Chapter 2
Malcolm paced his quarters, after over two days with no sleep the captain had ordered him to get some rest. He was however no mood for sleep, the person he cherished most in his life had crash landed on a planet and had not been heard from since.
"Bridge to Lieutenant Commander Reed," Archers voice was clear. Malcolm almost tripped over his own feet trying to get to the comm unit.
"Reed here, sir," he said.
"You might want to get up here. T'Pol and Trip have something,"
"I'm on my way," and he was out the door.
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He stepped out onto the bridge, Archer actually smiled at him. God, please let her be ok, Malcolm thought.
"We have found a way to transport through the atmosphere, however we need to wait until the current atmosphere storms have dissipated," T'Pol said.
"As soon as we can I'll be going down there with Trip, Phlox and yourself," Archer told Malcolm.
"How long?" He asked.
"I estimate at least four hours before we can do this," T'Pol stated.
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"You will need to return as soon as possible. The atmosphere storms are unpredictable. Commander Tucker has made modifications to the tricorders and the communicators so they should work," T'Pol said. Archer nodded as he, Phlox and Trip stepped up on the transporter pad.
"Energise," he said.
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"This way," Trip said. Holding the tricorder in front of himself he started walking in the direction it indicated. After a few minutes they were in a clearing. A smaller figure strode further up a well worn path. After a moment or two it stopped, glanced back in their direction. Trip couldn't see her features properly in the darkness.
"Hoshi?" A young female voice asked.
"No, do you know her?" Archer asked. The girl stood still for a moment, saying nothing. Then took off running up the path.
"Hoshi!" She yelled as she ran. Archer glanced at Phlox, he had to admit that this was the first time he had received such a reaction. Trip and Reed took off after her.
"Wait!" Called Reed. The girl kept running, right up until her foot caught in something and she fell to the ground. She scrambled back to her feet quickly, her head turning from side to side and then started running back in their direction and slammed right into Reed who was unprepared. The two tumbled to the ground.
"Get off me!" She screamed. She clawed at his arms and kicked her legs in an attempt to get free.
"Calm down, we're not going to hurt you," Reed told her. He still couldn't see her face in the darkness. Her struggles intensified and he tried to grab her flailing hands. That was when he felt the pain in his upper arm and yelled more in surprise than pain. A phaser blast shot past Archer and Phlox who had just arrived.
"Get off her now!" A voice snapped. Reed, gripping his arms where the girl had somehow managed to stab him with a small knife rolled off her and got to his feet.
"Melina, are you alright?"
"Yeah, didn't hear them coming until they were practically on me," the girl; Melina said, as she made her way towards the new arrival. Who hugged her close with one arm, keeping the phaser trained on Archer.
"We don't need your kind around here. Go home," she said into the darkness.
"Hoshi, is that you?" Archer asked. The voice sounded like hers, but older, more mature.
"Captain Archer?" Hoshi Sato asked, momentarily wondering if she was imagining things.
"Are you, Ensign Melee and the others alright?" Archer asked. Hoshi sighed, as she holstered the phaser.
"You'd better come with us," she said. Without another word she turned and started walking up the path. Archer and the others followed.
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"Come on in," Hoshi held the door open.
"One of the inhabitants of the planet owns this house?" Archer asked.
"It's ours," Hoshi turned on one of the lights and Archer got a shock. Her hair was tinted with grey streaks and her face was slightly lined with wrinkles.
"Hoshi, what happened to you?" He asked. She held up one hand to forestall anymore questions and looked towards the girl who Archer now realised was wearing a hooded sweater which obscured her features even in the light.
"Melina, go pack your things, I think we'll be leaving soon," she said. The girl nodded and headed off down the short hallway. Once she was gone Hoshi gestured towards a side room and they all sat down. Phlox started tending to Malcolm's injured arm.
"When did we crash here?" She asked.
"Three days ago," Archer replied, slightly confused by the question. Hoshi put her head in her hands and her shoulders started to shake slightly as if she were crying. Indeed when she looked back up at Archer she was.
