Child of Time-Ch. 13

The Child of Time

By JD1

Rating: PG, Mystery, Romance
Disclaimers in Chapter One

Author's Note: This is almost the last chapter; I have only one other chapter I’m going to be posting, I think. The next one will be the epilogue, Trip, T’Pol, and Selack in the future.
Summary: How will Selack escape this time when both Malcolm and Archer confront him?

Chapter 13

The End of the Beginning and the Beginning of the End

**Bridge**

The next day was much more energetic than normal, even for a day when they came across a new planet. This time they had found a system of twenty-two planets. The one down-side was, only two were m-class, one being the third planet from the sun and the second the eighth. The third planet wasn’t inhabited, but their scans of the eighth were inconclusive, so they were going in for a closer look.

As they got closer, they could see that it had four rings. Each was a different shade of blue and/or purple. The planet was a mixture of tans, browns, whites, and bluish purple. They all formed swirls and strips of colors as they blended together in different areas. But the interesting part was the purple and blue shadow that had formed, from the rings, to make the planet's outline. The outline almost seemed to blend right into space. And its beauty amazed the entire bridge.

Archer, though still suspicious, sent Selack, along with Hoshi, T’Pol, and Ensign Larry Mathews, a security officer. Ensign Mathews was twenty-three and average-sized for his age. He had black hair and brown eyes, with tan skin. And his accent gave his Russian heritage away. He was strong, agile and one of Malcolm’s best officers, for an Ensign. Archer was about to go himself, but remembered the call he was waiting for from Virok.

And though Malcolm gave Archer a strange look went he said he was sending Selack down, and was the one who wanted a security officer down there, no one was the wiser about their suspicions of Selack.

**Archer’s Ready Room**

"Captain, you have an incoming message from the Vulcan High Command." The Ensign subbing for Hoshi informed him.

"I’ll take it in here," Archer replied.

"Hello again, Captain Archer." Virok greeted him with his usually Vulcan cheer.
"Virok, I assume you have something on Selack." Archer said getting right to business.

"You’re correct; I was able to track down one other Selack. The new information you sent almost confirms it." Virok told him. With Archer’s nod, he continued. "It appears he was born on a ship and his birth unknown to the Vulcan High Command. His parents were fugitives, but died almost four human years ago. He has been known to work with more… shadowy individuals." It seemed even more likely to Archer that Selack is involved with the Suliban.
The door chime indicated that someone wanted to talk to him or give him a report. "I have to go, Virok. Thank you." He turned off the screen and called out, "Come in."

The doors slide open and revealed Malcolm. He steeped in, his face written with concern. The way he walked and his body language showed the obvious appearance of having bad news.

"Malcolm, what’s the news?" Archer asked.

He hesitated a moment, "I’ve confirmed it was Selack who altered the data." He tossed a PADD to Archer containing all the information of how he came to his conclusion.

Archer skimmed it over. When he finished, he looked up at his Chief of Security and handed it back. After a moment of thought, he filled him in on his conversation with Virok and his thoughts on it.

**On The Planet**

It was a canyon! The whole damn planet was a canyon!

The ground was dusty and had yellowish tan color with hints a white here and there. There where green and brown shrubs everywhere, most dead but some were still alive. The shrubs were the second worst part, since the away team kept getting caught in them. The worst part, for the humans, was the extreme heat. It must have been at least one hundred and thirty-something degrees Fahrenheit.

Another problem was all the cliffs and rock structures that had formed everywhere. Also their scanners only had a ratio of ten meters, making it impossible to see all the cliffs and making them use their eyes rather than scanners for directions.

They split up into two groups, T’Pol and Hoshi and Selack and Mathews. Mathews and Selack had been traveling around an area of cliffs and cracks in the ground.

Selack soon found that Mathews had never quite learned how to keep his mouth shut. He inhaled deeply and raised his eyebrow, as he pulled on all his training to keep his control over his annoyance.

"So how do you like the Enterprise? This vould make, vhat, about a month now?" Mathews rambled on.

"Shh… did you ear that?" Selack had heard a sound of something rubbing a rock, but they were both a meter in front of the last one they past.

