Ok folks, this is my attempt to repair that god awful piece that was known as 'These Are The Voyages…' so Trip is alive! Don't worry about that. But whether he'll stay that way… who knows? We'll just have to see! Angst all the way for this one!

Chapter 1

AHH! The pain is indescribable, scorching my veins, tearing me apart! Make it stop, please make it stop!

Something in myself tells me that I shouldn't beg for anything. Why not? If it stops the pain then I'll do whatever I have to. I just want it to stop. Why doesn't it stop? I'm shaking and suddenly there's a noise, I can hear something. Screaming. Someone's screaming. It's me. I'm screaming! I don't know when I started, and I don't think I'll ever stop. A hand roughly grabs my throat and I do stop, but only because I can't breath. Who has me? Why do they do this to me? I don't know, I don't remember! I can't see, but I can hear someone laughing. I know they're laughing at me. Please stop! I'm dropped and I grab my throat to protect it, gasping for air, but I don't move away. The pain will only get worse if I do.

Another hand touches the back of my neck and I freeze, afraid of what it'll do. It strokes it lightly, but I feel like my skin is on fire, and I whimper in pleading. The hand grabs my neck, and I'm pushed down to lie on my back. My vision clears enough to make out a large monster looming over me. I desperately want to get away, but I can't move. I know I can't or else it will all hurt more. Don't fight, don't struggle. I close my eyes and turn my head away. There's more laughter, it's all around me, and inside me, shaking my bones, battering me in a way I don't understand. Then teeth sink into my neck. I scream in pain but the laughter only grows louder. Stop! Stop! SOMEBODY HELP ME!

Trip had a pounding headache as he came around. He groaned and covered his eyes with his hand as he slowly sat up.

"No more Andorian Ale and Risen Cocktails for me." he muttered

"Quite right commander." Trip nearly jumped out of his skin, and whirled around where he sat to see someone whose appearance made his stomach sink. The Orion smirked,

"I see you are quick enough to realise the severity of your situation without me having to tell you." Like other Orions, this one had those odd piercing in his face, which reminded Trip of acupuncture, however, unlike other Orions Trip had seen, this one wasn't fat. He wasn't lean, but broad, and quite muscular. His eyes were cold and spiteful and his smile was full of malicious humour. Trip glanced down at himself. His uniform was gone, instead he was dressed in brown… rags. That was the only word for the things he was wearing. They barely formed into the shape of a humanoid. His boots were heavy and he now saw his ankles were shackled. Yes it was safe to say he was in trouble.

"Where the hell am I?" he demanded, trying to hide how nervous he was.

"That's none of your business. What is your business is that you are now a prisoner of the Orion Syndicate, and as such you are condemned to spend the rest of your life working in our mines. Should you think of escaping you will be punished. The most obvious form of punishment is this." The Orion held up a small remote and pressed a button on it. At once Trip's whole body exploded with pain. Electricity scorched his veins, and it was like sandpaper followed the shocks, rubbing the tender tissue mercilessly. He realised at length that he was screaming.

Just when he thought he'd die the pain stopped and he lay shaking on the ground. He slowly sat up, trembling both with shock and fury. The Orion spoke again, "That is a lower setting of the neural implant. I can assume you don't want to feel the higher ones." Trip said nothing although he felt an inward panic at this. How could that have been the lower setting? The pain had been beyond anything he'd ever felt. "Here's how it works commander. You work, you obey, you get through another day. You fail to meet your quota, you disrespect the guards, you suffer a punishment. And the guards, your masters, often feel creative, so there's really no knowing what they will do to you." The Orion smirked, "Now come. I'll show you to your new home." Trip slowly stood up, trying as hard as hell to figure out how he'd gotten here. The last thing he remembered was being in a bar with the captain, Malcolm, Hoshi, Travis, and Phlox.

(Flashback)

"3, 2, 1… GO!" Trip grabbed the glass and threw back the liquid, before grabbing the next and throwing that back too. Glass after glass of the burning, blue ale he drank until there were no more.

"Time!" he cried, gasping at the burning in his throat. The others all groaned, each had only been minutely behind him. He smirked to himself, there was only one kind of person who could beat a Texan in a drinking game, and that was an Irishman, if he was one of the few that still drank.

"Snot fair!" moaned Malcolm, now clearly very drunk. "I shoulda won!"

"Nuh uh! Me!" Hoshi giggled, also drunk, although a bit more together than Malcolm.

"Ah won fair an' square!" Trip slurred, leaning on the Captain to stop himself from falling off his chair. Archer laughed, his face very red, and threw his arm around Trip.

