House Abukoff

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A Leap of Faith

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One of the great things about

Star Trek is that it gives us the

opportunity to stretch our

imaginations through limitless

vistas. And one of the great

things about a Virtual Season is

that our imaginations …

our dreams are not constrained

by budgets, ratings, networks,

production problems or casting

issues.

Welcome to my vision of Star

Trek: Enterprise, and the season

that should have been…

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A STAR TREK ENTERPRISE

Virtual Season 5

a leap of

faith

episode one: a leap of faith

episode two: pre q

episode three: marianas

house abukoff

productions

A Star Trek, fan written workThe copyrights & trademarks of Star Trek are owned by Paramount

Pictures, CBS Corporation and their licensee Pocket Books.

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for more episodes, or information on

how to join the production team,

leave a comment on the blogsite

startrekenterprisevirtualseasons.blogspot.com

To the team members for their continued support and assistance …

To the long-suffering Mrs Kapact for putting up with it all and forsaving my life ...

To my mother Lucille Abukoff who gave me the gift of Star Trek morethan 40 years ago ...

To the casts of all incarnations of Star Trek who brought thecharacters to life ...

To CBS / Paramount for their tolerance in allowing their fans to playin the world that they own ...

… and to The Great Bird Of The Galaxy from whence it all sprang!

Production members: (in alphabetic order)Beonewiththeuniversecalla23lilCapt JimfardreamingKapact (Writer/Executive Producer)johnfwilliskeirianhMrs Kapactmzsnaz1108pathsearcher1Selek (beta)taitlutpree1951

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This novel is a fan written work and is not intended toinfringe upon the copyrights and trademarks of Star Trekwhich are owned by Paramount Pictures, CBSCorporation and their licensee Pocket Books.

It is provided free of charge to Star Trek fans for theirenjoyment and to foster an interest in the many finelicensed Star Trek eBooks available from Pocket Bookswhich are listed on their website at www.simonsays.com.

Any attempt to sell, rent or otherwise make a profitfrom this work should be reported to the copyright ownersor their licensee for their action.

This novel was created by House Abukoff Productionswho reserve the moral right to be identified as the authorsof all original material in this novel.

Produced in eBook format as part of Day Eleven ofThe Twelve Trek Days of Christmas for 2008 by Kirok ofL’Stok. For more information see our homepage atwww.twerponline.net/12days2008

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Episode 1A Leap of Faith

From an idea suggested by Mzsnaz

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Prologue

Terra Prime: Conclusion (Rewrite)

Phlox tore his gaze away from the small form in thesterile chamber. It wasn't any easier to face Trip and T'Pol."I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do." Those words werethe most difficult for him to say, because they meant hewas giving up.

"But... but why?" Trip sounded empty. Helpless.Scared "It isn't fair, Doc."

Phlox saw T'Pol raise one eyebrow, then lower it. Anobjection raised, then just as quickly discarded. "There isan enzyme in her blood, created by the joining of yourDNA that simply is not compatible. It is starving theblood."

"But -" Denial spread across Trip's face like a shroud."You said that humans and Vulcans can-."

"There is no biological reason why Humans andVulcans cannot procreate, given a better understanding ofinterspecies genetics. But in this case, you two as a coupleare simply not compatible. Just as two humans might notbe able to have children." He wanted to be able to tell

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them something else. Something positive. But there wasnothing. Their child, unintentional as it had been, wasdying.

"She will live without pain, quite happily, for a fewdays. Maybe a week. But then-."

"Don't let her feel any pain, Doc."

Phlox looked from Trip to T'Pol. "She won't. Ipromise."

Hours later, in the dark solitude of T'Pol's quarters,they both gazed out at the sparkling Earth rotating slowlybeneath them. "You hardly said a word." Trip regrettedthe words as soon as he said them.

"What would you have me say? We did not intend tohave this child. I have not given birth to her. But she is ourdaughter. And now we know it is impossible for us tohave children." T'Pol wanted to sink into Trip's eyes, butshe also wanted to be alone. She wanted to- to be able tobe weak for once. A single tear betrayed her.

Trip felt the burn of the Vulcan tear against his face."T'Pol. I thought-."

She looked down at his vulnerable face. "It is notspoken of, Trip, but we do have emotions. It is just that wehave learned to suppress them."

"Until now?"

"Until I learned what was impossible."

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Episode 1

RomulusKrokton Segment29th Century

The speaker looked across the small dirty table at hisfollowers with disdain. He had seen Romulus in betterdays. He had seen the Empire in greater glory than this.What he had proposed might be the only way to return itto those glorious days. "You have all seen the evidence.Our course is clear. He must die."

"That is only one solution." This one had small ridges,and barely slanted eyebrows. "There may be others. Goingback in time is too big a risk. There are too many variablesin both time periods."

"You are afraid." The speaker could, from as far awayas he was, sense the extreme fear. "The Empire needs us.It needs bold action, and it needs it now. He must die." Heglanced quickly at the holo-image in the centre of the

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table. The face stared back at him relentlessly. The sameface that had ultimately cost them the Empire. "He must."

Each follower looked at the face that had brought anend to more than a thousand years of the RomulanEmpire. That put an end to the dissent.

The speaker could see little through the green haze ofthe temporal communicator. An officer stood before him.He could see pointed ears, and the hint of an angular face.The eyebrow ridges that they had gained in later yearswere obviously absent. "It could not be a simplerassignment. If you arrive at the set time, they will beunable to stop you. All you have to do is take him andleave. Your contact in the embassy will have the locationof the other one. Give him to your contact, and then returnhome. By the time they know what happened, it will betoo late." He wanted to impart the gravity of the situation,but this was a simple creature. It might get nervous andmake mistakes. "If you are successful, you'll save theEmpire." Before the officer could ask any questions, thespeaker cut the communication, and waited for the change.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

She fingered the colorful box nervously. It wassupposed to be foolproof. He had said it was simple tooperate, and even simpler in function. All it needed wasfaith and courage. Without warning, an archway ofbrilliant green energy appeared before her. Just as he hadsaid it would. She ignored the voice in her head that urgedcaution and leaped into her destiny.

There was a crowd in the small room. The walls weresterile white-on- white, just like everything else about theVulcans. Passionless and empty. She noted quickly theonly people in the room who were not gathered around a

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biobed. The woman was human. The man was Vulcan. AVulcan face she knew and hated. Sarek. So she was whereand when she was supposed to be. She ran past the startledcouple and into the throng of doctors. There were voicesstill droning on about how critical it was, and somethingabout the blood being unstable. Then she had the baby inher arms, and she was pushing out of the crowd. Thedoctors were trying to grab her, and the human womanshrieked. Not wanting to get caught in a protractedstruggle, she struck out blindly with her free hand. Whenshe was finally clear, she tapped the hand unit. Anotherarchway appeared, just as it was supposed to. Withoutlooking back, she jumped through the archway and wasgone.

Sarek of Vulcan watched with disbelief as the womanand his son disappeared into the green maelstrom thatflashed and was gone before anyone could react. A painfulsound next to him forced his attention away from theswarm of doctors and arriving Federation Security forcesto the source of the commotion.

"Amanda," he murmured, hoping that his voice wassteadier than his thoughts. His tone did not end the chaos,but something communicated itself to his frantic wife.

"Sarek," she whispered, tears now evident now that theweight of the situation exerted itself further. "Oh God,what happened? Where's Spock? Who was that woman,and where are they now? Where's my baby?"

"Unknown," he replied, knowing his response was nota welcome one. "We shall learn more once the securityforce investigates."

"They disappeared," Amanda said, staring at the spotshe had last seen her son. "How could that be?"

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"We shall learn more momentarily," Sarek replied. Hewished to say more, but a member of the security force,her identification badge indicating some higher rank,approached.

"Ambassador Sarek, I'm Inspector Ivly MacCarver,"the petite human woman said. She pulled back a dark lockof hair from her eyes as she examined a readout from ahumming tricorder. "We've been unable to determine justwhat happened; however, at the moment, we must assumethat the kidnapping is political in nature."

"Kidnapped," Amanda said, exhaling the word inhorror. Sarek understood well her fear. It was his worstfear that someone would harm his family in any way, andto take his son There was nothing he wouldn't do to havehis child returned safely. He glanced at his wife, andimmediately drew her to him. Propriety could wait. Henoticed a fleeting smile as he physically pulled her closerto be enclosed in his arms, but nothing could wipe the fearand panic from her blue eyes.

"We shall have him back," he said. Amanda noddedweakly.

"Yes," she dutifully said, wiping her tears with theback of her hand. "I know we'll get him back. We haveto."

"Indeed," Doctor T'Pala said stoically. "It is essentialthat the infant be returned immediately."

Sarek could psychically feel the jolt of alarm thedoctor's statement evoked from his wife. "What do youmean, Healer?" he asked, preventing Amanda from askingthe dreaded question.

"The treatment we gave your son just prior to hisabduction essentially shut down his immune system," the

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healer explained coolly. "There could not have been aworse time for Spock to have been taken."

"Interesting," Sarek said. Amanda sharply looked up athim.

"Interesting?" she repeated, her tone incredulous. "Thehealer is telling us that this is absolutely the worst timepossible, and all you can say is `interesting'?"

"I merely suggest that Spock's abduction would seemto indicate more planning than that of retribution," Sarekreplied, sending calming thoughts to his wife.

She sighed deeply. "So this might not have to do witha political agenda at all," she said. Sarek was gratified byher logical deduction.

"Correct. The person may have other unidentifiedmotives in selecting Spock."

"But what reason could there be?" Amanda asked.

The investigator, who had been listening to theinteraction, interrupted. "That's what we'd like to findout," MacCarver said. "If this is a kidnapping, it might bebest for the two of you to return to your home. We'll senda security officer with you. The kidnapper might try tocontact you to offer ransom demands."

Sarek felt Amanda's shiver even as he nodded inagreement. "We shall take our leave of you, Inspector," hesaid. "If we should be contacted, you will be notifiedimmediately."

The inspector nodded, her dark eyes troubled by thelack of information presently offered. She watched as theVulcan walked with his human wife toward the exit. Theypaused near the spot where the `green portal' hadappeared, and MacCarver solemnly observed the young

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woman reach out her hand, fingers trying to find the lastplace her child had been. Her hand dropped, discouraged,as the empty space offered no answer. They left slowly,and their despair rallied the investigator.

"All right, folks," she said to her team. "We need someanswers fast. Healer, you said that there couldn't be aworse time. What did you mean by that?"

The healer calmly replied. "I estimate that the infant'ssurvival without further treatment would be approximately12.32 hours. After that, his immune system would bepermanently compromised, and he will die."

"Twelve point thirty-two hours," MacCarver repeated.Less than a day, and so far there was no indication of whathad happened. `Poor baby' she thought even as she spoke."All right, team, let's get some answers! There's a baby outthere somewhere that is in desperate need of medicalassistance. Let's find him."

The couple rode in silence as their thoughts flowedfrom one ominous possibility to another. How could thishave happened? How could their son just disappear? Whotook him? Sarek said nothing about the worst of hissuspicions that Spock had been taken and immediatelykilled by a fanatic with a politically motivated agenda. Hecould sense that Amanda's gloomy thoughts were movingin a similar fashion. Ill-founded speculation was notlogical, but nothing could prevent the maddening fears ofwhat might be currently happening to their child. Nothingwould end the nightmare except for their son's safe return.

The gates that surrounded the ambassador's residenceopened and the occupants of the vehicle were subjected tothe customary identity scan. Amanda had become so usedto the scan that she generally ignored the `clear' light that

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allowed the limo to enter the gates. Now, she found theentire issue of security a moot point. What purpose wasserved by checks, scans, force fields, and guards if aperson could appear out of nowhere and leave without atrace?

They entered their peaceful home without a word, toodazed to speak. Ee-chiya bounded forward, her bodyshaking with an enthusiastic welcome. She stopped tosniff at her master's hand, and then a low whine began. Itwas too much for Amanda to bear, and she ran toward thehall that led to the rest chambers. Sarek knelt to pat theconfused sehlat's head and rub the creatures' ears. OnceEe-chiya calmed, he strode to the hall to find his wife. Heknew without calling for her which room she would be in.

