Jason typed into the key board of his tracking station. The trajectory of the final missile appeared on the radar screen.

“Ah, crap,” Tiny muttered as he looked over his shoulder at the screen.

“New York City.” Princess wrapped her arms around herself under her wings and shivered.

“How…how are we going to stop it?” Keyop asked, staring at the radar as it showed the missile’s progress.

“Standard Bird Missiles are no good,” Tiny reminded them as he tapped his finger on his console. “The TBX missiles didn’t work, either.”

“Fiery Phoenix.”

Mark tore his eyes from the radar to look at Jason. “What?”

“The Fiery Phoenix might produce enough heat to destroy it,” Jason responded.

“Or blow it up, us with it,” Tiny pointed out.

 Jason stared back at him intensely. “Five people or millions. Take your pick.”

Princess moved up behind Jason’s seat. “What if it doesn’t work?” she asked, a slight tremor in her voice. “What if the missile still gets through?” She turned to look at Mark, who was staring hard at Jason.

An understanding seemed to pass between the three of them.

“Then we died trying. It’s better than not trying at all.” Mark took a deep breath and blew it out. “I can’t force any of you to possibly give up your lives.” He looked at each of them in turn. “But the Fiery Phoenix needs all of us to operate. I vote yes.”

Jason was already nodding his assent. Princess closed her eyes and nodded.

Tiny clenched his teeth. “Yeah.”

Keyop looked at each of his teammates, his family. He moved back beside Princess and reached for her hand. She took it and squeezed hard. “Let’s do it.”

“Prin, get the Chief,” Mark requested and turned back to Jason as she went to her station. He grasped the headrest of Jason’s seat and leaned over his shoulder. “Plot an intercept course, as high in the atmosphere as possible,” he instructed.

“On it.”

“Mark, I’ve got the Chief.”

Mark turned towards the main view screen mounted above Tiny’s head. Security Chief Anderson stared down at them.

“The city is being evacuated, but there’s no way we can get everyone out in time,” he told them, even though he knew they had already surmised the situation.

“We think we might be able to take it out with the Fiery Phoenix,” Mark said. The Chief drew back. He knew the implications of such an action.

“Are you all agreed on this?” he asked quietly. Mark nodded. The Chief closed his eyes and sighed heavily. In the nearly three years that they had been fighting Spectra, there had been missions when there had been doubts they would survive, but G-Force had never faced a suicide mission before. This could very well be it.

Anderson opened his eyes and looked at each of his children, wondering if he would ever see any of them again.

“Then God Speed and good luck.” He forced a weak smile and tried to keep his voice steady. “I’m very proud of all of you.”

Mark swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. “Thank you, sir.”

“Intercept course plotted,” Jason announced, pressing a key on his radar to transfer the coordinates to Tiny’s navigation computer. “Time to intercept, four minutes.”

“Got it,” Tiny acknowledged.

“Everyone to station for Fiery Phoenix. Three minutes to activation,” Mark ordered. He took his command seat beside Tiny. Keyop and Princess took their seats at the central console.   Everyone strapped in.

“Two minutes to Fiery Phoenix,” Tiny announced, maneuvering the warship along the trajectory Jason had identified. Mark turned just enough so he could face everyone.

“If we don’t make it—“

“Jeez. You’re going to nag us to the very end, aren’t you?” Jason asked, but there was a warm smile on his face.

“No. It’s been an honor to live and work with all of you.”

Princess felt her eyes filling with sad yet determined tears. Keyop still had her hand and squeezed it.

“One minute to Fiery Phoenix,” Tiny said.

She turned to look at each member of her family. As if sensing her attention, Mark turned and smiled at her.

“It’ll work,” he assured.

Tiny began the ten second countdown. He grasped the throttle for the thrusters as Mark took hold of the controls for the Fiery Phoenix affect. When Tiny hit zero, they both pushed the throttles forward.

A high pitched squeal erupted and quickly became a deafening roar as the ship transmuted into its fiery form. It began to shake violently as the interior pressure built, quickly becoming painful.

“Fifty seconds to impact!” Jason yelled over the roar. He gritted his teeth as he watched their progress on the tracker.

He glanced at Princess. Her face was stark white, her chest rising and falling as she struggled to breath against the pressure. “Prin, it’s okay!” She forced her head to turn so she could look at him, fear in her green eyes.

“Jason, time!” Mark yelled.

Jason tore his eyes back to the tracker. “Thirty-five!”

Princess stared at Mark’s white back, her heart constricting, a sob catching in her throat. Keyop squeezed her hand harder. So hard, in fact, she thought he might break it.

“Mark!” she said. Even over the roar he heard her and turned again, his blue eyes both sad and understanding.

“I know.” He only whispered it, but she read his lips. She smiled at him as her tears overflowed to run down her cheeks.

“Twenty!”

Tiny took over the countdown at ten, now having to scream over the screeching power of the Fiery Phoenix. He thought of his family around him and held the throttle even tighter, as though the action would ensure they all survived.

When he reached zero, the warship shuddered violently, the missile explosion rocking it. The Phoenix listed to the left as control panels exploded and the lights went out.

Princess screamed as Keyop’s hand was torn from hers. She continued to scream as the ship nose-dived, throwing them all about like rag dolls. The sound of metal tearing was overwhelming as the ship was engulfed in a blinding light.

“Captain’s star log, November 9, 2154, supplemental. The wormhole we have found is not only unnamed, but also unknown. Since Lt. Mayweather was the first to spot it, he will get to name it. In the meantime, my First Officer, T’Pol, has been studying it. In the last hour, it has been giving off some unusual energy readings. T’Pol believes something may be passing through it. In case she’s right, I’ve ordered the Enterprise back another hundred kilometers.”

 Captain Jonathan Archer tried not to laugh at his friend and Chief Engineer, Charles ‘Trip’ Tucker III, as he explained his research for the book he was writing on the history of G-Force, the team of young people who had successfully fought and beaten invaders from the planet Spectra some one hundred twenty years earlier.

They frequently had dinner together in Captain’s private mess and this time, Tucker had brought with him a large old fashioned poster board that he tacked up on the wall.

“Trip, you’re becoming obsessed,” Archer told him good naturedly as he joined him to look at the chart. It was a family tree that started with the names of the five members of G-Force and ended with five other familiar names.

Tucker shook his light brown head. “It’s not obsession. It’s history.”

Archer’s dark eyebrows rose. “It’s obsession.”

Tucker huffed as he looked at the family tree proudly. “You’re just jealous you don’t look as much like the Eagle as I look like the Condor.”

“Trip, you have a slight resemblance. It’s not worthy of jealousy.”

Archer shook his head as he moved back to the table. He sat down to wait for Enterprise’s Communications Officer, Hoshi Sato, who was going to join them to discuss what Tucker had found out about their mutual ancestors. Unfortunately, Security Officer Malcolm Reed and Navigator Travis Mayweather were on duty. Tucker had promised to share the poster with them as soon as their duty ended.

            The door chimed and Archer offered entrance. Hoshi rushed in and took her seat.

            “I’m sorry I’m late,” the young Asian woman said. “I had to show Carter how to cancel out the interference we’re getting from the worm hole so it won’t affect communications.” Archer smiled at her and nodded.

            At that moment, the cook entered with two plates of steaming food. He placed one in front of the Captain and the second in front of Hoshi. Her dark brown eyes lit up.

            “Mongolian Barbeque?”

            “Didn’t we have this last week?” Tucker asked as the cook returned with a third plate and put it in front of him.

            “Is it a problem?” Archer asked as he lifted his fork and his eyebrows rose again. Hoshi covered her mouth to keep from laughing. She wondered if he had any idea he was imitating First Officer T’Pol’s questioning look.

            “No. Not at all. I like Mongolian Barbeque.”

            “Then let’s eat.”

            They ate in silence for a few minutes before Tucker waved his fork in Hoshi’s direction. “That journal you gave me has been very interesting. To actually get into the head of one of the G-Forcers...it’s amazing.”

            “What journal?” Archer asked.

Hoshi finished her bite before answering. “Do you remember my telling you my grandmother had passed away right before we left Earth this last time?” she asked. He nodded. “She had her mother’s journal and said it should be given to me before we left again. That’s when I found out my great-grandmother was Princess Anderson, the Swan of G-Force.”

“That’s right. I’d forgotten.” Archer chuckled at the wounded look Tucker gave him. “That’s when we began to figure out we’re actually distant cousins.” He shook his head ruefully. “I had thought my grandfather was teasing me when he said we were descendents of the Eagle and the Swan.”

“What do you think the odds were, after one hundred twenty years, that descendents of G-Force would work together again?” Tucker’s eyes were bright with wonder. “Did you read the journal?” he asked Hoshi.  She shook her head.

“I read the first page and couldn’t go any further,” she answered, looking uncomfortable.

“Why not?” Trip was surprised.

Hoshi shrugged her slender shoulders. “That journal was Princess’ private thoughts.  It’s like an invasion of privacy.”

“How?  Your grandmother gave it to you. Would she have done that if she didn’t want you to read it?  Besides, Princess Anderson’s been dead for forty-seven years.”

“I know, but I still feel it’s an invasion of her privacy.”

“It’s history, straight from the horse’s mouth!” Trip protested.

“How much have you read it, Trip?” Archer had to admit he was curious.  She was, after all, his great-grandmother as well.

“Some of it. Its hard reading.”

“Why?”

Trip smirked at Hoshi. “For the reason you just cited. It’s her private thoughts and sometimes, they hit close to home, but I’m still reading it.”

“How so?” Archer wanted to know.

Trip sighed dramatically. “Wishes, aspirations, fears…”

Hoshi started to wave her hands at him. “Don’t tell me anymore.”

Trip frowned and gave her a quizzical look at her. “Okay.”

The communicator on the wall chimed. Archer wiped his mouth with his napkin and rose to attend to it.

