"Malcom Reed, Personal log, 4th April 215X.
It's been a couple of months now since we've picked up a teenager from the shuttle pod that was sending a distress call. He says his name is 'Tango' but he wants to change it. Considering what he's told me about his past, I'm not surprised... Anyway, he's now working under my supervision in weapons. He's good a shot... I'm starting to sound like Commander Tucker. Great... Like I was saying, Tango stands a chance of being in security but it was hard enough getting the Captain to allow him to be in weapons in the first place..."
Suddenly Archer's voice comes over the main coms a moment after a deep rumble:
"Tactical Alert!"
With a rush of adrenaline, Malcom tells the computer to pause and runs out from his quarters towards the bridge. When he reaches the bridge, Tango looks up in his direction from his position on the tactical console.
"We've just been fired upon by an unknown ship." Archer catches Malcom up as he replaces Tango.
Tango stays behind Malcom, watching and learning. They had both agreed on this strategy whenever a tactical alert had been put in place.
"They've got minimal weapons and shielding. They should be no match for us" Malcom updates Archer.
Archer turns to face the view screen, its image showing the ship in question. It was very similar to the Suliban ships that the crew had come across before but it was shaped as a cargo vessel.
"That would explain the minimal weapons and shielding..." Tango muttered when Malcom silently pointed out the ship to him. And Malcom nodded in response.
"But it doesn't explain why they fired on us... Hoshi?"
Archer had heard Tango and looked towards the communications officer, Hoshi Sato, as she went through several frequencies.
"Nothing sir." She responded as she shook her head.
"Maybe their coms are down?" Helmsman Travis Mayweather suggested to the now pacing Captain.
"That would explain the reasoning as to why they haven't continued to fire upon us." T'Pol added.
Malcom suddenly realised that Tango was almost sat on top of him so he slightly turned his head to his left and saw the determined focused face of Tango studying the scans of the cargo ship.
"Tango?" Malcolm asked, making him jump and look at the Lieutenant.
"Oh sorry." Tango leans up and looks to T'Pol, "Have you scanned the ship for any issues, even minor ones?"
"There are none." T'Pol responded.
"What about biohazards? Malcom's scan is picking up an anomaly that just could be nothing but it's better safe than sorry..."
T'Pol raised an eyebrow and after Tango raised both of his eyebrows as a gentle encouragement she swivelled around for a few moments before facing forward again:
"There is an anomaly within the ship's atmosphere but considering that we don't know their species we still have to assume that it may be their normal atmosphere."
The ship shot again, this time hitting its mark. The 'Enterprise' shook at the blast. Archer looked at Malcolm:
"They hit us on the starboard nacelle. It's only a scratch."
"A big scratch though." Archer responds.
"We still have impulse but the stabilisers were hit the most so movement isn't going to be smooth right now." Travis adds as he adjusts a few things on his station.
Tango unexpectedly shoves Malcom off his station and started scanning the ship's again. Malcom gives him a look as he stands but then notices what Tango was looking for and points it out. Tango nods and carries on as Archer walks over to them silently.
"They've got some sort of damage to their warp drive or nacelles. I won't be surprised if their coms are out or they're at a different frequency then ours due to the fact that they are communicating this way. I'm going to fire at... no, beside their port docking port to try signal them to come over to our port docking port." Tango looks up at Archer, "So they can come aboard... With your permission, of course, if they can survive in our atmosphere..."
Archer couldn't hold back a smile. He looked up at Malcom then over to the view screen:
"Whenever you're ready Mr. Tango."
Tango nods, "double checking target area", presses a few more buttons, "and firing."
'Enterprise' fires its shot as the whole crew wait to see if the message was sent... Seconds felt like minutes...
"Keep her steady Mr. Travis."
The bridge crew wait in suspense, their eyes almost glued to the view screen.
