Inversion

Author's Note: Sorry about taking so long to update this, but I had a lot of things to do for the Star Fox fan community (an excellent one if I say so myself, please go check it out!), but I'm back here to this story. I saw Fortunate Son just a few days ago, and it was one of the best episodes I've seen yet. Here's hoping for better.
Chapter 2 Twisting
"So, can you help us?" asked Shran, leaning forward eagerly. "Your ship passed through a parallel universe, and so surely you have something that can help us."

"From what you've said," began Lorian solemnly, "our ship would be a liability. The original Enterprise in my universe could take a Klingon bird-of-prey, but only with Travis Mayweather at the helm. And against an Andorian or Vulcan cruiser? Not a chance. Now, take our ship and advance it a hundred and thirteen years of aging. If this Defiant can take out your ships with one blow, there's no way in hell we'll survive." The half-Vulcan leaned back and crossed his arms.

"Still," persisted Shran, "there must be something you have that can help us here."

"Something we don't have." added Gral. "An advantage."

Lorian thought for a moment, then looked at Karyn. He nodded. "I think we might have one. But you aren't going to like it."

"So let me get this straight, pink-skin." said Shran some time later. "She says," he began, pointing at T'Pol, "that if we shoot our particle cannons at your point of emergence long enough..."

"It'll create a transdimensional backlash and send us back. And once there, I think we can do it again."

The others present reluctantly agreed. Several ships launched soon afterwards, and along with the Enterprise's hodgepodge of phase-cannons and particle-weapons opened a rift, which came into being quite explosively, a swirling array of colors that began to fade almost immediately. The other ships kept firing, breathing more life into the swirl. Lorian hailed Shran and Gral a last time before the Enterprise disappeared into the disturbance, the Enterprise beginning to tumble this time as she went through. There were many crossed fingers behind them.

The trip to wherever was an exceedingly bumpy one. Three times, the ship came very close to coming to pieces. Still, with a little coaxing from her captain and the work of her engineers, the gallant old Enterprise made it through, being spat out close to the Sol System. Lorian was careful to make note of the exact coordinates, before he had Karyn set the course for Earth.

It was strange to him. This was where his father had been born, along with the parents of most of his crew. But they had never seen it, for fear of destroying their own culture. Lorian almost toyed with the idea of leaving to wait until he saw a strange installation on Mars that had not been there before. That ended his doubts about the time period. He was in the right universe, and the right time.

It was the NX-02 Columbia that found them. The much newer ship had had her weapons charged, as no human ship was supposed to be in this area of space. Tensions were still running high after the Romulan drones. Captain Erika Hernandez looked at the ship before her, wrestling with what to do. Enterprise was decomissioned in a museum, though she had not been stripped yet. Yet here it was before her, battle-scarred and damaged. She made her choice, and locked on her two phase cannons.

"They've locked weapons on us." said Karyn.

"Evasive maneuvers," replied Lorian. The Enterprise made a sharp turn that confused Columbia's targeting scanners. Erika gritted her teeth. This was probably a drone ship. "Torpedoes, full spread!" she ordered. Photonic torpedoes when roaring out of their housings, and this time, the Enterprise was unable to evade all of them. The polarized hull plating took the blast, but not well. Lorian then began to hail the Columbia, angered, but he stopped when he realized the ship was already communicating with someone. The transmission ended and he hailed again.

Hernandez was not expecting the face before her when she answered the hail, and she almost took a step back. Lorian was practically shouting at her, though she could only make out garbled bits of his yells.

"...the hell are you firing? This ship is the Enterprise! I'm the son of Trip and T'Pol!" At this, shock spread across the faces of the others on the bridge, and that of Erika herself. She steeled herself to speak.

"You must be delusional," she said in a forced calm. "Trip is dead. He died five years ago." Suspicion colored her voice. She saw him tense at his first statement, but then lower his head at the second. Lorian's brain was numb. Trip was dead. His father was gone, and he'd have no chance to see him again. Lorian was raising his head, his mouth forming words when there was a loud beep from one of the consoles. Karyn read off the alert.

