Enterprise
Captain Jonathan Archer sat on one of the bio beds in Enterprise's sickbay, waiting impatiently for Dr. Phlox to finish his yearly physical. He looked around the room, staring at some of the odd cages that Phlox had brought with on board with him.
"This would go a lot faster if you would sit still, captain." Phlox said, frowning.
"I'm not really fond of physicals." Archer admitted.
"That much is obvious by your behavior, Captain; however, I'm almost done if you'll just sit still for another minute."
Archer sighed and did his best to sit still, but his efforts were interrupted by Ensign Hoshi Sato's voice coming over the comm. He immediately jumped down from the bio bed and went to answer it.
"Bridge to Captain Archer."
"Archer. Go ahead Hoshi."
"Sir, there's a transmission from Admiral Forrest for you. He says it's important."
"If you'll excuse me Doctor, I'll take it in my ready room." Phlox nodded. "I'm on my way up Hoshi."
"We'll finish this later, Captain." Phlox told Archer on his way out of sickbay.
"It's nice to see you again Jon."
"What can I do for you Admiral?"
"I'll get straight to the point. I read what happened on board the Enterprise when your Ensign Travis Mayweather was injured during shore leave on Risa. You need another doctor on board, especially seeing as Crewman Cutler couldn't handle that little thing by herself. I'd feel safer if you had another doctor to rely on if anything happens like that again."
"I'd love to have another doctor, Admiral, but I can't afford to turn back to Earth and there aren't any Vulcan ships out this far. It would take a fair amount of time to catch up with us."
"Not to worry, Jon. She's already on her way. You'll rendezvous with the Genesis in two days. I'll send you the coordinates momentarily."
Archer looked puzzled. "The Genesis? I've never heard of a ship by that name."
"I'm not surprised. She's brand-new, the NX-02, a warp 5 capable ship and our only other ship that can get to you. The Vulcans offered to take her out there, but with the Genesis's recent completion, we figured we'd test her legs, so to speak."
"I'm looking forward to meeting this doctor then. Does she have a name?"
"Lieutenant Commander Anne Wolffe. She comes very highly recommended. She majored in Exobiology at the academy along with a double minor in neurology and biology."
"Not bad." Archer nodded.
"I have high hopes for her. It's her first assignment and she's very nervous about it."
"I'm sure she'll be fine."
"Just be careful around the Genesis crew though. They're a bit odd, but her captain is a decent sort."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Forrest out."
Archer leaned back in his chair, thinking. A new ship? That was interesting news. He knew that his Chief Engineer, Commander Charles Tucker, would want to have a look at her engines, but he kept turning Admiral Forrest's warning about the oddity of the crew in his head. Why the need for the warning?
Well, they'd figure that out when they rendezvoused with the Genesis in two days. He looked at the coordinates that he'd been sent and went out onto the bridge.
"Travis set a new course. We're rendezvousing with a ship called the Genesis in two days. Warp 4.5."
Ensign Mayweather looked back at the Captain for a second before setting the new course. "Aye sir. Course plotted."
Subcommander T'pol looked up from her station and raised an eyebrow. "May I ask why we are rendezvousing with that ship? It is not in the database."
"You'll find that out in two days, T'pol. It's a bit of a surprise."
"I'll bet that she doesn't think much of surprises." Lieutenant Malcolm Reed spoke up from his station just as Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker walked onto the bridge.
"Surprises are illogical."
Reed snorted and turned back to his console.
"Did I miss something here?" Trip asked, looking back and forth between T'pol and Reed.
"Not really. Just tweaking the Vulcan's ears a bit." Archer said, smiling. He explained their newest mission to him and he nodded.
"Alright then. I'm just here to have another look at Hoshi's station."
Ensign Hoshi Sato moved away from her station so that he could have a look at it. She watched, concerned, as he worked.
"Not a problem Hoshi. Just some shorted circuits. I can have it foxed in no time. You'll be back to translating alien languages with the UT in no time."
