CHAPTER 2
The twin suns of Dekar beat down on the away team as they walked through the dusty streets of the capital city. Archer engaged in a very animated discussion about Earth and Starfleet with the Dekarn diplomatic liaison and Trip listened to another Dekarn explain about their warp program. Hoshi listened to both conversations trying to figure out how the Dekarns were able to understand the away team without any apparent translating device. Malcolm walked several meters behind, keeping his eyes on the away team, as well as scanning the streets and the buildings as they passed by.
An official welcoming party met them, and gave them a tour of the city. Malcolm said very little throughout the tour, allowing Hoshi and Trip to ask all the obvious questions. Malcolm always found it was in what wasn't said that one found the answers to one's questions. The Dekarns seemed very excited to have the humans tour their city and they were very anxious to share information about their culture and achievements.
The Dekarns were a humanoid species, quite similar to humans, with a few outstanding differences. Although they were bipedal, they possessed four arms and had no outward ear structure, though there was a slit on either side of the head. Dekar itself was a bit of an enigma. Although they were a warp-capable society, the city itself seemed pre-warp. Malcolm looked around at the almost primitive buildings and unpaved streets and he thought about the advanced technology he had seen on their tour. They had warp drive, food replicators, and sophisticated communications, yet they were still bringing in water with an aqueduct. It was a really strange juxtaposition. He wasn't quite sure what was the anachronism, the advanced technology within or the archaic world without.
Something about the Dekarns had bothered Malcolm from the moment they hailed Enterprise, they just seemed too eager to make first contact. Maybe he was too jaded from past experiences, but he couldn't shake the feeling that they were up to something.
As they walked into the large foyer of the Ministerial palace, Malcolm noticed the armed guards stationed at the front. They carried what looked like MK-33's or other similar projectile firing weapon. Again, there was something about the inconsistency of technology that troubled him, but he knew he couldn't go to Archer about it. Not yet, not until he had something more substantial then a gut feeling.
"Welcome to Dekar. I am First Minister Tamm, the humble servant of the people of Dekar," a large, older alien said as he descended a large ornate staircase and approached the away team.
"Captain Jonathan Archer of Starfleet, planet Earth," Archer said as he extended his hand.
Tamm reached out and gave Archer a firm handshake and turned to the rest of the away team. "And who are these fine people?" he asked.
"I'd like you to meet my chief engineer, Charles Tucker the Third, my tactical officer, Lieutenant Malcolm Reed and my communications officer, Ensign Hoshi Sato."
Tamm shook hands with Trip and Malcolm and then paused and gave a slight bow before kissing the back of Hoshi's hand. "Now," he said as he clapped two of his hands together, "let us adjourn to the banquet hall, where a festive meal awaits us."
They were led into a large, lavish room set up with a long banquet table; waiters scurried around as they entered and took their seats.
**************
T'Pol had just finished running another routine scan of one of the uninhabited landmasses on Dekar when the ensign sitting at the communications station interrupted her.
"Sub-commander, we are being hailed from the surface," she reported.
"Is it Captain Archer?" T'Pol asked as she walked from her science station to the ensign.
"No, sir, it's coming from the southern hemisphere," she replied.
T'Pol stepped in front of the captain's chair. "Put it through, ensign."
The viewscreen changed to the image of an enraged Dekarn. "Who are you?" he demanded. "What are your intentions?"
Anger seethed from the screen making many of the bridge crew squirm a little in their seats. Travis actually jumped when the Dekarn spoke but T'Pol remained emotionless.
"I am Sub-commander T'Pol, of the Starship Enterprise. Our intentions remain the same as the first time you contacted us," she replied calmly.
The Dekarn on the viewscreen seemed even more agitated. "We have not contacted you before," he said, clenching one of his right hands in a fist. "What are your intentions?" he yelled.
T'Pol took a step toward the viewscreen. "Captain Archer is meeting with your First Minister right now. I am sure that if you contact your government." she tried to explain.
"No!" the man on the screen exploded. He turned to someone off screen and shouted orders. "Bring the ion canons online and target the ship orbiting the planet."
