xxx

Enterprise Time: 0522

Phox looked up from his medical journals, quickly checking that he hadn't been sleeping. The physician in him recognized it as a trauma-induced reaction to the recent shock of waking up to find that he'd been drugged and all the women abducted.

He was relieved to find he'd not been asleep. That should have been comfort enough but a minute later, he was on his feet. It was too early but he'd go to the bridge, check that everything was okay. That too, he recognized as a reaction to having manned the ship all alone that time they crossed the nebula, when he'd been hallucinating the whole time. He had no interest in a repeat performance and wanted to make sure that he wasn't alone on Enterprise.

This time, if T'Pol appeared and started talking to him, he'd know it was an hallucination. The thought stopped him in his steps, frowning slightly. That was also what happened to Trip. He would need to research it further, perhaps a comparative study on stress-related hallucinatory experiences in Denobulans and Humans, and their triggers. He nodded to himself, yes, that would be an interesting paper, and resumed his way to the bridge.

He did a double-take upon exiting the turbolift. He'd expected the parse delta shift complement but the place was jumping instead with the full alpha shift and more. He approached the Captain's chair, looking around. "Is it 0800?" he asked pointedly.

Archer threw him a sideways glance, went back to checking the padd a junior officer handed him, "We've had some news," he said with a head gesture towards Trip.

Phlox turned to look at the engineer, currently in close consultation with Sidhoum, the two of them hunched over a magnified image of Aneukaria on the science console. The junior was talking to Trip, pointing out to something on the screen, and the engineer was nodding in response.

Phlox turned back to Archer. "Hmm?" that was commentary enough.

Archer sighed, glanced at Trip, then at Phlox, "Trip saw T'Pol again, this time she told him she was in the Imperial Palace."

"And?" Phlox was quickly scanning his database of Human psychiatric knowledge. Could hallucinations be communicable? Was Archer on a wild goose chase after a figment of Trip's imagination?

He seemed to read his thoughts, "We haven't changed a thing," he added, "only the science teams were recalled during the night, they're trying to locate the Imperial Palace."

He motioned to Reed with his head. Phlox could see he was in a sidebar conversation with three other security men. "I asked Lieutenant Reed to join too, the findings may be useful to him."

"Captain!" Both men turned to look at Sidhoum calling their attention to the screen. "There are areas of heightened population density," the scientist was pointing at the screen but Aneukaria was little more than a large dot with close-up views checkered all around it.

"The Imperial Palace?" Phlox asked.

"Centers of power are usually highly populated." the ensign said to Archer, "It could be one of these."

Archer eyed the screen narrowly, "Keep going, Ensign, see if one of these could be it. Reed, how are we doing on the recognizance?"

The chief of security shook his head, "Still nothing. The intercept mechanism could be closer to the planet."

Archer's eyes were fixed on the screen. There were limits to how carefully he was willing to thread. "Travis," he called over to the helmsman, "increase speed, get us to within a billion miles," they still wouldn't be visible, "and then drop back to qjuarter impulse." He turned to Reed, "I want an answer before we get there."

xxx

Imperial Palace - Exalted Ones - 08:32 A.M.

"I told you to leave me alone!"

Hesse looked up from where she and Cole were figuring their next move, hurried over to where the sound was coming from. It was Akhoun, red in the face, yelling at a flustered servant. "What's going on?!" Hesse asked.

Akhoun turned to face her, close to tears, "I don't want another goddam massage, I don't need to be pampered, with nothing worse to worry about than a split nail. And god knows how that could happen, the way they," she spat the word, "keep us wrapped in cotton. I'm not some prized possession! I'm a Starfleet officer! I want to be able to walk out, to go climb mountains, to run a marathon. And I do not want another massage!" the last was said within clenched teeth.

The servant was obviously torn between competing imperatives. The words of the Exalted Ones must be obeyed but she had her orders. She blinked her disarray at Hesse.

"Humans need freedom or we will be no good for Aneukaria," Hesse told her. That was as good a starting point as any. Akhoun's meltdown had been totally unexpected and yet it couldn't have come at a better time. "Humans don't thrive unless they're emotionally satisfied," she went on, "we don't want to be stuck in a room being fed and honored, we need to go around, to see our friends, our companions."

She'd managed to bring it back to a request to see the deviants. She glanced over at Cole who'd just arrived on the scene. It was a gamble. She mentally crossed her fingers that it would work, that the Aneukarians would grant hem their wish.

xxx

Imperial Palace - Preeminence Chambers - 10:23 A.M.

