A/N: Again, thank you to the readers who have stuck with this. There are a few more chapters to go. And especially, thank you to everyone who has reviewed.

CHAPTER 37

Archer waited for a reaction from Sato, but she didn't say anything. The magnitude of his proposal had apparently overwhelmed her. Her eyes were wide, staring at him, as if she either couldn't believe it, or perhaps it was just too much for her to comprehend immediately.

"You, of course, must keep what I told you confidential," he told her. "No one is to know." His countenance darkened momentarily as he added, "If anyone else finds out, I will know who told them."

Sato finally managed to stutter out a response. "I...uh, understand. It's...uh...just so..."

"Unexpected?" he asked smugly.

"Yes," she said. "That's it. Totally unexpected. It's going to take a while to get used to the idea."

He had been right, he saw. She had been overwhelmed. What woman wouldn't be? It was an incredible honor, but one which he believed she deserved. That inner strength of hers that had always impressed him would stand her in good stead as his consort.

"We'll talk about it more later," he said, making a shooing motion with his hand. "Get back to work while I get some of my own work done." He grimaced. "Tucker may think he's a good captain, but he let a lot of paperwork pile up. Now maybe I'll find out what happened to the rest of the Andorian fleet after Panmikar."

"Uh, right," she said, getting to her feet.

She was almost to the door when he called after her. "Remember -- tell no one."

She turned around to look at him, her face still showing her surprise, and nodded. Then she quietly let herself out.

Hoshi had run out of time, and she hadn't really realized the clock had been ticking. As she made her way back to her station, she knew that she had to act soon, because once Archer found a reason to leave this area of space, she would most likely be doomed to spend the rest of her life in this universe.

At least he'd probably thought her surprised reaction had been at his decision to make her his consort. That announcement, on top of everything else he'd told her, had been the last straw. In the larger scheme of things, being his consort was the least of her worries. The very word brought to mind images of pomp and pageantry of long-past eras. But those had also been times of secrets and conspiracies. She couldn't imagine living that way. It was yet one more reason to leave this universe.

And he hadn't even asked if she wanted to be his consort. He'd just told her she would be.

It was just as well there weren't any more transmissions to translate, she thought as she checked the file queue at her auxiliary station and found it empty. She doubted she'd be able to concentrate on them. Instead, she stared blankly at the screen on her console, reviewing what Archer had told her. He had said he didn't want to be emperor, but he certainly had some delusions of grandeur. She could understand his cautioning her not to speak of his plan. Installing aliens on the Terran Imperial Council was probably not something that most humans in this universe would accept willingly. Such a change would signal a new order. And Archer had said he'd be directing the aliens.

So, she concluded, he didn't want to be in charge of a human empire, but of a diversified coalition. Semantics, she thought sourly. A dictator was a dictator, even if he tried to pass himself off as a benevolent leader. Although Archer had phrased some of what he'd told her in terms that were humanitarian -- and wasn't that a misleading word, since humans tended to apply it to their idea of what was fair and right -- it all came down to a totalitarian regime, only minus the imperialistic trappings. Some members of some species might benefit by being in positions of power, but the vast majority of people would be in the same state as they were now.

She glanced surreptitiously around the bridge. T'Pol still hadn't returned. Reed was missing as well, although that wasn't unusual. He often had duties that required he be away from the bridge, assuming he was finished torturing Kelby, that is, she thought with a grimace. She shouldn't be here, either. There were things she needed to do.

She tried paging T'Pol in her quarters. A few moments later, the Vulcan responded.

"I'm having some difficulty with a translation," she told the Vulcan. "It involves a form of mathematics I'm not familiar with."

"On my way," T'Pol said.

"No!" Hoshi said before T'Pol could cut the connection. "I need a break, so how about if I come by your cabin with the data?"

There was only the slightest pause before T'Pol responded, "That would be acceptable."

Hoshi almost shut down her station before she remembered she didn't know exactly where T'Pol's cabin was located. She shouldn't assume it was in the same place as on her Enterprise. After checking the ship's directory, she found out it wasn't. It was on B deck, in officers' quarters, but several cabins farther down the corridor than in her universe.

She locked down her station and headed to the turbolift. She'd almost forgotten about Mayweather until he followed her into the lift. Later, she might have to come up with a way to ditch him. For the time being, however, his presence wasn't a problem. In fact, it allowed her to move around the ship with a certain amount of safety. As long as he didn't start asking questions, she told herself. Given his verbal track record so far, she doubted that would happen.

When T'Pol opened her cabin door at their arrival, Hoshi ordered Mayweather to stay in the corridor before she entered. She waited until the door was closed before speaking. "I don't have a translation I need help with."

T'Pol arched an eyebrow. "There is something else for which you require my assistance?"

"Yes. I have to go home -- now! The captain is looking for any excuse to leave this area of space, and we both know the anomalies here are needed to send me back. If Enterprise goes somewhere else, it will be impossible."

T'Pol moved farther into the cabin, which Hoshi noticed was even more austere than her T'Pol's. That is to say, there was no decoration at all, not even meditation candles.

"That is a problem," T'Pol said. "We need to act with haste. However, there are some aspects of the process that need to be addressed."

