More Than a Lifetime #8: The Edge of Heaven

Chapter 14: It's Not Over

"The mission's been cancelled," Archer announced to Trip, T'Pol, Dani, and Kyle, who'd all assembled in Archer's tiny Ready Room.

Trip didn't attempt to contain his shock and dismay at all. "Cancelled?" he asked.

"From what the Admiral tells me, Ambassador Soval will use this to convince Starfleet that we need another 10 or 20 years before we try this again," Archer explained.

"Twenty years?!" Trip was livid. "Starfleet won't buy that for a minute."

"Won't they?" Archer countered sullenly.

Trip turned to Dani. "Tell him he's crazy! Tell him that's guilt talking, not Jonathan Archer!"

Dani couldn't find any words. She was just as shocked as Trip, and that was saying something, considering that she was supposed to already know what happens to Enterprise.

"The Vulcan ship will meet us in three days to get you and Dr. Phlox," Archer told T'Pol. "Please inform Mr. Mayweather to head for these coordinates." He handed her a datapad.

"Where does this leave us?" Dani asked. She added, "Kyle and me, I mean. Are you still sending us back?"

"I can't," Archer said. "Starfleet Command is taking over your case."

Trip wasn't ready to give up. "I can't believe you're letting them do this to us. You've waited all your life to command this ship."

"Dismissed," Archer ordered.

"But sir—" Trip protested.

"I said you're dismissed," Archer reiterated. His eyes slid to Dani for emphasis. "All of you."

Dani, not surprised but disheartened that he would dismiss her so easily, filed out of the room with everyone else.

xxx

"If Starfleet Command gets involved on a larger scale, this has the potential to spiral even ore out of control than it already is now," Dani said. She sat on her bunk in hers and Kyle's quarters, and he leaned against the desk, facing her.

"I know," Kyle said. "I think this is going to call for radical action on our part."

"What do you mean?"

"I know it's better to do things through the protocols of this period," Kyle began, "but we can't risk anyone else finding out about us. I think we should steal the transporter from Engineering and send ourselves back to the future."

Kyle recognized and sympathized withe the apprehension that clouded Dani's features. "I don't want to do it, either, but how else are we going to get home?"

Dani reluctantly nodded. "When?"

"Tonight. We should have no trouble getting access to it. Security protocols during this period weren't nearly as good as what we're used to. And no one would think twice about me being in there and handling the device."

Dani nodded. "Okay," she said. "Once you have it, meet me here in our quarters, and we'll make it happen."

xxx

Dani laid down on her bed in hers and Kyle's quarters. She needed sleep. With everything that had happened over the last day with Archer, the temporal transporter, and Paragan, she was drained, physically and emotionally. She was supposed to meet Kyle tonight after he retrieved the temporal transporter, so she wouldn't be able to sleep a full eight hours. Even if she'd had the time, she doubted she would be able to sleep that long. But at least she could try for a nap.

When Dani opened her eyes, she didn't know how long she had been asleep, but she knew that she wasn't waking up in a bedroom and a bed that she didn't recognize. Archer was beside her in his pajamas, looking just as bewildered as she felt.