Title: In Plain Sight
Author: Kathy Rose
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to someone else, etc., etc., etc. I'm not making any money, I'm just having fun with the characters. Wish I'd thought of them first.
Summary: Enterprise must take a witness to testify at a trial. Will an assassin strike before they get there? Even more important, will certain crewmembers survive the witness being on board?
CHAPTER 1
Travis leaned closer to his dining companion in the mess hall. "Rumor has it we're going back to Earth," he said in a hushed voice.
Hoshi, using her fork to slice a bite-sized piece of the lasagna on her plate, looked at Travis with amusement. Instead of answering, she raised the fork, put the lasagna in her mouth, and started eating.
"Come on, Hoshi," he wheedled. "Surely you know something."
She swallowed and took a sip of iced tea, eyeing the helmsman the whole time. Then she calmly took another bite of her dinner.
"Hoshi! You're the comm officer! You know everything."
Dabbing daintily at her mouth with her napkin, Hoshi relented. "Yes, we're going back to Earth," she said.
His eyes glittering with excitement, Travis crowed, "I knew it!"
Seeing the attention of some of the other diners focus on them, Hoshi quickly shushed him. "It's not for common knowledge until the captain makes an announcement." Looking around to make sure no one was still listening, she added in a low voice, "And we've got a stop to make first. We're picking up a new crew member."
Later that day, Hoshi was at the airlock along with Jon and Malcolm as a private vessel docked with Enterprise. Hoshi was anxious to meet the person who was going to blow the lid off a far-reaching scheme involving fraud, blackmail and possibly several murders.
The captain had decided that Hoshi would be the primary liaison for the witness during the trip back to Earth. Malcolm was there for security reasons. No one else on board other than T'Pol, who was on the bridge during the docking procedure, would know the true identity of their passenger.
Hoshi and Malcolm had attended a strategy session with the captain and the first officer the day before. Right off the bat they'd agreed that taking on a civilian would arouse the curiosity of the crew. Starfleet wasn't in business to be a ferry service. So they'd come up with the story that she was in Starfleet and was being assigned to Enterprise.
"There's got to be a reason for her showing up here," Jon had said. "Under usual circumstances, new crewmen don't come aboard until we're at Earth or another Starfleet vessel is sent to meet us."
"Perhaps she could be a specialist of some sort," T'Pol had suggested. "That could necessitate the use of a private vessel such as the one we will be meeting."
"That might work," Jon had said, "and if it's an esoteric enough specialty, no one on board will have the expertise to know better."
"That would imply she has knowledge of an esoteric field of study," T'Pol had said. "Does she?"
Archer had glanced at Hoshi, who had also studied the background information sent by Starfleet on their passenger, and they both had shaken their heads.
"Perhaps," Hoshi had ventured, "she could be assigned to security. We could say she's an expert developing a new type of weapon and needs to do some field work. That way, it would be easier for Malcolm to protect her since she'd have a valid reason for being with him."
Hoshi had been rather proud of her idea and had been sure it would be met with approval, and it had been -- by the captain and T'Pol. Malcolm hadn't been as enthused. But in the end, he'd agreed it would be easier to carry off the ruse if their passenger was in his department where he could keep an eye on her. Not only that, being in the armory would help to keep her away from prying eyes and questions.
The hiss as the airlock door opened brought Hoshi back to the present. Only one person was inside. A mousy-looking woman of middle age and medium height with shoulder-length brown hair was standing there. The woman was tense, to judge by the way she was gripping the strap to her duffle bag, but Hoshi thought that was understandable. Her life was in danger until she testified.
"Welcome aboard, Miss Bloom," Jon said, extending his hand to her. "I'm Captain Archer."
The woman went to shake his hand and dropped her duffle bag on his foot.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she said, making a grab for the offending duffle bag and bumping into Jon as he also reached for it. "Sorry!" she murmured again.
Hoshi bit the inside of her cheek as she watched a blush creep up the captain's face, but it was nothing compared to the brilliant red now suffusing the face of their passenger.
Jon finally managed to take charge of the duffle bag. Straightening, he gave Miss Bloom an awkward smile and turned to indicate the waiting officers.
"This is Ensign Sato," he said. "She'll be your contact on board. You'll be sharing her cabin. If there's anything you need, just let her know."
Hoshi gave her a reassuring smile, and saw a tremulous smile cross the woman's face in response.
Handing the duffle bag to Malcolm, the captain continued, "And this is Lieutenant Reed. He's in charge of security on Enterprise. In fact, you'll be working with him."
