Chapter Seven

Decision

"Cap'n?" Trip called softly from the doorway of the Ready Room, seeing his friend seated behind his desk, head back, eyes closed. Archer lowered his head, looking at the Chief Engineer. "You got a minute?"

"Apparently more of them than I've ever expected. Come in, Trip." As Tucker came into the room, Archer was hardly surprised to see that he was holding the Padd Daniels had given him. As his friend settled himself, Archer indicated invitingly the tall glass pitcher of iced tea and several glasses on the corner of his desk. He waited while the other poured a drink for himself and refilled his Captain's. "So…" He began, glancing at the Padd. "Interesting reading." It was not a question.

"I'll say. I thought there'd be a couple of months worth of stuff in here, bits and pieces, just enough to whet my appetite and get me to talk you into going along with Daniels' plans."

"Yes?" Archer asked, expecting exactly that.

Trip held up the device. "There are five years in here."

"I guess Daniels believes in being thorough." He said, impressed. This was more than he had expected of the Temporal Agent. "Can't say I blame him; you are going to be carrying a lot of weight in my decision whether we do this or not." Tucker did not answer. "So, are we going to do it?" Archer asked, figuratively tossing his friend the ball.

Trip sat back heavily in his chair, wishing he could just remove his head and place it on a shelf somewhere. "God, I don't want to be the one who decides this!" He looked feelingly at his Captain. "If it were just me, if it didn't affect anyone else, anywhere…"

He leaned forward, saying emphatically; "It's weird. I'm told this woman is the love of my life. I read so many things here and I could almost feel it's true. I read my personal logs, and they're absolutely shocking. I won't tell you what's in them; I'm too stunned by all of it. I haven't even been able to read all the logs. It'll take hours to get through five years and I've had to take plenty of breaks between them already. Apparently, as Malcolm would say, I'm 'bum over teakettle' over this woman.

"There're loads of pictures in here, and most of them are Travis' work. I recognize his style. They show two versions of her, like she ages pretty fast at some point. I don't know, but I can tell you that it's recent. The images are dated. Something called the 'Luuru', where she goes from a 'girl' of about 19 of her planet's years to a 'woman'. Anyway; my point is that from the time the record begins there are a lot of shots of us together, virtually none apart."

He took a drink from his glass, wishing this time that it contained something considerably stronger than tea.

"Certainly she's gorgeous, but it's more than that. You know, she's supposedly the woman I am going to ask to marry me!" He looked at Archer, wishing the other man could somehow deny this. Of course, that was impossible. The whole point of this 'evaluation period', when they came down to it, was to decide whether or not to make it real.

"God, there are pictures in here of our Wedding. It takes place here on Enterprise; Mother McCabe officiates. You're Best Man, by the way."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Tucker sat back in his chair as if collapsing into it. "Blast it; we had – will have – our Honeymoon in Florida. There are shots of my parents and Elizabeth at the Reception they threw for us. Will throw for us." He took a long drink of tea, and then almost slammed the glass down.

"Damn it, there are pictures in here of my son and daughter! Twins! Charles the Fourth and Siaslin."

x

But then he leaned forward, put the Padd down on the desk, sat back, and it seemed like all the fire had suddenly gone out of him.

"But I look at that padd and I find it's almost like I'm in mourning for a woman I'll never know. I mean, I can read this and I can almost see us together, almost believe it all, but in the reality I know she was never born.

"In fact, in the reality Daniels would have us restore, she went back in time to her world before we got married, went to Florida, had kids - and she died there.

"Her race died 60 years ago. I've never heard of 'Aurans' or 'Silurians' until today …" He picked up the padd, holding it up to Archer. "But this shows me she's the love of my life, my future wife, the mother of my children! How do you reconcile that?"

xxxxx

Tia Anlor sat down on a bench in the outer reception room, leaning back and looking up tiredly at the high white vaulted ceiling. Her failure had somewhat diminished her joy at the homecoming, but though she was disappointed she could not say she was at all surprised.

