Chapter Two
Before I go on I have to say a thanks to my two friends, Iain and Ryan who know more about Star Trek than I would ever hope to learn. Trust me when I say this crossover wouldn't be happening if it weren't for them. Thanks guy. Oh, but don't get use to the sweet talk…
~Telaka~
Captain's Log, Stardate 1805.87
My team and I have come across what could be classed as our most extraordinary find yet; seven humans found floating quite literally in the middle of space with no fuel, no working engines, no weaponry and no idea of where they are. For the time being they have been housed in sickbay with Dr Phlox issuing examinations and once-overs. So far all seems to be in order, except for one of the small team, the one they called Storm, who seems to be ill with no just cause. So far the doctor has assured me it is nothing deadly or contagious but still, naturally I worry, for her and more importantly my crew, lest whatever it is spreads. Still, all I and the crew can do for now is wait and see what comes out of this crossover.
-Computer End Log-
Not seconds after the log was finished Archer received a long anticipated call from sickbay.
"Captain this is Phlox, I need you to come down to sickbay if you could, as soon as possible. I believe we have some… answers."
Archer raised an eyebrow and hesitated in his response, if only for a second. "Okay, I'm on my way."
He took off from his quarters hastily both in curiosity and slight worry brought on from before, and what perhaps the 'answers' could be. He tried to push back the worst of scenarios that came to mind though and instead dwelled on the curiosity. There were still so many unanswered queries, all of which he wanted resolved, soon.
The small lost group's apparent leader, Cyclopes, seemed friendly enough, if not a little dazed, but that was excusable. Archer had but only five minutes to talk with him before Dr Phlox had insisted that he needed as much room as he could make for the seven so as to be thoroughly examined and cleared in his small medical bay. In a way he had ordered the Captain out.
Archer allowed himself a brief smile at this before he reached sickbay and allowed himself in. As soon as he stepped foot inside though Phlox issued him back out, coming with him to stand just outside the double doors. His facial expression was that of a cross between excited amazement and mild confusion. Archer raised one questioning eyebrow but didn't even have to ask before the Denobulan rushed into a hasty explanation.
"Captain, now correct me if I'm wrong here but didn't there use to be a branch off of the human raced that called themselves 'homo-superiors'?"
Archer hesitated for a second then frowned. "You mean mutants? Yes, but they died off about a hundred years ago. It had something to do with the 'Legacy Virus', a disease that killed them all off eventually. Why?"
With every word Archer told him Phlox seemed to grow more and more excited and astounded. "Well at first I believed simply that the scanners were just 'acting up', as you would so aptly put it, or maybe that they were another form of humanoid, uncannily familiar to humans. But now what I believe we may have aboard Enterprise with us is a surviving group of these so-called 'mutants.'"
Phlox's face lit up but on the last word Archer started, grabbing the doctor's forearm and instinctively pulling him back from the medical room doors. At this Phlox looked down uneasily at Archer's placed hand and the Captain pulled away quickly.
"Sorry, I forgot… you, don't like to be touched."
Phlox just smiled as he let go. "That's quite alright, no harm done. But may I ask why you look so pale sir?"
Subconsciously Archer touched on his cheek with his fingertips then eyed passed the sickbay doors warily. His voice dropped to a low whisper as he finally spoke back.
"They can't be mutants, that's impossible. And if they are then I want them off my ship at once.
Phlox raised a somewhat surprised brow. "Sir that's rather harsh, especially coming for you. I would have thought you would allow these people some refuge and hospitality just as you show everyone else we come across that needs it. And besides, one of their crew is quite sick so I would like to treat her and help her in some way, if you don't mind. Perhaps learn more about there type, if she's willing." He smiled excitedly again.
Archer snapped back in a tone that even took him aback although he didn't say it. "If they are what you say they are then they're a threat to my crew and my ship and I want them off."
"Captain, please. They been quite friendly towards me, polite and humble in fact, and one of them has this rather fascinating piece of equipment that changes his appearance. He seems to have taken quite a shine to—"
"Phlox."
"Sir. At least come and meet them before you throw them back out into space."
"Do you have an weapons in there?"
Phlox seemed to be growing an irritation to the Captain's reaction. "No sir."
"Call Reed, I want—"
"Sir!"
It was Archers turn to look somewhat surprised.
