Chapter Four
Answers and Declarations
"I know how you feel, Captain." Former-crewman Daniels told him.
"Do you indeed? I doubt it." He changed his mind. "No, I take that back, I do believe you. But tell me something, did you know about the 'Heart of Glory'?"
"That wasn't supposed to happen."
"You know, you say that an awful lot. And just how am I supposed to know that? And how am I supposed to react? Tell me that!" He forcibly stopped himself, lest his blood boil. He took a deep breath, sounding if not feeling more controlled. "The 'Heart of Glory' is gone, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is. With a crew of 47 persons."
"So now knowing that, and knowing; thanks to you; what I and my crew and my ship are getting into, I am completely justified in stopping us here and now. I'd do it, too. I was an hour away from receiving the conclusive proof you just handed me. Hopeless rescue missions that can 'potentially' mean the lives of my crew I have full justification to walk away from. And now you're here to convince me not to."
"That's right."
"You know, you are so lucky that starship commanders don't solve their problems with their fists."
"Well, future 'Enterprise' commanders might see things differently, but for now-."
"For now you are trying to get me to risk my crew. Why?"
"I told you. This incident with the 'Heart of Glory', and the destruction of the 'Enterprise', they are not meant to happen."
"But they are happening. Why? And what is that thing that Trip is working on when he gets shot in the head?"
"I can't tell you."
"You know, that fist in your mouth is looking more and more appealing."
"But I can show you."
--
An instant later Archer was standing on a wall of piled stone, looking down into a long trench. Before him, frozen in time and illuminated by the bright glare of an aerial explosion, Trip Tucker worked on a cylindrical silver object set upon a rectangular base studded with a multitude of controls. There was a small shovel beside a hole in the ground, obviously the source of the unknown device. Beside him, Tia Anlor crouched, phase pistol in hand and looking just as Trip had described her. He looked to his right, seeing Hoshi and Travis crouching meters away, just breaking away from Reed to move closer to the others. Beyond Reed's soon-to-be-fatal position, about another twenty meters, he could make out T'Pol's body crouched over another figure in blue, this last laying face down on the ground.
He looked over the scene. It was a long trench, looking a lot like a makeshift canal for directing rainwater to a riverbed about five hundred meters away. Up the rocky slope of the hill, about 60 meters above and to his right, he could see the sniper so soon to end the life of his friend taking careful aim with a rifle. Reed was right; it was tactically atrocious. He looked back behind himself, and his spirit quailed at the sight of the forces arrayed against them. Reed had been understating the point; it was tactically hopeless.
"Do you recognize it?" Daniels asked from his position on the wall next to him.
"No." The man seemed satisfied with this, as if he were checking something.
"Which is why we initially chose Mister Tucker to be the one to spearhead this operation. That, Captain, is a temporal relay, at the moment non-functioning. It was buried here to monitor any possible temporal incursions. There is one on more worlds than I care to count. Its purpose is to alert us to any potential temporal incursions that factions involved in the cold war might cause. It failed in this case, and open hostilities of a kind not seen in this planetary system for centuries broke out.
"The conditions between this world Eminiar VIII or 'Vendikar', which is a colony world of its nearest neighbor, which actually goes by the unimaginative name of Eminiar VII, were to remain at a stable condition they had worked out for at least another century. Each planet presently possesses the capacity for total destruction of the other. It is only by maintaining the status quo that they worked out that they eventually reach the level of maturity that will allow them to reconcile their difficulties.
"Another faction of the Temporal Cold War discovered that they could operate undetected here, and set off open hostilities that, in three days time, will reduce both these planets to rubble, a fate more thorough than that which befell this planet's moon some four hundred years ago." He pointed up at the three widely spaced, irregularly shaped bodies in orbit above.
"So, you want Trip to go in there and fix the thing."
"Once restored to working order, the device emits a field that prevents our temporal transporters from functioning. The field propagates through sub-space to cover a system-wide area. It will essentially isolate the system from all sides in the conflict, allowing them to continue their affairs uninterrupted. Cooler heads will prevent the deployment of the devices that destroy both worlds."