"I've questioned over the years why you never came for us. Now I have my answer," she said. Archer looked at Trip, who shrugged, just as confused as his captain as to just where Hoshi was going with this.
"We crashed here over fourteen years ago. When you didn't come for us I thought you'd left us here. I don't understand how this happened,"
"Melina is one of the inhabitants of this planet that lives with you?" Trip asked.
"No, Melina is-"
"Melina is not deaf," the girl had entered the room silently.
"You shouldn't eavesdrop," Hoshi said. Melina shrugged her shoulders, as she sat down on the floor.
"Wasn't like I had that much to pack anyway," she threw the small bag she carried on the floor and it landed with a thump.
"Melina," Hoshi said with a note of warning in her voice.
"So…Melina's what?" Melina prompted. Hoshi looked around, a little nervous now that the girl was in the room.
"Do you have a way to get us back to Enterprise?" She asked instead. Archer nodded, as he stood up. Whoever the girl was apparently Hoshi intended for her to come with them and he wasn't going to argue.
"You have everything you need?" He asked her. Hoshi pulled Melina to her feet, draping one arm protectively around the young girl.
"I do now," she replied.
"Doesn't Melina have friends here she'd like ta say goodbye ta first?" Trip asked. Melina snorted a sarcastic sounding laugh.
"Friends! Bunch of xenophobic bastards!" She spat out.
"Melina!" Hoshi snapped at the girls use of the swear word.
"Sorry," Melina muttered.
"No, we're ready to head back home," Hoshi smiled at Trip. Archer took his communicator out of a pocket and flipped it open.
"Archer to Enterprise, six to transport," he said. Hoshi stepped away from Melina. A moment later they were in the familiar transporter room of Enterprise. Melina swayed a little, one hand going to her stomach. Hoshi grabbed her other arm.
"Here sit down for a moment," she said. The girl seemed to more collapse on the platform than to actually sit properly.
"Sorry, I should have warned ya about that, it can take a little getting used to," Trip said.
"Let's get you to sickbay, Commander," Phlox said to Malcolm. The two left the transporter room, leaving Archer, Trip, Hoshi, Melina and T'pol alone.
"I feel alright now," Melina mumbled. Hoshi frowned, obviously in concern.
"Okay, but you start feeling like that again and you tell me," she said. Melina nodded as she stood up.
"You can take the hood off here," Hoshi took the bag from the girls hands.
"You told me not to do that around other people," Melina said.
"It's alright to do it here. They're not the same here as they are back there," Hoshi told her. Melina reached up and pushed the hood of her sweater back, revealing just past the shoulder brown hair and a ridge that ran down the centre of her forehead. Hoshi turned her attention from Melina to Archer.
"If it's alright, Captain, I'd like to get her settled in for the night,"
"Of course, you're quarters are still the way you left them," Archer said.
"I'll come and talk to you as soon as I do," she told him.
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"How can you be so certain that they won't do the same kind of things that the others did?" Melina asked a slight note of fear in her voice.
"Because I know them. Trust me, Melina, if I thought they were going to hurt you we'd have stayed where we were," Hoshi said soothingly. She started to unpack the girls' small bag and handed her the nightshirt.
"Time for you to get some sleep, it's pretty late,"
"But I want to-" Melina started.
"You can check the rest of the ship tomorrow, but it's very late and you need rest now," Hoshi told her. Melina started to change into the nightshirt, neatly folding every piece of clothing that she took off and handing it to Hoshi, once she was done she crawled into the nearby lower bunk bed and pulled the covers up. Hoshi put the clothes away and then came too sat on the edge of the bed.
"Don't worry about anything," she said to the girl.
"Now I've got to talk with the Captain, but if you need me there's a comm panel just over your head, just activate it and ask for me, ok?"
"Ok, night, Hoshi," Melina was already exhausted and her eyes were drooping closed.
