The Smallest Alien by A. Rhea King Rating: PG Disclaimer: Don't own them, CBS/Paramount does. Summary: The Enterprise crew discovers a strange device that every race claims is their religious relic. Archer becomes curious about it and doesn't want to give it up to anyone. So when it comes down to saving his crew and relinquishing it, he is torn. CHAPTER 3 ‘You said you’d hand it over,’ someone said. ‘You promised her.’ Archer was startled out of his trance by the remark. He was standing before a viewport in his ready room and realized he didn’t know how long he’d been standing there. Or even what had been on his mind before the interruption. Archer turned, expecting to find the person in the room, but he was alone. He looked at his companel when it beeped. “Archer.” “Sir, there’s an Ambassador Sevyk asking to speak to you,” a crewman told him. “A Shogefi?” “No, sir. Vulcan.” Archer sat down in his desk chair. “Put him through.” A stately Vulcan wearing dignitary robes appeared on Archer’s screen. He bore an uncanny resemblance to V’Las, causing Archer to subconsciously go on the defense. “I’m Capt--” Archer began. “I know who you are. The Vulcan High Command detected a transmission in the area you are currently in from a religious device that belongs to us,” Archer’s hackles flew up. “We haven’t picked up anything that looked like it belonged to Vulcans. My Vulcan science officer would have said something if we had.” “Unless she was a priestess, she wouldn’t recognize it.” “What’s this device look like?” “It is a silver metallic sphere with markings along the surface and would have been traveling at warp one.” “That sounds unique. What is it, exactly?” “That’s none of your concern.” “We did run across something like the one you described a couple of days ago, but it was destroyed.” “You fired upon it?” “No. We pulled it into a loading bay and it melted on its own. I’m sorry I can’t help you.” “Thank you for your cooperation.” “You’re welcome.” The transmission ended. Archer stood and walked out of his ready room into the loading bay. Archer was taken back for a moment, looking at the door. As the door closed he saw the hall, not his ready room. Archer shook off the displaced feeling, deciding he just didn’t remember the walk to the loading bay. The lights were back on and the device was still emitting a holographic image of the Andromeda system. T’Pol and Hoshi were standing next to the screen and controls, trying to decipher the language. “How is it coming?” Archer asked. “Not good,” Hoshi answered. Archer walked up to the sphere, touching it. It responded with a low hum, but nothing happened. “A Vulcan ambassador, Ambassador Sevyk, just contacted me, T’Pol. He said this is a religious relic and unless you were a priestess you wouldn’t know anything about it.” “I am familiar with millions of religious relics.” T’Pol pulled her hands behind her back. “And I have never seen a religious relic that would compare to this device. You were being deceived, Captain.” “What did you tell him?” Hoshi asked. “He identified the outer casing with the markings. I told him it melted. He said it was transmitting some sort of signal that they had picked up.” “We have not picked up any signals transmitting from the device since our initial contact, Captain.” “Why would this Ambass-- “Archer to the bridge,” a crewman called on the ship’s COM. Archer walked over and tapped a companel by the door. “Go ahead.” “We are being hailed again by a Ferengi that calls himself the Grand Nagus. He wants to talk directly to you and he’s being impatient, sir. And two more ships just showed up.” “I’m on my way, Ensign.” Archer looked back at T’Pol and Hoshi. “Work faster, ladies. I have a feeling it’s about to get very crowded in this sector.” Archer hurried back to the bridge. # Archer leaned over on his legs, clasped his hands together and squeezed them down on the back of his neck. Travis and another crewman were the only other people on the bridge. “Who’s left, Ensign?” Archer asked the Ensign as he sat up. “There’s a Tellurite, three species I can’t pronounce, and a Klingon Chancellor.” “Put them all on screen.” Archer stood up, drawing himself into rigid composure. “Admiral Forrest is hailing us.” “Put him through first,” Archer said. Admiral Forrest appeared on the view screen. “I’ve just been informed you’ve refused to relinquish a religious Vulcan artifact and it has them fired up like we’ve never seen before,” Admiral Forrest said. Archer’s composure wilted slightly. He looked at the ensign. “Is the channel secure?” The man nodded. “The Vulcans and at least six other races claim that the device we intercepted belongs to them and they all claim it’s a religious relic. We don’t know who the real owner of this thing is.” “Do you know what the device is?” “Not yet, sir. So far all it’s done is project a holograph of the Andromeda system and a screen full of changing data, if data is what is on the screen. Ensign Sato and T’Pol are working on it.” “Find out what it is before you hand it over to anyone, Jon. I’ll throw a few rolls of red tape at the Vulcans to buy you some time. Report as soon as you know what it is.” “I will.” Forrest leaned into the screen. “Just promise me, Jonathan, that if it comes down to saving your ship and relinquishing that device, you choose your ship.” “I promise, sir.” The transmission