Chapter 22

Archer looked at the phase-pistol pointed at him, and then back at T'Pol's face.
"T'Pol ... give me that weapon."
He moved towards her.
"I said don't move." she said.
He stopped, staring at her with wide, apprehensive eyes.
"What's wrong with you?" he muttered.
"I'm only taking the most logical course of action." she paused "Stop you from throwing away your life. Enterprise need its Captain, for I will go in your place. I'm the second in command."
He shook his head.
"Listen to me, I have to do this ... not you."
"No, you don't." she interrupted him "I will not permit it."
"Why?"
Her hazel eyes were shimmering, her bottom lip quivering.
"I observed you so many times, facing critical events ... you never back down. You meet your responsibilities squarely to defend your ship and your crew. When you went to Azati Prime and left me in command, I wasn't able to protect them ... all those people dead ... you still blame yourself, but it was my fault. Truth is ... that this ship cannot survive without you. Enterprise needs you, not me."
"T'Pol ..." he sighed "This is not true. You're important to this ship, more than everyone else. You're important to me." he slowly got near her "Please, don't do this."
"If I've learned anything about humans, it's that they follow their instincts. Now I'm doing the same. I won't let you go and die!"
"I know you care for me as a friend and I appreciate but ..." while he was talking, he saw somebody come out of nowhere, grab her from the back and put an hypospray to her neck, injecting the contents.
"Sorry T'Pol ..." he heard Niki's voice "This is my call."
T'Pol lost consciousness.
Niki lifted her easily and carried her in the launch bay control room, then ran back to him.
Archer looked at Niki, puzzled: "What the hell ..."
"Don't worry Jon, she'll be ok." she said, picking up the phase-pistol from the floor.
"How did you know that she would have tried to stop me?"
"I knew ... Period." she said with finality.
"Bridge to Captain Archer." they heard Malcolm's voice through the comm.
"Go ahead."
"The jamming signal is going to start in 30 seconds."
"Understood." he looked at Niki "Take care of her, I must go."
He turned to go towards the shuttle, but suddenly Niki grabbed him from behind.
"I don't think so." she threatened him with the phase-pistol while twisting his arm behind his back.
"What does that mean?" he asked. "Have you all gone crazy on this ship?"
"I have no time to explain." she said, jerking him towards the control room.
He tried to resist, but she hissed: "I'm much stronger then you would expect, Jon, I could easily break your arm. I suggest you to obey and go in there. Now!"
She forced him on the floor of the control room.
"What do you have in mind?" he asked.
She panted. "If only you had listened to me, Jon ... you're a stubborn man! I'm going ahead with the mission."
"Listen, you can't do this, you ..."
She interrupted him. "You're wrong. I'm the only one who can. I'm an Augment ... and I'm gonna complete this damned mission and then take my life back!"
He opened his eyes wide in surprise.
"You are ... what?"
"I must run, Jon. Daniels will explain everything."
"Daniels?"
She pressed the cool head of a hypospray against his neck. "Now, you're gonna take a nap."
"Niki, don't do this ... not for me." he pleaded.
"I'm not doing this for you, Jon." she said calmly, injecting him.
Before losing consciousness completely, Archer could feel Niki's lips brushing his: "I love you" she murmured, then there was only darkness.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Niki was piloting the shuttle towards the planet's surface.
She had difficulty breathing. Her anxiety was increasing.
"Focused ... I must keep focused." she thought.
She sighed deeply, remembering Archer's face when she had revealed she was an Augment.
"Oh Jon ..." she whispered "I hope you'll understand ... I really hope!"
She remembered when Daniels had explained her about the mission.

Her reaction had been strong: "You want me to become a murderer?"
"No, I want you to save Earth's and Vulcan's future."
"Ironic, Daniels, isn't it? Save one person's life and sacrifice another 11 to change the future."
"To make it better, Niki. To make it better."

A slight pain in her stomach brought her back to reality.
"You can't afford to break down right now, Niki" she thought to herself "You made your decision a long time ago, now it's too late to change your mind."
She landed on the planet without problems. Hoshi's jamming signal was working fine.
She bypassed the codes of a secondary entrance and slipped into the base.
She had removed her Starfleet uniform and worn a catsuit, to be more comfortable.
In fact, she had planned to crawl through the air duct to reach the power generator, place the charges and run away before the whole base blew up.
She knew the base map by heart. She had prepared that mission for years.
She drew a deep breath and began to crawl through the air duct.
"I am in control." she muttered "I am in control." she repeated.
Then all her Augment's senses became focused on the mission and she forgot all the rest.

