One hour later Malcolm began feeling anxious. It did look like the sun was setting, and the clouds were a bright orange colour. To the left of their forest trail was a cliff, giving them a bird's eye view of the valley below them. The forest stretched on to infinity… Above some of the mountains there were clouds, covering their peaks. Everything seemed surreal. The pastel coloured forest, their own green trail and the green orange sky… Was this what the mirror Enterprise had been doing on her voyages? Exploring worlds?

Right now, with only the wind rustling the trees and their own steps falling on the soft ground, it seemed not such a bad idea. But then it was not applicable in their universe. Sooner or later, someone always began to fight! He looked forward.

"Any lifesigns?" He asked.

"Plenty, but none human…" She said.

"Don't forget we have a Vulcan running around down here." Said Trip. He looked slightly better now.

"No, none Vulcan." Alice said. "The pod should be about half an hour from here." Malcolm looked up into the forest at their right side. Could the MACO's hide their biosigns? He turned to Trip.

"Did you manage to evade that guy in engineering I warned you about?" Trip stirred from his thoughts.

"He was dealt with, why?"

"We are not alone on this planet, Trip. Hoshi must have sent a MACO squad after us or the escape pod."

"What makes you so sure?" Malcolm hesitated, but as he knew he would indeed die if he did nothing, so he told Trip everything. From the second he got up in sickbay to the dream before he woke up. Trips face changed from amused at first to almost concerned in the end. For a moment he did not speak.

"Why do you spill your guts like that?" He asked, finally. He seemed uncomfortable with the situation. Malcolm did not blame him.

"I don't want to die." He said bluntly.

"What makes you think I of all people would help you?" Asked Trip angrily. "You should have thought about that before you put me in the agony booth!"

"Because you are killed before I am… and even if you do not believe that, you said yourself that this was bigger than you and me. It's about Earth. I don't expect you to care a damn about me but if Hoshi makes her move, which is almost certain that she will by now, people are going to die. Are you willing to risk you family's life? Elisabeth's life?" Malcolm looked at Trip. He seemed to have hit home. The anger had disappeared from Trips face for a moment, leaving an almost sad look on his scarred face.

Malcolm fished out a datapad from his inner pocket, on it he had selected files from the database onboard the Defiant. He brought up the image file of the mirror Tucker and Reed. He gave it to Trip as some kind of half-hearted peace offering.

"I found it onboard the Defiant in the database, obviously we should be able to… work together." Trip examined the photo, and then gave up a chilly smile.

"Lieutenant Reed?" He laughed. "I am your superior officer there? And why do you wear Starfleet clothes?" He looked wide eyed at the picture, then at Malcolm.

"In the mirror universe I am not a part of the MACO unit." Malcolm said dryly. Trip gave him the pad back.

"When do these imaginary people appear?" He asked, clearly wishing to change subject. Seeing oneself being different was indeed unsettling.

"Soon. Do you think they could fool our sensors?" Asked Malcolm.

"Probably, ours are not that good and Hayes had his tricorder with him."

"Are there any other signals they would be emitting?"

"Perhaps, electro magnetic fields I guess, but they would have to be pretty close to be detected."

"All we need is a second or two." Said Malcolm.

"I'll see what I can do." Responded Trip and took up his scanner. He opened it on the back and began working on the sensors. Malcolm walked up to Alice.

"We can take a break, Trip is going to adjust his sensor." He said.

"Why?" Asked Alice. "Is there something wrong?"

"There could be people in the woods, looking for us." He realized that that sounded stupid.

"Whatever you say, sir." Said Alice, glad to be able to rest.

"Keep your eyes on the scanner." He said to her. She nodded.

Some minutes later Trip had made the adjustments needed to the scanner. Malcolm looked over the forest. It was quiet and slightly eerie with long shadows falling on the ground. Obviously a day here was shorter than a standard day. The sky had darkened to a deep orange colour, only leaving green around the setting sun. He sat completely still, tilting his head to be able to hear better. In his hands lay the rifle with a setting to kill.

Alice gave him a slight wave. She signalled towards a rise further up the trail. She showed two fingers. Malcolm pointed at the scanner. She shook her head, putting a hand to her ear. He nodded, she had heard them. A real Amazon! He thought. Trip took up his rifle, nodding to Malcolm. He pointed to his scanner, showing four fingers. Two above them, two in front. Malcolm took a deep breath and lay down in the moss. He hoped his dream was not a prophecy.

Time seemed to stand still for the minute or so that he lay in the moss. Every sense was on edge, he saw everything, heard every fly; the smell of the forest engulfed him. He knew where Trip was, and that Alice was behind him as well. Then he saw a boot, a leg and finally a hand with a rifle. He lowered his neck to be able to watch through his scope. Soon there was a head; he knew it to be the female Sergeant he had seen. Her aim was to the right, probably at Trip.

Malcolm took a breath, counted his heartbeats as they slowed down. He aimed for the head and right in between two of the beats he fired. The sound from his rifle seemed to speed up time. The Sergeant fell down, dead. He could hear Trip firing at the second person above them, so he turned his attention to Alice. She was firing her phaser from behind a tree.

Aiming, Malcolm fired off a couple of shots as he rolled downhill, bringing himself closer to Alice. The two MACO's from the front had advanced shooting too close for Malcolm to be comfortable with his position. As one of them tried to advance, Malcolm almost hit him. Almost. The MACO fired back, singing Malcolm's right arm. The pain made him drop his rifle. Cursing Malcolm jumped behind a tree. A few shots hit the tree. The splinters cascaded around him.

