Title: Twelve Days 1 Author: ZenosParadox
Rating: PG-13
Summary: RS, Tu. Reed and Sato experience a partridge in a pear tree, two turtle doves and three French hens as only they can. Light, fluffy, cliché-filled fic. 3 of 3 chapters.
Disclaimer: The Enterprise characters belong to Paramount. This fiction was written solely for personal enjoyment.
TWELVE DAYS 1
A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE
December 26
Commander Tucker looked over his coffee cup at Lieutenant Malcolm Reed. "Couldn't ya just've shot me with a phase pistol 'fore I drank up the rest of the bourbon?"
The Chief Engineer looked accusingly at the Armory Officer who appeared to be in chipper spirits this morning. Reed smiled slightly as he speared his pancakes and said, "After that little stunt you pulled to embarrass me with Hoshi under the mistletoe, you deserve every miserable ache, Commander."
"Me? Ya think I'd actually set ya up like that?" Tucker now had his fingers crossed behind his back.
"Commander," Tucker grimaced at THAT tone coming from Reed, but the Lieutenant continued, "I heard Travis apologizing to Hoshi for bumping into her to send her tumbling into me. Apparently he was trying to avoid stepping on Porthos who was making a run for it."
"Porthos, huh?" said Tucker as he rubbed his head.
"Porthos. Yes, the resident canine who has learned to respond to certain whistles emitted by certain--well, need I say more, Commander," ended Reed.
Tucker shrugged. No wonder Reed was the tactical officer. He'd get on Travis' case later; the helmsman wasn't as innocent as he appeared. Whistling to Porthos had just been fortuitous. The dog had been about to make another run at T'Pol, so of course Tucker had to intervene. "You can't convince me you didn't like that little kiss from Sato Claus. You know, you look kinda cute when you turn all red like that. Now, don't worry, it's just the hangover talking, but the red is definitely cute."
"Who looks cute?" asked Ensign Hoshi Sato as she came to sit with the two officers. She, too, seemed in good spirits this morning as she took her place opposite Reed and Tucker.
"You did, darlin'. You were absolutely the finest Santa on any starship. Right, Malcolm?" asked Tucker with a nudge to Reed.
Reed wound up biting his cheek, so could only mumble, "Mmhm."
Not a very enthusiastic confirmation of her cuteness, thought Sato, and the pained expression on Reed's face did nothing to assuage her ego.
Reed noticed the rather stiff posture and, worse, The Look on Sato's face. He swallowed his last bit of food and decided not to find out what he'd done this time. "Trip, I'll help you prep the shuttlepod for the mission this afternoon. We should be reaching the planet by mid-morning."
The men did a hasty retreat to the launch bay leaving Sato alone with her thoughts. The Lieutenant was like a faucet that couldn't decide whether it provided hot or cold water. He was just so confusing! She distracted herself by considering her own preparations for the mission. Sentient plant life might be similar to dealing with sentient male life.
-----
"Sentient plant life! Wow! Can it get any better than this? Whoa! And to try to communicate with the species is just-WOW!" exclaimed Danny. He sat to Reed's left while Sato took the seat to the right behind the pilot as the shuttlepod glided to the planet.
Reed and Sato exchanged a quick roll of their eyes. Like Sato, Danny was an Ensign, but the man had a naivete that--nay, he was a rube, plain and simple. It was Liz Cutler's bad luck that a knife had slipped as she was demonstrating to Chef how well she had sharpened his cutlery. That accident had meant that Danny was the next exobiologist available for the mission.
"This is just too cool. Hey, what does that but--"
"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" exclaimed Sato while trying to keep from slapping Danny's hand away from the console. Reed gave her a quick thank-you nod, but she could see his grip tighten on the controls.
"Gee, Hosh, you're really jumpy, aren't you?" Sato cringed at the abbreviation of her name, let alone its use by Danny.
"You will refer to our Communications Officer as Ensign Sato while on this mission," Reed said quietly.
"And any other time, for that matter," chimed in Sato in her driest voice.
"Okay, I'm cool with that military stuff. But don't you worry, we men will protect you. Right, Mal?" affirmed Danny with a pat to Reed's shoulder. The Lieutenant turned his head to achieve eye contact with Danny, but didn't say a word. Danny moved his hand off the man's shoulder quickly. "Um, I meant, Lieutenant Reed."
Reed turned his attention forward again, but said, "I expect this to be a QUIET mission, Ensign, but if trouble should arise, I'm sure Ensign Sato will be able to help you out of it."
