A Pact with Mephisto

Notes: There is some dialogue directly from the episode "In a Mirror, Darkly Pt. II." Those are indicated by bold.

Mike Sussman (the writer of the ep) had bios made up for both the "real universe" Archer and Sato, but Hoshi's was never shown on screen (and therefore, not really "canon"). I took a little liberty with the "real" Hoshi's eventual fate.

And we get to see Hoshi's POV on the Defiant's Bridge when Major Reed nearly gets blown up by Slar's bomb.

She had hesitated, on the Bridge, as the ship exploded around her. Max Forrest sat at the console, firing Enterprise's weapons at the Tholians. He looked at her over her shoulder and yelled, "Get out of here! Go!"

Max was going down with his ship; he was buying her time with his life. He already knew he was a dead man, so at least he would go down in the history of the Empire as a defender to the last. Only Hoshi saw the intense gaze from his blue eyes: Do not fail the Empire, Hoshi. Do not fail me.

But she had still hesitated, until she saw the anger and determination in his face. Then she turned and ran, leaving him to his fate. She managed to reach one of the last escape pods before its door slammed shut. Hands tried to shove her back out into the corridor, but she pushed her way into the pod. Suddenly, they were free from the dying ship, fleeing into space towards the Defiant. Moments later, Enterprise erupted in a blaze of unholy glory, the debris spread over Tholian space. Hoshi watched as her home for the past three and a half years---and one of her lovers---vanished into nothing.

Her eyes were dry; she had no more tears left to shed. The waiting was over and it was time to put her plan into action. It was time to save the Empire from men like Archer. Men like Reed.

She expected Defiant to leave some of the pods to drift to their fates. After all, Archer looked for any opportunity to rid himself of Forrest's supporters. Hoshi stared out the viewport at the clean lines of the new ship. She'd never seen anything quite like it before. Imperial ships were meant to intimidate their subjects; the relative simplicity of Defiant hinted at a more innocent time, a universe free of fear.

It fascinated her and repulsed her at the same time. Where did the Tholians find this ship? Rumor had it that it had appeared out of nowhere, and the Tholians wanted to know its secrets. She winced at the thought of taking Defiant apart, piece by piece, for study. Suddenly, Hoshi knew exactly how Charles felt as an engineer, and the loss of so much alien technology to the Empire.

No. She would keep the ship intact, and allow Charles to learn its secrets.

Hoshi shook her head. She was becoming sentimental and that was dangerous.

To everyone's surprise, Defiant pulled them into its hangar bay with a powerful tractor beam. They had to wait until the deck repressurized, but no one wasted any time getting out of the pod. Hoshi waited until everyone else had left before climbing up the ladder. As she expected, there were some looks of anger and disgust at her survival, mostly from the female complement of the crew. She ignored them all.

A hand snaked out and pulled her into a hidden alcove on the shuttle deck. She didn't have time to scream before she saw a pair of implacable gray-blue eyes gazing down at her. He was wearing a red shirt and black pants, much simpler than an Imperial or a MACO uniform. At least it was better than those horrid EVA suits.

"You managed to escape. How fortunate," he said flatly.

Her mouth twitched in grim humor, and she thought, Disappointed, Malcolm? I'm not. Aloud, she only replied, "Yes."

"Forrest?"

"Dead. He went down with his ship. It was his choice. He ordered me to leave him there."

Reed just studied her expression for several seconds before giving her a slow nod. "Then with Forrest dead, Archer is in command of Defiant."

"Yes."

His grip tightened on her arm as he hissed in a low voice, "Unacceptable."

It hurt, but she didn't betray the pain on her face. He wasn't angry at her, but at the twist of fate that ensured Archer's position. She still didn't understand why he was so upset at the change. Reed had been one of Archer's staunchest supporters on Enterprise, siding against Forrest.

"Why are you upset at the change of management? You're his First Officer now, aren't you?"

"No." His lips turned upwards into a sneer. "He's gone and made that Vulcan his First Officer. Archer trusts me even less than I do him."

Her smile was without humor. So that was why Reed was furious; Archer had promoted the Vulcan, an enemy of the Empire, over the loyal MACO major. She would be livid if she was in his place. The intentional snub confirmed to her that Archer had just made another mistake.

"So you'll kill him, then. And T'Pol."

"Eventually, when the time is right. Right now, Archer's our best choice out of many poor choices. I don't see Tucker or Mayweather commanding this ship, and God forbid that Vulcan takes over an Imperial ship with this much firepower. We need to solidify our position before we make any moves against them."

She nodded in response and pretended to think hard. Our position. Malcolm still believes we're on the same side. Fine, let him think that. "Your MACOs...they support Archer?"

"For now. But that will change." Reed matched her smile. "He's made Mayweather his personal guard. It will only be a matter of time before Archer goes and does something stupid. Then we'll strike."

She narrowed her eyes at him and said in a low tone, "Then Defiant will be yours, but that's not all you want, is it? You want the Empire."

