Chapter Fourteen

About a week later, just when Captain Archer was finishing off his shift, Lieutenant Parsons looked up from the science station. "Sir, I'm picking up an alien ship on the outer limits of our scanners."

"Are they just sharing the same region of space?"

"They appeared about ten minutes ago."

"Have they noticed us?" asked Captain Archer walking towards him. He had an uneasy feeling about this.

"Possibly," replied Lieutenant Parsons. "Although the ship does seem to be on an intercept course."

"Are they within visual range?"

"Not yet, Sir."

"Can we hail them?"

"No sir, they are out of communication range at the moment."

"How long before they catch up to us?"

"A few days at least; it could be sooner as initial scans seem to indicate that they are capable of higher warp speed than us, but I can't be certain 'till they get closer."

"Keep monitoring their approach and try hailing them once they are in range," said Archer, making his way off the Bridge. "Keep me informed of any changes. I'll be in my quarters."

"Aye, Sir."

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Early the next morning as Trip entered the Bridge, the tension was so thick that you could slice through the atmosphere with a knife. Trip looked at Hoshi and Travis as he took some readings from the engineering console, but they were intent on diverting their eyes to look anywhere but at him. Malcolm fidgeted in his chair while glaring at Captain Archer, as if he was telepathically trying to urge him to say something.

Apparently quite uneasy, Captain Archer stood up and looked over at Trip. "Commander, can I see you for a minute?" he asked, while indicating to his quarters.

"Gimma a sec, will ya. I just wanna--" Trip began, before pausing as he realized their hull plating was raised.

Giving Archer a questioning look, he muttered "sure", and followed him off the Bridge.

"Something I should know?" asked Trip when they arrived inside Archer's quarters.

"I'm just being cautious after everything that's happened, Trip. There's nothing to worry about."

Trip watched him encouragingly, so Archer carried on with his explanation. "We picked up the trail of an alien ship late last night, and then another one about two hours behind them. Both ships seem to be on an intercept course."

"Oh!" replied Trip, sitting down as the color drained completely out of him. "Is it ... could one of them be the same--"

"T'Pol has gone through the Daladians database, and both ships match the specs for the Doradians and the Duordean's." Archer grasped his friend's shoulder in sympathy, before he went on. "We don't know whether they are the ones who attacked them."

"What are ya gonna do?"

"We're going to carry on our stated heading. I don't think there's anything to worry about at the moment since they don't appear hostile, but--" said Archer quickly when Trip tried to interrupt, "I'm not taking any chances; Malcolm's prepped and ready to take direct action against them if it looks like their intentions are going to change."

Trip tried to put across an encouraging face to show that he wasn't too concerned, but Archer looked unconvinced. "Well I'd better be off then. I haven't seen Phlox for ma daily check-up yet. Thanks for keeping me in the loop ..."

Archer nodded, and patted him on the back as Trip turned to go out of the door. "I've had guards posted in Engineering, Trip. If we run into any trouble, I want to make sure you've got protection to back you up."

Trip nodded his thanks, and turned to leave.

Just before he left, Archer spoke up again. "My quarters, eight o'clock tonight," he ordered. "I've already got Chef whipping up a fresh batch of banana and pickle ice cream, so don't be late. You know I can't stand the smell of that stuff for more than five minutes."

"Is that a hint to say you're still not gonna try some?"

chuckled Trip.

"Most definitely not." Archer replied with a smile.

"You don't know what you're missin', Capt'n. It's got a hell of a kick, and the taste is out of this world."

"I'll take your word on that, Trip," he laughed as the door closed. "Banana and pickle ice cream ..." he muttered before pulling a 'yuck' face.

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Later that night

"I've a good mind to sit you on the other side of the room,"

said Archer, wafting his hand in front of his nose to brush away the smell of Trip's favorite snack craving.

"What do ya mean?" replied Trip, pretending to be disgusted.

"It's good for me, Phlox said so."

Archer rolled his eyes, "I don't know how T'Pol let's you near here after eating that concoction."

"Being in love allows you to make sacrifices," replied Trip in a dry tone of voice.

Archer raised his eyebrows to indicate that he didn't believe a word of it.

"Ya got me," Trip smirked. "She orders me to clean my teeth before bed and I spied a tube she'd hidden of that old nasal inhibitor she used to take."

"That makes more sense," laughed Archer, just as the comm. unit started beeping.

Reaching over to answer, "Archer."

"Captain, the Doradian ship has just come within weapons range, and they have their shields raised," stated Malcolm.

"Have you tried to hail them?"

"Numerous times, but they won't answer," replied Malcolm. "They're either ignoring our hails, or they can't understand us.

Preferably, I'd go with the former."

"I'm on my way," said Archer. He jumped to his feet the same time Trip did, and then headed for the bridge together.

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"Report!" Archer shouted once he and Trip had arrived on the Bridge. His tension eased a little, though, when he saw T'Pol crinkle her nose up in disgust at the smell from Trip.

"They are scanning us," replied T'Pol, as she looked through her viewer.

"Captain, do you want us to respond?" asked Malcolm.

"No, let's see what their intentions are first," said Archer.

"They're hailing us," said Hoshi.

"Put them on the view screen, Ensign," replied Archer, sitting down in his chair, while Trip stood behind him and gripped the back edge.

On the screen, the face of an alien came into focus. No word was spoken while he focused on the bridge crew intently, as if he was eyeing up an opponent.

Trip gasped as he recognized the face as one of the two heads of the beast in his dream. Captain Archer noticed this but didn't do or say anything. Instead he sat down and waited for his opponent to speak.

"I am Commander Sonar of the Doradian hierarchy. You are holding the sole heir of one of the ruling families of Doradia. You will return this anarchist and dissident to us immediately."

"You're talking about the unborn child my officer is carrying?" replied Archer, a little confused. "How in any way is an innocent little

girl an anarchist and a threat to you?"

"She represents disruption, encourages dissent and chaos, and disturbs the natural order of our society. She is a threat to our whole way of life."

"In what way?" asked Archer.

"That is none of your concern," Commander Sonar shouted back. "You will hand your officer over to us so that we can remove her and judge her for her crimes. Your crewmen won't be harmed."

"You'll be condemning her to death," interrupted Phlox quite fiercely. "At her current stage of development, she's not capable of surviving outside the womb."

Commander Sonar just threw him a smug look. "You have one hour to comply," he stated before the screen went blank.

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