J. B. Tilton/Page 4

THREE

"How's it going?" Archer asked Malcolm in his quarters.

"All right, sir," said Malcolm. "I'm sorry to have to put you through this."

"Seems to me you're the one going through this," said Archer. "I've talked to Admiral De Haan about what this is all about. If it's okay with you, he's agreed to allow me to be your advocate."

"Yes, sir," said Malcolm. "Thank you, sir. I appreciate it."

"You do know what this is all about, don't you?" asked Archer.

"I believe I do, sir," said Malcolm. "I've lived with it for five years. I thought it might finally be behind me."

"Tell me what happened," said Archer.

"I was assigned to the Polaris as the assistant tactical officer," said Malcolm. "We were ordered to locate the base of some Tesseract marauders."

"I know all about that," said Archer. "Tell me about the battle afterwards."

"We were returning to Earth," said Malcolm. "Suddenly, we encountered eleven Tesseract fighters returning to their base. Captain Humphreys ordered us to engage them.

"During the battle we sustained heavy damage. But we were managing to best the fighters. Their sensors weren't as sophisticated as ours were. They had no way of knowing just how badly we were damaged."

"But you lost the battle?" asked Archer.

"No, sir, we didn't," said Malcolm. "We took out all of the fighters. But we were so badly damaged, Captain Humphreys ordered us to abandon ship. A distress call was sent to Earth. We were picked up about six weeks later by a rescue ship."

"What about Captain Humphreys?" asked Archer.

"He stayed with the ship," said Malcolm. "Tradition and all that. The warp core must have breached. Before even half of the crew had ejected in the escape pods, the ship exploded."

"Sounds like he was quite an officer," said Archer.

"He was, sir," said Malcolm. "He sponsored me to the academy. He even helped me with some classes I was having trouble with. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be a Star Fleet officer today. He was almost like a second father to me."

"I can understand that," said Archer. "I know you, Malcolm. If you admired him, he had to be quite a man."

"Yes, sir," said Malcolm. "As I said, I owed him everything."

"T'Pol's going over the records recovered from the Polaris," said Archer. "According to Admiral De Haan, a transmission containing vital tactical information on the Polaris was sent to the enemy fighters. Information they were able to use to their advantage."

"As I said, sir," said Malcolm, "their sensors weren't as sophisticated as ours. The hull polarization generator was damaged. Half of our torpedo launchers were out. Life support was failing all over the ship.

"Most of the bridge crew had been killed. Lieutenant Stephens, the Polaris' tactical officer, was unconscious. I immediately took over. Even as badly damaged as the ship was, we were still able to destroy the last fighter. But by then it was too late to save the Polaris."

"I'm sure T'Pol will find that you didn't send that transmission," said Archer. "You're no traitor, Malcolm. Someone else must have sent it. Or maybe the information wasn't retrieved properly. You know T'Pol will get it correct."

"No one else sent the transmission, sir," said Malcolm, looking at the floor guiltily. "And there was no mistake in retrieving the information. I sent that transmission. That's why my security code is embedded in it."

"What?" asked Archer in total surprise. "Why, Malcolm?"

"I can't answer that, sir," said Malcolm.

"Malcolm, I don't think you understand how serious this is," said Archer.

"Yes, sir, I do," said Malcolm. "But the charges against me are true, sir. I have no defense. I sent the transmission. I'm guilty, sir."

Archer could do nothing but stare at Malcolm in total shock.