ended. “Two more races just showed up,” the ensign informed him. Archer pinched the bridge of his nose. “Address the Klingons before they fire up the others.” “Aye, sir.” The Klingon appeared on the view screen. “I’ve been waiting for over an hour!” he bellowed. “How can I help you?” “You have religious device that belongs to the Klingon High Council. We demand it returned immediately!” Archer sighed before continuing the conversation. # Sleep was an elusive creature for the fifth night in a row and he was feeling the lack of it. Archer closed his eyes and tried counting sheep. That had helped once when he was a child. After reaching one thousand, he determined tonight wasn’t going to be a second time. He rolled onto his side, staring at the dozens of ships outside his viewport. And all of their captains were demanding the same thing: the device. How did they know it was even on Enterprise? And with the advance technology some of them had, why hadn’t any of them fired on Enterprise or boarded his ship and simply taken the device? T’Pol hypothesized that they were afraid of the device, but she couldn’t explain why – Archer wondered how much the not knowing bothered her. Archer sat up against the headboard, looking down at Porthos. The Beagle was twisted into a U on his bed with his feet in the air. Every so often a leg would twitch as he dreamed. Archer smiled. “What I wouldn’t give to be you right now, Port,” Archer murmured. He closed his eyes, feeling sleep starting to creep up on him. ‘Jonathan,’ the man’s voice whispered, ‘Hey!’ Archer’s eyes popped open. He looked toward his bathroom. He’d left the light on tonight but there was no one standing in the door. ‘We should paint his nose,’ another man whispered back. Laughter followed, not any louder than a whisper. Archer sat straight up, his stomach tensing. “Who’s there?” No one replied. Archer dropped his head. His exhaustion and stress had begun playing with his mind. He got up, grabbed his clothes and went into the bathroom to change. Archer headed for his door and stepped into the loading bay. The bay was dark again with holographic stars hovering where he’d last left them. He saw someone sitting on the stairs and walked in their direction. From the light coming off the PADD in her hands, he identified the person as Hoshi. Archer sat down next to her. “Can’t sleep?” Hoshi asked. “No.” Hoshi sighed, leaning on the railing and looking at the sphere. “I wonder why this thing doesn’t like Vulcans.” “Did you ever get Doctor Phlox down here to see if it liked him?” “He didn’t have time today. He said maybe tomorrow. Sir, will you promise me something?” Archer looked at her. “What?” “Promise me you won’t choose this device over us if it comes down to that. As curious as I am about it, I don’t want to die for it.” “Who said anything about dying?” “There’s a lot of ships out there, armed and prepared to fire on us, Captain.” Hoshi looked at him. “This thing isn’t worth dying for.” “And what if I hand over a weapon to them?” “Does that look like a weapon?” Hoshi motioned at the star chart. Archer stared at Hoshi for a long moment. He smiled. “I swear to you that my crew is more important than this device, Hoshi. I would never choose it over any of you. You have my word.” Hoshi got up and walked over to the device. Archer leaned against the railing beside him, his mind slowly drifting to other thoughts and slipping him into sleep. # Archer heard people whispering and his first thought was, ‘I’m talking to Phlox about these auditory hallucinations!’ Archer started to move but stopped when he heard T’Pol whisper, “Commander, it is not ‘ghost juice.’ Something must be powering this device.” Archer smiled. ‘That’s just T’Pol and Trip arguing again.’ “Fine, then you explain how it’s powered without any kind of reading.” Archer opened his eyes when he heard footsteps come near. T’Pol crouched down to open a case, noticing he was awake. “Good afternoon,” she said. “How long have I been asleep?” “I came in at oh-seven-hundred and found you and Lieutenant Sato asleep on the stairs. We moved you both to the floor so you could sleep more comfortably.” “What time is it?” “Fourteen hundred.” “I bet I have a crowd of angry aliens chomping at the bit to talk to me right now.” “Commander Tucker is handling them for you.” Archer sat up, looking around the loading bay. A bank of lights had been turned on and T’Pol was the only other person in the bay. “He was just here, wasn’t he?” “He returned to the bridge.” T’Pol retrieved an instrument and walked back to the sphere. Archer heard someone mutter and looked toward it. Hoshi was in a sleeping bag behind him, her black hair the only thing he could see of her. Archer got up and walked over to the sphere. He gingerly reached out and touched it. The sphere hummed softly at his touch. T’Pol appeared at Archer’s side. “It does not appear to mind humans touching it.” “No it doesn’t. We should get Phlox down here to touch it.” “I doubt Doctor Phlox wants to find out that it doesn’t like Denobulans, speaking from personal experience.” “Call him anyway.” T’Pol turned to go to a companel and a red light started scanning Archer. Both of them froze. A holograph appeared beside Archer, speaking in the alien language and motioning to the red screen. Archer looked back at the metal ball. “What do you think it’s