T'Pol was aware of the growing tension on the bridge as she contemplated the situation. She quietly ordered the hull plating brought online and calmly addressed the man on the viewscreen. "We are not threatening you. It was the Dekarn people who initiated first contact with us and Captain Archer is in negotiations right now with your government."
"We are not Dekarn," he roared. "We are Talian! And the friend of our enemy is our enemy."
*******************
Malcolm was agitated; he was seated with his back to the door, quite inconvenient for a security officer and although he thought his glances over his shoulder had been subtle the look on Archer's face told him differently. The room's acoustics were horrible and the clatter of dishes mixed with the din of voices made it nearly impossible for him to pick up on anything suspicious. He continued to scrutinize as much of the room as he could as he picked at his meal.
"Malcolm, is there something wrong with your meal?" Hoshi asked softly, looking down at his full plate. "You haven't touched a bite."
He shook his head. "It's fine," he said as he watched one of the waiters lean in close to Archer.
"It's really good," she said encouragingly. "I think it's chicken cordon bleu."
Trip was sitting on the other side of Malcolm listening to Hoshi's cajoling. "He's still frettin'," Trip said to Hoshi. "He hasn't figured out that these are the good guys yet." He looked at Malcolm. "Come on, loosen up and enjoy the meal. At least they aren't feeding us blood soup with the essence of male floating around in it."
Hoshi made a face and looked back at her plate. "Thanks, commander, for the image," she laughed.
Malcolm lay down the fork he was pushing around his food with and looked over at Tucker. "Don't you find it odd that they've been so willing to share information about themselves, yet they haven't bothered to ask anything about us?" he asked skeptically.
Trip laughed putting his hand on the back on Malcolm's chair. "So, they're a little self-absorbed," he said with a grin.
Hoshi leaned forward so she wouldn't have to raise her voice. "Maybe they just don't find us all that interesting," she said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Not find us interesting?" Trip said with a wink at Hoshi. "Him," he said, indicating Malcolm, "they might not find interesting. But us? We're interesting." Both he and Hoshi began to laugh.
Malcolm closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Once he felt he had himself under control he turned to Trip. "Everything's a big joke to you isn't it?" He paused a moment. "If we haven't shared anything about ourselves with them yet, then how are they so familiar with us?" Hoshi and Trip looked confused. Malcolm continued, "The handshake, the food? Doesn't it strike you funny that they even know what chicken cordon bleu is?"
They sat there a minute thinking about what he said. "T'Pol must have sent down a data packet," Trip offered.
Malcolm stood up without answering. "If you'll excuse me a moment," he said, as he stepped away from the table. As Malcolm passed by the head of the table he overheard Archer and Tamm speaking. "It would be our pleasure to give you a tour of our ship," Archer said raising his glass to the Minister.
"I thank you in advance, Captain," Tamm said, imitating Archer with his glass. "Here's to you and the Enterprise, and all the wonders it holds."
Malcolm got that uneasy feeling in his stomach again but knew that he had nothing to present to Archer except a gastrointestinal sensation. He flagged down a waiter and asked where a restroom was.
Malcolm went out a side door he hadn't even noticed when they first arrived, wondering how many other secret doors there were in the banquet room. He stepped into the bathroom and pulled out his communicator.
"Reed to T'Pol," he said into the little box, but received no answer and tried again. "Reed to T'Pol, Enterprise come in, this is Lieutenant Reed." Still no response. He checked the communicator but it appeared to be working properly.
The sound of the door opening startled him and he shoved his communicator back into his pocket before the waiter walked in. Malcolm washed his hands and headed back to the banquet room to talk to Archer who was still deeply engaged in discussion with Tamm.
"Pardon me, sir. If I might have a word with you?" Malcolm interrupted.
Archer looked annoyed. "Lieutenant Reed, I'm sure whatever it is, it can wait until after dinner," he said, with a forced smile.
Malcolm uncomfortably shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I don't think it can, sir."