"Ya did Trip. Ya did!" They all burst out laughing, rolling around in their seats. Trip was glad that they'd agreed to do this.

They'd made a brief stop at Risa, just a days' fun before they headed on back to Earth. The night was drawing to a close and they'd spent the whole day reminiscing. Trip wished T'Pol had joined them, but she'd declined, saying she'd rather complete the work that needed to be done before Enterprise was decommissioned. Trip didn't want to think about it. He couldn't believe this was the last few weeks of Enterprise's life. It was too short a life! Far, far too short. Eternity was acceptable, but not now. Trip blinked a shook his foggy head as he realised everyone was trying to stand. Trying being the key word here. Phlox was being supported by Hoshi, or was Hoshi being supported by Phlox? Trip wasn't sure.

"I'ma gonna head on to bed." He staggered, and nearly fell over. The others laughed. Giggling, Trip got his balance, and walked on out. He could hear the others following slowly behind, but as he got to the top of the steps that led out of the basement bar their voices disappeared. He turned and walked down the street, half staggering. He was confused, where was he going? Where was his room? He couldn't quite remember. He turned around to go back and find the others to ask them. Suddenly he was tackled from behind. His shout was muffled as his mouth covered the dirt. He kicked out, but didn't connect with anything. His attacker was on top of him and holding down his bucking body. His face was pressed into the ground and he was having trouble breathing. He felt something press against his neck, and there was a hiss. Almost at once he blacked out.

(End Flashback)

Trip swallowed hard, he now realised what had happened, but why, he was none the wiser. Surely these green skinned pincushions knew that his friends would be looking for him. That it was only a matter of time before they found him. His train of thought was broken as the Orion grabbed his shoulder and shoved him through a trapdoor. He stumbled and fell, sliding down the stairs with a curse. When he stopped he slowly looked up. It was dim in here and the noise was unbelievable. Rock towered over him, surrounding him on all sides, and the air itself felt suffocating. He was surrounded by figures. Countless species were here, all dressed in the same clothes as him. Klingon, Coridian, Rigellian, more species than Trip had ever seen. They were all staring at him, holding tools, or carrying boxes, often hunched over the boxes protectively. All of them had the same expression on their faces. Utter hopelessness. It chilled Trip to the bone. The Orion came down the steps and dragged him by the scruff of his neck to his feet.

"Take a look!" he said, gesturing at the people. "These are your new companions. You'd be best to get along with them, since you'll be here for the rest of your life." He chuckled, and then released him. He strode over to one of the miners. This one was on the shorter side of things, with a hood covering their head, throwing a shadow over their face and they cowered as the Orion approached. Trip saw that their hands shook as they gripped their box. The Orion grabbed them roughly and said, "You will make sure he knows the ropes to this place. If he makes a mistake, then you will also be punished." The miner trembled and nodded, head down, curling in on himself. Trip was fairly sure this was a male. The Orion shoved him to Trip and he stumbled, but kept his footing enough to right himself. "GET BACK TO WORK!" At once the miners hurried to obey. With their backs to him Trip saw the neural implant, that he could feel was stuck to his own neck, poking out of long hair or just over shirts. He shivered, it was unbelievably cold down here. Then again, this whole thing was unbelievable.

The Orion left, climbing up the stairs, and shutting the trapdoor, cutting off a large amount of the light. Trip could only just make things out around him. The man the Orion had ordered to look after him stood still, and Trip could feel his eyes on him, watching him carefully. Trip looked him over, trying to guess his species. It was only then, in dim light, that he noticed the blue skin of his hands. This man was Andorian. He had to be. Trip had never met another species with that coloured skin. For a stupid moment, he wondered if it was Shran, but no. Shran was dead. And even if he wasn't Shran would never cower like this man did. He stepped closer, noticing how the Andorian tensed as he did.

"Hi. My name is Trip." he greeted, trying hard to sound friendly. The Andorian cocked his head to the side, listening. "What's yours?"

"I wouldn't bother with that." A voice cut in from behind. Trip looked around. A tall, Primate Xindi stood behind him. "He never talks anymore. The only sounds he makes are whimpers and screams." His voice was deep, and calm. He had black eyes, almost completely hidden by overgrown hair. He didn't seem aggressive, but he didn't seem interested in making friends either.

"Oh." Trip sighed, looking at the Andorian, who kept his head down.

"He's been well broken by the Orions. He's their favourite toy around here. There's nothing Orions like more than an Andorian to play with." the Xindi continued airily, as if this wasn't as horrific as it really was.

"Thanks for the info." Trip muttered, then a thought struck him. "How come I can understand you?"