However, bad though things seemed, there was one thing that sparked her optimism. In a casual questioning of a passing clerk, she had learned that this was the afternoon of the fourteenth day of the month of Weslik. This date was seared deeply into the memory of every member of her race.

So she sat down on a bench, trying to look relaxed though inside she was 'keyed up' with a tension that seemed to turn her muscles to rock. She reached with false casualness up her sleeve, touching the deadly phase pistol strapped to her arm. Under the loose, billowing blue garment she wore it could not be detected.

She did not know the hour, but she knew the day and she was in the place. The Relatu would soon have cause to summon her back to his office. And this time, if sweet words did not accomplish her mission, she had another way.

xxxxx

"Hoshi?" Archer's voice came over the 'intercom' at her station, automatically shunted to the receiver she held pressed to her ear.

"Yes, sir?" She enquired quietly.

"Would you come to my office?"

"Yes, sir." She took the receiver from her ear, leaving it behind. Not really anxious to do so, knowing what was to come, she crossed the bridge to the Captain's Ready Room, passing through the outer door, stepping down the three steps and pressing the annunciation button. The door slid open immediately.

"Sit down, Hoshi." Archer invited.

The woman sat down very reluctantly indeed, apprehension and anxiety in every movement. Archer does not press her, letting her make the first move. "Sir, I've reviewed everything you told me to." She is unable to keep a measure of trepidation out of her voice.

"And?"

"Captain, I'd be lying if I didn't admit that this scares the hell out of me. It's all so big, but…" She couldn't continue. What she had to say, what she wanted to say, went against all of her training and duty. It even violated everything she was taught about ethics; but she had to say it anyway.

"Sir, I've compared as well as I could the life I know, and the one on that padd out there. And I've come to the conclusion …" She took a deep, steadying breath, trying to keep her voice level as she announced the last thing she could ever imagine herself saying. "I've come to the conclusion that I want that life!"

Archer watched her carefully, grateful for her honesty. She was the first one so far to give him a firm answer in favor of the other. "Why?"

"Why, sir?"

"Yes. Why that life over this one?"

"Well, for starters Liz Cutler lives."

"She's alive now. Not on Enterprise, but alive."

"But doomed to die – because of us."

"Because of me, you mean." He'd read the details of that future incident as well as she had. He'd researched it carefully, in hopes of helping this decision, or planning something that could prevent his friend's death two years hence.

Hoshi looked at her Captain, her friend, and did not want to say it. But it had to be said. "Yes, sir. Because of you. If you had backed off – if you do back off, I mean – then Liz will not be murdered."

Archer considered the woman carefully. He'd wanted the truth, and he'd gotten exactly what he'd expected. He could ask nothing less of her. "I appreciate the truth in what you say. We've considered worlds, the fates of billions of people, but by the same token we have to consider the one or two. In our world Elizabeth Cutler will die in a little less than two years time. She will not be married; not have a child; that child will not be a key to a treaty with the Tholian Assembly… But on the other hand –."

"Sir, I don't think there is another 'hand." She leaned forward, the better to accent her position. "Sir, I seem to be placed in a unique position to you all. You all know this 'Tia Anlor' professionally; all except Commander Tucker, that is. I seem to have had more of a personal relationship with her, more so than any, again with the exception of Commander Tucker. And looking at everything I've read from that perspective, this is the right thing to do. I won't say I'm not tempted by what I've read – by what I've written, rather. I seem to even have had a fuller, richer life in that other reality than I have here."

"Are you certain of that?"

"No." She had to admit. "But it feels right."

"You may even be right. I cannot tell. I also haven't made a decision one way or the other. But there is something I have to ask you."

"What?" She felt she knew what he was going to say, and wished he would not say it. But there was little choice – he was going to say that one thing she did not want to speak of.

"We're privy to two possible futures involving a friend. If this time line continues, then she will quite probably die at the hands of Dr. Soong and these 'Augments' – though I will do everything possible to prevent it when that time comes. I'll have nearly two years to plan how, after all.

