Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or any of the characters created therein.

A/N: Each of the characters in this story is representative of something I particularly like or find important in the Star Trek universe. Jack, as you may have figured out by now, is my link to the earliest days of deep space warp travel. He is the great-grandson of Cmdrs. Tucker and T'Pol from Enterprise. So we see that engineering runs in the family, although Jack certainly has his own issues to deal with.

First Impression, Chapter 16: They Won't All be Like This, Will They?

Less than 24 hours later Sovak, once again, looked around the room at his new crew. Unlike the last time they had met like this, he now knew how they would react with one another under pressure—his confidence in them had not been misplaced.

Dubvelin Set, the Dukin scientist, also sat at the conference table, quietly talking to Japel. The Dukin were safely aboard and the warp scientist, amazingly, had found the entire experience to be a wonderful adventure. Mirista had so far spent many hours with them, introducing them to the Federation and the threshold over which they were now crossing. She was confident that the First Contact would be a success.

"I never imagined," he bubbled to the Science Officer, "that space would be like this! There is so much for us to see, so much for us to learn! We're on the verge of something truly spectacular!"

Garat had joined them too. He had divulged much of the data he had recovered to Vesta and Sovak, filling in many details of what he had discovered concerning Romulan involvement in Parat Nor.

"They were trying to trying to discourage civilizations on the verge of warp travel from developing better warp technology. More importantly the Romulans wanted to create dissent between warp-verge civilizations and the Federation in sensitive areas of space," Vesta summed up. "They discovered the station and realized what a great front it would be for this operation. They "bought" the specially targeted humanoids in exchange for their reactor technology."

She turned to the Klingon. "There's something I don't understand, though. Garat, how did you know that the Temura would be here, in the nebula? Who gave you this information?"

Now is the time, Jack thought. Una had been avoiding him since he'd come aboard so he figured things couldn't get much worse.

"I did," he announced to Sovak and the entire room. "Lt. Jack Anderson at your service. I've been observing Par'at Nor for Starfleet Intelligence for the last six months. I was aboard the ship that kidnapped the Dukin."

He watched Una's reaction. She said nothing but her jaw was clenched tight.

"Yes," Sovak was saying, "Once we cleared the nebula this morning I contacted Starfleet and informed them of our situation. They relayed back that they would be sending several ships out to transport the aliens left on the station back to their homeworlds. They also informed me of your presence here, Lieutenant. I must say, it is convenient."

"Convenient?" asked Jack.

"Yes. I informed them that you had completed your mission and requested that you stay aboard the Temura—as our Field Engineer."

"What! Sir, he's not a good choice for the position…" Una was vehement. She did not want to be working with this person—this liar—on away missions. She needed to know she could trust people, needed to know they were committed to the mission...

"I disagree. The lieutenant has demonstrated all the necessary skills required by a Field Engineer, you said so yourself in your report. The escape from Par'at Nor, the ability to create solutions quickly from substandard materials…and Starfleet approved the assignment, as long as Lt. Anderson is willing." He looked at Jack expectantly.

Jack thought about this for a moment. A field engineer got to go on missions, get off the ship quite a bit. It was better than being stuck in engineering, which was likely what any other assignment he got would be. And so far he liked everyone he had met on the ship. If he were honest, though, that wasn't why he was really considering taking the post.

He glanced over at Una. She refused to look in his direction. She hated his guts right now. It would be foolish to take the position. His Vulcan side told him to turn it down. Even his human side had doubts.

"I'll take it."

Una was halfway to her quarters by the time he caught up with her. She had excused herself gracefully but he could tell she was not happy. They needed to clear this up before things got any worse between them.

"Una, wait!" he called. She kept walking. He put a hand on her arm and twirled her to face him. He smiled at her in what he thought might be an assuring manner. "I want us to be able to work together—"

Bad move.

One minute he was trying to talk to her, the next he was on the deck nursing a bloody nose.

"How dare you? How dare you!" She was enraged. He gaped; she was really quite something when she got going. "It was you—you left the trail for us to follow. That's why they were so sloppy with Dukinar—you engineered it that way! You knew who I was and you lied to me the whole time."

"I couldn't tell you as long as the Orions were watching. Just like you couldn't tell me."

She knew it was true but it didn't alleviate her anger; she had been duped. The bridge of her nose flushed and her eyes narrowed.

"You pull something like that on me again during a mission and I'll make sure you live to regret it."

He had no answer to that. Turning, she walked away from him.

His nose smarted. He knew he should be regretting his decision to stay but somehow…he didn't. He smiled and fell back onto the deck.

"An engineer, huh?" Vesta teased. "You don't seem like the usual engineering type. You know—boring." She smiled at Taurik, who raised an eyebrow. He was almost certain that this jibe was intended as friendship. Her antennae seemed to say so, anyway.

Jack grinned and drained his glass. Aside from Una, his new shipmates were very likable. "Yep, an engineer. Engineering is a really big thing in my family. My father works out at Utopia Planitia—my great-grandfather was actually the Chief Engineer on the first Enterprise."

"Montgomery Scott?" Asked Taurik, puzzled.

"No, the NX-01—the first Enterprise," Jack told him. "How about you?" he asked Taurik.

"I was supposed to be a diplomat," Taurik confided. "Like my father. He was the ambassador to Andoria for many years."

Vesta looked suddenly chagrined. "Andoria? You've been to my homeworld?"

Taurik nodded. "And it's lovely," he told her—in Andorian. She was dumbfounded. Secretly, Taurik was glad—but he didn't want her to squirm too much. "Your mapping project was brilliant," he said, still in Andorian. "We were lucky you thought of it."

Vesta seemed suddenly very interested in her glass...but Taurik saw that she did not look particularly angry either.

"Huh? Keep it to Standard, please!" Japel nudged the Vulcan, practically knocking him off his chair.

"So what exactly happened to your nose, Anderson?" Vesta changed the subject. This time it was Jack who squirmed.

"Ahhhh…well, I…"

"Ran into something?" Vesta asked.

"Something like Lt. Magis' fist?" Japel could hardly keep a straight face.

"I don't think she's forgiven me yet."

"She will." It was Taurik, surprisingly, who offered Jack words of reassurance. "She will realize you were doing your duty and come to respect it."

Jack wasn't so sure, no matter how confident the Vulcan sounded.

"You knew her on Enterprise, didn't you?" Vesta asked.

Taurik nodded.

"So is it true?" Vesta leaned in slightly.

"Is what true?" Japel wanted to know.

"You know—that she's from…that she was born in…"

"Yes." A voice came from beside the table. Una stood there, coolly regarding her colleagues, hands on hips. "I was born…in 1971."

They stared at her, not quite knowing what to say. Una looked them over one by one, her eyes coming to rest on Jack. He met her eyes defiantly.

Unexpectedly, she smiled. "Buy me a drink, sailor," she tapped Japel on the shoulder, "and I'll tell you all about it." They laughed, breaking the tension. Una sat down next to them-her new shipmates.

A/N: Aha! Yes! Una is from the 20th century! No, I was not born in 1971 (I'm younger!). I chose it because she would have been in her late teens in the late 1980s. I have her character coming from a very interesting era—just before the end of the Soviet state, before Challenger blew up, before technology was the all-encompassing mass of cell phones, PDAs, and laptop computers it is today. She represents the fans to me—all the people who watched Trek and wondered: is that ever going to be possible? For Una, it is. Anyway, we know Starfleet eventually learns how to time travel from Enterprise...I predict they start experimenting with this officially sometime in the late 24th century :)