"This cannot be!" X-Omedlox blinked twice in indignation, turning to the preeminence, her confident and sometime lover, She was almost as old as the preeminence, and much more staunchly conservative in her views. "We cannot be subject to their continued blackmail! I say we act now!" she went on.

"They're merely asking to see their companions," X-Eliantix argued. She understood the tight bonds that could form on a ship. In the face of danger and the unknown, little did it matter whether the person next to you was a deviant.

"They're deviants!" X-Omedlox roared, as if that word alone was all the explanation needed.

"They're still their companions," X-Eliantix argued back.

"The Exalted Ones could refuse to cooperate with us," X-Igofox added. X-Eliantix had called her for support as soon as X-Omedlox started arguing for killing the deviants right away. That had reopened the question of the deviants' fate and it gave her one more shot at having them spared.

X-Eliantix was glad X-Aljikax was not with her, she would have been arguing the other side. She preferred not to dwell on the moral differences that animated them. That may be an issue that would split them asunder but she was not ready yet.

"My point exactly," X-Omedlox retorted, "If we keep the deviants alive, the Exalted Ones will keep blackmailing us. We need to get rid of them now!"

"But we have not finalized our research," X-Igofox shot back.

X-Omedlox scoffed. "We already have what we need. We can keep the Exalted Ones alive whether they want to or not. We don't need the deviants." She said that last part with contempt, hinting it should have been done on the Tarorat.

"That's a limited vision," X-Igofox protested. "We could use these alien deviants, there's nothing wrong with their genome."

"Deviants are polluted!" X-Ynehekid almost shouted back. She was the leading medical advisor to the preeminence and an ally of X-Omedlox. Her word was unfortunately weighty.

"But they're aliens!" X-Eliantix exclaimed in turn. She implored X-Irtanimox, "Their physiology's not the same."

X-Omedlox also turned to X-Itranimox, "We already decided to dispose of the deviants. Are we going back on that? The only question before us should be that of timing."

"These are aliens, not subject to our rules," X-Eliantix argued again.

"Sparing them would fly against the face of everything we hold true!" X-Omedlox raised her voice, "And dear!"

"The people will understand!" X-Eliantix shouted back.

"Stop!" X-Irtanimox raised a gnarled and weathered hand, "We are not revisiting the matter." The revered elder turned to X-Eliantix, "It is not a question of them being aliens, itt is a question of our civilization."

She paused. "There is no time to soften our beliefs. I hear what you say and if times were different perhaps... But our world is dying, people need something to anchor onto. We haven't had a cleansing ceremony in hundreds of years, this will mark our shared values, provide hope for the future."

"Can't we wait for our future to be assured before we execute the deviants?" X-Eliantix asked, her strategic instincts on alert.

But X-Irtanimox turned to General X-Crafonaox without answering her, "Is the sacred space ready?"

The general bowed. "Everything is ready for the ceremony, your preeminence."

X-Irtonimox blinked brusquely twice. "Then let it be. We will proceed tonight. From morning to night, as it was written. Thus I have spoken." With that the revered elder turned around and retreated to her private chambers with the unsteady gait of age.

X-Omedlox and X-Eliantix stood staring each other down unblinkingly. Finally X-Omedlox turned on her heel and left.

X-Eliantix looked at X-Igofox with sorrow. The aliens had saved them and even though they were deviants, she felt bad about their fate.

xxx

Enterprise Time: 1121

"The moons themselves turned out to be defense outposts, here, here and there," Reed pointed at the screen, "each with an armada of spaceships hidden behind it, ready for anything that comes through."

Trip leaned in closer, checking the relative position of the asteroids. Archer was scowling at the screen. He'd called for a full stop, didn't like it. On the other hand he'd learned not to rush ahead unprepared. "Can they see us?"

Reed shook his head, "Not at this distance. It would be difficult to tell us from a random stellar phenomenon."

"How many of these things d'you say there are?" Trip's accent was thick, a sign of stress.

"Three so far. We're still looking for others."

Archer was frowning at the screen. "Find out everything you can about them, number, personnel, weapons, what type of toothpaste they use, everything!"

"We need to get through!" Trip interjected, "they're going to kill the women!"

Archer paused, seemed to consider. "How long to get the data?" he asked Malcolm.

"A couple of hours."

