A/N: Posting a wee bit earlier than usual with this chapter because of the holiday. Hang in there. The end is in sight. No, not this chapter, but close.

CHAPTER 41

Archer forced himself to keep up with Reed as they hurried toward the launch bay. Despite the injection of painkiller, his side hurt something fierce, but he would be damned if he let Sato get away. Still trying to shake off the effects of the sedative, he hadn't decided what to do when he caught her. He would punish her, that was certain, maybe even have her thrown in the agony booth for a session. She would behave after that. But it might be in his best interest to get rid of her entirely. It didn't matter how many languages she knew, because she'd betrayed him.

He'd thought he'd finally found someone he could trust, someone worthy to be his consort.

Maybe he'd give her a chance to explain. Then he'd let Reed have her for a session in the booth.

Worst of all, he'd made a mistake. He'd told her of his plans for replacing the empire with a realm of his own design. There was no way he could allow her to leave. If anyone else found out... He refused to think of the consequences, because he wasn't going to let her get away.

He was out of breath when they reached the main doors to the launch bay. He put one hand on the wall to steady himself, the other on his throbbing side. Next to him, Dart whined as if he knew they were approaching their quarry.

"Sir," Reed said with a pointed look at his hand on his side, "Let me take care of this."

Archer gazed at his tactical officer. This man would do whatever he said. He always had in the past. But what if he was in league with Sato? He shook his head to clear away the last of the grogginess. No, he was seeing conspiracies where there were none. Reed would never betray him, simply because there was more Reed could achieve with him than without him. Reed running away with Sato was a ludicrous idea. If he had any breath to spare, he would have laughed.

"All right," Archer gasped. "But don't kill her."

"Might I suggest that you go to the control room?" Reed said.

Of course, Archer realized. Sato almost certainly had to have an accomplice who would open the launch bay doors. But although he had Dart, who would attack on command, he didn't have a weapon; he'd been in too much of a hurry and his mind had still been cloudy from the sedative to remember to put on his pistol holster before leaving his cabin. He looked at Reed, waiting to enter the launch bay. Reed was armed, but he sometimes tended to be overzealous in the performance of his duties. An unarmed Reed could still stop Sato, but he probably wouldn't kill her. "Give me your pistol," he ordered Reed.

After a moment's hesitation and a quick frown, Reed handed over his pistol.

"Take Dart with you," Archer added.

Reed started to protest. "But, sir--"

"Just do it!" Archer said. "I know you know his commands in German." He pushed off from the wall, giving Dart the hand motion to stay with Reed. "Give me one minute to get to the control room, then go in and get her."

Reed counted the seconds as Archer made his way down the corridor. The captain had been correct. Reed had taught himself enough German to be able to command the dog, shortly after Archer had obtained it, solely as a precaution in case it would ever be sicced on him. But he hadn't known that Archer had known.

He mentally shrugged. Nothing to be done about it, he supposed. Not that he expected Archer to ever set the dog on him, but it was part of his credo of being prepared for any contingency.

Archer's minute was up. Reed opened the door, looked down at the dog, and quietly commanded, "Gekommen!"

Although the dog didn't make up for the loss of his phase pistol, he was sure he could apprehend Sato, provided she hadn't already locked herself in one of the shuttlepods. In that case, it would be up to the captain to stop the launch from the control room.

Hoshi was halfway to her shuttle when she heard the main hatch to the launch bay open. She ducked behind one of the Imperial shuttlepods, holding her breath, just as the overhead lights came on. She heard slow, careful footsteps. Whoever had entered was trying to be as quiet as possible. There was another sound as well: the clicking of toe nails on the deck plating.

Oh, no! she thought. If Dart was here, it had to be Archer. The sedative she'd given him must have worn off.

Although she got along with the dog, she knew its first instinct was to obey Archer. The image of those sharp teeth, bared in a snarl, made her shiver. She didn't have a weapon; she hadn't thought she'd need one. Not that she wanted to shoot Dart, but she wasn't going to let anything -- including a fierce doberman pinscher for which she'd developed a fondness -- stand between her and getting home.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," came a voice with an accent she wasn't expecting.

