AFFLICTION


What do you want with me?
Secure him.
I demand to see the magistrate!
My death sentence was communted!
Captain's Starlog, November 27, 2154.
We've returned home ...
for the official launch of our sister ship Columbia.
On a personal note,
I'll also be saying good-bye to one helluva chief engineer.
Yeah?
She's a thing of beauty.
Columbia's virtually identical to Enterprise.
A good engineer can see the differences.
You coming to the mess hall later?
My "going away" party?
I don't understand the logic behind this transfer.
You're not being promoted...
You think I'm doing this to advance my career?
You wouldn't leave Captain Archer without sufficient reason.
Well, for one thing, this is a new challenge.
It took me a year to fine-tune Enterprise.
I figure I can do the same for Captain Hernandez in half the time.
She needs a Chief Engineer who's been out there...
has the experience.
Are you leaving because of me?
Starfleet's approved the transfer.
You didn't answer my question.
This may come as a shock,
but not everything in my life revolves around you.
I'm glad we got here early.
There never used to be a wait to get in.
You didn't think Madame Chang's
was going to be your little secret forever, did you?
There are a lot of Starfleet people here.
That's probably my fault.
I told a few friends about the place.
A few?
I'm a com officer.
If there's one thing that I know how to do,
it's disseminate information.
You didn't tell me how your meeting went today at the IME.
They asked if I was interested in becoming Director of Xenobiology.
That's great!
Are you going to accept?
I'm considering it.
The truth is, I've grown rather fond of my shipmates.
I'm not certain I'm ready to leave them just yet.
What would you suggest?
I'm the wrong person to ask.
I've got a vested interest in keeping you around.
You, Denobulan, come with us.
What do you want?
Maybe you didn't hear me.
Hoshi...
I'm all right, sir.
Who did this?
That's what I'm trying to determine.
Commander Collins, Starfleet Security.
Jonathan Archer. This is Lieutenant Reed.
There were three men.
They were in the shadows. I didn't get a good look at them.
You told me before that one of them said something to the others.
Right before I passed out.
I'm pretty sure it wasn't English.
Do you remember what he said?
I'm sorry, sir.
The only DNA we've recovered belongs to Ensign Sato and to your Doctor.
We did find some residual ionization traces here.
A transporter signature?
Very few people have access to that kind of technology.
Still, it's a likely explanation.
Dr. Phlox was involved in an altercation the last time he was in San Francisco.
You think this is related?
Assaults against aliens are still pretty rare.
If the man who attacked him was holding a grudge...
He was a loudmouth in a bar.
I doubt he could find his head with both hands,
never mind organize a kidnapping.
We're pursuing all avenues.
Excuse me, Captain. Lieutenant.
Check with Starfleet Operations.
See if their satellites picked up any...
transporter activity this evening.
The dilithium matrix has got to be aligned within .3 microns.
The specs say .5.
Who do you think wrote those specs?
A warp field specialist? Exactly.
Some guy who's probably never been outside the solar system.
I've spent the last three and a half years crawling inside one of these engines.
I know what I'm talking about.
Aye, sir.
Biggs, Pierce.
I want you to recalibrate the field stabilizers.
Rivers and Strong,
you'll start with the injector assembly.
This bucket of bolts was supposed to leave dry dock 6 months ago.
I guarantee you ...
Columbia's gonna warp out of orbit before the end of the week.
Let's get to work.
It's customary to report to the captain after a transfer.
I'm sorry, ma'am.
I wanted to see what the situation was like before we spoke.
Commander Charles Tucker, reporting for duty.
Welcome aboard.
- Trip is it? - That's right.
So what do you think...
can she be salvaged?
I think there's a good chance.
- Any news on Dr. Phlox? - Not so far.
If I hear anything, I'll let you know.
You certainly know how to motivate the troops.
We'll be pulling triple shifts if we want to meet this new launch date.
You still need to eat.
Captain's mess, tomorrow, 1800 hours.
We can trade stories about your former CO.
I'll be there.
And Commander...
drop by the quartermaster's at the end of your shift.
Ma'am?