The silence was broken by the tinkling sound of amusic box. Sarek stopped just outside Spock's bedroomdoor to listen to the strangely melancholy tune. Amandahad told him the song's title was `Rock A Bye, Baby', andhe had commented on the rather absurd image of a childbeing rocked in a cradle on a tree branch. He watchedfrom the doorway as she clung to the top rail of their son'scrib, staring at the empty space in a vain attempt to willthe boy to appear.

"Down will come baby, cradle and all," she whispered,her voice cracking.

"He will be returned to us," Sarek said, but he knewhis insistent statement would do nothing.

"What if-"

Without warning, a glowing portal appeared againstthe wall opposite the crib. The couple stared, transfixed bythe unexpected manifestation. Sarek's logic and intellectwarred with his desire to retrieve his son, and he wasn't

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surprised by the end result. Before the portal disappearedand without an explanation, he grabbed Amanda's arm anddashed forward. He could feel no sense of trepidationwithin her only the hope that the portal would lead them toSpock. They disappeared into the void, and less than asecond later, darkness again filled the room. The onlysound that reverberated through the house was the howl ofa baffled sehlat.

Amanda felt a sharp pain as her left knee hit the hardmarble floor. Then she felt something even moredisturbing... an emotion. An uncharacteristic emotion wascoming through the link she shared with Sarek. It wasvery brief and only lasted a moment before Sarek'semotional shields snapped back into place. She wonderedwhat emotion it was and then she knew... Astonishment.That was it. What could possibly have this effect on herhusband? Amanda frantically looked around. She had justlost her son. She could not bear to lose her husband aswell. "Sarek, what is it? What's wrong?"

Amanda tried to go to her husband but a wave ofdisorientation swept over her. She was feeling very light-headed, but it wasn't from the pain in her knee. Slowly, asshe got used to it, the dizziness began to clear. "Thegravity here is less than Vulcan. This place... it seems sofamiliar. It feels... feels almost like..."

Sarek finished her sentence for her, "Earth. We're onEarth. I know this place... I've been here before. Its the oldVulcan embassy. But this is not the Earth we know. Whenwe stepped into the portal, I had assumed that it was justan alien version of the transporter, but no transporter couldhave brought us here."

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Amanda wasn't quite convinced. "Isn't it possible thatsome culture has mastered sub-quantum teleportation andit was they that brought us here?"

"You do not understand, my wife. The Vulcanembassy hasn't looked like this since before the Federationwas formed. No, we have not merely traveled throughspace, but through time as well."

While they were speaking a crowd had been formingaround them. But the crowd parted to let one man stepthrough. He extended his hand to help Sarek and his wifeup... "The Vulcan Science Directorate has determined thattime-travel is impossible."

It was then that Sarek noticed the clothing of this manwho was helping them. It identified him as a member ofthe Vulcan diplomatic corps... A diplomat that lookedextremely familiar, but he couldn't quite place him. Thenslowly realization of who he was began to dawn."Ambassador..." The man looked impossibly young.Sarek's mind couldn't latch onto it... he simply had to saythe name no matter what his mind was telling him..."Soval."

Soval's left eyebrow arched upward at hearing hisname spoken by this stranger who he had just met. "Youhave me at a disadvantage. May I ask your name and yourbusiness here?"

The answer was immediately on Amanda's lips,"Spock..."

Sarek continued the explanation, "Our infant son hasbeen kidnapped. We have traveled through time andarrived here. We have reason to believe he may be here,somewhere."

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Soval replied, "Your story is highly illogical. Not onlyis time travel impossible as I've already said, but there hasonly ever been one Vulcan-Human hybrid, and she isdying... Vulcans and Humans are apparently incapable ofinterbreeding; therefore, you could not have had a sontogether. I don't know why you would, but I can onlyconclude that you are lying to me."

Sarek didn't have the time to convince Soval he wastelling the truth. Then an idea occurred to him, "I'minvoking diplomatic protocol alpha-133-1334."

Once again Soval couldn't help but to raise an eyebrowat this. He stood still for a moment consideringalternatives but whoever this man was, he did know aboutthe diplomatic code signifying grave danger and requiringhim to comply immediately. Soval went to the nearestconsole, "Security, this is Ambassador Soval. Seal thebuilding. We have a kidnapping situation. Search thebuilding for..."

Sarek supplied the rest, "A Vulcan woman and aninfant boy which also appears Vulcan."

Soval continued into the comm unit on the desk, "Lookfor a Vulcan woman and infant. Use extreme caution. Wedon't know if she is armed or what type of weapons shemight have." Then, turning to Sarek and Amanda, said,"Come. We will go to my office. We will be able to talkthere... privately."

Once they were in the office, Soval again addressedSarek and Amanda, "There is much here that you mustexplain. For example, the protocol you used has only beenrecently been agreed upon -- a result of the dissolution ofthe High Command. It is not yet in common usage. Howdid you know of it?"

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"I am a diplomat myself. The interim protocol hasbecome common knowledge to Vulcans of my time." saidSarek.

"Ah yes, the time travel story again." Soval couldn'thelp adding, "You sound like a certain human captain Iknow."

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the building, a green glowingportal appeared in one of the back rooms. Out of ittumbled a Romulan female carrying a small bundle. Butunlike Sarek and Amanda, she seemed used to this kind oftravel and easily kept her footing. The baby, on the otherhand, began to softly cry, immediately getting theattention of the Romulan female holding him. "Don'tworry little one. I will not harm you. My orders are to turnyou over to the temporal agents in this time period. Icannot guarantee that They will not harm you, but knowthis, your sacrifice will not be in vain. If everything goesas planned, not only will the Romulan Empire come toown this miserable planet but also the world I took youfrom -- the one which spawned my race. Think of it...Vulcan and Earth... the two worlds you call home, bothpart of the new Romulan Star Empire."

With a smile, she pulled out a small comm unit, "Thisis Spark calling Flame... Our package has arrived."

Commander Solak saw the display light up, and wasgenuinely surprised. The intruder alert, showed anunauthorized communication from the newly installedtransporter device. There had been no intruders indicatedearlier, and now there was one near the center of thecomplex, and he or she would have had have passedthrough the typically stringent embassy security. It wassimply illogical that someone could have made it soeasily. Not impossible, obviously, since they had... but

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highly improbable. Unless-. Then he heard Soval'sannouncement.

'Spark' held the infant in her arms, willing it to bequiet. "Go quietly, child. Vanish quietly into history." Anddo not give me away! The 'whoosh' of doors openingstartled her. A Vulcan stepped through, and she almostpanicked.

"You're late." He cast an angry glance at her. "There'sa problem."

"What?" Her mind quickly ran through a series ofpossible disasters. Each seemed to end in her capture.

"The offspring in this time period is female. You'llneed to keep that," he indicated the infant in her arms,"inhiding until the other one is dead. Otherwise they'll realizethey've been switched."

"But why switch them at all? Why not just let himdie?"

"You are not supposed to ask questions, Commander.But if you must know," he glanced over his shoulder, as ifexpecting to be caught talking more than he should, "theother side has temporal agents too. Even a cold war needstwo sides. We must make them think we haven'tsucceeded."

"But if they suspect something anyway-"

"There won't be enough left to check." He thought hesaw her face go a shade yellow. That meant the same withall Vulcanoid species. Shock. "Get on the platform." Hemoved to the console and input the coordinates he'd beenupdating for the last twelve hours. He saw that she wasstanding on the platform with the infant in her arms.

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"They detected your transmission. I'll probably becaught, thanks to you."

She was about to answer him when her stomach startedto churn, and she wanted to be sick. Then she flopped tothe floor...

She was no longer in the embassy. She hadtransported. To the Enterprise, if all was going accordingto plan. Now it was a simple matter of hiding until theother child died, and switching them.

Soval followed the security personnel into thetransporter chamber. There was nobody there. He steppedto the control panel as Sarek and Amanda... the peoplewho claimed to be from the future, followed him in.

"Where are they?" The human woman, stridently andshrilly emotional. Soval wondered at a Vulcan diplomatwho would marry one.

"Obviously 'they' are not here."

"My wife." Sarek used as gentle a controlling voice ashe could. Then he turned to Soval. "Ambassador, is there arecord of the last transport?"

"You are well versed in transporter technology."

"Transporters in the future are-"

"Ah, yes. Time travel."

"Mister Ambassador," Amanda interjected, "anancestor of mine maintained that if you eliminate theimpossible, whatever remains, however improbable, mustbe the truth."

"Human logic is unique, Madam." Soval cleared histhroat. "In any case, the device retains a record of the lasttransport." He tapped the controls quickly, and his

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eyebrows rose in unison. "Somehow that does not surpriseme."

"Where is my son, Ambassador?"

"Aboard an orbiting starship called Enterprise."Somehow, Soval thought, it always came back that ship.

Sarek felt a glimmer of hope for the first time sincethis ordeal had begun. "You will arrange to transport us toEnterprise."

Within minutes, Soval, Sarek, and Amandamaterialized in the Enterprise's transporter chamber. Sovalstepped forward to meet Captain Archer. "We have acritical situation, Captain."

Archer didn't feel the distrust of the Vulcan that heonce had. "I understand that, Ambassador. There is a deckby deck search of the ship in progress."

"I'm sure your officers are doing their best, Captain."Amanda answered.

Soval tried to temper his natural instinct to take thelead with the humans. As rash and illogical as CaptainArcher could be, he had also demonstrated a tenacity anddedication to duty that Soval grudgingly respected. "Asecurity team from the embassy is standing by to assist,Captain."

Archer sighed. "Ambassador, our MACO team iscapable-."

"I am aware of that." Soval answered. "But we aredealing with a Vulcan. It would be prudent."

"Please, Captain Archer." Amanda pleaded. "Thereisn't time to argue. My son is dying."

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"We'll find your son, ma'am." Archer crossed the roomto the comm panel as Soval and the others stepped off ofthe platform. Major Stiles, report to the bridge." WhenStiles acknowledged the order immediately, Archer smiledand turned to Soval, Sarek, and Amanda. "Major Stilesleads the Enterprise's MACO security team." He gesturedtowards the door. "Please follow me."

When they arrived on the bridge moments later, T'Polnodded to Archer and moved from the Captain's chair tothe science station. "Internal scanners went offline justafter you left the bridge, Captain." She glanced quickly atSoval, who did not seem to have noticed her.

"Get on that right away, T'Pol. We don't have muchtime." Archer was very conscious, not only of Soval'simpression of his performance right now, but of the sheerpresence of the Vulcan named Sarek. He seemed young,and not as downright arrogant as the other Vulcans, butthere was something imposing about him. SomethingT'Pau had shown on Vulcan. Something that made himwant to stand a little straighter and work a little harder.

Major Stiles arrived in the turbolift at that moment,stepping onto the bridge and walking over to Archer."Reporting as ordered, Captain."

"Thank you, Major." Archer appreciated Stiles' crispmilitary bearing. He'd even found a way of working withLt Reed. "Have you found anything yet?"

"No, sir. Decks A through C are clear. Teams areworking D through G now." Stiles seemed eager to getback to work.

"Getting a signal from the Vulcan Embassy, Captain."Hoshi Sato announced.

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"Put it on screen." Archer saw all eyes turn to theviewscreen.

"This is Commander Solak." The Vulcan security chieflooked almost agitated, for a Vulcan. "Our teams areprepared to beam up."

"Captain-" Major Stiles objected.

"The Vulcans are familiar with our intruder, Major.Take advantage of what help they can offer. That's anorder." Archer turned to Commander Solak. "We canbeam your teams up anytime, Commander. Major Stileswill meet you in the transporter room."

Solak looked doubtful. "Ambassador?" He said toSoval.

"Commander, there is no time to debate. Beam yourteams up immediately."

'Spark' held the infant in her arms and listened intently."Shhh." It seemed to be growing anxious. As if it knew itstime was coming to an end. It was cramped anduncomfortable in here, but with security teams swarmingall around her, it was the only place to hide.

Moments later, Archer was with one of those Vulcansecurity teams, not just because he knew the ship betterthan anyone alive. Jonathon Archer just wasn't the kind ofman to stand around when a baby's life hung in thebalance. That was also why Trip and T'Pol were helping.

