapid process, but I give him five years at the most,” said Phlox.

“Five years?” said Reed in disbelief.

“I’m sorry,” said Phlox. T’Pol was blinking a lot, which Phlox knew meant she was wrestling with controlling a difficult emotion. Archer and Reed both just looked stunned. “The only compensating factor is that the nanites are taking some of the load.”

“We have to tell the Tien,” said Reed.

“Agreed,” said Archer. “And Trip has to be told as well. I’m not sure if it will do any good though.”

“If the Tien realise that this isn’t a long term solution then maybe they’ll give Trip back,” said Reed. Even as he said it, he knew he was deluding himself. The Tien had made it clear that they only cared about their own survival.

“I find that to be a most unlikely outcome,” said T’Pol. “They still will have no replacement for the Commander and it would not be logical for them to cause their own deaths.”

“T’Pol’s right. This doesn’t change anything,” said Archer. Except Trip’s life expectancy, he thought.

“Why did none of the Tien have this problem?” asked Reed.

“I believe it was mentioned that the Tien who were conjoined were members of a line of Tien genetically engineered for the purpose,” said Phlox. “From the scans that I’ve been able to take of the Tien their brain structure is significantly different from that of a human, the most noticeable difference being the empathic area of the brain which simply is not present in a human. I would imagine that the Tien patriarchs were engineered so that their brain chemistry was able to cope with the increased activity. Certainly the Tien which I scanned would be unable to cope with being conjoined for the same reason that Commander Tucker is in danger.”

“Can’t they just genetically engineer some more Tien?” asked Archer.

“The patriarchs were engineered on the Tien homeworld and they have been unable to replicate the process. In fact, from the files which the Commander gave to T’Pol on their efforts to find a way of replacing Ten En when it became obvious he was the final patriarch, it seems as if there were four patriarchs originally. They produced offspring but the genetic manipulation caused problems with their fertility and each generation of patriarchs had more problems than the last until Ten En’s parents were only able to produce a single child. I understand that Ten En tried to mate but his attempts were unsuccessful,” said Phlox.

“How were they able to pass on the traits of the patriarch to each successive generation?” asked T’Pol.

“An ingenious piece of genetic coding which ensured that any offspring of a patriarch would also carry the mental attributes of the patriarch. In effect the patriarch’s genes were always dominant which is why the fertility problems worsened over the years,” said Phlox.

“Is there any way that we could help them engineer a new line of Tien patriarchs?” asked Archer.

“I can look at the files and do my best, but although it would help the Tien, it wouldn’t help Mr Tucker,” said Phlox.

“Why not?” asked Archer.

“The genetic manipulation can only be carried out on fertilised eggs not fully grown Tien. We would have to wait until a child could be conceived, manipulated and then grow to an appropriate age, by which point it would no doubt be too late for the Commander,” said Phlox.

“So we’re out of medical options,” said Archer, “what about technical ones?”

“I have been evaluating our alternatives in this regard,” said T’Pol. “I am currently looking into modifying some of the Tien computer equipment to perform the same function as Commander Tucker’s brain, but it is proving to be difficult, especially without direct access to their systems.”

“Keep on it, T’Pol, it’s the only option that we have at the moment,” said Archer.

“Why is Trip so intent on staying?” asked Reed.

“Well, partly that is attributable to his extremely vulnerable mental state when he went to the Rel Sevanne,” said Phlox. “He has been feeling very alone lately because of his experience with the Xindi and being given an empathic faculty has made him feel part of a much larger whole. But the Rel Sevanne also sends out a signal to its patriarch which tells them that they are accepted as part of the computer, almost like a password. In short a subtle kind of brain washing is going on which is persuading him that this is where he belongs and that he is happy there. A necessity for the patriarchs in the past who were able to observe their families and friends going about their daily business but unable to join in. This has made the Commander much more accepting of his situation than he would have been otherwise.”

“That explains a lot,” said Reed.

“There is one other thing that I should mention,” said Phlox. “The longer we delay in removing the Commander, the harder it will be. Looking at the way the Rel Sevanne has integrated him into their systems and his increasing detachment from his physical body, he will have considerable trouble readjusting to normal life. If we leave it too long then he may not be able to adjust at all.”

“What are you saying Doctor?” asked Archer.

“I’m saying that we may be able to free his body but his mind might not be so easy. I was concerned for his mental state previously but after this experience I have no idea how he will react to being a lone human being again rather than an empathic ship full of two thousand Tien.”

****

Shar Jen was in the Engine Room working on Jerel. Trip had informed her that two of the five engines needed a complete overhaul before they could go anywhere and now she and her engineering crew were doing just that. She and her team had been working hard all day but there were still a problem that she couldn’t solve and it was beginning to make her frustrated.

“Trip, could you purge the intake manifolds for Jerel, please?” she asked.

“No problem,” replied Trip’s voice. He did as she asked.

“I’m still having trouble tracking down that fluctuation in the dilithium matrix,” said Shar Jen.

“Yeah, I see it. It’s a tricky son of a bitch and that’s for sure. Did you try re-aligning the crystals to compensate for the frequency drift?”

“Yes and re-setting the matrix amplifiers, I even replaced the crystals,” said Shar Jen.

“Okay, maybe it’s a problem with the control data. I can make some adjustments from here,” said Trip. There was a pause while Trip ran through the data that he needed and made some changes to the control program. “Run your diagnostics again now,” he said.

Shar Jen did as Trip said and was pleased to see that the glitch had gone. “You really are amazing,” said Shar Jen. “How did you know?”

“Hey, you’d tried everything else, if it’s not the hardware then it has to be the software,” said Trip. Shar Jen stifled a yawn. “You’re tired, you should get some sleep,” he added.

“Yes, I am, but until we have Jerel, Lirat and Devas working at peak efficiency I won’t be happy,” said Shar Jen.

“Spoken like a true engineer. Exactly what I used to tell the Captain too,” said Trip. “Now shut up and go to bed. You’ll be a better engineer once you’ve got some shut-eye.”

“Shut-eye?” asked Shar Jen.

“Sorry, human expression. Shut-eye is another way of saying sleep. You need sleep. Now go and get it. You know I’ll wake you if anything important comes up and Rik Ben and the rest of your guys can handle it fine from here. Besides tomorrow’s a big day for me, remember. I get to be officially part of the Tien, not that I aren’t already of course, being hot wired into your system and all.”

“That isn’t until midnight, Trip En,” replied Shar Jen, purposely using his Tien name. “You have to be patient just a little while longer. We did say that we’d give your Captain two days and one hasn’t even passed yet. The Tien have damaged Enterprise enough without breaking their promise.”

“Yeah, I know. I just don’t think they understand what’s happened that’s all. I mean they can see what’s happened physically but I’m not sure that they can ever understand what it’s like to be part of the Rel Sevanne. They’ll never know what it feels like to touch the emotions of two thousand Tien, or be able to sense the pulse of a warp engine. It just feels right.” Trip could still remember that this wasn’t what he had wanted but the fact was that even if he’d tried his damnedest to stop the Tien conjoining him, now he was conjoined he was pretty happy with it. Okay it wasn’t like being on Enterprise working on his warp engine, but now he had five engines to play with. And he would miss his friends and he knew from the emotions that they’d shown as Nils Fen escorted them back to the shuttlepod that they’d miss him, but he also knew that the Tien needed him more. He could still feel Shar Jen’s guilt though at what they had done in order to ensure their survival. “Anyway, it’s late. Go to your quarters and get some sleep.”

“Yes, Patriarch,” said Shar Jen, deciding to give in and take it as the order she knew it wasn’t. She made the short journey from the engine room down to her quarters. When she reached her quarters, she made immediately for the bedroom, not bothering to even think about food. Her tiredness was getting the better of her now she had left the engine room and she was beginning to think she would collapse on the floor before reaching the bed. She undressed down to her underwear and fell into her bed.

“Trip En?” asked Shar Jen. The bedroom was dark and she spoke to the empty room. She had never spoken to Ten En in the middle of the night like this, but then Trip was different.

“Yes, Shar Jen. Something wrong?” he asked. There were sound sensors and intercoms everywhere on the ship so all any of the Tien had to do was call his name and he would attend to anything they wanted to talk to him about. He had expected Shar Jen to go to sleep rather than want to talk to him again. He could tell from her emotional readings that she was very tired, he didn’t think that she had slept since he’d been conjoined.

“You’ve felt my emotions. You know how I feel about you.”

“Yeah, you like me. You like me a lot.”

“And I have felt yours. You are attracted to me,” said Shar Jen.

“Yeah, I was. Not much I can do about it now,” said Trip. He wasn’t sad about that, it was just another thing that had been overridden by his need to care for the Tien people. He could admire her though and enjoy what she felt for him.

“It doesn’t matter. Just know that I love you,” said Shar Jen. I can never have you now, but I do love you, she thought. She knew it wasn’t his body that she loved but his mind, that he was now part of the Rel Sevanne made no difference to her. “Will you watch me sleep?” she asked.

“I don’t know if that would be right,” said Trip. He’d already decided that just because he could watch anyone on the ship, didn’t mean that he should. He had no wish to invade anyone’s privacy.

“It is a traditional Tien custom for those attracted to each other,” said Shar Jen. “Look in your sociological files,” she added.

“I’ve got it. Don’t you think it’s a little early in our relationship for that, we haven’t even had our first date yet,” he said with a touch of laughter in his voice.

“I think we can skip the first date and move straight on to this,” she replied. “If you and I want to pursue a relationship then it will never be conventional. Some might not even call it a relationship, but it will be real to me. Watch me sleep and I will know that you care for me.”

“I’ll watch you,” said Trip. And he did, even though his fragmented consciousness was in many other places performing his duties to the ship, he never once took his attention away from Shar Jen’s quarters.

****

Archer wasn’t entirely surprised when, after a day of futile modifications to their scanners, and T’Pol’s investigations getting no where, Malcolm Reed showed up outside his quarters at 0200 hours.

“Let me guess, Lieutenant,” said Archer, blinking bleary eyed at his Armoury Officer. “You couldn’t sleep so you decided to keep me awake as well.” In truth he hadn’t been able to sleep much at all but Malcolm didn’t need to know that.

“Sorry, sir,” said Reed dutifully. “It’s just that I don’t think that this can wait.” He handed Archer a padd and Archer ushered the Lieutenant into his quarters so that they weren’t conversing in the open hallway any longer.

“What is this, Malcolm?” asked Archer.

“An escape plan,” said Reed. “I think I’ve devised a way to recover Trip from the Tien.”

****End of Chapter 8****

“Malcolm, this isn’t an escape plan, it’s suicide,” said Archer as he read the contents of the padd.

“I think it can be done, sir,” said Reed, deadly serious.

“I have no doubts about what you think, Lieutenant,” said Archer. “You’re ignoring all the unknowns in the equation and there are a lot of them.”

“I’m not asking anyone else to risk their life, just me,” said Reed.

“But you’re asking me to approve it, and create a distraction while you carry it out,” said Archer. “Not to mention the moral implications of killing over two thousand Tien or at the very least completely changing their way of life.”

“If you’re talking about non-interference, then I think the Tien blew that out of the water when they kidnapped our Chief Engineer,” said Reed. “As for the deaths of two thousand Tien, there’s a Minshara class planet less than ten light years away. We know that they have warp capable shuttles, they could ferry everyone to the planet before the Rel Sevanne looses life support.”

“The Tien seemed pretty adamant that planetfall was not an option for them. How do we know there isn’t a reason why they haven’t settled a planet before now? How do we know that making them go to that planet won’t kill them all?” asked Archer.

“We don’t know, sir,” said Reed, “but I’m willing to take that risk.”

“You may be willing but I’m not so sure that I’m quite so happy to condemn two thousand sentient beings to what could well be their deaths,” said Archer.

“Believe me, sir, I do understand what we’re talking about here. I’ve thought about little else today. But it’s my duty to protect this crew and currently one of the crew is being held captive on the Rel Sevanne. You have to at least let me try to get him back, sir,” said Reed.

“What happens if you try and fail?” asked Archer. “The Tien just might decide to take it out on Enterprise. And even if you weren’t asking me to put the lives of this crew in danger for one man, you’re asking me to risk losing my Armoury officer. Enterprise might be able to complete this mission with one of its senior officers missing but I’m not sure we could do it without two.”

“Yes, sir, I understand,” said Reed, obviously taking Archer’s argument as a dismissal of his ideas. “If you don’t mind, I’ll go back to my quarters now, I believe there are a few hours left until my shift starts.”

“I haven’t said no yet, Malcolm,” said Archer.

“Does that mean I can go ahead?” asked Reed, brightening.

“No, it means I need to think about it. I’ll have an answer for you at 0900, Lieutenant. Come to my ready room then,” said Archer.

“Yes, sir,” said Reed.

“Goodnight, Malcolm,” said Archer and with that he turned to go back to his bed and Reed left for his own quarters, beginning to put together equipment lists in his head for what he would need for his plan to rescue Trip.

****

Archer hadn’t been able to get back to sleep. He knew Malcolm was worried about Trip but so was he. All Archer really wanted to do was go to the Rel Sevanne and get Trip back, but as the Captain he didn’t have that luxury. He had to think about the 82 people under his command and the two thousand people on the Rel Sevanne. He had to think about the six billion people on Earth who were relying on him and Enterprise to find the Xindi. He had to think about all those people plus the moral issues. He had never been so aware of his responsibilities as he was now.

They had to remember that they were Earth’s representatives in space. Just because the aliens they met had abandoned their ethics didn’t mean that they should as well. However, Malcolm certainly seemed to be taking that attitude and he knew the Armoury officer’s moral sense was very well developed. He had seen the look on Malcolm’s face when he had bundled the Osaarian they captured into the airlock. He knew that Reed had been debating with himself whether he should stop his Captain, but Archer suspected Reed’s respect for rank had held him back. That and he probably didn’t believe that Archer would actually kill the Osaarian. The frightening thing was that Archer knew he was angry enough that he could have happily spaced the Osaarian if he hadn’t answered his questions. If Reed was considering this then he probably had managed to convince himself that the Tien would be safe on the M class planet.

He decided that going over this again and again was not helping him to reach any conclusions at all. He went in search of T’Pol and found her in the Command centre.

“How’s it going?” asked Archer as he stepped through the hatch.

“I am making progress in understanding the Rel Sevanne’s computer slowly. Although complicated, I am beginning to form a picture of some of the data systems,” said T’Pol.

“Will you have something by the end of the day that can help us?” asked Archer, hopefully.

“That is doubtful,” said T’Pol. “I am having to analyse each system individually. It is extremely time consuming. I have the complete science staff working on this, and I still do not think we would have a coherent picture of the computer for at least a year. This is the most complicated system that I have ever encountered.”

Archer’s face fell. “I wanted to discuss something with you,” he said and handed her the padd with Lieutenant Reed’s escape plan on it. “Malcolm brought this to me last night. I’ve been going over the pros and cons of letting him carry it out since 0230 and I’m just going round in circles. I was hoping you might have an opinion.”

T’Pol scrolled through the padd. “I take it the Lieutenant intends to be the one to carry this out,” she said.

“Of course,” said Archer.

“Then I suggest we let him try,” said T’Pol.

“Just like that? I thought you were all for leaving Trip on the Rel Sevanne,” said Archer.

“That was before the doctor informed us that the Commander’s life span would be considerably shortened by his conjoining with the Rel Sevanne’s computer,” said T’Pol. She had to admit that she did not understand emotions, as a Vulcan she had learnt to control them but not understand them. She did not understand humans either. She knew however that humans needed to be happy and certainly Commander Tucker had not been happy since he had entered the Expanse. He had appeared to be happy on the Rel Sevanne and so T’Pol had reached the conclusion that he should stay on the Rel Sevanne, but perhaps Reed was right, it also mattered how Trip gained that happiness. Logic did not always apply to humans, she reflected once again. “Even his current happiness, albeit falsely conceived, is not worth his life,” she added for Archer’s benefit.

“What about the Tien? We could be killing them all,” said Archer. “I expected you to argue the case for non-interference.”

“Logic dictates that we should try to save as many people as possible. You have made it clear that you feel we will be more likely to accomplish our mission if we have Commander Tucker. Therefore it is simply a matter of numbers, two thousand Tien lives against the lives of six billion humans,” said T’Pol. “Also I notice that Lieutenant Reed mentions a Minshara class planet not more than ten light years away that the Tien could be relocated to.”

“I wish I could see it as that clear cut, T’Pol,” said Archer. “It’s still two thousand lives that we’re talking about. Even if we don’t kill them then we are still talking about changing their way of life considerably. Who knows if they could even survive on that planet.”

“If you were already aware of the arguments then why did you ask for my advice?” asked T’Pol.

“I suppose I was hoping that you’d thought of something that I hadn’t. And sometimes it just helps to talk through something like this,” said Archer.

“The lifestyle of the Tien should be protected,” said T’Pol, “but not at all costs. Even Vulcans do not advocate isolationism. From the scans that I have taken, I have no reason to believe that the Tien would suffer from being relocated to a planet.”

“Thanks T’Pol, I appreciate you listening to me,” said Archer and left the command centre with his decision made.

****

When Lieutenant Reed arrived at Captain Archer’s ready room at exactly 0900, he knew he’d won the argument, he recognised the determined look on his Captain’s face, and Archer confirmed it.

“Permission granted, Lieutenant,” was all he said.

Reed knew it was going to be tough. His plan was based on three things, firstly that he had been able to discover enough about the Rel Sevanne that he could deflect their sensors long enough for him to reach the computer room, secondly that he could modify the transporter to account for the Rel Sevanne’s peculiar hull makeup and finally that Trip wouldn’t immediately raise the alarm as soon as he saw him. In fact not only would those three parts have to fall into place but he was also going to have to disable any cameras on his route as well, he hoped the same device that he was going to use to disrupt the sensors would also interfere with the cameras. He knew that the computer room was too well shielded for him to beam directly into it, the only place where they’d been able to get a coherent transporter lock was the Star Chamber, so he was hoping that there weren’t too many cameras between him and the computer room. The microphones worried him but he’d just have to hope that he could be quiet enough that they wouldn’t pick up his movement.

Trip of course was the unknown. Reed had no idea how thoroughly the Tien had managed to brainwash him, he had to hope that he wouldn’t betray his friend. After they had spent most of the previous night talking he was pretty sure that although Trip wouldn’t want to come with him, he wouldn’t turn Reed over to the Tien. T’Pol and Phlox had already begun work on how best to disconnect Trip from the Rel Sevanne, a procedure which he might only have seconds to perform before he was discovered. And then he would have to manhandle Trip to somewhere they could beam out.

Even to his own ears it sounded impossible, dependent on so many variables and so many things going right. He pushed all that to the back of his mind, he had to get Trip back. He had given his word that he would look after Trip on the Rel Sevanne and he had broken that word. This was the only way for him to redeem himself.

It was 1700 before all the preparations were complete and Malcolm stepped onto the transporter pad. His hair was dyed white blond and he wore a reasonable facsimile of a Tien uniform. He wasn’t tall enough or thin enough to really pass for a Tien but all he needed was to look enough like one that he wouldn’t be stopped in a corridor. Strapped to his belt was a phase pistol, a device for creating interference in the Tien’s sensors, a homing beacon which he would activate once he had reached a safe beam out location so that T’Pol could lock on to him, and a hypospray full of one of Phlox’s concoctions that the doctor told Reed should keep Trip stable and unconscious long enough for Reed to bring him home.

T’Pol was at the transporter controls. The two of them had worked closely together on the transporter modifications, Vulcan technology in that area being considerably better than the human equivalent.

“Remember that these modifications are only temporary,” said T’Pol as Reed stepped onto the transporter pad. “I doubt they will hold for more than one outward and one return journey.”

“I understand Sub-commander,” said Reed. “I only get one chance at this.”

“I hope that a second chance will not be required, Lieutenant,” said T’Pol.

“Usually humans just wish each other good luck,” said Reed.

“Very well, good luck,” said T’Pol. “T’Pol to Archer, I am ready to transport the Lieutenant to the Rel Sevanne.”

“Understood,” said Archer, “Give me a minute and then you can transport him.”

If this part of the plan failed Reed’s rescue attempt would be over before it had begun. There was a chance that the Rel Sevanne might detect their transporter signal so they needed a distraction while Reed beamed on board. Archer would contact the Rel Sevanne and demand that they return Trip. Reed wasn’t sure if that would be enough to keep Trip’s attention away from detecting the transporter signature but it was the only idea they had been able to come up with short of firing on the Tien ship. Something which they wanted to avoid at all costs given the Rel Sevanne’s superior fire power.

“Energise, Sub-commander,” said Reed, after exactly a minute had passed.

T’Pol energised the transporter and watched the Lieutenant disappear and noted that he had indeed reappeared on the Rel Sevanne. Their scanners were still being effected by the unusual composition of the Rel Sevanne’s hull so they had no way of tracking Reed once he was aboard. All they could do now was wait for the Lieutenant’s homing signal to beam him back.

****End of Chapter 9****

“Hoshi, open a channel to the Rel Savanne,” said Archer.

“Yes, sir, the channel is open,” replied Hoshi.

“This is Captain Archer to the Rel Sevanne, I’d like to talk to you about Commander Tucker,” said Archer.

“This is the Rel Sevanne,” said a voice in a southern drawl that Archer recognised immediately. “What can I do for you Captain?”

“I want my Chief Engineer back,” said Archer, deciding to cut straight to the chase.

“I’m sorry, sir, but that just isn’t possible,” said Trip.

“Trip, you’re the best Engineer that I know, you have to be able to figure out a way to help the Tien. What happens when you die and there’s no one to replace you?” he said. He didn’t add that Trip had considerably less time than he thought he did.

“I’ve had a look, but this thing is pretty complicated, it’s going to take me more than two days to work it out. I’m pretty sure that I can sort something out by the time they need a new Patriarch,” said Trip.

So Archer’s suspicions had been confirmed, Trip was working on the problem, he just needed to work faster. “Five years, Trip, that’s all you’ve got.”

“Five years? How come?” asked Trip.

“The scans Phlox took show that your brain is working too hard, you’re going to burn out, Trip. Phlox reckoned five years at the most before your brain can’t take the strain any longer and you die,” said Archer. This wasn’t the way he would have chosen to tell his friend that he only had five years to live but he hoped that it would distract Trip long enough for Reed to do what he needed to.

“Five years or fifty, it doesn’t make any difference,” said Trip. “If I were to leave now then I’d be condemning two thousand Tien to death. At least this way I have a chance to work something out to save them.”

That wasn’t exactly the reaction Archer had expected, although with hindsight he should have known the brainwashing would cancel out any self-preservation instincts that Trip had left. “Trip, please listen to me,” said Archer. “Enterprise needs her Chief Engineer. If we’re going to complete this mission then we need you here with us.”

“I’m sorry, Captain, but you know I can’t do that,” said Trip and he broke the link. He had no wish to go through the reasons why he had to stay, again, for the benefit of his former Captain. It brought up a whole load of emotions in him that he didn’t want to face, not least how much he would miss the friendship of Jonathan Archer, but his place was here now and griping about it wouldn’t change anything. He turned his attention back to the ship.

“Ninety percent of systems are functioning within standard operational parameters,” said the nanites. “Warp engines, Jerel, Lirat and Devas, still under repair. Intermittent malfunction in internal sensors. Power grid in section twelve has failed and is under repair. Bridge systems still experiencing malfunctions.” Trip listening as they reeled off the list of malfunctions and repairs needed to the Rel Sevanne including a jammed door in section five. Some of it he could fix, some of it the nanites could take care of and some of it he’d have to speak to Shar Jen about sending some of her engineers to deal with. He estimated it would be another five hours before all the repairs were done and they would be able to leave. Time was running out, they had to get underway as quickly as they could.

“Wait,” said Trip. “An internal sensor malfunction? Where?”

The nanites brought up the schematic of the sensors and indicated the area of the malfunction.

“That malfunction isn’t intermittent, it’s moving,” said Trip to the nanites, “and it’s coming this way. Do a scan of Enterprise, how many biosigns are aboard?”

“Eighty,” replied the nanites.

“Damn it, the Captain pulled a fast one on me. I’d bet my right arm that Malcolm beamed over here while I was talking to Enterprise,” said Trip.

“Possible transporter signature detected,” said the nanites. “Sixteen minutes ago, in the star chamber.”

“He’s nearly here,” said Trip. “I’m guessing he’s come to take me back to Enterprise.” Suddenly he was torn, he didn’t know what to do. He knew he didn’t want to go back to Enterprise, he had to protect the Tien, but he didn’t want to hurt Malcolm either. “Damn it, why couldn’t they just leave well alone.”

“Unknown,” said the nanites.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” he replied. “Hello Malcolm,” he said out loud as a platinum blond figure in a Tien uniform entered the computer room. “You’re a little short to be a Tien.”

“Thank you for the vote of confidence, Commander,” said the familiar British accent.

“I know what you’re here for Malcolm and you’d best just turn around and go home now, ‘cause I’m not coming with you,” said Trip.

“Look, Trip, this isn’t you. It’s the Rel Sevanne. It’s brainwashing you into wanting to stay. The computer has a built in programme to convince you that you’re pleased to be a part of it and you need to protect the Tien. Remember how you felt about being joined with the computer, you weren’t happy then, were you?”

“No, but I didn’t know what it was going to be like. Besides, now I’m here, it feels right. We’ve been over this before, I’m not leaving the Tien to die.”

“They wouldn’t have to die,” said Reed. “There’s a Minshara class planet near by. We could ferry them to the planet and everyone would be safe.”

“No, no they wouldn’t. You don’t understand the situation. You leave the Tien on a planet and you’ll have signed their death warrant,” said Trip.

“Why don’t you explain the situation to me then? Help me understand why you’re so determined to sacrifice your life for these people,” said Reed.

“I can’t. Just take it from me that off loading the Tien onto a planet would mean their deaths,” said Trip. “If I tell you then I’m placing you and Enterprise in the same danger the Tien face right now. The best thing that can happen is for us to repair our engines and get underway.”

“Trip, I don’t have time to argue with you. You’re coming with me,” said Reed and he moved towards the cylinder that contained Trip’s body and pulled open the black covering.

“Don’t make me hurt you, Malcolm,” said Trip.

“Trip, I’m your friend. You remember Risa don’t you? And playing Mah Jongg with Hoshi and Travis? Getting drunk on the Captain’s bourbon in the Shuttlepod? Hell, getting drunk on your birthday last year? For god’s sake, some of that must still mean something to you?” said Reed angrily, but he kept working on the cylinder.

“It still means a lot to me, Malcolm,” said Trip. “You’ll always be my friend. But you have to realise this isn’t about Trip and Malcolm anymore, this is Lieutenant Reed and Trip En Ath Tucker, Patriarch of the Tien. I wish it could be another way and I wish I didn’t have to do this.” The doors of the computer room opened to reveal Nils Fen and a compliment of his security officers.

“Lieutenant Reed,” said Nils Fen. “Stop what you’re doing and step away from the Patriarch.”

Reed straightened up from his work on the cylinder and turned to face the Tien Weapons Master. His hand automatically went to his phase pistol.

“I wouldn’t do that, Malcolm,” said Trip. “You’re outnumbered ten to one. Put the phase pistol on the floor.”

Reed carefully removed the phase pistol from the holster as if to drop it on the ground. And in one fluid movement had stunned three Tien guards before Nils Fen had time to react. Reed moved towards the cover of a computer bank but he didn’t make it. Nils Fen’s marksmanship was excellent and he stunned the Armoury officer before he could get to safety.

“Why’d you have to go and do that, Malcolm?” asked the exasperated voice of the Tien Patriarch. “He’ll be okay won’t he?” he asked Nils Fen.

Nils Fen went to the sprawled form of Lieutenant Reed and felt for a pulse. “His pulse is strong, he should come round in about half an hour or so. I’ll put him in a holding cell until then.”

“Okay, Enterprise can come and pick him up before we leave, but we’d best hang onto him until then. He’ll only think up some other harebrained scheme to get me out of here if we let him go back to Enterprise. Get the doctor down to have a look at him just to be on the safe side.”

“Yes, Patriarch,” said Nils Fen. He ordered two of his men to pick Malcolm up and take him to a holding cell.

“What happened?” said Shar Jen, from the doorway. She saw the guards and rushed across to check on Trip. His vital signs were displayed on a panel beside the cylinder.

“Just Enterprise trying to get its Chief Engineer back,” said Trip. “I told you they’d have to try, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did. Are you okay?” said Shar Jen.

“I feel fine but just check the cylinder. Malcolm was pretty intent on getting me out of here,” said Trip. “Ordering Nils Fen down here was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.”

“I know, En,” said Shar Jen. “But it was the right thing to do. I’m proud of you.” Trip noted her use of his second name, something which signalled intimacy among the Tien. To the Tien it was like calling someone “darling” or “love”. Trip decided that he quite liked it but that didn’t make him feel any better about what he’d just done to Malcolm.

“Still, I wish I didn’t have to do that,” said Trip. “I don’t think Malcolm’s ever going to speak to me again and the Captain’s going to be real mad.”

“None of that concerns you anymore, En,” said Shar Jen. She felt the waves of guilt that were emanating from him and wanted to soothe him but wasn’t sure how.

“You’re right,” said Trip. “But it’s going to take me a little while to get used to that.”

Nils Fen handed Shar Jen the equipment which Reed had been carrying. “Interesting,” said Shar Jen as she examined it. “This is how he was able to disrupt the internal sensors. And this is almost certainly a homing beacon, something for their transporter to lock onto.”

“Yeah, Malcolm wouldn’t have come over here without a plan for getting back again. I guess I’d better contact Enterprise and let them know Malcolm’s okay.”

“You don’t have to,” said Shar Jen.

“Yes, I do,” replied Trip. “Rel Sevanne to Enterprise,” he said.

“This is Enterprise,” said Hoshi.

“Hoshi, put the Captain on,” said Trip.

“Yes, Commander,” said Hoshi.

“Archer here, go ahead Trip.”

“I just thought you might like to know that we found Malcolm wandering around the corridors,” said Trip.

“What have you done with him?” asked Archer, Trip could hear the concern in his voice.

“Don’t worry, he’s okay, or at least he will be when the stun wears off. I’ve got the doctor checking him over, just to be sure,” said Trip.

“You shot him?” said Archer, obviously angry.

“Well we wouldn’t have had to if he hadn’t decided to play hero and make life difficult for himself,” said Trip.

“I want him back. Now. You can bring him to us or we can send a shuttle pod over, it’s up to you,” said Archer.

“Sorry, Captain, I think we’ll hang onto him for a little while. You’ll get him back before we leave, but if I give him back, he’ll hatch another plan and then we’ll be back where we are now.”

“Trip, I don’t care what you think, I want my Armoury officer back on Enterprise,” said Archer.

“No can do. The Tien are a bit protective of their Patriarch and having Malcolm sit in a holding cell for a while will make everyone feel better. Besides, you can’t tell me you didn’t know about what Malcolm was doing,” said Trip. “From the bits and pieces he was carrying, I’d say T’Pol was in on it as well.”

“What do you want me to say, Trip. We want our Chief Engineer back,” said Archer.

“At the expense of my ship and over two thousand Tien,” said Trip.

“It isn’t your ship, you’re not a Tien,” said Archer.

“That doesn’t matter. I’m their protector. If you take me away they have nothing,” said Trip.

“But the planet…” began Archer.

“Would be like signing their death warrant,” said Trip. “It’s not an option.”

“Why isn’t it an option, Commander, what am I missing here?” said Archer.

“I can’t give you that information, Captain,” said Trip. “And I’m not a Commander anymore, I’d appreciate it if you’d accept my resignation.”

“You know I won’t do that,” said Archer.

“You’re going to have to,” said Trip, “because I’m not coming back.” And with that he broke the connection.

****

Reed awoke to find himself in a small but relatively comfortable cell. He was lying on a narrow bunk covered by a blanket. He groaned slightly at the ache in his chest that he knew was from a stun blast and did his best to sit up.

“I was wondering when you’d wake up,” said a familiar voice.

“Well when you’ve been stunned by a phaser it takes a little time to regain consciousness,” replied Reed, in a matter of fact tone. “Perhaps a better question would be why the bloody hell was I stunned with a phase pistol on the order of my so-called friend!”

“Sorry about that but you really didn’t give us any choice,” said Trip.

“So what are you going to do with me? Execution, torture, wire me into your computer?” asked Reed, sarcastically.

“Oh give me a break, Malcolm, you’re the one who decided to mount a covert mission to an alien ship. I should damn well execute you for the sheer stupidity that you displayed, except that then the Captain would be even more pissed off with me than he is already,” said Trip in exasperated tones.

“The only mistake I made was getting caught,” retorted Reed indignantly.

“Just how did you think this was going to work?” asked Trip. “I mean how exactly were you planning on getting me out of here before I called the guards? You’re just lucky that I reminded everyone to set their weapons to stun otherwise you might never have woken up.”

“You weren’t meant to call the guards,” said Reed. “You were meant to have enough friendship left for me that I had time to get you out of that glass box they put you in. Once you were out I had the hypospray that you found on me to knock you out so that I could get you back to Enterprise. Of course it turned out that, as usual, anyone I let get close to me betrays me. Maybe we should have sent Captain Archer.”

“It wouldn’t have made any difference who you sent, Malcolm. It wasn’t because I don’t value our friendship, I do and I’m going to miss everyone on Enterprise. How many times do I have to say this, my priorities have changed, I’ve gained a hell of a lot of responsibilities all of sudden and one life doesn’t weigh against two thousand.”

“I suppose that’s meant to make me feel better?” asked Reed crossly.

“I didn’t expect you to be happy, but I hoped you’d at least understand,” said Trip.

“Well I don’t. I don’t understand how you can throw away a friendship of three years just because your situation has changed and I don’t understand why you can’t see that we need you on Enterprise just as much as the Tien need you here,” said Reed.

“It isn’t about whether Enterprise needs me, it’s about the fact that the Tien will die if I leave,” said Trip.

There was a moment of silence. Reed knew when he was fighting a loosing battle. “You didn’t tell me what you’re going to do with me,” said Reed.

“I spoke to the Captain, he knows you’re okay, so I’m just going to hang onto you until it’s time for us to leave so you can’t cause me any more trouble,” said Trip. Reed could imagine him smiling as he said it, if his body hadn’t been immobilised. Trip had always enjoyed annoying him.

“You realise if we ever get out of this I’m going to make you pay dearly for this,” said Reed through gritted teeth.

“I’m sure you will,” said Trip. “If you need anything, just call for me, it’s what everyone else does. Would you believe I’m holding a conversation about a broken shower at the same time as I’m talking to you? I guess the work of a Patriarch is never done. This definitely wasn’t in the job description.”

“There was no job description,” replied Reed, but Trip didn’t answer and he assumed that the broken shower now had the Patriarch’s full attention. Silently he thought to himself that Trip had been right on at least one point, it was sheer stupidity to think that his plan might actually have worked. He should have known better than to try to persuade a victim of brainwashing that they didn’t quite have the correct world view. How are you going to get the two of you out of this one, he thought.

****

The ceremony was simple. All the members of the Senior Council were present. Kris Nor read from the Book.

“The Goddess said to the Tien that they should take from the sky what they needed to protect themselves from the Darkness. And the Tien built the sky chariots that they might search the sky for arms to protect themselves from the Darkness,” he read. “The Tien are the chosen people of the Goddess and she will guide us through the sky to find the destruction of the Darkness. The Darkness came to Tien looking to devour us, but fled from the surface when it found the people gone. The Goddess told the Tien that the Darkness has only a short time before it reaches its end. Time slips away from the Darkness with each year that the Tien evades it’s grip.”

Trip knew the significance of the passage that the Exarch had read, it was the Tien’s justification for taking him away from his home and friends. It was also more than just that though, it described the reason why the Tien had left their homeworld. They were running from the Darkness which had chased them across light years. This was not just part of the Tien religion, it was part of their history.

“Trip En Ath Tucker, you are to be designated Patriarch of the Tien. It is your duty to serve the Rel Sevanne and her people. Do you accept this honour?” asked Kris Nor.

“Yes, I accept this honour,” replied Trip. “I will serve the Rel Sevanne and her people until my end.” As a computer, he didn’t have to worry about fluffing his lines, everything was stored in the memory banks, including the Patriarch’s inauguration ceremony. The ceremony was being broadcast to the whole ship and in a cell in the depths of the Rel Sevanne he could hear a certain Armoury officer ranting at him. He’d watched Reed pace backwards and forwards ever since he’d been placed in the cell. The Lieutenant had always been bad at waiting, especially when there was nothing for him to do.

“No, no, no, no, no, no. No! What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing!” shouted Reed at the ceiling of his cell. “You’re a complete bloody fool.” He slammed his hand into the wall, he couldn’t believe that Trip was doing this to him. How could the damn idiot do this? “Listen to me, Trip. Stop this, you’re not Trip En Ath Tucker, you’re Commander Charles Tucker III. This is not who you are, you belong on Enterprise. You’re not their Patriarch. You’re not meant to be part of their computer and you’re not bloody well staying!”

“Sorry, Malcolm,” said Trip. “This is one time when I can’t listen to you.”

“Trip En Ath Tucker,” said Kris Nor, “you are to be designated Patriarch. It is your duty to protect the Rel Sevanne and her people. Do you accept this honour?”

“Yes, I accept this honour,” said Trip. “I will protect the Rel Sevanne and her people until my end.”

“Trip! Do you hear me! Don’t say another word. You’re Commander Charles Tucker III, Chief Engineer of Enterprise!” shouted Reed desperately.

“Trip En Ath Tucker,” said Kris Nor, “you are to be designated Patriarch. It is your duty to govern the Rel Sevanne and her people justly. Do you accept this honour?”

“Yes, I accept this honour,” said Trip. “I will govern the Rel Sevanne and her people justly until my end.”

“Trip En Ath Tucker, I hereby designate you Patriarch of the Rel Sevanne and her people,” said Kris Nor. “The people of the Rel Sevanne pledge you their support and loyalty until your end.”

And the whole of the Rel Sevanne chanted the answer, “we pledge you our support and our loyalty until the end.”

“We hope the goddess will look favourably upon your Patriarchy,” said Kris Nor. There was further scripture and then a bell was rung and that was the end of the ceremony. Trip was officially part of the Tien people and he could still hear Malcolm shouting at him down in his cell. It was time that they sent Malcolm home, Trip reminded himself, and that the Rel Sevanne got under way.

“Nils Fen, take Lieutenant Reed out of his cell and escort him to the shuttle bay. Get one of your men to run him back to Enterprise,” said Trip.

“Yes, Patriarch,” said Nils Fen.

“Time for you to go home, Malcolm,” said Trip to the occupant of the holding cell who was now sitting on his bed silently, looking defeated.

“Why the hell did you do it?” asked Reed.

“Because we don’t have any time left, Malcolm. We’ve got to get underway. The repairs are completed, there’s no reason for us to stay. And Enterprise needs to continue on its Mission too, you have to do that for me. You have to stop the Xindi for me. Please Malcolm,” said Trip.

“So that’s it, you’re just giving up,” said Reed.

“No, I’m not giving up, I’m still working on a way for the Tien to survive once I’m gone and now I know that I’ve only got five years, well that’s just added incentive to get it done quicker,” said Trip. “You’ve been a good friend to me Malcolm and I’m going to miss you. Hell, I’m going to miss everyone on Enterprise. I’ve sent Hoshi some letters for my folks back home, I’d consider it a favour if you’d make sure that they get them when you’re next back on Earth.”

“Of course, Commander,” said Reed. He couldn’t bring himself to fight with Trip any longer, he didn’t want their last words to each other to be an argument.

“It’s been an honour serving with you, Malcolm,” said Trip.

“You too, sir,” said Reed, trying very hard to keep the emotion out of his voice. And suddenly sirens were wailing and the lights changed to red across the Rel Sevanne. “What’s going on?” asked Reed.

“The Darkness just found us,” was Trip’s only reply.

****End of Chapter 10****

Archer knew that he’d lost the battle to get Trip back when Hoshi picked up the broadcast of Trip’s inauguration ceremony. When Trip promised to serve the Tien he knew anything that was left of Trip’s free will had been well and truly destroyed, the Trip he knew didn’t serve anyone. After the final chant, he said a silent goodbye to his Chief Engineer and told Hess to make ready to leave. He still worried that Trip would break his word and not send Lieutenant Reed back, he wouldn’t be happy until the Lieutenant was safely back on board. He had to believe that Trip’s personality was basically intact it was only his sense of loyalty that had been skewed by his conjoining with the Rel Sevanne. Trip was a good man and he wouldn’t take a life if he could help it, the question was whether the Patriarch of the Tien saw things the same way.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by T’Pol. “Captain, I have something on sensors,” she said.

“What is it?” asked Archer. His mind immediately jumped to the Xindi as being the most likely candidates for T’Pol’s sensor contact.

“It appears to be another large ship,” said T’Pol.

“Another Rel Sevanne, another ship the size of the Rel Sevanne?” asked Archer trying to take in the information that T’Pol had just given him.

“It’s structure and composition are different to that of the Rel Sevanne,” said T’Pol. “But in size it is very similar.”

“What is their ETA?” he asked.

“They will be at our position in under two hours,” said T’Pol.

“What’s the betting that our friends on the Rel Sevanne know something about this,” said Archer.

“Sir, I’m receiving a hail from the Rel Sevanne,” said Hoshi.

“Put it through,” said Archer.

“Captain, I don’t have time to explain but you need to get Enterprise out of here as quickly as possible,” said Trip.

“Not without Malcolm,” said Archer.

“One of my guys will ferry him back to you,” said Trip. “Then you have to get Enterprise the hell out of here.”

“I suppose this wouldn’t have anything to do with the approaching ship that we just picked up on our sensors would it?” asked Archer, already knowing the answer.

“It has everything to do with it, and trust me, you don’t want to be around when they turn up,” said Trip.

“I’m sick of being kept in the dark, Commander, I want to know what’s going on and I want to know now,” said Archer.

