Star Trek Enterprise - Fate Ch. 07

When she awoke the next day Danaë's head was pounding so hard that she was certain someone must have split her skull wide open. Thinking back over the previous night she decided it would be best if in the future she stuck to the earl grey tea she was raised on. She sat up in bed and instantly the room seemed to spin around her and her body felt as though she was in a shell about three feet thick. Her first inclination was to lay back down and keep sleeping, but she remembered her research on the Suliban. For the most part it was complete, but it needed to be tested, until then it was only a theory. She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror and another memory from the night before came back to her, but not entirely with regret. If and when she saw Captain Archer she would definitely need to apologize and somehow explain her forward behavior. She did have to admit, to herself at least, he was a fine kisser.

Having never experienced a hangover before, Danaë was amazed how loud a toothbrush could be, or blindingly bright a lamp was. Somehow she managed to get dressed, careful to put her modified tricorder in one of the pockets of her cargo pants. Hopefully she could silence the headache long enough to tell Archer her findings on Suliban technology. Normally she would have headed for the mess hall, but there's nothing more unappealing than breakfast when you're experiencing a hangover. Strong black coffee sounded good though. After dressing she rode the lift to E-deck. If the coffee didn't work than perhaps she would just pay a visit to Dr. Phlox, surely he had something to fix it. She was just in sight of the mess hall when movement caught her eye. For a moment she thought she was seeing things, then she noticed that the ceiling above her seemed to morph into a face. She recognized it as Suliban and immediately ran for the nearest ships comm so she could call security.

"Security to E-Deck. The Suliban . . ." she managed to say before he grabbed her. She was not going to go quietly though. She pushed her captor against the wall as hard as she could then grabbed his weapon and shot him. Suddenly the ship was rocked by a violent blast that sent her to the floor knocking the particle gun from her hand. "Merde." She gasped. She slowly stood as she tried to catch her breath. Another Suliban appeared out of nowhere, grabbed her and slammed her against the wall. He was joined by another who placed their particle weapon to her temple just as security arrived.

"Stand down or she dies." They ordered. More Suliban began to appear from their hiding places along the passages and surrounded the security detail.

On the Bridge they had been made aware of the Suliban presence. Reports on damage and injuries were coming in. The ship was completely surrounded by an intricate network of cell ships all with their weapons aimed on the Enterprise. As expected, Hoshi announced that they were being hailed. Archer ordered it on the screen and was not at all surprised to see the glowering face of Silik.

"You stole something from us and now we're taking it back." Silik growled.

"You don't own her, you kidnapped her. You want to change the timeline and stop her from doing whatever it is you think she will do, then send her back to her own time. Let her get to her father." Archer suggested.

"Impossible."

"Why, because killing her is the only way?"

"On the contrary," Said Silik. "It's impossible because when you fired on that cruiser you destroyed our ability to open a temporal vortex. Your orders sealed her fate. Now, my men will be taking her to one of our vessels. Any interference on your part and I will destroy your ship." It was obvious that he was enjoying the look frustration and helplessness on Archer's face. "Finding yourself in position where you are powerless, weak and helpless doesn't set well with you, does it Captain Archer. Perhaps you have something you can offer me in exchange for her life."

"You obviously have something in mind." Archer already suspected he knew the answer. The Cabal and in particular the Temporal Agent had attempted to take him before. There was no reason to think that their target had changed.

"If you are truly interested in saving this woman, then I propose a trade." He sneered. "You must take her place as my prisoner and willingly go with my men . . . alone. If you arrive with any additional security or if you are armed, then she dies." Malice edged each word and Captain Archer recalled Agent Daniels warning that Danaë would die quickly once she was taken on their ship. There would be no time to mount a rescue. "Frustrating isn't it Jonathan? No matter what you choose you still end up losing." Silik's sneer was nauseating, but what he said was true. Though he felt defeated, he still managed a brave façade as he turned to the sub-commander.