The Captain got to his feet, "All key bridge personnel in the command center at 1400. I'll ask Phlox to join us."

xxx

Aneukaria - 2:06 P.M.

The crowd was hollering its fury, angry fists waving in the air, angry faces frothing at the mouth. Projectiles of all sorts splatterred against the force field surrounding the cart, some with the repulsive squeashiness of rotting matter. The stench still came through, gagging the figures tied to poles on the cart. The guards hanging on to the railing of the slow vehicle would sometimes lean into the crowd to push back an overly aggressive onlooker.

Something whizzed right by her ear before hitting the forcefield and Hoshi startled. The mob greeted her reaction with loud jeers and catcalls. She hardly heard them, wondering instead why it was she wasn't scared even though she was being slowly carted to her death.

Perhaps it all had happened too fast. One minute they were lounging in their new rooms in the Imperial Palace, the next minute X-Distsax, X-Aljikax and some Aneukarian who looked about ready to keel over from age came to let them know the cleansing ceremony was happening now.

There'd be no time to process the news before they found themselves tied to that stupid cart, inching their way to god knows where except it would be unpleasant. She'd had no time to think. And when she did, all she could think about was that Enterprise would come. It just didn't feel real. Had never really felt real.

She looked around at the others on the cart. Beausang was pale as a ghost, had been pale since the announcement, but not a word escaped her lips. Nagamura was crying non-stop, silent tears streaming down her face, it seemed she would never stop. Browardsky had completely given over to the panic invading her, shaking her head and saying 'no' over and over. Cutler looked immensely sad, and T'Pol was impassive, as always.

Hoshi envied T'Pol her preternatural calm. She wondered how the noise and ambient hostility were impacting her. Vulcans were sensitive to the feelings of those around them. The thought dawned on her that may be why T'Pol had helped her that time on the disabled Klingon ship. She must have been radiating anxiety miles around, it would have been tough for a Vulcan.

Come to think of it, she'd never again felt really scared since that time. Perhaps that's why she wasn't getting crazy anxious even now. At least so long as she didn't think of Malcolm. If she thought of him, she would go to pieces. She couldn't afford it. She went back to watching T'Pol instead.

xxx

Enterprise - Time: 1416

"The idea is we swoop in, bomb a couple of places, and leave with the women," Trip stated. Everyone in the command room nodded.

"We could simply ask for the women back," Phlox chimed in, increasingly uncomfortable with the bellicose tone of the meeting. "Humans have a saying, speak softly and carry a big stick'," he added, "American baseball, I believe."

Archer shook his head, "Not a sport, politics, but that doesn't apply here. They're the ones who attacked us." He turned to Trip, "How long would it take to transport them?"

"A little less than twenty minutes."

"After we get through the defense system," Malcolm pointed out. "Once we pass by a moon all its ships will come out to attack. And there's the other moons as back-up."

"How long for the other moons' ships to join the fun?" Archer asked.

"The alert must be out to all outposts at once. The distances are too short for warp. Twelve minutes or so, give or take a couple," Malcolm replied.

"If we override all the safety routines, we could complete the transport in twelve minutes," Trip added, "it could work."

"We'll be fighting and trying to transport the women at the same time. That's splitting our forces," Malcolm was not sanguine about the idea.

"Trip can man Engineering from the transport room," Archer said, "once we've dealt with the first outpost." He looked around at the room, "All thoughts are welcome."

"We could rush them," Travis said softly in the deepening silence.

Archer looked up, "Rush them?"

"Something my dad taught me," the helmsman replied. "Lieutenant Reed's comments about warp made me think of it. It's from American football."

"Another Terran sport?" Phlox asked. But Archer stopped him with a raised hand. "Explain." Trip shot him a glance. That's what T'Pol would have said. It made him miss her more.

The pilot leaned over the screen, pointing, "If we go to warp here and come out here, at the apex of their atmosphere, we'll be right behind the moon. We can take the ships out as they come out."

"That's an incredibly dangerous maneuver!" Trip protested.

"That will give us the time we need," Archer cut in, "and the element of surprise." He turned to Travis, "Think you can do it?"

"Aye, sir!"

"American football, hmm?" Phlox had no idea what that was but he looked at Travis appraisingly. The helmsman shrugged humbly.

Archer turned to Reed, "We'll have to come out all guns blazing."

"Not an issue, Captain!" Malcolm almost snapped his heels.

"We still need to find where the women are." Archer looked at Trip, "Anything you can tell us?"

