-1

"I don't understand why he continues to delay," Sila said to Mitan as the two sat in the communal room on the ship.

"Silik knows what he is doing," the other man answered simply.

"How can you be so sure? He dotes on that child like she is a new toy!" Mitan laughed.

"Not a new toy, a pet Sila. She has something he wants and in a few days, it will reach it's peak." Sila looked at Mitan and threw his hands in the air.

"I don't understand!"

"That is why I am of a higher rank than you," he said simply. "If he gains the child's trust, he can gain valuable information about the Enterprise , Archer and the other crew. Besides, it will be easier to extract the particles if she is relaxed around him. She will do as he asks more readily."

Sila stopped pacing and sat for a moment, mulling this over in his head. He could see the point now.

"I understand," he said calmly ad he stood.

"Where are you going now?"

"To apologize to Silik for ever doubting him or his plans for the child." Mitan watched him go.

The impulsiveness of the youth on this ship was amusing at times, but it was also a constant reminder of what the Suliban Empire was being reduced to in this war. That young girl that was with Silik was the last hope they had to win the temporal war.

T'Pol sat quietly while T'Lin told her the whole story, occasionally giving her more details than she had given the elder Archer.

"What are the circumstances that lead to all this?" she asked.

T'Lin opened her mouth, but shut it quickly before starting again. "I do not believe that it would be prudent to tell you."

"I understand," she answered in return.

"It's late, I should go," T'Lin said as she put her cup on the coffee table and made a move to get up.

"Do you wish to leave?" T'Pol asked her. T'Lin hesitated. She didn't want to, but she knew she should. "I will take your hesitation as a no."

"I was supposed to return to Vulcan a few days after the mission was launched. It is difficult, trying to keep everything in check, but letting it through at the same time," she said as she sat back down on the floor, pulling her knees to her chest as T'Pol studied her carefully.

She was nothing more than a child, as far as emotional control went and she could understand what she must be feeling.

T'Lin continued, "And now there are all these secrets that I have to keep and I got here too late on top of everything! I was supposed to get here, find Hallee in sick bay and take her home."

The Vulcan watched her for a second; pulse and respiration had increased, as had random movements. She moved towards T'Lin slowly before gently placing her fingers on the young woman's face.

"Concentrate," she said softly as she initiated a small mental bond. The two let their minds link briefly, T'Pol lending some of her closely guarded control to T'Lin before pulling back. Two sets of identical brown eyes looked on each other for a moment and more was said in that minute than ever could have been spoken.

Trip and Hoshi broke apart only when their bodies started to demand oxygen. He rested his forehead gently against hers as they tried to catch their breath.

They stayed quiet as Hoshi pushed slightly away and looked at him. He opened his mouth to say something and she placed a finger over it while she continued to stare. She got up off the bed; eyes still locked with his, and kicked off her boots. Next to go was her jumpsuit. Trip froze in place as Hoshi unzipped her uniform, slipping out of it before coming back to the bed and him.

"Please," she said as she kissed him once more. He pushed away from her slightly.

"We shouldn't do this," he told her.

"I don't really care."

"Hoshi," he tried to reason with her again as her hands made progress on his uniform.

"Please Charlie . . . No regrets, I swear," she told him as she kissed him again, her passion slowly breaking down his will until he was responding equally to everything she was giving him. "Any progress?" Archer asked Reed as he came onto the bridge.

"None, Sir," Reed said, not bothering to look up as he continued to work at his panel. "They left nothing to trace them by."

Jonathon sighed as he glanced over the shoulder of Lt. Greeson who was manning science station at the moment. There was nothing in those readings, either.

"Start scanning for any Suliban energy signatures, their ships, anything. I want to find them and I want to find them now," he said as he headed to his readyroom.

Porthos looked up at Jon and hopefully as his master walked through the door. He missed his playmate.

"We haven't found her yet, Porthos," he said. The little dog got up and wandered over to Jon, sitting quietly at his feet and wagging his tail a little. The captain sighed and patted his lap. The little beagle jumped up and lay down, sighing a little as Jon started to pet him. The two stared out at the stars as they waited for news. "Thank you," T'Lin finally said, looking away as a small blush spread
against her face. She didn't like being this uncontrolled around Vulcans.

"You have remarkable control for some one so young," T'Pol answered.

"Thank you," she said. Silence fell over the two again.

"Did you learn anything I didn't tell you?" T'Lin asked after a moment.

"I learned that when you were three, you were afraid of the dark. You have two younger brothers and a younger sister, and you resent your parents somewhat for changing their views of mental discipline with your siblings," she answered simply, allowing a small smile to briefly make an appearance.

"As long as that's all you know."

"You have a beagle, Alex," she added.

"Some Archer traditions never change," T'Lin said with a shrug.