“Archer.”

“Captain.” T’Pol, the Enterprise’s Vulcan Science Officer and second-in-command’s, voice sounded over the intercom. “The wormhole is discharging a great deal of energy. I suggest you come to the bridge.”

“Any idea of what’s causing it?” Archer asked, exchanging looks with Trip and Hoshi.

“I believe a ship is coming through.”

“We’re on our way.”

“Have you noticed we never get to finish dinner anymore?” Trip asked as he rose.

“No rest for the wicked,” Hoshi said.

Trip shot her a look. “Speak for yourself.”

By the time they arrived on the bridge, the opening of the wormhole was swirling, growing brighter by the moment.

“Travis, pull us back,” Archer ordered his helmsman as he took his seat in the center of the bridge. “Malcolm, be ready, just in case.” Both the navigator and security officer nodded.

“Aye sir. Pulling back.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Any idea of the size of the ship that might be coming through?” Archer asked in the direction of his second-in-command.

             T’Pol looked through the visor of her sensor array. “No. Our data of such wormhole effects are very limited.”

            “Look at that,” Trip commented in wonder as he joined Malcolm at his post. The opening of the wormhole was widening. The energy it was producing became light so bright it was becoming hard to look at.

            The light illuminated the bridge and reached a final crescendo before blinking out. In the aftermath, the bridge crew blinked and rubbed their eyes, seeing spots. T’Pol was the first to notice one of the spots she was seeing actually wasn’t a spot.

            “Captain.”

            Archer rubbed his eyes again and squinted at the view screen.

            A ship had indeed emerged from the wormhole. Its surface was covered with black scarring, with only patches of blue or red showing through. Each side of the ship ended with a fuel pod. One was hanging, severely damaged. The front cone of the ship was torn, revealing…

            Trip leaped off the upper level and moved to Travis’ left. He stared intently at the screen.

            “That…looks like an old ground car,” Malcolm said, incredulous. T’Pol turned to frown at him.

            “A car?”

            “It’s the Phoenix,” Trip announced, moving forward until he was almost against the view screen.

            “Trip I told you you were becoming obsessed with this G-Force thing,” Archer admonished as Trip turned to face him.

            “You’ve seen pictures of the Phoenix, Captain. The configuration is the same! That car is the G-2, the Condor Machine. I know. I’ve sat in it. It’s a family heirloom!” He was practically jumping up and down with excitement.

            Archer took a deep breath and looked at the screen again. He had to admit the ship certainly looked like the Phoenix. But how on Earth…?

            “Captain, that ship is armed to the teeth,” Malcolm reported. “Including old TBX missiles. I strongly recommend we go to red alert.”

            “Hold it, Malcolm,” Archer ordered. He turned towards T’Pol. “What are you getting on the sensors?” She turned back and pressed her eyes to the sensor visor.

            “The ship is heavily damaged,” the Vulcan reported, even though they could see that. “Power systems are failing. I’m reading five life forms, human.”

            “It’s too big for the bays,” Archer said, thinking out loud. “The Phoenix was one third of our length, if I remember right. Malcolm, is the grappler strong enough to pull it in close enough to an airlock?”

            “I don’t think so, sir.”

            “Can we get a shuttle over to it?”

            “I do not believe there is enough time,” T’Pol announced. “Life support is failing as well.”

            Archer rose from his seat to face Malcolm. “Can we use the transporter this close to the wormhole?” The dark haired man thought for a moment.

            “I don’t see why not.”

            “Then you better get moving.”

Malcom moved quickly towards the turbo lift and Archer followed him. “Hoshi, please ask Dr. Phlox to meet us at the transporter. Tell him there are five injured.”

            “Yes, sir.”

            Archer stopped just outside the lift doors. He turned towards the bridge. “Trip, are you coming?”

            Trip tore himself away from the screen and hustled to join them.

They stepped into the lift and rode it to Deck Seven.

Malcolm led the way into the room housing the transporter at a jog and brought the machine on line.

“T’Pol,” Archer said into the intercom. “We’re ready.  Feed us the coordinates.”

“Sending,” T’Pol answered.

“Got them,” Malcolm announced.

Dr. Phlox and several corpsmen entered the room, carrying stretchers. “I understand we have casualties?” the Denobulan asked. Archer nodded, staring at the transporter expectantly.

“Captain, I have a lock on two of them,” Malcolm reported.

“Then get them over here.”

“Aye, sir.” Malcolm manipulated the controls. The air above the raised dais of the transporter began to shimmer. Two forms took shape and solidified.

“My God. It really is them,” Trip whispered.

Archer couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Who he was seeing.

Lying on the floor of the dais were a young woman in a pink body suit/miniskirt and white cape with a white helmet and a teenager, a little smaller than the woman, in a golden body suit, with a blue cape and multi-colored helmet.

Dr. Phlox and his corpsmen moved forward. Phlox scanned the two people. “He’s just unconscious.  She, however, has a broken wrist. Please move her with care.”

The corpsmen moved them off the dais.

“T’Pol has sent me a fix on two more,” Malcolm announced.

“Get them,” Archer ordered. Malcolm complied.

Two more forms materialized on the dais. Two men. One was quite large, in a brown body suit, with a green cape and large helmet. The other man was shorter and slender, but with wide shoulders. His body suit was white, his cape white and his helmet white. The way he was laying made it obvious his lower right leg was broken.

“The Eagle,” Trip whispered in awe. He pointed at the inert form. “That’s the Eagle.”

“He’s in need of medical attention,” Phlox inserted, helping to move him carefully off the dais. “He has a broken leg. Please take these four to the Med Bay and treat the broken bones,” he told his head corpsman.

“Yes, sir,” the young man said.

“Captain, the ship’s life support has just failed.” T’Pol announced.

“I’ve got a fix on the last one,” Malcolm said just as T’Pol finished speaking.

The final form to that appeared was in brown with a dusk blue cape and black helmet. Phlox took quick readings.

Tucker could only stare at the young man. A man he had only heard about through stories told, and no doubt expanded upon, by his father and grandfather. A man he had been reading about in both history books and in the journal. A man he resembled with his cleft chin, blue eyes, and sandy brown hair. Jason Anderson. G-2, the Condor. His great-grandfather.

“He is unconscious, but has no serious injuries,” Phlox told them and motioned to the last two corpsmen to move him. Once they had him on the stretcher, he led the way out of the Transporter Room, Tucker on his heels.

“Captain, shall I send a security detail to the Med Bay?” Reed asked as he shut down the transporter. “From what Trip has told me, they could be quite dangerous.”

“Didn’t you get stories about them from your family?” Archer asked, his eyes following the departing stretcher.

“My family wasn’t as enamored of their ancestor as yours and Trip’s was,” Malcolm admitted. “The divorce was apparently a very bitter one and Keyop’s name was never to be uttered without bitterness.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Now that I know more, I find that I don’t agree with it. I think time blew the facts out of proportion.”

Archer smiled and clapped his hand on his security officer’s shoulder in understanding. “Just in case they don’t wake up in the best of moods, post two MACOs outside medical. Get back to the bridge and let T’Pol know we have all of them. I’ll let you know as soon as we know more.”

“Aye, sir.”

Archer rushed after the group heading to the Med Bay.

“How were these people injured?” Phlox asked, taking more readings as they entered a turbo lift.

“We’re not sure,” Archer admitted. “They came through the wormhole.”

“Commander Tucker, I’m getting the impression you know this man.” The doctor looked at Trip with open curiosity.

“Not personally.” Trip looked to Archer for help and the Captain sighed.

“Phlox, we know who these people are because they’re from our past. At least one hundred twenty or so years in the past.”

“Really. As T’Pol would say, that’s fascinating.” Phlox grinned.

As they entered the Med Bay, one of the corpsman, Frederick Thompson, immediately came towards them.

“Doctor, we’re unable to get their clothing or helmets off in order to treat them,” he told them. Archer noted the other members of G-Force had been moved to diagnostic beds, still unconscious.

“Uh, I think I know how to do it,” Trip said, looking towards Archer. The Captain nodded his consent. “I read that their Birdstyles were initiated by their speaking a code word into their bracelets.” He pointed at the bracelet on Jason’s left wrist. “To deactivate them, they spoke another code word.”

“Do you know the codes?” Archer asked.

Trip shook his head. “No, but I was told there was another way.”

Trip turned Jason’s wrist and worked on the clasp of the bracelet. After a moment, it popped open and fell into Trip’s hand.

Jason’s body was enveloped in a blinding light that forced them to turn away, shielding their eyes. As soon as the light disappeared, they turned back.

“I’ll be damned. It worked,” Trip muttered and then laughed. “I thought granddaddy was kidding when he said they wore numbered T-shirts identifying their place in the team,” he said of the number 2 T-shirt Jason was wearing.

“Thank you, Commander,” Phlox said and motioned to his two corpsmen. “Please follow Commander Tucker’s example to remove the uniforms.” The two men nodded and proceeded to remove the other four’s bracelets.

“I suggest you keep them and give them back once everyone has recovered,” Archer requested as Trip gave Jason’s to the doctor.

The com in the Med Bay chimed and Archer walked over to activate it, smiling at the absurdity of wearing numbered t-shirts.

“Archer here.”

“Captain, we’re maneuvering to dock with the damaged ship,” T’Pol reported. “I suggest we get a crew over there to secure it.” 

“It’s the Phoenix, T’Pol,” he told her.

“The Phoenix. It is named after a mythical bird that died in flame and rose from its own ashes young and renewed. An interesting choice.” Archer was surprised. If he didn’t know any better, he’d swear T’Pol was amused.

“The damage to the Phoenix is extensive,” T’Pol continued. “There are traces of nuclear matter on the hull.”

“Nuclear?” Archer and Trip exchanged looks.

I better get over there and check it out,” Trip said and Archer nodded.