A few more moments go by before the ship starts moving to 'Enterprise's port docking port. Tango shoots both of his arms up in the air with a beaming smile; Malcom has known him long enough to know this is how he celebrates a success on a task. He tilts his head to the side slightly and quietly chuckles at the teenager. As he taps Tango's shoulder to tell him to follow him to the turbo lift along with the Captain and T'Pol, Malcom starts thinking.
As he stands still and crosses his arms in the turbo lift, he thinks about his past missions on the 'Enterprise'. He doesn't know why. Maybe it's because Tango's enthusiasm reminded him of something. And the moment the turbo lift door slides open and they all get out, Malcom remembers. He had left that kind of enthusiasm on a Romulan mine field. He had left that kind of enthusiasm hunting after the Xindi, the Klingons, the Suliban, and Daniels.
'Thank God we don't have to deal with him again.'
Malcom tells himself as he picks out two phasers from the weapons locker near the docking port and hands one to Tango. Archer looks at their direction, as Tango gets into position on the other side of Archer, but shows no emotion at the two arming up. They've had their fair experience of hostiles pretending to be hurt to take advantage of a bigger ship.
Phlox arrives as Archer tells T'Pol, with a nod, to open the doors. The outer door opens and they could see the crew of the ship coming aboard 'Enterprise'. Their species looked familiar to Tango but he couldn't remember what they were called or when he had first seen them. If only he didn't have that head trauma and stress to give him these hazy memories...
The atmosphere of the species ship started seeping into the airlock. It was a light green haze. And after a few seconds the haze dissipated as the new species made sure that all their crew were in the airlock. Everyone shuddered inside, seeing the helpless beings in the airlock; they looked almost identical to the Suliban. But thankfully weren't.
Or were they?
Tango looked over to Malcom. Malcom looked back at him then to Archer. Archer was staring at the new species. He didn't look happy.
One of the species bashed a fist against the window of the door separating them from the Humans and the Vulcan. It made everyone jump. With dagger eyes from Malcom, Tango moved closer to the door. The alien was doing motions with one of its arms. A circle motion and a fist towards the door leading to their ship. Tango looked back to T'Pol:
"They're all in. Shut the door."
With a nod, T'Pol turns to the station and presses a few buttons. The outer door closes; T'Pol is still facing the station.
She turned back to the Captain after reading the screens.
"They should be able to survive in our atmosphere. I don't know for how long though." She looked over to Phlox whom was slowly moving towards them.
"They'll need to go through Decon." Phlox responded when everyone, except the Captain, looked his way.
"How are they going to understand that?" Malcom asked.
The moment those words left his lips, Malcom's eyes spotted one of the Alien's pair of eyes staring at Tango. There must have been a look of terror or somewhat on his face because Tango spotted it and turn to his left to see back into the docking port window and physically jumped. Tango muttered a few words and Malcom knew that they must have been a few curse words as T'Pol - the only one in the group of them who has the higher hearing ability - gave him a stern look. Tango looked away like a child being told off by his mother before looking back at the alien.
Their eyes were almost as shaped as a lizards. It matched their scaled skin which matched the skin of the Suliban but with a darker shade of green. Their mouth was covered with a scarf of sorts but what was more prominent was the eyes. Tango couldn't take his eyes away. Their eyes were a light green shade of their skin but with a brighter, almost hypnotic, glow.
The alien was slowly and slightly moving from side to side almost like an Earth pet checking out something new. This movement was putting Tango into a trance if it wasn't for T'Pol's hand gently squeezing his shoulder. Closing his eyes and shaking his head, Tango looked away from the alien and into T'Pol's eyes. He understood her silent words and walked over to Malcom, holstering his phaser on the way. He passed Phlox who made his way to the controls where T'Pol just was and started a decon process.
Archer finally moved from his position and sits by the door. The alien moved its attention from T'Pol to Archer. Archer pressed the button to activate the coms system:
"My name's Captain Archer. You're on the star ship Enterprise. Do you understand me?"
