*//= thoughts*

Aeryn ran after her friend. "Taryn, you can't do this! Do you know how many lives you'll be changing? How much that you'll change the timeline? You can't do this! I won't let you!"

Taryn kept walking. "Aeryn, I won't let you get in my way. And yes, I have thought about what I'm doing." Taryn stopped walking, and turned to face Aeryn. "Have you ever thought that maybe my father wasn't meant to die? Maybe someone else tampered with the timeline. Maybe my father was someday going to make a miraculous advancement in warp mechanics, and someone killed him because of it. I don't know why my father did die Aeryn; all I know is that I'm willing to give my own life, so that he can live. So don't get in my way." Taryn started to walk again.

Aeryn was silent for a moment, and then followed Taryn. "I'm coming with you."

Taryn stopped in her tracks, once again. "Aeryn, i'm not going to let you endanger yourself. You're going to stay here."

"No way." protested Aeryn. "You see, I know everything. And if I don't bring you in right now, I'll be court-martialed with you. So I figure, if I'm going to be court-martialed anyways, I'll come with you!"

Taryn was quiet for a moment, and then smiled. "You're just as stubborn as I am. Come on, we don't have that much time." The two women turned and walked quickly to the shuttlebay.

*~*

"You're a pilot?" asked Aeryn once they were in the shuttle.

Taryn flashed her a smile. "Hey, I have more skills than just being an engineer."

Taryn ran through her pre-flight checklist while Aeryn sat quietly, looking into the shuttlebay.

"All systems are go," said Taryn. "Are you ready" she asked Aeryn.

"I'm ready." said Aeryn softly.

Taryn looked at her friend, then started up the engines. "Here se go." she mumbled.

The ship moved off the deck floor, and flew out the launch bay doors. Taryn piloted the ship around the asteroid belt, avoiding the orbital telescopes and asteroids.

Aeryn spoke once more. "I just had a thought. What point in time are we going to?"

"We're going back 25 years, and one month before my father died."

Those were the last words they spoke before they disappeared in the anomaly, and traveled backwards in time.

*~*

Malcolm was bored. He was the only senoir officer on the night shift, and nothing was happening. Not even a rogue asteroid he could use for target practice. No, everything was beautifully calm, and that annoyed the hell out of him.

//I signed up for adventure, and what do I get? Night shift and an exciting manual on how to make weapons lockers more efficent.// He sighed. //I may as well start reading.//

That's when his board started to beep at him.

//Now what?// he thought. Malcolm analyzed his board, then doublechecked. The findings were the same both times. A Federation shuttle had just apperared out of nowhere, and was calling out a distress signal.

Malcolm fumbled over to the communicator. "Reed to Captain Archer." he said.

It took a moment for Captain Archer to respond. "What is it Malcolm?" asked the Captain groggily.

"You better get down here now sir, a Federation shuttle just appeared out of nowhere and is sending out a distress call."

The Captain was silent, then responded, no longer groggy. "On my way. Wake up the rest of the senoir staff and tell them to meet us on the bridge."

~*~

A moments later, the entire senoir staff was assembled on the bridge, even Dr. Phlox. They had scanned the shuttle and saw the extensive damage caused to it. They decided uniaminously that they should act first, ask questions later. Trip activated the tractor beam and pulled them in.

"Dr. Pholx, Hoshi, Trip, you guys with me. Malcolm, I want you to get a security team, and meet us there ASAP. T'Pol, you have the bridge" said Captain Archer.

Once in the turbolift, the group's mood seemed to go down a notch. "I wonder how they got this far out." said Trip.

"Yeah. I thought we were the only ship this far out. But then again, we haven't been home in three years, so don't really know what kind of advances they've made." answered Hoshi.

"Yeah, but it's not possible to get out here that fast. Hell, it took us three years to get this far." countered Trip.

"It doesn't matter how they got here so fast." interupted Archer. "We'll find that out later. Right now we have to help who's inside that shuttle."

The turbolift was then silent, and they walked quickly to the shuttle bay. Once inside, they found that Malcolm and his security team had already surrounded the shuttle, waiting for the captain and the others to arrive. Archer signaled for Malcolm to open the door.

The door opened with a swish, and went upwards. Some trapped smoke inside the shuttle escaped, then Archer went in cautiously, Dr. Phlox and Hoshi following behind. Archer found at the front of the shuttle two human women, both seemed to be in their late twenties. They were both conscious, and one was healing the other's head wound.

"Hello. My name is Captain Jonathon Archer. We're on a Federation starship, the Enterprise. You would be...?"

The woman with the head wound stood up and turned to face the captain, much to the protest of the other woman.

"My name is Lieutenant Commander Taryn Beille. My companion is Dr. Aeryn Xavier."

The other woman got up from the floor. She put out her hand to Archer. Archer shook after a moment. "Pleased to meet you." said Dr. Xavier. "I need to interupt your conversation here for a moment. My very stubbourn friend has a mild concussion, and I don't have the ressources with me to heal her. So if you don't mind, could we continue this conversation in your sickbay?"

Archer nodded, and led the two women to sickbay, Trip, Hoshi, Malcolm and Dr. Phlox following behind.

*R&R please.*