Two days later…
By now the crew has all heard about the mysterious ship they were due to rendezvous with sometime today and were all anxious to see it. Rumors of all kinds were flying as to its nature. Was it an unidentified alien vessel come to make contact? Or was it just a Vulcan ship and the Captain was just exercising his sense of humor?
The coordinates that Admiral Forrest had given them two days ago had led them to a small Mensharra-class planet out on the edge of the Vulcan charts. It was uninhabited and wasn't named as of yet. The Genesis was nowhere in sight.
"Are you picking any ships up on the sensors?"
Reed shook his head. No, but it's possible that there's one on the other side of the planet and it's just being hidden by the planet itself."
"Travis, take us out of orbit and around to the other side. Malcolm, keep scanning."
"It would really help if I knew what I was scanning for."
"Keep at it." Archer insisted. "You'll know when you've found it."
The ship came around to the other side of the strange orange-colored world. Even the water was a strange reddish color, very unlike Earth.
"I'm picking up something." Reed said suddenly. "It's close." He looked up and stared at Archer. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say this was Enterprise's warp signature."
"Close Malcolm. Hoshi, hail them."
"They're hailing us, sir." At Archer's nod, she opened the channel.
A tall woman with hair so black it shone with blue highlights. Her blue eyes gazed thoughtfully at the bridge crew. Behind her was an exact copy of Enterprise's bridge. The crew looked startled at the appearance of the other ship.
"I'm Captain Serena Kyle of the starship Genesis. I presume that you are Jonathan Archer, Captain of the starship Enterprise."
"Yes, that's me. I'm glad to meet you, Captain."
"Wait a minute." Trip said from behind him. "You mean to tell us that this ship we're meeting is Starfleet?"
"That is correct…Commander." Kyle replied after squinting to see Trip's rank pips. "You didn't tell them?"
"No. I figured a surprise would be good for them. Besides, the rumors were quite entertaining."
Kyle laughed, a pleasant bell like sound. "I'd imagine so. I didn't inform my crew either. I was also instructed not to. The only ones who knew were my Chief Engineer and Lieutenant Commander Wolffe, who I've been instructed to hand over to you."
"I do hope I'm not leaving you short staffed with this."
"Hardly. We've had an excess of medical staff since we've taken her on board. We were just completing shore leave. Some of my crew are still down below, but are due to be back any time now."
"Would you and your command staff care to join myself and my officers for dinner tonight? Chef is quite a wonderful cook."
"So we hear." Kyle said, sounding wistful. "I can't speak for them, but I'd be delighted to meet you face to face. I'll be sure to bring Anne with me to get her acquainted with her new home while still having some familiar faces around her."
"Sounds like a good idea. At 18:00 hours then?"
"Until then." The screen blanked, returning to the view of the ship and the orange planet in the background. The Genesis looked much like Enterprise; only it was a bit bigger.
"Shore leave? On that?" Hoshi asked incredulously.
"The planet is on our charts, but is not familiar to me, nor is much recorded about it." T'pol said
"We'll just have to ask them about it when they come over." Mayweather said, shrugging.
Reed looked up again. "I'm detecting two shuttlepods coming up from the surface. Several human life signs on board each of them. They're docking with the Genesis."
"That must be the crew returning. Dress in your best everyone. We have guests for dinner tonight."
"So this is the famous Enterprise." A gruff voice said as the shuttlepod docked with the other ship.
"I've heard a lot about it." A gentler voice said admiringly.
"Probably most of it was exaggerated." The first voice commented.
"I wonder if there are any cute guys on board." A childlike voice said wistfully.
"Have you read any of the bios we have on file?" the second voice asked. "There are enough to satisfy even you."
The crew laughed as the docking procedures finished and the hatch opened.
Captain Kyle stepped out of the shuttlepod to be greeted by the entire command crew of the Enterprise. Captain Archer walked up and extended his hand. She shook it. "Welcome aboard. I hope your all hungry." At the ravenous look of a short, grey haired man he laughed. "I'll take that as a yes. If you'll follow us."