You might want to...
update your uniform.
Aye, Captain.
Come in.
We've heard nothing from the kidnappers...
not even a ransom demand.
I've spoken with the Denobulan ambassador.
He's notified the doctor's wives.
Hoshi thought she overheard one of the kidnappers say something in another language...
but she was semiconscious at the time.
Maybe you could help her remember.
A mind-meld?
I've never initiated a meld before.
I don't have the proper training.
I know it's dangerous...
but I can walk you through it.
You?
I had Surak's katra in my head for 4 days.
I picked up a few tricks.
Computer, access satellite logs 1-3-7.
Time parameters 1900 and 1945 today.
What?
Starfleet Operations, this is Lieutenant Malcolm Reed aboard Enterprise.
Please acknowledge.
Burning the midnight oil, Lieutenant?
Sir...
I thought I was calling Starfleet Ops.
Let me guess.
You want to know why the grid covering San Francisco ....
was down for maintenance tonight.
Something like that.
Meet me at this address...
in 1 hour.
My mind to your mind.
Our minds are merging.
Our minds are one.
Nothing's happening.
T'Pol, try to relax your emotional suppression just a little.
I feel what you feel.
I know what you know.
- Can you hear me? - Yes perfectly.
You and the doctor have just left the restaurant.
I'm glad we got here early.
There never used to be a wait to get in.
Good.
They asked if I was interested in becoming Director of Xenobiology.
- Where were you attacked? - There.
Truth is, I've grown rather fond of my shipmates...
- Do you see them? -...not certain I'm ready to leave them just yet.
What would you suggest?
Yes.
You, Denobulan, come with us.
What do you want?
Maybe you didn't hear me.
Focus on the moment.
Put aside any pain.
Dol'sha t'ung nev'Rleel.
Dol'sha t'ung nev'Rleel.
- Dol'sha t'ung nev'Rleel. - Dol'sha t'ung nev'Rleel
"Bring him with us."
It's Rigelian.
A Rigelian freighter left orbit 2 hours after Phlox's abduction.
According to their flight plan, they were headed for Proxima Colony.
This trajectory won't take them anywhere near Proxima Colony.
- Ensign... - Sir.
Put Admiral Gardner through to my ready room.
Shore leaves are canceled.
Get everyone back aboard.
Am I to understand you are responsible for taking that satellite grid off-line?
Not me personally.
But you're involved.
Phlox is my friend.
Do you know where he is?
We have an assignment for you.
I wasn't aware that I was still a part of your section.
There's a job that needs doing, Lieutenant,
and it may be the only way to save your friend's life.
Welcome to Qu'Vat Colony, Doctor.
You will work with Dr. Antaak.
I will do nothing of the kind.
Then you will die.
I'm certain there are easier ways for you to recruit a new lab assistant.
You misunderstand me, Doctor.
Antaak will be assisting you.
It's good to see you again, Doctor.
I beg your pardon?
I wouldn't expect you to remember..
but we met briefly 5 years ago,
at the IME conference on Tiburon.
I don't recall meeting a Klingon at that conference.
I was disguised as a member of the Mazarite delegation.
My people weren't invited.
I will let you two get "reacquainted."
I suggest you work quickly, Doctor.
I expect a progress report by sunrise.
You must forgive the general's conduct.
The warrior caste has little use for social protocols.
What do you want with me?
The Empire is facing its gravest threat since the Hur'q invasion.
A virus is spreading from planet to planet.
Millions are already infected.
If this continues, the Klingon species will cease to exist.
Why didn't you simply ask for our help?
Starfleet and Denobula would've provided you with all of the specialists you'd need.
You don't understand the Klingon way, Doctor.
To ask for assistance would make us look weak in the eyes of our enemies.
It could even incite rebellion.
But why me?
I was impressed by your lecture at the conference.
Your paper on viral propagation was very insightful.
What field of study are you in precisely?
Metagenic research.
I've already isolated the virus.
I assume you'll want to start by mapping the nucleotides?
It wasn't my idea to abduct you.
Nevertheless, you are here.