"T'Pol, I'm leaving you in command. Make sure that Porthos gets to Dr. Phlox." He looked around the bridge then stepped into the lift. Never had the decent seemed so quick as it did now. There was no way to guess what they had in store for him. They would certainly interrogate him and unless his crew could figure out a way to rescue him, he would probably die. His crew was resourceful and he had faith that if there was way, they would find it. The doors opened before he knew it. He walked without faltering, though his heart was heavy. There was no hesitation in his look as he walked down the corridor and into view of the waiting throng of Suliban.

"Let my crewmen go." He ordered. Silik's soldiers motioned them to go, but kept their weapon pressed hard against Danaë's temple. In a gesture of submission he raised his hands into the air.

"What are you doing?' Danaë cried as the foot soldiers quickly surrounded and took hold of him. One quickly put a particle weapon to his head as they started leading him to the airlock. "No!" She screamed as she was released. She ran toward the door but it closed, leaving her pounding on it.

On the bridge she knew they would be formulating a plan and she desperately wanted to know what it was. She ran down the corridor towards the lift but as she turn the corner she found herself standing on bridge of the NX-01. No one else was there, and the engines were still and silent. She looked about and wondered if all of this was a dream

"It's all real." Said a voice suddenly. Danaë jumped and turned to find a man wearing a strange black shiny body suit behind her. His dark hair was cropped short and he looked to be about her own age. "You are still on the Enterprise NX-01 only the date is May 15, 2364, the date of your birth and it has been sitting in a museum for 203 years, carefully preserved."

"Who are you?" She asked.

"I'm Daniels." He answered.

"Agent Daniels." Recognition went through her. For a moment she wanted to hit him for all of this, but forced herself to remain calm. "You son of a bitch!"

"You and I need to talk."

"You go to hell." She growled

"I know you have been through a lot and deserve answers but you're just going to have to trust me." He explained, but she wasn't having any of it.

"Trust you? I don't even know you. I have been kidnapped and dragged though time because of your temporal cold war. I can't think of a single reason to trust you."

"Captain Archer's belief in me is not enough for you?" He asked a bit surprised.

"It would be on a great many things, but this . . . I'm sorry." She started to turn from him, but his voice suddenly caught her.

"My real name is Timot Danlen and I am from the 31st century." This was far from protocol, but he could see that with Danaë Picard it would take a lot more to earn her trust. "I work for the Temporal Integrity Commission and although we are allied with the United Federation of Planets I am not a part of Starfleet. You want answers and have every right to them, but in my time the Prime Directive has been expanded to encompass time travel as well. The smallest detail regarding the future told to you could have a disastrous effect and you know that."

"I am very familiar with the Prime Directive. Where most children are sung to sleep with lullabies my father quoted its principles. What I don't understand is why you don't do something. You . . . You can stop this. You can go back and change everything . . . stop them from taking him. You can go back and keep them from taking me so this will never happen."

"It's not that . . ."

"Don't tell me it's not that simple. The fact that you and I are here is proof that the timeline is not fixed." She said, furious.

"It doesn't work that way. I am breaking any number of rules just talking to you right now, but I had to talk to you."

"Why?" She asked confused.

"Because you can save Captain Archer and it is imperative that you do."

"I can't save him." She answered shaking her head.

"You've already discovered the means. It's in your pocket." At this she brushed her hand across the pocket of her cargo pants and felt the modified tricorder.

"I haven't been able to test it. Right now it's only a theory. You want me to risk the ship, the crew, not to mention Captain Archer's life on a hypothesis?"

"It's not a theory and it will work." He assured her.

"Let's say it does work, in case you haven't noticed I'm nobody. I'm not even a member of Starfleet. Why would they listen to me?"

"You're Jean-Luc Picard's daughter, make them listen." She wanted to believe him, perhaps part of her did, but it was a leap of faith that she wasn't sure she could make. "Exploring space is in your blood. You took to this ship naturally as a child because you had already spent a lifetime on it. Now the wheel has come full circle." He gave a half smile. "No more running down unknown roads trying to escape from who you are, it's time to stop. Stand up and take your birthright." He pointed to the captain's chair and waited for her to take it. For a moment she was hesitant, then seizing the moment she went over and sat down. Instantly she was back in the same corridor where she had been before the encounter with Daniels. She could still his words echoing in her mind 'you're Jean-Luc Picard's daughter, make them listen'.

