4

"Direct hit to one of their nacelles, minimal damage," Müller reported.

"They're hailing us," Hoshi said.

Jon stood up from the Captain's Chair. "High time," he muttered. "Open a channel, Hoshi."

"You are unauthorized to be in this area of space," a stern-looking, tall, thin, red-skinned individual with bulging eyes said.

"And I guess it is your custom to fire on people before even asking their reasons for being here," Jon wondered in cold anger.

"Your presence alone warrants our attack."

Jon took a step forward. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this planet uninhabited? I don't see any buoys warning to keep away, any flag flying over it."

"Who are you, and what do you want?" the alien barked back.

"I am Captain Archer, of the Starship Enterprise. We are from Earth, we're explorers, we don't pose you any threat."

"Then leave," the alien ordered.

"And you are?" Jon asked, managing to keep a calm appearance despite fuming inside. He was beginning to hate this guy. Scratch out 'beginning to'.

"Commander Dros of the Rojan Empire. We have annexed this planet and will defend what's ours."

"We're not interested in your planet," Jon said, but the screen suddenly went black. He turned to Hoshi, who shrugged apologetically.

"They've cut off the link," she said.

"Incoming!" Müller shouted.

A moment later the ship rocked once more.

Jon narrowed his eyes in anger. "Return fire, Ensign," he hissed, "and don't go light."

The alien ship was as Malcolm had left it: empty, cold, spooky, rusty. This second time, he did not need to find an image of her schematics or proceed by trial and error. He knew exactly which way to get to the Bridge, so he hurried along, trying to keep the thought of Enterprise under attack out of his mind.

"It's here," he finally said, stopping before a hatch. "The Bridge is behind it. The automatic defence system engaged as soon as Commander Tucker crossed the threshold."

"Very well." Phlox nodded and put his bag on the floor, kneeling beside it. "I'll be ready in just a moment, Mr. Reed."

"Lieutenant…"

Malcolm turned at the soft voice beside him. T'Pol was looking at him with slightly troubled eyes. He guessed what was on her mind and came to her rescue. "You don't need to say anything, Commander. I volunteered to do this, well-aware of the risks."

"I know, and I am grateful," she replied, a hint of emotion in her voice. "Is there is anything you want us to do in case you come to fatal harm?"

Malcolm shrugged, as his thoughts fleetingly went to his parents. He hadn't written to them in a long time.

"Whenever you're ready, Mister Reed," Phlox's tense voice said, interrupting his musings.

Malcolm nodded. He was as ready as he'd ever be… Steadying himself, he opened the hatch, licked his dry lips, and took a step inside. Immediately, he felt a prick in his neck. He barely had the time to bring a hand to the spot than his head started to spin, and he fell to the ground. His last memory was of being dragged by the arms back into the corridor.

"Trip, it's me, Elizabeth," the woman insisted, "aren't you happy to see me? Don't you want to be with me?"

"Liz," Trip breathed out. "Of course, I am. Of course I do…" He swallowed hard. "But Malcolm…"

Liz lifted her eyebrows and smiled. "Malcolm?" she wondered.

Trip turned to point out his friend to her, but it was as if she could not see him.

"This is your moment," Liz simply said.

Trip frowned. "But aren't we both…" He couldn't bring himself to say 'dead', this time. If Liz confirmed it, that would be it.

"T'Pol, hold him still!" Phlox shouted as he turned to his bag to charge another hypospray. Lieutenant Reed had begun to convulse, something that had not been in the agenda. His eyes were glazed over, and his jaw was clenched. To her credit, T'Pol was doing all she could to avoid him banging his head violently against the deck plating. Phlox quickly reviewed in his mind all the possible causes, realising with dread that Reed's history of allergic reaction might well be it.

"Doctor!" T'Pol said, urgency lacing her voice. "I am encountering difficulty."

Phlox quickly discharged a shot into Reed's neck. As the drug took effect, they lifted Reed onto the gurney they had brought and started back towards the Shuttlepod.

Barely had the vessel lifted off than Phlox paged Enterprise. "As soon as we are in range, Lieutenant Reed and I must be transported to Sickbay," he urged, "Mr. Reed is having an allergic reaction."

"Understood, Doctor," Archer tautly replied. "But we're being fired upon and can't lower our shields for more than a few seconds. Stand by."

Phlox lifted his eyes to the portion of universe framed by the Shuttlepod's windscreen. He could see Enterprise and the enemy ship far up ahead, twisting and turning in the heat of battle.

"Direct hit to their weapons' system, Sir," Müller said. His green eyes gleamed with satisfaction. "They're disabled."

"Good job, Ensign." Archer stood up and filled his lungs, standing tall. "Let's see if they're ready to listen, now." He turned to his Comm. Officer with a courteous smile. "Page them, Hoshi."

"What do you want?" Commander Dros hissed a moment later, his ugly mug twisted in frustration.

"You are defenceless," Jon said sternly. He still remembered how threatening those same words had sounded, back at the beginning of their mission, when they had been forced by some alien enemy to work triple shifts in order to build the phase cannons, to avoid being obliterated from the universe. "I trust you're willing to hear us out, now." Jon calmly sat down in his Captain's chair. "I repeat, we do not pose any threat to you."

The alien took an aggressive step forward. "That is hard to believe. We have been monitoring you, and you have just sent another vessel to our planet. It is obvious you have an interest in it."

Jon swallowed back the sharp reply that was on the tip of his tongue and strived, instead, to communicate believability. "We were investigating an abandoned ship, which resulted in one of our officers being infected with an unknown pathogen. We have sent a second vessel with our Medical Officer, we are trying to find a cure."

The alien's bulging eyes almost shot out of their sockets. He turned to speak to someone of his Bridge crew. Jon glanced at Hoshi, who was pressing on her earpiece to try and hear, but she shook her head, wincing. "Sorry, Captain, I couldn't get that."

"Captain," Müller said in a puzzled voice from the other side of the Bridge, "their weapons are coming back online…"

"I thought you had disabled them."

"I thought so too, Sir."

"You are a bigger threat to this area of space than we thought," the alien barked. "Prepare to be destroyed."

"Shields?" Jon asked.

"At 70%," Müller replied.

A beam shot out of the sleek enemy vessel, which hit Enterprise with force. Müller lifted troubled eyes. "And their weapons seem to have more power than before…"

"Return fire!"

"Captain, T'Pol is asking for that transport," Hoshi said.

"Captain," Müller echoed, "they're aiming at the Shuttlepod!"

Jon perched himself on the edge of his chair and grabbed the armrests. "Travis, bring Enterprise in between them."

"Aye, Sir."

Another hit shook the ship. "Shields at 60%," Müller said, as he fired back.

"Captain…" Hoshi's expressive dark eyes were pools of troubled waters as she pressed on her ear piece. "Lieutenant Reed will not survive, unless we immediately transport both he and the Doctor on board."

Jon opened a channel from his chair commands. "Engineering, we need an emergency transport from the Shuttlepod, for Doctor Phlox and Lieutenant Reed."

"On it, Sir," Rostov replied.

Jon stood up and placed a hand on Mayweather's shoulder. "As soon as the transport is completed and the Shuttlepod has docked, get us the hell out of here."