“Choose a few assistants and take Malcolm with you to secure the weapons,” the captain advised.

“Yes, sir.” Trip turned to leave and Archer gave his attention back to the doctor.

“Keep me appraised. I want to know as soon as they’re awake,” he requested and the doctor nodded.

“Most certainly, Captain.” Phlox nodded and went to work as the captain followed trip out the door.

Tiny groaned as he woke. He could tell he was lying down and that there was light: he could see it through his closed eyelids. He was covered with something, a blanket or sheet. He didn’t have his helmet on and didn’t feel the tightness of his Birdstyle.

He took stock of himself. He was aching all over and a dull headache was pounding behind his eyes, but nothing felt broken.

He slowly opened his eyes. It took a moment to focus.

He was in a medical center. He turned his head to find Princess lying on the bed to his right, in her civilian clothes. Jason was on the bed next to her. Tiny slowly turned his head to the left to see Mark and Keyop.

They were all either asleep or unconscious.

Tiny lifted his head a little when he heard an odd chirping noise. He concentrated and heard it again. He looked around to see numerous cages and glass cases lining one wall. Something in one of the cases moved. Tiny heard the chirping sound again.

“Coming, coming,” a male voice said pleasantly from behind a curtained area. “You’re being most impatient, Tull,” the voice added.

The curtain moved back and Tiny gasped.

Although the shape of the being he was looking at was humanoid, the face definitely wasn’t. It seemed male to him and smiled at him.

“Ah, you’re starting to wake up. Excellent. How do you feel?”

“What?” Tiny asked, scooting up into a sitting position.

“You suffered a concussion. Are you experiencing any double vision or nausea?”

“Who are you?” Tiny asked instead of answering the question. He really wanted to ask ‘what are you’ but thought starting with a name would help.

“I’m Dr. Phlox and you’re on the starship Enterprise.” The man stopped beside Tiny’s bed. “Can I get you something to drink?”

Tiny could only stare at him as he slowly shook his head.

“Captain Archer asked me to notify him once you awakened.” Tiny watched Phlox continued over to the wall with the cages and glass containers. As he neared, the chirping noise grew louder. “Coming, coming.” He opened the top of one the containers and dropped something into it. Tiny saw something move in the container and thought it had to be some kind of small animal.

Then it hit him. Phlox had said starship Enterprise. “Where did you say we are?” he asked, warning bells going off in his head.

“This is the Enterprise,” Phlox said, smiling at him.

“The Enterprise?” Tiny repeated. Phlox nodded.

Tiny looked around cautiously. He knew, for a fact, the Galactic Federation currently had no ships named Enterprise. The last time the name had been used was on a United States aircraft carrier that was decommissioned in the early twenty first century.

His teammates were all still unconscious, vulnerable. It felt to him like a ploy, something Zoltar would try to throw them off. He’d tried it before.

Phlox was walking towards a clear glass doorway. The glass was etched with a set of medical symbols. “Let me contact Captain Archer-"

“I don’t think so.” Tiny jumped off the bed and intercepted Phlox before he got too close to the door.

“I don’t think-” Phlox stuck his hand into the pocket of the jacket he was wearing. Tiny wasn’t going to take the chance he was going for a weapon. He grabbed the man and pinned him to the wall beside the doors.

“This isn’t necessary,” Phlox said as Tiny pressed his forearm across the doctor’s throat.

“I don’t know what the hell you are and the Galactic Federation doesn’t have a starship named Enterprise,” Tiny told him through clenched teeth.

“As I stated, I’m Denobulan and I am the doctor on this ship.”

“Why are we here?” Tiny demanded, not loosening his pressure on Phlox’s throat.

“Your ship was damaged when it came through the wormhole,” Phlox squeezed out, his eyes wide as he struggled to get air. “Your life support failed so we had to transport you here.”

“Where’s here?” Tiny pressed.

“I told you, the starship Enterprise!”

“And I told you we don’t have a ship named Enterprise. Did Zoltar think he’d be able to fool us that easily?”

“Tiny, let him breathe.”

Princess was starting to sit up in bed, her hands on her head. She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, releasing her head so she could look towards him.

“You all right?” Tiny asked over his shoulder, slowly pulling his arm down but keeping his eye on Phlox, who sucked in a breath and reached up to rub his neck.

Princess blinked a few times. “I have the headache from hell, but everything seems to be working.” She rotated her right wrist and winced.

“I can give you something for the headache,” Phlox offered from behind Tiny.

“I don’t think so.” Princess pulled her legs over to the side of the bed and slid down to her feet. She held onto the bed until she got her balance.

Phlox moved past Tiny to her side and reached for her, but Princess moved out of his reach, her hand going to her pocket where her yo-yo was hidden. Her eyes widened after she got a good look at him.

“Take a seat,” Tiny ordered, startling Phlox because he was suddenly right next to him. Rather than argue, Phlox moved over to the nearest seat and took it.

Keyop was stirring and slowly sat up, blinking his eyes rapidly. “I’m alive,” he said in a scratchy voice. He looked around and fixed his eyes on Tiny. “We made it?” he whispered as he saw Princess and then Mark and Jason lying still on their beds. He started to grin and Tiny allowed his lips to rise into a smile even as he watched Phlox.

“Looks like it.”

Keyop grinned wildly and jumped off the bed onto his feet, then promptly fell down onto his butt.

“Wow. That first step is a doozey,” he said from the floor, shaking his head for a moment since he had jarred himself. Princess walked over and extended a hand to help him back to standing.

“Take it easy, squirt,” Tiny advised as Princess rubbed Keyop’s back with her hand. “Situation is still in question.”

Mark was making waking sounds, starting to stir.

“I was instructed to contact the Captain when you all began to wake. May I?” Phlox asked guardedly.

“You can contact Security Chief Anderson for us,” Princess said. Phlox smiled at her unsurely.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know who that is.”

Tiny’s lips thinned as Keyop tried to hide his surprise.

“Did anyone get the number of that truck that hit us?” Tiny and Keyop turned to see Jason starting to sit up, his eyes still closed. His slowly opened them and looked Tiny.

“Please tell me there aren’t two of you,” he asked and closed his eyes again with a groan.

“All of you are suffering from concussions and should take it easy,” Phlox said. Mark was now also sitting up, looking disoriented. “The dizziness and double vision should subside in a few minutes.”

Jason opened his eyes again and fixed them on the doctor. His eyebrows rose and then he squinted. “What the hell are you?” he asked and rubbed his eyes as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Princess moved to Mark’s side and helped him get to his feet. He leaned down to rub his lower right leg, grimacing.

“As I already explained, I am a Denobulan,” Phlox responded and although he was known for his infinite patience, it was beginning to wear thin. “I am contacting Captain Archer.” He walked past Tiny to the wall communicator near the entrance to the Sick Bay. Tiny turned to watch him, to keep him in his sights.

“Where are we?” Mark asked, pulling himself up to stand straight.

 Tiny crossed his arms over his chest. “On the starship Enterprise.” Everyone looked at him with a frown.

“We don’t have a ship named Enterprise.” Tiny watched wariness immediately bloom in Mark’s blue eyes.

“Captain Archer will be able to explain everything,” Phlox said as he turned to face them again. Jason had managed to get to his feet without any problem and walked over to Tiny’s side. Tiny could tell Jason was skeptical as well.

“Captain Archer, huh?” He stared at Phlox will open hostility. “Is he like you?” The doctor was watching them with interest but didn’t appear to be the least bit concerned by their disbelief.

“If you mean is he a Denobulan, no. He’s human.”

“Convenient.” Jason crossed his arms over his chest.

“Where’s our ship?” Mark asked, his hand in his pocket on his boomerang.

“As far as I know, it’s docked with us so that the damage can be cataloged for repair purposes.”

“He said we came out of a wormhole,” Tiny said for everyone’s benefit. “That our life support was failing so they brought us here.”

“Wormhole?” Jason laughed but it wasn’t a pleasant sound. “And I’m Jiminy Cricket.” Jason took a few steps towards the glass door that appeared to be the only visible exit, noting the two men standing outside it with visible weapons. “That’s a new color for the Happiness Boys,” he noted of the gray camouflage the men were in. Dr. Phlox frowned at him.

“Take us to our ship,” Mark said in a tone that wasn’t asking.

 “Captain Archer is on his way-”

“We aren’t asking.” Jason interrupted the doctor and pointed at the door. “Call them in.” He stepped a few feet from the door way.

Phlox looked at each of them and recognized the look some of the Makos had right before they went on a mission. He remembered Lt. Reed stating they were dangerous. “I don’t want anyone to be hurt, including any of you.”

Jason looked towards Mark, who nodded.

“Call them in,” Mark said. “We won’t kill them.”

Phlox reluctantly walked towards the door, which opened with a swish. The two Makos turned to look at him. “Gentlmen, I could use your assistance,” Phlox said and before they knew what hit them, Jason had both disarmed and down on the floor in unconscious heaps.

“How’d it go?” Archer asked as Trip and Malcolm came back onto the bridge. He noticed Trip had the journal in his hands and was flipping through it.

"It was surprisingly easy to secure the weapons,” Malcolm said as he strode to his post, motioning the security officer who had taken over for him out of the seat. “The Phoenix was much more technologically advanced than was normal for that time period. The missiles all have AI technology.”

“And she’s down six of them,” Trip said, reading something with such intensity he nearly ran into the railing circling the lower level of the bridge.  “I think they were on a mission when whatever it was happened.”

“What are you reading?” Archer wanted to know.

“I checked the ship’s log. Its pass worded, but did give me the date. I’m looking for it in the journal.”

“Why?” T’Pol wanted to know as she swung around in her seat.

“We know they got back to Earth because none of them were married while the team was active and none of them had children until after the war. I want to find out what mission they were on. It might help us figure out how to get them back.”

“You could simply ask them when they regain consciousness.” T’Pol suggested.

