One Good Deed

PG - A few mild cusses, angsty later on

Pairing - None

Spoilers - Anything on the show so far is fair game

Disclaimer - Paramount = Owners, Me = The woman who wants Tucker so she can a) have a feel of those muscles and b) get him to speak to her in that accent all day long.

Author's Notes: When I write fiction I try to stick to cannon and the facts as much as possible. Thing is, in writing this I realise that whilst I've been watching Star Trek since I was old enough for my dad to sit me in front of the tv and go 'look at the pretty space ships', I'm no where near an expert on all this stuff. So, first I apologise for any factual errors. Second, I apologise for screwing with cannon right royally during this fic as I know many people don't liek their AU to go this far. I just thought it'd be an interesting angsty piece about the characters involved. Please bear with me!

Finally, the basis for this fic has a definite grounding in another show. I'm not going to tell you which so as not to spoil things to come but I didn't even realise that I'd done it until I read my brain storming back. In the end I've decided to leave things as they are because their the best means to my character/angsty ends.

Hope you enjoy it and leave a review if you have the time.

This fic is dedicated to my dad who first introduced me to sci-fi and brought me up to be the kind of girl who has more than boys, clothes and shoes in her head. You gave me this brain and I'm gonna use it. X

Part One

Jonathan Archer took a preparatory breath and straightened his already pristine uniform. T'pol gave him a slight sideward glance but kept her stoic countenance. Trip wasn't so subtle, grinning like a Cheshire Cat, but hurriedly smoothing his features back when Archer gave him a questioning look.

This meeting was important. The alien species, who called themselves the Lantal, were welcoming, friendly and, perhaps most importantly, technologically advanced. If Archer and his crew played their cards right then maybe they'd be willing to share some of that knowledge. And even if they weren't, they would still be a valuable ally and humans needed all the friends they could get.

As they left the shuttle, Jonathan again wondered why the Lantal had chosen to make this planet their home. They were clearly advanced enough to move elsewhere and yet for some reason they remained in this barren landscape of high red rock formations and deep foreboding caves. From what little they had learnt about their new friends though it seemed as if they'd been here for several hundred years. And home was home, no matter what or where it was.

Waiting to meet them, standing far enough away so that even T'pol's sharp ears couldn't pick up what they were whispering about, were just two of the Lantal - Gideo, who seemed to be their leader, and his assistant Yano.

"Hardly a welcomin' committee," Trip noted wryly.

Archer shrugged slightly.

"Maybe they're shy," he suggested although he had to admit he found it a little strange that they had only ever seen or spoken to these two since they'd first made contact ten days ago.

The Lantal had been immediately friendly and very eager to meet up, so it didn't really make any sense that the others would be so wary of them that they would feel the need to hide themselves away. Since the Enterprise had first left Jupiter Station however, Jonathan had come to realise that very few of the new species they encountered acted in a way he would consider usual. So far this was one of the least concerning idiosyncrasies they'd encountered and wasn't as worrying as it perhaps would have been eight months ago.

Jonathan quickly forgot his mild concerns as Gideo gave them a wide smile as walked towards them. Well, waddled was probably more accurate. From what they had seen, the Lantal were apparently short, very round and bald, with big eyes and small pug noses. They reminded Jonathan of gnomes, although he hadn't voiced that opinion just in case it caused Trip to smirk the entire time.

"Welcome, welcome, my friends," Gideo said brightly, bowing vigorously in greeting, "Come, come now. We have been waiting for you."

He waddled back towards Yano, appearing to be in quite a hurry for some reason. Jonathan shared a look with his two fellow officers, but they were clearly just as perplexed.

Curiously, Jonathan walked after Gideo, catching up with the small alien after just a few strides.

"You, Mr Captain," Gideo said, nodding at Jonathan, "You will come with me now. Your others will go with Yano. He will show them our technology."

Gideo said this in a way, which suggested that he was trying to show that T'pol and Trip were getting down to the main business whilst the Captain was just going on a meaningless side tour.

He quite pull it off however and Jonathan frowned, puzzled.

"Where are we going then?"

"To see the others," Gideo explained with a sigh, as though he really didn't want to go into some long boring details, "You do wish to know where they are, hmm?"

Well, yes, Jonathan did.

"Captain," T'pol said as discretely as she could, "I don't believe we should separate. For security reasons. This is a relatively unknown planet. They may be hazards which are not yet aware of."

He knew that was her own subtle way of suggesting that he shouldn't jump in and trust these people. After all, they knew very little about them and despite all their explorations even the Vulcans had never heard of them - which seemed to make T'pol even more suspicious. As she had stated, she 'could not imagine while they would reveal themselves to a technologically less superior race such as the humans and yet hide from the Vulcans who are far more their equals'.

Part of Jonathan agreed with her cautious attitude, but what Gideo had said was right. He was curious and his gut instinct told him he should check this out. He couldn't see any risk from the Lantal. Nothing he couldn't handle anyway.

"I don't think we're in any danger, T'pol," Jonathan said, shaking his head.

T'pol looked at him with something akin to resigned disdain on her face. The kind of look an adult gave a kid who would never listen and then was always getting himself hurt because of it.

"I make sure I'll check in, okay?" he said, in a reassuring manner.

Her expression didn't change but she nodded.

"Good," Gideo said, obviously seeing that the decision had been made in his favour, "Let's go. Hurry now."