It was near the end of the Gamma shift. It had been a quiet nite but the bridge crew was on edge. It had been hard on everyone since they entered the Expanse but it seemed that the senior staff especially the Captain had been more distracted and angry. Archer wasn’t sleeping well and when he was awake, it was likely as not that he would end up on the bridge. They were all out here when they could have stayed on earth because of him. Their confidence in him was unflagging and they would follow this man to the end of the universe. More and more it was looking like it could be well inside this Expanse but right now it was best to keep a low profile, do their jobs and not draw attention to themselves. Everyone had felt the sharp side of the Captains tongue lately.

The lift door slide open and Archer walked onto the bridge. He looked around and checked the science station and then turned to the watch commander.

“Quiet tonight?”

“Yes, sir, no changes from last night.” she stood from the command chair as she addressed him.

“At ease, Lieutenant.” he said with a slight smile. “I’ll be in the Command Center until the start of the Alpha shift.”

“Yes, sir!” she watched him walk off the bridge, sighed and sat back into the chair and continued with the reports that she had been working on. At least he had smiled, something they didn’t see often any more.

Jonathan Archer walked quickly down the corridor to the Command Center. He spent a most of his days and a lot of his nights in this room. They had spent weeks going thru the Xindi database that they had managed to download and he was extremely frustrated that they hadn’t made more progress. As he walked in, he realized that he was not the first one up this morning. T’Pol was here, her head bent over the console in total concentration. Across the room from her was his Chief Engineer, Trip Tucker. He had 4 PADDs spread out in front of him.

They looked up as he entered.

“T’Pol, Trip.” he nodded a greeting to them both.

Trip muttered “Cap’n.” and bent his head back to his work.

“Good Morning, Captain.” T’Pol greeted him “I think I have found something interesting regarding the spheres.” She was referring to the 2 spheres that they had found so far. They had determined that there may be as many as 50 of them which seem to be causing the anomalies in the expanse.

“It would appear that they might all be communicating with each other somehow. If that is the case, we could try and come up with a way to disrupt that communication. That might allow us to take some control over at least one of them”

“Do you think if we did that we might have a some control over the anomalies?” Archer asked, interested.

“Unknown, sir but it is a possibility.”

They started discussing how this could be accomplished. Curious Trip left his work and came over and the 3 of them spent an hour going thru the Xindi data base to see if this was even a possibility. At the end of an hour, it was clear that they were not making any headway in finding anything they could work with at this point. Frustrated once again, they just stared at the data that flashed on the screen in front of them.

The com panel sounded “Bridge to Captain Archer.”

Archer walked to the panel and pushed the button. “Archer.”

“Captain, we are picking up a ship on sensors.” It was Malcolm.

“On my way.” He glanced at Trip and T’Pol and they followed him toward the bridge.

“How far is that ship, Malcolm?” Archer asked as he walked onto the bridge. Trip moved to the bridge engineering station next to Malcolm and T’Pol made her way to the science station.

“Approximately 20 thousand kilometers, Sir, and they don’t appear to be moving.”

“Go to Tactical Alert and drop to Impulse.” he ordered, then stopping in front of the science station and looked at T’Pol.

“What kind of ship is it?”

“Configuration is unknown, sir.”

“Did you check the Xindi data base as well?”

“I am in the process of doing that now.” She bent to her work.

“Lets move closer, Travis.” He stood behind Travis for a moment and then moved over Trip.

“What is the status of their engines?” He asked.

Trip looked up from his station.

“Their warp engines are off line and they don’t seem to have impulse power either. These engines aren’t very sophisticated and they look like they have been used hard and not maintained well at all. Warp core is stable right now and life support is online.”

“Life signs?” he turned to Hoshi since T’Pol was still searching for the ship in the data base.

“Faint, sir and I am not sure how many there are.” Hoshi replied studying her monitor.

“Weapons?” This time he looked to Malcolm.

“They have weapons, sir, but they are not online right now. No hull plating either.”

rcher paced the bridge as Enterprise got closer to the unknown ship. This was very odd to find a ship dead in the water so to speak in the middle of the Expanse. He wasn’t as trusting as he was a year ago and he wasn’t about to be caught in a trap.

“Hail them!” he snapped and waited. Hoshi nodded to indicate hailing frequency was open.

“This is Captain Archer of the Starship Enterprise, please respond!”

There was no response…he tried again, still no response. Now he was getting edgy, this whole thing just didn’t feel right.

“Sir,” T’Pol spoke “I believe this ship is a Tumarian battle cruiser. I am not finding much about them in the database that we have but it seems that the Xindi consider them hostile.”

“My enemy’s enemy is my friend.” Archer muttered to himself.

“Captain?” T’Pol raised her eyebrow with the question.

“Nothing, T’Pol, just an earth saying.” He glanced over at Trip who grinned at him.

He paced the bridge as they moved closer to the ship. He wanted to be cautious, they were in enough danger just being out here. Should they take a shuttle and go over to the ship and find out what was going on? If there were survivors wasn’t it his responsibility to help them if he could? His first concern as always was his ship and this crew. If they were to succeed in their mission that had to always be his first concern. But this might be a chance to learn a little more about the Xindi and where they were building their weapon.

“4 thousand kilometers, Sir.” Travis reported.

Archer focused on the screen and the ship on it that was getting larger.

“1/4 impulse, Travis, let do this slow!”

“Captain, sensors are showing that this ship has been heavily damaged. Several hull breaches on the portside and there is heavy phase canon damage on the starboard side. Weapons have also been heavily damaged and are offline.” Malcolm looked up from his scanners as he reported to Archer.

Archer listened and nodded. “T’Pol, life signs?”

“Three, Captain, but they are very weak.”

“What is the atmosphere over there?” He threw this out to no one in particular knowing that one of them would have an answer for it.

It was Trip who answered. “Looks like hull breaches are sealed off behind bulkheads and the atmosphere is stable. It is breathable, a little less oxygen then we are use to but shouldn’t cause us any problem.”

Archer smiled, as usual Trip was reading his mind. He moved to the com panel and pushed the button. “Archer to Shuttle bay, prepare Shuttlepod 1 for immediate launch.”

“Aye, sir!” Came the reply.

“Are long range sensors showing any other ships in the area?” he asked.

“Nothing at this time.” Replied T’Pol.

He turned back and looked at his crew and said. “Trip, Malcolm, Hoshi, lets go. T’Pol, you have the bridge.”

He turned and walked onto the lift with them following him.

Hoshi didn’t go on very many away missions and that was just fine with her. She was more comfortable remaining on the ship. Everything had been terrifying to her when she first came aboard. She had overcome a lot of the fears that plagued her at first but she was still uneasy going into potentially dangerous situations. She knew that Captain Archer needed her and she certainly wasn’t going to let him down. She had a chance to stay on earth just as all the crew did but she knew right away that she would stay with Enterprise and with the Captain. As frightened as she was sometimes, she was determined to do the best job she could to help defeat the Xindi and keep earth safe.

She knew he wanted her on this mission because this was a new species and he would need her to help translate for him. The Universal Translator was good but in first contacts nothing was as good as a live translation.

