DISCLAIMER: I do not own Star Trek: Enterprise or any of its characters. I make no money off this story, only a tremendous sense of self worth.
AUTHORESS' NOTE: This chapter of the story takes place shortly before and during the events of 'E2'. However, most of this story takes place during the forth season of Enterprise, after 'Observer Effect' but before 'Babel One'. Again, this story is branching into AU territory, but I am attempting to keep as much of canon as stable as possible. I know a lot of fans aren't too big on that, but for me, the stability of canon is a big deal. However, some mistakes are too great to ignore.
Living Beyond
Part 19
By Arianwen P.F. Everett
Jonathan Archer sat at his desk awaiting Lorian's arrival. The man confused him. He'd spent his entire time on Enterprise working to get the ship fitted with Jomala's recommended alterations to allow Captain Archer make it through the subspace corridor, and yet he failed to mention the potential flaws in the plan, or anything about his own situation, facing oblivion due to a temporal paradox.
The door chime beeped and, expecting Lorian, Archer gave a perfunctory "Come in."
Instead, his visitor was Daniels. "Captain, I hear you went to visit with Miss Tucker this afternoon."
"I thought you said your people didn't monitor the timeline that closely," Archer countered, his frustration at being treated like an ignorant child by this man, just because he came from a few centuries in the past, beginning to break through.
"No need to monitor the timeline when one of your colleagues owns an original, paper, autographed copy of Jomala Tucker's autobiography. Passages in chapter 2 keep changing. We've already read four different versions this week alone," Daniels responded, running a hand through his receding hairline.
"Well, I'm sorry if I'm interrupting your bedtime reading, but I didn't go to the other Enterprise to meet with Jomala. I went to meet with T'Pol, who was watching Jomala for Lorian, you know, Lorian, Jomala's father, the man you're trying make sure is erased from history," Archer growled, three years of repressed anger at Daniels beginning to surface.
"Jonathan, I don't like this situation any more than you do, but…" Daniels began before being cut off by the hiss of the door opening.
"I hope you don't mind, I've never changed the door code myself," Lorian explained his unmarked entry.
"No problem. Crewman Daniels and I were just finishing up here," Archer insisted, hardening his words in Daniels' direction to make his point and alert Lorian as to just who was in his presence.
"Crewman Daniels, the Temporal Agent from the 31st century?" Lorian asked cautiously, mixed emotions forcing him to stop and identify each one, before he could compartmentalize each and decide on how to respond. This man placed his ship and crew in danger, and ultimately had brought pain and mindless rage to his children, yet he knew he had to remain thinking logically if he was to protect everything he cherished.
"Yes," Daniels admitted, not able to look the half Vulcan, half Human man before him. He had never lied to Jonathan Archer. He hated this part of his job, ensuring that innocent persons died as they were meant to in the original history. Not all violators of the temporal accords were factions in the Cold War. Many were grieving relatives or individuals with guilty consciences, who saw time travel and historical manipulation as a means to unburden their souls or regain a lost loved one. Undoing the damage they'd caused in the past often resulted in death for those that the unauthorized time traveler had attempted to save. Sometimes he wished time travel had never been discovered, but wishing didn't change the fact that it had, the first few cases being accidents of time, like this man's life.
"I'm sorry we're forced to meet under these circumstances, but I will not surrender my crew, my family, or my ship in order to secure you a victory in your Temporal Cold War," Lorian stated firmly, nothing but Vulcan calm in his voice.
"I understand, and I sympathize, but I also have lives to protect in my time as well. I too wish we could have met under better conditions," Daniels replied. He understood very well where this man was coming from. They were both men of duty and personal honor, but sadly, only one of them could prevail. Nodding, he left Jonathan Archer's office, so that the two men could talk. He had work to get done and remaining here would only make that work more difficult to carry out.
"He's earnest," Lorian commented as he came to stand in front of Archer's desk.
"Yes, he is, but what about you, Lorian? Why didn't you inform me that my ship could be destroyed if we went forward with your plan," Archer questioned, truly not understanding the man's motivations, but upset that he would risk Enterprise with such a high margin of error.
"The risk was within acceptable limits, considering the price of failure is getting stuck in the past again, and ultimately Earth's destruction. One thing that is for certain, you'll be thrown into the past, if you try to use the corridor," Lorian calmly replied. His withholding the information had been logical. There had been no need to worry the highly emotional Jonathan Archer if there were no other practical alternatives.
"You know, I'm getting really sick and tired of people telling me what my future is going to be, as if they know everything! Now, your mother… both of them, tell me there's a way to reconfigure the impulse manifolds on Enterprise to prevent destabilization." Archer shot back. This was still his century. He was still Enterprise' captain. This was still his, and only his, decision.
"You're going to put this ship at risk over a 1.9 percent margin of error, when my mother's plan starts with a 6 probability of failure, and that's assuming the Kovalans don't attack and disable your impulse manifolds, which would make the whole endeavor mute?" Lorian asked incredulously. Archer could be unpredictable, but this was reckless.
"What are you talking about 1.9 percent? Your mother said it was slightly over 22 percent," Archer asked, confused.
Lorian sighed deeply, as if trying to control very volatile emotions in the moment, disappointment won out. "Jomala didn't inform you that she's spent the past two days reworking some of her equations, and that she's found and minimized the glitch in our original calculations, did she?"
"No, but in her defense, she was more concerned with protecting you and your Enterprise. All she could talk about was how much she loved you and how good a father you've been to her, and how many wonderful her friends she has on board your ship. Your mother cleared her out of the room before discussing her plan with me," Jonathan Archer smiled, remembering the conversation.
"When Jo conquers one challenge, she moves on to the next, and rarely looks back. Still, she should have apprised her grandmother of her findings. She now has the risk level down to 1.9 percent, although she won't tell me where she got the extra data so quickly," Lorian stated, his mind now working on this new puzzle.
Ever since Jomala was small, he couldn't take a single action in regards to her without thinking of every way she could manipulate the situation to her advantage. When he'd locked her in with his mother this morning, he'd also had Greer monitor her life signs with internal sensors, fearing she'd find some means to escape, maybe order up a transport, or unlock the door from the inside, even without the new code known only by him, his mother, and Karyn. Lorian had always loved his youngest child's resourcefulness, but sometimes it was exhausting work keeping up with it. He also worried that the time was coming when it would evolve beyond his and his wife's means of successfully monitoring it, and that she wasn't yet mature enough to handle the unchecked power. Perhaps his mother's suggestion to have Jomala apply to the Vulcan Science Academy's engineering program wasn't so far fetched. With warp theorists over two centuries old, and Kolinar masters, working together, perhaps she could learn enough discipline not to blow herself up before she reached forty.
"Have her bring the new numbers to T'Pol… my ship's T'Pol. We've already expended considerable time and energy in the refit, so if Jomala's work pans out, we'll go with your original plan," Archer conceded.