Disclaimer; Borrowing the Star Trek universe circa Enterprise series, and adding a few additional characters to fill. There is a note for cannon pedants at the end.

Cinn: It's been a while since I've tried my hand at sci-fi let alone Star Trek fanfic. But somehow watching TOS and the new series coming out gave me some ideas on what fun could be had by exploring potentials for the NX-02 Columbia.

I should probably state that it's been a long while since I saw Enterprise, and my knowledge of the cannon outside the series themselves is sketchy at best. So if this doesn't fit in with cannonical novels etc then I apologise.

This covers the Columbia's appearances in ENT S4, serving as an introduction to it's crew before moving onto separate adventures.

Captain Erika Hernandez was incredibly grateful that the engineers had at least been able to get the kitchen up and running, sipping the coffee that was currently energising her for the day ahead. Last night had been the first she'd spent in her new quarters on the Columbia, and whilst it had been no less comfortable than her years on the Republic, it was as yet unfamiliar, and had proven to be less relaxing than she had anticipated.

The coffee at least enabled her to wake up enough to understand the schematics she was scrolling through, the Columbia's departure had been delayed due to engine difficulties, but she had since been able to persuade Commander Charles Tucker to transfer from the Enterprise and become her chief engineer, apparently it was becoming a habit for her to steal members of other people's crew after requisitioning the Republic's chef. Though she was still remarkably understaffed considering they were only the second warp-5 class ship in Starfleet.

A few moments later she was startled more awake by a loud thud from the science station to her left, followed closely by an 'ow', and then a giggle from her helmsman. "I see you're acquainting yourself with the science station." Hernandez commented drily, looking up as she took another sip of coffee.

A pale faced, blonde head appeared from underneath the console, followed by a hand rubbing the spot that Hernandez assumed was where she'd hit her head. "Yes, Cap'n." Lieutenant-Commander Penelope Sutton replied - the abbreviated rank almost sounding weird in her English accent - clearly chagrined. Since boarding the ship Sutton had been almost too well behaved and almost meek, then again meeting your new commanding officer whilst completely and utterly inebriated the night before deployment probably had that effect on most people. But despite that her new science officer had reported for duty on time, adorned with her dark blonde hair in slightly lopsided French pig-tails, and got stuck straight in with her work. No complaints that the engineers hadn't had time to finish their work on her instruments or station, and had simply got to it and instead started on the work herself. If she was hungover and suffering from lack of sleep, she wasn't showing it.

Meanwhile Commander Holly Maraschino was still giggling, "You're going to have a dent the same shape as your desk by the end of the day." Sutton simply scrunched her nose up at the darker skinned woman, whose green eyes seemed to light up even further with amusement, before the scientist disappeared back beneath the desk. Clearly still amused as she turned back to calibrating the helm for their anticipated launch, her bun still immaculate despite the way her body was still trembling from her giggles. Originally Hernandez had planned to have someone she was familiar with as her first officer, but after reading Maraschino's file, and the recommendations for both her helmsmanship and command skills, had decided to nominate her as her second in command.

Her third in command - which was usually done by unofficial understanding within a crew - was an appointment she was much less sure about. Her friend Captain Archer had made many recommendations to her about her staff, including suggesting she look at MACO personnel for her tactical officer, and she had considered all of them, but her third in command had been the one she had found herself unable to make a clear decision on whether or not to follow or ignore the advise.

The dark haired man who had sat seemingly stoically through the little incident on her right at tactical had been her take on Archer's MACO recommendation. Lieutenant Jake Corby had trained and served with MACO before transferring to Starfleet, so he had the benefit of their tactical and military training, but some time away from it before joining them, Hernandez considered that a real find, making Archer's advise easy to follow. The military training showed, both physically and mentally, even in the few hours since arriving on the ship he had already shown himself to be efficient and disciplined. Her initial impression of him was similar to that of Major Hayes during Enterprise's debriefing after their return from stopping the Delphic Expanse and making peace with the Xindi, though she never actually met the man in person.

Luckily Sutton managed to finish her work under her station without doing any more damage to herself - or the console -, and was busy powering up and tuning in all her feeds. Though she pointed out that would only be half the work, as calibrating the thing would be just as tricky.

"Don't worry, it's only for all our scientific analysis, nothing important." Maraschino joked.

"Exactly, that's why it requires so much more calibrating than, say, helm..." Sutton retorted in kind, that flare resuming after her mollified behaviour all morning. Maraschino chuckled to herself as both women returned to their work.

And in Sutton's case that turned out to be grabbing the scanner she'd perched atop her station which she'd been using for mechanical diagnostics, then muttering something about misaligned power couplings proceeded to palm-heel the corner of the screen to manually realign them. During which the lift doors opened to reveal the newest member of the standard bridge crew. "Is that official Starfleet technique?" The man asked.

Everyone looked up to see a Vulcan stepping out of the lift and onto the bridge. "If it works..." Sutton replied, as Hernandez stood to greet her communications officer, and third in command.

"Captain Erika Hernandez." She greeted, offering her hand.

"Subaltern Tajock." The man replied, he was tall at just over six foot, but that was normal for a Vulcan male. With angular features and neat dark hair, though Hernandez wasn't sure if she was surprised by his grey eyes, she found herself assuming they would have been brown, but she wasn't sure why she would assume that. "Communications Officer." He added, shaking the hand offered.