They all turned to the engineer in surprise. Trip could feel himself blush. Jon misunderstood the bond. It wasn't like T'Pol and him were physically connected, like he could tell where she was. He shook his head ruefully, "We've got a couple of potential sites. We're also monitoring planetary transmissions but there's a lag. I told Sidhoum to join us the moment they have anything."

xxx

Aneukaria - 2:28 P.M.

Unaware of Hoshi's interest, T'Pol was busy estimating the time left to them. They had been following an outward spiral from the Imperial Palace to what she expected was the site of the cleansing ceremony. Based on the speed of the convoy and the size of the growing crowd following them, ithe site was close. It wouldn't take much longer. The afternoon was already advanced.

The buzz of aircraft and the running commentary that wafted above the crowd let her know the media was involved. As the parade marched on, the mob was growing increasingly hostile. The features of the Aneukarians pressed against the cart, or as close to it as the guards allowed, were distorted by hatred. Left alone to its own devices, the mob would have torn them to pieces. It was nervous, excited. Its hot hatred was something thick, almost physical, that painfully pressed on her from all sides. She kept staring ahead, focused on maintaining her shields against the raging emotions.

And then the music started, a thumping of Aneukarian instruments that was particularly irritating to the Vulcan ear. T'Pol retreated deeper win her mind, trying to isolate herself from the deafening noise, the hostile crowd and the alien stenches. She found a welcome space at the center. The outside cacophony quieted down, she was able to catch her breath.

"Where'd'you disappear to?!"

She almost startled at the voice. What was Trip doing here? She was not event meditating. She realized that in trying to escape the unpleasantness she had unwittingly achieved resonance. There was no time to answer his question. She urgently needed to let him know. "They're taking us to be executed," she quickly said.

"What?! Where are you..." Trip took a deep breath, grabbed the bridge of his nose, "Forget about that! How much time?!"

"Based on extrapolation —

"T'Pol!" Trip snapped. This was not the time to go Vulcan on him.

"We're almost at the appointed place —," T'Pol stopped herself as she saw Trip frown. "I do not know," she finally said.

"Where are you?! We're almost at Aneukaria!"

She looked around, "An area wide enough to contain tens of thousands of Aneukarians." She looked in the distance, "We're approaching a structure large enough to be observed from space. I estimate that must be the killing site."

"Listen, we're almost at Aneukaria!" Trip repeated, "We can be there in minutes! Try to delay—"

She didn't know what he was going to say. There was a sudden commotion and she opened her eyes into the snarling face of X-Distsax. "Another move like that and you'll taste the singing stick!" The Aneukarian was angry.

There was a pain in her side where the guard had struck. T'Pol didn't answer. The wrong answer could easily trigger the sadist guard's rage. She looked around at the crowd. It had grown ten-fold, slowly funneling the cart towards the structure. There was no doubt this was the killing site.

There was no way to tell how long the cleaning ceremony would take once they were inside. Trip had said Enterprise could be there in minutes, with customary Human imprecision. There were sixty minutes in an hour. There had been no time to qualify the information.

When the odds could not be calculated, hope was an appropriate response. She hoped Enterprise would show up in time. In the meantime, she needed to think of ways to delay the proceedings.

xxx

Enterprise Time: 1452

"Are we keeping you up, Commander?" Archer snapped. The engineer was staring slack-jawed into space. Trip startled as if waking up from a dream, blinked around the room, finally settling on Archer's face, "We must act now! There's no time! The Aneukarians are about to execute them !"

"What?!" Archer cried.

"They're on their way to being executed! We need to get there ASAP!"

Malcolm was looking slack-jawed at Trip. Travis was gaping at the engineer also. "I can't explain how I know but I know!" Trip exclaimed.

Archer exhaled between clenched teeth. "How much time?"

"I don't know! She didn't know! But they were being brought to the execution site!"

"Were they alone?" Phlox asked.

"No, there were tens of thousands of people, T'Pol said they were on their way but she didn't know how long it would take. They weren't there yet," he stopped himself before it could sound any crazier.

"We have to assume there'll be some kind of ceremony," Phlox told Archer, "these take more than a few minutes."

"Captain!" Sidhoum entered the room at a run, gasping between breaths, "... a transmission... we have the women!"

"Everyone to the bridge!" Archer shouted. They all left a a run.

xxx

Glossary:

X-Irtanimox - ruler of Aneukaria.

Irivmeced - Aneukaria's main Council.

X-Eliantix - captain of the Tarorat.