"Hear vhat?"

"Shh," Selack motioned for him to stop and he looked around, but saw nothing. Mathews did the same, shifting back to security mode. He shrugged his shoulders when he didn’t see anything. They continued to walk, this time more cautious and quiet.

After a few minutes, Selack heard it again. Only this time it was quickly followed by the sound of phaser fire. Seconds later he saw Mathews fall limp on the ground. Selack bent down and quickly checked his pulse: dead.

Selack scanned the area with his eyes, letting his eyes inspect everything. He saw something move, and that’s when he knew that had to be who or what shot Mathews. As he looked closer, he knew what that something was.

He took out his communicator and told the Sub-Commander and Hoshi what happened and where he was. Then he pulled out Mathew’s phaser and followed the movement. "I know who you are! Show yourself! Instead of being a coward and hide behind your genetic alterations!" Selack yelled as he trained his weapon where he knew the Suliban was.

An evil laughter echoed around him as the Suliban came into view. "Brave words, for a child about to die." He continued to walk toward him, Selack showing no sign of backing down or showing the fear that the Suliban’s imitation was supposed to induce.

Selack’s eyes were trained on the weapon, learning about it, remembering what it can do. The Suliban looked down at the weapon and then back at Selack. "You want this? Well have it." The Suliban threw his weapon over the cliff; Selack stood horrified wondering why he did that. Before Selack knew what was happening, his gun shared the same fate as the Suliban's.

When Selack figured out what happened, he had been thrown onto the ground. But before the Suliban was able to jump on him, he rolled over and elbowed him in the back. He popped up and before he knew it, they were engaged in a fight to the death.

**Hoshi and T’Pol**

They had found the same basics as the other two: cliffs, rock structures, shrubs, heat, and dust. Only they got a surprise visit from Malcolm and Captain Archer.

"Captain, Lieutenant, why are you here?" T’Pol asked, practically suspicious, as their figures walked slowly toward them.

"Where are the other two?" Archer inquired when he didn’t see them.
"We split up to cover more ground." Hoshi answered. She concluded with a, "Yeah, why are you here."

Malcolm and Archer shared a look before Archer responded with, "We have reason to believe Selack may be… involved with the Suliban. After some test, Malcolm found that Selack tampered with the data he collected and that it actually was the Suliban who attacked the two planets. Along with other things we don’t have time to explain but I will later."

"Do you know where he is; we have to get to him?" Malcolm inquired just in time for T’Pol’s comm. to chirp.

T’Pol took out her comm. and answered, "Yes?"

"Sub-Command, Ensign Mathews is… dead. I am approximately two kilometers away from the shuttle pod, and I may require some assistance." They could hear a single phaser fire before the link was cut. T’Pol and the other three looked at each other, mostly with remorse but with slight interest. A few seconds later they headed to the area he said they were.

Twenty or so minutes later they were there. Ensign Mathew’s body was lifeless on the ground, back facing up, and he definably looked dead. Farther back they could see Selack and a Suliban, engaged in an intense fight. Malcolm had considered shooting the Suliban, but they were too close to separate and aim properly.

They watched the scene for another minute or so before someone yelled out, "They’re heading for the cliff!"

**The Cliff**

His feet were right on the edge of a cliff. The rocks were falling under his feet and he could feel himself slipping with them. The Suliban's nails dug into his throat and he could feel his windpipe starting to be closed off. His own hands were clawing at the Suliban's arms and hands trying to brake free.
He knew he could not win now, but if he were to fall, he was going to take this Suliban with him. He tensed as his chance came. The Suliban had released a hand and had gone to punch him, but Selack grabbed it. In the process he lost his balance and ended up taking the two of them down.

Just before they hit the bottom, one of them was engulfed in a beam of light and disappeared. Then a thud could be heard, even at the top of the cliff where the away team now stood.

They began their trek down but, in the end, they would find only the one body.

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So was it Selack whose body they found? Did his destiny just blow up in his face? What will happen to the future now if that did happen? Or was he the one who escaped?

Please R/R and tell me what you think happened and you can see who was the closest to the truth.

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