Children of Enterprise

Estellio

Rating: Pg-13 (T)

Summary: When Archer is kidnapped by unknown aliens and the Enterprise is dead in the water, it seems like there is no hope for rescue but there's more to this than meets the eye and it could have something to do with the child in T'pol's arms.

Denisud: I'd like to hear who you think Rialta's parents are. My two beta's both have two completely different theories and are going mad over it. Lol. You'll find out who they are soon enough, I like to put a new surprise in each Chapter. No massive ones in this one but every now and again you need one to set the scene for the following chapters.

Monica20: Don't worry. I'll give you a new piece every Chapter and it'll eventually all make sense...hopefully.

Romaulnfox: Glad your enjoying it and yes, I am evil. Mwahahaha. I have no intention of stopping this story but this'll be my last update for the next three or so weeks. I'm afraid I have to go to a place where there is no computer access (Shock shock horror) so expect a super long next chapter.

ArafelSedai:(Drum roll) And the prize goes to...ARAFEL! Read on brave reader!

IOIOIO

Lorian reclined back on the couch in his quarters. He had been given the guest quarters on C Deck. He hadn't told them that that was where he used to live on his Enterprise, where his mother and father had lived, one of the largest crew quarters on board. It felt good to be home but also, somehow, creepy. None of the furniture or trinkets that had littered his quarters were around and it looked like a home that had been stripped bare.

I am being too emotional. This isn't my Enterprise, this isn't my home. He snapped to himself and reached into the small satchel he had brought with him. He pulled out a small packet of Kreyla and a book and began to read. If this had been his Enterprise his mother would be freaking at him for eating in the living room. He entertained the thought a few moments, smiling at the breech of rules she'd never know about. His father would just smile at her and put his arms around her drawling in the accent Lorian always found comforting.

"Let the boy be, T'pol. He'll clean up after himself. Won't ya boy?"

"Yes Father."

"See, no worries. Now how about getting something to eat ourselves?"

"If you eat to many Kreyla, you'll give yourself a stomach upset."

"I wont mother. Goodbye father, goodbye mother."

With a sigh he put the Kreyla down and opened his book. He had barely begun to read when the door chimed.

"Come in. "he called absent mindedly and realised that strewn over a couch with crumbs on his collar mightn't be the most dignified way to great someone.

"Techie?" He looked over to see Elizabeth standing in the doorway.

"What is it Lizzy?" He asked, beginning to sit up. The young girl ran over and climbed up onto the couch beside him, sitting against his side. She looked frightened and confused. Where was Rialta? Wasn't she looking after her? "What's the matter?" He asked again, putting his arm around the child. Immediately she flung herself against his side, burying her face in the soft blue material of his shirt.

"What's going on, Techie?" She mumbled into his shirt and he took her gently by the shoulders, pulling her up to face hi properly.

"What do you mean?"

"We're on Enty, right?" He nodded. "And mummy and daddy are running the ship?" He nodded again but he was beginning to realise her dilemma. "And Mally is blowing things up to keep us safe?"

"Yes, they are. Although Mister Reed is probably not blowing anything up right now." The girl shook her head.

"Why do no one recognise me. Even Foxy."

"Foxy…Phlox?" The girl nodded and Lorian shook his head. "Yes Lizzy, this is Enterprise, they are your parents and…Malcolm and Phlox but this is the past. Before you were born." He wasn't going to explain to her about time paradox' and alternate timelines. She was a smart kid but she was still two. Well, two by Vulcan standard years. She'd be closer to the age of four by Terran approximation.

"Before?" The look on her face was comical but Lorian didn't laugh. It was hard enough for him to comprehend and he was in his forties, how the hell would a four year old manage? "How we get before I was born?"

"We were sent by a friendly alien."

"Why?"

"To look after mummy and daddy." If anyone heard him speaking like this he'd never live it down but it was only him and the girl and the last thing she needed was him tossing out polysyllabic words.

He stroked her dark hair back from her face and frowned. She really did look like Archer, then again, he looked like Trip.