"Of course, there is another method to preserve her life. Knowing the future as we do, if she is warned in advance, she quite probably will not be present at that time and someone else will stand in danger." He watched Hoshi carefully; the woman had ceased meeting his eyes. "If this time line continues, do you intend to warn her?"

"Captain, please don't ask me that. Please."

"But I am asking, Hoshi. Do you intend to warn her, even if at the possible cost of someone else's life?"

Hoshi sat very still for a long time, staring at her hands while Archer waited for an answer. She hadn't believed she had an answer for him, at least one she would admit to herself. Finally, placed in a position where she had to confront it, she knew without a doubt what her answer had to be.

x

It was a heartbreakingly long wait before the woman looked up and met his eyes. There was no trepidation or apprehension in her eyes this time. They were the eyes of someone who had made a life affirming decision.

"Yes. If it is in my power, I will use everything I know, every method I have, to get a warning to her. And you can strip me of my rank, court martial me, put me in prison, do anything you and Starfleet please, but I will warn her."

"Thank you, Hoshi." He said quietly, grateful for her honesty if not her answer. "You'll know when I've made my decision. Dismissed."

xxxxx

It did not take very long before Tia, and everyone else in the large reception room, became aware that something was happening.

Reports coming in via radio and other unknown sources which filtered out from the desks beyond the low wall surrounding the main public area told an increasingly staggering story. The reports were coming in pieces, fragments of news, but altogether it made a clear picture. To Tia, who knew all the details in advance, it was watching a nightmare from her past recreated before her eyes.

As it grew, it became clear that what was happening outside these walls was unprecedented to the point of being unbelievable. Indeed, it was completely unbelievable, incredible, to all but one person in the room. In the city outside, the world was being shaken apart.

A ship from space had touched down. It was so close that those looking out the windows could see it in detail. Aliens, beings unlike any ever imagined, had disembarked, and three of them were approaching the Pryndonitan!

The reported reactions of witnesses ranged from shock through fascination, from fear to panic. Even as those who could get close to a window watched in fascination, reports over various radios filled in the pieces with stunning detail.

Tia had no desire to get close to a window. For her, it was all too familiar, the beginning of the end about to be received with revelry and rejoicing.

She had to steel herself, try to bury her emotions, but all the while her fear was mounting. She did not want to be there, she did not want to see them. She had thought she was ready, that this was what she wanted, but now that the time had come she just wanted to be back on Enterprise. She did not want to see the beginning of the end for her race.

There was no outright screaming panic in the streets, but the reactions of the astounded public outside and the witnesses inside were barely a step below that.

The three aliens were dressed in black uniforms of unknown design. They were greater than two val in height, slightly larger than the average Auran male; were grey-green in color and walked upright. Aura had no reptilian life to compare it to, but Charles had referred to them on the one occasion when he'd seen one as a 'snake', if an Earth serpent could evolve legs and arms, and walk upright with a long tail for balance.

Their almost lipless mouths hid a long tongue that was forked like an Earth serpent, leaving her to theorize that somehow those creatures and Silurians were in some impossibly strange way related. Phlox had been unwilling to dismiss the concept of evolved Terran reptilians, or of 'seeding' by even more advanced life than they had as yet encountered.

The prospect that Charles' planet and Siluria could have any kind of connection at all was monstrous. Ever since she'd heard the theory, she had tried very hard to forget it!

x

Her reverie was broken and attention pulled away from the mounting tension of incoming reports when she felt a grip on her left arm. She turned, looking up at a Security Officer. "::Is Misala Anlor your name?::"

People here knew her by her father's mother's name, as it would be about 40 palyis before she would be born. "Daai."

"::The Relatu you to see wishes.::"

"::I obey.::"

She was escorted back the way she had come barely an hour before. This time, when she passed through the final door, things were very different indeed. This time the Relatu was not alone. There were uniformed men from the local civilian protectors, others she recognized by their attire to be from several scientific institutes.

Unlike Earth, in scenes she had seen with Charles in video records, there were no military men. Aura had no Militia; no Army; no Navy; no Air Force. The impetus to create such things did not exist on Aura.

Ironically, Tia thought with a brief regret, there would no longer be an opportunity to create such things.

