There was a gentle knock on Malcolm's door. "Come, come in," he called, trying to mask his excitement.
Lili entered, and immediately put her canvas backpack on his desk and draped her jacket over his desk chair.
"You've returned," he observed.
"Did you doubt that?"
"I did not doubt you. I doubted myself," he admitted.
"Well, doubt no more," she smiled, "Plus I brought you something you really like."
He got up and kissed her. "Yourself."
"And this!" She presented a small bundle with a flourish, wrapped in a cloth napkin.
"Oho! What's this?"
"Close your eyes, and open your mouth."
"How intriguing," he murmured, before doing just that. She broke off a small piece of the smoked pineapple tart and gently placed it into his mouth. He smiled as he tasted it. Swallowing it, he opened his eyes and winked at her, "I have an idea."
"You look mischievous."
"Most definitely." He peeled her clothes off and bade her to lie back on the bed. He placed a small piece of the tart on her breast and then licked it off her body. Thoroughly, he licked her clean, moving downwards as well. She was writhing as he finished.
"You tease," she breathed, "Your turn." She eased his shorts and his briefs off. "I don't need pineapple flavoring."
"Oh?"
"You're delicious just the way you are."
"No one's ever referred to me as delicious before."
"Good," she breathed, "'cause I don't feel like fighting 'em off."
He was going to say something when, again, all coherence was lost. As before, he could not wait to kiss her afterwards.
They both lay there, panting. "Yanno," she noted, "we do need to sleep a bit."
"Yes, yes, of course. Here," he lay to the side and put his left arm out, extending it. "Can you put your head here?"
Lying on the left side of the bed, Lili nestled into the crook of his arm. She kissed him. "G'night."
"Good night."
"Oh, and Malcolm?"
"Hmm?"
"I talk in my sleep."
"Oh. All right," he replied softly.
=/\=
As Lili slept, she began to dream. But this was no ordinary dream.
She was in a pitch black room. There were footsteps. "Who's there?"
"A friend." The voice was familiar, and had a British accent."
"Malcolm?"
Lying next to her, Malcolm heard her call his name in her sleep. He kissed her forehead and went back to sleep.
"No," Lili's dream continued, "but you're close."
"I don't understand."
"You won't remember this dream in your waking life. But you will recall it from dream to dream. For this is no ordinary nocturnal vision."
"I don't know if I believe you."
"I suppose that's to be expected."
"Who are you, if you're not Malcolm?"
"Call me Ian. I am; there are an infinite number of universes. But two are inextricably intertwined, like lovers."
"Are you making a pass at me?"
Malcolm heard that sentence, smiled and turned over, going back to sleep.
"Would that I were," mused Ian, "Rather, it's, there are two. They are close, and there are counterpart persons. You have one, Malcolm has one, and Jay does as well. Plus others, like T'Pol and Jonathan Archer and Phlox. Then there are others like Ethan Shapiro who do not have counterparts here."
"In your universe, right?"
"Right," he confirmed, "I am in one, and you are in the other. Or, rather, I was in the other. But now I'm on a different plane."
"A different plane," she surmised, "does this mean you're dead?"
"You are, of course, correct," confirmed Ian, "And this is a short rest so there isn't a lot of time for me to explain things. But I am Malcolm's counterpart. Jay's is named Douglas. Yours is here, too – she goes by Charlotte."
"Huh. Now, I'm not saying this isn't fascinating, but what is the purpose behind this contact?" Lili asked.
"You may have recalled a voice in your dreams, when you were first brought back in time? That was Douglas. But it turns out that he is only assigned to your other iteration, from the first kick back. And I am assigned to this particular iteration."
"Assigned?"
"Yes," he explained, "for we are here to be with you in your darkest hours."
"This is my darkest hour? I just made love to an amazing man! I am sleeping next to him. So how is this dark at all, Ian?"
"There's the time," Ian seemed to somehow be checking that, "and I am sorry to be so mysterious. But tonight was to tell you who I am. That way, when you are next visited by me, you won't be quite so alarmed."
"Alarmed?"
But the real alarm was going off, and she and Malcolm were waking up. The dream was, as Ian had predicted, completely forgotten.