Tamm smiled at Archer. "Please, Captain, if your tactical officer feels it's important, I'm sure it's important. I won't be offended," he said, holding his hands out in a placating gesture.
Archer still looked irritated but he stepped away from the table with Reed. "This better be good, Malcolm," Archer said.
Malcolm looked at his shoes, unsure of himself momentarily. As he regained his confidence he looked back up at Archer. "Captain, I just tried to contact Enterprise and."
"What?" Archer interrupted. "Why were you contacting Enterprise?" he asked, his voiced tinged with frustration.
"I wanted to find out if T'Pol sent any information from our database to the Dekarn," Malcolm said.
Archer rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Malcolm, I understand your need to be. apprehensive about every new species we encounter, but I don't think."
"Sir, with all due respect, I think there is much more going on here than meets the eye," Malcolm broke in.
Looking completely exasperated, Archer conceded and pulled his communicator from his pocket and tried to contact the ship. He tried several times without getting an answer. "This doesn't mean that the Dekarns are up to something, Malcolm," Archer said as he walked back to the table.
"Minister Tamm," Archer said as he stepped next to his host. "I need to contact my ship, to check in," he said with a disarming smile. "But for some reason I can't contact them."
Tamm clasped Archer's shoulder with one of his hands. "Ah, Captain Archer, I do apologize. I didn't even think that our defensive system might interfere with your communications device. Here, allow me."
He snapped his fingers and a waiter hurried over to his side. The universal translator couldn't decipher what he said, which only added to Malcolm's suspicion. When the waiter returned, he handed a small silver device to Tamm.
"Here, this should allow you to use your communications device," Tamm said, handing it to Archer. "Just connect your device into this port," he said pointing at the equipment, "and you should be able to contact your ship."
He slipped the communicator into the little device and tried to contact Enterprise again. "Archer to T'Pol," he said.
"T'Pol here. Captain, is everything all right? We have not been able to contact you," the Vulcan said.
Malcolm breathed a little easier hearing T'Pol's voice; at least they were in contact with the ship now. The uneasy feeling hadn't gone away but he was beginning to ignore it. Maybe it was just coincidence and there was no grand conspiracy on the Dekarns' part. Maybe Archer and Tucker were right; he was just paranoid.
Archer also seemed to relax when he heard T'Pol's voice. "Yes, T'Pol, it seems that the Dekarn defensive system was interfering with our communications signal. Is everything okay on Enterprise?"
"We have been contacted by the Talians, they occupy the land mass in the southern hemisphere of the planet," T'Pol explained.
At the mention of the Talians, Tamm and the other Dekarns began to get agitated. A few began speaking very animatedly to each other in the dialect that Tamm, and a couple of them left the room. Tamm motioned to several waiters, who quickly exited through one of the secret doors, making Malcolm even more nervous. Something was happening, and it wasn't good.
Apparently Archer had noticed too and stepped away from the table, moving out of earshot of the Dekarns. "The Talians?" Archer asked. "I wasn't aware that there was another people on this planet," he said as he cast a wary eye over to Tamm. "What do we know about them?"
"They and the Dekarns are at war," T'Pol explained. "They warned us that the Dekarns may try and steal weapons technology from us." She paused a moment. "They also threatened war if we provide weapons technology to the Dekarns."
Malcolm didn't like where this was going, and it was going there entirely too fast. He had identified three other doors besides the one he had used along the walls. The main entrance was still behind him and most of the Dekarns had left the table. All this and the fact that he had no weapon made this a highly dangerous situation.
"Inform the Talians we have no intentions of providing the Dekarns with any weapons technology and that we are on a mission of peaceful exploration," Archer told T'Pol.
"Captain, I am sorry to hear that," Tamm said menacingly. Before Archer could respond, the communicator was knocked out of his hand. As he looked in the direction of the blow he came face to face with a Dekarn, holding a rifle to his chest.
Malcolm moved to protect the Captain, but was met with a rifle butt in the jaw and was knocked to the floor. He could taste blood in his mouth as he looked around the room; at least 20-armed Dekarns surrounded them. He hated when he was right.
