Jonathan leaned back and closed his eyes. He never thought he'd feel this way, but it was nice to be away from Enterprise and the captain's chair. He thought T'Pol might threaten him with a phase pistol when he suggested he take the shuttlepod on the mission alone. So he decided to take Trip along instead. Malcolm and Travis were in the other shuttlepod a couple of lightyears away. They were testing a new ship-to-ship subspace communication system. It was boring work. Jonathan was fairly sure Starfleet was just keeping them busy until the first warp seven vessel was rolled out and ships like Enterprise became obsolete.

"You awake, Cap'n?" Trip asked.

Jonathan opened his eyes and looked at his friend. "Mostly," he answered slyly. "Anything happen yet?"

"Nope. We still have a few minutes, though," Trip assured him. "Enterprise is probably not in position yet."

Jonathan closed his eyes again. "That's nice," he mused.

"You know, Captain," Trip began brightly, "you could actually take a vacation instead of sleeping on duty."

Jonathan looked at his friend through one barely open eye. "Shut up, Commander," he ordered.

Trip smiled mischievously. He busied himself making minor adjustments in the attitude until the red indicator started flashing. He activated the comm. "This is Shuttlepod One, go ahead."

"This is Enterprise," T'Pol's deep, even voice responded. "We have lost contact with Shuttlepod Two."

Jonathan stirred and sat up. "Well, I guess this comm system isn't all it's cracked up to be," he said.

"It may have also been improperly installed," T'Pol's voice responded.

"Hey," Trip protested playfully.

"It is a logical conclusion," T'Pol answered evenly. "The installation of Shuttlepod Two's communication system took place before the installations of-"

"We get the idea, T'Pol," Jonathan interrupted. "Go pick Malcolm and Travis up and then come back here for us. We'll try another test tomorrow."

"Understood, Captain. Enterprise out."

Trip grinned. "You sent her after Malcolm and Travis so you could get some more shut eye, didn't ya?"

"That's the general idea," Jonathan said as he closed his eyes and leaned back.

Trip smiled to himself. He fingered the controls without really touching them, and sighed as he let his mind dip into his well of memories.

"You miss her, don't you?"

"Huh?" Trip asked, turning around to face his captain.

"T'Pol," Jonathan clarified, "you miss her."

Trip forced a laugh. "I see her everyday."

Jonathan sat up and pushed his chair forward so he would be eye level with his friend. "That doesn't mean you don't miss her. You miss...being with her."

Trip laughed uncomfortably and tried to focus on the sensor readouts. "Since when did you take up psychology?"

"Trip, you've been through a lot together."

"I've been through a lot with Malcolm, your point?"

"You've never had a child with Malcolm."

Trip's stomach tightened. He looked at his captain, who was staring him down, albeit compassionately. "I never really had a child with T'Pol."

"Yeah, you did," Jonathan answered.

Tears welled in Trip's eyes. "Sometimes, I wish she had lived. I wish I'd gotten to see her grow up. But then I think about how much you needed both me and T'Pol during the war with the Romulans. We couldn't have had Elizabeth aboard the ship. She would have been in too much danger. Maybe it's better that she..."

As his friend's voice trailed off, Jonathan reassuringly placed a hand on his shoulder. Trip smiled and nodded his thanks.

An alarm resounded throughout the vessel.

"Isn't that the collision alert?" Jonathan asked.

"Yeah," Trip answered, looking frantically over the console's readouts, "but there's nothing--"

The shuttlepod rocked violently sending Jonathan sprawling on the floor. Trip watched open-mouthed as a somehow familiar, yet completely unknown vessel swept across space hurtling down to the uninhabited moon beneath them.

"Where the hell did that thing come from?" Jonathan asked, standing up.

"I'm not really sure," Trip answered as he reviewed the sensor logs. "Oh, my God."

"What is it?"

"The ship's transmitting an identifying beacon."

"And?"

