It was late in the night shift when something slightly out of the ordinary occurred. The bridge had a skeleton crew with mostly replacements at this hour, save the ensign Hoshi who was busy translating some of their newly acquired data with the tools at her station and T'Pol who was in the Captain's chair. The Vulcan sat poised, ready for her shift to end so that she could return to the wardroom and go over the recent maps of the region. There was fill-in crew at Reed's tactical station, a crewman who had suddenly stiffened. The man at tactical noticed a bright orange blip on his screen.

"Subcommander, there's an incoming vessel."

T'Pol sat up straighter in her seat.

"Xindi?" Her inquiry was perfectly calm.

The man seemed to hesitate before answering.

"It's...I can't identify it, Sir." He went on to describe its precise location and magnify the ship on the viewscreen. The Subcommander studied it. The vessel was unfamiliar to her at first glance, but they were in the Delphic Expanse. Many species out here were still unfamiliar to her people.

"Go to yellow alert."

Their systems started to blare in the quiet. T'Pol stood. She turned to Hoshi.

"Have they made contact?"

Hoshi had her fingers to her ear as she listened for any communication. She shook her head.

"Inform the Captain."

T'Pol was about to go to study the ship's data at the tactical screen when Hoshi interrupted.

"Subcommander, I'm getting something."

The Communications officer was frowning as she concentrated. She typed into her computer.

"I'm getting some sort of binary code. Stand by."

As she worked translating they all waited for her analysis. The crewmen on the bridge had all straightened at their stations, their glazed looks quickly gone.

Hoshi frowned some more and continued translating. Her face lit up. T'Pol watched her expectantly.

"I believe- I believe it's some sort of mechanical life form."

T'Pol turned sharply to tactical. "Life signs?"

"One, sir."

T'Pol studied the craft again. It was small, but the wing expanse was massive considering its size. The overall design seemed to rely more on aerodynamics for planetary atmospheres rather than sheer thruster power. T'Pol had not seen anything quite like it, save for the crude first attempts at flying vessels perhaps. The object was metallic in nature and mounted with what appeared to be weapons.

"It's communicating with us." Just as Hoshi made the announcement the Captain appeared on the bridge.

Archer's uniform was neat but his hair was somewhat untamed since he had been roused from sleep. Despite his rumpled appearance he seemed alert as he addressed T'Pol.

"Status."

T'Pol opened her mouth just as Hoshi began speaking.

"Subcommander, Captain, they're asking us not to shoot. They're asking us who we are."

Archer stepped over to his chair. "This is Captain Jonathan Archer of the starship Enterprise. Identify yourself."

With the recent hostilities they had run into the Captain's customary greeting had become clipped and suspicious. They could hardly blame him.

A surprisingly human voice issued over the comm. It was speaking clearly.

"This is Commander Luke Skywalker, Alliance."

Hoshi's eyes widened as she realized she was picking up his speech in perfect Standard. The comm's universal translator had not even activated.

Archer frowned at the little ship so far out in space. With all of the crippling anomalies peppering the expanse one would not expect so tiny a vessel to be shielded. It could have come from a small nearby planet, perhaps from the mysterious orbs they had been encountering.

"What's the Alliance? Are you Xindi?"

Hoshi still did not have time to explain that the language she was picking up was not Xindi at all, not even the primate dialect.

The speaker seemed to note the jagged tone the Captain used because he hastened to explain the situation.

"I'm not Xindi, I'm afraid I don't even know who they are. I seem to have become stranded." The Commander spoke with the slightest bit of uneasiness in his voice.

Archer frowned.

"Stranded how?"

Luke told him quickly about how he had been on his way to Tatooine when he had encountered unusual readings in subspace. His X-wing (T'Pol entered the type of ship into their database) had experienced some turbulence. Before he knew what had happened he had crossed some kind of threshold. His vessel had been dropped into a section of unknown space. He searched through his ship's data but had been unable to pinpoint a location. His droid had been just as stumped as he was and the Astromech had difficulty scanning the region.

Archer spoke up. "This region of space is intersected by anomalies. It interferes with ship sensors and must have effected yours as well."