"Captain? I think I know something that can help."That was one of the MACO's. He seemed to be hangingback to talk to Archer.

"There isn't time to be shy, crewman. Speak up."Archer prided himself on his accessibility. The fact that

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anyone could talk to him, anytime. But now he was in ahurry.

"Please, sir." The crewman took Archer by the arm andpulled him around a corner. Before Archer could react, thecrewman pointed a tricorder at his face, and activated it.Under a blue glow, the crewman's face changed.

"Daniels?" Archer recognized the familiar face of thetemporal agent. "I thought we'd seen the last of you." Hethought of the search team getting far ahead of him now."If you know anything about this, talk!"

"You might be seeing the last of me now, Captain. Thebaby that you are searching for must be found."

"We're trying, Daniels, and you aren't helping rightnow. So if you know something-"

"Okay, listen. The first Vulcan team that beamed up-."

"The team with Commander Solak?" Archerremembered the suspicious looking Vulcan beaming intothe chamber.

"Yes! Follow them, Captain. One member of that teamis a temporal agent who will be killed when she entersenter the crawlspace between decks E and F just beforethey reach the launchbay. If I try to save her myself, I'll berecognized. You'll have to go in for me."

"Daniels, I saw you die almost a year ago."

"I did die. But the man we're trying to save right nowsaved me, centuries from now." Daniels seemed urgent toget Archer moving. "Jonathon, I can't tell you anymore.Just get to that crawlspace, before my agent does."Without waiting for Archer to answer, Daniels applied thetricorder to his face, and disappeared around a corner.

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Archer didn't stop to shout at Daniels. As he ran to thenearest turbolift, he thought about what to do. Would hehelp anything by running headlong into the group?Probably not. When he got to the turbolift, he made up hismind. "Archer to T'Pol."

T'Pol stopped when her communicator beeped. "Yes,Captain." She watched with consternation as the securityteam she had joined moved ahead of her.

"I've just had a visit from crewman Daniels." Hequickly repeated what Daniels had told him. "I'm on myway, T'Pol, but I need you to keep an eye on things until Iget there."

T'Pol raised one eyebrow. "What would you suggest Ido?"

"Just stop them. If any shots are fired, the baby couldbe killed." Archer switched the channel. "Archer toLieutenant Reed." He was hatching a plan on the fly.

"Stop." T'Pol felt unsure of herself at that point. Butthe entrance to the crawlspace was in sight.

All five Vulcans, as well as the two MACO's stopped."Sub Commander." It was Solak. "There is no time forthis illogical behavior."

Just as Solak was about to turn away from T'Pol,another member of his team pointed a phase pistol. "All ofyou back away." He pulled a communicator from his belt."Spark, this is Flame. Code Praex. Stand by." 'Flame'began to back towards the crawlspace access. He wasprepared for this, and the Tal Shiar Commander in thecrawlspace would be too. If they got caught, everyonedied. Explosive compounds incorporated into her uniform

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would put a hole in the primitive starship so big that noteven their DNA would be found.

Archer came running around the corner, to see one ofthe Vulcans holding a phase pistol on the rest of the team.He flipped open his communicator and touched the alertsignal button. Then he closed the communicator andstepped up. "Don't do anything rash."

'Flame' was happy to keep things stalled. In less thanan hour the infant would be dead. He wasn't expecting thesudden heat on his back that quickly went numb. Hedropped to the deck, stunned.

Malcolm Reed lowered his phase pistol. "You canrelax, Major Stiles." He was glad to show up the MACOofficers. They may have been useful against the Xindi, butnow they were superfluous.

What he wasn't prepared for was rifle butt that hit himin the back of the head. He dropped to the deck. 'Spark'was out of the crawlspace. "You'd all better stand still."She was holding the phase rifle in one hand and the infantin the other. "Nobody has to get hurt."

"Except for Spock." Everyone turned at that. It wasAmanda, with Sarek right beside her. "Why are you doingthis?"

The Tal Shiar Commander looked at the humanwoman. "For the Empire." She had two duties left. Thefirst would be easy. She pointed the phase rifle at thestunned 'Flame' and fired. The body disintegrated. "For theRo-."

Her words were cut off by the Vulcan security officerwho slammed into her. She felt the infant slipping fromher grasp, and the Vulcan was struggling for the rifle. As

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24

she squeezed the trigger, she heard the human womanscream.

Sickbay was tense. Dr. Phlox had the infant Spock in astasis field as he ran a number of scans and computersimulations. Finally he made an angry sound and turned tothe crowd. "I have to have quiet. You two," he looked atSarek and Amanda, "can stay. The rest of you have to go!"He wasn't looking forward to facing the parents.

Archer pulled Daniels, along with Trip and T'Pol intothe outer office. "Answers, Daniels. Now!"

"The only answers that mean anything are in thatroom." Daniels pointed to where Phlox was talking toSarek and Amanda. "That baby can't be allowed to die."

"I want to know who those Vulcans were?"

"They weren't Vulcans." Daniels had to be carefulwhat he told Archer. "They were enemy agents. CaptainArcher, the only thing that matters is that baby in there. Ifit dies, then those agents have won anyway."

Archer was getting a headache. "Just a minute."

"Captain Archer, Trip, T'Pol." Phlox was calling themback into the examination room.

"What is it, Doctor?"

"Captain, this baby is dying. There is nothing I can do.Its immune system was shut down as part of a surgicalprocedure twelve hours ago. Since then, random microbialenzymes have begun to attack-."

"In English, Doctor." Archer's headache was gettingworse.

"His blood was being engineered. The two kinds ofDNA were being adapted to each other. When that

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procedure was interrupted, the two elements began toattack each other. Now the war is minutes from beingover, and there's nothing I can do." He looked at the infantElizabeth, in her own chamber. "Unless..."

"What?" Trip and T'Pol spoke in unison.

"A small sample of Elizabeth's blood might strengthenSpock enough to stabilize him. He would still needattention, from wherever he came, but at least he wouldlive long enough to get it."

"Why ask, Doc?" Trip sounded like he already knewthe answer. "Just do it."

"Because she won't survive the procedure. She is tooweak." But she's already dying. He wanted to say it... buthe couldn't.

Trip looked at the infant. Then he looked at Archer...there was nothing there to help him. Sarek and Amandastanding there, looking... like he felt. T'Pol had turned tostone. Fire. Ice. Everything he loved about her, but noanswers. No help. And Elizabeth in there... dying anyway.Dying anyway. "Give us a second." He took T'Pol's hand.

"Commander." Phlox muttered.

"Trip..." Archer hated the fact that he could do nothingfor his friend.

"Please." It was all that Amanda could say. Sarektouched her arm, and reached out to her with his mind.Nothing else could be done.

"Would you just give me a second?" Trip led T'Pol outof the room. From the relative solitude of Phlox's office.

T'Pol looked into Trip's eyes. "There's no point, Trip.She's dying anyway."

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"It isn't fair. Why should their son live... and Elizabethhas to die?" Again. She had been named after his sister.

"Sometimes you have to believe that you make somekind of difference... even after..." She was almost out ofstrength. "Faith, Trip. You make a leap of faith."

"I know." He let the tears flow finally. Then he lookedat Sarek and Amanda. She no longer looked determined.He no longer looked so imposing. They looked like... theylooked like he had not long ago. They needed a miracle.

They stepped back into the examination room. As acouple, they faced Sarek and Amanda. Trip heard himselftell the doctor to do what he had to.

An hour later, it was Sarek who approached Trip andT'Pol. "My wife is in sickbay with our son."

"Is he okay?" Trip was trying to think about anythingbut what happened.

T'Pol had trouble meeting Sarek's imposing gaze. Herinstinct was to correct Trip. But there seemed little point.

"He will live long enough to get him home." Sarekhesitated for a moment. "According to Doctor Phlox, theblood from Elizabeth has been absorbed into Spock's, andfiltered out. There is no longer any trace it in his blood."

Both of T'Pol's eyebrows shot up. Trip splutteredangrily. "Why the hell did you have to tell us? Now there'snothing left of her!" She put a hand on his shoulder.

"I meant no offense, Commander. My wife wishes tohave an image of you to give to Spock. So that he willalways know."

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Epilogue

RomulusKrokton Segment24th Century

The small apartment that Spock had fashioned forhimself in the city was orderly, if rather cluttered. He hadfound that as he brought young friends around to learnabout Vulcan, he had to continuously show them smalltrinkets and images. Some of general or cultural interest,and some from his family records. So as time went by, onesmall table had become covered with these things. Thetable was always a source of interest. So he was notsurprised when his friend Renak held an image up to thelight. "Mister Spock, who is this?"

Spock looked at the sad-looking couple. A humanman, and a Vulcan woman, in attire that was two hundredyears old. "Let me tell you a story about a little girl, hermother and father, and a leap of faith that they made."

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Episode 2Pre Q

Capt Jim (prologue), Kapact (everything else), Selek (beta)

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Prologue

Isley was playing with her dog Persephone when sheheard a loud noise and then a great commotion outside.She walked to the window to see what was happening.

People were running every which way. There wasanother loud thud. She noticed a crack forming in thepressure dome. How could this happen? The dome wassupposed to be unbreakable. It's what kept the colonistssafe. Not only did it keep the colonists safely inside, but itkept bad things out, like the planet's thin and poisonousatmosphere.

Isley's attention was so fixed on crack in the dome andthe danger it represented that she didn't realize that dangercould be in the very same room she was in. She wasn'taware of what was happening right behind her.

An energy field had formed. It hovered right behindIsley, seeming to look her over but left her almostpurposefully glided over to her dog, Persephone. Ithovered over Persephone just like it did with Isley.Persephone was interested in the glowing sphere, butwhen it began to move rapidly toward her fear overtook

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the creature. The dog took a step to get away but wasn'tfast enough.

It was enveloped in the fast-moving field. The electricglow of the field and all it's visible manifestations diedaway almost instantly leaving Persephone unchanged.

Isley thought she heard a strange sound and turnedfrom the window. She ran to get her dog. ScoopingPersephone up in her arms she said, "Come on. We haveto find mom and get to some place safe." The dog smiled acrooked smile as she carried her out of the room.

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Episode 2

"Captain's starlog, June tenth, 2155. The Enterprise isapproaching Aldebaran 3, in response to a distress signalfrom the terraforming colony there. Starfleet Commandisn't saying who attacked the colony, but I have to thinkthe Klingons know something about it. They've been quietlately. Too quiet." Archer switched off the recorder andglanced at T'Pol, who rolled her eyes. "Something you'dlike to add, Commander?"

"There is no reason to suspect the Klingons, Captain.They have never expressed an interest in this area."

"They never expressed an interest in the Donatusystem until one day they laid claim to it. There's always afirst time." Donatu was a diplomatic nightmare right nowthat could easily blow up on them someday.

"Perhaps. But Aldebaran is much further from Klingonspace than Donatu. In any case, the ship's log is hardly theplace for such... speculation."

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Archer sighed. It didn't matter how long they servedtogether, T'Pol was always T'Pol. And sometimes all youcould do was hit back. "Maybe you'd like to go throughthe rest of my logs and correct what you don't like."

T'Pol raised an eyebrow and struggled to suppress asmile. "That would require more time than the currentduty schedule permits."

Archer heard Hoshi giggle, and he gave her a sternlook. "Two points, Commander. And Hoshi, one yellowcard for unauthorized giggling."

She was still giggling when she answered. "Aye, sir.The colony is hailing us, Captain."

"On screen." After the last four years, Archer hadlearned the value of a bit of fun on the bridge. But now itwas back to business.

A tall woman with slightly unkempt red hair appearedon the viewscreen. Behind her, people could be seenworking frantically. "Greetings, Enterprise. My name isSusanne Walsh. I'm in charge of the colony."

"Captain Jonathon Archer." He gave her his mostcharming smile. "What can we do for you?"

"We've got a crisis, Captain. The attack left cracks inour protective dome, and our atmosphere generators aredown." She sounded like she was trying to sound calm inthe midst of chaos. "In the meantime, I have thirtycolonists, along with eight children and an assortment ofanimals."

"Animals?" T'Pol asked.