Millions of lives are at risk.
The freighter's warp trail has terminated.
They may have dropped to impulse.
How long to intercept?
At our current speed...
8.2 hours.
Archer to Engineering.
Commander Kelby...
respond.
Kelby here, sir.
We could use a little more speed.
The injectors are running at 105%.
Commander Tucker's pushed them higher than that before.
I'll see what I can do, Captain.
I don't know who's in charge of your mess hall, but ...
he could give the chef on Enterprise a run for his money.
I stole him from the Republic.
Captain Jennings said I could have anything I wanted when I left...
so I took his cook.
I've gotten 2 transfer requests from crewmen in your department.
Who?
It's probably better if I didn't mention names.
I denied them. You're already short-handed.
Quite an impression you've made, Commander.
You've been aboard less than 2 days...
and already some of your team want to jump ship.
I've knocked a few heads together...
but we're getting the job done.
We'll be ready for warp trials by Thursday.
I was surprised you accepted this transfer.
I saw an interview with you after the Xindi mission.
You said you couldn't see yourself serving on any other starship.
Well, you've got a good memory, Captain.
It comes in handy.
I was getting a little too comfortable on Enterprise.
Got a lot of friends over there but...
sometimes it's easier to work with people who are just colleagues.
Why are you here?
I was about to ask you the same thing.
- Is this a daydream? - I'm meditating.
This is where I go in my mind.
I would've thought you'd pick a more interesting place.
Like the beach or...
one of those fire plains you showed me.
Please leave.
Exactly where am I supposed to go?
Away.
This is my daydream. You go away.
Excuse me, Commander?
- Is everything all right? - Yeah, I'm fine.
- The diagnostic you asked for. - Thanks.
Bridge to T'Pol.
We're approaching the coordinates.
On my way.
No bio-signs.
I'm reading several bodies aboard.
Is one of them Denobulan?
They're all Rigelian.
Can you tell who did this?
No, sir.
I'll have to bring aboard some of the debris and analyze it.
Scan for their data recorder.
It might tell us something.
Unless I'm mistaken, this virus is a mutated form of the Levodian flu.
It's immune to whatever antiviral we've tried.
We should contact the IME.
They may have seen this mutation before...
and I'm certain they'll be willing to share their database with us.
I know of a few indirect channels.
No one would have to know.
There's no reason to contact them.
We've acquired their entire database.
You stole it.
Medical research isn't a priority for the High Council.
I'm forced to obtain information however I can.
That doesn't sound very honorable.
Given the choice between honor and saving lives,
I choose the latter.
Perhaps you should ask your superiors ...
to steal a genome sequencer.
We're not going to be able to map the virus without the proper technology.
This man's been infected.
Very observant.
This patient is at stage 1.
The virus doesn't become contagious until stage 3.
When I asked you to bring me a subject for dissection,
I assumed he'd already be dead.
He won't be alive much longer.
- What do you think you're doing? - Euthanizing him.
Out of the question.
I thought you were committed to saving lives.
It is more honorable to give one's life to medical research ...
than to die for no purpose!
That choice is not ours to make.
Proceed.
Computer,
establish an encrypted com-link.
Starfleet frequency seven-nine-baker.
Lieutenant.
You told me the Klingons were going to rendezvous with that freighter
Not destroy it.
I regret what happened,
but they had to cover their tracks.
- How many were on board that ship? - That's not your concern.
- Have you analyzed the weapon signatures yet? - Yes.
You haven't told Archer?
But I'm not certain how much longer I can keep this from him.
Orion raiders have been known to operate in this area.
You want me to lie again?
I could explain the situation to the Captain.
You have a peculiar sense of humor, Lieutenant.
I've worked closely with the man.
You can trust him.
Archer is a Starfleet captain.
His duty would be to report everything you tell him ...
to Admiral Gardner.
They would launch an investigation.
I'm being compromised, sir...
and I don't like it.
Then I suggest you adjust your comfort level, Lieutenant.
You made a commitment to us long before you joined the Enterprise.
Tatic Alert All hands to battle stations.
What was that?
I believe we're under attack.