As they walked towards the mess hall, a blond girl with a very Asian look to her kept staring at the men in the party. "You were right, Alex. There are lots of cute guys."
"That's what happens when you don't believe me, Yumeko. When I'm right, I'm very right." The other woman said, smirking.
Reed and Trip exchanged looks, smiling.
The tables in the mess hall had been rearranged to accommodate their visitors. The rest of the crew had eaten early so that room could be made for the visiting crew. Enterprise's crew was dressed in their finest as were their guests. The two crews looked each other over, not really sure what to make of the other.
"Well, I suppose some introductions are in order." Archer said, breaking the silence. "This is my first officer, Subcommander T'pol, my chief engineer, Commander Charles Tucker. Our communications officer, Ensign Hoshi Sato, is over there by the punch bowl. The gentleman looking suspicious over in the corner there is Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, my chief armory officer. Our helmsman, Ensign Travis Mayweather is right here beside me. Doctor Phlox, well, I suppose you can all pick him out, but he's the Denobulan fellow you see standing by the window. How about your crew?"
Kyle cleared her throat. "My first officer, Commander Jenna Foxfire, is currently in sickbay suffering from a rather large concussion right now. This is my chief armory officer, Lieutenant Alexis Remscheid, my communications officer Ensign Yumeko Ryuuyama. My chief medical officer, Lieutenant Jason McCormick, is standing beside my chief engineer, Commander Tyler Wolffe. To my right here is Lieutenant Commander Anne Wolffe, who will be transferring aboard Enterprise when we part ways. Finally, we have Ensign Tomas MacGreggor, my secondary navigator. He'll be replacing Commander Foxfire while she recovers."
The crew nodded when their names were spoken, but otherwise continued to stare at the others. Doctor Phlox looked around and smiled. "Well then. Shall we try some of these rather interesting looking foods before they go bad on us?"
The blond introduced as Yumeko Ryuuyama licked her lips and joined Phlox in his taste testing. The seemed to break the ice a bit and the two crews started to mingle a bit, exchanging pleasantries and other bits of small talk. Trip and Reed looked over at their opposites from the Genesis, looking thoughtful.
"You think that we should go over and say hello?" Reed asked. "That MacGreggor girl looks like a nice girl."
"At least you get a cute girl to talk to." Trip sighed. "This Wolffe guy looks really stiff and definitely not like a cute girl."
"Well, some guys have all the luck." Reed smirked.
"Excuse me, but I would like t' introduce myself." A timid little voice with a cute little Irish accent said from behind them. "I'm tryin' t' get a feel for my future coworkers. That is, if you don't mind me askin'."
"Not at all." Trip looked down at her. She wasn't very tall, barely coming up to his chest with longish grey hair and sky blue eyes. A stray bang fell into her eye and she brushed it away impatiently. "I'm Trip and this is Malcolm."
"Dia duit." She said politely, inclining her head forward. "I'm Anne Wolffe."
"What did you just say?" Trip asked, puzzled.
"My name?"
"No, before that."
"Ah! Sorry. I forget that most people don' speak that language anymore. It means hello or good day. It's a habit, really. I always speak it with my ma and my family. Especially the auld ones."
"So it's not a conscious thing anymore?"
Anne shook her head. "No' anymore, no." she laughed a little. "Jus' let me ken if it gets irritatin'."
"Ken?" Malcolm blinked. "You mean know, right?"
It was Anne's turn to look confused. "Pardon?"
"One of the other officers, after hearing the exchange, came over, clearing their throat.
"Excuse me, but I couldn't help but overhear this amusing little exchange. I figure you could use some help on the translating from Irish to English."
"Ah! Alex, thank ye." Anne clearly looked relieved. "They don' seem to ken wha' I be talking about."
"They'd understand a bit better if you'd speak proper English instead of the garbled language you so speak." Alex pointed out.
"I canna understand why ye say that. I'm only speakin' how I was taught. Besides, I don' see how ye can criticize, miss 'listen to me speak German'."
