Chapter 6: Intoxication

"Transporter to Bridge, we have them all," Anna Hess reported as soon as Sergeant Cole and Corporal Randall, the last two to return from the rogue Andorian ship, had materialized.

"Acknowledged," Archer answered and turned to Hoshi. "Hail Shran."

"Shran, our people are out," he hailed when the familiar blue face appeared on the screen. Shran just nodded wordlessly, his antennae agressively pointing forward. A few moments later his face disappeared again.

In stunned silence the bridge crew looked at the screen, showing how three torpedoes and several blasts of phaser fire ripped the attacker to shreds. After destroying them, Shran's ship flew over to the T'Planit and its grapplers latched on to it.

"Shran's hailing us again," Hoshi reported, still shocked over what she'd just seen.

"On screen," the captain demanded. He looked somewhat more calm and collected, but that was just the result of months of practice in hiding his true feelings from his own crew. He hoped Shran had some answers.

"I know that looked strange to you," Shran reported calmly. "If you allow me and my Vulcan passenger to come aboard your ship, I'll explain everything."

"Granted, I'll meet you at the airlock," Jon returned and gave a nod to Malcolm. "You have the bridge Lieutenant. Hoshi, come with me."

"Aye, Sir."

"Peace and long life," Hoshi greeted in Vulcan with a perfectly executed Ta'al

"Live long an prosper," the tall Vulcan returned in kind, his face completely impassive as was befitting his species.

"Welcome aboard Enterprise," Archer said with a polite nod. "I am Captain Jonathan Archer, this is Ensign Hoshi Sato, our Communications officer."

"My name is Keslak. I am the healer sent by the High Council to help the surviving crew of the T'Planit."

"We are sorry to report that there were only three survivors and they are all in bad condition, but we hope you can help them," the captain said with as much compassion as he could get into his voice, but the Vulcan didn't seem to care that almost the entire crew on the Vulcan courier had been slain. He guessed that he did care, but like Soval, the healer showed no outward sign of it.

"Would you direct me to your medical facilities?" the Vulvan asked all business-like.

"Ensign Sato will accompany you and show you the way to sickbay."

Wordlessly Keslak turned and followed Hoshi.

"Welcome back, Shran," the ship's commanding officer said, turning to his second guest, and unlike with the Vulcan, his outstretched hand was actually taken this time.

"Always a pleasure to meet you, pink-skin," Shran returned and produced a bottle of Andorian ale from his pocket.

"Why did I expect that?" Archer asked with a chuckle.

The Andorians antennae wiggled in amusement, although not quite as enthusiastically as on previous occasions.

Hoshi and Keslak entered sickbay and saw Dr. Phlox checking the readouts of one of the rescued Vulcans' biosigns. The good Doctor looked worried.

"Doctor," Hoshi introduced her guest. "This is healer Keslak. He has just arrived on Commander Shrans ship to help with the injured Vulcans."

"Welcome in sickbay, I am Doctor Phlox," the portly Denobulan answered, remarkably emotionless for his normally sunny disposition.

"How is their condition?" Keslak asked, while Hoshi excused herself to go back to the bridge.

"They are all in a healing trance. Ambassador Soval is slowly, but steadily improving. His neurological activity is steady and well-balanced. The other two survivors appear to be in a healing trance for the first time in their life and would most likely profit from your guidance."

"You are quite knowledgeable about healing trances," Keslak noticed with an elevated eyebrow.

"I was working with Vulcan healers for almost two decades, as part of the interspecies medical exchange, your people trusted me with many things that are rarely spoken of on Vulcan, even less with off-worlders."

"I see," Keslak started, but was interrupted by Phlox. "If you would excuse me for a moment, I'm being hailed."

Keslak answered with a nod and Phlox dashed off into his small private cabinet. Seeing the encryption indicator, he closed the door, before answering.

"One moment," Archer said with a raised hand, when Shran started to fill the glasses with the blue liquid that was strong enough to knock out an elephant.

Pressing the encryption button, he hailed Sickbay.

"This is Phlox,"

"Phlox, this is the Captain. I've got an ... invitation from Shran. Would that mess with the medication, you gave me last night?" Jon asked and he could see the antennae of Shran point forward in curiosity at the mention of medication.

"No, not after so many hours," the doctor replied calmly. "But I would like to caution you to cut back on the quantity. After your last encounter with Commander Shran's ale both of you were not in the best of shapes."