Hull plating's holding.
Still no response.
Target their weapons.
We've been boarded.
D-deck, starboard side.
Access tube 7.
Seal it off. Get the MACOs down there.
Dah petagh.
Disable that ship.
I don't want them getting away.
They've activated their transporter.
They're going to warp.
Pursuit course.
The helm's not responding.
Wake him up.
Why did you attack us?
SoHvaD pagh vIjatlh, human.
"I have nothing to say to you, human."
- That sounds like... - Klingon.
There must be some kind of mistake.
What is it?
According to his bio-signature, he is Klingon.
He must have been surgically altered to look human.
Any theories?
I need to run further tests.
Their boarding party disabled our antimatter flow regulators.
Warp drive should be repaired in 6 hours.
Give our new chief engineer a hand.
Tell him to dig a little deeper.
See if these "Klingons" damaged any other systems.
The Rigelian freighter...
did you get anything out of the black box?
It's been erased.
It might've been a safeguard,
in case it fell into the wrong hands.
Work with Hoshi.
See if you can reconstruct any data.
There is something familiar about these base-pair sequences.
Familiar?
Boshar!
Feeding time is over.
Go back!
Do you think it's wise to keep wild animals in here?
There are dozens of creatures in your Sick Bay.
I don't let them roam free.
I could never keep Boshar locked up.
He was my first patient.
He tore his side open when I was a child.
I stitched the wound myself.
I have seen these sequences before.
6 months ago, to be precise.
This is Augment DNA.
How did modified human genes find their way into this virus?
Is it really such a surprise, Doctor?
It took only 2 human Augments to commandeer a Bird of Prey ...
and murder its entire crew.
The Empire could not allow an inferior species to gain an advantage on us.
Imagine every Starfleet vessel manned...
with genetically engineered humans.
Earth banned genetic engineering decades ago!
The Augments who attacked you were relics of another era!
The Vulcans told that to the High Council.
They weren't very persuasive.
We were simply responding to a threat.
You were trying to create Klingon Augments.
But Soong's experiments were all killed. Where did you get the genetic material?
Several embryos were found in the wreckage of the Bird of Prey.
We used them to resequence a number of test subjects.
There were some unanticipated side effects.
Their cranial ridges started to dissolve.
Augment DNA was more aggressive than you realized.
For a time, it appeared we were quite successful.
Our Augments might have looked human, but they were Klingon
stronger, more intelligent.
Then...
their neural pathways started to degrade. They died in agony.
One of the test subjects was suffering from the Levodian flu.
The Augment genes modified the virus.
It became airborne.
You should have told me this earlier!
If you hope to ever leave this place,
I suggest you stop asking questions ...
and resume work.
What do you think?
We may be able to reconstruct the directory with a recursive algorithm.
Is it unusual to have weird dreams after a mind meld?
Subconscious thoughts are often exchanged.
They sometimes surface during sleep.
I had a bizarre dream last night.
Commander Tucker was in it.
We were in a strange place.
It was all white.
There was almost a ...
romantic quality to it.
I don't ever remember dreaming about Commander Tucker before.
Most unusual.
The recorder was erased...
deliberately.
Malcolm said there might've been a safeguard.
The memory core was wiped by that microdyne coupler.
You're sure?
It left a unique magnetic signature.
We found it in storage locker C-14.
The last person to access that locker was Lieutenant Reed.
I'm not quite sure what you're getting at, sir.
Only someone with security clearance...
of alpha-four or higher had access to the black box.
That's just T'Pol, you and me.
I agree. It is a bit of a mystery.
You're sure ...
that freighter was destroyed by Orion weapons?
There's no doubt.
I asked T'Pol to double-check your analysis.
The freighter was fired on by Klingon disruptors.
With all due respect, sir,
- there must have been a mistake. - I've seen the sensor logs.
Someone could have tampered with them.
I want to know what the hell is going on.
Answer me, Lieutenant.
Respectfully, sir...
I refuse to answer any more questions.
I never would've believed that you,
of all people...
Corporal.