The alien looked at Archer for a moment then back to its crew mates. Archer looked at T'Pol:
"It's it on?" He asked quietly.
T'Pol nodded as the alien looked back at them. The alien looked at them both up and down as much as they could and spoke. To the humans the language sounded like a soft lullaby or the soft voice of someone reading a bedtime story. But this was cut short by the Universal Translator...
"... My honour goes to you."
Archer bit his lip.
"My apologies. Could you please repeat what you've just said as we've only just been able to understand your last five words?"
The alien bowed their head slightly.
"I am Zalki, speaker for my vessel. We are in your debt. Not many people come to our aid and because of this my honour goes to you."
"I'm... honoured. We try to help as many people as we can. I'm Captain Jonathan Archer and this is my first officer T'Pol." Archer replied as he slightly gestured to T'Pol as Zalki bowed their head slightly and T'Pol mirrored the action.
"I'm sorry about keeping you in the airlock but we have to make sure that you don't have anything that may threaten my crew."
"That is understandable, Captain. There are many marauders here."
"Just out of curiosity, may I ask what species are you?"
Archer swear he heard an audible chuckle from Zalki as they responded, "We are the Scazlif. Some species call us Suliban but they are mistaken. We are similar in looks but that is all."
Archer furrowed his eyebrows and nodded. "What happened with your ship?"
Tango stood beside Malcom as their senior officers talked with Zalki. Unconsciously, he mimicked Malcom's pose with his feet separated at shoulder width apart, arms crossed with his hands grabbing his arms rather than being hidden underneath them. Malcom was staring at the Captain deep in thought. His phaser was also holstered. Tango nudged him and Malcom looked his way and they both had a silent conversation of nods and looks. It ended when Malcom realised that Tango was mimicking his stance and smirked after looking over the teen. Shyly smiling, Tango got the hint and locked his hands behind his back.
They stayed at their post for a little while till Phlox was satisfied that the Scazlif weren't carrying any dangerous viruses and could survive in the oxygen nitrogen atmosphere. The Captain's kept talking, T'Pol staying silent beside Archer's side. Tango tried to give her a childish smile but she returned the gesture with the usual Vulcan response: Unemotional. He swore that he had seen her smile before even if her lips turned upwards a micrometer and that he'll try his best. Growing up with Vulcans meant, in his mind, that he could read their emotions easier than other humans. Even if his humour was as dry as Malcom's he still had a foot in the door.
Tango scowled inside. His humour was probably worse than Malcom's. But at least he tried... Sometimes.
Whilst deep in thought, he had been staring down at the floor, its scuffed shine suddenly becoming interesting, and didn't see or hear Archer walk over and give him and Malcom orders. He came back to reality by a swift kick at his feet. A kick not too harsh but harsh enough to make him jump. Tango looked up and at Archer. Archer looked back.
"Dismissed."
Tango looked at Malcom then back at Archer. He had seen that Malcom was gritting his teeth, something was about to go down.
"Tango, report to the tactical station on the bridge."
"Lieutenant...?" Tango replied, confused.
"I'll be staying with the Captain for now."
"Sir, -"
"You have your orders."
Tango sighs. He nods slightly at Archer, "Captain.", as he walks past and towards the nearest turbo lift. Malcom probably had something in mind as that was the first time Tango had seen him gritting his teeth when he was talking to the Captain. But it wasn't Malcom's normal behaviour so Tango stopped walking away once he was around the corner.
Thanking the fact that he didn't have a heavy footfall, Tango flattened himself against the wall and slowed his breathing trying his best to hear what Malcom was going to tell Archer. He peeped his head out from behind the corner to see that Archer had pulled Malcom to one side, a hand on his armoury officer's shoulder.
"Don't worry."
"Report to the bridge when we have visitors on board? They've said it themselves, sir, there's marauders in this area. And with all due respect, they could be the threat to the ship like the Triannons."