Chapter 17

Archer was returning to the Councilman's Quarters to speak to Degra when said Xindi's aid stopped him.

"Degra's dead," he stated. Archer's brow rose in shock as the aid continued. "He was found dead in his quarters about an hour ago. He'd been murdered. Stabbed." Archer leaned back against the wall, shock clearly evident on his face. Then rage took its place.

"Who did this," Archer asked, his voice dangerously low.

"The Reptilians have called an emergency meeting of the Council," the aid stated, saying the name of his fellow Xindi with disdain. It was obvious who he thought murdered his friend and colleague. "I believe their recent turn-about was just a ruse to keep us off guard. They're planning something. I'm certain of it. You and your away team are in danger."

"Get to the Council, quickly," Archer said. Archer made his way to grab the rest of his away team as Degra's aid headed to the Council Chambers where he found the other councilors in the middle of an argument.

"So you admit to killing him?!" Jannar yelled at Dolim who stood on the opposite side of the room.

"With Pride. He was a traitor," Dolim defended. Degra's aid chimed in at this point.

"He was a member of this Council!"

"Degra destroyed a reptilian vessel. 22 crewmen died! I only regret not doing it sooner!" Dolim yelled, pride echoing within his words.

"You're going to regret a lot more than that!" Degra's aid yelled out. Jannar decided to move on as he figured there must be more to this.

"Why did you call this meeting?" he yelled out to Dolim.

"You have a decision to make. We have taken control of the weapon. We're going to launch it," Dolim answered.

"And you accuse Degra of being a traitor?!" the aid yelled out. The Insectoids then spoke up.

"'We are acting on behalf of all Xini.'" they said. Dolim spoke up once more.

"Either you stand with us, or you stand against us."

"That's not a choice. It's an ultimatum!" Jannar exclaimed.

"Call it what you will," Dolim stated. The Aquatics then spoke up.

"'We won't submit to intimidation,'" they stated.

"Neither will we," Degra's aid stated.

"None of us will," Jannar finished.

"Then we withdraw from this Council," Dolim stated. Jannar was racking his mind trying to figure out the madness before him.

"Think about what you are doing. This alliance has lasted for decades!" he tried to reason.

"It's lasted too long. You've become complacent." Dolim argued.

"The weapon cannot be launched without three of the codes!" the aid said with a small smirk. "You only have two."

"Do you really believe we hadn't considered that?" Dolim asked of all. A feeling of dread spread throughout the resisting council members, before Degra's aid widened his eyes in fear.

(Line Break)

Archer and his away team were quickly packing up. One of the two MACO's was out looking for Hoshi who was out studying the text written on some of the walls. The other was standing guard as Archer grabbed all he needed as he waited for the Enterprise to arrive. He gave an order for them to push the new hyperdrive to its limits, but it would still take a while before they arrived.

All of a sudden, particle blasts could be heard down the hall. The MACO took up a defensive position as Archer grabbed his phase pistol and did the same. The fire grew louder until the other MACO came around the corner firing of his weapon toward an unseen enemy.

"What's going on?" Archer quickly asked. The MACO swapped out with his counterpart to catch a quick break. His uniform was dusty and torn in several places and he was breathing fairly heavily from running.

"I was looking for Ensign Sato when I heard her screaming. I found several of the Reptilians taking her away while two more started to fire on my position. I tried using my communicator but it was damaged as I took a grazing hit to my arm. I ran back here to try and warn you, sir." the young lad finished. Archer gave the boy a squeeze on the shoulder before moving to assist the other MACO.

The firefight only lasted a few moments before the Reptilian guards were taken out from behind. Archer noticed Degra's aid coming around the corner armed with a small pistol and stopped the MACO from firing.

"Six Insectoid vessels are now escorting the weapon into orbit. Once it reaches a safe distance, a votex will take it the rest of the way to Earth. We have Degra's shuttle in orbit ready to pick you up and get you out of here," the aid reported.

"No. We will stay aboard the shuttle and help out how we can. The Reptilians have my communications officer. We can't let them take her." Archer argued. The aid would have argued further but the sounds of footsteps told him that they were out of time.

The group of four quickly made their way to the hangar where they managed to launch the shuttle without incident.

"I've made a call for reinforcements to intercept the weapon. Several Reptilian vessels have joined the Insectoids escorting the weapon. We are within weapon range." Near instantly, sparke were flying as green lances of particle energy started striking the small craft's shields. Blue pulses of energy soon joined and the shield strength quickly began to falter. Luckily the small craft was joined by several Arboreal and Primate vessels which quickly took much of the pressure off of the small shuttle.

