Trip sat in front of the viewscreen on his desk in his quarters. He was wearing a blue Starfleet tee shirt and a pair of sweat pants. On the viewscreen was his sister Lizzy in a cadet uniform.

"Ma and dad won't tell you but Billy is pissed. You one upped him. He thought he had you cold with that question but you kicked his butt," she gleefully told him.

"I could have gone without his question, Liz," he sighed. "I'm Kind of getting sick of his act. It's making it harder and harder to do family get togethers."

"Well, he and Anna are all over me now," she smiled.

"Good luck with that," Trip said.

"Ma and dad were happy you called them," she said. "They have no idea when they'll see you again."

"The shakedown cruise should take six months to a year," he informed her.

"That's not too bad," she replied. "Well, I got to go. I have to get homework done for Captain Archer's class."

"What is he teaching you?" asked Trip.

"Starfleet history," she smiled.

"Oh, Jon must hate that. He'd rather be teaching you how to fly," Trip told her.

"Well, he certainly doesn't hide his disdain for having to teach freshmen. I told him that I'd get him disinvited to Thanksgiving if he kept calling on me when I wasn't prepared," smiled Lizzy.

"That's my girl," Trip. "Go do your homework. I love you."

"Love you, too," she said and the viewscreen went blank.

Trip leaned back in his chair. His was done making comms to family. He'd talked to his mother and father, Daniel, and now Lizzy. Looking at his ship's chronometer the time was 19:30, still too early to go to sleep. His stomach told him that he was feeling peckish, so he put a pair of trainers and headed off to the Mess Hall.

It didn't take him long to get Mess Hall. When he entered it was sparsely occupied. A few crew members getting a snack or a drink. Trip walked over to the stasis container filled with food that the chef made for those who wanted a snack. A stasis field kept it from going bad. He looked through the glass at the items until he came upon a large pastrami sandwich on rye with spicy mustard and coleslaw on the side. Opening the container by using his personal code, he grabbed the sandwich then he went to the drink dispenser and got a mug of coffee. After he fixed his coffee the way he liked it, he went to an empty table and sat down.

Trip took the sandwich out of the container and took a bite. It was just what the doctor ordered. He took another big bite then picked up a fork and sampled the creamy coleslaw. That was also perfect. He had to congratulate AG in the morning on his choice of chefs. Trip took a sip of his coffee then was surprised by a guest.

"Commander, may I join you?" asked T'Pol.

He looked over his shoulder to see T'Pol standing there with a cup of tea.

"Please, sit down," he said.

T'Pol sat down.

"That is called a sandwich," she said.

"Yes. It's a pastrami sandwich on rye bread," he told her.

"It is meant to be eaten with your hands. Correct?" she said.

"Yup. No other way to eat a sandwich but with your hands," he said.

"Vulcans do not eat by picking things up with their hands. We use utensils. On special occasions for certain special foods, we have special sterilized gloves," she told him. "We find eating with our hands like that offensive."

Trip was holding his sandwich an inch from his mouth when he stopped and put it down. He looked at T'Pol with frustration.

"Now are you telling me this now to get me to stop eating or to ruin my meal?" he asked.

"Neither. I was just supplying information," she told him.

Though he was told Vulcans had no sense of humor, Trip was sure that T'Pol was amused by his predicament. He decided he was going to be made a fool of, so he picked up his sandwich again and took a big bite.

"I thought you ate dinner? At least, I saw you in the Captain's Mess eating dinner along with the captain and myself," she said.

Now Trip was positive she was hiding a sense of humor.

"Today has been busy. Plus, after dinner I worked in Engineering for two and half hours and then had a hard workout. I guess my stomach wanted a snack," he smiled.

"I see. Do you often listen to your stomach more than your brain?" she asked.

"I listened to several of my organs, though I usually give the brain priority," he said.

"I see," she took a sip of tea.

As she did so Trip was sure he saw a ghost of a smile. Suddenly, he found himself enjoying T'Pol's company.

"Did you enjoy your Chinese meal tonight?" Trip asked.

"The sesame noodles with tofu was satisfactory," she said.

Trip took a sip of his coffee.

"Doesn't coffee keep you up at night?" T'Pol asked him.

"Nay. Coffee has it's good effects and bad effects on the Human body, though. I drink too much coffee and it tends to sour my stomach," he told her.

"Interesting," she said. "We Vulcans try to keep all things in moderation."

"Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: Moderation in all things, especially moderation," smirked Trip.

"Fascinating. Who is Ralph Waldo Emerson?" she asked.

"He was an American essayist, poet, philosopher, and lecturer in the mid Earth 19th Century, who led the transcendentalist movement," Trip replied. Suddenly, he was glad he dated Emily Sommers in Freshman year of college. Since he was so much younger than her and less experienced, she made sure he retained something more than warp theory.

"Fascinating," T'Pol said then she sipped her tea.

T'Pol found herself completely comfortable in Commander Tucker's company. She didn't feel this comfortable in the company of most Vulcans. This was something else to meditate on. Trip finished his sandwich then polished off the coleslaw. He now leaned back and drank some of his coffee.