"The Orions have translators installed all over the mine so that their orders can be understood and obeyed. The fact that it allows us to speak to each other is simply a side effect." The Xindi shrugged, his eyes were cold, and dark red, unnerving Trip. "Your name's Trip?"

"Yeah. What's yours?"

"Gerlik." Trip nodded at him, then at the Andorian who was still beside him

"What's his name?"

"I don't know, I've forgotten it now. Everyone just calls him Andorian." Trip sighed and looked at the Andorian again who shifted slowly, as if he was sore. "Andorian!" Gerlik snapped. The man jumped and his head turned to the Xindi. "Take him to get his equipment! Unless you want the Orions to punish you." The Andorian nodded and Trip felt his eyes on him again, and knew he was being implored to follow. The Andorian led him through the mine, holding the box close. Trip wondered what was in it that was so important. He shivered and wrapped his arms around his body. It was so cold down here. The rock all around him seemed damp with the cold. Not at all what he'd have expected, he'd have expected it to be warm, with so many people, and stuffy air. He was very wrong.

This cold permeated his bones, he could feel his actual marrow with the cold's touch. His brain felt like it was shrinking in his skull from the icy fingers. His thoughts were disturbed by the Andorian stopping and pointing at large boxes of tools. The Andorian stepped forward and picked up a few with one hand. He held them out to Trip and the man took them. The next thing he was given was a box like the miners all carried. He put the tools in this. After a few more were given to him the Andorian led him away. Trip kept his head down, hoping to avoid trouble and followed the Andorian to a less crowded area. Here the Andorian stopped and then reached out and ran his fingers over the stone, as if searching for something. He then pointed at a spot. Leaning closer, Trip saw a metallic colour standing out against the rock in the dim light. He knew that was ore and he'd have to cut it out with his tools. The Andorian leaned forward slightly and showed him what to do. When he was done and the ore was in his hands, he timidly held it out to Trip, who shook his head.

"No, you take it. I'll get my own." he said, gently pushing the man's hand, which felt extremely warm to his nearly numb fingers, back to his chest. The Andorian nodded his head in thanks and then put it in the box with his tools. Trip thought about the Orion's mention of quota, and understood why these people guarded their boxes so vigilantly. They all wanted to reach their quota, to escape punishment, and some were probably desperate enough to steal from others. Trip shuddered again. This place was hell, living hell. He swallowed hard, feeling despair well up in his chest.

'No! I'll be fine! The captain will come soon and get me out of here.' he told himself sternly. He looked sideways at the Andorian who was about to start mining more of the ore out, when Trip reached out and touched his arm. The Andorian froze at once, and ducked his head, as if expecting to be struck. "It's ok, I just, I just wondered if you could let me see your face." Trip wanted to see the other man's face, wanted to know what he looked like. The Andorian hesitated, and then lifted one trembling hand. The hand hesitated at the brim of the hood, and then was slowly pushed down. Drooping antenna, thick white blond hair, a down turned mouth and eyes that were shells of former strength and joy. They were brown. Trip's jaw dropped in horror and shock, and he wasn't sure which feeling was stronger. The Andorian looked up at him timidly, his eyes showing no recognition, no emotions, no bright spark of mischief. Trip raised a hand, to touch the face to be sure it was real. However he pulled back, realising the touch would be unwanted. "My God…" he whispered, "Shran."

Captain Archer surveyed the large assembly gathered under the flag of peace and felt a strong feeling of satisfaction well in his chest. He'd helped achieve this. He'd helped get all these species here. Vulcan, Coridian, Xindi… Andorian. Archer frowned slightly. By pure habit, whenever he thought or saw an Andorian, he automatically thought of Shran. Right now the man was the last person he wanted to think about. Because of him Trip was dead! His best friend was gone and why? Because Shran was stupid enough to fall in with the wrong crowd! How the hell had he done that anyway? This was Shran. This was a man who'd spend an hour interrogating you to make sure you were who you claimed to be and then start drilling you for the info. How had he picked the wrong friends?

"The ceremony went well, sir." The light, British voice cut through his bitter thoughts. He turned to see his senior staff- EX-senior staff- standing behind him.

"Yeah, it did didn't it."

"And your speech was great. I don't know what you were worrying about." Travis smiled.

"Thanks lieutenant." The newly promoted officer beamed at him, although there was a twinkle of underlying sadness that was present in all of them. Trip's death had scarred them all, although they tried hard to hide it in light of the current celebrations. Archer looked at them all and then at the moving crowd. "How about we go and get something to eat at a restaurant, we can come back for the party afterwards." They all nodded, looking eager to get away from the happiness of those around them.

