"Malcolm! You're in enough trouble as it is without sneaking off over here without my permission!" Captain Archer shouted at Malcolm, who was feeling increasingly smaller under his CO's wrathful gaze.

"Sir, I . . ." he stopped realising he had nothing he could say to get him out of this situation.

"You what? What Malcolm? You seem to have way to much knowledge about this resistance? Why exactly is that?" Archer yelled. Malcolm shot a glance to Trip who was looking at Archer very worriedly.

"Cap'n." he said softly. "Why don't we go somewhere a little more, private?" he asked diplomatically. Before Archer could respond Trip was guiding him by the elbow back to the command tent. Malcolm stood motionless for a moment, a thousand thoughts running through his head.

"Malcolm." He snapped back to reality and found Jennifer talking to him. "I think your presence might be needed in there with them." She said.

"Er, right, yeah." He muttered, but still didn't move.

"C'mon Malcolm." She said gently sliding her hand into his and pulling him forward. He followed silently allowing her to lead him to the command tent, taking comfort in her touch. When they reached their destination however fresh dread filled him as she let go of his hand. Taking a deep breath he stepped in.

Once again Trip sat at the head of the table, Captain Archer was sat in the seat Jennifer had previously occupied. Malcolm took his seat opposite the Captain and Jennifer took the one on his left.

"So . . ." Archer said maliciously. Malcolm was stunned by the sudden change in the man. Thinking it through again he realised the immense stress the man must be under. After all his ship had crash landed on an unknown planet, with no identifiable cause, and no escape in the foreseeable future. And to top it all off he had just found out his best friend of a decade had a secret life. Malcolm realised he'd be as, if not more, edgy than the Captain under the circumstance.

"So, what do you want to know?" he asked, putting on his calm and cool face.

"How do you know about all this?" Archer asked directly.

"Well I've known for a long time now." Malcolm replied seeing Archer raise an eyebrow, he decided that it would be easier to explain all in one go, without giving him a chance to interrupt. "Since I was, sixteen, I think." He glanced at Jennifer who nodded.

"Sixteen."

"Right. That was when I met Jennifer."

"When you were sixteen?" Archer asked. So much for not letting him interrupt. "But, I don't understand, she would have been living in Florida then, right? With Kate?" he asked.

"No. She, well . . ."

"My father was never a big fan of Trip, and when I had Kate, well he wasn't happy. He took her away, put her in care, and wouldn't let me go and see her." She paused, the pain of the memories evident in her face and voice as she continued. "In the end he locked me up in our house. I couldn't stand it, I er, well I tried to kill myself. More than once." She paused and looked at Malcolm who offered her a comforting smile. "Being the snobby git he is, he wanted to send me to the best place possible, so he sent me to Gracie's in England."

"Gracie's?" Archer asked.

"Graceman's institution for the psychologically unstable." Malcolm clarified. "That's where I met her. My mother thought that maybe seeing a shrink might help me with my aquaphobia. Jennifer was brought up from the ward to see her doctor, who was next door to mine, we had appointments at the same time."

"It was nice to have normal person to talk to, I never got any visitors, my dad saw to that." Jennifer added.

"She told me about her plans to set up her 'own Starfleet' with her best friend Trip, they thought neither of them would get in as they both had criminal records. Jennifer didn't want to anyway though, she had the idea in her head that her dad represented what Starfleet officers were like."

"I told her about my fascination with weapons, and explained to her how some of my favourite ones worked and so on, she said I'd make a great tactical and weapons officer if I ever wanted to join them."

"Did you?" Archer questioned.

"They're getting to it sir, give them a chance." Trip interjected.

"My mother stopped my sessions with the doctor on my seventeenth birthday, she didn't approve of the present Jennifer gave me." He said with a smirk. At Archer's raised eyebrow he cleared his throat and continued. "I didn't see Jen for a while after that a few years later she was visiting a cousin with Kate in England, we bumped into each other, I was in the process of moving to San Francisco at the time, she gave me her number and address so I could visit her when I was settled."

"I took the entrance exam for Starfleet a few weeks later, I failed." He said matter of factly. "I was pretty upset, so remembering what Jennifer had told me years before I went to see her, and signed up."

"So you are part of the resistance." Archer said dejectedly. Malcolm continued as if he hadn't heard him.

"They trained me really well, I got a call from one of my friends from Frisco a few months in, wondering where I'd got to. He told me that he was sitting his entrance exam for Starfleet, and was wondering if I was going to try again." Malcolm paused for breath. "I told Jennifer and she said to go if I wanted to, so I did."

"And you passed." The Captain said.

"Yes, with flying colours apparently, thanks to the training I'd done. I resigned immediately and entered Starfleet." Malcolm finished. Archer just sat quietly staring into space. The silence was excruciating. Thankfully Trip broke it.

"Sir, they've finished now, you can, well, yell if you want to." Trip said.

"Why would I yell? Of course I'm disappointed that you never told me Malcolm, but you're no longer part of this organisation."

"No sir."

"Then I have nothing to yell about, to you anyway. Except the fact you came over here without permission." He added.

"Sorry sir, I just, well I wanted to come and see some of my friends who are over here." Malcolm said quietly.

"Fair enough, but you should have asked permission."

"Yes sir."

"Well then, now that's all cleared up" Trip said sitting up and clapping his hands together "Captain would you like to meet Kate?"

"By all means."

"Before you say-" he paused with confusion. "Hang on a sec-"

"What?"

"I just didn't think you would . . . never mind. C'mon I'll give you the tour while you're here."

A lot of people were wondering about Malcolm's connexion to things, well now you know.

(A/N: Oh I'm going on holiday next week, so I wont be updating until at least the week after next, my apologies, but I will have plenty of time sitting in the sun to write a new chapter, maybe two.)

See I respond to what you guys have to say, so review! now, please!