T'Pol was quickly learning how to identify the different emotions she was now experiencing. At first, it had been difficult, but she was becoming quite adept at realizing what she was feeling. And at the moment, she was pissed off.

First of all, Commander Tucker had seemingly disappeared. No one had any idea where he had gone, nor did anyone know when he had left. So it was entirely possible that something had happened to him. She knew that this was not the case, however, by searching him out through their bond. He had located Kamea and Malcolm and was currently several decks below them. But that didn't stop her from being angry with him for vanishing like that, even when she sensed that he was worried about her. Very worried.

The reason behind his illogical fears became evident when several Ferengi appeared on the bridge, having apparently discovered the hidden hatches and ladders and using them to maneuver about the ship. There were only seven of them, but there were far less crewmembers on the bridge, and it had not taken very long to subdue the bridge crew.

T'Pol had attempted to fight back, but the Ferengi attacked with some kind of ultrasonic frequency that she was especially susceptible to, with her overly sensitive hearing. She was incapacitated in a matter of seconds, trying unsuccessfully to block out the harmful noise. The others followed soon after, though Travis made a valiant attempt to prevent them from attacking Hoshi.

Now, T'Pol, Captain Archer, Hoshi, and Travis had been physically restrained and herded into the middle of the bridge, surrounded by four ill-tempered Ferengi who jabbered back and forth in some odd language. With all the noise they were making, it was a wonder that they heard anything. But they somehow heard someone trying to make their way up the ladder and into the captain's ready room, because in seconds the remaining Ferengi had crowed around the hatch, tittering excitedly.

T'Pol's eyesight was far more acute in dim light than in the brightness that humans considered acceptable light, and when leaned forward slightly, she immediately caught sight of Hoshi, who sat on the other side of Archer. "What are they saying?" she asked.

Hoshi shook her head. "I'd need the UT. I can't quite grasp the syntax."

Several moments later, the sound of a muffled explosion made it to T'Pol's sensitive ears. She and Hoshi exchanged a look – Hoshi had "supersonic" hearing, according to the captain, and had obviously heard what T'Pol had heard. T'Pol became concerned and immediately sought out Trip's presence. It lapped at the edge of her conscience, and she was somewhat relieved to learn that he was, for the moment, unharmed.

Then she grew angry that he was causing her to worry so much.

"It didn't make enough noise," one of the Ferengi said to the others, after the muted explosion had died down. "It should have made more noise."

"Agreed," another one said. He pointed at one of the Ferengi that had been assigned to guard the bridge crew. "You, go find out what's going on."

When the Ferengi had disappeared down the ladder, T'Pol had time to meditate on the situation. Obviously, Trip had sensed her danger through their bond. He may not have realized what exactly was going on, but if he voiced anything about the situation, Kamea would have been able to correctly interpret it. They had apparently attempted to get to the bridge, only to have some sort of explosive devise dropped on them. And judging from the reaction the Ferengi gave, Kamea had successfully managed to contain the explosion. And now someone was being sent to discover them.

T'Pol tried to tell Trip, through their bond, that he was in danger. But he wouldn't know what she was trying to tell him – he would only sense her apprehension and grow even more worried. It was one thing trying to control her own emotions, but adding Trip's made it nearly impossible to do so.

She only hoped that Kamea, at least, had enough sense to stay away from the bridge.

They went directly to engineering, as it held the strongest chance of finding people. Most of the crew hadn't moved since the power outage, and Kamea could tell that there was still a great concentration of people in the engine room. They were going to need numbers if they wanted to mount any kind of counterassault against the Ferengi. Kamea could only sense that the bridge officers were alive but couldn't get any kind of reading as to their status. Trip, on the other hand, with his bizarre connection to T'Pol – which Kamea wasn't even attempting to understand – was worried. Only he didn't know why.

Kamea stopped suddenly, letting Malcolm and Trip go on ahead of her. She turned her ears backwards, positive that she'd heard something. But the longer she stood there, the more she became convinced that paranoia was a Vulcan trait, and she'd obviously inherited it.

But when she started moving again, she heard it. She stopped again, now totally convinced that someone was following the three of them.

Malcolm appeared beside her so suddenly that she started and almost fell over. When she stumbled slightly, he held out his arms to steady her, and she immediately wished he'd just let her fall, because every time he touched her, it was growing harder and harder to control her emotions.

"Kamea?" Malcolm asked, his voice barely a whisper in her ear, and damn, was that sexy. "Did you hear something?"

She took a deep breath, struggling to clamp down on her baser instincts, and nodded. "Yeah." She used her head to gesture at the corridor behind her. "There's someone following us. I thought I was just being paranoid, but now I can tell. Someone is definitely there."

"I'll go and have a look," Malcolm said. He brushed past her before she had the chance to stop him. She tried throwing up a force field, but Malcolm just walked around it, probably assuming he'd just run into something.

"Kane," Kamea said, turning around. She had to find Trip and then go after Malcolm, because that man had some kind of hero complex.

Was it wrong that she found that extremely attractive?

She found Trip easily – he hadn't gone that much farther. "Malcolm's being a guy," she said by way of explanation. "I'm going to make sure that he doesn't do anything stupid."

Trip grabbed her wrist when she turned to go. "Malcolm's a big boy," he said. "He's perfectly capable of taking care of himself."

Kamea glanced in the general direction of Trip's voice. "You go down to engineering and round up as many as you can, then head to the bridge and see what you can do. I'm going after Malcolm."

She made to go again, but Trip only tightened his grip on her wrist. She looked at him. "Why?" he asked.

She blinked in surprise. "'Ohana," she said, knowing full well that Trip had no idea what she'd just said. She wrenched her arm free of Trip's grasp and took off down the corridor after Malcolm, muttering to herself the entire way, which under the circumstances probably wasn't the brightest idea she'd ever had. The Ferengi were certain to hear her and attack.

And that was exactly what she was counting on.

She slowed her pace when she reached a turn, trying to sense Malcolm, but she couldn't get a clear reading. Something was interfering with her telepathy, which could only mean that the Ferengi were nearby. And when they jumped out of the shadows, she didn't even try to fight back.

A/N: Again, I hope to have chapter 9 up by Monday. I'm still working on it -- I've reached asort of impasse, but I think I've got it figured out.

kane - men

'ohana - family

Mad props to the many online Hawaiian dictionaries.