~ These are Paramount's characters, not mine. If I did own them, you'd be seeing this instead of reading it!
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"Mind if I sit here?"
The shy lieutenant looked up from her book to see Commander Tucker standing in front of her. Her heart skipped a beat. She had dreamed of this moment from the first time she saw him all those years ago. Now that it was here, she didn't know what to say. She didn't want to seem too eager, but wanted him to know…
"Lieutenant? You ok?" Commander Tucker asked with a funny look on his face. "If you don't want any company I can find somewhere else to sit."
"No, no, it's ok. Have a seat, Commander. I guess I was into my book more than I thought I was." She hoped he wouldn't notice the color creeping up her cheeks.
"Must be a real page turner, Lieutenant…"
"Watson. Jennifer Watson." He didn't even know her name. That definitely wasn't part of her daydream.
"Jennifer. That's a real pretty name." He flashed her that smile that made her whole body melt. "How's the book?"
"Wonderful. It's 'The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle'. It's been my favorite book since I was a little girl," Jennifer answered, wondering why she couldn't be reading something more intellectually stimulating than an old children's story.
"Doctor Dolittle. Wasn't he the guy that could talk to animals?" He remembered seeing an old movie about someone named Doctor Dolittle, and hoped it was the same guy.
"That's him. When I was younger it fascinated me that he could talk to animals. I always wondered what that'd be like. Since I figured that that could never happen, I decided to learn all I could about them. So I became a zoologist."
Nice one, Jen, she thought to herself. A gorgeous guy sits down for a snack, probably to be nice, and you just can't keep your mouth shut. She took a bite of her ice cream, hoping a full mouth would keep her quiet.
"Wow. That's a pretty neat story." He took the last bite of his pie, not sure what to say next. He had seen Lieutenant Watson around the ship, but had never really talked to her before. But there was something familiar about her, something he couldn't quite put his finger on. He wanted to ask if they had met before, but didn't get his chance.
"Archer to Commander Tucker. Report to the bridge."
"Guess I gotta get goin' now. Maybe I'll see ya around sometime."
"That'd be nice. Thanks for the company, Commander."
"It's Trip."
Trip? Jennifer smiled as she watched Commander Tucker leave the mess hall. Maybe it's not so bad reading a children's book in mixed company after all!
It's Trip? What the hell was I thinking? Trip walked towards the bridge, silently cursing to himself as he thought about the conversation that just took place. He barely knew her, and already wanted to be on a first-name basis with her. I've gotta ask her if we've met before. Why else would she seem so familiar?
"Who seems familiar?"
Trip looked over and saw Lieutenant Malcolm Reed standing next to him, grinning at him.
"Where'd you come from?!?" Trip realized he'd been talking out loud, and wondered how much Malcolm had heard.
"The armory. Captain Archer called me to the bridge, where I'm guessing you're heading as well. Who seems familiar?" Malcolm wasn't going to let Trip off the hook so easily with this one.
"No one. Just thinking out loud." Damn, what all did I actually say?
"Trip, we're off duty. We can talk like friends now." Malcolm enjoyed the uncomfortable position his friend was in. Trip often used the same line on Malcolm, pushing him to open up. Now that the roles were reversed, maybe he would realize it wasn't very fun to be interrogated about personal matters. "After all, we are friends, aren't we?"
"Yeah we're friends, but we've been called to the bridge. We're back on duty, 'Lieutenant,' so drop it!" Trip was starting to get very irritated with Malcolm.
"Fine, 'Commander.' Do me a favor. Remember this moment when you decide to press me for information!" With that, Malcolm walked ahead of Trip, arriving on the bridge a few minutes ahead of him.
Me an' my big mouth. Trip sighed. It's really gonna get me in trouble one of these days.
Captain Jonathan Archer wished his chief engineer would hurry up. This was a big decision to make, and he wanted the advice of his senior staff. Lieutenant Reed said he had passed Commander Tucker five minutes ago, but wouldn't say anything more about it. Just as he was about to call him again, Tucker walked onto the bridge.
"Nice of you to join us, Trip." Archer was beyond worrying if he hurt his friend's feelings.
"Sorry, Cap'n. I was in the middle of something, and it took a little longer to wrap it up than I expected." Trip hoped Malcolm would keep his mouth shut about their little chat in the hallway. "What's goin' on?"
"We've received a message from the Andorians inviting us to visit their planet. It appears that not all of them are convinced we are good friends with the Vulcans. Due to our previous encounters with them, I wanted to see what you guys thought before heading there."
"Our weapons systems are working perfectly." Malcolm spoke up before anyone else could. He was proud of his armory and the way he ran it.
"That's good to know. But not exactly what I meant." Archer wished his armory officer would loosen up a little. He knew Malcolm wanted to keep the ship safe, but having a little faith in people for once would be a nice change. "Do you think it would be a good idea to visit them?"
"Captain, you have already met the Andorians. Anything you wish to know about them or Andoria can be accessed in the Vulcan database." Sub-Commander T'Pol was in no hurry to deal with the Andorians.
"In this case maybe visiting them is better." Ensign Travis Mayweather had been quiet, listening to the others. He wasn't too excited about seeing the Andorians, but he really wanted to get off of the ship.
"I could add to the Universal Translator. The more accurate it is the better." Ensign Hoshi Sato also wanted to get off of the ship for a bit. She was feeling a little better about space travel, but now and then loved to feel solid ground beneath her feet.
"Our mission is to meet new people. We already know the Andorians." T'Pol couldn't hold back the dislike for them that had been part of her for so long.
"T'Pol, I know you aren't comfortable with this. You can stay on the ship while we're visiting if you want. I think it'd be to our advantage to go. We don't want to make enemies while we are out here." Archer hoped nothing would go wrong on this trip. At first he wasn't sure if they should accept the Andorians' invitation to visit their planet, but his crew seemed willing to take the chance. "They also have some unique plant and animal life. May as well give our science department time to use their skills."
"You gonna tell the crew we're headed to Andoria?" Trip hadn't been paying too much attention to the conversation, his mind still on Lieutenant Watson. Hearing about animals caught his attention. She'd love to see some new animals. I'd love t' tell her about it. Gives me a reason t' talk t' her.
"Of course. Why do you ask?"
"In case someone asks if I know where we're headed." So I have to talk to her.
"I'll pass the news along tomorrow. Right now I'll let you guys head back to whatever you were doing before I called you here." He knew there was something else on Trip's mind, some reason he wanted to tell people. But he was still a little upset on his friend's casualness about coming to the bridge, and decided not to question him at that particular moment. "Go enjoy your evening."