Archer smiled at T'Pol, then looked back to theviewscreen. "We'll be happy to take everybody on boardthe Enterprise while repairs are being made. In the

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meantime, I have an engineering team standing by totransport down."

"Thank you, Captain." She looked relieved.

"l look forward to meeting you." Her image vanished.Archer stood up and headed for the turbolift. Then heturned back to T'Pol. "You have the bridge, Commander."

"Captain..." T'Pol answered.

"Yes?" He allowed a hint of impatience into his voice.

As she moved to the command chair, she spoke. "Hasit not occurred to you that the ship's Captain might be toovaluable to beam down for every mission?"

"Yes, it certainly has." He kept a straight face andentered the turbolift.

"Oh!" Malcolm Reed was in the turbolift, heading forthe bridge. "Forgive me, Captain. I was hoping I mighthave a word with you."

"E Deck." He knew that Trip would already be waitingin the transporter room. "What can I do for you,Malcolm?"

Reed looked uncomfortable. "Sir, perhaps we couldtalk somewhere a bit more... private?"

"I'm in a bit of a hurry, Malcolm. Can it wait?"

"I suppose so." Reed's clipped british accent soundedtypically formal and uncomfortable.

"Malcolm, if you're worried about something..."

"No, sir. It can wait." At that point, Reed clammed upand looked elsewhere. When the turbolift stopped, and thedoors opened, Reed offered a curt. "If you'll excuse mesir."

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"Sure thing, Malcolm. See you when I come back."

Archer entered the transporter room to see Trip, Phlox,and two engineers waiting for him. "Captain," Phlox said."This... thing..." He indicated the transporter chamber.

"Something wrong?" Archer looked from Phlox to thetransporter to Trip.

"Well, Captain. I mean, it is approved for bio-matter.And we have used it increasingly, but-" Phlox seemed tobe backing away from it.

"We can't bring up thirty colonists and their animalsthrough the shuttlepod, Doctor. Not as fast as we need to,anyway." Archer stepped onto the pad. "Come on, folks."Suddenly there was a familiar noise that distracted Archer."Porthos?" The beagle had appeared in the corridor, andran to join Archer. "What are you doing here? How'd youget loose?" He automatically looked at Trip.

"I don't know anything about it, Cap'n." Trip looked atPorthos, who seemed happy to be out. "I can check outyour door when we come back."

"Okay." He picked up the dog. "You know, there won'tbe any trees down there. But on the other hand, maybe thekids would like to meet you." Then he turned to Phlox."Time to go." The rest of them joined him on the pad."Energize."

The first thing that Archer noticed was the noise.Animals... goats, cats, dogs, and a few that he didn'trecognize. Porthos barked and squirmed in his grasp, andfinally jumped free as a group of children ran past them."Porthos!"

"Captain Archer?" The woman he'd spoken to a fewminutes ago appeared, coming from where Porthos had

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just disappeared. "I'm Susanne Walsh. He'll be okay,really. It may seem a little crazy right now, but we'reletting the kids run a little before we evacuate." Her glancetook in Trip and the engineering team. "Our engineers areabout a hundred yards in that direction." She pointeddown the rock-walled corridor. "We appreciate anythingyou can do."

"We'll go have a look, Captain." Trip smiled at thewoman. "Ma'am."

"Madam," Phlox asked, "Do you have any casualties?"

"This is Doctor Phlox." Archer thought that theDenobulan still looked uncomfortable about thetransporter.

Walsh smiled. "Nothing serious. A few varieties ofburns, and a broken leg." She led them to the infirmary.

Not far from them, two colonists sat in the abandonedcafeteria. One of them was an elegant, dark-skinned El-Aurian woman. The other was a member of the Qcontinuum. "Why are you smiling?" The woman asked."Are you up to something?"

Q smiled wickedly. "Up to something? I haven't doneanything, here.... yet."

"Puck." She said. "Trouble maker. Mischief maker."

"Not very imaginative. But I suppose it beats.... whatare you calling yourself now? Jessica? Ruby? Gloria?"

"Better than Q. That's just a lettter."

"Q is not just a letter. It is the letter!"

"Meddler. God of chaos. God of lies."

"You wound me."

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"Whatever. Don't you think there's been enoughtampering with these people?"

"I'm not tampering, yet. I could. Just by telling themwho did it."

"Don't you dare." She liked Q's sense of humor, but hewas wild. Sometimes he was downright mean. "We agreedthat we were just here to watch."

Q yawned. "Boring."

"I've never seen anything like this, Cap'n." Trip closedhis tricorder as Archer and Walsh arrived. "Nuclear fusionhas degraded the atomic structure of this dome. We canpatch it in about an hour, but there are microfracturesspreading out from five points." He indicated spots theyhad marked on the inside of the dome. "It needs to bereplaced."

"We've got the raw material, Captain." Walsh said."Are you sure you've got room for us up there?"

"It might be a little cramped for a few days, but we'vebeen through worse." He was thinking about days spent inthe warp nacelle catwalk. "Why don't you go make sureyour people are ready to beam up?" He turned from herslightly as he opened his communicator. "Archer toT'Pol."

"Go ahead, Captain."

"Stand by to beam the colonists up, Commander."

T'Pol entered sickbay and was immdiately assaulted bythe smell of animals. Small, domesticated. Quadripeds."Doctor."

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"Hello, Commander." Phlox seemed to have recoveredfrom his transporter experience. "I was hoping you mightstop by."

"Is there something I can do for you, Doctor?"

"It seems that we're missing somebody."

"Persephone!" A small girl appeared at T'Pol's arm. "Ican't find Persephone!"

T'Pol looked from the girl to Phlox. "What is aPersephone?"

"Persephone is a dog," Phlox answered dryly. "Wecan't find her."

T'Pol fixed a serious gaze on the girl. "What is yourname?"

"Isley Howard."

"Isley Howard, I do not have Persephone." Shestruggled to restrain a smile. "I will ask the Captain."When Isley left T'Pol's side, the Vulcan turned to Phlox."The Captain would like a report on the colonists' healthinspections as soon as you complete them."

"I'm just waiting for the last group. I should have thereports in an hour or so." He looked at a group of dogsplaying in a corner of sickbay. "Are you sure you don'thave Persephone, Commander?"

She answered with a raised eyebrow, and left sickbay.

"Come." Archer always knew when it was Malcolm onthe other side of the door. Just an air of... uncomfortable.The door opened to reveal Lt. Reed. "Come on in,Malcolm. What can I do for you?"

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Reed walked in, but didn't sit. "Captain, I am sorry tobother you. It's really just a personal matter."

"Go ahead, Malcolm." Archer thought about orderinghim to relax, but decided it wouldn't help.

"Really, sir. It's just a-."

"Out with it, Malcolm."

"Yes, sir." Reed stopped looking around and finallyfocused on Archer. "It's about Major Stiles."

"You didn't hit him, did you?" Archer was referring toa fight that had broken out between Reed and MajorHayes almost two years ago.

"No, sir." Malcolm looked horrified. "He wants to takeover security. He feels that being the head of MACO, itwould be more efficient."

"I wouldn't worry about it, Malcolm. I'm not sure thatMACO.is here to stay. And if they are, nobody 'takes over'anything."

"Thank you, sir."

"Thanks for bringing it to my attention. Was thereanything else?"

"Actually, sir. I was going to ask about the dogs."

"It's just temporary. The colonists need some place tostay while Trip helps repair the dome. It won't be long."

"Understood, sir. Thank you."

"Anytime. Dismissed, Lieutenant." As Malcolm wasturning to leave, T'Pol entered. "Come in, Commander."

In the mess hall, Q activated a PADD and showed it tohis companion. "Watch this, Gloria."

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On the small screen, they could both see an Enterprisecrewperson walking along a corridor until she found asmall dog laying on its side. "Porthos? Is that you?" Shepicked the dog up. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" Thedog could be heard whimpering. "Well, I'd better get youto sickbay."

Next, she could be seen entering sickbay. "DoctorPhlox?"

Phlox appeared from his office. "Yes? Well, helloEnsign Lynch. What can I do for-?" Then he saw the dog."Porthos?"

'Gloria' laughed, despite herself. "Oh, you're bad.You're really bad."

"Sickbay to Captain Archer."

Archer had been listening to T'Pol alternately report onthe condition of the colonists and complain about thecombined smell of dogs, goats, cats, and people thatseemed to spread throughout the ship. The interruptionwas a relief. "Yes, Doctor?"

"Captain, I'm sorry to say this, but there seems to besomething... amiss with Porthos."

Archer glanced at Porthos, who had been asleep at hisfeet. Porthos awoke at the sound of his name. "Whatseems to be the problem?" Archer smiled.

The Doctor sounded hesitant. "It might be better if Ispoke to you in person."

"I'll be there in a moment." Archer scooped upPorthos. "Coming, Commander?"

T'Pol raised one eyebrow. "It should proveinteresting."

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Archer and T'Pol arrived in sickbay a moment later."So, what is it, Doc?"

Phlox stopped in his tracks when he saw Porthos."But-?" He quickly ran his fingers along Porthos' belly.Without another word, he walked to a small cage andretrieved the dog that Ensign Lynch had brought in. "Thiswas brought to me a short time ago."

Archer could see that the dogs were identical asidefrom one major difference. "Pregnant?" The dog thatPhlox was holding had noticably grown. Then he lookedPorthos in the eye. "Porthos!" Porthos answered bywagging his tail happily.

"It hardly seems possible." Phlox answered. "Theresemblance is startling, in any case."

T'Pol simply rolled her eyes. "Maybe we have foundPersephone."

"Keep an eye on her, Doc."

"Captain's starlog, supplemental. Commander Tuckerhas repaired the colony's protective dome, and hasreturned to the ship to repair the atmosphere generator.Doctor Phlox has completed medical checks of thecolonists and has found, with the exception of oneanomoly among the canine population, that everyone is ingood condition. We anticipate getting underway soon."Archer switched off the recorder. Porthos was in his bed,half asleep and still wagging his tail excitedly. "It can't beyou. You know that, don't you?"

"Captain?" It was Hoshi. "There's a call coming in foryou, from Captain Rosa of the Australia."

"Pipe it in here please, Ensign." Archer had beenwaiting for this. The Australia had been sent to trail the

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mysterious ship that had attacked the colony since it hadbeen closer to the scene. Her dark face appeared on themonitor seconds later. "Ariela. How did the hunt go?"

"Good and bad, John. This will be in the official reportin a few days, but since you said you wanted to know, I'llgive you what I have. We tracked an ion trail for twelveparsecs, and finally caught up with a ship."

"Klingon?"

"No. At least they didn't look Klingon. You owe me acase of Andorian ale. We never got a positive ID on it. Itwas roughly cylindrical, with a bird painted on theunderside."

"Is that the good news or the bad news?"

"That's the good news. The bad news is that it hadatomic weapons that went right through our hull plating.We're going to need something better to take them on."

Archer didn't have an answer for that. "So whathappened?"

"We managed to get a few torpedoes through theirhull. I tried to get them to surrender, but they destroyedthemselves."

"I think I'd rather take on the Klingons." Archeranswered without enthusiasm. "Hopefully we won't seetoo many more of them." He looked into her eyes. "Ibetter get back to work. Thanks, Ariela."

"Anytime, Jonathon. Australia out."

"Captain Jonathon Archer, I'd like to introduce you toIsley Howard."

Archer kneeled down to shake Isley's hand. "Pleased tomeet you. Is this Persephone?" He looked at the dog that

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was now very heavy and very pregnant. "Doctor, how canshe...?"

"I don't know. Persephone is a normal beagle, and yetsomehow, within the last few days, she has becomepregnant and almost completely carried the puppies toterm. There is physically nothing unusual aboutPersephone except for this."

"Can you tell if Porthos...?" Archer hadn't believed itpossible, but obviously Persephone was an unusual dog.

"Not without being more invasive than I'mcomfortable with." Phlox grinned widely. "Never mind,Captain. Hope springs eternal."

"How long do you think it'll be before she givesbirth?"

"I can't be sure, but based on the accellerated growthrate, I'd guess a few hours at the outside." The doctorturned to Isley. "Would you like to stay and watch?"

"Yes, please!" Isley was overjoyed.

