Malcolm finished his story to Trip. Now he just waited for Trip to walk out in disgust and to never have anything to do with him. Malcolm could tell that e had stunned Trip to a point of complete silence. "Trip say something" Trip was completely dumbfounded! This is possibly he most disturbing thing that Malcolm ever old him. Where could he begin? This was huge so he was very careful from what he was going to say to Malcolm. He knew better then to leave tonight. He would stay and keep and eye on him. Malcolm isn't the most emotionally stable person on board as he likes to make himself appear. "It's ok Malcolm we'll work it out. Just the two of us"

****

Jonathan Archer has never been so bored in his life. He was almost regretting telling everyone to stop all work on the ship. Now that everyone was idle; the ship's Captain was frustrated. To make things worst was the fact that he was bored and didn't know what to do with his time. He could've gone to the gym to get a decent workout. He could settle down with a book or watch a match of Water Polo. None of which he felt like doing. The only thing he was looking forward to was the dinner that he was planning with Trip. The thing was simple; they knew each other the longest for the longest time. So it was only natural that he would choose Trip to be his Chief Engineer. They were going to explore the galaxy together. Going further then any man has gone before. Then came T'Pol. Jon was furious to find that Vulcans were going to be on his father's ship. They were concerned with about allowing humans to begin space exploration. The 'inferior' species had been helped since Dr. Cochran made the first warp flight. It was his father, Henry Archer that created the Warp 5 project that Jon was now Captain of. So when Jon was about to leave to meet Trip in the Mess Hall for dinner in his private dinning room; he received the call from Trip canceling their plans for the night. "Sorry Cap'n, but somethin' kinda came up and I can't make supper tonight." "Care to elaborate on that Trip?" "Not really Jon; I just can't make it tonight sorry." Now Jon had absolutely nothing to do with his now vacant evening.

****

Hoshi was glad for the break in trying to repair the communications system. She was now able to relax with a good book and forget her troubles. This was just one thing that she was planning on doing tonight. There was a certain British Lieutenant that she had her eyes on for some time now. They were both a type of person who took their jobs very seriously. Although Malcolm goes to a higher level of being buried in his work; they both had an understanding that just couldn't be broken. They could joke about things and they were quite content with the statue of their friendship. Hoshi also knew that there were demons that Malcolm was battling. She tried countless times to talk to Malcolm about it, but he would quickly change the subject onto something else. It hurt her not to get through to Malcolm, but she was determined to try. "Ensign Sato to Lieutenant Reed." She had to try to keep things semi- professional with Malcolm. He was after all in a military style house; so the simple things such as addressing him were to be formal. At least in her mind anyways. "Errr... go ahead Hoshi." "I was just wondering what your plans for tonight were...did I catch you at a bad time?" "Yes I'm afraid so Hoshi." "Oh ok the talk to you later then." Hoshi, hurt by being denied company with Malcolm the decided that it might be for the best. "Ensign Sato please report to the bridge." The monotone voice of T'Pol stole Hoshi from her thoughts. "On my way Sub- Commander." With that she put down her PADD's and left for the bridge with her curiosity beginning to rise. T'Pol had also contacted Captain Archer to the bridge. The message that just came in would first have to be translated then second be the Captain to act upon the information possibly yielded by the message. "Report T'Pol." "It seems that a message written I an alien dialect has been sent to us. I have contacted Ensign Sato to begin translating it. T'Pol stood there and waited. She could never accurately predict the Captain's next move. He always found solutions to where a Vulcan might find none. "Thanks T'Pol, do we have sensors online?" " No, that system is still in need of repair. If you were suggesting that I scan the area around Enterprise I cannot. Jon was now regretting the delays he ordered in repairing the ship systems. "Notify the entire crew that at the beginning of the next Alpha shift that repairs are to resume immediately."

Aislok was very interested as to why the unknown ship had stopped it repairs. They have taken down larger ships before; this one was no different. However this ship stopped once it got it fundamental systems running again. Most other ships would work for days yet this one took a break. "Report." "Sir they have stopped progress for 18 hours, but within the last hour they started up again." The only detail that he left out was the message that he sent to the unknown ship; hoping that it would jump start repairs and obviously it had. The crew now rested was ready for the battles with burnt out relays.

A/N: I wrote this story a long time ago.lots has changed on the show since then. If anyone is reading this let me know, just a quick hello would do. I love this story I hoped others would too.