"OK, thanks, Phlox" Archer answered, smiling at the memory how Phlox and Trip had to drag both him and Shran to their quarters as a result of a somewhat lengthy ale-drinking evening after their return from the Aenar.

"What's wrong, are you ill?" the Andorian inquired with a genuinely worried expression.

"Later Shran," Archer said and raised his glass. "First, what is it with your little demonstration out there?"

"Those ... criminals were members of a northern clan. They were rather influential until the time we started the Coalition talks. Since then, more and more peace-minded clans, who support the alliance, have come to influence due to public support. They had the northerners out of all significant positions within two months."

"I can see that they weren't exactly happy about that," Archer agreed, taking the PADD with the official report from Shran.

"They stole two Kumari-class cruisers and partnered with the Orions. The cowards ran errand missions for them in exchange for weapons and upgrades to their ships."

"That explains why the power signature didn't match," the captain said with an understanding nod.

"They also attacked Vulcan ships and murdered the crews, hoping to reignite the resentments between our people," the blue-skinned alien explained with his antennae lying back against his head in disgust. "When the Vulcans contacted us, we gave them all information we had and started to cooperate with them. We even flew joint missions to get them."

"Well, at least something good came out of it."

"Indeed. The ship that you disabled was actually the second of their ships. The first one was the ship who attacked the Vulcans. Evidently, the Ambassador's crew gave almost as good as they got and had the bastards battered pretty well. They tried to limp home to their green-skin friends and brought the second ship in to finish the job."

"So there's still one out there?" the captain asked, ready to put the ship back at alert status.

"No. The Ni'Vahr and my vessel destroyed them three days ago. The Vulcans also gave us their doctor to bring here, to treat possible survivors. We will bring the ship back to the Vulcans."

"Why wouldn't the Ni'Vahr just come here?"

"The Vulcan High Council wanted Andoria to finish the job. They hope that it is good for the relations between our people, when the Vulcans can see Andorians helping them," Shran explained, and Jon realized that his Andorian friend was no longer the brash warrior who had once beaten the raw stuffing out of him at P'Jem.

"Would've never pegged T'Pau for a PR manager," Archer said with a chuckle.

"You know her?"

"Yeah, took a hike through the desert with her once. She can be quite reckless, almost fried my brain, trying to get Surak's katra out of me."

"You were the human who had the katra?" Shran asked in disbelief.

"Yes. It's not an experience I care to repeat. But he obviously liked it up there," Archer smiled and pointed at his temple. "Else he would've just gone to possess T'Pau."

"I never thought I'd say that about a Vulcan, but she's some fine looking woman, although her hairdresser should entertain the idea of a job change," Shran smirked and emptied his glass.

"Looks like you really want to improve relations with the Vulcans."

"Are you crazy, pink-skin?" Shran asked with roaring laughter. "Jhamel would forget that she's a pacifist if I just thought about that."

"What a minute, you and Jhamel..."

"Are a pair," Shran completed. "My friends in the Guard are already taking bets what color our offspring will have."

"Ten bucks on green," Archer quipped and both men started laughing.

"One question though," Archer continued. "I can understand that your government is pissed with those pirates, but don't you guys believe in the concept of putting someone on trial?"

"They were sentenced to death in absentia a month ago," Shran replied dryly.

"Good to know. So it looks like they gave you a new ship after all," Jon said, relieved that he hadn't been part of some lynch mob. The dejectedly drooping antennae on Shran's head made it clear though that there seemed to be little reason for celebration.

"No, they didn't," Shran admitted, shaking his head. "The Tha'marat is mine only for this one mission. In fact, it's my last mission."

"The Imperial Guard must be out of their minds," John protested. "They gave you the boot for losing the Kumari against a superior opponent? You saved nineteen of your crew!"

"She was the flagship," Shran sighed, his cranial appendages still drooping in shame. "That's just our way, pink-skin. Losing a flagship is a dishonor. For my merits in forging relations with you pink ... with humans, I was granted one last mission to determine whether I would leave the Guard in honor or shame."

"Well at least that's taken care of," Jon said, still reeling about the ungratefulness of the Imperial Guard. "Might be my last mission, too – at least for a while – but Starfleet would never kick out a captain for losing a ship to a superior attacker."

"Your last mission?"

"That's the reason for my 'illness'," Jon admitted and tipped his finger against his temple. "I'm having a rough time. No family, not many friends anymore. I need a timeout, badly."

