A/N: Several of you have asked if we're going to see the "real" Enterprise characters in this story. Perhaps. I can't tell you, because then you'd know! Do you really want me to spoil it for you? Again, thank you for all the great reviews!

CHAPTER 17

Hoshi couldn't wait to leave the bridge at lunchtime. Despite Mayweather's now reassuring presence, Reed's close proximity was making it hard to concentrate. Archer wasn't helping, either. After staring down Reed, he'd taken a seat in the command chair, which meant that his back was to her, as was hers to him. But he kept turning to look at her. She knew because she could hear his chair squeak each time he did it.

Such was her state of mind that she almost missed something in the Andorian transmission. At first listen, it appeared to be a standard confirmation of a receipt of cargo. She easily translated it. Her finger was on the key to close the file when she hesitated. The wording of the message was nothing out of the ordinary, but there was the faintest hint of background noise under the spoken words. It could be just normal interference, but she knew a few things about hiding information in subspace transmissions. She'd done it a few times herself back on her Enterprise.

She separated the background noise from the transmission and, after a search through the available communications programs, ran it through a descrambling algorithm. Sure enough, there was another message underneath the main transmission. A few more commands on the console cleaned it up, and a harsh Andorian voice sounded clearly in her earpiece. The blood drained from her face as she mentally translated the words.

No matter what she thought of the politics of this universe, she had to immediately tell Archer what was in this message. It was too important to bundle in with the rest of her translations she would give to the communications officer when she was finished. She had no idea when or even if her translations were looked at after she turned them in, but this one had needed attention now.

She swiveled in her chair to face the command well. "Captain Archer!"

Every person on the bridge, including the captain, looked at her. So maybe she'd called out a little more stridently than was necessary. She kept her eyes locked on the captain, who had turned toward her, his eyes narrowed with displeasure. He had assigned her to work on the bridge, but apparently he didn't want her bothering him. That attitude ought to change when she informed him of what she'd found.

"You need to see this, sir," she said. As soon as she'd said it, she realized she hadn't meant to tack on the "sir." It had just slipped out. Confronted with a serious situation, she'd unintentionally reverted to Starfleet protocol in forms of address. When he continued to sit there frowning at her, she gestured toward the screen on her console. "It's important to the security of the empire."

Archer rose from his chair and strode up the stairs to the outer level of the bridge. A few more steps brought him to her side. "What is it?" he asked.

She pushed a button to play the embedded message. The Andorian voice came over the speakers at her station, while on a screen, her translation was printed in English: Rendezvous complete; combined force will attack Imperial colony on schedule. Maximum military and significant civilian casualties projected.

"What the hell? This got by the UT?" Archer asked.

"No, it was never translated by the UT," Hoshi clarified. "It was hidden within what appeared to be a routine transmission by an Andorian freighter."

"Show me the time stamp on it," he ordered her.

Hoshi keyed in a command. In the corner of the screen, a time and date popped up. "This was picked up late last night," she said.

She waited as Archer looked at the screen. He was obviously deep in thought. When his eyes focused on her, there was the same granite hardness in them she'd seen when he had believed the Balantians were trying to blackmail the empire. "Can you trace this back to its point of origin?" he asked.

"I think so," she said, "but I'll need to use the main communications console."

"Do it," he ordered, jerking his head in that direction.

As Hoshi hurried over to the communications console, Mayweather trailing her, she heard Archer move down into the command well. The comm officer on duty vacated his seat at her approach. Even though she was intent on what she had to do, Hoshi didn't miss the venomous look the man gave her. She'd already infringed on his territory by translating alien transmissions better than he could; now she was usurping his place on the bridge. Archer apparently thought her skills at this were better than the officer she'd just replaced. With that realization, and with Mayweather at her back, she was able to ignore the disgruntled officer.

Her hands flying over the console as she tied in comm logs with scanner logs and analysis programs, she nevertheless was aware of Archer's steady regard. He'd sat in his chair again, chin up, fingers of one hand drumming on the armrest, almost as if he was waiting for her to fail. She also caught a glimpse of Reed at his station behind the captain. He was busily working his board, but she didn't miss the condescending smirk on his face. He thought she was going to fail too.