=/\=
Hoshi and Sandra had been working together for hours, trying to piece together the message from the unknown shuttle. Finally, Sandra looked up. "I wonder if we can get something more out of the other NX-01's database."
"Oh? What do you have in mind?" asked Hoshi. They were still on the Bridge, both at the Communications station.
"Maybe something has that language in it, somewhere in the archives. Maybe it's something really unexpected like, I dunno, log entries. Or even something really off the wall."
"Let's search for recorded speech, then."
They clicked around PADDs until finally Sandra said, "Hey, wait a second. Here's a recording of caroling. It's from, uh, 2045."
"Let's hear it," Hoshi commanded.
The air was filled with some clicking sounds. "That's supposed to be Santa Claus is Coming to Town," Sandra reported, reading off her PADD as the two words, 'Santa Claus' were, jarringly, sung on the recording.
"Then that ship is Ikaaran," Hoshi deduced.
"And we should do something about this," decided Captain Archer. "Let's get breakfast." He pinched the bridge of his nose. Being woken up in the middle of the night was not doing him any favors. "And we'll talk about what to do. Uh, let's make it a breakfast meeting."
Hoshi nodded and started notifying the rest of the senior staff.
=/\=
In Malcolm's quarters, as he started the water for the shower, Lili's PADD dinged. "Ah", she reported, "I am making you breakfast today."
"Oh?"
"You've got a meeting. Of course I have no idea what it's about."
There was another ding. This time, it was his PADD. "Right on schedule," he looked it over, "it's about this shuttle in an anomaly field. It seems it's Ikaaran. I suppose the captain will wish to do something, seeing as there were Ikaaran brides last time 'round."
"As he should." she stepped into the shower. "Coming?"
"Of course."
He entered the shower and they steamed up the glass doors almost immediately. Getting clean was put off as they moved together, standing up. When they broke apart, they were both panting. "Oh, I could start every day that way," he told her, gasping.
"Me, too, wow."
"Lili," he looked at her as they both began to calm down a bit and she started to wash her hair, "may I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Do you know how, how people fall in love?"
She stopped what she was doing for a moment and thought as the water ran and he scrubbed his arms. "I, well, I suppose there's hundreds, even thousands of ways. Hell, it's millions and even billions. We probably all have our own ways. It must be as individual as a fingerprint."
He stopped what he was doing and enveloped her in his strong arms. "I know that this is moving very fast. And if this frightens you, the, the speed, that is, then I apologize. But I must, I must tell you this, Lili."
"Hmm?" She held his waist in her hands and looked him in the eye as the water ran all over them.
"I think that this is my way."
=/\=
"We've been watching an unfolding incident," Captain Archer informed them as they sat down to breakfast. Lili served blueberry and plain pancakes, giving Jay a serving that was all blueberry as she knew he liked them.
"Oh?" asked Travis.
"There are two shuttles in a nearby anomaly field," T'Pol reported, "One of them is most certainly Imvari, and the larger slaver ship is nearby. The two are undoubtedly connected. The other shuttle, we believe, is Ikaaran."
"Sandra and I think we've got the semblance of a translation of their distress call," Hoshi stated, "Now, we know from their database that the Ikaarans send out single-sex crews. But from the language, gender is really impossible to tell."
She played the message, which was spoken by a translated voice that the computer generated and sounded female, although it also sounded very flat and electronic – "Unidentified vessel! Please help us! We are a peaceful people who do not wish to be enslaved! We will provide you with any reward you seek!"
"They're definitely calling for our help," concluded the captain.
"Aidan gave me his report," Malcolm added, "and he has scanned the two shuttles. The Imvari shuttle is fairly well-armed, particularly for a vessel of its size. The other has no weaponry at all. It does have other, interesting characteristics, but we can't put our fingers upon them. It's possible that the anomaly field is preventing a fully realized scan from being performed." He looked up at Lili as she poured coffee and allowed himself a small, shy smile at her, which she returned.
Despite herself, Lili stopped what she was doing. A whistling teakettle brought her back to her senses.
"What kind of weapons has the Imvari shuttle got?" asked Jay.