"Ma'am," Malcolm said with a curt bob of his head in greeting.
Miss Bloom looked at Malcolm in confusion. "Working...with him?" she said, the last word coming out in a squeak.
"Ensign Sato will explain it to you," Jon said hastily. "It would probably be best to go to your quarters and get changed before any of the crew sees you."
Miss Bloom swallowed nervously as her confusion mounted. "Changed?"
Hoshi took pity on the poor woman. "Come on," she said. "I'll show you to our quarters and then we'll tell you what we've got planned."
She led Miss Bloom down the corridor to the turbolift, Malcolm trailing them with the duffle bag. None of them heard Jon sigh in relief that the stilted meeting was over.
"So you see, I really had no choice in the matter," Miss Bloom was saying as she unpacked her duffle bag. "They were probably going to kill me anyway. I know too much, and they just can't take the chance. So I had to leave. You wouldn't believe how hard it was to arrange transport from Thiera, but I managed it. I used to make travel arrangements for the executives, so I had a good idea who to contact for a trip. The agency is usually very discreet. I'm sure they won't tell anyone. Well, I hope they don't talk about it."
Hoshi had to move aside as Miss Bloom began hanging clothes in the closet. Another bunk had been moved in, making for rather cramped quarters. But it wasn't the lack of space that was bothering Hoshi, despite her for-the-moment quiescent claustrophobia.
"I wish I'd never stayed late that evening," Miss Bloom continued. "If I hadn't been working late and been so tired, I wouldn't have accidentally gotten into that file. It was a mistake that I opened it. There was no reason for me to even see it, but because I was tired, I hit the wrong key and up it popped on my screen."
No, it was the constant chattering that was going to drive her insane, Hoshi realized as her eyes began to glaze over. Did the woman ever stop to take a breath?
"And once it was opened, it was just like Pandora's box. All the names, all the payoffs..." Miss Bloom finished hanging her clothes and turned to face Hoshi. "And I have what is sometimes called a photographic memory. It's not like I can forget what I saw in that file."
Hoshi gave her a small smile and opened her mouth to speak, but Miss Bloom beat her to it.
"That was why I was hired in the first place. My darn memory. It comes in useful when dealing with contracts and things like--"
The door chime rang, mercifully cutting Miss Bloom off in mid-sentence. Hoshi hastened to the door, grateful for the interruption.
The door slid open to reveal Malcolm, data padd in hand. He'd gone off to check something in the armory after escorting the women to Hoshi's cabin, but was back for the briefing. "Is she ready?" he asked.
"Not yet!" Hoshi said, putting a hand up to keep him from entering. Turning to face her guest and pointing to the Starfleet uniform jumpsuit laid out one of the bunks, she said, "Why don't you get changed while I step outside to talk to the lieutenant?"
"Um, okay," Miss Bloom said, her earlier timidness returning.
Hoshi quickly stepped out of the cabin, allowing the door to close behind her.
"Thank God you came by!" Hoshi said.
"What's wrong?" Malcolm asked, suddenly becoming very alert.
"She's talking and she won't shut up!"
"Oh," Malcolm said, relaxing. "I thought there was a problem." At Hoshi's exasperated expression, he amended, "A security problem."
"It could be. She's going to have to keep her mouth shut when she's out among the crew or she's going to give herself away." Hoshi wearily ran a hand across her eyes. "All I did was ask if she was okay, and she's been on a roll ever since. I can see how she'd make a good witness, though. She said she has an eidetic memory."
Malcolm smiled wryly. "Well, then. We shouldn't have to repeat our instructions to her, should we?"
Hoshi sighed. "No, I suppose not. We're going to have to coach her on how to act, though, if she's going to fit in. That means making her familiar with certain procedures and schedules on board, and rank protocol. We can't expect her to remain in my cabin the whole time. That would only arouse more suspicion why a Starfleet specialist who made a special trip to rendezvous with us isn't doing anything."
Glancing at the door, Malcolm asked, "Think she's ready?"
"Let me check," Hoshi said, turning back to the door. She opened it and looked inside.
Miss Bloom, dressed in a standard blue uniform, was standing in the middle of the cabin. Her hands were clasped in front of her, her shoulders were hunched, and a strand of unruly brown hair stuck out at an angle. Uncertainty radiated from her lackluster grayish eyes.
She was the most pitiful example of a member of Starfleet that Hoshi could ever remember seeing.
From behind Hoshi, Malcolm murmured, "Looks like we've got our work cut out for us."
