Trip stalked into sickbay, coffee in hand, and with very little patience remaining. A deficit for which he could easily forgive himself, given the day he was having.

"Alice, I don't know which of your electronic beaker stirrers is broken this time, but I am the CHIEF engineer and you can't..."

He broke off mid-sentence at the sight of T'Pol unconscious on a bio-bed, reeling from a sudden shock of adrenaline.

"She's fine," Alice said coolly from her work station. "Although, she walked in here in quite a flap- I think you should know. You broke this particular 'beaker-stirrer' yourself, Commander, and I do expect you to fix it yourself."

Trip collapsed into the nearest chair, coming embarrassingly close to missing it entirely, and landing rather uncomfortably on the edge of it. "She's okay though?"

"Yes"

"...and the..."

"Also fine."

Trip exhaled heavily, feeling his racing heart beginning to slow, the deceleration both welcome and uncomfortable. "You knew, didn't you, Alice? How about a little heads up, next time?"

Alice chucked wearily as she typed. "NEXT time? Saints preserve us! Look, Trip, just... Fix it, okay? Tell her that she was 100% right, and you are 100% donkey-bollocks, and fix it. Take one for the team, a'right? I'll even throw in a bottle of whisky, given you'll so clearly need it..."

"But..."

"Personal favour to me, given you know you're going to do it in the end, anyway. There is a serious lack of people 'in the know' here, and I really can't right now."

Trip sighed. "Got something better to do, I suppose?"

"I do in fact..." Alice replied still typing. "I am currently text-flirting with a decidedly slimy Denobulan lab-technician called Fluret."

"Why in the name of...?"

Alice finally looked up, and there was evident discomfort in her eyes. "Because he works at Hezgatga Hospital and I have heard a rumor that there are three humans in the morgue there. And one in the ICU..."

Trip's stomach dropped. "From the embassy?" he asked hopefully.

Alice shook her head. "Neither this particular rumor monger, nor the egregious Fluret, seem to know either way. But, several other people have told me that the embassy site is still sealed off, that no one has been pulled out of the rubble yet. Between that and the fact there are four... Anyway, I'm trying to convince Fluret to sneak into the morgue and get me DNA samples. Or at least photos."

"Three dead?" Trip sighed. Until that moment he'd been holding out hope that it was still somehow going to be okay. "I thought Hoshi was talking to the Denobulans?"

"She is. Probably," Alice replied vaguely, blinking at her computer. "Only she gets to talk politely with officials, whereas I'm stuck flirting with...a guy who literally just sent me porn. Bleck."

"Holy shit, look at that," Trip replied weakly, staring at the incredibly disturbing attachment. He considered himself a man of the world and all, but...some things could not be unseen. "Why don't you let me take over flirting with Fluret for a while, Ally?" he offered, somewhat heroically, he thought. "I am a much better flirter than you, after all."

Alice raised her eyebrows. "Aye, right? And what's your evidence for that, Commander?"

Trip glanced at T'Pol with a small smile and took a long sip of his cooling coffee. "Well for one thing, the person I mooned over tragically is pregnant with my kid. Meanwhile, the person YOU moon over tragically swears at you when you bring him lasagna..."

Alice narrowed her eyes. "Fine. I take your point. Very well. YOU whore yourself out to Fluret, and I'LL drink the coffee."

Feeling very tired now, Trip sat down in front of the terminal, and began impersonating Alice in a frankly terrifying conversation with the sleazy technician. "And he's sent me... No wait, it's more porn. Terrifying Denobulan porn, that again I can't unsee. Alice, you couldn't blind me, real quick, could ya?"

"Sorry, I'm on my coffee break."

"Holy shit! You're actually drinking my coffee, you madwoman. Is that even hygienic?"

Alice took another long swig. "I'll risk it."

"Your funeral," Trip chuckled, before the computer beeped again and his mouth went dry. "Okay this is it, he sent photos. Three."

Neither of them spoke for a moment.

"Come on then," Alice said briskly, opening her eyes. "First one."

It was Fabrecia Boschmann, although only half of her head was recognisable. Alice let out a strangled sob. Trip had forgotten they were close.

Next was H.B. Morello, his face shredded, but still just recognisable.

One more. "It's going to be Malcolm or Amanda," Trip said sickly, not even caring that his hand was shaking.

"You and Amanda Cole were an item, at one stage, weren't you?" Alice asked softly.

"Not really," Trip replied softly. "It was...complicated. Ready?"

"Not really."

They had their answer a moment later. Trip felt a sickening combination of relief and pain.

"It COULD be a woman from the embassy," Alice said at length. "The face isn't really..."

Trip shook his head. "See that scar along her collarbone? And the mole on her...it's her."

"I'm sorry, Trip."

"It's okay," Trip replied, his breath catching a little. Because it wasn't okay at all.