"Subaltern?" Corby asked.

"High Command's Lieutenant Commander." Sutton explained.

"Perhaps closer to Lieutenant, but essentially." Tajock corrected, and Sutton threw her hands up in apology, though no one bothered to point out that that gesture probably didn't translate to Vulcans. "It loses something in translation." He admitted.

"I trust you've been shown to your quarters?" Hernandez checked, and Tajock nodded. "If there's anything amiss, please feel free to put in a requisition." She added, before leading him to the communications station just down from Sutton's science console as she introduced everyone on the bridge, explaining that they likely had a few days before they would be ready to leave dry dock. "So I'll leave you to acquaint yourself with the station, although unfortunately engineering haven't finished all of the work, as they are currently understaffed and focusing on the engine problems."

"No doubt hindered by the bridge officers vandalising their equipment." Tajock added, taking his seat.

"It doesn't affect their workload, until the engines are fixed I'm only going to make work for myself if I break it." Sutton retorted.

Hernandez made a mental note to keep an eye on those two for a while.

Considering the amount of staff on the Columbia they were making good progress on the remaining engineering work, based on the incoming reports Hernandez was receiving at any rate. She was also highly encouraged when Tajock reported that Commander Tucker had arrived on board, that would give the engineering team a boost. Though when he failed to report she did make a trip down to engineering to find him.

"Is it a good idea to break regulations the moment you step on the ship?" Corby wondered aloud.

"Some people prefer to get straight to work." Maraschino replied. "Besides, it's only transfers that regs state have to report to the captain on arrival, kind of easy to forget if you don't think about it too hard."

"But the regulations do state that." Tajock weighed in. "And it is the duty of officers to know them."

"And he's human, only Vulcans seem to expect perfection of us, and then they'll state that we can't achieve it." Sutton added. "Which doesn't make sense if you think about-"

"He was also in a senior position of command on his last assignment." Tajock interrupted, deciding it was probably best not to let the young scientist get distracted.

"That hardly precludes him from his own humanity, Tarquin." Sutton replied.

"Tajock." He corrected.

Maraschino decided that this had gone on long enough, and had gone a long way from the light-hearted discussion it might have started as. "It's also an unusual case, as everyone here is new and this mission isn't under-way which is what the rule was originally designed to cover. It is up to the Captain to decide how to deal with, and therefore I believe that this particular discussion is closed." She added firmly, quite a transition from the joking, light hearted woman from earlier, into a stern commanding officer, receiving three 'yes, ma'ams' and a mini salute from Sutton that almost made her have to bite her lip to stop herself from grinning.

By the time Hernandez returned the bridge had settled down into relative quiet, with the exception of Maraschino trying to quiz Tajock about Vulcan cuisine, to limited degrees of success. Though as Hernandez had invited both of them to her cabin for dinner, they assumed that Maraschino's curiosity would be satisfied then.

Though by the time they headed off the bridge at the end of their shifts, Sutton and Corby had a wager on whether or not Maraschino would be able to learn Tajock's favourite meal. And all considered themselves lucky that as they weren't engineers they didn't have to pull double or more shifts, for now.

Whilst the three command officers headed to the captain's mess, Corby met up with a couple of people he'd previously served with and become friends with for some sparring practise in one of the gyms before dinner, whilst Sutton headed to the mess armed with a data-pad, finding herself an empty table and set down both plate and data-pad next to each other so she could read and eat simultaneously, as she used her free hand to shake out her French plaits - the bobbles now around each wrist - before using it to scroll through the notes on she'd been making on what still needed doing before launch.

She was halfway through her mash potatoes - or at least she was assuming it was potato - when a voice startled her attention away from the data-pad "Is this seat taken?"

"No." She replied, indicating for him to sit, and just as he did she worked out who he was, after all, how many people were both commanders and hailed from the Enterprise?

"Commander Trip Tucker." He stated, offering a hand.

"Lieutenant P- Commander Penny Sutton." She corrected herself halfway through, offering the hand. He clearly noticed. "New rank." She explained, with a wry smile. "Not quite used to it yet."

He chuckled as he set to tucking into his own meal. "Science station?" He asked, indicating the data-pad, recognising the schematics, even upside down.

"Yeah." Sutton confirmed. "Rotated between the night shift and regular lab work on the Intrepid."

"Must have some stories to tell then."

"Nothing as exciting as the Enterprise, I'm sure." Sutton retorted, causing Tucker to grin. "After only returning so soon, there's a lot of people interested in the full story of how the Xindi were stopped, but currently I think people are just relieved the threat is gone."

"I consider myself warned." Tucker assured her, and it was her turn to chuckle. "So, is there anything I need to be warned of about our new captain?"

Sutton considered the question. "I think you're asking the wrong person." She decided. "But I'd advise against meeting her rat-arsed drunk." To say Tucker was intrigued was an understatement, and Sutton ended up explaining exactly how the night out she'd been having with her friends to celebrate her last day on Earth had resulted in her meeting her new CO.

