DISCLAIMER; Don't own it, blah blah blah.

NOTE; OK, sorry about the mistakes in the first chapter, I missed episodes 2-6 and have only just started watching again, and sorry about the French. I did warn you it was rubbish, so you can't blame me! HA! There's none in this chapter, don't worry. Not quite sure why Hoshi can't speak French, either. I'll try and work it into this chapter for you. But thanks for the reviews! Keep 'em coming. I'm stuck and have NO idea where I'm going with this, so bear with me.......

A/N; Do shuttle pods have windscreens? Are they called that in the future? I dunno (or care, really). Oh, and can somebody please tell me what OOC or OCC means, 'cus I have no idea!!!!

NOSTARCASSA - Chapter Two.

Hoshi waited until she was sure the shuttle pod had finished moving before she dare venture out of the safety of her shelter. She had felt the jolt of the initial impact, and the shuttle slide for what seemed to be forever before it came to an abrupt halt.

She had been pretty well protected from the impact. At the time, she thought he was crazy, but she was now glad she had done as Trip had said. She slowly opened the door and stepped out. She didn't know how long she'd been in there, but she was glad to be out. After sitting on top of tool kits and thermo jackets, she thought she'd die of cramp.

She looked around and noticed Malcolm in the safety seat and moved over to him. "Malcolm?" She asked, gently shaking him. He moaned, quietly. "Malcolm," She said again, this time shaking him slightly harder.

"What..Where.." He asked, turning to face Hoshi.

Hoshi noticed a small cut above his left eye. Other than that, he seemed unhurt. "You OK?" She asked.

"Yeah," He said, having seemed to have regained his senses. "You?"

"I'm fine."

"Help me out of this, will you?" He asked, tugging at the straps. Hoshi helped him undo them. "How's Trip?"

Trip! Hoshi thought. I haven't even checked.

"God," A now freed Malcolm said, a bare whisper.

"What?" Hoshi asked. She turned to see what Malcolm was looking at. "Trip...." She said, scarcely audible.

The pilot seat was empty. Above it, in the windscreen, there was a hole, and blood.

"Trip!" Malcolm shouted, a cross between a statement and a question, while running to the shuttle door. Hoshi followed him.

The door opened with ease and they made their way around to the front of the shuttle. The shuttle had crashed landed in a forest. The front of the shuttle pod had collided with a large tree stump and was badly crumpled.

Malcolm and Hoshi began to search the area for any sign of their friend. "Hoshi!" Malcolm called. "I found him!"

Hoshi ran over to where Malcolm was standing. On the floor in front of him lay Trip. "Trip?" Hoshi asked, kneeling beside him.

Malcolm knelt the other side of him. "His alive," he said after feeling for a pulse. "Help me turn him over."

"Oh my God," Hoshi said after turning Trip onto his back. The left hand side of his jacket was ripped and soaked in blood, as was the right leg of his trousers. He had several cuts on his face, and his uniform was torn in numerous places. "Trip?" she asked, softly. "Trip, can you hear me?"

"We've gotta get him back to the shuttle," Malcolm said, standing. Hoshi nodded silently. "Hoshi," He said, slightly more forcefully.

"Yeah," She said, still not taking her eyes off Trip.

Malcolm knelt back down, this time next to Hoshi. "Look, it'll be OK," he said, placing a comforting arm around Hoshi's shoulder. "Enterprise'll realise what's happen and contact the planet. Someone will have found us in a couple of days, maximum." I hope, Malcolm thought.

"Yeah," She said, taking her eyes off Trip for the first time.

Malcolm propped Trip into a sitting position, took hold of his legs, and, with Hoshi's help, carried the unconscious engineer back to the shuttle.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Archer to Engineering."

"Engineering."

"To whom am I speaking please?"

"Lieutenant Ricco, sir." Answered the voice.

"Could I please speak to.." Damn! He thought, what was the name Trip had told him? "Ensign Kelso." That was it.

"Sure," replied the lieutenant. "One minute, sir."

The comm link went quiet for a few seconds followed by the sound of a young man, who Archer assumed was Ricco, shouting across engineering.

"Ensign Kelso, sir." A new voice said. "You wanted to speak to me?" He asked.

"You're needed on the bridge, Ensign," Archer said.

"The bridge!" The engineer sounded surprised.

"Yes, the bridge. Archer out." He turned off the comm link and turned to his science officer. "What da'ya think, T'Pol?"

"Think about what?" she asked, looking up from her station.

"Do you think they're OK down there?" Archer continued his trail of thought, preventing T'Pol from answering the question. "It's been a couple of hour since the last message, I mean, it could.." He stopped mid- sentence, not quite sure how to finish it.

"The comm could be broken, sir." Travis said from the helm. "Maybe they haven't been able to fix it. They could already be at Piandre's village for all we know."

"If they were already at the village," T'Pol said. "It is highly likely that the would have contacted us by now."

Before anyone could respond to what T'Pol had said, the turbo lift doors opened. A young man, Archer guessed him to be around 25, sheepishly stepped out of the lift and onto the bridge.

"Ensign Kelso?" Archer asked.

"Yes." He replied. "Sir." He added the 'sir' on as an after thought.

"OK," Archer said. He could tell the young man was nervous. I'd be too, he thought, if my captain just called me up onto the bridge for no apparent reason. "Commander Tucker informed us that you speak French."

"Yes, sir." Kelso still hadn't moved from by the turbo lift doors.

"Well, we need your help."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"So?" Archer asked the Ensign once he had finished talking over the comm.

"Well, sir, they said they'd send out a search party to scout the area where they think the shuttle landed. They said they'd hail you as soon as they found anything."

