Chapter 3

by Starsinger

First off, a shout out to Happy the Exceed and her first story "Similarities". It is, imho, a credible first effort, especially for someone whose first language is not English. I have seen the ending, and it is quite satisfying, with an interesting twist. Of course, being her Beta has a lot to do with it. Now, back to the story. A lot of people want to "kill" Admiral Marcus, including Johnathan Archer (I don't mean this literally when it comes to Archer). Don't own any of them.

Archer sighed with relief. Reports from Dr. McCoy were good. Kirk was finally responding to the treatment, and had the first of many surgeries to get him ready to wake up. Archer decided to get up and see for himself. It wasn't that he didn't trust McCoy, he just needed to see Jim. He allowed the transporter to take him to Zurich. A sudden inspiration struck Archer as he headed to Pike's room to take him to see Jim. Archer didn't quite understand all the in's and out's of how Pike survived. The doctors told him that, after they pulled him out of the room, the EMTs had inserted a catheter into his groin muscle and inserted a device that McCoy himself had developed as a cadet, to seal off tattered veins and arteries. Once that was done, they'd shocked his heart back into a rhythm, all the while running for Starfleet Medical. Pike was someone else McCoy, even indirectly, had brought back from the dead. All the while, Marcus had let Kirk believe that Pike was dead. The bastard.

Word had come down from Sulu that Jim was dead. Archer himself broke the news to Pike. It was the first time John had ever seen Chris break down and cry. The boy had been a second son to him. He'd loved him with all his heart, and it had physically hurt to see Chris like that just before the shuttle had touched down to take him to Zurich. John had walked onto the shuttle to see Chris off and seen the cryotube for himself. Jim looking like he was asleep inside it. Archer stayed on that shuttle as McCoy and M'Benga explained what happened and what they hoped to do. Chris automatically made M'Benga his attending so he could be nearby when McCoy needed him, and Chris could regular updates on Jim's condition. Marcus had gone down with other non-critical patients from the Enterprise to Zurich. Most other patients had gone to bases in Dallas, San Diego, and New York, but not Marcus. Zurich was the most secure hospital outside of San Francisco, and that hospital lay half in ruins.

John had stayed in the ICU waiting room with Uhura and Riley, waiting and hoping for word about Jim. Kirk was a fighter, and John chose to believe that this wouldn't turn out any differently. Finally, twelve hours later, McCoy finally came in, "He's alive. His heart's beating and he's breathing. I'm not going to lie, this is going to be a long, uphill battle, and he still may not make it. I'm going to try." McCoy chose that moment to break down and cry. Uhura stood and wrapped her arms around the shaking doctor as Riley and Archer rose and patted his back.

It was soon after that that Archer had his first angry confrontation with Marcus. He'd gone down to tell Chris what was going on, and Marcus just lay there. The look on his face was so smug, that Archer wanted to rip it off with his bare hands. The only thing that kept him from doing it was the fact that he was handcuffed to the bed. THAT brought some satisfaction. A week and a half into Jim's stay in the ICU and Marcus had his hip and pelvis repaired. Pike was ready to go when Archer got there, but Marcus wanted to see him as well. The man had a troubled look on his face.

After much debate, and promises that Archer wouldn't let Marcus out of sight, they traveled up to see Jim. The memorial had taken place that day, and McCoy had left to have lunch with the others, so the room was quiet as they entered it. Marcus rolled over and positioned himself so he could reach the comatose man, "Jim, I…" he reached out to touch Jim's hand. Jim jerked it away. Archer had remembered M'Benga saying something about Jim responding to his environment. Marcus looked at the movement before beginning again, "I'm sorry, Jim. I've been having these terrible dreams. About humans with machines all over them, and pasty white features, all accusing me of letting this happen to them because I got you killed," Archer's head jerked up. This sounded vaguely familiar. Something eerily similar to a report he'd read years ago by Zephram Cochrane.*

"Alex, by any chance, did they call themselves 'Borg'?" Archer asked.

Marcus looked up at him, "Yes, they did. How?"

Archer picked up a PADD and went into Starfleet's archives. There were the words of Cochrane, "Was approached by people claiming to be from the future. They were holding off a species of cyborgs known as the 'Borg' who were trying to prevent first contact and take over Earth. I don't know if they were actually from the future, but without their help, I would never have been able to make that first trip by warp drive. Doesn't list the names of who helped him, but it does say they said their ship was the USS Enterprise. No, wait, there are two names: William Riker and Deanna Troi. He, apparently, thought Troi was very beautiful."

"There's no one in Starfleet by those names," Marcus said.

"Not yet," Chris replied. Jim remained silent.

*Designed the first warp drive ship on Earth. Its testing, on April 5, 2063, prompted First Contact by the Vulcans. It's in probably the best of the Next Generation movies, "Star Trek: First Contact". They stopped numbering the Star Trek Films after number six.