Luke responded in an awed tone. "Anomalies? So that's what they were. I could feel some kind of abnormality-" He cut himself off abruptly.

Archer exchanged a glance with T'Pol. Malcolm appeared on the bridge to take his station. The tactical officer quickly sat down after his subordinate got up and left the bridge.

Clearing his throat, Archer's gaze was drawn back to the solitary X-wing. After a moment of mental deliberation he reached a decision.

"Why don't you come aboard? We could fill you in on the region with what we know on our star charts. We haven't heard of a planet called Tatooine but we may be able to locate it with each other's help."

The X-wing had remained still throughout their conversation. The small ship had not made any threatening moves or summoned backup. Archer did not have the feeling it was a trap. Just something about this...Luke…rang with honesty. It was the way he spoke and just the strange feeling Archer got from him. He made a mental note to ask the alien's name once more when they made contact. The universal translator might have made a malfunction to give the Commander such a human sounding name.

The person's voice had seemed surprisingly human as well, with no heavy alien accent undercurrent. Archer wondered if this person looked as human as he sounded.

"Do you have a hanger bay that I can land in? I'm not familiar with the schematics of your ship."

Archer leaned over the comms and gave the pilot instructions. He was succinct but Luke seemed to understand him easily. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Malcolm summon his team to hanger bay 2 over the tactical comms. Within minutes their new guest had arrived, his X-wing inside the much more massive Enterprise.

Archer found it best not to make assumptions when making first contact. If the new being noticed his expression or feeling of surprise or discomfort their relations could be clouded by preconceptions. The Captain usually kept himself blank, as friendly as possible with an atmosphere of formal courtesy (unless one was dealing with a Tellarite of course)

When Archer arrived in the hanger bay the new arrival was already climbing out of the ship. He had stripped off a bright orange flight suit and bulky helmet with ease. He was currently holding a brief conversation with something in the ship. It was a separate entity, a silver and blue dome that swiveled around and seemed to examine its surroundings.

Luke was like nothing he could have anticipated. He was slight, with long blond hair and a boyish face. His petite frame was further accentuated by the black attire he was wearing. The fabric seemed to have an almost military cut to it. Archer was further pointed towards a military background with the way Luke carried himself, agile and confident but in a ritualistic manner.

He came to the bottom of the ladder Archer's crew set up for him and stepped onto the polished floor. Luke walked slowly up to them, eyeing Archer and his entourage with something like curiosity.

Archer stepped forward and held out his hand.

"Welcome aboard."

Luke mirrored him and clasped his hand with his gloved one. Archer was momentarily startled to find it ice cold. Nevertheless, he shook hands with the young stranger.

"Can I interest you in breakfast with myself and my senior officers?" It was the middle of the night but an early breakfast could be a tempting repast for their guest.

Archer studied him while he talked. The commander did not carry a visible weapon, though there was an empty holster on his belt and a bright silver tube swinging close to his right hip. The cylinder seemed fairly innocuous but Archer knew that Malcolm was probably visually evaluating it as they spoke.

When Luke accepted, Archer introduced Malcolm. Luke reached out to shake his hand as well. Malcolm's reaction to the icy hand was more apparent. The corner of his mouth jerked upward and their contact was cut short after one brief shake.

Luke noticed his reaction. His face turned apologetic.

"Sorry, prosthetic. I'm not used to it getting cold."

Malcolm's lips parted and he seemed to be trying to keep himself from staring at the convincing looking human hand.

"Not a problem," he mumbled.

Archer smiled in a friendly way and clapped his hand on the young man's shoulder.

"Let me show you around. It's not often that we get visitors out here. Or we could make our way up to the Captain's mess..."

Archer carried on with the usual niceties, every once in a while asking questions. The young man acted like most other species did with this situation. He was polite, realizing that the Captain was playing host as protocol dictated of him. The meat of their conversation would have to wait for later but for now Luke complied with the courtesies.

Malcolm followed them, stance a little less tense. His stare was wary but also intrigued. Archer steered their conversation to topics like what Luke's tastes were so chef knew what to serve and the officers he still had to meet. So far it looked like first contact was going well.

1 more chap is left of this short fic. I wasn't going to put this story in the crossovers section to be lost so I hope it is an entertaining read.