"Low-yield plasma weapons," Malcolm read off his PADD. "Oh, thank you," he interrupted himself as Lili placed a small pot of hot water in front of him. He selected a bag of English Breakfast tea. "It's nothing we can't handle, although firing upon them while in the anomaly field, and with the Ikaaran shuttle so close by – that much could prove to be rather tricky."
"Can we get a shuttle of our own in there?" Jonathan asked.
"The anomaly field's no picnic," Travis explained, "and we are packing like that Ikaaran shuttle is."
"Perhaps we could outmaneuver them instead," Malcolm suggested.
"Can't we push the Imvari into an anomaly?" Jay asked.
"Maybe," Travis allowed. "It'd be a lot more possible with two shuttles. One would be used to pick up anyone from the Ikaaran shuttle, or maybe just lead them to safety, and the other to distract the Imvari and do the actual pushing."
"The slaver ship's a problem, too," Jay explained, "It would help if they were softened up with weapons fire first."
"We don't want to risk hitting the Ikaaran shuttle," Malcolm clarified, "After all; these anomalies can do all manner of things. Who's to say they can't change the trajectory of the yield from our phase cannons?"
"You don't even know if this is a female ship," Will pointed out, "What if we're risking a lot and just saving a bunch of guys?"
"We should still do it," Shelby stated, "I mean, does it always have to be about the bedroom? I remember when this ship was launched. We were all about helping people. And now some people have pretty clearly asked for our help. I really hope we haven't become a bunch of people who only help out when it's convenient for us, or when we can get something out of it."
T'Pol had been quietly eating a bowl of Scottish steel-cut oats. "It appears that this shuttle contains persons who, in our absence, would surely either die out here, or become enslaved. If we act to save them, yet cut off their contact to their home world, we could avoid temporal contamination."
The captain looked at her, as she didn't seem to be finished with her thought. "And?"
"And the earlier version of the Enterprise suffered greatly, due to the persistent gender imbalance," replied the Vulcan, "It was one of the main drivers behind the attack on Crewman Socorro. Furthermore, Crewman Chang is already exhibiting similar behaviors."
"But Sandra isn't," Hoshi stated.
"That is to Crewman Sloane's credit," T'Pol stated, "But Chang is less fortunate."
"I am already seeing and treating depressed crew members," Doctor Phlox reported. "And that depression, combined with envy and unchecked aggression, was another driver of the behaviors believed to have led to the incident with Crewman Socorro."
"But if we save a ship full of men, the imbalance will only get worse," Will pointed out.
"I still say we should help people," Shelby insisted, getting a little testy.
There was a communications chime. Hoshi answered it. It was Aidan from the Bridge. "You're not gonna believe this, but that Ikaaran shuttle just disappeared."
"They were destroyed?" Malcolm asked.
"No, sir. We haven't detected any weapons fire. They just shimmered out of existence. And it's not just visual. We can't get them on scans, either."
"It may be a cloaking device of some form," T'Pol concluded. "That could prove rather useful when attempting to elude the other version of the NX-01."
"Then it's not just about rations and brides and even about doing the right thing," Jonathan concluded, "Now it's tactical, and it's to protect the timeline. You say you'd need two shuttles?" he asked Travis.
"It would work better that way, yes."
"Then let's do this. We'll have you pilot one, and Chris will take the other one. Malcolm, you'll go, and so will you, Jay. You'll each take a few crew members. I want someone in Engineering, maybe to figure that cloaking device out, see if we can take it with us. Bring some muscle. We may need to shift gears quickly. If the slaver ship comes close, one of the shuttles' crews may need to board it and lay charges."
"Right away, sir," Malcolm replied.
Jay nodded. "Haynem has an engineering background. He can do double duty."
"Take Torres from Engineering," Tripp suggested, "he's good with a phase rifle."
"Get two more and get to the launch bay in a half an hour," Jonathan commanded, "Dismissed."
=/\=
Malcolm and Jay called for volunteers, but they excluded the women. "Sorry," Jay explained, "but it's the captain's orders, on account of the ratio. Maybe next time."
"This mission is for suckers. Those Ikaaran chicks are nothin' but dogs." It was a familiar, nasty voice.
It was Chang who was mouthing off, so Jay glared at him. "There's one," he grunted.
