Chapter 9
When calmness claimed Kirk again, he carefully scanned the control board. He drew upon his knowledge of early computer systems and began computing the communication coding. The first thing he had to do was to figure out where he was. Luckily he still remembered how to manually tie in star charts and navigation readings and was able to ascertain an approximate location. "Thank goodness I'm in Federation space. Now all I need is to find a ship." Once again Kirk went to work on the computer controls. The tiny screen embedded in the control board sprang to life and the Universal request for aid automatically contacted the nearest ship. The Starfleet emblem of the early 23rd century gave way to the head of a young Oriental girl looking downward.
"Hoshi here Captain." The young communications officer aboard the Enterprise NX-01, heard the communication signal and responded without looking up from her current linguistic project.
"This is James T. Kirk. It seems that I am presently aboard a shuttlecraft in a region of space in your vicinity and need some assistance."
Hearing a voice different from her Captain's, Hoshi's head snapped up as she regarded the monitor.
The two eyed each other for several seconds before Hoshi turned to find the rest of the bridge crew similarly stunned. Finally, T'Pol stood, drew herself up to her full height, put on her best unemotional façade and asked, "Where is Captain Archer?"
"I don't know who Captain Archer is, I was in the middle of umm.. something I was doing, when I was contacted by some kind of a being and he popped me in here. I really don't know where I am, or what I am doing here. I would however, like to make it to your ship. What ship are you?"
"This is the Enterprise."
Kirk narrowed his eyes and slightly nodded his head in doubt, "Oh right…the Enterprise eh?"
T'Pol sat ceremoniously down. She immediately did not like this being. "Yes, Mr. Kirk, the Enterprise. You are presently occupying one of our shuttles."
Kirk continued to meet her steady gaze and straightened his shoulders. "This should be interesting. Please give me your co-ordinates so that I may return your shuttle."
T'Pol looked around to the rest of the crew on the bridge and let her gaze come to rest on Malcolm Reed the Armory Officer. When their eyes met, she gave an almost imperceptible nod. Reed transmitted the necessary data to the computer aboard the shuttlecraft.
Kirk noticed the change in the shuttle's course and nodded to the Vulcan on his monitor. He noticed, only slightly amused, that she held the same cool, unemotional countenance that he became so used to when he and Spock were aboard his Enterprise.
Within a few seconds, their communication link was broken. Kirk sat back trying to make some sense of the events which had occurred since he first boarded the Enterprise B this morning. Now he was about to board another craft, also named Enterprise. He grinned absently, only slightly amused that he seemed to be destined on any ship named, 'Enterprise'. "Even when I was about to die, I ended up on the Enterprise… hmmm… maybe heaven is a ship named Enterprise."
Now that he knew where he was going, Kirk decided he needed to learn about the time he now occupied and try to figure out how to return to his own reality.