Lieutenant Reed's been relieved of duty. Escort him to the brig and confine him.
We've set course for Klingon territory.
We haven't picked up any warp signatures yet.
I may have to take this ship into their space.
I don't have to tell you how dangerous that is.
If you know where they've taken Phlox...
I have no idea where the doctor is, Captain.
On that, you have my word.
Your word isn't worth a lot at the moment.
The Malcolm Reed I know would give his life...
before committing treason.
I'm not working for the Klingons.
Who, then?
You've betrayed everything that uniform stands for.
Captain...
There are some...
obligations...
that go beyond my loyalty to you...
and this crew.
What the hell does that mean?
I can't say any more.
You haven't said much of anything.
You've told me a lot about your father...
his years in the Royal Navy,
their tradition of honor and service.
How do you think he'll react...
when he learns you're facing court-martial?
I wouldn't know, sir.
We are running out of time.
I can't sequence these nucleotides any faster.
Perhaps you should've abducted Dr. Soong.
He could've mapped this genome more efficiently than I can.
We tried.
Soong was under heavy guard.
If you don't accelerate your efforts, there will be no one left to cure.
The High Council has dispatched the fleet.
They have annihilated N'Vak Colony.
N'Vak was one of the first planets affected by the plague.
They're massacring the victims?
The Council will do whatever's required to contain this outbreak.
General, we're making progress,
but I'll need a few weeks to develop an antiviral agent.
- It will have to be tested... - Millions will be infected by then.
The Council will not wait!
- How long until the fleet reaches us? - 5 days.
I can't cure this in 5 days!
They wouldn't destroy us ...
if they knew we had created Klingon Augments.
The experiment failed!
It succeeded for a brief period.
If Phlox and I can find a way to stabilize....
the human DNA prior to the onset of stage 3,
our Augments would survive.
If we're successful, you could use them as leverage,
force the High Council to give us more time to find a cure.
You don't seriously expect me to help you create Klingon Augments?!
You could save the inhabitants of this planet.
I won't assist you.
Kill me if you must.
I refuse to cooperate.
Take him.
Hail the dock master.
This is Captain Hernandez.
Request permission to depart.
You're cleared for departure.
- Smooth sailing, Columbia. - Thank you.
Bridge to Engineering.
- Are we ready, Mr. Tucker? - Just a few more seconds.
I hope.
- Ensign? - Dilithium matrix is stable.
Driver coils are configured for peed.
Nice work.
Engineering to bridge!
We're ready whenever you are, Captain.
Time to weigh anchor.
Lieutenant,
aft thrusters at one-half until we clear spacedock...
then take us to warp.
So, what are you in for?
Is your captain hoping you'll obtain information from me?
I shouldn't think so.
Then why are you here?
That's a long story.
Entertain me.
I lied to him.
You're fortunate to be alive.
A Klingon who betrays his captain would be immediately executed.
Why did you and your men board Enterprise?
You know, you may find this hard to believe, but...
you and I actually want the same thing.
And what is that?
A cure.
There's no reason for you...
or any more of your people to die.
There's a malfunction in the intermix chamber.
Plasma pressure's rising.
The antimatter flow regulators are locked open.
- Did the Klingons damage them? - Uncertain.
Pressure's approaching critical.
Can we drop to impulse?
The reactor would breach.
But we can reduce pressure by increasing speed.
Go to maximum warp.
Get down to Engineering.
See what you can do.
You sabotaged us.
How do we repair the damage?
If our reactor breaches, you're going to die with us.
I'm a soldier of the Empire...
I'm prepared to die.
Captain!
You need your tactical officer!
Please, sir!
I can be useful!
Commander, did you see that?
Please be more specific.
On the monitor.
T'Pol to Captain Archer.
Go ahead.
The warp matrix has been compromised...
by a Klingon subroutine.
- Can you remove it? - I'm not certain.
It's infiltrated our command protocols.
Do what you can.
Bridge to Captain Archer.
Pressure's increasing again.
Take us to warp 5.2.
Sir, we can't hold that speed for long.
We're out of options, Travis.
5.2.
Acknowledged.


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