The line was bad, but hard won. Hoshi could only make out about every third word which Liz said, and she assumed Liz was in a similar position, but they had both repeated themselves many times and Hoshi was pretty sure Liz had got her gist. Now she just needed to get her off the line so she could get on with things.

"Just stand by, Liz", Hoshi repeated loudly following a mostly incomprehensible transmission about Phlox's children and graffiti. Then, slightly reluctantly, she hung up and made a mental note to apologize to Liz later.

She was on the cusp of beginning another round of calls to Denobulan officials when Trip stepped onto the bridge looking grim. "I have something," he said, and judging by his tone it was nothing good.

Chest tight, Hoshi joined the senior officers around the convergence table.

"Has anyone seen T'Pol?" Archer asked quickly before Trip could begin.

"In sickbay."

"Why?"

Trip cleared his throat. "Because she's the one who's pregnant."

Hoshi's own exclamation of surprise was drowned out by the Captain's.

"You kept that pretty quiet," Archer replied, clearly displeased. "You could have told me."

Trip frowned. "Until an hour ago I was as in the dark as you are. But we aren't here to talk about that. I have bad news." And he loaded three photos.

Hoshi stared. Three dead crew members. One of them Travis's ex-girlfriend.

But not Malcolm.

Beside her, Archer's shoulder's sagged. "Damn," he whispered. "Malcolm?"

"We think he's in the ICU at a place called Hezgatga Hospital..."

Hoshi blinked. "We, who is we?"

"...Alice is trying to find out more now," Trip finished.

"Alice?" Hoshi demanded. "What is SHE doing talking to Denobulans?"

"Medical back-channels, Hoshi," Trip replied quickly.

Hoshi, however, refused to be so easily dismissed. "She isn't trained for that sort of thing. This is a delicate situation. We can't just have everyone and their dog causing chaos by..."

"Not now, Hoshi," Archer interrupted impatiently. "Surely the priority right now is finding out if Malcolm is alright..."

"He isn't." Alice had arrived on the bridge unobserved. "I've managed a brief conversation with the Head of Surgery at Hezgatga. Along with a series of serious but slightly less pressing injuries, Lieutenant Reed has a subdural hemorrhage - a brain bleed- which requires surgery."

"So why hasn't he had it?" Travis asked on behalf of the room.

"Well, it's been scheduled four times already and postponed each time," Alice answered. "The hospital - all the hospitals- are overwhelmed. Not enough staff, no enough operating theatres, and a continuous flow of emergencies. The problem is that every time his surgery gets bumped, the bleed gets a little worse and the required surgery more time consuming and more complicated. And therefore, less likely to be done."

"But they won't just let him die," Travis replied incredulously. "They're Denobulans."

"That's certainly not their intention," Alice answered unhappily. "But I think that's what's going to happen anyway, without anyone really wanting it to, or deciding that's what should happen. I worked in response hospitals after the Xindi attack. And that's how it went sometimes. Cracks opened, people fell through."

Archer shook his head. "But surely Phlox can do something? Or Cutler?"

"Phlox can't get there," Hoshi answered. "Not without perhaps never seeing his family again."

"And we can't bring Malcolm up here without putting ourselves into quarantine," Travis put in. "And perhaps never seeing our own families again."

"And without sacrificing the fertility of every woman on board," Archer continued, visibly distressed. "And T'Pol's baby."

Alice nodded. "As much as I don't want you to be, I think you are right. We don't even know what the contagion is yet. How it spreads. There's no way to know that our quarantine facilities would be sufficient to protect the crew."

Archer looked around the table. "So what do we do? Travis?"

Travis frowned unhappily. "I hate to say it sir, but we have to put Earth first. Even if the crew were willing to sacrifice their ever being with their families again, in order to save Malcolm, there is going to be a war and Enterprise is crucial to Earth's defense. If we can't rotate staff, get specialist repairs done..."

"... It could cost us the war," Archer finished bleakly. "Hoshi?"

Hoshi found herself barely able to speak, no less so, because Travis was watching her very closely. "I don't know, sir...I always pictured myself with children. Going back to my family one day. My students. And who knows how many species this thing can infect? We could be pariahs everywhere..."

"Trip?"

It took Trip a long time to speak, and when he did, his voice was thick with emotion. "I can't lose another child, Jon. Not like this. Not to fanatics. Murderers. I love Malcolm like a brother, you know I do. But, I just can't."

Archer looked at each of them in turn. Hoshi made sure to hold his gaze, to avoid Travis's. And to avoid tears.

"There has to be some other way."

"There is," Alice interjected. "It's not ideal, at all, but... There are two Vulcan cruisers within two days of here. Each with a well-staffed medical department. I'm sure either will lend you a doctor for a while."

Archer frowned. "I don't understand what you are saying, Alice."

"I'm saying I resign," Alice replied calmly. "And that I'm transporting down to Denobula."