“I guess I owe you that much,” said Trip. “The ship which is approaching is the Vor Devrees. They are pretty much the sworn enemies of the Tien. There used to be a fleet of five Tien ships just like the Rel Sevanne, we’re the only one left. The Vor Devrees destroyed the other four and they’ve been hunting the Rel Sevanne ever since, for the past four generations. They’re coming to destroy the Rel Sevanne and kill every single Tien on board.”

“Why do they want to destroy the Rel Sevanne?” asked Archer.

“It’s complicated,” said Trip.

“Uncomplicate it for me,” said Archer, a note of annoyance creeping into his voice.

“Look, Vor Devrees translates roughly from Tien as “the darkness” and Rel Sevanne means “light of the ages”, this battle is as old as the Tien people. It’s good versus evil.”

“Nothing is that simple, Trip,” said Archer.

“You said you wanted it uncomplicated, that’s it,” said Trip.

“I guess I asked for that. Who are they? Are they Tien?” asked Archer.

“No, well not exactly,” said Trip.

“What the hell does that mean?” asked Archer.

“I told you, it’s complicated, and I don’t have time to explain it to you,” said Trip. “Just make sure you leave before the Vor Devrees arrives. I don’t want you getting caught between them and us.”

“I didn’t think Enterprise mattered to you anymore,” said Archer in a cold hard tone.

“Of course Enterprise matters to me,” said Trip angrily.

“But the Tien matter more,” said Archer, equally angry.

“You really don’t understand, do you? I am the Tien. I’m their Patriarch, their protector. I’d give my life for them,” said Trip, emphatically. “Why don’t you concentrate on your own ship instead of worrying about mine? Rel Sevanne out.”

“Get him back, Hoshi,” said Archer, crossly. “I’m sick of being cut off. I’ll be damned if he’s having the last word on this.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but the Rel Sevanne isn’t answering,” said Hoshi.

“Keep trying. Ensign Hooper,” said Archer addressing the tall blonde woman who was manning Reed’s tactical station. “What kind of armaments does the Vor Devrees have?”

“It’s difficult to say, sir,” replied Hooper, “the Lieutenant’s modifications to the scanners have made a difference but we still aren’t getting the complete picture. It looks like similar weaponry to the Rel Sevanne, only more of it. They are very heavily shielded.”

“Heavily shielded?” asked Archer.

“Yes, their hull plating is three times thicker than that of the Rel Sevanne,” said Hooper.

Archer saw T’Pol raise an eyebrow at the information and he briefly wondered what about the hull plating had sparked that reaction.

“Would our torpedoes have any effect against them?” asked Archer.

“No, sir,” said Hooper. “We wouldn’t even make a dent in their hull.”

“Perhaps we should take Trip’s advice and make a graceful retreat,” said Archer, thinking out loud.

“It is obvious that the Vor Devrees is a battle cruiser,” said T’Pol. “However I am detecting upwards of a three thousand life signs on board. It is unlikely that many people would be required to crew the ship.”

“I don’t understand, why would you have families on a battle cruiser?” asked Archer.

“Perhaps because, like the Tien, there is nowhere else for them to go,” suggested T’Pol.

****

“This is the Vor Devrees. Come in Rel Sevanne.”

“This is the Rel Sevanne, go ahead Vor Devrees.”

“I am Corvas, conjoined Matriarch of the Vor Devrees. If you wish to plead for mercy we will now hear your pleas,” said the Vor Devrees.

“This is Trip En Ath Tucker, conjoined Patriarch of the Rel Sevanne. You can kiss my ass ‘cause you sure as hell won’t be getting the satisfaction of any pleas for mercy from us,” said the Rel Sevanne.

“I see that Ten En Ath Jeriad has been replaced. Not unexpected, he was the weakest of your Patriarchs so far. You are not Tien. You seem to have courage. It makes me wonder what you’re doing taking the role of Patriarch for a people as weak as the Tien,” said the Vor Devrees.

“I may not be Tien but I’m their Patriarch, and I intend on protecting my people,” said the Rel Sevanne. “You guys never could understand innovation.”

“Give up now, Trip En Ath Tucker. The odds are against you. We have you out gunned and out manoeuvred, your engines won’t save you now.”

“History says otherwise,” replied the Rel Sevanne.

“The Tien are a dying people, you even had to get your Patriarch from another race. You are contaminated, and we will purify you. The end of the Tien is near,” said the Vor Devrees.

“You talk a good fight, makes me wonder if you’re all talk,” replied the Rel Sevanne.

“Oh you’re much more fun than Ten En Ath Jeriad,” said the Vor Devrees. “It’s a shame that we will have to exterminate you along with the Tien race.”

“Well it’s been a slice of heaven chatting with you, but if you’re finished with the threats then I’d best get back to running my ship.”

“Oh by all means. Enjoy your last two hours of life, Vor Devrees out.”

“Well, that’s the formalities over with,” said Trip. “Time to get down to business. And time for you to go home, Malcolm.”

“Your new friends are nice,” said Reed. After the alert had sounded, he had persuaded the Tien who had come to take him to the shuttle to take him to the computer room instead. He had arrived to hear Trip’s conversation with the Vor Devrees. Trip had brought up a picture of the approaching ship on the screen in front of them. The Vor Devrees was black and triangular. It’s surface was bubbled by small lumps and tiny lights shone along its length. It blocked out the stars behind it which made it difficult to tell what was the ship and what was space.

“Yeah, they’re a barrel of laughs,” said Trip, without any humour in his voice.

“Who are they? Why are they going to attack the Rel Sevanne?” asked Reed.

“They’re the Kriel,” said Trip. “And they don’t like the Tien very much, that’s all you need to know. Anyway it’s not your problem, Shri Dat will take you back to Enterprise and then you guys need to get the hell out of here.”

“It is my problem,” said Reed. “That ship out there is just as much a danger to Enterprise as it is to the Rel Sevanne.”

“If you’re not here then you won’t be in any danger,” said Trip.

“What happens if they decide to come after us?” asked Reed.

“That’s why you have to get as far away from here as possible,” said Trip. “The best thing you can do is leave now.”

“At least let me have a look at their weapons specs,” said Reed. “I know that you have them.”

“Okay, but you’re not going to like what you see,” said Trip and he displayed the weapons and hull specifications on the screen for Reed. “Maybe this’ll make you realise why you have to get Enterprise out of the way.”

He didn’t get an answer though, Reed was engrossed in reading the screen and with each new piece of information he read the look on his face became more worried. “The damn thing’s a bloody monster.”

****

“Lieutenant Reed to Enterprise.”

“Go ahead, Lieutenant,” said Archer. “I thought you were on your way back here.”

“I decided to delay my return slightly,” said Reed.

“He’s being stubborn, Captain,” chipped in Trip. “I told him to go back to Enterprise.”

“What’s the problem, Malcolm?” asked Archer, ignoring the interruption.

“The Vor Devrees,” said Reed.

“Yes, Ensign Hooper has been taking scans of their armaments but we’re having trouble penetrating its hull.”

“The Patriarch was kind enough to give me the specifications of the Vor Devrees’ weapons,” said Reed. “It’s armed to the teeth. I’m transmitting the specifications to you now.”

“You’re just wasting time, Malcolm, you have to leave now,” said Trip.

“I heard you the first time, Trip. Maybe we should take the Patriarch’s advice, Malcolm, and leave,” said Archer.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” said Reed. “The Vor Devrees must know that we’re here and they don’t seem very friendly. Our chances would be much better if we work with the Rel Sevanne.”

“You don’t understand what you’re up against here,” said Trip. “The Rel Sevanne’s chances against the Vor Devrees are slim at best, why do you think we’ve been running for so long.”

“Well maybe you’d have better odds if Enterprise stays,” said Archer.

“Enterprise wouldn’t stand a chance against the Vor Devrees’ guns. I think you could outrun them, though,” said Trip.

“The Rel Sevanne wasn’t able to outrun them and you’re faster than Enterprise,” said Reed.

“They only caught up with us because of the engine trouble,” said Trip. “The Vor Devrees wasn’t built for speed, it was built to kill the Rel Sevanne and her sister ships.”

“I heard what Corvas said, they’re determined to slaughter every single Tien on board the Rel Sevanne,” said Reed. “It sounds like you could use all the help you can get.”

“The last time the Tien engaged the Vor Devrees it destroyed the Rel Ishtari, we barely escaped. I know these people, they’re ruthless and I don’t want Enterprise getting caught in the middle of a generations old war,” said Trip. “It’s not your fight.”

“It is now,” said Archer. “We’re staying. Lieutenant Reed will be your liaison with Enterprise.”

“But Captain…” began Trip.

“I don’t want to hear it, Trip. I don’t care if you are Patriarch of the Rel Sevanne, I’m still Captain of Enterprise and I decide where we go and what we do. We’re staying and that’s final. Archer out,” he said and indicated to Hoshi to cut the connection. A small smug part of him noticed that he’d finally managed to get the last word in.

****End of Chapter 11****

The Rel Ishtari sat dead in space, its Matriarch, Yu Then Tri Jeriad, had done the best the she could to fend off the attackers but it hadn’t been enough. The last barrage from the Vor Devrees had taken out the engines and, while the Tien were doing their best to effect repairs, she knew that it was hopeless. Vor fighters swarmed around the stricken craft like vultures approaching a carcass. Their own Rel fighters were almost all destroyed, those that remained were severely out numbered. Her whole body hurt from the wounds the Vor Devrees had inflicted upon her hull and she knew it wouldn’t be long before they struck the fatal blow. She had already watched three of her sister ships die this way.

“Ishtari to Sevanne,” said Yu Then.

“This is the Rel Sevanne, go ahead Yu Then,” said Dan Ten Ath Jeriad, the Patriarch of the Rel Sevanne.

“It’s over Dan Ten,” said Yu Then. “I’ll hold them for as long as I can, but then you’re on your own. It’s the end for the Ishtari.” She sent out a message to all the Rel fighters remaining to dock with the Rel Sevanne, there was nothing more for them to do now.

“Yu Then, we can still defeat the Vor Devrees, we just have to work together,” said Dan Ten.

“No, it’s too late. They got our engines on the last pass. We can’t manoeuvre any more. You have to save the Rel Sevanne, you’re our only hope now,” said Yu Then. Suddenly she caught something on her scanners. “By the goddess,” she breathed, a Vor fighter was out of control and heading straight towards the centre of the ship. Then the Rel Ishtari screamed as the fighter ploughed through the hull and into the computer core.

Dan Ten watched as the Vor Devrees moved in for the kill and before he took the Rel Sevanne to warp he saw the flames licking at the Rel Ishtari as explosions rocked her from the interior.

“And that was the last time we encountered the Vor Devrees,” said Trip. Not only had the Rel Sevanne recorded the events and the com traffic, it had also recorded the emotions and Trip had been assailed by the deep sense of loss that Dan Ten had felt. He knew Dan Ten had felt each Tien death through his link with the ship, especially the death of his cousin Yu Then Tri Jeriad.

Reed had watched in disbelief as Trip had called up the records from over three centuries ago and played back their last encounter with the Vor Devrees. It didn’t make for pleasant viewing, nor was it particularly encouraging considering what they were about to face. He had just watched two Tien generation ships go up against the Vor Devrees and lose. This time they only had one generation ship and Enterprise.

“The Rel Sevanne’s fighters,” said Reed. “How many of the fighters survived?”

“They’re called Rel fighters. More than we have pilots for,” said Trip. “Probably less than they have Vor fighters.” Reed noted that Trip was calling the Tien “we” and it annoyed him that his friend had stopped thinking of himself as human, but at the moment he had bigger problems to worry about. They couldn’t get Trip back if they were all dead.

“So the pattern is that they send in their Vor fighters to soften us up, then the big guns arrive?” asked Reed.

“So far that’s always the way that they’ve played it,” said Trip. “That’s how they took out the other four ships. They concentrated all their attacking forces on one ship and left just enough resources out of the attack to keep the rest of us from coming to help.”

“The Rel Ishtari attack followed the exact same pattern as the other three?” said Reed.

“Yeah, the Rel Sanvigo was the first to be hit, just after we left Tien. They ambushed us that time. Then about a hundred years later they caught up with us again and took out the Rel Meritaten in the same way. They destroyed the Rel Luis-Nion when we were delayed by a nebula and you saw what happened to the Rel Ishtari. We’ve been running ever since,” said Trip.

“Which is why the Tien couldn’t just settle on a planet,” said Reed. “The Vor Devrees being quite capable of destroying a planet in order to exterminate the remaining Tien.”

“Yeah, the Tien would have been sitting ducks. So, you see I wasn’t kidding when I said it would kill them,” said Trip.

“If this is what they’ve been running from all this time I can see why they’re desperate,” said Reed. “It might help if we knew who the Kriel are.”

“You have to understand, if I tell you who the Kriel are it would put Enterprise in danger,” said Trip. “The Kriel are on a mission to kill the Tien and anyone who has come into contact with them. It’s bad enough that they’ve probably detected Enterprise but there are forces at work here that are beyond anything humans have ever encountered before. The Kriel abused those forces and this is the outcome.”

“I don’t think we could be in any more danger than we are in now,” said Reed. “If the Vor Devrees arrives and we don’t have a plan then we’ll all be dead.”

“Why can’t you just accept that they’re the bad guys?” asked Trip.

“Because it’s never that simple,” said Reed.

“The Captain said the same thing,” said Trip.

“Maybe there’s hope for him yet,” replied Reed. Although Reed had great respect for Captain Archer, he often thought that his Captain was a triumph of enthusiasm over judgement. “The knowledge that you have about the Kriel could be vital to our winning this battle. What happened to make the Tien leave their homeworld?”

“The Kriel happened,” said Trip.

“I assumed that was the case. Where did they come from and why did they decide to attack the Tien?” said Reed. This was like trying to get blood out of a stone. In fact getting blood out of a stone might have been easier than getting Trip to talk about Tien history.

“They came from Tien,” said Trip.

“I thought you said they were the Kriel?” said Reed.

“Yeah they are, but they’re also Tien. It just depends what your quantum perspective is,” said Trip.

“I don’t understand,” said Reed.

“Let’s just say, they’re not from around here,” said Trip.

“Of course they’re not from around here, they’ve been travelling for ten generations, chasing the Tien,” said Reed, getting annoyed now by Trip’s constant side stepping of his questions.

“They’re from another reality, a parallel universe,” said Trip.

“How is that possible?” asked Reed.

“Well quantum theory says that basically life is a game of chance, everyday we make hundreds of choices and those choices decide the course of history. Now suppose every time you made a choice it split off another universe in which you made a different choice. There’d be an infinite number of parallel universes all different from this one. The Kriel are Tien but from an alternative universe,” said Trip.

“I know the theory, Commander, but how did they get here?” said Reed impatiently.

“We don’t exactly know how the Kriel did it but however they got here, they have the ability to jump between realities. We know a little bit of information about their reality from Kriel that we’ve captured over the years. We know that the Kriel planet is at exactly the same spatial co-ordinates as Tien was and their world is dying. The only Kriel left are the ones on the Vor Devrees. They look pretty much like the Tien, and we haven’t been able to detect any physiological differences, except for an extra ridge on each cheek bone,” said Trip.

“Okay they’re from an alternate universe, if they’re basically the same as the Tien, why do they want to kill them?” asked Reed.

“You remember the scripture that Kris Nor read from at my inauguration?” said Trip.

“Yes, how could I forget. Something about finding protection from the Darkness and taking what they needed from the sky,” said Reed.

“You missed out the most important bit, the Tien are the chosen people of the goddess,” said Trip.

“What do the Tien’s religious beliefs have to do with the Vor Devrees coming to kill us?” said Reed.

“The Kriel believe that they’re the chosen people of the goddess too. When they discovered that there were alternate realities they made it their mission to wipe out all the other Tien,” said Trip. “They put all their research efforts into finding a way to move between the parallel universes. Eventually they did it and built the Vor Devrees.”

“I don’t understand, if you’re all the chosen people of the goddess why would they want to kill you?” asked Reed.

“Because, Malcolm, there can only be one chosen people,” said Trip, “and once they’re finished with us, they’ll move on to the next universe and wipe out the Tien there too.”

“You mean this is a holy war that we’ve got ourselves mixed up in,” said Malcolm.

“Only from the Kriel point of view, the Tien are just fighting for their lives. We’re a bit more pragmatic about our religious beliefs, the goddess in Tien religion wouldn’t want us going out and killing a whole load of Tien,” said Trip.

“But she didn’t mind them kidnapping you and turning you into part of their computer,” said Reed.

“Actually that was pretty much completely against the goddess’s teachings,” said Trip. “Which just goes to prove how desperate they were.”

“Desperation doesn’t give them the right to take another person’s life and co-opt it for their own purposes,” said Reed.

“If you’re going to be like that, I’ll send you back to Enterprise. Captain’s orders or not,” said Trip.

“Fine, I’ll behave. For now. Well at least I know what their motivations are. They won’t be taking prisoners and they’re not going to surrender, this is going to be to the death. Let’s just hope that it’s theirs.”

****

T’Pol was in the command centre. She had modified the scanners once again in order to try to penetrate the hull of the Vor Devrees. She was beginning to think that it was a futile exercise and the Enterprise sensors just weren’t capable of the required penetration. However as she was about to give up she noticed something unusual about the scans that she had already taken.

“T’Pol to Phlox,” she said.

“Yes, Sub-commander, go ahead,” said Phlox.

“Doctor, I have some data that I need your help analysing,” said T’Pol.

Phlox was intrigued. He knew that T’Pol was working on ways to defeat the Vor Devrees and he wondered why she would require his help. “I will be there momentarily,” said Phlox.

Phlox arrived to find that T’Pol had also called Captain Archer to the command centre.

“Captain, Sub-commander,” said Phlox. “How can I help?”

“T’Pol thinks that she may have found something,” said Archer.

“I was analysing the scans that I had taken of the Vor Devrees when I recollected Lieutenant Reed’s report on the Rel Sevanne. He mentioned that the hull of the Rel Sevanne was grown onto the superstructure. The Vor Devrees also appears to have an organic hull which is blocking our scans, I was hoping that the doctor’s expertise in organic matters might allow us to penetrate the hull with our scanners.”

“I have never tried to perform a medical scan on a ship before but I am willing to give it a go,” said Phlox, he examined T’Pol’s data and then tapped on the padd which he held in his hand. “Interesting, very interesting. Try these frequencies Sub-commander,” he said and handed T’Pol the padd.

“Thank you, doctor,” said T’Pol. She input the new frequencies and instructed the computer to perform the scans. “We appear to be obtaining accurate readings now of the Vor Devrees hull and sensor net. We are still unable to penetrate below the superstructure but this is more than I was able to achieve previously. I am in your debt, doctor.”

“Nonsense, T’Pol, I’m always happy to be of service,” said Phlox.

“What do your scans tell us, T’Pol?” asked Archer.

“That the Vor Devrees will be very hard to destroy. The outer skin of the ship is capable of regeneration from wounds and also extremely hard wearing. It is roughly six times tougher than our hull plating when polarised.”

“Roughly?” asked Archer, a slight smile on his lips. T’Pol had learnt that humans preferred a broad brush approach when dealing with numbers, however Vulcans did not and it still amused Archer to tease T’Pol occasionally.

“Five point eight six to be precise,” said T’Pol.

“Any weaknesses?” asked Archer.

“None that I can detect,” said T’Pol. “Although if we concentrate our fire in one area we might be able to cause enough damage to disable the ship. I doubt we could destroy it with the resources that we have at our disposal.”

“If I might make a suggestion,” said Phlox. “As the Vor Devrees is at least partially organic, perhaps we could attack it in an organic manner. Basically all organisms have the same building blocks, even the hull of a ship has to have cells and DNA. I suspect it also has to have an immune system. Perhaps we could give the Vor Devrees a cold.”

“A cold?” asked Archer. “How will that help us?”

“Well I was actually only using cold as a metaphor. A virus. We could infect the ship’s hull with a virus and hopefully it would infect the computer as well. That should disable the ship fairly effectively if your experience on the Rel Sevanne is anything to go by. Of course I will have to engineer a suitable virus and I’m not sure I’ll have it ready in two hours time when the Vor Devrees arrives. Not only that we will have to work out a method of delivering the virus, but perhaps one of Mr Reed’s modified torpedoes could be used, hmm?” said Phlox.

“We don’t have many options at the moment, Doctor. Currently our chances of beating that thing with conventional weapons are slim to nil. Get to work and keep me updated on your progress. Make use of any resources that you need,” said Archer.

“Might I borrow the Sub-commander, her insights into the hull make-up could be very useful,” said Phlox.

“I would be happy to assist you,” said T’Pol.

“Good, I’ll let the Rel Sevanne know that we might have a way to defeat this thing,” said Archer.

****

Reed walked into the hangar of the Rel Sevanne, padd in hand. The Tien had been training for this day for the past three centuries; Reed had been handed a set of instructions and told to go to the hanger. He was apprehensive to say the least. Around him Tien were busy carrying out pre-flight checks on the Rel fighters, getting ready to launch. Everyone in the room knew the odds were that they wouldn’t be coming back. Assuming that the Vor Devrees still had a similar number of fighters as it had at their last encounter, the Tien would be outnumbered three to one.

The problem for the Tien wasn’t fighters, it was pilots. The hangar was full of Rel fighters but there just weren’t enough trained Tien to fly them. Trip had ordered every fighter pilot that he had down to the hangar and it still wasn’t enough, there would only be five squadrons. They were also down one Squadron Leader so Reed had volunteered his services. Trip had protested but in the end he’d had no choice but to let the Lieutenant do as he had suggested, there just wasn’t anyone else. It was a while since he’d flown any sort of fighter but he knew the tactics behind this type of combat and to be honest the Tien needed every man they could get.

At least now they had a fighting chance. The Captain had called a little over an hour ago to inform them of the doctor’s efforts to come up with a virus to disable the Vor Devrees. They just had to hold them off until the virus was ready and protect the Rel Sevanne. Enterprise would do its best to get into weapons range of the Vor Devrees. Trip had shown a new side of himself when he had begun analysing attack patterns with Nils Fen and Lieutenant Reed. Despite the fact that he’d never led an army into battle before, he was issuing orders like a pro and showing leadership qualities that Reed had only ever had the briefest of glimpses of previously. Which reminded him that he had his own command to take up.

“Lieutenant Reed reporting for duty,” he said approaching the Tien Flight Commander. She looked up from a padd that she held and took in the man who stood in front of her.

“Lieutenant,” acknowledged the Commander. “I’m Sun Neer Gen Tespin, Flight Commander. I’m glad you’re here. You’re to take command of third squadron. Your fighter is over there, Crin Ad will escort you, she’s in your squadron so can show you the ropes.”

Crin Ad smiled at Reed, “Crin Ad Var Suriad, at your service Lieutenant,” said the young Tien girl. Reed estimated her age to be about seventeen. “If you would like to follow me I will take you to your fighter.”

Reed indicated for her to show him the way and followed her to the bay which housed his fighter. Crin Ad introduced the rest of the squadron which included her brother, Tran Est Dur Suriad, who had to be at least two years younger than his sister. He proudly told Reed how the Patriarch had ordered him to go home when he arrived at the hangar but he had disobeyed the order and stayed. The Patriarch had eventually relented and allowed him to stay. Tran Est was in the Tien equivalent of a cadet corps and had logged hundreds of hours in the simulator, which was more than Reed could say.

“I’m pleased to meet you all. I realise that I’m not Tien but my loyalty is to your Patriarch just as yours is. It is my foremost intention to get us all out of this alive but you know the odds we’re up against. Our aim is to take down as many Vor fighters as we can, but I don’t want to see any of you being reckless. The longer you can survive, the more Vor fighters you can take out, the better chance the Rel Sevanne has of getting through this in one piece. Every fighter we take down is one less for the Rel Sevanne to worry about,” said Reed. “Go to your fighters and make sure everything is ready. We launch in twenty minutes.”

A resounding chorus of “yes, sirs” was followed by the pilots running to their craft and making ready for launch. “I hope this works,” said Reed to himself before he too went to his fighter and performed the pre-flight checks. A siren wailed around the hangar to signal that it was time to launch. He closed the canopy of his fighter and readied himself for takeoff.

“Take care, Malcolm. Make sure you come back in one piece,” said Trip, over the radio.

“Don’t worry, I don’t intend to take any unnecessary risks,” replied Reed.

“I’m glad to hear it, now go give ‘em hell,” said Trip.

****

“I have further information on the second ship in the vicinity of the Rel Sevanne,” said Corvas. “I was able to tap into their computer. Its security measures were primitive. They are from a planet called Earth and the crew is mostly human. From my scans, it seems that the Patriarch of the Rel Sevanne is also a human.”

“It’s beginning to make some sense now,” said Exarch Nordis. “The human ship is protecting one of its own.”

“It seems that way,” said Corvas. “We must therefore exterminate them too.”

“The Rel Sevanne is our first priority,” replied the Exarch.

“Of course. The human ship is weak, it poses no threat to us. Once we have destroyed our primary target we will destroy those who fraternised with the heretics,” said Corvas.

“And once we have destroyed the Rel Sevanne we can move on to the next universe,” said Nordis. “I will instruct the engineers that we will need the inter-universe jump engines soon.”

“Launch the Vor fighters and tell them to aim for the centre of the ship,” said Corvas. “If we can take out the computer room, if we can kill Trip En Ath Tucker, then the Rel Sevanne will be disabled and an easy target for the Vor Devrees. Just like we killed the Rel Ishtari,” said Corvas.

****End of Chapter 12****

Archer walked into sick bay to find that it was a hive of activity. T’Pol sat at one of the lab benches examining something under a microscope and Phlox was examining scans of the Vor Devrees. Various of Phlox’s assistants could be seen hard at work helping with the research.

“Anything to report?” he asked Phlox.

“I am making progress as quickly as I can,” replied the doctor. “I am generally unaccustomed to engineering viruses to disable ships, especially at such short notice. It is a very delicate and taxing task.”

“I know I’m asking a lot, doctor, but this is still our best hope for getting out of this alive,” said Archer.

“I am aware of that, Captain,” replied Phlox in an irritated tone. “It will be at least another hour before we have something to test.”

Archer knew when he wasn’t wanted. “Okay, doctor, contact me as soon as you have something to report.” A quick bit of mental arithmetic had told him what he needed to know, they wouldn’t have a weapon ready before they engaged the Kriel.

T’Pol stood up from her stool as Archer turned to leave. “How are the preparations for the attack on the Vor Devrees progressing?”

“Okay. Our part in it is fairly simple, get within weapons range so that we can infect the Vor Devrees with Phlox’s virus. Trip is sending us a squadron of Rel fighters to protect Enterprise, if we work with them we should be able to take out enough Vor fighters to even up the odds,” said Archer. “I’m not sure that Trip can really spare a whole squadron of fighters, from what Malcolm said in his last report, but he insisted. Maybe he does still have some loyalty to Enterprise left after all.”

“I have no doubt that he still has loyalty to Enterprise. But that has been overridden by his desire to protect the Tien. His personality seems to be at least partially intact. If he can protect us both then he will do so,” said T’Pol.

“Well at least that’s something,” said Archer. “I’m beginning to wish to god we’d never stopped to help the Rel Sevanne.”

“We cannot change the past,” said T’Pol. “Regret helps no one. If what we have been told about the Vor Devrees is correct then our presence may be saving billions of lives.”

“You don’t believe that the Vor Devrees is from an alternate universe?” asked Archer.

“The Vulcan Science Directorate has been unable to find any evidence for the many universe theory, but they also have not been able to rule the possibility out completely. However most alternate universe theories state that the various realities cannot interact. The presence of the Kriel would invalidate that, if they truly do come from another universe,” said T’Pol.

“Even if Trip lied to us and they don’t come from an alternate universe they’re still intent on attacking the Rel Sevanne and killing two thousand people, as well as Enterprise,” said Archer.

“Is that the only reason that you elected to stay and help the Rel Sevanne?” asked T’Pol.

Archer gave T’Pol a look that she couldn’t read. “I wish I could say that it was,” said Archer. “It certainly was the main reason, I can’t have the Vor Devrees coming after Enterprise while we’re trying to track down the Xindi. But it would have felt wrong leaving Trip behind too. I just couldn’t do it, T’Pol. He didn’t want this, just because he doesn’t know it, doesn’t mean we should abandon him. But as Captain of Enterprise I can’t and won’t make decisions based on the safety of one man. If Trip was the only reason to stay we wouldn’t still be here.”

“You know that I have great respect for Commander Tucker. I am sure that Enterprise would suffer from the lack of his presence. I believe that it was the right decision to stay to help the Tien,” said T’Pol.

“Thanks, T’Pol,” said Archer, he really did appreciate her support in this, especially because he wasn’t completely sure himself that he had made the right decision. It still might cost all of them their lives.

T’Pol gave a slight inclination of her head in acknowledgement of Archer’s thanks. “I must return to my work,” she said and turned back to her microscope.

“Sato to Archer,” said the com.

“Archer here, go ahead Hoshi.”

“We’ve detected a squadron of fighters approaching. The Rel Sevanne has launched its own fighters in reply. Lieutenant Reed has just checked in, his squadron has been assigned to provide forward protection to the Rel Sevanne. Second Squadron are to protect Enterprise. They’re taking up position now. The Commander’s name is Sun Neer Gen Tespin, Malcolm said to let you know that she’s the Flight Commander,” said Hoshi.

“So Trip sent us the best that he had,” said Archer, to himself, he had to wonder if that meant there was hope of cutting through the Rel Sevanne’s conditioning, but right now he couldn’t think about that. “I’m on my way to the bridge, Hoshi. Let the Flight Commander know that we’ll have our phase cannons ready to back her up. Tell Travis to get ready, we’re going into battle.”

“Yes, sir,” said Hoshi.

****

Reed led his squadron of fighters away from the Rel Sevanne and towards the Vor Devrees. Their main purpose was to draw the fire away from the Tien ship. Although the Rel Sevanne had very powerful guns they weren’t quick enough to cope with the nimble Vor fighters that zipped between the white towers of the Rel Sevanne. There was also the substantial risk now that the battle was underway that the guns might hit their own fighters. The guns could take out some of them but certainly not all so it was down to the Rel fighter squadrons to take out as many as they could before they could reach the Rel Sevanne.

Reed had been able to watch Enterprise move into position and see what an effective combination the starship made with the Rel fighters. He occasionally caught their com traffic as their sphere of engagement neared his own and they seemed to be holding off the Vor fighters successfully. Ensign Mayweather’s piloting skills were superb as usual and he could have wished for him in his own Rel fighter squadron. He’d recommended that Ensign Hooper take the tactical station in his absence and she seemed to have been the right choice. However, he didn’t have time to dwell on how Enterprise was faring, his own squadron had its hands full.

The Tien were good pilots, an easy match for the Kriel who obviously had simply expected their overwhelming numbers to win them the battle. They had outnumbered the Tien two to one when the battle had started but those odds were rapidly changing in their favour. Reed wasn’t happy though, despite their vast numbers, Reed was fairly sure that there should have been more Vor fighters than there actually were. His suspicions were confirmed when another wave appeared as if from nowhere. They fell upon Reed’s squadron like a pack of wolves and once again they were all fighting for their lives. The Tien stayed in formation, following their commander’s lead.

“Elites,” said Crin Ad. “The regular pilots couldn’t take us down so they sent in the Elites.”

“Less chatter, Crin Ad,” said Reed. “Watch your partners and don’t let your guard down for a second,” he added to the rest of the squadron. “They’re no tougher than the others.”

He fixed one of the Vor fighters in his sights and fired, the enemy craft exploding in a reassuring ball of flame as if to prove Reed’s point. He only had moments to enjoy the serendipity though as a loud alarm indicated that another Vor fighter had locked onto him. The Elites were definitely more disciplined than the ordinary fighters that they had been dealing with so far.

“You’ve got one on your tail, sir,” said Crin Ad. “I’ll try to pick it off.”

“Much appreciated,” said Reed to his wingman, dryly. He felt rather than saw Crin Ad fire at his attacker, she hit it but it wasn’t on target and the Vor fighter wasn’t damaged badly. Reed dodged left into the path of a second Vor fighter, he changed course again rapidly before the second fighter could get a lock on him. He watched his rear target sensors with slight amusement as he saw that his plan had worked, the first fighter slammed into the second. Neither were able to change course in time to avoid the collision, and a fire ball blossomed where the two craft had met in catastrophic style.

“That’ll teach you to watch where you’re going,” he muttered under his breath. Reed wasn’t able to gloat for long though, another fighter had picked up a lock on Crin Ad and he needed to get that fighter off her before she ended up as another statistic of this war. “Hold on, Crin Ad, I’m coming,” said Reed as he turned his craft around and concentrated on getting a target lock on the attacking fighter.

“If you could hurry it up, sir,” replied Crin Ad, her voice betraying her fear a little and Reed remembered just how young she was. Suddenly from his left another Rel fighter came screaming down towards Crin Ad’s attacker.

“I got it, sister,” he heard over the radio.

“Tran Est, get back into formation,” he said to the young pilot, “I can deal with this.”

“I’m nearer,” replied Tran Est.

“You’re out of formation,” replied Reed. “Follow my orders and get back to where you’re supposed to be.” Tran Est ignored him though, locked on to the attacking Vor fighter and fired. The Vor fighter disintegrated in front of them, another one down.

“Thanks Tran,” said Crin Ad with a sigh of relief.

“Tran Est where are you?” said a voice from one of the other Rel fighters. Reed knew it had to be Tran Est’s partner, Fin Ror.

“I’m coming,” said Tran “Just hang in there.” But they never caught the reply, Fin Ror’s Rel fighter was hit by one of the pursuing Vor fighters and twisted metal was all that remained by the time Tran Est arrived to save his partner. It was the squadron’s first loss. Reed heard Tran Est mutter “no” several times and he knew this wasn’t the time or place for recriminations. It wasn’t Tran Est’s fault, the only people to blame were the Kriel for putting them in the position where they had to send untrained children into battle. Tran Est certainly had the piloting skills to hold his own, what he did not have was maturity or the battle hardness to be able to leave his sister’s defence in the hands of another.

“Tran,” said Reed, deliberately using the form of his name that he had heard his sister use. “It wasn’t your fault. We don’t have time to mourn the dead now, put it to one side and we’ll mourn him properly when this is all over. Right now I need you to focus on the task at hand. Can you do that?”

“Yes, sir,” said a slightly more composed voice over the radio.

“Good, partner up with Crin Ad, but both of you can keep an eye on my tail too, understood?” he asked.

“Yes, sir,” replied brother and sister. And Reed chastised himself for not thinking of that arrangement in the first place, but he hadn’t foreseen the problem. He had forgotten that he was dealing with young pilots who had never fought in a real battle before. Simulations and training were one thing, the actuality of a real space battle was something else. Even the skirmishes with raiders which some of the pilots had participated in weren’t preparation for something of the scale of this conflict. He cursed the Kriel once again for creating this situation that he now found himself in.

****

The main batteries of the Rel Sevanne seemed to be firing non-stop now. Nils Fen’s men were manning the guns, picking off any stray fighters which escaped the cordon of Rel fighters that surrounded the Tien mother-ship. Trip kept watch over the targets, his sensors feeling out into space to pick up targets as early as possible and prevent them from slipping past their defences. The Tien security forces were prepared to deal with boarders but they all knew that if the battle reached that stage then the Rel Sevanne was lost.

“Forward batteries, I’ve got a squadron of Vor fighters approaching fast,” said Trip. He briefly checked in with the Squadron Leaders, but they all confirmed that they couldn’t break off the fight in their area, the attackers were too numerous. “We don’t have any Rel fighters in the area, they’re all tied up elsewhere, so it’s up to us.”

He heard a chorus of “yes Patriarch” from the forward battery and then his sensors detected the satisfying feeling of target locks being acquired. The Tien opened fire on the Vor fighters and about half of the wave fell before they could get within weapons range. The fighters were quick though and some managed to get through. The Tien continued to fire but watched helplessly as laser discharge raked the hull of the Rel Sevanne and Trip felt fire course along his veins. It was like someone had just dripped acid on his skin. Damn, that hurts, he thought and did his best to push the pain to the back of his mind, he was pretty sure that there was worse to come.

After the third attack run found its target, he decided that he needed to do something. “Shar Jen,” he called. She was down in the engine room doing her best to keep everything running while they were under attack. “I need you to disconnect the outer sensors on part of the hull.”

Shar Jen heard the pain in his voice even though he was trying to hide it. “We’ve been hit?” she asked. “Is it bad?”

“No, no important systems damaged, it just stings,” he lied. “But if anything big hits us, I can’t afford to be distracted. It’s just the tactile sensors that you need to disconnect, everything else I still need. I can’t do it from here, something got hit in the last run and the junction I need isn’t responding.” Even so it was going to feel like he’d lost one of his senses and he wasn’t relishing the prospect of losing one of the faculties that he’d come to rely on for monitoring the ship’s condition. He wouldn’t be able to feel if there was a hull breach or the level of damage caused, but he needed to focus his attention on the battle.

“Okay, just give me a minute to get to the junction,” said Shar Jen, she grabbed her tool box and ran out of engineering towards the section she needed. She found the panel that she wanted and ripped off the covering to reveal the internal workings of the ship. “By the Goddess,” she said with feeling.

“What’s the problem?” asked Trip.

“It’s a fused mess in here. That last blast must have caused a cascade that fed back through the entire system. I can turn it all off or nothing,” said Shar Jen.

“I’ll be blind if you do that,” said Trip. “I need the sensors to detect the Vor fighters.”

“Perhaps I can repair enough of it, maybe re-route the rest…” began Shar Jen.

“It’s going to take hours to repair all of that. Forget it, I’ll just have to put up with it hurting,” said Trip

“Trip En, you can’t. Let me turn them off,” said Shar Jen, reaching to pull out the fused optical fibres and cables.

“Jen,” said Trip, gently. “You have to let me do my job.”

“En, you’re in pain. I can’t let you do this to yourself,” said Shar Jen.

“You have to. This is why I’m here,” said Trip. “I know what you’re feeling, but you can’t let it get in the way. You have to let me protect the Tien.”

Shar Jen looked at the mass of destroyed electronics and closed her eyes. It was so hard. “For my people,” she said. A tear slid slowly down her cheek and she brushed it away, angry at herself for giving in to her emotions when so much was at stake. “For the Tien,” she said more strongly and replaced the panel. “As soon as this is over I’ll have that junction completely replaced.”

“Now you’re behaving like the Artificer of the Rel Sevanne,” said Trip.

“I need to get back to the engine room,” said Shar Jen. “Let me know if you need me for anything else.” Trip could still feel her sorrow and worry and love for him, but she was doing a good job of controlling it now, it had all been buried under a new emotion, determination.

****End of Chapter 13****

Captain Archer had to stop himself from ducking as he watched a Vor fighter on the view screen fly over the bridge of Enterprise followed by a Rel fighter. That one had been very close.

“How are we doing, Ensign?” asked Archer, urgently.

“About as well as can be expected, sir,” replied Ensign Hooper. “Second Squadron are doing a good job of clearing us a path, we’re taking out our fair share of fighters as well but they just seem to keep coming.”

“How long before we’re in range to fire torpedoes at the Vor Devrees?” said Archer.

“About another twenty minutes, sir, but we’ll be in range of their guns a good ten minutes before that,” said Hooper.

“How’s the Rel Sevanne holding up?” asked Archer, turning to Hoshi.

“Okay for the moment, sir,” replied Hoshi. “They’ve taken damage, but so far no major systems have been hit.”

Archer knew that the Rel Sevanne was taking the brunt of the assault, Enterprise was merely a side track as far as the Vor fighters were concerned and not worth their time. If it wasn’t for the trouble that Enterprise and Second Squadron were causing the Vor fighters then he suspected they would have ignored Enterprise completely, at least until they were done with their main target. The problem was that even with Enterprise backing them up, Second Squadron were having trouble holding their own. Which worried Archer a lot, if the Vor Devrees wasn’t using its full strength to attack Enterprise and they were having trouble, how would they ever defeat the Vor Devrees.

“Sun Neer to Enterprise,” came the call. “Sorry for the near miss, we’ll try and keep them a bit further away,” said the Flight Commander.

“That would be much appreciated, Sun Neer,” replied Archer.

“How’s that weapon coming?” Sun Neer asked. Even though she hid it supremely well, Archer could hear a little of the desperation that she must be feeling creep into her voice.

“It’s coming,” said Archer. “Don’t worry, we’ll be ready in time.”

****

Reed had lost nearly half of his squadron. The Vor fighters just kept coming and he couldn’t see an end to them. He twisted into a roll to avoid another Vor fighter that was screaming in for the kill, it missed him and was taken out of the fight by one the remaining members of Reed’s squadron. He knew that their battle plan wasn’t working but he had no idea how to fix it. Dog fighting one on one just wasn’t the way to deal with the vast numbers of Vor fighters that were assailing them.

“Reed to Tucker,” he said into his com. He didn’t care if they were fighting for their lives, he still wasn’t going to call Trip Patriarch.

“Go ahead, Malcolm,” came the strained reply. Trip was having trouble staying focused. The pain had predictably only become worse as more damage was inflicted on the Rel Sevanne by the Vor fighters that continued to break through their outer defences. In fact, more were getting through now as they had lost more Rel fighters. The Rel Sevanne’s guns just weren’t built to take out small, manoeuvrable fighters and the Vor Devrees had yet to come into target range. Several Tien had died and he had felt the emotions of every single one of them. Trip was beginning to think that this was going to be the death of a thousand cuts, it sure as hell felt like it.

“Trip, what’s wrong?” asked Reed, suddenly more concerned for his friend than his own safety.

“Rel Sevanne’s taken a few hits,” said Trip.

“I don’t understand,” said Reed. “None of the critical systems have been hit.”

“It hurts, Malcolm,” said Trip as if he was talking to an extremely dense child.

“Oh god, the Rel Sevanne feeds back to the computer through the sensor net,” said Reed. “Can’t you disconnect the sensors?”