She stepped onto the shuttle and took a seat in the back next to Malcolm who was busy checking phase pistols. Trip was at the panel going doing another engine check. She took out the UT and started going thru the data bases. She would do the translations but the UT was extremely helpful. She would occupy her flight time doing that.

When the Captain got on the shuttle, Trip glanced at him to see if he would be piloting the craft. Jonathan Archer loved to pilot the small craft any time he got the chance . As expected, he moved to the pilots chair and Trip moved back to take the seat behind him.

As the shuttle dropped thru the shuttlebay door, he engaged the engines and headed toward the damaged ship. They approached slowly with Trip monitoring sensors as they moved closer.

“What have we got for docking ports?” He asked Trip.

“There are two on the starboard side, that appear undamaged. We should probably use the one aft, it looks like it is farther away from the damage.” As he spoke he looked out the port window at the ship.

They moved in and docked without incident. As the docking clamps engaged, Trip checked atmosphere in the crippled ship again.

“Looks good” he said nodding to the Captain.

Malcolm disembarked first with his scanner in one hand and his phase pistol out and ready in the other hand. When he was satisfied that everything was safe, he motioned the others out although Archer was already out and looking around when he turned back. He sighed in exasperation. It was a never ending source of frustration to him that his Captain was always putting himself in danger when he was suppose to protect him.

“Trip, you and Hoshi find the bridge and see if you can get anything off their data bases. Malcolm and I will check around and see if we can find the survivors.” He stopped as they were moving off and said to Hoshi. “Ensign, get that phase pistol out, lets not take any chances!”

“Yes, Sir” She replied as she pulled her pistol out and followed Tucker.

They proceeded down the corridor slowly. It was dark in the ship, only an occasional light was on. Hoshi thought it was probably some type of emergency lighting. As they passed doors, she looked at the symbols on the doors just to get an idea of the language. So far she hadn’t seen enough to be able to put anything together. She would have liked to starting enter symbols into the UT but it would be dangerous to forget she was in a potentially hostile environment.

Trip figured that they would head in the logical direction of where the bridge should be. He was moving cautiously, worried that they might encounter residents of this ship who might not be so happy to see them. His scanner wasn’t picking up any life signs on this part of the ship but he wasn’t taking any chances.

“This might be it” Trip said, pointing to a door in front of them. He hit what looked like the door mechanism. When nothing happened, he pulled out a tool and pried the panel off the mechanism and found a manual override lever. When he pulled it, the door slid partway open. He pointed his phase pistol and squeezed thru the door. Hoshi waited for him. He reappeared a couple of seconds later.

“This looks like some kind of a command center or ready room but it isn’t the bridge. There is quite a few dead in there. No lifesigns at all. Lets keep moving.” He said to her as he took the lead again.

Archer allowed Reed to take the lead. He was aware that his armory officer thought that he took too many risks. It probably wouldn’t stop him from taking them again in the future but he let Malcolm do his job right now.

The corridor was empty of bodies but there was a lot of damage. They came to a door that was larger than the rest.

“Engineering?” Archer guessed.

“ Could be, sir, but there is a hull breach behind that door and no lifesigns.” Malcolm replied to him as he checked his scanner. “It looks like there might be a lifesign down this corridor.” He indicated the corridor to their left.

He took the lead as they moved slowly down the corridor. Finally Malcolm stopped at another door and checked his scanner again.

“Behind this door, Captain.” Malcolm looked at Archer.

“Ok, let’s go in.” Archer said as he hit the door switch. The door did not respond and Malcolm stepped forward and found the manual override and opened the door.

As soon as the door was open, Archer stepped thru the door. It was dark inside but he could see that this was some type of living quarters. He pulled a light out of his side pocket and illuminated the room a bit. It was then that he noticed the figure on the floor. Bending down he turned the body over. The Tumarian was a humanoid looking creature with no hair and a yellowish complexion. Malcolm ran the scanner over him and looked at Archer.

“I have no idea what these biosigns are indicating, Captain, but his lifesigns seems very weak.”

Archer pulled out his communicator “ Archer to Enterprise.”

“Go ahead, Captain.” T’Pol responded.

“T’Pol, Malcolm is going to send some data that I need Phlox to look at right away. And I need a response as soon as possible.”

“Acknowledged, Captain.”

Archer nodded to Malcolm and he transmitted the biosigns of theTumarian. As they waited to hear from Dr Phlox they checked the room for anything that might help them determine who these people were and why they were here. Archer found a computer port and tried to turn it on but there was no power. He didn’t find books of any kind in the quarters either. It seemed strange to him that on a battle cruiser under attack that there was a crewmember that had remained in his quarters.

His communicator beeped. “Archer.”

“Dr Phlox here, Captain. I have analyzed the data that Mr Reed sent over. Has the Tumarian regained consciousness?”

“Not yet, anything that we can give him to help with that?”

“Difficult to say, Captain, since I have not had a lot of time to study their biology.”

Archer sighed with frustration. “Anything that you can give us to get him conscious again would be very helpful, Doctor.”

There was silence on the communicator for a moment, then Phlox said “ Try a 4 cc dose of Tritracene.”

“Stand by, Doctor.” Archer pulled out his medkit and got the Tritracene. He loaded the hypo , bend down and injected the unconscious alien.

The Tumarian moved and opened his eyes. He looked at Archer and Reed and tried to get away from them. Malcolm held him in place. He then started rapidly speaking. Archer removed his UT and tried to get a translation. There didn’t seem to be enough data to be able to get a good translation.

“Are you getting the data that Malcolm is sending, Doctor?” He asked impatiently.

“His vital signs are still weak, Captain, but stable for now.” Dr Phlox stated.

“Ok, Doctor, we’ll get back to you. Archer out.” As soon as he signed off with Phlox he reopened the communicator. “Hoshi?”

“Go ahead, Captain.” Came her answer.

“I need you here, I have a Tumarian that is conscious and talking and I need a translation.” he said.

“On my way, sir.”

As they waited for Hoshi to arrive Malcolm recorded more of the Tumarian speech. Archer paced the room as he waited. He opened the communicator again.

“Trip, any progress?”

“We found the bridge, Cap’n and I am trying to reroute some power into the data bases. I think Hoshi was able to get some of the symbols off the panels but other than that we haven’t been able to get much.” Trip sounded as frustrated as he felt.

“Keep working.”

Hoshi was just getting symbols off the panels on the bridge when the Captain requested that she come to help with the translation. She was reluctant to leave Commander Tucker and the safety of his company but he had a job to do and she shoved her fears down headed out the door to find the Captain.

Tucker turned to her as she headed toward the door. “You gonna be ok, Hoshi.” he said with some concern.

“I’ll be fine, thanks, Commander.”

She moved down the corridor quickly with the phase pistol drawn again. It didn’t take her too long to find the Captain. She was quite anxious to start some real translation with a new species. As she walked into the quarters where the Tumarian was she could hear him talking, she put her phase pistol away and started hitting the buttons on the UT.

By the time she was crouching by the alien she was able to say enough words to him to try and reassure him that they were not there to harm him. He calmed. Archer moved over to crouch beside her.