The Relatu looked across the growing crowd to the door as she entered and demanded: "::How know did you?::"

x

For the moment Tia realized she had the attention of everyone who could have an influence in events that were about to transpire. This would be her final chance.

She knew from history that most of those present were reeling from the first opportunity to encounter actual life from another world. They had waited and anticipated it all their lives, had worked for it in the planet's fledgling space program, and these men and women would be her greatest obstacle by far. Part of her wished they could have their first encounter, but it was not to be; not if her race was to survive.

"::Told you I did, how from the year 8,937 I come, 66 years into the future. There the Silurians slaves made us. Come they now to 'friendship' offer, ask for gold and offer much. They us betray will! They us enslave and kill will. One final chance you have! Deny them admittance, away send them. Make with them agreement not!::"

"::Madness she speaks.::" One of the elderly scientists protested. She turned to face him.

"::All I have said, happened did. All I say; happen will!::" She turned again to the Relatu. "::Bar them Aura, or doomed our people will be!::"

Behind them the door opened. All turned; and blood ran cold.

xxxxx

Commander Charles Tucker put the padd down on his desk and stood up, taking a deep, steadying breath. He knew what he had to do. Jonathan Archer and the others had been circling about the issue for hours, weighing evidence and probabilities in the best tradition of scientists and researchers. He, however, was an Engineer, and when the right decision was before him, he knew when it was time to stop second- and third-guessing and make it.

"Daniels." He called firmly. "Crewman Daniels. I don't know if you can hear me, or how you know the things you do, but know this in your bloody time stream: I want to talk to you."

"Of course, Commander." The voice from behind his right shoulder almost made him jump up to D deck, but he turned quickly and restrained himself from an automatic defensive swing.

"You know, someday you're going to get your head knocked off; did you ever think of that?"

"Normally I arrive at a safe distance, but in these quarters a 'safe' range would be in your privy."

Tucker gave him a lopsided smile. "Well, they didn't build this ship for comfort, you know."

"Don't worry. In the future, you're going to have bigger quarters."

"It's that 'future' I want to discuss."

"Yes."

"The Captain, T'Pol, Reed; they're all going around in circles over this. If Starfleet were to somehow ever get involved, this could take months."

"I told you I would know when the decision would be reached. I did not say 'the Captain's decision' or anyone else's. I said 'the decision'."

"Yeah, well, you're right. It's made. I'm goin' after her." Daniels only nodded. Tucker picked up the padd from his desk. "Just tell me one thing. This plan she has to free her people – it's definitely going to fail? No hope?"

"This day, Commander, twenty-three will die, twenty of them Aurans. The next day, nine. After that, eleven. Over the next nine Auran months punitive measures to force the Auran people to capitulate will lead to dozens of deaths each day. Finally, on the last day, 3.85 billion men, women and children will be annihilated when all oxygen-breathing life on the planet is eradicated. Life on Aura requires a link of three molecules to carry oxygen through the body; breaking that link will prevent oxygen from being used by their bodies. In less than an hour, every living thing on the planet will suffocate, and the Silurians will take what they want from a barren world."

Trip stared at him, absolutely shocked. It was all too much to take in. But though this had served to settle his decision, there was just one more thing he wanted to know. Actually, he could not say that he wanted to know it, but that he needed to.

"Just tell me one last thing before I go."

"If I can. I can't violate the temporal accords."

"This won't violate anything, not if what you say is true and these past nine months are about to be wiped out." He still couldn't believe in the reality of what he was so glibly saying. Nine months – Gone? A new life, a new existence… It was still too hard to accept. Daniels nodded, giving him the chance to at least ask his question. He was sure he did not want an answer, no matter what the course.

"What happens to me in this future? I mean, if I'm going off to find and rescue the love of my life, what happens if I don't? Do I never meet anyone else; and end up a lonely and miserable old man sitting on a park bench somewhere with a cane, a frock coat and five-day stubble?"