“Shar Jen already tried, the whole damn thing’s fused into a useless heap. We’re lucky the sensors are working at all,” replied Trip. “I’ll survive. What did you want?” He didn’t have time to worry about his own problems now.

“We’re getting slaughtered out here,” said Reed matter-of-factly. “I’ve lost nearly half my squadron and the others aren’t doing much better. We need to come up with a new attack plan.”

“Don’t you mean defence plan,” said Trip.

“Perhaps not,” said Reed. “Maybe we should take the battle to the Vor Devrees.”

“That would be suicide, Malcolm. You’re barely holding your own with the guns of the Rel Sevanne to back you up,” said Trip.

“At the moment we’re expending all our resources on protecting the Rel Sevanne, and they’re using all their resources to attack it,” said Reed. “The problem is that our resources don’t match theirs. We need to make them defend their ship too.”

“Enterprise,” said Trip.

“What about Enterprise?” asked Reed.

“She can lay down enough covering fire for you to get to the Vor Devrees,” said Trip. “Go on Malcolm, it’s your plan. Take Third Squadron and join up with Commander Tespin’s squadron. Regroup and attack the Vor Devrees. Their guns won’t be in range for the Rel Sevanne for another ten minutes, if you can keep them occupied you might just swing this battle in out favour.”

“I’ll contact Enterprise and let them know that we’re changing tactics,” said Reed.

“Yeah, tell the Captain to concentrate on getting Enterprise into torpedo range…” began Trip and suddenly he broke off and Reed heard a groan, followed by a stifled scream of pain. “God damn it, this is getting personal,” he managed to gasp out.

“What happened?” asked Reed, concerned.

“Five Vor fighters just made an attack run on the ship, they’re aiming in exactly the right place to hit the computer room, if I wasn’t ten floors down,” said Trip. “All the fighters that have broken through the cordon have tried for that area, these are the first guys to succeed. They probably know the lay out of the Rel Sevanne as well as I do. If too many get through then eventually they’ll make a big enough hole that they can take out the computer room. Better hurry that attack plan up, Malcolm.”

“Yes, sir,” replied Malcolm. “Third Squadron, we’re taking the fight to the Vor Devrees.”

****

Phlox looked down at the slide under his microscope. He’d lost count of the number of slides he’d examined now and found wanting. It didn’t help that they had no tissue samples from the Vor Devrees to work with, he could only run simulations and hope that they mirrored real life accurately. This one looked promising though.

“T’Pol, I require a second opinion,” said Phlox to his co-worker. “Could you take a look at this, I think I may have a viable virion structure.”

“Of course, doctor,” replied T’Pol who moved over to look at the slide under the microscope. “It looks as if you are correct. Let us run the simulation with the mutated structure and see if we get the required result.”

Enterprise shook suddenly and T’Pol grabbed for the bench. “I believe that the Rel fighters are having difficulty sustaining their perimeter around Enterprise,” said T’Pol, calm as ever.

“It certainly seems that way,” said Phlox. “All the more reason for us to speed our efforts to engineer this virus.”

“Indeed,” said T’Pol and she turned back to the console she had been working at and put the simulation in motion. Enterprise shook again at another impact, just as two crewman staggered through the doors of sick bay, one leaning heavily on the other.

Phlox went to them immediately, tri-corder in hand and scanned his latest patient. He detailed one of his assistants to help the crewman and then returned to T’Pol’s side.

“Well, Sub-commander?” he asked, slightly impatiently.

“It is as we thought, doctor,” said T’Pol. “This virus should act upon the organic material in the Vor Devrees’ hull and incapacitate their computer’s organic component.”

“I’ll let the Captain know,” said Phlox.

****

Reed’s squadron neared Enterprise and he could immediately see that they were in trouble. Sun Neer’s fighters were still hanging in there but more stray shots were finding their way to Enterprise’s hull than they should have. Occasionally one of the Vor fighters would be able to break away completely from the defending Rel fighters and make an attack run on Enterprise. Mayweather was good at dodging when he needed to but even he couldn’t out manoeuvre the rapidly moving Vor fighters. Reed knew the tolerances of the hull plating intimately and he knew that it couldn’t take the constant bombardment that it was now receiving.

“Reed to Enterprise,” said the Lieutenant. “Third Squadron reporting.”

“Lieutenant, glad you could make it,” said Archer with considerable relief. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see a squadron of fighters in my entire life.”

“We’re headed for the Vor Devrees, we decided that we need to make them work a bit harder on their own defence. Can you give us covering fire?” asked Reed.

“Just say the word, Lieutenant and we’ll point the phase cannons wherever you need us to,” said Archer.

“Acknowledged,” replied Reed. “Is the weapon ready yet?”

“Ensign Scott is installing it in a torpedo as we speak,” said Archer. “Another ten minutes and we’ll be in range to launch.” Just as Archer finished his sentence, the Vor Devrees opened fire with their main weapons batteries at the Rel Sevanne, which replied in kind.

“Bloody hell,” said Reed as he took in the sight of the two huge ships firing on each other. So far neither had hit the other but he had no doubt that it wouldn’t be long before one of them found its target. The first couple would be for ranging and then the targeting systems would have something to work with. The Vor Devrees had the advantage, not only did it have better hull plating but it had more guns to work with. Then the Rel Sevanne found its mark and an explosion lit up the hull of the Vor Devrees. When the flames had died down slightly Reed looked for the damage that the impact must have made, but there wasn’t any. He knew the Rel Sevanne wouldn’t be so lucky when the Vor Devrees found her range. “This is bad, this is very bad,” he muttered and then over the radio he called his Squadron into formation again and they readied for their attack run on the Vor Devrees. “This is probably the only chance we’re going to get at this, let’s make it count,” he told the squadron.

He guided them through the fire from the guns of the Vor Devrees, and the reply fire from the Rel Sevanne. Enterprise took out some of the fighters that stood in their way with their forward phase cannons. Reed’s reactions were on a knife edge as his perception narrowed down to the second he was living, he couldn’t afford to look any further ahead. Just survive this next second and engage enough Vor fighters to keep them away from Enterprise and the Rel Sevanne.

He didn’t know how it happened but suddenly he had picked up three Vor fighters on his tail all at once. He dodged furiously. Crin Ad took one out and Tran Est another, but the third refused to be shaken, he felt the impact on his right hand engine and the Rel fighter fought his control. He had to think quickly, his other engine was now fading too and he had to reach Enterprise or he’d be adrift in space, an easy target for any Vor that came across him. It was too far away though, they were nearer to the Vor Devrees now than Enterprise and Reed estimated his remaining engine wouldn’t last more than a minute or so, too little time to reach Enterprise. But perhaps enough time to reach the Vor Devrees, although what good that would do him he didn’t know.

“Reed to Enterprise,” he said. There was no answer. “Reed to Rel Sevanne,” he tried, but that was equally fruitless. “Damn, the communicator must have been hit too,” he said to himself. “And talking to yourself is the first sign of madness,” he added. He pulled the access panel off the surface in front of him and examined the circuitry as much as he could inside the cramped cockpit. He pulled out a fried circuit, he held it up and gave it a careful inspection before throwing it onto the floor in frustration. He didn’t have a replacement and he certainly didn’t have the engineering knowledge that he would need to fix the alien systems. He was on his own and heading for the enemy’s base ship.

His only hope was to find the Vor Devrees’ launch bay and hope that he could make some sort of approximation at landing his crippled ship. Once he was there perhaps he could steal a Vor fighter and fly it back to Enterprise. All he had to do was avoid the gun batteries in his less than agile ship, find the launch bay, hope he didn’t kill himself landing and pray that the Kriel ignored their visitor. Even he didn’t believe that he had a snow ball’s chance in hell of pulling it off. “Jolly good, Malcolm, another suicidal plan,” he mumbled to himself cynically.

He didn’t have time to worry about any of that now though because he was already within range of the Vor Devrees guns. He managed to pull left to avoid one of the batteries but one of the others caught his right wing and now he had even less control than he had before. The Rel fighter was dying a system at a time and there nothing Reed could do about it. He ploughed onwards and saw the docking bays ahead of him. “Well here goes nothing,” he said quietly and readied for landing. Or at least he tried to ready for landing, when he tried to brake he realised that the reverse thrusters wouldn’t engage. He swore loudly and violently, there was no way that he could make a landing if he couldn’t slow down. He had purposely come in fast to try to avoid as many of the guns as possible and that decision was now coming back to bite him.

He made a couple of attempts to re-route power from other systems to the damaged reverse thrusters, but they weren’t responding. This was the speed he had to make the landing at and he wished for the hundredth time since he got into the Rel fighter that he had been blessed with more natural piloting ability. He was an Armoury officer not a fighter pilot, he couldn’t deal with a forced landing at this speed. Even back in the Academy, when he’d actually spent time learning how to be a space fighter pilot, he hadn’t been good at this stuff. That was why he’d given it up as soon as he could, to specialise in Armoury systems and security. Just remember your training he told himself, remember your training and it will all be fine. He just had to remember which bit of his training related to landing crippled, unresponsive fighters on enemy ships.

He made sure his harness was tight and prayed that the rest of the fighter’s safety systems were working. He pulled the fighter’s nose up and aimed for the opening in front of him. He could see the deck coming closer, rushing towards him at too fast a speed, as if it was the deck that was coming up to smash into him rather than the other way around. He smelt burning and saw sparks out of the corner of his eye from the engine. He hit the deck and bounced. Reed was shaken like a cat’s plaything in the seat of the fighter as the speed turned into force of impact and the fighter bounced three times more before it buried itself in the back of the hangar wall. Before Reed was claimed by the oblivion of unconsciousness he registered a siren sounding and the red of emergency lighting. His only thought was that he had at least survived the landing even if the Kriel were now going to kill him.

****End of Chapter 14****

“Enterprise to Lieutenant Reed,” said Archer. When he received no answer he tried again, “Enterprise to Lieutenant Reed.” He looked over at Hoshi.

“The channel is open, sir,” replied the communications officer.

“Enterprise to any members of Third Squadron, we’re about to fire our torpedoes at the Vor Devrees, fall back immediately,” said Archer.

“This is Crin Ad, message understood, falling back,” replied the fighter pilot.

“Where is Lieutenant Reed?” said Archer.

“The Squadron Leader was hit, sir,” replied Crin Ad.

“Destroyed?” asked Archer, praying in his heart that Reed wasn’t dead.

“No, but badly damaged. I last saw him heading towards the Vor Devrees but I lost track of him after that. Hopefully he heard the message and is pulling out too.”

“I hope so, we don’t have time to wait,” said Archer. “We can give you a couple of minutes to get out of the way but that’s all.”

“Acknowledged, sir,” said Crin Ad.

“Ensign Hooper, give them two minutes and then lock on to the target and fire,” said Archer.

“Yes, sir,” said the Ensign.

****

Reed remembered the crash in fragments, like broken film. He knew he’d blacked out but he couldn’t piece a complete memory together even from before then. He was a little surprised to fine himself awake and alive. Things hurt though, which didn’t surprise him, but definitely meant that he was alive.

“I see you’re awake,” said a female voice.

Reed wondered whether he should try to open his eyes and see where the voice came from. He recognised the voice from somewhere but he couldn’t quite place it.

“Perhaps you should tell me who you are. Despite the hair, you’re obviously not Tien.” Reed had forgotten his hair was still dyed Tien blond. “You’re either very stupid or very clever and I’m not sure which yet. We’ve never had one of the enemy land in our hanger before. My guards weren’t quite sure what to do with you. If you were Tien you’d be dead already. Although you have the insignia of a Tien Squadron Leader, and you were in a Rel fighter, so it makes me wonder why you’re fighting for the Tien when you aren’t one of them.”

Reed decided that opening his eyes was something that he needed to do in order to assess the situation. He prised them open and tried to raise his head, which, along with the rest of his body, protested at the movement. He blinked at the bright light and looked around him. He was in the Rel Sevanne’s computer room, except that he knew that it wasn’t, he was on the Vor Devrees. He was sat in a chair facing a familiar looking black cylinder, his hands tied behind his back and suddenly he knew where he recognised the voice from. The voice belonged to the Matriarch of the Vor Devrees.

The side of his head was damp and from the pain in his skull, he assumed that it was blood. The headache and blurred vision confirmed that he had a head injury, possibly a concussion. His right arm hurt more than he would have expected from being tied behind his back, he suspected that it was broken or possibly dislocated. He tested the rest of his body for breaks but discovered none; it seemed that he’d escaped pretty lightly considering the speed that he’d crashed the fighter at. What worried him more was the dull ache from his stomach, it could be some bad bruising or it could be an internal injury. There was nothing that he could do about it for the moment though.

“My name is Corvas, conjoined Matriarch of the Vor Devrees,” said the voice.

“Reed, Lieutenant,” he said in a croaky and wavering voice.

“Yes, name and rank is all you’re going to tell us, I know. I’ve read your database,” said Corvas.

Reed said nothing.

“Did you come to kill me? Was that your plan?” asked Corvas.

Again Reed said nothing.

“Not going to tell me?” she asked.

“No,” said Reed, his voice rasping in his throat. He coughed, which shook his body and made his injuries hurt. What he wouldn’t give for some of Phlox’s painkillers right now.

“It really doesn’t matter if you don’t feel like talking. But maybe you’d like to watch while I destroy your friends,” said Corvas and switched on the view screen. Reed looked up to see Vor fighters screaming after Rel fighters amidst a blaze of phase canon fire. He saw hits impact on the Rel Sevanne from the Vor Devrees’ cannons. The Rel Sevanne was taking heavy fire, it was firing back but its hits on the Vor Devrees weren’t making any impact. The Vor Devrees however, was inflicting considerable damage on the Rel Sevanne.

“Why are you doing this?” asked Reed.

“Didn’t the Tien tell you?” asked Corvas. “They’re heretics.”

“This really is all about religion?” asked Reed.

“Humans have had their fair share of holy wars,” said Corvas. “Your history is littered with them, even the ones that weren’t called holy wars usually had religion at their root.”

“Humans aren’t proud of all that happened in our past, but we put all that behind us a long time ago,” said Reed. “Fighting over religion is pure stupidity.”

“Yet we seem to be winning. And that is because we are on the side of righteousness,” said Corvas.

“You are killing your own people. The Tien are also Kriel, you are all the same,” said Reed.

“We are not the same! They are not the chosen people. Never think that we are the same. Now, let’s see about that annoying ship of yours,” said Corvas.

“No!” said Reed. “Leave Enterprise out of this.”

“But they don’t seem to want to stay out of this,” said Corvas.

“Look, I’ll tell you whatever you want, just don’t harm Enterprise,” said Reed, desperately.

“But I’ve told you, you’re not alive because I want you to tell me anything. You’re alive because you’re interesting to me. You’re my entertainment. The Kriel are empaths too, but not in the same way that the Tien are. We enjoy sensing all emotions, not just the positive ones and you’re providing me with quite the show Lieutenant,” said Corvas.

“Go to hell,” said Reed.

“Ah, anger, one of my favourites,” said Corvas. “I wonder how you’ll feel when I blow Enterprise out of the sky.”

Reed could see the Vor fighters swarming around Enterprise and Second Squadron desperately protecting her so that she could get a clear shot at the Vor Devrees. The Vor fighters were getting in the way and he knew that they would only have a limited number of virus carrying torpedoes, every shot would have to count. He hoped that he had trained Ensign Hooper as well as he thought he had.

“Hope?” said Corvas, “now why would you be experiencing that emotion?”

Damn, thought Reed. He knew too much about their plan to defeat the Vor Devrees to hide his emotions, he was going to give the whole thing away. Then he remembered what T’Pol had taught them about controlling their emotions.

“I think you’re hiding something from me after all,” said Corvas. “What is it?” she asked.

“Nothing,” replied Reed.

“Now that was definitely a lie,” said Corvas. “You’d be amazed the cocktail of emotions that go with a lie, but we are very good at picking up on lies. We’ve had years of practise.”

Reed closed his eyes and concentrated hard on T’Pol’s lesson about controlling emotions. It had been short, out of necessity, they were about to be detected by the Tien and were hiding in a side room. But it had worked then, so it might work now. He calmed the storm inside him, it took him a little while and immense concentration, but when he was done he opened steel grey eyes and directed a piercing stare at the black cylinder.

“What did you do?” asked Corvas, angrily. “They’re so faint now and they were so strong before. You’re emotions are all controlled and hidden away. You’re no fun anymore. No fun at all. Perhaps this will shake your resolve,” she added. A door opened and familiar figure stepped through except this version had an extra ridge on each cheekbone and a navy blue uniform.

“Shar Jen?” asked Reed.

“This is my Weapons Master, Sharien,” said Corvas. “She has a special surprise for Enterprise.” Reed very nearly lost his control there and then but somehow he hung on to the tenuous grip on his emotions that he had.

“We have been building an inter-reality cannon,” said Sharien. “It plucks matter from it’s own reality and deposits it in another. Useful for tearing out the heart of a ship. We were hoping to use it on the Rel Sevanne to destroy their computer but unfortunately they are too well shielded. Enterprise is the perfect target though. Its shields are weak and if we target the warp engine we can disable the whole ship.”

“It’s a shame that anyone in the engine room of Enterprise will get sucked out into space through the hole that we’ll be making,” added Corvas.

Again Reed fought for control of his emotions, he was determined not to let Corvas have the pleasure of feeling his anger and concern for his colleagues. Especially he knew that he could not let her feel the hope he had felt at his realisation that Enterprise must be readying to fire on the Vor Devrees.

“Still nothing, Sharien,” said Corvas. “Time for us to demonstrate.”

Reed couldn’t keep it up any longer. “No!” he shouted looking at the screen in front of them. And as he looked he saw Enterprise fire her first torpedo at the Vor Devrees. Relief flooded over him, and even as he felt it he cursed himself for his weakness.

“That torpedo,” said Corvas. “Intercept it.”

“Yes, Matriarch,” said Sharien.

“You gave it away, Lieutenant,” said Corvas. “You’re broadcasting your emotions again and that will turn the tide of the battle in our favour. I knew that you’d be useful for something. Whatever plan you had, it won’t work now we know about it. You’ve just ensured the destruction of Enterprise.”

****

Archer watched as Hooper fired the first torpedo. Her aim was good and the torpedo was spot on target. He expected nothing less from a tactical officer who had been trained by Lieutenant Reed. Suddenly a Vor fighter swooped down from the battle placed itself between the torpedo and the Vor Devrees. Instead of impacting with the Vor Devrees as it was supposed to, the torpedo exploded on the Vor fighter, disintegrating it in the process.

“Enterprise to Sun Neer, you have to keep those Vor fighters away. We’ve only got a limited number of torpedoes,” said Archer.

“We’re doing our best, Enterprise,” replied Sun Neer. “There just aren’t enough of us left to hold them back.”

Archer sighed inwardly, it was never easy. “Do you think you could make a hole for Enterprise to get in closer?” he asked.

“Are you sure that is a wise course of action, Captain?” asked T’Pol from her science station. Archer waved her quiet.

“Can you do it?” he asked again.

“We can try,” said Sun Neer. “Flight Commander to Second Squadron, direct all your efforts to making a path for Enterprise.”

“Sir, that will put us in range of the Vor Devrees main batteries,” said Ensign Hooper.

Hooper had definitely been trained by Malcolm Reed, Archer thought. “I know, Ensign, but I’m sure Mr Mayweather can get us through.”

Mayweather didn’t really look as though he was that convinced that he could get them through. “I’ll give it my best shot,” he said, looking apprehensive.

“Let’s go for it,” said Archer.

“Yes, sir,” said Mayweather and directed Enterprise towards the Vor Devrees at full impulse. Enterprise manoeuvred through the rain of fire that came from the Vor Devrees, its’ relatively small size helping it to dodge through the fire as Sun Neer’s squadron took down the Vor fighters in their way.

Enterprise approached the huge bulk of the Vor Devrees and one of the guns found its target and the ship shook with the impact.

“Damage report?” said Archer.

“Hull plating is holding,” said T’Pol. “That was not a direct hit.”

“It wasn’t?” said Archer in disbelief, it had certainly felt like a direct hit.

“The Vor Devrees’ guns would have caused a hull breach if that hit had been on target,” said T’Pol.

“Travis, don’t let them get another one in,” said Archer, urgently.

“I don’t intend to, sir,” said Mayweather with conviction. His concentration was fully on the controls in front of him and the guns of the Vor Devrees. Right now the fate of Enterprise against this monster of a ship rested on his shoulders alone. His piloting skills were all that stood between them and being blown to pieces by the behemoth in front of them. “I’m starting my run,” said Mayweather. He didn’t think they’d get another chance at this. Sun Neer’s fighters were being decimated by the swarm of Vor fighters that had spilled out of the Vor Devrees on their approach. The squadron couldn’t last long against the continued onslaught.

“Ensign, get ready to fire,” said Archer with determination in his voice.

“Yes, sir, target is locked,” said Hooper.

“Fire at will,” replied Archer.

“Aye, sir,” said Hooper and launched the second torpedo at the Vor Devrees. Their proximity meant that the it hit home with little difficulty. “Dead on target, sir,” she said looking at her console read outs.

“Get us out of here, Mr Mayweather,” said Archer.

“With pleasure, sir,” replied the Ensign and he moved Enterprise into a swift turn away from the Vor Devrees.

“Take us back towards the Rel Sevanne, that’s where we’re needed most,” said Archer.

Mayweather guided them successfully through the barrage of fire from the Vor Devrees once again. Enterprise turned around and ran for the protection of the Rel Sevanne’s guns. It seemed ironic that it wasn’t that long ago that those guns had been pointed at Enterprise. Sun Neer and the remains of her fighter squadron followed the starship, deflecting any unwanted attention as they retreated. They would make their last stand protecting their home ship and its allies.

“How long before we know if its worked?” asked Archer looking at T’Pol.

“Several minutes,” said T’Pol. “The doctor’s simulations indicated that the virus would spread rapidly, incapacitating systems as it moved through the ship. We should see some indication of infection in the next ten minutes.”

Ten minutes was a long time in a space battle. Archer hoped that they could hold out that long.

****

“I don’t understand,” said Sharien. “They fired a torpedo at us, it impacted on the hull, it did not damage us in any way but yet they are retreating. It makes no sense.”

“Our guest thinks that it makes sense,” said Corvas. “He knows something.”

“I am aware of that Corvas, I can feel his emotions as well as you can,” replied Sharien. “We could interrogate him.”

“It would be too late, whatever they’ve done it’s already working. I can feel it. Oh by the goddess, I can feel it!” said Corvas, her voice taking on a strange panicked tone.

Sharien moved to a control panel by the view screen. “Systems are responding slowly, I’m scanning for contamination,” said Sharien. She worked at the panel for a while before she gave her Matriarch an answer as to what was happening. “It’s a virus, it’s spreading from the hull into the organic circuits. The whole ship will be disabled in less than thirty time periods.”

“Can we counter it?” asked Corvas.

“I have instigated counter measures but they are failing already. The virus is unlike anything that we’ve encountered before. It’s completely alien in design. Out standard decontamination isn’t working. The Vor Devrees is dying, Corvas.”

“I am the Vor Devrees, it can’t die,” said Corvas.

“You ignored a fundamental law of battle,” said Reed, “you underestimated your opponent.”

“No!” said Corvas. “We are righteous, the Goddess would never let this happen to us.”

“Doesn’t seem as if the Goddess is in today,” said Reed with great amusement. He briefly wondered how much blood he’d lost in the crash, he was starting to feel a little light headed and he was remarkably calm about the fact that he was sat on a dying ship. “I think this is the end of your crusade against the Tien.”

“If you think that then you are even more of a fool than I was,” said Corvas. “I still have one option left for me to use and I think we have time to use it.”

“We’re losing our weapon systems,” said Sharien.

“We don’t need them,” said Corvas.

“Matriarch, what are you going to do?” asked Sharien.

“Watch, and pray to the Goddess for peace in death and absolution for what we have done in her name,” said Corvas.

“You’re going to ram them,” said Reed, realisation dawning on him. “You’ll kill everyone. On both ships.” Me included, he added to himself. “You can’t!” He struggled with the restraints around his wrist in an attempt to free himself, but his arm hurt like hell and whatever they had tied him with was too strong for him to break.

“I can and I will. If I cannot defeat the Rel Sevanne then I will destroy it,” said Corvas. “They will die with us.”

****

Archer saw the Vor Devrees turn to face the Rel Sevanne head on and then the bright white light of their engines flared and he knew what they were doing. Enterprise was in no danger, they weren’t between the two ships and were agile enough to get out of the way in time, but the Rel Sevanne was another matter. A ship the size of the Rel Sevanne needed a little time to get moving and so far it was showing no signs that they had even understood the Vor Devrees intentions.

“Archer to Rel Sevanne,” he said.

“Captain,” said a weak voice, almost unrecognisable as Trip.

“Trip, the Vor Devrees, they’re going to ram the Rel Sevanne,” said Archer. “You’ve got to get the ship moving.”

“We see it. We’re doing our best but the engines were hit on the last attack run, they’re only at half power at best. Shar Jen’s working on them,” said Trip. It sounded as if he was having real difficulty summoning up the strength to speak.

“Can we use the grappling hook and pull them out of the way?” he asked T’Pol.

“The mass of the Rel Sevanne is too great. We would not make any difference in the time we have,” said T’Pol.

“Damn,” said Archer. “There has to be something we can do.”

“Don’t sweat it, Captain. I’ve got all non-essential personnel evacuated to the back of the ship, the Vor Devrees is on a trajectory to hit the nose. I’m doing my best to keep casualties down to a minimum. Just stay out of the way, this is going to make a hell of a dent,” said Trip.

“You heard him, Travis. Back us off. Make sure we’re as far away as we can get. Hoshi, spread the word to the Rel fighters as well,” said Archer. He watched his crew calmly obey him and then he watched as the Vor Devrees impacted with the Rel Sevanne.

It was as if the two ships were colliding in slow motion, despite the fact that Archer knew that the ships both had huge amounts of momentum behind them. The Vor Devrees hit the Rel Sevanne’s nose, Trip had been able to get the engines going just enough to push them back so that the Vor Devrees wouldn’t hit the centre of the ship. Even so the impact destroyed almost half of the Vor Devrees as soon as they hit and sent tonnes of debris flying off into space. The complete front section of the Rel Sevanne had disintegrated and it exposed the honeycomb of the interior of the ship to vacuum.

Fires broke out across both ships and they sparked with lightning running across their hulls. The Vor Devrees was rocked by an explosion before it came to rest, wedged into the Rel Sevanne like a dark dagger in the heart of the light. The black ship stood out starkly against the white of the Rel Sevanne’s delicate hull. Small explosions continued within both craft. And then both ships began to scream.

****End of Chapter 15****

And T’Pol screamed with the ships. She had never experienced anything like it. She knew that being on the Rel Sevanne surrounded by the empaths had effected her in subtle ways that she hadn’t quite understood at the time. It had faded when she returned to Enterprise so she had thought no more about it. The screams of the dying were in her head and it hurt her. She was no longer aware of her surroundings. She didn’t realise that she was on the bridge at her science station, clutching her head in her hands as if it would break if she let go. She let out a primal yell and fell to the floor, trying desperately to control the pain.

One scream was making itself heard above the others. “Trip,” she said clearly, between taking breaths to control the pain.

“What about Trip?” asked Archer of his Science Officer who now lay underneath her station on the bridge. He had already told Hoshi to send for Phlox and hoped that he would arrive soon, this was way out of his experience with Vulcans.

“So much pain,” she said. “You have to help him. He is part of the ship.” She shook her head and tried to curl in on herself. She gasped for breath trying to make sense of the emotions that were bombarding her.

Phlox was suddenly at her side, sitting her up.

“T’Pol, tell me what’s going on,” said Phlox.

“I can hear them all,” said T’Pol. “It’s too much. It hurts!”

Phlox prepared a hypospray.

“No,” said T’Pol, summoning up all her self-control. “No drugs. We have to find Commander Tucker.”

“At least let me give you something for the pain,” said Phlox.

T’Pol closed her eyes, took a deep breath and nodded her assent. Phlox took a moment to load another hypospray before he injected T’Pol. Her face changed immediately from the pain wracked mask it had been to her usual calm visage.

“What happened?” asked Archer.

“I heard the death cries and pain of hundreds of Tien and Kriel,” said T’Pol.

“I don’t understand,” said Archer. “I thought Vulcans were only touch telepaths. You have to be in contact with someone to be able to read their thoughts.”

“If the telepathic broadcast is strong enough then there have been instances where Vulcans have detected thoughts over a great distance. There are several examples in our history where a large natural disaster has precipitated a telepathic contact such as what I have just experienced. The Tien are empaths and their ability in conjunction with my own caused me to sense their emotions rather than thoughts. There are many casualties.”

“Hoshi, see if you can raise the Rel Sevanne,” said Archer.

“Yes, sir,” said Hoshi. “Enterprise to the Rel Sevanne,” said Hoshi. “Enterprise to the Rel Sevanne,” she tried again. “I’m not getting any answer, sir,” said Hoshi.

“Keep trying,” said Archer.

“Yes, sir,” replied Hoshi. “Enterprise to Rel Sevanne, come in Rel Sevanne.” Her hail was met with static.

“We won’t be able to reach him,” said T’Pol. “He’s injured.” Archer assumed that she was talking about Trip and he felt a cold feeling settle into the pit of his stomach.

“Rel Sevanne to Enterprise,” said a voice, crackled with static. It wasn’t Trip. “This is Shar Jen.”

“Rel Sevanne, what is your status?” asked Archer.

“I haven’t been able to raise anyone forward of section 3,” replied the voice. “The emergency bulk heads are holding, we have atmosphere in the aft sections of the ship but I don’t know how long that will hold. The atrium is open to space. Engines are off line. Life support is erratic and I can’t raise Trip En. We tried to reach the computer room but there’s too much debris in the way. A lot of Tien are wounded, at least as many are dead, I don’t have exact numbers. I think I’m the last one left of the Senior Council.”

“And the Vor Devrees?” asked Archer.

“I don’t know,” said Shar Jen. “They look dead, I haven’t seen any movement. Most of the Vor fighters were destroyed in the impact, and those which weren’t committed suicide by ramming themselves into our hull. We are fortunate that we have a ship at all. If Trip En hadn’t moved us when he did…”

“We’re coming over,” said Archer, curtly. “We’ll be bringing a medical team with us and a rescue crew. Is there somewhere we can dock?”

“Docking bay seven escaped the worst of the damage, but I can’t guarantee what state it’s in. I suggest you bring EVA suits,” said Shar Jen.

“Acknowledged, we’ll be with you as soon as we can. Enterprise out,” said Archer. “T’Pol, are you well enough to go over to the Rel Sevanne?”

“Yes, Captain,” replied the Vulcan.

“I beg to differ, Sub-commander. You had a very intense neurological episode according to my scans and I think you should stay on Enterprise,” said Phlox.

“Doctor, I believe my interception of the emotions of the Rel Sevanne could help us in our search for Tien survivors. I need to go with the boarding party,” said T’Pol.

“Sometimes I wonder why I waste my breath on this crew,” said Phlox as he headed for the turbo lift. “I’ll get together the supplies that I need and meet you in the shuttle bay. I’ll also need to immunise you all against the virus that we deployed against the Vor Devrees. It will undoubtedly have spread to the Rel Sevanne’s organic circuitry. It’s unlikely that you’ll come into contact with it but best be on the safe side. It wasn’t designed to kill the Vor Devrees, just disable, but who knows what effect it could have on human biology.”

“Understood, Doctor. T’Pol, tell Hayes to get his men together for a rescue and relief mission,” said Archer. “We’ll meet in the shuttle bay in ten minutes.”

“Yes, Captain,” she replied and followed Phlox from the bridge.

“Hoshi, see if you can get hold of Lieutenant Reed, we haven’t heard anything from him since Third Squadron lost contact. Lieutenant Hess, you have the bridge,” said Archer. “It’s time we got our Chief Engineer back.”

“Aye, sir,” replied Hess, and Archer wasn’t quite sure which part of what he had said she was agreeing with.

****

Trip had very little awareness of what had happened after the Vor Devrees had impacted with the Rel Sevanne. The pain had been too great, it was almost as if his arms had been amputated in some terrible accident, he couldn’t feel any part of the ship forward of section three. The pain was unbearable and had driven him into unconsciousness. This was true oblivion and not the waking dream that he had been experiencing ever since he’d been connected to the Rel Sevanne. He didn’t realise that his mind screamed out and that scream was heard by T’Pol on Enterprise.

He had seen the ship coming towards them and sounded the collision alert, ordering as many people as possible to the back of the ship. Still hundreds of Tien had died and he had heard them all, felt them all. And the ones that had been injured, he had felt their emotions too and when the Vor Devrees was close enough he found snatches of their emotions working his way into his mind as well.

For a second before the two ship had impacted he had found Corvas’ mind and the two conjoined minds had conversed, exchanged data. Her mind was not a place that he had liked, it was dark like a spider’s web of thoughts. It pulled him in, though, and he explored, watching Corvas’ childhood play out in front of him, if it could be called a childhood.

“I thought you might like to visit with your father today,” said a figure beside Corvas.

“No, I don’t want to,” said a very young girl’s voice that he knew belonged to Corvas. She had been taken by her minder to the computer room anyway. Her pleas to turn round and go back to her room went unheeded and then she had been shown into the computer room. The black cylinder scared her. And when it was opened to reveal her father inside, connected to the machine, she turned away and ran from the room. Later, safe in her room, her minder told her that it was because of the Tien that her father was this way. Trip felt a small part of Corvas’ mind break at the incident. There were other similar occasions when she was told the Tien were responsible for the bad things which befell the Vor Devrees. So this is what they did to turn you into who you are now, he thought.

She had been taught how to fight. Trip watched her training hard to defeat the enemy that she hated so much but had never encountered. Her brother was supposed to be the one to be conjoined when their father died, but events didn’t happen that way. Her brother was killed while working on some modifications to the hull plating and suddenly she was the matriarch-elect. She already knew that the Tien had killed him, even without firing a shot. Becoming Matriarch was an honour that she neither wanted nor expected. She often cursed her lineage, but there was no one else, it was her duty.

It was later and there she was again. This time she was part of the Vor Devrees’ computer. She plotted to destroy the Rel Sevanne. Sharien brought her the specifications of the inter-reality cannon. To Corvas it was a thing of beauty, a way to rid the universe of the vermin that they were chasing. She ran through the specifications and suddenly Trip realised something was very wrong with the design. He thought that Sharien had probably spotted it but had hidden it. He knew Corvas didn’t know, she had barely completed school before they strapped her into the computer of the Vor Devrees. The computer could help her with knowledge but it couldn’t draw conclusions for her.

His last thought, as he drifted in the blackness of unconsciousness was that he had to warn someone. But by that point it was already too late, all his connections to the real world had been cut and he could feel the virus approaching. He knew that he was dying, the cold of space had finally decided to claim him.

****

Lieutenant Malcolm Reed lay on the floor of the computer room of the Vor Devrees. He knew that logically he should be dead. The behemoth of a ship that he was currently on had just rammed itself full tilt into another ship of equal size and he had no right to even still be breathing. He guessed that if he’d been in any other part of the ship then he may well have been joining the choir eternal. He was glad he hadn’t because he was pretty sure the choir wouldn’t want a tone deaf Englishman in their ranks. Which once again led him to wonder just how bad his head wound was, his thoughts were definitely a little bit strange at the moment.

He could smell smoke, the animal instinct in him told his brain that fire wasn’t good, and kicked him into full consciousness. He prised his eyes open to find that the chair he had been sitting on had broken, so his arms, although still bound, were now freer than they had been. He started to look around for something sharp that he could use to cut through the bonds around his wrist. He found a piece of sharp metal jutting out from a computer casing and used that to saw through the ties.

As soon as his wrists were no longer tied behind his back, his right arm began to remind him that it was injured. Definitely broken, thought Reed, it hurt too much to be merely dislocated. His stomach was becoming increasingly painful too. More time that he’d be spending in sick bay he thought ruefully. He coughed as smoke hit the back of his throat and he realised that it was time to leave.

The room around him was in complete disarray, fallen fragments of the ceiling littered the floor. Small fires flickered around the room and electricity sparked with loud cracks around exposed wiring. Reed made his way to the black cylinder in the centre of the room. He pulled back the cover and exposed the Matriarch of the Vor Devrees in all her fearsome glory. Corvas was a child, probably not even fifteen. Reed didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. All this time, they’d seen the Kriel as an unbeatable evil, when the Vor Devrees was being governed by a child. And then he realised he was looking into the face of Crin Ad Var Surian, except a little younger and a little thinner. It figured that if Shar Jen had a counterpart on the Vor Devrees then others of the Tien would as well but he hadn’t expected Corvas to be Crin Ad. Everything was twisted here, he had to remind himself that these weren’t the people that he thought they were. He wasn’t staring into the still face of his fighter squadron’s second in command, it wasn’t Crin Ad, it was Corvas. Corvas, who had just ordered the deaths of hundreds of people.

He looked around him for something to smash the glass of the cylinder with and found a piece of metal tubing that had come from the ceiling. He put as much force as he could behind his swing and shattered the glass. He reached a hand through the hole he had made and felt for a pulse on Corvas’ neck. Her skin was still warm but she wasn’t breathing and Reed felt no movement in her vein. She looked fine outwardly, there were no wounds on her body, but perhaps the shock of the impact had simply been too much for her young body to cope with. He doubted he could have done anything for her in any case, he had no idea if he could even save himself yet.

Suddenly he was worried. He was worried about Trip. If Corvas was dead what state would he be in, was he dead too? He knew that Trip had felt everything that had happened to the Rel Sevanne and could only imagine how much pain the crash could have caused him. He had to get to him.

Pieces of the ceiling had come down and one had struck the Kriel Weapons Master. Reed checked her for a pulse but found none, her body had been covered by rubble. Sharien was dead and Reed relieved her of her phase pistol, he knew that having a weapon would improve his chances of getting off the Vor Devrees immensely.

He moved towards the computer banks wondering if he could find the com unit, but everything was so mangled he gave up looking for anything that might be working. He went to the door and used the same piece of metal that he had smashed the glass cylinder with to prise it open and wedge it there so that he could climb through. The corridor outside the computer room was in a similarly poor state. The lights had mostly failed with a couple of exceptions so the illumination was mainly provided by the fires that had broken out up and down the hall. Pieces of fallen debris were strewn across the corridor and smoke hung in the air.

His best option was to try to make his way to the Rel Sevanne. Now that the two ships were locked together he might be able to find some way to cross between them. How he was going to do that, he had no idea but he had to keep moving, he was on board an enemy ship. Reed was glad that he had Sharien’s phase pistol, his own was probably still in his destroyed Rel fighter and he certainly didn’t have time to go get it. He had managed to dodge death twice today, and he didn’t want to make it a third time, but he still had to get to Trip.

Reed began to make his way down the corridor, moving obstructions out of the way as he went. If the two ships had collided in the way he thought they had, then the Vor Devrees was side on to the Rel Sevanne embedded in the Rel Sevanne’s forward section. He should be able to move towards the port side of the ship and then perhaps he could find a way to get over to the Rel Sevanne. If his estimations were right, he didn’t have very far to go to reach the computer room once he was on the Rel Sevanne.

The going was tough though. Every time he rounded a new corner he was met by more fallen pieces of ceiling or, in some cases, missing sections of floor plating. Disturbingly often he found the bodies of dead Kriel under rubble but so far he had only come across very few live Kriel. None of them paid him much attention, they were mostly dazed by the impact or too caught up in their own problems to care about him. He thought that being in the computer room when the two ships collided had probably saved his life. Trip had told him that the computer room on the Rel Sevanne was the most well shielded and protected part of the ship and he could only assume that the computer room of the Vor Devrees shared those characteristics. Sharien and Corvas had been extremely unlucky, by rights they should have survived the crash too. He didn’t know whether he should be unhappy that they had not or pleased that his enemies were dead, at the moment he was too focused on making progress through the ship to analyse his emotions.

Every time he had to stop to move debris or find a route around an impassable area he knew he was losing time that he didn’t have. For all he knew Trip might be dying and he had to reach him as soon as possible.

It took him about half an hour in all to reach the port side of the Vor Devrees and then a few more minutes to find a hatch to the outside. He then set about searching the rooms nearby the airlock for an EVA suit. It had been logical to assume that he would find equipment for a space walk nearby the airlock, but he hadn’t been sure so he was very relieved when he located a locker full of space suits. The only problem was that these space suits were built for Kriel, not humans. No one could call Malcolm Reed fat, but compared to the Kriel whose slim build mirrored the waif-like bone structure of the Tien, he was positively chubby. He pulled out the biggest suit he could find and squeezed himself into it. It wasn’t comfortable, especially with his broken arm, but he would be okay for a short journey to the Rel Sevanne. He pulled the helmet over the head, checked his air and sealed the suit tight.

He went to the airlock and levered the door open. He closed it behind him and searched the walls for the airlock controls. He didn’t read Kriel so he had to guess which buttons to press but he worked it out and heard the air begin to evacuate. He pressed the door release and nothing happened. Doesn’t anything work on this bloody ship, he thought to himself. He pulled off the panel, using his frustration to give him the extra strength that he needed, and short circuited the door controls. The door jerked open and stopped halfway, so he pushed it the rest of the way and climbed out on to the hull.

He had been right, the Vor Devrees was side on to the Rel Sevanne. He pushed off from the side of the Vor Devrees and hung weightless in the atrium of the Tien ship. The artificial gravity was offline throughout the atrium and anything that wasn’t bolted down was floating free. This included a couple of cars from the transit system which now spun on their axes, orbiting each other. His breathing was loud in his ears as he pressed the soles of his feet against the hull of the Vor Devrees and kicked himself forward. He had an EVA pack mounted on his back that was built into the suit he was wearing but he didn’t want to use fuel up unnecessarily.

The suit also had a com unit in it so he had a couple of tries at contacting Enterprise but either the com wasn’t working or the Rel Sevanne was blocking the signal. He tried to contact Trip as well but he wasn’t answering either. Another worry to add to his list.