“Ask him who attacked them.” he ordered Hoshi.

She translated as best as she could and the alien answered “Releah radec fanil Releah.” as he talked he became more agitated.

“What is he saying?” Archer demanded.

“That is odd.” Hoshi muttered as she tried to reprogram the UT to accept the new words but there didn’t seem to be any good translation. “It isn’t programming.”

He repeated what he had said with Hoshi listening closely. “I think it is a name of something or someone.” She said to Archer. “The other words are hidden and danger, I think.”

She asked the Tumarian again who attacked them but this time he just stared at her and then closed his eyes. His breathing seemed more erratic now and he appeared to be shivering.

Hoshi got up and looked around the room for a blanket or cover to put over the injured alien. There didn’t seem to be anything to use. She walked over to a door in the other corner of the room and opened it up. It did appear to be a closet of some sort and she found some blankets in there. She was lifting a blanket off the shelf when she heard another sound. She could hear the Captain talking with Dr Phlox and Malcolm was standing beside him. She stopped and listened…. a small sound like something moving seemed to be coming from inside the closet. She got her light out and looked around the small closet. She saw nothing. She turned to take the blanket to the Tumarian but heard the noise again…very faint. She shone the light more carefully over the closet and toward the back of the closet she thought she saw a panel. She moved further into the closet and crouched down by the separation that looked like a panel. She grabbed hold of it and pulled…it moved slightly. The noise became louder and more frantic. She yanked again and the panel fell open to reveal a small space behind the panel. She shone her light in and there was a small figure wrapped up in a metallic looking blanket. The figure let out a small cry and tried to get away from her but there was no place to go.

It was a child! Hoshi was stunned. What was a child doing hidden in a panel inside a closet? She reached in and muttered some reassuring words and put her hand on the child’s arm. A thought hit her as she was trying to figure out how to calm this child down.

“Releah?” she said to the child.

The child sat still and watched her with wide eyes. Finally she was rewarded with a nod. This was the child’s name.

“It is ok, Releah” she said in Tumarian. “Come to me” She motioned the child forward.

“Hoshi?” Archer had moved to the door of the closet and was peering in at her. “What is going on in there?”

At the sound of his voice, Releah moved further back into the hiding place. Hoshi glanced at her Captain.

“There is a child in here, sir” she said and turned her attention back to the child. She muttered some more of the Tumarian language in reassurance and explained who Archer was. Finally she had the child in her arms. She got up and walked out toward Archer. Releah was clinging to her and staring at the Captain.

“Malcolm,” Archer said and motioned him over. Malcolm walked over with the scanner in his hand. He took his readings and kept staring at the readings before he finally looked up at Archer.

“Sir, this child is a Xindi female! he said with anger.

Of all the things that Archer could have expected, this was not something that he was prepared for. He cursed under his breath. What the hell was he suppose to do with a child and a Xindi child no less. What was a Xindi child doing hidden on a Tumarian ship? The two species were supposedly enemies. Things were getting more and more complicated.

“Put her over there” he ordered Hoshi pointing to the bed on the other side of the room. He turned his attention to the Tumarian on the floor. Bending over him, he realized that he was not moving anymore. He looked at Malcolm.

“He’s dead, sir.” Malcolm looked up from his scanner.

“T’Pol said that there were 3 lifesigns. Was this child one of those 3?”

“I don’t think so, the wall in the closet was providing some shielding that would have prevented anyone from scanning her.” Malcolm responded.

“Ok, then we need to find the other 2 injured people before we do anything else” he was still trying to figure out what they were going to do with this child but it would help if they could find someone who could tell them why this child was on board this ship and who had attacked them.

Now he had a problem…he needed Hoshi and Malcolm with him but who would stay with the child. Blast, this was turning out to be a very bad day.

“Malcolm, you come with me and Hoshi you are going to have to stay here with……..” he indicated Releah.

“Her name is Releah, Captain.” she said.

Yes,….ok, you stay with her. I may have to have you do some translations over the com if we find anyone else.” He sounded distracted but the truth was he just didn’t have the patience to even pretend any interest at all in this alien. She was a product of the species that was trying to wipe out humanity. Why should he feel like he had to protect one of their children. He told himself the only reason that he was leaving Hoshi with her was he did not want her finding another hiding place, she might be useful in giving them some information.

“Keep your com open, Ensign.” he looked back at her as they were on their way out the door.

He hesitated long enough to see her open her com and to take her phase pistol back out of its holster. Satisfied that she was at least reasonably safe, he followed Malcolm back into the corridor.

Trip was frustrated and annoyed. He was having no luck at all getting the power back online on the Tumarian bridge. There was not only a lot of damage but it looked like the whole bridge crew was here and dead. He tried to ignore the dead bodies that were in his way but it was difficult and he took all his control to keep his mind on the job at hand. He knew how much the Captain was counting on getting something off these computers and he had no intention of letting him down. Anything that would help destroy these Xindi quickly became an obsession with him since the attack on earth and his beloved “baby”sister had been killed.

He stepped back for a moment and tried to clear his mind and go at the problem with a different approach. All he needed was a little power, well compared to trying to get the warp engines back online anyway. He walked over to what he assumed was the science station. He was puzzling this out when he com beeped.

“Tucker” he answered distracted.

“How’s it going, Trip?” It was Archer sounding tense and edgy.

“Not having a lot of luck right now, Cap’n.” he continued to hit buttons on the science station as he talk. Suddenly he was rewarded with the power coming on all over the bridge. “Allright!! “ he vocalized. “Power just returned up here, sir. Now I will try and see if I can get anything off their logs.”

“Good, keep working. Archer out.”

He pulled up the database and spent a few minutes looking at the engine specs. They didn’t seem to have the technology that Starfleet did and Enterprise was hands down a more efficient ship. Weapons seemed less advanced than Enterprises also. He downloaded the information directly to Enterprise. Then he started looking for the any logs that might give them a clue as to what had happened to the ship. He was distressed to see that most of the logs were corrupted and there wasn’t a whole lot of information that he could salvage.

He attempted a few more things to try and restore the logs but nothing seemed to be working. He sent the logs to Enterprise so they could work on them later.

Since there wasn’t much else that he could do here on the bridge, he headed back out into the corridor back the way they had come. It didn’t take him long to find Hoshi in the crew quarters. He was surprised when he walked in and she was there by herself. Then he realized there was a figure on the bed beside her.

He looked at her with surprise. “What is this, Hoshi?”

“Who, Commander, this is Releah. I found her hidden in a panel inside that closet over there.”

“She looks like a child. “ Trip said as he moved forward to smile at the small figure sitting on the bed.

“Yes, sir, she is a child, Lt Reed says she is a Xindi child!” Hoshi said with a little hesitation.

Trip stopped. Disgust welled up inside him. He had only been near 2 Xindi and both times his rage surfaced and he wanted to kill them with his bare hands…now they had one of their children. Another generation that was being taught to kill humans. He turned abruptly away from Releah and glared at Hoshi.

“What the hell are we suppose to do with her?” he spat.

On the bed Releah shrank away from him, apparently picking up the hatred in his voice. Hoshi moved to calm her by putting reassuring hand on her. Trip continued to glare at her as he went on.

