Chapter Eighteen
Just over three hours later, Trip true to his word pressed the comm. to Archer's quarters.
"Tucker to Capt'n Archer."
"Archer."
"You're set to go," said Trip quietly, making sure that he was out of earshot of his engineering crew. "In about fifteen minutes, sensors are going to show an Orion war bird homing in on an attack run. I've rigged the ship's stabilizers to fail as their weapons hit to make the show more convincing, so hang on to your seat."
"Don't worry about that," replied Archer. "I'm going to make myself scarce so I can observe the crew's and T'Pol's reactions to this crisis. Will Malcolm suspect this is a drill if he prepares to defend Enterprise against the attack? I don't want stray torpedoes flying off into space to hit unsuspecting ships."
"No," answered Trip. "I've reconfigured weapons to look and act like they've fired. Unless you manually check the inventory by hand, he won't know that nothing has actually been fired. After a few convincing hits, the reactor is going to show that a breach is in progress, and I'll order an evacuation of Engineering. T'Pol should have been clued in to the danger by then and have ordered a ship wide evacuation of other decks. Once in the escape pods, it will look and sound like they've been activated, but in reality they will still be locked down solid on Enterprise. After about five minutes all systems will temporarily shut down, then return online back to normality again when you can let everyone know what happened."
"Great work, Trip," said Archer. "See you in about twenty five minutes for the post drill briefing."
"Just remember when you are being worn down by T'Pol's wrath, I'm gonna deny all involvement," said Trip with a smirk. He signed off with an amusing vision of Captain Archer in that meeting, melting in a puddle from T'Pol's evil glare when she finds out about the drill and Starfleet's testing of her command ability."
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Archer picked up a small bundle from his desk, which he had prepared earlier and removed his communicator from his pocket. If his plan was to work, he couldn't be distracted by T'Pol, or the rest of the command staff, trying to contact him. He quietly slipped out of his quarters and made his way down to the brig. "It's time to make a deal with the devil," he thought.
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Ten minutes later, all hell broke loose as the ship rocked from an unknown blast. Archer heard the voice of T'Pol over the comm. calling for everyone to report to their duty stations before he slipped inside the brig.
"You heard the Commander," he ordered to the crewman inside. "Report to your station!"
"Lieutenant Reed gave me precise orders to guard the prisoner at all times, Sir," replied Crewman Davies, unsure which was going to be worse, the wrath of his Captain or that of his commanding officer, Lieutenant Reed.
"We're under attack; your duty is to defend Enterprise. I'll guard Soong until Lieutenant Reed sends down reinforcements. Now crewman, that's an order!"
"Yes, Sir," replied Davies before racing off outside to the Armory.
Soong watched with a curious look on his face, while Archer used his command codes to deactivate the security measures and open the brig. "Get dressed in this quickly and follow me," he said, offering Soong an Enterprise crewman's uniform. "We haven't much time before T'Pol orders a ship wide evacuation. Do you want your freedom or not?" asked Archer, as Soong remained where he was.
"You're giving me my freedom?" questioned Soong, standing up and taking the uniform from Archer's outstretched hand, as the ship rocked from another unknown blast. "I'm finding it a bit hard to believe that the great Jonathan Archer, Starfleet's finest captain and hero of the Xindi crisis, would defy orders and help a top security prisoner escape."
"I still believe in Starfleet and what it stands for," said Archer as Soong dressed, "but I'm not sure they are doing the right thing regarding you and your work. Unlike Starfleet, I believe past evil should be used for the good of mankind now."
"It sounds like you have a crisis in conflict between your duty and your personal life," replied Soong, zipping up the uniform and pulling on his boots, while he tried to recall everything he had read and heard about Jonathan Archer. "I recall your father died from Clarke's Disease …"
"A disease you developed a cure for," interrupted Archer as he waved Soong over to the door, before carefully looking out to see if there was anyone in the vicinity. An alarm sounded in the distance to indicate that Engineering was being evacuated, "We haven't got much time," said Archer guiding Soong along the corridor towards the turbolift. "The shuttle bay and our escape route are two decks down."
"Hmmm... why would you have a crisis regarding a cure for this disease if your father died from it over ten years previously?" mused Soong as the lift descended.
"Who said I was having a crisis?" lied Archer as they arrived at their destination. He guided Soong into the shuttle bay and towards the Suliban cell ship, on which he had previously prepared pre-flight checks. Soong's eyes lit up at the sight of it. "So the rumors were true."
"Climb in while I override launch control. Don't make yourself too comfortable, it's staying with me."
"I wonder how many other rumors are true as well with regards to Jonathan Archer," thought Soong, "or … maybe even …Henry Archer …"
Archer jumped down the stairs three at a time. T'Pol had just issued a ship wide evacuation. He had minutes to clock the Suliban ship before the shuttle bay began to fill up with personnel preparing to board the shuttles.
"Stop!" shouted the sudden voice of Malcolm Reed, causing Archer to turn his head round in surprise. "I didn't put in my report that I'd rigged the launch controls to signal my display if they were activated without my authorization. Call me paranoid, but I like to have a few surprises up my sleeve." When he realized who it was, he lowered the aim of his phaser. "Why, Sir? Why are you doing this? What about your duty to Starfleet?"
"I haven't forgotten it, Malcolm, but my duty towards my family comes first …" "You're not the only one who has a surprise up his sleeve," thought Archer, realizing that Reed's concentration had dropped as he tried to understand why Archer would betray Starfleet. Pulling out a phaser, which he had hidden in the top half of his uniform, he fired, stunning Reed to the floor.
"There's no turning back now," he thought as he jumped into the ship, closed the door and activated the cloak.
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