As they were getting their equipment out of the shuttlepod, with Danny still emitting Wows at odd occasions, Reed whispered to Sato, "Once he completes his assignment, I can accidentally stun him so that we can have some peace on the flight back to the ship."
Sato flashed the Lieutenant a wide grin. She could really like him sometimes. "I get to take the shot, Lieutenant."
Reed nodded firmly, then turned to Danny, "Ensign, remember that you are only to scan the life forms and not take any samples. The Sub-commander could only speculate that the blue plant life is sentient, but it's best if we leave things undisturbed. Stay within the perimeter I establish. Clear?"
"Yes, sir," responded Danny quickly, only to ruin it by turning on his scanner and saying, "Wow."
Reed checked the probes that would provide detailed readings for T'Pol and mark the perimeter for their mission. She had specified these coordinates for their survey so that plant life was minimally disturbed. There were some burrows already in the dirt and the Vulcan had logically determined that these would be ideal to avoid excessive disturbance of the land around the allegedly sentient plants. Reed inserted the probes precisely to the depth specified by T'Pol.
The Vulcan Science Officer shared a preoccupation for meticulous details with Reed. Lately they had established an unacknowledged competition on who could be more of a perfectionist--or pain in the ass, Tucker had observed. Reed assumed he would lose, but he could certainly give their Science Officer a run for her money. Anal-retentive was his middle name! Why did that sound so unflattering?
Reed kept glancing at his companions as he set about his work. Danny needed a watchful eye because his enthusiasm and witlessness made him unpredictable. Sato needed a watchful eye because, well, simply because he enjoyed watching her. Besides, it was his job to see to the safety of the crew.
Sato moved with quick--and silent--efficiency as she inserted the earphones and activated her scanner. Sentient meant there was a capacity for communication. It could be an indication of intelligence, but then Porthos successfully communicated his desire for cheese without uttering a word.
Sato sighed as the time passed without incident and without any indication of sentient life other than Reed and herself. She had long excluded Danny from the description. Sato tried one more adjustment on the frequency as she scanned the area. There it was! "Lieutenant, I think I have something."
Reed immediately went to her side. Sato turned enthusiastically to him as she showed him the readings. "It's coming from that grove of trees. Is there any way we can adjust the perimeter?"
The Lieutenant looked back at Danny who could be seen mouthing the word Wow even from this distance. Still, the man was staying where he was supposed to be. "How about I follow you so can get closer to the grove you're interested in? If we stay along those rocks we should be able to move without disturbing much."
At that moment, they heard a very loud WOW! Reed visibly cringed. "We'll leave Danny here; he seems safe enough."
At Sato's nod, Reed turned to call, "Ensign, you are to stay within the perimeter while we go investigate a bit. Be sure to call me if there's any problem with the probes."
"I understand, sir--WOW!" Danny barely looked up.
Sato and Reed shared a sigh before moving to the grove. Sato called Enterprise to advise them of their minor excursion, but approval was immediate. Reed was vigilant as Sato continued her scans. The smile on her face was quite enchanting as she solved another puzzle. She finally turned to the Lieutenant to say, "It's complex, but more like the type of communication one finds in the honeybee dance."
"But you'll still be the first to describe the information conveyed," offered Reed.
"Oh, yes. Well, I think I have enough for now. Let's go bac--"
"The damn fool! What is he doing?" Reed had already started to run back toward the original survey site. There were two trees near the perimeter and Danny had just stepped out of the designated survey zone. In fact he was now climbing one of the trees in a flurry of activity.
Sato and Reed stepped back into the original survey site, then stopped in disbelief. The two trees appeared to be bending toward each other and Danny was now caught between the branches of both trees whose configuration now resembled a couple embracing.
"HELP!" That certainly was an improvement from Wow.
"Stay calm, Ensign," commanded Reed. All they needed was for Danny to panic and come tumbling down. "Call in the situation to Enterprise while I try to figure out a way to get him down, Hoshi."
----
Jonathan Archer sat in the Captain's chair reviewing Reed's latest permutation of the tactical alert. He smiled as he noticed the modifications Reed had made as he had consulted with other senior staff, but his musings ended when the comm line opened.
"Ensign Sato to Enterprise."
"Go ahead Ensign," said T'Pol who had opened the line. There was some static and the voice was not coming through well.