Trip shook his head. “I’m betting they’re going to cite security and not tell us squat.” He stopped reading and a grin appeared on his lips. “Got it.”

“What does it say?” Hoshi asked.

Trip cocked his head at her. “I thought you didn’t want to hear anything about the journal.”

 “Trip, just read it,” Archer ordered, shifting in his Captain’s seat to give Trip an exasperated look

“All right.” Trip cleared his throat. “We damn near got killed yesterday,” he read. “We thought Zoltar finally had gotten the upper hand on us. He shot some kind of mega missiles at New York City. We hit them with everything we had and destroyed all but one. Jason hit it with not one but six of the TBXs with no affect. We dubbed it the Mega Missile.”

“From what I know of the weapons used during their time period,” Malcolm commented, “that mega missile was something we’d have trouble with.”

“Jason then suggested we try Fiery Phoenix,” Trip continued. “We didn’t know what would happen once we hit it.”

The others looked at him in horror.

“They purposefully went kamikaze on a mega missile?” Travis gawked. “We’re they crazy?”

“To answer your question, no,” Trip said and went back to the journal. “Five lives for millions. It was the only choice we could make.”

“They were going to sacrificed themselves.” Hoshi hugged herself and looked at the floor.

“We were willing to sacrifice ourselves to stop the Zindi,” Archer reminded her.

“That was how G-Force operated.” Trip reached over to squeeze her arm. “This wasn’t the first time they risked everything to save lives.”

“What is this ‘Fiery Phoenix’? T’Pol asked.

“That’s one of the mysteries I was hoping they could explain,” Trip admitted, keeping his finger on the page so he wouldn’t lose his place. “From what I’ve read and the pictures I’ve seen, Fiery Phoenix was one of their weapons. The entire ship would be engulfed in flames so hot it could destroy whatever mech it came into contact with but the ship somehow kept its integrity. Witnesses said the ship would take on the form of a giant fire bird and a lot of people swore the wings flapped like it really was flying and it screeched just like a bird. Once they accomplished whatever it was they were using it for, the ship converted back to its original form. It was incredibly stressful on them, so they only used the weapon if they had no other choice.”

“That is not possible,” T’Pol stated in her matter-of-fact manner.

 “I’ve got pictures in my collection of it. They’re not that great and they’re old, but I can show them to you,” he countered.

“Trip, what else does it say?” Archer asked. Trip returned to the book.

“We plotted an intercept course and initiated Fiery Phoenix. We hit the missile and all hell broke loose. We took severe damage and the blast sent us tumbling. We all lost consciousness and next thing I knew, I woke up with a foot of water at my station.”

“She has not mentioned Enterprise,” T’Pol pointed out. Trip pursed his lips and waved a hand at her.

“And what do you think would have happened if they’d told their superiors they went through a wormhole and ended up in the future?” he wanted to know. “I’ll tell you what. They would have been put in a padded room and treated for battle fatigue and post-traumatic stress disorder. Then we would have lost the war.”

“What else?” Archer wanted to know.

“The Chief told us we successfully destroyed the missile and the blast had thrown us out beyond Manhattan Island. We’d crashed into the Atlantic while still fiery. We ended up having to use Keyop’s buggy to get out two at a time before the bridge totally flooded. Lots of cuts and bruises and Jason had a dislocated shoulder, but we survived and so did New York City.”

“So we know they got back,” Travis mused.

“Has anyone considered how we’re going to convince them they are in the future and we’re their descendants?” Malcolm asked.

“The Enterprise won’t be enough proof this is the future?” Hoshi wondered.

“Probably not.” Trip closed the journal and waved it in the air. “That was a tactic of Zoltar’s: capturing them and trying to trick them after they woke up that they were in the future and Spectra had won the war because they disappeared.”

“Then how do we approach it?” Malcolm looked expectantly at Trip.

“There are DNA tests that would prove it,” T’Pol pointed out but Archer shook his head.

“They only had rudimentary DNA test capabilities back then. I don’t think they’d believe it,” He said.

“We have t

“What about the others? We have to convince all of them,” Archer said. Trip shook his head.

“I don’t think so. I think if we convince Princess and Jason, they’ll be able to convince the others.

“How are we going to convince Jason? You’ve told me several times he was incredibly stubborn and suspicious.” Archer waited expectantly.

“I know a story about him that was kept pretty hush-hush in the family. I’ll remind him of it.”

“Care to share with us?” Malcolm grinned broadly and Trip grinned back.

“No. I said hush-hush.”

“Captain.” T’Pol clasped her hands behind her back, which usually meant she had something to say she felt he might not like.

“Yes, T’Pol?”

“I do not believe telling your ancestors you are their descendants is a good idea.”

“Why not?” Trip asked. “It lends some credibility to their being in the future.”

“The mere fact they are here could be a danger to the timeline,” T’Pol responded, staring at him as if he should already have deduced the fact. “For one thing, you stated at this point in their lives they have not produced children. Knowing they would become parents could influence their lives in ways that might be dangerous to them and us. You cannot tell them who they have children with. You cannot tell them of their children’s lives.”

Trip stared at her as if she’d grown horns before making an unhappy face as he thought over her words.

“We’ve got to tell them something.” He turned towards Archer expectantly. The Captain returned his look with one of deep thought.

“So we tell them as little as possible?” Malcolm asked. “We could tell them it’s for that very reason, to preserve the timeline.”

“Then the question is what do we tell them.” Travis shrugged his shoulders.

“All right.” Archer looked at each of them. “We’ll start with showing Princess her journal –"

“I advise against that as well,” T’Pol interjected.

“Why?” Trip’s blue eyes narrowed as if he was becoming cross with her.

She brushed off his annoyance. “Human curiosity is a strong compulsion. She may be tempted to look at entries beyond the date you have identified as their current date.”

Trip rolled his eyes. “Then we’ll just have to mark that date and ask her really nice not to go past that date.”

“I agree with Trip, T’Pol,” Archer told her. “That journal is the most important item we can show them. Now, what about your hush-hush story?” Archer asked Trip. The engineer sighed and looked away.

“It reveals a little, but I don’t know of any other way to convince him and if he doesn’t believe us, no one else will.”

“I would think Princess could convince them,” Hoshi argued.

“What about T’Pol?” Travis tuned to the Vulcan. “We introduce her.” She cocked her head towards him.

“How would that prove their in the future?” Malcolm wanted to know.

“She’d an alien to Earth,” Travis pointed out.

“So were the Spectrans,” T’Pol pointed out.

“All right.” Archer set his shoulders. “Let’s try Princess first and then if there’s still doubts, Trip can pull Jason aside and talk to him,” Archer decided, looking for any dissension. One by one, they nodded.

The intercom in the briefing room pinged and Archer walked over to activate it. “Archer here.”

“Captain, our guests are awake and suspicious. Could you please come to talk to them?” Phlox asked. Archer frowned at the tone of the doctor’s voice. He didn’t sound happy.

Jason had the point, Mark the rear. Princess and Tiny kept their eyes on the doctor as Keyop just looked around.

“I do not understand why you feel it necessary to take this action,” the doctor said as Tiny nudged him along.

“That’s the idea,” Jason snapped over his shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it,” Mark added. “You cooperate and we might let you live.”

Phlox’s eyes widened. “Threats are not necessary. I can see now why the Captain was concerned.”

“Concerned about what?” Jason asked.

“That you might be in a bad mood when you awakened.”

Jason laughed. “Bad mood? You haven’t seen anything yet.”

“Jason,” Mark warned. Jason ignored him and signed they were coming to an intersection of corridor. They slowed and Mark moved up to the doctor’s side. “Which way?”

“There’s a lounge on the right that has a viewing port that should give you a view of your ship.”

Jason slipped around the corner and motioned for the others to follow. A little further and they did come to an empty seating area with a large window. They moved to the window and looked out.

To the far right, they could see the Phoenix, floating next to the ship they appeared to be on, an umbilical between them. The background was dark, with stars glowing off in the distance. They really were in space. Deep space.

“Damn.” Mark’s eyes widened at the damage they saw on the Phoenix. The front of the ship had practically been torn off. The only thing still there was the tilting G-2 and the bent locking mechanism barely holding it in place. Tears were visible in the hull, scorch marks marred its surface. The port pod was hanging, the wing severely damaged. If they had been in atmosphere, the ship would have broken up.

“That’s real,” Tiny said, his face pressed against the window as he looked sadly at his baby. “There’s no way they can fake that.”

“So this is a ship,” Jason said, also close to the window, looking around as best he could. “And we’re in space.”

“Yes. I told you you’re on the—“

“Enterprise,” Mark said for the doctor. “We’re in orbit around Earth?” he asked. Phlox shook his head.

“No. We were on our way back to Earth when we found the wormhole.”

“And we came through the wormhole in the Phoenix,” Jason stated. Phlox nodded again. Jason rolled his eyes. “Wormholes don’t exist.”

“I can assure you they do,” Phlox insisted.

“Tiny, from what you can see, is the ship space worthy?” Mark asked his pilot, motioning for Jason to drop it. Tiny shook his head.

“I doubt it.”

“So we’re…stuck?” Keyop asked, his face still pressed to the window. “Can’t we…contact the…Chief?”

“Good question,” Jason said and raised his left wrist to his mouth. “G-2 to Chief Anderson, come in,” he said into his bracelet and waited. There was no response. He tried a second time and then Princess tried, just in case there was something wrong with Jason’s bracelet. She received no answer as well.

“Are we being jammed?” Mark asked.

Princess shook her head, frowning. “Not that I can tell.”

Mark stared at their ship, his arms crossed over his chest, his lips thin.

“It appears we’re stuck here for the moment. Unless there’s some other means off this ship.” He turned to stare at Phlox as Jason moved in closer to the doctor.

“What’s the complement of this ship?” he asked, his eyes still showing his displeasure of the situation.