saying?” Word for word the holograph repeated Archer. Archer looked at the holograph. Behind him Hoshi pushed the sleeping bag down, staring at the two Archers. “Do you understand me?” Archer asked the sphere. The holograph spoke in the alien language and then repeated Archer’s phrase. “It’s talking?” Hoshi scrambled out of the sleeping bag and trotted over to Archer. The holograph spoke in the alien language and then repeated Hoshi’s question. A blue light scanned Hoshi’s face and the holograph changed to Hoshi. Hoshi walked over to the holograph, circling it. She reached out to touch it and her hand passed through it, causing the image to waver. Hoshi picked up a translator. “My name is Hoshi.” The holograph repeated the phrase in the alien language and then in English. “What is your designation?” Hoshi asked. It again repeated her question and followed it with more alien language. “Got it!” Hoshi said, smiling. She tapped the translator. “What is your designation?” “Designation of this device is classified,” the holograph replied. “Who designated information about this device as classified?” “Science executive XR-4534.” “How can we contact this science executive?” “Unable to provide that information.” “Why?” “Science executive XR-4534 was terminated from the program.” “On what grounds?” “Ceasing to exist.” “He died?” “Please rephrase your question.” “Is there information about this science executive’s existence in your database?” “Negative.” “Do you have any information that is unclassified about your mission?” “Affirmative.” “List the information.” A list appeared on the holographic panel next to the holographic and scrolled for several seconds. As it did, the audio translated the names of thousands of solar systems, only a handful of which were familiar to the three. “That’s a long list,” Archer commented. “Trip to Archer,” Trip said. “A really long list,” Hoshi replied. “It’s going to take me a while to translate this, sir.” Archer walked over to a companel and tapped it. “Go ahead.” “Sir, report to the bridge. The Shogefi have returned and they’re demanding we release that sphere or they’re going to destroy us.” “They’re bluffing.” “Cap’n, they just armed all weapons and brought up shields. I’m not so sure they’re bluffing.” “I’ll be right there.” Archer turned to Hoshi. “Can you--” Enterprise rocked. “ALL HANDS TO STATIONS!” Trip yelled over the ship COM. Archer fell against the wall when Enterprise rocked again. He pushed away and ran over to the sphere. As he grabbed it the display disappeared and the cover over the controls slid shut. Archer turned toward the door, running into a Shogefi. Archer’s eyes traveled up to its head that was at least seven centimeters above Archer. The alien stood on two powerful legs and held a large gun in its arms. It had a sledgehammer shaped head and four sets of yellow eyes. Its skin was brown and when it spoke it sounded similar to a dolphin, but the tone was malice. It held out a four-fingered hand for the device. Archer stepped back, running into another alien. He looked around him, finding Shogefi had filled the loading bay. “Give it to him!” Hoshi said. A Shogefi had Hoshi and T’Pol pinned against the wall by the throat. “Give me the device,” the Shogefi ordered. Archer looked up at the one towering over him. How had it learned their language so fast? “How do I know it’s yours?” Archer asked. “You don’t even know what it is. It is of no use to you.” “I know what it isn’t.” “And you will take it apart to find out what it is?” “It was telling us what it was. We were communicating with it.” “It belongs to us.” “If it belongs to you, then why don’t you have it?” “GIVE IT TO ME!” the alien bellowed. Archer held the sphere more protectively when the alien grabbed for it. “Captain, please,” Archer heard Hoshi whimper. “You promised.” He looked at her. The Shogefi was strangling her. Archer looked at the device. ‘There is so much we could learn from this, but what is that knowledge really worth?’ Archer held the device out. The Shogefi snatched it from him and then leaned down, turning his head so one eye peered at Archer. The blackness of his eye was deep and there was no reflection. Archer fought his fear to stand his ground. “Wisdom isn’t always doing what your heart tells you, Jonnie. It’s doing what you know is right.” Archer caught his breath. When he had just entered Starfleet he had to make a decision of keeping his friends, or reporting students drinking excessively while on the Academy grounds. His father’s nugget of wisdom had guided him through the situation, and in the end, his commander was the only one that suspected him of reporting the incident and respected Archer for it. But no one ever knew his father had told him those exact words. And only T’Pol knew the nickname his parents called him. How did this alien know any of that? The Shogefi suddenly transported off Enterprise, leaving Archer confused. Back to Chapter 2 Continue to Chapter 4

Like it? Hate it? Just want to point out a typo? Join the discussion now.

Disclaimer: Star Trek in all its various forms and its characters are the property of CBS/Paramount. No copyright infringement is intended by the authors of this site, which is solely for the purpose of entertainment and is not for profit. This site is owned by CX and was opened to the public in February 2008.