-1On Enterprise

Sam and Al both walk off the turbo lift together, Sam quickly gestured so only Al could see where he was pointing, and Al went and sat at the communications station. Al had absolutely no idea how to work anything or what he was supposed to be doing but as he sat at the station, he was surprised to discover he seemed to know what buttons did what and what the readouts meant. Al smiled to himself.

Meanwhile over by the captain's chair, T'Pol was briefing Sam on their course.

T'Pol "We have set course deeper into the Expanse. Sensors do not detect any planets or ships along our route."

Sam:: "Very good, can I talk to you for a minute, in private?"

T'Pol merely raises her eyebrow as Sam turns and heads for the ready room, T'Pol follows him, informing Mr Reed that he has the bridge.

Once the two of them are safely inside the ready room, Sam looks at T'Pol and is once again reminded of her beauty. He'd rehearsed what he was going to say in the turbo lift and hoped it would sound like something Archer would say.

Sam: "T'Pol, I just wanted to let you know that, I'm sorry."

T'Pol: "Sorry for what Captain?"

Sam: "Please, just for now, call me Jonathan." Sam watched as T'Pol thought it over for a moment before nodding, then he continued. "I'm sorry for how I've been acting, for pushing you away. You know how I feel about you right?"

T'Pol: "At one time I believe that I knew the extent of your feelings toward me, but as of late I have been, unsure, if they were still the same."

Sam: "They have been T'Pol, the way I feel about you will never change. I had just figured that with, everything at stake, that I needed to focus all of my attention to the mission. Everyone back home is counting on me."

T'Pol: "Jonathan, I do understand, but I would point out that the logic behind your decision is flawed. You are not the only one on this mission, the entire crew of the Enterprise is here, as well as the MACO's. This is our mission as well."

Sam: "I know that"

T'Pol "Then why do you not trust us enough to understand that we are in this together, and that we need to be there for each other. That we can help you, that I can help you. I believe I mentioned once already, you need me Jonathan, and I need you."

Sam smiled, he now understood better what drew these two people together. And why they needed to be together.

Sam: "I do trust you T'Pol, and I'm sorry for the way I've been. I'll try to be better, I promise."

T'Pol: "Do not make promises you may not be able to uphold. I understand the position you are in. And I will try to help you as much as I can."

Sam: "Your guidance has helped me more than you know."

T'Pol raised her eyebrow and raised her hand and caressed Sam's cheek. "I have, missed you these past few weeks, perhaps we could have dinner tonight?"

Sam knew that to make this work so he and Al could leap out of here, he'd have to do whatever it took to make everyone think he was Archer. Well no one said there weren't perks to this job.

Sam: "I'd like that"

T'Pol: "Very well, I will see you in your dining room at 19:00hrs."

Sam: "Ok, now I think we should get back on the bridge before the crew get suspicious."

T'Pol nodded

As the two made their way back out to the bridge, Sam was reminded of something Al had said, Don't make the change back to normal Archer right away or the crew will know something's not right. Sam had decided that he would do his best to blend this new darker Archer with the way Sam remembered him being.

At PQL

Donna, Gushi, Tina and even Ziggy were filling Jon in on what the project observer's role was all about.

Jon: "So I step into this room over here, and images of where the leaper is are portrayed around me? And only he can see and here me, no one else, that about right?"

Ziggy: "Not images, holograms." she said with a huff.

Jon: "Sorry"

Donna hands Jon a handlink "This is how you will keep in touch with us, it allows Ziggy to send you any information she may have."

Jon: "Ok I get it, let's get this done."

Gushie: "Remember Captain, The only one who should be able to see and hear you would be Dr Beckett. We are not sure if the Admiral will be able to or not. Also you won't be able to touch anything and no one is able to touch you."

Jon merely nods

Ziggy: "Imaging chamber is online. I will be able to lock onto Dr Beckett's location once you have entered it Captain Archer.

Jon: "Thank you Ziggy."

Ziggy: "You're welcome Captain"

Donna and Gushi exchange a strange glance with each other, Jon notices it.

Jon: "What?"

Donna smiles: "Well, Ziggy isn't one for pleasantries. The only one she said please, thank you or even, you're welcome to, was Sam."

Jon: "So this means?"

Donna: "I think it means she likes you Jonathan."

Jon: "Not sure how I'm even gonna try explaining that to T'Pol"

Donna laughs and watched Jon head up the ramp to the Imaging chamber.

Once Jon is in that chamber, images of places and people begin to swirl about him, it is quite disorientating, as soon as it seems like he's about to pass out from the sight, the images stop and begin to solidify, after a moment, he finds himself standing once more on the bridge of his ship, and sitting in front of him is….himself…

Jon looks at the man sitting in his chair on the bridge of his ship. "well" he thought "they were right, we do look alike". Jon waved his hand in front of Sam's face and was surprised when nothing happened.

Jon: "Hey!"

Still no response. Jon figured that their little idea that Sam would be able to see him wasn't working. He hit the button on the little pad that opened the door back to the control room and with his temper beginning to rise, stormed out there to tell them they had gotten something wrong.

