Captain Picard walked into sickbay. Doctor Crusher was there looking over her medical console. The two "aliens" were still unconscious on the biobeds. There were no constraints at this time which surprised the captain since the doctor was attacked during their first encounter. He was always impressed with her dedication to care first but he did want to make sure she was safe.
"How are they doctor?" he asked. The red-headed healer started a bit and turned to the captain.
"I believe they are doing well," was her response.
"Can you tell us anything about them, doctor?" asked the captain.
Doctor Crushed collected her thoughts for a moment. "Well, this one is human. He suffered a minor concussion and some superficial injuries from what looks like a high G force event. There were two broken ribs and overall bruising. I believe he also suffered from a lack of oxygen for a while. He should recover fully. This other one is a mystery. We have no record of him on the interspecies database. I have been reluctant to treat him too aggressively because we have no baseline but he seems to be recovering both from his injuries and the phaser stun shot. He is fascinating on many layers. He is oviparous. He seems to be 'male' but the reproduction method is not clear. He is tough, along the lines of a Klingon."
"I see," said the captain. "Can we bring them around?"
"It should be safe to wake the human. I would prefer the other individual heal naturally. I can make some assumptions about medical intervention, but if I am wrong, it could kill him."
Picard nodded and reached for his commbadge. "Commander Worf, please report to sickbay with a minimal security force. We will be waking one of the occupants of the unknown ship shortly." He noted Beverly's look of disapproval. "Doctor, you were attacked. We are going to be a bit careful." The doctor nodded her assent.
Within minutes, Worf appeared with the same Ensign who stunned the unfamiliar alien. Captain Picard gave his chief security officer a questioning look. "He has been 'consoled', Captain. I believe it is important for him to show that he has learned." This was unusually cordial of the Klingon. Picard had to admit to himself that Worf had come a long way.
"It is your decision, Commander," answered the captain. "Doctor, please revive our human visitor."
Doctor Crusher reached over and injected a hypospray. The bearded human began to move and opened his eyes. He looked around disoriented and sat up. He looked at Picard, Crusher, Worf and the Ensign security guard.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Malloy said putting his hands up partially defensively and partially in surrender. "Who are you guys? Where am I? Where is Bortus?"
"Bortus?" asked the captain. "Is that your compatriot?"
"Compatriot?" responded Malloy, "that is an SAT word for sure. Yeah, he is with me. How is he?"
"Mr. Bortus is doing reasonably well," responded Doctor Crusher. "Unfortunately, we have never seen his species before so I am having to go with general interspecies guidelines. I was actually hoping you could help."
"Well, I am no doctor. He is tough for sure. He can eat anything. Have you tried feeding him any random plants or table top items?" asked Malloy.
Doctor Crusher looked perplexed. "I don't believe we have done that. I may hold off for now."
"May I ask you name?" asked Captain Picard.
"Lieutenant Gordon Malloy. I am the chief helmsman on the USS Orville," he responded.
"The USS Orville?" repeated the captain. "I am unfamiliar with that ship. Who is the captain?"
"Captain Ed Mercer," answered the Planetary Union officer. "You know, the guy that saved earth from the Kaylon invasion. I am pretty sure it made all the news outlets. By the way, what's up with the uniforms? Did the Planetary Union issue new duds? And who are you by the way?"
"Let's slow down a bit," said Picard. "I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation starship Enterprise. We encountered your ship in a star system and you appeared to be in distress. We attempted to transport you into our medical facilities but your ship has a quantum signature that prevented us from doing so. We therefore used our tractor beams to pull your ship into our hangar bay where we found both of you unconscious. As we attempted to bring medical teams to you, Mr. Bortus attacked our doctor. We think he may have been disoriented but we are still taking precautions." Picard took a breath to let Gordon respond.
"Well, Captain, I guess I should say 'thank you'," said Malloy. He sat up and looked around. The Sickbay looked like the technology was on par with the Orville but it was also unfamiliar. This captain Picard did not seem like a bad guy but Gordon knew better than to accept things at face value. Then something registered with him.
"This isn't the Enterprise. She is on the other side of Union space and is one of our best heavy cruisers. What is a 'Federation'? You guys seem cool and all, but I don't understand what is happening."
"Mr. Malloy," answered Picard. " I can assure this is the Enterprise. From all indications we are in the part of space we are supposed to be but we seem to have a different understanding of the geopolitical make up of this region. May I ask what planet you and Mr. Bortus are from?"
"Well, I am from New Jersey on Earth. Bortus is a Mochlan from Mochlan. I know, not too original. Have you heard of them?"
Picard looked at Dr. Crusher and then Worf. He turned to the strangely clad, human officer and said, "Earth? That is the home for several of us. I am from France myself. I am trying to understand these differences in organizations we seem to perceive." Just then a noise came from the biobed occupied by Bortus. Worf and the Ensign instinctively reached for their phasers but did nor draw. Bortus sat up and looked around. Everything was still a bit blurry and he was trying to remember how he got here. He saw three humans and one other whose species he did not recognize although he could help but think he would make a handsome Mochlan if not for all the hair.
Captain Picard immediately turned to the Mochlan and said, "Commander Bortus, I am Jon-Luc Picard of the Federation starship Enterprise. We rescued your ship and mean you no harm. "
"Hey Bortus, how you doin'?" interjected Gordon. "These guys seem okay for now. Still trying to figure what is going on."
