DISCLAIMER: ENTERPRISE is not mine. Amber Scott is.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: It's my first ENTERPRISE fic where something's actually HAPPENING! Woohoo! Those of you who have read my other fics will be pleased. I wrote this because I am taking American Sign Language as my foreign language for high school. I wanted to incorporate ASL into a story and here's what I came up with. Hope ya like it. Please forgive any contradictions with the show, as I don't get to see it as often as I'd like. Also some of the signs I describe in here are not actual signs, since many of them describe twenty-fourth century technology or species. For a large listing of sign language terms visit http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser.htm

SPECIAL THANKS: I want to thank Cheri Bradford, my sign language teacher. Without her I would not have been able to write this story at all.

CATEGORY: General for now, may change later on.

RATED: G. Later chapters may be PG depending on what happens.

ARCHIVES: Ask and ye shall receive.

THE SECRET LANGUAGE

CHAPTER ONE

"So what's this about, Admiral?" Jonathan Archer, captain of the SS ENTERPRISE NX-01 said, sitting in front of his view screen. he was about to talk to the little ray of sunshine in his life, Admiral Forest.

"It is about your new Ensign scheduled to arrive today." Forest said from the view screen. While it could rarely be said that the man looked cheerful, he looked even less so today.

"Amber Scott?" Archer asked.

"Correct." Forest nodded. "I'm afraid you haven't been...completely informed about the details."

Archer gave the Admiral a quizzical look. "I know that she's scheduled to arrive at 1300 hours." He said. "I know that she's twenty-eight years old, first year graduate of Starfleet Academy, salutatorian of her class-"

"That's not it, Captain." Forest cut him off. "I don't believe you've been informed of her...disability."

"Disability?" Now Archer was really confused. "There's nothing about a disability on her record."

"She's deaf, Captain." Forest said.

Archer sat back in his chair. "Deaf?"

Forest nodded.

"Most deaf people can talk, right?" Archer asked. "At least a little?"

"Ensign Scott can't." Forest said. "She's profoundly deaf, and mute. She communicates through sign language."

"Profoundly deaf." Archer repeated the words to himself. "So you could fire a gun off next to her head and she wouldn't hear it?"

"She'd feel the concussion from the sound." Forest said. "But she's without any hearing. She's been deaf from birth. She'll have an interpreter with her."

"Ensign Scott can't do her work if she has an interpreter with her all the time." Archer said.

"Oh, the interpreter won't be here all the time." Forest said. "Just for the first couple of months, until you and the crew have learned enough sign language to communicate with her."

Archer sat back in his chair. "You're kidding me, right, Admiral?"

Forest shook his head. "No. Ensign Scott's interpreter, John Sinclair, will teach the senior staff enough to get your point across. After that, you'll need to find help on your own if you want to learn more."

"What about the other officers?" Archer asked.

"Odds are she won't be interacting with them much." Forest said. "However, if need be, she can have one of you interpret for her, and John is gonna try to teach most of the crew basic fingerspelling."

"Fingerspelling?" Archer inquired.

"Spelling the letters out on your fingers." Forest clarified.

"It's awful hard to teach eighty-seven people sign language." Archer said.

"Captain, you *do* have the ability and the authority to reject Ensign Scott now, before she gets to your ship." Forest said.

"No, no, I signed up for this deal to explore." Archer said. "Tell Ensign Scott to arrive here on schedule."

"I will, Captain." Forest said.

"All right, Admiral, thank you. Archer out." Archer walked out of his quarters to brief his crew about their new addition. He had a funny feeling his life was about to get a whole lot more complicated.

-----

"She's *deaf?* Commander Charles "Trip" Tucker III said after Archer had told his senior staff what Forest had said.

"That's right." Archer said. "Her interpreter, John Sinclair, will be with her for the first two months or so, until we..."

"Until we what?" Trip asked.

"Until we...learn enough sign language to communicate with her." Archer finished.

It went over exactly how he'd thought it would. Ensign Hoshi Sato, ENTERPRISE's communications officer, was up for it. She could become fluent in a language within a week, or so it seemed to the crew. Ensign Travis Mayweather and Lieutenant Malcolm Reed looked quizzically at each other. Trip was staring at Archer open-mouthed, and Vulcan Sub-Commander T'Pol just sat with an expression devoid of emotion, as always. Archer was sure she would speak up and say it was foolish within the next five seconds.