"What'cha readin'?" She asked, looking at the book. The words spiralled up and down the page in simple Vulcan Text. She began to read and pointed halfway down the page.

"What does that mean?"

"Sound it out." He encouraged.

"Ah-huh-rak…Ah'hrak?" He nodded, pulling her up so she could see the book easier.

"Yes, know what that is?" She furrowed her brow and thought but shook her head. "It's a place on Vulcan called the Forge, heard of that?" She nodded.

"Grumpy Vulcan took me there once. It's very dusty." Lorian smirked.

"You shouldn't call Soval 'Grumpy Vulcan'."

"Well he is!"

"He sneaks you sweets, don't think I don't know that." She blushed olive.

"Only if I pull a face like his and say nothin', and what's with him an' that box of his?" Lorian smiled.

"It's a c'thia box. I'm sure he'll explain it to you. When you complete your training then you'll get one. I have one." At this she perked up.

"Can I see?" Lorian shook his head.

"No, a c'thia box is where you put your emotions. You put them away in a little box and tuck that away so that you can control them during the day and take them out, examine them at night." The girl looked at him as if he were mad and went back to reading. When she had finished the first page she shook her head. "Do you want me to read it to you?" He asked but she shook her head.

"No…I'm…fine…Okay, I don't understand any of it. What does… vrekasht mean?"

"Outcast, someone who is not accepted."

"What's the book called?"

"The exile of Tamalas, it is a classic but perhaps a little too advanced for you. Shall I get something else?" She nodded and he reached into his bag, pulling out a padd. He cycled through a moment then handed it to her.

"This is one of my favourites. Can I read it to you?" She asked, pointing one out. He nodded to she set off on the tale of a talking le-matya. It had been his favourite as a child too though his mother had discourage such 'illogical' reading. His father always snuck him books and by the age of five he had read every Disney and Ladybird classic and memorised them. He wondered it Lizzy had read any of them and realised just how little he knew about his half sister. She was, after all, part related to him. The circumstances were a bit odd but perhaps he should make more time to get to know her, even if they would be parting ways in a week.

He wondered briefly where Rialta was, she was the little girls shadow practically. Never leaving her out of ear shot for too long, fiercely protective and careful with the girl. Like a female sehlat and her cubs. There was a low rumble in his chest at that thought which could almost have been called a chuckle but he was Vulcan, and Vulcan's do not chuckle.

IOIOIO

Rialta pinched the bridge of her nose and looked over at the four people across from her.

"I had to do it. There was no two ways about it. I couldn't contact ye, imagine it. Some girl calls you up and says, "Like, hi, I'm from the future and I want you to come aboard my ship for the next few hours with no guarantee of safety, oh and yeah. Enterprise can't move from this very spot. Could ya just beam over? Thanks.'…Imagine what you would have done!" Trip smirked.

"When you say it that way it does sound a little far fetched." Archer sat forward, sighing and rubbing a hand over his tired face.

"Why the charade, the kidnapping, the makeup, everything?"

"Well, I needed free passage through Vulcan space so dressing up was a logical choice, that, and you weren't supposed to know that we were intervening but it seems to me that you know a hell of a lot more than your supposed to. Techie was supposed to stay in the shadows and make sure that the Enterprise didn't go anywhere and as for Liz? I'll have words with her later. If her mother finds out I'm toast." T'pol arched an eyebrow.

"I fail to see how my knowledge of that matter turns you into heated bread." Rialta froze. Turning to face T'pol slowly she spoke.
"You know…about…Lizzy?" T'pol nodded. "NO! This is terrible! The whole entire timeline will be doing knots and a flips and stuff. Oh gods, I'm so dead. I'll be hung drawn and quartered for this!" She sank own into a chair, burying her face in her hands. "No, no it's okay. This might be the natural progression of things. The briefing was vague at best. This might be how it happens. Maybe you're supposed to know?" She shook her head. "Regardless, it's all done now. We'll have to get out of this area of space ASAP and rendezvous with an IDTSP ship, I'll get onto Techie to McGyver a temporal sensor array through your deflector dish to sense any ships not from this timeline so we'll have advanced warning if Scaron or anyone else tried to sneak up on us...With your permission of course, Captain." Archer nodded but before she could lave he held up a hand.

