A/N: If this chapter had a title, it would be The Calm Before The Storm, or maybe Parade of Suspects. Again, thanks for the reviews!

CHAPTER 33

"Commander Tucker? What are you doing here, sir?"

Tucker, letting his annoyance show on his face, turned to Kelby. The audacity of the man -- asking what he, the chief engineer, was doing in engineering. He might be the acting captain at the moment, but he wasn't about to neglect anything that had to do with the smooth operation of the ship.

How the lieutenant had ever wrangled an assignment on the flagship of the Imperial fleet was beyond him. Kelby must have a relative in a high place, because his commission certainly wasn't due to engineering proficiency. The things he had to put up with in the name of Imperial politics, Tucker thought with a scowl.

"Kelby," he growled. "Just checkin' on engineerin' before headin' up to the bridge. Status of the warp engine?"

Kelby stuttered his way through a report. As Tucker had suspected, Kelby was woefully behind. Maintenance on the backup plasma relays should have been finished yesterday, but according to the duty roster, two engineering crewmen were still working on it. And the warp condensers were operating at below-normal power levels. That should have been caught right away.

If it weren't for the fact that he needed to be on the bridge in the next ten minutes, Tucker would see to it himself about getting engineering back up to snuff. As it was, all he had time for was to give Kelby a good ass chewing for his shoddy running of the department in his absence and the threat of being put on report if it continued.

As Tucker stalked away from the chastised younger engineer, he told himself it was only for a few more days. By then, Archer would either be well on the road to recovery, or dead. Either way, Kelby would be sent packing.

T'Pol, seated at the science station despite being in charge of the bridge for the night shift, sat up straighter. Through her bond with Tucker, she could sense that he was thinking about Archer. Perhaps he was planning another attempt on the captain's life. The chaotic, angry emotions that came through the link would seem to support that supposition.

She closed her eyes and mentally recited a brief calming mantra. Tucker had demonstrated that he was sometimes aware of her presence in his mind, so as cautiously as possible, she opened the link wider. But she was too late. His thoughts had already turned to his duties on the bridge, and his anticipatory pleasure at seeing her there.

She felt an unVulcanlike flush of pleasure of her own at that thought, followed quickly by shame. She shouldn't be reacting to him this way, especially since the probability was high that he'd tried to kill their commanding officer.

But tapping into his thoughts had alerted her to his imminent arrival on the bridge. She slipped the data chip she'd prepared for Sato into a small pocket in her uniform trousers. It wouldn't do to let Tucker see it, for he'd want to know what it was. And while it wasn't necessarily true that Vulcans couldn't lie, her bond with Tucker made it much harder for her to hide anything from him than from the average human.

Ensign Freeman took his place at the communications station at the beginning of alpha shift. Commander Tucker had seen fit to take him off report and allow him to return to duty. It was good to be back, and best of all, there was no sign of that impertinent bitch who'd taken over his job.

A few of the bridge crew members had looked curiously at him as he'd strode out of the turbolift. A glare from him had made them mind their manners. He didn't know why they were surprised to see him; this was where he rightfully belonged.

That Sato person didn't have a place on an Imperial starship. Fleet command wouldn't stand for it. She wasn't even from this universe. She was too much of an unknown, no matter how much the captain favored her.

As far as he was concerned, the captain had gotten his comeuppance. Too bad he hadn't been killed in that explosion. It would have served him right for the way he'd treated him, the lead communications officer. Then there had been the attempted poisoning. He'd heard how that witch had stepped in again and caught Phlox; it was all everyone was talking about. That, and the fact that she'd saved some of the combat troops' miserable lives before they got off the Andorian ship.

Despite what the captain thought of him, he did have useful skills. That's how he'd found out Sato was the topic of quite a few conversations around the ship, including in the combat troop quarters. Shut up in his own quarters after she'd usurped his position on the bridge, he'd tapped into the internal comm grid and had eavesdropped around the ship. There were a few places he couldn't tap into -- the captain's cabin, for instance, and what he wouldn't give to be able to listen in there -- but the places he could had provided him with a wealth of gossip to listen to.

If they did get another captain, he thought, it would be like starting over. A new captain assigned by fleet command would be unaware of how he'd been humiliated in front of the entire bridge crew. Or if it was someone promoted from the current crew, they probably wouldn't care, since they'd been bumped up in rank.

Cheered by that thought, Freeman settled in at his console.

Cunningham was finishing up breakfast preparations. He wasn't looking forward to going back to the captain's cabin to deliver the meal, not after he'd been yelled at the night before. But, he reasoned, people who were sick or hurt sometimes lashed out in their frustration. He knew he hadn't done anything wrong, but the incident, still fresh in his mind, had been upsetting. He'd been with the captain for years, and never once had he given Archer any reason to be displeased.