What was Reed doing here with the dog? If anything, this was worse than Archer finding her. She tip-toed quietly toward the back of the shuttlepod and cautiously peered around its warp exhaust port. Reed, the dog padding along next to him, was on the other side of the launch bay, slowly making his way toward the parked vessels. She pulled her head back. Then to confirm what she'd seen, or rather not seen, she took another quick peek.

Reed's hands were empty, and there was no pistol in his holster.

Archer stepped into the control room to find the business end of Mayweather's pistol pointed straight at him. What was the bodyguard doing here? T'Pol, who had to be Sato's accomplice, was standing at the launch controls with her back to him. She looked over her shoulder at him as he entered.

"At ease, Corporal," he told Mayweather.

There was no reaction from the soldier.

"I said, at ease!"

"I'm sorry, Captain," Mayweather said. "I can't obey your orders until she leaves."

Archer couldn't believe what he was hearing. Mayweather disobeying orders from his captain? What had happened to his conditioning? He looked closely at the man. A fine sheen of sweat glistened on his dark forehead, but there was no other sign of nervousness. His hand holding the pistol was rock steady.

"T'Pol," Archer tried, switching tactics. "Step away from the controls or I'll shoot you."

"If you do that, I'll have to shoot you, sir," Mayweather said.

"What is wrong with you, Corporal?" Archer bellowed. "Follow my orders and stand down!"

If anything, Mayweather's resolve seemed to grow stronger. "I'm sorry, sir," he said again. "My primary duty is to protect Ms. Sato. You are a threat to her safety. Until she leaves, I cannot obey your orders."

Archer's eyes narrowed. Sato had neatly tied up Mayweather's conditioning, probably with some of her verbal tricks, making sure that the bodyguard was loyal to her. Since he himself was perceived as a threat to her -- and damn right he was! -- Mayweather wouldn't obey his orders until she was safe. There was no way out of the standoff that he could see.

Damn that woman! She had gotten to Mayweather. But the joke would be on her. She wasn't going to get away. Reed would see to that.

Reed was cautiously approaching the nearest shuttlepod when Sato stepped out from behind it. His voice hard, he told her, "You are in a lot of trouble, luv."

"I wouldn't exactly say that," she answered.

She was a cocky one, he'd give her that. Her bravado in the face of failure was truly amazing. That would change, once the captain gave him the go-ahead to take her down a notch. Still, he'd take into consideration that she'd given herself up, instead of prolonging this game of hide and seek. Maybe.

His voice dripped with sarcasm as he taunted her. "Exactly what would you say?"

Sato raised her arm to point at him. "Dart!" she said loudly. "Angriff!"

Hoshi cringed as she ran for her shuttle. Behind her, she could hear Dart snarling as he attacked Reed, who was yelling as he tried to fight off the dog. She hadn't known Reed knew how to speak German, but Dart wasn't heeding the tactical officer's commands. She smiled grimly as she ran. She had earned the dog's trust, but Reed hadn't. Just like Mayweather, the dog was obedient to her, at least for the moment.

Then she was climbing in the shuttle, calling over her shoulder to Dart to stop his attack; she didn't want the dog to kill Reed.

She hoped Reed and the dog got out of the launch bay. Otherwise, they'd either be sucked out into space when the bay doors opened, or at the very least, they'd suffocate in the resulting vacuum before the bay could be repressurized.

She shut and locked the shuttle's hatch, and scurried to the pilot's seat. She quickly switched the vital systems from standby to full power, glancing up at the control room observation window as she did. The figures of T'Pol and Mayweather should have been illuminated clearly, but because of glare from the bay's ceiling lights, she couldn't see anything through the room's glass window.

Surely T'Pol had seen her get in the shuttle. The launch doors should be opening by now. Impatient, Hoshi engaged the controls and lifted the shuttle off the deck, moving it over the launch bay doors and making it hover in place, waiting for the bay doors to open.

