Therapy Part 4

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Codes: A/T’P hurt/comfort, friendship, violence (not sexual)
Rating: PG-13

Author’s Notes: I consider this part a bridge of sorts between part 3 and 5. This part contains description of violence. It’s not sexual, and I’ve tried to not be too graphic. I’ve gone down a road not taken in this chapter. I liked, for the most part, the way the series dealt with these episodes. While typing the first draft, it took a turn from what I had intended. I like the end result better than what I did have planned.

……


The darkness of the situation room no longer shocked T’Pol’s eyes as she entered. Long hours she spent here accustomed her to the bright lights of the display panels that were the sole focus of the room’s other occupant. The overhead lights cast a dim glow over the room and along the planes of Captain Archer’s hunched form. T’Pol walked over to his station, unsurprised by him not noticing her presence.

“I brought you a drink.” She said setting the steamy mug down on the only space on the console not covered by data pads.

“Thanks.” He muttered while pouring over data covering the weaknesses of Reptilian ships. T’Pol raised an eyebrow at the almost normal response from him.

Since Degra revealed the location of the weapon, Archer became increasingly focused on destroying the weapon. He spent most of his time in the situation room strategizing with T’Pol and consulting members of the senior staff. Possible attack plans against the weapon, weaknesses in Xindi ships, and anything else he thought might be of use when they arrived at Azati Prime were dissected and discussed in detail.

T’Pol sipped her mint tea while looking over the Captain’s shoulder at the data. She stayed silent, knowing he would consult her when he needed to. A few words on the page caught her attention, and she walked over to the neighboring console and pulled up a page of data and commanded the computer to calculate probabilities.

She looked to her left and took in the captain’s appearance. The blue glow of the console revealed the lines etched into his face. Dark half moons lay under his eyes, which scrolled the screen seldom blinking. Somehow his body kept him from collapsing after 7 straight hours inside these walls. T’Pol understood his drive to stop the Xindi weapon, but not his neglect of his health.

She decided a direct confrontation was in order. “Captain, may I speak with you?”

Archer’s bleary eyes looked up at her. The creases in his forehead deepened and his lips tightened into a thin line. “What do you need to talk about?”

“Did you sleep last night?”

“I don’t have time for this.” His tone was flat, but his eyes told her he was angry. Turning back to the screen, he started analyzing the data again. He hoped she got the message and would drop the subject.

Archer thought of the last time they had this conversation. His lips tingled as he remembered their kiss. The betrayal he felt from that memory furnished more fuel to his anger.

T’Pol pushed further. “It appears you don’t have time for many things, like eating proper meals.”

Archer spun around to face her. He spat at her. “I don’t need a lecture from you on how to take care of myself! ”

T’Pol’s eyes widened as the venom in his words stung her. Anger rose from her stomach as fire scorching a path to her throat. Her eyes locked with his. A mask of nonemotion clamped firmly down on her face but her eyes blazed.

Her voice came out flat and harsh. “If you were taking care of yourself captain, this conversation would be unnecessary. I suggest you go off-duty for no less than four hours. Or would you rather visit sickbay with me?”

Feeling that he had no choice, Archer headed for his quarters without another word. Two hours later he calmed down enough to realize that T’Pol was right. He headed to the messhall to eat. The image of barely restrained anger in T’Pol’s eyes wouldn’t leave his mind. Although her emotions had been close to the surface since she returned to duty, he hadn’t seen emotion threatening to overwhelm her like that. He wished she had yelled at him. He deserved at least that much for saying what he did.

Seven hours had elapsed when Archer entered the bridge again. He looked over at T’Pol and told her to meet him in the ready room. When the doors closed he tried to push down the urge to pace.

“I was out of line earlier. You had every right to confront me about my behavior. I hope you can accept my apology for yelling at you.”

Archer almost winced at the surprise in T’Pol’s eyes at his apology. Had he let things get that bad?

“Apology accepted.”

A relieved half-smile flashed over his face. “Good… Now there is something I needed you to look at…”

T’Pol knew it was only a temporary reprieve. The mission was already encompassing him again.


*****

Three days later

T’Pol took the small metallic disc from Archer’s hand. The pads of her fingers rubbed over the embossed design while her eyes examined the small object.

“I’ll have this quantum dated.” She said.

Archer watched her as he kept his brisk pace down the corridor. He almost laughed. How could she still doubt time travel after what happened in Detroit?