"If you would come and meet them then I assure you, you will see that they are not as bad as you would have yourself believe."
"But they're mutants!"
"And T'Pol is a Vulcan. As I recall you didn't much like Vulcans before you met her."
"I still don't like Vulcans very much, she's an exception, but they're not dangerous in general, mutants are."
Phlox sighed heavily. "I know little about these 'mutants' branch offs from your human race but these ones have not appeared or acted dangerous in any way what so ever. So, after you."
The smiling doctor opened the door again and extended his hand out for his Captain to go first. He went with a scowl.
Six mutants stood, one sat, all talking quietly, almost apprehensively amongst themselves but stopped as soon as Archer stepped in.
The seventh sitting mutant tried to stand but another, a considerably short man clad in blue and yellow, forced her back down. She scowled at him, much like Arched had at Phlox.
Their leader, also clad in yellow and blue but with a different fashioned uniform, stood forward with a friendly smile and an extended hand to the Captain. His eyes remained hidden behind a dark ruby-like visor so those Archer couldn't see; he wasn't sure why that bothered him but at the same time everything about this did.
"Captain, I'm Scott Summers, also known as Cyclopes, and this is my team, the X-Men. We really can't thank you enough for—"
If Archer had looked shocked when Phlox had announced the possibilities of the team possessing mutant genes then it was nothing compared to how he looked when he heard the title 'X-Men'.
Cyclopes slowly lowered his offered hand when Archer didn't take it and frowned. "Did I say something wrong?"
Archer realised his jaw was literally hanging and shut it instantly, shaking his head and blinking a couple of times.
"The-the X-Men? You're kidding right, this is all a part of some lame joke right?" He laughed uneasily and Phlox tilted his head at him.
The leader shook his head. "No. Is there a problem?"
Archer almost laughed again at the question. "The X-Men died out about one hundred and fifty years ago. Secret Government officials were given the go-ahead to release Alpha Sentinels that were designed specifically to lock onto the bio-signatures of registered members of the X-Men to hunt them alone down. Within hours they had been sought out and killed. Everyone knows the story, I studied it in History."
It was literally like hearing your death sentence being read out.
From behind Scott a Southern girl spoke up in a shaky, broken voice.
"A hun'red an' fifty years ago? What year is this?"
"2151, why?"
"'Cause last time ah checked ma calendar it was 2015."
The whole room fell silent. Confusion reigned for hours after.
----
Rumours flew around the ship almost at warp speed and not hours after the X-Men had boarded the Enterprise NX-01 near to every one of Archer's crew had heard more than a few twisted and elaborated tales about their boarding.
As she sat down for her lunch in the loud, crowded mess hall Hoshi was joined seconds later by a rather excited, if not a little bemused looking Travis.
"Have you heard?"
She rolled her deep brown eyes but at the same time smiled and nodded. "Yes, I've heard. Who hasn't?"
"Em, Cutler over there I think, her shift hasn't even started yet and she's only just came out her quarters for lunch."
"Well she'll find out soon enough." Hoshi paused, picking fussily at her salad. So… mutants. Think they'll run us down and strip us for whatever we've got on Enterprise?"
It was meant as a joke but Hoshi kept a tremble of worry in her voice. Travis just shrugged.
"After all the Klingon and Suliban we've come across what's a couple of mutants to the Enterprise?"
"Seven actually."
Again Travis shrugged, none too perplexed at least by the idea of the seven X-Men lingering aboard the same ship as he. "The Captain wont let anything happen to his ship. And even if they're anything like their reputation then it's still about eleven to one odds in a fight, they wouldn't stand a chance." He said it with a definite nod.
Hoshi would have liked to shrugged and nodded with the young Helm Officer but she couldn't help recall in her mind the tales her father use to tell her about the infamous outlaws, the X-Men, and their mutant kin. Still she had found them fascinating tales, so why now was she more scared than perhaps in awe?
Travis got back up patting Hoshi lightly on the shoulder. "Just watch your back."
She shoved him playfully and he left with a taunting grin.