"Goodnight, Melina," Hoshi stepped quietly from the room so as not to disturb the girl.
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"Hoshi, come in," Archer was waiting for her in his office.
"It might be better if Lieutenant Commander Reed were here as well, sir," Hoshi said.
"He's on his way already," Archer said. As if on cue the doors slid open and Malcolm Reed stepped inside. Archer gestured to the couch in the room and took a separate seat himself.
"I was certain that you wouldn't be coming back for us," Hoshi said.
"After a few days we settled into an old cabin and have been living there ever since. Not the best of places I'll admit, but better than nothing,"
"Where's Melee?" Malcolm asked, although he suspected the answer. Hoshi sighed and took one of his hands in hers.
"She died," she took a deep breath, knowing that Malcolm deserved to know the truth of what had happened to his wife.
"When we crash landed she was thrown against the steering column of the shuttlepod which stabbed her just below her chest, her seat had trapped and crushed one of her legs against the console. She wanted you to know that she was sorry that she wouldn't see you again and asked that you love your daughter enough for both you and her. I'm so sorry," She had learned to deal over the years, but Malcolm had only seen his wife alive and healthy three days earlier. Malcolm pulled his hand from hers and stood up to pace the room, he had never been one to show his feelings in front of others, but the loss of Melee…he wasn't sure how to handle that.
"And Melina is…" Archer didn't finish the question. Hoshi nodded, as she watched Malcolm in concern.
"Melina is Malcolm and Melee's daughter, yes," she finished. Malcolm turned to look at her with empty eyes.
"I don't understand, she should just be a baby," he said.
"T'Pol explained that already," Archer said.
"She said that time passes a lot faster on the planet than it does in normal space,"
"How old is she?" Malcolm asked Hoshi.
"Just turned fourteen. There are other things you should know as well though," Hoshi said.
"The people on the planet aren't particularly accepting of other species,"
"You're had experience of this?" Archer asked in concern, sitting forward in his chair.
"Not personally no, but Melina has. She's been attacked a number of times over the years, which is why she ran from you and stabbed Malcolm in the arm," Hoshi replied.
"When and how?" Malcolm asked, a frown creasing his forehead.
"When she was four was the first time, she was out playing by herself, not to far from me. I heard her screaming, when I got to her I found some other children throwing stones at her. Second time was when she seven she went swimming in a pool of water, some other children decided to try and drown her. Numerous other times that you probably don't want to know about," Hoshi said.
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She jerked upright, sweating and panting for breath. She could still see them coming at her in the dark, hear their voices and smell their stench in her nostrils. She tumbled out of the bed and went in search of Hoshi, she didn't get very far before she hit a wall and stumbled backwards, one hand going to her bloodied nose. The other hand reaching out to the wall as she made her way along it.
"Hoshi?" She called. There was no answer as she slowly worked her way along the wall and came to a door, fingers scrabbled at it trying to get it to open, eventually they found the door controls and with a hiss they opened in front of her. She stepped out in the corridor.
"Hoshi?!" She called louder this time. Her breath coming in short gasps, she heard two sets of footsteps coming towards her and turned to face whoever it was. Her brow wrinkling as she tried to make out who they were.
"Melina, it's alright," a familiar voice said. She shook her head, two hands out in front of her as she backed up against the wall behind her.
"Stay away from me!" She yelled, both hands out in front of her as if to fend off an attack. A hand grabbed one of her arms.
"It's okay. I'm Trip, I met you down on the planet, remember?" He said, trying to calm the frightened girl.
"NO! Leave me alone!" She screamed again. Trip looked back towards T'Pol, who was already going to the nearest comm unit.
"T'Pol to Lieutenant Sato," she said calmly, as if undisturbed by the panicked girl and her husband who was currently trying to calm her down.
"Sato here, Commander," Hoshi's voice came through clearly.
"Hoshi! Get them away from me!" Melina yelled. She finally managed to yank her arm free of Trips hand and turned to run away, but T'Pol was right behind her to.
