Archer stood in his quarters and looked out of the windows at the infinite space before him. A new year had just begun and he wasn't sure how he could endure it. How could he expect his crew to continue on and keep fighting? Somehow they did and to everyone's surprise, they spent the entire year on pins and needles waiting for another engagement with the Romulans. Archer, in particular, expected to look out and see a warbird pointing their guns at them at any moment, but it never happened. Perhaps they too were preoccupied with repairs and trying to regroup. Maybe he had hurt them more than he had thought. The only loss they encountered was that of Shran. During a visit home on Andoria there seemed to have been an accident and Archer received word that his friend had died. The captain shared the news with the crew and he and his senior officers would open a bottle of Andorian Ale and toast their one time friend and ally.
Even without the constant battles Archer had no time for anything except rebuilding the fleet and trying to make it bigger, stronger and faster while also constantly trying to keep the coalition from dissolving. That in itself seemed to be a full time job. There were a few moments when they got to be the explorers they had once set out to be and managed to make even a few first contacts with other species. Archer still found himself with very little or no time at all to spare. There was always something that needed to be repaired, replaced or a meeting that he had to attend.
There was a brief moment shortly after the year twenty-one-fifty-nine began when he thought he could almost see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it was quickly snuffed out. For the next twelve months they battled against the Romulans no less than ten times with heavy casualties and narrowly surviving each time. One of the few exceptions to this was when the NX-01 along with the SS Intrepid and Republic were escorting a convoy of supplies through the Vorkado System.
This was as mundane a duty as you could have and should have been easily completed. The Coalition of Planets had constructed a medical colony on the planet Amaterasu in order to care for those who were sick and injured in battle. It was closer than trying to ferry them all back to Earth or their individual home worlds. The convoy was loaded with medical supplies and food as well as a few additional members of medical staff that could help and even fill in for those that were overworked and exhausted.
The assignment defined boring and humdrum even if it was extremely necessary. As they moved through space everything was going according to procedure until a Romulan warbird was detected. The IRW Aol'fvienn had just barely managed to survive a battle with an Andorian convoy and Captain Khazara had come into the Vorkado system hoping to repair his ship; he had not intended to take on three Earthships, at least not so soon after the Andorians. Even so, the Romulan Captain had never backed down from a fight in his life.
This seemed to be an unusual and fortuitous situation for the Earth vessels. Normally they were almost always on the defense, for once there was an opportunity to take the offense. Scanning the Romulan ship their sensor readings picked up the amount of damage the vessel had already sustained and the decision was made to have the Intrepid and the Republic pursue the Romulan vessel while the NX-01 stayed with the convoy. Long time friends since their academy days, Archer had every confidence in Carlos Ramirez who was captain of the Intrepid. So much so that he had loaned his own helmsman Lt. Travis Mayweather to his friend while theirs was still healing from a previous skirmish. He was level headed, smart and a very shrewd strategist. He had never made a foolish or impetuous decision in his life that Archer knew of and would have no issue getting an already damaged Romulan vessel to surrender and taking its crew as prisoners.
Captain Jennings of the Republic was far less seasoned then Archer or Ramirez, but had shown himself to be amply capable and understood that his colleague on the Intrepid was taking the lead in this situation. Both vessels positioned themselves fore and aft of the Romulan ship cutting off any escape. Captain Ramirez opened a channel of communication to the IRW Aol'fvienn and ordered it to drop its shields and prepare to be boarded. Khazara never answered nor did he drop his shields. He too had heard the stories of planetary destruction from Sela and was not about to allow his crew to fall into the hands of savages that could callously stand by and watch them die. No doubt they would simply torture his crew then kill them if he did try to surrender.
To Khazara, a man with no family of his own, his crew was his family and he was not about to allow them to fall victim to the human barbarians. He would rather die himself. The question was how to escape and he could think of only one way out of the precarious situation. Whichever way he moved, one of the Earth ships would always follow so the only solution was to take out two "Mogai" with one stone, so to speak. Leaning back in his command chair, Kamara ordered the shields extended to their maximum capacity. The captain's of the Intrepid and the Republic believed that the Romulan ship was preparing for battle and called for the polarization of the hull plating. It was too little too late.
