Walk in the Dark

By Drogna

Chapter 10

AN: Thanks to Volley, Lunaz, Cristina, Scottiedog, Queen Tigeress, Olivai Solar, Ichthusfish, Jadzia Kathryn, firebirdgirl, Gabi2305 and The Nagging Cube, for reviewing. You're all great and I apologise for the fuzzy monitor screens.

Enterprise had been given patrol duty. It wasn't something that Archer had been particularly pleased about, but given the rough time that everyone had had lately, he had to admit it was a welcome change of pace. They were basically touring the outer colonies of Earth, making sure that everything was running smoothly. They had another month before patrol duty ended and they would resume their deep space exploration.

Archer felt the loss of his former Chief Engineer deeply. It had taken him months to stop himself from calling in at Engineering to talk with Trip. Even now, when he called briefing meetings he wondered for a second why Hess had come in Trip's place. He still remembered the silence that had fallen over the bridge when he'd called down to Engineering with the familiar "Archer to Tucker". He wasn't the only one who had slipped up in those first weeks either, Reed had said that he would ask Trip to reassign one of his Engineers to help with the Armoury upgrades. Hoshi had suggested that Trip would be able to fix the glitch in the translation matrix. Even Hess had said "I'm sure the Chief will know how to fix it" before she'd remembered that she was now the Chief.

A day didn't go by without Archer wishing Trip was still on board, but it was always worst when a new water polo game arrived. His first thought, before he caught himself, was to call Trip and ask him if he wanted to come over to his quarters for a couple of beers and to watch the game. They'd always made time to do things like that. Instead he now sat alone in his quarters, sipping beer from the bottle and snacking on chips while he tried to follow Stanford versus UCLA. His mind wasn't really on it and when the com sounded he hadn't really been paying attention to what was on the screen for a while.

"Captain, our sensors have made a contact. We can't match it to anything on the navigation charts," said T'Pol.

"I'm on my way," replied Archer and was on the bridge a few moments later, glad of the distraction from his solitary contemplation. "Any idea what it is?"

"We have not been able to make an identification," said T'Pol. "This region of space is supposed to be empty."

T'Pol was correct. This was the closest thing that there was to a busy shipping lane in space. It was the shortest route between two of Earth's colonies and well travelled. If this object had been there any length of time then it would already have been detected.

"Could it be a ship?" asked Archer, looking at the view screen. It was little more than a metallic dot on the screen at the moment, but it looked elongated, as if it were a spacecraft of some type.

"From what I have been able to detect it is larger than a ship. Its construction suggests Earth origins. It may be a space station."

"A space station? Out here? That can't be right. Starbase One is the first of the deep space stations, we don't have any other stations this far out of Earth's orbit."

"Never-the-less, it does appear that is what this is," said T'Pol.

As they neared the object, Archer could see that T'Pol was right. It was too big to be a ship and had all the hallmarks of Earth engineering. What it was doing here was a mystery. There was no serial number to identify it or any symbols or flags emblazoned on the hull. It looked like two cartwheels joined together by a spoke through the middle of the hubs. The metal was grey and punctuated by small portholes at intervals around the circular frames. It spun majestically.

"There are docking ports," said Reed. "No discernable weaponry."

"Life signs?"

"None," said T'Pol.

"Let's take a shuttle across," said Archer. "Lieutenant Reed, T'Pol, Commander Hess, Ensign Sato, you're with me. Mr Mayweather, you have the bridge."

"Aye, sir," said Travis, as the away team filed out.

The station docking hatch had refused to open until Anna Hess attacked it with some Engineering magic that Archer hadn't really understood. Trip had trained her well and she certainly had his flair for engine empathy. Hess then set about turning on lights and getting life support up and running, so that the away team could remove their cumbersome EV suits. It didn't seem to take her very long to work out how everything functioned. The air that flooded the room was musty smelling but not bad, and T'Pol indicated that it was safe for everyone to take their helmets off.

The interior of the station was made of dark metal and the engineers hadn't worried too much about hiding the way the station was put together. It was obvious that this was a place of work. Everything looked functional and spartan. It reminded Archer of some of the older bits of Jupiter station before the last refit.