He floated his way carefully across the open void of the atrium. Shining bubbles of water floated in places as he passed them by. He had also caught sight of a few dead bodies and uprooted trees spinning in the weightless conditions. He was aiming for the far end of the atrium, where he hoped to find a door that he could break through to get to the parts of the ship that still had air. As he passed another floating lake he caught a glimpse of something moving reflected in the bubble of water. Just as he was about to turn, a beam of light shot past his right shoulder, close enough that he could almost feel the heat of the beam.

“Next time I won’t miss,” said a voice over the suit communicator.

“Sharien,” said Reed in reply with complete certainty as to who was chasing him. “I thought you were dead.” He swiftly used the jet pack to move himself behind one of the floating transit cars.

“No, you just wished I was,” said Sharien, who had disappeared behind a bubble of water and some other floating debris.

Reed reminded himself that not all aliens had pulses in the same place as humans and when he had checked Sharien for a pulse he had probably been checking in the wrong place. “And Corvas?” he asked, expecting to hear that she too was still breathing. He saw Sharien again and snapped off a shot at her, but she had already moved on to hide behind another piece of floating debris.

“Not as lucky. The pain of impact probably fried her neural pathways. You’d have to ask our doctor for the exact details. Makes me wonder what has happened to your Patriarch,” she added. “Probably dead too.” She fired at Reed hitting a spot directly in front of where he was hiding that he was hiding behind with frightening accuracy, something Reed was having difficulty achieving.

“Your Matriarch never stood a chance, she was only a child,” said Reed. “Another senseless casualty in this senseless war.”

“She was old enough to fight for her people,” replied Sharien as she scanned the sky for her prey.

Reed remained hidden and waited for Sharien to show herself again, while he prayed silently, to any gods that would listen, that Sharien was wrong about Trip. He caught sight of her once more and fired in her direction, hitting the trunk of a tree beside her which burst into flames, sucking up the last gasps of oxygen out of the rarefied air around them before spluttering out. The smoke from the fire now blocked both their lines of sight. However, Sharien still managed to aim a shot roughly in his direction which he had to dodge rapidly.

How is she doing this, he asked himself urgently, she couldn’t see him yet her aim was consistently better than his. He refused to believe that she was any better a shot than he was. Perhaps his emotions were giving him away again and once more he fought desperately to keep them under control.

He spotted a flicker of movement and then he saw Sharien flying towards him at full power. She was keeping her profile small by making sure she was head on to him, but at the same time dodging between the floating junk that now littered the sky of the atrium. Reed hadn’t found his target yet and her speed and swift changes of course were making it difficult for him to adjust. He ducked behind another sphere of water and waited for Sharien to come to him.

“I have to say that your security arrangements on the Vor Devrees rely far too much on your main guns. I was able to wander around your craft and borrow this space suit without anyone challenging me, until you arrived,” said Reed, hoping that the insult to her professional pride might put her off her game slightly.

“I guarantee that had we not just hit the Rel Sevanne, your exit would have been much more difficult,” replied Sharien as she hit the bubble of water in front of Reed.

That was what Reed had been waiting for, the sphere broke into lots of smaller bubbles and Reed fired his phaser at a couple of the larger ones turning them into steam and causing Sharien to lose her momentum, as well as disorientating her. After that she was an easy target for his phase pistol and Reed fired once again, putting a hole the size of his phase beam in the right arm of her suit. He heard a startled cry as her suit started to decompress and she dropped her phase pistol in an attempt to stop the flow of air out of her suit. Reed could see her start to lose consciousness as the air escaped. He grabbed hold of the back of her suit, switched his thrusters to full power and headed for one of the doors at the end of the atrium.

It only took him minutes to reach a door, which being so far into the ship was mostly undamaged but had automatically sealed shut when the atrium pressure had dropped. He quickly ripped open the door mechanism and rewired it so that he could open it. He made the final connection and the door slid open venting the atmosphere behind it as it did so. Reed pulled himself and Sharien through the door with all the strength he could muster and then thumbed the close button on the panel beside the door. The door slid shut and he breathed a sigh of relief.

He dragged Sharien across the floor with his good arm and dumped her unceremoniously against a wall. He pulled off his own helmet and then hers. She was still breathing but the lack of air had caused her to become groggy and dazed. She also had a very nasty wound on her right arm, but the phaser had already cauterised it so it wasn’t bleeding much. Reed didn’t have time to waste, he went to find something to tie Sharien up with. Whilst he had no wish to kill her if he could avoid it, he also couldn’t leave her to cause trouble on the ship. He found some loose wiring, and made use of that to tie Sharien’s hands behind her back. “That should hold you,” he said. He pulled her to her feet once more and pushed her in front of him in the direction of the computer room.

He took two steps forward and then the lights dimmed around him, before returning to full brightness. Only half the lights were still working so full brightness wasn’t much better than the darkness illuminated by his suit lights. Reed was more concerned about what the dimming of the lights meant though.

“Hold on, Trip,” he told the walls hoping that the intended target of his words heard them. “Just hold on a bit longer. I’ll be with you as soon as I can.”

****End of Chapter 16****

Archer, T’Pol, Phlox, Major Hayes and a squad of MACOs had taken shuttle pod one across to the Rel Sevanne and managed to dock the shuttle at bay seven. It wasn’t easy by any means, all the computer controls that would have helped them make their landing were offline and the bay itself was strewn with impact debris. T’Pol carefully set them down in the bay avoiding as many of the obstructions as she could.

Phlox had dosed them all with the vaccine for the virus as soon as they had arrived in the shuttle bay to make the journey to the Rel Sevanne. He had developed the vaccine along side the virus in case they decided that they needed to board the Vor Devrees after it had been disabled, but he hadn’t expected to be using it in these conditions. He had brought more vaccine with him but he doubted it would be enough for all the Tien, however if they stayed away from the organic circuitry of the ship then hopefully they wouldn’t come into contact with the virus. He didn’t like leaving such things to chance but it might at least buy him enough time to manufacture sufficient vaccine to immunise everyone.

One of Shar Jen’s engineers met them in the bay and escorted them to Engineering where they found the Artificer frantically shouting orders to her staff and anyone else who happened to come anywhere near her. The away team could clearly see the damage that had been done to the engines in the last attack run before the Vor Devrees had rammed the Rel Sevanne.

“The internal com system is down,” said Shar Jen. “I have runners getting messages to the rest of the ship, such as it is, but communication is very slow.”

“What the hell do you think you are doing here?” asked Archer, angrily.

“Trying to hold this ship together while we repair the engines,” said Shar Jen, as if it was the most obvious thing that she could do. “We need to get out of here as quickly as possible.”

“In case you hadn’t noticed, half your ship is missing and the Vor Devrees has buried itself in your forward section,” Archer said, his voice dripping with annoyed sarcasm. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“If I can repair the impulse engines then maybe I can get enough power to pull us apart,” said Shar Jen, turning away from Archer to walk to another console.

Archer caught her by the arm and she turned to look at him a stunned expression on her face. “You don’t seem to understand what’s happened,” said Archer with quiet menace. “Neither ship is going anywhere, they’re both complete write-offs. The only thing you can do is get as many of your people off the ship as possible before the superstructure gives way.”

“We are not abandoning the Rel Sevanne,” said Shar Jen, carefully enunciating each word.

“You told me you’re the last member of the Senior Council left. You have to start acting like it. You’re in charge now, start looking at the big picture,” said Archer.

Shar Jen gazed into Archers eyes and for the first time he realised why Trip had found this woman so difficult to ignore and why T’Pol had been so disconcerted by her contact with the Tien. He felt himself start to drown in her eyes as they tugged at his inner being and he looked away, letting go of Shar Jen’s arm as he did so.

“What did you just do?” asked Archer accusingly.

“Looked inside your emotions,” said Shar Jen. “I’m one of the strongest Tien empaths, I get glimpses inside a person’s memories that go with an emotion, occasionally I can see their intentions regarding an emotion.” She paused and looked at him again, but this time the intensity of her stare was gone.

“And what did my intentions tell you?” he asked.

“They told me that your advice is good, I should be concentrating all my efforts on rescuing as many Tien as I can. These engines are worthless now. I will issue the evacuation order.”

“Have you been able to reach Trip?” asked Archer.

“We’ve tried to reach the computer room but the corridors around it are blocked. I’ve got men working on it but we would be grateful if you are able to offer us assistance,” said Shar Jen. “Trip En has been silent ever since the crash and I can’t feel his emotions. A little while ago there was a power fluctuation, but life support still functions and I pray to the Goddess that means that he is still alive. He gave the order to get everyone to the aft section of the ship but he knew he couldn’t protect himself if the Vor Devrees hit us in the right place. He saved many Tien today.”

“That sounds like Trip, perhaps we can save him too,” said Archer.

“I truly hope so,” she replied. Shar Jen didn’t wait to be told twice, she decided to take the Enterprise officers to where they were needed herself, leaving orders with her subordinates to shore up but not repair. Phlox explained the problem with the virus now spreading to the Rel Sevanne and Shar Jen sent runners to pass on the word to stay away from the organic circuitry and begin the evacuation of non-essential personnel.

“What about Trip En?” she asked in a worried voice.

“We’ll just have to hope that the virus hasn’t reached him yet,” said Phlox, but he knew that the virus spread quickly, it was how it had been designed, and it would be unlikely that Trip was not already infected.

****

Reed pushed his Kriel captive through the broken corridors of the Rel Sevanne. He knew he wasn’t that far away from the computer room now, it could only be another couple of turns and he would be at the door. He’d had to make a couple of unexpected detours around blocked sections of corridor but apart from that had been making good progress. However, their options for reaching the computer room had now narrowed to one corridor, all the other routes were blocked.

Sharien had hardly spoken. She had complained about her arm and then spat insults at him for ten minutes before quieting down again. He gathered that his parentage was in question from her last two insults, or it could have been his ability to become a parent, he wasn’t entirely sure which. He had ignored her in any case and after that she had got the hint and remained silent.

He rounded the final corner and was met by a wall of rubble.

“Damn,” said Reed, surveying the blockage.

“What are you going to do now?” asked Sharien, taunting. “You have no way to reach your friend.”

“In case you hadn’t heard, I enjoy blowing things up,” said Reed.

“What with exactly?” asked Sharien.

“Oh I have something that should do the trick,” replied Reed.

Sharien did have a valid point. Reed knew he only had one option to reach Trip and that was to rig his phase pistol to overload and use that to dislodge the debris. That of course left him without his weapon, and Sharien’s had floated off in the atrium when she had been wounded. He did, of course, have a knife tucked into his boot, no self respecting security man ever left the ship without a backup weapon. It would be a lot easier to keep Sharien in check with a phase pistol pointed at her back than without and Reed was loath to give up that advantage, but she was tied up and he should be able to handle her. He wondered if he was guilty of underestimating his enemy in the same way that Corvas had, but at the moment his choices were very limited. To be on the safe side, he tied Sharien to a piece of sturdy-looking pipe around the corner while he worked.

He pulled the knife from his boot, it most certainly was not Starfleet standard issue. It was a knife that meant business but was small enough that it could easily be missed in a search. He had never had occasion to use it in anger before, but there was always a first time and somehow he was not surprised that that occasion might be on the Rel Sevanne. He embedded the knife in the wall, within easy reach should he need it, while he adjusted the settings on the phase pistol so that a feedback loop was created that would overload the pistol and create an explosion. He set it so that the energy build-up would become critical in just over a minute and then placed the phase pistol as far into the rubble as he could. He reclaimed his knife and ran for cover.

The high pitched whine of the building energy within the phase pistol quickly cycled in intensity until it was so loud that it was unpleasant. Reed hid behind a pile of debris and ducked down even further just before the explosion happened. The noise from the explosion in the confined area of the corridor was tremendous and Reed could hear nothing except a high pitched ringing. Dust filled the air and Reed coughed violently, once again jarring his injuries and reminding him just how bad he actually felt. He was running on adrenaline and desperation at the moment. The good news was that there was now a hole in the obstruction and Reed could see the door of the computer room through the clouds of dust that had been stirred up.

He went to collect his prisoner and used his knife to cut through her ties to the pipe behind her. He indicated with the knife what would happen to her if she tried anything. She spat some insult at him but he couldn’t hear what it was with his ears still ringing from the explosion. He pushed her forward, she tripped on a piece of rubble and fell. Reed knew better than to go and help her up, but he had forgotten how long her reach was compared to his. She stuck out her leg and swept his feet out from under him. He landed hard on his broken arm which caused waves of pain to run through him and dropped his knife. For a second he considered passing out, certainly it was what his brain was trying to persuade him to do, but he knew if he passed out now he would never wake up again. Sharien was already on her feet and had her hands around Reed’s neck. Instead in one swift motion he made a grab for the knife, located it with his good arm, and stabbed it into Sharien’s outstretched leg.

Sharien screamed a loud piercing scream that cut through even Reed’s deafness. With complete military precision he gave Sharien his best right hook which knocked her completely unconscious and the scream stopped.

“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to do that,” said Reed. “It’s a shame I can’t do it to your Rel Sevanne counter-part. That would have saved us all a lot of trouble.”

He dragged Sharien’s still body down to the door of the computer room where he tied her ankles together with more wiring and then secured her to a beam that lay across the corridor. The corridors aft were all blocked and that left him with only a limited number of options for getting Trip out once he’d got him. He set about trying to open the door to the computer room. The automatic opening mechanism had obviously failed but the manual controls didn’t seem to be working either. He pulled off the panel that covered the wiring for the opening mechanism and wished for the hundredth time that day that Trip was with him and not trapped inside. The engineer was much better at picking locks and persuading machinery to do as it was told. The damn thing was jammed.

Behind him he heard a noise it sounded like digging and then, voices, shouting. He went over to corridor where the noise was coming from.

“Hello?” he shouted.

The noise stopped and he heard a muffled shout in return. “I can’t hear you!” he shouted back. He started to remove debris from his side of the barrier as quickly as he could. A flash light shone through a gap in the pieces of ceiling support and other debris.

“Malcolm!” said the surprised voice of Captain Archer. “It’s good to see you.”

“You too, sir,” replied Malcolm.

Another few minutes of shifting rubble and they had a hole big enough to crawl through. Archer climbed through the gap and was followed by T’Pol, Phlox, Shar Jen, Hayes and two of the MACOs. A couple of Tien continued with their efforts to clear the corridor on the other side of the obstruction.

“What happened? How did you manage to get here? The last time we heard anything from you, you were in a Rel fighter,” said Archer.

“It’s a long story, but basically I ended up crashing on the Vor Devrees. I was taken captive, but when we crashed into the Rel Sevanne I took the opportunity to escape. I have a prisoner,” said Reed indicating Sharien.

“But that’s…” said Archer looking between Sharien and Shar Jen.

“Yes, the likeness is remarkable. Her name is Sharien, she’s the Kriel Weapons Master,” said Reed.

Shar Jen went to look more closely at her double. She was obviously fascinated by her. “We knew that there were alternate versions of ourselves on the Vor Devrees but I never expected to meet one. What about the computer room?” she asked.

“Door’s jammed,” said Reed. “I tried to hot wire the controls but it doesn’t seem to be working,” he said.

“We brought cutting gear, Lieutenant,” said Hayes and barked orders at the MACOs to get to work on the door. Reed stood back realising that he’d only be in the way if he tried to help.

“How badly is the Rel Sevanne damaged?” asked Reed looking from Archer to T’Pol.

“The damage is most likely irreparable,” said T’Pol.

“The Rel Sevanne is missing most of its’ forward section. We don’t have casualty numbers but it isn’t looking good. Some of the other MACOs are helping with rescue efforts in other parts of the ship. Trip did a pretty good job of getting everyone to the back of the ship but the impact was enough to do damage through out the ship,” said Archer.

“We are currently barely keeping the ship together,” said T’Pol.

“What does the Vor Devrees look like?” asked Archer.

“Pretty much the same, except Corvas didn’t bother trying to get everyone out of harm’s way. The casualties must be triple those of the Rel Sevanne,” said Reed.

“Lieutenant, we should get you back to Enterprise immediately,” said Phlox, who had surreptitiously taken out his scanner and been taking scans while Reed had been speaking.

“No,” said Reed. “I’m staying until we have Trip out of here.”

“What’s wrong, Doctor?” asked Archer.

“Mr Reed has extensive injuries that need immediate treatment. Not least some internal bleeding and a broken arm,” said Phlox.

“I’ll live,” said Reed.

“Only if you allow me to treat you,” said Phlox, pulling out a hypospray from his kit.

“No drugs,” said Reed. “I need to be alert.”

“Lieutenant, you’ve obviously had quite a time of it. Perhaps you should go back to Enterprise,” said Archer.

“If you don’t mind, I’d prefer to stay, sir,” said Reed, in a tone which lay carefully between insubordination and requesting permission, but obviously expected no argument.

Archer looked at Reed, really looked at him and realised that he was dead on his feet. He shook his head but he knew better than to try to shift the stubborn Armoury officer. If Reed wanted to stay then he didn’t think it would make any difference if he ordered him back to Enterprise. Besides they would need Phlox to help Trip. “Patch him up Phlox and give him whatever he needs to stay on his feet, we’ll get him back to Enterprise as soon as we can once we have Trip.”

Phlox sighed. “Very well,” he said. He pulled Reed over and sat him down on a girder that had fallen from the ceiling. He gave him a shot of painkiller, which immediately started to make him feel a bit better. Phlox pulled a piece of cloth out of his bag and looped it around Reed’s neck to make a sling for his broken arm. “It’s a clean break, it should heal without any problem, however I need to set it. This may hurt a little.”

“Ow!” said Reed as Phlox manipulated the arm and positioned it in the sling. Even through the pleasant fog of the painkillers the pain had been sharp. At least it was receding now. “That was not my idea of it hurting “a little”, Doctor,” he added.

“If you had allowed me to give you a stronger painkiller I could have done that without any discomfort,” said Phlox. He thought that Reed probably deserved a little discomfort for disobeying doctor’s orders. He re-loaded the hypospray. “Now this is something to prevent the infection that you have building from getting any worse, but really you should be back in sick bay where I can give you a full course of antibiotics.”

“Whatever you say, doctor, I just need to be on my feet a little longer,” said Reed as he let the doctor administer the medication.

“I’ll remind you that you said that when you’re complaining about the length of your stay in sick bay. Which I can promise you will only be extended by your stubborn insistence to stay here rather than returning to Enterprise.” Phlox loaded the hypospray for a third time. “This is the vaccine against the virus that we infected the Vor Devrees with.”

“I am not a pincushion, doctor,” said Reed, crossly. The doctor ignored him, cleaning the blood from his head wound and applying stinging antiseptic while Reed winced.

“We’re through,” shouted Hayes from the doorway. He and his men were busy hitting the door to push in the section that they had cut through. It gave way and Corporal Romero tumbled through into the computer room. Reed got to his feet and followed Archer, T’Pol and Shar Jen into the computer room. The sight that met them was worse than any of them had expected.

The lights were on red emergency lighting and flickered on and off. Small fires burned around the room, creating a thick, smoke laden atmosphere. A beam from the ceiling had fallen across the room and under it lay Kris Nor. T’Pol checked the Tien Exarch for life signs but no one had really expected to find him alive. T’Pol shook her head to confirm it. More smaller beams blocked their path to the black cylinder where Trip lay. T’Pol and Archer pushed them out of the way, Shar Jen and Reed following carefully behind.

The MACOs scanned for other life signs and under some fallen pieces of ceiling they located Nils Fen, the Tien Weapons Master. He was alive but just barely. Phlox went to him and started to tend to him, one of the MACOs acting as his assistant. The other MACOs continued to search for more life signs but they detected none.

T’Pol and Shar Jen reached the cylinder and Shar Jen went to the life support read outs.

“Well?” asked Archer, impatiently.

“Life support is still functioning but he’s unconscious. His brain functions are dangerously low. We need to get him out of there now,” she added urgently.

“That may present a problem,” said T’Pol. Another beam had fallen directly across the side of the cylinder and was preventing T’Pol from getting the cylinder open. “Major Hayes!” she shouted back to where the Major was standing. “We require the cutting gear.”

“And the virus?” asked Archer.

“I can’t tell with these instruments,” said Shar Jen. “His vital signs do not look good, and his body temperature is elevated, that could be the virus.”

Archer hadn’t wanted to hear that, but right now he couldn’t think about what that might mean. The MACOs made their way to the cylinder, dragging the cutting equipment with them.

“Be careful,” said T’Pol, “and remember that Commander Tucker is behind this panel.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” said Hayes and indicated to his men to begin cutting with caution.

****End of Chapter 17****

They opened the cylinder and revealed Trip, at first glance he was unharmed. Then Archer noticed the blood on his face, Trip’s nose was bleeding and a drop of blood ran from the corner of each eye.

“Doctor!” he shouted.

“Keep the pressure on that wound,” said Phlox to the MACO who had been helping him with Nils Fen. He went to the cylinder and began scanning.

“How do we get him out of there?” asked Archer.

“We need to disconnect the computer feeds before the life support. T’Pol, I require your assistance, this is more your area than mine,” said Phlox.

T’Pol took out her scanner. “We must disconnect these in order,” said T’Pol.

“I can help,” said Shar Jen.

“I think you’ve done enough,” said Reed, stepping between Shar Jen and T’Pol.

“He was fine until the Vor Devrees arrived, he was loved and cared for,” said Shar Jen.

“He had five years to live after you wired him into your computer! How is that caring for him?” shouted Reed.

“Malcolm, now is not the time,” said Archer appearing at his shoulder.

“Five years? I don’t understand,” said Shar Jen.

“He didn’t tell you?” asked Archer.

“He didn’t tell me what?” asked Shar Jen.

“The conjoining was making his brain work too hard, he was burning up. Doctor Phlox estimated that he had about five years before the damage became fatal,” said Archer.

“I didn’t know,” said Shar Jen. “I didn’t know, you have to believe me!”

“You know the sad thing about all this is that I do believe you,” said Reed. “You had him so thoroughly brainwashed that he would have given up his life for you. Of course he didn’t tell you, that would have been just like the stupid fool. You took advantage of a good man and I hope you’re happy with where it’s got you.”

Shar Jen stared at Reed as if she’d just been slapped. Reed vaguely heard T’Pol instructing Phlox on the order to disconnect the wires that lead into Trip’s body.

“Malcolm, we have a job to do,” said Archer, “we don’t have time for this right now.”

“Yes, sir,” said Malcolm through gritted teeth, but he didn’t take his eyes off Shar Jen.

The lights dimmed and then went out. The Enterprise away team flicked on their torches.

“I’ll see if I can get the emergency lights back on,” said Shar Jen and went to the computer console.

“I hope this means that you’ve disconnected Trip,” said Archer.

“We cannot remove the neural nodes until we return to the ship,” said Phlox. “That will require surgery. But that’s the last of the data feeds, now for the life support.”

Shar Jen finished working on the console and the red of the emergency lighting returned.

“Please exercise caution, doctor,” said T’Pol.

“Of course, T’Pol,” said Phlox, slightly affronted that T’Pol felt that she needed to say it. However, even if T’Pol hadn’t realised it yet, he knew that she cared for Commander Tucker and that was behind what was tantamount to an emotional outburst for a Vulcan.

The Tien had implanted a series of small black plugs into Commander Tucker’s body and these were connected to data feeds or life support systems. Phlox had already disconnected the computer feeds but now he had the more difficult task of removing the Commander from life support. At least one of the systems was introducing oxygen into his blood, another provided nourishment and yet another removed waste products. It was a tangle of biological systems that he would have preferred not to disturb given his limited knowledge of the Tien medical technology. He considered removing the whole system and moving it in its entirety back to Enterprise but he couldn’t see any way that they could get it out of the room. No, he would have to do this the hard way, disconnecting each system in turn and hoping that the Commander’s body had not become so dependent on the systems that his body would be unable to resume normal function.

“T’Pol, have an oxygen mask standing by, I’m about to disconnect the direct oxygen system and the air in here is less than ideal,” said Phlox and T’Pol went to the doctor’s kit to get the required equipment. “We will also require the stretcher to get him back to Enterprise,” he added to Archer, who went to collect the stretcher from where it had been left in the corridor. T’Pol returned with the oxygen mask and placed it over Trip’s nose and mouth while Phlox worked.

“That’s the last of them, so far he’s stable,” said Phlox a few minutes later. He pressed a hypospray to Trip’s neck and followed it swiftly with a second dose of a different drug. “We can move him,” he said and Archer and T’Pol carefully lifted Trip’s semi-naked body from the machine it had been encased in. They laid him gently on the stretcher where Phlox attached a tube that led into his arm. Archer could feel that Trip’s skin was hot to the touch.

“The virus?” asked Archer.

“Yes, he has it,” said Phlox, medical tricorder in his hand, “and combined with his other injuries it could be fatal.”

“Can’t you just give him the vaccine?” asked Reed.

“It doesn’t work that way,” said Phlox. “The vaccine is only good for preventing someone from contracting the disease. I need to manufacture an anti-viral.”

“How long will that take?” Archer asked anxiously.

“Maybe too long,” said Phlox. “A few hours at most, but the virus was designed to disable a ship, it’s strong enough to kill a human, and his body won’t be able to fight it off in his current condition.”

“And his other injuries?” asked Archer.

“It’s difficult to tell without giving him a complete body scan but definitely severe injury to his entire nervous system and some brain damage. I need to get him back to Enterprise as soon as possible.”

Suddenly Trip’s eyelids flickered. They opened to reveal red eyes, saturated with blood.

“Trip, can you hear me? You’re going to be okay, you hear, okay,” said Archer.

“I can’t see,” Trip croaked. “I can’t feel. It’s all gone.” He closed his eyes again in obvious pain.

Archer looked at Phlox with worry in his eyes. “Why can’t he see?” he asked as quietly as he could and still be heard.

“His optical nerve was re-routed to connect to the ship’s visual sensors. It’s reversible but it will take a little work. Just talk to him, let him know that you’re here, he can still hear you,” said Phlox.

“Trip, it’s going to be okay,” said Archer taking his friend’s hand. “We got you out, you’re not part of the Rel Sevanne anymore.”

Trip shook his head. “No, put me back,” he whispered.

“We can’t Trip, the ship’s falling apart and we have to get you out of here,” said Archer.

“Vor Devrees,” he said, almost too quietly for Archer to hear. “They have a new weapon.”

Archer indicated to Reed that he should listen in and he crouched down beside his friend too. “What weapon, Trip?” asked Archer.

“Inter-reality cannon,” he said clearly but obviously having trouble forming the words. He opened blood drenched eyes once more.

“It’s okay, Trip,” said Reed. “We got to them before they could use it.” He could see Archer looking at him with inquiring eyes, wondering what this weapon was.

Trip was shaking his head again though. “Flaw,” he said, swallowing hard. “Design flaw. The universe reclaims its’ own.” His eyes shut again, his head drooping to one side and suddenly Phlox was pushing them out of the way.

“His breathing is erratic, I need to intubate,” said the doctor, pulling more equipment from his kit rapidly and efficiently inserting a breathing tube into Trip’s airway which he connected to an oxygen supply. “We have to get him back to Enterprise now.”

“Agreed,” said Archer. “Malcolm, take Phlox and two of the MACOs and get Trip back to Enterprise.”

“What about Nils Fen?” asked Reed.

“We will look after him,” said Shar Jen. “Take good care of Trip En,” she added stiffly.

“We intend to,” said Reed, the anger evident in his voice even without any inflection on his part. “What about you, Captain?”

“T’Pol and I have some unfinished business with the Vor Devrees,” said Archer.

“I do not understand,” said T’Pol.

“What Trip said about the inter-reality cannon, was it true, Malcolm?” said Archer.

“Oh they had such a thing,” said Reed, “but as far as I know it was destroyed in the crash. Apparently it worked by ripping things into another universe. Luckily the virus got to work on their systems before they could make use of it. You don’t think Trip meant anything by what he said do you? He’s delirious and not exactly himself.”

“You saw what an effort it was for him to talk to us,” replied Archer. “I don’t think he would have bothered if it hadn’t been something important.”

“Perhaps we should question Sharien,” said T’Pol.

“My thoughts exactly,” said Archer, heading for the door of the computer room. He climbed through and rounded the corner to see Sharien still tied up where Reed had left her. Reed’s knife was still buried in her leg and but she was conscious.

“You found your friend,” said Sharien, indicating Trip as the MACOs carefully manoeuvred his stretcher through the door. “Looks as if he’s not doing so well.”

“We’ll take care of him,” said Reed.

“Yes, I can see that as security officer of Enterprise you’ve looked after him really well,” said Sharien, sarcastically.

Before Archer could stop him, Reed was pulling Sharien to her feet and shoving her against the wall.

“Malcolm!” said Archer. Reed ignored him.

“Perhaps I should remind you that your Matriarch is dead. Tell us about the inter-reality cannon,” said Reed. “What twisted design flaw did you build into it?”

Sharien winced at the pain but refused to give Reed any further indication of weakness. “There’s nothing you can do. The universe reclaims its’ own.”

“Trip said the same thing, what does it mean?” asked Reed.

“The cannon opens a conduit to our universe. If the power source overloads then the cannon will self-destruct, and re-open that conduit. The safety systems won’t stop it. It drags everything from it’s own universe back there,” said Sharien. “If it was damaged in the crash then it’s probably already too late.”

Reed let go of Sharien and she leaned against the wall.

“How much time do we have?” asked Archer.

“An hour, maybe less,” said Sharien.

“How do we prevent it?” asked T’Pol.

“We don’t,” said Sharien. “There isn’t enough time to get back to the Vor Devrees. The Lieutenant will tell you that it took us nearly an hour to get here. Besides we need to get off this ship. The Vor Devrees is the only thing which is holding you together, if she shifts the whole superstructure will collapse.”

“Can we get everyone evacuated and far enough away in an hour?” Archer asked looking at Shar Jen.

“Maybe, since we’ve already started. At least most of the children have been evacuated in the first wave,” said Shar Jen. “What will the blast radius be?”

“Seven hundred million kilometres,” said Sharien.

“Ten minutes at warp four point five,” said Archer. “Enterprise can get away, but what about the escape pods?”

“If we launch now, maybe we could get away,” said Shar Jen.

“Maybe?” asked Reed.

“Maybe,” repeated Shar Jen.

“Malcolm, why are you still standing here?” asked Archer. “Are you in the habit of disobeying orders?”

“No, sir,” said Reed, contritely. “I’ll escort Doctor Phlox and Commander Tucker back to Enterprise.” He went to follow Phlox and the MACOs carrying Trip’s stretcher down the corridor, looking slightly dejected and very tired.

Archer turned to T’Pol, “what about if we were to take a shuttle pod to the Vor Devrees?”

“We would save time, but we still do not know how to disarm the weapon,” replied T’Pol.

“Well, Sharien?” asked Archer.

“She doesn’t care about what happens to us, she is Kriel,” said Shar Jen.

“And the Tien have always been cowards,” said Sharien. “Afraid to face your own death.”

“Not afraid,” replied Shar Jen, “it is not our time. Enterprise and Trip En saw to that. Many Tien and Kriel died today, more are injured. Your Matriarch is dead, our Patriarch is seriously injured, perhaps fatally. Neither side possesses a functioning ship. The war is over, to fight further would be futile. Should we fight until not a single Kriel or Tien is left standing?”

Sharien looked directly at Shar Jen as if trying to weigh up what she had said before turning to Archer. “The power supply must be disconnected from the mechanism. It’s difficult. You’ll need me to help you,” said Sharien.

“T’Pol, contact Travis and ask him to bring Shuttlepod Two over,” said Archer.

“Yes, Captain,” said T’Pol and stalked off to find a communicator.

“Shar Jen, you need to get all of your people away from here now,” said Archer.

“Agreed,” said Shar Jen. “I have already issued the order.”

“Let’s get back to the shuttle bay. Do you have a doctor who can look at Sharien’s leg?” asked Archer.

“Yes, I’ll see to it,” said Shar Jen.

T’Pol returned. “The shuttlepod will be here in ten minutes.”

By the time Archer, T’Pol, Major Hayes and Shar Jen arrived at the docking bay and Sharien’s wounds had been seen to by the doctor, Travis had arrived with shuttlepod two.

“Take us to the Vor Devrees, Mr Mayweather,” said Archer as he boarded the shuttle.

“Yes, sir,” said Travis. “I brought the EVA suits just in case we have trouble docking. The Vor Devrees doesn’t look so hot at the moment.”

“Neither will we, if we can’t disconnect that weapon,” said Archer.

****

Reed lay in sick bay feeling sorry for himself and just a bit bored. To be honest he did feel ill, he’d lost a fair amount of blood, but he would rather have been helping Captain Archer and T’Pol on the Vor Devrees than lying on a biobed.

Phlox had fussed around him, dosed him up painkillers and antibiotics, and started a blood transfusion. He wasn’t sure whether it was the painkillers, concussion or the blood loss but he was feeling rather dizzy and a bit out of it. He now had a bandage around his head and a cast on his arm. He had also been given orders to rest. He couldn’t though, his mind kept on going over what had happened when they had disconnected Trip. He had asked them to put him back, to re-connect him to the computer. After everything that he’d been through it was the last thing that he’d expected Trip to say. It didn’t fill him with confidence about the state of the Commander’s mind.

Phlox was being cautious with the virus and he still had Trip sealed in decon so Reed hadn’t seen him since he’d been moved to sickbay. Reed was really worried about Trip, he’d looked so ill. When he had left Trip in decon, the Commander had been drenched with sweat and shivering violently. Phlox had him connected to almost every piece of medical equipment that he had.

He had tried to get something about Trip’s condition out of Phlox but as usual the doctor was being very close lipped. All he would say was Trip had extensive neurological damage, probably caused by feedback from the sensors during the crash. He was also unsuccessfully fighting off the Vor Devrees virus. His system was doing the best it could to combat it, but Phlox had built the virus to be strong enough to disable a ship the size of the Vor Devrees rapidly and Trip’s immune system was no match for it. Reed didn’t need Phlox to tell him that Trip’s condition was serious, it was obvious that his life hung in the balance.

Reed watched as Phlox worked at his microscope, an image of Trip’s beleaguered immune system on the monitor above him.

“How’s it going, doctor?” asked Reed, propping himself up on his elbow with considerable effort.

“I should have the anti-viral ready soon,” said Phlox. “It’s a simple matter to create it, the problem is the time that it takes to synthesise.”

“How long does Commander Tucker have?” asked Reed and almost as soon as he’d said it he wished he hadn’t asked.

“I can’t say. He was already weak from the neurological damage and I don’t think his body will be able to withstand the attack by the virus for much longer. Maybe a day at most. And if I can’t administer the anti-viral soon, he’ll be too weak for it to work.” Phlox paused and wrote something on a padd. “You are supposed to be resting, Lieutenant,” he said. “I can give you a sedative if you are having trouble.”

“I’m already spaced out enough thank you, I don’t think I need anymore drugs,” said Reed. “I really should be on the Vor Devrees with Captain Archer and T’Pol. Disarming weapons is my responsibility.”

“They have the Kriel weapons master with them, I’m sure she will be able instruct them on how to disarm the weapon,” said Phlox. “Right now your station is that biobed and it will be until I say otherwise.”

“It’s not whether Sharien has the knowledge, it’s whether she stabs them in the back with it that worries me,” said Reed, finally giving up the struggle with gravity and lying back down.

“I’m sure the Captain knows what he’s doing,” said Phlox, whilst looking intently at the slide currently under the microscope.

“I’m sure he thinks he knows what he’s doing,” said Reed. “All the same I’d be much happier if he’d taken some extra security with him.”

“I believe Major Hayes was accompanying them,” said Phlox.

“Yes, I know,” said Reed, making it clear that he didn’t regard Major Hayes presence as sufficient extra security. Hayes was a soldier not an Armoury officer like Reed and therefore didn’t have what Reed thought of as the proper level of paranoia. Admittedly the Major and his team had shown some useful skills when helping to recover Commander Tucker from the Xindi and later when the Xindi had boarded Enterprise, but Reed still felt his own security men were better trained.

Phlox was right though, there was nothing for him to do. At the moment he’d be more of a liability than an asset, drugged up on painkillers as he was and unable to even raise himself off the biobed. Reed closed his eyes and did his best to sleep.

When Phlox looked back towards the Lieutenant he found that he was already fast asleep, the monitors above his bed confirming it. He had been very close to sedating the Armoury officer for his own good, but knowing how much the Lieutenant hated to be “spaced out” as he referred to it, he hadn’t wanted to if he could avoid it. At least one of his charges was showing signs of improvement, the other one however, was a much more difficult case.

Phlox took a moment away from his microscope to look at the scans of Commander Tucker’s nervous system that he had taken. His nervous system and brain had all been connected to parts of the Rel Sevanne and in his current state Phlox didn’t want to operate to remove the black connectors that the Tien had inserted or the two silver neural nodes which plunged connectors deep into the Commander’s brain. The impact with the Vor Devrees had created a massive input which had fed back to Commander Tucker and literally fried his neurons. It was as if he had been burned internally along all of his major neural networks.

That in itself was serious enough, but Phlox thought that he could perhaps treat it in the same way that he had reconstructed T’Pol’s neural pathways after her encounter with Trellium D on the Seleya. Of course the Vulcan brain had been equipped with rather better healing abilities than the human brain and it remained to be seen whether Trip’s nervous system could be reconstructed in the same way. Phlox would certainly do his best though.

The thing which worried him even more than the Commander’s physical state was his mental state. He had barely adjusted to life after his torture at the hands of the Xindi, still experiencing violent nightmares and severe flashbacks. Phlox knew that people did not experience pain without being changed by it and he could only imagine what Commander Tucker had experienced while he was part of the Rel Sevanne. Then there was still the Tien conditioning to consider, it was no longer being reinforced by the computer, but it would still be there. It was likely that it would fade over time with a little help, but Phlox couldn’t tell how long the conditioning would persist until he had been able to assess the Commander psychologically.

The past few days had been very eventful for Commander Tucker and Phlox had no doubt it would be a long while before he was able to deal with those events satisfactorily. Assuming that Phlox could keep him alive for the next, crucial twenty four hours.

****End of Chapter 18****

Sharien explained that the cannon had been built around an inherently unstable power supply. It was a stable element from the Kriel universe, but when it was brought into the Tien universe it became unstable. They used the instability to create the power that they needed for the cannon, it was experimental and they hoped to be able to apply the technology to their inter-reality engines. The engines were as old as the Vor Devrees, they had no idea how they worked and therefore no way to repair them. But they knew they probably only had one jump left in them. They needed to find an alternate way to move between the universes.

The power supply was kept from going critical by a series of control fields. The fields were monitored and manipulated by the computer to keep the element from becoming unstable, and the computer was controlled by the Matriarch. When the Matriarch died, the control fields were no longer being adjusted to keep the element in check. As the control fields failed the element would go critical and whilst it was part of the weapon it would create a rift and suck the Vor Devrees back to the universe that the element came from. Sharien had outlined her plan, disconnect the power supply and jettison it into space where the radiation from its instability would do no harm.

Travis piloted the shuttle expertly towards the docking bay of the Vor Devrees. On their way to the Vor Devrees they passed the fleet of life pods that was the Tien evacuation. The remains of the fighter squadrons were flying escort duty, in case any Vor fighters remained. The Rel Sevanne was almost empty now, and the life pods were fleeing on full power to get away as quickly as possible.

The docking bay was completely open to space, so they had to put on the EVA suits before disembarking from the shuttle. They left Travis in the shuttle ready to make a swift departure if they needed it. Archer, T’Pol and Hayes carried phase pistols, but Archer had refused to give either Shar Jen or Sharien a weapon, although he had untied the Kriel weapons master. Archer had tried to persuade Shar Jen to stay with the Tien but she had refused, stating that they were trying to save her people and she couldn’t let them do that without her. If she wanted to put herself in danger, who was Archer to stop her. They made their way to the exit from the docking bay, once again having to bypass the control panel in order to get the door open.

“We’ll keep the EVA suits on,” said Archer. “I’m guessing we may need them to get to the cannon, if some of corridors we need to use are open to space.”

“Large areas of the ship are decompressed,” said T’Pol, looking down at her scanner. “The superstructure, although damaged, seems to be holding.”

“Life signs?” asked Archer.

“A small number of faint life signs, I detected some life pods from the Vor Devrees on our journey here, I would infer that most of the Kriel have already fled,” said T’Pol. She didn’t have to add that it was only the injured and dying who were left, the ones who were trapped without hope of rescue, abandoned by their Kriel comrades.

Sharien led the way through the dark, twisting corridors of the Vor Devrees. They were going towards the Vor Devrees Armoury, it was on the same deck as the docking bay but forward of their current position. Sharien had estimated that it was about twenty minutes’ journey to the Armoury, it would then take another twenty minutes to disconnect the cannon from its power supply. It wasn’t as easy as just pulling the plug, Sharien had explained to them that if the circuits were disconnected in the wrong order they would be sucked into the Kriel universe, in the same way as if the power source overloaded. That was how she had known that it hadn’t been destroyed in the crash, if it had they would all have been dead. It was going to be like diffusing a bomb.

Not for the first time Archer wished that he had Malcolm and Trip with him. Hayes had proved himself an efficient soldier but he didn’t have Malcolm or Trip’s technical knowledge. Hayes certainly wasn’t stupid, but there were days when Archer thought he’d cut himself on the sharp edge of those two officers’ intelligence, and never more so than when the two of them were working together. They sparked creativity in each other, spurring the other on to do better and come up with the solution. It was partly friendly competition but it was also because he knew they recognised and respected each other’s abilities. And above all, they were friends, not afraid to tease each other when the moment offered but always there for each other when the times weren’t so good.

Archer didn’t want to think about Trip at the moment though. He’d looked so ill and Archer was doing his best to push that image from his mind. Blood red eyes staring up at him without seeing and asking him to reconnect him to the computer that had been sucking the life out of him. That was how Archer regarded the Rel Sevanne, a monster that had taken his friend and used him up. The Rel Sevanne taken the soul of his friend and given him back a shell. There just wasn’t time to think about Trip at the moment though or dwell on what the Tien had done to him, right now they had to concentrate on the task at hand.