They walked out of the Starfleet building, and down the street until they reached the Chinese restaurant. They were quickly seated and Archer ordered two bottles of wine. When they all had a glass, Archer raised it in toast. "A toast. To the new Coalition."

"To the Enterprise!" Malcolm added,

"To Trip." T'Pol said softly. They clinked their glasses softly, and sipped from their glasses, each thinking about the Coalition, the Enterprise and Trip, although not necessarily in that order. They had their meal, spending a lot of the time reminiscing about the Enterprise and Trip. Archer remembered how they'd only recently done this on Risa, but then Trip had been with them. It felt like a million years ago, and yet only moments ago since Trip had leaned against him, drunk and unable to sit straight. It was the strangest feeling. They fell into a comfortable and comforting silence smiling at each other like a family towards the end of their meal. A family that had been through hell and back and had learned to lean on each other for support.

"-try here then!" a voice interrupted the quiet of the restaurant, "They'll have something raw I'd say."

"You're thinking of sushi Kev. That's Japanese. This is Chinese." chuckled another voice.

"Well how the hell are you supposed to tell the difference?" grumbled the first.

"I think Chinese pink-skins prefer red and gold colours, while Japanese use blue. I'm not sure." the second answered. They were vaguely familiar to Archer and he turned around. His stomach flipped in surprise at the sight of three Andorians, ones he hadn't seen for almost a decade. The three Andorians that had been at P'jem with Shran were standing at the doorway, heads together as they took a look at the menu. The shortest of the three was pulling at his fancy Andorian clothes made of that silk Archer had heard Andorians brag about. The short one looked like it was too tight. The tallest one looked far more comfortable in his clothes, and self assured, while the one in the middle, that had also been on Coridian as far as Archer could remember, looked unbothered, as if he didn't care if he was naked or clothed. This confidence radiated of him like a smell, rather like Shran's confidence had actually. Finally they stepped away from the menu and turned to the waitress who asked

"Table for three?"

"Yes please." the middle one nodded. It was then that the shortest one, pulling on his neckline spotted Archer who was openly staring at them. He stared back for a moment in surprise then turned to the middle one.

"Tholos." and pulled on his arm slightly. Tholos looked and him,

"What Thon?" Thon nodded at the group. Tholos looked and met Archer's eyes calmly. "One moment." he told the waitress, and leaving his friends he walked over to the table. "Greetings Captain Archer, and your senior staff." He gave them a very slight bow of the waist as he spoke

"Ex-senior staff." Archer found himself correcting. Tholos looked taken aback all of a second before recovering.

"Of course. My apologies." His eyes, which were green, swept over the table and then fixed on Archer again. "The ceremony went well today."

"Yeah, yeah it did." Archer nodded, wishing the Andorian would go away. This man was the last person he wanted to talk to because he didn't want to think about Shran. However, fate was not so kind.

"It's a pity Shran wasn't able to be here. He'd been excited about the first attempt for a Coalition, and was unhappy when it didn't work out."

"Yeah well you could have invited him." Archer said before he could stop himself. Tholos looked stunned, his antennas standing to attention, before drooping slightly.

"Captain, Shran is de-"

"Oh, don't pull that with us!" Archer snapped, "We know you lied about that. We know Shran faked his own death, to escape questionable men. And considering that you worked together I wouldn't be surprised if you'd helped him do it!" Since when was he standing? He couldn't quite remember, but he was, and his face was close to Tholos' who was staring at him wide eyed. "It's Shran's fault my best friend isn't here. It's Shran's fault a good man died before his time!"

"What are you talking about pink-skin?" Tholos snapped

"Shran came to us when his daughter was taken by the criminals he fell in with after he left the Guard! We helped get her back, but the criminals caught up with us! Trip died protecting Shran! It was a senseless death!" Tholos backed away, his eyes clouded with thoughts. He stared at Archer for a moment, and then turned on his heel and walked smartly back to his friends, with whom he instantly began to converse in a whisper. The waitress coughed lightly and awkwardly, and the three Andorians looked at her as if they'd forgotten themselves. They followed her to a table, far away from the one Archer and his friends sat at he noticed and sat down, instantly resuming their talk, not even touching their menus.

"Maybe they didn't know that Shran had done that." Travis muttered softly,

"Why wouldn't they, they were with him on P'jem and Coridian, wouldn't they be his old associates that he talked about, who helped him disappear?" Archer asked accusingly, then sighed, "I'm sorry, I'm not sure what happened there."