The space surrounding the Xindi Weapon was filled with ships and weapons fire. Green and blue lances of energy colliding between different vessels. Smaller Insectoid vessels were quickly whipped out thanks to the larger Arboreal vessels but both sides were taking heavy damage. Degra's shuttle used its superior speed and maneuverability to get in close to the Weapon to try and destroy the smaller primary power generators. It was far easier as the weapon appeared to be unshielded. Every other time the shuttle fired, a generator was blown out. And it was taking a toll on the larger weapon and the crew inside.

Unfortunately, they were too late. Archer watched as the Weapon as well as a good number of Insectoid and Reptilian warships vanished into a vortex. Archer had not only lost the weapon, but the Reptilians had the means to arm it. Archer stared at the PADD the MACO sent to find Hoshi retrieved. Hoshi was in the hands of the enemy, and her brilliance may be the absolute downfall of Earth and the Human race.

(Line Break)

It was several minutes after the Weapon vanished that the upgraded Enterprise appeared from a hyperspace window. Though Archer managed to dispel any hostilities, there was still a somber mood throughout the small fleet of warships. The weapon had launched, and even though they only had two of the three needed activation codes, the Reptilians had kidnapped Ensign Hoshi Sato. They were most likely using her to translate one of the final three codes.

Archer knew she would never work willingly so she is most likely being tortured. Archer would make sure that Dolim and his followers would pay dearly for all 23 crewmen lost on this mission and he would bring Hoshi home.

To say the fleet was surprised at the Enterprise, and her appearance differing from what many had seen in data recordings from the battle that resulted in her near destruction, would be an understatement. Though hostilities had been avoided, many arboreal and primate captains were questioning their respective councilors about the Earth vessel's very apparent upgrades. It took time before Captain Archer was able to gain an audience with the councilors.

"He cannot deploy the weapon. Not yet," Jannar stated to Archer.

"Each of the species has a set of command codes to initiate the firing sequence. Three of them are needed to activate the weapon," Degra's assistant spoke. Jannar cut in again.

"They only have two. We obviously don't intend to give them ours."

"What about the Aquatics?" Archer asked.

"Their actions aren't easy to predict. But so far, they seem determined not to take sides." Degra's assistant answered. Jannar spoke again.

"It's more likely the Reptilians and Insectoids will attempt to bypass the command codes themselves."

"And that will take time," the assistant finished. Archer stared at the floor a moment before revealing something to the councilors.

"They've abducted my communications officer, Hoshi. I suspect they are using her to attempt to translate the third code they need. And I believe she is being tortured as I know she would never willingly work to destroy her home." The very thought of his crewman being tortured pissed Archer off to no end. And he was having a tough time of keeping his cool.

(Line Break)

"This could be a command subroutine," T'pol stated.

"Yeah, and it could be a letter to Santa Clause. I wouldn't mind having Hoshi here right about now." Trip said solemnly. T'pol lowered her gaze from the computer terminal for a moment.

"We'll have to make do without her," she said.

"I just hope she's ok." Trip hoped. Strangely T'pol seemed agitated at this.

"We're here to analyse this data, not speculate on Ensign Sato's fate," she said facing the terminal, which happened to face away from where Trip was working. He looked up, confusion written on his face.

"You ok?" he asked T'pol. She slowly turned around to face him before speaking again.

"I am fond of Hoshi as well, but we can't allow her situation to become a distraction." It was at this time the door opened to reveal Captain Archer.

"Any luck?" he asked. T'pol immediately went to work.

"There is a great deal of data to analyse, but we've made some progress. We know the spheres are connected by a subspace energy grid, but four of them appear to be integral to that connection," she reported. Four spheres were lit up on the console in front of her as she stated this.

"The closest one is here," Trip said pointing to one of the dots on the screen. "We've designated it Sphere 41."

"Integral how?" Archer asked.

"I believe they act as control spheres, allowing the network to operate in concert." Archer took this information in for a moment before speaking up.

"If we can damage one of them, would it disrupt the entire grid?" he asked.

"Maybe. It also might have no effect. We just don't have enough information yet," Trip replied.

"Keep at it." Archer ordered.

"Aye, sir," Trip stated before the door slid shut behind Archer, leaving T'pol and Trip alone with the data core once more.