Alex rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Anyways. Whenever Anne says she kens something, she's usually saying that she knows it. It's just a leftover from when her people completely spoke whatever their native tongue is."
"Gaelic."
"Whatever."
"Really?" Trip was soaking this all in. "Hoshi would be real interested in having a talk with you and learning it."
"I'd be willin' t' do so." Anne nodded. "It'd bed nice to have someone around who can understand me."
"I'll learn it if you want." Trip added. "I'd like to learn how you speak."
"You open your mouth and make sounds." A sarcastically gruff voice with a thick Irish accent said from behind him. "It's no' that hard."
Trip, Malcolm and Anne stared at her. Alex just nodded by way of greeting. "That wasna very nice, Tyler." Anne scowled.
"Deal wi' it." Tyler growled back. "Y' ken I donna like lis'nin' to idiots speak."
"Are you calling Enterprise's Chief of Engineering an idiot?" Reed asked, incredulous.
"Yes, the Genesis's Chief of Engineering is calling him an idiot." The grey haired man crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared up at Trip.
Alex stared at him. "Tyler, are you loosing your mind? Commander Tucker is one of Starfleet's best engineers."
Before Trip could swell at the complement, Wolffe snorted. "You know exactly where my mind is, Alex. Besides, if he was really so intelligent, why is he on Enterprise? That's no' my idea of an intelligent career move. I'd ne'er want to be on a ship that is constantly shot at by all sorts o' weird things. I have a rather large liking for being alive, thank ye."
"I consider it an honor to be serving with Captain Archer. Sure we get shot at a lot, but that's what we have Lieutenant Reed for." Trip said, trying to stick up for Enterprise.
"Armory officers are the most trigger happy people I know." Alex reached over and casually smacked him on the back of the head. "Well, ye are!" he said indignantly.
"As entertaining as you two are, I'd rather have the egos of my new crewmembers intact." Anne said warningly.
"You really are no fun, Anne." Alex pouted.
"Yes, but they're my crew now so I'll do the ego squashing here."
Trip and Malcolm exchanged a glance while Tyler and Alex collapsed, howling with laughter.
"Anne, remind me never to get on your bad side." Tyler said between gasps for breath. "Ye're far too vicious for me t' be doin' somethin' that abysmally stupid."
"What's so funny over here?" Archer asked, walking over with Kyle beside him.
"Just Anne, sir." Alex said. She'd managed to get her laughter under control, but Tyler was still laughing so hard he was clutching his sides.
Kyle sighed. "Why did I ever let the two of them on my ship?"
"Pardon?"
"You see, Jon, they're from the same family. I've never really been sure how they're related, but they're fairly close. Like twins almost. Whatever it is, they always seem to do this. One says something that's so funny that the other does what my Chief Engineer is currently doing. They haven't done this in months, though, and Tyler was starting to need it."
"How's that?"
"Tyler's been grumpy and snarly to the point where 'he's avoided by all of the other engineers."
Tyler shrugged. "On the other hand, my engine room is runnin' fairly smoothly as a result. Don' complain too loudly, Cap'n."
"So. You're my new medical officer." Archer extended his hand to Anne. "I'm glad to meet you."
"And I you." Anne smiled shyly. "I've heard so many things about ye."
"You have me at a disadvantage there, Lieutenant. I hope I won't be paying you too many visits in sickbay."
"This is why I'm an engineer, Anne." Tyler said, grinning. "Doctors and police are the two sections in Starfleet that get the 'hope I never see ye' treatment."
"And if ye were a doctor, ye woulna be able to swap bad engineering jokes with the guys." Anne pointed out.
"True, and what would our lives be like if we didn't have to listen to them anymore? She should have been a doctor." Alex shook her head.
"At any rate, I should be goin' t' talk with Doctor Phlox." Anne said, excusing herself. "A pleasure Cap'n, Trip, Malcolm."
"Nice girl." Trip observed, watching her walk over to Phlox and Ensign Ryuuyama.