“We both know it’s from the future.”

Her eyes left the Xindi medal, and met his. She asked the question on her mind, even though she already knew the answer. “What do you intend to do?”

He knew she wouldn’t like his answer. “I’m going ahead with the mission.” T’Pol involuntarily pressed her lips tightly together. “You don’t think I should?”

T’Pol’s voice dropped deeper as her eyes locked with his. “Daniel’s said you are an integral part of the forming of this federation of planets. It would be impossible for you to do that if you were dead.”

Realizing the conversation might take a while, Archer slowed to a stop. With conviction he said, “That future won’t exist if Earth is destroyed.” He looked at her seeing her reservations. “We have an opportunity to stop the weapon from being launched. Once the weapon is destroyed, we can contact the Xindi and see if they are willing to talk. This may be our only chance, I can’t let it slip away.”

T’Pol analyzed his argument. It was sound, and she agreed with it for the most part. “There is a high probability that you will not return from this mission. As captain, you are the least expendable crewmember. It would be logical to send someone else.”

Archer’s voice became low and edged with guilt. “I can’t do that. I won’t order another crewman off to their death.”

T’Pol stepped towards him. Looking directly in his eyes, she told him. “It would be unnecessary for you to order me to go. I would volunteer.”

Archer stared at her momentarily stunned. He recovered quickly, “No! Absolutely not.”

“I am the logical choice. In the event I do not return, Enterprise could continue on without a first officer. I have trained several members of the science department to use…”

“I’ve made my decision.” Archer interrupted. “I need you here. Once I leave on the shuttle, Enterprise must get the hell out of here. There’s no one I trust with the safety of this ship, this crew, more than you.”

Archer turned and continued on his way to the launchbay. He didn’t notice T’Pol standing in the corridor staring at his retreating form. T’Pol did not know a way to dissuade him from going on this mission. She believed her captain’s judgment was in error. Underlying all her reasons was something purely emotional: she didn’t want him to die.

As Archer rounded the corner, he heard the words “I’m sorry.” whispered behind him. A hand pressed firmly on the junction between his left shoulder and neck. He could feel his knees buckling and watched the corridor tilt as he collapsed. His mouth gaped open forming a silent protest. Arms caught him, lowering him gently to the floor. Through his rapidly darkening vision, he saw a face leaning over him…T’Pol.

*****

“Sub Commander. I wasn’t expecting you.” A dumbfounded Mayweather said hoping she would explain to him.

T’Pol turned to look at him, and replied in her usual monotone voice. “There has been a change of plans.”

Apparently the Captain and the Sub commander talked, and somehow she convinced him to stay on Enterprise. Travis wondered how she managed to break through Archer’s stubborn determination. He didn’t press further. He showed T’Pol over to the controls and began giving her a crash course.

After showing T’Pol several maneuvers on the controls, Travis stepped back from her trying to find the words to say what he’d been thinking since the Captain had informed him of this mission.

T’Pol looked back over her shoulder and saw Mayweather lost in thought. She turned around in the tight confines of the shuttle. “Ensign?”

He failed to hold back his curiosity at bay any longer, and the words rushed past his lips. “There’s something I don’t understand about all this… I already know how to pilot this shuttle. Why do you need to go, when I can fly it?”

“I thank you for your offer Mr. Mayweather, but I must decline it. This mission requires more than a pilot. There is still a possibility that a diplomatic solution could be reached. “

“I understand, sir.”

“Ensign, can you show me the shielding controls?

Travis moved back over beside her, and began pointing to and describing controls again. He couldn’t go in her place, but he would damn well make sure T’Pol knew everything that could get her to the weapon and back in one piece.

*****

Cold. Seeping through his uniform into his back. The palms of his hands felt the hardness of the floor. Why was he sleeping on the floor?

Archer squinted as he opened his eyes. A bright light shined in his eyes, causing him to notice the pounding behind his temple. He sat up slowly blindly feeling around himself until his right hand touched a wall. His eyes adjusted to the lighting.

He was in a room. He looked to his left; shelves lined a wall about five feet away. Small gray crates sat on the shelves. The shelves continued around the walls surrounding him. White labels plainly announced their contents. Archer read one of the crates nearest to him. Aluminum Plating. He quickly realized he must be in a storage room. Archer pushed himself up. He leaned against the wall and slid up as far as his wobbly legs would go. Stopping there, he rested for a few seconds. He didn’t remember coming to this room. How did he get here?

