Chapter 36

"I'm coming with you sir," Malcolm announced when Archer handed out the exploration assignments for this small area of space. They had reached the coordinates that Daniels had given the Captain and Archer was determined to put that knowledge out of his mind. In order for this to work, he had to explore this area of space just like he usually would. And that meant that he would be taking Travis and a small shuttle to explore the nearest of the two solar systems while the Enterprise explored the one farther away. The nearer system wasn't very big nor did it have any planets that could support life. The other system had several planets that looked good for exploring. He and Travis would make a quick pass through the system before rejoining Enterprise.

"Malcolm, we need to do this like we don't know anything." Archer got up and paced behind his desk. There wasn't much room, but he couldn't just sit there. "We've already messed the timeline up so much it has literally taken temporal agents years, if not decades to stabilize things. I wouldn't normally take you with me to chart a small and most likely unimportant system. I'd leave you with Enterprise. So that's what we need to do."

"I understand that sir, but there is the fact that we're looking for information not scientific facts. I'm not saying that you shouldn't go or that you shouldn't take Ensign Mayweather as your pilot. But you are my commanding officer and I am responsible for your safety. I must place that first. As for Enterprise, Lewis is going to be Columbia's Armory Officer. He needs the experience of being on the bridge for this." Malcolm could only hope that Archer understood his position.

Archer sighed. He did understand what Malcolm was saying. He was too important to risk losing. The mission to save the timeline not only required that they get the information, but that he survive to later use it. "Alright Malcolm, but you don't do anything unless my life is directly in danger. You'll be playing bodyguard for this trip as much as I hate it."

"Yes sir," Malcolm nodded. He wasn't the only one to sigh silently in relief. Archer may not have wanted to admit it but he was a pivotal person in history. That meant that he had to survive long enough to make history happen.

Trip shot T'Pol a look as he felt her relief at the idea of the Captain having a bodyguard. 'We'll keep Enterprise safe and ready to back him up if he needs it. We don't know that there is going to be trouble,' he pointed out to her. The look she shot him said it all. Trip shrugged, 'Can't blame me for being optimistic.'

'Optimistic is one thing, delusional is another,' she thought back. He had to shrug in agreement. When Daniels was around, trouble soon followed and they were going to be neck deep in it soon enough.

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Everyone else on the bridge of the starship Enterprise might have bought T'Pol's cool demeanor at the information she was receiving, but her bondmate wasn't fooled. T'Pol was as pissed off as a wet cat. She was pissed off at Colonel Grat, the contact from the Tandar military, and his insistence that the Enterprise journey to his homeworld to retrieve her Captain and his officers in three days time after a formal trial. She was ticked off that Hoshi, as Communications Officer and Lewis, as current Armory Officer, were not able to find out where Colonel Grat was hailing them from. And she was pissed off at the Captain for wandering into Tandar territory even though she was more upset at the Tandar people for not marking their territory so that innocent people wouldn't be caught up in whatever nonsense these people were fussing over! She knew that Jon Archer would never have simply wandered into another people's territory without loudly announcing himself and his people if he was aware that he could be trespassing. The man was far too friendly for his own good. She was not disposed towards being overly friendly towards the Tandar either.

Trip tried to send soothing thoughts her way but backed off at the hard stare she sent him in return. This was not the time for soothing. This was the time for decisive action. As there was nothing that he could do to help Hoshi or Lewis track down where the Tandar were holding their people, he got to work on building the shield generators that Scotty had left him the schematics for. Loosing himself in the work should actually help T'Pol regain some equilibrium he hoped. At the very least, if he wasn't agitated over the loss of his friends then she wouldn't have to deal with his agitation on top of her own.

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Although it didn't show on his face, Malcolm Reed was furious with himself. Not only had he failed to realize the Tandar military's intentions in time; now he, Captain Archer and Ensign Mayweather were in a Tandar prison in the middle of a bunch of Suliban! The Tandar prison was populated with Suliban but no other races. That was the last place that Captain Archer should be. There were no allies to be had here, only enemies. One shiv or other makeshift weapon would be all it would take for the Suliban to win this damned time war.

In fact Malcolm was so busy watching for potential assassins that he almost missed the information that they were there to get. Almost, but he couldn't help but listen as Captain Archer venomously berated a Suliban man for making his young daughter work for the Cabal. The Cabal, Reed knew was the name of the Suliban terror organization that was fighting the temporal war. The man wasn't the only obvious parent among the prisoners. There were quite a few Suliban who were less than half the size of the adults. A few moments later the guards sent everyone to their cells, breaking up the confrontation in the process. Ensign Mayweather and Captain Archer collapsed on one of the four bunks while Malcolm paced along the front of the cell.

Malcolm could tell that the encounter had shaken the Captain to his core. Mayweather reached out and touched Archer's arm. "Captain?" he asked.

"This isn't a prison," Archer whispered in horror. "That's what Daniels wanted me to see. It's not a prison, it's an internment camp."

The label brought images to Malcolm's mind from his history lessons of American Indians being herded onto reservations, of refugees from terrible wars in the Middle East being crammed into isolated areas without adequate supplies and Japanese Americans being pulled out of their homes and trucked into hastily built barracks behind chain link fences. Malcolm had never thought that he would be in one but the description fit. If that father had been honest, and Malcolm believed that he had been, then none of the Suliban here was involved in the Cabal.

Archer was sitting in the corner of his bunk staring up at the bunk above him. "All this time I thought that all of them were Cabal. I thought that all of the innocent ones were on their homeworld somewhere. I thought that the Cabal was condoned by their government even if their population didn't know. But they don't have a homeworld anymore. Lord, its no wonder they're fighting so hard. They've lost everything and someone has convinced then that we're going to destroy what little they've got left."

Mayweather was looking a little lost so Malcolm decided to fill him in on what he and the Captain had figured out. "Fairly easy to do," he said over his shoulder. He was still on the lookout for trouble, not so much from the Cabal just now as for the ordinary trouble that was found among any type of prisoners. "When someone has their back to a wall it can be very easy to box them into a corner. A desperate, cornered person is very dangerous. Create a group of such people, aim them at your enemies and you have a very effective weapon that isn't directly traceable to you, especially if you use several someone elses to do the cornering and aiming." The matter of factness in Malcolm's voice made Travis shudder but it caught Archer's attention.

"And someone has done just that," Archer said, his shock turning to anger. "Who is to say that this is the first time or the last it will happen? The Suliban Cabal members were altered so that they could be saboteurs and assassins." Archer got off his bunk and made sure that both of his men were paying close attention. "We know that we are a part of a pivotal point in history. Daniels sent us here to learn this information. I want it branded into your brains gentlemen. I have a feeling that sooner or later we're going to run into others who have met the Cabal's benefactors and I want us to all remember just who the real enemy is. Those people out there aren't our enemies. We will fight them when we must but I refuse to allow some unknown puppet master to turn us into irrational savages that treat innocent children like criminals and killers. Malcolm, find this place's weaknesses."