"I'm not volunteering," Chang sneered angrily.
"I distinctly heard you volunteer, Crewman," Malcolm insisted.
"I'll go; too," volunteered Tristan Curtis, "really, let me. I did some horrible things last time. Let me try to redeem myself."
Malcolm and Jay nodded at each other. "There's our two," confirmed Malcolm, "Mister Torres and Mister Chang, you will accompany me. We will fly with Mister Harris. The remainder will fly with Major Hayes."
"Brooks, Tris," Jay told them, "our pilot is gonna be Travis."
=/\=
Lili got the dishes into the sanitizer in record time. She was about ready to fly out the door when Will stopped her. "Just where do you think you're going, O'Day?"
"Malcolm needs me. And I think Jay does, too."
"Oh, c'mon!"
"No," she responded angrily, "I have to go and see them off. You have to let me do this."
"I am not gonna have you just run off and neglect your job when they go on every little mission and jaunt. You stay here."
"Or what?" she asked defiantly.
"Or I'll have your rank, Ensign."
"Then take it," she stormed out.
Craig looked at Will. "I can take care of the dishes, sir."
"Oh, shut up."
=/\=
At the launch bay, everyone was on board except for Malcolm and Jay. Lili ran in, breathless. "I got here as soon as I could," she panted. She approached Jay first. "Be careful, okay?" She kissed him on the cheek and hugged him.
"You, too," he replied softly. "Remember, we got Movie Night tonight, okay?"
She nodded and kissed him again, her lips lightly brushing against the corner of his mouth. He looked at her with his lopsided close-mouthed smile and got into the shuttle with Travis.
Malcolm came close to her. "I appreciate your seeing me off."
"How could I not?"
"You're going to be wonderful to come home to." He kissed her hands. "This is right," he repeated, in a soft voice.
They kissed, lingering. Finally, Chris got out of one of the shuttles and tapped Malcolm on the shoulder. "I'd honk the horn," he joked, "but these things don't come with horns. See ya later, Lili."
"See ya, Chris," she then turned to Malcolm again, "See you soon." She kissed him once more, quickly and close-mouthed, on the mouth. He got into the shuttle with Chris and they closed the hatch. She retreated to a safe distance and the two shuttles departed.
"O'Day?"
She turned, a little teary. It was Will. "Hmm?"
"I'm sorry," he apologized, "I didn't realize you were already together. Craig told me he had heard you last night. I guess I heard you, too, but I didn't put it all together. So I guess you had to be here."
"Definitely."
=/\=
On the Ikaaran shuttle, Esilia and Kerna were working hard. "The cloak is working well," Kerna reported, "But I fear it will not hold."
"Understood. But at least, for the moment, they are confused. Let us move closer to that other ship."
"They are releasing two shuttles," Kerna reported.
"Let us hope they are our saviors, for I fear we are now truly stuck and unable to maneuver. I hope the cloak holds out a little while longer."
=/\=
The Imvari slaver ship turned, and began firing. It narrowly missed the shuttle that Jay was on. He commanded Travis, "Let's get to the Imvari shuttle as fast as we can."
"Right," Travis increased their speed.
On the other shuttle, they turned to face the slaver ship. "Let's keep them busy," Malcolm suggested.
José Torres was sitting nearby, his tall frame tucked into the back seat. "We'd better take them out."
"Right," Malcolm commanded, "Mister Harris, as quickly as you please." They increased their speed, moving in the direction of the slave ship.
On Jay's shuttle, they got close to the Imvari shuttle, "Okay, ready about!" he called out.
Travis smiled to himself, "You must be a sailor, sir." He turned the shuttle on a dime.
"Sometimes," Jay replied.
"Hold onto something," Travis warned as their wake hit the Imvari shuttle.
The Imvari shuttle fired upon them, but it was also in the middle of being turned. It, too, missed its target.
Malcolm's shuttle maneuvered closer to the Imvari slaver. They docked quickly. Grabbing the charges, they ran out of their shuttle and onto the slaver ship.
On the Ikaaran shuttle, everything was momentarily all right until there was a power fluctuation. The cloak shimmered and was lost. Now that they were against visible, the Imvari ship went after them, and began firing upon them.
