DISCLAIMER; Not mine.

NOTE; This is a move on chapter. A lot happens, without anything actually happening (did that make sense?).

NOSTARCASSA - Chapter Five

"It's been almost a week, Captain." Phlox said. He had been working in sickbay when Captain Archer had visited him. "In my opinion," Phlox continued, "Commander Tucker would have been better off being on the Enterprise in the first place."

Archer nodded silently. It had been five day's since Malcolm had hailed them from the planet. A shuttle had been sent down to the surface three days ago to retrieve the three crewmembers. The Cassian's, however, had refused to let anyone near Trip, or the hospital for that matter. Hoshi had returned to Enterprise, and was back working on the bridge. Malcolm, not wishing to leave Trip alone, had stayed on the surface.

However, half an hour ago they had received a message from the surface asking if they wished to send a shuttle to collect Trip and Malcolm. Of course, Archer had said yes. He didn't particularly like the idea of his ship being without a Chief Engineer or Armoury Officer.

"Thank you, Doctor." He said, turning to leave.

"You're welcome, Captain." Phlox replied, returning to his work.

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

"You are sure the transfer is complete?" Piandre asked, nervously.

"Yes," Mensonge answered for the fifth time. "All the information he shall require had been implanted."

Piandre nodded. "Are you sure the chip will work?"

"Yes," Mensonge replied, getting annoyed. "The translator chip was successfully installed." Piandre still looked worried. "It shall be fine," Mensonge continued. "The chips have worked in all the other species."

"Yes," Piandre said, thinking. "But the injuries?"

"Feignez is one of the best Suenari's on this planet, if not the best." Mensonge said, reassuringly. "They will not be able to distinguish between him and their own. Even with the injuries."

"You are right." Piandre replied, patting his friend on the shoulder. "It shall work." He said, leaving the room.

"It has to work." Mensonge said to the empty room.

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

Three days, Malcolm thought, three day's I've been stuck on this bloody planet with these weirdoes.

While Hoshi had been on the planet, it hadn't seemed as bad. She had helped him make sense of the Cassian's strange behaviour. But now she was gone......Malcolm wasn't sure. Maybe I'm just being paranoid again, he thought.

"May I come in, Lieutenant?"

"Please, do." Malcolm said, standing from his chair to greet Heureux.

"Are you alright?" Heureux asked. "You seemed a little off put."

"I'm fine, thank you." Malcolm replied. "I was just thinking."

Heureux nodded and smiled. "A shuttle is coming to take you and your friend back to your ship. I should be here within the next hour. If you go to the hospital, you may convene with him."

"Great," Malcolm said, sounding a little more eager than he meant to.

Heureux frowned. "You did not enjoy your visit to our planet?"

Well, not exactly, Malcolm thought. Heureux tilted his head, as if expecting an answer.

"I did. It's just, well.....after all that's happened," He paused, hoping that would be enough. By the look on Heureux's face, it clearly wasn't. "It'll be good to see my friends. To see Trip."

"I understand." Heureux said, again nodding. "If only our people could have met under different circumstances."

Heureux started towards the door. He turned to face Malcolm. "You should go to the hospital now."

Before Malcolm could reply, he had gone.

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

"Trip!" Malcolm exclaimed. He had been waiting outside the hospital for his friend to emerge. After what seemed like a lifetime to Malcolm, he had.

Malcolm was surprised by how well he was looking. The only sign that there was any accident at all was a slight limp.

Trip smiled and made his way over to Malcolm. "Hey ya, Malcolm."

"Are you OK? They wouldn't let us see you."

"Fine. Fixed me up like new."

"I can see that." Malcolm said. It was surprising. The Cassian's are obviously not as technologically behind as we believed, Malcolm thought. "A shuttle's on its way," he said, "Should be here any minute."

"There it is." Trip said pointing. Just above the mountain ridge, a shuttle pod could be seen heading towards the village. "Just hope they make a better job a landin' then I did."

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

The shuttle, piloted by Ensign Hilten, had docked in launch bay one and was greeted by Captain Archer and Doctor Phlox. After exiting the small craft, both Malcolm and Trip had been taken to sickbay.

