Author Notes: * mean thoughts. { mean when a person is talking on a communicator. This story doesn't follow the series to its entirety. This is the third chapter of my Hoshi/Reed epic. As always I love feedback. Please tell me what you think of my stories, give me suggestions, let me know if I made a mistake, tell me anything you want be it positive or negative. (tora_ziyal13@hotmail.com)

Disclaimer: Enterprise and all the related characters belong to Paramount. This fan fiction piece belongs to me. So if you want to archive it please ask. Just to let you all know I'm not making any profit off this story ~Ziyal~

Rating: PG-13

The Red Planet X

'Strange Things Afoot'

By Tora Ziyal

Hoshi landed on top of Malcolm when the shuttle hit the surface of the planet. She snapped her eyes open and gasped for air, she could not see anything around her because of the thick gray smoke from the busted generator. She laid on top of Malcolm for a moment trying to catch her breath. *I gotta get out of here. I gotta get Malcolm out of here too...Oh god is he even alive?* She thought as she pulled her face up to his. He was badly cut across his face but he was still breathing although he appeared to be knocked out. Hoshi staggered to her feet. "Okay Malcolm I got to get you out of here somehow." She told him quietly as she grabbed him by his feet and began to drag him, with all her strength across the floor to the hatch. *Poor Doctor Graves. * She thought as she stopped and tried to quickly open the hatch. *What if he's still alive? I got to check, I just can't leave him back there.* She struggled with the hatch but it seemed to be jammed shut. "Open!! Come on you stupid piece of junk!" She shouted as she thrust her shoulder into it. "Open!" She shouted one final time as the hatch began to crack open just a little. She grabbed Malcolm's feet again and dragged him out side and away from the shuttle.

Hoshi knelt next to him in the bright red sand. "Lieutenant Reed can you hear me?" She asked gently nudging his shoulder. There was no response but he still breathed steadily. Hoshi jumped up to her feet and began to make her way back to the shuttle. She knew she needed to get to Doctor Graves even if he was dead she couldn't just leave him in there. *I'm coming doctor, I'm not going to forget you...* She made it half way to the shuttle when she heard a huge boom and then saw wall of red flame and black smoke ahead of her. "NOOOOO-!!!" She screamed, as she could not believe that the shuttle pod had just blown up. Metal and shrapnel began to rain down around her and she quickly ran back towards where she left Malcolm. She used her body as shield to protect him from the pieces of small debris that fell to the ground. She could feel the shrapnel piercing her skin as it hit her body. She gritted her teeth and buried her head into Malcolm's shoulder. After a few minutes of the falling debris, it had finally come to an end. Hoshi felt it stop, she wanted to get up but she felt so weak. *I need to get up for Malcolm's sake. I need to try and get him up.* She thought as slid her body off of Reed and rolled over on her back looking up at the sky.

The sky was red, not a dull red but a bright red with streaks of blue lightening that flashed through it. Orange clouds cast an eerie glow on the ground making everything around Hoshi have an orangey tint. "What kind of place is this?" She said as she looked up at lightening, watching it flash. She sat up slowly and observed the terrain around her. As far as her eye cold see nothing but rocks and red sand. She tried to swallow but her throat was so parched that when she did it only made it worse. There was no planet life or any source of water as far as she could tell. The winds began to pick up and with it brought a swirling cloud of red sand that flew into Hoshi's eyes, ears, mouth and brushed against her skin. It felt horrible like someone was rubbing sandpaper against her. *I need to find some sort of shelter to get us out of this sandstorm, and I need to find some water.*

"Ughhhhh....Where...ughhh." Malcolm groaned, his eyes fluttered open and then shut again. "...Sand?" He groaned as he weakly brushed the red sand away from his eyes.

Hoshi quickly turned to him. "Malcolm!...I mean Lieutenant Reed." She said as she came over to him and knelt besides him again. "How are you feeling?" She brushed away the sand from his face.