Archer’s eyes widened as he remembered T’Pol attacking him and loosing consciousness on the corridor floor. He turned around and found a door on the wall he had been leaning against. Reaching the door, he found it locked. There was not a comm. panel in this room. A storage room wouldn’t need it. T’Pol knew he could bypass the door lock. Undoubtedly she counted on it taking some time. He rummaged through the crates until he found the tools to remove the panel.

After ten minutes of wire splicing and crossing wires, the door lock opened a few centimeters. He pried it open slowly with a bar and slipped through. Looking around, Archer saw he was not far from the launch bay. He ran down the corridor, hoping he could find T’Pol before she left the ship.

He slammed the door mechanism with his palm, and slipped inside the launch bay control center. Through the glass window, he saw the empty bay below. T’Pol was gone. The sight hit him, sinking slowly into his brain. After a few seconds he recovered, and his shocked look disappeared.

He hit the comm. panel on the wall beside the door.

“Archer to bridge.”

“Bridge here sir.” Reed replied.

“The Insectoid shuttle, where is it now?”

“It’s about 500 kilometers away sir. The shuttle should be crossing the sensor array any moment now. ”

“I’ll… be on the bridge in a few minutes. Archer out.”

Archer exited the launch bay and headed back towards the turbolift. A few minutes later, the doors opened depositing him on the bridge. Archer didn’t say a word as he watched the Insectoid shuttle grow smaller and smaller in the viewscreen until it disappeared. He felt helpless waiting there on the bridge unable to do anything to help her. He left the bridge to Reed then headed to his ready room.

Once the doors swished closed behind him, his feelings overwhelmed him. Anger rose inside him along with grief and sadness. Archer stumbled over to the viewport behind his desk. Resting his right arm on the top corner of the viewport, he looked out at the stars.

T’Pol. His mind spoke her name in anguish. She was gone. And there was no way to get her back. No last minute miracle to save her. In a few minutes a blast would engulf her and the weapon, and she would be scattered throughout the ocean of a nameless world.

Archer turned away from the viewport and leaned against the wall next to it. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Moments passed as only the sound of his heartbeat filled the room.

He wished more than anything that he could go in her place. That she would be here now safe on Enterprise. But she took that choice away from him out of some sense of misguided logic.

As he had walked towards the launchbay earlier today, knowing full well he would not be making a return trip home, he had been comforted by the thought that T’Pol would be safe on Enterprise. He could not think of a person her trusted more to carry on Enterprise’s mission. He could not think of his world without her in it. And now he did not want to walk onto the bridge and see her empty chair knowing he was powerless to bring her back.

*****

A stream of dark green blood flew from T’Pol’s mouth as the force of a fist snapped her head back. She lost her footing, and her body sagged, limply hanging from the metal cuffs securing her arms over her head. The metal sliced into her wrists again causing a steady trickle of blood to run down and soak the arms of her uniform. Her body coursed with pain, and she took a small sense of reassurance from its presence. She was still alive.

She stared up into the yellow eyes of the Reptilian leaning over her. He introduced himself as Dolim shortly before he began interrogating her. As a former member of the Vulcan Defense Ministry, T’Pol had been trained to resist multiple interrogation techniques. She had also been taught how to look at her situation logically and find weaknesses in her captors. T’Pol watched Dolim carefully seeing the flaws in his approach and finding ways to manipulate his emotions.

He preferred physical torture to the emotional or psychological kind. He became more aggravated as she feigned ignorance to the answers of his questions. He thought because she was female she would be easy to break, and that her small form betrayed weakness. She lured him into believing that. She let her body recover from the impact of his blows longer than it needed to.

T’Pol found her footing slowly, and stood as straight as her battered body would allow. Looking defiantly at Dolim’s face she awaited his next question or his next blow.

“How many Earth vessels are there in the Expanse?”

T’Pol responded with only the blank gaze which had been her only answer besides ‘I don’t know.’ to all of his questions with the exception of her name and rank.

“Answer me!” he yelled as his fist connected with her torso. The air rushed out of her lungs and she gasped for air.

Dolim sneered down at the pathetic creature before him. She had proved far more resilient than he expected. He wanted the personal pleasure of breaking her will to fight.

“If you cooperate, this will stop.”

T’Pol glared at him with defiance. She coaxed her voice through her swollen lips. “I.. will .. not.”

