Chapter Five:

"You're not human?" Phlox blinked looking at the analysis.

"No," O'Shay replied and began to explain.

***

"He seems to be quite all right, although there will be a scar where the poison dart punctured his leg and minor paralysis may make it difficult for him to walk for a couple of weeks," Phlox informed the young crewman on the other bio-bed.

She stared at the Denobulan and thought about her options. "I can remove most of the scaring, possibly all of it."

"But you are in no shape to do so," Phlox replied.

"I must act soon," she replied and flashed her eyes.

Phlox sighed. He knew he had to trust this alien. If he didn't the rest of the crew's lives could be at stake.

"Go ahead. Don't make it look suspicious. Remove the majority of the scaring and if you can allow him to be able to walk normally much faster, then do so as well."

She approached the captain as he lay lifelessly on the bio-bed. The redhead placed a hand on the infected area and trembled with strain. Her pupils and the whites of her eyes disappeared, seemingly replaced with her tears. Pain engulfed the alien and she stumbled backward.

The infected area was partially healed.

Phlox looked at the alien, surprised. He hadn't believed her at first when she told him of her regenerative abilities. This alien species, whatever they called themselves, could be helpful in medical advances. The doctor pushed that thought aside. He could not ask an alien from the distant future to do this.

"I'm expected in the 24th century in two hours, I should probably leave before I am compromised," the alien told Phlox.

"What did you call yourself?"

"It does not matter. I also will not wipe these memories from your brain. You may prove useful later on."

Phlox nodded, understanding.

"You're from the 24th century?" Phlox asked, trying to figure more out about this alien.

"I did not say that, I only said I was expected there in two hours," the alien replied, smiling shyly. "Goodbye, Doctor Phlox."

Pressing on the necklace's stone that she wore, she disappeared.

Phlox gasped, awestruck, just as Commander Tucker entered sickbay. He wore a worried expression on his face for his longtime friend.

"Will he be all right?" Tucker asked.

Phlox gave his infamous wide smile and replied, "Of course. I've managed to heal most of the tissue and he should be able to walk normally within a week or two."

The commander nodded his head. "You gonna wake him?"

"I was just getting to that," Phlox answered.

"Hoshi was pretty concerned whether or not he would be fine. She wouldn't say why, but just said he needed to remember something," Trip shrugged.

Phlox pressed the hypo-spray against Captain Archer's neck.

Immediately, Archer sat up and then grunted as the grogginess hit him.

"Where is she?" Jonathon demanded.

Phlox and Trip shared confused glances.

"Who, Cap'n?" Trip asked, sitting on the nearby bio-bed.

"The maiden…" Archer replied, furrowing his brow and looking at the floor.

"What maiden?" Trip asked. Then he realized the captain was talking about the crewman Reed said saved his life. "Oh, Crewman O'Shay is resting."

"Not the crewman," Archer said. "The maiden who spoke to me… She was…so beautiful…she had this gorgeous voice and long, beautiful curls. Her touch was so…nice and warm."

Trip smirked at the captain's description. "I don't think she'll be coming back, Cap'n."

"You were hallucinating," Phlox muttered, recognizing the description of the alien who was present before Trip entered.

"She couldn't be," Archer said confused. "She was so real…"

Trip's smirk didn't disappear. "I think ya need a beer an' we'll go watch water polo. Maybe that'll clear ya'r head."

Jonathon Archer still had a confused look on his face. He knew what he saw, a beautiful maiden who comforted him when he was possibly going to die.

***

Hoshi fumbled with her hands while she waited for the captain to arrive on the bridge. When he did come, he limped to his seat. He had a confused look on his face and seemed deep in thought. Sato decided to break the ice.

"Have you thought on what we talked about?" she asked.

The captain nodded in her direction. "I have thought about it and maybe we need to talk in a couple hours about it some more."

Hoshi agreed. "Probably a good idea."

"Talk about what?" Travis asked.

"Personal," Hoshi murmured and it was left at that.

The captain did indeed remember what his linguist was talking about.

***

"You're serious you saw that?" Hoshi gasped.

"Yes, I know what I saw, I'm not accepting that I was hallucinating or that I was delusional. Does the crewman look familiar to you at all?" Archer asked Hoshi.

Hoshi thought about it. She did resemble Mishkra a lot, except she looked very human to Hoshi.

"She looks like the alien that contacted us."

"The one on this alien ship you talked about?"

"Yes, the way you describe her puts it all together."

"Puts what all together?"

"Well, what I remember really did happen, and this so called crewman saved your life by knowing what to do. Plus, I looked in the records and a Crewman O'Shay died during an accident on Earth when Starfleet was first formed," Sato handed the captain a PADD with the data she had collected.

"She died in an accident?"

"Yes, and she looks exactly like the crewman that saved your life earlier."

Archer viewed the PADD's information, which included a picture. The red hair stood out to him the most. The original Crewman Maeve O'Shay apparently had straight hair. ut her eyes were the color of the sea and she had an innocent look. The resemblance was so striking. Jon knew they were the same people.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, ensign?"

"From the future?" Hoshi whispered.

Archer nodded. "There's no other explanation to this."

Hoshi exhaled, trying to compute all of this. It did explain how she was a crewman in the early 22nd century and then in 2152 still looked the same.

"Who are they, though?" the captain wondered.

"Well, they're not working for the Suliban. We can determine this because Mishkra saved your life when those other aliens attacked. Whoever they are."

"The two races must be at war or something."

"Did T'Pol recognize them?"

"She denied it, but if she does I can't think why she would lie about it. Unless…unless she has a very good reason."

Hoshi blinked. "The Vulcan science director doesn't believe time travel is possible-"

"By the Vulcans or humans maybe. But by a highly advanced race? Just maybe, maybe they are lying or maybe the science director won't believe it."

"There's no information about these aliens in the Vulcan database though."

"True, but might not be true. It could be a locked file or highly classified and we don't have the classification to view the information," Archer said.

Hoshi Sato nodded. It made sense.