"I will keep you informed, Captain." Phlox toldArcher.

As Archer left sickbay, he thought he saw a smallblack beagle. "Hey, Doc?"

"Yes?"

He thought about it for a second. "Nothing.Nevermind." Afterall, there were a bunch of dogs on theship.

Hoshi Sato had finished a long shift on the bridge andwas looking forward to a hot shower. So when sheclimbed into the stall and turned on the hot spray, sheclosed her eyes. So she didn't see the quick flash that

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illuminated her quarters. Her thoughts drifted, and she didher best to think of nothing. No comm networks. No dataor message packets. No signals to interpret. Nothing.Nothing except for... scratch, scratch, scratch. What? Hadshe fallen asleep? "Hello?"

There was no answer. It was possible. She might haveessage drifted off for a second, and the first sound of anincoming message packet sounded like scratching. Hoshilaughed nervously. That must be it.

Scratch, scratch. "Hey! Who is it?" She turned off thespray and opened the door. "Who's there?" Just as she wasstepping out, something ran in. She screamed, and thensaw what it was. "Porthos?" No, it wasn't Porthos. It wasjet black, and just a puppy. The puppy glanced up at herwith bright eyes, and wagged its tail quickly. "You aren'tPorthos. Who are you?"

It answered br running around and around her feet, andfinally jumping into her arms. Then it disappeared in aflash. Hoshi jumped, and then swore. So much for arelaxing hot shower.

In engineering, Commander Tucker had finished workon the atmosphere generator and was running a series ofdiagnostics on it when a bright flash near the top of thewarp core caught his eye. "What was that?" he yelled.Every tech turned to him, but nobody knew what hadhappened. "Check the board, folks. That's what it's therefor." He was actually the first one to the board. "It lookedlike a discharge of some kind, but I don't know what." Hechecked every function, even the power flow to theatmosphere generator. Everything was clear. No lowpressure. No power fall-off's. No red lights. "Okay," Hethought out loud. "What could it be?" He was answered bya barking. "What the hell? Porthos?" He looked up, and

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sure enough, sitting on top of the matter/antimatterreaction assembly, was a beagle. But it wasn't Porthos. Itwas a black puppy.

"Where did it come from?" Tucker wasn't sure whohad asked the question. It could have been anyone of sixtechnicians.

"It doesn't really matter. It has to come down." Helooked up at the puppy. "Hey! Come down from there!"The puppy just wagged its tail and barked. "Well, my Dadalways said, you want something done right, do ityourself." And he started to climb.

By the time Trip reached the top of the core, he sawthat the technicians hadn't moved, but the puppy had."Where'd he go?"

"Down the shaft, Commander."

His gaze followed six pointing fingers. Sure enough, itwas about three meters down, chewing on a steel handrail."Don't chew on that!" The pup glanced up briefly, thenbegan to growl as he chewed on the rail, like it was tryingto kill it. "Oh boy." He stood up and began to carefullywalk towards the puppy. Then he stopped and turned backto the technicians. "You know, you could do something.Or better yet, don't touch anything. Especially the core."When he turned back to watch the dog, he saw that it hadabandoned the handrail and was venturing further backalong the core. "Come on pup! Don't go down there!"

Trip finally reached the end of the core, only to seethat the puppy had somehow appeared on an accesswalkway about a meter over his head. "How did you getup there?" There was a bracket that the pup could havejumped on. "You aren't gonna just jump down, are you?"

The pup barked, then disappeared in a flash of light.

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"Damn." Trip sat for a moment, watching the spotwhere the pup had been.

Archer was on the bridge when Phlox called. "Goahead, Doctor."

"Captain, there is a new family on board I'd like you tomeet." The sound of barking and whining puppies waseasy to hear in the background.

"I'll be right there." He rose and moved to the turbolift."Commander, would you like to join me?"

T'Pol moved to the command chair. "Tempting as thatsounds, I believe I'll stay here." She sat, then turned backto him. "You will be sure to tell me all about it."

"You bet." Archer stepped into the turbolift, only tosee a small black beagle pup waiting for him. "Where didyou come from?" The pup looked up at him and barked.

When Archer left the turbolift on his way to sickbay,the puppy took off in the other direction. He assumed thatit was headed back to the colonists. He arrived to thesound of whining puppies. "What's all this noise in here?"he asked with a smile.

"Captain Archer, this is Elizabeth Howard, and herdaughter Isley." Phlox made the introductions. "And thisis Persephone, and her new family."

Archer looked into the small pen that Phlox hadindicated. "Well, that's fine looking-." He did a doubletake. The black puppy that he'd just seen seemed to be inwith them. "I'd swear I've just seen this one in thecorridor. Is there anyway that one of these could havegotten loose?"

"Not a chance, Captain. I've been with them the wholetime."

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"I suppose there could be another," he said. Then heturned to Elizabeth. "I'm pleased to meet you, Ma'am,Isley. You must be very proud of Persephone."

Elizabeth smiled at Archer. "I hope we haven't beentoo much trouble, Captain."

"Not at all. We're happy to be here for this," he lookedat the puppies, "although rumor has it we may havecontributed."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Considering the rate at which the pregnancy came toterm," Phlox explained, "it is possible that Porthos is thefather. I can find out easily now."

"Thank you, Doctor. Let me know what you find out."Archer smiled to Elizabeth and Isley, and left sickbay.

"Okay, Q. You've had your fun. Now leave themalone."

"I haven't even started." Q had put himself in anEnterprise uniform. "I like it here. I might even stay. I'dhave to do something about these drab uniforms, though."He snapped his fingers, and was suddenly wearing a brightyellow shirt. "What do you think? Mid twenty-thirdcentury command. I think it suits me."

'Gloria' looked around quickly. Fortunately the messhall was empty. "Stop it! You're being foolish." She wasjust about ready to leave Q once and for all. "I want you toput everything back the way it was."

"Okay. You win." He snapped his finger, and hisuniform changed back.

"And the puppies."

"Nope." He smiled, and vanished.

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Jonathon Archer had just settled into bed when heheard Trip call for him. "Engineering to Captain."

Archer sat up and keyed the comm panel next to hisbed. "Aren't you working kinda late, Trip?"

"Cap'n, you've got to tell Phlox to keep those pupsunder control. I just chased them out from under the warpcore."

"They seemed to be pretty penned up, but I'll talk tohim." Archer cut the channel and looked at Porthos. "Isthis all your fault?" Porthos wagged his tail in response."Great. Well, I guess I better talk to Phlox." He rose andleft for sickbay.

Although she would never admit to it, T'Pol wasgrateful to retreat to her quarters at the end of the day. Sherespected Archer, and yet he always insisted onchallenging her discipline. She... cared for Trip, but hewas too much a distraction. His love was too strong toignore. So meditation at the end of the day was invaluable.

After changing into less restrictive clothing, she satcross-legged on a mat on the floor. She must shed thedistractions of the day. The accumulated, suppressedemotions. Let go. Release. Reject. Embrace the coldperfection of dispassionate logic.

She still felt Trip nearby, as it seemed she alwayswould. Jonathon Archer was there, to a lesser extent. Shefelt his desire, and the denial that he clung to sostubbornly. That elicited a smile. Each of these ties shefelt, and each she released. Finally, peace. Silence.Solitude. Serenity.

A flash of light alerted her to the intrusion. But it didn'tprepare her for the six puppies that clambered over the topof her. Tails wagging. Tongues licking. Puppies making...

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puppy smells. She allowed them to flow over her, like awave. And then they left as quickly as they'd appeared.

Archer arrived in sickbay to find Hoshi, dressed onlyin a short robe, peering into the pen. "I don't care! I knowthey were in my shower! They tracked water all over theplace!"

"I'm sorry, Ensign. It is simply impossible that thesepuppies could have burst into your shower. I haven't takenmy eyes off of them."

"Good evening, Doctor, Ensign." Archer was hesitantto join in.

"Captain, there seems to be a bit of confusion." Phloxwas obviously put off balance.

"I'm not confused," Hoshi insisted. "These puppies,including this little black one, just pushed into my showerand ran around my feet!"

"They did not." Phlox countered calmly.

Archer quickly looked for water on the floor, or on thepuppies. "I'm not sure what happened, Ensign, but I'd saythey're definitely locked up now." He was just turning toretreat when T'Pol entered wearing a loose robe. "Hello...Commander," he almost stammered. "Out for a... latenight stroll?"

She raised one eyebrow at him, then turned to theDoctor. "You must maintain control of those puppies."

Phlox turned from Hoshi to T'Pol. "I beg yourpardon?"

"The puppies burst in on my meditation. You mustkeep a closer watch on them."

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"That can't be!" Hoshi insisted. "They just left myshower!"

"You must be mistaken." T'Pol answered calmly."They could not have-."

"Both of you ladies are mistaken. The puppies havenot left sickbay." Phlox began to walk to the door, hopingto lead Hoshi and T'Pol out.

That was when the door opened, and Trip came in."Doctor, you gotta round up those pups. I just chased allsix out of engineering. Again!"

"Look at him! He's helpless!" Q laughed joyously."He's completely at a loss!"

"Grow up, Q," 'Gloria' said. "You know, you thinkyou're so superior."

"Correction. I know I'm omnicient. There's adifference. Maybe I should help Archer. Take him undermy wing."

"Just leave him alone. He'll do fine without yourinterference."

Q continued unabated. "Or maybe I should just replacehim."

"Don't try it." She raised one hand, just as Q snappedhis fingers.

They reappeared on the bridge. There was a crew onduty, but they were frozen in time. "Who should we get toreplace him? Kirk?" He snapped his fingers, and James TKirk appeared in one of the blue jumpsuits. "No. Tooobvious." He snapped his fingers again, and Jean LucPicard appeared. "No. Too boring."

"Q!"

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"What's the matter? Do you have a thing for him?Ohhh, how 24th Century of you. Okay." Picard vanished."So who goes there? Me?" Another snap of the fingers,and he was in the command chair. "Hmmmm. Entry level.Benefits. Early retirement. Just a bit dead-end. No." Hesnapped his fingers, and was back by her side. "Well, wecan't just leave it empty. Can we?"

"I think I've had enough of you Q. I'm not travellingwith you anymore."

"How dare you!" Q sounded insulted.

"Dare what? Leave you? You're nothing but trouble,and if I never see you again, it'll be too soon!" She turnedto walk away. "Put everything back the way it's supposedto be."

"Or you'll do what?"

"I'll make you pay for it, if it takes me another twohundred years."

"Well I can't fix everything. Someone made a terriblemess before I ever showed up." Q smiled. "Oh, okay.Back to the way it was." He snapped his fingers, and theyvanished.

"Captain's starlog. June 14th, 2155. The protectivedome and atmosphere generator have been repaired, andthe Aldeberan 3 terraforming colony is back to normal.The Enterprise is also back to normal, with the return ofthe colonists. There were some conflicting reports of alarge number of puppies loose on the

ship," he paused to glance at T'Pol and Hoshi. Werethey still mad? "but they haven't reappeared. So all seemsquiet." Archer looked at T'Pol. "How did I do?"

"It was adequate, if unimaginative."

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"Right." Archer rose. "You have the bridge,Commander. I have reports to compile for Starfleet."

When he entered his ready room, something struckhim. A smell. A puppy smell. "What the-?" It was there,on his desk. A poo in the shape of a Q.

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Episode 3Marianas

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Episode 3

"August thirteenth, 2155. Friday the thirteenth." AlanFitzgerald tugged at the high collar of his uniform. "Eraseentry, computer. Start over." He was alone on the bridgefor another few minutes while the morning shift atebreakfast. "Captain's log. August thirteenth, 2155. CaptainAlan Fitzgerald, UESPA freighter SS Marianas enroute toSadarin colony for resupply and recreation. We areapproaching the Alpha Seven Echo star desert. Thirtylightyears of empty space, after which the United EarthSpace Probe Agency will resume its role as Starfleet'spoor second cousin by providing low cost, low profilesupport to the outer colonies while the warp five fleetboldly finds new enemies to fight." Fitzgerald looked intothe blackness stretching out in front of him. "Computer,erase everything after 'empty space'. Log complete."Fitzgerald looked at the mostly black field on the viewer.They were just minutes away.