"We bzzt situation here. bzzt Partridge is bzzt pair bzzt tree bzzt"
T'Pol looked quickly at the Captain who was asking her, "Did I hear that right? Did she just say partridge in a pear tree?"
"I believe it sounded like partridge in au pair tris. Captain, I believe that would be Ensign Partridge. I am uncertain of the rest. Some pollen has been released near the survey site that appears to be affecting the transmission."
"Please repeat. Ensign Partridge is where?" Archer asked in his best command voice. He knew he shouldn't have let Trip share so much of that bourbon with him.
Reed's voice next came on the line. "Trees are bzzting Ensign Partridge bzzt no immediate danbzzt"
----
Down on the planet, Sato was calling up to Danny. "Stay calm, Danny. I don't think they're trying to hurt you. I think they just want to--Oh my gosh!"
Reed looked up from the communicator and was as dumbfounded as Sato. The trees looked as if one was inserting its trunk into the other and tendrils were extended from each tree. Reed and Sato exchanged a bewildered glance. The trees were now producing a strangely familiar rhythm.
"It sounds like..." Sato couldn't finish.
"A very enthusiastic..." agreed Reed and also let his voice drop out. Really, this was not the time for voyeurism.
"Whoa! Hey..." Danny's voice was now giving no indication of alarm as the tendrils wound their way around him. "Ooo, that feels..."
Sato said, "Do you suppose the probes we inserted could have set of the, ahem, pollen exchange?"
"Let's test your hypothesis, Ensign. You take those two and I'll see to these," said Reed.
"Hey!" yelled Ensign Partridge in dismay as the pair of trees began to move out of their contortion around him.
"Good call, Hoshi!" said Reed to Sato before calling up to Partridge, "Come down, Ensign."
Sato informed the Enterprise of the successful resolution of their dilemma as Danny scrambled down none too gracefully. He actually tumbled into Reed's arms who had been standing at the base of the trunk. Sato smiled at the look of disgust that quickly flashed across Reed's features at the contact.
"Would you care to tell me exactly why you were climbing the tree, Ensign Partridge?" asked Reed as he set the Ensign upright and crossed his arms over his chest. Oh, here it comes, thought Sato and actually managed to give Danny a sympathetic smile.
"Uh, sir, I was, uh." Danny sighed. "I got scared of the snake."
"Snake!" Sato looked around. She didn't like snakes, but she also noticed Reed had whipped out his phase pistol and was looking around suspiciously, if not with a bit of panic in his own eyes. There it was, an empty snakeskin, coiled and completely innocent of any attack.
Reed gingerly picked up the snakeskin with two fingers. As he rose the sheath uncoiled while Reed continued, "You mean this?"
Danny nodded.
"This skin that wouldn't even be emitting a life sign on your scans?"
Another nod.
"And in your expert opinion as the biologist assigned to this mission, you saw this as a threat without any empirical evidence to validate your assumption?"
"Could you rephrase that question, sir?" asked Danny.
"Never mind, Ensign. Why don't you take the snakeskin? I doubt anyone would believe us otherwise."
"Whoa! Cool!" said Danny as he ran to the shuttlepod to get a container.
"You said I could take the shot, remember?" said Sato to Reed. Both were staring in the direction of Ensign Partridge and had their arms across their chest.
"You know, Lieutenant Reed, if I had my own phase pistol, I wouldn't have gotten spooked by the snake," Danny said by way of an excuse as he sauntered back to them to put the specimen in the container.
Reed thought for a moment, made some adjustments to his phase pistol, loaded a new cartridge and handed it to Danny. "You do know how to use it, right? Very good."
Reed quickly moved Sato away as Danny inspected the phase pistol by, yes, as predicted, looking down its barrel. Sato watched as the Lieutenant counted off with his fingers: one, two, three.
As they stood over the prone body of Ensign Partridge, Reed commented, "You know, I even had the safety on when I gave it to him."
"Hm," said Sato. Danny wasn't so unattractive when he was quiet, but really, a man needed to have SOME brainpower. "You weren't worried that he'd kill himself?"
"Actually, I loaded the phase pistol with what I call the Stun cartridge. The Kill setting simply knocks you out longer when that cartridge is in place. Grab an arm, will you?"
The two senior officers had a quiet flight back to Enterprise. Sato gave a sideward glance to Reed thinking, I REALLY like him sometimes.
-----
That night, Reed had a dream about target practice with Sato. Oddly enough, the holographic target took the appearance of Ensign Partridge. The best part of the dream was that the reward for hitting the target was a kiss. Not a single shot was missed.