Reed smirked. "So do you. It's fortunate that we're on the same side now, isn't it."

The communications network within Defiant was similar to the one that had been on Enterprise. The hardware had been upgraded substantially, but the basic function was the same. Although the Universal Translator was tied into the system, most of the languages were from long-dead people and cultures, and therefore useless to her now. The comm officer of the future had been reduced to little more than a glorified switchboard operator. Archer found the downgrade rather amusing, or rather, he found her righteous anger over her diminished importance amusing.

There was no place for someone like her in Defiant's future. Not in the other dimension's Starfleet, at any rate. Archer never said it to her face, but he implied that her only usefulness would be as his consort. Even that wasn't assured, for Archer preferred a woman who was less outspoken than her. Someone whom he didn't have to worry about stabbing him in the back.

Was Reed any better? He was biding his time, supporting Archer, until he had all of his provisions in place. Hoshi shivered at the thought of him as Emperor. The major was just as bloodthirsty and unyielding as the one currently on the throne. The Empire was crumbling because of men like him. No, Reed must never become Emperor, and neither must Archer.

The Terran Empire needs a new direction. Neither man is willing to do that, but keep the status quo. How will I get around Archer and Reed? I need time to think.

In the meantime, she had to play Mata Hari, and humor both of them. She winced as she went in search of Archer first.

Hoshi found him in the captain's quarters of the Defiant, sporting a green, wraparound shirt that matched his eyes. She sighed mentally; it fit him well enough, better than Max, if he'd still been alive. But she could imagine it fitting other men even better. Charles, perhaps. Or Malcolm. Or Travis.

She was surprised that Archer had been looking through the ship's database, even more surprised that there was no Terran Empire. "The United Federation of Planets?"

"More like a Federation of Fools," Archer sneered. Then he brought up the "other" Hoshi Sato's service record, taunted her with the information of how the "other" one had married, and how she had died. A spasm of revulsion went through her, even as the curiosity warred with her self-preservation.

That is another person. That is not me. Whatever she did, whomever she married, however she died, that woman is not me. Hoshi didn't want to admit it, but what if the "other" Hoshi's life turned out much better than her own? Respected, fruitful?

Happy?

She raised a hand and said abruptly, "Stop. I don't want to know."

"But this isn't you."

'I don't care." She decided to turn his attempt at humiliation back at him and requested the service record of his counterpart. The achievements of Captain Jonathan Archer was quite impressive and she rattled off the list. His face darkened as she went on, until he abruptly switched off the screen.

"Great men are not peacemakers. Great men are conquerors."

She hid a smile; he was so jealous of his "double's" accomplishments in the other universe. The other Archer was everything that this Jonathan was not. A legitimate starship captain, diplomat, ambassador, president of this Federation. How could she exploit Jonathan's insecurity to her own ends? Hoshi decided to do nothing, for it would only be a matter of time before he destroyed himself.

For now, she needed to cosset him and reassure him of his greatness. Jonathan rebuffed her attempts, which was fine with her. The seed had already been planted.

Much later, in the privacy of her own quarters, she gave in to temptation and briefly skimmed her counterpart's profile. Her eyes widened as she read about the linguacode matrix and her career within Starfleet. Suddenly, she understood how Jonathan could be so jealous of that other universe.

Hoshi stared at one paragraph in particular. That one bit of information stunned her...in another universe, they were different people, with different lives. "Married to Captain Malcolm Reed, USS Victory, later Admiral, Head of Starfleet Security Division. Two children: Commander Charles Stuart Reed and Doctor Janet Samiko Reed."

Her other self had married the alternate Malcolm Reed, had children with him. Her son had become a security officer, like his father. Her daughter, a civilian doctor in interspecies medicine, like her Denobulan godfather. Phlox was her godfather and mentor? That...sadist...mentored my daughter?

She shuddered in revulsion and blanked the screen. After a long moment, her mouth quirked upward. As the major would say in this universe, not bloody likely. Still...

She brought up the entry on Commander Charles Tucker the Third. Her eyes widened at the biography. It confirmed to her that Charles was a brilliant engineer, even if he too had made a strange choice of a mate. That Vulcan? Certain things she'd seen in this universe, things she'd thought odd, abruptly made perfect sense. Hoshi chuckled to herself and shook her head. That changed her plans slightly, but she wanted Charles...Trip...to have some kind of happiness after all he'd endured.

Apparently, the Vulcan had something to do with it. Hoshi knew something was going on between those two, something that neither of them wished to acknowledge to each other. It all started about the time of T'Pol's pon farr; she had turned to Charles when any other man would have been sufficient. It wasn't just a one-time fling, either. Hoshi made sure she knew of that.

Hoshi smiled to herself. She was glad she looked at the database without Archer hovering over her shoulder. Information was power, and she was determined to use it.

As for how her counterpart had died...Hoshi planned to change that as well.

