ACT THREE

FADE IN:

INT. ORELA'S KITCHEN - NIGHT

Hoshi, Cutler and Orela enter through the back-door into the kitchen. Orela removes her jacket and begins preparing supper.

JACQUE (O.S.)
Orela? Is that you?

ORELA
(to Hoshi and Cutler)
That's my roommate.

Jacque bounces into the kitchen. She is a vibrant blond wearing something similar to a kimono. She retrieves a glass of milk, oblivious of the two.

CUTLER
She...

ORELA
What?

Jacque takes notice of the two.

JACQUE
Hey, she looks like you Orela!

ORELA
I know. I found them at the parade today.

CUTLER
You look like T'Pol. If she were--

Hoshi elbows Cutler in the ribs.

JACQUE
Jacque.
(shakes the women's hands)
Lieutenant-Commander Jacque Grace. And you two are?

HOSHI
Hoshi.

CUTLER
Elizabeth.

JACQUE
So. Who's T'Pol? And where'd she
come up with a name like that?

HOSHI
She's a friend.

JACQUE
She as gorgeous as me?

Jacque fluffs her hair and bats her eye lashes.

ORELA
(chiding)
Commander Grace, I'm sure she's
as gorgeous as you if she looks like you.

HOSHI
(with head in hands)
This is insane.

JACQUE
Are you okay, dear? You look
pale. Here, sit down.

Jacque takes Hoshi's arm and guides her to a chair.

HOSHI
No. I'm not okay.

ORELA
So, your boss's name is Jonathan Archer, huh?
(to Jacque)
This boss of theirs must be Haeri
Two Scars' twin, Jac, cuz he's
his spitting image.

JACQUE
What are you two petite things
doing hanging around with Two
Scars? What he have on you two
little bunnies?

HOSHI
(forcefully)
His name is Jonathan Archer. He
is our Ca...boss. Okay? Got that?

JACQUE
(offended)
Yeah. Okay. So what are you two
doing messed up with the mob
anyway? You look smarter than that.

HOSHI
(tired, frustrated)
We are not IN the mob. Okay? We
aren't in the mob, Jonathan
Archer is NOT this Haeri Two
Scars, Orela looks like me and we
don't know why, and you look like
a friend of ours! There! Okay?
That's it! There's nothing more
to it! How hard is this!?

A long silence.

JACQUE
(to Orela)
Call me when supper's ready.
(cool)
Just remember, Hoshi, that some
skeletons in the closet can kill you.

Jacque leaves the kitchen. Hoshi puts her face in her hands again. Cutler leans over, putting her arm around her friends shoulder to reassure her.

CUT TO:

INT. SITUATION ROOM

The bridge crew is staring at the view monitor that's playing the same broadcast of Vignand, but the translator is translating what's he's saying in English.

Vignand's speech is reminiscent of Adolf Hitler's speeches during Earth's World War II. Trip, Reed and T'Pol are gathered around the console.

REED
I'm... he's... an Admiral.

The speech ends and the screen goes back to a view of the planet. Reed looks at the console.

TRIP
T'Pol, don't you have any ideas
on how to find them?

T'POL
I have not devised a method to
locate our captain and missing crewmen.

TRIP
There's gotta be something.

On the bridge, Ensign Shipper is at the communications console. He sits up and looks back at the situation room.

SHIPPER
Sub-Commander, I'm picking up a
transmission. It has our signature.

T'POL
Put it through. This is T'Pol.

HOSHI'S COM VOICE
Oh God it's great to hear your
voice, T'Pol!

TRIP
How are you? WHERE are you?

HOSHI'S COM VOICE
We're fine, but I don't know
where we are. Elizabeth is with
me. We ran into a couple twins.

TRIP
Seems to be an epidemic down
there, Hoshi. Malcolm and the
Captain have twins down there too.
(to Ensign Shipper)
Can you lock onto her location?

SHIPPER
Working on it, sir.

HOSHI'S COM VOICE
Did you know that the Captain's
twin is a mob boss?

TRIP
Yeah. We found that out.
Malcolm's is a Hitler-type admiral.

