Chapter 4

Phlox cried out as he hit the ground again. Shran tried not to wince at it. He was in the Captain's ready room with Archer, Sato, Mayweather, Tucker(who looked very sour), Reed, Phlox and T'pol, who had given him the iciest look he ever received when he'd entered with the still woozy Phlox, who had sported a lovely bruise on his temple. Archer was furious, and he was showing it by beating Phlox to death.

"I thought you were loyal to me!" Archer shouted.

"I am loyal to the Emperor, and at the moment you are not him." Phlox answered shakily. He got another punch for that. Shran tried to stay hidden. He felt miserable; he'd completely betrayed his comrades, his own species and his friends. T'pol would throw him another icy look every now and then. Sato stood beside her enjoying Phlox's suffering but clearly itching to kill the Vulcan woman. Once they were done with Phlox they would. Shran felt like he was rooted to the spot where he stood. He hated himself for this, but he hadn't been given a choice. He loved his sister far too much to let her be killed because of him. Archer's voice broke through his train of thought.

"At least there was one non-terran who actually means it when he swears his loyalty to me, instead of following the crowd." Shran wished Archer would just vaporise him with that phaser he was gripping. Both Phlox and T'pol were now glaring at him… at least as much as a Vulcan could glare. He kept his head up but his eyes fell to the ground.

"Take them and throw them out the nearest airlock!" Archer snarled suddenly and Shran jumped. No! He needed to stop this; he couldn't let them be killed!

"Captain!" he exclaimed without thinking. Archer whirled around and he glared at him threateningly, daring him to question his orders. He thought incredibly fast and he even managed to throw in some convincing acting as he said "They're obviously members of the rebellion! They probably know where their main bases are!" Phlox and T'pol were now looking at him as if he'd sprouted another head. Shran lowered his voice conspiratorially "If we can get them to tell us where they are then we can attack them and put down the rebellion before you become Emperor, every commander will be so in awe of your victory that they'll follow you without question." He saw Archer was now listening carefully, so Shran moved in for the kill. "You and I both know that Vulcans can suppress pain. But I think I have a way to make her more talkative." Now Archer actually had a hungry look on his face,

"How?" he asked eagerly, Shran prayed Tucker would believe him as well, he'd be the only one who might pick up on the technicalities.

"I recently had the idea of how to make Vulcan rebels more compliant by using a neuro-synaptic field to lower their emotional threshold. That would crush them in no time, you know how emotions are loathed by Vulcans." Archer gave him a suspicious look and then he turned to Phlox,

"Answer this question and I'll spare you the air-lock. Could that work?" Phlox looked from him to Shran to T'pol. Then he nodded

"Yes it should work, it would probably break even the most disciplined of Vulcans."

"Mr. Tucker?"

"Sounds possible." grunted Tucker irritably.

"Alright. Put T'pol in the brig. And as for you doctor…" Archer whirled around and shot him with the phaser! Phlox screamed in agony as he disintegrated. Shran flinched. T'pol froze. She then looked at Shran, her eyes screaming betrayal and he looked away. As she was pulled out of the Ready Room Archer turned to him

"How long will it take you to build?"

"About 25 hours if I don't take a break."

"You have 20."

"Understood sir."

"Commander Tucker, assist Lieutenant Shran in anything he needs."

"Aye sir." Shran felt bitter amusement as he watched a vein throb in the Commander's temple, he absolutely hated this.

'Now you know how I feel.'

"So what do you need me to do?" Tucker all but growled as they entered the science room Archer said they were to build the neuro-synaptic chair in.

"Nothing, you can go and oversee the repairs to the Defiant." Shran told him trying not to smile, he really shouldn't be enjoying this as much as he was, but he was only Andorian and he really hated Tucker. "If I need help I'll let you know." Tucker glared at him and stormed out of the science room. Shran pulled out schematics he'd drawn up only ten minutes ago and got to work. He needed to wait for a while because Archer was probably watching him. He silently prayed his idea worked or else he'd be for it. Or rather his sister would be. He set down the schematics and he began to build the 'fake torture chair' as he called it. He needed to wait for a few hours, as he needed Archer to let his guard down; it would make things a hell of a lot easier. After four hours he knew it was go time. He quickly set down the tools and made a show of realising he'd forgotten something and then stomped out of the science room. The human who was guarding him looked at him with narrowed eyes. He briefly wondered if humans only knew how to be angry and cause misery... before he realised that was the stupidest question to ask, all things considered.

"I need to get something from my quarters, it'll help keep the neuro-synaptic field stable." Shran severely doubted the human knew what he was talking about but he nodded and gestured with his phaser that Shran was to go ahead of him. Did he really think Shran would try anything in the corridor? Fighting every urge to roll his eyes he did as the human instructed. The human (he couldn't be bothered finding out his name, he was long past caring) was practically clipping his heels as he followed. And his species had the reputation for paranoia! He depressed the button of his quarters and the door hissed open. He was silently thankful he'd gotten all he would need for this from the Avenger earlier. He stepped inside and, much to the annoyance of his already shattered nerves, the human walked in without even a second thought. He glared at his desk as he opened the drawer and pulled out a transtator and his little toy. It looked like a tennis ball made out of mechanical parts. He set down the transtator and fiddled with the toy for a minute.

"What's that?" demanded the terran sharply. Shran looked at him and smiled cheerfully.

"Your nightcap." He informed him before pressing the button. The little ball emitted a high frequency sound. The human dropped his phaser and covered his ears crying in pain. He fell to his knees and then collapsed unconscious. Shran turned the neural neutraliser off.

'I knew I made this for a reason other then irritating Soval.' he thought to himself as he tossed it slightly in his hands. He sat down at his desk and quickly began accessing the main computer and overriding the captain's command codes. He smiled grimly as he put his plan into action. When Archer realised just how badly he'd been fooled… sufficed to say he was going to be pissed off.

Ha! Shran wouldn't take so much crap without fighting back, not in any reality!

Night's Darkness