As it transpired Maraschino had been able to extract Tajock's favourite meal from him, resulting in Sutton being able to extract ten credits out of Corby, though out of Hernandez's view, neither of them were that kind of stupid. Though Sutton added there was always time.

By lunch time their physician had arrived on board, prompting Hernandez to leave her bridge crew to their own devices, and reiterating that now the doctor was aboard, that over the next week or so the entire crew would be undergoing a physical. "Everyone's favourite part of a new assignment." Maraschino muttered as she set to organising the appointments with the medical staff, hoping to minimise any disruption to already stretched departments.

Hernandez arrived in the captain's mess to find her new physician already waiting for her, having been shown to the mess by her yeoman. "Doctor Lawson, welcome aboard." She stated, offering her hand.

"Thank you, Captain." He replied, a warm smile undermining the slightly stern neat hair and almost tired features. A hazard of being a doctor and constantly being on alert and responsible for lives. Hernandez couldn't help but wonder about the contrast in his light brown hair to his Japanese features. "I must admit I haven't been called to lunch with the captain immediately on boarding before, should I be worried?"

Hernandez chuckled as they each took a seat. "Not at all, I'm just trying to get a handle on my new crew. It's been a while since I've been with an entirely unfamiliar command crew." Lawson nodded, almost guardedly, calculating whether or not he talk first or let her steer the conversation, and decided on the latter.

It was a reaction Hernandez picked up on. "I see that you're not one for small talk before business." She observed.

"I've often found it pointless."

"Is that why a doctor of such reputation and experience is still only a lieutenant?" Hernandez questioned. "I've seen your service record, I would have expected anyone with that many recommendations and experience to be at least a commander by now."

Lawson was about to reply but the yeoman came in with their food, and the conversation came to an abrupt pause as they allowed the man to finish his job and leave before resuming, but at least it gave Lawson a chance to consider his reply. "I have... issues with orders." He stated.

"You mean you ignore them?"

"Only when they interfere with my job."

"Isn't it your job to obey orders?"

"It is my job to save lives, where I can. It is not my job to care what kind of person I am saving, not my job to judge whether or not someone is worth saving, or indeed over someone else. I simply try and minimise death." Lawson explained.

"And you have been given orders to let people die?"

"Not directly, but it always comes down to judgement of worth somewhere." Lawson replied. "Civilians and soldiers, officers and enlisted, commanders and ensigns, even a prisoner once. I disagree, and I get informed I'm wrong."

Hernandez nodded as she let that sink in. "I see." She decided, for now. "Well, then, shall we talk about how to save people instead?"

Lawson smiled. "That is why I'm here." And without further prompting launched into a series of recommendations based on his previous assignments about how to maximise efficiency of his almost skeleton medical staff and supplies. Even asking when it would be possible to talk to the engineering team about some possible improvements for life support systems that could hopefully decrease maintenance time. Instantly shaking off the guarded manner about discussing his disagreement with command, and transferring to perfectly agreeable, friendly conversation.

Considering that no one seemed to have much faith in the Columbia being ready by their end of week deadline, Hernandez couldn't fault her crew for their effort and resilience. The last few days seeing everyone pulling more than what would normally be considered their fair share, with minimal complaints - the few transfer requests from engineering showed a few tensions, but nothing that was serious enough to lower the staffing levels. "Come in." Hernandez called as she looked up from the monitor in her ready room.

"Latest status reports, Commander Tucker seems to have delivered, he's confident we'll be good to initiate warp tests tomorrow." Maraschino reported, handing Hernandez a data-pad

Hernandez quickly scanned the summary, impressive but from what she knew of the commander's work it would appear to be expected from him. "Anything else I should be aware of, Maraschino?"

"There's a pool running on whether or not Tajock or Sutton will snap at the other first, but I don't believe it's anything more serious than banter. They both seem to take some sort of pleasure in frustrating the other, though how that works for a Vulcan I'm not sure." Maraschino explained with a shrug. "I'll put a stop to it if it starts edging towards serious, ma'am."

"I see I don't need to remind you to speak freely." Hernandez observed.

Maraschino seemed to hesitate for a moment. "I assumed as your first officer you would want me to speak my mind, but if you'd prefer I can withhold comment until you ask for an opinion."

It was the first time that Hernandez had seen Maraschino seem unsure of herself, whilst new to the role of first officer the woman had never given off any impression other than confidence. In fact, the times Hernandez had been able to observe, Maraschino's impish air had given her the opportunity to bond with the crew because it made her seem less of the authority figure she was. Maraschino seemed able to balance it with a respect that meant when she flipped the switch into her command role she was given the utmost respect and trust about her orders. Hernandez had organised to have a meal with all of her officers before their schedules departure in a bid to get to know them, get a feel for their likely characteristics, but she was always their captain, and therefore it would always take her longer to gain the friendship type of trust that Maraschino could build up quicker, and it was a part of the role that Maraschino took to naturally.

"I'd prefer you to speak your mind." Hernandez assured her.

"My old CO would tell you that you'll regret saying that." Maraschino chuckled, and Hernandez grinned.

For once the mess hall was oddly quiet, most people finally taking the opportunity to catch up on some sleep now that they felt prepared for their departure from dock the following morning. Corby was one of the last ones in, even by his standards, finding only Lawson there, enjoying a brew whilst reading. Corby went to examine the left-overs on offer, found himself a suitable post-exercise meal before pausing next to the doctor's table. "Fancy some company, doc?" He asked curtly.