“What is a Xindi child doing on a Tumarian ship?” He knew she didn’t have the answers to these questions but he couldn’t stop the rage that was building up inside of him again.

“I don’t know, sir. Captain Archer told me to stay with her while he and Lt Reed went to look for more survivors.” Hoshi said softly hoping to calm him down a little. She had been hoping that the Captain would be back before Tucker saw the child. She was well aware that his anger toward the Xindi was more personal than most of the other crew.

He turned abruptly and went out into the corridor. He just couldn’t stay in the same room with a Xindi. He leaned up against the wall and tried to calm himself. Getting into a rage wasn’t going to help this situation. He knew that he would have killed the Xindi on the mining colony if Archer hasn’t stopped him. He knew he had to start getting more control of his feelings about the Xindi but right now feeling the rage was better than feeling the loss of Lizzie. He was grateful that Jon was around to provide a little stability for him. He knew that his friend literally had the weight of the world on his shoulders since they entered the expanse and he was angry and distracted at times but he still understood what Trip was going thru and was there to support him.

Trip opened his com. “Tucker to Archer.”

“Go ahead, Trip.” Archer answered.

He filled Archer in on his progress on the bridge and informed him that he was in the crew quarters with Hoshi.

“ Malcolm and I are on our way back there now.” The captain said and then closed the com.

***************************************

It didn’t take Archer and Malcolm to get back to the crew quarters. Trip was still outside in the corridor. He had his PADD out and was studying it with great intensity.

Trip looked up as he saw Archer coming down the corridor towards him. He took a couple of steps toward him and said angrily.

“Cap’n, tell me that we are not going to take that Xindi back to Enterprise with us?”

Archer gave him a warning look. “No decisions have been made yet.”

Trip ignored the look and pressed on. “How do we know that this so called child isn’t a spy. They are the enemy, Cap’n, we can’t have one of them on board. They could gain access to any of the ships computers.”

“Trip!!” Archer spoke to him sharply. “ I said that no decisions have been made yet.”

Trip was silent, he knew from long experience how far he could push the Captain.

He looked at Malcolm. He knew Malcolm would consider this a security risk. But Malcolm was silent. Trip sighed and changed the subject.

“Did you find any other survivors? ” he asked.

rcher hadn’t realized how tense he was until he relaxed slightly at the change of subject.

“By the time we found them they were barely alive. Before we could even begin to help them, they both died” He said this with regret. He always hated a loss of any life and this time these people could have helped them in their quest to find the Xindi. They might have also solved the mystery of the Xindi child.

Now he was going to have to decide what to do with her. Aware that Malcolm and Trip were watching him, he turned and walked back into the crew quarters where Hoshi was with the Xindi. They followed him.

He stood there for a minute just looking at Hoshi and the child. What was he going to do with her? He did not want her on his ship but could he leave her here by herself. She was certainly too young to care for herself. As he studied the child she studied him. Her dark eyes noted his every move. She was very small but he didn’t have any idea of how old she might be. She was the size of a 3 or 4 year old human child. She had dark hair that was long and pulled back. She looked like the humanoid species of Xindi and she had the same high forehead and ridges they had noted on the Xindi they had met at the mining colony. She had moved close to Hoshi and seemed very comfortable that Hoshi would protect her. She watched Archer, Trip and Malcolm without any fear. She seemed like a child but Archer was still suspicious. He agreed with Trip…she could easily be a spy or at least have some type of technology that could be used against them.

“Lets get back to Enterprise.” he said after a minute. Hoshi took Releah’s hand and got off the bed.

Trip stepped forward and stopped in front of Hoshi as if to keep her from leaving the room with the child. He looked at Archer in disbelief.

“You’re kidding, right? These people are trying to annihilate the human race. Why would bring one of them on Enterprise.”

Before Archer could reply to him, Hoshi spoke up.

“Commander, she’s a child and if we leave her here to die, we won’t be any different than the Xindi when they were killing innocent children on earth!! Hoshi was angry and a little disappointed in Tucker.

Archer interrupted before Trip or Hoshi could say another word. This was his decision and no one elses. He had said once that he couldn’t save humanity if he forgot what it was to be human and he needed to remember that now more than ever.

“She’s coming to Enterprise with us.” He spoke softly but his tone allowed no further argument.

Trip glared at Archer for a second but slowly moved aside so Hoshi could make her way out of the crew quarter with the Xindi.

Malcolm was getting uncomfortable about the potential security threat to the ship but he wisely decided to speak with the captain later.

They made their way quickly to the shuttle pod. He contacted T’Pol once they were inside and told her quickly about the Xindi child.

“Have Dr Phlox meet us in the shuttle bay, we should be back on Enterprise in 30 minutes.”

“Yes, Captain.” she replied.

The trip back to Enterprise was quiet. No one seemed to want to share their thoughts about their visitor.

Dr Phlox was there to meet them when they had finished docking the shuttle pod. Archer got out of the shuttle pod first and walked over to where the Doctor was waiting for them.

“Doctor, I want a full scan on this child. I want to know as much about her as you can tell me.”

“Very well, Captain.” Phlox said with his usual easygoing manner.

“And Doctor, I can’t have her wandering around the ship. She is going to need to stay in sickbay under a 24 hour watch.”

Phlox was silent for a minute, then he said quietly “Captain, sickbay is not a nursery and I really can’t be expected to watch a small child 24 hours a day.”

“No, no you can’t and I will have someone there to be with her. It is important that she be restricted to only one part of the ship. I can’t allow her to wander the ship after what happened with Rajiin.”

Archer was still upset with himself for the mistake that he made in trusting the young woman they found on the water planet. She had used her unique abilities to get scans of humans and Vulcans to take back to the Xindi to use against them. Sometimes learning thru ones mistakes was a painful process.

Hoshi walked over to them holding Releah hand and telling her not to be frightened. Dr Phlox used his scanner to take an initial scan of the child.

“Hmmm.” He said as he studied the initial scan. “She does appear to be a humanoid Xindi, Captain. As to her age, I am afraid I will have study the scans in more detail.”

Archer nodded and said to Hoshi. “Take her to sickbay with Dr Phlox and stay with her.”

“Yes, sir.” Hoshi said and took Releah hand as they followed the doctor out of the door.

Archer turned to Reed. “Malcolm, I want one of your team with that child 24 hours a day. She can’t be left alone and I don’t want her outside of sickbay at any time.”

Reed nodded as he followed Hoshi and the child “I’ll get on that right away, sir.”

Trip had been doing a check on the engines on the shuttle pod and he emerged from the pod just as Reed was leaving the Shuttle bay.

Trip looked around and realized that they were alone. He walked over to Archer.

“Jon, you’ve made a big mistake bringing that Xindi onto Enterprise. We should have left her on that ship.”

Archer looked at his friend silently waiting for him to go on.

“You know what happened when you brought Rajiin here. We don’t know if they have some technology that we aren’t aware of. She could have an implant that could be monitoring us or getting into our computers. If they gained access to the computers they could destroy us.” Trip stopped. He was sure that Jon had thought of all this but he needed to vocalize it, to talk with Jon about it.