The twin suns of Dekar beat down on the away team as they walked through the dusty streets of the capital city. Archer engaged in a very animated discussion about Earth and Starfleet with the Dekarn diplomatic liaison and Trip listened to another Dekarn explain about their warp program. Hoshi listened to both conversations trying to figure out how the Dekarns were able to understand the away team without any apparent translating device. Malcolm walked several meters behind, keeping his eyes on the away team, as well as scanning the streets and the buildings as they passed by.
An official welcoming party met them, and gave them a tour of the city. Malcolm said very little throughout the tour, allowing Hoshi and Trip to ask all the obvious questions. Malcolm always found it was in what wasn't said that one found the answers to one's questions. The Dekarns seemed very excited to have the humans tour their city and they were very anxious to share information about their culture and achievements.
The Dekarns were a humanoid species, quite similar to humans, with a few outstanding differences. Although they were bipedal, they possessed four arms and had no outward ear structure, though there was a slit on either side of the head. Dekar itself was a bit of an enigma. Although they were a warp-capable society, the city itself seemed pre-warp. Malcolm looked around at the almost primitive buildings and unpaved streets and he thought about the advanced technology he had seen on their tour. They had warp drive, food replicators, and sophisticated communications, yet they were still bringing in water with an aqueduct. It was a really strange juxtaposition. He wasn't quite sure what was the anachronism, the advanced technology within or the archaic world without.
Something about the Dekarns had bothered Malcolm from the moment they hailed Enterprise, they just seemed too eager to make first contact. Maybe he was too jaded from past experiences, but he couldn't shake the feeling that they were up to something.
As they walked into the large foyer of the Ministerial palace, Malcolm noticed the armed guards stationed at the front. They carried what looked like MK-33's or other similar projectile firing weapon. Again, there was something about the inconsistency of technology that troubled him, but he knew he couldn't go to Archer about it. Not yet, not until he had something more substantial then a gut feeling.
"Welcome to Dekar. I am First Minister Tamm, the humble servant of the people of Dekar," a large, older alien said as he descended a large ornate staircase and approached the away team.
"Captain Jonathan Archer of Starfleet, planet Earth," Archer said as he extended his hand.
Tamm reached out and gave Archer a firm handshake and turned to the rest of the away team. "And who are these fine people?" he asked.
"I'd like you to meet my chief engineer, Charles Tucker the Third, my tactical officer, Lieutenant Malcolm Reed and my communications officer, Ensign Hoshi Sato."
Tamm shook hands with Trip and Malcolm and then paused and gave a slight bow before kissing the back of Hoshi's hand. "Now," he said as he clapped two of his hands together, "let us adjourn to the banquet hall, where a festive meal awaits us."
They were led into a large, lavish room set up with a long banquet table; waiters scurried around as they entered and took their seats.
**************
T'Pol had just finished running another routine scan of one of the uninhabited landmasses on Dekar when the ensign sitting at the communications station interrupted her.
"Sub-commander, we are being hailed from the surface," she reported.
"Is it Captain Archer?" T'Pol asked as she walked from her science station to the ensign.
"No, sir, it's coming from the southern hemisphere," she replied.
T'Pol stepped in front of the captain's chair. "Put it through, ensign."
The viewscreen changed to the image of an enraged Dekarn. "Who are you?" he demanded. "What are your intentions?"
Anger seethed from the screen making many of the bridge crew squirm a little in their seats. Travis actually jumped when the Dekarn spoke but T'Pol remained emotionless.
"I am Sub-commander T'Pol, of the Starship Enterprise. Our intentions remain the same as the first time you contacted us," she replied calmly.
The Dekarn on the viewscreen seemed even more agitated. "We have not contacted you before," he said, clenching one of his right hands in a fist. "What are your intentions?" he yelled.
T'Pol took a step toward the viewscreen. "Captain Archer is meeting with your First Minister right now. I am sure that if you contact your government." she tried to explain.
"No!" the man on the screen exploded. He turned to someone off screen and shouted orders. "Bring the ion canons online and target the ship orbiting the planet."