"This is definitely Earth construction," said Hess. "It even has some of the same design aspects as Enterprise. It could have been built by Starfleet given these EPS grid layouts. It all feels really familiar."

"Then why haven't we ever heard of a space station in this area before?" asked Reed.

"From these diagnostics, I'd say that the stabilisers failed and it drifted here," replied Hess. "It's obviously not where it's supposed to be."

"You can say that again," said Reed.

"I'll see if there are some logs that I can download," said Hoshi moving to the computer console on one side of the room. She tapped away at the keys for a moment. "There are security lock outs enabled."

"Perhaps I can assist," said T'Pol, she moved to Hoshi's side and assessed the situation.

"We'll cover more ground if we split up. Malcolm, take Anna to find the Engine room. See if you can work out what happened here," said Archer. "Check in every ten minutes. I'll start exploring up here with Hoshi and T'Pol."

"Yes, sir," replied everyone.

Archer looked around while T'Pol and Hoshi tried to access the computer. He didn't stray far from the main area where Hoshi and T'Pol were working but there was plenty to look at in close proximity.

Archer's communicator beeped. "Reed to Archer."

"Go ahead Malcolm."

"We've found something that I think you should see."

"I'm on my way," said Archer. He turned to Hoshi and T'Pol. "Stay in touch and let me know if you find anything. I won't be long."

T'Pol nodded but they barely stopped what they were doing. Archer walked down the corridor to Reed and Hess's position a little way into the station. Archer found the open door that indicated the room that Hess and Reed were investigating, and walked in. The sight that he was met with was unexpected. He saw rows of what were obviously incubators for babies. They were empty and definitely had lain unused for sometime, but the implication disturbed him. Reed didn't need to speak to explain what they had found, he had seen Archer's reaction.

Archer walked over to the nearest incubator and put a hand on the rim. "There were children here."

"The other rooms contain medical equipment and there are what look like labs further down the corridor," said Reed.

Archer looked around him. "This was a medical research station."

"It's looking that way," said Reed.

"Then what was it doing all the way out here?" asked Hess.

"Lieutenant, contact Enterprise and get them to send over Doctor Phlox. Perhaps he can help us work out what was going on here." Archer prowled around the room, looking at the various pieces of medical equipment in the room. Anyone who had to hide what they were doing couldn't be up to anything good.

"Yes, sir," said Reed and went to carry out the Captain's orders.

Archer and Hess continued to investigate more corridors and rooms but they found nothing more enlightening. There were rooms that seemed to be treatment rooms, equipped with devices that neither Hess nor Archer recognised, and wards with biobeds. Further in there were living and recreational quarters. It didn't seem as if the inhabitants had left in a hurry, but it did look as if they had intended to come back. Some of the beds had been left with blankets on them, but in general the rooms were bare. It was becoming increasingly clear that this station had housed a small population for some period of time.

Phlox and Reed found Archer and Hess looking at yet another piece of technology that Hess thought might be a bio-scanner of some type.

"This is Denobulan technology," said Phlox in surprise. "It's a full body scanner."

"Well that explains why we didn't recognise it," said Hess.

"What about the rest of this?" asked Archer.

"Well it certainly looks like it's medical equipment, but it isn't Denobulan," said Phlox. "Some of it is of Earth origin, but definitely not all of it. That microscope is Vulcan."

"Any idea what they might have been doing all the way out here?" asked Archer.

"There would only be one reason to hide the presence of a medical facility, which I am sorry to say was probably because they were doing something illegal. That usually means biological weapons, organ harvesting and transplantation or, for Earth, genetic research." Phlox didn't look at all happy about any of the prospects.

"The incubators…" said Archer, a frown forming on his face. "Come on, maybe T'Pol and Hoshi have had some luck with cracking the computer system. We need answers and we're not going to get them from empty rooms."

T'Pol and Hoshi had found a wealth of information on the computer system but a lot of it was encrypted. Archer had decided that everyone should return to Enterprise and get some rest while Hoshi and T'Pol worked with the information that they had downloaded. They had spent hours deciphering it but, finally, they had a program that could decrypt the files. The majority of the files were medical records which were passed to Phlox so that he could see if they contained any useful information. However there were a number of other files which T'Pol insisted on decrypting personally, despite Hoshi's offers of help.