Captain Jonathan Archer sat on one of the bio beds in Enterprise's sickbay, waiting impatiently for Dr. Phlox to finish his yearly physical. He looked around the room, staring at some of the odd cages that Phlox had brought with on board with him.
"This would go a lot faster if you would sit still, captain." Phlox said, frowning.
"I'm not really fond of physicals." Archer admitted.
"That much is obvious by your behavior, Captain; however, I'm almost done if you'll just sit still for another minute."
Archer sighed and did his best to sit still, but his efforts were interrupted by Ensign Hoshi Sato's voice coming over the comm. He immediately jumped down from the bio bed and went to answer it.
"Bridge to Captain Archer."
"Archer. Go ahead Hoshi."
"Sir, there's a transmission from Admiral Forrest for you. He says it's important."
"If you'll excuse me Doctor, I'll take it in my ready room." Phlox nodded. "I'm on my way up Hoshi."
"We'll finish this later, Captain." Phlox told Archer on his way out of sickbay.
"It's nice to see you again Jon."
"What can I do for you Admiral?"
"I'll get straight to the point. I read what happened on board the Enterprise when your Ensign Travis Mayweather was injured during shore leave on Risa. You need another doctor on board, especially seeing as Crewman Cutler couldn't handle that little thing by herself. I'd feel safer if you had another doctor to rely on if anything happens like that again."
"I'd love to have another doctor, Admiral, but I can't afford to turn back to Earth and there aren't any Vulcan ships out this far. It would take a fair amount of time to catch up with us."
"Not to worry, Jon. She's already on her way. You'll rendezvous with the Genesis in two days. I'll send you the coordinates momentarily."
Archer looked puzzled. "The Genesis? I've never heard of a ship by that name."
"I'm not surprised. She's brand-new, the NX-02, a warp 5 capable ship and our only other ship that can get to you. The Vulcans offered to take her out there, but with the Genesis's recent completion, we figured we'd test her legs, so to speak."
"I'm looking forward to meeting this doctor then. Does she have a name?"
"Lieutenant Commander Anne Wolffe. She comes very highly recommended. She majored in Exobiology at the academy along with a double minor in neurology and biology."
"Not bad." Archer nodded.
"I have high hopes for her. It's her first assignment and she's very nervous about it."
"I'm sure she'll be fine."
"Just be careful around the Genesis crew though. They're a bit odd, but her captain is a decent sort."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Forrest out."
Archer leaned back in his chair, thinking. A new ship? That was interesting news. He knew that his Chief Engineer, Commander Charles Tucker, would want to have a look at her engines, but he kept turning Admiral Forrest's warning about the oddity of the crew in his head. Why the need for the warning?
Well, they'd figure that out when they rendezvoused with the Genesis in two days. He looked at the coordinates that he'd been sent and went out onto the bridge.
"Travis set a new course. We're rendezvousing with a ship called the Genesis in two days. Warp 4.5."
Ensign Mayweather looked back at the Captain for a second before setting the new course. "Aye sir. Course plotted."
Subcommander T'pol looked up from her station and raised an eyebrow. "May I ask why we are rendezvousing with that ship? It is not in the database."
"You'll find that out in two days, T'pol. It's a bit of a surprise."
"I'll bet that she doesn't think much of surprises." Lieutenant Malcolm Reed spoke up from his station just as Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker walked onto the bridge.
"Surprises are illogical."
Reed snorted and turned back to his console.
"Did I miss something here?" Trip asked, looking back and forth between T'pol and Reed.
"Not really. Just tweaking the Vulcan's ears a bit." Archer said, smiling. He explained their newest mission to him and he nodded.
"Alright then. I'm just here to have another look at Hoshi's station."
Ensign Hoshi Sato moved away from her station so that he could have a look at it. She watched, concerned, as he worked.
"Not a problem Hoshi. Just some shorted circuits. I can have it foxed in no time. You'll be back to translating alien languages with the UT in no time."