Hoshi's heart began to beat more rapidly. She'd been surprised that Reed had been the one with the dog. Why hadn't she realized it sooner? If Dart was with Reed, that meant the tactical officer had to have checked on the captain. Archer might very well be in the control room.

T'Pol was able to divide her attention despite the standoff behind her. As she listened to Archer try to cajole Mayweather into lowering his weapon, she saw Sato board the shuttle. That was her cue to depressurize the launch bay and open the doors, but she waited the few seconds it took Reed to take stock of his situation -- once the dog released him, that is -- and hurry toward the exit. T'Pol wasn't about to add killing an officer to the list of offenses that would be brought against her. There was also the possibility that Mayweather would follow through on Sato's order and tell the captain that she had been forced to aid her, thereby absolving her of blame. There was a slim chance that she might come out of this situation unscathed.

But only if Sato was successful. She pressed the button to begin decompression. Warning claxons blared in the bay, sounding muffled in the control room.

"T'Pol! Stop!" she heard Archer shout behind her.

She ignored him. The bay doors began their slow outward swing. Sato had the shuttle in position, ready to drop through the opening as soon as it was wide enough. T'Pol was reaching for the switch to open the airlock to send the metal cylinder on its way when she was slammed against the control panel from behind.

The captain had shot her, she realized dully as she crumpled to the floor. Unfortunately, she hadn't thrown the switch to open the airlock. As her consciousness faded, she thought it would have been better if the captain's weapon had been set to kill, for she was sure to face his full wrath once he retrieved Sato and forced the truth from her.

Mayweather wasn't surprised that the captain had shot T'Pol. He'd been expecting it. And it confirmed what Sato had told him about being in danger. He'd never seen the captain so angry or out of control.

A second after Archer shot T'Pol, Mayweather shot Archer. The captain fell to the floor next to the body of the science officer.

Then Mayweather reached over to the control panel and threw the switch that Sato had shown him.

It was all Hoshi could do keep from ramming the launch bay doors with the shuttle. This was taking too long! She tried to steady her breathing, telling herself that in a matter of minutes, she would be back where she belonged, safe and sound, in her universe.

She felt one tiny doubt. Would her Enterprise be there to meet her? She seriously doubted it would be. They'd probably given up looking for her some time ago. But even if the ship wasn't in the vicinity, she'd be back in her universe. She'd just take it from there. She was sure she could find her way to a world with sufficient technology that would allow her to contact Starfleet.

With a start, she realized she hadn't thought of bringing any type of provisions with her, in case she would be in the shuttle for an extended period. There should be emergency rations aboard the shuttle, but she hadn't had time to check to see if they were still there. For all she knew, as bad as the food was in the mess hall here, the rations had been pilfered.

It was too late to do anything about it now. The important thing was to get the shuttle launched. She edged it down closer as the opening between the launch bay doors grew wider.

At last, a readout on the navigation panel indicated the doors had opened sufficiently to allow her to get through. She set the shuttle to drop down and out, but in her haste, she scraped the port side of the small vessel against one of the launch bay doors. A horrendous shriek echoed through the cabin. She held her breath as the shuttle continued to drop, but there was no serious damage that she could detect.

Once clear of Enterprise, she turned the shuttle in the direction where the anomaly should be. One look at it and she almost changed her mind. The writhing mass of energy filled most of her screen. She'd be insane to fly into that.

With a muttered curse, repeated in several languages, she input commands to enter the anomaly at impulse. She checked another screen. It showed the cylinder, drifting away from Enterprise. T'Pol hadn't said whether it also had to be in the anomaly, and she wasn't really sure it was a good idea to try to waste valuable time trying to snag it and take it with her. The bridge crew may not have known a launch was in progress, but they'd surely detected her little craft on the sensors by now.

She set a course around a conveniently large asteroid -- to block both weapons' fire and grappling hooks -- and engaged the impulse engine at full speed.

Ready or not, she was about to take the biggest gamble of her life.