by Shards
Phlox's work took; T'Pol's didn't.
Two years into his service to the Empire, Archer turned. Went over to the rebellion. Became the bane of the Empress's existence.
"Find him." Trip remembered her image on Defiant's main viewscreen, spitting at Mayweather. Spitting at Robinson. "Catch him. Kill him."
Neither man had been able to do it. And now-
"A nightmare." Tucker swung his legs over onto the floor and stood. "Been having a lot of those lately."
"Haven't we all."
Archer looked thinner than Tucker remembered; his golden uniform shirt hung off his body. He had a full beard, shot through with gray. He had a long scar running across his temple, at the hairline, courtesy of Dr. Phlox's tender ministrations, no doubt.
The two men shook hands.
"It's good to see you again, Trip."
"You, too, sir."
"Even better to have you here. With us."
"I didn't want to die in Kyoto. I didn't want to die without doing something about the way things are."
"Good," Archer said. "You've come at a very opportune time."
"Oh?"
"We're in the middle of an operation. A plan that-if we can pull it off-will make things a lot harder for the Empress. For the Empire."
"I'll do what I can to help."
"I have the feeling you can do a lot."
"Really?"
The captain nodded. "Let's get you something to eat. Then we'll talk."
They went to the ship's mess-a second windowless room, half again as big as Tucker's quarters. Three tables, twelve chairs, dehydrated rations, purified, lukewarm water. Tucker wasn't hungry; his head was still pounding. Continuous, low-level pounding.
"You're not eating," Archer said.
"I'm getting my sea legs." Tucker forced a smile; Archer returned it.
They weren't alone in the mess; Robin, the thin man from the bar who'd brought him there, was at the next table, along with Leandra. They were talking. They were also watching him and Archer. Probably making sure he didn't harm the captain.
"So, you gonna tell me about this mysterious plan of yours?" Tucker asked. "What I can do to help?"
"Sure. It's a pretty simple one, actually."
"Simpler ones always work the best. Less to go wrong."
"My feelings exactly."
"Go on."
Archer smiled. "Nobunaga."
The pounding in Tucker's head grew louder.
The room around him blurred.
"He was a visionary."
That was Hoshi's voice. The Empress's voice.
He was no longer aboard Ulysses.
He stood in an observation lounge, looking on the skeleton of a huge starship.
Hoshi stood next to him.
"He brought muskets to the army. Western trade to the empire. He sought to open Japan to the world. To open the empire to a better future. What better name for our vessel? What better way to represent the future we desire?"
She placed a hand on his arm, smiled her dazzling smile. Tucker inhaled her scent.
"Trip?"
Tucker blinked.
He was back on Ulysses. Back in the mess hall.
Archer was standing. Leandra was standing, too, just behind him. Staring.
"You all right?" the captain asked.
"Fine."
"You went away there for a minute."
"Sorry. It's been a helluva couple days." He willed the memory-and the pain-away. "What about Nobunaga? What's your plan?"
The captain smiled.
"We're going to steal it."
Tucker let out a long, slow whistle. "Steal Nobunaga?"
"That's right."
"Steal a whole starship?"
Archer's smile grew broader.
"Simple, right?"
"That's a mighty tall order, Captain. The security at Beta Nairobi is tighter than a drum. Believe me, I know. You can't get within a parsec of that place without some sort of alarm going off. Not to mention the patrols they have."
"Beta Nairobi?" Archer shook his head. "Trip, they moved her from Beta Nairobi a long time ago. Don't you remember?"
Tucker frowned. "No," he said. "No, I don't remember that at all."
A drooling, raving mess.
Was it happening already?
"Nobunaga is at Vulcan now," Archer said. "Showing the flag. Cowing the locals."
"Wait a minute." Tucker shook his head. "The Empress-the Empire-Vulcan is an ally. Hell, half the army these days is Vulcan, they-"
"Propaganda. Believe me. Most of the people on Vulcan are very dissatisfied with the present state of affairs. A lot of them have been helping us-directly, indirectly. You'd be surprised at who."
Tucker waved a hand. "I don't doubt it. But still...getting to Vulcan isn't going to be easy either."
The captain smiled again. "Like I said...we have a plan."
Tucker frowned. "Yeah. I heard. Only..."
Steal Nobunaga.
His head began to pound.
The room wavered.
He was back in his quarters. On Defiant.
The message light was blinking.
"You can't let it happen, Trip," Archer said. "You can't let her have that much power."
"Delete," he said. "Delete, delete, delete."
But the message kept playing.
"Remember Bozeman?" Archer said. "Everything we talked about? Everything the space program stood for, once upon a time?"
"Delete!" Tucker screamed.
"How many digits is it?" Reed asked, and now he was someplace else, Tucker realized. The agonizer. Reed's home-built torture chamber.
"How many digits?" Reed asked again. "Surely, if you simply give me that number, it's not the same as telling me outright. No one could blame you for just giving me a clue..."
Tucker shook his head.
Reed smiled, showing all his teeth. He pressed a button.
Tucker opened his mouth to scream.
T'Pol put a finger to his lips.
"Shhh," she said, but her lips didn't move. "Be strong."
She was wearing the dress she had taken from the Defiant's stores, the blue one, the one that let her long legs show, that left the curve of her neck bare. Her long hair brushed against his face.
He leaned forward to kiss her...
Restraints held him back.
He was in a hospital bed. Bound hand and foot. Dim lighting in the room, a small room, no windows, a door at the foot of his bed, ventilators humming...
He was back in Kyoto.
The same hospital room he'd escaped from earlier.
