There were many on Earth (and Vulcan) that questioned the place of children on a starship, but Jonathan Archer wasn't breaking up his crew if he could help it, and had no problem with its smallest inhabitants.

"Lizzie, come on, yer gonna be late for yer lessons!" Trip called through their quarters. His thirteen-year-old daughter finally appeared in her doorway. He handed her a muffin for breakfast. Seven-year-old Lorian was already eating his as he waited by the door for his sister. "Yer brother's got to take a tour of the science labs after lessons, so will you take him down there?"

"I can't. I'm meeting Aiko."

"For what?"

"We've got stuff to go over for our project."

"Fine, then you and Aiko take your brother to the science lab and you can work while you wait for him."

"Why can't Ko'Mehk take him later?"

"Because yer mama's working! So yer gonna take yer brother, understand?" If Elizabeth had been aware of the fact that her father had been up half the night working, she probably would have let it go, but she wasn't, so she didn't. It wasn't so much that she minded looking after her brother, but she'd fallen behind with her project, and had enough to worry about without Lorian' schedule to account for.

"It would not be logical," she told her father, "For me to sacrifice my own work for his when my presence is not required in order for his assignment to be completed." Trip had gotten about an hour of sleep, and hadn't had any coffee yet. The last thing he wanted was to be getting into it with his stubborn eldest.

"Don't you go spoutin' logic to me!" he told her. Lorian spoke up for the first time in the conversation.

"Ko'Mehk always uses logic to – "

"Neither one of ya is yer mama!" Trip shot back, with no clue why he was yelling at his son. "Go to school," he told Elizabeth, "Take yer brother to the labs, and then you can meet Aiko."

"But, Daddy – "

"Just do it!" Elizabeth shot him a glare that she'd directly inherited from her mother, grabbed her bag, and headed out the door. Lorian wordlessly followed her into the corridor.

Most of the Enterprise's children had some amazing gift they'd inherited from their parents that made them stand out in the classroom. Aiko, of course, excelled at linguistics. Lorian, as young as he was, already had a love for science. Elizabeth was an amazing problem solver. The children's educations on the ship were tailored to their interests, thus there was rarely ever a complaint when a project was assigned. Except for maybe the deadline.

Elizabeth and Aiko had been paired up for their latest assignment, and since it was nearly the end of the grade period, they were already swamped with other work. Elizabeth didn't care what her father said; her own work was going to come before some little scavenger hunt of the science labs.

"I'll take you down there once Aiko and I are finished," Elizabeth told her brother as they walked towards the mess hall.

"That is not what Sa'Mehk told you."

"I'm fully aware of that, thank you. I need to get my project done. Just work on your own homework, and we'll be done as fast as we can." Lorian was Vulcan enough in mannerisms not to roll his eyes at his sister, but if he could have, he would have. They had grown up into two very dissimilar people. Elizabeth looked just like their mother, but acted like their father, or rather, acted human. Lorian was the exact opposite. They were close, despite their differences, but, like all siblings, did not lack the ability to get on each other's nerves.

Lorian sat down at a table near his sister and her friend to do some homework and wait. He'd get back at his sister eventually…

It had been a pretty normal day in engineering for Trip. A few problems that he'd been able to delegate out to his crew, and a few matters that had required his personal attention, but other than that, an unusually slow afternoon. Trip was in his office, trying to catch up on some reports he had to read, when all of a sudden, the ship pitched mercilessly, and they were knocked out of warp. He could hear the shouts from members of his team as they were burned by exploding panels. Other officers ran to help them. Trip hit the comm.

"Tucker to the bridge, we just lost the warp engines!"

The bridge wasn't in much better condition. Circuitry hung from a damaged bulkhead in the back. Hoshi ducked as another spray of sparks was issued forth behind her.

"Travis, get us as far away from those eddies as you can," Archer told his helmsman.

"We've only got thrusters," he replied.

"Do we have a damage report yet?" the Captain turned to Malcolm next.

"There are hull breaches on decks D and E….a few fires as well."

"I'm detecting a ship approaching," T'Pol called out, her voice calm as ever.

"Hail them," Archer told Hoshi. She tried, and shook her head.

"No response."

"They're charging weapons," Malcolm reported. The ship pitched again as it was struck.

"What do we have left, Malcolm?"