"I can get him back. I know how to get him back." She said as she ran towards the lift. She pressed the button and started to head up only to stop on the next deck. The doors opened and Trip stepped inside. He looked and saw that it was already headed to the bridge and the commander's set his jaw.

"You do not need to be on the bridge right now. As a civilian the only thing you need to be doing is taking your ass back down to the guest quarters and letting us handle this."

"I will not stand down on this and don't you dare ask me to."

"You will stand down, because the last thing I am going to do is risk Captain Archer's life on the whim of someone I don't even know." He asserted.

"No, you don't know me, but I have been studying the Suliban and their capabilities. If you fly into their space and hope to snatch the captain either by transporter or by shuttle than you are sadly mistaken. They have him and they are not going to let him go. They can cloak their vessels, they out maneuver and out gun the Enterprise. Somehow I doubt they will simply tell you they are sorry and hand him over."

"What is your plan?" He asked sarcastically.

"I have the means to hack into their systems and shut them down completely." Her eyes gave a sparkle of mischief as the lift doors opened and they stepped onto the bridge.

The rest of the senior staff was already standing in the situation room discussing possible solutions for reclaiming the captain and didn't notice Danaë standing quietly in the background. Intently she listened to their ideas waiting for a chance to speak. One suggestion was a weapons upgrade, but even if they could be brought to a higher level, it would take far too long. The discussion then turned to how much damage would the ship sustain if they flew in and beamed him out as they had once before. This seemed most improbable since Silik would surely be expecting them and order the vessel destroyed. Another idea was using the captured cell ship to covertly move past the others allowing two men to get inside and rescue Archer. It was quickly pointed out that the cell ships lacked beaming capabilities so once they had docked it would be necessary to get out and search for the captain. It would not take long for them to be spotted and probably killed.

"Can I say something?" Danaë asked. Everyone, but Trip looked over at her in surprise. "I think I can get Captain Archer back with little to no damage or casualties." The group looked at each other skeptically,

"I'd like to hear what she has to say." Trip said suddenly. The one hint of her plan he had heard in the lift intrigued him and he wanted to know more. T'Pol gestured for Danaë to join them. Not waiting for a second invite she immediately stepped to the console and began to bringing up the schematics of the various Suliban ships as well as their helix.

"I've been reading all of your information regarding the Suliban and found one detail that I believe we can use to our advantage. The thing that struck me about them is that they can operate as either single cells or combine with other ships. I seriously doubt that their pilots are good enough to operate in perfect tandem at all times so (more likely) one ship controls the whole. This would also be the same principle for the Helix."

"How does that help us?" Hoshi asked

"All star ships, regardless of the species, have one common element in their technology and that is codes. Each of you were given specific clearance codes so that unauthorized individuals could not access the system. Now take that a little further and you have ship prefix codes. Those are ship specific so that when you log into the comm system or any console it knows that you are logged into the Enterprise instead of another ship. It is designed that way to prevent one ship from usurping the controls of another ship." You could have heard a pin drop in the room as she spoke. In particular both Commander Tucker and T'Pol seemed particularly interested. "Now if another vessel were to know our prefix code they could easily input the data into their system and seize control. What prevents that from happening is that not many species are familiar with humans and our language and coding systems and if they were, they would have to go through infinite possibilities to arrive at the one for Enterprise." Looking at the group of officers it was obvious they were anxious to know how this was going to help get back the captain. "You want to know how this applies to the Suliban. Here it is, because their ships all link up they all have the same prefix code. Basically, whether they are attached or not, one operator can relinquish control to another. This is handy should someone be too injured or when they dock with another vessel. It's the exact same idea just bigger with their Helix. Find the prefix number and we can seize control from the bridge. You can utilize their weapons, their stealth generator, their shields, communications, life support . . . everything."