“We have a crew of eighty-three at the moment.”

“So you enter a planet’s atmosphere and land?” he asked. Phlox shook his head.

“We’re too large for that and it’s quite unnecessary.”

“Oh?” Jason smirked. “So you have to have a method for getting on and off this ship?”

“Of course. The transporters and the shuttles, but we are several light years from any inhabited planets.” Phlox looked at each of them in turn. “This would be so much simpler if you just allowed me to contact the Captain.”

“Does this ship have an armory?” Jason asked. “Weapons?”

Phlox took a deep, exasperated breath. “And why would you want to know that?”

Before Jason could make a snarky retort, Mark held up his hand.

“I’m not convinced you’re telling us the truth,” Mark said to the doctor. “But we’re apparently between a rock and hard place. Contact your Captain.” Jason opened his mouth, but Mark’s look silenced his protest before it left his lips. “Let’s see if he has a better story.”

The moment they walked into Medical, Archer knew there was a problem. There was no sign of Phlox or their guests and the MACO guards were unconscious on the floor.

Hoshi crouched down beside one to check his pulse as Trip checked the other.

“Dammit. This wasn’t supposed to happen,” Archer muttered as he activated the intercom.

“They’re both alive, Captain,” Trip announced, looking up unhappily.

“Archer to bridge.”

“Yes, Captain?” The watch officer said.

 “Is Lt. Reed back?”

“Right here, Captain,” Reed announced.

“Our guests have taken out the MACOs and have disappeared with Dr. Phlox. I want Security put on alert. If they find them, no action is to be taken,” Archer ordered as Trip and Hoshi helped the MACOs sit up. Both were rubbing their necks with grimaces. “Tell them to report back with the G-Force’s team’s position.”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Captain Archer, this is Dr. Phlox.” The doctor’s voice broke into their conversation. He sounded a bit tense to Archer.

“Doctor, are you all right?” the Captain asked, watching Trip help his MACO to the nearest bed.

“I’m more worried about the MACOs.”

Archer had to smile. Phlox had never shirked from his duty, regardless of the danger to himself. “They’re both conscious but woozy. Are our guests with you?”

“They would like to speak with you.”

“Where are you?” Archer motioned Trip back to his side.

“The forward lounge.”

“Commander Tucker and Lt. Sato will be with me.”

“Understood,” the doctor said and Archer turned his attention back to Malcolm.

“Malcolm, did you catch that?” he asked, fixing his eyes on Trip, who shrugged, an apologetic look on his face.

“Yes, sir. Shall I have a team in waiting?” the security officer wanted to know. Trip’s eyes widened as he shook his head.

“Yes, but keep them at a distance. I don’t want to know what G-Force is capable of when cornered first hand.”

“Aye, sir,” Malcolm acknowledged.

“Captain, I think we should go with you,” One of the MACOs said, trying to get to his feet as Archer deactivated the intercom. Hoshi moved to help him as he swayed dangerously. “They’re dangerous.”

“They could have killed you and they didn’t,” Trip pointed out. The MACO turned hard eyes on him.

“And we won’t make the same mistake twice.”

“Stand down,” Archer ordered, looking at both men pointedly until they unhappily nodded. “They just want to talk.”

“I hope you’re right, sir,” the other MACO said, still rubbing his neck.

“So do I,” Archer admitted.

Archer led Trip and Hoshi to the turbo lift and took it two levels up. Once the door opened, he cautiously stepped out. Seeing no one, he walked towards the lounge, making no attempt to be quiet.

As they neared the corner that would put them into direct view of the lounge, a voice behind them stopped them in their tracks.

“Just keep going,” the voice said, a medium male voice. “You try anything and you’ll regret it.”

Archer looked over his shoulder to see Jason, his numbered T-shirt identifying him, standing behind them, pointing a gun at Trip’s back.

“We don’t want any trouble,” Archer tried to assure him, but the smile he gave Archer chilled the Captain’s blood.

“Then I suggest you get moving.” He motioned with the gun for them to start walking. Archer nodded and started moving again, Hoshi and Trip right on his heels.

Jason stopped them ten feet from the rest of the team. Archer was relieved to see Dr. Phlox appeared to be unharmed.

“I’m Captain Jonathan Archer of the Enterprise,” he told them with a smile that he hoped didn’t look forced. He motioned at Trip. “This is my Chief Engineer, Commander Charles Tucker III and my Chief Communications Officer Lt. Hoshi Sato.” He nodded towards her. “I see that Dr. Phlox has shown you your ship.” Archer pointed at the large window that showed the Phoenix tethered to the Enterprise.

“You can tell us how we got here and we might not kill you,” Mark told him without preamble.

“Now just wait one cotton-picking minute,” Trip began, only to have a gun pressed to his temple.

“Shut up,” Jason told him, his voice cold as ice.

“Commander, look at your ship,” Archer demanded, his heart pounding hard as he pointed at the Phoenix. “Your life support failed. We saved your lives. The least you could do is hear us out!”

Mark stared at him, and then waved his hand. Jason backed away from Tucker, but kept his gun trained on them. Archer sighed with relief but gave Tucker a pointed look. The last thing they needed was a projectile weapon going off when they were close to the outer hull. He didn’t fancy dealing the section possibly decompressing and leaking air out into the void.

“Talk,” Mark said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Tell us about this Enterprise of yours.”

“Captain, they do not believe this ship is called the Enterprise,” Dr. Phlox said, as calm as ever. “They have stated repeatedly the Federation has no ship of that name.”

That made perfect sense to Archer. He took a deep breath, ready to find out just how persuasive he could be.

“That’s true,” he directed at Mark, “at your time.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jason asked, his pale eyes narrowing as he turned his attention to Archer.

“You were somehow sucked into a wormhole.” Archer pointed at the window. “If you look past your ship to the right, you’ll see it.”

Princess took three steps to the right to get closer to the window to get a better look. Her green eyes bugged.

“We went through that?” The shock in her voice got their attention. Mark and Tiny moved to her side to look. Archer was impressed Jason and Keyop kept their attention on them instead of what their teammates were seeing.

“Holy crap. I’ve never seen one before,” Tiny said, leaning against the window to try to get a better look.

“We came across this wormhole three days ago.” Archer glanced at Tucker. His engineer still had his lips pressed tight in annoyance but seemed content to allow him to do all of the talking. “It was previously unknown. You caught us completely off guard when your ship came through it.”

“Just where are we?” Jason asked.

Archer turned to him. “We’re between the Andorian and Chelle systems.”

Jason snorted. “That tells me a lot.”

“This ship, your Enterprise, is a ship in the Federation?” Mark asked, returning his attention to them.

“Yes.” Archer felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up at the Commander’s penetrating look.

“But not during our time, you said.” One dark eye brow rose inquisitively. So the Commander had picked up on that.

“Yes.”

“So ‘when’ is this?” Mark asked with a serpentine smile.

“Uh, Captain?” Tucker queried. “Could I talk to you for a moment?” he asked.

“Not now, Trip,” Archer said out of the side of his mouth.

“What year is this, Captain?” Mark pressed.

“2154,” Archer said. Trip groaned. Archer caste him a sidelong look.

Jason snorted, shaking his head. “Really? Can’t Zoltar come up with something a little more original?”

“It’s the truth, Commander.” Archer put his own steel into his voice. “We have no reason to lie to you.”

“None other than wanting us dead,” Jason snapped.

“What proof do you have this is 2154?” Mark asked, ignoring Jason’s comment.

“Only our records.”

“Can be faked,” Keyop said, mirroring Mark’s arms-crossed stance.

Hoshi turned to look at Archer, Princess’ diary clutched tightly in her hand.

“Go ahead, Hoshi,” he told her. Hoshi took a deep breath and stepped forward.

“My great-grandmother kept a diary,” she told them, bringing it up to press it against her stomach. “It’s been passed down the family from daughter to daughter. It was given to me a few years ago by my mother when my grandmother died.” She fixed her dark brown eyes on Princess. “My great-grandmother’s name was Princess Anderson.”

There was utter silence. Princess’ green eyes locked on the diary in Hoshi’s hands.

“Commander?” she asked. Mark nodded, his brows drawn in with suspicion. Princess walked over to Hoshi. “May I?” She motioned at the diary.

“I only ask that you not look at anything written after today,” Hoshi said as she handed it to her. “That page is marked with the yellow paper.”

“Why shouldn’t she look at the whole thing?” Jason wanted to know.

 “Because we’re going to do everything we can do to get you back through that wormhole to 2034,” Archer said. “We have to maintain the timeline.”

“So you don’t want us to know anything that happened between our today and your today,” Tiny surmised. Archer nodded, glad one of them understood.

Jason made a loud, annoying buzzing sound, getting all their attention. “Wrong answer,” he told Archer. “You already blew that when she said she was Princess’ great-granddaughter,” he pointed at Hoshi.

Archer tried not to get frustrated. Trip had been right that Jason was the other member of the team they needed to convince they were telling the truth.

“Short of taking you to Earth to show you this really in 2154, I thought the best way to convince you would be to tell you a little,” he told them. “Our concern is if we tell you too much, we could inadvertently change the timeline.”

“So it was just a coincidence Princess’ great-granddaughter happens to be on this ship?” Jason’s skepticism was evident.

“Yes it was,” Archer answered.

“Jason, this is my diary,” Princess said, flipping through pages with wide eyes.

“You’re sure?” Mark asked, moving to her side.

“Yes. Down to my doodles,” She closed the book as if she didn’t want Mark to see what was in it. Archer could imagine why.

“When was the last time you saw it?” Jason asked. “It could have been stolen.”

“I made an entry this morning and it’s there.” She waved the diary.

“Okay.” Jason looked at Archer expectantly. “What other surprises do you have for us?” He had been slowly backing up towards a wall that protected his back but gave him a full view of the area around them. He leaned back against it, crossing his legs at the ankles. “Besides the armed unit you have hiding down the hall.”