"Forward Phase Canon." Archer nodded.

"Target their weapons systems." They could see the ball of energy arc out at the attacking ship. Enterprise was rocked again by enemy fire, but their weapon found its target. An explosion emanated forth from the impact site, and the attacking ship broke off.

"Archer to Engineering, how long before we have engines?"

"We've almost got impulse back online," Trip reported. "The warp engines are gonna be a few hours." Archer nodded.

"Get us out of here with everything we have, Travis, as soon as you've got it."

"Aye, sir."

"Captain, there was an explosion on E deck," Malcolm reported.

"Where?"

"The science labs."

"Get a team down there."

"Aye, sir."

It was hours before any of the officers had a chance to take a break from their duties. As the shifts changed, Archer pulled all of his senior staff into the conference room for an update.

"You talked to Lizzie and Lorian?" Trip asked T'Pol as he caught up with her on her way into the room.

"I have not." He nodded. The kids knew protocol for a ship emergency – they were supposed to go to their quarters and wait until their heard from their parents. It wasn't surprising that no one had heard from them.

"Warp engines ought to be back online within the hour," Trip reported. "We're gonna be limited to 3.5 for a while, though." Archer nodded.

"The Liberty is about seventeen hours away at max speed," Hoshi stated. "They're changing course to intercept us." Archer nodded.

"The fire on E Deck has been contained," Malcolm went next. "There is a team surveying the science labs. So far, there are no survivors." Trip's head shot up at that.

"Wait, what? What happened in the science labs?"

"There was an explosion," Malcolm told him.

"What time?"

"Just after the attack."

"What time was that?!?"

"Trip, what's the matter?" Archer asked him.

"About 1500," Malcolm said at the same time. Trip jumped up from his chair.

"Trip!" T'Pol called, also standing.

"Lizzie and Lorian were goin' to the labs after school," was all he had to say.

"What about Aiko?" Hoshi asked, also getting up from the table. "She was supposed to be with Lizzie." Trip swallowed hard.

"I told Lizzie to take her down there with them." Half the senior staff was out the door in an instant.

T'Pol had had the calm of mind to suggest calling the children over the comm. system, but Malcolm had countered with the information that the comm. system was down on half of the ship. As they approached the science labs, the walls switched from a familiar gray to a charred black. Conduits and wires were hanging down everywhere.

"Lizzie! Lorian!" Trip yelled as he climbed over a fallen beam in the doorway.

"The area hasn't been declared secure," one of the MACOs tried to tell him.

"You think I give a damn about that?"

"Trip," Malcolm said as he pulled his friend back. "Let them do their jobs."

"I told them to come down here!" he yelled. "Lizzie…Lizzie wanted to work on her own project, but I wouldn't listen to her. I picked a fight with her over it, and now…"

"Phlox to Commander Tucker," the doctor's voice came over the comm. "Would you please report to sickbay as soon as you are able? I have two patients waiting here for you."

A ship speed record was broken on the way to Sickbay. Trip didn't even care about the tears that started pouring down his face as soon as he saw his kids sitting on a biobed. He just wrapped both of them up in his arms.

"We're sorry, Dad," Elizabeth told him. "We knew you were busy, we didn't want Dr. Phlox to bother you." Trip just held them tighter. Aiko was getting a similar treatment from her parents.

"What's wrong, Sa'Mehk?" Lorian asked his father. Trip shook his head, kneeling in front of them.

"Are you okay? Ya hurt?" Lorian held up his hand, which had a scar across his palm.

"We were trying to clean up our quarters before you got home," he told his father.

"Great-grandma's mirror broke," Elizabeth told her father regretfully.

"I tried putting it back together," Lorian explained, "But I didn't do a very good job. I got cut."

"Ya didn't get burned?" Trip asked, looking both children over. They shook their heads.

"Why would we?" Lorian asked.

"The-the fire in the science labs." Lizzie looked down.

"We didn't go to the labs, Daddy. I'm sorry I disobeyed you." Trip shook his head, pulling both children into his arms again.

"I'm glad you did," he finally told them. "God, am I glad you did."

"I'm sorry for this morning, Daddy."

"So am I, darlin'. So am I."

Ten members of the crew had been lost in the attack. They'd later figured out that the gravitational eddies they'd hit weren't natural, but a kind of spider web for a species of space pirates.