“I don’t like this anymore than you do, Trip, but I couldn’t leave her on that ship all by herself. Dr Phlox will have those scans analyzed soon and we will have some answers. If she isn’t a child or if there is some sort of technology that is being used to spy on us, we will know about it and be able to protect ourselves. In the meantime, if she is a child then we need to do the ‘human’ thing and take care of her until we find her people.”

“Jon, have you thought about what we are going to do with her if we don’t find who she belongs too. We can’t have a child on this ship with the mission that we are on and a Xindi child to boot. It is just not going to work!!”

Archer looked at Trip for a minute without speaking. Trip was probably right. Then he said quietly.

“I know, but we can’t leave her. We will find a way to deal with this.”

He turned and walked out of the Shuttle bay leaving Trip standing by the shuttle pod with a thoughtful expression on his face.

Releah was settling into Sickbay. Phlox had done his scans and was analyzing them. Hoshi had stayed with Releah as the captain ordered. A security officer had arrived as a guard for the little Xindi but Hoshi continued to stay. Releah didn’t seem comfortable with anyone else yet even though the UT was translating quite well. She moved around the sick bay looking in the cages and the glass aquariums asking questions about all the creatures that she saw there. Phlox answered all her questions with his usual good nature and Hoshi was pleased to see that she was starting to respond to the pleasant Denoblian.

Trying to figure out what to feed the child was another problem but Phlox’s initial scan showed that she probably would enjoy pretty much what humans eat and thrive on it also. Hoshi made a quick trip to the galley and brought back some things she thought Releah would like. She smiled at her reaction to some of the foods that she had brought back. Surprisingly she didn’t seem at all interested in sweet things as a human child would have been. She seemed to enjoy the meat and vegetables but could not seem to get enough of the bread and rolls that Hoshi had brought.

Trying to speak with the child was proving to be a bit of a problem also. She did not seem to be able to verbalize what had happened to her. She seemed to be an intelligent girl however and was interested in everything in sickbay but gravitated back to the creatures in the cages. Hoshi had to promise her that she could see them in the morning before she could get her ready for sleep. Showered, dressed in a clean shirt that Hoshi had cut down to fit her and in bed, she closed her eyes and was asleep quickly.

Hoshi walked over to where Phlox was still working on the scans that he had taken. Just as she was going to ask him what he had found out, the sickbay doors opened and the Captain walked in. He nodded at Hoshi, if he was surprised that she was still there, he made no comment. She saw that he took note of where the Xindi was sleeping and the fact that the security crewman was there. He walked over to the doctor who stepped away from his work and looked at Hoshi and Archer.

“Well, Captain, it would seem that this is indeed a female Xindi child. I find no evidence of anything implanted or anything else that is not biological anywhere in her makeup.” He stopped and looked at the Captain who was peering at the scans that Phlox had just been studying.

“We know that they are capable of making weapons that have biological components, are you sure that there is nothing in this Xindi that might be something like that.” Archer’s voice was tense.

“I will keep checking, Captain but I am as sure as I can be that this is an ordinary Xindi child.”

“What is her age, Doctor.” Archer looked over at the sleeping child.

Phlox followed his gaze and then met the Captain’s eyes. “There isn’t much in the Xindi data base regarding the biology of the Xindi Primates but from what I have managed to find, I would say that she has approximately the same development age as a human child of 4 or 5. I have also made some discoveries regarding her nutritional needs.”

Archer was quiet for a minute, then said “Very well, doctor, please keep doing scans and inform me of anything unusual. And Crewman..” he spoke with the security guard that was standing at the other side of the sickbay. “she is to be watched constantly, she is not to be left alone at any time, did Lt Reed make that clear to you?”

“Yes, sir.” The crewman replied standing a little straighter. Archer looked back at the scans once more, then turned and walked out of Sickbay.

“Dr Phlox to Captain Archer.” Phlox’s voice came over the com on the bridge. It had been 2 days since they had brought Releah to Enterprise and Phlox had kept the Captain updated at least twice a day with how she was progressing and the results of the scans that he was running.

“Archer!” the captain said as he hit the com button.

“Could you come to sickbay when you have a moment, Captain.”

“On my way.” He stood up and headed for the lift with Porthos following him. He sometimes brought the little dog to the bridge just to give him a change from being locked in his cabin all day long. It had been quiet lately so he thought it would be safe to bring the dog today.

It had been a long couple of days. He had slept worse than usual. He was getting more comfortable with the fact that the child was probably not a threat to the ship and crew but he still found himself repulsed by her. All he wanted to do was to get her off his ship. At this point he had his crew looking for an inhabited planet where he could leave her. He wouldn’t really relax until she was off the ship. Hoshi had spent a lot of time with the child and they seemed to be developing a relationship of sorts and the young Xindi seemed to be very comfortable around her. She had not been able to get much information out of the child regarding where she came from and her parents. She talked of her father often, Hoshi had told him, but was not able to give her his name or where she came from. As frustrating as Jon found this, he understood that a human child of this age might not have the mental and verbal skills to answer those questions either.

Walking into Sickbay he was surprised to find it in a relative state of disarray. Dr Phlox was always so particular about how the sickbay was arranged and even at its busiest, things were always in their place and running smoothly. Jon came to a stop just inside sickbay and looked around in disbelief. Dr Phlox appeared from behind the curtain at the end of the room and his smock was wrinkled and soiled and he appeared very fatigued and agitated.

“Doctor,” he began but Phlox interrupted him.

“Captain, you are going to have to find other quarters for this child. It is becoming impossible for her to stay here. She has too much curiosity and energy and is constantly in the way when I am with patients. A sickbay is not a place for a child.” He stopped and looked at the captain with determination.

Archer gazed at the Doctor for a few seconds. He almost smiled, he didn’t often find his chief physician flustered but the Denobulian seemed to be at his wits end.

As he was considering his options as to what to do with the child, he heard a noise at the other side of sickbay. He glanced down at his side and was surprised to see that Porthos was missing.

“Porthos! Come here, boy.” he called but the dog did not appear. He started toward where the noises were coming from. He pulled open the curtain and found Porthos in the arms of the Xindi and obviously loving it. He was licking Releah and she was giggling and hugging him closer. She let go of Porthos in a start of fright when she noticed the captain. Porthos continued to sit with her and nuzzle her. Jon had a moment of jealousy and anger toward the dog.

“Porthos” he said more sharply then he meant too.

Porthos trotted over to his master. Jon looked at the girl for a moment and turned without saying anything and walked away from her. He was surprised to find that Releah had followed him. He stopped and glared at her and said.

“Get back there.” and he pointed to the curtained area that he had just left. She ignored him and pointed at Porthos.

“What is that?”

Jon looked at her with surprise. He didn’t speak for a minute as he continued to gaze at her. She never looked away from him, patiently waiting for him to answer her. Finally he said.

“That is Porthos. Do you have a pet?” He couldn’t believe that he was actually engaging her in conversation.

“ What is a ‘pet’?”