As Jon walked through the door and it closed behind him, Sam looked up and could have sworn he had seen something out of the corner of his eye. Shaking his head he decided to do some more studying in the ready room, he got up and signalled to T'Pol that she would be in charge. Sam quickly sat down behind the desk in the ready room and looked over to where Porthos was quietly sleeping. Pulling up the logs from the last few weeks, Sam immersed himself in them. Meanwhile in the rest of the ship, strange things were happening.

In the mess hall, a loud humming filled the room, then suddenly every plate, cup and utensil flew up from where they were on the tables and flipped over in mid air to slam against the ceiling. In seconds every crew person was wearing what he or she had been eating. On D deck, something was causing the floor plating to roll like a wave, hurling people out of its way as it rolled down the hall. In the ready room, Sam was startled out of his ready by a thud. He looked around and frowned, a book had apparently fallen off the shelf. He stood and picked it up, looking down at Porthos he placed the book back on the shelf and went back to his reading. Just as he sat down, a wave rolled across the top of his desk, knocking his coffee cup into the air, where to Sam's amazement it hangs motionless, the coffee that was inside the cup frozen in the act of spilling out.

Just as Sam is about to reach for the cup the comm. goes off.

T'Pol: "Captain to the Bridge."

As Sam emerges onto the Bridge, T'Pol locks her gaze with his. As Sam steps over to his chair, he sees Al working the communications board frantically.

T'Pol: "We're getting reports of anomalies from all over the ship."

Suddenly the lights begin to flicker and the hum of the engines begins to change pitch.

Travis: "Warp power is fluctuating."

Sam reaches over and presses a button on the arm of the captain's chair. "Bridge to Engineering."

Trip: "I don't understand it captain, it's like half the relay's suddenly switched polarity."

Sam briefly struggles to decide what to do. He looks at Al who shrugs his shoulders. T'Pol raises her eyebrow in confusion as to why Jonathan has not stated the obvious yet.

Jon: "Shut down the reactor."

Sam looks to his right and there standing on the other side of the chair is his double.

Without hesitation Sam quickly relays the order.

Trip: "Trying to but it's not responding."

On the bridge, the lights begin to flicker more and monitors begin to go dark.

Travis: "We're losing main power."

In Engineering, Trip punches in a code and pulls the three main levers on the control panel and the room goes dark. Enterprise emerges from warp space and her nacelles flash and also go dark.

On the bridge, the flickering lights, go out, to be quickly replaced by more muted ones.

Malcolm: "I've managed to engage auxiliary power, but most of the main systems are still offline, including weapons."

Sam looks over at his double, he knows that somehow he's here to help. But right now isn't the time to start trying to have a conversation with him.

Jon: "Go with your instincts."

Sam: "Trip, what's your situation."

Trip: "We've got a hell of a mess down here, Captain. It's going to be a while before I can even figure out what just happened"

Sam: "Keep me posted."

Sam was about to try to sneak off to the ready room when Travis piped up

Travis: "Sir, I'm reading a vessel 8 million kilometres off port."

T'Pol: "What's it's heading."

Travis: "It appears to be stationary ma'am."

Jon: "Try to hail them."

Sam looks over at Al/Hoshi: "Can you hail them?"

Al looks at the board: "Uh…our….transceiver. Is uhm offline."

T'Pol looks at Al: "Are you alright Ensign?"

Al: "Yes ma'am"

Sam looks around, briefly locking eyes with Jon.

Jon: "Set a course for them."

Sam: "What's our best speed Ensign."

Travis: "¼ impulse."

Sam: "Set a course."

As Enterprise limps toward the unknown ship. Sam finally has a chance to make a break for his ready room, closely followed by Jon.

As the door closes Sam reaches out and grabs his cup out of mid air and slams it on the desk. He turns to look at Jon.

Sam: "I'm guessing you're here to act in Al's place."

Jon: "Yeah and I'm not to happy to be here. I'm needed on the ship. I must complete this mission!"

Sam : "Yeah well right now the only way you can complete it is by helping me to do it as if I was you. And Al is Hoshi. Now to do that I figure it's gonna require a lot of advice from you. I need to know what to do, how would you do it. And I need to do it in a way to help the two of you not lose everything you've built."

Jon: "What are you talking about? The two of who?"

Sam sighed: "You two, you and T'Pol."

Jon: "This mission, is very important to my people. I need to.."

Sam: "I've seen the logs, I've read the reports. I know what you think you need to do, and your wrong. As well as pig headed."

Jon: "What?"

Sam: "If you had been thinking clearly, you would have realized that it's not just your mission, it's every person on this ships. And that includes T'Pol. She made it hers when she elected to join you. They can help, start letting them. You don't have to take the burden on yourself."

Jon: "I know what I'm doing."

Sam: "Do you? Do you really? Are you aware of just how close you were to losing the best thing that's every happened to you. More so than gaining command of this ship."

Jon: "T'Pol and I may have grown a little distant but…."

Sam: "Distant nothing. That's what I'm here for. It's what I've been sent here to fix. To put right what's gone wrong."

Jon's face went blank. He hadn't realized it had gotten so bad. As he was about to speak up the handlink squealed. He looked down at it.

Jon: "I uh, apparently have to get back. It takes a lot of power to project a hologram into the future. But I'll be back soon."

Sam nodded and watched as Jon walked through the hull of the ship.