"Thank you, Mr Kelso." Archer said, standing from his chair to shake the younger man's hand.

"I hope you do not mind if we require you're assistance again?" T'Pol asked.

"Of cause not," Kelso replied. "If it'll help find Mr Tucker, Mr Reed and Miss Sato, I'm more than happy to help."

"Thank you," Archer said. He was about to sit back down when he noticed Ensign Kelso was just standing there, and looking rather uncomfortable. "Dismissed." He said. Idiot, Jon, he thought to himself, you forgot to dismiss the guy.

He sat in his chair and hoped the Cassians would contact them soon.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Ouch!"

"Don't be such a baby." Hoshi retorted. She had found the first aid kit in the locker and was trying to clean up the cut on Malcolm's forehead.

"It stings!" Malcolm insisted.

"I have never know anybody," she stressed the word 'anybody', "moan, whine and complain so much about such a small."

"It's alright for you," Malcolm interrupted. "You haven't go a cut on your head, and a crazy lady with a bottle of Detox in her hand standing over you. OUCH!"

"Ha!" Hoshi said. "Serves you right for calling me a crazy lady!"

Silence settled over the shuttle. Malcolm turned his gaze to Trip.

They had laid him on the floor of the shuttle, covered him with a blanket from the storage unit, and made a makeshift pillow out of a thermo jacket.

On returning to the shuttle, Hoshi had removed Trip's jacket, and Malcolm had torn the trouser leg off. They both knew Trip was hurt, and hurt badly. His left side had a deep gash, while his right leg had been broke, with the bone through his skin. Hoshi had bandaged his side the best she could with the supplies in the first aid kit, whilst Malcolm had tried to splint his leg.

"There you go." Hoshi said, breaking the silence. "All done."

"Good," Malcolm said, standing and moving over to where Trip was laying.

"How is he?" Hoshi asked, packing away the first aid kit.

Malcolm knelt down next to Trip. "Same." He said. He turned his attention back to his unconscious friend. "Trip?" he asked softly. It was no use, he decided, he was still out cold. "Probably for the best."

"What is?" Hoshi asked.

"What's what?"

"What's for the best?"

"Oh," Malcolm hadn't realised he's spoken aloud. "Nothing, I was just thinking." He said, looking at Hoshi. "I'm gonna take a look around, see how far we are from, well, anywhere."

"OK. Be careful." She said, smiling as he left the shuttle pod.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Malcolm had been gone for the best part of an hour by Hoshi's reckoning. She was sitting in one of the seats by Trip reading one of the manual's she had found at the back of the storage unit. "Well this is thrilling," she said to herself, "What a great way to spend your afternoon. Stranded on an alien planet reading.." She turned the manual over to read the title, only to find the front page missing. Oh great, she thought, I don't even know what it's called. Still, at least I know how to fix a re-synthesizer.

She was just about to continue reading when she heard a small groan. "Trip?" she asked, moving to kneel beside him.

He moved his head in the direction of her voice and opened his eyes. "Hos.." It was barely audible.

"Yeah." She said smiling at him. She took his right hand and squeezed it gently.

"You OK?" He asked, this time his voice a little louder, but still only just a whisper.

"I'm fine. Malcolm too." She sighed. "It's you that you should be worried about."

Trip let out a slight laugh, but it was soon replaced by a harsh cough.

"Hey, hey," Hoshi said, "Take it easy, OK."

Trip nodded.

"How you feelin'?" Well that was a stupid question, Hoshi, she thought.

"My side kinda ...hurts," he said grimacing.

"What about your leg?" She asked.

"No," He said, sounding surprise. "I.." he paused for a minute. "I can't feel my legs."

Hoshi's face dropped. "What?" She asked, sounding alarmed.

"I can't ..feel 'em." Trip repeated, now also sounding a little distressed.

"Hey, I'm back.." Malcolm announced as he walked through the shuttle door. "There's nothing for miles, I walked..Trip? You're awake."

"I noticed that, Malcolm. But, really, thanks for pointin' that out t' me."

"Good to see that your sarcastic nature survived the crash intact," He stopped when he saw the look on Hoshi's face. "What's the matter?" he asked.

"Hoshi's just frettin'." Trip answered.

"Hoshi?" Malcolm asked.

"I think we need to talk, Malcolm," He nodded. "Outside." She added.

"What's the matter?" He asked once they were outside the shuttle pod.

"Trip, he told me.." she took a deep breath. "He just told me he can't feel his legs."

"What?" Malcolm asked. He wasn't sure if he's heard her right.

"He can't feel his leg's, Malcolm." She repeated.

"Shit," he sighed and shook his head. "This is bad."

"I know that!" Hoshi hissed at him.

"Well, there's nothing we can do. We'll have to wait until somebody finds us."

"We don't know how long that'll be." She said, "Trip might.." she stopped herself from finishing the sentence.

"Well what else can we do?" Malcolm asked.

"We could walk to the village." She suggested.

"Are you serious?" he asked astonished. "That's miles away. He can't walk! Are you suggesting we carry him?"

"No, but.."

"That's crazy, Hoshi," he interrupted her. "We could be walking for days. It would just make his injuries worse than they are."

"So, what?" she asked. "We just sit hear and wait?"

"Yes." Malcolm said, crudely, before walking back into the shuttle.





A/N; OK, sorry I didn't get the Hoshi/French thing in. I will next chapter, promise! Sorry it's still a bit shite. I am trying to make it better; I just need to build it up a bit. But rest assured, I have an idea - honest!

PS - Please review and let me know if you like/hate it!!!