“Umm….a pet is something that we care for….” He couldn’t believe that he was having this much trouble. “….and they stay with us…and they are our friends. Like Porthos, he is my pet and I take care of him.” He breathed a little sigh of relief. He thought he had done pretty well.

Releah looked at him for a minute and then looked at Porthos again.

“Will you eat him?” she inquired a little fearfully.

“No, of course not!” he was a little shocked but he had had enough of this conversation and continued on his way back to Dr Phlox with Porthos at his heel.

He stopped by the doctor again. “Anything new on the scans?”

“Nothing, Captain, she is only a Xindi child…nothing more.”

Archer looked around Sickbay and then back at the doctor. “Have Hoshi find her appropriate quarters but the security guard stays with her, is that understood?”

Phlox nodded. “Thank you, Captain.” he said to Archers back as he walked out of the sickbay door.

The spatial anomalies continued as they moved further into the Expanse. Mostly it was just annoying incidences and other than some bruises and cuts, the crew was unscathed. Trip and his crew were working a lot of extra shifts because of the havoc that the anomalies were causing the engines. Archer was more than pleased with his engineering crew. They were doing an excellent job in very unusual circumstances and were managing to keep the engines on line as well as power to the ship. He had gone down to engineering and given his compliments in person. He knew that he didn’t praise his crew often enough these days. He made a mental note to remedy that. He was sitting in his ready room this morning, once again going over parts of the Tumarian database that the had downloaded. He had not had a lot of luck with getting any helpful information but he kept trying. It seemed that they were attacked by a Xindi ship of the same configuration as the ones that had attacked Enterprise. Other than that there was not a lot of new information.

Archer was still not sleeping as well as he would have liked. He had no idea how they were going to stop the Xindi if and when they did find them. He knew his ship was no match for the whole Xindi force. Their weapons had proved to be difficult to defend against. He figured the best plan might be a subversive attack but they would need more allies with information before that would happen. He wasn’t entirely sure that Enterprise would make it out of the Expanse but it wasn’t something that he dwelled on. He was ready to make the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of Earth but he wasn’t ready to sacrifice his crew or his ship so he pored over the database in hopes of coming up with a workable plan.

Another thing that was bothering him was the fact that they had been unable to find an inhabited planet to drop off the Xindi child. It had been almost 2 weeks since they had moved her to quarters outside of Sickbay. Dr Phlox was enormously relieved to have her out of his sickbay. Hoshi had found other quarters for her bunkmate and Releah had moved in with her. Archer was not sure that was such a good idea but Releah seemed to have bonded with Hoshi and vice versa so he decided to kept quiet and see what transpired. So far things seemed to be working out well.

The little Xindi was becoming a presence on the ship. She was open, friendly and curious. The crew was becoming accustomed to her being with Hoshi in the mess hall and at movie nite and in the corridors. And with that there was an acceptance of sort. It seemed as though most people were forgetting that she was a Xindi and the enemy. She was fitting in and he noticed that most of the crew smiled when they would see her skipping down the corridor or stopping by tables to chat with crew in the mess hall.

Of course there were some exceptions to that. Trip Tucker was one of them. He studiously avoided Releah and although he never made any violent moves toward her, Jon was always sure that the anger was only thinly covered and could surface at any time. He knew Trip probably better than anyone and he knew the soft side of his friend but he also had seen the anger and the grieving that came with losing his sister in the Xindi attack on Earth. He knew Trip was having a hard time forgetting that Releah was a child and not responsible for the attack on earth. Even Jon found himself responding to her enthusiasm and energy as much as he tried not to.

He and Hoshi had spent a lot of time with Releah just getting her to talk in hopes of finding parents or where she came from. They did determine that her father name was Ronoh and it seemed like she had spent most of her life on a ship as he traveled around. They were not able to get her to name the ship or anything else that would have helped in finding him. Hoshi told Archer that Releah talked a little about how some bad people had taken her off her fathers ship and put her in a dark scary place. She didn’t like to talk about that and Hoshi could only get her to talk about it one time. She also wouldn’t sleep with the light off. The security guard was still posted outside the door of her quarters but it was only a precaution at this point. Archer was thinking about canceling that too but whenever he thought about it, he remembered Rajiin again.

He leaned back in his chair and stretched. He had been studying the Tumarian database all morning and it was time for a break. He reached for the com and pushed the button.

“Archer to Tucker.”

Trip responded almost immediately. “Tucker.”

“Got time for a lunch break, there are a few things I would like to run by you.”

“Sure, give me 10 minutes and I will meet you in the Captain’s mess.”

“ No, lets just make it the regular mess today.” Jon replied, he was early for his regular lunch and it was just easier to take his lunch in the regular mess then to throw Chef’s schedule off again.

He got up and walked out of the ready room.

Jon and Trip were sitting at a table near the back wall of the mess hall. They were eating slowly and having a conversation that ran from ships business to general chat. It was the most relaxed that Jon had been in a long time. Trip seemed more relaxed also so neither one of them was in a hurry to get up and leave.

Jon was laughing at something that Trip had said when he noticed him tense. He followed Trip’s gaze to the door of the mess hall. Hoshi and Releah had entered and were over looking at the food selection. As they gathered their food and headed for a table, Trip gathered his dishes together and got ready to leave. Archer was a little dismayed but not surprised with his reaction. Before he could say anything, Releah noticed him and ran across the nearly empty mess hall to him.

“Hi, Captain Jon!!” she practically shouted in her delight to see him again.

Jon smiled at her. “Hello, Releah.”

He glanced at Trip and found him staring at him with disapproval. He was sure it was because of how Releah had addressed him. He learned that she found it very difficult to pronounce his last name. There were some sounds that did not come naturally to her so he had urged her to use this version of his name.

He turned his attention back to the child.

“Are you and Hoshi having lunch?”

She nodded her head but she was staring at Trip. He was avoiding looking at her and was studying the stew that he hadn’t finished.

“What is that?” she said suddenly pointing at Trip. Trip’s head jerked up as he finally looked directly at Releah.

“Who is that, Releah,” Jon corrected her gently. “This is Commander Tucker.”

She stared at Trip for a few seconds and he stared back at her without saying a word. Finally she looked back at Archer and asked. “Is he your pet?”

Archer choked back a laugh but Trip was looking positively indignant as he waited for Jon’s answer to Releah.

“No, Releah, he is my friend and he keeps the engines on Enterprise running.”

She considered this for a minute and then said to Archer. “ So you won’t eat him and you take care of him.” She stated knowingly.

Trip sputtered and Jon actually chuckled. She was an intelligent being and never ceased to amaze him.

“No, Releah, he is my human friend and he takes care of himself………usually.” he added with a teasing smile directed at Trip. Trip just glared back at him. Which made Archer smile even wider.

She took all this in for a few seconds and then said. “Hi, Comder Tucker.” and smiled at him.

Trip looked uneasy, glancing at Jon and then at Releah. Finally he acknowledged her with a simple “Hi.”

He stood up and said to Archer. “ I really gotta be getting back to engineering, Cap’n.”

Archer nodded and Trip walked out of the mess hall.

As he watched him leave, Archer thought sardonically, “Well that went great.” He turned his attention back to Releah.

