Disclaimers, etc. in the teaser

Author's Note: Back from a lovely, cool, mosquito-free, family-rich visit to the auld country and trying to wrap my head around this story again. At least I have an idea how it all ends now. This is the remainder of Act Four.

Thanks as always, reviewers. You're the bees' knees!

Malcolm woke to a large porcine snout snuffling over him and instinctively reared back, or tried to. He quickly discovered that he had been tied quite securely to a chair.

"Guess you'll be all right," Shev said, pulling back and pocketing what Malcolm recognized with alarm as one of the two phase pistols recovered from the Terran Empire's future shuttle. "I was afraid I got the setting wrong."

Malcolm blinked and tested his bonds, but Shev's engineering background had clearly come in useful. "What's all this about, then?" he demanded.

"I told you. Patania."

"Your sister." Malcolm was quite fond of his own sister, but this was ridiculous.

"She's not my sister." Shev nervously jingled something in his pocket. "She's the love of my life."

Malcolm stared back at him, thoroughly nonplussed. "I thought Tellarites frown on romance."

"They do," Shev said. "But it's not unheard of where I come from. And I believe I am in a unique position to negotiate a personal exemption."

"You're exposing our work, endangering your people, and destroying your career just because you're in love?" Malcolm said. "That's crazy even for Humans in love."

Shev said, "Perhaps your colleague will be more understanding."

"What colleague?"

At that moment a comm. on the panel in front of them buzzed. "The Human is here."

Shev grunted. "Send him down. Unarmed."

There was an answering grunt, and the channel closed.

Malcolm watched, irritated. Why would the captain risk putting someone else into the hands of this lunatic? Dare he hope it was an agent from Starfleet intelligence? Or would it turn out to be the captain himself? Archer was annoyingly prone to misplaced heroics.

"Stay here," Shev said unnecessarily, and left the room.

Malcolm furiously flexed and stretched, trying to find some give in his bonds, but it was useless. Then he heard a distinctive southern accent. "I'm not doin' a thing for you 'til I see that Malcolm is all right."

Malcolm sighed. Definitely not Starfleet Intelligence. Why oh why would the captain go along with this?

Trip offered him a lopsided grin as he strolled in, studiously ignoring the gun at his back. "How ya doin', Malcolm?"

"Getting a bit uncomfortable, actually."

Trip turned to Shev. "How about you let him go? That'd be a good faith gesture on your part. You've got me now."

"I'm hardly going to let your tactical officer go until I can get something for it," Shev said. "Here are my demands: I want Patania, a fast ship I can pilot myself on the roof of this building within two hours, and safe passage off Tellar Prime. If I don't get that, or if anything happens to me, not only are you both at risk, but a copy of the future database and the other phase pistol we recovered will be delivered to agents of Coridan."

"And where are these items right now?" Malcolm said.

"You must take me for an idiot," Shev said.

"Yes, exactly," Malcolm said. "A pretty big one, based on your current behavior."

Trip said, "How does your lady love feel about all this?"

Shev hesitated perceptibly. "She loves me."

Malcolm exchanged raised eyebrows with Trip. "Oh, now, don't tell me," Trip said. "You're asking her to give up her home planet and everything she's ever known … and you haven't discussed it with her yet?"

"I told her I'd find a way for us to be together!"

Trip snorted. "And she said okay, darling, whatever it takes, I'll follow you blindly, no questions asked?"

"No matter how insane you turn out to be?" Malcolm added.

Shev made a low growling sound and the end of the phase pistol in his hands rose a bit.

"Look, Shev," Trip said, in a noticeably gentler tone. "Take it from someone with a little more experience in these things than you. Love is just one part a good relationship. Mutual respect is also important. And trust. That doesn't happen overnight. Or when someone gets kidnapped."

"She and I won't have any chance to build a relationship on Tellar," Shev said. "But if we can get away, it's at least possible."

Trip looked back at Malcolm, who rolled his eyes. There was no reasoning with this guy.

The engineer turned back to Shev. "Well, fortunately your government says it's just fine with handing your girlfriend over to you and sending you on your way. But first, you need to let us go, and also hand over the database and weapon you are threatening to hand over to Coridan … as well as the one in your hand."

Shev said, "If I do all that, they'll have no reason not to attack me immediately. My arrangement with Coridan is constructed as a fail-safe. Unless I personally retrieve those items, they will receive them long before you can find them."