“This is the Armoury,” said Sharien, as they arrived at an ominously armour-plated door. She went to the door and entered a code into the pad beside the door. She pressed the door release and sparks flew from the control panel. Sharien pulled her hand away before it could get burnt and Shar Jen pulled a fire extinguisher from the wall to douse the flames. Archer had to admit he wouldn’t have know that the alien device even was a fire extinguisher, let alone been able to use it. Sharien swore loudly in some colourful Kriel phrases that didn’t translate into English, but Archer got the general gist. From the look on Shar Jen’s face he gathered that the Tien and Kriel languages were quite close and she’d understood every word.

“Can we bypass the controls?” asked T’Pol, calm and businesslike as usual.

“This is the Armoury, it’s the most secure location on this ship, bypassing the controls isn’t easy,” said Sharien.

“Then I suggest we begin,” said T’Pol, with a slight tone of menace entering her voice.

Archer got the impression that she didn’t trust Sharien, which was fine by him because neither did he. He didn’t even trust Shar Jen but at least Shar Jen hadn’t tried to destroy Enterprise with an inter-reality cannon. Which left him with the question that he’d been trying to put off asking himself, could he even trust Sharien to disarm the cannon, with her own life in danger. Corvas hadn’t been afraid to commit suicide for her cause, why should Sharien be any less devoted to their mission. Sharien was all they had though, she was the only one who knew how the cannon worked. And Shar Jen’s words echoed in his head “Should we fight until not a single Kriel or Tien is left standing?” Sharien had seemed to respond to that argument, but had she just been playing along? He’d soon find out, one way or the other.

“Over here,” said Sharien, pulling a panel away from the wall. “There are three sets of two parallel circuits. The pairs need to be pulled simultaneously. You take one, Sub-commander, and I’ll take the other. Pull it on the count of three. You’ll need both hands, and be careful, if they’re not pulled simultaneously they’re rigged to explode,” said Sharien and T’Pol nodded her understanding at her. “One, two, three!” T’Pol and Sharien pulled and the circuits came loose. Sharien threw hers to the floor. “Okay, again.” They performed the same procedure with the remaining pairs.

“Good,” said Sharien, “Now we can disengage the locking mechanisms.” Sharien pulled our a couple of brightly coloured wires. “I had to cut the power to the hydraulics, we’ll have to force it open. We need something to use as a lever to open the door.”

Hayes and Archer sorted through the debris looking for anything that they could use as a lever. Archer found a long piece of metal and began to pry at the gap between the two doors into the Armoury. When the gap was enough to get a hand through, Hayes pulled on one side of the door and Archer on the other, gradually forcing them open enough that a person could fit through.

They entered the Armoury which was in poor shape, like the rest of the Vor Devrees. In front of them was an impressive array of control panels and to one side was what Archer took to be the inter-reality cannon. It was a fearsome looking weapon, as big as one of Enterprise’s phase cannons but it certainly didn’t look like a phase cannon. The smooth brushed metal bulged in rounded humps along its length and at the end was some sort of focusing apparatus, what looked like a huge quartz crystal. The crystal pulsed with a green glow, casting the same eerie green light around the room. A large piece of hull cut into the barrel of the cannon and it was obvious that there was other minor damage to the cannon.

“A durania crystal,” said Shar Jen, walking towards the weapon. “Except I’ve never seen one this big before.”

“It was grown in our lab,” said Sharien. “They don’t occur naturally at that size.”

“We don’t have time to discuss the weapon’s design,” said T’Pol. “How do we disarm it?”

“The circuits that we need are in the base, but we will also need to remove the crystal,” said Sharien. She went to the weapon and knelt down beside it so that she could gain access to a maintenance panel. “I will need some help. Three people can do this far more quickly than one.” Sharien looked pointedly at T’Pol and Shar Jen. “All the access panels are coded to my finger prints. Shar Jen should have the same finger prints as me, so she should be able to open the other access panels while we work on disconnecting the firing circuits. If anyone else tries to open the access panels then it will trigger the self-destruct mechanism immediately.”

“I understand,” said T’Pol. “I will not touch anything until you let me know that it is safe to do so.”

“Good, I expect you both to do as I say. Failure to follow my instructions could get us all killed,” said Sharien.

“You are the only one who knows how to disarm this weapon,” said Shar Jen, “tell us what to do and we will do it.”

Archer and Hayes were put on assistant duty handing the three women tools as they went to work on the inter-reality cannon, Sharien directing them. They worked quickly and efficiently. T’Pol began the delicate task of removing the crystal that focused the destructive power of the unstable weapon, while Sharien and Shar Jen disconnected circuitry in a carefully defined order. At times Archer found it difficult to tell the two blonde women apart, both wore identical space suits, but Sharien’s hair was shorter than her Rel Sevanne counterpart. Sharien’s estimate was that they had about forty minutes before the cannon overloaded and took the Vor Devrees back to its own universe.

Sharien swore and both Shar Jen and T’Pol turned to look at her.

“Is there a problem?” asked T’Pol.

“Yes, there is a problem, Sub-commander,” said Sharien, with a bite of sarcasm to her voice. “It’s not disengaging. Conduit five is completely locked down and I don’t have the gear here to cut it physically. We can’t remove the power supply.”

“Then we’ve failed,” said Shar Jen.

“Perhaps not,” said T’Pol. “What will be the result if we disconnect the other power feeds but leave that one?”

“The cannon will still destroy itself and suck the Vor Devrees back to my universe. It doesn’t need full power to do that,” said Sharien.

“But if the other connections have been cut then the resulting explosion should be considerably lessened in intensity since the cannon will be receiving less power,” said T’Pol.

“That makes sense,” said Shar Jen. “Without full power the cannon won’t be able to sustain the rift for long.”

“I think you’re right, but we don’t have time to test it. If we can’t stop the explosion then perhaps dampening it is the best we can do,” said Sharien.

“Then we should work quickly,” said T’Pol. “We will now require time to evacuate.”

“T’Pol, it took us twenty minutes to get here from the docking bay,” said Archer, who had been listening in to the whole conversation.

“Indeed, Captain,” said T’Pol.

“There was a section of corridor open to space about ten metres aft,” said Hayes. “We passed it on the way here, I noticed the sealed door.”

“Good thinking, I’ll get Travis to bring the shuttle round,” said Archer. “I want you to make sure we can get through that door when we need to.”

“Yes, sir,” said Hayes and went to check their exit. Archer flipped open his communicator and told Travis to get the shuttle over to them as quickly as possible. He felt vibrations through the soles of his boots that told him the Vor Devrees was breaking apart from the stress of the crash even before the weapon could rip into it.

T’Pol finished disconnecting the focusing crystal, its green light dying slowly within, and removed it.

“Destroy it,” said Sharien.

“Why?” asked T’Pol.

“Even without the weapon mechanism it could still act as a focus for the energy in the explosion and open a rift,” said Sharien.

T’Pol placed the crystal on the floor, drew her phase pistol and fired, shattering the crystal into hundreds of tiny fragments. “Will that suffice?” she asked Sharien.

“That should be enough,” said Sharien.

“I am finished,” said Shar Jen. “Everything apart from the final locked conduit has been disabled.”

“I’m done too,” said Sharien.

“Let’s get out of here,” said Archer. “How long do we have until that thing goes critical?”

Sharien checked her chronometer. “About ten minutes.”

“Come on,” said Archer and led the way towards Hayes and the shuttle at a flat out sprint. Hayes had estimated that it was ten minutes walk to the open section of corridor, and Archer had rarely known the Major to be wrong about these details. Assuming that by running they were cutting that time by half, that left them five minutes to reach the shuttle pod and get far enough away that the blast wouldn’t destroy the shuttle. Archer had already worked out that their odds weren’t good.

They rounded a corner to see Hayes metaphorically holding the door open for them. He had already bypassed the door controls and just needed to complete the circuit to open their escape route. The away team replaced their helmets and Archer signalled to Hayes to open the door. The violent decompression of the corridor sucked the five of them into the cold of space, where Travis waited for them. The boomer pilot carefully moved the shuttle so that the space-walkers had the least amount of distance possible to reach the airlock of the shuttlepod. They used their jet packs to manoeuvre themselves as quickly and efficiently as possible, it was obvious that all of them had done this several times before. The airlock of the shuttlepod was so small that only two people at a time could enter.

“T’Pol and Sharien go first,” said Archer. He was reminded of a problem a teacher had once set him in math class. A man has to cross a river in a boat that can only hold two people, he has a fox and two chickens. If he leaves the fox with the chickens then the fox will eat the chickens. The question was who here was the fox? Hayes and Shar Jen followed T’Pol and Sharien, leaving Archer last.

He climbed into the airlock, pulling the hatch shut behind him. “I’m in,” he said over the com. “Step on it, Mr Mayweather.”

“Yes, sir,” came the determined reply. Archer felt the acceleration as he waited for the airlock to cycle and then it was as if a giant hand slapped the shuttlepod. Suddenly, Archer was thrown violently against the side of the airlock and then rocked back the other way, the shuttlepod was tumbling as it rode the edge of the blast. Finally the tumbling stopped and the airlock completed its cycle. Archer climbed out to find the shuttlepod strewn with pieces of displaced equipment and his officers sprawled on the floor.

Mayweather looked to be fine although a little shaken. Hayes was dusting himself off after picking himself up off the floor. T’Pol pushed herself up on to one of the benches, moving slowly which suggested she had been badly bruised at least.

“Everyone okay?” asked Archer.

There was a chorus of “yes, sirs” and nods from Sharien and Shar Jen.

“What about the life pods?” asked Archer.

“Looks as if they were far enough away,” said Mayweather.

T’Pol moved to the station behind Mayweather. “The explosion was approximately one tenth of what we expected it to be. That is consistent with the cannon only being able to draw power through the single locked conduit.”

Sharien went to the window of the shuttlepod and stared out at her former home. There wasn’t much left of the Vor Devrees or the Rel Sevanne. The two ships were little more than charred pieces of twisted metal.

“Vor Devrees rel revorio ti miena. Ishtar cari sen Kriel protea shor dare sel unitas sanvigo, yu seten,” said Sharien, and Shar Jen repeated the phrase “yu seten” with Sharien.

“What did she say?” asked Archer.

Shar Jen answered “She asked the goddess to unite her people with the saints in death, guide them to heaven, and return light to the path of their long night. It is an ancient prayer, in our ritual language. Kriel is slightly different to Tien, Vor Devrees doesn’t mean darkness in Kriel, it only means long night.”

“And “yu seten”?” asked Archer.

“May it be so,” said Shar Jen.

****

Trip lay on a biobed in decon. Decon was well equipped to deal with seriously ill patients so Phlox had most of the supplies that he needed but he still would have preferred to treat the Commander in sickbay. Unfortunately he couldn’t risk exposing the crew to the Vor Devrees virus, he hadn’t had enough time to immunise the entire crew, and the good of the crew took precedence over the health of one man. Phlox pressed the hypospray filled with the anti-viral to his patient’s neck. He looked up at the biomonitor above the bed, the readouts weren’t looking good but he hoped that he was in time. No, he was confident that he was in time.

Trip was pale, sweat pouring off his skin and shivering violently. Phlox could feel the heat coming from the Commander’s body as his immune system expended energy desperately trying to fight off the attacking virus. Phlox had him covered by a cooling blanket to try to keep his body temperature down but so far it wasn’t working.

“How’s he doing?” said a familiar voice from behind him. He’d been so intent on Trip that he hadn’t noticed the door open.

“Slightly better,” said Phlox. “He is still a very sick young man.” He turned to face his visitor. “You shouldn’t even be here, Captain.”

“I just needed to check in, see for myself that he’s in good hands,” said Archer.

“He is,” said Phlox, mopping Trip’s sweat drenched forehead. “Perhaps you could reassure Mr Reed of that as well.”

“Has Malcolm been giving you trouble?” asked Archer in an amused voice. The armoury officer’s hatred of sickbay was legendary. Archer often wondered why, if Reed hated sickbay so much, he didn’t try to make more of an effort stay out of it.

“A little. I think he’s actually more concerned about Commander Tucker than himself,” said Phlox. “When I left sickbay he was sleeping soundly, which is what he needs to do if he expects to recover quickly from his injuries.”

“The qualities which make him difficult for you to deal with, also make him the finest Armoury officer in the fleet, Doctor,” said Archer.

“I’m aware of that, Captain,” said Phlox. “I just occasionally wish that he would listen to my advice. It is certainly not for the good of my health that I tell him these things, it’s for his.”

“What about Trip?” said Archer. “Is he going to make it?”

“I don’t know,” said Phlox, with a despondent sigh. “I’m doing everything that I can. His injuries are serious though.”

“He didn’t look hurt though, when we pulled him out of the Rel Sevanne,” said Archer.

“Externally he may look unharmed but he suffered a huge shock to his nervous system which has caused considerable damage. It weakened him a great deal and allowed the virus to gain more of a hold than it would otherwise have done,” said Phlox. “He is far from out of danger.”

“Can you do anything to help him?” asked Archer.

“I’ve given him the anti-viral,” said Phlox. “That should deal with the virus, assuming that he isn’t too weak already but I think we caught it in time. It will be a few hours before we know for certain. The neural damage is more serious although less immediately life threatening.”

“Can you treat it?” Archer asked.

“I can try. I’ve begun the treatment to regenerate his neural pathways, but I have only ever tried this therapy on my own species and Vulcans who both have significantly different biology to humans. I won’t be able to tell how effective it will be on a human for a little while yet.”

“And the implants? Can you remove them?”

“Yes, but not until his condition has stabilised. They aren’t causing any problems at the moment so their removal is not urgent.”

“What about the nanites?”

“They are still functioning and don’t appear to have been adversely effected by the virus or the neural feedback,” said Phlox. “They are in fact far more healthy than the Commander.”

“Of course, they would be,” said Archer, not bothering to hide his displeasure. He had dared to hope that the cause of all Trip’s pain had been destroyed by the same forces which had placed Trip in Phlox’s care again. Archer knew it had been too much to hope for that there could be a silver lining to this miserable situation. He knew Trip had started to view the nannites as an asset but he couldn’t see them the same way, so far they’d been nothing but trouble for his Chief Engineer.

“You’ll let me know if there’s any change in his condition?” said Archer, turning to leave. “Either way?”

“Of course,” said Phlox.

****End of Chapter 19****

Archer sat at his desk in his ready room and looked at the two women in front of him. They were identical twins, except that he knew that they were the products of two divergent universes. They were two completely different people, or more correctly they were different aspects of the same person. The question was what to do with them.

He knew what he wanted to do. Put both of them in the brig and throw away the key. One of the women in front of him had been complicit in the kidnapping of his Chief Engineer, the other had tried to kill his Armoury officer. He would have been perfectly justified in doing it as well, except that he knew he wasn’t going to be able to. He couldn’t have two prisoners when they were trying to find the Xindi, and who knew how long that would take. He would have turned them over to their own people for trial except that neither side would regard what they had done as wrong, they were simply necessary acts in the war.

He wasn’t even sure that Starfleet wouldn’t agree with that assessment. It had been made very clear to him when he’d started this mission that he had to respect the rules and customs of other cultures, and above all, stay out of their wars. The last thing Earth needed was another alien race intent on their destruction because they’d got themselves in the middle of something they shouldn’t have. He knew he’d bent the rules sometimes, occasionally broken them, but that was before the Xindi had attacked Earth and changed everything. It wasn’t his place to punish the two aliens in front of him, no matter how much he wanted to.

“The life pods of both the Tien and Kriel are heading for the same planet in the nearby star system. Our scans indicated that it should be quite capable of supporting you all. We’ll drop you off there before we continue on,” said Archer, coldly.

“The Tien sharing a planet with the Kriel? They’ll kill us all, you have to take us somewhere else Captain,” said Shar Jen.

“I don’t have to do anything! You’re lucky I don’t have you both thrown in the brig,” said Archer.

“The Kriel will not share a planet with the Tien heretics,” said Sharien. “I prevented the destruction of your ship by disarming the inter-reality cannon, you owe me for that.”

“That isn’t exactly how I remember events,” said Archer. “That explosion would have destroyed the lifepods of your people as well as the Tien, it was as much in your interests to stop that explosion as it was in ours. More yours since Enterprise could have outrun the blast.”

“You don’t understand, Captain,” said Shar Jen. “The Kriel are evil. You can’t leave the Tien to face their enemy after you went to all this trouble to save us.”

“Let me make one thing clear to you, if you hadn’t kidnapped Commander Tucker then I would have left you to fight your own battles, we wouldn’t have even been here when the Vor Devrees arrived. We don’t owe you anything and I don’t care about your petty squabbles. T’Pol estimates that about one thousand Tien escaped and a similar number of Kriel, that’s barely enough people to rebuild your civilisation. It will be impossible if you can’t work together, so I suggest you work out you differences.”

“You’re asking us to forget centuries of war and feuding. What about all the Tien that the Kriel killed, the Rel Sanvigo, the Rel Ishtari, the Rel Meritaten, the Rel Luis-Nion and the Rel Sevanne. Did all those Tien die for nothing?” asked Shar Jen.

“Many Kriel died too,” said Sharien. “I knew I should never have helped to disarm the cannon I could have killed you all with that.”

“Then why didn’t you?” asked Shar Jen angrily. “Or perhaps you were the one who fears death?”

“I am not a coward,” replied Sharien. “I allowed myself to be swayed by your arguments. I was thinking about my people, but I should have known that they would be happy to die if it meant ridding the universe of the vermin Tien.”

“How dare you speak about the Tien in that way!” shouted Shar Jen.

“You are the coward, afraid to die for your cause!” shouted Sharien at the same time as Shar Jen.

“Enough!” shouted Archer over them both and the two women fell silent. “Weren’t you the one who asked if you should fight until no more Kriel and Tien are left?” he said looking at Shar Jen. “I suggest you listen to your own rhetoric. The Tien and Kriel in those life pods are all that is left of your respective races. You don’t have the luxury of not working together. Enterprise isn’t equipped to take that many people so you have no choice, it’s this planet or nothing. You find a way to get along or you die. It will take us a few days to get there so I suggest you use that time to discuss how you will work together. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”

Shar Jen and Sharien looked a little stunned at the Captain’s outburst but Sharien inclined her head in a slight nod and left the ready room.

“Captain, there is something else I must talk to you about,” said Shar Jen.

“Make it quick,” said Archer, he was in no mood for more complaints.

“How is Trip En?” she asked.

“His name is Commander Tucker. You haven’t earned the right to call him Trip, or Trip En. And how dare you even ask that?” said Archer angrily. “You’re the ones who caused him to be in a position to be injured.”

“Nevertheless I have a right to know,” said Shar Jen.

“What right do you have? You kidnapped him and used him as a… a spare part for your computer. You stripped away his humanity and brainwashed him into believing that was what he wanted,” said Archer.

“I love him,” Shar Jen blurted out.

“You love him?” asked Archer in disbelief. “How can you possibly love him when you let this happen to him? After what you did to him?”

“I was under orders to get Commander Tucker to become our Patriarch either voluntarily or by force. Ten En recognised that I had formed a bond with him and he asked me to use that to talk to him. The situation was not in my control. If I hadn’t done it then one of the others would have done. If there had been any other way to save my people then I would have taken it,” said Shar Jen. “Now, please, you have to tell me how he is.”

“He’s in critical condition, our doctor has him isolated to prevent any possible spread of the virus. We won’t know for a few hours if the anti-viral is working,” said Archer.

“I’d like to see him,” said Shar Jen.

“Out of the question,” said Archer.

“Please. You said that it will only take a few days to reach our new home. After that I’ll never see him again. This is the only time that we have.”

“No,” said Archer. “You’ve caused Trip nothing but pain. I won’t put him through anymore. Ensign Scott will escort you back to your quarters,” said Archer and turned back to his monitor.

Shar Jen closed her eyes and hung her head in a look of pure defeat but turned and left the ready room without another word. Perhaps Captain Archer had refused her permission to see Trip En but she knew that there was always a way. If she could just see him, then perhaps she could persuade him to come with her, she at least had to try and Trip had taught her that there was nothing a good engineer couldn’t do.

****

Reed had only been in sickbay for a day and he was already going stir crazy. He suspected that Phlox was purposely keeping him drugged up to the eyeballs so that he was too spaced out to cause trouble, but even through the haze of medication he knew he didn’t want to be in sickbay. Not only that, he was desperate for word on Commander Tucker’s condition and no one would tell him anything. One of Phlox’s assistants had told him that the Doctor was in decon with Trip, but that was the only information he’d been able to gather.

This really wasn’t how he had envisioned Trip coming back to Enterprise. He had known that getting him back wasn’t going to be easy but he hadn’t expected it to nearly kill both him and Trip. He was just contemplating an escape plan when Captain Archer entered sickbay.

Archer had been trying to take his mind off Trip’s condition, it had been nearly twelve hours since he’d left Phlox in decon. He had taken Porthos for a walk, then he’d tried to get some sleep, but that had been a very bad idea. Lying in his darkened room had allowed all the terrible eventualities that he’d been trying not to think about to crowd into his mind. He’d given up on sleep and found some paperwork to do, but even then he’d found himself distracted and unable to concentrate. He gave up and called Phlox to let him know that he was going to visit Malcolm.

“Hi Malcolm,” said Archer. “Just thought I’d come and check on how you were doing.”

“I’m fine, sir,” replied Malcolm, automatically. “Although Phlox has me on some interesting pain medication.”

Archer nodded, Malcolm’s wide eyes had already tipped him off to the fact that he was on some serious medication. “I gather that you’ve been asking after Trip,” he said.

“Yes, sir,” said Reed. “Do you have any news on how he is?”

“He’s not in good shape, but Phlox seems to think that we reached him in time. He’s given him the anti-viral and we’ll know soon whether it’s working,” said Archer.

“I’m sorry, sir,” said Reed.

“What for?” asked Archer.

“That I couldn’t get him out of there before all this blew up in our faces. I completely misread the situation and allowed myself to be captured by the Tien. I was depending on the friendship of a brainwashing subject, it was an utterly stupid mistake that a rookie wouldn’t have made. If I’d formulated a better plan we would have had Commander Tucker out of there before any of this happened. Sharien was right, I’m a poor excuse for a security officer,” said Reed.

“That’s ridiculous. You risked your life, twice, to save Trip. Anyone else would have tried to get back to Enterprise after the crash, instead you were more concerned about getting to Trip than looking after your own injuries. You did everything that you could, Lieutenant, and more than anyone could have expected of you,” finished Archer.

“If that’s true, then why do I feel like I let him down?” said Reed, miserably.

“Because Trip got hurt and you couldn’t do anything to stop it. It wasn’t your fault, Lieutenant. We didn’t know that we were walking into the middle of the war when we offered our assistance to the Rel Sevanne,” said Archer.

“I promised him that I’d look out for him. He was really scared to go over to the Rel Sevanne, after what happened last time…and it was my idea to take him with us. He asked me if I’d stick with him and I told him I would,” said Reed getting more and more agitated. “I should have kept my promise.”

“Malcolm, don’t do this to yourself,” said Archer.

“Why not? It’s my fault that a fellow officer is injured and possibly dying. Because I didn’t do my job, because I didn’t protect him,” said Reed.

“You can’t protect everyone all the time, Malcolm,” said Archer. “Trip was the one who wandered off with Shar Jen to look at their computer. You can’t protect someone who doesn’t want to be protected. As far as I’m concerned you did everything you could to safeguard this crew.”

“Tell that to Trip,” said Reed.

“I will, when he wakes up,” said Archer. “But I suspect he already knows it.”

Reed closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Trip had told Reed himself that he wasn’t to blame, why couldn’t he believe it? He felt drained and ill, and his friend was lying in decon dying of a disease which they’d engineered. He was so very tired and he just wished this whole nightmare would end.

The com sounded. “Phlox to Captain Archer.”

“Archer here,” replied the Captain, going to the com. His heart beat speeded up as he answered, hoping desperately that he wasn’t going hear that Trip had taken a turn for the worse.

“Captain, I have good news. Commander Tucker is responding to the anti-viral. His temperature is down and his immune system is holding its own,” said Phlox.

Archer breathed a sigh of relief, at least Trip was out of immediate danger. “Thanks, doctor, I’ll be right down,” said Archer. He turned around to tell Malcolm and noticed that the Armoury officer had pushed himself up on the bed and was detaching the drip from his arm.

“Malcolm, what are you doing?” asked Archer.

“Getting out of here,” said Reed. “I need to see Trip.”

“Malcolm…” began Archer.

“With all due respect, sir, either get out of my way or help me,” said Reed. Archer took one look at his Armoury officer and went to find a wheelchair. Reed looked very pale but he also looked very determined.

“Malcolm, we need to have a serious talk about you following orders. I’m going to make a deal with you. I’ll take you to see Trip, but after that you have to come straight back to sickbay. Is that understood?”

Reed sat with his bare feet dangling over the edge of the bed and nodded his agreement.

****

Trip awoke in decon to an eerie silence and darkness. His eyes were open but he couldn’t see, and he knew he lay on a bed but he couldn’t feel it. He felt cold. Except it wasn’t exactly cold, it was more like his soul had been cut out of his body and he was now a completely empty vessel. He couldn’t hear the Rel Sevanne anymore and that left him feeling completely without hope. He tried to reach out for the ship but it was just gone. He couldn’t feel the emotions of the Tien either. There was pain too, but it wasn’t specific, he just hurt. His breathing quickened.

The nanites were still there and their chatter at least gave him something to hang on to. They made him feel less like he was completely alone. He tried to move and found that he couldn’t, or at least it was very difficult as if his entire body had fallen asleep. He couldn’t move when he was part of the Rel Sevanne, so that was right, but everything else was wrong. He was worried by the blackness and not being able to hear the ship. He should have been assailed by all the various data feeds from the ship, there should have been camera feeds showing him everything that was happening, instead there was nothing, only the nanites telling him about their own internal workings.

“Commander,” said a voice he recognised. “Try to stay calm, you’re being looked after. You’re safe on Enterprise.”

Trip struggled to form words, he was out of practice with verbal communication, before they’d pulled him out of the computer it had been days since he’d used his vocal cords. The computer had synthesised his voice, quite a good facsimile of his voice he thought, proud of his own work, and that was what he’d used to speak. His own body had been paralysed by the drugs and neural inputs from the Rel Sevanne while his mind did all the work. Now his brain didn’t seem to be working properly at all, it was as if he was underwater and all his thoughts had slowed down. Making his mouth work was so hard, but he needed to know what had happened.

“W-w-where?” he managed to get out.

“You’re in decon,” said Phlox. “On Enterprise.”

“Put… put me back,” he said, his voice little more than a rough breath.

“We can’t,” said Phlox. “The Rel Sevanne was destroyed in the battle.”

“Can’t… have been,” he said, shaking his head. But it would explain why he couldn’t hear the ship any longer.

“I’m afraid it’s true,” replied Phlox. Archer and Reed arrived. Archer parked the wheelchair outside the airlock door to decon and helped Malcolm up. They cycled the airlock and entered the inner room where Trip lay.

“How is he?” asked the captain.

“He’s awake but rather confused,” said Phlox. “Lieutenant, you should be in bed.”

“I was bored,” said Reed.

“He wouldn’t take no for an answer,” said Archer to Phlox.

“Captain?” Trip asked turning blind eyes towards the sound of his commanding officer’s voice.

“Yes, Trip, it’s me. You’re safe on Enterprise,” said Archer, going to his friend’s side.

“Rel…Sevanne?” he asked, shakily.

“It’s gone Trip, destroyed,” said Archer.

“No…can’t… be gone,” said Trip, breathing hard. His eyes closed in pain.

He tried harder to reach out with the nanites and touch the Rel Sevanne computer once again, and was surprised when he felt the presence of another computer. It wasn’t his computer but it was a computer. It felt wrong this one, all spiky and hard edged, the information was like a low resolution image, blocky and without finesse. Interfacing with the Rel Sevanne had been like breathing, this took a lot more effort. He couldn’t remote access with this computer and get what he needed from it.

He had to do something, he had to fill the hole inside himself. He had to interface with a computer and get back the feeling that he had before, of belonging and warmth. He put all his strength into moving his arm and reaching out for the metal he knew was near by, or more correctly the data conduit behind it. The nanites had detected it and passed the information to him.

Archer, Reed and Phlox watched in disbelief as Trip moved his arm jerkily, with obvious effort until his fingers touched the wall, and then it was as if the metal dissolved under his fingertips. Suddenly his hand was through the wall and Archer realised too late what was happening as wires seemingly moved themselves over Trip’s skin and in seconds had connected to the black plugs of the Tien implants.

“Doctor!” shouted Archer. He made a grab for Trip’s arm but the wires were now securely attached to Trip. It had all happened very quickly, and none of them had seen it coming. More connections joined the first bunches of cables.

The nanites built bridges for Trip and suddenly he found that he could hear the inner workings of the ship, but it still wasn’t the Rel Sevanne. There were no thousands of Tien for him to sense and hear their every word. As he interrogated the mainframe that he was connected to, he found the report of the Rel Sevanne’s death. He asked the nanites to verify the account, not wanting to believe that it was true but they found no reason to doubt the computer. The Rel Sevanne was gone and with it all the warmth and feelings of safety that he had felt. Tears fell down his cheeks even though he couldn’t feel them and didn’t know that he cried them.

He couldn’t have the Rel Sevanne, but he still had the computer that he was currently conjoined with. He instructed the nanites to submerge him further into the mainframe and he felt the reassuring feel of wires wrap around him and he let the computer take over his consciousness so that his personality was merely a thin veneer on top of his thought processes, and he listened to the ship. The lights in Decon dimmed slightly before returning to their former brightness.

“What was that?” asked Reed.

“I think that was Trip,” replied Archer. “Doctor, do something!”

Phlox was frantically preparing a hypospray. “I just need a moment. In his current state too much sedative could kill him, not enough and it won’t do anything. It’s a difficult balance.” Phlox made the final adjustment and pressed the hypospray to Trip’s neck. It took a little time but finally Trip went limp. Archer looked down at the loom of wires that now led into Trip’s right arm.

“I don’t understand,” said Archer. “What is he trying to do?”

“Interface with Enterprise’s computer. Except Enterprise’s computer wasn’t meant to have a human component like the Rel Sevanne, what he has done is extremely dangerous. Luckily the nanites have been able to stop most of the potential damage. Of course if it weren’t for the nanites he wouldn’t be able to do this at all,” said Phlox.

“What now, doctor? We can’t keep him permanently sedated,” said Archer.

“For the moment I can and will keep him sedated. Then I’ll need T’Pol’s help to disconnect him again,” said Phlox.

“You’ll have it,” said Archer.

“Perhaps we should move him somewhere that doesn’t have any computers that he can interface with,” said Reed, leaning heavily against the doorway.

“The Lieutenant has a point. This is endangering his health further, we can’t allow him to do this again,” said Phlox.

“There’s nowhere on Enterprise that’s free of computers,” said Archer.

“The brig,” said Reed.

“I can’t put Trip in the brig,” said Archer.

“Why not? There aren’t any computers and it’s well shielded, I doubt the nanites could remotely access the computers or even locate a data conduit,” said Reed.

“Okay, call Lieutenant Hess, get her to fit out the brig with what the Doctor needs,” said Archer. “Make sure that anything which uses a computer is outside the cell. And none of it is networked.”

“Yes, sir,” said Reed, moving to the com.

“But Captain, most of my equipment uses some sort of computer and I’ll need bio-monitors installed to check on his condition,” said Phlox, looking worried.

“I’m sorry, Doctor, but no computers. You’ll just have to scan him from outside the holding cell,” said Archer.

“I suppose that will have to suffice,” said Phlox.

“Lieutenant, get a couple of your security officers down here, preferably two that know how to keep their mouths shut. I’d prefer to keep this quiet. Phlox can immunise them against the virus. We’ll move Trip down to the brig as soon as Hess is ready,” said Archer.

Reed made the necessary calls and T’Pol arrived a few minutes later to help Phlox. After some argument it was agreed that the Lieutenant would return to his quarters for rest and would not have to go back to sickbay. Phlox did, however, reserve the right to make house calls and return Reed to sickbay if he was found not to be resting. Archer knew that threat alone would probably be enough to make Reed behave, but he detailed Ensign Hooper off to “escort Lieutenant Reed to his quarters”, by which he meant push the wheelchair. Reed still wasn’t up to walking far and Phlox’s pain medication that was coursing through his system wasn’t making it any easier for him to stay upright.

“What happened?” T’Pol asked, seemingly unfazed by Commander Tucker’s right side being enmeshed in wires and optical data cabling.

“He attempted to interface with Enterprise’s computer,” said Phlox.

“It seems as if he succeeded,” said T’Pol, holding up her specially modified nanite scanner. “Data is moving between Enterprise’s computer core and the nanites. Interesting.”

“His brain activity has increased as well,” said Phlox. “This is extremely taxing to his already damaged nervous system. We need to disconnect him as quickly as possible.”

“Agreed, doctor,” said T’Pol. “I suggest we begin with the optical feeds.”

Archer watched as Phlox and T’Pol once more went to work on Trip’s inert form. He noted how careful they were to disconnect each individual wire, he knew that disconnecting everything at once would most likely drive Trip into shock and, in his current state, probably kill him. He had thought that once they had Trip out of the Rel Sevanne it would only be a matter of healing his injuries, but it seemed that there was more going on here than he had previously suspected.

So far Trip’s communication with them had only been broken sentences but Archer had noticed the one thing he had said both times he’d been awake was that he wanted to be put back into the Rel Sevanne’s computer. It was no good, he had to acknowledge that Trip needed more help than they had the capability to give him. And worse than that, he knew there was someone on board who had far more knowledge about Trip’s problem than the rest of his crew put together. The person who’d caused Trip’s problem in the first place. He had to talk to Shar Jen.

****End of Chapter 20****

After T’Pol and Phlox had finally disconnected the last of the makeshift connections that Trip had made to Enterprise’s computer, they encased the gurney in a plastic cover, used for transporting possibly infectious patients. Ensigns Scott and Hooper moved Trip to the brig, where Hess had just finished installing the required medical equipment. They transferred the Commander carefully to the waiting bed, Phlox reconnected the drip and took a couple of scans. Everything seemed to be about as stable as could be expected, so he moved out of the holding cell and shut the door. He wasn’t happy about putting his patient into a cell in the brig but he knew that he had no choice. The unique condition that Commander Tucker was in necessitated this action.

“What is your next step, doctor?” asked T’Pol, standing beside him as he observed his sleeping patient through the mesh of the cell wall.

“I will conclude the anti-viral treatment and continue the neural regeneration. Once he is clear of the virus I hope to be able to re-connect his optical nerves and remove the implants. However, I will need to wait until he is more stable than he is at the moment. The virus still has some hours to run before he will have beaten it,” said Phlox.

“In your opinion, how likely is it that you can also heal his mind?” asked T’Pol.

“I couldn’t give you an estimate if I tried, T’Pol. He’s been through a lot. He’s seen things which a human should never have to see and had his freedom completely taken away from him. His injuries alone would give me cause for concern, but we know that he was also the victim of brainwashing and that can be very hard to undo, especially if the victim’s mind was already in a fragile state,” said Phlox. “I suspect that if Commander Tucker had not had his run in with the Xindi then he would have fought much harder against the Rel Sevanne’s conditioning.”

“Are you suggesting that Commander Tucker willingly allowed himself to be manipulated?” asked T’Pol with disbelief. She knew that Commander Tucker had endured weeks of torture by the Xindi and not given them any information, it seemed unlikely that he would have succumbed to the brainwashing by the Rel Sevanne without putting up some resistance.

“Not exactly willingly, but perhaps he didn’t put up much of a fight. He was only part of the computer for a few days, but it appears that the brainwashing was very thorough. The Rel Sevanne allowed him to escape from all the pain of his life on Enterprise. It allowed him to forget about the attack on Earth and the Xindi, but provided him with a family and sense of belonging. You can imagine how tempting it must have been to simply give in to what he was being told. It will be hard to get him to leave that behind and embrace reality again.”

“I see,” said T’Pol. “Is there any way that I can be of assistance, Doctor? Commander Tucker’s health is of utmost importance to this crew.”

“I would appreciate your help monitoring the nanite activity,” said Phlox. “I am afraid they are rather outside my area of expertise but I believe that understanding them may be the key to the Commander’s recovery.”

“I will begin an analysis,” said T’Pol, taking out her modified nanite scanner.

Phlox watched T’Pol taking scans and wondered if she even realised herself why she had remained to help. Phlox knew that she had many other tasks that required her attention and certainly did not need to ask for further work. According to T’Pol, Vulcans did not experience concern, but Phlox begged to differ, this Vulcan certainly did.

****

Archer pushed the doorbell to Shar Jen’s quarters. Ensign Prior stood outside on guard duty. They had moved two Ensigns out of their quarters in order to provide quarters for Shar Jen and Sharien. Archer had apologised to both Ensigns personally, he really believed that Shar Jen and Sharien should be in the brig, not Trip.

He entered Shar Jen’s quarters and found her sitting on the bed, a padd in her hand.

“Captain,” she said in greeting.

“Shar Jen,” he replied.

“I am reviewing the geological data that Sub-Commander T’Pol kindly provided to me on New Tien,” said Shar Jen.

“New Tien?” asked Archer.

“Our new home, the planet that you’re taking us to,” said Shar Jen.

“You’ve named it already?” he asked.

“Yes,” replied Shar Jen.

“How do you think the Kriel will react to you calling it New Tien?” he asked.

“I had not concerned myself with that,” replied Shar Jen.

Archer took a deep breath and bit his tongue, deciding not to pursue Shar Jen’s reasoning on the topic of names. “I came to talk to you about Commander Tucker,” said Archer.

“I had guessed that,” said Shar Jen. “You are concerned for his well being.”

“He just tried to interface with Enterprise’s main computer,” said Archer. “I need to know everything that you know about Patriarchs that were disconnected from Tien computers.”

“You already know everything that I do. This has never been done before. A Patriarch is only removed when they are near death. We never needed to remove anyone from our computer before,” said Shar Jen.

“In all those centuries, with five ships, you never once had to remove a Patriarch or a Matriarch from the computer before they were already dying?” asked Archer.

“No, never,” said Shar Jen. Then a look that Archer couldn’t read passed across her features. “Well, perhaps once.”

“Tell me,” said Archer.

“There was a story, more of a legend. The Rel Ishtari supposedly had to replace their first Matriarch. The story goes that she lived a normal life for several years afterwards. I always thought that it was just a myth though, it can’t possibly be true,” said Shar Jen. “In any case it would have been over six hundred years ago, and all the records were destroyed with the Rel Sevanne.”

“Not all of them,” said Archer. “Trip transferred copies of all the files related to the Patriarchs and the Rel Sevanne’s computer to Enterprise for T’Pol, so that she could try to find a way of getting him out of there.”

“I need to see those files,” said Shar Jen.

“You can work with T’Pol,” said Archer.

“I’d prefer to work alone,” said Shar Jen.

“I don’t care what you’d prefer,” said Archer. “You’ll work with the Sub-commander.” He didn’t trust Shar Jen. He needed her to help Trip, but he certainly wasn’t going to let her dictate terms.

“As you wish, Captain,” said Shar Jen.

****

Sharien knocked on Reed’s door and waited for him to answer. She had managed to slip out of her assigned quarters with some strategic short circuiting and a diversion to draw her guard’s attention. Her slight limp and painful arm hadn’t held her up unduly in her plans. As a security officer, she was good at was circumventing other people’s security measures. She identified weaknesses and exploited them. She heard a muffled “come” from within the cabin and entered.

“Sharien,” said Reed in a sleepy but displeased voice. He didn’t look well and his broken right arm rested in a sling around his neck. “What did you do with Crewman Kachru?”

“I expect he is still guarding my empty quarters,” said Sharien.

“Remind me to review my training procedures,” said Reed. “You went to a lot of trouble to see me. What do you want? Decided to get your revenge?”

“If I had wanted to kill you, then I wouldn’t have stopped to chat,” said Sharien, “nor would I have bothered to knock.”

“I did wonder,” said Reed, sitting down heavily on his bed. He wasn’t in any shape to protect himself at the moment. “So, I’ll ask you again, what do you want?”

“Your help. I need to speak with you about our arrival at the planet,” said Sharien.

“We get there in six days,” said Reed. “Now leave me alone.”

“Kriel and Tien cannot co-exist on a single planet,” said Sharien.

“You’re going to have to,” said Reed.

“You’re a Weapons Master, you know the realities that we face, I need your help,” said Sharien.

“You tried to kill me,” said Reed. “Why would I want to help you?”

“You stabbed me in the leg and yet I’m still here asking,” she said. “Enterprise could help keep the peace, give one faction the advantage, put one faction in power and make it last.”

“We’re dropping you and Shar Jen off on that planet and then leaving. We don’t have time to play peace keeper,” said Reed.

“All I need are some of your weapons, enough to give me the upper hand over the Tien,” said Sharien.

“You can’t possibly be serious,” said Reed.

“If you don’t do something then we’ll fight until there aren’t any of us left,” said Sharien.

“That’s unbelievably stupid. You have a choice, you don’t have to continue this idiotic war,” said Reed. “Go and talk to Shar Jen, like the Captain said, and work out your differences. I won’t help you.”

“Fine,” said Sharien, turning to go. “If you won’t help me then I’ll find someone who will. But perhaps you’d be more inclined to assist us if I tell you how to help your Chief Engineer.”

“You know something about Trip’s condition?” asked Reed.

“Maybe,” said Sharien. “We once had to disconnect a Patriarch. He didn’t live long afterwards, but I know why.”

“If you know anything, you have to tell us,” said Reed, moving towards Sharien.

“Not until you agree to help,” said Sharien.

“I’ll contact the Captain,” said Reed, going to the com.