*****
Rating: PG-13
Summary: RS, Tu. Reed and Sato experience a partridge in a pear tree, two turtle doves and three French hens as only they can. Light, fluffy, cliché-filled fic. 3 of 3 chapters.
Disclaimer: The Enterprise characters belong to Paramount. This fiction was written solely for personal enjoyment.
TWELVE DAYS 1
A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE
December 26
Commander Tucker looked over his coffee cup at Lieutenant Malcolm Reed. "Couldn't ya just've shot me with a phase pistol 'fore I drank up the rest of the bourbon?"
The Chief Engineer looked accusingly at the Armory Officer who appeared to be in chipper spirits this morning. Reed smiled slightly as he speared his pancakes and said, "After that little stunt you pulled to embarrass me with Hoshi under the mistletoe, you deserve every miserable ache, Commander."
"Me? Ya think I'd actually set ya up like that?" Tucker now had his fingers crossed behind his back.
"Commander," Tucker grimaced at THAT tone coming from Reed, but the Lieutenant continued, "I heard Travis apologizing to Hoshi for bumping into her to send her tumbling into me. Apparently he was trying to avoid stepping on Porthos who was making a run for it."
"Porthos, huh?" said Tucker as he rubbed his head.
"Porthos. Yes, the resident canine who has learned to respond to certain whistles emitted by certain--well, need I say more, Commander," ended Reed.
Tucker shrugged. No wonder Reed was the tactical officer. He'd get on Travis' case later; the helmsman wasn't as innocent as he appeared. Whistling to Porthos had just been fortuitous. The dog had been about to make another run at T'Pol, so of course Tucker had to intervene. "You can't convince me you didn't like that little kiss from Sato Claus. You know, you look kinda cute when you turn all red like that. Now, don't worry, it's just the hangover talking, but the red is definitely cute."
"Who looks cute?" asked Ensign Hoshi Sato as she came to sit with the two officers. She, too, seemed in good spirits this morning as she took her place opposite Reed and Tucker.
"You did, darlin'. You were absolutely the finest Santa on any starship. Right, Malcolm?" asked Tucker with a nudge to Reed.
Reed wound up biting his cheek, so could only mumble, "Mmhm."
Not a very enthusiastic confirmation of her cuteness, thought Sato, and the pained expression on Reed's face did nothing to assuage her ego.
Reed noticed the rather stiff posture and, worse, The Look on Sato's face. He swallowed his last bit of food and decided not to find out what he'd done this time. "Trip, I'll help you prep the shuttlepod for the mission this afternoon. We should be reaching the planet by mid-morning."
The men did a hasty retreat to the launch bay leaving Sato alone with her thoughts. The Lieutenant was like a faucet that couldn't decide whether it provided hot or cold water. He was just so confusing! She distracted herself by considering her own preparations for the mission. Sentient plant life might be similar to dealing with sentient male life.
-----
"Sentient plant life! Wow! Can it get any better than this? Whoa! And to try to communicate with the species is just-WOW!" exclaimed Danny. He sat to Reed's left while Sato took the seat to the right behind the pilot as the shuttlepod glided to the planet.
Reed and Sato exchanged a quick roll of their eyes. Like Sato, Danny was an Ensign, but the man had a naivete that--nay, he was a rube, plain and simple. It was Liz Cutler's bad luck that a knife had slipped as she was demonstrating to Chef how well she had sharpened his cutlery. That accident had meant that Danny was the next exobiologist available for the mission.
"This is just too cool. Hey, what does that but--"
"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" exclaimed Sato while trying to keep from slapping Danny's hand away from the console. Reed gave her a quick thank-you nod, but she could see his grip tighten on the controls.
"Gee, Hosh, you're really jumpy, aren't you?" Sato cringed at the abbreviation of her name, let alone its use by Danny.
"You will refer to our Communications Officer as Ensign Sato while on this mission," Reed said quietly.
"And any other time, for that matter," chimed in Sato in her driest voice.
"Okay, I'm cool with that military stuff. But don't you worry, we men will protect you. Right, Mal?" affirmed Danny with a pat to Reed's shoulder. The Lieutenant turned his head to achieve eye contact with Danny, but didn't say a word. Danny moved his hand off the man's shoulder quickly. "Um, I meant, Lieutenant Reed."
Reed turned his attention forward again, but said, "I expect this to be a QUIET mission, Ensign, but if trouble should arise, I'm sure Ensign Sato will be able to help you out of it."