Lawson looked up, and indicated to one of the seats, which Corby took as he set his dinner down. "Much longer and I doubt there'd be any food left out, Lieutenant."

Corby half grinned through a mouthful of pasta. "Usually late, doc, I like to work out before I eat."

"And your blood sugar?"

"Sports drink, dunno what's in it, keeps me going though." Corby admitted. Lawson almost managed to hide his wry smile, though decided not to try and explain that the cocktail of sugars perhaps wasn't the best mix, but if it worked for the lieutenant, and the man was healthy, who was he to start giving exercise advice. "Sorry, Lieutenant Corby." He added, realising he'd never introduced himself to the man.

"Doctor Lawson, which I think you knew." Lawson replied in kind.

"Ship's surgeon tends to make you a person people know." Corby agreed.

"Well hopefully I won't need to perform any surgery any time soon." Lawson stated, with a wry smile. After a conversation with Sutton the previous day, he was a little concerned, apparently the woman had a knack for fire. "Or at least not until I've completed my round of physicals, of which you are due in the morning, hopefully you won't be feeling too stiff."

Corby chuckled. "It'll take more than a little light boxing to make me sore, doc."

Lawson smiled. "Then I'm sure we can find a more strenuous routine for you, after all, who knows what we'll find out here?" He teased with a blank, yet knowing smile. Corby paused almost mid mouthful, his fork halfway between his plate and mouth. "Good night, lieutenant." Lawson added, standing up to find his quarters.

The following morning Hernandez surveyed her bridge as they made their final preparations, Corby, Sutton and Tajock were down in sickbay for their physicals, Sutton due back first and Corby having only just left. Maraschino was in her usual duty station, and three enlisted crewmen were manning communications, tactical and science, but none were likely to involve anything too strenuous whilst Maraschino piloted them out of dock.

"Hail the dock master." Hernandez instructed, and Tajock opened the channel, signalling to Hernandez when the channel was open. "This is Captain Hernandez, request permission to depart."

"You're cleared for departure. Smooth sailing, Columbia." The dock master confirmed.

"Thank you." Hernandez replied, before opening an internal channel. "Bridge to engineering, are we ready, Mr Tucker?"

"Just a few more seconds." Tucker replied, luckily signing off before adding 'I hope' under his breath

Those few seconds felt a lot longer on the bridge as Hernandez stood by her chair waiting for his reply, even Maraschino seemed to be holding her breath.

"Engineering to bridge, we're ready whenever you are, Captain."

"Time to weigh anchor." Hernandez decided, a wry smile on her features. "Commander, aft thrusters at one half until we clear space dock." She instructed, turning to her chair. "Then take us to warp."

They'd just made the edge of the solar system when Sutton reappeared on the bridge, and relieved the young crewman, saying nothing of the smile Hernandez was trying to hide about the Columbia finally being at warp, but when she took her seat and Maraschino caught her eye she did give a thumbs up to the commander, who grinned before turning back to her navigations.

Hernandez was in the middle of asking for a routine report on their systems when Tajock returned to relieve the crewman at his station, as Maraschino and Sutton relayed through all their statistics and statuses. All in all everything was running smoothly, the engines were optimum but some of the peripheral systems needed some additional fine tuning, but nothing they couldn't cope with until their engineers had time.

Hernandez was about to initiate some more rigorous warp tests with Maraschino and Tucker as Corby returned to the bridge, but Tajock interrupted her plans. "Incoming communication from the Enterprise."

That got everyone's attention. "On screen." Hernandez ordered, retaking her seat as the viewing screen changed to that of the Enterprise bridge. "Captain, congratulating us on finally leaving port?" Hernandez joked.

Captain Archer gave her only a strained smile in response. "Unfortunately we have more pressing matters. Will it be possible to talk to Trip?"

Hernandez indicated to Tajock to get Tucker up there. "On his way." She confirmed. "But what's going on?"

"I think that might be easier to only explain once."

"Understood." Hernandez replied, though it was clear that she was as confused as the rest of them.

"Cap'n, the Enterprise is currently over warp 5." Sutton added, she had been in the middle of testing her long range sensors, and the Enterprise was at the edge of her range, since they'd rung them, she figured she might as well use them as a test.

Hernandez turned back from her science officer and to her friend on the screen. "Maraschino, redirect course to assist." She could read Archer well enough to know it was serious, especially if he was after Tucker's knowledge, this wasn't going to be routine.

Tucker didn't leave them waiting long, and arrived on the bridge with a grin on his face. "Calling to congratulate-" He stopped abruptly when he saw the look on his friend's face. "What's going on?"

"The Enterprise has been compromised by a Klingon sub-routine, the reactor pressure is building so that if we drop below warp five we'll explode." Archer explained. "T'Pol is currently working on removing it, but we'd really rather have some other options. We're currently at warp 5.2 just to keep ourselves from blowing apart."

"At that speed you'll fly yourself apart just as quickly." Tucker objected, though it was clear from the look he received that that fact was already commonly known. "Can you send us any information on the sub-routines?" He was about to head over to the spare console next to tactical before realising that they hadn't connected that up.