“I knew you’d see sense,” said Sharien.

“Why did you come to me anyway?” asked Reed. “You could have gone directly to the Captain.”

“Because you’re the tactical officer. I knew that you’d hear me out. You look at problems in a certain way. Threats, opportunities and weaknesses. The same way that I do,” said Sharien.

“I really hope that I don’t,” said Reed.

“Tell me, when you counted the casualties from the battle, did you count men or fighters?” asked Sharien.

“Men, of course,” said Reed, but he knew she was right. Every time he’d lost a member of his squadron of fighters he’s calculated what the loss of one fighter would mean to the battle plan. It wasn’t until he’d been lying in sickbay that he’d thought about the pilots of each of those fighters. He wondered when the change had happened, when had he stopped thinking of those pilots as individuals and started thinking of them as pieces in a game. He hated himself for it but he knew it was just another survival instinct, if he had thought of them as people he would never have been able to order the attack on the Vor Devrees knowing that it was likely that very few of them would be coming back.

Sharien of course knew that he was lying and that annoyed him even more.

****

Archer found T’Pol in the brig, which was beginning to look more and more like an extension of the science lab. Hess had installed the remote monitoring devices that Phlox had asked for to keep watch over Trip’s condition, everything had been specially shielded to prevent the nanites from remotely accessing them. T’Pol sat at one of the recently installed terminals examining data on the nanite activity. Phlox was inside the cell replacing Trip’s IV and tending to his unconscious patient.

Archer explained to T’Pol that he needed her to examine the files from the Rel Sevanne with Shar Jen for anything about the Rel Ishtari Matriarch.

“You want me to chase a myth,” said T’Pol.

“I think it may be more than a myth,” said Archer.

“Even if it is true, what do you expect me to find?” asked T’Pol.

“I don’t know, but if their Matriarch lived a normal life after being disconnected from the computer, then we have to find out how they were able to do it,” said Archer.

“I will get to work with Shar Jen immediately,” said T’Pol, getting up to go.

“How’s Trip doing?” he asked.

“The Doctor feels that he is strong enough to attempt to reconnect his optical nerves,” said T’Pol. “He thinks that it will aid his recovery if he is able to orient himself visually when he wakes up. He intends to operate later today.”

“I suppose that’s a step in the right direction,” said Archer.

“It’s more than a step, Captain,” said Phlox, emerging from the holding cell. “His condition has improved considerably over the past few hours. His chances of regaining complete nerve functionality are improving.”

Archer breathed a sigh of relief. “You’ve been able to repair the nerve damage?” he asked.

“Not completely, that will take some time, but enough that he should be able to move more easily,” said Phlox. “I can’t properly assess the success of the treatment until I can talk to him. I am concerned about how this will have affected his speech centres and motor abilities. He obviously had great difficulties communicating with us before and I think the nanites did most of the work moving his arm to connect with the data cabling.”

“When can we try waking him again?” asked Archer.

“Well I’d prefer to wait until the optical nerves are reconnected, but we should be able to try again this afternoon,” said Phlox.

“Give me a call when you’re ready, Doctor. I want to be here when he wakes up,” said Archer.

“Of course, Captain,” said Phlox. Archer was about to leave when the com sounded. It was Lieutenant Reed requesting that he meet himself and Sharien in the Lieutenant’s quarters.

“It doesn’t sound as if the Lieutenant is resting,” said Phlox. “Perhaps it was a mistake to release him from sickbay after all.”

“I’ll make sure that he rests, Doctor,” said Archer. “I think it’s best for everyone’s sanity that Lieutenant Reed stays out of sickbay.”

“You do have a point there,” said Phlox. “I’ll be down to give him his medication later, and you can tell him that if I find him doing anything other than resting he’ll be back in sickbay within the hour.”

“Okay, doctor,” said Archer. “I’ll pass the message on.” He left the brig to go and talk to his Armoury Officer.

Phlox went to prepare for the delicate task of reconnecting Commander Tucker’s optical nerves.

****

“Sharien has something to tell us,” said Reed, sitting on his bed. Sharien stood in the centre of Reed’s quarters, looking at Archer, who stood by the door.

“I think I may be able to help your Commander,” said Sharien. “But I’m not telling you anything until you agree to help me.”

“Help you how?” asked Archer.

“She wants us to give the Kriel weapons to defend themselves against the Tien,” said Reed.

“No,” said Archer. “Even if we could spare them, I wouldn’t give you any weapons,” said Archer.

“Then your Commander will never recover and you will be responsible for the deaths of not only the Kriel but also the Tien,” said Sharien.

“I refuse to be part of this war that you seem determined to perpetuate long past its expiry date. I’ll sit down with you and Shar Jen as an impartial negotiator if you want but that’s the only involvement that I’m going to have in this,” said Archer.

“I don’t need the services of a negotiator, I need weapons to protect my people,” said Sharien. “Doesn’t Trip En Ath Tucker’s wellbeing mean anything to you? I thought he was one of your people.”

“His name is Commander Tucker and he is one of my people, but I don’t respond well to ultimatums. Either you tell us what you know and I help you any way I can to make peace, or you can keep quiet and sort it out yourself with the Tien,” said Archer.

“I need time to think,” said Sharien.

“You can have it. Just don’t take too long,” said Archer. He called Ensign Kachru who escorted Sharien back to her quarters, with strict instructions that she was not to be allowed to escape again.

“Well, what do you make of her?” asked Reed, when she had gone.

“I don’t know. She’s pragmatic, ruthless and intelligent, it’s a dangerous combination,” said Archer.

“Do you think she really knows anything about Trip’s condition?” said Reed.

“I have no idea. I’m not sure that it even matters. We can’t give her what she wants,” said Archer. “Even if it would help Trip.”

“We could maybe spare some phase pistols,” said Reed, “although not many, I wouldn’t want to risk giving them anything that we can’t replace easily.”

“If I give the Kriel phase pistols then I’ll have to give them to the Tien as well,” said Archer. “This is about finishing a war, not helping to start a new one. If Shar Jen’s research turns up something then maybe we won’t need whatever Sharien has to tell us. Now get some rest or Phlox will have you back in sickbay.”

“Yes, sir,” said Reed and lay back down on the bed. Archer knew that Reed had to be really tired to do as he was told without any protest.

****

“How’s it going?” asked Archer, as he stepped into the command centre.

“We have accessed the Rel Sevanne archives,” said T’Pol. “However translation is proving difficult.”

“Our language has changed considerably over the last seven hundred years,” said Shar Jen. “It’s difficult for me to read.”

“Ensign Sato is running the database through the translator but it will take some time for the program to complete,” said T’Pol. “In the mean time Shar Jen is attempting to translate some of it by hand.”

“I’ve found the right area of the archives but we’re looking at years worth of information,” said Shar Jen.

“Well keep looking,” said Archer. At the back of his mind was the fact that the Kriel patriarch who had been disconnected had died and the sooner they found out why the better.

****End of Chapter 21****

In Phlox’s opinion the surgery had been a success. The optical nerves had been successfully reconnected using microsurgery and the only evidence that Commander Tucker had undergone any sort of procedure was a small incision on his left temple no bigger than a millimetre across. Of course he wouldn’t know for certain until the patient opened his eyes and tried to see but he was confident it had worked. It was time to wake his patient. He went to the com and contacted the Captain.

Phlox prepared to revive his patient from the temporarily induced state of unconsciousness. The Captain hurried into the brig.

“How did it go?” asked Archer.

“Very well,” said Phlox. “I think we’re ready to wake him up. He will probably be very confused, but I need to ask him some questions to assess his condition. Please don’t help him with the answers even if he seems to be having difficulty.”

“I understand,” said Archer.

Phlox went to Trip’s side and pressed a hypospray to his patient’s neck. Trip’s eyes flickered open with visible effort.

“Hello again, Commander,” said Phlox.

Trip blinked, he looked lost and bewildered. “W-w-where… am I?” he stammered, his voice a dry whisper. His eyes were wandering around the room in confusion, but they weren’t the unfocused wanderings that they had been before. There was no doubt in Archer’s mind that Trip could see.

“You’re in the brig, Trip,” answered Archer. “You’re going to be fine.”

“No…Rel Sevanne…gone,” said Trip. His breathing was laboured and rapid. Without the Rel Sevanne he was completely lost and empty. There was a blackness building inside him and he desperately wished his could regain the feelings of warmth and belonging that he had while linked to the Rel Sevanne. He reached out and tried to find something to connect with, but there was nothing there.

“Just try to stay calm, Commander,” said Phlox. “You’re being looked after.”

“Can’t…connect…” Trip breathed miserably.

“I’m sorry Trip,” said Archer. “It’s for your own good. We can’t let you connect to any computers in your current state. You just need to get well.”

“Commander, I need to ask you some questions,” said Phlox. “Do you know who I am?”

“Yes…” said Trip, trailing off.

“What’s my name?” asked Phlox.

Trip squeezed his eyes shut as if he was trying to remember something. He shook his head. “I know,” he said, frustrated.

Archer looked at Phlox with worried eyes. “It’s okay Trip. What about me, you know who I am?”

“Captain…” said Trip and he trailed off again. His brain just wasn’t working and he was so tired. He felt as if the name he was looking for was just beyond his reach.

“That’s right,” said Archer. He didn’t want to press Trip in his weakened state but he suspected that his friend couldn’t remember his name, just his rank.

“Can you tell me what the name of this ship is?” asked Phlox.

Trip thought about it for a while and then shook his head.

“What’s your name?” asked Phlox.

“Commander…Charles…Tucker…the third,” he said. Archer smiled down at his friend, at least he knew his own name.

Phlox continued with the questions, at times it didn’t even seem as if Trip knew what he was being asked and there were a number of basic facts that he just couldn’t recall, the one which stunned Archer was the days of the week. Phlox had asked Trip to recite the days of the week, he got to Tuesday, skipped to Friday and then ground to a halt unable to get any further. Archer knew that this couldn’t possibly be good, this was more than just confusion from his prolonged period of unconsciousness, it was something more serious.

Phlox eventually finished asking his questions and he and Archer exited the holding cell.

“Well, Doctor? Even I know that isn’t a good sign,” said Archer.

“It is as I feared. There is some damage to his speech centres, caused by the feedback from the crash. He is having difficulty retrieving his vocabulary, particularly proper names, although he had trouble forming sentences as well. He also seems to have difficulty understanding us,” said Phlox. “When he is more awake, I’ll test his movement ability, but I suspect that we will also find that has been severely impaired.”

“Is there anything you can do to help him?” asked Archer.

“I’ve gone about as far as I can with the neural regeneration, it’s up to his own body now to heal the rest of the damage, but I can begin speech therapy to improve his language abilities. I’ll enlist Hoshi’s help if I may,” said Phlox.

“Of course,” said Archer. “Whatever you need, Doctor.”

“This is going to make discussing his condition more difficult and complicate his recovery,” said Phlox.

“Nothing is ever easy where Trip is concerned,” said Archer.

“It certainly seems that way,” said Phlox.

“Is it okay if I sit with him for a bit?” said Archer.

“I don’t see why not, but if he falls asleep then don’t be surprised, I expect him to be very weak for a little while yet. He may not understand everything you say or be able to answer you but just let him take his time and don’t expect too much to begin with,” said Phlox.

“I won’t stay too long, doctor,” said Archer and went back to see his friend. He pulled up a chair beside Trip’s bed. His friend’s eyes were closed but he didn’t think Trip was asleep and he had his suspicions confirmed when two blue eyes opened.

“It’s good to have you back, Trip,” said Archer. “You had us all scared for a while there.”

“S-s-s-sorry,” stuttered Trip.

“What for?” asked Archer.

“Tr-trouble,” said Trip.

“No more than usual,” said Archer, smiling.

“Rel Sevanne…gone. It’s all gone. Hurts…” said Trip.

“It will get better, Trip. We’ll help you through this,” said Archer.

“Put me back,” said Trip, as if he hadn’t understood a word Archer had said and in truth he hadn’t. He knew that he should have understood, but none of the words made sense, they were just collections of sounds.

“I can’t, the Rel Sevanne doesn’t exist anymore. It was destroyed,” said Archer.

“Everyone okay?” asked Trip.

“There were casualties but about half of the Tien escaped in life pods,” said Archer. “If it wasn’t for you ordering everyone to the back of the ship then it would have been far worse.”

“Everyone okay?” Trip asked again, not understanding what Archer had said.

“Yes, Trip,” said Archer giving in and deciding to keep it simple.

Trip seemed to understand that and nodded.

In fact, Archer reflected, Shar Jen had escaped without a scratch, there had been no serious injuries aboard Enterprise, Malcolm was on the mend and so was Sharien. It was only Trip who was still worrying him. This was hard, seeing Trip like this, he was usually so sharp and now he couldn’t even form proper sentences or understand what was being said to him. Archer knew that the brain underneath was still as agile as ever but it just couldn’t communicate with the outside world any longer.

“I know you’re having trouble understanding me at the moment and forming sentences, but we’re going to help you. You’ve still got a lot of healing to do,” said Archer.

“I’m so alone,” said Trip, tears appearing in his eyes. “I can’t feel anything.”

“You’re not alone, you just have to hang in there,” said Archer. “The Rel Sevanne brainwashed you into thinking that’s where you belonged but you don’t, you belong here with us.”

Trip shook his head. “No, hurts, being alone,” but he closed his eyes and was soon breathing evenly, completely worn out just from the exertion of talking. The virus had sapped all his strength. Archer sat with him for a while longer, just being there while he slept. At least they had him back, they could deal with any problems now that he was back on Enterprise.

When Phlox came in to check on Trip’s condition he found that Archer had fallen asleep in the chair next to Trip’s bed. He suspected that the Captain hadn’t been getting much sleep recently and this was about the best thing for him at the moment, so, after briefly scanning Trip to make sure there hadn’t been any change in his condition, Phlox left quietly.

****

Shar Jen and T’Pol worked in silence. Neither wanted to talk to the other. T’Pol suspected that her level of concern for Commander Tucker was plainly readable by the Tien empath and Shar Jen must know that she cared for the Commander. Perhaps Shar Jen even knew how deep that feeling must run for an empath to be able to read anything from a Vulcan.

Equally T’Pol knew from Captain Archer that Shar Jen had proclaimed her love for Trip and she did not like that. Logically she saw the dichotomy of Shar Jen proclaiming love for someone she had hurt and abused as badly as Commander Tucker, although she almost understood it. Shar Jen had been following orders from her superiors and trying to save her people. The survival of one’s race could drive people to do things that they would normally not have considered.

She wondered if faced with the choice between the death of the entire Vulcan race and sacrificing the man she loved, would she make the sacrifice? Logic dictated that the good of the many out-weighed the good of the few, but humans had taught her that the equation was not that simple. When love entered the problem then the solution became even more difficult to reach. Perhaps it simply came down to Shar Jen had seen something that she had wanted and had not wished to let it go, hiding behind the excuses of duty and orders.

Following orders was not an excuse though, it had been proven in war crimes trials throughout the ages that was not a defence. Every officer has a moral obligation to weigh the orders that they are given against their own ethical code, and if those orders are found to be unethical, immoral or wrong then not to follow them. In T’Pol’s opinion it would be better to face the consequences of disobeying than follow an order which she did not believe to be morally correct. However maybe she was guilty of judging Shar Jen by her own Vulcan standards.

She knew that she did not like Shar Jen, which was not something that she could explain. Vulcans neither liked not disliked, liking someone was an emotion. She knew that Lieutanant Reed also disliked Shar Jen because of what she had done to Commander Tucker, but she had disliked Shar Jen from the moment that she had met her. It was a baseless opinion that she had formed of the Tien Artificer after only meeting her briefly, or perhaps it had been after seeing her interaction with the Commander. How easily the two of them conversed, how they laughed at one another’s jokes and how Shar Jen had understood Trip’s emotions at the loss of his sister and torture by the Xindi. Then she realised what she was feeling, it was jealousy. How could it be though? There was nothing for her to be jealous of and Shar Jen had nothing that she wanted. Except Trip, a small voice told her and she pressed it down deep inside her and concentrated on the task at hand. Now was not the time for her to be dealing with new emotions, she had work to do.

“I think I may have something,” said Shar Jen. “I’ve found the legend. It was written down about a hundred years after the events actually took place but it gives the name of the Matriarch.”

“If we have a name then we will be able to search the database more efficiently,” said T’Pol.

“Her name was Can Shu Ree Misrat and she was the first Matriarch of the Rel Ishtari. According to the legend her body rejected the conjoining and for her own good she was removed from the computer. When the ships were first launched the genetic engineering was untested and they had expected there to be at least one failure out of the five. Luckily there was another Patriarch ready to take her place. She was conjoined for only five days but they say it took her one year to recover for every day that she was conjoined,” said Shar Jen.

“It took her five years to recover?” asked T’Pol. She hoped that this part of the legend was not based in fact, Trip had been conjoined for only four days but that would mean a recovery time of four years. There were a lot of fives in Tien mythology though, and that made her suspicious of this.

“But after that, she was able to rejoin society and she went on to become Exarch,” said Shar Jen.

“We need more information than this if we are going to help Commander Tucker,” said T’Pol.

“There is more,” said Shar Jen, “but we need to find the original account of the incident. It will be more detailed and may even contain Can Shu’s medical records.”

“Then we should keep looking,” said T’Pol and bent her head to the task in front of her once more.

“Perhaps we should take a break, Sub-commander,” said Shar Jen. “It has been hours since we began this research and neither of us have slept or eaten. I know we need to complete this as quickly as possible but it won’t help if we’re too tired to concentrate.”

“You may be correct,” replied T’Pol. “I too am fatigued. We should sleep and then return to this in a few hours time.”

T’Pol escorted Shar Jen back to her quarters before she went to her own cabin and prepared herself for a few hours of rest. They had agreed to return to the research in four hours time, neither Shar Jen not T’Pol wanted to waste any more time than necessary on sleep. T’Pol meditated for only half an hour, too tired to truly keep her mind on the task at hand. She finally admitted to herself that she needed rest in order to help Commander Tucker further and laid her weary body down on the bunk and slept.

****

Trip awoke to the aching loss that was currently his reality. He was alone once again in the holding cell in the brig. He knew that the Captain had been here, and that had reassured him slightly, but he had to go back on duty, he couldn’t stay with Trip all the time. He checked in with the nanites, who eagerly relayed information to him, but as he did so the dull pain of the missing connection to the Rel Sevanne returned to him. He felt so strange now that he didn’t have the Rel Sevanne computer constantly feeding him data.

Empty was the only way to describe how he felt. His loss of the Rel Sevanne and deep depression that he felt at that was only exacerbated by his lack of ability to communicate. He’d only understood about half of what the Captain had said and although he knew his friend’s name perfectly well he couldn’t recall it and it was tearing him to pieces.

He didn’t belong on Enterprise, he belonged on the Rel Sevanne. He was the Patriarch of the Tien, except that the Rel Sevanne no longer existed and he could never go back.

He could never go back. That hit him like a wall. He would never again belong anywhere, or have that feeling of warmth that went with being part of the Rel Sevanne. He would never again be able to feel the ship around himself, to feel the cold of space on the skin of his hull or feel the pulse of the warp engine at his heart. They had even taken away his connection to the other computer. It hadn’t been the Rel Sevanne but he could have lived with that, at least it had been a connection. There was no way that he could ever get it back now that the Rel Sevanne was gone and they had him sequestered in the Brig, perhaps permanently.

There was a hole where his heart should have been and he grieved for the Rel Sevanne. He grieved for the loss of all the Tien lives and he remembered the pain of the impacts on his hull. Suddenly he realised that he couldn’t go on feeling like this, such hopelessness and despair. He needed it to end, except at the moment he had no way to do that. He was unable to move much, Phlox had come and performed tests which demonstrated that. He knew that the doctor needed to assess his condition but it had only made him feel worse about his current predicament. What use would an Engineer be to anyone if he couldn’t move or communicate?

Then he saw her, standing at the door to the holding cell. Blonde hair drawn back into a plait and the usual blue cat-suit.

“Shar Jen?” he asked. It was the one name that he could remember and there were a lot of tangled feelings associated with that name.

“Yes, En,” said the blonde haired woman.

“Missed you, Jen,” said Trip. “You didn’t come…”

“The Captain wouldn’t let me,” said Shar Jen. “He won’t let me stay on Enterprise and look after you. I have to go to our new home. You have to stay here.”

“No…alone,” said Trip, tears starting in his eyes again.

“I know what you must be feeling at the moment, so I brought you a gift.” She reached down and pulled a knife from her boot and placed it in Trip’s limp hand. “You know how to resolve this,” she added.

Trip nodded. It was what he had wanted as soon as he had realised that the Rel Sevanne was gone and he would never be able to be a part of it again. The Rel Sevanne was his whole existence and now that was gone he had no reason to continue living.

“I can’t be seen here with you. I have to continue to protect the Tien,” said Shar Jen. “You must wait until I’m gone. Do you understand?”

Trip nodded once more. Shar Jen had to protect the Tien now that he was no longer able to. She leaned down and kissed him. It was their first kiss and also their last, Trip hardly felt it at all against his black despair and loneliness. Shar Jen checked that no one was watching and left the holding cell, closing the door behind her. Trip fingered the knife in his hand. He wondered how Shar Jen had managed to get past Phlox to see him but then he decided that he didn’t really care, she had brought him what he needed.

He reached across his body, the nanites doing most of the muscle control for his damaged nervous system, and drew the knife across his left wrist. The warmth of blood splashed across his hand. He swapped the knife to his left hand and performed the same procedure with his right wrist. Finally, to be sure, he took the knife in both hands and cut into his neck, opening the carotid artery. He hadn’t expected it but the act made him feel better, relieved that everything was finally coming to an end.

The knife dropped to the floor. He told the nanites to scramble the keypad lock to the cell and watched in sick fascination as the light faded from his world.

****End of Chapter 22****

Phlox had been visiting Lieutenant Reed to administer further pain medication and returned to the brig to find the door to the holding cell shut. That worried him, but he had set up the monitors scanning Trip to let him know if there was any change in his condition. They had not alerted him to any problems so he approached the door not anticipating a problem. He looked through the mesh and noticed blood on the floor pooling at a worrying rate. He entered the code quickly, expecting the door to open immediately and became alarmed when it didn’t.

“Phlox to Reed, I require your presence in the brig immediately, it’s an emergency” he said into the com, he heard Reed hesitate for just second, trying to decide if he should ask what the problem was and then he told the doctor he was on his way. Phlox then contacted Captain Archer and Lieutenant Hess.

Reed arrived out of breath, looking dishevelled and tired. “What’s the problem, Doctor?” he asked.

“I can’t open the door and I believe Commander Tucker has been injured. I can see blood on the floor of the cell,” said Phlox, urgently.

Reed immediately went to the keypad and tried the code. “It’s been scrambled,” he said, “well and truly.” He keyed in his override sequence and when that didn’t work he quickly detached the front of the keypad and began rewiring it. Hess arrived a few moments later, saw what Reed was doing and began helping. Finally they managed to get it open. Phlox dashed into the cell, assessed the scene and went to work.

“Lieutenant Reed, get my medical kit and as many bandages as you can find,” shouted Phlox. “Lieutenant Hess I need you to apply pressure here and here,” he said indicating Trip’s slit wrists. Phlox applied pressure to the neck wound, but blood continued to well underneath his hands. Reed returned with the medical kit and took over from Phlox applying pressure to Trip’s neck while the doctor rapidly applied bandages and injected a clotting agent into Trip’s wounds. As Reed moved around the bed he realised something was under his foot, maintaining his pressure on Trip’s neck he moved his foot and looked down. It was his knife, the one he’d buried in Sharien’s leg on the Rel Sevanne. He had no idea how it came to be here, but the placing of Trip’s injuries suggested only one thing.

“Is this what it looks like?” asked Reed, stress filling his voice. “Tell me he didn’t…”

“Lieutenant, right now I need to stabilise his condition,” said Phlox. “We’ll worry about the how and why later.”

“The Commander wouldn’t…” said Hess, but suddenly she wasn’t so sure, best to let the doctor work and not think too much about what had happened.

The Captain arrived to find Hess and Reed still applying pressure and bandages to Trip’s wounds and Phlox loading another hypospray full of a drug to inject into Trip. It looked awful, Phlox, Reed and Hess were all bloodied to varying degrees and blood covered the floor. He couldn’t believe that it had all come out of Trip and he was still bleeding. He didn’t look good, even more pale than before, if that was possible.

“What the hell happened?” asked Archer.

“We don’t know,” said Reed. “Phlox came back to find the door locked and the code scrambled. Hess and I got it open but we found Trip in this state.”

“He’s lost a lot of blood, I need to begin a blood transfusion,” said Phlox. Finally the bleeding was under control, but the wounds still might need stitches to close properly. The slash across the left wrist was particularly deep. Now that Phlox had the wounds bandaged, Reed and Hess stood to one side, in a corner of the cell, looking shocked, not sure how to understand what had happened.

“Where were you?” asked Archer, in a more accusing tone than he really meant.

“I was attending to Lieutenant Reed,” said Phlox.

“Is Trip going to be alright?” asked Archer.

“I don’t know at the moment. I’ll be able to give you an update once I’ve given him the transfusion,” said Phlox.

“Did he do this to himself, Doctor? I need to know,” said Archer.

“Yes, I’m afraid so,” said Phlox. “His injuries are consistent with a suicide attempt.”

“How did he manage to do it?” asked Archer. “There can’t have been anything sharp around for him to use.”

“This,” said Reed, holding up the bloody knife he had retrieved from the floor.

“Where did he get that from?” asked Archer.

“I don’t know,” said Reed, “but I intend to find out. It’s my knife, but the last time I saw it, it was stuck in Sharien’s leg.”

“Then that’s where we start,” said Archer. “Sharien. What about the cameras?”

“We had to disconnect them all, the camera feeds directly into the network,” said Reed. “But we can check the footage from the corridor cameras.”

“Okay, that will have to do,” said Archer.

Lieutenant Reed called one of his men who only took a few minutes to download the footage from the camera to a padd and bring it down to the brig. It clearly showed a tall, thin, blonde woman entering the brig and then leaving again. Both times she kept her head down so that the camera couldn’t get a good view of her face. It could have been either Shar Jen or Sharien, the ridges on her face were not clear.

“Sorry, sir, I can’t tell who it is and I doubt we’ll be able to enhance the picture enough to pick out the ridges on her face,” said Reed.

“Somehow I didn’t think she’d make it that easy for us,” said Archer. Neither of these women would have been foolish enough to let themselves be captured on film without there being an element of doubt about their identity.

“Sir, there’s something else you should know,” said Reed. “Trip scrambled the door code. No one else could have done it, it had to be interference by the nanites. He didn’t want us to get to him in time.”

“The medical monitors were also tampered with,” said Phlox, “they did not alert me to his condition. I suspect that this was also due to interference by the nanites. It appears that they are able to project a field which interferes with my scans.”

“This wasn’t a cry for help, he really meant to die,” said Archer in shocked tones.

****

Archer didn’t knock he just barged into Sharien’s quarters, Reed following him. Reed had taken a moment to clean the blood off his hands but he hadn’t had time to change his bloodstained uniform.

“Tell me how did the Vor Devrees Patriarch die?” asked Archer, his face only centimetres away from Sharien’s. “Tell me! I’m tired of playing your games!”

“Suicide, he committed suicide,” said Sharien, quietly.

“Commander Tucker just attempted to take his own life, if you’d told us about this then perhaps we could have prevented it. Instead your games nearly cost me the life of one of my officers!” shouted Archer. He didn’t ever remember feeling this angry, but then no one had ever withheld such vital information from him before. “Then there’s the matter of the knife that he used. It belonged to Lieutenant Reed and was last seen sticking out of your leg.”

“I remember,” said Sharien. “I’m sorry about Commander Tucker, but I didn’t give him the knife. I last saw it on the Rel Sevanne. Perhaps you should ask Shar Jen, it was her doctors who removed it.”

“Why would Shar Jen want Commander Tucker to commit suicide?” asked Reed.

“Perhaps because he had access to all the Tien’s secrets. She would kill to protect her people, you know that already. She took Commander Tucker, after all,” said Sharien. “For all I know it could be some Tien rite that the Patriarch commits suicide after being removed from the computer.”

“I suppose that you have been in these quarters the entire time,” said Reed.

“Your guard is being much more cautious after my earlier escape,” said Sharien.

“We can check the footage from the cameras in the corridor,” said Reed.

“And you will find nothing, I was here,” said Sharien.

“If I discover that you have been lying to me…” said Archer, leaving the sentence unfinished for Sharien to use her imagination to fill in the blanks. He turned and stormed out of her quarters, the Lieutenant in tow.

“You’re going to accuse me of paranoia, but I’m pretty sure that she’s lying,” said Reed.

“I’m not so sure,” said Archer. “Why would Sharien want Trip to commit suicide? It doesn’t make sense.”

“Neither does Shar Jen helping him to commit suicide to protect Tien secrets,” said Reed, he was fairly sure that Sharien had never actually answered his question about whether she was in her quarters. She’d dodged around it and said she “was here” but had never specified a time period. The Tien were very good at telling half truths and omitting important information, he expected the Kriel were the same. He knew that the empaths could detect lies and that would naturally mean that they tried not to lie if at all possible, but he wasn’t exactly satisfied with Sharien’s answers. “Should we go and talk to Shar Jen?” he asked.

“Yes, let’s do that,” replied Archer and headed off down the corridor at a fast walking pace.

Shar Jen was sleeping when they arrived at her quarters. Or perhaps, Reed thought, she had only intended it to look that way.

“Commander Tucker just tried to commit suicide,” said Archer, not even attempting to break the news gently.

“By the goddess,” said Shar Jen, her legs suddenly felt very weak. She allowed herself to sink slowly to sit on the bed. “Is he going to be okay?”

“Phlox doesn’t know yet,” said Archer, he told her about the knife and how Trip must have had help.

“And you want to know if I had anything to do with it,” said Shar Jen. “I love him! I couldn’t help him kill himself!”

“To be honest I have no idea what you’re capable of,” said Archer.

“I’ve been in my quarters, your guard can confirm it,” said Shar Jen.

“We will be checking that,” said Reed. He noted that Shar Jen didn’t specify when she had been in her quarters, just that she had been in them. He was getting used to the Tien way of lying without lying. He wished he had picked that up earlier, it could have saved them a lot of trouble.

“I want to see him,” said Shar Jen.

“So that you can finish the job?” asked Reed, angrily.

“I need to see that he’s okay,” said Shar Jen, pleadingly.

“No, you’re not going to see him. We’re taking care of him now. He’s a member of this crew and under my protection, you’re not coming anywhere near him ever again,” said Archer. He turned and left Shar Jen’s quarters heading back to the brig. Reed stopped a moment to question the Ensign on guard outside Shar Jen’s quarters. He confirmed that she hadn’t left, just as the guard outside Sharien’s quarters had confirmed her whereabouts.

Reed caught up with the Captain. “Ensigns Prior and Kachru confirm it, neither of them left their quarters,” said Reed.

“Well one of them did,” said Archer, still angry. “And one of them is lying.”

“Yes, but how did they do it?” asked Reed.

“Sharien got out once…” said Archer.

“She short circuited the door lock and rewired the com panel to send a fake message to Ensign Kachru to report back to the Armoury. That didn’t happen this time, the door lock hadn’t been tampered with,” said Reed.

“They must have done it some way,” said Archer.

“When the Suliban took control of Enterprise we used the space between the bulkheads to get Hoshi to my quarters,” said Reed. “It had to be Hoshi because she was small. Sharien and Shar Jen are pretty thin, I expect they could have pulled the same trick.”

“That assumes that they know the layout of the ship,” said Archer.

“They must have performed scans of Enterprise, it would have been easy to detect the layout of the ship. They probably know their way around as well as we do,” said Reed.

“Phlox to Archer,” said the Com.

“Archer, go ahead Doctor,” he answered.

“Commander Tucker is out of danger, Captain,” said Phlox.

“Thanks doctor, we’re on our way down,” said Archer with relief. He turned to Reed. “So we know how they might have done it, but we still don’t know which one it was.”

“Finger prints on the knife?” asked Reed.

“No good, they’re identical,” said Archer, remembering the disabling of the inter-reality cannon. Shar Jen had been able to open the panels that were encoded to Sharien’s finger prints.

“Perhaps we should ask Trip what happened,” said Reed.

“I’m not sure that he’ll be much help,” said Archer. “I want a guard placed on him around the clock and I want someone with him at all times. I’m not giving him another opportunity to try this.”

“You think he will?” asked Reed.

“Right now he’s pretty mixed up,” said Archer. “I really don’t know how he’s going to react when he finds out that he failed.” They reached the Brig and entered. T’Pol stood beside the bed and Phlox worked on his patient. Trip lay, pale and fragile looking, blood running down a tube into his right arm. White bandages covered the gashes in his wrists and neck.

“The doctor called me and informed me of the situation,” said T’Pol. She looked lost, thought Archer, something he had never expected the Vulcan to look.

“Are you alright T’Pol?” asked Archer.

“Vulcans have no concept of suicide,” said T’Pol. “It is not logical.”

“No, it’s not,” said Archer. “A senseless death never is.”

“I am finding it very hard to adequately understand this action,” said T’Pol, but then she seemed to pull herself together. “Did you ascertain who was responsible for giving the Commander the knife?”

“Not yet,” said Archer.

“We questioned both Sharien and Shar Jen, they both claim that they were in their quarters,” said Reed. “I’d question the doctors who removed the knife from Sharien’s leg but they’re in a life pod somewhere between here and the planet. They could be in any one of those hundred or so life pods out there and that’s assuming that they managed to get off the Rel Sevanne at all. I think we’ve reached a dead end.”

“There must be a way to work out which one of them it was. They’re two different people, there must be something different about one of them,” said Archer.

“I don’t see what,” said Reed. “They have identical fingerprints and appearance, I’d expect that they have identical DNA as well. Any evidence that we can collect will point to both of them.”

“He’s coming round,” said Phlox.

“We need to ask him some questions,” said Reed. “Do you think he’s up to it?”

“He’s still on strong pain medication so don’t expect him to be too lucid and I can only allow you a few minutes to ask your questions. He’s still very weak,” replied Phlox.

“Maybe that’s what we need,” said Archer. “I’m not sure he’d tell us who helped him under normal circumstances.”

Archer and Reed took up position beside T’Pol and watched as Trip struggled once more with the return to consciousness. Blue, glassy, eyes finally opened and looked up at the officers stood around his bed.

“It didn’t work,” Trip said, his voice rough and so quiet that they almost couldn’t hear him. “Should be dead.” He sounded very upset by that.

“No, you shouldn’t,” said Archer, placing a hand on Trip’s shoulder. He spoke slowly and deliberately and hoped that Trip would understand. “We’re all really glad you’re still here. Please let us help you. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Trip nodded. “So alone, Rel Sevanne…gone,” he said.

“Trip, you’re not alone,” said Archer. “You understand? We’re going to make sure someone is with you all the time from now on.”

Trip nodded his understanding again, but tears were welling in his eyes. It was going to take more than a few assurances by Archer for Trip to understand that things were going to be okay. Archer knew that if they could just keep Trip alive then they could help him, but they would need time.

“Commander, we need to know who was here,” said Reed.

Trip looked at Reed blankly, so the Lieutenant tried again more slowly. Trip still hadn’t understood though and Reed could see the frustrated look in Trip’s eyes.

“It’s okay Trip,” said Reed. He decided to take a different approach. “Was Shar Jen here?”

Trip nodded. “Shar Jen… she…,” said Trip but didn’t get any further.

“Did she give you the knife?” asked Reed.

“Yes,” he breathed. “And…kissed.”

“She kissed you?” asked Reed, not really believing what he was hearing. Shar Jen had given Trip a knife with which to kill himself and then kissed him goodbye. It was unbelievably cold and heartless.

Trip nodded once more and closed his eyes.

“That’s quite enough for now,” said Phlox. “He needs to rest. T’Pol has agreed to take the first watch and sit with him. Perhaps I can ask the Lieutenant to take the next shift?”

“Certainly, doctor,” said Reed. “Captain I think we need to talk to Shar Jen again.”

“Agreed,” said Archer. “Let me know immediately if there is any change in his condition.”

“Of course,” said Phlox. “The good news is that Hoshi will be starting speech therapy tomorrow, the sooner we can begin helping him the better.”

Archer and Reed stepped into the corridor.

“It was Shar Jen,” said Reed.

“I’m not so sure,” said Archer. “Trip has never met Sharien, he doesn’t know that we have two identical women on board. Even if it was Sharien, Trip would assume that it was Shar Jen.”

“But she kissed him,” said Reed. “Only one of them is in love with Trip.”

“Perhaps Sharien wanted us to think that it was Shar Jen. We need some evidence,” said Archer.

“So we’re back where we started,” said Reed.

“I’m afraid so,” said Archer, realising that he had just talked himself out of getting to throw Shar Jen in the brig. “Two identical suspects and no way to tell them apart.”

“Except…” said Reed, an idea forming rapidly in his head.

“Except what?” asked Archer.

“Only one of them kissed Trip,” said Reed.

****End of Chapter 23****

T’Pol sat beside the sleeping Engineer. She had been baffled by his inexplicable attempt to take his own life. The Captain had said that he hadn’t understood it either, and if even the humans didn’t understand it then how would she stand a chance of comprehending. Why would someone as intelligent as the Commander feel the need to commit suicide, she did not understand how any emotion could be so powerful that he would not realise how illogical it was to take his own life. If you were dead then outcomes could not be affected, work could not be completed and nothing could be changed, it was an end not a beginning. Death was to be fought against, not embraced willingly.

However, she knew what he had been through. He had endured more pain and suffering than she would have believed possible for a human. She had no doubt that when she had heard the screams of the dying Tien, Trip had felt them all as part of the Rel Sevanne. She knew how attractive that connection to the living ship had been for him, how tempting it must have been to forget the pain of the Xindi attack and his sister’s death.

Phlox entered the cell for his patient’s hourly check-up. Trip stirred in his sleep. Phlox had given him a mild sedative to help him sleep but he seemed to be fighting it.

“Has he awoken at all?” asked Phlox as he scanned his patient.

“No, although he has been restless,” said T’Pol.

“I seem to remember you saying that the Commander had confided his feelings about the nanites to you,” said Phlox.

“Yes, he told me that he was concerned that he had been having nightmares about being controlled by the nanites. Although he realised on a conscious level that this was now impossible, his unconscious mind kept raising this possibility. He asked me if I still believed that he was human now that the nanites were a part of him,” said T’Pol.

“And what did you say to him?” asked Phlox.

“I told him that the addition of technology did not make him any less human,” said T’Pol. “He is still the same person that he was before the nanites were introduced into his body.”

“That was the right thing to say,” said Phlox.

“When Commander Tucker was recovered from the Xindi I reviewed a considerable amount of research on human psychology. However, although it was the right thing to say in the circumstances, I also believe it to be correct, he is no less human,” said T’Pol.

“You are the only person that he has spoken about these feelings to,” said Phlox. “He did not wish to discuss them with me or the Captain. I think that you may have formed a particular bond with him, he feels that he is able to confide in you,” said Phlox.

“Perhaps it is because I confided in him,” said T’Pol.

“Perhaps,” replied Phlox, “but I am asking you to make use of that relationship now to help him. He obviously feels that he can talk to you when he cannot talk to us. If we are to help him recover, we must break the conditioning that the Rel Sevanne’s computer imposed on him, and in order to do that someone he trusts will have to show him the errors in the beliefs he currently holds.”

“You are talking about deprogramming,” said T’Pol.

“Precisely,” said Phlox. “And with your logic skills you should be perfect for the task, however I will warn you now that he may not be very receptive to your arguments no matter how logical they are, at least to begin with.”

“Doctor, perhaps it would be better if the Captain were to attempt this. He knows the Commander and has the added advantage of being human. I am not a psychologist and I could harm the Commander further if I do not correctly carry out the task,” said T’Pol.

“I have no doubt that it will be difficult, but you are the one that he confided in, T’Pol. You do not need to be a psychologist to argue with him, you’re already very practised at that and, in any case, I will be monitoring all your sessions and I will be on hand to give advice if necessary,” said Phlox.

“Very well,” said T’Pol. “If you believe that I can help then I will attempt to do so.”

“Of course the whole process will be greatly complicated by Mr Tucker’s difficulties with communication, but I hope that Hoshi will at least be able to make some difference in that area.”

“I understand, doctor,” said T’Pol. “It will not be an easy task.”

Trip continued to sleep restlessly and T’Pol did the only thing to comfort him that she could think of. She reached out and took his hand in her own, hoping that he would respond to her touch. Phlox knew that Vulcans were not a naturally tactile race and realised that this was something T’Pol had to steel herself to do. He had thought that the Commander’s nerves were too badly damaged to be able to feel someone hold his hand but Trip did seem to quieten at the contact. It seemed his decision to ask T’Pol for help had been the correct one.

****

Once again both women stood in front of Archer in his ready room.

“We know that one of you gave Commander Tucker that knife and now we have a way to prove it,” said Archer. “I don’t know what laws you had on the Rel Sevanne or the Vor Devrees, but on Enterprise assisting in a suicide attempt is a crime.”

“We spoke to Commader Tucker earlier,” said Lieutenant Reed. “He told us that Shar Jen had been to see him and given him the knife.”

“But I didn’t,” said Shar Jen, “I couldn’t…”

Archer held up a hand to stop her. “I’m not interested in hearing either of your denials,” he said. “We know it was one of you. Show them,” he added to Reed.

“Yes, sir,” replied Reed and brought up the footage from the corridor camera on Archer’s view screen. They watched as a blonde haired woman exited the brig and disappeared around the corner. “The strange thing is that the camera around the corner was disabled,” said Reed. “It doesn’t seem to make sense to disable one camera and leave the other intact. Unless of course you want to be seen, but only long enough for us to identify that it is one of two identical people.”

“Unfortunately you made a mistake,” said Archer, “and took the deception one step too far. You kissed Trip.”