"What do you want from me?!"
"Melina, we are not going to harm you," T'Pol stated.
"Melina! It's okay," Hoshi had finally arrived, Malcolm and Archer not far behind her. She went to the girl and hugged her tightly.
"Hoshi, they were here, right here," the girl seemed to get even more worked up as she spoke. Tears poured down her face as she let the older woman hold her.
"No, they weren't, it was just a dream," Hoshi took a moment to look at Archer who took the hint and left with Trip and T'Pol. Malcolm came closer to them. The child resembled Melee in a way that made his heart ache, especially on seeing the look in the girls' eyes and face.
"It's ok, they can't get to you up here," Hoshi soothed. Melina shook her head, her hands gripping Hoshis arms.
"How do you know that?!" She asked desperately. Hoshi was subtly leading the girl back towards her quarters and the two entered as the door opened. Hoshi glanced back at Malcolm and nodded, indicating that it was alright for him to come in as well. He walked in slowly; all of this was a big shock to him. Hoshi guided Melina to the bed and sat down next to her, Malcolm sat in the only chair in the room.
"What did you do to your nose?" Hoshi asked, she touched the end of the girls nose gently, but Melina still winced.
"Ow," she said.
"Sorry, I'll go get something for that," Hoshi said. She went into the small bathroom leaving Melina and Malcolm alone for a few minutes. Malcolm stared at his daughter not sure what to say. She seemed to sniff the air for a few moments.
"Hoshi, who else is in here?" Melina asked. Hoshi finally returned carrying a damp cloth. She took Malcolm's hand and led him over to the girl.
"I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce you," She said a little nervously, she didn't know how the girl was going to take meeting her father for the first time. Malcolm was confused by what was going on, he had assumed that the girl; although upset, would have noticed his presence earlier.
"Melina, this is your father; Malcolm Reed," Hoshi placed the girls hand in her fathers.
"What am I meant to call him?" Melina asked.
"I realise this is going to be a little…awkward at first. Why don't you just call me Malcolm?" Malcolm suggested.
"Ok…I guess I can do that. Can I look at you?" Melina asked. Malcolm confused by the question glanced towards Hoshi; she just smiled at him nervously.
"Of course," he said. She let go of his hand and stretched out towards him with tentative fingers at first feeling his face and Malcolm finally realised why she hadn't noticed him in the room before now; she was blind.
"I'm sorry about your arm, I didn't know who you were or what you wanted," Melina said quietly.
"That's ok, Hoshi explained why you did it and I don't blame you for it," he said.
"Told you everything?" She asked.
"No, just some of it," Hoshi said. The girl breathed a sigh of relief as she stopped feeling Malcolms face as Hoshi wiped away the dried blood on Melinas nose.
"Doesn't look to bad, at least not enough that you'll have to go see Phlox,"
"The…doctor?" Melina asked, trying to remember from what Hoshi had told her about the people of Enterprise years before.
"Yes. You want to go back to sleep now?" Hoshi asked. Melina shrugged her shoulders, a frown creasing her brow.
"I guess so…" she mumbled.
"I'll be right here in the bunk above you if you have any more nightmares," Hoshi assured her.
"Ok," Melina said. She crawled back under the blanket and lay down.
"Night Hoshi, night…Malcolm," she mumbled sleepily, already falling asleep.
"Goodnight," Malcolm said, he looked at Hoshi.
"Nightmares?"
"She has nightmares, has had since…" Hoshi shook her head pulling Malcolm back away from the bed.
"Spend some time with her, get to know her, once she starts to trust you then she might tell you herself," she whispered. Malcolm didn't like the answer, but judging by the look on Hoshi's face he wasn't going to get anymore out of her about the nightmares.
"Ok, I'll come back tomorrow morning," he said.
"Alright, goodnight, Commander," Hoshi said.
"Goodnight," he stepped out of the quarters and headed for his own room, his mind a jumble of thoughts and emotions.