"Are you prepared for the launch tomorrow?" she asked him.

"Looking forward to it. I told AG that the Enterprise should be capable of warp 5.2 right off. After a few weeks in space pushing the engines and finding and fixing problems, I see a max of warp 6 for us, maybe even better. Henry Archer designed a good engine," Trip told her.

"His son Jonathan Archer is going to be the captain of the next NX starship," T'Pol stated.

"Jon is a good friend of mine. We worked together on the Warp 3 Project and I was his XO and Chief Engineer for two years on a border cutter," Trip told her.

"Would you have preferred Captain Archer as the commander of the Enterprise than Captain Robinson?" she asked.

Trip never liked this question. It wasn't the first time someone asked him it. People always wanted him to compare captains. He wouldn't do it.

"AG is the commander of the Enterprise and I believe he is going to be an excellent one," said Trip.

"I see," she said then finished her tea. She then stood up. "Thank you for the company, Commander Tucker. It's time I returned to my quarters in order to meditate."

"Goodnight, SubCommander," smiled Trip.

He watched her closely as she walked over and placed her cup in the bin of dishes to be washed then left the Mess. Trip had to admit that she was fun to watch both coming and going.

STSTST

The tension on the Bridge was taut. Trip stood at the Ops Station checking on various status reports. He looked up and saw Ensign Mayweather and Ensign Petrov seated at the Helm; at the Comm Station Ensign Saito appeared to be busy at work updating the universal translator; Lieutenant Reed was standing at attention at the Tactical Station while running simulations; Lieutenant Eckhard Richter sat at the Science Station running a diagnostic on his board; and Specialist Michael Rostov sat at the Damage Control and Engineering Station keeping busy. AG looked relaxed in his captain's chair, which he had turned to the side so he could talk to Dr. Phlox and T'Pol. The only station that wasn't manned was Environmental. Since most of the information at the Environmental Station appeared also at his Ops Station Trip decided to leave the seat open for T'Pol when she was on the Bridge. It seemed polite to give her someplace to work when she shared the Vulcan star charts.

"Sir, Admiral Forrest wishes to speak to you before launch," Ensign Saito spoke up.

"Put him on the main viewscreen, Ensign," said AG then turned his chair to face the viewscreen.

The friendly face of Admiral Forrest appeared on the main viewscreen. He looked slightly nervous.

"I wanted to wish you and your crew good luck, Captain Robinson," he started.

"Thank you, sir," said AG.

"We have a honor guard of four Daedalus Class and four Marshall Class starships to escort you out of Sol System," he told AG. "The whole United Earth and its colonies are watching you today."

"The UES Enterprise is honored, sir," AG replied.

"Begin launch countdown. T minus five minutes," said Forrest and the viewscreen returned to an image of what was in front of the Enterprise.

"Hoshi," AG said in his best captain voice, "put me on shipwide."

"You're on shipwide, sir," replied Ensign Saito.

"Crew of the Enterprise, we are about to launch the inaugural shakedown cruise of the NX Class starship. If successful someday this class of ship will be called the Enterprise Class. Think about that. I know it makes me smile. Let's make Starfleet proud," AG spoke then he closed the circuit by pressing the comm button on his chair.

AG looked over at Trip. His XO's birthday was tomorrow, October 9. He was going to be 29, still a babe. AG reminded himself to have chef make a cake and something special.

"XO, what's the countdown?" he asked.

"T minus three minutes and 10 seconds," answered Trip.

"Ah, hell, let's get this bucket ready to ride," smiled AG.

Everyone at their stations started to work.

STSTST

The Enterprise left space dock with great fanfare. The escort four ships on either side of the Enterprise stayed with the new starship until the edge of the Sol System then AG had Macfadden to kick the warp drive engine into action. Trip and Macfadden had worked hard to make sure that the Enterprise reached warp 5.2 on its first try. It did.

"Cruising speed warp 5.2, sir," Trip reported to AG.

"Outstanding," said AG. "We are already the fastest ship in the fleet."

"Is that important?" asked T'Pol.

"It isn't unimportant," smiled AG.

"What course should I set, sir?" asked Nav Officer Petrov.

"Starbase 3 is the farthest out we've been. So, set a course to Starbase 3 and then we'll head off from there," said AG.

"Aye, aye, captain," said Petrov, as she set the coordinates.

"At warp 5.2 we'll arrive at Starbase 3 in four days," smiled Trip.

"Another record for us," smiled AG.

"Yes, sir," said Trip.

AG stood up and looked at Trip.

"I'll be in my Ready Room. You have the conn, XO," said AG then he looked at Dr. Phlox and T'Pol. "Well, doc, the excitement is over. You can go play in the Sickbay."

"I've been wanting to check on my pets," he smiled and left the Bridge.

"SubCommander, I believe the XO has left the Environmental Station open for you to use. You can take a seat there and do whatever is you feel inclined to do," smiled AG.

"Thank you, captain," T'Pol replied.

She walked over to the Environmental Station. Trip had noticed she was carrying a small Vulcan PADD looking device in her right hand. When she sat down, she began to do some work on it. He wondered what it was. AG exited the Bridge, so Trip took a sit at the captain's chair.