Once word got through the Starfleet grapevine about the fact that half of the crew's children had nearly been killed in the attack, review boards were set up to determine whether or not the children belonged on the starship in the first place. For many of Enterprise's officers, however, the review boards were irrelevant; they'd come to their own decision that life on the ship was a risk they couldn't take. Malcolm and Hoshi were taking Aiko to one of the stations in Mars orbit. They knew their daughter was a space child, and couldn't imagine moving back planet-side on a permanent basis. Trip, however, saw the end of his assignment on Enterprise as an opportunity to go back to Earth. He was miles ahead of himself in the planning department before the rest of his family knew what had happened.

"What'dya think?" he asked as he opened the door to the California house they were thinking of buying.

"Is there a protein resequencer?" Lorian asked as he ventured into the kitchen.

"Nope, we're gonna be cookin' real foodstuffs." Lorian continued exploring.

"What kind of trees are those?" Elizabeth asked her father, pointing.

"I think they're oak. The backyard's nice, ain't it?"

"Yeah…It'll be weird not to see the stars all the time."

"You'll get used to it. When I got my first commission, it was weird never to see daylight."

"May I go outside, Sa'Mehk?" Lorian asked his father. Trip nodded.

"Go ahead." Elizabeth followed her brother. "What's your opinion?" Trip asked T'Pol once they were alone. She appeared indifferent.

"It is a nice house," she finally said.

"It's a good neighborhood, good school for the kids."

"So you have told me." Trip grinned.

"I know; I'm overexcited. I'm sorry, I just…I want everything for us, you know? I never thought about what it'd be like starting over back here. I just want everything to be perfect."

Elizabeth stopped her careful exploration of the backyard when she noticed her brother standing on the sidewalk, staring across the street. "What are you looking at?" she asked him.

"What are they doing?" he asked, pointing to three children across the street playing some game with a ball and a hoop on a pole.

"I don't know. Let's go see." They crossed the road and approached the other driveway. "Hello," she said.

"What are you playing?" Lorian asked. The boys looked at each other and smirked.

"You've never heard of basketball?" They shook their heads. "Where the heck are you from?"

"Nowhere near here," Elizabeth truthfully said. Something told her that disclosing her parents' affiliation with Starfleet wasn't something she needed to do at that point.

"What's wrong with your ears?" another of the boys asked.

"Nothing!" Lorian defensively said. The boys laughed.

"Yeah, whatever, freak," the third teased, giving Lorian a little shove. "You a little elf, huh? Or a fairy!"

"Leave him alone," Elizabeth said.

"Or you'll do what?" he asked, shoving Lorian again. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Nothing." The next thing he knew, he was pinned to the ground, with his arm being held at a painful angle behind his back.

"I told you to leave him alone," she said.

"Okay, okay, fine!" he cried. Elizabeth let him up. She wrapped an arm around her brother's shoulders and led him back across the street. Trip and T'Pol were coming out of the house.

"Hey, what's going on?" Trip asked the kids.

"I don't want to live here," Lorian told his father.

"You don't like the house?"

"I don't want to live here!"

"We want to go back to Enterprise," Elizabeth told her mother.

"It is no longer safe for you there."

"But it's our home," Lorian protested. "We don't want to leave."

"You'll learn to like it here," Trip told them. "I know it'll take some time to adjust, but – "

"We don't want to stay here," Elizabeth told him. "And you can't make us."

Neither child talked to Trip for the rest of the day. T'Pol came to Elizabeth's room in their temporary quarters at Starfleet late that night before her daughter went to bed. It had been a tradition since Elizabeth was a toddler for her mother to brush her hair out at night.

"What is troubling you, ko'fu?" T'Pol quietly asked after silence reigned for a long moment.

"Why did we have to leave Enterprise?"

"You know it is no longer safe there. There is unrest between many species."

"Do we have to move here to Earth?"

"What would you prefer?"

"I don't know…they hate us here. They'll never accept us."

"Never is a very long time." Elizabeth sighed.

"Where do we belong, Ko'Mehk? We're too alien for Earth, and too human for Vulcan."

"It is up to you, Elizabeth. When I first took my position on Enterprise, I did not feel like I belonged, either. But with time…with time my views began to change."