"I am Doctor Crusher," said Beverly, subconsciously keeping a bit of a distance. "How are you feeling?"
Bortus saw no reason not to answer that question. "I am somewhat disoriented and my head hurts. Otherwise I seem fine."
"I am sorry I could not do more for you. I have never seen your species before which limits what we could do," answered to doctor.
Bortus began to recollect certain things and looked at the doctor. "Did I attack you? Are you injured? I was unaware of where I was and attempted to protect myself. I apologize for the transgression."
"First of all, I am fine. I understand that you were startled and injured. I believe our Mr. Worf has something to say as well." She turned to the Klingon officer who in turn looked at the young Ensign. He stepped forward and addressed the Orville's Second Officer. "Mr. Bortus, I am the one who stunned you. We had indicated that you were surrendering and I fired to stun. My apologies."
Bortus looked at the young officer who reminded him of some of the officers he helped to mentor. "You sought to protect your shipmate. You will learn judgement over time," and left it at that.
Picard spoke up once again, "well if you gentlemen are up to it, we would still like to understand exactly what is going on. For your information, we are on a return trip to Earth to see if we can make any sense of this. I would very much like to return you to your ship. Any idea where they might be?"
Gordon and Bortus looked at each other. "If you are heading the general direction of Earth, we should get pretty close." Offered Gordon with a disapproving look from Bortus.
"Your ship did not seem to possess a warp drive but had an unknown quantum signature. Is your base ship similarly configured?" asked Picard.
"What is 'warp drive'?" asked Bortus, trying to catch up with the situation. He still felt groggy.
"Interesting," through Picard out loud. "would you two look to come to our bridge and talk to our science officer? I think we could locate your ship in short order with a bit of help."
Gordon shrugged and Bortus stood up to follow the captain. Gordon quickly realized that Bortus would say nothing so he responded "sure."
The Enterprise was huge. Both Bortus and Malloy quickly realized the size of the Enterprise reviled even the largest heavy cruiser the Union had. The crew was mostly human with some other species that they did not recognize. The captain and security offices led them to a lift system they called a turbolift. After a short ride, the doors opened onto what appeared to be a bridge of some sort. Captain Picard led them to one of the work stations. Two humanoids were there looking over some data. One was wearing some type of device over his eyes while the other had very white skin, yellow eyes and generally seemed off.
"Lieutenant Malloy, Commander Bortus let me introduce Commander Data and Commander LaForge. They have been briefed on what we are doing here. Commanders I will be at my post. Please assist these gentlemen in finding their ship." Picard turned and went to sit in his command chair.
"Hi," said Gordon. He looked at Geordi inquisitively. "What's with the fancy eye wear?" He asked.
Geordi sighed because he had answered this question many times before. "Actually, I am blind. This lets me see. "He responded."
"Oh, I am so sorry!" said Gordon in earnest.
"No worries," responded the chief engineer. "Let's find your ship."
Data looked up at the two Union officers. "So, I understand that your ship does not use warp drive. Are you using a quantum drive of some sort?" he asked.
"Yes," said Gordon. "You never heard of that? All the FTL species are using it." Bortus gave him a dirty look.
"Interesting," said Data. "There have been several theoretical papers written about using a quantum drive for faster than light travel. I believe we can adjust our sensors to detect a ship using quantum drive." He made some quick calculations and began manipulating his work station. Bortus noticed that his fingers seemed to be going unnaturally fast.
"Captain," he said while turning around and standing up. "I believe we have detected a ship using a quantum drive relatively close to us. If we change to course 101 mark 67, we should be able to intercept."
"Maybe we'll get some answers, and return our guests. Helmsman, make it so!" He said.
Worf stood at his tactical station looking at the new information coming in. Soon he saw a reading.
"Captain, we should now be in sub space range." Reported the security officer.
"Hail them," he ordered.
"No response," replied Worf.
"Keep trying," said the Captain.
"It is possible that they cannot receive sub space messages," proposed Data. "If they are not using warp drive, they may not be looking for it."
Bortus and Malloy looked at each other and wondered how this was going to turn out. Not sure where to go, the simply stood behind what appeared to be the navigation console. Malloy took a glance at the panel trying to figure out how it worked.
"We are adjusting course to maintain an intercept course. There is still no sign that they have seen us," reported the android.
"Sir, the ship has dropped out of quantum," reported Worf.
"Match speed and course, go to sublight" ordered Picard.
As the image changed from the screen from the characteristic warp distortions of the stars to a static view, an unfamiliar ship appeared in front of them. It was about the size of an Intrepid class star ship but lacked the traditional nacelles that were a sign of a warp-driven vessel. It did have three vertically stacked loops in the rear.
"That's it!" said Malloy. "That is the Orville."
"Gentlemen, do you mind standing down here so your captain can see you? Hail them Mr. Worf,"
Now that they were at sublight, the message was quickly acknowledged by the Union vessel.
"Coming on screen now, Captain," said Work.
The bridge of the Orville was laid out somewhat differently than the Enterprise, with many more work stations to the side than the Enterprise and a rear corridor coming out the back. In the middle were two officers wearing the same blue that Bortus was while in front were two officers clad in Orange as was Malloy. Others were wearing Red or Green. Picard quickly noted that to his left was, a robot? Well, we have an android, he thought to himself.
He started the conversation with, "Captain Mercer, I am Jean Luc-Picard of the Federation starship Enterprise. Could we possible talk for a bit?"