“How could you?” shouted Shar Jen to Sharien.

“Why are you looking at me? You’re the one who loves him,” said Sharien to Shar Jen.

“Stop!” said Archer to the two women. “Lieutenant, if you wouldn’t mind finishing this once and for all. Scan Shar Jen first.”

“Yes, sir,” said Reed and picked up T’Pol’s modified nanite scanner. He scanned Shar Jen first as instructed. “She’s clean,” he said, as they’d expected. He moved on to scan Sharien and detected what they were looking for. “It was Sharien,” he confirmed.

Shar Jen said some uncomplimentary things about her double in Tien, only some of which the translator was able to pick up. From what they heard it was obvious that she wasn’t happy with Sharien.

“How did you work it out?” asked Sharien, completely calm.

“When you kissed Trip some of his nanites rubbed off on you. They’re dead now but still in your bloodstream,” said Reed.

“Of course,” said Sharien. “A miscalculation. I was playing a part and felt it was what Shar Jen would have done.”

“Why?” asked Shar Jen. “He could have died.”

“I didn’t expect him to scramble the door code, I thought the doctor would detect his condition and save his life in plenty of time. I needed him to live to make sure that he told everyone that it was Shar Jen,” said Sharien.

“I don’t understand why you needed them to believe it was me. If you had really wanted to you could have circumvented all their security measures and no one would have known you were there,” said Shar Jen.

“Because I was trying to discredit you and the Tien. I needed their help to give the Kriel the upper hand when we arrive at our new home. If you were their enemy then it was more likely that I would be considered their friend,” said Sharien. “I already knew that the Vor Devrees patriarch had committed suicide and Commander Tucker would most likely as well. It was a small matter to bring him a knife which I knew could be linked to you.”

“It wouldn’t have changed my answer to you,” said Archer, but he wondered if he would have been so pleased to have been right about Shar Jen’s intentions towards Trip that he would have helped Sharien.

“I know that you think that I’m your enemy, but I’m not. Everything I have done, I did for my people. We are at war and that means that there will be casualties. I’m all that the Kriel have to protect them,” said Sharien.

“That isn’t an excuse,” said Reed. “Why did you pick on Trip? He’s been through more than enough.”

“I saw the way that you were desperate to reach him and make sure that he was okay. Then when we returned to the ship everyone was so anxious for his wellbeing I knew that he was your greatest weakness. As a Weapons Master I am trained to find an enemy’s weaknesses and exploit them. I knew that if I made it seem that Shar Jen had attacked Commander Tucker, you would hate her as much as you now hate me.”

“Lieutenant, please escort Sharien back to her quarters and this time place a guard inside the room,” said Archer.

“Yes, sir,” said Reed and drew his phase pistol, indicating that Sharien should move.

After they had left, Shar Jen looked at Archer. “What will you do with her?” asked the Tien Artificer.

“I don’t know, I’ll need some time to think,” said Archer. “Maybe I should make her your problem, not mine. We can’t take prisoners and I’m not prepared to get mixed up in your war any longer. So far your squabbles have caused me to lose valuable time in our search for the Xindi weapon and have twice almost cost me the life of my Chief Engineer.”

“What about when we land on the planet? The Tien and the Kriel will be at each other’s throats. It will only make matters worse if we try their Weapons Master for helping a human to commit suicide, especially when he is not dead,” said Shar Jen.

“Then don’t,” said Archer. “Talk to her. There must be common ground between your two races. You two could lead your two peoples into a new future of peace and co-operation. I don’t understand how you can’t see that this is your only option, neither Tien nor Kriel can survive on their own on that planet. You need each other.”

“You may be correct, Captain, but it will take more than words to end this war. I will return to my research if I may?” asked Shar Jen.

“You’re dismissed,” said Archer. “T’Pol will escort you to the Command Centre when she is ready to resume your research.”

****

It was early morning when Hoshi came down to the brig to find Phlox changing Trip’s bandages and the Engineer staring miserably up at the ceiling. She carried a pile of padds (none of which were networked to the main computer) and hoped that what she had planned for their first session would at least make the Commander realise there was hope.

“Hi Commander, Doctor,” she said brightly, smiling.

“Hello Hoshi,” said Phlox, returning the grin. “Just let me finish changing these bandages and then he’s all yours.” Trip hadn’t said anything but gave her a weak smile that didn’t reach his eyes. He was saying to himself over and over that her name was Hoshi, that was what the doctor had just called her. But Hoshi what? In his experience people usually had more than one name.

“This would probably be easier if you can sit up, Commander,” said Hoshi, and she and Phlox helped him sit up. He still hadn’t said anything. “Okay let’s see what you can do. I am going to hold up some pictures and you are going to tell me what they are.” Hoshi spoke slowly and clearly in precise English.

“You have…to be kidding me,” said Trip, searching for the words that he wanted to say. He really didn’t want to talk to anyone, he’d just get it wrong or not be able to find the right words. Then there would be that pitying look and he hated that.

“No, I need to find out how much you are able to do,” said Hoshi. “Please just humour me. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” said Trip and noticed that Hoshi didn’t look like she was pitying him at all. She looked very serious and as if she had a job to do.

“Okay,” said Hoshi and she began the test. It wasn’t nearly as bad as she had feared, Trip identified about seventy percent of the pictures. When he got stuck he got frustrated though, and Hoshi was worried by that. Being under pressure, even of his own making, would just make it harder for him. As a linguist she couldn’t think of anything worse than having one’s ability to communicate impaired, so she had at least an inkling of what he felt. The reading test went better and Trip only had slight difficulties with some of the words. His writing wasn’t quite so good as he had trouble retrieving his vocabulary, but writing seemed to be easier for him than talking.

“Right, last test,” she said. “I need to see how much of what I say you understand. I will say a sentence and then you have to answer a question about what I said.” The same thing she had just told Trip was written on the padd she had given him as well and he nodded his understanding. Hoshi spoke slowly and repeated the sentence twice to give Trip as much time as possible to understand her. She knew that patience was the only way to approach this. She then got Trip to read the question on the padd. It was plain that Trip hadn’t understood the sentence though and after she’d gone through five sentences which Trip had understood to varying degrees, but mostly not at all, she knew he was getting angry at his own inability to comprehend. The final result was Trip throwing the padd across the cell, which smashed into shards against the wall.

“Okay, I think that we’ve both had enough for today,” said Hoshi, going to pick up the pieces of the broken padd. Phlox had told her not to leave anything sharp lying around and the broken padd had some nasty jagged edges.

“Damn…straight,” said Trip, fury evident in his voice. Trust Trip to have his speech centres scrambled and still remember how to swear, thought Hoshi.

“More tomorrow,” said Hoshi. “You’re not getting out of it.”

“Hoshi,” said Trip. “How bad…?” he didn’t have the right words to finish the sentence and he wasn’t even sure that he wanted to ask it.

Hoshi took a new padd, switched it into dictation mode and dictated Trip’s scores for him and then an explanation of what that meant. “It could be a lot worse,” said Hoshi. “You can make yourself understood mostly, but you have problems with retrieving your vocabulary. I can help you relearn what you’ve lost. Phlox tells me that you have more healing to do and it’s likely that with some help your brain will find its own routes around the damaged areas.”

Trip read the information. Everything took him so long at the moment, forming sentences, reading, writing and the hardest of them all was listening and understanding. He could see everything and form concepts in his head perfectly, the difficulty was getting those concepts out of his head. Hoshi’s slow speech and methodical, perfectly correct English was helping, but he knew he couldn’t follow a normal speed conversation at the moment.

“Am I…” said Trip, and he was stuck again. He was getting annoyingly used to having to rephrase his questions. “Is this forever?”

“It will get better, but I can’t guarantee you’ll make a full recovery. We’ll just have to see how it goes,” said Hoshi. The padd displayed what she’d just said and Trip nodded. He laid the padd down on the bed and lay back against the pillows.

“Should have…should have succeeded,” he said.

“Commander, don’t say that!” said Hoshi, suddenly very worried. She knew that he was talking about his suicide attempt. “If you ever pull anything like that ever again, you’ll have me to answer to.”

“You’re…, well you’re…” said Trip, not only lost for vocabulary but very aware that he was just about to stick his foot in his mouth. Quite a feat for someone who was having trouble talking, but he’d always been good at saying the wrong thing, why should it be any better now, just because he couldn’t think of the words.

“I’ve taught Vulcan to ten year olds, after that I can cope with anything,” said Hoshi, smiling. “You might want to remember that I’ve been teaching alien languages to students for years and no one has ever failed one of my courses. I shouldn’t have any trouble teaching you English. We’re not starting from scratch anyway, this is re-learning stuff that you can’t get to at the moment. Maybe some of it will come back while we’re working at it.” Trip read what Hoshi had said, he’d only got about half of it the first time round, he had more trouble with long sentences, but he got most of the rest from reading it.

“Did you understand me?” asked Hoshi. “I will get you through this.” She put a hand on his chin and pulled his head up from reading the padd so that he could see the sincerity in her eyes.

“And…work?” he asked.

“You mean when can you get back to Engineering?” asked Hoshi.

“Yes,” said Trip.

“Let’s take this one step at a time,” said Hoshi.

****End of Chapter 24****

Archer had called T’Pol and Lieutenant Reed to his ready room. He had to discuss the problem of Sharien and Shar Jen with someone, it had been eating at him ever since he had confined Sharien to her quarters with a guard.

“Well, as much as I’d like to, we can’t lock her in the brig,” said Reed, “it’s already occupied. Of course there’s always decon but that hardly seems like much of a punishment.”

“I don’t think decon is appropriate,” said Archer. “Any sort of custodial sentence will mean we’re stuck with her until we return to Earth and right now we don’t know when that will be.”

“Perhaps it would be best to continue with our original intent and leave her and Shar Jen on the new planet,” said T’Pol.

“So Sharien gets to carry on her life as if nothing happened, while Trip lies in the brig unable to even communicate properly. That sounds fair,” said Reed sarcastically, anger tingeing his voice. “Besides if we’re discussing Sharien, we should also be discussing Shar Jen. She’s the one who kidnapped the Commander in the first place.”

“I know, Malcolm, but it comes back to the fact that we don’t have the resources for taking long term prisoners at the moment. We’re in the middle of the most important mission that we’ve ever undertaken and I can’t worry about those two causing trouble all the time,” said Archer.

“The Tien will most probably welcome Shar Jen home as a hero and no doubt the Kriel will view Sharien’s actions equally favourably,” said T’Pol.

“Perhaps we should give Sharien to the Tien and Shar Jen to the Kriel,” said Reed, a glint of evil menace in his eye and a hint of a smile twisting his lips.

“I think that would come under the heading “cruel and unusual punishment”, Lieutenant,” replied Archer, not seeing the black humour that Reed had obviously found.

“It would also likely result in war between the Kriel and the Tien and the further loss of life,” said T’Pol. “I understand your need to seek justice in this matter but you cannot judge an alien race on human standards. Neither Shar Jen nor Sharien believes that their actions were wrong in the context of the war between their peoples. We are not on Earth and we cannot apply the laws of Earth here.”

“There must be something that we can do,” said Reed. “We can’t just let them go.”

“I don’t see that we have any other choice,” said Archer. “T’Pol’s right, this isn’t Earth and we can’t apply our laws here, but perhaps we can make Trip’s sacrifice worthwhile. If it kills me, those two are going to sit down and talk to each other about peace.”

****

His condition had a name, “aphasia”, and it meant that he had impaired communication skills. The irony of Phlox having to take three tries before he understood what his condition was called was not lost on Trip. He also knew that he had a very narrow window in which to improve, if after a few months he hadn’t regained his language abilities then the chances were that they would never come back. That scared him, but Hoshi’s reassurances had helped him some. He knew that she was a great teacher and he wouldn’t have wanted anyone else helping him.

She had explained to him in their session the way that things would work. They would spend most of their time trying to improve Trip’s vocabulary since that was the area where he seemed to have lost most. However, she also wanted him to practice his conversation skills so they would be doing exercises, or role play as Hoshi had called it, to improve that area. She wouldn’t help him finish his sentences unless he asked her, but he could take as long as he needed. If it helped, then drawing pictures, making gestures or writing was allowed, but only as a last resort.

The therapy didn’t stop with Hoshi, everyone who had agreed to spend some time with Trip had been given the same instructions, make him talk to you, speak slowly, get him to name objects, don’t talk over him, give him time to complete his sentences and don’t finish them for him. Finally and most importantly check you have understood what he has said and let him know it. Frustration was one of the main things that they were fighting against and the more they could let Trip know that he was getting through the better. Hoshi had also discovered that he had a far easier time carrying on a conversation if there were no distractions or background noise.

Hoshi had just left after their second session and he was once more having the pleasure of T’Pol’s company. It seemed to him that T’Pol had drawn the short straw in the “suicide watch” stakes, she was with him far more than any of the others. He was under no illusions about why he now had a constant companion, he knew that they were worried that he would hurt himself again, and to be honest they were right, if he could have found a way to try again he would have.

He desperately wanted the pain to end. He had lain there that morning trying to think of ways that he could kill himself, the problem was that while he was in the brig he couldn’t put any of those ideas into action. He had thought about venting the atmosphere from the cell, or putting a phase pistol to his head, or finding a live relay to electrocute himself on, or blowing himself out of an airlock, or taking a walk on the catwalk while they were at warp, or using a broken padd to finish what he’d started on his wrists, or overdosing on one of the drugs that Phlox had given him, but none of those were practical at the moment. Perhaps he could get well enough to leave the brig, make them think that he was okay and wouldn’t try again. Then he’d be free to do as he wanted and end it all. He looked for opportunities every minute of every day, but everyone was being too cautious, no one would leave so much as a glass of water within his reach. He could think of at least a dozen ways to kill himself with a broken glass, the first aid courses given at the Academy had been intended to teach where to apply pressure to stop bleeding but had also told him which were the right veins to slash if he wanted to die.

He knew that he’d been very unlucky before. He hadn’t anticipated that Phlox would return so soon or that he would call Malcolm to unlock the door. Lieutenant Reed was probably the only person on Enterprise, excluding himself, who could have unlocked the door to the brig so quickly after Trip had scrambled its code. He doubted that even Hess could have done it in time.

Of course the nightmares had begun again with avengeance as soon as he’d been removed from the protection of the Rel Sevanne. He’d never really slept while he was part of the Rel Sevanne so there had been no dreams or nightmares. Why his subconscious seemed to be determined to torture him, he had no idea but it was. Sleep was something he was trying to avoid, along with talking. So far he hadn’t been able to make Phlox understand that he didn’t want to sleep or rest and he was beginning to dread the doctor coming into the cell with a hypospray.

“Commander,” said T’Pol. “I wish to speak with you.”

“Don’t want to,” said Trip.

“I believe Ensign Sato’s instructions were that you should attempt to use proper sentences,” said T’Pol.

“Not gonna,” said Trip, sounding for all the world like a petulant child. He just didn’t want to talk to T’Pol, he had to concentrate so hard to understand her and he was just too tired. Not physically tired, but mentally.

T’Pol turned on her padd and switched it into dictation mode so that Trip could also read what she was going to say. Trip didn’t take the padd and left it lying by his side.

“I found your attempt to take your own life very illogical,” said T’Pol. Trip turned his head to look at T’Pol, his eyes wide with surprise at her blunt confrontation. “Perhaps you could explain to me why you did it.”

Trip remained silent.

“If you refuse to talk to me I cannot help you,” said T’Pol.

“D-d-did…the doctor…put you up to this?” asked Trip, crossly.

“Yes,” said T’Pol. “He suggested that I speak to you.”

That wasn’t the answer that Trip had expected. He hadn’t expected T’Pol to tell him the truth, but then she was a Vulcan and, according to what he’d heard, Vulcans did not lie.

“It hurts,” he said simply as if that would explain everything.

“I do not understand,” said T’Pol. She held the padd for Trip to take once more. He sighed and took it.

“Rel Sevanne, home, and it’s gone,” said Trip, and he could feel the tears welling in his eyes even as he said the words. He missed it so much.

“Do you remember what you felt when Shar Jen first suggested to you becoming part of the Rel Sevanne’s computer?” asked T’Pol.

Trip nodded. He remembered, but he couldn’t have been more wrong, the Rel Sevanne was wonderful. Being part of the computer was like being part of a family that you knew would always love you and care for you. He instinctively reached out for a connection but found none and that just reminded him of what he’d lost.

“You did not want to become part of the computer. You told me that you were worried that the nanites would control you. You were worried that you were becoming less human, you feared that you were turning into a computer. By being conjoined with the Rel Sevanne you became part of a computer, exactly what you feared most,” said T’Pol.

Trip closed his eyes. He had felt threatened by the nanites and he hadn’t wanted to become part of the computer, turn himself into something that wasn’t human. How did he reconcile those feelings with his feelings about the loss of the Rel Sevanne? He didn’t know. Something wasn’t right.

“Your humanity was subsumed by the machine, everything that you feared, it happened,” said T’Pol. She knew she had reached something inside him by reminding him of this incident. The question was would it be enough to shake him out of his current state.

Trip opened his eyes and looked at T’Pol. “It’s gone,” he said. “It was like home.” Then he was quiet and T’Pol didn’t know how to continue. She thought she had seen a flicker of doubt cross his face but then his final comment made her wonder if she had got through at all.

“Commander, you must face reality,” she said. “The Xindi still threaten Earth. Enterprise needs you.”

“Can’t…work… like this,” said Trip, desperately searching for the words to tell T’Pol what he felt.

“Your mind is still intact,” replied T’Pol. “We will find some way to accommodate your disability.”

Trip looked at T’Pol and shook his head. “Not enough,” he said. He closed his eyes as his body was suddenly wrapped in pain, he tried to hide it from T’Pol but she spotted it immediately. The padd dropped from his fingers as the sensation consumed his entire body. The nanites were relaying anxious messages to him, asking him what the situation was and if they could help. He was too occupied by the screaming of his agonised nerves to reply to the nanites. He tried to curl up to get some relief but his body wouldn’t do what he wanted it to.

“I will get the doctor,” said T’Pol.

“No,” said Trip, trying to reach out for her, but she had already stepped away from the bed and his damaged nerves weren’t fast enough to follow her. He suspected that the doctor would only want to knock him out once again and he didn’t want that. T’Pol looked at him but called Phlox nonetheless.

Phlox appeared and scanned Trip. The pain was getting worse and had spread over his entire body. It felt like fire creeping down his veins, burning him from the inside. Pain had been with him ever since he had awoken but it had never been as intense as this, Phlox’s painkillers had made sure of that. Trip had wondered what else the doctor had been giving him in the drip that was constantly plugged into his arm, but he hadn’t been able to understand the doctor’s explanation.

“I know it doesn’t seem like it at the moment, but this is actually a very good sign,” said Phlox. “I believe that your motor neurones are regenerating and that is what is causing the pain that you are experiencing.”

“Getting better?” asked Trip, a note of hope entering his voice.

“Yes, you’re getting better in at least that respect,” said Phlox and he was rewarded with a small smile from his patient, the first genuine smile that he’d seen. Anything that the Commander could feel was a good sign, even if it was unpleasant. “Now let me give you something for the pain.”

“No,” said Trip, shrinking back against his pillows, and shakily raising a hand. “No more sleeping.” He hoped that he had made himself understood, but Phlox looked as if he was still intent on giving Trip the injection.

“Mr Tucker has been experiencing nightmares again, especially while under sedation,” said T’Pol and Trip wondered how she knew. She had been there most times when he’d woken recently but he certainly hadn’t expected her to know how badly the nightmares were troubling him.

“Really?” said Phlox with interest. He left the cell and returned a few moments later. “This is just a painkiller, it won’t make you sleep.”

Trip relaxed a little and let the doctor inject him with the hypospray. It worked quickly and he did start to feel the pain recede without the usual accompanying sleepiness. Trust, he realised, was important, he had trusted the doctor to take care of him and do as he’d asked, once T’Pol had explained.

“You will need to rest at some point,” said Phlox. “But we’ll wait until you go to sleep naturally.”

Trip nodded. That he could cope with, but the constant drugged sleepiness that he had been experiencing over the past few days was what he had feared. He didn’t like it and was beginning to wonder if that was just down to the nightmares or if there was something else that worried him about it. T’Pol’s words had made him consider some things that he hadn’t been unwilling to think about before and he was making connections in his mind that he hadn’t previously made. He wasn’t even sure that he wanted to think about the things that T’Pol had raised but it seemed that he had no choice.

****

T’Pol left Trip when Lieutenant Reed arrived for his shift with the Commander. She made her way to Shar Jen’s quarters to collect the Tien Artificer and continue their research. She had been satisfied with the way that her first discussion with the Commander had gone. She had not expected too much to begin with, but had at least managed to get some answers and made him think. She knew that some of her points had made it through.

She accompanied Shar Jen to the Command Centre and they began their work once more. Hoshi had now managed to translate the rest of the database with the help of the Universal Translator program. It was now simply a matter of searching the database for what they needed.

“Found it,” shouted Shar Jen. They had been working for hours when Shar Jen made the exclamation and T’Pol was in no mood to be played with.

“Have you discovered the relevant passages?” asked the Vulcan, sounding considerably calmer than she felt.

“Yes,” said Shar Jen, “although I doubt that you will like what it says.”

T’Pol read the section which Shar Jen brought up on the screen for her. “This is a procedure for wiping memories,” said T’Pol.

“Yes, that is how her recovery was accomplished. They made her forget that she was ever part of the computer. A combination of drugs and Tien empathic catharsis were used to isolate the memories and remove them,” said Shar Jen.

“I do not think that Commander Tucker will be receptive to such an invasive procedure,” said T’Pol. “There must be another way. We will resume our search.”

“Sub-commander, this is it. There is no other way, we will not find any more references to a disconnected Patriarch, there was only one in the entire history of Tien,” said Shar Jen. “We know what happened to the Vor Devrees Patriarch who was disconnected, he committed suicide. Can Shu tried several times to end her own life but the Tien prevented her and eventually she was able to lead a normal life.”

“I am aware of that,” said T’Pol. “However there are ethical considerations to this line of treatment. Ultimately we must obtain the Commander’s permission for this and I do not believe that he will give it to us. The Tien may not have had concerns about deleting a person’s memories against their will but I have no doubt that the Captain will. Commander Tucker does not even realise the damage which his time as part of the Rel Sevanne has done to his perceptions.”

“I can guarantee that if we don’t do something then he will try to take his own life again,” said Shar Jen. “And next time he could well succeed. Is it better to let him try again or to save his life?”

****End of Chapter 25****

Reed was taking Trip through the daily reports. It was his idea to try and make Trip realise that he was still part of the crew and had everything to live for. The only problem was that it was hard work for both of them, Reed had to explain everything at least twice and Trip was getting annoyed by his inability to understand. Reed decided to give up, it wasn’t helping Trip and, if anything, was making matters worse.

“Okay,” said Reed. “Let’s leave these for the moment.” The padd Trip was holding displayed what he’d just said and Trip sighed in relief and nodded. “How about we do something different?”

“What?” asked Trip, in an annoyed tone. Reed understood that Trip didn’t just mean “what”, he meant “what the hell can we do when I can’t even form a coherent sentence”. Reed was getting used to the frustrated exclamations from his friend. He picked up a stylus and began to draw on his padd. It was tricky with his broken arm but he managed. Trip watched with interest and when Reed was done he passed the padd to him. It was a reasonably accurate diagram of the warp core and beside it was a list of equations. Trip recognised it as a problem in warp theory like the kind they made cadets solve at the academy. He looked up at Reed a question in his eyes. Hoshi hadn’t tested his numerical abilities but he didn’t seem to be having any trouble with understanding the equations.

“Go on then, Commander,” said Reed. “I know you have a calculator in your head so you’ve got no excuses.”

Trip looked down at the padd again, and he realised that it wasn’t quite as simple as he’d first thought. In fact what Reed had given him was looking interesting. He started to work through it. It took a while and it was certainly not easy, but then if it had been it wouldn’t have been any fun and he suspected that Malcolm knew that all along. He checked in with the nanites and they helped him out with the raw maths but he worked through the solution on his own. Reed saw Trip’s miserable, disinterested eyes light up again at the prospect of working on a puzzle and he watched it all with fascination.

Trip finally finished up, circling his answer with a couple of strokes of the stylus and handed it to the Lieutenant with a certain amount of satisfaction.

“Trip, you just solved a problem that Lieutenant Hess has been working on for the past three days,” said Reed. “The Vor Devrees explosion knocked something out of kilter down in Engineering and the warp engine hasn’t been running right since. We haven’t been able to go over warp three. Hess came to me yesterday to see if I had a fresh perspective on the problem, I’m not a warp theory specialist so I couldn’t help her. You’ve just worked out the solution to the problem in less than two hours.”

Trip looked at Reed. He picked up the stylus again and almost grabbed the padd back from Reed. Now that he knew what he’d been working on, he had a few other things to add to his solution. After some frantic scribbling he handed the padd back again.

Reed read what it said. “3 days!!?” Then there was a small picture of a stick figure in a dunce’s cap. Reed laughed. The picture was followed by a list of parts and some diagrams. And at the bottom it said, “no more than 12 hours’ work or she’s lying.” Reed knew Trip expected his staff to work hard and he didn’t like it when people didn’t give it their all. Hess had done her best, but she just wasn’t Trip and that was the problem, no one knew the engine like the Chief Engineer. Reed smiled at his friend, it looked as if the old Trip might be closer to the surface than they’d thought. And Trip grinned back at him, happy for the first time since he’d left the Rel Sevanne.

“I’ll be sure to pass this on to the Captain,” said Reed. He had no doubt that the Captain would also be interested to hear Trip’s estimate of how long it should take to make the necessary alterations since Hess had a tendency to overestimate.

“What’s that Malcolm?” asked a voice from the doorway.

“Captain,” said Trip, pleased that he could at least remember his friend’s rank even if he couldn’t get his name from the dark recesses of his brain.

“The Commander has just sorted out that problem that we’ve been having with the warp engine,” said Reed and passed the padd to the Captain. A brief, almost imperceptible, look of amusement crossed Archer’s face.

“I’ll get Hess on it,” he said, as if he wasn’t holding a padd with a picture of a stickman on it. “It’s my turn to spend some time with Trip,” he added.

Reed got up to vacate the seat beside Trip and he stepped out of the cell so that he could have a quick word with the Captain before he took over. The Captain had spent the past few hours on shuttle diplomacy between the Shar Jen and Sharien and he looked exhausted, but Reed wanted to know how the peace talks were going. The women had currently refused to even sit down in the same room together.

Trip yawned, despite himself. He didn’t want to sleep but he knew that the virus had taken it’s toll on his body and he was still very weak. He was very aware of how much sleep he seemed to need, much more than usual and he didn’t like it. He missed the wakeful state that the Rel Sevanne induced but of course that wasn’t the only thing he missed.

Reed and Archer were standing just outside the door of the cell and neither of them were paying attention to Trip. He knew that Phlox was also just outside the cell but this was the first time he’d been even vaguely on his own since the suicide attempt. He looked for something that he could use, and while he thought he contacted the nanites, who responded instantly to him.

“I need you to project the jamming field again. Fool the medical scanners into thinking that they’re reading my biosigns,” said Trip in his mind. It was so much easier talking to the nanites who only required concepts from him rather than actual words.

“Acknowledged,” said the nanites. “Jamming.”

He looked down at the padd in his hands and remembered how quick Hoshi had been to pick up the sharp pieces of the one he had broken. The bed he lay on had metal sides to it and he knew the padd would break on it. He took the padd and smashed it as hard as he could against the railing. It produced a beautiful, jagged shard; just what he needed. He didn’t have time to finish what he’d started on his wrists, this time he planned to hit his heart, he didn’t think that even Phlox would be able to save him if he accomplished that.

Except that he never got a chance to get any further, Lieutenant Reed had grabbed his hand with the shard in it. He hadn’t even noticed that Archer and Reed had finished their conversation.

“Trip, no!” said Reed. He struggled with the determined Engineer who seemed to have found extra strength from somewhere. The sound of Trip smashing the padd had alerted him to trouble.

“Trip, stop it!” said Archer, grabbing the other arm, and the two officers held Trip down as he continued to writhe under their grip. The doctor appeared with a hypospray and once again Trip found himself descending into a drug induced haze of nightmares.

Archer and Reed only let go of Trip once they were sure that the sedative had taken effect.

“I’m going to have to put him in restraints,” said Phlox. “Now that his movement abilities are improving, he’s only going to become more intent on finding ways to harm himself.”

“T’Pol came to me earlier with the results of her research from the Rel Sevanne archive,” said Archer. “I’m beginning to wonder if perhaps I shouldn’t have been quite so quick to dismiss what she had to say.”

“What was her proposal?” asked Phlox.

“That we wipe his memory of the entire incident,” said Archer. “If he can’t remember being part of the Rel Sevanne then he wouldn’t remember the brainwashing either. It’s how they were able to save the Tien Matriarch that was disconnected. Shar Jen believes that she can perform the procedure on Trip.”

“I don’t think Trip will agree to that,” said Reed. “He’ll think of it as losing part of himself.”

“Then maybe we shouldn’t give him the choice,” said Archer.

“Captain, you know that Denobulan medical ethics does not let me treat a patient against his will,” said Phlox.

“But surely if a patient isn’t able to give their consent, if their mental state is impaired, then you have the ability to overrule what they want,” said Archer.

“Yes, in those cases we do have the ability to do what is best for the patient without his or her consent but I’m not sure that applies in this case. Commander Tucker is completely lucid and aware of his situation,” said Phlox.

“But, doctor, he was the victim of brainwashing,” said Reed. “He isn’t himself.”

“Just because he isn’t himself doesn’t mean that he doesn’t understand what is going on. Would you consider someone mad if they believe in god? There is no way to prove that a deity exists but we do not consider those who hold religious beliefs to be insane. I won’t let him harm himself, but I won’t do anything that he has expressly indicated he does not want,” said Phlox.

“And if I order you to?” asked Archer.

“I still would not go against my patient’s wishes, unless you can demonstrate to me that he really is unable to make decisions for himself,” said Phlox. “Some cultures would even argue that I should have let the Commander commit suicide, but I do not believe that suicide is a rational act under any circumstances.”

“How would you assess if Trip is able to make the decision for himself?” asked Archer.

“There are some tests that I can perform to ascertain whether his thinking is logical and clear,” said Phlox. “But he really has shown no sign that his reasoning skills are damaged. T’Pol made some progress with him earlier and I believe that with further work we will be able to break the Rel Sevanne’s conditioning.”

“The problem is keeping him alive until then,” said Archer. “I know Trip, he’s not going to give up.” He didn’t add that Enterprise needed its Chief Engineer back and they didn’t have time to waste, they needed to resume their mission and for that they needed Trip.

“Commander Tucker is very resourceful,” said Reed. “If he really wants to, then he’ll find a way eventually.”

“I fear you may be right,” said Phlox.

“Doctor, I want you to review T’Pol and Shar Jen’s data. Find a way to make this work for Trip. I’ll try and talk him into it but if I can’t then we may have to go ahead without his consent,” said Archer, and he knew that if they did go ahead with it without Trip’s consent then he might just hate himself for the rest of his life.

“But Captain, I just cannot allow you to do this without consent,” said Phlox.

“Doctor, either you do this or I confine you to your quarters for insubordination and get Shar Jen to do it without your supervision. We can’t complete this mission without Trip,” said Archer. “I’m sure that Shar Jen will be only too happy to help.”

“Captain…” began Reed.

“No, Malcolm, I’ve made my decision,” said Archer. “Well Doctor?”

“You don’t leave me any choice. I’d be placing the Commander in more danger if I allow Shar Jen to perform the procedure without my supervision,” said Phlox.

“How long before Trip wakes up?” asked Archer.

“An hour or so. I didn’t give him a very strong dose,” said Phlox.

“I’ll wait,” said Archer and sat down on the chair beside Trip’s bed.

Reed and Phlox exchanged looks before they exited the cell and left Archer alone with the sleeping, suicidal Engineer.

****

Trip dreamt dark, twisted dreams. Everything was tangled together. Images of his time with the Xindi mixed in with images from the Rel Sevanne battle. Emotions clouded everything and he struggled to escape them. Finally he clawed his way to the surface and awoke gasping for air.

He found that his wrists were tied down, he struggled briefly against the restraints before he remembered what had happened. He’d tried again. But they’d stopped him. He should be dead but he wasn’t. Why did they keep stopping him and bringing him back to this existence where there was only misery and solitude.

“Trip,” said a voice beside him, he turned to look and saw the Captain sitting beside him. “It’s okay, you’re going to be fine. We just had to put the restraints on to stop you from hurting yourself.” Archer put out a hand and rested it on Trip’s shoulder. Trip felt the touch, which he knew had to be a good sign, the nerve damage was healing, but he wasn’t happy about being restrained.

“Take them off,” he said.

“Sorry, but they have to stay on for the moment,” said Archer. “We need to talk.” Archer helped Trip sit up and repositioned the pillows behind him to prop him up. Then he took another pillow, put it on Trip’s lap and balanced a padd against it. Trip sighed theatrically, he knew that this meant it was going to be a serious conversation that he had to try and follow. Usually between listening carefully and reading slowly, he could get the meaning of what someone was saying to him. He had been pleasantly surprised to discover that his ability to understand math and numbers seemed unimpaired, but that didn’t help with everyday conversation.

“Shar Jen and T’Pol discovered a way to help you. There was a Tien matriarch that they disconnected from their computer and she tried to kill herself too, but they stopped her and eventually she led a normal life. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Yes, Captain,” said Trip, sounding almost like his old self.

“Your emotions are confused regarding the Rel Sevanne because the computer was brainwashing you into believing that it was a good place to be. We can’t undo what Shar Jen did to you, but we can erase your memories of being part of the computer and erase the brainwashing. It would be like you were never conjoined,” said Archer. Trip caught up with what Archer was saying and began to shake his head.

“No, don’t want to,” said Trip. “The Rel Sevanne was like home.” He thought hard for a moment, searched the depths of his mind for the words that he wanted to say. “I don’t want to forget it, it was the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Archer listened carefully, the sentence that Trip had just strung together was the longest thing that he’d managed to say since he’d been back. He knew it had to have been an effort. “Trip, you don’t understand. You’d be back to your old self, it would be like it never happened.”

“But it did happen,” replied Trip. “I don’t want to forget,” he repeated.

“Are you telling me that you won’t agree to it?” asked Archer. “This could save your life.”

“I don’t want to live,” replied Trip.

****

“How long until we reach the planet?” T’Pol asked Mayweather.

“Lieutenant Hess thinks that she’ll have the Engine running at top speed again in about twelve hours and we should reach the planet about forty eight hours after that,” replied the helmsman.

Captain Archer stepped out of the turbo lift. T’Pol immediately rose to vacate the Captain’s chair. “T’Pol, I need to speak with you,” said the Captain.

T’Pol inclined her head in acknowledgement. “Ensign, you have the bridge,” she said to Mayweather.

“Aye, Sub-commander,” replied Mayweather.

T’Pol followed Archer into his ready room. Archer stood staring out of the window in a position T’Pol had come to know well. She wasn’t going to like what he had to say. “What did you wish to discuss, Captain?” asked T’Pol.

“I spoke to Trip about the memory deletion procedure. He refused to agree to it. I ordered Phlox to go ahead without Trip’s consent,” said Archer, his voice devoid of emotion.

“I will alert Shar Jen,” said T’Pol.

“Is that all you have to say?” asked Archer, turning to face his first officer.

“I am sure you have already discussed this with the doctor,” said T’Pol.

“I have. He wasn’t very happy. But I wanted to know your opinion,” said Archer.

“You are aware that if we force him to do this then we are following the same course of action as Shar Jen when she conjoined the Commander with the Rel Sevanne,” said T’Pol.

“Damn it, T’Pol, it isn’t like that. We’re doing what’s best for him,” said Archer.

“I did not believe when Shar Jen suggested this course of action that you would support her. I thought that you would respect the Commander’s rights and wishes,” said T’Pol. “You have always held the concept of free will very highly, in my experience, and I am interested as to why you have now discarded it.”

“Free will is important, but sometimes it isn’t the top priority. Trip’s too ill to make this decision for himself,” said Archer.

“Did the doctor agree with your assessment?” asked T’Pol and Archer knew that she already had the answer to that question.

“No, he didn’t agree. He thinks that Trip understands his situation well enough to make his own decisions, but he was brainwashed, T’Pol,” said Archer. “He wants to die because he believes the Rel Sevanne was his true calling, because it was the best thing that ever happened to him and nothing will ever be as good.”

“The doctor and I believe that conventional therapy will eventually help the Commander,” said T’Pol.

“Eventually. We don’t have time. He tried to kill himself again, earlier. Trip is a determined individual and I’m worried he’ll find a way and we won’t be able to stop him. Either that or we’ll have to keep him locked up in the brig for good and I don’t think I can do that to him,” said Archer. “Enterprise needs her Chief Engineer.”

“Essentially you are saying that in order to save Earth, we need Commander Tucker, and that as the human saying goes ‘desperate times require desperate measures,’ ” said T’Pol.

“Exactly,” said Archer.

“Shar Jen told us that the only reason she kidnapped Trip was to save her people. I am having difficulty discerning the difference between these two positions,” said T’Pol. “You condemned Shar Jen for conjoining Trip but we are about to force him into undergoing a medical procedure that he does not want. On Vulcan these two would be considered equally reprehensible.”

“As you keep on telling me, we’re not on Vulcan and we’re not on Earth. I will use any means necessary to complete this mission,” said Archer.

“Perhaps you should examine your motivations. Are you doing this for the mission or because you do not wish to lose the Commander?” asked T’Pol.

“Of course I don’t want to lose him,” said Archer, “he’s my friend. And every time I go down to the brig I’m reminded just how close I came to never seeing him again. But saving Earth comes above that.”

“The mission is of great importance but so is what is best for Commander Tucker. You once told me that there was no point in saving humanity if you lost what makes you human in the process,” replied T’Pol.

“Well, maybe I was wrong about that. Perhaps I can’t avoid losing some of my humanity to the Expanse, but if I can save Earth even that will be worth it,” said Archer.

****End of Chapter 26****

“The Goddess stood on the shores of the new land and cried out to her people: “War is over, put down your weapons and fight no more. There will be no more blood spilt in the new land. Make peace with your enemies and walk in my path. Both light and darkness are required to make the day.” And the people rejoiced in the wisdom of the Goddess and dwelled happily in the new land for the rest of their days.”

It was a passage from the Tien holy book and for some reason it had been going round Trip’s brain ever since he’d woken up. Trip scribbled frantically on the padd in front of him. Lieutenant Reed sat beside him, carefully supervising his use of the padd. He had persuaded him to free his right hand so that he could write, after he’d spent some time trying to explain how vital it was that he get this down. The problem was mostly getting the words out of his head and onto the page. He had to get this to the Captain, if the Tien and the Kriel shared the same religion it was possible that they shared the same passage in their scripture, and it practically ordered them to make peace. He planned this as his final act of protection of the Tien.

Rel Sevanne: Light of the Ages, Vor Devrees: Darkness. It was one hell of a coincidence. “Both light and darkness are required to make the day”. It might just be the leverage that they needed. He wasn’t sure that fighting religion with religion was the correct way to do this, but, if it worked, it wouldn’t matter how it was done.

He looked up from the padd to see Captain Archer and Shar Jen enter the cell.

“Shar Jen, they let you come,” said Trip, surprised. After the earlier incident with the knife he hadn’t expected to see her again.

“Yes, En,” said Shar Jen, taking his hand.

“Captain,” said Trip and handed Archer the padd. He didn’t have the strength to come up with the words to explain. Archer read the padd and nodded.

“This is great, Trip. It should help a lot,” said Archer. He wondered if Trip had in fact just handed him the key to the whole mess. Which of course made the fact that he was about to betray his friend even more difficult to bear.

Reed put the restraint back around Trip’s right wrist, he knew what was coming next and didn’t think Trip would be happy about it. Trip sighed and gave Reed a cross look but let the Lieutenant strap his wrist down again. Phlox entered the cell at that moment.

“Trip, you remember we discussed a procedure to help you get better?” asked Archer.

Trip nodded.

“Shar Jen is here to perform it,” said Archer. Alarm flickered across Trip’s eyes. “I don’t want you to worry, Phlox has been over it with her and it’s perfectly safe…”

“No!” shouted Trip and he began to struggle against the restraints. “Please, don’t. Captain, don’t. Jen, please, I don’t want to forget,” he pleaded.

“It’s okay, Trip,” said Archer.

“It’s for the best, En,” said Shar Jen. “You should never have been disconnected, we should have been together for the rest of our days, but the Goddess had other plans for us.” She brushed his hair out of his eyes and Trip had a flash of memory, from when he lay waiting to be conjoined, of Shar Jen performing the same action.

“No,” he said again and shook his head, trying his hardest to make it understood that he didn’t want this. Instead Phlox came forward with a hypospray in his hand. Trip directed an angry look at Archer, he couldn’t believe that his friends were going to do this to him.

“This is just a tranquilliser, Commander, you need to be awake and calm for the procedure,” said Phlox. Trip noted that he didn’t look happy, he didn’t want to do this anymore than Trip did. He felt the cold of the hypospray against his neck and reality began to seem very far away and unimportant. The doctor replaced his IV with a different solution. Something to help Shar Jen wipe his memories, he guessed.

Shar Jen still held his hand as Trip’s eyed glazed over, the drug taking effect. “I will need complete quiet and no distractions for this to work. The process will take several hours. The doctor can stay, but the rest of you should leave.”

“If anything happens to Trip, then you’ll have me to answer to. I want you to call me the moment you’ve finished.” said Archer. “Come on, Lieutenant.” The two officers left the cell.

Reed looked at Archer. His face showed no emotion at all and from experience Reed knew that meant he was hiding his guilt and worry. Archer stood outside the cell looking back at Trip. Shar Jen was holding his hand, staring at Trip in deep concentration and Phlox was monitoring them both.

