• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 493 0

to draw them literally light-years apart, there had once been a time when anyone “walking in on him and Erika Hernandez might indeed have interrupted something rather intimate. Had Hernandez, who had never been sanguine about making love in Porthoss presenceand was allergic to pet dander to bootnot issued a fateful its-me-or-the-beagle ultimatum, the lives and careers of both captains might have taken radically different trajectories. Only very rarely, such as that time his canine companion had become fragrantly flatulent after snarfing up an entire wheel of Chefs fancy Gruyère cheese, did the captain have cause to regret his decision. Regardless, fair was fair, and since hed known Porthos longer than hed known Hernandez, the dog had ultimately won the contest.

Remaining in his chair, Archer fanned the fingers of his left hand toward himself in a “come in gesture. “Not at all, Commander. Im sure you know Captain Hernandez.

TPol finished crossing the threshold and allowed the hatch to hiss closed behind her just as Porthos jumped off the bed and approached her, his tail wagging. “Captain Hernandez, she said, nodding toward the screen and apparently ignoring the dog.

“Good to see you again, Commander, said Hernandez. “TPol and I met on Earth a couple of months ago, Jon. While you were busy panicking about your speech at the Coalition Compact signing ceremony.

Archer nodded, recalling the extremely jangled state of his nerves on that recent red-letter day. Facing the adoring crowds, the legions of media cams, and the all-seeing eye of history that day had made him more anxious than the prospect of fighting off whole phalanxes of Klingons or Xindi. Hell, he might have welcomed a firing squad as a dignified alternative. He scarcely remembered what hed said, and later had to refer to the recordings of his words to reassure himself that hed not made a complete ass of himself. So it came as no surprise to him that there were small gaps in his memory regarding matters peripheral to the speech itself.

He tried not to think about what the two women might have said about him behind his back while hed been fumbling through his speech; he preferred to believe that the Vulcans standoffish sense of propriety would have brought a certain decorum to the conversation. But given the uncharacteristically casual manner in which TPol now bent down to scratch the insistently expectant Porthoss headthere had been a time when her acute Vulcan sense of smell would have driven her very quickly from the beagles presencehe couldnt assume his first officer would always hew to the Vulcan cultural stereotypes.

“What do you have for me, TPol? Archer said, deciding that getting right to business was the best possible diversion. “Any new piracy incidents to report?

TPol straightened and Porthos quickly withdrew with a muted whine, his tail drooping in evident disappointment at the commanders failure to toss him a snack. “Not to my knowledge, Captain.

Archer felt both relieved and disappointed. “Then I suppose its too much to hope that Starfleet has finally seen the light about the futility of this wild goose chase were on?

“If you mean to ask whether Starfleet Command has finally acceded to your request to permit Enterprise to conduct an independent investigation of the recent attacks on Earth Cargo Service vessels, Im afraid the answer remains no.

Still seated, Archer felt his shoulders slump in resignation. “So we keep rolling the damned rock up the hill and back down again.

“Sir? TPol said, her right eyebrow raised inquisitively.

“Never mind, Archer said, waving his hand as though wiping his words off an imaginary blackboard. “Lets hear your report.

“Do you want me to close off the channel, Jonathan? said Hernandez, reminding him that she could hear whatever his first officer was about to tell him.

He glanced in Hernandezs direction momentarily before fixing his gaze back upon TPol. “Not unless theres some security concern Im not aware of. TPol?

TPol approached the desk and addressed Hernandez. “Unless Im mistaken, Captain Hernandez, you