Archer was shocked he had noticed, but the rest of the team didn’t flinch at his declaration, so they had to have noticed as well. So much for MACO stealth.

“Malcolm?” Archer called. “Pull your team back.”

“Are you certain, Captain?” Reed called back.

“Yes. We’re fine.” Archer couldn’t tell if they moved, but apparently Jason could because he relaxed further, putting his gun into the hidden pocket in his pants’ leg as if he didn’t consider Archer, Trip or Hoshi a threat.

“What other proof do you have, Captain?” Mark asked, still standing beside Princess. Both were showing nothing but professionalism. Archer wasn’t sure when their relationship had blossomed, but found it interesting Mark was staying at her side.

“Trip,” Archer said, motioning for his Chief Engineer to step up.

Tucker turned all of his attention on Jason, but before he could say anything, Jason was giving him a quizzical look.

“Where are you from?” he asked. Trip frowned.

“Born and raised in Panama City, Florida,” Tucker told him with a touch of pride.

“I have yet to meet a Spectran who can pull off a southern accent,” Jason told him.

Tucker bristled, his mouth dropping open with indignation. “Are you calling me a liar?” he asked, taking a step towards Jason, but Jason didn’t even bat an eye.

“No.” Jason actually smirked. Archer realized he was baiting Trip for some reason. He just hoped his Engineer would realize it as well and keep his cool. “What’s with the nickname Trip?”

“Apparently you weren’t listening when the Captain said my name is Charles Tucker the third.” Tucker emphasized third as he crossed his arms over his chest, pursing his lips expectantly. He didn’t rise to Jason’s bait, much to Archer’s relief.

“So Trip is for the third,” Jason nodded, chuckling. “Sucks to be you.”

Now Tucker’s lips rose into a smirk of his own. For a moment, Archer saw the resemblance between the two men. “No, actually, it sucks to be you because your daughter married Charles Tucker the first, my granddaddy, so I’m your great-grandson.”

Jason nearly slid down the wall. Not in shock, but laughter. He doubled over he was laughing so hard. “Now I know you’re full of crap,” he managed to get out, but Tucker was still smirking.

“Give me one minute of your time and I’ll change your mind,” Tucker challenged. Jason wiped at his eyes, straightening up as he turned to Mark.

“Skipper, I gotta hear this,” he said around continued chuckling. Mark nodded his assent.

Jason led the way until he and Tucker were far enough from the rest of them that no one could hear them. Archer noted Jason kept his back to the wall to keep anyone from coming up behind him. The position also continued to give him a view in the other three directions. He and Tucker faced each other so no one could easily read their lips.

Tucker started talking. Thirty seconds later, Jason’s eyes widened as the color drained from his face. He glanced back at them for a moment before turning back to Tucker, who was still talking.

Archer noted the rest of G-Force had tensed up when Jason went pale, but made no move regarding it. Archer surmised that was based on the fact Jason was still listening to Tucker.

When the two men came back, Trip was no longer smirking but seemed happy. Jason, on the other hand, headed straight for Mark, still pale, his lips a thin line as he told his Commander, “They’re telling the truth.” He fell into the nearest chair, elbows on the arms, his right hand cupping his chin as he stared at the floor.

“What’d he say?” Tiny asked in concern.

 Jason closed his eyes. “Don’t worry about it,” he said.

“Jase?” Mark asked pointedly. Jason sighed and rubbed his face.

“Not right now, okay?” he requested and stood, shaking off whatever Trip had said to him. Archer’s interest was even more piqued now, based on Jason’s reaction. Just what was this family secret Trip had mentioned? “They’re telling the truth,” Jason repeated.

Mark looked as if he didn’t want to let it go. They stared at each other for a moment before Mark turned back to Archer.

“Are there any other surprises you want to drop on us?” he asked. Archer fought the smile trying to pull at his lips. Seeing it, Mark closed his eyes, sighed deeply and shook his head. “Who’s descendent are you?” he asked as he opened his eyes back up.

“I followed in your footsteps,” Archer told him. Mark sighed deeply again.

“Why am I not surprised?” he muttered.

“What about…me?” Keyop asked.

Archer turned towards the direction Jason had seen the MACOs. “Malcolm, send the MACOs off and join us,” he requested. After a moment. Malcolm Reed walked towards them, stopping beside Hoshi. “Malcolm is your descendent,” he told Keyop.

Keyop’s brown eyes widened as Malcolm slowly approached him, smiling.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Malcolm said, extending his hand. Keyop slowly took it and they shook.

“Malcolm is my Chief of Security,” Archer supplied as he turned to Tucker. “Get Travis down here,” he requested. Tucker turned to the communications console on the wall and touched it. Archer had a feeling this one was going to be a surprise, due to Travis Mayweather’s mixed heritage.

“Tucker to bridge. Travis, join us down at the observation deck,” he said.

“On my way,” Travis responded.

“Who’s Travis?” Mark asked.

“Lt. Travis Mayweather is one of our Helmsmen.”

“Which makes him Tiny’s descendent,” Princess said. “The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.” She smiled at their large pilot.

“So they manned this ship with our descendants?” Jason asked. The color was starting to come back to his skin.

“Not on purpose,” Tucker leaned back against the wall. “It wasn’t until I started doing research for my book that we figured it out.”

“Book?” Mark shared a look with Jason. Jason rolled his eyes and shrugged.

“I’ve always known I was your descendent,” Tucker said towards Jason. “Everything about G-Force fascinated me, so I decided to write a book about all of you. When I started sharing what I was learning, it rang some bells with the Captain, Hoshi, Malcolm and Travis.”

“It’s too much of a coincidence,” Jason said, reaching up to rub fingers against the center of his forehead.

“I suspect you’re right,” Archer admitted. He motioned to the seats that lined the observation window, “Shall we sit down while we continue to discuss this?”

“Captain, I’d like to get back to medical.” Archer turned to Dr. Phlox. He’d actually forgotten the Denubian was still there. The doctor was sitting with his legs crossed, an amused gleam in his eyes. “I understand now why you were so evasive about them. Your relationships are safe with me.”

“Doctor.” Mark walked over to the Denubian. “I want to apologize for our treatment of you and your men,” he said over his shoulder to Archer. The Commander of G-Force was genuinely chagrined. “Spectra has pulled this kind of scenario on us before. It’s not beyond them to try the same theme a second time.”

“Hey.” Jason suddenly brightened, his eyes shining as his lips rose into a big grin. “This must mean we beat the Blue Chicken!”

“That’s right!” Keyop joined in. “They wouldn’t be here if we’d lost!”

“Blue Chicken?” Hoshi asked, her dark brows drawn together as she turned to Tucker.

He shrugged at her. He had no idea what Jason meant either, but it didn’t matter. “Uh…Captain?” he warned as he pushed away from the wall just as Travis rounded the corner and came into view.

“We did win, didn’t we?” Princess pressed when she saw the concerned look on Tucker’s face.

“We can’t tell you, one way or the other,” he answered, looking to Archer for back-up as the team all took note of Travis’ approach.

“I’m sorry. We really can’t discuss anything like this with you, “Archer confirmed.” As a matter of fact, I’m going to need to restrict your access to certain parts of the ship.” Archer said the last to Mark. Mark nodded.

“I understand. We can’t know more than you’ve already told us about our future without risking screwing this up.” Mark waved his hands to encompass the room even though his eyes were fixed on Travis.

“Captain, you called for me?” Travis asked as he joined Archer. He was looking at the G-Force team curiously. Tucker motioned at Tiny, waving him over. Although the rest of the team was starting to show surprise at Travis’ mahogany skin color, Tiny didn’t look the least bit surprised. In fact, a slow smile lit his face.

“Travis, I want you to meet Tiny Harper.” Tucker introduced the G-Force pilot. “Tiny, this is Travis Mayweather, your great-grandson.”

Travis’ smile threatened to split his face in two. “Sir, you have no idea how thrilled I am to meet you. My mother told me so many stories about you. You’re the reason I joined Starfleet instead of staying a boomer pilot.”

“Boomer pilot?” Tiny asked as they shook hands.

“Cargo ships,” Travis said, but before he could say more, Archer shook his head. “Oh, yeah.” Travis smiled sheepishly, rubbing his neck. “Sorry. I can’t say more.”

“I know this is fascinating,” Mark said, getting their attention. “But we’ve got a big problem. Captain, we need to secure our ship.”

“We already did that,” Reed said, glancing through the window at the Phoenix. “We were concerned about your weapons since we were tethering your ship to us. Our sensors were detecting a high radiation reading.”

“Probably from the Spectran nuke we intercepted,” Jason offered, rising to his feet. “I’d like to double-check everything is secure,” he said to Mark.

“Of course, but you’re going to need environmental suits,” Archer told them, also getting to his feet. “The hull was compromised and your life support failed. We didn’t want to start any repairs until we could consult with you.”

“How did you get us out?” Princess asked. Archer thought for a moment, and then ruefully shook his head.

“Guess we’ll just have to use our imagination.” Jason walked over to where Reed was standing. “Where are these environmental suits?’ he asked. “The faster I do this, the faster we can determine what we need.”

“Captain?” Reed asked.

Archer nodded, pointing at Tucker. “Go with him. Make notes of what he thinks is needed.”

“I got a good look around the bridge when we checked the weapons. I already started one, but getting confirmation what I have down is accurate would help.”

“Then lead the way. You can tell me all about the crazy woman who was insane enough to marry me so I don’t tell her to take a hike when I meet her.” Jason motioned for Tucker to precede him. As they walked down the hall away from the observation room, they could hear Tucker declare he couldn’t talk about it.

“He’s going to drive him nuts until he tells him,” Tiny declared with a grin.

“He’s too stubborn,” Archer told him. They could still hear the two men bantering.