"But weren't there still people that didn't want you there? That couldn't see you as an equal?"

"There will always be people who are intolerant of change. You cannot let them control you." Elizabeth slowly nodded.

"I still don't want to stay here." T'Pol got up.

"Get some rest. Nothing has been decided yet." Elizabeth lay down.

"Goodnight, Ko'Mehk. I love you."

"And I, you."

"Daddy. Daddy, wake up." Trip sleepily rubbed at his eyes.

"Wha?" he asked as he started to sit up, but he froze when he saw the girl – woman – sitting at the foot of his bed. "Who the hell're you?"

"You don't recognize me, Daddy? It's Lizzie."

"You ain't my Lizzie."

"I will be. Half a century from now." Trip just stared. "Yeah, I know I look different. A lot changes in fifty years." He snorted.

"That's for sure…If you're Lizzie, then what happened to yer ears?" She brought a finger to one of them.

"Surgery. You fit in a lot better on Earth if you don't look like an alien."

"Yer running from who ya are?"

"Only when I can win the race. While we're on the subject of running, when you're deciding where to run away to after leaving Enterprise, don't pick Earth."

"We-I ain't running! I'm trying to keep you safe."

"Because you couldn't keep Aunt Lizzie safe, right?" Trip didn't reply. "Don't take us back to Earth, Dad. You'll be creating more problems than you fix."

"What'dya mean?"

"I shouldn't say any more."

"I'm not gonna follow the directions of some…apparition that's claimin' to be my daughter if I don't even know why I'm following them!" Lizzie sighed.

"Vulcans don't belong on Earth. And that includes half-Vulcans." Trip was awake now.

"What happened?"

"You humans aren't very accepting of change."

"You're half human, too, darlin'."

"I'm aware…Even Vulcans have their breaking points, Dad."

"Who found theirs?"

"Lorian. You raised one very angry boy, and when he turned into a very angry man…that's when he got dangerous."

"Why's he so angry?"

"It's hard not to be when you don't feel like you belong anywhere that you go. He hated Earth, even more than I did. He fit in a lot less well than I did. But because you forced him into a life on Earth, he wasn't accepted on Vulcan, either. He was stuck."

"I didn't force – "

"Yes, you did. We tried to tell you how unhappy we were, Dad, but you wouldn't listen." Trip was silent. "You know it's true. I know what you're trying to do, Dad, and it's honorable, but it won't work. Too much has changed. You can't give us the perfect planet-side childhood that you had. We're your new family, but we're not a second chance at your relationship with Aunt Lizzie. We're our own people." Trip finally nodded.

"I know ya are."

"Good. Then listen to us."

Trip suddenly awoke, sitting straight up in bed. The sudden movement awakened T'Pol. "Are you all right?" she asked him, sitting up as well.

"I'm not sure…Go back to sleep." He pulled on a robe and got out of bed.

"Where are you going?"

"To check on the kids. Go back to sleep."

Lorian was soundly asleep, curled up in a ball tighter than Trip would have thought possible. He shook his head with a smile, wondering how it was his son didn't wind up with a crick in his neck every morning. He then continued on to check on his daughter. She was wrapped up in her grandmother's quilt, and stirred when the door to her room opened.

"Daddy?"

"Go back to sleep," Trip said as he pulled her blanket up. Elizabeth closed her eyes again. "Don't worry," Trip whispered to her. "We're not gonna stay here."

When Elizabeth, Lorian, and T'Pol got up for breakfast in the morning, there was a data chip waiting for each of them on the table. "What's this?" Lorian asked his father. "More information on another house?" Trip shook his head.

"Nope. That is information about the science labs on K-3. I thought you might want to get acclimated with them." Elizabeth frowned.

"Deep Space Station K-3?"

"Uh-huh. That," he pointed to her chip, "Is information about the cryptography and engineering research they've been working on. Wasn't sure which one you'd be more interested in."

"Trip, what is going on?" T'Pol asked him. He grinned.

"And yours," he told his wife, "Is an offer of commission with their science labs. They were looking for a new head."

"Are you serious, Daddy?" Elizabeth asked him. "We could stay in space?"

"Of course, I'm serious, darlin'. I know it took me a while to realize it, but I think that's where we belong, don't you?" No one disagreed with him.