"He's bluffing," Malcolm said, if only to see how Shev reacted.

Shev didn't even blink. "I'm not a fool," he said. "I know that it will be easy enough to dispose of me once I'm on the surface. I know that my old life is over. All I want is the chance to walk away in peace with my woman. Give me that in good faith, and all your secrets are safe."

Malcolm shook his head in disgust. Didn't Shev realize that half the galaxy would now be chasing him down until they had him? Even if the Tellarites let him go, the Coridanites wouldn't. Not even Starfleet could let him go if he still had that phase pistol with him.

"You do realize you're putting your sweetheart's life at risk with all this as well as your own?" Trip said.

Shev scowled. "You Humans are allowed to live with your loved ones without anyone questioning it at all. Apparently that means you take it for granted."

"Right," Trip said, lip curling. Shev obviously could have no idea what this particular Human had been through in this regard. "What'd you say her name was?"

Shev's tone turned distinctly dreamy. "Patania."

It was a little nauseating, really, especially given that he'd actually allowed himself to get tied up by this prat. Malcolm said, "Let's get this show on the road, then, shall we?"

For all they knew, Coridan or worse might be feverishly working at this very moment on some way to take advantage of this situation.

x x x

On a nondescript spaceship docked at the main trading post in synchronous orbit over the capitol, two nondescript men conferred over their sensor panel.

"I traced him here. In the three hours since, there's a build-up of life signs at and surrounding this commercial building even though it's the middle of the night."

"That's definitely Tellarite military ... are those Human bio-signs?"

"Yes, at least three. At least two Andorians as well."

"Interesting."

"Yes."

x x x

Shev knew that if he wanted to stay conscious and in control of his own destiny once they left the depths of the facility, he needed to give his superiors (and probably the Humans as well) a very good reason to leave him that way.

Reason number one was the fail-safe he had set up, or claimed he had. Even in his current state of emotional desperation, Shev hadn't considered even hinting at such important secrets to a rival power, so he'd never actually contacted the Coridanite who had approached him in the bar. He'd just led Reed and the others to think he had.

It would suffice, hopefully.

Reason number two was his hostages – but that was a little more complicated. One, hostage-taking was not exactly a minor crime on Tellar Prime (and probably not on Earth either). Two, these particular hostages out-numbered him, and Tucker had not proven to be nearly as sympathetic as he had hoped. Although they both looked scrawny by Tellarite standards, Reed undoubtedly possessed advanced military and security training, and Tucker had a significant height advantage and presumably some military training as well. Also, both men had reacted to captivity with singular calm, which suggested they were not strangers to this kind of situation.

On the plus side, Shev had a feeling that this was preferable to coping with two hysterical prisoners, especially as his own nervousness grew. Tucker's questions about Patania and Reed's easy scorn were quietly undermining his confidence in his plan. He now recognized that chances were excellent this was all going to just blow up into disaster. However, Shev truly saw no way out at this point.

Besides, wasn't she worth it?

When it came time for their departure, he noticed both men emitting danker smells, which he interpreted as uncontrollable signs of anxiety. His own heart had begun to race. They would all be vulnerable to whatever response the defense forces of Tellar had set up. Perhaps Starfleet's and Andoria's as well.

At the lift, he said, "You go ahead" to Reed, who had been walking ahead, his hands still bound behind him.

"You're releasing me?" Reed said.

"Yes. Go on ahead, then send the lift back down. Tell them that if I see any weapons of any kind pointed at us, your engineer won't be returning to his ship alive."

The smaller man shared a concerned glance with Tucker, then left in the lift.

"I don't believe for a minute that you want to do anyone any harm," Tucker told him.

Shev adjusted his weapon to 'kill' and showed it to him. "You're right, I don't, but I'll do what I must." He gestured Tucker into the returning lift. "In you go."

"Sure hope you don't have a nervous trigger finger," Tucker said, and walked in. Shev had bound his hands behind him, and the engineer was finally beginning to look as tense as he smelled: tiny beads of perspiration had broken out across his forehead. Shev maneuvered himself behind Tucker, then planted the gun squarely behind his shoulder blades and grabbed hold of the man's bound hands with the other.

One squeeze and this living, breathing man would be the first casualty of his brilliant plan. It was a sickening thought. "Yes, let's hope not," he said, and felt himself turn cold with purpose.

There was nothing left now but to play this out.