“Then he’s definitely Jason’s descendent.” Mark sighed heavily. “Is there someplace we could rest?”

“And I could use some food. That battle took everything out of me,” Tiny added, rubbing his stomach. As if on cue, it growled loudly.

Keyop laughed. ”Even a …wormhole can’t…kill your…appetite.”

Everyone laughed at that.

“Then your first stop will be the cafeteria. Malcolm?” Archer asked.

“I’ll make sure the cafeteria is clear and alert Chef,” the Security Chief assured him. “Give me ten minutes.” He headed in the same direction Tucker and Jason had taken.

“Travis, Hoshi, please escort them. Once they’ve gotten something to eat, they can use the guest quarters on level six. I need to get back to the bridge.”

“Yes, Captain,” Hoshi acknowledged.

“Captain Archer,” Mark said just as Archer turned away. The Captain of the Enterprise looked over his shoulder. “Thank you for rescuing my team.” 

Jason crawled under his station, cursing the environmental suit he had to wear until they could seal all of the leaks in the bridge and then re-pressurize it with air. It was bulky and the fingers too large to do any delicate work. He had to route all of the other station’s functions to Princess’ station, as hers was the only one apparently still operational. He had completed rerouting the pilot and control functions and was now working on his own, to make sure all of the weapons were as secure as Trip seemed to think they were based on his and Reed’s earlier examination when they had first arrived.

“So, who did I marry?” he asked conversationally. Trip was seated in his own suit at Princess’ station, still checking each transfer as Jason completed it.

Trip had to turn in order to look at him due to the helmet’s limited view. “Who’d you what?” he asked in feigned confusion.

“My future wife. Your great-grandmother,” Jason responded with exasperation. “I need to know who she is.”

“I can’t tell you.” Trip repeated for the sixth time. Jason was going to drive him insane asking again and again, hoping he would either slip up or tell him just to shut him up. “We can’t take the chance telling you changes history.”

“We can’t take the chance that I kill her,” Jason argued, throwing that in for the first time. “Women have this nasty habit of trying to kill me, so I have to kill them first. I’d really hate to kill your great-grandmother.”

“What?” Trip turned completely to give him a horrified look.

“Didn’t you come across that in your research about me?” Jason asked, following a set of charred wires with his eyes.

“That you kill the women you date?” Trip’s voice rose into a squeak. Jason exhaled a long suffering breath.

“For some reason, I’m attracted to Spectran women,” he told his descendent. “The first time, the woman figured out I was in Galaxy Security so she tried to kill me. I was only protecting myself.” He shrugged. “Then it happened a few more times. We figured out I’m attracted to Spectran women for some reason and Spectra knows it now, so they send in their Galaxy Girls to get my attention, hoping one of them will be able to get close enough to me to succeed in killing me.”

“That’s horrible.” Trip thought out loud. Jason nodded.

“Yeah, it is. The problem now is I go into every relationship with the fatalistic view I’ll have to kill her at some point. So tell me who she is so I don’t kill her for sneezing while my back is turned.”

“But you obviously didn’t kill her because I’m here,” Trip pointed out logically. “You might have known her for years or just met her. If I tell you who she is, you might just jump into the relationship sooner than you were supposed to and screw everything up.”

“How?” Having determined what the damaged wires did, Jason clumsily typed in the appropriate orders to reroute them.

“You might start your family sooner than you did.”

“Maybe have an extra kid or two?” Jason asked. Trip started to answer, but then clamped his mouth shut with a look of exasperation.

“Do you do this to Spectran prisoners?” he asked. Jason turned so he could see him.  

“Do what?”

“Pester them to death or trick them into answerin’ questions?”

“No. That’s Mark job,” Jason told him. “He loves to pontificate.” He examined the wires one more time, counting them. “I think that’s it.” He scooted out from under the station, got up, and then motioning for Trip to move out of Princess’ seat. Once Trip stood and moved away, Jason sat down in the seat to check over the systems.

“Yup, that’s it,” he declared, raising his arms over his head, bending left and then right to stretch cramped muscles. “By the way, I’m starving. Mind if we get something to eat?”

888

Ensign Karl Mason, who was sitting in at the security station, noted a red light suddenly blinking on the board in front of him. He read the message that appeared on the monitor.

“Captain, I’m getting a live weapons’ reading from the ship that’s docked with us,” he reported, typing into the station to determine what type of weapon it was.

Archer turned around in his seat. “A live weapons’ reading?” he repeated with a frown.

“Yes, sir. It appears to be coming from the port side pod,” Mason told him. Archer turned further to address Hoshi’s stand in, Ensign Vera Grant.

“Ensign, pipe me in to Commander Tucker,” he requested.

888

“Sure,” Trip answered. “They were taking the rest of your team to the Mess. We’ll just join them.”

“Commander Tucker,” a female voice said into the helmets. Jason startled, not having realized the helmets had built-in communications.

“We’re about done here,” Trip responded, but he was interrupted by the Captain.

“Trip, we’re getting a live weapons reading from the port pod on the Phoenix,” Archer said. “What are you doing?” Trip frowned as he met Jason’s eyes.

“We just finished reroutin’ the command functions to the only workin’ station. Jason’s confirmed all of the weapons are secure.”

“Then what’s live in the pod?” Archer demanded just as Jason’s eyes widened.

“Oh crap.” He gave Trip an alarmed look. “Princess’ Galacticycle has rockets, but they’re not tied into the ship’s systems.”

“Then how are they live?” Archer demanded, having heard him.

“Something must have tripped the controls on the Galacticycle. Maybe it’s a delayed reaction to the wing damage,” Jason speculated.

“Are they on a countdown?” Archer’s voice was rising in alarm.

“Not normally.” Jason motioned for Trip to follow him. “They have to be shot via controls on the cycle, but if there’s a short that has activated them, then they could go off as well.” Jason led the way to the rear of the bridge. He knew the lift wasn’t working, but there was a narrow tube with a ladder next to it for just an occasion. In the environmental suits, they’d just fit.

“What’s their payload?” Trip asked, following him down into the lower level of the Phoenix.

“They’re small but powerful enough to punch a hole in the hull of a mech. What’s your hull made of?” Jason asked as he jogged as fast as he could across the cargo area to the entrance to the port wing.

In answer, Archer rose from his seat. “Kayle, pull up the shields,” he ordered the helmsman.

“I can’t,” the young man reported, working his station. “Part of that ship is in the shield’s field.”

“Cap’n,” Trip said as Jason skidded to a halt. They had both forgot the wing had been heavily damaged by the missile. It was hanging at an angle, torn partially away so that the hallway Princess normally used to get to her cycle was now open to space. “We’re gonna to have to do a spacewalk to get to it.”

Everyone had been quiet on the way to the Mess, not quite knowing what to say to each other. Both sides had questions. Mark doubted many of the team’s questions would be answered. He agreed with Archer’s – his great-grandson’s – assessment they couldn’t be told much of anything about their histories. It was obvious in his mind G-Force had to have returned to their time, just from his observance of the Enterprise officers’ reactions to them. They hadn’t confirmed they’d been successful defeating Spectra, but the fact none of them were speaking Spectran was proof enough for Mark.

And what the hell had - what was his name? Tucker? – said to Jason that had his second blanching and swearing their tale of being from the future was legit? Jason had pushed them off when they asked, but Mark was going to demand an explanation the next time he and Jason were alone.

“You from…England?” Keyop finally broke the ice by asking Malcolm Reed. Reed was shorter than the rest of them, except for Keyop. Mark knew the doctors didn’t expect Keyop to get taller than five foot five. It stood to reason any of his descendants would also be shorter.

Then Mark looked towards the tall Travis Mayweather, thinking he could be completely wrong. Tiny was only five foot six, yet his descendent was over six foot. Who knew what genetics did?

“Uh, yes,” Reed answered Keyop’s query, looking uneasily at Hoshi and Mayweather.

“I liked…England,” Keyop went on, starting to bounce on the balls of his feet. He was beginning to enjoy what was happening. “They have…great fish and…chips.” He licked his lips.

Now Reed grinned and Mark saw the resemblance to Keyop. “That we do. As a matter of fact, I bet Chef has some he could whip together if you’d like?” Keyop nodded vigorously with a big grin of his own.

“Yeah!”

“He seems to be a ball of energy,” Hoshi commented, smiling in Keyop’s direction.

Princess couldn’t help but smile herself. “Yes, he can be. Just watching him sometimes can make you exhausted.”

“I used to teach before I joined Enterprise,” Hoshi admitted, making a turn to the right, pushing open a glass door. It was clear from the numerous tables and chairs in the large room it had to be the Mess.

“Children?” Princess asked. Mark listened, thinking it wasn’t a question that would cause too many problems to answer.

“Yes. Fifth and sixth grade,” Hoshi admitted, apparently feeling the same way. “I miss them sometimes,” she said wistfully. “They tend not to have ulterior motives for their actions.”

“It’s simple for them. All they need is food, sleep and video games,” Princess said. Both women laughed.

The far wall was made up of a line of windows. Mark could see the rear engines of the Phoenix off to the left. They looked as if they’d been through a shredder.

“Just how large is this ship?” he asked. He had no idea what the Enterprise looked like and he doubted either Reed or Mayweather would tell him the ship’s complement. All he could tell was it appeared to be quite a bit larger than the Phoenix.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell you,” Reed said, motioning towards one of the larger tables. “We’re three times longer from end to end, but probably twenty times larger in volume, from the schematics Trip showed me.”

“Tucker has schematics of the Phoenix?” Mark was shocked. That information was beyond top secret.

“It’s been over a hundred years. The schematics aren’t available to just anyone, but being family and the Chief Engineer of Star Fleet’s premier ship, Trip was able to get them without too much of a fuss.”