Two days later…
By now the crew has all heard about the mysterious ship they were due to rendezvous with sometime today and were all anxious to see it. Rumors of all kinds were flying as to its nature. Was it an unidentified alien vessel come to make contact? Or was it just a Vulcan ship and the Captain was just exercising his sense of humor?
The coordinates that Admiral Forrest had given them two days ago had led them to a small Mensharra-class planet out on the edge of the Vulcan charts. It was uninhabited and wasn't named as of yet. The Genesis was nowhere in sight.
"Are you picking any ships up on the sensors?"
Reed shook his head. No, but it's possible that there's one on the other side of the planet and it's just being hidden by the planet itself."
"Travis, take us out of orbit and around to the other side. Malcolm, keep scanning."
"It would really help if I knew what I was scanning for."
"Keep at it." Archer insisted. "You'll know when you've found it."
The ship came around to the other side of the strange orange-colored world. Even the water was a strange reddish color, very unlike Earth.
"I'm picking up something." Reed said suddenly. "It's close." He looked up and stared at Archer. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say this was Enterprise's warp signature."
"Close Malcolm. Hoshi, hail them."
"They're hailing us, sir." At Archer's nod, she opened the channel.
A tall woman with hair so black it shone with blue highlights. Her blue eyes gazed thoughtfully at the bridge crew. Behind her was an exact copy of Enterprise's bridge. The crew looked startled at the appearance of the other ship.
"I'm Captain Serena Kyle of the starship Genesis. I presume that you are Jonathan Archer, Captain of the starship Enterprise."
"Yes, that's me. I'm glad to meet you, Captain."
"Wait a minute." Trip said from behind him. "You mean to tell us that this ship we're meeting is Starfleet?"
"That is correct…Commander." Kyle replied after squinting to see Trip's rank pips. "You didn't tell them?"
"No. I figured a surprise would be good for them. Besides, the rumors were quite entertaining."
Kyle laughed, a pleasant bell like sound. "I'd imagine so. I didn't inform my crew either. I was also instructed not to. The only ones who knew were my Chief Engineer and Lieutenant Commander Wolffe, who I've been instructed to hand over to you."
"I do hope I'm not leaving you short staffed with this."
"Hardly. We've had an excess of medical staff since we've taken her on board. We were just completing shore leave. Some of my crew are still down below, but are due to be back any time now."
"Would you and your command staff care to join myself and my officers for dinner tonight? Chef is quite a wonderful cook."
"So we hear." Kyle said, sounding wistful. "I can't speak for them, but I'd be delighted to meet you face to face. I'll be sure to bring Anne with me to get her acquainted with her new home while still having some familiar faces around her."
"Sounds like a good idea. At 18:00 hours then?"
"Until then." The screen blanked, returning to the view of the ship and the orange planet in the background. The Genesis looked much like Enterprise; only it was a bit bigger.
"Shore leave? On that?" Hoshi asked incredulously.
"The planet is on our charts, but is not familiar to me, nor is much recorded about it." T'pol said
"We'll just have to ask them about it when they come over." Mayweather said, shrugging.
Reed looked up again. "I'm detecting two shuttlepods coming up from the surface. Several human life signs on board each of them. They're docking with the Genesis."
"That must be the crew returning. Dress in your best everyone. We have guests for dinner tonight."
"So this is the famous Enterprise." A gruff voice said as the shuttlepod docked with the other ship.
"I've heard a lot about it." A gentler voice said admiringly.
"Probably most of it was exaggerated." The first voice commented.
"I wonder if there are any cute guys on board." A childlike voice said wistfully.
"Have you read any of the bios we have on file?" the second voice asked. "There are enough to satisfy even you."
The crew laughed as the docking procedures finished and the hatch opened.
Captain Kyle stepped out of the shuttlepod to be greeted by the entire command crew of the Enterprise. Captain Archer walked up and extended his hand. She shook it. "Welcome aboard. I hope your all hungry." At the ravenous look of a short, grey haired man he laughed. "I'll take that as a yes. If you'll follow us."