HOSHI'S COM VOICE
Hurry. Someone's coming. Hurry, guys.

SHIPPER
Almost have it, Hoshi.

HOSHI'S COM VOICE
Trip, hur--

SHIPPER
I lost the signal, sir.

TRIP
Were you able to triangulate the signal?

SHIPPER
No.

TRIP
Hail her.

T'POL
Commander, she was apparently
afraid. If she discontinued
contact to hide, you may give
their position away.

TRIP
Belay that, Ensign.

Trip puts his hands on his hips, looking more frustrated.

CUT TO:

INT. SWANK BEDROOM - DAY

Archer is buttoning his shirt in front of a floor mirror. In the mirror's reflection he watches the door open and Jisyca swishes in with her hands held behind her back. Tension builds. Archer slowly pulls the tie off the mirror and attempts to tie it, keeping his eyes on Jisyca.

JISYCA
You didn't come to bed last night.

Archer doesn't reply. He's having difficulty tying his tie.

JISYCA
The boys are waiting downstairs for you.

ARCHER
They're good kids.

JISYCA
I meant your boys-- Darik, Cevin,
the others. Not my boys.

Jisyca brings her hand around. Archer relaxes a little when he sees her hands are empty. Jisyca steps in front of him, taking the tie from him.

JISYCA
You never could tie a tie correctly.

ARCHER
Maybe I should learn.

Jisyca watches Archer's eyes while she ties the tie.

JISYCA
You need me, Haeri, know that? To
fix your ties, your books, make
sure hits go through... You need me, Haeri.

Archer watches her. Jisyca tightens the tie very snug under Archer's Adam's apple. He grabs her hands to keep her from tightening it further.

JISYCA
The arms shipment is coming in
tonight, Haeri. Lots of scratch
is riding on it. Let me handle
it. They may not be comfortable
with how you're behaving right now.

Archer pries Jisyca's hands away from the tie and retreats a step.

ARCHER
You don't strike me as the type
of person Har-- I want to let
handle a deal so big, Jisyca.

JISYCA
Jisyca is it? Have you really
lost so much interest in me I'm
not even sweetheart anymore?

The two exchange a long, tense stare. Archer reaches round her, slowly pulling his suit coat off the mirror.

ARCHER
I have to go have breakfast and
get to work.

JISYCA
Go. Have breakfast. Talk shop
with the boys. This afternoon we
could go to a picture show, huh?
Just you and me. Like in the old days.

There's a knock on the door and Novakovich enters. Jisyca glares at him.

NOVAKOVICH
Ca-- Boss. The boys are waiting
downstairs for you. They sent me
to get you.

Archer pulls his coat on as he and Novakovich exit the room into the hall.

INT. SWANK HALL

The two men walk down the hall. They talk in hushed voices.

NOVAKOVICH
What was happening in there?

ARCHER
Please tell me you have the communicator working.

NOVAKOVICH
No, sir. I'm still working on it,
Captain. I only have outdated
tools and I haven't had time to
get away from the people in this
house. What was going on, sir? It
didn't look good.

ARCHER
I, or Haeri rather, was being
threatened. You have got to fix
that communicator, Nathan. I want
out of this house and to put a
solar system between that woman
and me. I have never, in my life,
met a woman so cold, detached and
ruthless as that thing is.

NOVAKOVICH
Thing, sir?
(smiles)
You must really hate her to call her a thing.

ARCHER
She doesn't have a heart or a
soul, Nathan. She's a thing.

NOVAKOVICH
Glad to see you still have your
sense of humor, sir.

ARCHER
Have to keep that, Nathan. We
have to keep that. Where the hell
is the dining room?

NOVAKOVICH
(laughs)
This way, sir.

Archer glances back as they turn a corner. Jisyca is standing in the door, watching them.

CUT TO:

EXT. WAREHOUSE - DAY

A car stops and Jisyca gets out of it. She walks into the warehouse at a fast walk.

INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY

Jisyca walks to the stairs and trots up them to an office. She crosses the walk in front of it, seeing Vignand sitting behind a desk in a leather desk chair. Jacque sits on the arm of the chair with her arms around Vignand.

