“ I can’t reestablish the signal,” Hoshi said. “Whoever it was, they’ll have to start sending to us again.”

“Okay, thank you.” Archer couldn’t wait any longer. He knew that he had to warn the Coridanites, andinform his superiors on Earth. “Hoshi, raise the highest Coridan government official you can, and pipe them onto my screen.”

While he waited to speak to the Coridanite government, he tapped in the emergency code to contact Admiral Gardner on Earth. At the moment it was 4:50 A.M. Pacific time on Earth, but the news he’d just received certainly qualified as an emergency.

Archer’s desktop screen jumped to life as a weary Gardner appeared on it, yawning as he pulled on a robe. Archer saw the ready light that Hoshi had sent from the bridge, and his finger hovered over the appropriate button.

“ This had better be damned important, Captain,” Gardner said grumpily. “I have some crucial meetings first thing in the morning.”

“It’s vitallyimportant,” Archer said. He tapped the button, and the screen split in two. Half of the screen now showed the face of a Coridan official, someone in the diplomatic corps, Archer thought, judging from the Coridanite’s ceremonial mask. “Admiral Gardner, I’ve patched us in on a conference transmission with the Coridan official…” His voice trailed off.

“ Legate Hanshev,” the Coridanite said. It sounded like a female voice, but Archer couldn’t be certain that the mask wasn’t electronically altering Hanshev’s speech.

Gardner composed himself quickly, his bearing changing almost instantly. “All right, Captain Archer. You have our attention.”

Time to put on my best game,Archer thought. “We have been given intelligence indicating that the Romulans are planning some kind of strike against Coridan in the next seventy‑twohours. We’ve been told that this will notbe an invasion, but rather an attempt to destroy as much of the planet and its resources as possible.”

The Coridanite’s face was completely hidden behind the inhuman‑looking mask, but her body language clearly registered shock. “How did you come upon this information?”

“We had heard rumors of such an attack being planned,” Archer said. “I aided in arrangements to send…trustworthy people to investigate the rumors firsthand.” He leaned forward, trying to look as serious as he could. “Let me be plain. I trust the person who gathered this information implicitly. I would stake my life on the truthfulness of this person’s data.”

Gardner seemed to be gritting his teeth, and his eyebrows had both furrowed down into a deep scowl. “And what are you proposing to do about this, Captain Archer?”

“Well, my immediate step was to contact you both,” Archer said. “This will give Coridan Prime’s government as much time as possible to evacuate its people, or mount an attack, or erect defenses. I’d recommend all three. Secondly, I request permission to divert Enterpriseto the Coridan system immediately. Perhaps we can help Coridan Prime stop this attack, or at least provide support for Coridan’s defense and evacuation efforts.”

Gardner’s eyes narrowed. “We need you back here at Earth, Captain. I thought I had made that crystal clear before.”

Archer pushed his temper down. “That was when all I had was rumors. We now know them to be facts.”

“ Youbelieve them to be facts,” Gardner said, his voice rising in volume.

Before Archer could argue his point further, the Coridanite legate spoke again. “Admiral,I believe your captain’s words. We, too, have our sources, and the threat from the Romulans has been an ongoing concern for some time. Now, it would appear that the threat is finally imminent.

“As to your offer of aid, Captain, while it is generous, I believe that there isn’t anything further you can do that our own ships cannot,”Hanshev said. “If your superior says you’re needed on your own homeworld, I will release you from your promise to assist us.”

Archer’s mouth dropped open. He knew that the Coridanites were an intensely private and proud people, but refusing aid during such a time of crisis seemed beyond the pale.

“ Do you have any further information that might aid the Coridanites?” Gardner asked, a slight smile hidden underneath the edges of his salt‑and‑pepper mustache. “Or should we allow them to get on to thevitally important tasks ahead of them, while you fulfill yourown mission?”

Inwardly, Archer was seething, but he swallowed his anger. “That’s all the information I have. Seventy‑two hours.”

“I thank you for your warning and your offer,”Legate Hanshev said, bowing his head slightly. “We will make the best possible use of your warning.”The Coridanite’s image disappeared, allowing Gardner’s to take up the entirety of the screen’s frame once again.

“ That would have been an excellent play, if it had worked, Captain,” Gardner said, his expression returning to its earlier fury.

“That was no ‘play,’ sir, it was–”

“ It was an attempt to circumvent mydirect orders!”Gardner shouted, interrupting him.

Archer, his tone dangerously close to insubordination, countered, “People’s liveswill be lost. Waris on its way.”

Gardner glared at him for a moment, then finally spoke. “The Coridanites don’t want your help. And you are due back on Earth.”

On the screen, the admiral lifted his hand, clearly ready to end the communication, but paused just before doing so. “Let me make one thing clear, Captain. This stunt you just pulled…if anything remotely similarever happens again, I’ll have you cashiered out of the fleet.”

The screen went black for a moment before the Starfleet logo reappeared.

Well, that didn’t go all that well,Archer thought, his ire up and his ego bruised. He wished for a moment that Porthos were here beside him, instead of in his quarters. He could use some nonjudgmental canine company right about now.

Although his mind whirled with emotions and questions, he seemed to fixate on one thing: No matter how much Coridan Prime might not want Enterprise’s assistance, Archer felt that they could stop the oncoming devastation threatened by the Romulan attack.

But it all depends on exactly how I decide to spend the next seventy‑two hours,Archer thought. Gardner’s orders notwithstanding.

The door chime sounded, startling Archer out of his unhappy reverie. He pressed the comm button on his desk.

“Come in.”

The door slid open with a quiet hiss. T’Pol stood in the threshold, her hands behind her back and head tipped inquisitively. The intensity of her gaze, however, far exceeded mere curiosity.

She knows I’ve been keeping her out of the loop,Archer thought as she stepped inside the ready room as the door closed behind her. A frisson of guilt clutched at his heart as Archer considered how much he had kept from her. The fact that circumstances justified his secrecy made him feel a little better about having misled a first officer who had served him so loyally for the past nearly four years.

She raised an eyebrow. “‘Lazarus,’ Captain?”

Archer rose from behind his desk. Deciding that she deserved to know as much of the truth as possible, he said, “It’s the code name of a covert intelligence source working inside Romulan space. One that I trust implicitly.”

“Indeed. And I presume from the raised voices I heard through the door that this source has just imparted some rather important information.”

Her remark rattled Archer, until he reminded himself of the uncanny acuteness of Vulcan hearing–and that her frankly inquisitive demeanor meant that she probably hadn’t actually heard any of the details of the exchanges he’d just shared with Legate Hanshev and Admiral Gardner.