A body came rolling from the hill. It was the second MACO. A dirty Trip came jumping out of a bush. He gave Malcolm a glance before hiding. Malcolm caught something in the corner of his eye and rolled away. A beam flew past him, almost hitting Trip. He cursed and retreated. Somewhere to the left Alice managed to shoot down the third MACO, giving off a small cry of joy. Malcolm looked up. It was the second one of the candidates on the Major list. Malcolm knew he should have killed him earlier! He raised his rifle eagerly, ready to shoot Malcolm. There was a certain glow in his eyes saying he had wished to do this for a long time.

He was beginning to push the trigger when his facial expression changed from eager to surprised. Malcolm, who had expected death, now stared at the man. Something seemed to shake him from behind. The MACO slowly turned and to his astonishment, Malcolm saw two… arrows sticking out of his back. A third one hit him right in his forehead. The body stood for a while before it fell down on the ground.

Malcolm scrambled to his feet, staring at the dead body. Realizing his mouth was open he closed it. From behind a tree, Trip's head appeared. He looked at the body and the arrows. It confused him just as much. Then his glance changed from the body to Malcolm, who raised his shoulders, he did not know who it came from either. Trip gave up a sudden gesture and pointed behind Malcolm. As he turned, a fifth MACO appeared from the undergrowth. With a raised rifle he shot at Malcolm, who managed to drop back on the ground. The shot missed him. He was half a second away from firing a second shot when a hand on his shoulder made him freeze. The grip paralyzed the MACO and as he fell a second hand appeared. Together they quickly snapped the MACO's neck. He fell dead on the moss.

Malcolm lay still for a while. Then he faced the person in front of him. He was clad in a grey-brown robe with dark grey clothing underneath. It melted excellent into the shadows. In one hand he had a bow. Malcolm now realized from where the arrows came! Over his back hung a quiver of arrows, self made no doubt. The face was pale with striking black eyebrows and short cut hair… and pointy ears. A pair of cold blue eyes studied him.

"Trip…" Said Malcom. "I think I found your Vulcan." From behind, Trip emerged together with Alice.

"I'll be damned." He said. "You are actually alive?"

"How long have you been here?" Asked Malcom. The Vulcan looked back at him.

"Three days, five hours and three minutes. Earth standard time" He added.

"You are the only one that survived from the ship in orbit?" Asked Trip.

"It would appear so." He answered. Malcolm retrieved his rifle.

"How do I know you're not here to kill me?" He asked. The Vulcan seemed slightly offended by the question.

"If I wished to kill you and your team, I could have done so half a day ago, Commander."

"Look who's boasting..!" Said Trip.

"It is logical; I have, after all, followed you since your rather… crude arrival."

"Are we supposed to believe that?" Asked Alice.

"I recovered your fourth member and brought him back to the escape pod." Malcolm raised his eyebrows.

"Really? What's your name?"

"I am Lieutenant J'Sper; I was a lab assistant on my last ship."

"And you have Hayes?"

"Hayes?"

"Our fourth member, part of MACO, taller than me, probably not conscious."

"Oh, yes. I have him. Shall we go to my camp? He is there. You can ask questions on the way." The Vulcan gestured with his hand towards the trail that led forward. Malcolm fell in next to him after picking up some weapons and other useful material from the dead MACO's. Trip, still holing his rifle high, walked behind J'Sper with Alice by his side. The trail wound itself trough drowsy glades and quiet forest-dungeons up towards what seemed to be a high altitude plateau. The sun hung just above the mountains, colouring the sky around it green. Animals with big eyes hung from the branches on the trees, looking down at them. J'Sper turned to Malcolm.

"The MACO detachment, was it looking for me or you?" He asked.

"It is impossible to say, what I know is that they would have killed everything humanoid down here." Said Malcolm.

"How do you know?" J'Sper asked.

"Know? That is what I would have done." Answered Malcolm, as if that was obvious.

"Of course, sir. I understand. Would you explain to me why you are here?"

"Because the damn Empress has a happy idea about taking command of all the starships." Began Trip from behind their back. "And if Starfleet does not agree, she'll bomb Earth until they rethink!" Trip said and frowned. J'Sper raised an eyebrow.

"And it is your belief that Starfleet will not agree?"

"They would never agree to anything like that." Said Trip.

"Because of this you somehow planned to… eliminate the Empress, but she got to you first and tried to kill you as you examined my old ship. You beamed down here in a most… odd fashion, and finally we met. Because that is how it happened, am I right?" Said J'Sper.

"How do you know all that?" Asked Alice.

"It's logical, what else would two commanders and a communications officer do here?"

"Perhaps we are here to find you?" Said Malcolm.

"The large ship you came with is no longer in orbit… So that does not seem probable." Malcolm gave Trip and Alice a quick look. That was not good news.

"What happened to your ship?" Asked Trip.

"I was studying the planet as we waited for the other ships, and it seemed quiet enough, but when the other eleven ships appeared something that looked like an automated defence system opened fire from the planet surface. Our ship, being closest to the planet was destroyed. The others escaped."

"Then that is our way off this rock. If someone built that kind of heavy defences, they must have had starships…" Pondered Malcolm.

"We will not be able to do anything tonight, sir. I suggest we rest until morning." Said J'Sper and pointed ahead. "My camp." Malcolm looked at what seemed to be the beginning of the plateau. An escape pod was lying half buried in the earth. It had ploughed up a long canal in the soil. Next to it was something that looked like a hearth, a person resembling Hayes was lying close to it. Malcolm looked at Alice and nodded towards the body. She nodded and moved ahead.

"Trip, check the surroundings with your scanner." He ordered. Behind him Trip swept with the scanner over the plain and then backwards towards the forest. He shook his head. "In that case…" Continued Malcolm. "I suppose we might take a rest." Everyone agreed.