(Line Break)

"Cooperate and this won't be necessary," Dolim said to a struggling Hoshi, trying her damndest to get out of the cuffs holding her down. One Reptilian was inching toward her with some unknown device obviously built for torture. It seemed not unlike a gun with an obvious barrel and handle as well as a trigger. Just before the officer could start, Dolim spoke up again.

"Wait." He leaned closer to Hoshi. "After the injection, the parasites will invade your neocortex. Once they begin reconfiguring your synaptic pathways, you'll be much more compliant. Before your primate brain is too badly damaged to understand, I want to thank you for helping us destroy your world." Hoshi reacted by spitting in Dolim's face. The disgust shown on his face brought her some semblance of victory. Dolim simply moved back slightly before signaling his subordinate to begin.

As soon as the trigger on the device was pulled, Hoshi screamed in complete agony as the device drilled a hole through her skull before injecting the aforementioned parasites directly into her cranial cavity.

(Line Break)

"If they stayed in the vortex, we wouldn't have found them," Jannar reported.

"They are less than four light-years from here," Degra's assistant added.

"Why have they stopped?" Malcolm asked. "They could've been halfway to Earth by now."

"They're attempting to arm the weapon. The propulsion systems have to be offline to do it," the assistant responded.

"How fast can your people get there?" Archer asked. His upgraded vessel could get there in a few moments with the hyperdrive systems, but the Xindi still use Warp drive systems. Archer did not want to go on an assault of the weapon alone for even the shortest time.

"That wouldn't be wise. They've been joined by a large amount of vessels. Though your ship has been upgraded, our inferior force could not withstand that firepower long enough to make a difference," Jannar pointed out.

"You have nearly as many ships." Archer said.

"You may have noticed that Insectoids and Reptilians are more belligerent than we are. Their ships are armed accordingly," the assistant argued. Archer walked around for a moment taking in this information.

"We're no match for them," Jannar finished.

"We've been outgunned before, sir. We did not come all this way to give up without a fight," Malcolm stated. Archer looked at him and nodded his head in thanks.

"Would the Aquatics be a match for them?" Archer asked the two councilors.

"They're ships are extremely powerful, but they've seen your evidence. They're not convinced," the assistance argued. Archer quickly responded.

"That was before the Reptilians murdered Degra and stole the weapon. We're looking at civil war. Can they afford to sit back and do nothing?" The two councilors looked at each other for a moment. "Let me talk to them."

(Line Break)

As Archer traveled in Degra's shuttle to the Aquatic vessel, the Arboreal and Primate councilors were speaking with the Aquatic councilor, though since Hoshi was taken, Archer had no idea what was being said by the Aquatic, but he could guess from the others' responses.

"Now is not the time to dissolve the council," Degra's assistant stated. The Aquatics bellowed in their own language. The assistant responded to what was said.

"So we should leave our fate in the hands of the Insectoids and Reptilians?" The Aquatics once again responded. The assistant walked away from the control station to get closer to the main view-screen.

"I disagree. The evidence the humans provided can't be ignored." Once again the Aquatics respond in a manner that reminded Archer of ancient Humpback whale music that he heard about in an aquarium back on Earth when he was younger. It was too bad the species had gone extinct. Once the Aquatics had finished "speaking," the viewscreen cut out.

"I didn't quite catch that last part," Archer stated.

"They've agreed to meet with us," The assistant said and Archer sighed in relief, but the assistant continued. "But don't expect much Captain."

Author's Note: Sorry about the wait guys but I go through sparks of creativity before hitting writer's block all over again. I hope you enjoy this chapter and what is coming up (Hopefully Soon). To those that have noticed, the reason I haven't used the name for Degra's assistant is because he doesn't officially have one. I looked it up and he was never named in the series at all. I can't think of a good Xindi name so I'm trying to work around it. Also, one of my sparks involved another crossover that I really haven't seen too much of. It involves Independence Day and Mass Effect. Namely what would happen if a far more Xenophobic Earth was confronted with the Citadel species in 2157 along with the combined technologies of the Locusts from ID4 and the Prothean technologies found on Mars and the Mass Relays. I'll see about listing out some finer points by tomorrow. Anyways thank you for reading and be sure to leave a comment! I read them all to keep myself motivated so anything helps, bar flames of course.

P.S. To the Guest that left the large comment on June 23rd, thank you very much for that. I was having a pretty crappy day and that comment just truly made me smile so thank you!