"Put them on." said Jon. //I just *had* to go and think that!//

"Yes sir." answered Hoshi.

The screen came to life, depicting two creatures know as Vorilians. They had green, scaly skin and yellow eyes. They were tall and imposing, especially the females. Enterprise had just encountered them a week ago, and the meeting had not gone well. Jon didn't expect this time to be any better.

"What can I do for you, Captain Wasilix?" asked Jon, trying to mask the frustration in his voice.

The reptilian captain spoke up in a deep, gruff voice. "We have detected someone of your species aboard a Cerassian ship! Have you made a deal with our arch-enemy?!"

Jon was geuninely confused. A human aboard a Cerassian ship? Who the hell were the Cerassians?

Then he remembered Trip's words: " 'She's still alive Cap'n! I dreamt about her! She's safe and sound, but she's on another alien ship!' "

Trip had been right. His daughter was still alive. The question was, who were the Cerassians and why had the Vorilians come to them?

"I'm sorry Captain, but the human you talk of is not a part of our. She is, however, related to one of our people. We will take her back from the Cerassians, if you would only point us in the right direction."

Captain Wasilix snorted. "What, and lead you into the hands of our enemy, so that you would supply them with weapons? Do not take me for a fool, Captain Archer. Those who have are not alive to tell the tale. No, I will not let you bring these weapons to the scum. It is our war, do not involve yourselves in it, or you will regret it.Leave now, and never return! This is my first and final warning. Goodbye, Captain." She growled, then turned off the connection.

Jon watched as the other ship turned and went into warp. "Well, that could have gone better." he muttered to himself.

"Uh, Captain?" called out Malcolm.

"Yes?" answered Jon.

"Who is this human that Captain spoke of?"

~*~

Trip made some modifications to his rigged warp engine. //Hold steady darlin'. My daughter's life is depending on ya.// He regretted leaving the Captain and the ship like that, but he knew that Kah'Li needed help. He sensed it in his dream. She was in pain, physical and emotional. The emotional could be dealt with by herself, but she had been injured when her ship had been shot on. He had medical training; he had started out in the medical program at the Academy, but had switched to Engineering after a year because he just didn't like medical work.

Trip nervously sat at the helm. His plan had been a spur of the moment thing, he hadn't even thought of how Kah'Li would react to him. It didn't really matter, he just wanted to help her. She just had to hold on until he got there.

~*~

The pain in her stomach had grown, along with her nausea. //What's wrong with me?// she thought to herself. Hael and Ata, the ship's healer, had tried to help her. Unfortunately, they didn't know the first thing about Xryllian phisiology, let alone a hybrid.

Also, the Cerassian ship had been more damaged by the Vorilians then Hael had thought. The Zariel's warp engines had been badly damaged, and so had the impulse ones. Hael had told her to stay in her room while the repairs were under way. She had complied, but wondered why she had to stay in the room. Hael had said it was for safety, but she suspected more.

She'd just have to wait and see. If the wait didn't kill her first.