Chapter 21

"Okay, which part of the relay looks fried ?," the Captain asked Trip as she shone the flashlight on where he worked.

"Near the coupling," Trip replied.

"Shit," she cursed. "Figures that we have to replace the whole thing." She stared at the ceiling. "Why did you have to make this difficult?" She crouched back down near where they worked.

"Cursin' at the old man," Michael asked.

"Who else?" she said. "I've replaced water hoses, brake hoses and adjusted, crimped and done all of this. All it takes is a little bit of elbow grease to do this. It's not rocket science."

Trip and Michael laughed.

"It's the truth," she countered. "So sue me if I've done this since I was 8."

"Could either you or T'Pol give me a hand down here?" Trip asked.

"Go ahead, Sub-Commander," she told T'Pol.

"By all means," T'Pol replied. "You should be down there, not I. I will assist you from up here with your first officer."

"Fair enough," the Captain determined. She got underneath to help Trip out using the wrenches and whatever tools they needed to complete the job.

In two to three hours, the warp coils and warp relays were replaced.

"Let's see if our hard work paid off," Trip said.

The panel was put back into place and the warp engines began to hum.

"Success," T'Pol stated.

"We are so good!!" the Captain of Challenger cheered. She exchanged high fives with Trip and Michael and shook hands with T'Pol.

"Tucker to the bridge," Trip replied.

"Go ahead," Archer responded.

"Capt'n," Trip told him, "Warp engines are back online. Some little things need to be fixed, but other than that, we're good to go."

"Understood," Archer said. "I'll be right down."

Archer surveyed the work that had been done.

"Looks like we needed you more than we thought," he told the Captain of Challenger.

"I thought so," she told him. "After all, it would have been, taking a page out of the Sub-Commander's book, illogical not to ask for our assistance. Don't take it the wrong way Sub-Commander."

Trip, Michael and Steve laughed. Archer finally smiled. T'Pol showed small signs of a smile that had formed. No one noticed the smile that had formed though.

"I find no offense to that comment," T'Pol said. "In fact, I find it to be a very wise conclusion that you made, Captain."

End of Chapter 21