On the bridge, the crew analyzes the specs of the cargo ship. Among other insignificant details like speed (warp one-point-eight) and vessel type designation (Y-Class), T'Pol tells them that the crew complement of the Fortunate is twenty-three. Mayberry is just fidgeting with the desire to show off how much he knows about cargo freighters and says, "Not counting newborn babies." Everyone looks at him. "Ensign?" Quantum prompts. Mayberry pants with excitement, "I grew up on a J-Class. A little smaller but the same basic design. And one thing I can tell you is that at warp one-point-eight, you got a lotta time on your hands between ports. That's how my parents wound up with me." Aw, I didn't want to know that. T'Pol asks him if he actually has any useful information to impart about the cargo ship "beyond its recreational activities?" Heh. Predictably, Reed asks what kinds of weaponry the Fortunate would be likely to carry. Mayberry furrows his brow and says, "Well, typically nothing more than a low-yield plasma cannon, but most freight-haulers would have upgraded the first chance they got." Reed asks why that is. Before Mayberry answers, I want to ask why it is that Reed's even questioning why anyone would upgrade their weapon system. Reed's very character suggests that his reason for ever upgrading weaponry would be "because it's there." So I shouldn't think that he of all people needs an explanation why an inferior system would get upgraded. Mayberry decides to ignore my meanderings and answers Reed: "Think about it: you're a dozen light years from home, with twenty kilotons of dilithium ore in your hold, armed with nothing but a pop gun for shooting oncoming meteors. What would you do?"

Somewhere in space. Enterprise drops out of warp and comes into view of Fortunate. "I'm reading hull damage," Reed reports. "Their warp reactor's offline and most of their primary systems are down." Quantum asks if there are any other ships in the area. T'Pol gives him a negative. Quantum tells Hoshi to "open a channel," and he tries contacting Fortunate. Hoshi doesn't get a response back, so Quantum tries again. Still nothing. "Their comm systems may be down," Hoshi finally says. T'Pol uses the Spock viewer and reports twenty-four bio-signs. Wasn't it twenty-three last time? Guess Mayberry was right about cargo people gettin' bizzay! Quantum thinks a bit and says, "Have Doctor Phlox meet us in the launch bay." Mayberry and Reed follow him out. You know, I've noticed that Quantum doesn't specifically tell people that they're on the away team. How do they know? Furthermore, Picard always said, "Mr. So-And-So, you have the bridge," whereas Quantum just walks away. Irresponsible, that's what he is. TNG marathon this weekend? Why, yes, I did.