T'Pol's calm deliberation was making Hoshi anxious. "Yes, I know that," she said. "But I think I've figured out the part about the dense metal needed to conduct the energy."

The Vulcan woman looked at her intently. "You have?"

"It's that stupid Risan souvenir cylinder thing that Reed had me translate," Hoshi said. "He said the material was so dense it couldn't be scanned properly, and it was found near where my shuttle was found. He said the asteroids near it had been pulverized."

T'Pol slowly nodded her head as she considered that information. "If the cylinder was channeling the energy of the anomaly and the shuttle, it might result in a discharge of excess energy that broke up the asteroids." She looked sharply at Hoshi. "We will need to obtain that object."

"Of course," Hoshi said. "It's probably still in the armory. That's my next stop."

"Lieutenant Reed will want to know why you want it."

Hoshi had already worked out that part of the plan on her way to T'Pol's cabin. Sort of. "I'm going to tell him that I want to give it to Captain Archer."

T'Pol looked at her dubiously. "That is not sufficient reason."

"As a keepsake of how we met," Hoshi added. Even she as she said it, she knew it sounded lame. When T'Pol continued to stare at her, she tried again. "All right. How about if I say I want it as a reminder for the captain of my translation skills, which make me so valuable?"

"Weak," T'Pol conceded, "but since humans are involved, probably believeable by them. It would be seen as an attempt on your part to ensure your somewhat vulnerable position."

As the captain's woman, Hoshi mentally added when T'Pol didn't say it. She paced a few steps, thinking. That would probably work, especially since Reed was the person she'd have to fool to get the cylinder. His nasty, depraved mind would very likely assume she was trying to solidify her position as captain's woman. "While I'm getting the cylinder from Reed, you can prep my shuttle, make sure it's ready to go."

"In its current state, it is not operational."

"What!"

"Commander Tucker has disassembled many essential components. The shuttle will not be able to launch without them. It would take me at least a day to reinstall them. The probability of me completing the work without someone discovering what I am doing is quite low."

"Damn it!" Hoshi cried, her anxiety hitching up a notch. She'd assumed they'd leave the shuttle intact, not take it apart. Now what was she going to do?

"However," T'Pol said a beat later, "there are other shuttlepods in the launch bay, one of which could be utilized."

Hoshi looked at the other woman, not sure she'd heard her correctly. "You're saying I should steal one of them?"

"You will need my help, of course," T'Pol said matter of factly. "However, the timing must be precise. It would be unwise to launch when there are no anomalies present. Shuttlepods cannot outrun Enterprise. The captain would simply order the grappling hooks deployed, and the shuttlepod, with you in it, would be brought back into the launch bay. I have, however, charted the appearance and duration of the anomalies we have been studying. There appears to be a pattern."

"So you can predict when they will occur?" Hoshi asked, almost unable to believe her luck.

"To some extent."

Typical Vulcan, Hoshi thought, not willing to be pinned down if she didn't have a precise answer. But this T'Pol was so much like the one she'd worked with for several years that she believed T'Pol's guesses would be so close to accurate that it wouldn't make much difference.

"All right," Hoshi said. She chewed her lip as she thought. She'd get the cylinder, T'Pol could figure out when the next anomaly would appear, and then it would just be a matter of getting to a shuttlepod and launching. The cylinder, however, would have to be deployed into space.

T'Pol was thinking along the same lines, for she said, "I will determine when the next several anomalies are scheduled to appear. I will also work on a plan to eject the metal cylinder into space. It may be as simple as putting it in the airlock, opening the outer door, and allowing it to be sucked out with the airlock's atmosphere."

"Opening the airlock could be done remotely from another location," Hoshi said, feeling her hopes start to rise. This might just work. "You wouldn't have to be at the airlock to do it."

"I will contact you when I have determined the time of the appearance of the next anomalies," T'Pol told her.

"Great. And thanks," Hoshi said.

She moved toward the door, but stopped before opening it. She turned back to T'Pol. There was one thing she wanted to know, which might explain why T'Pol was still willing to help her despite Kelby confessing to trying to kill Archer. "You still think Commander Tucker tried to kill the captain, don't you?"

"Perhaps," T'Pol admitted. "But there is an advantage for me in this scenario we have planned."

"What's that?" Hoshi asked.

"If you successfully return to you universe, there is a good possibility that Captain Archer will be removed from command of Enterprise, especially if the loss of an Imperial shuttlepod is involved."

Hoshi hadn't considered that, by escaping from this universe, she might be harming the man whose life she had been protecting for several days. "And that's to your advantage?" she asked, not understanding the Vulcan's reasoning. T'Pol had said she couldn't kill him because of the privileges she'd received through him. But she was willing to see him demoted and disgraced?

"If Captain Archer is removed," T'Pol said, "there is a good chance that Commander Tucker will finally achieve his most coveted desire -- the captaincy of Enterprise."

Hoshi stared aghast at the other woman. Of all the people here, she'd thought T'Pol was the most like her counterpart. But T'Pol's comments, along with the hard expression in her eyes, showed how wrong she'd been. She should have known that here, T'Pol's motives would have nothing to do with love -- as the Vulcan had allowed her to believe. Instead, she was using Tucker.

T'Pol was just like everyone else in this universe -- harsh, cruel, and willing to do just about anything to advance her own position.