Disclaimer: As always, Paramount owns Star Trek and all the characters created therein.

A/N 1: Thank you for all the wonderful reviews! I'm glad you're enjoying reading this as much as I'm enjoying writing it.

A/N 2: This chapter focuses mostly on Malcolm. Hey, you try leaving him out of an investigation! (He gets very upset.)

Chapter 3: Enemy Mine...Er, Miners

Malcolm Reed was a competent man and an efficient officer. He knew this because he told himself so on a fairly regular basis. Of course, he could also back up that claim, so he saw this as reinforcement of existing character traits rather than justifying fictional ones.

By the time Enterprise neared Velat 4 twenty-three hours after the course had been laid in, he had reviewed all the personnel files for the project members. He had compartmentalized them in his mind (something else he was very good at) and ranked them in order from highest to lowest possible threat potential. He knew that there might be no danger at all, that he might be misinterpreting the transmission and that everyone might be alive and well at the mining facility save for a few bothersome technical glitches. Starfleet didn't pay him to prepare for the best, though, they paid him to make damn sure he and the crew were prepared for the worst.

This was why, as Travis was saying, "Approaching the planet, sir," Malcolm was assigning the miners rooms in what he considered to be strategically indefensible positions around the ship (what had happened with those Orion women would not happen again). Anyone else would think he was crazy, but this didn't bother the Tactical Officer. He was, after all, thinking of their safety (ingrates though they may be!).

Aside from the personnel files, he had also posted a new crew rotation schedule, developed a martial arts training session for the MACOs, and conducted an operational readiness test on the back-up systems in engineering. Trip thought he had blocked Malcolm's access to the engineering computers, but while the man was a highly talented engineer he just wasn't as sneaky as Lt. Reed was. After all, who had the spy experience? Not Trip, that was for sure. Hmmm. That test had blown relay 147. Had to be careful about making Trip suspicious. If he found out there would be hell to pay.

Yes, it had been a busy 23 hours, he thought as he turned his attention once more to the varied personalities that made up the Shomar Mining Project.

"Put us in orbit," Archer instructed Ensign Mayweather. A planetary vista stretched out before them on the viewscreen—Velat 4 looked hard and uninviting. It's numerous mountain ranges snaked across long stretches of land that held little vegetation. Huge barren shields engulfed most of the northern continent; a sickly ocean filled the gap between this and the southern land mass. Malcolm thought the whole planet looked like a skinned knee waiting to happen.

T'Pol immediately busied herself at the science station, taking readings and trying to find the outpost. Hoshi set about hailing them, but no response came.

"Captain, I believe I have located the facility," T'Pol told him. She called it up on the screen affording everyone their first view of the Shomar Mining Project.

Malcolm was surprised at its appearance. He had looked at all the available technical specs for the SMP. He and Trip had gone over all the mechanical aspects of the project and T'Pol had briefed him on their methodology as well as the possible gains this endeavor might net. All those plans and all that potential had led him to believe it would be as much a shining beacon of hope on this lonely planet as its initial aerial photograph had suggested. The structure that now filled the viewscreen looked a lot more like a ramshackle prospector's hovel than an important interspecies science venture.

The five-building cluster was in obvious need of repair. The roof had blown away in two places and it sagged dangerously in at least three more. The buildings were streaked brown and grey, as though scraped by giant, dirty hands. One of the buildings had apparently come apart at the seams and been repaired somewhat haphazardly with sheets of metal bridging the gap between the two sides. Another of the structures looked as though it had been built halfway with one set of materials while the other half was constructed of something completely different.

"Trip, are you getting this?" Archer asked.

The chief engineer's voice rang out across the bridge. Enterprise's audio system was sensitive enough to pick out the annoyance in his voice. "Yeah, I see it. I'm gonna have to have a word with their engineer about facility maintenance."

"Hoshi, anything yet?"

Hoshi shook her head. "They only have audio. Their communications link is open and working, no one is responding."

"They asked for our help," Malcolm wondered from his station. "Why don't they acknowledge us?" For him this was a rhetorical question. He had already come up with over three dozen possible reasons the outpost's staff might not answer. They ranged in severity from "they're all dead" to "no one is in the correct building to hear the hail." A creature of habit, Malcolm was assuming the worst until someone proved him wrong.

The captain decided to take matters into his own hand. "This is Captain Jonathan Archer of the Starfleet vessel Enterprise. We received a communication from your facility indicating that you required assistance. Please respond."

Everyone held their breath, but no answer came. Malcolm mentally began assigning members of security to an away team and allocating phase pistols.

"Your transmission also mentioned something about a member of your team being killed."

Still no answer.

"If you do not respond we will begin an investigation on the matter immediately."

"That will not be necessary, Captain Archer," a voice suddenly erupted from the comm. link.

"Who is this?" Archer demanded. Whoever was down there was pulling his chain and he didn't like it at all.

"Dr. Strel, the project manager. As I was saying, you do not need to conduct any sort of investigation. We are in need of supplies, but that is all. I apologize if our transmission sounded more urgent than necessary."

"What about the mention of someone dying?" Archer wanted to know.

There was silence for a moment, and a buzzing sound in the background of the audio communication. Strel was apparently talking this over with someone else.

"Dr. Strel?"

"Yes, someone on our team…lost their life…but that was an accident. We have already looked into the matter thoroughly and buried our colleague."

"Doctor, we were asked to look into this matter on behalf of Earth, Andoria, and Vulcan," T'Pol told her patiently. "We require more detail than that."

"My first officer is right, Strel. We'll need to see the medical records and talk to your personnel."

The buzzing sound was audible again and it was several seconds before Strel spoke again. "Very well. We will make the records available and you may speak with our staff."

"Good," Archer clapped his hands. "That's settled. We'll send down a party immediately." He had a feeling he knew how this statement would be met.

"No!"

Yes, that's what he thought. "Is there a problem?"

"Captain…you probably noticed that our facility is not in the best condition. It would not be in the best interests of your people to come down here."

"I see. In that case, I will send down an engineering team to assess the damages and determine what repairs need to be made. In the meantime we will transfer your staff to Enterprise." He said it in his "captain's voice," as Hoshi liked to call it. People just did not argue with that voice.

A long moment of silence stretched between the Andorian on the planet and the human on the starship. Finally, Strel conceded. "Yes, of course. A reasonable course of action. I will have my engineer ready to assist your team."

"Good." Archer nodded to Hoshi and she cut the transmission. The captain stood in front of his command chair for a moment, brow furrowed and arms crossed. Finally he looked up and made his way over to Malcolm.

"Lt. Reed, I want you to go down there with Trip and T'Pol. Strel isn't telling us the whole story, and I want you to find out what's really going on there."

Malcolm's eye's sparkled with pleasure. "Aye sir."