T'Pol requested that she give her report to Archer, Reed and Phlox alone. She refused to give her reasons but said that it included a confidential matter. The four of them sat in Archer's Ready Room and T'Pol began.

"As we suspected this facility was used for genetic research. It appears to have been founded after the Eugenics War but I have been unable to break the encryption on the files which detail who built it. The focus of research on the station was primarily on correcting genetic faults, not enhancing. They manipulated the genetics of embryos and I also found records of several births. Approximately twenty years ago the station was abandoned."

"Why did they abandon it?" asked Reed.

"That is also unknown."

"What happened to the children?" asked Archer. "Can we track them down?"

"They are most likely now part of the general population and so far I have not been able to find any names, only numerical designations. They would not be like the Augments that we encountered. The purpose of this research was to correct defects like short sightedness or disease. The children who received this treatment would be healthy, but not supermen."

"In other words," said Reed, "they could easily hide on Earth among children their own age."

"It's still illegal, and dangerous," said Archer, getting up from his chair to stare at the station through the window. "All the attempts that we've seen at genetic manipulation have resulted in deaths. Soong's Augments and the Klingon's efforts to use that research all ended in failure."

Phlox looked up at Archer, an almost sad look on his face. "It seems that these scientists had some success, especially in treating genetic diseases. I believe that they perfected a treatment for Clarke's Syndrome."

Archer's head snapped around. "They found a cure?"

Reed and T'Pol looked equally surprised by this revelation.

"Yes, and various other treatments to help recovery from the disease once the genetic code had been corrected."

"You're telling me that we've had the cure, this close to Earth, for twenty years?"

"That is exactly what I'm saying, Captain," said Phlox. "However, as you are aware, making use of this information would also be illegal, given how it was obtained. Humans died in some of these experiments. Genetic therapy is still illegal on Earth and the rules are very strict on the fruits of genetic research conducted in this way."

"So even though we have a cure for Trip, we can't give it to him?" asked Reed.

Phlox nodded. "I'm afraid so."

"No, I won't accept it," said Archer, slamming his fist against the wall.

"We may have no choice," said T'Pol.

"Commander Tucker's condition was declining steadily when we last were at Earth, and even if we are able to use the cure I couldn't guarantee that we would be in time." Phlox was again looking unhappy.

"We have to try. Gene therapy is illegal on Earth, but we could bring Trip here," Archer suggested.

"This is technically still in Earth's jurisdiction, and I doubt they would release Commander Tucker to us," said Reed.

"They were going to let us take him to Vulcan," said Archer.

"Earth has no jurisdiction over what happens on Vulcan. I was careful never to give details of the treatment that the Commander would receive to anyone on Earth. If they had found out the nature of the treatment then I doubt the Earth authorities would have been so willing to let him go to Vulcan," said Phlox.

Archer hadn't even really thought about that aspect of the treatment. He had just been so glad to see a lifeline being offered to Trip that he hadn't even considered that Phlox might have had to hide exactly what the treatment was. He hadn't really paid much attention to the way the treatment would work or that it was a product of Vulcan genetic research. If Starfleet ever found out that they had hidden this then there would be hell to pay.

Archer sighed. "You're certain that this is a cure, Doctor?"

"As certain as I can be without actually testing it on a human being," said Phlox.

"We have to report what we've found to Starfleet," said T'Pol.

"Maybe not all of it," said Archer.

"You're suggesting that we don't tell Starfleet that we've found a genetic research base?" asked Reed, a little surprised.

"I won't order you to withhold information from Starfleet, but I need your help and so does Trip," said Archer.

"What do you have in mind?" asked T'Pol.

"We go back to Earth and take the cure with us," said Archer.

Phlox shook his head. "That wouldn't be possible. We need to bring Commander Tucker here, where the equipment is. Earth just doesn't have the technical capability to perform genetic manipulation."

"Then we bring Trip here," said Archer.

"Captain, we would be using the results of research obtained by experimentation on human beings," said Phlox.