"Commander, I have transferred Ops Station operations to Tactical, while you have the conn, sir," Reed spoke up.

"Well done, Lieutenant," Trip said.

Reed nodded. Trip thought the Tactical Officer was tightly wound and need some loosening. He'd have to work on that. Leaning back in the chair he tried to get comfortable. The chair was adjusted perfectly for AG. It would need some tweaking for him, if he had to take command for more than a shift or two. Definitely would need a tweak or two, he thought.

STSTST

It was 24:30. Trip sat in a near empty Mess hall with a cup of coffee and several PADDs. The computer core began to over heat, so they had to slow from warp 5.2 to 4.8. This pissed AG off, who didn't understand that kinks were inevitable. AG ordered him and Macfadden to fix the problem and now both men were putting in endless hours looking for a fix. Happy Birthday, Trip thought to himself.

While Macfadden searched for a physical problem, like plasma conduits, coolant, and many, many more things, Trip was looking at the intermix formula again. He was sure that the formula was the problem more than something physical. Fighting back a yawn. He put down the PADD he was staring at and rubbed his face with both hands.

"Having trouble sleeping, Commander?" T'Pol asked him.

Trip looked up to see T'Pol in red version of her catsuit uniform. He stared at her for a moment as he found her stunning to look at, so she stared back at him.

"I'm sorry," he finally spoke up. "What did you say?"

"I asked if you were having trouble sleeping?" she said.

"Well, I'm having trouble figuring out why our computer core is heating up when we are at warp 5.2. Chief is looking for a physical problem but I think it's our intermix formula," he said.

She sat down with a cup of tea in her right hand. Trip tried to fight off another yawn.

"You having trouble sleeping, SubCommander?" asked Trip.

"Vulcans do not need much sleep. I was meditating. Once I was finished with my meditation, I wanted some tea, so I came here," she said. "Do you mind if I look at your formula?"

"Um...," Trip was hesitant.

"Commander Tucker, Vulcan ships travel at warp 7. I believe our intermix formula does not need input from Humanity," she stated. "I could review the formula for inconsistencies or flaws."

"Sure. Why not?" he said then handed her the PADD he was looking at.

T'Pol stared at the intermix formula and began to mathematical break it down in her head. Trip sipped his coffee and watched her.

"Did you work on this formula?" she asked him.

"No. I had nothing to do with it," sighed Trip.

"It is inefficient," she stated.

"Would you help me improve it?" he asked her.

T'Pol put down the PADD. She contemplated his question analyzing if it was appropriate for her to assist Commander Tucker with the intermix formula.

"My position here is to observe and offer advice. I believe I can offer you some advice on how to make your intermix formula more efficient," she told him.

"T'Pol, I could kiss you," smiled Trip.

"That would be inappropriate, Commander," T'Pol retorted.

Trip's smile broadened then he said: "That's a shame. Humans are good at kissing."

"Well, I shall just have to take your word about that, Commander. Now do you want my advice on this formula?" she asked him sternly.

"Yes, ma'am," he grinned.

STSTST

When T'Pol entered the Captain's Mess, she was shocked to see Trip already eating his pancakes and sausages. Captain Robinson motioned her to sit down. He appeared to be in a very good mood.

"According to my XO, you helped him with the intermix formula. We are now at warp 5.4. Thank you, T'Pol. I was against having an adviser and observer aboard, but you've proven me wrong so far. I guess it's best to keep an open mind," AG said.

T'Pol nodded her head respectfully.

"Chef has made you something special this morning – a tofu scramble with toast. He said he has some orange marmalade that you should like," smiled AG.

"I must thank the chef after breakfast," said T'Pol.

Trip downed his coffee then wiped his mouth with his napkin and stood.

"I've got to get down to Engineering. I promised Angus I'd go over a few problems with his this morning. I'll see you all on the Bridge," smiled Trip, who then exited the Captain's Mess.

T'Pol left a feeling of disappointment that Trip left so early this morning.

"Trip thinks warp 6 is within reach with the new, more efficient formula," said AG.

"I believe in time Commander Tucker would have found a solution on his own. Unfortunately, he tends to push himself physically past his limits, which at times makes him less efficient," she informed AG.

"Well, when there is a problem on ship, Trips tends to work until the problem is fixed. Jon told me that and now that I've worked with him, I've seen it. That's just his personality," AG said.

The steward entered carrying a tray with T'Pol's breakfast on it. He placed it down in front of her along with a cup of mint green tea. She sampled the tea and nodded her approval.

"Trip and I are easy to please. You're a challenge for chef and he likes a challenge," smiled AG. "Enjoy your breakfast."

"Thank you, captain," she replied.

STSTST

"Starbase 3, this is the Enterprise," AG announced.

"Enterprise, this is Starbase 3. This is Captain Paul-Henri Saint Just. It's a pleasure to have you out here," the commander of the Starbase replied. "Are you stopping for a visit?"

"Nay. I think it's time that we get out there into deep space and see what we can see," smiled AG, as he sat in his captain's chair.

"Good luck, Enterprise," said Captain Saint Just.

"See you on our way back," replied AG.