This world can turn me down
But I won't turn away
And I won't duck and run
Cause I'm not built that way.

o-o-o-o-o-o

When Archer finally regained consciousness, he was in sickbay.
"How do you feel?" asked Phlox.
He rose from the biobed.
"Oh, crap!" he moaned, riding out a wave of nausea and swallowing a gasp of pain.
"Easy easy, Captain." Phlox warned him. "The effects of the injection are wearing off but you will feel dizzy for a while."
"How long have I been out?" he murmured.
"Less than one hour." Trip said. "What the hell happened with Niki? T'Pol didn't give us too much explanations."
"I'll explain later. Where are they?" he asked, trying to keep on his feet.
"T'Pol is on the bridge, she's fine ... I saw no reason to keep her here." said Phlox.
"We have no news from Niki, though." Trip sighed "After her message that she was going in your place because you were accidentally injured, we heard nothing."
"I'm not injured ... but my stomach aches ... oh, god ... " he clamped both hands over his mouth to stifle a gag. He ran to the washbasin and began to throw up.
Phlox and Trip exchanged a questioning look.
"Side-effects of the injection?" Trip asked.
"Well ... he should be fine." Phlox shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe he's just ... agitated."
Archer washed his face with cold water.
"Feel any better?" Phlox asked, handing him a towel.
He threw him a sour look as he dried his face. "How is possible that Niki is an Augment?"
"What?" Trip and Phlox both looked at him in surprise.
"Before leaving, Niki told me she was the only one who could accomplish the mission, because she's an Augment. And Daniels has something to do with it."
"Daniels?" Trip asked "I thought he was out of our lives forever."
"So did I." Archer muttered. "Doctor?" he looked at Phlox questioningly.
"Her medical record does not mention anything about DNA mutations. Everything indicated that she was in perfect health. And, during her presence aboard the Enterprise, she's never needed a doctor."
They were interrupted by T'Pol's voice: "Bridge to Sickbay."
Archer pressed the communicator button.
"Archer here."
"The first satellite has been destroyed by one of the Klingon vessels. A Bird-of-Prey has broken orbit to target the second one."
Archer ordered. "Tactical Alert. Load all torpedo bays, stand by weapons." he paused "Any news from Lt. Parker?"
"No, Sir. Her shuttle reached the planet approx. 15 minutes ago. She should be inside the base, but her bio-sign cannot be detected because of the destabilizing shield."
"How much time to be within transporter's range?" he asked.
"Less than 5 minutes, Sir."
"Set a course towards the planet and target the base. As soon as we're in transporter range, grab her signal and beam her up immediately. Get ready to fire on my order."
"Understood."
"What about the scientists?" Trip asked.
"Niki has no intention of saving them. It's too late now, we must destroy the base."
"And Niki?"
Archer looked at Trip with an unspeakable expression.
"If she's still alive, we're not gonna leave her. Also because she has a lot of things to explain."

o-o-o-o-o-o

The charges were placed. The countdown had already started.
There wasn't enough time to go back through the air duct, so Niki ran through the corridors to reach the outside area.
Along her way, she had been forced to stun a couple of scientists with her phase pistol.
Now only a few meters separated her from being safe.
She tapped the code to open the same door she had used to get in, but while it was opening, she heard a voice behind her:
"bljeghbe'chug vaj blHegh!"( Surrender or die!)
A shiver ran down Niki's spine. She turned to face a Klingon warrior.
He had a bathleth in his hand, and she realized he had no intention of letting her go.
He kicked away the phase-pistol from her hand and a strenuous fight began.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Enterprise was under attack.
They had managed to destroy the first vessel, but the second one was still targeting them.
T'Pol said: "We're taking heavy damage."
"Hull plating's down to 40. We cannot hold out long, Captain!" Malcolm cried.
"Keep firing!" Archer ordered.
"Captain!" T'Pol said "I'm detecting explosions inside the base."
They could see the explosions devastating the base on the screen.
"She made it." Malcolm said with satisfaction.
"I'm reading one faint human biosign outside the base. It appears to be Lt. Parker." T'Pol said from her station.
"Beam her up!" Archer cried, running towards the turbolift. "As soon as she's onboard, get the hell out of here!"

o-o-o-o-o-o

Archer ran through the corridor to reach the sickbay. His heart was racing. He could barely breath.
While he was in the turbolift, they had notified him that the Klingons were still following them, but the distance between their vessel and Enterprise was increasing. Niki was in bad shape and had been taken to sickbay.
The sickbay doors slid open. Phlox was working feverishly on Niki and giving orders to his assistant.
Archer was no doctor, but it didn't take medical training to understand that the situation was really bad. He swallowed hard at the sight of her body covered with blood. Her eyes were open.
"Jon" she pleaded "Take me home ..." then she lost consciousness.
Phlox was talking, but he couldn't understand a word. It seemed like his voice came from a great distance.
He watched Niki's body disappear in the imaging chamber.
He felt his legs becoming weak. He would topple to the floor soon.
Phlox brought him back to reality: "There's no internal bleeding, but several internal organs are bruised and inflamed. Three ribs are cracked, making her breathing difficult and painful. Her lungs and kidneys have been damaged and she has lost a lot of blood."
"The explosion?" Archer asked, panting.
"No, she managed to say she's been attacked by a Klingon."
"Bastard." he hissed.
"I'm doing all I can to keep her alive, Captain." Phlox sighed "But she's in a very critical state and she could die at any minute. The fact she's an Augment does'n help very much. Her DNA makes her stronger, but not immortal. And there's a further complication."
"What complication?"
The full impact of Phlox's news hit him like a stone.
"She's pregnant."