"I don't want to talk about last night's poker game," thefirst officer, Commander Alexander Krilenko, was sayingas the turbolift door opened. "I won't play poker with youagain."

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Four more officers entered the bridge behind Krilenko.Among them, Lieutenant Commander Tessa Joiner, thechief engineer, laughed, and answered back, "Because youcan't beat me. I see through those mad Russian eyes tooeasily."

"No. It is because you cheat." Krilenko laughed also,to show he wasn't mad.

"Russians are the best poker players. We inventedpoker. Anyone who beats Russian must be cheating." Thediscussion ended as they took their stations.

"Mister Gallo," Fitzgerald said to the navigator, "takeus in." Guiseppe Gallo fired up the impulse engines, andthe SS Marianas entered the Alpha Seven Echo star desert."Take us to warp two. I want to finish this."

Several hours later, as the freighter passed the halfwaypoint of the region, the utter darkness was suddenly lit up.At the same time, the Marianas dropped out of warp."What the hell is that?" Fitzgerald stood quickly. "Report,Alexander."

"Massive gravitational fields. At least a dozen!"Krilenko studied the sensor station. "It's as if a bunch ofstars just materialized. The gravity wells collapsed ourwarp field."

"It can't be natural," Fitzgerald said. "Tessa, get downto engineering." He saw that she was already moving."Get the warp field back up. I've got a bad feeling aboutthis."

"Captain," Gallo reported, "we've come to a dead stop.Even maneuvering thrusters won't move us."

"Ship coming in," Krilenko said. "Configurationunknown."

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"Lieutenant Nichols, send out a distress signal."

The tall, black communications officer spent a momentworking at his console. Then he stopped. "Too muchinterference, sir. I can't get through."

"Prepare to launch flight data recorder buoy." It was alast shot. Not to save them, but to get word out.

"Ready," Krilenko reported.

"Launch." As the unknown ship approached theMarianas, a small cylindrical object was ejected. But ittraveled less than a yard before slowing to a stop. Fromthe bridge, Fitzgerald saw the buoy stop as the alienclosed with them. Without hesitating, the alien fired awhite energy beam at the buoy, destroying it instantly.Then it opened fire on the Marianas.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Communication from the surface, Captain." Archerwas in a shuttlepod, inspecting the final repairs to theEnterprise's hull with Commander Tucker when Hoshi'svoice came through the comm panel. "Admiral Gardner."

"Put him through, Ensign," Archer answered. Afterglancing at Trip, he spoke again. "What can I do for you,Admiral?"

"Captain Archer, I need you in my office right away.The Enterprise will be leaving orbit within the hour." Thechannel was abruptly cut..

"He's a regular ray of sunshine," Trip commented.

Archer smiled. "I don't think he ever really forgaveyou for the incident over Vulcan. I wouldn't worry abouthim, Trip. We'll be out of here soon enough."

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"Aye, sir. Taking her down." The shuttlepod movedgracefully away from the spacedocked Enterprise anddropped from orbit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What's taking him so long?" Admiral Peter Kirk, headof the Earth force's United Earth Space Probe Agency,paced back and forth in Gardner's office. UESPA, thepredeccesor to Starfleet, existed parallel with the larger,more modern space fleet in a role not unlike the merchantmarines of the twentieth century. Their uniforms werestarkly different, though. Where Gardner wore a uniformincorporating the Starfleet uniform with a neck tie, Kirk'suniform was a simple navy blue high-necked tunic withthe UESPA emblem; a five pointed star, with the top pointelongated over his heart. Four solid braids around thecuffs of the sleeves denoted his rank. Black slacks andboots completed the naval uniform.

"Captain Archer was in a shuttlepod conducting a finalinspection of his ship when I spoke with him," Gardneranswered defensively.

"I'm sure he thinks its important that all the paintmatches," Kirk countered, "but I've got people missing outthere, and I'd like to see a bit more urgency from yourcaptain."

"He'll be here any--" He was interrupted by a chirp atthe door. "Enter."

Archer entered quickly. "I apologize for the delay,Admiral. There was a bit of confusion on approach."

"That's got something to do with why you're here. Thehead of the United Earth Space Probe Agency is in fromRiverside, Iowa." Gardner gestured to Kirk. "Admiral, this

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is Captain Jonathon Archer. Captain Archer, AdmiralPeter Kirk."

"Pleased to meet you, Admiral. I've heard a lot aboutyou." Archer reached forward to shake Kirk's hand.

Kirk gave Archer a quick, bone-crushing handshake."How soon can you be underway, Captain?"

"Immediately, Admiral," Archer answered abruptly."Can I ask where we're going?"

Gardner stepped between them and led Archer to awall display. "The UESPA freighter SS Marianas hasdisappeared enroute to the Sadarin colony. Starfleetmonitoring stations lost track of the Marianas as it enteredthe Alpha Seven Echo star desert. I want you to startlooking there."

"I'll be commanding the mission," Kirk stated bluntly.

"Are you sure that's wise, Admiral?" Gardner asked."UESPA needs you--"

"The Marianas needs me more. We don't abandon partof the family when it needs help, Admiral."

"With all due respect, Admiral," Archer countered,"you can trust Enterprise to get the job done. We'll bringthem home."

"All the same, Captain," Kirk answered, "the ship isyours. The mission is mine."