Actually, it was Reed who broke the silence. "Captain, not to sound pessimistic or anything," the British lieutenant started, "but how can she do her work if she can't hear? A lot of our work is dependent upon hearing things, and if something were to go wrong..."

"I'm sure she has her ways of realizing that something is wrong, Lieutenant." Archer said. "She wouldn't have been graduated salutatorian of her class if she weren't competent."

"But what if she's *not* competent?" T'Pol asked. "What if this does not work out?"

*Always the optimist.* Archer thought. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." He said. "Meanwhile, like it or not, we do have to learn sign language to communicate with her. I don't want to do it either, I had a hard enough time learning Spanish in high school." The crew laughed a little. "But it's what we have to do."

The crew got up to leave, but T'Pol stayed behind. It was all Archer could do not to cringe.*Here it comes* He thought.

"This is foolish." T'Pol stated bluntly.

"Didn't you say the same thing on the first mission?" Archer said, recalling iEnterprise/i's near-disastrous maiden voyage.

"If Ensign Scott cannot hear, how will she understand her orders?" T'Pol asked.

*Were you not here just now, when I told everyone about this?* Archer thought. "We'll learn the language enough to get our point across, and Mr. Sinclair will be here to interpret for her, at least for a little while." He answered patiently. "And if it turns out we just can't function with her on board, we'll tell her gently and send her back home."

"It is foolish." T'Pol repeated her first statement.

"Whether it's foolish or not, Ensign Scott will be here in four hours, and you're going to be there to greet her." Archer said. "In the meantime, get back to work."

-----

Ensign Amber Scott felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see her interpreter, John Sinclair, smiling at her. "We're almost there, Amber." He signed the words to her, but he spoke as he signed. Amber could not hear his words, but she understood the signs perfectly. "Hit the button." John pointed to a button on the panel. John spoke into the comm system. Amber could feel the panel vibrating as they received an answer. She had often wondered what a voice coming through a comm system would sound like.

"What did he say?" Amber signed to John.

"We're all clear." John signed back. "Look! There she is!"

Amber turned her head to see a ship hovering in front of her shuttlecraft. "She's beautiful." She signed.

"Bring us in, Amber." John signed.

Amber began to bring the shuttle in. The door to ENTERPRISE's shuttle bay opened. Amber looked at the clock. "We're early." She signed to John.

"I know." John signed back. "I'll call Captain Archer and tell him."

Amber sat back. She was excited about her first mission. She hoped she could cut it. She'd been dropped from valedictorian of her class because of her deafness. Despite the fact that she was very intelligent, she'd struggled through the Academy. It had taken her eight years to finish what she should have done in four years. The people there simply couldn't understand how hard it was to go through your classes without being able to hear what your teacher was saying! Amber had relied on John and her other senses. She had learned to feel, look, and smell for danger rather than listen for it. She could lipread a little, and that helped. Her eyes worked just as well as any other person's, and so did her hands, and her nose. Why couldn't she use them?

None of that mattered now. Amber Scott was headed for her first deep space mission, and she couldn't wait. She was also glad EMTERPRISE had accepted her. When the other ships had heard of her deafness, they'd turned her down.

"Here we are!" John signed, breaking Amber's train of thought. "There's Captain Archer."

Amber looked out the shuttle's front window and saw three people, two men and a woman. "Which is Captain Archer?" She signed.

"On the left." John signed, indicating a tall, brown-haired man. "The other two are Commander Charles Tucker III and Sub-Commander T'Pol."

The shuttle's door opened and John stood up. "After you." He signed, indicating the door.

Amber stood up, straightened her uniform, and marched out of the shuttlecraft.

-----

Commander Charles "Trip" Tucker stood, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Where was this Ensign Scott? He wondered what she'd be like. He'd never met a deaf person before. Could she read lips? Was there anything special he should know about her?

*Relax, Trip.* He told himself. *Just pretend your greeting any other new ensign. You'll do fine.*

Right then, the shuttle's door opened and a smallish woman with medium-length light brown hair came out. *That must be her.* Trip thought. The woman was followed by a fortyish man with graying black hair. *And that must be her interpreter.*

Ensign Scott snapped to attention and saluted Captain Archer. Archer saluted her back. She began to sign, and the man interpreted for her. "Ensign Amber Scott, reporting for duty."

"Welcome aboard, Ensign Scott." Archer said, while the man interpreted. "I'm Captain Jonathan Archer, this is my second in command, Commander Charles Tucker."

