The night seemed interminably long, but eventually the twin suns began to rise. Reed awoke with a nauseated feeling and a sense of vague confusion; his bed was distinctly uncomfortable, and he must have slept in a strange position because there was a tight, burning cramp in his right side... He groaned softly to himself, wondering why he felt so hot and sick.

"Malcolm?"

He squinted upwards, trying to focus his blurry vision; "Captain?"

"Good to see you awake, lieutenant," Archer's face became clear.

That clarity brought with it recollection, and Reed swiftly realised that it had not been some horrible nightmare as a pain lanced through his abdomen and he groaned aloud, trying to curl in on himself to escape the hurt.

"Steady, Malcolm..." Archer's voice was gentle, as he felt the cool press of a hypospray against his neck, a soft hiss, and then the pain began to ebb away slightly, now more of a nagging ache than a raging torment; "you're running quite a fever. This should help."

There was another injection, and Reed managed to draw in enough breath to murmur; "Thank you, sir."

Archer simply smiled reassuringly in response, as Reed gingerly pulled himself upright, sitting back against a boulder. He kept his hand pressed to his side; despite the medication, every breath he drew in was an exercise in pain management and even the exertion of sitting up had left him breathless and shaking with fatigue. He could see concern in Archer's expressive brown eyes and he glanced away quickly, uncomfortable that he should merit such consideration.

"Do you feel like eating something?" Archer asked, conversationally, "All we've got is dry ration packs I'm afraid..."

"Not right now, thank you, sir," Reed declined politely, feeling queasy again at just the thought, "how much water do we have left?"

"Three bottles," Archer replied, picking one up, "here – drink some. If we're here for much longer I'm going to go looking for a water source. Trip found some purification tablets in the supplies kit."

Reed could not find the strength of will to protest as he accepted the bottle and took a mouthful. His hand shook, and he quickly handed the bottle back for fear of dropping it. Archer, however, had other ideas, pressing the bottle back into his hands and holding it for him as the captain helped the lieutenant to take another drink.

Too spent to speak, Reed slumped back against the rock, cursing his own bad luck and his weakness, as Trip appeared from within the wrecked shuttle, wiping oily hands on his trouser legs.

"I've finally managed to activate the emergency beacon," the engineer reported, sounding pleased with himself as he dropped heavily onto the ground beside Reed, leaning against the rock with him in a companionable manner; "pretty much everything's smashed but I've managed to rebuild the short-distance beacon – if Enterprise is sending down shuttles to look for us, they should at least be able to locate our signal now."

"Good work, Trip," Archer said, approvingly, "what's the range of the beacon?"

"A couple of hundred kilometres, give or take," Trip shrugged, "they might not pick it up straight away, but they should be able to... hey... what the hell?"

Trip broke off as a strange tingling sensation swept over him, and he found himself unable to move. At first, he thought he'd sat on an alien ant colony as the itchy feeling encompassed him, but then lights began to dance in front of his eyes. He could see a shimmering, sparkling field enveloping Archer and Reed as well.

It's a transporter beam¸ his mind realised, even as the trees around him faded from sight, but it sure as hell ain't the Enterprise...

They materialised in a chamber, Archer kneeling on the floor, as both Trip and Reed went sprawling backwards, abruptly deprived of the support of the rock they had been leaning against. Trip rolled and sat up; Reed stayed down, either unconscious or simply too exhausted to move.

"What the hell was that?" Archer was the first to find his voice.

"Transporter beam," Trip replied, matter-of-factly, "must have been triggered when I set off the emergency beacon; more to the point, where the hell are we?"

They looked around, taking in their surroundings. They were in a large, plain chamber – the walls, floor, and ceiling were all made of a uniform material – Archer immediately recognised the opalescent white stone he had previously seen on the cold, grey planet prison of Tai'chu'un. He was relieved to see, at the far end of the chamber, Shuttlepod Two was waiting, powered down and apparently undamaged.

"Well, I'll be damned," Trip murmured, staring at the shuttle, "whoever they are, they've got a hell of a lot of power to be able to transport an entire shuttlepod!"

"Which begs the further questions, who are they, and how do we get out of here?" Archer took a few paces towards the shuttle, and then turned around again; "I don't see any doors or windows in this place, do you?"

"The walls look like solid stone," Trip observed, "are we in some kind of prison?"

"It would be odd to put us in a prison, and leave us with our phasers," Archer pointed out, as he crossed the space between them to crouch beside Reed, "unless our captors know we can't do them any harm with our weapons."

Gently, Archer rolled Reed onto his back, his chest tightening with a knot of sympathy as the younger man groaned and muttered incoherently. The air in their strange prison was cooler and more comfortable than the tropical heat, but even so, Archer could see a thin sheet of sweat on Reed's pallid face, and he could feel the warmth radiating from him as the captain gently placed the back of his hand against Reed's face. The armoury officer stirred slightly, but did not awaken.

"He's burning up," the worry was evident in Trip's tone, as he rested his hand on Reed's shoulder, "I'll see if I can grab some supplies from the shuttle – I definitely packed more medical kits!"

Trip shot to his feet and ran towards the shuttle, returning with a field medical kit and three bottles of water. He concentrated on selecting and administering painkillers and antibiotics, while Archer removed the soiled bandages, hissing in dismay when he saw the festering wound. Stirred by their careful ministrations, Reed groaned wordlessly, trying to pull away.