“Sir, there’s nothing else we can do now,” said Reed.

“It feels like a betrayal, Malcolm,” said Archer.

Reed desperately wanted to answer that it was a betrayal, what they were doing to Trip was wrong. It was just as wrong as what Shar Jen had done to him and here was Reed complicit in the whole thing. Instead he answered “it’s the only thing that we could have done. We need Trip to be well.”

“You look like you could use some rest, Malcolm,” said the Captain. “Why don’t you go to your quarters, I’ll call you when they’re done.”

“Yes, sir,” replied Reed, he took one last look back at Trip and left the brig. He made his weary way back to his quarters, despite the doctor’s orders he hadn’t managed to find much time to rest over the past few days. After discovering that Sharien had found some holes in his security systems, he’d been working night and day to find a fix. When he wasn’t worrying about Trip or sitting with him.

He opened the door to his sparse quarters, hitting the light switch as he entered. He undid the straps that supported his broken arm in its sling and peeled off his uniform. He went to his desk, looking for the padd that contained the novel he was reading, he needed something to take his mind off what was currently taking place in the brig. His eyes rested on a slim black book that he had been meaning to lend to Trip. Nietzsche. Trip had quoted Nietzche at him when he’d woken him from a nightmare after they’d recovered him from the Xindi. Later Reed had asked him about it and the whole conversation had descended into a quote game, fuelled by some Andorian ale that Trip had found in one of the cargo bays.

“What does not kill us makes us stronger,” said Trip, raising his glass.

“That’s too easy, Trip. Nietzsche. And in my experience what doesn’t kill us usually leaves scars,” replied Reed, ruefully.

“Typical Armoury Officer, always grounded in reality,” said Trip, slurring slightly. “You were right though, your turn.”

“Okay, who said: The enemy is anybody who’s going to get you killed, no matter which side he’s on.”

“Do you only do quotes about war? It’s Joseph Heller, from Catch 22.”

“Yes, I didn’t think you were so well read, Commander,” replied Reed.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Lieutenant. How about this one: Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.”

“How does that relate to my quote?”

“I didn’t realise that there had to be a link,” said Trip.

“That is how you play the game,” said Reed, taking another gulp of the Andorian ale.

“You’re just stalling because you don’t know who it is,” replied Trip.

Reed sighed. “I’ve got no idea.”

“Albert Einstein,” said Trip, grinning at his small victory.

The evening had ended with Reed deciding that he needed to borrow some of Trip’s science books and Trip thinking there was some interesting stuff in Reed’s philosophy collection after all. Reed had the book ready to take to Trip the next time he was going past the Commander’s quarters. He flicked it open, trying to remind himself of happier times and of course the one Nietzsche quote that he didn’t want to see lay in front of him.

“He who fights with monsters should take care lest he thereby becomes a monster. If you stare for long into the abyss, the abyss stares back into you.” Reed slammed the book shut.

“Damn it,” he said. “Damn this whole Expanse, and the Xindi, and the Tien and the Kriel. Damn them all to hell and back again.” He threw himself down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling, there was no way that sleep was going to come now.

****

It was done.

Shar Jen released her grip on Trip’s hand and watched as his eyes closed. She knew that he was exhausted, he had fought her every step of the way. With every second, with every minute of memory that she deleted, she felt him push back at her to stop. It had exhausted her as well.

“He will sleep now,” said Shar Jen, to Phlox. “It was a success, I was able to isolate the memories of his time as part of the Rel Sevanne and erase them.”

“I will inform the Captain,” said Phlox, moving towards the intercom.

Shar Jen felt her legs give way and she clung to the bed for support. Phlox was suddenly holding her and he sat her down in the chair by the bed. He scanned her and looked worriedly at the results.

“Your energy levels are extremely low,” said Phlox. “We need to get you some food right away.”

“I haven’t ever had to use my deep empathic powers for such a prolonged period before. Memories are complicated and I had to use all of my strength to get through the barriers that Trip En put up,” said Shar Jen.

“Commander Tucker has been getting stronger these past few days. The neural regeneration is proceeding satisfactorily, although slower than I would have hoped,” said Phlox.

“You no longer need to keep him here,” said Shar Jen. “He won’t try to connect with Enterprise’s computer again.”

“I think we will keep him here a little longer until I can be sure of that. Besides, I also need to remove the implants that you and your colleagues grafted into him,” said Phlox.

“I can help you with that,” said Shar Jen.

“Thank you, that would be appreciated,” said Phlox.

“If your Captain will let me.”

“I’ll persuade him. He does occasionally listen to me when it comes to Commander Tucker’s health.”

“I have lost him,” said Shar Jen. “He won’t remember any of the things we shared on the Rel Sevanne, just my deceit. He won’t remember how I cried for him when the sensors could not be disconnected and he won’t remember watching me sleep.”

“No, but perhaps that is for the best too since you will be leaving us soon,” said Phlox. “Now let me contact someone to come and monitor the Commander and then I will take you to the mess hall.”

“And the Captain?” asked Shar Jen.

“He can wait a bit longer,” replied Phlox indifferently.

****

When Trip woke again he saw Phlox standing beside him and for a moment he wondered what was going on. Then he remembered what had happened and felt back for his memories of the Rel Sevanne but they were gone. He remembered waking up in decon and he remembered Shar Jen telling him that he was about to become part of the Rel Sevanne and nothing in between. The was a blank hole where the memories should have been and he wondered what he’d lost along with those memories.

“Ah, you’re awake,” said Phlox cheerfully. “How do you feel?”

What Trip wanted to say was that he felt empty, as if his friends had betrayed him and he was no longer the person that he thought he was. Instead he took the easy way out. “Fine,” he replied. He noticed the restraints had been taken off and was grateful for that.

“You have a visitor, if you feel up to it?” asked Phlox.

“Who?” he asked.

“The Captain,” said Phlox.

“No,” said Trip. “Don’t want to see him.”

Phlox looked a little worried and then understanding. “Very well. I’ll tell him that you’re not up to it at the moment.”

“No, don’t want to see him, ever,” said Trip and turned on his side away from the doctor.

“I understand,” said Phlox, and went to break the news to the man who was pacing outside the brig.

****End of Chapter 27****

Trip tried his best to piece his life back together. Phlox let him read the reports of what had happened on the Rel Sevanne, how he’d been captured by Shar Jen and wired into their computer. He remembered that part, lying on the table while Shar Jen prepared him for conjoining, hoping desperately that the Captain would find him before Shar Jen could carry out her plan. Phlox had removed the implants with Shar Jen’s help and he was now covered in bandages where they had been.

What he didn’t remember was the rest of the detail in the report. Apparently he hadn’t exactly been himself, Phlox had discovered the computer had created a link that was similar to brainwashing, reminding him that he was happy in the computer and his duty was to protect the Tien. Except Phlox seemed to think that at least part of the problem had been that Trip was already looking for comfort after his ordeal with the Xindi. Trip wasn’t sure what to believe about that.

He read everything about how Reed had tried to rescue him and he’d ordered his capture. He cringed inwardly at the thought of how that must have hurt Malcolm. Trip was glad that was one memory that he didn’t have. The Tien had even renamed him so that his name matched their conventions. He’d told Enterprise to leave and wanted to resign his commission. It didn’t sound very much like something that he would do, but then he had no idea what it was like to be conjoined because now he didn’t remember any of it.

The Rel Sevanne and the Vor Devrees going up against each other had obviously been one hell of a battle. He would have liked to get a look at the inter-reality cannon before it was destroyed. He had no memory of the Kriel ship or the battle. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t reach what he’d lost, it was just gone. He still didn’t really believe that the Captain had done it, gone against his express wishes and torn out pieces of his memory just so that he could have his Chief Engineer back.

What he did remember was waking up in decon and feeling completely and utterly desolate. His desperation to reach out and form a link with something. The reasons behind all those feelings were no longer there though, and without that the feelings themselves had no basis. He had been pleased to see Shar Jen but now he didn’t know why, she’d been the one who had got him into this mess. Sure she was pretty and they’d had an interesting chat at dinner that night in the Star Chamber, but nothing to make her anything more to him. If anything, he should hate her for what she had done to him. There was something there though, when he looked at her, something which hadn’t been there before. Or maybe it had and he just didn’t remember it. He doubted he would find what he needed to know about Shar Jen in any of the reports.

T’Pol sat beside him quietly reading a padd, not wishing to disturb her companion’s peace. Even though they had resolved one of Trip’s problem’s he was still recovering from the effects of the virus and the Rel Sevanne collision. Since his memories had been deleted he had experienced several more painful nerve episodes, which Phlox kept on telling him meant that he was getting better but that didn’t make the pain any less unpleasant. Each time T’Pol had been with him, calmly speaking to him until the pain passed or Phlox came to administer an analgesic. He had awoken this morning to find T’Pol beside him and so far she had shown no sign of leaving. Trip was glad of the company, there was still an inexplicable loneliness in him, but at least it seemed to be lessening as the days passed.

“Why’d you let him do it?” Trip asked T’Pol.

“He is the Captain of this vessel, it was his decision,” said T’Pol, looking up from her reading. She didn’t need to ask him what he was referring to.

“But it isn’t…wasn’t…right,” said Trip. His language skills were getting better but he was still having trouble.

“The Captain was within his rights as your Commanding Officer,” said T’Pol.

“He had other options,” said Trip, firmly.

“Which would have taken considerable time,” said T’Pol.

“Did you agree with what he did?” asked Trip.

T’Pol remained silent.

Trip looked at her. “Answer me!”

“I had…reservations,” said T’Pol.

“And…” he searched for the name but it still wasn’t there, “the doctor?”

“His Denobulan medical ethics would not allow him to perform the procedure without your consent. Captain Archer believed that you were not in your right mind and therefore your consent was not required. The Captain told Phlox that he would allow Shar Jen to perform the procedure without his supervision if he did not agree to help. Doctor Phlox was of the opinion that even though you were suicidal, it did not mean that you were unable to choose your own method of treatment. I agreed with him. The early indications were that therapy would be successful in undoing the Rel Sevanne’s conditioning.”

“But…you let him do it,” said Trip.

“I had to follow orders,” said T’Pol and reminded herself what she had thought when Shar Jen had used that excuse. “I had no reason to believe that the procedure was unsafe. And it did achieve the desired effect. You are no longer suicidal.”

T’Pol knew that she wasn’t giving Trip quite the complete picture though. It seemed that Phlox’s trip to the mess hall with Shar Jen had produced answers that would otherwise not have been forthcoming. Phlox had revealed to T’Pol that, for Shar Jen, the procedure had been quite dangerous, especially if she had continued for any longer. As it was, the Tien Artificer had been exhausted and had taken some time to recover her strength. For her own safety she had deleted as little of Trip’s memory as possible, but also for Trip’s sake she had not wanted to take too much from him.

“I want my memories back, T’Pol,” said Trip.

“That is not possible,” said T’Pol. “The Captain did what he believed to be right. You have to trust in the fact that he would not have wished to harm you.”

“Trust him is the one thing that I can’t do at the moment,” replied Trip.

****

“Sun Neer Gen Tespin to Enterprise,” Hoshi picked up the call.

“This is Enterprise, go ahead Flight Commander,” she said.

“Am I correct in assuming that Enterprise has Shar Jen Sar Kerin on board?” asked the Tien pilot.

“You are,” replied Hoshi.

“I am pleased to hear that,” said Sun Neer. “The Tien life pods are approximately two days away from planet fall. I would like to speak to Captain Archer if I may.”

Hoshi put the call from Sun Neer through to the Captain’s ready room. “What can I do for you Flight Commander?” asked Archer.

“I am the highest ranking member of the Tien in the life pod fleet,” said Sun Neer. “However I gather that you have Shar Jen on board your vessel. Were you also able to rescue Squadron Leader Reed and the Patriarch?”

“They’re all safe on Enterprise,” replied Archer. He decided not to mention for the moment that they also had Sharien in their custody. “But the Patriarch will not be resuming his duties.”

“I thought that might be the case. I only wished to confirm their safety. I would like to speak with Shar Jen. If Trip En Ath Tucker is unable to remain Patriarch then Shar Jen must be inaugurated in his place.”

“I’ll arrange for you to be transferred through to Shar Jen’s quarters in a moment. Was there anything else?” asked Archer. He would let Sun Neer talk to Shar Jen but he intended to monitor the call.

“I assume that Enterprise will be waiting when the fleet arrives?” asked Sun Neer.

“You assume correctly. We’ll drop off Shar Jen and be on our way,” said Archer.

“There is one other thing,” said Sun Neer.

****

“They want to what?” asked Reed in a disbelieving tone. He was lying in his bed in his quarters when Archer came to visit him. Phlox had been less than pleased to discover that Reed had not been resting, so had forcibly taken him off the duty roster and ordered him to stay in bed until he said otherwise. Since Phlox had threatened to sedate him if he didn’t comply and had promised to check in on him regularly, he didn’t have much choice but to do as the doctor said.

“They want to give you a medal, Malcolm,” said Archer. “And Trip as well. In fact they have a whole ceremony planned to say thank you to Enterprise for all the help we gave them, with you and Trip as the honoured guests.”

“I don’t believe this. Trip nearly dies after being forced into becoming part of their computer, Enterprise is put in danger when their enemies turn up, countless Tien died and they want to give me a medal? I mean what for? I lost two thirds of my squadron, I’m a lousy pilot and I crashed on the Vor Devrees.”

“And you led the assault on the Vor Devrees, more of your squadron came back than any other, and you risked your life to save Trip, their Patriarch,” said Archer. “You were put in danger more times than I’d like to count during that battle. I’d already put in the paper work for a commendation for you myself, but I was going to wait and tell you when it was confirmed.”

“With all due respect, sir, I really don’t think I deserve it. I wasn’t even able to perform my duties, Commander Tucker was kidnapped right from under my nose,” said Reed.

“I know you still feel bad about what happened, Malcolm, but you have to let it go. There was nothing that you could have done. Besides if it makes the Tien happy let them have their ceremony, it might even improve crew morale, we’ve had precious little else to celebrate lately.”

“Have you spoken to Trip yet about this?” asked Reed.

“I haven’t spoken to Trip, period,” replied Archer swiftly.

“It’s been three days,” said Reed.

“He doesn’t want to see me and I don’t blame him. Phlox is moving him back to his quarters today, I’m hoping that he’ll have cooled off a bit by now,” said Archer.

“And what about Shar Jen and Sharien?”

“I showed them the passage of scripture that Trip gave me. It had quite an effect on Sharien. She started chanting something in ancient Kriel and then asked me to set up a meeting for her with Shar Jen,” said Archer.

“What did Shar Jen say to that?” asked Reed.

“She chanted what sounded like the same thing in ancient Tien and then agreed to the meeting,” said Archer. “I don’t quite understand it myself but it’s got them talking. Shar Jen said something about it being the will of the goddess.”

****

By the time Enteprise reached the planet, Trip had been released to his quarters and thanks to Phlox’s neuro-regeneration therapy was now able to move around on his own with the aid of a walking stick. So long as he didn’t expect to get anywhere quickly. Hoshi was continuing intensive speech therapy but she had reported that Trip had improved considerably over the last couple of days and was doing far better than she had expected. He still had trouble finding the right words and often had to ask people to repeat themselves but he was now forming sentences and at least able to follow a conversation.

However, it was obvious, that although Trip no longer wanted to end his life, he was still miserable. The Captain had tried to see Trip several times but every time the doctor had turned him away saying that Trip didn’t want to see him. Now that Trip was back in his quarters Archer knew that Phlox wouldn’t be around to stop him.

He stood outside Trip’s door looking at the doorbell. He willed his muscles to move and push the button.

“Come in,” said a voice from inside. Archer entered. Trip was lying in bed, a padd in his hand, working on what looked like Engine schematics. He was as usual letting the nanites help him as he worked. Much to Trip’s annoyance, the virus had made his body weak and he still couldn’t stay up for long periods of time. He turned to face his visitor.

“Hi,” Archer said, inadequately. “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” said Trip. There was none of the usual warmth in his voice.

“We need to talk,” said Archer.

“No we don’t. I don’t have anything to say to you. I told you that I didn’t want this and you went ahead and did it anyway,” said Trip. Something at the back of his mind kicked him and he had a sense of déjà vu. He dismissed it though, now wasn’t the time.

“Trip, I didn’t have a choice. You would have killed yourself,” said Archer.

“I don’t know who I am anymore!” shouted Trip. “You allowed Shar Jen to take away part of me. I remember being miserable enough that I wanted to kill myself, but I don’t remember why. I remember waking up in decon, being so ill that Phlox had me on life support but I have no idea how it happened. And I remember being very clear about the fact that I didn’t want my memories deleted. I’m really not sure that I can deal with this now, Jon.”

“I know that you’re angry with me at the moment but I just wanted you to be well again. Enterprise needs her Chief Engineer back,” said Archer.

“Did it ever occur to you that maybe I’ve had enough? My sister is dead, I was tortured by the Xindi, wired into an alien computer and now my best friend has betrayed me,” said Trip.

“I did it because I thought it was the best thing for you,” said Archer.

“Yeah, well, I know you meant well, which is the only thing stopping me from punching your lights out. It’s going to take me a little time to sort out my feelings and right now you’re not my favourite person,” said Trip. “The Doc doesn’t want me back on duty for a while yet, just stay out of my way until then. Our working relationship won’t suffer, I’ll still take your orders. But don’t expect me to call myself your friend any longer.”

“I understand,” said Archer, defeated. “There is one other thing that I need to tell you.” Archer then explained to Trip about the planned celebrations.

****

“This is just great,” said Trip, as Reed pushed him in a wheelchair towards the shuttle bay. They were going down to the planet’s surface for the planned ceremonies and celebrations. “I’m going to be given a medal and I can’t even remember what I did to deserve it.”

“At least you did deserve it,” said Reed.

“Malcolm, from what I read in those reports you practically saved the entire Tien race single-handed,” said Trip. “Besides, you saved my life, again.”

“I’m the one that let you get kidnapped in the first place,” said Reed.

“Stop beating yourself up over this, if anyone got me into this situation then it was me. I’m the one who was paying more attention to Shar Jen than I should have been…Have we had this conversation before?” asked Trip.

“Erm, yes, I suppose so. Or at least a similar one. Just after you’d been conjoined with the Rel Sevanne,” said Reed. “Are you remembering something?”

“No, I’ve just had a strong feeling of déjà vu lately when people have said things to me or I’ve said something. And I have this really strange feeling about Shar Jen, like I know things about her but I can’t remember them,” said Trip. “It’s probably nothing.”

“Trip, you know what will happen if you do remember being part of the Rel Sevanne?” asked Reed. He didn’t agree with Archer’s methods exactly but Trip was so much better now that he didn’t want to lose him again.

“Yeah, I know, I’ll want to kill myself again. I can’t imagine anything being that bad, but if I start to remember stuff I’ll let you know,” said Trip. He decided to change the subject. “So what exactly have they got planned for us?”

“The usual I guess. I’ve sat through more boring ceremonies than I’d like to count.”

“I thought there was meant to be a party as well,” said Trip, with disappointment in his voice.

“Yes. After the medal ceremony and the boring speeches,” said Reed.

“All of a sudden I’m not looking forward to this,” said Trip. “Do I really have to be there?”

“Trip, you led them into battle, I think you need to be there,” said Reed.

“But I don’t remember it,” said Trip. “They’re honouring me for something I don’t remember doing.”

“They remember it, and so do I. You were a good leader, Trip,” said Reed.

“And you’ve got the broken arm to prove it,” said Trip, sarcastically.

“That wasn’t your fault,” said Reed. “You saved a lot of Tien.”

“How about we make a deal? I won’t blame myself for you getting hurt, if you won’t blame yourself for me getting hurt. We’re big enough to look after ourselves, even if I don’t remember any of it,” said Trip.

“I suppose I can live with that arrangement,” said Reed.

“I just have one question,” said Trip.

“And what would that be?” asked Reed, suspecting that he wasn’t going to like what was coming next.

“Why’d you dye your hair blond? I mean it’s a good look for you an’ all…”

Malcolm had almost forgotten his hair, it was going to take a while to grow out. The reports obviously hadn’t detailed everything involved in Malcolm’s rescue attempt. “I decided I wanted a change,” he replied, dead pan, pleased to see the confusion it caused Trip.

He pushed the wheelchair the final few yards into the shuttle bay. Travis Mayweather was waiting to take them down to the surface with T’Pol, Phlox and Hoshi. Reed settled Trip on a bench at the back of the shuttle and then took his seat while Phlox fussed over his patient. Trip still got tired very easily and Phlox had insisted on accompanying him to the surface. Every sense in Reed’s head was tingling, he didn’t like any of this. He checked his phase pistol was in its holster for a final time and gave Travis the nod to take off.

****End of Chapter 28****

Archer sat at the controls of Shuttlepod One, he was piloting it down to the new planet below with Shar Jen and Sharien sitting in the back. After much deliberation they had decided to name the planet Ishtar. It meant “goddess” in both Tien and Kriel. The Tien ship’s name, the Rel Ishtari, meant “light of the goddess”. It was the first thing that the two of them had agreed upon, for which Archer was eternally grateful.

Shar Jen and Sharien had spent some time discussing their positions on Tien and Kriel affairs with Archer acting as referee. He would have preferred to use the term mediator but somehow that really didn’t fit with what he’d just experienced. There was now a peace treaty though, ready to be signed at the celebration, after the Tien had honoured Trip and Malcolm with whatever that entailed.

Archer had asked Shar Jen about why the scripture passage had prompted her to talk to Sharien and make peace. The content was obvious but why Shar Jen should take it so seriously was not. Shar Jen just shook her head and said “you really haven’t understood us at all, have you?” And Archer wasn’t sure that she was wrong. These people really were alien to him, their motivations, their morals and their religion. But then he was dealing with a people who considered it quite acceptable to use human components in their computers and had committed genocide over who was the “chosen” people of the goddess even though they were all the same race, just different universes.

After the two women had talked they had both asked to call the highest ranking representatives of their people. From what Hoshi had translated, they had both given orders not to attack the other faction once they reached the planet. Instead Shar Jen had ordered them to begin preparations for the celebration and Sharien had told her people not to interfere. When the lifepods reached planet fall not a single life was lost and the two sides were on amicable terms although still keeping their distance.

A third of Enterprise’s crew was going to be present at the ceremony and it was also being piped directly to Enterprise so that those who weren’t actually physically present could watch it. Archer wished he could have given everyone the day off but in the Expanse that just wasn’t possible, it was business as usual as far as most of the crew was concerned. Lieutenant Reed had of course insisted on a suitable security provision, so the majority of the Security staff were now mingling with the gathering crowd on the surface.

Archer, Shar Jen and Sharien were to be the last to arrive and their arrival would signal the start of the proceedings. Trip and Malcolm would already be on the surface, no doubt Malcolm was pacing and Trip was fidgeting. He could almost see them now. Of course that only reminded him that Trip was angry with him still, he really had hoped that once Trip had seen that Archer had no choice then he would have backed down, but no Trip was still as stubborn as ever. And Archer wasn’t entirely sure that Trip wasn’t well within his rights to hate him. Trip had told him no and he’d ignored it. Archer knew that in a similar situation he’d have been angry too and the problem was Trip had no context to place it against. He had no idea if the memories he’d lost had been important or not, and Archer was sure that, to some extent, it was that lack of knowledge which was causing his current anger.

Archer had hoped that Trip would see, in the cold light of day, what Archer had done was for his own good. He hadn’t though and it didn’t look as if he would. Trip still maintained that it didn’t matter what had happened to him, he was capable of deciding what happened to him and how he was treated. Trip had trusted Archer and that trust had been broken. Of course it didn’t help that Trip still hadn’t recovered from the Vor Devrees virus which sapped his strength and, although his movement and speech skills were still improving, they weren’t back to normal yet. Maybe time was all that Trip needed, but Archer feared that he had lost his friend for good.

He set the shuttle down on the virgin grass beside the hastily erected amphitheatre. The Tien had spent some time working on it and were now arrayed around the left side in their seats. The Kriel sat on the right side, with a suitable gap between them and the Tien. In the middle of the stage waited various Tien and Kriel dignitaries, Sun Neer being the only one that he recognised, with Trip (Phlox hovering beside him), Hoshi and T’Pol.

Archer accompanied Shar Jen and Sharien to the stage. “Where’s Lieutenant Reed?” he asked T’Pol.

“Checking on security arrangements,” said T’Pol. Just as she finished the sentence, Reed came running from the left of the stage.

“Sir, I have to report the theft of a phase pistol,” said Reed, slightly out of breath and looking like a child who’d just told his parent he’d broken something valuable.

“When and where?” asked Archer, immediately falling into business mode.

“About five minutes ago from Ensign Prior. Someone attacked him. We found him unconscious behind the stand. Phlox is seeing to him, but apart from a sore head he’s fine,” said Reed. “We’re already looking for whoever it was.”

“There’s nothing we can do about it now, Lieutenant,” said Archer. “We won’t find them in this crowd and we’ve got a peace treaty to sign.”

“Sir, one of these people has a weapon and I can only guess at how they intend to use it but I’m betting it has something to do with that peace treaty,” said Reed.

“Me too, Lieutenant, but we can’t postpone the signing. Without it these people will be at each other’s throats,” said Archer. “Just keep your eyes open.”

Reed didn’t look happy but he said “yes, sir,” and went to stand with Trip.

The medal ceremony was led by Shar Jen and Sharien and wasn’t long but Archer and Reed both spent the entire time scanning the crowd for anyone who might have decided to use the stolen phase pistol.

Reed received his medal with considerable embarrassment at the nice things that were said about him, he also had his honorary rank of Squadron Leader conferred on him permanently and was given the rank insignia to go with it. He was amazed that Sharien added to his list of achievements that he had rescued her from the Vor Devrees, which was a distortion of the truth at the very least.

“I thought Kriel didn’t lie,” whispered Reed as she approached him to give him the Kriel equivalent of the medal that the Tien had just bestowed upon him.

“We don’t. You did rescue me. I just didn’t realise it at the time,” whispered Sharien back. Reed allowed himself a small smile.

When it came to Trip’s turn, he pushed himself out of the wheelchair and stood slightly unsteadily, Phlox standing unobtrusively nearby in case he wasn’t able to stay upright. Shar Jen listed his achievements as Patriarch of the Rel Sevanne, how his orders had saved countless Tien lives and prevented the loss of more Kriel lives. Another stretch of the truth he thought, as Shar Jen placed the ribbon of the medal over his head and Sharien did the same, but a necessary one if the Tien and Kriel were ever to get along.

Finally, they came to Enterprise’s contribution. How Archer and his crew had saved first the Tien and then the Kriel by disabling the inter-reality cannon and helping in the evacuation. It was all met by thunderous applause and cheering, although perhaps more from the Tien side than the Kriel.

“We have one final duty to perform,” said Shar Jen, “Sharien and I have negotiated a treaty between our two peoples that will ensure our continued peace and prosperity on our new home of Ishtar. I quote from the Book of the Tien and the Book of the Kriel:”

“The Goddess stood on the shores of the new land and cried out to her people: “War is over, put down your weapons and fight no more. There will be no more blood spilt in the new land. Make peace with your enemies and walk in my path. Both light and darkness are required to make the day.” And the people rejoiced in the wisdom of the Goddess and dwelled happily in the new land for the rest of their days.”

And then something remarkable happened, the entire crowd chanted in unison. “Ishtar sanvigo rel sevanne dare sophista con biblos di telaru se tren vor devrees legat.” It was exactly as Shar Jen and Sharien had responded when Archer had shown them the passage from the Tien holy book.

“What does that mean?” Archer asked Hoshi in a whisper.

“The goddess, through the light of ages and the saints, gave us wisdom in the book to guide us through the long night. The word of the book is law,” replied Hoshi. “The Tien and Kriel ancient languages are more similar than the modern ones.”

Archer nodded. It all made sense now. The word of the book was law and if the book told them to make peace then that is what they did, and coming from Trip, as it had, Shar Jen had regarded it very seriously indeed.

The treaty was laid on a table ready to be signed by the two parties concerned. Sharien stepped forward to sign it for the Kriel but rather than Shar Jen signing the treaty for the Tien, she instead helped Trip to the table and placed the stylus in his hand.

“You want me to sign it?” asked Trip, unsure. “I’m not sure that I have the authority.”

“Until you depart this system, you are still Patriarch and therefore the highest ranking Tien official,” said Shar Jen.

“Shar Jen, I don’t remember being your Patriarch,” said Trip.

“That isn’t important. What is important is that the peace treaty between the Kriel and Tien is signed,” said Shar Jen. “And you are the one, En, who should sign it.”

Sharien signed her name in scrawling Kriel script and waited for Trip to append his signature to the document.

“Stop!” came a shout from the crowd. A low murmur rose from the crowd as one of the Kriel stepped forward, holding Ensign Prior’s phase pistol.

“Nordiss,” hissed Sharien. “I thought that you were dead.”

“You’re looking good for a dead woman as well. This is not lawful!” shouted the Kriel Exarch.

“The word of the goddess is law!” said Sharien.

“Both Kriel and Tien agreed that this was the will of the goddess. The book is very clear,” said Shar Jen.

“I don’t care what the book says. This is not the Kriel way,” said Nordiss. “You won’t do this to our people.” He turned the phaser on Trip and fired. Archer didn’t even think, he just reacted. Trip was in danger. He ran towards Trip and pushed him to the ground, feeling the phaser burn into his back as he did so. Trip had the wind knocked out of him as Archer slammed into him.

“Trip, you okay?” said Archer in a strained voice, the blond head nodded weakly and Archer passed out.

“Phlox!” yelled, Trip. He didn’t have the strength to move the Captain off him but he could already tell that the wound was serious.

Reed had already pulled his phase pistol and was covering the wounded Captain and Trip. He motioned for Phlox to stay out of the way until the gunman was dealt with, they didn’t need another person to be shot by this mad man. The rest of the security officers had heard the commotion and were on their way towards the stage at top speed, but weren’t in range yet. At the moment it was a stand-off between Reed and Nordiss.

“Hold it there, Nordiss,” said Reed. “I have you covered, it’s hopeless. You’ve lost your chance, and you’re surrounded. You’re not getting to Commander Tucker.” The crowd had gone completely silent.

“That treaty is not being signed,” said Nordiss, angrily.

Sharien moved towards Nordiss, her hands held out in a placatory gesture. “This is the future of both our peoples,” said Sharien. “Please don’t jeopardise that.”

He turned the weapon towards Sharien. “If you don’t put that weapon down, I’ll kill her.” He started to pull Sharien in front of him.

Reed fired once, aiming carefully to avoid Sharien and Nordiss fell to the ground.

“Doctor!” shouted Reed, immediately going to the Captain and pulling him off Trip. Trip tried to sit up but found that his chest was very painful. Phlox pushed him back down, before he went to examine the Captain.

“Severe phaser burn. He was lucky that he didn’t get the full blast, it would have killed him. He must have moved through the beam, when he pushed Commander Tucker out of the way,” said Phlox. “We need to get him back to Enterprise now so that I can tend to his wounds.” Two of Reed’s security men loaded the Captain face down onto a stretcher and made their way back to the shuttlepod. Phlox turned round to Trip and ran his scanner over him. “Commander, you have a broken rib.”

“That explains why it hurts so damn much,” said Trip. “Just give me some painkillers, I’ll be fine.”

“I’m glad to hear that you think so but as your doctorate isn’t in medicine, perhaps you’d listen to me. You’re going back to Enterprise too, so that I can set your rib,” said Phlox.

“I’ve got to sign the treaty first,” said Trip.

Phlox sighed, pressed a hypospray of painkiller to the Commander’s neck and watched as Lieutenant Reed helped him up and over to the table. Trip made his spider’s crawl of a signature before Reed helped him back to his wheelchair. Suddenly a cheer erupted around the amphitheatre, the whole of the people were celebrating their new found peace.

“Typical,” said Trip, as T’Pol wheeled him back towards the shuttlepod.

“What is, Commander?” asked T’Pol.

“That’s going to be one hell of a party and even though I’m the honoured guest, I’m going to miss it,” said Trip.

“I’m sure the doctor will let you come back once your wounds have been tended to,” said T’Pol.

“That’s not it, T’Pol. There’s someone I need to talk to and I don’t think he’s going to be awake for a while.”

Reed looked down at his captive. Nordiss, the Kriel Exarch. He had been completely loyal to Corvas and when Sharien had been about to make peace with the sworn enemies of the Kriel, he had seen no alternative but to assassinate the Tien Patriarch. Even though Trip was no longer wired into the Rel Sevanne, it was clear that the Tien still regarded him as one of their own, and Reed hated to think what would have happened if it had been Trip who had been shot. It was bad enough that the Captain had been shot protecting Trip, but if Trip had been killed or even only injured, the Tien would have blamed the Kriel and no doubt it would have restarted all the feuding. Things on the planet were going to be hard enough, without more bad feeling between the two races.

“What are you going to do with him?” Reed asked Sharien.

“We don’t have a brig yet,” said Sharien, “we had hoped not to need one so soon. A number of my security men survived and some of the Tien security force, between them I’m sure we’ll work something out.”

“Everyone saw what he tried to do,” said Shar Jen. “Even the Kriel aren’t supporting him.”

“Unlike Nordiss most of my people respect the word of the goddess,” said Sharien.

“Will Trip En and Captain Archer be okay?” asked Shar Jen.

“Phlox is taking good care of them. I should think they’ll be fine, although it might be a little while before the Captain is up and about again,” said Reed. “So what happens now for the Tien and the Kriel?”

“Shar Jen and I have agreed that we will be joint Matriarchs of our people,” said Sharien.

“We have decided that as we are now all one people that we will be known as the Ishtari,” said Shar Jen.

“I would have thought that the way you two argue about everything you’ll never agree on anything,” said Reed.

“We’ve come to realise over the past few days that there are more similarities than there are differences between out people,” said Sharien.

“I would like to say goodbye to Trip En,” said Shar Jen. Reed hesitated. This woman had been nothing but trouble but he couldn’t think of a good reason to deny her access to Trip to say goodbye since he probably wouldn’t be returning to the planet before they left. Shar Jen remembered all the time that they had spent together even if Trip didn’t.

“You’ll have to be quick the shuttle will be taking off soon,” said Reed. With permission given, Shar Jen ran for the shuttlepod.

“She is so impetuous,” said Sharien.

“Yes, you may look the same but you aren’t,” said Reed.

“There is one thing that we have in common,” said Sharien. She took a step towards the Lieutenant and suddenly she was kissing him. Reed was completely taken by surprise. Eventually she broke away. “We both fell for Enterprise officers,” she said and with that she walked away, giving orders to the Ishtari security officers as she went. Reed stood, stunned for a moment and then turned and went towards the shuttle.

As he approached he saw Shar Jen talking to Trip who was sat in his wheelchair beside the shuttle.

“I just wanted to say goodbye,” she said to Trip.

“I would say it was nice meeting you, but to be honest, I’m not sure that it was,” said Trip, coldly.

“You did understand, once,” said Shar Jen.

“Yeah, when I was being brainwashed by your computer,” said Trip.

“En, you had to accept what the computer told you. If you had rejected it, the conjoining would have failed,” said Shar Jen. “The Rel Sevanne told you that you needed to protect the Tien, but you felt the emotions and lives of two thousand Tien. The reason why you tried to commit suicide was because you could no longer feel the ship, it was like you’d suddenly lost your entire family. Being part of a living ship is a powerful thing.”

“I don’t believe you,” said Trip.

Shar Jen took his hand and Trip tried to pull away but she held on. “Remember,” said Shar Jen. Suddenly Trip felt part of his mind unlock and out spilled memories that he thought Shar Jen had erased. His face went pale. Reed was beside him and he hadn’t even seen him approach.

“Trip, are you okay?” asked Reed.

“I remember,” said Trip in amazement.

“Oh no,” said Reed, a cold weight descending on him. “What did you do that for?” he asked Shar Jen angrily. “Isn’t it enough that you took him to be part of your computer, drove a wedge between him and the Captain, now you have to do this?”

“No, Malcolm, it isn’t what you think,” said Trip. “She didn’t give me my memories back. She gave me hers.” He turned to Shar Jen. “You really do love me.”

“Yes, En,” said Shar Jen. “But you don’t love me.”

“Jen, I’m sorry,” said Trip, gently. He knew that he couldn’t hide anything from an empath. “Even if I did love you I couldn’t have stayed. My life is on Enterprise.”

“I know,” said Shar Jen. “Your friends will take care of you.”

“Yeah, they will,” said Trip. “They always do.”

****

When Archer awoke in sickbay he was surprised to find Trip asleep in his wheelchair beside the bed. Firstly as far as Archer was aware Trip hadn’t conquered his fear of sickbay and secondly Trip hadn’t said two words to him since their conversation two days ago.

“Ah Captain, you’re awake,” said the cheerful voice of Doctor Phlox.

Archer was lying on his front, and tried to twist around to see the doctor but his back protested and he remembered why he was in sickbay in the first place. He managed to turn onto his side without too much pain.

“What’s the damage, Doctor?” asked Archer.

“You have a severe phaser burn across your back. It’s going to take some time to heal, even with my help. I’ve applied an antiseptic to the wound and dressed it, but I’m afraid it is going to be quite painful. I’ve also put in an IV line to replace your lost fluids and administer antibiotics to prevent infection.”

Archer nodded and then looked over at Trip. “How long has he been here?”

“Ever since he returned from the planet, shortly after we brought you in,” said Phlox.

“He doesn’t like sickbay,” said Archer.

“I know. It was quite an internal battle for him to come in here, but he didn’t want you to wake up without him being here,” said Phlox.

“Is he okay?” asked Archer.

“He had a broken rib, which I’ve set and given him painkillers for but apart from that he sustained no further injuries.”

“I hit him too hard,” said Archer, guiltily.

“If you hadn’t moved quickly, he would be dead,” said Phlox. “You saved his life.”

“I’m not sure that he’ll thank me for that,” said Archer.

“I think you’d better discuss that with him,” said Phlox. “I was going to wake him anyway, he’ll wake up with a stiff neck if he continues to sleep in that position.”

Phlox shook Trip by the shoulder gently and he woke with a jolt, looking around him with frightened eyes before he took in Phlox and Archer and relaxed. He’s still getting bad dreams, thought Archer, and coming into sickbay can’t have helped him.

“Hey, you’re awake,” said Trip, smiling.

“Yeah, sorry about the broken rib,” said Archer.

Trip laughed. “You save my life and then apologise? You’ve got nothing to apologise for, Captain. But I guess I have something. I shouldn’t have been so angry with you about deleting my memories, you did what you thought was right given the available information and the mission that we’re on. I‘ve been proud to call myself your friend over the years and I hope you’ll accept my apology.”

Archer looked at Trip, he couldn’t quite believe what Trip was saying.

“You see I thought that you didn’t really care about me, you just wanted your Chief Engineer back, but then you saved my life by putting yourself in danger, and I realised that wasn’t what this was about at all. And then Shar Jen shared her memories with me of everything that’s happened and I know just what you’ve been feeling recently.”

“Wait, Shar Jen did what?” asked Archer

“Well I was upset about the memories that I’d lost, you know that. So Shar Jen gave me hers,” said Trip.

“She can do that?” asked Archer.

“Seems that way, helped me sort out a few things,” said Trip. “At least I know why Malcolm dyed his hair now,” he grinned. Then he was serious again. “But you have to realise, Captain, that I really did know what I was saying when I asked you not to take my memories. My wanting to commit suicide had nothing to do with the Rel Sevanne conditioning, it was more like culture shock. I’d been used to feeling the emotions of two thousand Tien and hearing reports from across the computer constantly. Suddenly I was completely alone and it was scary and it hurt. But I think Phlox was right, therapy would have worked eventually.”

“What are you saying? That I was wrong but you forgive me?” asked Archer. Privately he wondered if they would have been able to keep Trip alive for long enough for therapy to have worked, but he didn’t want to destroy things between him and Trip again, so he kept quiet.

“Pretty much,” said Trip. “I understand why you did what you did. And now Shar Jen has given me her memories I can piece together enough of what happened from the reports and her memories to get a picture of what happened. It’s really bizarre watching your life through someone else’s eyes but it’ll do. Are we okay?”

“Yes, Trip, we’re okay,” replied Archer.

“Good, because I’ve been saving this for a rainy day, but since it doesn’t rain in space and I think we could both use some cheering up…” Trip pulled out a data-chip from the top pocket of his uniform. “Stanford versus UCLA.”

“Water polo?” asked Archer.

“Of course,” replied Trip. “Unless you’re not feeling up to it. I can always save it for another day…” Trip started to move as if to leave.

“Hold it right there,” said Archer smiling. “I’m always well enough to watch water polo.”

****

It was a week since the Ishtari had wished Enterprise well on their mission and they had continued further into the Expanse. Archer found himself on his way down to Engineering once again.

“Trip what the hell are you doing down here?” he asked as he approached his Chief Engineer. Trip was still sitting in a wheelchair, as that was the easiest way for him to get about at the moment, while members of the Engineering staff bustled around him. “Doctor’s orders were that you’re off duty for at least another two weeks.”

“Yeah, yeah,” dismissed Trip. “It’s just that I’ve got all this Engineering data from the Rel Sevanne going around my head and the nanites have been working on some simulations for me and I thought…”

“Trip, no,” said Archer. “You’re meant to be resting.”

“I don’t have time to rest,” replied Trip.

“Hand them over,” said Archer.

“What?” asked Trip.

“The padds with the schematics on,” said Archer.

“Aw come on Captain, I’m bored out of my mind sitting around doing nothing,” said Trip.

“Do I have to order you to watch a movie again?” asked Archer.

Trip blinked at the sudden change in tone. “Do I get to pick?” asked Trip.

Archer knew that he was going to regret this. “Sure, you get to pick,” said Archer, taking the handles of the wheelchair and pushing Trip out of Engineering once more. He had a horrible sinking feeling that he was going to spend the rest of his evening watching black and white horror movies. Which meant, he thought happily, that things were back to normal.

The End

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