"Hardly. Since it will not continue, I can tell you that in this Time Line, should it continue, you actually do forge a relationship with a current member of this crew. It is a strong bond, and leads to some decades together. In fact, you still do have children, except by her."

"All right, who?" Daniels did not answer. "Hey, if it ain't gonna happen, what's the harm in telling me? Is it Hoshi? Ann Anderson? Christina Carson? Dina Samuels? Maggie Hampshire? Rosa Arnell? Janet Teahen?" Daniels said nothing to indicate how impressed he was by Tucker's list of inamorata. "Wait a minute – I know! It's Mary Sherman from Gamma Shift." He was absolutely sure. Now that the thought had crystallized, it was so obvious he was astonished he'd ever missed it. "I've had a –. Well, I've been noticing her lately. A lot. Lately I'll start my shift just a bit early just to… well… There'd be some fraternization issues to consider, since she's a junior officer on my staff, but we could –."

"T'Pol."

Tucker's speculative dream came to a halt like crashing at warp five into an asteroid. "T'Pol?" Daniels nodded. "You've been time-streamin' too long."

xx

Daniels just shook his head. He had had conversations with others that were similar in effect if not in detail, and the best method to proceed was always to keep focused.

"I can send you to her. If you succeed in convincing her not to kill the Silurian delegation, then for you this entire incident will never have happened. For you, everything will be restored to what it was before."

"How?"

"The universe is governed by temporal laws as rigid as physical ones, and as malleable."

"That doesn't make any sense." Trip challenged.

"Nonetheless, it is true. I'm not sure how I can explain it to you without your having extensive training in temporal physics, to say nothing of temporal mechanics. The point is that if an action that has occurred in the past is not done due to a change in the time line further in the past, nothing that followed it will have been done. The effect that preceded the cause will be negated, and …"

Tucker held up his hand. "I'm sorry I asked." He looked at the UT on his desk, but dismissed it. "The UT would be useless, since it is not one of the ones that existed in that time. It's never been programmed. How would I communicate?"

"She speaks English – after a fashion."

"Great. But how do I find her?"

"You'll be chronotransed to her location. You won't have any trouble recognizing her."

"I've been studying her pictures."

"And she'll be the only one holding a phase pistol."

xxxxx

When the door across the room opened, three large reptiles, clothed in black uniforms with insignia and silver markings Tia recognized all too well, entered the room. They moved in a slow, slithering gait, but she was not deceived. She had seen them move very fast indeed.

These were the three ranking officers of the starship above them, who had come in a landing pod for this cataclysmic meeting.

Tia dropped away to the left side, out of the crowd of scientists, backing away in revulsion. She had not wanted to see this horrible moment. She stared forlornly at the trio, feeling more powerless by the moment. This was what she had striven so hard to prevent. This was the moment that had doomed her race. This was what she had to stop.

A crowd of officials followed the staggering visitors into the Relatu's marble office, filling the room beyond capacity as the blue clad man behind the desk stood to greet his approaching guests. They shuffled toward the desk with the characteristic, deceptively slow pace of Silurians, that race that had dominated so many worlds surrounding their own that they never felt a need to hurry.

The leader, so distinguished by the number of silver accoutrements upon his black uniform, most of which Tia recognized, raised a hexagonal device. Its voice, a thing filled with hissing sibilants, was translated into perfect Auran by the device.

Tia watched with sinking heart as the scene played out before her eyes. It was not exactly as she had imagined it, but it was close enough. It was clear the Silurians had spent considerable time observing their 'quarry', something she had always taken for granted. The Relatu and his staff, along with the leading scientists of the day, greeted the Silurians, and were so astounded by them that they were ready to make peace with them.

But Tia knew there was no peace to be had. She had tried to convince her fellows, to show them the truth, but it had been hopeless. They were determined not to listen.

There was only one course left. There was only one solution to this horror.

Reaching up her left sleeve, she pulled the heavy phase pistol from its holster. It was already set on maximum, and even as she pulled it clear of her sleeve she thumbed the safety off. Pointing it at the lead Silurian, she tightened her grip on the trigger.

"TIA!" The loud shout reverberated through the room.