As they were getting their equipment out of the shuttlepod, with Danny still emitting Wows at odd occasions, Reed whispered to Sato, "Once he completes his assignment, I can accidentally stun him so that we can have some peace on the flight back to the ship."
Sato flashed the Lieutenant a wide grin. She could really like him sometimes. "I get to take the shot, Lieutenant."
Reed nodded firmly, then turned to Danny, "Ensign, remember that you are only to scan the life forms and not take any samples. The Sub-commander could only speculate that the blue plant life is sentient, but it's best if we leave things undisturbed. Stay within the perimeter I establish. Clear?"
"Yes, sir," responded Danny quickly, only to ruin it by turning on his scanner and saying, "Wow."
Reed checked the probes that would provide detailed readings for T'Pol and mark the perimeter for their mission. She had specified these coordinates for their survey so that plant life was minimally disturbed. There were some burrows already in the dirt and the Vulcan had logically determined that these would be ideal to avoid excessive disturbance of the land around the allegedly sentient plants. Reed inserted the probes precisely to the depth specified by T'Pol.
The Vulcan Science Officer shared a preoccupation for meticulous details with Reed. Lately they had established an unacknowledged competition on who could be more of a perfectionist--or pain in the ass, Tucker had observed. Reed assumed he would lose, but he could certainly give their Science Officer a run for her money. Anal-retentive was his middle name! Why did that sound so unflattering?
Reed kept glancing at his companions as he set about his work. Danny needed a watchful eye because his enthusiasm and witlessness made him unpredictable. Sato needed a watchful eye because, well, simply because he enjoyed watching her. Besides, it was his job to see to the safety of the crew.
Sato moved with quick--and silent--efficiency as she inserted the earphones and activated her scanner. Sentient meant there was a capacity for communication. It could be an indication of intelligence, but then Porthos successfully communicated his desire for cheese without uttering a word.
Sato sighed as the time passed without incident and without any indication of sentient life other than Reed and herself. She had long excluded Danny from the description. Sato tried one more adjustment on the frequency as she scanned the area. There it was! "Lieutenant, I think I have something."
Reed immediately went to her side. Sato turned enthusiastically to him as she showed him the readings. "It's coming from that grove of trees. Is there any way we can adjust the perimeter?"
The Lieutenant looked back at Danny who could be seen mouthing the word Wow even from this distance. Still, the man was staying where he was supposed to be. "How about I follow you so can get closer to the grove you're interested in? If we stay along those rocks we should be able to move without disturbing much."
At that moment, they heard a very loud WOW! Reed visibly cringed. "We'll leave Danny here; he seems safe enough."
At Sato's nod, Reed turned to call, "Ensign, you are to stay within the perimeter while we go investigate a bit. Be sure to call me if there's any problem with the probes."
"I understand, sir--WOW!" Danny barely looked up.
Sato and Reed shared a sigh before moving to the grove. Sato called Enterprise to advise them of their minor excursion, but approval was immediate. Reed was vigilant as Sato continued her scans. The smile on her face was quite enchanting as she solved another puzzle. She finally turned to the Lieutenant to say, "It's complex, but more like the type of communication one finds in the honeybee dance."
"But you'll still be the first to describe the information conveyed," offered Reed.
"Oh, yes. Well, I think I have enough for now. Let's go bac--"
"The damn fool! What is he doing?" Reed had already started to run back toward the original survey site. There were two trees near the perimeter and Danny had just stepped out of the designated survey zone. In fact he was now climbing one of the trees in a flurry of activity.
Sato and Reed stepped back into the original survey site, then stopped in disbelief. The two trees appeared to be bending toward each other and Danny was now caught between the branches of both trees whose configuration now resembled a couple embracing.
"HELP!" That certainly was an improvement from Wow.
"Stay calm, Ensign," commanded Reed. All they needed was for Danny to panic and come tumbling down. "Call in the situation to Enterprise while I try to figure out a way to get him down, Hoshi."
----
Jonathan Archer sat in the Captain's chair reviewing Reed's latest permutation of the tactical alert. He smiled as he noticed the modifications Reed had made as he had consulted with other senior staff, but his musings ended when the comm line opened.
"Ensign Sato to Enterprise."
"Go ahead Ensign," said T'Pol who had opened the line. There was some static and the voice was not coming through well.
"We bzzt situation here. bzzt Partridge is bzzt pair bzzt tree bzzt"
T'Pol looked quickly at the Captain who was asking her, "Did I hear that right? Did she just say partridge in a pear tree?"