"There's a ship dropping out of warp." she announced. The screen cut in half to display a wonderfully-sleek looking ship. While it was clearly an NX-Class ship, there was something different about it. It had a more menacing aspect to it than the Columbia and it looked faster- much faster. The channel with the Columbia abruptly closed.

"What the hell is this all about?" asked Lorian. Karyn shook her head. Another tone began to sound. Karyn opened the questing channel.

Jonathan Archer's face appeared on the screen. He smiled. "Lorian! Good to see you!"

"You too, Jon," replied the half-Vulcan, slightly more subdued. "Trip...?" he asked, almost pointedly. Archer cringed.

"Dead. Dead of five years. He blew out a comm panel to kill a bunch of marauders." Lorian was nodding- that was the way his father would go.

"And that," finished Archer, "is the NX-06 Solaris." His arm swept out as they reached the bridge. Familiar faces were up almost immediately- Hoshi Sato, Malcolm Reed, Travis Mayweather."

"None of you have your own ships yet?" he queried in a light voice.

"Wouldn't be able to handle it," was Hoshi's answer.

"Couldn't dream of not shooting my own guns." Malcolm.

"Archer's the man- er, admiral," was Travis's answer. The pilot grinned widely as he threw the ship into a roll. Lorian staggered a bit before he regained his balance- he then saw the rest had already prepared for this.

"Alright, guys," he laughed. "No more crazy stunts for me!" Lorian's gaze swept over the bridge, and he noticed that, for the most part, the ship was almost completely identical to his Enterprise. And that drove him to ask another question. "What happened to the NX-01?"

Archer grinned. "Captain Hernandez," he began, his voice professional, "does not quite know how many favors I have." He thumped a fist onto a console. "Command of the NX-01 Enterprise, covertly undergoing upgrades, is going to a certain T'Pol." Lorian gaped as Archer continued. "The NX-01 is currently being fitted with experimental shields and our more powerful phase cannons. However, this ship, the NX-06, has a few prototype weapons of her own." He nodded at Malcolm. "Target one of the asteroids and fire one of the NC's."

"With pleasure," said the tactical officer. There was a low beep as a lock was acquired, then the officer depressed two buttons. Two streams of blue, looking somewhat like Andorian particle beams, shot outwards. The asteroid blew up with a tremendous explosion. Lorian had already crossed over to Reed's console.

"Neutron weapons?" he asked. Archer nodded.

"The best!" exclaimed Malcolm before Archer could speak. "These neutron cannons can instantly destabilize the hulls of most enemies. They make a hell of an explosion, too." Then a bit of his fire abated as he added, "But they're only marginally effective against shields."

"That won't be a problem," replied Lorian, still surveying the rubble interestedly. "Where I'd like to go, there aren't any shields."

"A mirror universe?" asked Jonathan some time later, somewhat incredulously. Lorian nodded.

"I wouldn't believe it either," he said, "if my crew and I hadn't been there. They need help, Jon. You can give it to them. You're an admiral now, and the hero of Earth. Surely, you can persuade Starfleet to help."

Archer's face was troubled as he came with a reply. "I'd love to help- I really would. But we've been having trouble with the Romulans lately. I don't know if we can spare ships..." he trailed off, looking at the stars. Lorian was about to sigh when Archer finished his thought. "For long."

"You'll help them?" asked the half-Vulcan, some hope in his voice. Archer nodded once.

"But I'll have to put a limit on how long we can help. I can't leave my own planet defenseless for too long."

"What ships can you offer?" pressed Lorian.

"I believe I can give you the services of the NX-01 Enterprise, the NX-02 Columbia, the NX-04 Nova, and my NX-06 Solaris. That will leave the NX-03 Admiral Forrest and the NX-05 Orion here in case of trouble. And," added Archer, "I believe that, once I cut the red tape, I can get your NX-01 fixed up a bit."

"Thank you," said Lorian. "When can we start?"

Archer looked at a PADD for a moment. "Three days time," he promised. "Hell or high water."