"I know that, Doctor, and it's an ethical dilemma that I can't deal with right now. At least something good can come out of the experiments that were done here. There's a reason why Earth has laws against places like this, but I won't sacrifice Trip because these scientists used questionable methods."

"You know what this will mean, if we go ahead," said Reed. "Starfleet will work out sooner or later what's going on. Everyone involved would risk court-martial."

"I know, and that's why I won't order you. I'll do this on my own if I have to, but it would be a lot easier with some help."

"You do not need to ask, Captain," said T'Pol.

"I'm in," said Reed.

"You will need the services of a doctor," said Phlox. "It would be very remiss of me not to care for a former patient."

"We'll need Hess's help as well," said Reed.

"I'll talk to her," said Archer. "I want you all to understand that there's no going back once we start down this road."

"We understand, Captain," said T'Pol.

"Trip's saved our lives more times than I care to count, it's time to repay the debt," said Reed.

Enterprise had unexpectedly suffered a series of malfunctions whilst on patrol in the outer colonies. Unfortunately the engineering staff had been unable to track down the fault and so they had returned to Earth for repairs. The crew were actually quite happy because they had been given shore leave while the problem was diagnosed and fixed. So far no one had discovered that Hess had created the malfunctions herself. Phase one of the plan had gone without a hitch, now Archer had to put part two into action and that would be much more difficult.

Once again Archer found himself standing outside the hospice where Trip was being cared for. Phlox was with him and it was late at night. They entered the hospice through a side door and made their way towards Trip's room, avoiding the nurses doing their rounds. Lieutenant Reed had already dealt with the security systems and video feeds, but if they met anyone then it would mean answering some awkward questions. This time as they came to the open door, Trip wasn't at his desk. Judging by how tidy it was, the desk hadn't been used for a while.

The figure lying in the bed didn't look much like the man that Archer knew so well, but the blond hair was still the same. His eyes were closed and he had an oxygen cannula running under his nose. An IV line ran into a port in the back of his hand. Phlox picked up the chart from the slot at the end of the bed and clicked through the padd pages.

"The IV is for pain medication and re-hydration. I won't go into all the details but he's getting very weak. If we're going to do this then it has to be now."

Archer drew up a chair beside his friend's bed. "Trip, can you hear me?"

Eyelids slowly peeled back from blue eyes. "Hey, Commander Archer, nice of you to come by," said Trip, blearily.

"It's Captain now, Trip. You remember?"

"Congratulations on the promotion, Captain," said Trip. The voice was a weak facsimile of what it had been previously. The edges of the words were slurred into each other and quiet. Every word was an effort for Trip to form and his breathing laboured.

"Trip, do you remember where you are and why you're here?"

"In hospital, they tell me I'm sick," replied Trip, and screwed his eyes up in pain. "Hurts like a son of a bitch."

Archer glanced over at Phlox.

"He's on the highest safe dosage," said Phlox, helplessly.

"Trip, you have Clarke's Syndrome and it's affecting your memory. You've been serving on Enterprise for the past seven years."

"Enterprise? As in NX-01?"

"The same. Trip, we've found a cure for your illness, but it involves breaking you out of here and you could end up being in a lot of trouble."

Trip paused before he answered, obviously trying to persuade his less than co-operative brain to think straight. "I'd rather be alive and court-martialled than dead with a perfect record. Besides, I get the feeling that I don't exactly have a spotless record anyway."

Archer smiled at his friend. "Okay, we'll have you out of here as soon as we can and then we'll be on our way." Archer reached for his communicator. "Archer to Reed. Malcolm, you have a go."

"Understood, sir," came the reply in steady English tones. Archer flipped the communicator closed. He noticed that Trip's eyes were following something, but when Archer looked he couldn't see anything. Trip was definitely hallucinating and Archer's heart sank. His father had been like this shortly before the disease killed him, although Trip's memory seemed to be slightly better. At least he knew who Archer was even if it was an Archer from over ten years ago.

"Phlox, do you have everything you need in the shuttlepod?"

"Yes, we should be fine. They have been continuing him on the medication that I prescribed, plus a few others that I had already predicted."

Archer nodded, as Reed and T'Pol came into the room with a gurney.

