Content note: this chapter and subsequent chapters contain references to bombings and their aftermath, injuries, and death.

Liz watched the shuttle leave with considerable disquiet. She had been excited about the prospect of visiting Denobula for years. Denobula during the apocalypse on the other hand...

And then, there was Mettus. Denobulans were not predisposed to contact, but even taking that into account, the stiff reunion happening before her tore at her heart.

"Father."

"Mettus."

"I received your letter."

"That was years ago. You never replied."

"You never tried again."

"This is Elizabeth. My friend. She is a human. From Earth."

"I can see that."

"It's nice to meet you, Mettus," Liz broke in, thinking it her most likely opportunity. "Your father speaks of you with great affection."

Mettus stared at her. "Does he?"

Liz smiled uncomfortably. "Sure."

A silence followed.

"Your sister did not come?" Phlox asked eventually. "Is she all right?"

Mettus frowned. "The pregnant are mostly staying off the streets. There are reports that they are being hassled by religious fanatics. Attacked, even."

Phlox stopped short, startled. "Why?"

"There are all sorts of rumors saying around," Mettus replied, tight-lipped, and neglected to elaborate further.

Phlox exhaled in distress. "This is Denobula. There are ALWAYS all sorts of rumors flying around."

Mettus shook his head, and wrinkled his nose in something like a sneer. "This is the END of Denobula, father. This is how we die."

"Sir, it's our ambassador to Denobula, He says it's urgent."

Hoshi's apologetic interruption crackled over the loud speaker, interrupting the call to the Vulcan ambassador to Denobula, who raised her eyebrows imperiously.

"Twenty minutes ago they were too busy to talk to us," Archer snapped back over the conn. "I have the Vulcan Ambassador..."

"I know, sir," Hoshi's voice replied, slightly sheepishly. "But he is INSISTING it is urgent."

"It sounds like you should perhaps take his call," Ambassador T'Gil remarked pointedly. "Our own conversation would be more accurately characterised as 'perfunctory' than as 'urgent'."

"My apologies, Ambassador."

T'Gil tilted her head slightly. "Please. Our embassy is at your disposal, whenever you should find time for us."

Archer grimaced a smile in return. "Thank you Ambassador. Archer out."

A moment later, Hoshi patched the call through.

"Your excellency," Archer began, before instantly regretting his tone.

The man he was talking to, however, was clearly too distressed to notice. "The rising rate of these 'perinatal complications' is general knowledge," the ambassador began without preamble. "What is less well known, are the falling rates of early pregnancy."

Archer frowned. "It was known to us. What..."

"It was thought at first that this was a statistical blip, or a response to perinatal death in the extended family. Denobulans do have large, complicated families, you know."

"I do know. What..."

"But it was recently leaked to us by a friend in the Denobulan government that the cause of the falling pregnancy rate is biological. An autoimmune disease that causes the hosts own immune system to attack both ovarian follicles and endometrium. Possibly caused by the same agent which is causing the perinatal deaths."

"So, you're saying...?"

"The population of Denobula is being rendered infertile. And there is more. We've had our relevant staff tested, human staff, and they are infected as well. All twelve women. This thing affected humans as well."

A chill ran through Archer's spine, seemingly slightly ahead of the realisation of what the ambassador's words meant. This is it... "So, you're saying...?"

"What I'm saying, Captain Archer, is if this is a biological weapon, if this is the Romulan Star Empire, whoever they are, they can kill the human race without firing a single shot."

"Captain, I'm sorry but..." Hoshi's voice again.

"Not now Hoshi!" Archer snapped without fully intending to,

It was T'Pol's voice that continued Hoshi's. T'Pol's voice rarely wavered, but it was wavering now. "Captain, you ARE urgently needed on the bridge. There has been an explosion in the immediate vicinity of the shuttle-pod."

Yet another sharp pain in his gut almost caused Archer to lose his lunch. "Ambassador, I'm sorry, but I have to..."

Looking equally stunned, the Ambassador nodded. "Of course, I'll find out what I..."

The screen cut out before he'd finished, and Archer dashed to the bridge.

Liz found herself ushered along strangely quiet streets. There was street graffiti, written in staccato Denobulan script. Liz hadn't seen graffiti in years, and had not expected it here. Judging by Phlox's expression, it was not supposed to be there.

The walk was long enough that she found herself tired, and a little parched, by the time they reached the end of it, although neither Mettus nor Phlox seemed troubled by the distance.