"No," he said, starting to shiver. "Oh, no."
The door opened. Phlox entered, pushing a cart before him. A cart with all sorts of gleaming metal instruments on top of it. Sharp edges, shiny surfaces...
The doctor rubbed his hands together. "Shall we get started?" he asked.
Tucker blinked.
He was back on Ulysses. Not in the mess but in the room he'd first been taken to. His bedroom.
Archer leaned over him. The captain held Phlox's data chip in his hand.
"How long has this been going on?" Archer asked.
"Since the accident. However long that's been." Tucker sighed and shook his head. "It's getting worse."
"When were you going to tell me?"
"When I had to."
"When you had to." Archer cursed. "Come on, Trip. How long have we known each other? Why didn't-"
"Because what's the point? There's nothing you can do. There's nothing anyone can do."
The captain went to one of the walls, leaned against it. He was silent for a moment.
"I want to help," Tucker said. "That's why I didn't tell you. I was afraid that if I wasn't a hundred percent, you wouldn't-"
The comm sounded.
"Bridge to Captain Archer."
The voice came from a comm unit on the wall; Archer crossed to it and pressed a button.
"Archer here."
/> "Our visitors, sir. They've arrived."
"Good. I'll be right there. Tell them to..." He looked at Tucker. "No. On second thought, send them down here. Commander Tucker's quarters."
"Aye, Captain. Commander Tucker's quarters."
"Good. Archer out."
The captain closed the channel.
"Visitors?" Tucker asked.
"That's right. Allies. People who are going to help make this possible."
"Stealing the ship."
"That's right."
"So-you going to tell me what the plan is?"
"I'll wait. Till they come. Part of the plan is theirs. They should get the chance to explain it."
"I'm all ears," Tucker said.
Archer laughed.
"What's so funny?"
"You'll see."
A minute later, he did. The visitors walked into his cabin.
They were Vulcans. The first two were male, one older, one younger.
The third was T'Pol.
Tucker was utterly flummoxed.
He got to his feet. He looked from T'Pol to Archer, and back again, and shook his head.
"No. She's-" He pointed at T'Pol and looked at Archer once more. "She's the Regent, for God's sake. She runs the government, more than Hoshi does. She's the one who-"
"You're wrong, Trip." Archer stepped up next to him. "She's one of us. On the side of the angels."
Tucker shook his head. He wanted to believe, but...
He looked at T'Pol.
She looked exactly as she had in his dream. The blue dress. The long hair, the eyes-
"Commander," she said. "It is agreeable to see you again."
"Is it true? You're with the rebels, you're not-"
"I am allied with the rebellion," she said. "But I do also run the government. The two are not mutually exclusive propositions."
Archer smiled. Everyone smiled. Tucker smiled, too.
"That is the best news I've heard in years," he said.
"Many happy reunions," Archer said. "For all of us. But if we want to get that ship, we ought to talk it through now, people. So, if you all don't mind following me..."
Tucker's room was too small to meet in; Archer took them down the corridor, heading for the mess. He watched T'Pol, a step in front of him. The Regent, a rebel. It all made sense now; no wonder the rebellion always seemed to be a step ahead of the Empire. No wonder Defiant could never find, much less catch, Enterprise. T'Pol, one of them.
She turned at the doorway to the mess. Her hair turned with her. Her long hair, cascading down her back. How had it gotten so long so quickly? The last time he had seen her-
He frowned. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her.
"Is something the matter?" she asked. "Are you all right?"
"Fine," he said. "I'm fine."
They entered the mess. The tables had all been pushed together, the chairs arranged in a rough horseshoe shape around them. Everyone sat, everyone except Archer, who stood in front of a viewscreen, three feet square, that hung on one wall of the room. A star chart was projected on it, a map of the space in Vulcan's immediate orbit. The moons, the space stations, the orbiting weapons platforms.
Nobunaga.
"This is how we're going to do it," the captain said.
Tucker listened as Archer outlined his plan.
A manufactured emergency on one of Vulcan's moons that would siphon off security personnel. An automated maintenance shuttle sent shortly thereafter to resupply Nobunaga's food synthesizers, a shuttle that would contain not raw foodstuffs but live people.
A Trojan horse kind of thing. Everyone discussed the details; as they talked, Tucker saw a flaw in the plan.
"They'll have shields up," he said. "Nobunaga. It's standard operating procedure on all Imperial ships. You sure they'll lower them for your shuttle?"
"They have in the past," Archer said.
Tucker shook his head. He still didn't like it.
His uncertainty must have shown.
"You have a better idea?" Archer asked. "Another way to get those shields down?"
His head began to ache. He tried to fight past it.
Another way to get those shields down.
There was something there...something in the back of his mind...
"Any thoughts?" T'Pol asked. "Commander?"
She looked at him. Everyone was looking at him.
Nobunaga.
Nobunaga.
His heart hammered in his chest. His head was pounding.
"Lower their shields," he said.
Archer nodded. "Yes. That's the point."
He blinked.
Everyone was still staring at him.
"I don't know," he managed. "I guess that'll have to work. The maintenance shuttle. I can't think of anything else."
Which was the truth. His head was pounding so hard he could barely think of anything at all.
The meeting broke up. T'Pol left with the other Vulcans. Tucker managed a quick good-bye but no more. All of the things that had been in his head so long, the things he wanted to say to her, they were suddenly gone. All he wanted to do was go lie down, stop the pain.
He found himself back in his quarters, without even knowing how he'd gotten there.
Leandra leaned over him. She smiled. "You should rest," she said.