"My friends call me Trip." Trip said.

Ensign Scott seemed slightly amused. She signed something and tapped his foot with hers, just enough to make him lose his balance. Then she signed something else.

"Trip? Like that?" The interpreter said. Trip fumbled for his name. John something?

"Yes." Trip said with a slight laugh, rubbing his shin. "Like that."

"And this is my science officer, Sub-Commander T'Pol." Archer indicated the severe-looking Vulcan female to his left.

Amber signed something that looked like a question. "Are you a Vulcan?" The interpreter said.

"Yes." T'Pol answered in her typical emotionless manner.

"And I am John Sinclair." The interpreter said. "I'm Amber's interpreter, and as far as you're concerned, I'm not here. Speak directly to Amber."

"Welcome to ENTERPRISE."Archer said. "Commander Tucker will show you to your quarters."

Trip carefully watched John's hands as he interpreted, but couldn't make sense of it. It just looked like a bunch of hand motions. He'd be lucky if he could ever make any sense of it.

"Commander Tucker will show you to your quarters." Archer repeated, a little more loudly this time. Trip looked up, startled. He'd been watching John so closely he'd forgotten about his job. "Right." Trip cleared his throat. "Right this way."

-----

"How did Trip come about?" Amber signed to Commander Tucker as they walked to her quarters.

Tucker answered, and Amber could see his lips moving. She lipread "daddy" "his" "Charlie" and "Tucker", but other than that she didn't get much. She glanced at John for an interpretation. He signed: "My daddy's name was Charlie and so was his daddy. My daddy didn't want to be 'old Charlie' so I became Trip Tucker."

Amber nodded. She wished she could hear Trip's voice. She wondered if his voice was as bouncy and carefree as he seemed. She had the funny feeling she was going to like this Commander.

"Here we are." Amber lipread as Trip stopped at her quarters. "Hope the all ite."

Amber blinked and shook her head. "What was that?" She signed.

"Hope the all ite." Amber lipread again. Frustrated, she looked at John.

"Hope they are all right." John signed.

Amber smiled. "I'm sure they are fine. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Amber lipread. After a second, she decided it was time for Trip to have his first sign language lesson. She extended her hand, index finger pointing at Trip, and then brought it back to her body.

"What's that?" John interpreted Trip's words.

"You're welcome." Amber signed. "That's the sign for 'you're welcome.'"

Trip repeated the sign. "Thanks." Amber lipread. "See you at 0900 tomorrow and don't be late."

After receiving the interpretation from John, Amber laughed. "I won't." She signed. "See you then."

Trip gave a friendly wave and left to show John to his quarters.

Amber stepped into her quarters and looked around. The room was small, no bigger than her bedroom had been when she was a child. A small bed was in the corner. Sitting down on it, Amber opened her diary and began to write. She was different from most deaf people in that she wrote and read very well. Ever since she was little, she'd found that writing things down helped her to get them out of the way, or to remember them forever. and this was something she wanted to remember.

June 15, 2151

Guess what? I made it! I got to ENTERPRISE and I start work tomorrow at 0900. I'm working in Engineering with the same guy who led me to my quarters today. His name's Charlie Tucker, but he says his friends call him Trip. I thanked him for taking me to my quarters today and then I taught him the sign for "you're welcome." His first sign language lesson!

John will only be here with me for a little while. He's teaching the senior staff sign language so they can communicate with me. I don't want to be a hindrance, but I'm glad this crew doesn't seem to see me as one. The ZENITH turned me down because they thought I'd be no good. My instructor at the Academy told me that they were wrong, and we'd find a ship who'd take me. Well, it's not like I had a whole lot of choices. There's only the ZENITH, the POLARIS and ENTERPRISE. I'm so glad ENTERPRISE decided to take me. The quarters are pretty cramped, but it's a small price to pay. I'm finally there. My lifelong dream of Starfleet has finally come true. And on top of all that, I get to work with a REALLY cute chief engineer!

Well, better get going. I'm gonna try to explore a little bit. I wish I could start work now. Maybe I'll go check out Engineering. I hope no one tries to talk to me since they don't know I can't hear them. I'm trying to free myself of John for a few hours. Not that I don't like him or anything, but it's just kind of a hassle waiting for him to interpret everything that's said to me. It really puts a cramp in conversations.

-----

Chapter 2 coming soon...