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Star Trek Enterprise:

Here We Stand.

Chapter 16

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The depth of skill that the Star Fleet Engineer possessed always impressed Horatio. In the space of twelve hours the ruptured and damaged plating had been set almost like they hadn't encountered any issues, in the areas of the tour anyway, it was as if they were getting inspected before official commissioning again.

The crews from the Swan had been a big help as well Many wanted to see old friends or get a glimpse at the new NX-Class and the help was appreciated Even the embassy staff was helping but that had much more to do with the potential embarrassment Earth would face if the ambassador got the head of the Vulcan High Command dirty.

Or heaven forbid the human ambassador have a single grease stain on any of his linen tablecloths. He had been quite thankful when the chef had returned in a gravity lift chair, he had terrified the cooks into complying with his orders and he didn't even have to raise his voice.

The sound of heavy welding and deep conversation slowly ebbed away as he made his way to the turbo-lift the beginnings of an old-fashioned sea shanty began to echo from the engineers as they worked.

Chief Crocker, the chief engineer of the Swan, was a traditional man and enjoyed a good old fashioned sing song while he worked and as a commanding officer, he delighted in ordering his subordinates to join in so much so that they did it even without thinking, and not many of them could carry a tune.

He signed in relief as the door sealed shut, he knew this was nowhere near the damage that the ship would suffer in the battle of Azati Prime, but it was still showing the weaknesses inherent in the NX design for running repairs that the introduction of Jeffries tubes would help with on latter designs.

He had the security protocol that the Vulcans wanted for the tour and meal afterwards that the captain needed to approve, and he wasn't answering his comm.

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Jonathan's entire body was numb as Erika talked about their children, their children, he never even gave it any thought. He imagined one day maybe but he wasn't ready to be a dad he didn't have anything really figured out. Children don't come with an instruction manual, nor do they obey orders like his ship could.

"Jon?" asked Erika gently, he turned his head, wasn't she standing just now he thought "I need to know that you're okay with this."

"Erika, I don't know if I'll be a good father, I haven't figured out a civilian life, but I will do everything I can and be there for them as best I can be if you'll allow me."

She smiled serenely

"That's all I'm asking for now Jon."

"How are they?" he asked

Before she could answer the bell chimed at the door.

"We'll pick this up later Jon you have work." she said as she got up "We'll talk after the party I have some vids that you'll love."

"OK," he smiled as she made her way to the door. The door whooshed open as she touched the controls, she was met by the sling-covered chest of...

"Lt Commander Smith" she smiled at the man

"Captain Hernandez" he greeted in return with a slight bow "I hope your talk with Captain Archer was productive." She sent the captain a smile before she replied

"It was thank you".

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Security for a function like this was a lot easier than on the planet there were fewer things that you needed to cover on a ship as only those who were invited could get onto it. The searching for weapons and hidden poisons had been done before they even got onto the ship and thanks to modern sensor equipment it was near impossible to hide things like that these days.

Thankfully, at least to Horatio, had not been asked to be one of the escorts for the Vulcan Delegation so he was on the main command bridge for most of it, with Trip being the one to explain the engine upgrades as Chief Engineer, with Admiral Forest answering any sensitive question making his own participation unneeded.

He was sat in Archer's command chair with the beta shift crew on station except for the helmsman, Mayweather had apparently swopped with Ensign Moore and was pulling a doble after losing a card game. Peterson was at the Tactical station, Montrose was at the communications station, Tyler was at the science station and Dragomirov was at the operations console.

They kept a professional atmosphere despite being in the Vulcan system, a hard-won lesson from P'Jem, Though they weren't expecting any trouble they refused to be caught flat-footed again. so, it was a surprise when even with Mayweather turned away from the console the ship shuddered and entered Warp the dampeners once again not fully able to stop the stormy ocean-like rocking from the ship.

"Travis, check your console." Ordered Horatio, he kept himself glued to the command chair with practised ease, as he had had to do for the past few days. But that didn't stop the pain in his shoulder and arm from rearing its ugly head.

It was a substantial pain that had brought tears to his eyes, only pure concentration on the task at hand stopped him curling up into a ball and crying.

Mayweather was quick to respond but his console was not.

"Sir, all my systems are answering all stop." He said as he began pressing buttons and flipping switches with no response. "Override controls nonresponsive." He said as he got under his console and opened a hidden panel, "Manual cut off nonresponsive," he turned back to Horatio "Whatever's happening here sir it is happening independently of the console controls."

"Clearly." The pain was making him short of answers. He pressed the button with his left hand and called out "red alert." The lights dimmed slightly with red flashing lights starting and the claxon going off. "We need answers so are we being hacked, Montrose." The chair turned to face the rear ops console officer.

"Not according to the ECM systems sir." She replied, "We've not detected any strange transmissions or anything that could be considered a signal."

"Engineering, Bridge" he called over the internal communications system "Why are we at warp?"

"wish we could answer you sir it looks like someone is in our systems." Said Trip his drawl unmistakable even over comms.

"Have you detected anything we haven't detected anything here." He replied, "No signals and no intrusive programmes from the outside."

"Hold on a second Smith." There was a pause for a few moments before he returned "Some of the Vulcan Delegates are missing."

"who is missing."

"The Chief of Vulcan security Ta'lok and the head of the Vulcan High Command." So, he was a Romulan Horatio thought. He pressed the button on his comm. "They Wanted to Speak to Captain Archer in privet."

"Captain Archer to the Bridge." He was panting heavily "Medical teams and Security teams to the main computer room." It was Archer he sounded tired and was out of breath.

"Drag, you have the conn." He said as he got to his feet the buffeting of the deck plating making it almost comical.