“Why do you resist? Out of loyalty to the humans? My ships found their ship hiding beyond the sensor array. Soon it will be destroyed.”

T’Pol looked away from him. She tried to convince herself that he could be lying to get her to cooperate.

Dolim looked over at the guards “Get her out of my sight!”

The guards threw T’Pol into her cell. Her arms impacted with the far wall as she landed in heap on floor. A red forcefield activated locking T’Pol into the small 10-foot square room.

As she sat up, the implication of what Dolim said sunk in. If it were true, then she might be responsible for Enterprise’s destruction. Her capture could have made the Xindi search for a larger ship nearby. In her effort to spare Archer from this mission she may have lead the Xindi right to him and the crew. She had failed to save Earth, Archer, and their crew.

Archer. He was the first human to see her as more than a Vulcan. And he was the person who made her reevaluate the prejudices engrained in her since childhood. She could not pinpoint exactly when she began to think of him as t'hai'la, her close friend. Their relationship grew slowly over time until he became someone she trusted and respected. The pain of his loss hollowed out a pit in her chest, making her realize how much he really meant to her. She remembered the times he had been her constant when she was surrounded by chaos. And her desire to reach out and help him when he was in turmoil. He had become a necessary part of her existence, and she grieved for his loss.

*****

Another shot from the Reptilian ships hit Enterprise. The blast caused a surge in the power grid that traveled through the ship shorting out power relays. It arrived on the bridge seconds later raining down a shower of sparks on Malcolm Reed. He instinctively ducked his head down to shield his face. Coughing up acrid smoke, he fired the phase canon banks.

Archer barked orders and requested status reports through the smoky red haze of the emergency lights. The three Reptilian ships circled around Enterprise. They had been picking Enterprise apart for the past hour, but seemed to be in no hurry to destroy them.
This puzzled Archer. What was holding them back?

“Sir, another ship is approaching the sensor grid… 700 meters and closing on our position fast.” Malcolm waited for the sensors to provide more information. “It’s Reptilian.”

When the new ship arrived, the other ships stopped firing on Enterprise. It made a run for Enterprise. Flying in close to Enterprise, the vessel took out Enterprise’s phase canons and torpedo tubes.

“Phase canons are down!” Malcolm yelled over the sound of the enemies’ weapons fire slicing into Enterprise’s hull. He braced himself against his console as the ship lurched starboard.

Archer looked over to Ensign Sato as reports came to her through the communicator in her ear. “Damage reports coming in sir… multiple hull breaches on C, D, and E decks…”

“Captain!” Reed shouted as Captain Archer shimmered out of existence.

*****

He opened his eyes to see an angel leaning over him. A halo of white light shrouded her head. With his hazy vision he traced the outline of her head, his eyes settling on the delicate tips of her ears. Archer blinked several times to clear his vision.

“T’Pol.” He whispered staring at her in disbelief. She was still alive.

As the shock of seeing her wore off, he took in her appearance. Dark green bruises marred her pale skin. Dried blood caked near her hairline. A stream of blood still trickled from her mouth to her chin.

Archer sat up quickly wincing from the ache that seemed to permeate every muscle in his body. The sensation felt familiar. Whoever kidnapped him must have subdued him with an energy weapon.

T’Pol steadied his forearm and helped him sit leaning against a metal wall. The heat in the room was oppressive. Archer could already feel the sweat forming on his brow. T’Pol didn’t seem to be bothered by the heat. She sagged back into the corner to his right, her feet touching his thighs in the small room.

“You’re bleeding.” He said stating the obvious as he looked over her again in the dim light.

He ripped a piece of his sleeve. His hand came up to her face gently staunched the blood from the cut on her chin. The lack of protest from T’Pol bothered him almost as much as her injuries. She stared at the movement of his hands like someone watching something happening to another person. T’Pol flinched as the rag touched her torn lip. Archer dropped his hand, not wanting to cause her any more pain.

He knew her bloody lip was the least of her injuries. Internal injuries could be slowly killing her. But she couldn’t get medical attention until they got out of wherever they were now.

“T’Pol. Where are we?”

T’Pol swallowed to clear her throat. “A Reptilian ship. “

“How did you get here?”

“The weapon was…” T’Pol noticed a flash of anger pass over Archer’s face as she mentioned it, “no longer at the site…” her voice cracked and she swallowed again. Disappointment showed on Archer’s face. “Ships waiting there.”