"But you know what this device is, where it is, presumably how to fix it. Why not just appear there like you did in my Ready Room, fix it and be done? Why involve us?"
"Because of the Temporal Prime Directive that protects the Temporal Accords; that prevents our own Cold War from becoming a hot one that tears up and down all the time lines. We cannot take personal action in events under way, knowing as we do the results. We can skirt the issue by giving information, by advising, but we agents cannot take personal action."
"I see. So you sent Trip in."
"Yes. In a time-line that has since been negated by circumstances that occurred before it, we contacted you and gave you the complete story. But the attempt was not successful, as you saw. It was with considerable difficulty that I obtained permission to try again."
"So let me see if I have this straight. Everything Trip reported was real. We'd gone in before, all of this happened," he indicated with a sweeping gesture the harshly lit scene about them, "and everybody died."
"Yes. It was felt that showing Mr. Tucker what happened would prevent the same mistakes from happening again."
"I see. So you people know who, what, when, where and why but can do nothing personally."
"Yes."
"I see. So you sent us in, and we all died."
"Yes."
"I see. So you come in even earlier, prevent the first version of history but not far enough back to save the 'Heart of Glory', and send us in again."
"Yes."
"I see." And this time Archer did hit him.
--
Daniels stumbled back, tumbling over the edge of Archer's desk and knocking most of the contents, as well as himself, to the floor. The Temporal Agent was stunned for a moment, shaking his head to clear it as he looked up at Archer. "I've been waiting a long time to do that." Archer said tightly as his door slid open. Malcolm Reed, the closest one to the room, rushed in first to investigate the commotion, taking in at a glance his Captain and the crewman on the floor. "I've also got an officer in Bio just dying for an introduction."
As Reed bent to haul Daniels to his feet, the man looked up at Archer. "I'm sorry." He touched a button on the device in his hand, and Archer and Reed were alone in the room. On the floor where Daniels had lain was an ordinary black data disk.
Archer looked from his Security Chief to the other officers packed at the door. "Back to your stations. We've a job to do." As they started to withdraw, he continued; "All except you, Trip." He bent down, picking up the disk and handing it to the man. "You've got some studying to do." He looked at T'Pol. "ETA to the last known position of the 'Heart of Glory'?
"Eighteen hours, twenty three minutes."
---
Four hours later Trip Tucker turned off the viewscreen at his desk in his quarters, and sat back in the chair, closing his eyes. The schematics on the screen seemed to have imprinted themselves in his eyes; he could see them behind his closed lids, could trace the leads and circuits in his dreams. It was a complex system, though not beyond him to fix, even in a fire fight; and he was burning with resentment at the need to do so.
He leaned his head back, took a deep breath and in the nearly soundproofed privacy of his quarters gave vent to a fiery string of top-of-his-lungs expletives that would have blistered the hull even over Malcolm's polarization field. He exhausted his supply of choice English words and phrases, went on to Spanish and was just about to work his way through his limited supply of Russian expressions when he felt a warm touch on his right hand. He opened his eyes and almost jumped out of his skin when he saw the young blonde woman kneeling at his knee.
"TIA!"
"Rang I did, but hear me you would not." She said softly, contritely. He was so taken aback, so startled, that he did not know what to say. Of course, she had admission to his room, always, but he …
He looked down at the young woman kneeling beside him; her hands still on the back of his right one, and found he was no longer angry. She looked up at him, her golden eyes so deep he wished he could get lost in them. He covered her hands with his other.
"What shouting you were?"
"Never mind, it's not important." He stood up, bringing her to her feet. At 5'3", she barely came up to the level of his chin, and had taken to wearing high heeled shoes she had initially borrowed from Hoshi, red to go with her usual selections of either red dresses or at least red blouse and skirt; or other combinations of colors at least having one item of her favorite color mingled in. Now she wore a pink blouse and red skirt, the higher shoes giving her an additional three inches. In this way, they could be more eye-to-eye, or in contact in another way, without straining. The extra three inches still left her almost six inches shorter than he, but they helped. "So, to what do I owe this surprise?"