Commander Trip Tucker III lay awake in the dark, trying to rationalize what he had just let happen. What a commanding officer had let happen between him and an ensign

He could have left, he could have walked away and he could have done anything but give in. Yet, here he was, lying naked in Hoshi's bed with an equally naked Hoshi curled into his side, fast asleep.

He turned his head to the side and stared out the window, letting go a soft sigh. She had promised him no regrets, but he was already regretting the fact that it had happened. He also was deeply regretting his lack of self-control. Trip allowed himself the luxury of playing with the ends of Hoshi's hair as he tried to find away out of the mess he had let himself fall into. Actually, at the mess they had both let themselves fall into.

He grew still as he felt her stir, not ready to deal with the inevitable awkwardness, hoping she'd fall back to sleep. When she didn't, he feigned sleep.

"Charlie?" she asked quietly. When she got no answer, Hoshi grabbed one of the sheets and wrapped it around herself as she slid out of bed and headed for the bathroom. Her mind reeled, trying to sort out what she had done.

She turned on the shower, climbing in soon after to let the water pound down on her. She had seduced a superior officer, her friend no less and why? That was the question she couldn't, or wouldn't, answer. She couldn't find a real, tangible reason for why she had initiated that little . . .horizontal rumba.

"Oh Hoshi, what have you done?" she asked herself as she rested her forehead against the cool shower wall.

Trip let go a sigh of relief when he heard the shower start, and he lay for a moment longer, trying to decide if he wanted to be there when she got out.

He decided he didn't, and quickly dressed, leaving a scribbled note saying he was sorry and would be in engineering if she needed to talk.

The doors closed behind him just as the water shut off and silence took over; regret hanging heavily in the air.
T'Lin left T'Pol's quarters shortly after the mind meld and headed to her assigned quarters. All she could do was imagine the seven different kinds of hell she was going to be in when Admiral Tucker found out how much she had told them.

She also knew that there would be eight kinds of hell coming her way from her mother, but she figured it was worth it.

It wasn't every day that you got to meet you great, great, great, great grandparents and be the only one who knew what was really going on. She hated lying. Then she reminded herself that she wasn't lying, she was omitting specific details.

She sighed as she entered her quarters and no happy little dog came racing out to greet her. T'Lin pulled out her tricorder and sat down at the deck in the room, popping the cover off and starting to manipulate the circuits to send a signal to Daniels and Tucker, 700 years in the future.

The quality of the signal was surprisingly high as far as she was concerned, but lasted only long enough for them to get a fix on her location and beam over some more up-to-date information and tracking tools.

She hesitated as she set up the communication station, not looking forward to having to explain that she didn't have Hallee.

"I'm not procrastinating," she thought to herself. "I'm giving myself ample time to consider my options." T'Lin considered her options up until the very moment the panel sprung to life on its own. Tucker, having grown impatient, had contacted her first.

"Report Lieutenant," he said. She took a moment to compose herself.

"She's not here sir. We missed her by moments, and then Lt. Reed apprehended me. "

"Consequences?" he asked as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"My phaser has been confiscated, but I have gained Captain Archer and Sub-Commander T'Pol's trust to a degree."

Tucker stared at her for a moment.

"I informed them of as much as I possibly could."

Tucker swore and slammed around his office in a fit of frustration. He had been hoping that she would be able to give them information as warranted, not give them the whole story all at once.

T'Lin watched him as she clung to her Vulcan control, trying not to give in and join him in acting out his frustration.

"Sir?" she called.

"What?" he asked, not happy to be hearing from her so soon.

"They will allow me to have more influence over their next course of action. It was logical that I inform them as I did."

Tucker shook his head.

"Damned Vulcan logic," he muttered. "Use the scanner discretely. It would be best if we only had to alter Hallee's memories, not half the crew as well."

"Yes sir," she replied.

"Try to speed things up, will you? Starfleet is starting to get antsy."

"Yes sir," Archer replied as she watched Tucker end the communication. She started to try and find the Suliban on the scanner, thinking to herself that Tucker's reaction had been slightly illogical and highly emotional.

Silik smiled as he looked over the latest scans.

Enterprise couldn¹t trace them. The precious particles inside the girl were almost at the maximum, and it was only a mater of time before an opportunistic infection came along to strike the girl down. He tossed the latest report onto his desk and leaned back, smiling at how things were going.

"Mr. Silik, sir?" he heard from the other side of his desk. He leaned over to look at Hallee. "I'd like to go back to Hoshi now," she said quietly.

"You don't enjoy it here?" he asked.

"I do. But I miss Hoshi and I need to be there when they find a way to get me home," she answered with a yawn.

"They can't get you home," he told her.

"But Hoshi said . . . "

"I don't care what that silly girl said. You're stuck here if it's up to
them." Silik's patience with this child was wearing thin.