She is whispering in his ear, running a long fingernail up and down his cheek. The two look up when Jisyca storms into the room.

JISYCA
He's alive. You said you killed him!

Vignand motions Jacque away. She gets up and leaves the office.

VIGNAND
Who is alive?

Jisyca slams her hands down on the desk in front of Vignand.

JISYCA
How much did he pay you? I'll
double whatever he paid you to
have him killed. I WANT HIM DEAD, LUC!

VIGNAND
I'm afraid I don't know who
you're talking about.

Jisyca shoves everything on Vignand's desk off. She reaches across the desk, grabs his tie and yanks him halfway across.

JISYCA
(narrows eyes)
My husband is alive, Vignand. And
to make matters worse, some bookworm
tagged along and I think he's the
reason my husband is alive and
has been confusing my dear Haeri.
I overheard them talking about
some strange things last night
and this morning Haeri was still
acting strange. He called me sweetheart.
The last time he called me
sweetheart was before he was
known as Haeri Two Scars across
five provinces. How could you
have futzed this up so bad? I'm
not paying you the rest. You
didn't even complete the job!

Vignand tries to pull Jisyca's hand away. When she doesn't let go he slaps her, the force of the hit knocking her off her feet. He stands up and walks around his desk, straightening his tie.

Vignand grabs Jisyca by the arms and throws her into a chair. He pins her there by leaning on her with all his weight and stares into her eyes.

VIGNAND
One, Mrs. Swank, you do not come
into my office, interrupt a
meeting and threaten me.
(roughly gives her a solid shake)
I don't tolerate that well. Do we
understand one another on that?

JISYCA
(growls)
Yes.

VIGNAND
Second, I did kill your husband.
They retrieved his body. His
dental records matched! The only
explanation is that this man that
appears to be your dear, departed
Haeri, is not.

Vignand grabs Jisyca by the back of the neck and pulls her to her feet, pulling her close.

VIGNAND
Regardless, he and his friend are
dead. Consider it a bonus for the
other payment installments you've
been delivering behind your husband's back.

Vignand presses his lips to Jisyca's. She wraps her arms around him and the two become more intimate.

CUT TO:

INT. TRANSPORTER

Reed and Trip are getting ready to return to the surface.

T'POL (O.S.)
Commander Tucker.

REED
(under his breath to Trip)
Oops. Forgot the departing kiss.

Trip shoots a wrathful glance at Reed. Reed steps onto the transporter, laughing quietly. Trip turns to T'Pol.

TRIP
Yeah?

T'POL
You need to postpone your return
to the surface.

TRIP
T'Pol, we gotta go look for the
Captain and the others.

T'POL
Hoshi has been detecting scans
from the surface and they have
increased in number after your
last transport from the surface.
Someone knows we are here and is tracking us.

TRIP
T'Pol, we have to go to the
surface. All them humans down
there have the same bio-signature
as us. The only way to find them
is to look.

T'POL
If you go, you will be stuck on
the surface until the scans cease
or you find our crew.

TRIP
T'Pol--

T'POL
Commander, we have contaminated
this civilization enough as it
is. If you leave, you will remain
until you find them.

TRIP
That could be days.

T'POL
Then perhaps you should take survival gear.

REED
I can't believe this. T'Pol, we
can't stay down there for several
days. We'd certainly be discovered then.

T'POL
Then you need to wait until the scans cease.

REED
And we can't leave our captain
and crew down there either.

T'POL
These are the only options available.

TRIP
No. The other option is if we
don't find them today, you
transport us back to Enterprise.
Scans or no scans.

T'POL
That is not an option.

Trip looks at Reed.

TRIP
What do you want to do, Malcolm?

REED
Rescue my captain and crew
against a Vulcan's recommendation.

T'POL
I did not--

TRIP
(to T'Pol)
Don't call us, we'll call you.

Trip and Reed step onto the transporter.

T'POL
Report in three hours.

Trip and Reed start to transport off Enterprise.

TRIP
Yeah, okay, mom!

The two men's laughter fades quickly as they're transported. T'Pol's eyebrow lifts slightly.

FADE OUT.

END OF ACT THREE