"Be careful, he's in a lot of pain," said Archer, as the four of them got into position to transfer Trip to the gurney. Phlox unhooked the bags from the IV pole and busied himself shutting off monitors so that no alerts would sound when Trip was disconnected.

"Commander, who are all these people? And why is a Vulcan helping us?" asked Trip.

"That is a long story, Trip, but let me introduce Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, Doctor Phlox and Commander T'Pol. I know you can't remember, but they're your friends and they're here to help us."

"I have friends who are aliens?"

"Yes and a lot of humans as well."

"Commander Tucker, are you ready?" asked T'Pol, they were ready to move Trip.

"When did I get promoted to commander?"

"About eight years ago," said Archer.

"Damn. You've got a lot to fill me in on. Let's get this show on the road."

Phlox pulled back the blankets to reveal Trip's hospital gown and the full extent of the muscle wastage on Trip's limbs. Trip looked fragile, as if the least movement would damage him. Archer saw Trip brace himself for the pain as he was moved and T'Pol, Reed and Archer shifted him to the gurney as quickly as possible. Trip still winced despite the care they took. They settled him carefully and Phlox checked that all the tubes were still positioned correctly.

Phlox looked up at Archer. "We're ready."

Archer and T'Pol wheeled the gurney with Trip on it down the halls, while Reed checked the hallways. Phlox walked beside them, monitoring Trip's vital signs. The shuttlepod was waiting outside the side door in the hospice's car park, and Reed held the door open for the gurney. It took a little manoeuvring to get the gurney through the door. Trip's eyes had fallen closed again and Archer had no idea how much of the escape he was really taking in.

"Hey, what are you doing?" said a voice from outside.

Archer had been concentrating on Trip, and looked up to see one of the nurses that he'd met when he'd visited before. She was wearing the hospice uniform and had neatly tied back blonde hair. He felt the stab of guilt at being caught doing something that he knew he shouldn't be. The other members of the rescue party also looked worried at this new turn of events.

"I know what this looks like…" started Archer, and then wondered what it did look like.

"This man is a patient of this hospital and he is too ill to be moved," said the nurse, and then she noticed the uniforms of the people who appeared to be kidnapping one of her patients. Her look of outrage turned to one of puzzlement. "You're Captain Archer."

"Yes, I am. Trip is my friend and one of the finest officers that I've ever served with. I can't tell you where we're taking him but I can tell you we only have his best interests at heart. We have our ship's doctor with us to make sure that he's taken care of."

"You're taking him out there to die," said the nurse, her eyes flicking upwards to the sky. Archer didn't agree or disagree, but he certainly wasn't going to explain why they were really taking Trip. The nurse looked back at Trip and put a friendly hand on his shoulder. "Everyone here likes Trip and it's been hard for everyone to see him getting so ill. We've only known him a few months, but I can understand how he'd have friends like you."

"Then you won't tell anyone that you saw us?" asked Reed.

The young woman seemed to come to a resolution. "No, I won't. You've got until I do my rounds to make your escape. Then I'll have to raise the alarm."

"We'll be long gone by then," said Archer, with a smile. He signalled to Phlox, Reed and T'Pol to continue moving the gurney. He was about to follow them but stopped. "Thanks. I know you could still get into trouble for this."

"I'm old enough to know what I'm doing," replied the nurse. "Just make sure that you take good care of him."

"We will. He's in good hands."

Hoshi and Travis were alone on the bridge when the alert sounded. Neither of them had intended to be on Enterprise. Hoshi had been scheduled to give a lecture at a Linguistics conference but had some final changes to make to her paper so had decided to stay on board for an extra day. Travis was supposed to be picking up a transport out to rendezvous with his family's cargo ship but the transport had technical difficulties and wouldn't be leaving for another day at least. Travis had decided to spend his spare time updating and calibrating the helm computers after the latest round of upgrades.

The bridge was plunged briefly into darkness and then the light changed to red and a klaxon began blaring loudly. They both recognised the evacuation alarm when they heard it, but neither of them ran for the exit. Years of serving on Enteprise had taught them to question everything. Instead they made for the engineering and science stations and began to trace down why the alarm was sounding.

"We're in dock, this can't be happening," said Hoshi.