"Uh…Rialta?" He began. "Why do you call Lorian, Techie?"

"Oh, Techie, you know, technology, technician, technical. It's kinda a nickname cause he didn't tell me his name when I first met him but since he was wearing an Engineering uniform I began calling him Techie and the name stuck. The fact that he hates it only makes me use it more so I'd stick to calling him Lorian if I were you, otherwise he'll freak." There was a round of sniggers but T'pol merely raised an eyebrow. It was her son, technically, they were talking about. How did she go from having no children to having two? And all in a matter of hours too.

As Rialta left Archer and Trip walked with her.

"Rialta?" Archer asked.

"Yeah?"

"Why did you tell me your name was T'Rialta?" The girl shrugged.

"I dunno, sounded more Vulcan. Vulcan ladies tend to have Tuh or Vuh before their names." He nodded, taking this in and waiting for the turbolift with her.

"How do we know each other in the future?" He asked and she grinned back t him.

"I'd tell you but then I'd have to kill you." He grinned and nodded to her before moving to the Captains chair. Trip entered the lift with her.

"Rialta, can I ask you a question."

"Sure? You can ask ten if you like but I'm not going to tell you who wins the Polo match finals this year." Trip laughed and shook his head.

"Nah, I wanted to know why Elizabeth doesn't know who I am. I mean, T'pol and Archer are meh two best friends. We didn't have a fallin' out, did we?" Rialta shook her head.

"I can't answer that question, Trip. I'm sorry."

"…I die, don't I."

"I can't answer that question, I'm sorry." The turbolift stopped and she stepped out. "That was a different timeline, don't think about it. Okay?" He nodded and the turbolift doors slid shut. Trip held his head in his hands. He died? Oh god, he died. This was the second timeline where he discovered he died before he got his first grey hair. He'd have to find out how this time, then he could prevent it. If Rialta wouldn't tell him maybe the girl would. She was John's kid and if she was any bit like him then she'd know things or at least be able to find them out.

IOIOIO

"The warp trail split here. A Cardassian prison ship, an escort vessel of some kindand an unidentified vessel. The vessel that double back has too much distortion in it's wake. It might be Rialta's ship, it mightn't be." Scaron looked over at his Helm officer. He was a Bajoran and the Security Officer currently pacing restlessly next to him was a Klingon. A Vulcan monitored Communications and a human at Science. He had a crew of eighteen and not one of them was the same species as the other. Each bringing their own unique skills and properties to the team. He was up against a ship of humans with two Vulcans and a Katarian. There was no way he'd lose to them. Scaron never lost to humans, not till the founding of the Tri-Federation when he was forced to work with them. The Star Empire was destined to conquer and rule the galaxy but with the Federation and Klingons polluting it they stood no chance and would fall. He would not stand by while the foundations of everything he fought for, everything his friends and brothers died for was corrupted. He would have his children stand on the home world of Vulcan and gaze upon the marvels of their beginnings under a Romulan flag. He would have them served by Terrans and commanding Klingons. His children's future was at sake and he wasn't going to let them down.

"Back track to the Enterprise. We'll find Rialta there and if not…destroy it. If I can't have Archer I'll take everything he lived for. What good is a Captain without his ship?" He sat back, running a hand along his brow ridges his species developed on the colder world of Romulus. He longed to walk the sands of Vulcan once again. It was a primal longing that ran in his veins and he would see the longing satisfied even if it meant the tides that covered the world before the awakening. The tides of blood. And he would make sure that those tides were red, not green.

IOIOIO

This wil be my last update for the month. I'm afraid I'm leaving on the 10th and wont be coming back till the 29th (My brithday. w00t!) and I'll have very little if any computer access while I'm away. So sit tight and I promise by August this fic will be back up and running circles!