"What you propose is quite intriguing, how are you going to figure out the Suliban prefix codes?" T'Pol asked.

"I noticed in your databanks that you have acquired a Suliban ship." She took from her pocket the tricorder she had used before to access the Enterprise's computer files. She opened it and the screen and touch pad lit up instantly. From the back were a series of wires hanging loose and a bit wild. "In my time this was a tricorder. I started changing its capabilities to scan various computer systems and extract passwords, security codes, and any sort of encryption including prefix codes and clearance codes. It is also programed to read any language that is present on the universal communicator including Suliban . . . I checked."

"I say let's do it." Trip said, eager to jump in there and take back the captain.

"Since they would obviously be familiar with their codes, what stops them from taking back control?" T'Pol asked

"If we fly in under a flag of surrender we can get close enough to gain control of their ships. Once we have it, then all I need is Hoshi to weave her magic with languages and change the codes. They will have to discover what they are or perform a complete cold boot of their systems and put in new ones. Either way there should be plenty of time to get away." Danaë could see that T'Pol was weighing this course of action very carefully. She stepped forward to the sub-commander and looked at her pleadingly. "In order for this to run perfectly I do need to be in command, but the second this is over the ship is yours and you can lock me in my quarters and throw away the key."

T'Pol thought about what Danaë was proposing and could see its merit. The Suliban would never be expecting them to try anything so audacious. She still didn't believe in time travel and was uncertain about trusting the ship and the lives of the crew to woman she knew nothing about. The one thing she was sure of was that Captain Archer trusted her and that in itself was a great deal. Setting aside deeply engrained Vulcan beliefs was difficult but not impossible. She looked at the tricorder in Danaë's hand and knew without question that this was not the same technology that she was accustomed to. Perhaps it was time for a risk.

"I will grant you temporary command, but if I think for even a second that this ship and its crew are in danger I will shut this operation down, is that clear?"

"Crystal." Danaë answered with a relieved sigh. "Sub-commander I need you to scan for their warp trail. Ensign Mayweather, once that trail has been located then lay in a course and follow it. They're going to want to show off their prize and for that they need to go to their Helix. Commander Tucker I need you to show me the cell ship so I can plug this in and get the codes. Once I have them, then Ensign Sato I need your help translating them and putting them into our system."

"I'll put the armory on full alert. I doubt they're going to welcome us with open arms." Lt. Reed added.

"Make it so." Danaë answered, then immediately followed Tucker to the lift.

Commander Tucker took her to the cargo bay and showed her the Suliban spherical cell ship they had. Danaë took the small hand held device and plugged it into the ships computer system. Information began to zip across the screen in record speed.

"So how did you become a hacker?" Tucker asked as he watched the screen.

"Boredom. As a child I suppose I would have been considered 'gifted'. I believe I was simply bored and raised by a father who worked very long hours. Had he known what I was doing he probably would have classified me as a high level security risk and thrown me in the brig."

"He would have thrown you into the brig?" He asked skeptically.

"Maybe not the brig, but I probably would have been sent to live with my Uncle Robert and Aunt Marie."

"That's bad?"

"They avoid any superfluous technologies. That wouldn't bother me so much now, but back then, it would have been a personal hell."

"What's it doing?" Asked Trip as the screen started to slow down.

"It's narrowing down the information. Eventually it will narrow down to the specific codes for each system on this ship. There should be a portion of each code that each have in common. That will be the code were looking for. It continued its scan for several more minutes before finally settling on a series of glyphs made of circles and lines. The tricorder then broke down the symbol combinations into the code level and types. Just as she suspected, the command codes from the Helix superseded all others.

"That's the one." She said, her face lighting up. She held the tricorder out for Trip and showed it to him. This code is the master. Any commands received from this system will take immediate precedence. Watch." She went over to the nearest console and plugged in the tricorder. Once she programmed the console to interface with the cell ship she put in the command code she had discovered. After a few keystrokes the Suliban ship came alive and hovered for a few moments before she told it to land and shut down once more.