T'Pol was aware of the growing tension on the bridge as she contemplated the situation. She quietly ordered the hull plating brought online and calmly addressed the man on the viewscreen. "We are not threatening you. It was the Dekarn people who initiated first contact with us and Captain Archer is in negotiations right now with your government."
"We are not Dekarn," he roared. "We are Talian! And the friend of our enemy is our enemy."
*******************
Malcolm was agitated; he was seated with his back to the door, quite inconvenient for a security officer and although he thought his glances over his shoulder had been subtle the look on Archer's face told him differently. The room's acoustics were horrible and the clatter of dishes mixed with the din of voices made it nearly impossible for him to pick up on anything suspicious. He continued to scrutinize as much of the room as he could as he picked at his meal.
"Malcolm, is there something wrong with your meal?" Hoshi asked softly, looking down at his full plate. "You haven't touched a bite."
He shook his head. "It's fine," he said as he watched one of the waiters lean in close to Archer.
"It's really good," she said encouragingly. "I think it's chicken cordon bleu."
Trip was sitting on the other side of Malcolm listening to Hoshi's cajoling. "He's still frettin'," Trip said to Hoshi. "He hasn't figured out that these are the good guys yet." He looked at Malcolm. "Come on, loosen up and enjoy the meal. At least they aren't feeding us blood soup with the essence of male floating around in it."
Hoshi made a face and looked back at her plate. "Thanks, commander, for the image," she laughed.
Malcolm lay down the fork he was pushing around his food with and looked over at Tucker. "Don't you find it odd that they've been so willing to share information about themselves, yet they haven't bothered to ask anything about us?" he asked skeptically.
Trip laughed putting his hand on the back on Malcolm's chair. "So, they're a little self-absorbed," he said with a grin.
Hoshi leaned forward so she wouldn't have to raise her voice. "Maybe they just don't find us all that interesting," she said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Not find us interesting?" Trip said with a wink at Hoshi. "Him," he said, indicating Malcolm, "they might not find interesting. But us? We're interesting." Both he and Hoshi began to laugh.
Malcolm closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Once he felt he had himself under control he turned to Trip. "Everything's a big joke to you isn't it?" He paused a moment. "If we haven't shared anything about ourselves with them yet, then how are they so familiar with us?" Hoshi and Trip looked confused. Malcolm continued, "The handshake, the food? Doesn't it strike you funny that they even know what chicken cordon bleu is?"
They sat there a minute thinking about what he said. "T'Pol must have sent down a data packet," Trip offered.
Malcolm stood up without answering. "If you'll excuse me a moment," he said, as he stepped away from the table. As Malcolm passed by the head of the table he overheard Archer and Tamm speaking. "It would be our pleasure to give you a tour of our ship," Archer said raising his glass to the Minister.
"I thank you in advance, Captain," Tamm said, imitating Archer with his glass. "Here's to you and the Enterprise, and all the wonders it holds."
Malcolm got that uneasy feeling in his stomach again but knew that he had nothing to present to Archer except a gastrointestinal sensation. He flagged down a waiter and asked where a restroom was.
Malcolm went out a side door he hadn't even noticed when they first arrived, wondering how many other secret doors there were in the banquet room. He stepped into the bathroom and pulled out his communicator.
"Reed to T'Pol," he said into the little box, but received no answer and tried again. "Reed to T'Pol, Enterprise come in, this is Lieutenant Reed." Still no response. He checked the communicator but it appeared to be working properly.
The sound of the door opening startled him and he shoved his communicator back into his pocket before the waiter walked in. Malcolm washed his hands and headed back to the banquet room to talk to Archer who was still deeply engaged in discussion with Tamm.
"Pardon me, sir. If I might have a word with you?" Malcolm interrupted.
Archer looked annoyed. "Lieutenant Reed, I'm sure whatever it is, it can wait until after dinner," he said, with a forced smile.
Malcolm uncomfortably shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I don't think it can, sir."