Her eyes drifted closed. “T’Pol!” Archer shook her left shoulder. “T’Pol!” Archer inwardly sighed as her eyes opened.

“I must enter a trance,” she said before closing her eyes again.

Archer gave her some space as her even breathing reassured him. The situation looked hopeless. They were trapped here in this room behind an energy barrier. No doubt the next time either one of them would be let out would be for a torture session.

He looked over at T’Pol. Perhaps he could convince the guards that he was a more valuable source of information than her. Maybe they would leave her alone. He sat contemplating their options. There weren’t many. Even if they escaped, the ship’s crew outnumbered them.

Suddenly a solution occurred to him. It was a long shot, but it was all they had. He would set it in motion when the guards took him to be tortured. The guards might come at any time. He crawled over to T’Pol and sat close to her. He whispered to her trying to wake her. She would have to finish her trance later. Right now, he needed something from her.

*****

T’Pol did not want him to go, and this time she could do nothing to stop him. Their only hope of survival and escape, though statistically implausible, lay with his plan. So she gave him the support he wanted.

The guards came less than 30 minutes later. Archer looked her in her eyes to reassure her. Then he turned to the guards.

“Your commander must already know I’m the captain of Enterprise. I have more information than her. There’s no need to question her.”

The first guard glared down at him before roughly grabbing his left arm and hauling him out of the cell. He began ushering Archer down the corridor.

The second guard walked into the cell. Archer twisted his head around to see what the other guard was doing. Moments later he emerged dragging T’Pol out by her forearm. T’Pol straightened her posture as best she could putting on an air of defiance and strength. She would not appear weak before Dolim.

Archer’s guard shoved the butt of his weapon hard in Archer’s side forcing him to turn his attention forward again. A few minutes later they arrived outside a door. The guard secured Archer from a set of handcuffs suspended from the patchwork of metal beams that made up the ceiling. His arms were strung up so high that his feet barely reached the floor.

A guard handcuffed T’Pol’s arms on either side of her to the wall across from him. He had a sinking feeling about what the Reptilians were about to do.

What he didn’t understand was why the Reptilians were doing this. Enterprise was disabled and adrift in space. They could have easily destroyed her if they wanted. Why torture them? What did they gain out of it?

Archer looked over at T’Pol. In her eyes he saw fear creeping out from behind her stoic mask. He schooled his expression into one of confidence and strength. He hoped he convinced her. He wasn’t convincing himself.

The minutes slowly crept by. Archer could hear the low hum and feel the vibration of the warp engines decks below him. The metal beam scraped against his handcuffs as he shifted his weight. A bead of sweat rolled down his cheek. The sound of T’Pol’s breathing mingled with his.

*****

The first blow caught him off guard. Archer retaliated the only way he could, spitting bloody fluid onto his torturer’s scaly face.

That only angered Dolim more. He pummeled Archer’s face and chest. T’Pol watched unable to avert her eyes as each blow connected. Archer’s legs buckled beneath him. Dolim backed away watching in satisfaction. The human’s body swung in the air a few moments before his feet found purchase on the floor.

Archer lifted his head back up. For a few heartbeats his eyes connected with T’Pol’s. Archer knew he should not be looking at her. If the Reptilians sensed she was more than just a crewmember to him, they would use that against them.

“How many Earth vessels are in the Expanse?”

Archer saw no reason not to answer. “Just one.”

Dolim grabbed Archer’s hair pulling his head back. “Why do you lie to me? Tell me the truth and I will release the female.”

Why would he think there was more than one ship in the Expanse? Dolim might be testing him, and punish him if he lied. “I am telling the truth. When we left Earth, we left with one ship.”

T’Pol looked on as the exchange between Archer and Dolim continued. Dolim asked if Archer was carrying out a preemptive strike led to biting comments back and forth about the superiority (and inferiority) of Reptilians. T’Pol found the captain’s comments about reptiles on Earth interesting. Judging from the increasing frequency which Dolim’s fists impacted various parts of Archer’s body, the captain was managing to only anger Dolim more with each reply he spat back at him.

Dolim leaned in close to Archer sneering at him. “You want me to kill you, don’t you? I won’t let you die so quickly or so easily. “

The Insectoids were eager to get their hands on the man they held responsible for the deaths of one of their ship’s crew and its hatchlings. Handing Archer over to them would satisfy his Insectoid allies. After they had their fill of torturing him, Dolim would bring Archer back to his ship. Archer would watch the female die on his blade. Dolim would have the satisfaction of seeing the look on Archer’s face when his world exploded on his bridge viewscreen. Then and only then would he kill Archer.