As they walked towards the mess hall, a blond girl with a very Asian look to her kept staring at the men in the party. "You were right, Alex. There are lots of cute guys."
"That's what happens when you don't believe me, Yumeko. When I'm right, I'm very right." The other woman said, smirking.
Reed and Trip exchanged looks, smiling.
The tables in the mess hall had been rearranged to accommodate their visitors. The rest of the crew had eaten early so that room could be made for the visiting crew. Enterprise's crew was dressed in their finest as were their guests. The two crews looked each other over, not really sure what to make of the other.
"Well, I suppose some introductions are in order." Archer said, breaking the silence. "This is my first officer, Subcommander T'pol, my chief engineer, Commander Charles Tucker. Our communications officer, Ensign Hoshi Sato, is over there by the punch bowl. The gentleman looking suspicious over in the corner there is Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, my chief armory officer. Our helmsman, Ensign Travis Mayweather is right here beside me. Doctor Phlox, well, I suppose you can all pick him out, but he's the Denobulan fellow you see standing by the window. How about your crew?"
Kyle cleared her throat. "My first officer, Commander Jenna Foxfire, is currently in sickbay suffering from a rather large concussion right now. This is my chief armory officer, Lieutenant Alexis Remscheid, my communications officer Ensign Yumeko Ryuuyama. My chief medical officer, Lieutenant Jason McCormick, is standing beside my chief engineer, Commander Tyler Wolffe. To my right here is Lieutenant Commander Anne Wolffe, who will be transferring aboard Enterprise when we part ways. Finally, we have Ensign Tomas MacGreggor, my secondary navigator. He'll be replacing Commander Foxfire while she recovers."
The crew nodded when their names were spoken, but otherwise continued to stare at the others. Doctor Phlox looked around and smiled. "Well then. Shall we try some of these rather interesting looking foods before they go bad on us?"
The blond introduced as Yumeko Ryuuyama licked her lips and joined Phlox in his taste testing. The seemed to break the ice a bit and the two crews started to mingle a bit, exchanging pleasantries and other bits of small talk. Trip and Reed looked over at their opposites from the Genesis, looking thoughtful.
"You think that we should go over and say hello?" Reed asked. "That MacGreggor girl looks like a nice girl."
"At least you get a cute girl to talk to." Trip sighed. "This Wolffe guy looks really stiff and definitely not like a cute girl."
"Well, some guys have all the luck." Reed smirked.
"Excuse me, but I would like t' introduce myself." A timid little voice with a cute little Irish accent said from behind them. "I'm tryin' t' get a feel for my future coworkers. That is, if you don't mind me askin'."
"Not at all." Trip looked down at her. She wasn't very tall, barely coming up to his chest with longish grey hair and sky blue eyes. A stray bang fell into her eye and she brushed it away impatiently. "I'm Trip and this is Malcolm."
"Dia duit." She said politely, inclining her head forward. "I'm Anne Wolffe."
"What did you just say?" Trip asked, puzzled.
"My name?"
"No, before that."
"Ah! Sorry. I forget that most people don' speak that language anymore. It means hello or good day. It's a habit, really. I always speak it with my ma and my family. Especially the auld ones."
"So it's not a conscious thing anymore?"
Anne shook her head. "No' anymore, no." she laughed a little. "Jus' let me ken if it gets irritatin'."
"Ken?" Malcolm blinked. "You mean know, right?"
It was Anne's turn to look confused. "Pardon?"
"One of the other officers, after hearing the exchange, came over, clearing their throat.
"Excuse me, but I couldn't help but overhear this amusing little exchange. I figure you could use some help on the translating from Irish to English."
"Ah! Alex, thank ye." Anne clearly looked relieved. "They don' seem to ken wha' I be talking about."
"They'd understand a bit better if you'd speak proper English instead of the garbled language you so speak." Alex pointed out.
"I canna understand why ye say that. I'm only speakin' how I was taught. Besides, I don' see how ye can criticize, miss 'listen to me speak German'."