Archer turned over his shoulder, and they saw him nod to someone as they started transmitting the information. "It's coming through now."

"Got it." Sutton confirmed, putting the information up on the screens behind her.

There was a moment of silence that seemed to stretch on forever as everyone looked at the information trying to glean anything useful, hoping that someone else had a brainwave. "I think I can reset them." Tucker decided. "But you'll have to get me on board the Enterprise."

"How?" Archer added.

"Reed has experience of transfers between vessels at warp, and we'll need to merge the warp fields." Tucker explained, taking a breath. "It's not... appealing, but it's the only way we've got."

A very brief look flashed over Archer's face, but before most had a chance to register it it was gone again. "I'll talk to Reed." He confirmed.

"We'll be with you in just under half an hour." Hernandez confirmed, and Archer nodded as the channel was cut. "Sutton, coordinate with their science officer, we'll need precision if we're going to pull this off." She added, and Sutton nodded. "Mr Tucker, I hope you have a plan?"

"Yes, ma'am." He confirmed, before going into detail about how Malcolm Reed had explained to him about transferring personnel and equipment manually at warp 1 with little more than a zip wire between two ships cargo bays and environmental suits. After many simulations they had managed to pull it off by matching the ships move for move, speed for speed. No one on the bridge was quite sure if they believed him, but Hernandez told him to go and prepare anyway.

"So, not even an hour in and we're breaking science?" Sutton asked all too innocently, she added, having established an interface with the Enterprise, and being rather grateful that she had never felt the need to exclude warp theory from her studies. For the most part T'Pol did the calculations, and she used the additional computer power to simulate and error check.

Maraschino however was more concerned about how much they could push the engines this soon. "I don't particularly want to be remembered as the pilot that destroyed her ship within an hour." She quipped.

"Technically it would be an hour and twelve minutes." Sutton piped up.

"Well that makes me feel better." Maraschino muttered.

Despite how long it felt - though Tajock assured them that time was passing normally - they were soon within reach of the Enterprise, which then altered her course so that they could pull up behind, which was the part that worried Maraschino the most, as it meant pushing their engines beyond what was considered possible let alone safe, even if it was only briefly. "Commander Tucker, are you ready for this?" Hernandez asked as she opened the comm line.

"As ready as I'll ever be." He confirmed.

"Open a channel." Hernandez ordered. "Columbia to Enterprise."

"This is Archer." Came the reply, audio only.

"We're matching speed and trajectory as requested."

"Stand by Columbia." Archer confirmed.

The signal came from Reed for Maraschino to start her rotation, coordinating with both him and Travis Mayweather to minimise any potential mistakes or variance.

"All hands, this is the captain, brace for warp field contact." Hernandez warned, only she heard the breath that Maraschino let out.

"Fifty metres, stable." Maraschino confirmed after a brief bump.

"Columbia, deploying the tether." Reed came in, Sutton was listening to Tucker and Reed's conversations in the event that something went wrong, as she was in the best place to coordinate the two men they had on standby in EV suits. So far so good, though she was staying quiet to keep Maraschino's nerves in check, though considering no one had ever done this before, her nerves were holding incredibly well.

"Tucker to Captain Hernandez."

"Go ahead."

"I'm heading out."

"Quick as you can, Commander." Hernandez encouraged, before taking to pacing behind Maraschino.

About halfway through Tucker came back in. "Never thought I'd see the stars like this." He sounded completely awed.

"Eyes on the cable, Commander, I need you back here in one piece." Hernandez reiterated, though it had stopped her pacing.

Before she retook her seat as everyone braced themselves as the ship shook. "Warp field fluctuation." Sutton explained.

"It's affecting their positioning, trying to compensate." Maraschino cut in. "Though I can't do much without risking destroying both our ships."

Tajock was still relaying Reed and Tucker's comms through Sutton to enable her to coordinate. "The tether is at maximum." The ship rocked again.

"Fifty nine metres." Maraschino added.

"Is he aboard?" Hernandez asked.

Sutton was halfway through repeating the question when the tether buckled. "He better be." She answered instead. "Tether buckled, closing cargo bay doors and initiating re-pressurisation." A few moments later she was able to confirm that Reed had got him, and a collective sigh of relief was almost breathed.

Maraschino was reporting a few more metres separation when the Enterprise opened another channel. "Captain, how much of the plan did Trip tell you?"

"We're flying in the dark at this point onwards." Hernandez explained.

"He plans on doing a hard restart to reset the sub-routines, and to give him enough time to do it, we need the Columbia to sustain the Enterprise in her warp-field" Hernandez couldn't see Sutton from where she was sat, but her peripheral vision caught the way her science officer's head snapped up at that. Maraschino turned to share a look with Corby, who both looked completely astounded that something would be suggested.

"We can only sustain that for a couple of minutes." Hernandez stated.

"I know, but he seems to think he can do it." Archer agreed.

"Bridge to engineering." Hernandez opened a channel. "Divert all power into maintaining and extending our warp field, whatever you have to." She paused. "Maraschino."

"Aye, ma'am." Maraschino complied, the order didn't need to be explained.

"Columbia to Enterprise." Hernandez was pacing again.