Denobulans, at least in this area, lived in what Liz could best describe as huge sprawling apartment buildings, with a series of interconnected suites, the movement of spouses through which was governed by a complicated set of social mores completely opaque to outsiders. In the past, Liz understood, it was the women who occupied permanent accommodations and the men who traversed through them, but now this was changing, and was subsequently even more complicated.

She was introduced to no fewer than forty extended family members on the trip through the building to Palayjah's rooms. Forty Denobulan faces that she had little hope of distinguishing later, let alone connecting to their names and relationship to Phlox. And yet, certainly, every one of them now knew her.

At last, they arrived at their destination, and Liz was immediately introduced to Palayjah - a pleasant-faced, obviously pregnant woman, with sad, brown eyes. Liz averted her gaze to the father and daughter reunion - awkwardly standoffish by human standards, although clearly heartfelt and affectionate; within seconds Palayjah was in tears and Phlox not far from them. Mettus, too, Liz saw was averting his eyes, and there was something unpleasant in his expression.

"I'm so glad you could come," Palayjah said, tears still falling, in Denobulan "I've been terrified."

"I am here now," Phlox replied, soothingly.

The exchange had something of a ritual rhythm to it, and Liz suspected something might have been lost in translation. Still, Denobulan was a well-known language, and her handheld translator was as accurate as it was likely to get.

"You will be staying in my rooms," Palayjah said then, directing her voice to include Liz as well as her father.

"I hope I won't be intruding," Liz replied nervously. Her anxiety peaked even higher when Palayjah responded with a confused frown.

"A human custom" Phlox clarified quickly. "Homes and hospitality are understood differently."

"Ahh," Palayjah nodded, her smile returning. "Your presence is both welcomed and expected in my rooms?"

Although Liz found herself slightly discomforted by thisreply, she nevertheless smiled warmly. Mettus seemed unpleasantly amused by the exchange, and Liz decided she didn't much like him.

A silent meal followed next, again with a slightly ritualised atmosphere that left Liz more uncomfortable than refreshed, although the food itself was surprisingly pleasant. Beetles, yes, but pretty iridescent ones With an internal fluid that tasted rather of vanilla cake, and a blue liquid which was a pleasing mixture of sweet, sour and bitter.

"You are an exobiologist, then?" Palayjah asked at the meal's conclusion. "An entomologist?"

"Yes, that's right." Liz nodded. "And you, you are a doctor as well, yes?"

"Yes. I'm a hepatoenterologist."

"Did you know Palayjah," Phlox broke in, without quite managing to swallow the final, entire beetle in his mouth before doing so. "Did you know that in humans an additional organ called the 'Pancreas' fulfils some of the roles of the Denobulan liver and ALSO some of the roles of our glycosidic gland?"

"Fascinating!"

"Isn't it?"

Liz took the opportunity to very discretely dislodge a beetle leg from between her teeth. When she'd managed it, she noticed, with no small irritation, that Mettus had been watching her closely.

Palayjah then withdrew, rather abruptly it seemed to Liz, to obtain an additional course for the meal. Pleasingly, Mettus also withdrew, and Liz found herself alone with Phlox for a moment.

"You are doing splendidly, Elizabeth," he smiled encouragingly, but he was clearly troubled.

"What's wrong?"

Phlox cleared his throat unhappily. "Did you see the writing on the outside of the buildings?"

"I saw it, yes. We were walking a little fast for me to use the translator on it. What did it...?"

"It's perhaps for the best that you did not read it, Elizabeth. I find myself troubled. I worry that I should not have brought you here. In times of crisis, even good people become...insular. They turn their efforts towards protecting their own, even as those circles shrink..."

"I'll be all right," Liz replied, in what she hoped was a reassuring voice, not entirely sure she understood what Phlox was saying. "I can handle a little... Well, I'm sure you found worse on Earth after the Xindi attack, anyway. And you were always there for us, regardless."

Phlox smiled, and took her hands in his own.

Unfortunately, Palayjah and Mettus almost immediately ruined the moment by returning, Mettus's eyes shifting immediately to their joined hands.

Liz's irritation faded almost immediately, however, when she caught sight of Palayjah's expression.

"I'm so sorry," Palayjah stammered, looking straight into Liz's eyes. "My cousin, Parrin, called. From the city. There's been...I'm so sorry... Explosions. At your embassy. At the shuttle dock. Parrin thinks...it looks like they're all dead."