"You to the planet going are." She said definitely.
"Yes. I'm not sure how I'm going to accomplish this, especially when I failed so miserably the last time, but the populations of two planets ride on it." He turned away, feeling the need to pace, but her words stopped him.
"I with you going am." She said even more definitely. He turned back to her.
"No." His answer was just as final. At least, he had intended it to be.
"Shar-les, I can stay not. I help can. Described to me you did, all too well, what happened. Protect you I can. Otherwise, if not there, then here I die when explode the Enterprise does. But know I protect you how to. Know what missed last time I did; will watchful be."
"Tia, we're not going to be doing it the way I described. I was shown that cock-up just so we don't make the same mistakes again. This time, I'm going in alone, with two guards and a transporter lock. We go in, I fix it, we come out and Malcolm and Travis control the Enterprise against those ships. We're not going to lose, either on the surface or in space."
"Might work not." He turned away, frustrated, stalking away from her. He did not want to have this argument.
"Then it looks like we'll just do the whole damn thing again." He turned back to face her. "But there is no way I am going to risk your life on this mission. I'm bringing in two of Malcolm's best shots." She stepped right up to him, preventing him from evading her.
"And me!"
"Tia –." He forcibly stopped himself. It was a few moments before he could continue with a more steady voice, looking down into her expressive golden eyes. "Tia, I saw you die. You lost your head when I got killed, and you died. I will not have that happen again. You're safer aboard Enterprise."
"Am safer nyasi!"
"Tia –."
"Shar-les, I all day have had to of you dead think. Know I that if die you do, then die I do. Live I do want nyasi if die you do." She took his hand, pressing it to her body, low down by the base of her lungs where he could feel the pounding rhythm of her heart. It had been its placement so low in her body that had briefly spared her life the last time; though in the end that reprieve had meant nothing. But now it pounded forcefully with her fiery passion.
"Shar-les, know I now that your life without, then nyasura … nothing my life is!" She looked pleadingly into his eyes, wishing she could communicate her feeling to him. "You mrunion Alirki ne Avinyaan are!" She exclaimed.
"What does that mean?" She hesitated, then shook her head.
"Shall tell you not. Too wedsa, too 'private', even for you. But such you are. And stand beside you I will. If live, live together we will. If die, die together we will."
"And if I survive, but you die?" He asked, satisfied as she was silenced, but it was all too brief as she looked up at him, fire in her golden eyes.
"For mrunion Alirki ne Avinyaan, nyasura there better is." He looked into her eyes for a long moment, finding in there all the determination, and all the love, in his world. For a long moment his voice failed him, and then only in love could he find it again.
"Tia, I love you will all my heart." He took a deep breath to steady his voice. "I've come to know that you are everything to me. When I saw what happened to you, I realized I already knew that I could not bear to live without you."
"Nor I you without. You my kilrisau are." At his questioning look, she stepped closer, as close as they could get. "Kilris 'life' is. Kilrisau everything that makes life, makes worth living it, is." He stared down into her golden eyes for a long time, feeling a thousand things that might tear his own heart apart if he let them. Finally, in a quiet, barely steady voice, he told her:
"Get plenty of rest, and make sure you get a good phase pistol. We beam down at 0730."
For a long moment she did not move, but then raised his hand, pressing her lips to his wrist, several breaths tickling along his flesh. Then, not enough, she came up on her toes, her arms about his neck as she kissed him. It wasn't an Auran gesture, and he knew that to her there was no sensation such as a human would feel, but she held the kiss nonetheless. When it broke a long time later, and she came down again, they were both breathless.
"Li vantis cuvilir."
"I love you too. Remember, 0730."
"Daai." A moment later she was gone, and he was staring at the door, the sight of her pixie-ish face still fresh in his eyes. The more he thought of how much he loved her, and how deeply, how unreservedly she loved him, the more his spirits plummeted.
He tried to push it off, but it would not go. With a sigh, he started to strip off his uniform, needing to get some rest before his 0500 beamdown.