"I believe it sounded like partridge in au pair tris. Captain, I believe that would be Ensign Partridge. I am uncertain of the rest. Some pollen has been released near the survey site that appears to be affecting the transmission."
"Please repeat. Ensign Partridge is where?" Archer asked in his best command voice. He knew he shouldn't have let Trip share so much of that bourbon with him.
Reed's voice next came on the line. "Trees are bzzting Ensign Partridge bzzt no immediate danbzzt"
----
Down on the planet, Sato was calling up to Danny. "Stay calm, Danny. I don't think they're trying to hurt you. I think they just want to--Oh my gosh!"
Reed looked up from the communicator and was as dumbfounded as Sato. The trees looked as if one was inserting its trunk into the other and tendrils were extended from each tree. Reed and Sato exchanged a bewildered glance. The trees were now producing a strangely familiar rhythm.
"It sounds like..." Sato couldn't finish.
"A very enthusiastic..." agreed Reed and also let his voice drop out. Really, this was not the time for voyeurism.
"Whoa! Hey..." Danny's voice was now giving no indication of alarm as the tendrils wound their way around him. "Ooo, that feels..."
Sato said, "Do you suppose the probes we inserted could have set of the, ahem, pollen exchange?"
"Let's test your hypothesis, Ensign. You take those two and I'll see to these," said Reed.
"Hey!" yelled Ensign Partridge in dismay as the pair of trees began to move out of their contortion around him.
"Good call, Hoshi!" said Reed to Sato before calling up to Partridge, "Come down, Ensign."
Sato informed the Enterprise of the successful resolution of their dilemma as Danny scrambled down none too gracefully. He actually tumbled into Reed's arms who had been standing at the base of the trunk. Sato smiled at the look of disgust that quickly flashed across Reed's features at the contact.
"Would you care to tell me exactly why you were climbing the tree, Ensign Partridge?" asked Reed as he set the Ensign upright and crossed his arms over his chest. Oh, here it comes, thought Sato and actually managed to give Danny a sympathetic smile.
"Uh, sir, I was, uh." Danny sighed. "I got scared of the snake."
"Snake!" Sato looked around. She didn't like snakes, but she also noticed Reed had whipped out his phase pistol and was looking around suspiciously, if not with a bit of panic in his own eyes. There it was, an empty snakeskin, coiled and completely innocent of any attack.
Reed gingerly picked up the snakeskin with two fingers. As he rose the sheath uncoiled while Reed continued, "You mean this?"
Danny nodded.
"This skin that wouldn't even be emitting a life sign on your scans?"
Another nod.
"And in your expert opinion as the biologist assigned to this mission, you saw this as a threat without any empirical evidence to validate your assumption?"
"Could you rephrase that question, sir?" asked Danny.
"Never mind, Ensign. Why don't you take the snakeskin? I doubt anyone would believe us otherwise."
"Whoa! Cool!" said Danny as he ran to the shuttlepod to get a container.
"You said I could take the shot, remember?" said Sato to Reed. Both were staring in the direction of Ensign Partridge and had their arms across their chest.
"You know, Lieutenant Reed, if I had my own phase pistol, I wouldn't have gotten spooked by the snake," Danny said by way of an excuse as he sauntered back to them to put the specimen in the container.
Reed thought for a moment, made some adjustments to his phase pistol, loaded a new cartridge and handed it to Danny. "You do know how to use it, right? Very good."
Reed quickly moved Sato away as Danny inspected the phase pistol by, yes, as predicted, looking down its barrel. Sato watched as the Lieutenant counted off with his fingers: one, two, three.
As they stood over the prone body of Ensign Partridge, Reed commented, "You know, I even had the safety on when I gave it to him."
"Hm," said Sato. Danny wasn't so unattractive when he was quiet, but really, a man needed to have SOME brainpower. "You weren't worried that he'd kill himself?"
"Actually, I loaded the phase pistol with what I call the Stun cartridge. The Kill setting simply knocks you out longer when that cartridge is in place. Grab an arm, will you?"
The two senior officers had a quiet flight back to Enterprise. Sato gave a sideward glance to Reed thinking, I REALLY like him sometimes.
-----
That night, Reed had a dream about target practice with Sato. Oddly enough, the holographic target took the appearance of Ensign Partridge. The best part of the dream was that the reward for hitting the target was a kiss. Not a single shot was missed.
*****