“Just relaying the facts.” Archer quipped back.

Dolim backed away from Archer and closed in on T’Pol. “I hope you’ve said goodbye to your female.” He drew his knife and pressed the edge hard against her neck. T’Pol eyes were filled with anxiety and fear. She had no doubt that Dolim would kill her if he did not get what he wanted.

Archer watched in horror as the blade bit into T’Pol’s neck. He wanted to tear Dolim limb from limb for touching her. He couldn’t let T’Pol die. No matter what happened to him, she must live.

“Let her go. I’ll talk. But only to Degra.”

“Degra?” Dolim wondered how this human knew Degra.

“The man who’s building your weapon. Ring a bell now?”

“What makes you think Degra would be interested in talking to you?”

“Just tell him the name of his third child is Trenia.”

“Degra only has two children.”

“Prove me wrong.” Archer challenged him.

Dolim considered this and sheathed his blade.

He crossed over to Archer looking down at the human’s face. “What do you have to tell Degra that you can’t tell me?”

Archer hoped Dolim wouldn’t call his bluff. “Degra is a scientist. He can understand and analyze the information I have to give him.”

Dolim took this as an insult to his intelligence. When T’Pol saw the first blow strike Archer’s stomach, she tried to detach herself from her emotions. Dolim’s fist connected with Archer’s collarbone causing an audible snap. Archer groaned and slumped unconscious. Shock filled T’Pol’s eyes turning to rage when her eyes fell on the man who caused him pain.

Dolim looked over the bloody slumped form of the primate below him and quickly turning to leave. “Take them back to their cell.”

******

It was illogical to believe that she could protect him. To believe that her arms might shield him from the pain that lay beyond the glowing barrier of their cell. But logic had fled her hours ago. Now the anger, despair, and fear coursed through her body. She no longer had the strength to fight them.

There was nothing she could do for him. So she lay down next to him, and readied herself to enter a healing trance. A fit of racking coughs overcame her. She turned onto her side and coughed against her hand. When the coughing was over she brought her hand away from her mouth, drops of green blood speckled her palm. T’Pol stared at them accepting what they meant. Lying on her back again, she willed her body to enter a healing trance. She illogically hoped that Archer would not have to watch her die.

She was deep in a trance when the guards came to take Archer. Powerless to stop them, she watched them drag his limp form from the cell.

******

Warmth surrounded his body. He twitched his fingers and felt something thick and wet move between them. He opened his eyes and water assaulted them. A clear gelatinous substance covered his body numbing the pain. Water surrounded his naked body on all sides. He eyes gradually adapted to the water and the bulkhead above him came into focus. He turned his head to the right and saw another bulkhead several meters away filled in the center with a transparent material that revealed clear green water beyond it. As he moved his head, he noticed the breathing mask covering his nose and mouth.

He turned his head to the left and saw another person in the chamber. Her body was naked and glistened with the same gel. Suspended in the water by some unseen force, she slept peacefully. She wore a breathing mask, made of the same clear material as his, with a tube coming out from it and disappearing into the ceiling. Her eyes were closed and her hair floated around her head. A Delicate pointed ear poked through strands of hair that gently swayed in the current. Ugly bruises and cuts marred the sculpted planes of her body with reminders of the pain she suffered over the past few days.

Respecting her privacy, Archer looked away from her to the bulkhead above him. He thought back to his last memories aboard Dolim’s ship. He regained consciousness in the torture room. He didn’t remember the guards dragging him there. Instead of Dolim, Degra stood in front of him. Archer sighed with relief. He explained to Degra how he knew about Trenia. Degra seemed willing to hear him out, so he told him the information Enterprise had uncovered about the beings dealing with the Xindi, and the Reptilians traveling back in time to destroy Earth. Then, he showed Degra the Xindi medal that the Reptilians didn’t find hidden inside T’Pol’s clothing. Degra dated it, and came back a few hours later to talk to Archer again.

Archer felt relieved, Degra must have come through. Degra told him an Aquatic vessel would take them back to Enterprise. But Archer knew there was a change Degra might not be able to manipulate Dolim.

“The Aquatics protect their water from contamination at all costs.” Degra warned. Archer thought this must be why they were in isolation, and why their filthy, bloody clothing was removed.

