"I believe you did this, Lieutenant, but that's just not acceptable. I'm gonna check with the doctor – I'm sure he didn't miraclousely disappear."

"Of course, Sir."

Lieutenant Hess ended the comm- line to bridge. She had felt offended – it had been audible in her voice, but Jonathan was not willing to believe that his chief engineer had somehow vanished into thin air. That was simply impossible – and due to the fact that there had been a major impact with an unknown phenomenon and the hectic and business which it had caused, there definitely was some kind of misunderstanding.

"Archer to Phlox."

"Phlox here, Captain."

"May I ask you for an information, doctor?"

Why was he not just asking in first place? Was he actually afraid that Lieutenant Hess was right? That was just insane – this whole incident was kind of ridicolous. A ship wasn't able to simply lose one of it's crewmen. There was no way it could happen.

"Of course, Captain, but I may ask you to hurry – I have a number of crew-members that have to be treated."

"Is the Commander down in sickbay?"

There was a moment of silence, as – at least that was what Jon believed – Phlox was checking through his patient's reports. For Jonathan's liking the silence lasted a few moments too long. Shouldn't the doctor know which crewmen he had treated or was currently taking care of? What was taking him so long?

"No Sir – he's not here right now and neither has he been here since the incident."

"Thanks, doctor."

Once again the comm-link was ended and Jonathan turned to T'Pol. Realisation was slowly sinking in that maybe his science officer, Lieutenant Hess, and the incoming report had been right. Maybe something really uncommon and unbelievable had actually happened. But he still wasn't willing to give in so easily.

"Check the internal sensor devices – how many biosigns aboard?"

T'Pol was busying herself at her station, taking a full scan of the ship and having a look at the results of it. Jonathan didn't even need her to answer him. He knew what she was about to say when she looked back up at him.

"81, Sir..."

Maybe the sensor devices were wrong – maybe the systems weren't working right... They had just been hit by this space phenomenon and this could have caused a mixup with the devices. Missing one biosign maybe was a simple technical failure. He was not willing to believe this whole situation to be actually true.

"Archer to Tucker."

As he should have expected it, but had wished for it not to happen, he didn't receive an answer. Not even a single sound. He tried once again, knowing that the present bridge crew started to shot uncomfortable gazes at him. Once again it was T'Pol who tried to convince him to finally believe in the devices, adressing him in a soft voice.

"I suggest that maybe the Commander's disappearance is somehow linked to the phenomenon we encountered."

Encountered – that was a bit of an underestimation. The goddamn thing had ripped them out of their current course and had caused some serious damage and injuries... But at least he had to admit that her suggestion sounded logical. It was the only acceptable explanation there was for the actually impossible disappearance of a person. It was a thing to begin with.

"Alright then - what can you tell me about this phenomenon that struck us? What was it?"

"I don't know, Sir. The sensor devices weren't able to detect it's presence, neither did they gather any data about it. I don't have any confirmed information about it."

"Have you ever heard of anything like this – is there any information in the Vulcan database?"

T'Pol was looking at him intensively, but – as to expect – without any visible emotion on her face. He wasn't able to read her face, although he actually wished to do so and even more he wished for her to confirm that this wave had been detected by the Vulcans before, that they had gathered scientific information about it, that there was something that would help them...

"No, Sir – there isn't."

He was about to ask her for her opinion now, her speculations about the properties of the phenomenon. She probably wouldn't do it – speculating wasn't an adequate way of dealing with this matter. But however he didn't even get a chance to start a discussion about the right way of reacting, as he was interrupted by Hoshi.

"Captain, we're hailed..."

He turned around looking at her in confusion for a moment. He hadn't expected this to happen. Next he managed to give her a confirming look and his young communications officer opened a comm-line to the alien vessel, that was trying to reach them. The face of a humanoid alien with slightly green skin and velvet eyes appeared on the screen. He seemed to be concerned about something...

"This is the Talian vessel Ylan – are you in any need of assistance?"

Talians – they had never been in any contact with this species before and from the slight look he gave to T'Pol, he knew that neither had the Vulcans. It was a first contact situation, which actually was an exciting thing, but not this time, not today. They were friendly however and that was an encouraging start to this connection.

"This is the NX – Enterprise from Earth. I'm Captain Jonathan Archer. To answer your question – actually we are in need of assistance."

"How may we help you?"

"We were just struck by a space phenomenon..."

"Yes, we know this – we encountered your ship, but unfortunately we weren't able to warn you before the phenomenon appeared. Maybe you would like to have some more information about the phenomenon you were hit by?"

"That would be very kind. We would appreciate your help."

"Alright – we will guide you to the scientific council of our capitol. Our chief scientist should be able to help you."