"It's ok Jon." Hoshi said softly, touching his arm soothingly, "We understand." He gave her a weak smile and nodded. God he wanted things to be different. He wanted Trip to be alive, he wanted himself and Shran to still be friends, although that was unlikely after the way Archer had kicked him off Enterprise. He sighed again.

"Perhaps we should head to the party." Malcolm suggested awkwardly.

"Yeah, let's go." Archer nodded, and they all stood up. He felt the Andorians' eyes on them but he ignored them as they all paid the bill and left. They only got half way down the street.

"Captain Archer!" Tholos' voice rang out clearly in the night. Archer sighed and turned to see the three of them running over to them.

"What now?"

"You said Shran came to you?"

"Yes, that's what I said."

"But it's not possible!" the tall one exclaimed. Thon touched his shoulder saying softly

"Easy Keval." Tholos ran a hand through his hair, a strangely composed move, despite the obvious confusion.

"But that's not possible!"

"That's the way it went." Archer shrugged, he knew he was being unnecessarily rude and unkind to these men, but he felt so angry over it all.

"No. You don't understand. Shran never faked his own death, we knew he was alive!" Tholos exclaimed, wide eyed. Archer froze, "He was abducted five years ago, and we declared him dead to try to find him! We've searched and searched, this is the first time we've paused in looking for him. There's no chance that man you speak of could have been him."

"But…" Archer trailed off, dazed, "Wouldn't that mean…"

"The Shran you met couldn't have been the real one." Thon said softly. Archer stared at him and then felt his legs weaken. He was going to be sick.

"Captain?" T'Pol was at his side, looking at him with near concern.

"It was all for nothing? Trip's death was for… a FAKE?"

"Captain, it's the only thing we can conclude." Tholos said, trying to sound calming.

"No! It can't be true! Trip did not sacrifice himself for a fake!" Archer shouted,

"Captain, calm yourself!" T'Pol said sharply. He looked at her, her words hit him like a phaser blast and, as with a phaser blast, he was stunned into silence. "We need to investigate this."

"No, we need to find that Shran before we do anything else. He could tell us what's going on." Tholos insisted. Archer looked at him. The Andorian looked like someone had torn open an only recently closed wound, in fact all three of them did. Keval shifted on his feet and then asked slowly,

"You said something about Shran having a daughter?"

"Yeah, Talla, with Jhamel."

"Jhamel!" exclaimed Thon, before covering his mouth. He looked at Tholos who looked grieved now.

"Captain, Jhamel's dead. She died a few weeks ago. And she and Shran never married or had a child."

"But…" Archer trailed off, his stomach was churning, and he was fairly sure he was about to be very ill. This was too much for his mind to take in. "How did she…?"

"We're not sure, well the doctors declared it a natural death, as her family had a history of heart blockages in the main chamber, and that's what appeared to have killed her, but I'm going to have that case reopened." Tholos decided, assuming charge.

"We need to act fast." Thon stated, biting his lip, his eyes wide and anxious. Archer was fairly sure he was the youngest of the Andorians. "If we can't find this Shran… we may never find the real one."

"What if it is the real one and he's been brainwashed." Hoshi asked. The Andorians shook their heads violently.

"Andorian Imperial Guardsmen are trained to resist that kind of thing."

"Still we must consider every option." T'Pol stated. "We must find Admiral Gardner."

"This is an Andorian affair." Keval spoke up. "We should-"

"A Starfleet officer died because of this, and that makes it our business!" Archer snapped, feeling a little more steady now that they had some form of a plan.

"I simply meant that we should find General Timaul and inform her." Keval snapped back irritated. He shoved his face into Archer's, "You may not care about Shran but we do! He was like our brother and we've spent the last five years looking for him! You've been the first clue about him in all that time! We're going to be involved in this!" Archer glared at the Andorian, but then relented, realising that the Andorians were probably feeling a lot like he did. But if what they said was true (why would they lie?) then that meant that this was the first they'd had any hope of finding Shran. And Shran had been missing for five years. That had to be worse than his death.

"All right." he said softly, backing up. "We'll need a Starship, if we're gonna catch that guy." Tholos smirked sadistically.

"Oh don't worry about that. I'm commander of a warship that's in orbit right now."

"Oh… that'll work." Archer nodded, feeling a familiar sensation come over him. It was the way he'd felt in the Expanse, strong, closed and hard. Someone had not only caused his best friends death, but was part of something involving the disappearance of another trusted friend, and insulted his memory within Archer. Those crimes would not be stood for as far as Captain Jonathon Archer was concerned.

Wow, lots going on in the first chapter! Unfortunately, the next one won't be for another week. Adios! I'm off to Seville! Back on the 15th.

Night's Darkness