At least the captain's woman seemed to understand. She really cared about the captain, he could tell. Very protective, that one. She'd taken a moment to reassure him that everything was all right. Not many among the crew would have done that.

True, he'd been scared when she'd practically accused him of trying to poison the captain's food. But she had probably been just as upset as he was that someone had tried to kill the man. She was right to take every precaution. He would have done the same in her position.

And that had been good advice she'd given him. He'd been extra careful since then that he was the only one involved in the preparation of any food for Archer's consumption. Cook hadn't been too happy that he'd been getting food directly out of stores instead of going through him, but that's the way it was going to be. Cunningham had the captain's authority backing him. If anyone had a problem with that, he'd tell them to go talk to the captain's woman. He was sure she'd set them straight.

He added the last few items to the tray. Breakfast today was scrambled eggs and bacon. The captain liked a lot of seasoning on his eggs, so he made sure to put salt and pepper shakers on the tray.

Hoshi woke that morning with a feeling of confidence that she hadn't experienced since arriving in this universe. She stretched, savoring the relaxation that resulted from having had a full night of undisturbed sleep, and the anticipation that, in a short time, maybe only a few days, she might be back where she belonged.

In the privacy of her cabin, she smiled broadly. She couldn't do that in front of Archer; he'd become suspicious and wonder at the change in her attitude. If he realized she knew she could go home, he'd want to know who had told her. And since T'Pol had agreed to help her, the last thing she wanted was for the Vulcan to get in trouble for telling her something Archer had specifically forbidden.

She glanced at the chronometer. Cunningham should be along soon with breakfast, so she should get up and get dressed. It was also about time for another painkiller injection for the captain, if he needed it.

Maybe today T'Pol would bring the data about sending her back home, she thought as she swung her legs out of bed. She could hardly wait to see it. She hoped she could make sense of it, but if it was composed of a lot of technical and scientific jargon, she might have difficulty. She'd have to take it on faith that the T'Pol here, just like the one back home, knew what she was doing.

The process, whatever it was, would be much easier if they didn't have to sneak around behind Archer's back to do it. She again considered telling him that she wanted to go home, and if he didn't agree, maybe it was time to play her only card: Offer to upgrade the UT in exchange for sending her back. And yet, there was a niggling fear that even if Archer did agree to such a deal, he wouldn't honor it.

She might have become more kindly disposed toward the man during the last few days, especially after finding out that he hadn't killed Zefram Cochrane, but that didn't mean she trusted him, she thought wryly.

Then an idea occurred to her that burst her upbeat mood as surely as a pin stuck in a balloon. In exchange for her silence, she could blackmail the person who had tried to kill Archer into helping send her home. That she'd even thought of that was reason enough for her to get out of this universe before she was totally corrupted. Besides, she thought in disgust, that person might just turn around and kill her.

One step at a time, Hoshi told herself. First she had to look at the data. In the meantime, she'd continue as she had been, taking care of Archer and trying to keep both him and herself safe.

Before changing, she stepped over to the door between the cabins. She opened it far enough to see into the other room and peered in. Archer was asleep in his bunk, Dart curled up at the foot of the bunk. The dog lifted his head and looked at her, but didn't get up.

She let her gaze cross the room toward the door to the corridor. The sight of Reed sprawled on his back where he was sleeping on the couch, eyes closed but mouth wide open, almost made her laugh out loud. He must have spent the night on guard duty. At least now she did know that he did actually sleep. She had been beginning to wonder.

Reed suddenly let out a loud snort and, without waking, rolled over and settled more comfortably, making small grunting noises the entire time.

One hand over her mouth, she quietly shut the door with her other hand. She made it to her bathroom before she burst out laughing.

Reed yawned and rubbed his eyes. A quick glance around the captain's cabin revealed that all was as it had been when he'd fallen asleep, but he could have sworn a noise had woken him.

He chalked it up to the dreams he sometimes had. Nightmares were more like it. But he was a firm believer in what didn't kill him made him stronger, and so while he didn't like having nightmares, they no longer had the power to frighten him as they once did.

He looked over at Archer. The captain appeared to be sleeping peacefully. He could see the slow rise and fall of the man's chest with his breathing. It was almost unbelieveable that the man was still alive. First the explosion, then the attempt on his life in sickbay. But one thing Reed had realized early on in his career in the fleet was that Jonathan Archer seemed to have a charmed life. It was one of the reasons he'd stuck by the man for so long. That, and the man would treat others fairly -- well, at least more fairly than other captains in the fleet -- as long as they played fair by him.

Now if he could just keep Archer alive long enough to find out who had tried to kill him.