Alex rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Anyways. Whenever Anne says she kens something, she's usually saying that she knows it. It's just a leftover from when her people completely spoke whatever their native tongue is."
"Gaelic."
"Whatever."
"Really?" Trip was soaking this all in. "Hoshi would be real interested in having a talk with you and learning it."
"I'd be willin' t' do so." Anne nodded. "It'd bed nice to have someone around who can understand me."
"I'll learn it if you want." Trip added. "I'd like to learn how you speak."
"You open your mouth and make sounds." A sarcastically gruff voice with a thick Irish accent said from behind him. "It's no' that hard."
Trip, Malcolm and Anne stared at her. Alex just nodded by way of greeting. "That wasna very nice, Tyler." Anne scowled.
"Deal wi' it." Tyler growled back. "Y' ken I donna like lis'nin' to idiots speak."
"Are you calling Enterprise's Chief of Engineering an idiot?" Reed asked, incredulous.
"Yes, the Genesis's Chief of Engineering is calling him an idiot." The grey haired man crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared up at Trip.
Alex stared at him. "Tyler, are you loosing your mind? Commander Tucker is one of Starfleet's best engineers."
Before Trip could swell at the complement, Wolffe snorted. "You know exactly where my mind is, Alex. Besides, if he was really so intelligent, why is he on Enterprise? That's no' my idea of an intelligent career move. I'd ne'er want to be on a ship that is constantly shot at by all sorts o' weird things. I have a rather large liking for being alive, thank ye."
"I consider it an honor to be serving with Captain Archer. Sure we get shot at a lot, but that's what we have Lieutenant Reed for." Trip said, trying to stick up for Enterprise.
"Armory officers are the most trigger happy people I know." Alex reached over and casually smacked him on the back of the head. "Well, ye are!" he said indignantly.
"As entertaining as you two are, I'd rather have the egos of my new crewmembers intact." Anne said warningly.
"You really are no fun, Anne." Alex pouted.
"Yes, but they're my crew now so I'll do the ego squashing here."
Trip and Malcolm exchanged a glance while Tyler and Alex collapsed, howling with laughter.
"Anne, remind me never to get on your bad side." Tyler said between gasps for breath. "Ye're far too vicious for me t' be doin' somethin' that abysmally stupid."
"What's so funny over here?" Archer asked, walking over with Kyle beside him.
"Just Anne, sir." Alex said. She'd managed to get her laughter under control, but Tyler was still laughing so hard he was clutching his sides.
Kyle sighed. "Why did I ever let the two of them on my ship?"
"Pardon?"
"You see, Jon, they're from the same family. I've never really been sure how they're related, but they're fairly close. Like twins almost. Whatever it is, they always seem to do this. One says something that's so funny that the other does what my Chief Engineer is currently doing. They haven't done this in months, though, and Tyler was starting to need it."
"How's that?"
"Tyler's been grumpy and snarly to the point where 'he's avoided by all of the other engineers."
Tyler shrugged. "On the other hand, my engine room is runnin' fairly smoothly as a result. Don' complain too loudly, Cap'n."
"So. You're my new medical officer." Archer extended his hand to Anne. "I'm glad to meet you."
"And I you." Anne smiled shyly. "I've heard so many things about ye."
"You have me at a disadvantage there, Lieutenant. I hope I won't be paying you too many visits in sickbay."
"This is why I'm an engineer, Anne." Tyler said, grinning. "Doctors and police are the two sections in Starfleet that get the 'hope I never see ye' treatment."
"And if ye were a doctor, ye woulna be able to swap bad engineering jokes with the guys." Anne pointed out.
"True, and what would our lives be like if we didn't have to listen to them anymore? She should have been a doctor." Alex shook her head.
"At any rate, I should be goin' t' talk with Doctor Phlox." Anne said, excusing herself. "A pleasure Cap'n, Trip, Malcolm."
"Nice girl." Trip observed, watching her walk over to Phlox and Ensign Ryuuyama.