She couldn't fail. That would only weaken what little standing she had on this ship. But if she succeeded, she might ensure her safety by proving too valuable to harm, bodyguard or no bodyguard. Most of all, the last sentence of the message haunted her. No matter what she thought of the Terran Empire in this universe, some of its civilians were about to be targeted in a military operation. That was wrong in any universe.

As she worked, she learned more about the ship she was on. For one thing, its scanners were much more advanced and efficient than those she was used to working with, giving her readings for things farther away than her Enterprise would have been able to pick up. For an imperialistic, paranoid regime, that made sense. They'd want the earliest warning, or eavesdropping in this case, they could get. The analysis programs, on the other hand, weren't any bettter than her Starfleet's. And as she already knew, their UT was far behind what she was used to working with.

All that flashed through her mind as she set the process in motion to trace the transmission's signal. With the press of a key, a screen showing a map of the sector lit up on the comm console. A series of blinking orange circles bounced from site to site on the map -- communication relay buoys, Hoshi realized -- until one circle shone steady and settled in place.

"Got it!" she said, unable to keep the triumph from her voice.

"Put it onscreen," Archer said, motioning to the main viewscreen at the front of the bridge.

She transferred the graphic, and heard Archer suck in his breath. Behind him, Reed muttered a curse.

"You're sure that's right?" Archer asked her.

"Yes." In puzzlement, she looked at Archer. "What's wrong?"

He turned to her with an angry frown, stabbing a forefinger toward toward the main screen. "The transmission came from near the Canari system."

The name meant nothing to Hoshi. Without reference points, she didn't recognize the star chart on the screen, and as far as she knew, there wasn't a Canari system in her universe. Or if there was, she knew it by a different name.

"There's an Imperial colony not five light years away on Panmikar," Archer continued, his voice becoming louder as his ire mounted. "The Andorians have been whining about it ever since we took the planet away from the Vulcans. That has to be their target." He turned back to face the screen. "For all we know, the Andorians could have attacked it already."

He rapidly began issuing orders, the first of which was a course change for the endangered colony. Hoshi, consumed by a sense of deja vu that she hadn't experienced since before she'd regained her memory, accessed the ship's database for information on the sector.

Archer's anger made sense as she read what came up on the console's screen. She was able to deduce that Panmikar was known either as Paan Mokar or Weythan in her universe. Her Captain Archer had been called in to mediate a cease fire between the Vulcans and Andorians, both of whom had claimed the strategically located planet and had been fighting over it off and on for a hundred years. In this universe, the Vulcans had been terraforming Panmikar before the empire took it over. That sounded like the empire she was coming to know in this universe. Let someone else do all the work, then come in and reap the benefits.

A little more digging in the database revealed that the Andorians, subjects of the Terran Empire, had long resented human control of the sector. Two Andorian uprisings had been put down since the empire had taken over Panmikar. But both times, there had been only a military outpost on Panmikar; now, while there was still an Imperial military presence, there were more than five thousand civilians colonists -- all human.

Hoshi looked up at sector chart again. If the Andorians could take over Panmikar, she realized, Vulcan could be their next target. That could set a domino effect in motion, with the Andorians either seeking to wrest control of planets away from the empire or gain allies in their fight. No wonder Archer was so agitated. He may have stumbled onto the beginning of a new revolt.

Archer turned back to the comm console. "Send a coded message to Imperial Empire command."

Hoshi was reaching to make the connection when a rough push almost sent her tumbling off the chair. The displaced comm officer was back, staring fiercely down at her. She hastily got to her feet and backed out of his way.

She'd been so caught up in the moment that she'd forgotten she didn't belong at the comm station. She glanced at Archer, but he was issuing orders to the comm officer, not her. She wasn't sure he'd seen her rude treatment, or if he had, he was ignoring it. She meekly returned to her out-of-the-way station, where she went back to work on translations as the rest of the bridge crew began preparations for what most likely would be a hostile confrontation.

Surrounded by the bustling activity, Hoshi had never felt so alone in her life.