"Well from all I know about humans, you should have offspring already at your age," Shran remarked, not knowing he was hitting his friend right where it hurt.

"The oldest would already be dating – if I had any," Archer sighed. "You nailed the point. There's only so many years you can go without a family."

Shran looked at his human friend, closing his right eye slightly, as he always did when delivering a personal statement. "You should throw away your stupid rules about forbidding relationships between crew members. Not even the Imperial Guard is that cruel."

"Well, we did," Jon said. "Trip is now dating T'Pol and my tactical and communications officers are an item as well."

"Your Chief Engineer and the Vulcan are a pair?"

"Yeah, as of one week ago."

"That explains why she was so comfortable around him when I was aboard," the Andorian mused and downed the rest of his ale.

Archer started laughing, although there was a bit of bitterness in it.

"What?" Shran asked.

"Hell, even the Andorians saw it coming before they got the clue themselves."

"Well, I'm a good observer," Shran said, refilling the glasses.

"Anyways, seeing a Vulcan and a human walk arm in arm in the corridor really drives the point home that something is missing in your life," Jon admitted. A few years a go he would never have thought he'd discuss his personal problems with brightly blue-skinned alien.

"Well, if you don't have those rules anymore, what's keeping you from taking any of the women on board as your mate?"

"It's not that easy Shran. There actually is someone who would fit the job description, but she's married to Starfleet, now that our second NX ship is flying, just like me. The damnedest thing that can happen to you is falling for a Starfleet Captain," Archer said in a dejected mood.

Ending his mind-meld with Ambassador Soval, Keslak assessed the situation.

"His energy has nearly been exhausted, but the Ambassador shall awake from his trance within the next five to seven hours. His wounds have healed satisfactorily, but it will take several weeks to regain full use of his right arm."

"That matches my assessment," Phlox agreed. "What is the situation of the other survivors?"

"Their healing is slow, due to their inexperience. I shall guide them, but before I take on such a taxing task, I wish to meditate. Do you know where Captain Archer has set up accommodation for me?"

"Crewman Zettler will show you the way," Phlox explained and indicated the Vulcan to follow. "Before you go, I would like to ask you to take a look at a human patient. He is in a Vulcan-assisted healing trance."

"As you wish," Keslak answered, not showing his surprise.

"A word of warning. The situation might look slightly disturbing to a Vulcan."

"You fell for Captain Erika Hernandez?" Shran asked with a worried face.

"Yeah, you know her?" Jon asked back, not liking the uncomfortable look on his friend's face.

"I met her a week ago. I don't think she'll be flying any missions anytime soon."

"What do you mean?" the captain demanded, feeling a knot form in the pit of his stomach. Shran started to explain.

"About a week ago we saw her ship being attacked by a Klingon warship. She asked for assistance and the Vulcans and our ship helped her destroy the Klingons. When we came aboard after the battle, she was in sickbay in very critical condition."

Archer buried his face in his palms.

"Don't worry, pink-skin," Shran added hastily. "Their doctor said she will survive, although it will take months to heal. They are taking her back to Earth. Her ship was heavily damaged as well."

Sighing heavily Archer declined, when Shran tried to refill his glass. "Better not, or I'll end up as wasted as last time."

"Maybe it wasn't so bad an idea after all, wanting to get away from the ship for a time. If she feels the same for you, she could surely use your help now," Shran offered, unusually compassionate for someone from a race that puts the honor of a warrior above all else.

"I don't know how Gardner will feel about losing two Captains at once, though," Jon admitted, desperately trying not to cry in front of his guest. "They might deny my request."

"Maybe they are more open to the idea if you bring a new one in?" Shran offered with a smirk.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm entertaining the idea of signing up with you humans, now that the Imperial Guard doesn't value my services anymore."

Jon's face lit up when he realized what the Andorian was proposing. "They'll probably throw themselves at your feet. I doubt they would give you a ship immediately, though."

"Well, that's obvious. From what I saw, they'll probably give the Enterprise to your Vulcan and, if they gave Hernadez's ship to me, you would have both your ships commanded by alien captains. Not even you pink-skins are that tolerant. I have no problem with waiting a while. I'll have to go through some sort of training anyway."

"That's for sure. But sure as hell, they'll be happy to nail some pips to your collar."

"How many ships do they plan to build?" Shran asked.