"I'm fine, Doctor, honest!" Malcolm protested while being scanned.

"Either way, Lieutenant, I'd like to make sure." Phlox said, continuing his scan.

All four waited in silence while the bio scan was completed. "You appear to be in perfect health, Lieutenant." Phlox said.

Malcolm stood and smiled a 'told you so' smile at him. "Thank you, Doctor."

"You're welcome, Mr Reed," he said, turning his attention to Trip. "It's miraculous you or Ensign Sato weren't injured. Lie down please." The last part was directed at Trip who did so. "Given that the force of the impact was strong enough to throw Mr Tucker here out of the window," he turned his attention back to Malcolm, "One would have thought you would have sustained more server injuries." He smiled. "You are, indeed, a very luck man." He pressed a few buttons on the control panel and, again, turned his attention back to Malcolm. "I suggest a days rest, then back to work."

"Thank you, Doctor." He turned to Archer. "Captain."

"Rest, Malcolm," Archer said, sounding quite stern. "That mean's no bridge, no armoury, no work. Understand?" Malcolm nodded. "Good," Archer said. "Now I suggest you go and get something to eat."

"Yes, Sir." Malcolm replied before leaving sickbay.

"So?" Archer asked Phlox, who was studying the result's of Trip's scan and looking bewildered. "He OK?"

"Yes, Captain." He turned to face him. "Considering the accident was only a week ago......." he trailed off.

"What's up?" Trip asked, walking over to the display screen. "Somthin' wrong?"

"No, Commander Tucker," Phlox said, still looking bewildered. He looked at Trip, then at Archer. "See here," he said, pointing at the scan. "Here we can see evidence of a break," he pointed at Trip's spine. "However," he continued, "The break seems to be completely healed, as if it were years old." He shook his head. "Our Cassian friend's seem to be a little more advanced then we gave them credit for."

Archer and Trip looked at each other and shrugged.

"Well, anyway, " Phlox continued. "A few days of rest, and you should be fine for duty, Commander."

"Thank's Doc," Trip said, "Cap'n." He nodded at Archer before leaving sickbay.

Phlox was still mulling over Trip's bio-scan when Archer joined him. "It's not that odd, is it?" he asked.

Phlox shrugged. "Not particularly. But I would expect a race this advanced to live in a more advanced manner." Phlox shook his head. He looked at Archer, "However....." He said, "Commander Tucker's injuries do seem completely healed. It's just...." He saw the look of confusion and concern on his Captains face. "It's not important, Captain." He reassured him. "If you'll please excuse me, I have some work I should be doing."

Archer nodded. "Thank you, Doctor." He smiled at Phlox and left sickbay.

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

"Commander, wait up!" Travis had been on his way to the Mess Hall when he had seen the Commander heading towards Engineering. "Sir!" He called again, this time, Trip turned around.

"Hey, Travis." He said, turning to face the younger man. "What's up?"

"Nothing, I was just wondering how you were," Travis replied. Trip didn't answer. "I mean," Travis continued, "I haven't seen you for ages, I was just....."

"I'm fine," Trip interrupted. "Thanks, Travis." He smiled his patented 'Trip' smile. "I best be getti' on," He added before walking off.

Travis thought Trip's behaviour had seemed a little 'off', but dismissed it, turned around and headed back to towards the Mess Hall.

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

Trip turned the corner and entered Engineering.

"Sir?"

Trip turned to see a young man, holding a variety of tools. He was an Ensign. Trip studied the face. It seemed familiar, but he couldn't remember the name.

"Sir," the young man said, "What are you doing here?"

"Just," he looked around him. "I'm just looking, Ensign."

"Hey, Kelso!" Somebody called from the balcony. "Get you ass....." They cut off when they saw Trip. "Sir?" The man asked.

"Hey Robins," Trip said. He could remember that name, at least.

"It's good to have you back, Sir." Robins said before disappearing.

Kelso nodded. "Good to see you, Sir."

"You to, Kelso." Trip watched the Ensign go. He took one last look around him and left.