Right now she just hoped she wouldn't have to translate for anyone…
----
Scott was spending most of him time with the ship's Captain biting his lip and gathering a great deal of patience in the back of his mind to be used some time in the near future. He was massively grateful for the rescue, more so than he could ever express, and considered himself in great debt to Jonathan Archer but there was only so many times one mutant could hear the words 'Legacy Virus' and 'extinct race' before a man would begin to grow tiresome of listening to it. The fact that he hadn't eaten or slept for a good few days as well was also beginning to creep around the back of his swelling mind…
They stood in the Captain's 'office' of sorts with Archer's second in command, another alien by the name of T'Pol, standing silent and expressionless behind him. Scott couldn't say he was too keen on her. He himself would have had Storm standing with him but the ship's doctor (who so far seemed to be the only welcoming being on this vast vessel) was curious and anxious to see what 'mysterious illness' she had contracted in space. Scott knew exactly what was wrong with her but he would allow Ororo to explain that one herself to the kindly alien.
"And you promise that you pose no threat here?"
Scott sighed heavily and went to answer when T'Pol spoke up for the first time during this tedious meeting. "Sir, if I may." She paused and he grudgingly nodded for her to continue. "These people have shown nothing but manners and gratitude to us since they boarded Enterprise. Furthermore to that they have no fit vessel to travel in and no supplies to live by. They are unarmed, one of their numbers is sick and they are vastly out numbered here. If I am right in saying, Cyclopes, you can see yourself that there is no logic in attacking us here, and Captain I do not believe they were planning to anyway, correct?"
Scott nodded and allowed a twitch of a smile on his lips. As unsettling as this T'Pol was she was certainly reasonable. He liked her logic.
Archer stiffened but some of his apprehension and doubt seemed finally to drift away and his eyes filled with the belated curiosity now.
"So… you're all mutants?"
Cyclops's shoulders dropped in a shuddering sigh and even T'Pol seemed to grow impatient with his constant questioning worry as she shifted in her stance from foot to foot somewhat restlessly.
"Yes Captain."
Slowly Archer extended his hand out for Scott to take and with an arched brow and a small relieved smile he took it in a hearty shake.
"On behalf of my crew of the Enterprise I welcome you and your fellow X-Men on board with us. I think we'll give the questions a rest for a while and maybe a small tour of the ship for you and your team would be in order?"
He turned to T'Pol who nodded her approval then faced Scott again.
"What do you say?" There was a smile in his proud eyes now.
It was returned in favour by Scott's own thankful nod. "It would be an honour Captain."
----
It was quite a bit quieter in sickbay now that six of the seven mutants were gone. Phlox couldn't say he wasn't relieved by this and appreciative of the idea of a tour, one that would be hosted by the Captain himself.
Now he was able to carry on with his work and have something of a more confidential one to one with the young African mutant he found in his capable care. He stood at her side whilst she sat on one of the beds and allowed him to scan her mind and body despite how uncomfortable this made her feel. All the time he kept a cheery smile on his face and a tone to match. This seemed at first lost on her.
"So, what's your name?"
She answered with little mirth, or any much tone in her own voice. "Storm."
"Storm," he tilted his head and quirked a smile, "what an interesting name."
He finished his scan and carried on the forming conversation. "And you say you're a mutant of the human race?"
She nodded warily not sure of what feelings he held towards her kind.
"Fascinating."
At this she slowly raised one snowy white eyebrow and looked up. "First time I've heard that response from someone in a long time, although I suppose you're not exactly human yourself."
"Aren't you?"
She shrugged. Her mind was tired, to put it lightly; she wasn't up for delving into long and complex explanations on the morals and ethics of her kind. She also seemed to be too tired to bother with questions of her own about the alien who treated her, with his humanoid but distinctly different looks when compared at least to the norm of the human race. She had seen a lot in her lifetime though; little took her by surprise these days.
He left her on the bed whilst he moved on to process the new data. She sighed as she watched him.
"There is no point in all of this you know."
Phlox raised his head up from the computer and curiosity sparked in his amazing blue eyes again as he smiled, also again. "Oh? And why's that?"
Her smile was small, sad as she reminisced on past times and similar circumstances.
"The problem lays in nature, my friend. If you want a brief then, my mutant powers are linked closely to my home plant, Earth. The weather patterns, the very atmosphere there are mines to bend and control at will and through that I am tied to Mother Nature and her Earthly bonds. But there's no weather in space, at least not of Earth's patterns and kind, so the very essence of my being, my soul, if you like, was almost literally in a way torn out and left behind when we left Earth, or at least that's what it feels like." She paused for a second as he studied her and her words with a tilted head. "So, do you see? The problem is not biological but spiritual."
