I have been a fan of Star Trek in all its permutations for forty-five years plus – I discovered James White's Sector General Books about forty years ago. Both helped to form my outlook on life. This story is homage to both universes, and is written for my enjoyment only and hopefully yours too.

This story contains both heterosexual and homosexual pairings – if this is a problem, I'm sorry . . . The inspiration for this story comes from James White's Mind Changer, where Joan asked O'Mara why he is not interested in her – if perhaps she is the wrong gender? His response was that she was the wrong species. (She thought he was joking and O'Mara went along with it. He wasn't.')

What if she was both the wrong species and the wrong gender?

For the purposes of this story – Commander Trip Tucker and Lieutenant Malcolm Reed are an established couple in the alternate Star Trek Enterprise universe. For Stan. . .

Enterprise

The alien spaceship was breathtakingly beautiful – sleek and almost virginal in its brilliant white appearance. Chief Engineer Trip Tucker decided that the designers of the craft must have had an innate sense of style, at least to his human eyes. Why else would they build something so amazingly 'sexy', when something more utilitarian would suffice? The other question he had in regard to the vision before his eyes also occupied his mind – What happened to the rest of the vessel? It looked to have been chopped off . . . And he looked toward the other occupants of the bridge . . .

Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, Armory/Tactical Chief of the Enterprise had a different agenda. Could this seemingly abandoned craft be a threat to their ship, and what had happened to the rest of it? Why was there only a piece of the craft? He examined the ship for any weapon capabilities, and found none evident. He addressed the captain, as surely he would want to know his opinion. "Sir, this part of the vessel doesn't seem to have any weapons, either offensive or defensive capabilities; it does appear to be abandoned." And he looked toward Commander Tucker knowing full well that the man was intrigued by the find.

Jonathan Archer, captain of the Enterprise, smiled because he did like pleasing his senior officers. "How would you gentlemen like to go and explore the ship? At the very least we can get some information about the aliens that built her." He too, was smitten by the graceful shape and form of the vessel; curious about whom it belonged to. Hopefully there weren't casualties from the event that caused the splitting of the spacecraft – an event which Commander T'Pol had indicated had happened some time ago, if the lack of fragmented debris or atmospheric vapor was any indication. It had no obvious power signature and seemed to be totally 'dead in the water.'

The two men expressed their pleasure in different ways – Malcolm Reed with a slight nod, and Trip Tucker – "Thank you, Capt'n; I'd really like to go check her out!" This comment by the chief engineer caused the lieutenant to smile at his partner, his love. He knew that Trip would want to see the ship. And he thought of the previous night's exploring activities, albeit in a smaller area, Tucker's quarters.

(Short first chapter – comments welcome – thank you!)