"Where are you going?" asked Montrose.

"To find out what the bloody hell is going on." He finally reached the operations console where he tapped a key code that opened a hidden compartment. "Bloody Archer jinxing us I swear to god the man is a chaos magnet." He muttered to himself as he pulled his phase pistol from its right-handed holster at his console, he made his way as best he could to the turbo lift, it was more difficult but the lift itself was immune to the shuddering and shaking as bulkhead door closed, he heard.

"Good luck Sir."

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The Main Computer Room was nestled in the centre of the NX Class it was several Decks tall and could be accessed from D-Deck. It was perpetually temperature-controlled at around -10 degrees so why the Vulcans would want to be in there with the Captain was a mystery by itself.

The deck shaking was reduced in these areas due to maintenance teams from the Swan, The Computer core was a very delicate piece of machinery, and the jostling could have done some real damage to the hardware.

As the bulkhead door opened, he was met by a gurney being pulled out of the room with a cover over it. He stopped it before opening the cover revealing the corpse of the Vulcan High Chancellor.

"well, this is a bugger of a thing." He recovered the corpse before sending it off to be autopsied by the Doctor. He continued inside meeting a few Vulcan security men who had been brought on board by the Chairman for the tour as his own security.

"What have we got." He asked the security teams.

"A lot of contradictions." It was T'Pol.

She explained that the Chairman and the Captain had gone to discuss the warp core privately when they didn't return for some time Ta'lok had offered to go looking for them, then he had disappeared T'Pol had gone to search and found noses coming from the computer room. When she opened the door, she found Captain Archer severely beaten the Chairman dead and the Security Chief stunned.

The Captain had tried to say something pointing at the computer, but he passed out and was taken to the sick bay.

"Have you checked the system?" The ship stopped shuddering suddenly.

"Engineering to Commander Smith." It was Tucker, "We're out of warp but we're not going anywhere for a while, I've disconnected the Warp Core."

"Understood." He said, "When will you be able to get the problem sorted out."

"It's not a hardware system issue it's all software."

"We'll get it checked out."

He left T'Pol with the task of sifting through issues with the software and Reed to look for any devices that looked out of place before he opened a hidden panel in the side wall.

Horatio then took out what looked to be a fountain pen then inserted it into the panel revealing a hidden monitor.

"This is the security monitor for the whole ship it monitors everything everywhere except bathrooms and the sealed room in security." He said to T'Pol and Reed "This is Classified at level 3 so only those with clearance can know that now includes both of you."

"Why would command put us under constant surveillance?" asked the Englishman.

"You sweet summer child Malcolm." Said Horatio as he put his hand on his shoulder in pity, "We are the first long-range deep spaceship for not just Star Fleet but all of Humanity." He said turning back to the device "We are as much guineapigs as the ship is Mal."

"We're experiments?"

"Command wants to see the effect of extended deep space travel has on the human psyche." Replied Horatio as he entered a command code and watched the feed. As the video ended, he nodded to Reed and headed out.

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Horatio had decided to head to the Sickbay to talk to Archer as given how it sounded, he may or may not have committed a murder. He would need a statement for what happened and then he was going to be joining the Security teams picking up any evidence just in case an inquiry was required.

Luckily the entire dec had had its dampeners mostly repaired due to the tour so it was spared the worst of the rocking while at warp though as he walked, he was slightly uncomfortable with the vibration under his feet from the heavy rocking on the bridge.

"I demand that Captain Archer be placed under immediate arrest." It seemed he arrived in time. The Vulcan was uncharacteristically aggressive, he had several gauze bandages covering his exposed chest and left eye. He looked quite the sight lying on his back on one of the medical beds.

"I believe that any decision to arrest a member of Star Fleet falls within the purview of Star Fleet Security." It was Admiral Forest he was very angry almost red in the face. Archer was unconscious on another bed with three Human security guards with him and two of the Vulcans as well.

"He attempted to Murder the Chief of Vulcan Security and did Murder the Chair of the Vulcan High Command."

"So, you say but the investigation has yet to be completed."

"Are you calling me a liar?"

"Sir." Horatio interrupted, he had passed Dr Phlox and was now standing next to Admiral Forest. "Any investigation is going to have to wait" he replied calmly, "We were moving at a speed beyond our current safety maximums, and we need to find out why that is." He replied calmly "We will also be investigating why you; the Chairman and Captain Archer were in that restricted section in the first place." He said as he walked up to the two men, "But if you wish, we can take Captain Archer into custody and confine him to the Sickbay."

"I request Vulcan security officers to guard him."

"That can be arranged." Said Horatio, Admiral Forest looked upset, but this was a diplomatic grenade, and it was about to go off. But he noticed something in the eye of the Commander he looked down at his hand and saw a very specific hand sign hidden in his gesture used in hostage situations. "I'll have Sub Commander T'Pol aid me in the instigation."

"But I would like you to answer one question for me Chief."

"What would that be?" he didn't notice the heightened alert of the Human security officers nor that of Admiral Forest who moved between the Vulcan and the door.

"How long have you been working for the Romulan Star Empire."

No one moved it felt as if the whole universe had suddenly come to a stop and no one dared to breathe. Then there was an explosion of movement as the Chief attacked, using his superior speed and strength he tried to get out of the sickbay and somehow escape.

The Human security jumped on the man they had to use all of their CQC experience and grappling skills to get the Vulcan off his feet As his two security men wrestled him Horatio activated one of the switches on his swagger stick and stunned the Vulcan.

"he'll be out for about an hour" He indicated to the bio-bed "Put him in there if he has any suicide devices, I want them found and removed then get him to the Brigg."