"Trip," Archer said, as the engineer was leaving the ready room. Trip turned to look at him. "Send in Phlox on your way out."

Trip nodded, and left. T'Pol slipped out as well, far enough behind him that they would not directly encounter one another.

Archer went to the window, watching as the space dock workers bustled around his ship.

Phlox came in, looking troubled. "Is there a problem, Captain?"

Archer could not bring himself to engage in any niceties at all. He opened with, "Did you know that Trip and T'Pol were sleeping together?"

Phlox hesitated, glancing after the departed officers. "Yes."

"When?"

"I have known since the Terra Prime incident," Phlox said.

Archer was surprised that Phlox had not known before that. "How did you find out?"

"Commander Tucker made an… admission… after we found out about Elizabeth. I don't believe he realized he was doing so at the time. He seemed to take it for granted that I already knew, although I did not."

Archer's voice was sandpaper-rough. "Did you know that T'Pol was addicted to trellium-D?"

Again, Phlox hesitated. "Yes."

"When?"

"She came to me for assistance after the battle at Azati Prime," Phlox said, with obvious reluctance.

"And you didn't tell me?"

"I considered it confidential medical information."

"When it materially affects the ability of my senior officers to perform their duties, especially in command of the ship, it's not confidential medical information," Archer said angrily. "You should have told me."

There was a long silence. "I am sorry, Captain," Phlox said at last. "You are, of course, correct."

Archer prowled the small space, ducking under the low ceiling struts. "She started using trellium after the Seleya," he said. "By the time we reached Azati Prime, she was taking out our disagreements on my desk. I thought it was just stress. We were all under a lot of pressure, then."

"We were."

"I left her in command, Phlox. I left her in command, and I went to try to destroy the Xindi weapon."

"I remember." To his credit, Phlox did not remind him that no one had wanted him to go.

"We lost so many of the crew. We nearly lost the ship. Phlox. That was when we lost the warp coil."

Phlox stood watching him. Listening. Looking increasingly concerned. "Captain —"

"If I had stayed…if I had sent someone else…"

"I don't think —"

"Maybe those crewmen wouldn't have died," Archer said, viciously. "Maybe we wouldn't have lost the warp coil. Maybe I wouldn't have had to leave all of those people stranded in the Expanse. But I left a drug-addicted Vulcan in charge while I went to play the hero — "

"You left your first officer, whom you believed to be of sound mind, in charge of the ship, which you believed was safe, while you went to try to complete the mission without risking any life but your own," Phlox countered. "If you had sent another member of the crew — Commander Tucker, perhaps? — and he had been killed, without achieving the goal of the mission, you would be no less hard on yourself. And Enterprise was surprised by a superior force. There is no guarantee the encounter would have been avoided or turned out differently had you been aboard. Captain, you know this."

"Do I?" Archer stopped pacing. He reached up and grabbed one of the ceiling struts with both hands. "She was using trellium," he said. "She nearly lost the ship. She did lose the warp coil. Phlox. What if I didn't have to strand those people in the Expanse?"

"You cannot change that decision now, Captain. You can only decide how it will affect you going forward."

"Going forward. Right." Archer laughed bitterly. "How do I let this affect me going forward, when I have to decide what to do about the fact that my two most senior officers have both been engaging in conduct unbecoming over an extended period of time? What do I do about that, Phlox?"

"I would give you my answer," Phlox said, "but you would probably tell me it is 'too pat.'"

"It is too pat," Archer said. "I can't just forgive everybody and let it go. That's no answer. There's no justice in that for the people who died or were marooned in the Expanse."

"If it is any help at all, T'Pol is under a doctor's care now, and her addiction appears to be under control," Phlox said. "So, in that case at least, a measure of absolution does not have the effect of further endangering the ship."

"I'm sure the Illyrians would be very comforted to hear that. I'm sure Crewman Taylor feels much better about it now."

"You cannot help them at this point, Captain. All you could do, perhaps, would be to avenge them on the person you now seem to see as responsible for their predicament: Commander T'Pol. Is that what you wish to do? Shame her, and Commander Tucker with her? Punish her, and by extension him, for a decision that cannot now be remedied? That is certainly one option. It would not be justice for the Illyrians, exactly, and I question whether it would be just toward Commander T'Pol and Commander Tucker…but would it make you feel better? Would it take care of your guilt and your nightmares, to do so?"

Archer sat down again at his desk. "I don't know, doctor. I really don't know what I should do."

"I believe your human physicians take an oath," Phlox said, "perhaps you will find it helpful. 'First, do no harm.'"

"You know that's too pat, Phlox."

"Only until you try to put it into practice, Captain."