Daedalus's Children

Chapter One Jonathan Archer clenched and unclenched his fist. Once, twice, several times...There was definitely something wrong with him.An ache in all his joints, not just his fingers. A weariness in his bones, an exhaustion that just wouldn't go away, no matter how much he rested during the day, how many hours of sleep he got at night. It went beyond a simple adjustment to prison life, he was certain of that, even though Rava One's doctors dismissed his complaints as bellyaching."Archer!"He looked up from the cot he was sitting on.Tomon, one of the prison guards -- Archer's least favorite guard, in fact -- stood outside his cell."Up!" he yelled, brandishing his weapon, a long, thin metal rod akin to an old-fashioned Taser. Primitive, but highly effective. If he touched you with it, you got a debilitating electric shock. Archer knew this from hard-earned experience -- the first time he'd been a little too slow in obeying Tomon's commands, he'd gotten a taste of that shock. It had left him twitching on the ground for what felt like hours.It had left Tomon with a nasty smile on his face.Archer remembered that smile as he rose from his cot and locked eyes with the guard. Tomon was small and slight -- almost half a meter shorter than the captain, a good twenty-three kilos lighter -- with a nasty streak Archer was sure he'd adopted in an attempt to compensate for his size. Over the last couple weeks -- since the crew had first been imprisoned here on Rava One -- he'd turned that nasty streak on the captain more than once.Archer was looking forward to a little payback -- sooner, rather than later.Some of that attitude must have shown in his eyes."You want some more of this?" Tomon asked, raising his weapon."No," Archer said with as much humility as he could muster, gazing down at the ground."Then wipe that look off your face. And fall in." Tomon stepped to the side of the cell doorway and deactivated the ion field.The captain of the Enterprise shuffled forward, stopping just outside his cell.A metal wall rose before him, stretching up a good three stories. High at the top of that wall, a single porthole -- a piece of glass perhaps two meters square -- looked out onto the stars.Rava One was a satellite -- location unknown. Archer and his crew had been trapped here for two and a half weeks."Eyes front, Archer," Tomon snapped.The captain lowered his gaze and stared at the blank wall in front of him."Good."Tomon moved on to the cell to the captain's left.Archer risked a quick glance to his right.O'Neill stood there, hands clasped behind her back, in front of her cell. She wore a drab, gray, one-piece coverall. The same coverall Archer wore. Beyond her the captain saw Dwight and Carstairs and Duel.The captain nodded briefly to all of them.Dwight looked worse, he saw. Pale, thin, hunched over like an old man. Archer frowned and shook his head. The young ensign had been in the infirmary most of the last week, unable to keep down any of the food the Denari were giving them. He wasn't the only one, but he'd been by far the most seriously affected. An allergic reaction -- anaphylactic shock, Phlox had called it -- had almost killed him the first day. Dwight had been sick almost every day since. More than the rest of them, he'd had to be very careful about what he ate. The captain knew his last meal had been almost nothing.Archer locked eyes with Dwight now, and offered what he hoped was an encouraging smile.Hang in there kid. D-Day -- D for deliverance -- is coming soon."What did I say, Archer? Hey?"The captain heard Tomon's yell and felt the jab of his weapon at the exact same second.His brain exploded in agony.He was vaguely aware of falling, the back of his head slamming to the floor, his hands and feet, arms and legs, twitching spasmodically, over and over again. Mostly, his world was pain. White-hot