"It appears to made of energy," T'Pol said, gesturing to the display screen on Archer's desk. After confirming their findings, T'Pol and Mallory had immediately gone to Archer in his ready room.
"You mean it's a power surge of some kind?" Archer asked.
"No, Captain, this is a life form. My best analogy would be the worm. It moves through the system, absorbing more energy as it goes. As it feeds, it disrupts our systems."
"How did we pick up this worm?"
"Probably when we went through the ion storm, Captain," Mallory said. "That's when our systems began reacting. This is really amazing!" she laughed in delighted astonishment.
"I'd be amazed too, Doctor, if it weren't for the fact that it's disrupting my ship," Archer scowled. "How do we get rid of it?"
"Well, that could be a little tricky," Mallory replied. "I might be able to set the equivalent of a trap for it. Lure to a specific part of the system. Then, to be honest, I'm not really sure how to get it to leave the system without harming it."
"I'm not concerned about that."
"Excuse me, sir?"
"I said I'm not concerned about harming it. I want it out of our systems as quickly as possible."
"Captain, you can't mean—"
"You heard me, Doctor," Archer interrupted. "If we are to accomplish our mission, we need our computer system to be in top working order. If something is disrupting that, I want it dealt with. How do we proceed?"
"But Captain!" Mallory exclaimed.
"T'Pol?" Archer turned to T'Pol, cutting Jordan off.
"I believe, Captain, that we could design a hunter-seeker program that would destroy the worm," T'Pol replied.
"Then do it," Archer ordered. "Let me know when you're ready. Dismissed."
T'Pol left immediately, but Mallory stopped at the door. "May I speak with you, Captain?"
"Hadn't you better get started?"
"That's what I mean, sir. We don't know what we're dealing with here. But we do know it's alive. We need to study it."
"I'm sorry, Doctor. We simply can't afford to risk our critical systems while you try to figure out how to quarantine this creature. Too much is at stake."
"We can't just kill it! We've never discovered anything like this before. A creature made of energy? Think of the possibilities! Kill it now and you'll be setting science back for maybe hundreds of years!"
Archer felt his patience beginning to wear thin. "I don't have time to debate this with you. Please continue your work with T'Pol and inform me when you are ready." He turned back to his desk and picked up his handunit, tacitly dismissing her.
Mallory, however, refused to take the hint. "You'll be murdering a defenseless being!"
"Which probably isn't even sentient."
"All the more reason to protect it."
"All the more reason to exterminate it."
"You can't mean that," Jordan gasped. "That thing is alive!"
"I don't have time for this, Dr. Mallory!" Archer slammed his handunit on his desk and whirled to face her, patience lost at last. "Let me remind you for the last time that the very existence of Earth depends on us. And I will do whatever it takes to complete our mission!"
"Even if it means murder?"
"I don't have to justify my ethics to you. Carry out my orders!"
"Aye, aye, sir," Jordan responded, contempt coloring her voice. She turned and stalked toward the door. "Just one last thought," she said as she turned back. "If you're willing to kill in order to succeed, how does that make us any different than what the Xindi fear?"
"Would you prefer the alternative?"
Without another word, Jordan turned and left the ready room, the door closing with finality behind her. Jon sat down at his desk and activated his computer screen. But the data scrolled by unheeded as he sat lost in thought. "Of course this is different," he said emphatically to himself.
But alone in the ready room, doubt still remained.