“Is it general knowledge in your time who we are?” Princess asked, sharing Mark’s alarm. They struggled to keep their identities secret. If Spectra ever found out who they were, anyone they knew would be in danger. Reed seemed to understand their concern.

“I guess it won’t hurt anything to tell you that, either. We all knew. The families, that is. We kept it to ourselves because you all stressed the continued need for secrecy. That’s one of the reasons none of us knew about each other.” Reed waved a hand at Hoshi and Travis. “The United Earth government decided on the one hundredth anniversary of the end of the war to release your names, but that was all. They released nothing else personal. Not your birth locations, ages, nationality, nothing about your families. They still made it hard for anyone to figure out who you had really been.”

 “That’s good,” Tiny commented, looking around, his right hand rubbing his large stomach. There was a galley to their left. “Is that the kitchen? If you show me the food and how all this future stuff works, I’ll whip up those fish and chips,” he offered.

They spent the next hour being regaled by Tiny’s fishing stories as he did in fact whip them up fish and chips. As they ate, he told a tale of taking Jason fishing.

“It’s common to use multiple poles when you’re fishing on a river,” he said as he dipped his fish into the tartar sauce Keyop had created from mayonnaise and relish. “I had extra, so I gave Jason two. The pier was about fifty feet from the dam where we were going to fish. They only had the two central spillways open, so the water was pretty calm on the shorelines. I’d heard some huge carp and catfish liked to hang out there.

“So we threw the lines in and sat down to wait. Didn’t take long. One of my poles took a hit and so did one of Jason’s. We grabbed them to set the hooks and started reeling them in. I still don’t know what happened, but suddenly Jason’s just got tore out of his hands into the water. I’d never seen anything like it before.”

“He said…it was a…monster fish,” Keyop said as he chewed. Princess reached over to smack his arm.

“Do not talk when chewing,” she chastised. “Or if you must, at least cover your mouth with your hand.” He glared at her as he closed his mouth and chewed exaggeratedly.

Mark was listening with amusement, having finished his meal. He rested his elbow on the table, placing his chin in his hand. He’d heard the story many times, but it was still funny. “It was probably a minnow,” he commented, which elicited a number of laughs.

“There wasn’t anything we could do about it. Since Jason still had one pole, we just kept fishing,” Tiny said, having swallowed his food before speaking to avoid a tongue lashing of his own. “Jason swore he was going to catch the fish that dared to take his pole.”

“Are you sure he didn’t just drop it in?” Malcolm asked. Tiny chuckled.

“Don’t dare suggest that around him,” he warned. “Nah, the pole really did get pulled right out of his hands into the water.

“Over the next two hours, we caught a few good sized carp, but no catfish. Then Jason got another bite. He started reeling. The way his pole was bending, we knew he had a big one. When he started to pull the fish up, it was this huge catfish.” Tiny spread his hands to three feet apart. “But trailing behind it was another line. Once we got the cat on the pier, we pulled up the other line and damn if it wasn’t the pole that had gone in.”

Travis’ eye went wide. “You mean the first pole had been pulled in by the same catfish?”

“Yep.” Tiny laughed. “Can you imagine? Jason gave that catfish a piece of his mind, but the catfish still had the last laugh.”

“Oh no.” Now Hoshi was grinning. “What happened?”

“Catfish whiskers and gill openings are sharp as hell. They can cut the crap out of you if you’re not careful. Jason got one of the hooks out of it okay, but the cat started flopping around when Jason tried to pull out the second. He ended up cutting his hand between his thumb and forefinger. While he cussed up a storm, that old catfish’s flopping had moved it to the edge of the pier and the next we knew, it was falling back into the water, with that original pole still attached.”

Everyone was laughing at Jason’s expense.

“He ended up with a bad infection from that cut, too,” Mark remembered, shaking his head as he remembered.

Princess rose, still smiling, her plate and cup in her hands. “Where do we take these?” she asked, reaching to collect Keyop’s.

A red light suddenly started flashing on the walls and an alarm sounded. Malcolm, Travis and Hoshi jumped to their feet.

“What is that?” Mark asked, rising as well.

“Red alert,” Malcolm answered as a voice emerged from the imbedded speakers throughout the ship.    

 “Evacuate decks five and six in starboard sections D and F,” a female voice said. “This is not a drill. Evacuate decks five and six in starboard sections D and F,” she repeated. “All senior officers report to the bridge with visitors.”

“Please come with us,” Malcolm requested in a tight voice, suddenly all business.

“What’s going on?” Mark asked, flipping into command mode. Malcolm ushered them towards the exit.

“We’ll know as soon as we get to the bridge,” he promised as Travis took the lead with his longer legs. The alarm continued to sound, echoing in the small space. They went to a quick jog as they raced towards the end of the hall on their left. Once they reached the end, a door slid open to reveal what looked like an elevator. Once they were all in, Travis said, “Bridge”. The door slid closed and the elevator started moving.

It didn’t take long to stop. As the doors slid open, the blinking alert lights bathed them in red as a cacophony of voices hit them, the loudest being Commander Tucker’s as he yelled in fear, “What the hell are you doin’?”.

“Do you have a better idea?” they heard Jason yell back.

The large screen in front of the bridge was showing the port side of the Phoenix, where the pod holding Princess’ Galacticycle was stored. They had a better view of where the wing was damaged from this vantage. Mark had to do a double-take because he could swear he could see a body floating from the damage towards the pod itself.

“Captain, his trajectory will place him close enough to the pod to grasp it,” a female voice declared from their left. Mark glanced over to see a woman seated at a station in a bright sky blue skin tight body suit. Her ears were pointed, her eye brows having an unusual upswing towards her temples and her skin had a hue that he could swear had a greenish tinge to it.

“Yeah, I had a better idea!” Tucker, Jason’s descendent, yelled back. “It’s called a safety tether!”

“Captain, what’s going on?” Mark asked, trying to pull his attention from the woman who was clearly not human back to the screen. Archer turned towards them as Travis, Hoshi and Malcolm rushed to their posts.

“Apparently the missiles on Princess’ motorcycle have gone live,” he told them, his lips thin. “Jason’s trying to reach them to deactivate them. If they go off, Jason believes they’ll severely damage us.”

“That’s Jason?” Tiny was pointed at the form that had just reached the pod, his voice edged in alarm.

“G-2, report!” Mark demanded, taking over as he had been trained to do.

“I’m a little busy here,” Jason responded with some exasperation.

“What did you do to my motorcycle?” Princess demanded, her arm raised so her bracelet was close to her mouth.

“I didn’t do anything,” Jason snapped indignantly. “I suspect the Galacticycle was damaged, too, and it’s just taken a while for it to show.”

“Why didn’t you just disarm it from the bridge?” Archer asked. They could barely see Jason disappearing into the pod.

“The Galacticycle’s weapons are an independent system,” Princess informed him.

“All of our G-machine weapons systems are independent,” Mark added. They were interrupted by Jason cursing vigorously. “Jason?” Mark asked in concern.

“There’s a lot of loose equipment in here. I almost got coldcocked by a floating tire,” he complained. “Hold on.” They could hear a whining noise that was growing in intensity by the moment. “The missiles are cycling up.”

“Jason, the controls--”

“I know,” Jason cut Princess off. Then he cursed anew. “They won’t shut down.”

“What do you mean they won’t shut down?” Mark asked, giving Archer a more alarmed look.

“What do you think I mean?” Jason had to raise his voice over the increasing whine.

“Trip?” Archer asked in equal alarm.

“I’m almost there, but I don’t know what I can do to help,” the engineer admitted. “Looking at the schematics and actually knowing how they work are two different things. Their technology was nothing like what we have today. Actually, there were only a few people who did know besides them.” His voice was rising in pitch in apology.

“Captain, I suggest we prepare to transport the weapons away from us,” the woman said, her attention on them. Archer twisted the other direction to face the rear of the bridge.

“Malcolm?” he asked.

“It’s possible, but it could be difficult to distinguish between the missiles, the cycle and Jason,” Reed answered, manipulating the console of his station. “If Jason moves in the strong direction while we energize--”

“He could be killed,” Archer finished grimly. Mark looked at him in alarm. “Only as a last resort,” he ordered, “but we have to protect the ship.

“Wait a minute,” Jason muttered, getting their attention. “The missiles can only be activated if you’re stationary,” he said.

Princess nodded, even though they couldn’t see each other. “That’s right.”

“So if the cycle thinks it’s moving…”

“The missiles should deactivate,” she finished for him, starting to smile.

“Hold on,” Jason said.

“What’s he doing?” Archer demanded.

“Captain, the missiles will reach critical in one minute,” the woman with the pointed ears reported. Unlike the rest of them, Mark noted she didn’t seem to be the least bit concerned.

“Jason!” Mark pressed when he started to hear more cursing, and then there was silence. “Jason!” Mark repeated.

“Captain, the missiles are cycling down!” Malcolm reported excitedly.

“I’ll be damned,” they heard Tucker say. “I never would have thought of that.”

“Like I said before, we improvise,” Jason answered between grunts. “Tell me when they’re cold,” he requested.

“Jason, what did you do?” Mark asked, sharing a relieved look with the rest of his team.

“There’s no gravity, so I could disengage the clamps.” Jason sounded breathless.

“We’re manually rolling the tires,” Tucker finished for him, equally breathless. “The cycle thinks it’s moving.”

“The missiles have been deactivated,” the woman declared, rising from her seat to join them as they stood staring at the screen. “We’re out of danger.”

Mark could see Archer relax, a small smile lifting his lips. “Trip, you and Jason get back in here as soon as you can,” Archer ordered. “I want to know exactly what happened.”

“Yes, sir,” Tucker responded. Archer turned to them.

“We’ll meet them in the Ready Room. I want all senior officers present.”

“Aye, sir,” Hoshi said, calling the second shift back in to take over or them. Once everyone had been relieved, they followed Archer off the bridge.