"I wouldn't jump to conclusions. Reactors can go critical with very little warning if they're handled wrong," replied Travis. He was thinking of the army of engineers that had been despatched to Enterprise to see if they could find out what the malfunction was. He was always slightly distrustful of engineers who weren't part of Enterprise's engineering department.

"I've got power readings building," said Hoshi. "We should go."

Travis shook his head. "Something isn't right here. I'm not getting a rise in radiation. The sensors aren't agreeing with each other."

Hoshi pressed buttons frantically. "You're right. There are false readings in here. It looks like someone accessed the system externally and created the alert conditions. They used a command code. It's Captain Archer's."

"How is that possible? The Captain would never let anyone have his code."

"And it's security encrypted with biometric information so that only the Captain can use it," said Hoshi.

"Something is very wrong here," said Travis, just as Captain Archer walked onto the bridge, Lieutenant Reed and T'Pol half a step behind him.

"Captain?" asked Hoshi, as she vacated the science station for T'Pol. "What's going on?"

"There's a malfunction in the warp core assembly. Everyone is being evacuated as a precaution. You two should go while we sort this out."

"Captain, we know that something's going on," said Travis.

"I'm not going anywhere unless you tell me what's really happening," said Hoshi.

Archer glanced at T'Pol who gave him a half-shrug of her shoulders.

"We're taking Trip to the space station we found, out in the colonies," said Archer. "It's a medical station that had been conducting genetic research and it has a cure for Clarke's Syndrome."

"I'll lay in the course," said Travis, moving back to his own station, purposefully.

"You'll need me to run interference on communications as well," said Hoshi.

"You both need realise that if you're coming, this is a one way journey. You'll be sacrificing Starfleet and your careers," said Archer.

"Sir, we know what we're doing," said Hoshi, "we're saving the Commander's life." Travis nodded from his position at the helm in agreement.

Archer could see the determination in the eyes of his junior officers. Trip had a way of eliciting loyalty from those he met. There was only one thing he could say. "Welcome on board."

"Thank you, sir," said Hoshi, with a grin.

"T'Pol, has everyone left the ship?" asked Archer.

"The only other life signs on board are two in sickbay and one in engineering," said T'Pol. That was how it should be, Phlox and Trip in sickbay and Hess in engineering."

"Hoshi, put me through to Space Port Control," said Archer.

"The channel is open," said Hoshi.

"Archer to Space Port Control. We are experiencing a serious malfunction in our reactor core. Request emergency docking clamp release, so that we can clear space port and jettison the core."

There was the sound of loud metallic thunks echoing across the hull as the clamps were disengaged.

"This is Space Port Control, docking clamps have been released. You are cleared to go."

Archer made a cutting motion to Hoshi.

"Connection closed, sir," said Hoshi.

"Good. Malcolm, you can shut off the alarm now and go to full lock down."

"Yes, sir," said Reed. The wailing klaxon mercifully ceased. "All hatches are sealed and we are ready to depart."

"Disconnecting umbilical cables," said T'Pol. The distant sound of air escaping and valves shutting was heard.

"Take us out, Mr Mayweather, straight and steady," said Archer. Enterprise began to move forward gently, out of the metal ribcage that held her in dock. It would take a few moments to clear space dock but now they were moving there was very little anyone could do to stop them.

"Commander Hess, are you ready?"

"Whenever you are, Captain. Just remember that it's only me down here."

"Understood. You have a go, Travis."

"Yes, sir," replied the helmsman. Enterprise had emerged from the space dock and they were now in clear space. "Engaging warp." Enterprise leapt up the warp factors. They would be out of the solar system in minutes and on their way to the outer colonies. "Warp four and holding, Captain."

"Sir, we're being hailed," said Hoshi.

"Ignore it," said Archer. He could imagine the frantic hailing and panic in the control room at Enterprise leaving without permission.

"Yes, sir, I'll engage a static field. It'll make it look like out communications are being disrupted," said Hoshi.

"Good idea," said Archer.

"I know that you've probably already discussed this, but aren't they going to send someone after us?" asked Hoshi.

Reed gave a half laugh. "We've just stolen the flagship of the fleet. They're going to want their property back."

"Let's just hope that they decide they need it back in one piece," added Archer.