He decided it would be best if he went to his quarters. At least there he wouldn't forget who people were. God, he thought, How, no - why had that happened. What if it had been somebody more important? What if it had been somebody he was friends' with?

He entered his quarters and sat on his bed. Best to stay here, he thought.

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

A week had passed since they had left the orbit of Nostracassa. Both Trip and Malcolm had returned to normal duty.

Nobody had seen much of Trip the past few days. He either hid in his quarters, or busied himself in Engineering, refusing to leave until he'd finished whatever it was he'd found to do.

Malcolm walked down the corridor towards Trip's quarters. It was Trip's day off, so Malcolm guessed he would be in there. He knocked the door. There was no answer so he tried again. Still no answer. "Trip?" He asked, leaning towards the door. "Trip, I know you're in there. If you don't let me in I'll just enter the override code."

He heard some mumbling from within the quarters, followed by a bang. The door opened. "What, Malcolm?" he asked curtly.

"Nice to see you too," Malcolm replied. "Can I come in?"

Trip silently walked back into his quarters. He'd left the door open, so Malcolm assumed that to be a 'yes'.

Trip sat on the edge of his bed. Malcolm opted for the chair next to the desk. "Do you need something?" Trip asked.

"I was just wondering how you were." Malcolm said, "I haven't seen much of you since we got back."

"I'm fine," Trip replied "You?"

Malcolm nodded. "Who's that?" Malcolm asked, pointing at a photo on the desk. It was of a woman with a rounded face and brown hair.

Trip moved over to Malcolm and looked at the photo. "That's Sarah," he sighed.

"She pretty," Malcolm said. Trip said nothing.

"Armoury to lieutenant Reed."

Reed stood and walked to the comm panel. "Reed," he said.

"Lieutenant, we need your help with something." Replied the voice.

"I'm on my way" he released the comm button and looked at Trip. "you sure you're OK?" he asked.

"I'm fine, Malcolm." He replied.

"OK," Malcolm said, "I'll see you later." With that he left.

That wasn't supposed to happen, Malcolm thought as he walked towards the armoury. He was supposed to go and see Trip, who would tell him what was wrong, Malcolm would try and help. Instead, what had happened, was a lot of awkward silences.

Malcolm couldn't put is finger on it. Something was wrong with Trip. He was acting......differently. Hoshi had noticed it too, as had Travis and the Captain. They'd all put it down to the accident, but Malcolm wasn't sure. He hadn't given it much thought at the time, but the fact that he and Hoshi hadn't been injured in the crash had simply heightened his concerns.

Malcolm entered tht turbo lift. Was he just being paranoid?

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

"So far, everything has gone according to plan." Mensonge assured Piandre. "The test results are, so far, encouraging........"

"I don't care about tests!" Piandre interrupted the white-eyed man. "The transfer," he explained. "It has not worked!" Mensonge noted the panic in his voice. "He is not remembering all he should!"

Mensonge shook his head. "No," he whispered to himself, "No."

"Yes," Piandre said. "Heureux has been contacting him. Something is wrong."

"It shall be fine," Mensonge insisted, "A temporary loss in memory is common among this species." He nodded, satisfied with his answer.

"I had better be." Piandre said, threateningly. "If they discover Feignez, they shall return. Then where will we be?"

"It shall be alright," Mensonge said.

"If anything goes wrong," Piandre said, continuing in his threatening tone. "On your head be it."







A/N - I told you it was a cruddy chapter. I needed it to move things one, but nothing interesting could happen. Well, not yet ;)

Now, some good and bad news;

GOOD - I got a beta reader.

BAD - The only person I could find willing to be my beta reader was my friend Daisy, who, unfortunately, is dyslexic. Due to this, thing's still don't make sense, and my grammar is still bad, so, sorry. I'm working on finding a new one. And if Daisy's willing to help, I'll accept. She's trying to help me to convince Charlotte to be a beta reader too, so who knows, next chapter could actually make sense!!!

I'll go now, 'cus the A/N is almost as long as the chapter now!! Bye, LYL Jen.