The following is a non-profit, fan work based off the respective works Gene Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Brannon Braga

All rights belong to the original creators, CBS, and Paramount

The Bluefire Phoenix presents...

Enterprise Prime
Episode 2: First Star on the Right… Part 2

Act III

Archer was sitting in his quarters. Porthos was sitting at his feet. The captain had just sat down after going through his medical checkup. Thanks to his station he was the first in and first out. The lights were dimmed and his eyes were staring out into the void of space. His thoughts were going through the events.

His door rang. "Come in," he said. The door hissed open and Sub-commander T'Pol entered. She walked up to the captain with a data pad in hand. She stood at attention. Archer gave a gentle wave of his hand to get the Vulcan to relax a bit. She probably didn't get the move as she remained in her usual Vulcan state. Archer smiled a bit as he reached for the data pad.

T'Pol gave it to him. It was a message from Star Fleet Command telling him essentially they were glad he wasn't dead. Bravado and compassion were good and all but Archer needed to be more cautious while Star Fleet was still so young. Archer smiled at the note. The next item on the pad wasn't so heartwarming.

The Vulcans were doubling their border patrols and creating an exclusion zone along the border as well. All non-Vulcan ships, with the exception of human ships will be destroyed on sight. Archer remembered what the Admirals showed him back on Earth. War was coming. And everyone knew it.

"Tell me T'Pol, what do you think of this report?" Archer asked. He showed her the details of her government's latest move.

"It is logical. An Andorian pirate vessel was able to get so far into Vulcan territory shows that there are gaps in the system that needs to be closed," she said.

"Yes but at the same time, it looks like aggressive action and it might provoke the Andorians. But let me ask: if war were to break out tomorrow, would you want to return to your people and fight?" Archer followed up.

"Sir, what is the point of these questions. My loyalty is to the Council, and my assignment is here. There is nothing more to it, sir," T'Pol rather acerbically retorted. Archer turned to his science officer with a surprised look on his face.

"I'm genuinely curious. So humor me: would you rather stay with us or go fight with your people?"

T'Pol remained oddly silent. Archer could make out some rather subtle facial movements it the Vulcan's face. It sort of looked like she was uncomfortable with the question. Though he wasn't sure. "I am an officer sworn to defend the values and homes of my people, and I will do as my oath demands and follow my orders," she answered.

"Very well," Archer said with a sigh. It wasn't meant as a test of loyalty or at least that's what he thought anyway. He handed the pad back to T'Pol. "You did a good job today. Command was thrusted on you and you didn't crack under pressure."

The Vulcan took the pad. "There is no need for praise captain. I only fulfilled my duty to the best of my abilities as one of your officers. Your people in turn did the same," she insisted. Archer shook his head.

"You're serving on a human ship T'Pol. It might do you some good to accept some praise. It will help you seem…"

"More human, sir?" T'Pol recommended. Archer's brow rose a bit.

"Well you don't have to be so blunt about it," he countered.

"I understand the sentiment, sir. It doesn't strike me as logical though."

"You know, not everything has to be logical," Archer said, probably to the Vulcan's distain.

"Do you require anything else, sir?"

"No, you're dismissed."

T'Pol took her leave and began her walk back through the grey halls to the bridge. On the way she had a run in with Ensign Sato, who was going to deliver a report. She eyed the Vulcan a bit before continued on. The Sub-commander wasn't sure how to respond to the look or what it was for. Humans and their constant swirling emotions was something she trained for but still found…odd.

They had worked well together when they decrypted the message. Her mathematical work was able break the code and Ensign Sato proved quite the useful translator, showing remarkable understanding of Andorian.

Hoshi brushed past her superior with an odd expression, she hoped it wasn't offensive. Probably not because…well, Vulcan. By all counts, the sub-commander had done a solid job with helping them get out. She couldn't shake the…otherness of the Vulcan. Years training as in xeno-linguist hadn't been enough to prepare for how difficult it was to read them. Vulcan body language was so slight and nuanced that Hoshi still wasn't an expert at it. Mix in their limited facial expressions and the she might as well have tried to talk with a computer.

The Ensign shook the thoughts out of her head. She had finished translating the message. It was a strange message, filled with references to various characters and motifs found in Andorian literature. It took some sifting to figure out what it all meant. That was what she loved about the job after all. Any moron could translate one language into another. What took skill was the ability to break it down and understand the idioms, metaphors, and oddities that added depth to language.

Her analysis was that this was a private message and based on the usage it was from someone with an education in Andorian Classics. That was solely based on her own understanding. The message was sent to Starfleet HQ, so maybe someone with more knowledge of the whole situation. She entered the captain's quarters and delivered her report before going to the mess hall. She grabbed her food. With that she sat alone amongst the crowded room.

In sickbay, Reed and Tucker were dressed down to their pants and being looked over by the nurse, Ensign Crane. Doctor Phlox was seeing to the other members of the boarding party and the damage control team. The alien's cheery demeanor lightened up the rather sterile looking sickbay, with the clinical white walls and slick medical machines. It wasn't enough to block the petting zoo like smell that permeated the place.

Crane was dressed in a loose fitting blue garment and had a flash light on her head band. She was finishing up a scan of the men. "I still think this is unnecessary," Tucker pouted as the nurse retracted her scanner. His body was pretty well in shape, with the smallest signs of abs peeking through.

"Sorry commander, the doctor wants a full physical of the crew," Crane said. She packed up her scanner and went to the side computer to start transferring the data. Her attention was quickly consumed by the flood of data.

"I take it getting our records from Starfleet medical was just too much effort?" Reed quipped. Tucker nodded in agreement. Reed was a man in peak physical form and in the prime of his life. Crane occasionally took note of the man's physique with quick glances.

"I find that a physical is a good way to get to know my patients without getting too intrusive," Phlox insisted. He had joined the trio. "Besides, those records only say you are healthy enough for Starfleet."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Tucker asked; the indignity of his tone as bear as his chest.

Phlox checked the read out from Crane's scanner from over her shoulder. "Only that while Starfleet has high standards, I believe that they are a bit lax. Not to worry though, I'm not going to be a total tyrant over it," he said. He shot Tucker a finger gun. "However I'm going to have to request you cut back on all the fried food, commander. Your blood pressure is a little high."

Tucker mumbled something, playing up his accent a bit. The act was enough to make Reed laugh. Phlox then brought his attention to Reed.

"As for you lieutenant, well I won't mention it here but I'm going to request you keep from intimate contact with the crew, please," the doctor insisted. That got Tucker to snort and Reed to turn a bit red. Crane rolled her eyes.

"You're free to go gentlemen," she said. The men gathered their cloths, dressed, and departed.

Back in Archer's cabin, the captain was now standing up. He was clutching Hoshi's report. Earlier when he had mostly joked with T'Pol, it was supposed to elevate his fears of war. But this new report added a level of fear to his words.

If Hoshi was right, then war was right around the corner. They were now a bad day away from unleashing a monster that might very well cost humanity its future. Archer did take the report with a grain of salt. This was just the analysis of his comms officer. Hoshi was good, but there were so many things they didn't know that it could just be nothing more than pretty words on a page.

Archer stared out is view port, his mind now on the future and what darkness lurked out there.

To be Continued...

A/N: War as a whole is an interesting thing, in a purely intellectual/socio-political sense. It involves hundreds upon thousands of individual stories coalescing into this overarching event. And with few exceptions, they are surprisingly predictable. For example Otto von Bismark famously called both the cause and date of the First World War decades before it happened. Hell, remember DS9? Okay, so why don't we stop these things in advance if we can make such predictions? Well that comes down to how you see humanity really. I'll talk about this later.