"Like someone hit me with a bloody phase cannon." He groaned as he struggled to sit up. Hoshi took his arm and gently helped him up. "I'm assuming that we crashed....Where is Nathaniel Graves?"

Hoshi almost started to cry. She didn't want to think that he was no longer with them. "Doctor Graves is dead. Wh-When the shuttle started to drop altitude, he flew into one of the power generators. I got you out of the shuttle but when I went back for him..." Hoshi's voice trailed off and a tear trickled down her cheek.

Malcolm looked ahead of him and saw the smoldering rubble of shuttle pod two. He realized what had happened. "May God rest his soul." He said softly. He looked around him and saw nothing but red sand and rocks. "Is there anything out here? Anything at all?"

Hoshi shook her head. "I haven't really checked it out, I've haven't left your side since the crash." She said as she staggered up to her feet and turned around. "I'll see if I can find some shelter now that you're up."

"Wait, let me go with you." Reed said as he tried to stand up. "I'm sure once I get up I'll be able to walk better, besides we shouldn't split up."

Hoshi nodded and grabbed his hand and pulled him up to his feet. "Can you walk Lieutenant?"

"I think so. My ankle feels a bit swollen but I should be able to walk." He said as he took a step and nearly fell back onto the ground. Hoshi broke his fall as she grabbed him and put her arm around his shoulder to stabilize him.

"I think you're going to need a little help." She smiled. "I think the closest place to look for shelter would be those caverns over there. It's the only place that seems to be large enough."

"All right, lets go." He said as Hoshi and him slowly began to make their way towards the caverns. They staggered though the sands with the hot sun beating down on them. Occasionally the sky would light up and cast a creepy greenish-blue glow on everything, causing Hoshi to shutter slightly. "I hope the Enterprise got that signal you sent them."

Hoshi nodded in agreement. "I really do to Lieutenant. I have no idea if they did or not and if they did I have no idea how they are going to get us out of here with out being sucked down to the planet as well." She said as they approached the rocky cavern.

"Maybe they could beam us off the planet." Reed added as they carefully made their way into the cavern. He reached for his phase pistol. "Just a precaution."

Hoshi shivered again as she remembered that supposedly that her and Malcolm were not the only life forms on this planet.

Malcolm pointed to an area a few meters into the cave. "Let's sit down over there." He pointed. "There has got to be some sort of water source here...I hope anyway." He finished as they sat down on the ground.

"I'll go exploring in a few minutes." She told him even though she was scared to death to go out alone in this strange cave. Who knows what was in here. "Do you think your ankle is broken?"

Malcolm shrugged and winced as he tried to move it. "I'm not sure but it sure feels like it." He smiled weakly and looked at her. "I want to thank you, Ensign Sato. You've been very brave through this whole thing so far."

Hoshi felt herself blush. "Thank you, Lieutenant." Her mood changed when she thought about the other officer. "I just wished I would have gotten to Doctor Graves in time...I feel so horrible about it, like it was my...my fault that he died." She said as she put her head into her hands and wept softly. "I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't be crying."

Malcolm didn't know what he should do, so he let his instincts chose for him. He put his arms around her body and pulled her close to him. "It's all right Hoshi. You tried, and that is all that matters. I'm sure the Doctor was dead before you even had the chance to go back for him" He spoke softly in her ear as he rocked her back and forth slightly. He could barely believe that he was doing this. He was so awkward around the opposite sex but for some reason he felt that he wanted to comfort her.

Hoshi stopped sobbing and pulled away slightly from Malcolm. She felt so much better now that someone had told her that it was not her fault. "I'm glad you're okay, Lieutenant."

Reed smiled. "Let's drop the titles, Hoshi. Please call me Malcolm."

Hoshi smiled slightly back at him. "Okay...Malcolm." She felt kind of funny calling him that but if they were friends now and that's what he wanted, that's what she'd call him.

((To be continued.... Don't worry girls and boys, this isn't the end ;))