"Go ahead."

"I'm ramming everything I've got into my warp field." Hernandez explained. "Do me a favour, Jonathan, make this quick." She requested.

There was another small shudder as their warp field managed to extend to cover the Enterprise. "Warp fields merged." Sutton reported.

"Course holding and stable." Maraschino agreed, now that Tucker wasn't on a wire between them their exact positions weren't as important, but she still had a ridiculously small window of tolerance or risk losing the entire field. But Maraschino and Sutton had already managed to get into a routine of coordination.

"Columbia to Enterprise." Hernandez called, glancing at Maraschino's monitor. "You've got about forty seconds."

"Understood." Archer confirmed.

Hernandez was already starting to worry when Sutton started pressing buttons and processing information as fast as she currently was doing, possibly not helped by Maraschino matching her. "Corby, reroute remaining tactical power." Sutton added, and the Lieutenant nodded without a second thought.

"Enterprise, we're losing the field." Hernandez warned, her eye on Maraschino's monitor.

Despite what Sutton and the lieutenant that was covering Tucker's duties were able to pull from the rest of the Columbia's systems it wasn't enough, and Maraschino started counting down to when the field would collapse and she'd have to pull away for their safety, matched by Mayweather on the Enterprise.

There was more rocking as the warp fields separated and Maraschino altered their course to protect the Columbia, coming about to rejoin the Enterprise's course after they broke. "Enterprise has warp power." Sutton confirmed moments later, a small grin gracing her features as they realised it had actually worked. Still not quite believing it.

"Enterprise to Columbia." Archer paused. Maraschino almost laughed, it seemed that they weren't the only ones who didn't quite believe it. "Thanks for the lift."

"You're not getting away with my chief engineer that easily." Hernandez retorted.

"Any plans for the next few days?" Archer asked.

"What've you got in mind?"

Archer explained how the Klingons had taken Phlox, though they currently had no idea where he was or why they had taken him. But that they had managed to capture one of the men who had tried to sabotage the Enterprise by hacking the subroutines. No one needed to say anything, but they all agreed that any plan they managed to come up with would work better with two ships and twice the firepower.

Archer seemed to think he had a few leads to go on for now, so that left the Columbia with little to do other than to try and fix any outstanding issues they'd left space dock with. Commander Tucker briefly returned to check on their plans and progress before returning to the Enterprise to assist Commander Kelby over there, which made sense considering they had bigger problems to clean up after.

Shortly after many of Hernandez's senior bridge officers returned from their lunch breaks, Archer confirmed that they had a plan. Though it was by no means certain, and it involved some dubious Section 31 information, but it was all they had. Hernandez confirmed that they'd help, regardless. The coordinates for the Qu'Vat colony were forwarded on, and Maraschino confirmed their ETA at approximately six hours, and corrected her course to mirror Enterprise at a safe distance on Lieutenant Reed's suggestion.

Hernandez considered her options. "Everyone, take five hours, I want you rested and to return about an hour out of the colony." She decided, Sutton and Tajock shared a look, and Corby looked set to argue, as did Maraschino, but Hernandez couldn't see her face. "No arguments. We shouldn't encounter any problems en route, and if we do, you can return." Her tone was firm, there was to be no argument.

By coincidence they all ended up in the mess hall. Sutton had chosen to read whilst helping herself to any leftovers, Tajock to indulge in a favoured beverage before intending to spent some time in contemplation and meditation and Maraschino to socialise before a power nap, she found it easier to wind down first. Corby arrived shortly after, apparently kicked out of the gym because he was under orders to rest not tire himself out.

Maraschino and Sutton shared a look as he started pacing near their table. No one else was in the mess other than chef and Tajock, who was one table over, clearly preferring to read rather than socialise. "We should be on the bridge, we're barely a few hours into our regular shifts." He was clearly agitated.

"Yes, but regular shifts aren't anticipating a firefight." Maraschino corrected, as Sutton swallowed the mouthful of sandwich. "There's no point in not having us as rested as possible."

"Then why isn't she off-duty too?"

"Because not only is she our commanding officer, and it being her ship her prerogative, she has her ready room to use to de-stress as she wishes." Sutton supplied.

"And why would she expect us to succumb to stress easier than-"

"Lieutenant!" Maraschino interrupted, her tone deadly yet relatively quiet, but considering the quiet of the mess hall it seemed to resonate louder than it was. Even Tajock looked up, Sutton would have said in mild surprise, but knew better than to make jokes at that moment. "You are bordering on insubordination."

"How does she expect to judge our performances when she doesn't allow us to do our jobs?"

"Because she's not doing this to judge our performance, she's doing this to ensure the safety of her ship." Sutton cut in. "We're anticipating a firefight, we don't know how long it'll go on, we don't know how badly it'll go. She wants those who will be most involved to be as rested as possible so that we're all capable of making the best decisions possible at the time. Yeah, it sucks, I'd rather be doing my job too, but it makes sense."

Corby finished pacing and almost fell into a chair at their table. "So you're all against me?"

Maraschino almost threw him a scolding look. "It's not about being against you." She corrected, rather more gently than the slap down she's rather give him right now. "It's about doing what's best for us all." She paused. "Now chill out before I send you to doctor Lawson for a sedative, ensuring you won't be on the bridge when we need you."