"Well, look at it."

Jonathan regarded the readout and understood Trip's surprise completely. It was a Starfleet ship, representing the United Federation of Planets. Not only did the ship not resemble any ship design he had ever seen, the United Federation of Planets didn't exist, yet.

"We have to help them," Jonathan announced.

"What?"

"Trip, they're crashing, they obviously didn't mean to wind up here," Jonathan explained. "If anyone's left alive, we can help them. Maybe we can even help them get back to their own time."

"Yeah, I suppose you've got Agent Daniels' number stashed in an address book somewhere?"

Jonathan glared at him. "Are you gonna take us down there, or am I?"

"Fine, I'm going!"

Jonathan started coughing as soon as he opened the shuttlepod door. The air was heavy and putrid. "What is that?" he asked, gagging.

"High sulfer content in the air," Trip answered, handing him a filtration mask. "This place is still forming."

The other craft was only a few meters away. "Come on, let's go!"

They jogged across the rough terrain squinting their eyes to diminish the stinging effects of the air. The other vessel's hatch had fallen off at some point during their descent.

"Someone must have gotten control before they crashed," Jonathan said. "I think this thing could still be flyable."

"Cap'n," Trip called, his voice uncertain, "I think these are warp nacelles."

"What?" Jonathan asked as he joined his staring friend toward the rear of the vessel.

"These are warp nacelles," Trip insisted.

"On a ship this size?" Jonathan asked, incredulous. The small vessel was only about three times the size of a standard shuttlepod.

Trip shrugged. "I don't understand it either, Cap'n."

"How far in the future did they come from?" Jonathan muttered as he stepped into the ship.

Lights flickered on and off uncertainly and sparks flew out from the consoles. A young man lay dead at his feet. Another figure slumped over a console at the front of the cockpit.

"Oh, my God, that's a transporter, I'm sure of it," Trip said, examining the interior. "Who would have thought; warp engines and a transporter on a ship like this."

Jonathan wasn't really listening. The figure was female, and she was still breathing. Jonathan gently pushed her long, honey-colored hair out of her face. She was human and in her mid-thirties. She wore black pants and a jacket over a maroon under-shirt with a high collar. Jonathan regarded the four golden circles on her collar with curiosity. As he ran a finger over them, the woman woke with a start. She had beautiful gray eyes that were presently filled with fear. She cried out and pushed him away.

"It's okay. It's okay. We're here to help you," Jonathan said, grabbing her arms to keep her from striking him. When she started breathing more normally, he said, "What's your name?"

"I'm-I'm Captain Derika Andrews of the U.S.S. McAuliffe," she answered laboriously. "And who the hell are you?"

The combativeness of her question obviously took Jonathan aback. Trip just chuckled. "You're probably scarin' her with that mask, Cap'n."

Jonathan looked back at Derika and pulled off the mask. "I'm Captain Jonathan Archer of the starship Enterprise."

Derika's face went from a look of trepidation to one of utter terror. "No," she gasped before passing out and landing in Jonathan's arms.

Trip sniggered. "I always knew you had a way with women."

Jonathan shot him a dirty look and opened his mouth to reply, but his communicator beeping cut him off.

"Archer," he said as he flipped open the device.

"Captain, you were not at the rendezvous coordinates," T'Pol's voice told him.

"I know there was a little bit of an accident," he answered, looking at the woman in his arms.

"Are Commander Tucker and yourself unharmed," T'Pol asked, the slightest note of urgency slipping into her voice.

"Yeah, we're both fine," Jonathan answered. "We weren't involved in the accident. Commander Tucker's gonna take Shuttlepod One up to meet you," he nodded at Trip, who immediately headed out of the ship, "but I think you're going to have to beam me and this survivor up and have Phlox standing by. She's in pretty bad shape."

"Understood," T'Pol answered. "Stand by."

Jonathan held Derika close as the heat of the transporter beam enveloped them.