Archer tried to move his limbs but found he could only move them a few inches before some he hit some sort of energy field he couldn’t move through. The water circulated through the field somehow.

He heard a deep groans echo through the water. He turned his head right to see an Aquatic swimming on the other side of the transparent section of the bulkhead. The Aquatic’s tail whipped back and forth as it swam over to a set of controls. It’s eyes focused on Archer as its fins worked the controls. Archer tried to speak through the breathing mask. The Aquatic ignored him and pushed more controls on the panel.

Archer noticed a section of the bulkhead above him open. Out of it came a mechanical arm. The arm reached him in a matter of seconds and stopped inches from his right forearm. At the end of the arm were three sectioned appendages that looked like fingers. In the middle of the appendages a disc connected them together. Archer saw the disc open and bubbles of air escape from the inside. A tube emerged from the opening and pushed against his forearm releasing a cool liquid into his bloodstream.

Archer’s breathing fogged his mask as his breath quickened. His breathing slowed within a matter of seconds. His eyes closed as the sedative took effect. The Aquatic watched until Archer returned to unconsciousness, and swam off towards the bridge controls on the opposite side of the massive enclosure.

******


Neither Archer nor T’Pol remembered the sensation of the water being drained out of the Aquatic’s quarantine chamber. Archer and T’Pol’s bodies lay suspended in mid air by the force fields surrounding them. Their breathing masks retracted into the ceiling, and the gelatinous substance encasing their bodies sloughed off their body in pieces landing on the floor several feet below them.

Two sets of mechanical arms descended from the ceiling, wrapping a cloth around each of their torsos in place of the bloody “contaminated” clothing the arms had cut off and destroyed earlier. The arms retracted back into the ceiling as the glow of transporter beams engulfed the bodies below.

******

Malcolm Reed opened the Aquatic escape pod with his phase pistol drawn. He quickly lowered his weapon when he saw the two people laying with in it. Archer and T’Pol lay side by side in the tight confines of the pod. White cloths where wrapped around them and clung tightly to their wet bodies. Bruises and cuts were visible on their arms, legs, and faces. Small chunks of a clear gel still stuck to their skin.

Malcolm quickly recovered from the shock of seeing his commanding officer alive. He walked over to the comm. panel.

“Hoshi, I need a medical team down here now.”

******

While Phlox healed the Archer and T’Pol’s injuries, they both remained silent except for answering Phlox’s occasional questions. After Phlox and his nurses finished, Reed came in to speak to the captain.

He rattled off the list of damaged systems. T’Pol looked at Reed as he spoke. His expression was grim, his eyes tired and puffy, and smoked and grease smudged marks across his face. Reed swallowed. He paused looking down at the pad in his hand. Sadness showed in his eyes. He relayed the number of wounded, missing, and finally the dead. T’Pol looked over to Archer. His face dropped. His eyes looked down at the floor as he felt the full impact of the words. He mumbled a dismissal to Reed.

Archer stood up in his medical gown, and looked as if he were going to pace the room. He walked gingerly across sickbay. Then he stopped, frozen in his tracks. Before him on the floor, three body bags laid neatly in a row. He stared at them, his back straightening. He turned back towards T’Pol, and walked stiffly over to the uniform cabinet. He grabbed a uniform and headed back to his bed to change.

T’Pol didn’t miss the expression on his face. She knew what he was feeling. He felt guilty for the deaths of his crewmen. The determination in his eyes looked stronger than she had ever seen it. She knew he would push himself to succeed at all costs. He would do anything to see that those bodies on the floor were the last of humans to die because of the Xindi.

Archer zipped up his uniform, and stalked out of sickbay before Phlox could protest. T’Pol pushed herself off her bed and walked towards sickbay’s doors.

Phlox stopped her. “T’Pol, you are still recovering from your injuries. You should stay in sickbay overnight for observation.”

She looked him steadily in the eyes. Her face still showed faint bruises from her captivity. “The captain needs me.”

Phlox knew from the determination in her statement that she was leaving no matter what he said. “Very well. I’ll let you leave… if you come back tomorrow morning.”

“Agreed.”

T’Pol walked out of sickbay clad in her medical gown. She headed towards her quarters to quickly change. When she joined the captain on the bridge, he looked at her briefly before he set his mind back on the ship and their situation. They wouldn’t speak of her insubordination or their torture. The Xindi weapon was still out there. Until it was destroyed, that conversation could wait.

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