"Perhaps you would benefit from some instructions in meditation." Tajock added after a silence fell over them.

Sutton nearly chocked on her last mouthful of sandwich as she tried not to laugh, Maraschino managed to keep her face a mask of neutrality, not helped by Sutton's predicament. Corby shot the Vulcan a dirty look. "I happen to find emotions have benefits."

"Which often bring about unintended hindrances." Tajock added, not looking up from his data-pad

"He has a point." Sutton agreed. "But could the Vulcans handle it if it turned out humans were better at them when it came to logic and emotional suppression if we tried?"

That earnt a laugh from Corby, which started to take the edge off the concern Maraschino was feeling. "I believe that would be an improvement, if only slight." Tajock refuted.

"I don't know whether or not to be insulted." Corby added.

Sutton shrugged. "At least we know that they haven't written us completely off yet, apparently we aren't beyond the ability to improve." She paused. "Even if it's only because of our flavoured teas."

Maraschino chuckled. "Do I need to be worried about you two?"

Sutton gave a subtle shake of her head, whilst Tajock seemed unperturbed. "Earth has different flavours and herbs to Vulcan, purely scientifically it makes sense to try new ones that are available."

"I'll take that as a 'no'." Maraschino decided as she stood up. "Now, please, Corby, don't start any more dissent." She almost pleaded.

"Yes, ma'am." Corby agreed, though a little reluctantly.

There were no more arguments as the officers headed to their downtime routines, before all arriving relatively promptly - or as early as he could get away with in Corby's case - back on the bridge about an hour before the Enterprise's expected arrival.

Maraschino was shadowing the Enterprise, dropping into orbit far enough behind for only one of them to be likely to be spotted at any one time. Tajock maintaining radio silence to prevent them from being linked too easily, having had to cut Corby & Reeds tactical discussion short as they arrived at the planet. Corby's sensors were trained on the Enterprise, whilst Sutton was monitoring what she could of Archer's progress trying to retrieve Phlox whilst also keeping an eye on the potential tactical situation. As Maraschino said, good job most scientists could multi-task. Hernandez looked set to start pacing behind Maraschino again, just about restraining her impatience.

"Three Klingon ships dropping out of warp." Corby reported.

"They're jamming signals." Tajock reported.

"They're firing on the colony." Sutton reported. "And now they're firing on the Enterprise." She added as she witnessed the Enterprise get in the Klingon's way and shooting at them.

Corby quickly aligned his phasers to target the tailing most of two as they came up behind them.

"Columbia to Enterprise, looks like you could use a hand." Hernandez teased, before looking a little less pleased that her ship was being fired on, and that she was getting no reply. "Let's keep those ships off her tail." She decided.

Corby nodded, targeting the Klingon's engines, whilst Maraschino manoeuvred the Columbia to minimise damage and to maximise Corby's efforts, and effectively got the Klingons attention, taking some of the strain off the Enterprise. For the time being at any rate.

A particularly bad hit had them worried as they all grabbed for support and one of the wall panels started sparking, though Sutton quickly ascertained that it was only superficial, and Hernandez lightly cajoled Maraschino about not ruining her ship. Maraschino paused for a second, and then her thought concluded told them all to hold on.

"One of the ships is losing power." Corby reported. "Their port nasal is vulnerable."

"Then fire at will." Hernandez confirmed.

Corby almost grinned at the prospect, targeting phasers at that one, rendering that ship immobile before going after a second. Though there were still left two determined to attack the colony, or them. Hoshi was able to break through the jamming with some success, and once done so Tajock was able to work with her to keep the channel somewhat open.

"Enterprise moving between the other ship and the colony." Sutton reported.

"That's not a standard tactic." Maraschino added, busily correcting and readjusting her course as the Klingons attempted to outmanoeuvre her and fire on their critical systems. They hadn't appeared to take kindly to them disabling their sister ship.

"They've probably lost weapons." Corby suggested. "Last ditch attempt when nothing else will work."

"I don't intend to be in that situation, Lieutenant." Hernandez ordered. "Disable that cruiser."

The ship rocked again as Maraschino pulled what most would consider an impossible swerve to avoid a hit to their flank, and Hernandez briefly had time to marvel that Sutton had wedged herself in place with her feet against the back railing of her station as she was the only one who didn't have to grab onto anything. Though they were rather more concerned moments later when the tactical station sparked and a section of the monitors behind Corby went dark. As he was insisting he was fine, and turned to the down sections Maraschino recorded a direct hit to their ventral, Sutton was confirming which systems were down.

"Message incoming from Enterprise." Tajock added.

"Captain Hernandez, please direct your weapons at the battle cruiser." T'Pol requested

"I wish I could help, we just lost our weapons." Hernandez explained, clearly agitated. "Options?" She asked.

"Engineering crews are dispatched, but most are on call to keep the engines working." Corby reported. "We can keep them occupied, but with no weapons we can't get their attention." He paused. "Without ramming them."

"We're not-"

"We still have the grapple." Sutton cut in, almost instantly regretting interrupting her captain as Hernandez turned to her, and the science officer almost externally cringed.

Corby, however, looked on board with the idea. "Can you phase it through their shields?"