Archer glanced quickly to Gardner, then back to Kirk."Anything you say, Admiral."

~~~

"Enterprise starlog, August 16th, 2155," Archerglanced toward the turbolift door. "Enroute to the Alpha

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Seven Echo star desert, in search of the SS Marianas.Proceeding at--" he stopped as the door whooshed open.Admiral Kirk stepped through with an impatient look onhis face. "We're proceeding at warp 4.5, with an ETA of96 hours." As Kirk stepped around to address Archer, heleveled a steely, impatient gaze at him. Archer switchedthe recorder off abruptly. "Something I can do for you,Admiral?"

"This is Earth's first warp five ship?"

"Yes." Archer struggled to keep the impatience fromhis voice. "Was there something I can do for you,Admiral?"

"You can explain to me why you haven't ordered warpfive."

Archer glared at Kirk, an angry retort frozen on histongue. Then he rose and turned to T'Pol. "You have thebridge, Commander." He turned his back on Kirk andstepped toward his ready room. "Join me, Admiral." Thenhe left the bridge.

Admiral Kirk moved past T'Pol, eyeing the captain'schair, and catching the gaze of everyone on the bridge.Then he turned on his heel and followed Archer into theready room.

"This is my ship," Archer said with quiet fury in theprivacy of the ready room. "You have no right--"

"This is my mission," Kirk countered. "And those aremy people out there. If you won't do what is necessary toget to them, you can be replaced."

"THIS IS MY SHIP!" This time Archer shouted, notcaring if the crew heard. That caught Kirk off guard. Thenhe continued in a normal tone of voice. "I don't care if you

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disagree with me, or question my judgement. But if youever do that in front of my crew again, I'll confine you toquarters."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Try me." Archer realized that he was standing nose tonose with Kirk, and moved to his desk. "You might be anadmiral, and you might be in charge of this mission. Butyou don't have the right to question me like that in front ofmy crew."

Kirk's jaw worked, and his eyes blazed. Then heturned from Archer and examined the pictures of previousEnterprises on display. "Agreed," he muttered. Then heturned back to Archer. "Why 4.5?"

"I've done the math, Admiral. That point fivedifference will get us to Alpha Seven Echo twelve hourssooner."

"Twelve hours."

".that could save their lives. I know." Archer paused,trying to imagine what the crew of the Marianas wasgoing through. "I'm concerned about what we're going tofind when we get there. I think someone took theMarianas, and I want to make sure the Enterprise is readyfor whoever we're going to find."

"What if you're wrong?" This time there was no angerin Kirk's voice. No accusation.

"Then their blood will be on my hands." Archer lookedinto Kirk's eyes, but his thoughts were in the past.Specifically to the innocent Illyrian crew he'd stranded inthe Delphic Expanse in his hunt for the Xindi weapon.Stealing their warp coil had been one of the most difficultdecisions of his career, despite his desperate need and

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assertion that he'd do it again if necessary, and it hadhaunted him ever since. Then he was back in the present,and he saw something in Kirk's eyes. Something like thepiracy that he'd carried out. Something that haunted theadmiral. Without thinking about it, he tapped the commpanel. "Travis, make it warp five."

Kirk nodded gratefully. "Thank you, Captain."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Captain's personal log, supplemental." Archer lookedover at Porthos, who was sleeping on his bunk. Time to goto bed. He saw the stars streaking by outside, and all hecould think of was a small, nervous crew stranded in asmall, helpless ship, not knowing if help was on the way.He wasn't just thinking about the Marianas. He was alsothinking about the crew he'd attacked in the Expanse. Hestill believed it had been the right decision, and he'd do itagain if he had to, but that didn't make it easy to live with.Finally he found the words for his log."I don't spend toomuch time revisiting my decisions. Nobody's perfect, but Ican't command if I can't move on from a decision. So whyam I pushing my ship to the limit to shave twelve hoursoff of our trip? Because for some reason Admiral Kirkneeds me to. And I'm not going to let him or that crewdown." After switching the recorder off, he lay in the darkfor twenty minutes waiting for sleep. Then he gave up andgot out of bed. "Archer to engineering."

"Evening, Captain," Tucker answered. "Aren't you upkinda late?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I would be asleep, but someone got it into his head allof a sudden to fly the ship apart. I'm just trying to keep ittogether." Then Trip chuckled. "I wasn't sleeping anyway,

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Captain. I'll see if I can't squeeze a little more out theengines."

"Thanks Trip. Then get some sleep. Archer out." Hesmiled, knowing that Trip was working on it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Engineering to Captain Kirk!"

Captain Peter Kirk, commanding the USS EnterpriseXCV 330 Warp Testbed, knew from the worried tone ofChief Kelley's voice that things weren't going well. But healso knew that from the constant shuddering of the shipunder him. "Go, Kelley."

"I'm having trouble stabilizing the rings. The ionstorm--"

Kirk could hear shouting in the background, as well asthe monotone of Vulcans telling them all what to do. "Iknow. How bad is it?"

"Bad enough, Captain," Kelley answered. "If I can'tlock them down, they'll go."

It was time for a decision. "You've got one minute tostabilize or get out. Kirk out." He looked around the smalldark bridge that lay at the heart of the command pod. SixUESPA technicians looked to him for answers, just as sixVulcans seemed to be waiting for him to make mistakes."Helm, disengage from the warp engines. Stand by onmaximum thrust from the fusion drive."

"Your decision to go through the ion storm was anerror," Setal, the chief Vulcan advisor said.

"I'm aware of that, Advisor," Kirk snapped back."Unless you have anything constructive to add, please

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keep your seat." Then he turned to the operations officer."Mack, give me reverse angle on viewer."

What he saw didn't improve his mood. The rings thatwere attached to the cylindrical hull were spinning fasterthan they should, and they had acquired a noticablewobble. Engineering Chief Kelley would be in that sectionof the cylinder, working frantically with a staff of twentyspecialists to stabilize the rings, while Kirk and thecommand crew in the small command pod on the forwardend of the cylinder waited and watched. The rings weren'tstabilizing. He tapped the comm panel built in to the armof his command chair. "Chief Kelley, evacuateengineering. Get out of there."

Get out!! He wanted to shout, but didn't have to. Theyall knew.

"It's okay, Captain," Kelley answered. "I can--"

An explosion cut Kelley off, and engulfed the warprings. It would destroy the entire ship in seconds if hedidn't act quickly. "Emergency separation, Mack! Helm,engage fusion drive!" Kirk watched as the aft half of theEnterprise fell away in a shower of explosive bolts. Theremnants of the rings broke up, and the cylinder started todrift back into the grasping tendrils of the ion storm.Twenty-one people would know that they were going todie as their captain escaped. And with them, he feared, thedeath of Earth's warp fleet. Enterprise XCV 300, whichhad been envisioned and even named by ZephramCochrane, had been flying for almost a year, havinglaunched a short sixty years after First Contact with theVulcans. It was the first real fusion of Earth and Vulcanscience, and he was watching it die. The United EarthSpace Probe Agency would be a minor footnote, and the

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names Kirk and Enterprise would be associated withfailure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Admiral Peter Kirk awoke with a start. That terriblemoment, more than thirty years later, never left him. Hesuffered through the same dream at least twice a weekevery week. He'd gotten off lucky. Enough had beenlearned from the warp testbed to lay the groundwork forthe NX program, and they kept moving. And Kirk thehero had ended up running UESPA. But he also vowed tonever abandon another crew.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Approaching the Alpha Seven Echo star desert,"T'Pol announced quietly.

Archer glanced at Kirk, and took a breath. He'd arrivedon the bridge an hour early, only to find Kirk wanderingfrom station to station and questioning the gamma shiftcrew. He hadn't made any comments, but theunderstanding that they'd reached early in the missionseemed to have diminished in the last few days as they'dbeen forced to wait. Now there was a cold silence betweenthem that Archer felt powerless to broach. So he let it go."Warp two, Travis. Intensive scan ahead, T'Pol." After aquick glance at Kirk, he turned to Reed. "Malcolm,polarize the hull plating." The stars began to recede asEnterprise slipped into the star desert.

Two hours later, they were still waiting for somethingto happen. "Nothing," Admiral Kirk said as he paced thedeck behind Archer. "We should be doing something.Going faster."

"According to the plasma decay rate of the Marianas'warp trail," T'Pol said, "the ship was travelling at warp

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two when it entered the star desert. If we hope to recreatethe circumstances that led to the disappearance of theMarianas, logic dictates we must do the same."

"What?" Kirk asked.

"She means that--" Archer began.

"I know what she means," Kirk snapped. "This isn't ascience experiment, it's a rescue mission."

"It's an unknown disappearance, Admiral," Archermeasured out his words carefully, to avoid losing histemper. "We might have already lost one ship. We eitherdo this my way or we don't do it at all." Then hedeliberately turned to T'Pol. "Are you still following theirwarp trail?"

"The trail has just vanished, Captain." One eyebrowraised meaningfully. "Unnaturally so."

"What do you think caused it?"

"Impossible to--" T'Pol was interrupted by chaos onthe bridge as the ship was slammed out of warp. At thesame time, the viewscreen flared with brilliant light.

"Tactical alert!" Archer yelled as picked himself upfrom the deck. Then he lurned to T'Pol. "Report!"

"Gravitational fields have collapsed our warp field."She seemed glued to her science station. "Twelve devicesmaterialized in our path."

"Engineering to bridge!" Trip's voice erupted from thespeakers.

Archer tapped the comm panel. "Go ahead."

"Warp field collapsed, Captain." Trip sounded busy."We've got to clear those gravity wells."

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"We're working on it, Trip. Bridge out." Archer cut thechannel quickly. "Reverse course, Travis. Full impulse."

"No response," Mayweather answered. "We're at adead stop."

"Dampening field in effect, Captain," T'Pol reported asshe looked into the hooded science viewer. "Readingdebris ahead." After a moment's silence, she straightedand turned to Archer. "Polarized duranium hullfragments."

Kirk's face darkened, and he cast an accusing glance atArcher. "We're too late." Then he turned to T'Pol. "Fullscan."

T'Pol glanced quickly at Archer, who nodded. Thenshe went back to the viewer. "Insufficient mass to be theMarianas. No bodies. No plasma residue. It appears to bethe outer casing of the ship's flight data recorder."

"Is the black box intact?" Archer asked. A reference totwentieth century avaiation technology, the black box wasthe protected memory core of the ship's sensor data. It wasthe last chance to get information if all else was lost.

"Scanning," she answered.

"Ships coming in," Reed reported. "Unknownconfiguration. They're firing." White energy beams shotfrom three ships consisting of twin outrigger hulls,connected by small pylons. The outriggers glowed yellowwith power. Enterprise rocked under the assault, and theships sailed past them. "Hull plating down to eightypercent."

"The black box is intact," T'Pol reported.

"Travis, bring us around," Archer ordered. "Followthem."

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"Manuevering thrusters aren't responding, Captain.We're dead in space." Mayweather sounded frustrated.

"Acknowledged." Archer turned to tactical. "Malcolm,phase cannons. Computer lock and fire."

"Aye sir," Reed answered crisply. Then he sworesoftly under his breath.

"Would you like to repeat that, Lieutenant?" Archerasked.

"Sorry, sir," Reed said. "The sensors can't lock on. Toomuch interference from those devices."

Archer absorbed this and turned quickly to T'Pol."What are they?"

After gazing into her viewer for a second, T'Polanswered. "Atomic fusion generators. Energy output totalsthe equivalent of a G-type star."

"They're coming around for another pass," Reedreported.

"Stand by on the grappler, Malcolm," Archer ordered."I think we've got one shot."

"Standing by, sir." Reed watched, trying to avoid afeeling of helplessness. Then the alien ship suddenlyappeared on a course that would take it in range of thegrappler. "Firing," he said quietly as he fired. In less thana second, the grappler shot out and attached itself to theother ship.

"Great," Archer said. Then the ship was wrenchedfrom its position, throwing everyone on the bridge fromtheir seats."Phase cannons." Phase cannons fired even asthe Enterprise was dragged along behind the fleeing

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enemy. Two quick flashes of light were seen from thecareening bridge.

"Enemy shields at seventy-five percent," T'Polreported.

"And the others are coming around," Reed reported.

"Photonic torpedoes," Archer snapped. "Maximumyield. Quickly!" Two photonic torpedoes belched from theforward emitter, catching the struggling enemy as itsquirmed to free itself. "Release the grappler," Archerordered. But it was too late. The still-unidentified shipexploded, taking the grappler ends with it.

Enterprise drifted along on momentum, as theremaining enemies swung around cautiously. Archerturned to T'Pol. "Scan one of those generators. Can wedestroy it?"

T'Pol took only seconds to find an answer. "If we did,it would set off a chain reaction that would destroy us andseverely disrupt the local space-time continuum." Thenshe stood up. "Fortunately, we are not capable ofdestroying it."

"Fortunately," Archer repeated, with more than a hintof sarcasm. "Continue scanning the black box. I want an."As he said that, the bridge rocked from another attack, andArcher felt the bridge dissolve around him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

". swers." Archer felt angry and helpless, even beforehe was fully aware of his surroundings. He'd materializedinside of a large chamber, facing seven aliens whoresembled, more than anything else, bipedal cats. "Whoare you?" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw AdmiralKirk standing still with barely contained fury.

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The tallest of the cats opened its mouth to hiss atArcher, showing a mouthful of sharp teeth and long fangsand speaking to him in a voice that sounded like a hellishversion of a cat his dad had owned when he was a kid.

Then it brandished a long, elegantly deadly rifle athim. Archer glanced at Kirk, and found himself gainingstrength from the ramrod straight legend.

"Where is the crew of the Marianas?" He couldn't helpbut wonder what was happening to Enterprise.

The cat snarled at him again, then spoke to the others.Six more of the rifles were raised, and pointed at Kirk andArcher. The message was unmistakable. Move along ordie here. So he moved along with Kirk, as they weremarched down a corridor that was similar to those onEnterprise, except that the bulkheads were covered withanimal pelts and weapons of infinite and alien design,suspended in webbing.

They finally found themselves herded into a largecargo bay. There were numerous cargo cases with theUESPA logo still prominent behind scorch marks, and acorner of the bay was caged off. Kirk and Archerexchanged glances, and studied the cargo. "Pirates,"Archer whispered.

That was rewarded with the crash of an alien rifle button Archer's back. He stumbled forward, falling against avery low-tech cage. "Admiral Kirk!"

Captain Fitzgerald dragged himself up to attention. Hisface was haggard, and showed signs of having been beatenwith the same rifle butts.

Seconds later, Kirk and Archer were shoved into thecell with Fitzgerald. "What happened?" Kirk asked.

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Fitzgerald recounted the attack on the Marianas as ittraveled through the Alpha Seven Echo star desert."They're called 'Lyrans', according to my comm officer.Dozens of them boarded the ship as soon as we weredisabled. Then they dragged the ship back through a portalof some kind. It wasn't there before we were stopped." Helooked at Kirk, then to Archer.

Archer couldn't help but think of what was probablyhappening to Enterprise right now. "What happened to theMarianas?"

"It's still here," Fitzgerald answered. "I saw themmoving her into the middle of a bunch of other ships. Justbefore they dragged me off of their bridge." He looked ata far bulkhead, as if looking in the direction of his ship."The crew--"

"Where are they?" Kirk as gently as he could.

"They're in the cargo module."

"Are they..." Archer let his words trail off, unwilling tosay the word. Dead.

"I don't know," Fitzgerald answered. "It's pressurized,and with life support."

"There might be a slave trade," Archer said. "We'verun into Orions doing the same thing."

