Chapter Three –

Unfamiliar sounds woke her and she opened her eyes, panicked. A sharp intake of breath told her she wasn't alone, and Hoshi closed her eyes and pretended she was still unconscious.

Peeking at the man who was bandaging his hand and mumbling to himself, she thought to herself, "Good! I hope it gets infected." She stiffened when he stood up and walked toward her.

"You might have a slight headache, not to mention some tenderness around your abdomen, but you left me little choice," the man informed her.

His clipped accent brought back flashes of last night's conversation, and she remembered his name – Malcolm. He obviously didn't believe her act, and she sat up slowly. "What do you want?"

Malcolm smiled. "We don't have much time before they realize what I've done. We need to leave."

Looking at him with disdain, Hoshi scoffed, "Are you crazy? I'm not going anywhere with you." She started to stand, but stopped as soon as she saw his gun.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Malcolm assured. "You've got to trust me." His eyes followed hers, and he saw her looking at his phase pistol.

"Look…Malcolm," she stated caustically. "Just do whatever you came to do and get it over with."

Malcolm suppressed another smile. She had been through Starfleet basic training and had obviously taken basic self-defense otherwise she never would have been able to break his hold on her earlier. Could he blame her for not trusting him? What the hell was he going to tell her? Whatever it was, he needed to do it quickly. They needed to leave. Now he understood why Daniels had always been so evasive.

He couldn't afford to be as cryptic as the temporal agent. He needed to censor the truth enough so that she would trust him. Pulling the UT from his pocket, Malcolm held it out to her.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she glared at him.

This was going to take some time, time they didn't have. He set the UT on the desk. "I'm from the future and that is a fully functional universal translator. You're currently working on one for Starfleet while you're not teaching."

Hoshi's eyes went from him to the object on the desk. Although most of her colleagues knew she was on leave from Starfleet, hardly anybody knew about her work for them. It really wasn't classified information, but it wasn't public knowledge. She really couldn't develop it without taking it out into the field. That's what her tour on Enterprise was for – to field test the temperamental piece of equipment.

He watched as she digested the information and realized she didn't believe him. "You're Ensign Hoshi Sato, assigned to Enterprise, under the command of Captain Jonathan Archer."

"So?"

Her reply was neutral yet defensive, but at least it wasn't hysterical. "You're supposed to leave in four weeks but the launch of Enterprise will be moved up by three weeks and…" Malcolm's voice softened to a whisper as he caught himself talking in the future tense. He needed to be careful.

"I haven't received any official notification the launch has been moved up," she replied, trying to keep her voice calm.

"You won't," Malcolm stated and immediately regretted his choice of words.

She was quick and made it to the door before he was able to catch her.

Tackling her around her legs, Malcolm flipped her over and quickly straddled her waist so she wouldn't inflict any embarrassing injuries. One thing he knew for sure is this woman fought dirty. She screamed and twisted her body violently beneath him, but he held on until she exhausted herself. He grimaced as she focused on his injured hand.

"You like pizza from Theorella's on Fountain Street," he blurted out, recalling the information from her journal entry about her time spent with Tarquin. "When you were a little girl, you didn't like your grandmother's soba noodles and you would tell her your stomach was upset whenever she tried to serve them. Now they're your favorite food!" Malcolm didn't add how Tarquin's violation of her memories had tainted her fondness for these items. Feeling her stop struggling, he started to release his grip.

After he released his grip and stood up, Hoshi crawled as far as she could away from him. "Who the hell are you? Is this some sort of joke?"

"I'm telling you the truth, Hoshi," he pleaded, hearing the PADD chirp in warning. They didn't have much time left before the Suliban realized he had shifted their target an hour into the future.

"If you're from the future, don't you have some sort of non-interference rule? Why do we have to leave? Don't you have all the time in the world, if you really can travel through time?" she added sarcastically.

"Yes. Because an alien race has been sent back to kill you. No," he answered all of her questions in order.

Hoshi stood up, her back against the door. "I'm still not going anywhere with you."

Malcolm's temper flared and he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the desk. "Sit down," he barked and plugged in her computer terminal. "I'm Commander Malcolm Reed. I'm the armory officer on board Enterprise. Go ahead and look for yourself."

Pulling up the crew roster for Enterprise, she carefully called up the information. A picture of a younger version of the man standing in front of her flashed on her screen. "Says here you're a lieutenant."

"I got a promotion," he countered, his patience wearing thin.

"Did I?" she retorted.