"Can anyone fly a shuttle?" Travis yelled out to his passengers.
"I'll try!" yelled Brooks Haynem.
"Then stay here," Travis told him, "we'll dock with the Ikaarans and I'll see if I can fly that thing."
"Take Curtis with you," Jay suggested, "just in case you're boarded."
Travis nodded as they docked with the Ikaaran shuttle. There were bumps as the anomaly, and shots from the Imvari shuttle, began to do damage.
The two men got onto the Ikaaran shuttle. Esilia and Kerna talked at them, but there was no understanding them. Travis got into what he figured was the pilot's chair. One of the Ikaaran women – he had no way of knowing it was Kerna – sat beside him. She pointed at various controls as they worked together.
In the back of that shuttle, Esilia eyed Tristan and showed him where there was a handle where he could hold onto as the Enterprise's own shuttle undocked.
=/\=
Malcolm and his team ran through the Imvari slaver's hallways, looking for the central core. Finding rooms with pictographs to the side of their entryways, he deduced, "These seem to be important."
They turned out to be cells for prisoners or, perhaps, slaves. There were species in there that Malcolm didn't recognize. They ran by – there was no time to free anyone. They had to start laying the charges.
As they ran by, José aimed a phase rifle at a panel and shot it. The door to that cell slid open and a species they did not recognize – the people looked almost doglike in appearance – began to run with them, but there was no understanding their new friends.
Another room, another panel with pictographs, was ahead of them. "Here," Malcolm indicated. He shot at that panel, and the door slid open. There were people in there, tall, menacing Imvari who were even taller than José. They began shooting. Dan was hit in the shoulder.
Malcolm threw a stun grenade in and that caught most of them off-guard. "Mister Harris!" he yelled. "Get to the central core. Torres will come and get you. I need for you to fly this ship." He nodded at José, who ran out.
"This is suicide," Dan snarled testily, "I am not gonna die here under your command." He turned his rifle on Malcolm.
"That's a rather poor choice on your part," Malcolm replied. He then turned and shot at an Imvari who was coming to.
José brought Chris over as fast as he could. Chris got into what seemed to be the pilot's chair and grabbed at what was a kind of joystick. The ship began to turn. "All right," Chris smiled a little.
Malcolm flipped open his communicator. "We have helm control on the slaver ship. But I fear it will not be for long."
Captain Archer answered. "Travis and Tristan have the Ikaaran shuttle and they're heading back. Can you take out the Imvari shuttle?"
"With pleasure, sir," Malcolm found what seemed to be the Tactical station on the unfamiliar ship. Punching a few keys, a panel opened up, revealing a display showing pictographs of long and short lines. Another joystick seemed to control direction. He aimed for the Imvari shuttle and hit one of the shorter lines. "Ah, it's a torpedo," he murmured as the item was launched.
He hit the Imvari shuttle, thereby destroying it. But the debris was too much for the NX-01's shuttle. It began to break apart. As that happened, the Imvari slaver ship was hit with a field of debris.
On the Enterprise, Tripp was manning the transporter. "I got a lock!" he yelled. "Looks like it's two people!" He beamed aboard a very surprised José Torres and a sneering Dan Chang. Jennifer and Michael were assisting. They pushed Chang and Torres off the transporter pad to try again.
But it was too late. The Ikaaran shuttle made its way out of the anomaly field as the Imvari slaver ship was destroyed by debris from its own ruined shuttle and the shuttle where Jay and Brooks were.
=/\=
It was less than a second, and Malcolm and Jay both knew that it was all over.
They found themselves, with Brooks Haynem and Chris Harris and the prisoners of the Imvari and the Imvari themselves, on a stone bridge.
"What the–?" Jay asked.
"We've died," Malcolm deduced.
"And Lili?"
"She's not here. She must still live."
"And Torres and Chang aren't here, either," noted Brooks, "They must've gotten out somehow."
"I guess Travis and Tris made it, too, and the Ikaarans in that shuttle," Jay opined.
"What should we do?" Chris asked, looking behind him. "There's nothing in the back of the bridge."
"It means we cannot go back," Malcolm stated.