Of course, the Gorn's attack changed everything. Ensign Kelby had died a horrible, gruesome death; Hoshi shivered as she recalled Phlox's report. A velociraptor. That description of the attack wasn't far off; the Gorn were reptilian, with a temper to match. Poor Kelby didn't have a chance against Slar alone, even if the bumbling idiot was the most highly trained MACO on the ship.

Hoshi picked up the comm signal within the ship and identified it as Slar's. Of course, Archer traded arrogant words with the reptile, before Slar cut off the transmission.

"Major, get your team together. Your best men."

"Aye, sir." Reed glanced at her briefly before he left the Bridge. His mind was already on the hunt, but he still smirked at her as he disappeared into the lift. Archer decided to join the search for Slar himself and strode off the Bridge without another glance.

She hid her own smirk; did Archer hear the voice of his counterpart, daring him to prove himself worthy? Perhaps Archer would do them all a favor by getting himself killed and save her the trouble. That would leave command to T'Pol, but no one would follow a Vulcan captain. Malcolm would be obligated to step in and intervene. Captain Reed. Despite herself, her mind flashed back to the bio of her counterpart. The other Malcolm had commanded his own ship...Hoshi yanked her mind off that dangerous track. Besides, Reed would have to be a Colonel, the MACO equivalent rank of a starship captain...

And then he would move on to be Emperor. She shivered as a cold chill came over her. Like someone just walked over my grave. She checked communications from all over the ship, and the signal from Slar still came through.

"Reed to the Bridge. Where is he?"

Hoshi answered before T'Pol did. "Access tube seven alpha, near junction three. He isn't moving."

T'Pol added quickly, "Lifesign faint, but confirmed, Major."

"Waiting for us, no doubt. Tactical mistake...there are only two ways out of there." He relayed the information to Archer, who ordered Reed to go and flush Slar out of his hiding place and drive him into the junction. Despite her misgivings, she kept silent and only concentrated on the constant signal from the Gorn.

"Reed to Captain Archer."

"Go ahead."

"It's not here. He's modified a communicator to emit a false bio sign."

Hoshi cursed under her breath. Damn it all to hell. The oldest trick in the book...set up a false signal to mask your true whereabouts. She should have warned Archer, but she doubted he would have listened to her anyway. Malcolm, on the other hand...

"Meet us in Junction Three."

"Acknowledged."

Wait, why would Slar set up a false signal? To draw them in, to lure them...Hoshi shot to her feet, suddenly in a panic. "It's a trap!"

T'Pol whirled around to face her. "What?"

Hoshi hailed Malcolm's communicator, but it was too late. The Bridge trembled from an explosion belowdecks, and she gripped the edge of her console. The two women traded grim expressions, then T'Pol said, "We must alert Doctor Phlox."

"I'll organize the MACOs to apprehend that damn Gorn," Sergeant Mayweather said, his tone calm and controlled. Hoshi forgot that he was was still there, but before she could say anything to him, he had disappeared into the lift.

"Archer to T'Pol. Where is it?"

T'Pol consulted the computer and answered, "The Gorn's moved into the primary hull. It's on Deck Nine."

"We're going to Plan B. Access the environmental controls on that deck. Wait for my signal."

"Acknowledged."

Travis signaled the Bridge; he was leading a squad of MACOs as backup for Archer. Hoshi acknowledged the report; although she wanted to ask about Malcolm's status, she held her tongue. If Malcolm was dead...she gritted her teeth in frustration. It would be so much like the git to get himself blown up just when he was becoming useful. He would have been an excellent choice to take control of Defiant after Archer was dead.

Now her plans had to change. Again. She couldn't count on the major surviving the explosion, so she had to move quickly to salvage the situation.

So much for happy endings. I've never put too much stock in them anyway.

She hardened her heart as T'Pol activated the gravity plating underneath Slar's feet. Moments later, weapons discharge crackled on the comm as Archer made sure Slar would no longer cause trouble.

Malcolm Reed was most likely dead, but Jonathan Archer was still alive. Damn him, the lucky bastard, she thought. It was time for Plan B for her as well.

Comments:

Asso

For me MU is dark, evil (stupid, improbable). Nothing else than that. And still you made me to be interested.
And, believe me, if you have been able to push me to read an MU story, this means that you did a very good job!

willow

interesting that hoshi has a  heart but can still be ruthless at the same time. looking forward to reading more

bluetiger

Very nice, I got a real sense in this chapter that Hoshi has a good head on her shoulders and isn't going to let Reed or Archer get in her way. Your Hoshi may just be what the Empire needs.

If I'm not mistaken Reed's fate was not made clear in canon. Didn't Phlox say he could go either way?

Of course we all know Archer's fate . Can't wait to see what Empress Sato does for or too the Empire.

Honeybee

Well, it sure is getting exciting! And this with us knowing what's going to happen, assuming you stick to the events of IAMD. I like that there was some tenderness over Forrest here, as she seemed to have real affection for him in the episode, as opposed to Archer. Keep the chapters coming, I can't wait until we get some TnT action going.

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