Tamm smiled at Archer. "Please, Captain, if your tactical officer feels it's important, I'm sure it's important. I won't be offended," he said, holding his hands out in a placating gesture.
Archer still looked irritated but he stepped away from the table with Reed. "This better be good, Malcolm," Archer said.
Malcolm looked at his shoes, unsure of himself momentarily. As he regained his confidence he looked back up at Archer. "Captain, I just tried to contact Enterprise and."
"What?" Archer interrupted. "Why were you contacting Enterprise?" he asked, his voiced tinged with frustration.
"I wanted to find out if T'Pol sent any information from our database to the Dekarn," Malcolm said.
Archer rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Malcolm, I understand your need to be. apprehensive about every new species we encounter, but I don't think."
"Sir, with all due respect, I think there is much more going on here than meets the eye," Malcolm broke in.
Looking completely exasperated, Archer conceded and pulled his communicator from his pocket and tried to contact the ship. He tried several times without getting an answer. "This doesn't mean that the Dekarns are up to something, Malcolm," Archer said as he walked back to the table.
"Minister Tamm," Archer said as he stepped next to his host. "I need to contact my ship, to check in," he said with a disarming smile. "But for some reason I can't contact them."
Tamm clasped Archer's shoulder with one of his hands. "Ah, Captain Archer, I do apologize. I didn't even think that our defensive system might interfere with your communications device. Here, allow me."
He snapped his fingers and a waiter hurried over to his side. The universal translator couldn't decipher what he said, which only added to Malcolm's suspicion. When the waiter returned, he handed a small silver device to Tamm.
"Here, this should allow you to use your communications device," Tamm said, handing it to Archer. "Just connect your device into this port," he said pointing at the equipment, "and you should be able to contact your ship."
He slipped the communicator into the little device and tried to contact Enterprise again. "Archer to T'Pol," he said.
"T'Pol here. Captain, is everything all right? We have not been able to contact you," the Vulcan said.
Malcolm breathed a little easier hearing T'Pol's voice; at least they were in contact with the ship now. The uneasy feeling hadn't gone away but he was beginning to ignore it. Maybe it was just coincidence and there was no grand conspiracy on the Dekarns' part. Maybe Archer and Tucker were right; he was just paranoid.
Archer also seemed to relax when he heard T'Pol's voice. "Yes, T'Pol, it seems that the Dekarn defensive system was interfering with our communications signal. Is everything okay on Enterprise?"
"We have been contacted by the Talians, they occupy the land mass in the southern hemisphere of the planet," T'Pol explained.
At the mention of the Talians, Tamm and the other Dekarns began to get agitated. A few began speaking very animatedly to each other in the dialect that Tamm, and a couple of them left the room. Tamm motioned to several waiters, who quickly exited through one of the secret doors, making Malcolm even more nervous. Something was happening, and it wasn't good.
Apparently Archer had noticed too and stepped away from the table, moving out of earshot of the Dekarns. "The Talians?" Archer asked. "I wasn't aware that there was another people on this planet," he said as he cast a wary eye over to Tamm. "What do we know about them?"
"They and the Dekarns are at war," T'Pol explained. "They warned us that the Dekarns may try and steal weapons technology from us." She paused a moment. "They also threatened war if we provide weapons technology to the Dekarns."
Malcolm didn't like where this was going, and it was going there entirely too fast. He had identified three other doors besides the one he had used along the walls. The main entrance was still behind him and most of the Dekarns had left the table. All this and the fact that he had no weapon made this a highly dangerous situation.
"Inform the Talians we have no intentions of providing the Dekarns with any weapons technology and that we are on a mission of peaceful exploration," Archer told T'Pol.
"Captain, I am sorry to hear that," Tamm said menacingly. Before Archer could respond, the communicator was knocked out of his hand. As he looked in the direction of the blow he came face to face with a Dekarn, holding a rifle to his chest.
Malcolm moved to protect the Captain, but was met with a rifle butt in the jaw and was knocked to the floor. He could taste blood in his mouth as he looked around the room; at least 20-armed Dekarns surrounded them. He hated when he was right.