"Then we move forward," Jay said, "all of us, and we face whatever this is as a team."
They proceeded forward and, while it was not a garden, it was a pleasant enough place. Malcolm and Jay were met by men who looked like them. They were given articles. Jay got a hammer. Malcolm was given one side of a two-man saw. "Carpentry?" Malcolm asked.
"And more," replied the man who looked like Jay. He handed Chris a Phillips head screwdriver. Brooks was given a piece of sandpaper.
"You are going to build," explained the man who looked and sounded like Malcolm. He was holding a tape measure. "I am Ian, and this is Douglas. You are to build for all you have wronged, as a part of your atonement for any sins you have committed. And once you are finished, you will build for her. And you, Mister Haynem, you will build for Sandra. And you, Mister Harris, you will build for your parents."
"Will Lili be all right?" Malcolm asked.
"Yes," Ian replied, "and I am charged with assuring that. It is a task that I embrace with complete fervor and conviction."
=/\=
On the Enterprise, they brought in the Ikaaran shuttle. Lili was there, in the landing bay, waiting. Her eyes scanned for Malcolm and Jay. "Where are they?" she asked, voice rising in panic.
Travis came out with Tristan. They helped the two Ikaaran women out. "Major Hayes told us to go on ahead," Travis said gently.
"What? No!"
"He did, Lili," confirmed Tristan, "he was on our shuttle."
"And, and Malcolm?"
Jonathan Archer was behind her. "The other shuttle docked with the slaver ship. Tripp tells me he managed to beam two people out."
"Oh, God, please," Lili looked up, "I don't ask for much. Oh, oh, please."
The doors swished open. It was Dan and José. José came right over. "We got beamed out," he told them, "what about the others?"
Jonathan shook his head. Lili collapsed.
=/\=
In the dark, she heard footsteps again. "Ian?" she called out, sobbing.
"I am here," he took her hand. "They have arrived. They cannot come right now. But they told me to tell you that they will always watch. And they will prepare for when you come."
"I want to be there now."
"You cannot," Ian told her, "You have a long time to go. And there is a reason why you are still among the living. You must embrace it, and not squander it."
"Help me," she begged.
But she was being gently tapped on the face by José Torres, who had caught her. Dream forgotten, she looked up at him. "Why?"
=/\=
Jonathan Archer's Personal Log, September third, 2037
We did it, but it had a horrible cost. We have saved two Ikaaran women. But it has cost us four of our men – in particular, my friend, Tactical Officer Malcolm Reed. Major Jay Hayes is also gone. So is Security Crewman Brooks Haynem and night shift pilot Chris Harris.
Our situation doesn't afford me the luxury of mourning. Tomorrow, I will speak with the women we saved. Let's see what's going on with them. And my grim duty will be to promote Aidan MacKenzie to Lieutenant and make him the new Tactical Officer. A new night shift pilot will be selected from the Navigation department. I will accept whatever recommendation that Travis gives me, with no questions or reservations.
Haynem will be replaced, probably by someone in Navigation if they are strong enough. Julie McKenzie will be promoted to Major in order to replace Jay. I will go by her and Aidan's recommendations on someone to fill in for Haynem. There's got to be some way that I can shuffle people around. Maybe one of these Ikaaran women can do something. It's late and I am exhausted and it's too much to think about just now.
=/\=
William Slocum's Personal Log, September third, 2037
I was a real jerk today. I almost prevented Lili from seeing Malcolm off. And he died on that mission today. If I had really kept her from going, she'd have never forgiven me. And I would not have blamed her in the least.
=/\=
Tristan Curtis's Personal Log, September third, 2037
I can't believe I have a shot at life. I didn't before. I'm going to make the most of this.
=/\=
Sandra Sloane's Personal Log, September third, 2037
Brooks is gone. I can't believe it. I didn't love him, but I know I could have. Oh God.
=/\=
Daniel Chang's Personal Log, September third, 2037
It serves them right. I never wanted to be on that foolhardy mission anyway. That's what they get for being unprepared – casualties.
=/\=
José Torres's Personal Log, September third, 2037
I wish I knew what to do, how to comfort Lili. She's like a widow. I feel so badly for her.