AN: Thanks for the reviews. And thanks for pointing out the mistake! (fixed it now, I think) Please do point out my mistakes. It will improve my writing skills )

Remember, I love reviews! Enjoy!

--------

The mess wasn't far better than sickbay. Everywhere you looked were signs of the battle and not one of the chairs was left standing. When they had walked through the empty corridors, there hadn't been exchanged a single word. Malcolm didn't say anything because he didn't want to. And Daniels, well, Malcolm guessed because he waited for him to speak, to give him some time tot hink about everything.

Malcolm picked up one of the chairs and placed it in front of the table. He wiped away some of the dust before sitting down and Daniels did the same. He looked at Daniels, taking in every detail. His hair was a mess and he looked like he hadn't been sleeping at all for a few days. He seemed older, too. All in all he probably still was a better sight than Malcolm himself. He was amused when he thought about what someone would say when they could see them now.

The lieutenant turned and looked through the window. It was space as nothing he had ever seen. A reddish glow filled the mess. Giving them the feeling they weren't on a spaceship at all, but on earth looking at a sunset. After a few minutes, Malcolm spoke up.

"So, where are we?"

Daniels looked up and didn't seem surprised by the question. "Hmm, not a parallel dimension if that's what you mean. More like a parallel timeline. Though it's hard to explain. You don't quite exist in the normal one."

"I don't quite exist? Well that's reassuring." Mumbled the armory officer. He was glad that Daniels understood his question though. He knew he couldn't be on the real Enterprise. Because, well, he would have been dead.

"So I'm supposed to be dead, but I'm not." He said matter-of-factly. Daniels nodded but didn't say more.

"And you're here because this all wasn't supposed to happen. And you're going to prevent it." Again, a nod.

"Aren't you 5 years too late for that?" This time, Malcolm turned fully towards Daniels, who sighed.

"This was the closest I could get. We had barely enough time to register the change of the timeline before it effected ours." He looked up. "And we aren't really 5 years too late. I just had to have a timeline in which there was still a you. Dead or alive.....Well, you're alive now."

"A me? What do you need me for? What can we do in this place to help Enterprise 5 years ago?" Malcolm felt frustrated. And he looked frustrated judging by Daniels reaction.

"Calm down, lieutenant. It's quite simple actually. Being in a place that doesn't effect the normal timeline seems useless. But it's quite helpful. We have all the time we want and from here we can go to specific timelines, though only in the past." Daniels answered calmly. Malcolm felt as if he was beginning to understand. Though some thing still didn't fit.

"So what do you need me for? And why don't you just go to the day of the attack to prevent it?" It wasn't a question asked by someone who was annoyed. More like a question someone would ask when interested. Daniels was relieved by this reaction and answered quickly.

"We tried that. More times than I care to remember. I won't work, no matter what we do. But I think we figured it out now." Daniels seemed to become more enthusiastic as he talked and Malcolm wondered who 'we' were.

"So you have a plan? How can you be sure it won't fail like all the other times." Like always, Malcolm was his pessimistic self. Someone needed to have the job. Daniels just smiled.

"I have this feeling.." He answered, and Malcolm raised his eyebrows.

"You're plan is based on a feeling." He said without asking anything. He sounded like he wanted to disapprove the plan already. Daniels frowned.

"Now lieutenant, I thought you of all people would understand that. Don't you ever trust your guts on some things? Like if something is a trap or not?" Daniels stared at him and Malcolm sighed. He was right.

"So what's the plan?"

"Saturday morning. 7 o'clock. Enterprise gets an encoded message from Starfleet. They are told not to go to their former destination. Instead, Starfleet wants them to go to a different set of coordinates. Supposedly there should be a ship waiting for them from the Tridian Patch. More would be explained upon arrival." Daniels had a tone of somebody debriefing a team of inspectors.

"I remember that..." Malcolm frowned it had only been a short time ago for him, though his mind was still a bit foggy. "Captain didn't tell us why we had to change our heading, which annoyed me greatly." His accent was more pronounced while talking.

"That's because there never was a reason for Starfleet to give that order." Daniels said and leaned back in his chair. Malcolm stared at him and suddenly realization dawned..

"And the Tridian ship..." He trailed off while trying to call up his memories.

"Wasn't waiting there." Daniels finished. "Instead there were 3 other ships from a yet unknown race to Starfleet, or most of the universe in your time for that matter."

"Didn't even hail us or fire a warning shot!" Malcolm leaned forward as the images popped up in his mind again. He remembered now.

"That's because they were out to destroy Enterprise. To kill its crew." And they had succeeded. Daniels added in his thoughts.

"Why would Starfleet send us out there without reason? Unless.."

"Unless it wasn't Starfleet." Again, Daniels finished for him. It all made sense. Daniels continued.

"Saturday night. 2 o'clock. A shuttle lands near Starfleet headquarters. Four people step out, they all look human, but one is not. His intentions are to sabotage the communication and send that order." He finished and waited for Malcolm to speak.

"Why would they want to kill the Enterprise's crew?" Of course he knew, but he wanted to hear it. To have it made clear to him.

"Isn't it obvious? This crew was of great importance to the future." Daniels answered but Malcolm shook his head.

"But I thought that the Temporal Cold War was over?" He asked and Daniels face darkened.

"Oh, this isn't about the Temporal Cold War. This is a whole new game." He waited for the words to sink in. "Our job is to prevent that order to be send."