"I can certainly try." Sutton agreed, she had to admit, she honestly had no idea, and Corby probably knew that. But until the engineers were able to restore any of their phaser or torpedo capacity, it was all they had.

Sutton was partway through a hack for the grapple as Maraschino turned to start her pass between the Enterprise and the Klingon ships still firing at the colony, to take some of the heat off their sister ship when Tajock received a communication. "Transmission from the surface to the Klingons." He cut in. "Doctor Phlox has the cure, and has infected the Klingon cruiser, if they don't desist then they'll never be able to cure themselves." He paused as he finished relaying the message.

Maraschino slowed her speed as they waited for the response, their sensors indicating that the Klingons had stopped firing, for the moment. The delay was long enough for Hernandez to step towards Tajock's comm station.

"The Klingons have agreed to cease fire." He confirmed.

Maraschino seemed like she could finally breathe again, as Sutton almost started laughing in relief, both women finally relaxing at their stations and neither having realised they were sat so tensely until then. Corby broke a small smile before turning to try and coordinate a response to their still broken weapon systems. Hernandez nodded to Tajock, a smile reaching her eyes but not her trained pokerface, before returning to her seat, opening a comm channel.

"Columbia to Enterprise, this is Captain Hernandez, can we be of any assistance?"

As it transpired the Enterprise's more experienced crew had already got a handle on most of their damage, so they didn't require any further personnel despite receiving more damage having put themselves in the direct line of fire.

Considering the staff that the Columbia was lacking they did an admiral job of repairing the ship by the time they had docked with the Enterprise - Tucker had insisted on seeing the damage for himself - before speaking with Hernandez and the two of them went to visit the Enterprise, heading for the sick bay, T'Pol not far behind them.

"How are you feeling?" T'Pol asked.

"Not too bad, apart from some strange cravings. A plateful of live gagh sounds pretty good right now."

"The cravings should disappear in a day or so, along with your, uh, ridges." Phlox explained.

"Nah, I'd keep them if I were you, Cap'n, it makes you look intimidating." Tucker decided, though Archer clearly didn't understand why that was a reason.

"I should get back on the road." Hernandez stated.

"One of us needs to get some exploring done." Archer agreed. "Thanks for your help."

"I don't know how you survived all these years without me." Hernandez retorted with a grin, earning a disapproving look, before she left sickbay to return to the Columbia.

Meanwhile on the Columbia the day crew had mostly signed off their shifts for the day, though some were still finishing up their particular repair tasks. Maraschino and Sutton had already made themselves at home in the mess with a pair of meals and a bottle of cachaça Maraschino had smuggled aboard. Both laughing near hysterically into their meals as Maraschino regaled Sutton with a story about her niece and dog. "No..." Sutton eventually managed between laughter, clearly not believing the story.

Maraschino nodded, a little haphazardly gesturing as she did due to the drink. "Here." She added, grabbing her personal data-pad, loading a picture of the end result, holding it out.

Sutton raised her hands in defeat. "I stand corrected." She paused. "She's a gorgeous little thing, isn't she?"

"Who is?" Another voice asked, approaching their table, and the girls looked up to see doctor Lawson with his own dinner. "Mind if I join you?"

Maraschino indicated for him to take a seat. "Her niece." Sutton explained, as Maraschino turned the screen to him.

"Indeed." Lawson agreed. "She looks about the same age as my daughter." Maraschino took her pad back as she made to pour Lawson a drink. "I see you ladies are in for a classy evening." He added, eyeing the drink warily, in it's plastic cup.

"We're off duty." Sutton added innocently. "Besides, don't doctors prescribe alcohol?"

"Not for a century or two." Lawson retorted.

"Shame." The scientist decided nonchalantly.

Lawson chuckled as he briefly sniffed at the drink. "Well, here's to hoping you don't find us anything more exciting than today." He toasted, both women joined in.

"I don't know..." Maraschino added after knocking back the remains of her drink. "I think the excitement has only just begun."

"I'll remind you of that when you literally fly us apart." Sutton corrected, managing to hold an innocent look just long enough for Maraschino to glare at her, before Lawson started laughing first, and they soon cracked and joined him.

Cinn: Yay, I actually managed to finish something in a reasonable time frame. Now I just have to plan out another few chapters and pretend I know what I'm doing. I'll appreciate reviews/critiques, though please try not to be offensive. I also have no beta, so whilst I have reread this a few times & spell checked, I don't claim to be perfect, and I apologise for any glaring errors.

For any complaints about liberties I've taken with fleshing out the crew;

It took me some time to find info on the Columbia's crew beyond the still showing Hernandez, her tactical officer, science officer & helmsman with no context (crew from Allfiction when leaving port). By the time I did find more I'd already gone a fair way in defining characters & fleshing them out. As neither tactical nor science officers in Affliction have ranks they're enlisted and so can be judged not the full duty officers. However the helms woman is a lieutenant, and I doubt any helmsman would pass up the chance to pilot their ship out of dock, and as I based Maraschino on that picture (& I actually like the idea of someone who chose to stay at helm through promotions) I'm simply going to promote her. (Forgive me canon pedants) Especially as by Divergence she seems to have an almost entirely different bridge crew considering only half an hour has passed.