"Steady, Mal," Trip soothed the injured lieutenant as he slowly blinked his eyes open, "you're gonna be okay..."

"Where are we?" Reed squinted around their bright white prison, confused.

"We seem to have been transported here – along with Shuttlepod Two," Archer replied, as he tied off the bandage as tightly as he dared, "this rock – it looks the same as the stones we found before."

"Jon!" Trip's voice rang out in alarm, as the engineer bolted to his feet, drawing his phase pistol in one fluid motion and dropping into a defensive crouch, "Look out!"

Archer whipped around, drawing his own weapon but remaining crouched protectively beside Reed. A swirling, glittering cloud of mist was drifting slowly downwards from the ceiling, barely visible against the glowing white stones. The silvery smoke hung in the air for a long moment, and Archer cleared his throat, recalling the name Reed had put to the entity that had possessed him.

"Tai'chu'un?" he said, uncertainly, "What do you want – why have you brought us here?"

The cloudy form swirled around itself for a few moments, and then began to take a form; Archer was surprised to see the outline of a human face staring back at him from the cloud, vaporous but distinct.

I am not Tai'chu'un!

The voice reverberated around the chamber with a depth and authority that struck Archer to his very core. The entity before him had clearly spoken, but the ghostly face did not move; its lips did not form the words, but they nonetheless echoed through Archer like a painful blow.

I am K'ta'tur'ai'sen of the T'ch'ra'kai... how dare you speak the name of a traitor in my presence?

The words were painful in Archer's mind; behind him, he heard Trip gasp and drop his phase pistol. The weapon clattered to the floor as Archer blinked stars from his eyes. Without realising it, he had dropped to his hands and knees, as if forced down by the weight of the words.

"My... my name is Captain Jonathan Archer, of the starship Enterprise," he gasped, forcing himself to stand, "We are peaceful explorers... we know nothing of the T'ch'ra'kai. We were... attacked, by Tai'chu'un..."

You are not of the twelve realms. You should not be here.

"No... We are from a planet called Earth, many light years away," Archer panted, grasping his head, "please – your speech is painful to us – we are not telepaths..."

There was a long moment, and then the shimmering cloud coalesced, and Archer found himself face to face with a semi-solid form; humanoid, but lacking in any real characteristics, like a mask. This time, when the creature spoke, it did so through its featureless white lips, breathing tiny tendrils of smoke as its form constantly rippled and shifted, like mist on water.

"Verbal speech is preferred?" it said, "This is your language?"

"Yes," Archer nodded, in relief, "thank you... you are... K'ta..."

"K'ta'tur'ai'sen of the T'ch'ra'kai, watcher of the twelfth planet, protector of the K'tai'tun and guardian of this star realm. Why have you come here?"

"We are explorers," Archer replied, "we detected a signal from a nearby planet. We thought it was a distress call; we responded, but we found only a dead planet and Tai'chu'un. He broke free of his prison, attacked a member of my crew, and brought us here."

"The beacon was a warning. To stay away. You disobeyed."

"We did not understand. We do not know your language," Archer replied, carefully, "We thought someone was in trouble and we wished to help."

"Why?"

"Because..." Archer paused, considering his response, "because life is sacred to my people and we will always seek to protect those weaker than ourselves and to help those who are in distress."

This seemed to be the correct response, as K'ta'tur'ai'sen paused for several moments. When it spoke again, it was in a gentler tone.

"You are a young race, yet you aspire to be watchers... even though you have not yet evolved beyond the physical form and you lack higher brain functions. Interesting..."

"Why have you imprisoned us here?"

"You trespassed upon the twelfth planet. Your technology was removed for study. This is how your language was learned. You were to be studied next but your beacon would have alerted your ship. I have brought you here to demand answers for your trespass upon the watch of K'ta'tur'ai'sen over the K'tai'tun!"

Archer was vaguely aware that Trip had moved closer, crouching beside Reed; the armoury officer was trying to sit up, and obviously wanted to speak. Trip supported the other man, cradling him in his arms as Reed spoke.

"K'ta'tur'ai'sen," he gasped, clutching his side and panting for breath, "I was... host... to Tai'chu'un... for a brief period of time. He... he took over my body and shared in... in my mind... he means to destroy you... and the rest of the T'ch'ra'kai... and all of your watched... ah't'vrai cor-at ser'vei tu a l'a'n'trav su Horakk ah en K'tai'tun hol."

Archer jerked in surprise to hear the armoury officer speak in an alien tongue. The misty form before them shimmered and Archer felt a deep wave of mixed emotions – anger, grief, pain, and several more he could not identify. The sensation was gone as soon as it had come, leaving him breathless and washed out.

"I will deal with Tai'chu'un," the figure declared, at long last, "Tai'chu'un has broken every vow of the T'ch'ra'kai... and I am the last. It is my final duty as watcher."

"Wait!" Archer cried, as the figure began to dissolve, "What are you going to do?"

I will destroy Tai'chu'un. I am the last. It will be the end of the T'ch'ra'kai. I will release you from this place. Return to your people. You are not needed here.

The voice reverberated through the chamber like thunder, and Archer gritted his teeth against the pain, willing himself to speak; "But we wish to learn more about you!"

You are too young. You will learn in time. Be content with what this one knows. Now leave.

Archer could not protest further; an itching tingling took a hold of his entire body, and he could only watch as the chamber dissolved into the darkness of the transporter beam.