/p>

It was 2300 and the gamma shift was coming on but Trip remained in Engineering. Even with the Vulcan Neuro pressure that T’Pol was helping him with, he still had trouble sleeping occasionally and tonight was one of those nites. He was finetuning the warp engines again. They had gone thru another anomaly today and although the engines weren’t damaged, they had only been running at about 80% efficiency. His crew could have done this but it gave him something to occupy his mind. Tonight his thoughts were all mixed up. He had been thinking of his encounter with Releah in the mess hall. He had to admit that she had a charm about her. He had tried hard to ignore her but she was full of energy and obviously very intelligent. The way she had tried to say his name was amusing. He mentally shook himself. He had to remember that Lizzie was murdered by this child’s race. How could he find anything remotely interesting about this murderous species. These people had come all the way to earth to murder his people and were even now trying to find a way to murder the rest of them. How could Jon forget that this mission was to stop them!! He didn’t understand his attitude lately.

“Archer to Tucker.” the com crackled. Trip jumped slightly, he certainly wasn’t expecting a summons from the Captain at this hour of the nite.

He hit the com button. “Tucker.” he replied.

“Trip, Releah is missing. Meet me in my Ready Room.”

An hour later Trip was walking the corridors of Enterprise looking for a missing Xindi child. She had disappeared about 3 hours ago. Hoshi had finished getting her settled for bed and had gone to the mess hall to get a cup of tea to bring back to their quarters. The security guard had been distracted for a moment by a ripple in the bulkhead that indicated another spatial anomaly. When Hoshi got back, Releah was gone. Trip was feeling a little sorry for the crewman that was suppose to be guarding the door to her cabin, Jon was livid. There was quite a number of off duty personal that were out looking for her including most of the senior staff.

Not that he was going to sleep anyway but he really had better things to do with his time than to be searching the nooks and carnies of Enterprise for a missing Xindi. As his irritation mounted and his search proved fruitless he decided to head back toward engineering. He really didn’t think anything had happened to her, knowing her curiosity and energy, he figured that she had just wandered off exploring. He checked out the gym, there was a lot of equipment that she might have found fascinating but there was no sign that anyone had been there in the last couple of hours. He stopped in the corridor for a couple of minutes as he left the gym. He scanned the corridor looking for any possible places that she might be hiding. As he stood there he heard a noise that sounded like it was coming from the storage closet at the bend of the corridor. He moved that way to check it.

Behind him he heard toenails clicking on the floor….Porthos!! Jon wouldn’t be far behind him. He didn’t turn around as Porthos ran by him and stopped at the closet door. He whined and scratched at the door. Trip yanked open the door and gasped as he found himself with an armful of Xindi. She wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed.

“Dark, dark, dark.”

Trip tried to disengage her from his neck but she hung on with all her strength. He could feel her trembling against him. A memory stirred…..Lizzie waking with nightmares and him holding her until she was calm.

He slowly wrapped his arms around her. “Shhhhh…..it’s ok now…..I’ve got you…shhhhh.”

She calmed in the security of his arms and finally raised her head and looked at him.

“Comder Tucker.” she hiccupped “It was dark and I couldn’t get out. I was afraid. ”

He smiled at her, stroked the ridges on her forehead and said “Call me Trip, honey” and hugged her again.

Behind him he heard Jon on the com letting the crew know that Releah was found.

Archer was on the bridge perched in his usual spot on the edge of the captains chair. It was midmorning and he had just finished getting reports from his senior staff. T’Pol had just informed him that there was an inhabited planet about 2 days from their present location at Warp 3. He ordered Travis to alter course to the planet. It was his hope that they might gather more information on the Xindi and the weapon that they were constructing while assessing the possibility of leaving Releah in the care of the inhabitants. It would be a difficult decision to leave her, in the short time that she had been onboard, she had become part of their lives and Archer felt responsible for her. He would explore the options further when they reached the planet.

It had been a difficult evening the nite before and even after Releah had been found, he found himself going over and over the events. He was happy that she had just wandered off and had accidentally gotten herself locked in a storage closet but he couldn’t help but wonder if there was actual danger to the ship having her onboard. He had wondered at first if she had been taken by an intruder that their sensors couldn’t pick up.

He got to his feet and said to T’Pol “I’ll be in my Ready Room if……..”

The rest of his sentence was interrupted by Travis “Captain, I am picking up a ship heading right toward us at high speed…..it’s Xindi, sir!”

Archer moved back to his chair but did not sit. “Let’s go to Tactical Alert. Polarize the hull plating and drop out of warp.” He kept his eyes on the view screen.

“Malcolm?”

“Weapons on line and ready, sir.”

“Captain, this ship is not the same configuration as the ships that attacked us in the past. This ship appears to be a transport vessel or a cargo vessel” T’Pol looked up from her scanner at him.

He turned his attention to her. “Is it armed?” She nodded.

“What kind of weapons do they have?” he continued.

“Light laser weapons and canons.” Malcolm interjected. “No match for Enterprise, sir.” He finished proudly.

The ship slowed and stayed about 1000 kilometers off the bow of Enterprise. Archer waited. The ship just sat there. Archer was puzzled. The other Xindi ships they had encountered had opened fire as soon as they were within firing distance.

He could feel the tension on the bridge building. There was a time when he would have initiated contact but right now he felt there was more strength in just waiting. So they waited.

Hoshi suddenly sat up straighter and said.

Archer nodded to Hoshi and she opened the channel. On the viewscreen the view of the ship was replaced by a Xindi primate.

“Who are you and what is your business in this part of the Expanse?” demanded the Xindi that stared at them from the view screen.

Archer felt the old familiar anger rise, he stood without moving and stared back at his antagonist.

“My name is Jonathan Archer, I am Captain of this vessel and we are from the planet Earth.” He waited for a reaction from the Xindi who stood defiantly in front of him. The man continued to stare at him and there was no reaction at all to Archer’s pronouncement. Archer shot a quick glance at Reed and Tucker. They both raised quizzical eyebrows in his direction. It seemed odd that this man had never heard of Earth considering that his species was trying to destroy them.

The Xindi continued irritably. “Is that suppose to mean something to me, Captain?”

Archer ignored the question and asked a question on his own. “Why exactly are you interested in us?”

The man hesitated for a moment and when he spoke again his manner was a little softer. “Actually, Captain, we have been following your warp signature for the last week. We mean you no harm, we just need some information from you.”

This was getting more and more puzzling. A Xindi that meant them no harm! And he seemed to be totally unconcerned that this was an Earth vessel. He decided to continue the conversation with this Xindi.

“What kind of information could we possibly have that would help you?” he demanded.

The Xindi did not seemed surprised by Archer’s tone. He just looked grateful that Archer was going to hear him out.

“Captain, you were near a Tumarian vessel about 10 days ago?”

Archer nodded but didn’t say anything.

“We had been following that ship for a week before we caught up to it and found that the whole crew was dead and the ship was badly damaged. Do you have any information as to who did this? It is extremely important that I find this out.”

Archer was silent for a moment considering. “And you think that we did this to their ship? I was under the impression that there is no love lost between you and the Tumarians.”