"Why would they lie?" Hallee asked, her lip starting to tremble. "Don't they like me?"

"Why do you think we were able to get you so easily? They grew bored of you. I, on the other hand, am glad to have your company. We've been working on a way to get you home since you first arrived on Enterprise," he lied through his pointed little teeth. "And you're almost ready to go."

The little girl looked at him for a moment. Hoshi wouldn't lie to her about something like this, and they had all been having fun. She could tell things like that. And then there was Porthos. A dog as wonderful as Porthos had to belong to good people.

"Oh," was all she could come up with to say. "Well, I think I'd like to go to bed now then."

"Of course, little one, let's go then," he said as he stood with his fake smile plastered wide across his face. It was all falling nicely into place. T'Lin thumped the scanner against her forehead a few times after being informed that some unidentifiable element was interfering with the scans.

"I will purge every emotion I have if you do not make me do the scanning from inside an EVA suit. All of them," she promised the little electronic panel. The panel simply blinked at her in return.

T'Lin threw it across the room, enjoying the sound it made as it hit the wall and then thumped down on the floor.

She tapped her foot for a moment as she tried to gear herself up to try again.

"Even in the 29th century, technology is useless when you really need it to work."

She finally got up out of her chair and picked up the piece of equipment, smiling as she saw the coordinates to the Suliban ship staring back at her.

"I've always said I was born in the wrong century. I love solving my
problems by inflecting damage on them."

And with that, she headed off to share the good news with Archer.

Hoshi tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for the lift to take her to the bridge Her mind was working a mile a minute figuring out how to get over Charlie, no, Commander Tucker, she corrected herself. She said there would be no regrets, but she was regretting things now. She backed a little further into the lift when it stopped and tensed when the object of her confusion stepped in. The two stared at each other for a minute.

"I'll just catch the next one," he said, backing out.

"Trip," she called. "Get in here." When he didn't move, she stepped forward and grabbed his uniform, pulling him into the lift with her. "Just like I said, no regrets." Hoshi forced an "everything's okay" smile. He looked at her for a moment before slowly nodding. They moved to their own sides of the lift, neither talking nor looking at one another.

"Good, you're both here," Jonathon said as the lift door opened and they stepped onto the bridge. They headed over to the command center and stared at the images floating overhead, projected from the small tablet Lt. T'Lin Archer was fiddling with. The image suddenly flickered and died, and she fumbled with it for a moment before finally giving it a good whack against the consul. It flickered to life again.

"This is the Suliban ship," she started. "It is a few thousand light years from us." Everyone looked at it apprehensively, not wanting to ask if it was the right ship.

"Hallee is right here," she said as she magnified the image and pointed out a little blue dot amid the hundreds of green ones. A collective sigh was heard around the bridge.

"When do we leave?" Malcolm asked.

"As soon as we get a team together and work out a plan," she told him. "This ship is different from any every encountered before. It exists on the edge of our time continuum, which is why you couldn't track it. We must move quickly though," she informed them as she programmed the tablet to start mapping out possible routes to get to Hallee.

"Any reason we're rushin' against the clock?" Trip asked as he stared at the image.

"Hallee's dying and they're not doing anything to prevent it," T'Lin said calmly as she focused on the image, solidifying her plan.

"You don't seem too concerned," Trip said, anger beginning to bubble up from under the surface.

T'Lin and T'Pol both stared at him for a moment and Malcolm caught the two of them out of the corner of his eye. He almost gasped as he realized the personal connection between the now and future as represented by the two Vulcan women.

"This is not the time to charge in because emotions are running high," T'Lin told him in the same calm manner. "The soldiers on this ship are inexperienced, but they are highly motivated by knowing that the only way to win the war is sitting on their ship right now. They are more than willing to fight to the death to keep Hallee with them."

Trip nodded his head almost reluctantly, knowing the dangers of fighting poorly trained, fanatical solders.

T'Lin pulled T'Pol far enough away from the group that Hoshi could only guess they were speaking in Vulcan about the situation.

Hoshi wasn't trying very hard to listen in on the conversation. She was too busy with beating herself up over how selfish and irresponsible she had been. Hallee was alone and dying on a Suliban ship and she had been seducing Trip. It had seemed like the right thing to do at the time, though she dearly regretted it now. Silik watched in pleasure as Hallee tossed in her sleep. A fine sheen coated her pale skin, which was starting to turn a bright pink.

"It won't be long now," the doctor told him. "A few hours, a day at the most," he finished as he snapped his medical scanner closed and left the room.

"It's a shame, little one, that you won't be around to share in the glory you're going to create for me," he muttered through a tight smile. Silik turned away from the dying girl and headed back up to the bridge, leaving orders to be immediately alerted when she was ready.