Phlox smiles gently in full sympathy as she explained with a great strain in her misty blue eyes, those of a brilliance in the irises that matched his own.
"Yes, but you still show signs of physical distress so that we can try and ease I believe. So until then Storm, my friend, tell me more, I'm quite, what's the word…ah yes, intrigued by you and your mutant kin."
Again Storm raised an eyebrow. "Really?" She laughed quietly and shook her head. "Well, before we start, my name is Ororo Munroe. Storm is just a codename.
He nodded. "Phlox."
"Phlox… interesting name."
"It's Denobulan. And Ororo, that doesn't sound like any typical human name that I've heard of before, although I have heard some funny human names in my time with the race."
Ororo laughed again, not quite sure if she was actually having this conversation. Nonetheless it took her mind off the pain, if only temporarily.
"No, it's not. It's from my mother's native tongue, a word meaning 'beauty'. My mother herself gave me the name."
Phlox nodded and smiled again. "Yes, very appropriate if I may say. I'll have to ask Hoshi if she knows this dialect, no doubt she does though."
"Hoshi?"
"Ah, out comm. Officer. She possesses quite an ear for languages. It really is a shame you're not going on this tour, but perhaps later, non?"
"Yeah, perhaps."
On a couple of sharp alert calls Phlox was alerted to the ending of the data transfer and so he proceeded to work with a number of different veils and liquids, all the while still carrying on this steady and cheery conversation with his mysterious patience.
"So tell me more about these mutant powers of yours. You said something about weather control, correct?"
Simply thinking about it brought a twang of pain back into her heart but she pushed it to one side and tried to concentrate on what was being said. "Yes. Complete control over the weather, or at least any patterns I can find. On this ship there is some controllable atmosphere, but it is… how to put it… artificial? But on Earth the things I can do range from gentle downpours to full-blown thunderstorms, I can just about, but not quite, do almost anything within the rules of nature and sometimes a little more. Of course though with most things that seem too good for one person, it does come at a price."
She paused for a second wondering if he had any want for her to go on.
"And what is the price?"
She nodded a little to herself. "My emotions."
He looked up from his work instantly, his eyes shimmering excitedly, optimistically even. "Really?"
She nodded solemnly herself as she shrugged. "The weather reflects my emotional state. If I get angry I could accidentally set off a streak of lightening and if I am giddily happy then the sun could become exhaustingly hot. There is a very fine balance between myself and nature, one I'm actually missing a lot right now."
The excitement in his eyes continued to brim around the edges. "Well if that's the case Ororo, then we may just have found our cure."
Her own eyes sparked then frowned. "How?"
"T'Pol."
"What?"
"No not 'what', who. T'Pol our resident Vulcan. "
"Who?"
"No, now what. Vulcan, the race. You don't know of the Vulcans?"
Ororo shook her head slowly. "I'm sorry… you've lost me."
Phlox dismissed her apology with a wave of his hand and smiled again. "Ah, well it's the Captain's job to figure out this mystery, I'm just here to cure the sick."
He got up abandoning his work with the veils and liquids and stepped in front of his patient his face beaming with an optimism Storm herself couldn't muster.
"You are a most fascinating being Ororo. Any physician would pay dearly to have you as their subject, but unfortunately I am more concerned about fining a cure for the sick than experimenting on the new. Now excuse me." He reached over the bed and activated an intercom speaker behind her. "Sickbay to T'Pol, this is Phlox here, do you have a minute?"
"T'Pol here. Yes," the voice paused then continued; "I'm off duty for now. Do you wish to see me?"
"Yes, I'd be most grateful if you could come down thank you. Phlox out."
He nodded in satisfaction them beamed at Ororo once again with his homely smile. She found his abnormally large grin a little unsettling but she couldn't deny her gratitude for all he was trying to do for her. She still doubted his efforts however. But at the same time she was still also to meet the cure.
Oh, it was nice to know you all like the last chapter; I'm glad that it for now worked. I wasn't sure if I could pull this off, still not sure if I can but hey I guess there's nothing much stopping me. Chapter three will be up as soon as I find the time to type it.
~Telaka~