“That is true, Captain. This ship disabled our vessel 3 weeks ago and took my daughter to sell on a slave market in order to recuperate monetary losses that they blame me for. It took us the better part of a week to repair our engines. We followed them until we found the ship. There was no sign of my daughter on board and everyone was dead. We know you were onboard the ship also and I am begging you if you have information on my child, please share it with us.”

The bridge was totally silent except for the computer hum, everyone’s eyes turned toward the Captain. He stared straight ahead at the Xindi and smiled slightly.

“Captain, I think you need to dock with Enterprise.” He waited until the Xindi thanked him and the communication was disconnected. He turned to Hoshi who was looking sad and grateful at the same time.

“Find Releah and bring her to my ready room.” Hoshi left the bridge. Archer stood in the middle of the bridge for a few seconds and then started smiling broadly. The crew had not seen this Archer in a very long time and they all smiled in response.

“Come on, Malcolm, lets go meet the Captain. T’Pol, you have the bridge.” He left the bridge with Reed following him.

They got to the docking port just as the air lock had equalized the pressure between the 2 vessels. The door opened and Archer stepped forward and extended his hand in welcome. Reed stood back watchfully.

“Welcome to Enterprise.” The Xindi stared at Archer’s outstretched hand for a few seconds then hesitantly put out his own hand. Archer took it and shook it.

“Thank you, Captain. My name is Ronoh. Do you have information regarding my daughter.” He said eagerly.

“Let’s go to my ready room where we can talk.” Archer smiled and led the way.

As they walked into Archer’s ready room, Hoshi was there and Releah was on the floor with her back turned to them hugging Porthos who was grinning a doggy grin and licking her face.

Archer smiled when he saw the pair and started to say something to Ronoh when he heard a gasp of horror beside him and the Xindi pulled his phase pistol out of its holster and aimed it at Porthos.

Malcolm grabbed the phase pistol and forced it down so it pointed at the floor at the same time that Archer moved between Ronoh and Porthos.

Ronoh angrily turned on Archer. “Captain, that is my daughter and that creature ……….”

Archer put a hand on his arm and explained. “Porthos won’t hurt her. That creature is a dog. We humans keep some animals as our companions.” Before he could finish explaining, Releah looked up and saw Ronoh. She launched herself into his arms crying “Papa, Papa!!!”

His arms folded around her and hugged her tightly. “Releah, you are ok? I missed you so much, child” He looked at Archer and Jon could see there were tears in his eyes.

“You found her. Thank you so much, Captain, thank you.”

After a reunion between father and daughter in which Releah introduced him to Porthos and gave him a tour of the ship, Archer took Ronoh into his ready room where they could have a talk.

They had been talking for over an hour and Archer had explained about the Xindi attack on Earth and what they were doing in the Expanse.

Ronoh stared incredulously at Archer for a few seconds.

“7 million of your species were killed by a probe sent by the Xindi? How is that possible? I have never heard of your planet or your species. Why would we attack you?”

Archer explained as best as he could about the threat from the future.

Ronoh was silent for a long time, staring at the floor. Finally he looked up and said to Archer.

“You brought my daughter onto your ship, cared for her and protected her and yet you knew she was a Xindi. Why?”

“It is not in our nature to harm the innocent, Ronoh.” Archer said quietly. “We have gotten to know her and to care about her. She has become a bright spot on Enterprise.”

Ronoh smiled with pride “Yes, she is my reason for living. Her mother died last year of an illness that she picked up during our travels. I am a trader, Captain and my family has always lived aboard our ship. I think I would have given up everything if it hadn’t been for Releah. I am so thankful to have her back safely. I had almost given up hope. How can I ever repay you?”

Archer looked serious again. “If you have any information at all about the weapon that is being built to destroy our planet, I would be grateful if you would help us locate it. I am afraid that we are running out of time to save our world.”

Ronah gazed thoughtfully at Archer. “I have been hearing rumors for the last few months regarding a secret project on a planet in the outer section of the Expanse. I have no idea if this is what you are looking for but I could go thru my databanks and see if I can give you an exact location.” He paused for a second, thinking, then said. “If I give you this information are you going to take the weapon and use it on all of the Xindi?”

Archer shook his head. “Our mission is to find the weapon and destroy it. We are not here to destroy the Xindi. We are merely protecting ourselves from extinction. You are telling me that you know nothing about any of this. Why do you suppose you have heard nothing of this wedding. Do you think other Xindi are aware of the weapon?”

It was Ronoh turn to shake his head. “Because of what I do and the number of planets that I visit, I think I would among the first to hear of any war against another species. I think this must be a secret project of the high council.”

“Where is this high council located, Ronoh?” Archer leaned forward eagerly.

“The location is changed frequently, Captain and I have no information on that. But let me get the information on that planet for you.”

Ronoh believed Archer and was sorry that he couldn’t give him anything more than the coordinates of the planet. He was extremely upset about the information that the Captain had given him about the attack on his planet. He couldn’t get 7 million dead humans out of him mind…and the atrocity was committed by Xindi’s. Archer had shown him the data on his computer. The pictures of the scorched planet and the probe with the dead Xindi Reptilian were the final proof even though Ronoh had sensed immediately that Archer was an honorable man.

After all the information that Ronoh had was downloaded into the Enterprise computer, the 2 men went to find Releah.

They were all standing in the corridor by the airlock. Archer had brought Porthos, Hoshi had accompanied Releah and had a little package of the things that she had aquired during her stay on Enterprise. Reed had remained at the airlock along with 2 of the MACOs as a precaution. Jon bent down and said to Releah. “Goodbye, Releah, it has been nice having you on Enterprise.”

“Goodbye, Captain Jon, thank you for helping me.” She reached up and gave him a hug. Then she bent and hugged Porthos.

“I love you, Porthos.” Porthos wiggled in delight and licked her face.

Just as they were opening the airlock, Trip came around the bend in the corridor. Releah noticed him first.

“Trip” she shouted in delight and ran to him.

He smiled down at her. “I had to come and say goodbye to you.”

He had his hands behind his back and he squatted down to look her in the eye. “I brought you something to remember us by.”

She looked at him with anticipation and he brought his hands around to show her a stuffed dog that looked exactly like Porthos.

She yelped in delight. “Porthos!!!” She took the toy and wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.

“Thank you, Trip, I love him!”

Trip patted her back and said. “You’re welcome, honey. Goodbye.”

She released him and went to her father to show him the new toy. Trip stood up and watched.

Archer shook Ronoh hand again as the airlock door opened. Ronoh grasped his hand more firmly this time and said.

“Words cannot express my gratitude to you and your crew, Captain and I promise you that I will be working to find out more about the weapon and what the high council is doing. I also plan on talking with other Xindi and I will let them know what I have learned of humans.”

“Thank you, Ronoh. I hope we will meet again.”

The airlock door closed and Ronoh and Releah moved into their ship. Archer smiled and looked at Trip who was smiling slightly also.

Trip met his friend’s eyes and said “Well I guess that changes a lot of things, doesn’t it?”

Archer nodded and clapped his hand on Trip’s shoulder as they all walked down the corridor.

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