Swearing under his breath, Malcolm stood up and started pacing in front of her. "Listen. I know this sounds far-fetched, but you've got to trust me. The work you do on the UT is vital to Earth's future. I can't say anything else. Your thread was corrupted the moment I met you last night and it's only going to get worse from here. You won't be able to finish out the semester. They'll find you."

"I can't leave my students!" she started to argue, shock setting in. The last hour was a nightmare and she was going to wake up any time now.

He grabbed her by her upper arms and hauled her to her feet. "You've got to trust me, Hoshi."

Her fearful eyes stared into his, the catch in his voice reaching a cord deep within her. She nodded.

--

A few hours later –

They had stopped long enough to leave a message at the university. It had been very cryptic and she had reluctantly appointed a substitute to take her place for the rest of the semester.

His mission was going better then he expected it to. Not only was Hoshi's life spared from the assassination attempt, it looked as though Hoshi would miss the opportunity to join Enterprise.

"Where are we going?" she asked, adjusting the baggy fold of her sweatshirt as they walked down a winding road.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the stubborn tilt of her chin and the subtle pout of her lips. Maybe he had been a bit hasty by not letting her pack a few things, but he couldn't take any chances. By his count, there had been two Sulibans, and there was no way he could take both of them with just one phase pistol.

After Hoshi had called the university and requested the rest of the semester off, Malcolm had pulled her into the street, not really sure where they were headed. Needing currency, he stopped at a bank machine and pondered his next move.

"I asked where are we going," Hoshi grumbled, stopping a few feet away from him. "Am I going to get an answer?"

"I don't know yet," he replied, punching in his code and feeling a funny flutter run through his body as he altered his own timeline. He punched in a code and robbed himself of three months of salary. It was a minor incursion into his own thread, but he wouldn't miss the money. He really had no use for it anyway.

Hoshi gibed, "Wow! I can't tell you how happy I am my rescue was so well planned out."

Pocketing the credits, Malcolm turned to her and frowned. "You might want to take into consideration, Ensign, that I am a ranking officer in Starfleet and…"

"Don't even try pulling rank on me," she interrupted. "Besides, I'm not on active duty."

"Yet," he corrected, hiding his smile. He found her insolence refreshing. On Enterprise, she had always been so professional toward him. At least that is what he remembered of their time together.

"I really wish you would have let me change," she said, pulling on her baggy sweatshirt as she felt the sweat drip down her back.

Pulling the PADD out, he tapped on it. "We'll pick up some camping supplies and head to the river."

Hoshi stopped walking and started gaping at him. She shook her head. "Camping! Near the river? Are you crazy? There are snakes out there! I hate snakes!"

"Well, I hate the tropics," he added irritably, leading her down the main street and into a shop. "You've been through survival training. It's time you use it."

"I'm assuming we don't get along…when we actually do meet," Hoshi stated, trying to learn more about her future.

Malcolm threw a pair of shorts and a blue tank top at her and started walking toward a section where shoes were being sold. "I wouldn't know. If there is a paradoxical effect, it hasn't happened yet."

"What?" Hoshi caught the tank top, but dropped the shorts. She picked them up and followed him.

"Listen," Malcolm started, picking up a pair of hiking boots. "Mucking around in the past is dangerous business. So quit fishing for clues to the future. Trust me. You may be curious now, but I know you would prefer to leave some things a mystery."

Hoshi glared at him, snatching the boots he offered. "I like a good mystery, but not when it involves me being kidnapped." She stepped into a changing area.

While keeping an eye on the changing room, Malcolm roamed the store and bought more supplies. He knew he was still on tenuous ground with her and her cooperation was still debatable. Consulting the PADD, he found a secluded home along the river that was for rent. He didn't want to chance the mansion.

She stepped out of the stall, dressed in the khaki shorts, light blue tank top, and boots. She held her sweats and tennis shoes in her arms.

Picking up the bag, Malcolm walked up to her, trying to keep his eyes from lingering on her appealing curves. He grabbed her sweats and tennis shoes and threw them into a nearby garbage bin. "We're traveling light," he explained and walked away, expecting her to follow.

She stared at the clump of her favorite sweat suit in the garbage bin. Her abductor was waiting for her. By the tone of his voice, he was becoming more irritable. She grabbed her sweat suit and folded it over her arm. "I'll carry it," she said with a smile as she brushed past him.

Rolling his eyes, Malcolm started walking after her. This was going to be a long assignment.

-- TBC