"We need to get to them," Kirk said bluntly. "And thenretake the Marianas."

"First we need to get out of here," Archer said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Lyrans boarded Enterprise at the same time thatArcher and Kirk were transported out, taking over thebridge and engineering simultaneously with surprise and

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strength of numbers. "Where is Captain Archer?" T'Poldemanded. One of the aliens raised a rifle and hissed atT'Pol before shrieking in its own language that remindedher of her pet sehlat. "Ensign?"

Hoshi raised her eyebrows. "It's a little early to tell,"she answered. Then she was surprised to see one of themmoving to her station. It manipulated the universaltranslator unit briefly, then turned to the other Lyrans andhowled angrily.

"You are prisoners of the Lyran White Fang Duchy,"the leader now was able to tell them. "Resistance will berewarded with death."

"Where is Captain Archer?" T'Pol repeated.

"Your vessel is being towed to a salvage station," thebig cat said. "Instruct your crew to surrender if you wantthem to survive."

T'Pol was silent for a moment, as the logic of thesituation became apparent. "Put me on shipwide, Ensign."

"Commander!" Reed objected.

"Ensign..." T'Pol repeated, without taking her eyes offof the head Lyran. Hoshi gulped, then complied. ThenT'Pol continued. "All hands, stand down. Mister Tucker,take special care with the--" she paused briefly, as herthoughts raced, "--hoodwink generator."

Tucker managed to keep a straight face as he listenedto T'Pol. "You heard her," he said to the Lyran pointing arifle at him. "If I don't lock it down, we'll have a paraborgcascade in the bermanbragganater!"

"What is a bermanbragganater?" The voice, filteredthrough a universal translator, sounded too human for Trip

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to associate it with the cat-like creature holding an exoticrifle at him.

"Well, that's what keeps the canon from aligning."

"The canon?"

"Yeah," Trip said. "See, the canon fires up the inputoutflow manifold, and resequences the fecal ejectionthrough the oscillating blade. If the bermanbragganatorcuts out and lets the canon align, nothing stops the shi..."He paused, as the Lyran tilted its head in confusion."Well, you end up with a hell of a mess in your face."

"What do you have to do?"

"Well, see this here?" He pointed to a manual EPSflow regulator. "Now that we're moving again, we've gotto be real careful it doesn't become--" He slammed thecontrol open and cowered in mock terror. "Get away fromit!"

Explosives danced harmlessly from the warp core topanels along bulkheads all around them. He tapped acomm panel. "Tucker to bridge! Look out!" Then helunged at the guard, who was looking around confused.Seconds later, he had the rifle and was pointing it at hiscaptor. "Tell 'em to drop their weapons." He put the barrelagainst the Lyran's head. "Now!" After a few snarls thatthe universal translator failed to interpret, the rest of theLyrans in engineering gave up.

The pyrotechnic display reached the bridge in seconds,blowing out the engineering station but distracting theLyrans enough for Reed to draw a phase pistol and stunthem.

"Good work, Lieutenant," T'Pol said. Then she tappeda comm panel. "Security to the bridge." On the

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viewscreen, they could all see as the Lyran ship wastowing them into a circular device that seemed to haveappeared out of nowhere. "Ensign Mayweather, stand by.If we are able to manuever once we pass through thatdevice, we'll need to react quickly. Mister Reed, prepareto target enemy vessels."

As Enterprise passed through the Lyran portal, T'Polnoted that the fusion generators that had pulled them fromwarp seemed to vanish. Then she saw the cylindricalMarianas floating nearby, along with a single cargomodule attached to its aft quarter. It reminded her of thebasic design of most Vulcan starships, as well as the earlywarp testbed ships that Earth and Vulcan had builttogether.

Major Stiles chose that moment to arrive on the bridge,flanked on both sides by MACO's under his command."Commander?"

"Take these to the brig," she indicated the Lyranssprawled on the deck. "And relieve Commander Tucker ofhis as well."

"Acknowledged," Stiles answered. Without anotherword, the officers lifted the stunned Lyrans and hauledthem to the turbolift.

"Scan for lifesigns on the Marianas," T'Pol orderedReed.

"Scanning," Reed answered. "Thirty lifeforms in themain body of the ship. All Lyran." He turned to face her."And we're out of 'hoodwink generators'."

T'Pol raised one eyebrow. "Scan the cargo module."The ship that occupied her attention, however, was thelarge twin-hulled catamarran craft towards the center of

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the formation. It was easily the size of a Vulcan SelekClass Heavy Cruiser.

"Scanning beams are being dispersed. There's no wayto tell," he answered. Then he turned the scanner to thelarge ship. "I've can't scan inside the cruiser either."

"Discontinue scanning, Mister Reed. If they realizewe're--" But it was too late. Disruptors from the Lyranheavy cruiser slammed into Enterprise. "Evasivemanuevers. Target their weapons."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Archer, Kirk, and Fitzgerald were all thrownbackwards as the ship rocked under them. "It's abouttime," Kirk said.

At that moment, two Lyran guards approached themakeshift cell with their rifles drawn. One opened thedoor while the other covered the prisoners. "Fitzgerald.Come" While the second kept the group covered, the firstentered the cage and pulled Fitzgerald out by the neck.

Archer tensed on his feet, wanting to take some kind ofaction while the door was open, but Kirk stopped him witha hard look and a quick shake of his head. "Not now," hewhispered. They both watched helplessly as Fitzgeraldwas dragged away across the rocking deck. When theywere alone again, Kirk spoke softly. "Thanks, Captain, butwe would've been killed. Do you think Enterprise can takethese Lyrans?"

"It's a good ship, and the best crew in the fleet," Archeranswered. "We've been in tougher scrapes than this. I alsothink that they've boarded the ship, unless they've got theirown universal translator. But I'd say--" he paused as theship rocked again, "--we took the ship back."

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"We need to find a weapon," Kirk said, "and be readyto move when we get the chance." They both turned to thehaphazard piles of equipment littering the cell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Captain Fitzgerald found himself transported to thelast place he expected. The bridge of the Marianas. Heglared at the Lyran officer that materialized next to him."What the hell do you want?"

"Computer codes," it answered. "Command codes."

"Go to hell," he answered.

The Lyran hissed at him and pointed a small tricorderat the viewscreen. "Your crew." On the viewscreen,Fitzgerald could see his crew packed into the cargomodule. "Release the command codes or we'll destroythem."

Fitzgerald answered by throwing himself headfirst atthe Lyran. "Get off my ship!" It felt like he was attackinga tree trunk with muscles, but Fitzgerald was happy to befinally fighting back.

"It doesn't matter what you do," the Lyran said as itpicked Fitzgerald up and threw him against the helmconsole. "We've taken over this ship."

Fitzgerald felt the manual steering yoke dig into hisside, and quickly snapped off the restraining bolt. Then aquick counterclockwise snap freed it from the console.Finally, as he heard the Lyran stepping towards him, hewhipped it around, catching the big cat on the side of itshead. Another swing under the chin yielded a satisfying'snap' and a splash of blood. As the cat shrieked at him,Fitzgerald grabbed it's head and kicked up with one knee.

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The Lyran finally slumped, and Fitzgerald dropped it tothe deck. "One at a time," he said.

Then he found himself looking frantically around thebridge for something to do that would make a difference.He knew there would be at least thirty of them on the ship,and they would be between him and his crew. He neededhelp.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Maintain fire, Lieutenant. We need to bring thoseshields down." T'Pol was standing next to Reed when thecomm panel beeped.

"Enterprise! Enterprise!" Hoshi jumped as the voicecame out of the speakers.

"Put it on screen, Ensign." T'Pol turned to the screen."Captain Fitzgerald?"

"Enterprise, the Lyrans have cut the connection frommy bridge to the cargo module. I can't disconnect them,and I--"

"Is your crew in the cargo module?"

"Yes," Fitzgerald answered. "You're going to have touse your weapons to break the module free."

"That will damage the Marianas," T'Pol cautioned him."Perhaps beyond repair."

"This isn't about the ship, Commander. It's about mycrew."

"Understood, Captain. Do you know where our captainis being held?"

"I can send you coordinates," he said. Just then, anexplosion behind him made him turn around. The turbolift

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door rattled and came off its track. The rest of the Lyranswere coming through. He quickly transmitted thecoordinates. "I'm running out of time, but I'll to try to getthe Lyran shield down first." He gave T'Pol a hard look."Get my crew to safety, Commander."

"Acknowledged," T'Pol answered. "Enterprise out.Mister Reed, target the juncture between the Marianas andits cargo module. Minimal power on phase cannons."Then she tapped the comm panel. "Engineering, what isthe status of the grappler?"

"We've been a little busy down here," Trip answered."But I found time to fix it for you."

"Good work," she said. "Bridge out." Then she turnedto Reed. "Fire." She watched as the phase cannon struckthe Marianas. There was a small explosion, and the cargomodule began to drift free. "Can you get a lock on thecaptain?"

"Negative," Reed answered. "Even if he does bringtheir shields down, I might not be able to get a lock. Andour hull plating is down to twenty percent. A few morehits and we're done for."

"I may have a way to get a transporter lock," T'Polsaid. "Bridge to Commander Tucker."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fitzgerald felt shrapnel from the turbolift door hit himin the neck as viewscreen showed the Enterprise catchingthe cargo module with two grappler lines. "There you go,"he muttered. "Get 'em home." Then he activated theimpulse drive, and set a collision course with the Lyrancruiser. "Come on, baby," he said as he looked around thebridge. "One more job to do." Then he heard the Lyranspushing onto the bridge. "This isn't your ship anymore,"

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he turned to face them. "It's an Earth ship." That was whenthe Lyran rifles flared, and he felt his legs cut out fromunder him. Seconds later, they were all slammed forwardas the Marianas crashed through the Lyran shields.

"Shields are down," Reed announced. "They'vestopped firing." Then he tried to scan for Archer and Kirk."Still no lock on the captain."

"Transporter room, energize," T'Pol ordered. "Keep alock on that transmitter, Mister Reed. It's all we've got."

Kirk and Archer were testing the laser torches they'dfound at the bottom of the pile of equipment when theLyran ship dipped to one side, and they suddenly foundthemselves slammed against the locked gate. "We can cutour way out," Archer said. "Then find some way tocontact the Enterprise."

That was when a Lyran went skidding across the deck,finally catching hold of the gate. "Stay where you are," ithissed.

"Go to hell," Archer answered. Then he pointed thetorch at the Lyran and fired it up. The Lyran screeched inpain. At that moment, the deck righted itself, and they allfell again. Archer took advantage of the distraction to cutthe gate open. "Let's go!" He pushed the door open, andstarted to rush out when the Lyran guard slammed intohim again. This time, claws scrabbled to get to his face,and he had to struggle furiously to avoid them.

As Kirk saw Archer struggling with the Lyran, hesuddenly heard the whine of a transporter behind him. Acommunicator with a tricorder attached to it was on thedeck, sliding around as the ship continued to take fire. Heran for it, and ended up sliding around himself before hemanaged to get to it. "Enterprise!"

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"Admiral Kirk?" It was T'Pol. "Is Captain Archer withyou? We have to beam you out quickly."

"Stand by," Kirk answered. He noticed that thecommunicator was jury-rigged open, and obviously usingthe tricorder to boost its signal, so he took care not toclose it. Then he ran at the Lyran with his laser torch infront of him. He hit the Lyran at full speed, just as itsclaws were cutting across Archer's face. One quick flashof the laser made the Lyran jump away. Then Kirkwrapped an arm around Archer and spoke into thecommunicator. "Enterprise, beam us up!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Transporter room, report!" T'Pol demanded.

"We got 'em, Bridge," Trip answered.

"Is the cargo module secure?" she asked Reed.

"It's attached to the port ventral hard contact point witha magnetic coupler. As long as we don't shake it aroundtoo much--" he answered.

"That is sufficient. Ensign Mayweather, take usthrough that portal at full impulse, then go to warp as soonas we're clear."

"Acknowledged." Mayweather started to bringEnterprise around as they built up speed. "The Lyran iscoming around."

"Target its drive system, Mister Reed. Photonictorpedoes." T'Pol watched as the Enterprise started to passthrough the device. Suddenly the bridge rocked asdisruptors slammed into them.

Seconds later, they emerged into the star desert.Without warning, the fusion generators reappeared,

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stopping the Enterprise dead in space. "What's going on?"It was Captain Archer.

T'Pol moved away from the captain's chair quickly."The Lyrans have reactivated the fusion generators. Theredoes not appear to be a dampening field in place."

"Target their warp core, Malcolm," Archer ordered."Fire all weapons." A full spread of photonic torpedoesslammed into the Lyran ship, along with phase cannonbeams. In seconds, the huge ship was blown apart,creating a shock wave that pushed the smaller Enterpriseout of the area. At the same time, a series of explosionstore through all twelve fusion generators. The result was acolorful nebula that Enterprise was lucky to be tossed outof.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A short time later, Archer and Kirk sat in his office,watching the stars fly by as they warped back to Earth."The crew of the Marianas is alive, Admiral," Archer saidas he poured two whiskeys. "Captain Fitzgerald gave hislife to save them and us."

"And that's what's really important," Kirk answered."You know, I never thought there'd be a Starfleet. Ithought we'd never make it this far."

"We made it," Archer said. "We made it because ofpeople like Captain Fitzgerald. And because of CaptainPeter Kirk."

"You read the logs," Kirk said without bitterness.

"I had to know what was pushing you, Admiral. Andyou know, you did what was right. You helped to push usout here. There'd be no warp five engine without a Captain

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Kirk to pave the way. No NX program without the firstEnterprise to prove we could do it."

"To the Enterprise," Kirk raised his glass. "To all ofthem."

Archer touched his glass to Kirk's. "To the Enterprise."

If you liked this fan-written novel then you’ll enjoy the officiallylicensed eBooks now available. Checkout the following eBooks onSimon & Schuster website, www.simonsays.com …

Star Trek: Destiny

Gods of Night

by David Mack

Half a decade after the Dominion War and morethan a year after the rise and fall of Praetor Shinzon,the galaxy's greatest scourge returns to wreak havocupon the Federation -- and this time its goal is nothingless than total annihilation.

Elsewhere, deep in the Gamma Quadrant, anancient mystery is solved. One of Earth's first

generation of starships, lost for centuries, has been found dead and empty ona desolate planet. But its discovery so far from home has raised disturbingquestions, and the answers harken back to a struggle for survival that oncetested a captain and her crew to the limits of their humanity.

From that terrifying flashpoint begins an apocalyptic odyssey that willreach across time and space to reveal the past, define the future, and showthree captains -- Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S. Enterprise, TM William Rikerof the U.S.S. Titan, and Ezri Dax of the U.S.S Aventine -- that some destiniesare inescapable.

Star Trek: Destiny

Mere Mortals

By David Mack

On Earth, Federation President Nanietta Baccogathers allies and adversaries to form a desperate lastline of defense against an impending Borg invasion. Indeep space, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Captain EzriDax join together to cut off the Collective's route to theAlpha Quadrant.

Half a galaxy away, Captain William Riker andthe crew of the Starship Titan have made contact with the reclusive Caeliar --survivors of a stellar cataclysm that, two hundred years ago, drove fissuresthrough the structure of space and time, creating a loop of inevitability andconsigning another captain and crew to a purgatory from which they couldnever escape.

Now the supremely advanced Caeliar will brook no further intrusionupon their isolation, or against the sanctity of their Great Work....For thesmall, finite lives of mere mortals carry little weight in the calculations ofgods.

But even gods may come to understand that they underestimate humansat their peril.