From his vantage point, Archer could see something was amiss and the sensors on the NX-01 picked up on the shield energy build up. Everything in his gut told him that something was very wrong, but he had no idea what was being planned to warn the others, even so he told Hoshi to hail the captain of the Intrepid. It wasn't soon enough. It took no time for the Aoi'fvienn's shields to extend beyond its capacity instantly igniting the ship's warp plasma and sending a shockwave of energy through the two attacking ships. The force of the waves buckled and smashed the hull plating disabling the vessels and sending them flying backwards. No longer in danger, the Romulan vessel quietly went to warp and vanished into the reaches of space while the Intrepid and Republic sent out distress calls.
Shocked by what he witnessed, Archer's first instinct was to follow and blow the Romulan ship out of the stars, but he couldn't ignore the calls for help, nor the need to continue protecting the convoy. He ordered Dr. Phlox to get ready to take on casualties and the wounded. He went himself on board the Republic to assess the damage and was surprised not to find more crewmen injured or dead, although having even one was too many as far as he was concerned. When he beamed onto the Intrepid he found the damage more extensive. Travis Mayweather had received a head injury and a punctured lung from flying debris. Captain Ramirez had not been so fortunate. A portion of railing had detached in the melee and the force caused it to impale itself in the captain's chest and chair.
Watching them carry his old friend's body from the bridge, Archer found it difficult to contain his anger and outrage. He had lost too many close personal friends as well as so many crew members and still he had never laid eyes on a single Romulan. That very first day when they left space dock eight years before, Dr. Phlox and T'Pol had always reminded him to keep an open mind and not judge other species by human standards. He always tried to do that very thing. He even tried when they committed an unprovoked attack on Columbia and killed Erica Hernandez. How can you keep an open mind when a species you're never laid eyes on hates you so much that they want you dead and you don't even know why?
Ultimately Kamara's maneuver killed six and injured another fourteen crewmen. Perhaps this was not as many losses as they had experienced in other battles but it was still too much. Another casualty of the battle was that Archer no longer had an open mind, not when it came to the Romulan Star Empire. Yes, the Xindi had once killed seven-million humans and had wanted to kill more, but at least they had managed to meet and talk. There had been an opportunity to delve into what was driving the hostilities and then work together to prevent the deaths of either species. These Romulans allowed no such chances. There were no talks, no learning, only an all-consuming hatred. Archer wished he could feel some form of compassion for them, but after four years he wasn't sure he could muster a single tear if their race suddenly died tomorrow.
With the loss of Captain Ramirez, Archer became more withdrawn, although he never stopped doing his duty. He read reports, conducted all necessary meetings and conferences and did everything that was expected of a captain. His normal friendly, jovial manner was gone and he had begun taking his meals in his quarters. No one questioned his ability to command the ship, but there were still rumors regarding this sudden desire to be reclusive in his off time. Dr. Phlox attempted to counsel him, but the captain was unmoved. T'Pol reminded him of a time when he had advised her on the importance of fraternization and he knew she was right, but he still found it impossible to put on a calm reassuring facade when all the galaxy seemed to be setting itself on fire. It was easier to stay in his quarters and deal with it only when he had too.
Mostly Captain Archer questioned his decision to take that leap into space exploration by taking the Klingon known as Klang back to Qo'noS. From that moment it seemed like they had been swapping one conflict after another with one species and then another. First there was the Suliban trying their damnedest to upend time, the on-again-off-again temper tantrums from the Klingons, being caught between the Andorians and the Vulcans, of course the Xindi Conflict and now this. Where was all the exploration and discovery that he had once dreamed about? Yes, he had hoped to make first contact with different species and learn from them, but the vast majority of his knowledge seemed to be how to piss off each and every species he met.
