"SHIT!"

Hayes looked to his left to see Money, lying on her back with a split lip, glaring up at Hoshi Sato, standing back, with her hand over her mouth and round, shocked eyes. Most of the rest of the room also took pause at this rather unusual turn of events.

"I mean, Oh God! I— I'm so sorry! I don't know—". Hayes strode over. "On your feet, Private."

Money scrambled up and stood to attention, still glaring slightly but looking ahead, over Hayes' shoulder. "SIR!"

"Seems the Comm Officer got one over on you. Care to explain?"

"SIR! Just a slip, Major, a momentary lapse—".

Hayes took a step closer to her. She didn't flinch. Hayes didn't expect her to. He'd trained them to stand their ground and take what was coming.

"Momentary lapses cost lives, Private. Or in this case a visit to Sickbay," he said calmly.

"SIR!"

"Dismissed, Private." As Money nodded and was about to take her leave, Hayes continued, "Oh and on your way, Private? Forget about using the turbolift."

She paused, looking confused. "Climb the decks. On foot." The look on his face left no doubt he meant it.

"YES SIR!" She left the bay, fuming. She knew his style of command well enough to know that he'd check with Doctor Phlox to make sure she was panting and sweating when she got to Sickbay.

She strolled out the door, reminding herself not to lose her cool or take her temper out on Sato. She'd slipped up and Hayes had doled out a fair punishment. She sighed as she made her way to Sickbay. 'Blast it to hell,' she thought, 'I miss you, Hawkins…'


"Nice land, Hoshi. Mind telling me how you laid out one of my teams top hand-to-hand combatants?," Hayes enquired.

"I don't know, Major Hayes…," she began. Her left hook had obviously surprised even herself.

Hayes glanced up to see Lieutenant Reed making his way over. Great, he thought, here comes some witty British banter for us all to suck up.

"Ensign Sato," he said with a wide smile, "nice to see our extra sessions are paying off." Hayes noticed he was pointedly ignoring him. "We may well make you a defender of the realm yet."

"I think I just got lucky, Sir," Hoshi replied shyly, glancing down.

"Don't be modest, Hoshi. I've seen Money lay the Major here to waste a couple of times." He glanced at Hayes then, with a slight smirk, who gave him a cool look back.

"Well, I think that's enough excitement for one day, Ensign. Dismissed." "Yes, Sir," as she quickly left the room, blushing slightly. 'I wish the Lieutenant wouldn't take such an interest in my personal tactical development, she thought, making her way to the Mess for something to drink. 'Why can't I just stay on Comms?' She sighed. She knew why. Malcolm Reed cared.


"Thought that was funny, did you?" Hayes asked, as they stood together watching the remainder of the session. "It had a certain poetic justice," Reed replied. "Surely even you could see that, Major."

"No actually, Lieutenant, I don't see what poetic justice has got to do with anything in this situation."

He looked over at him, eyes clear and sparkling. "I recall Private Money's rather exuberant display on Commander Tucker not so long ago, which included a bruised jaw."

Hayes remembered. Money seemed to have lost her cool momentarily. He frowned. Not just at Malcolm's observation of the situation, but that it had slipped under his radar. He'd have to have a word with her. And himself, very soon, he pondered.

He was about to query Reed on since when he had become such an expert at reading his team, when Tactical Alert sounded.

"SESSION OVER!, Reed stated loud and clear over the sound. "MAN YOUR STATIONS!"

Malcolm turned to head for the Bridge. "Lieutenant!," Matthew called after him. "Yes, Major?," he replied. "Assuming whatever the alert is isn't going to blow Enterprise into another portion of space, can you meet me for dinner in the Mess after our shifts? There are a few things with respect to the working relationships of our teams that I'd like to go over with you." The expression on Matthew's face told Malcolm this was a serious request and not code for anything else, no matter if his overactive and sometimes all-too-graphic imagination might try to suggest otherwise.

"Of course, Major. And if it - whatever it is - DOES blow us all to smithereens, at least we found out one thing…." Hayes knew exactly what he was talking about. This is the effect of the sound of Tactical Alert on the Head of Security. "Better get to the Bridge, Sir." Reed gave a curt nod and beat a hasty retreat then, leaving Major Hayes wondering, as he went to join his team, if he would get any sleep tonight.