Part 2

"Hello Admiral Spencer." Hoshi said to the telescreen.

"Professor Sato." The small image of Spencer replied. "Have you made a decision?"

"I have a few questions before I commit myself to anything." Hoshi answered.

"Please continue."

"First of all, I was wondering if I would be considered official Starfleet personnel if I were take this job."

"While you worked with Starfleet, yes you would. We would start you out as Chief Linguist in the Linguistic Department."

"Since it's only temporary I don't have to go through Starfleet training, am I correct?"

"Since you would be working for Starfleet on a temporary basis and the station you will be head of is located on Earth and will never go into space, we see no reason for you to undergo formal training." Spencer paused and continued, "The training camp is slightly severe and over the course of five months."

Hoshi nodded thoughtfully. They were probably aware that she wasn't willing to spend the next five months of her life in a training camp. "Since I would be temporary personnel, I'd rather I had no rank Admiral, and be seen as a temporary Linguist rather then an officer."

"That's fine." Spencer replied.

"Yesterday Commander Tucker was showing me quarters, I'm not sure why that is necessary Admiral. I do have a residence several blocks away."

"Since the universal translator is one of our top priorities, we'd like to have our higher ranking officers close at hand for last minute decisions or any other problems."

"So I'll be living, breathing, eating, my job."

"We believe that this method will yield effective results."

"I see." Hoshi answered. "And finally, the most important question." Hoshi continued, "Do I have to wear the purple jumper?"

Admiral Spencer let out a chuckle before he was able to contain himself and answered, "I'm sorry Professor Sato, but the Starfleet uniform is standard. But if you decide to join, I'll see if there is anything we can do to accommodate your request."

Hoshi smiled. Trip was right, she thought to herself. It was better to hold out. Okay, stop harassing the man and give him an answer, she berated herself.

"When do I start?"

"We'll have an escort pick you up after your last class on Monday." Admiral Spencer smiled. "Welcome aboard."

***********************************************

"So you did join." A voice called behind Hoshi, who was currently very lost and looking for her post.

"Trip?" Turning around she saw Tucker behind her, trying to catch up.

"Hoshi." He replied breathlessly when he reached her.

She smiled, "I thought why not. I don't need a social life."

"Don't worry." Tucker grinned. "When I'm around you don't need a social life."

"Ah, I see," Hoshi answered, "So much to look forward to, how can I bear it?" She finished dryly, lifting an eyebrow.

Tucker gave a small chuckle and walked beside Hoshi. "Where you off to?"

"At this moment?" Hoshi asked giving him a helpless shrug, "Nowhere."

"Lost?"

"Very."

"Lucky you ran into me."

"I didn't run into you." Hoshi answered cheekily, "You ran after me."

"You linguists and your semantics," Trip dramatically sighed.

Hoshi stopped walking and turned to face Trip in exasperation. "That's it. Where am I going?"

"If you keep heading straight and turn that corner in front of us, you'll be at the West entrance."

"What?" Hoshi walked to the corner while Trip tagged along, and nearly screamed in frustration when she saw the large glass doors she had entered through an hour ago.

"How?" She moaned. "When? Why?"

Trip chuckled. "Do you have anywhere specific you need to be right now?" Trip asked.

"No," She sighed, "I was just trying to get a feel of things. And right now I feel very lost."

"Look on the bright side." He replied. "At least you now know where the West entrance is."

"I don't even know where that is." She muttered. "I'm supposed to be in a completely different wing right now."

"Here, why don't I take you to the messhall and we can get a late lunch. Afterwards I'll take you anywhere you want to go." He looked at her. "Have you eaten?"

"Not yet." She answered, "Lead away."



"So you've been with Natalie for 7 years?" Hoshi asked in awe. "So long."

Trip gave an easy mannered laugh and shrugged. "We were high school sweethearts. It was on and off for a while, but I think we've got it right."

Hoshi sat back in her chair and sighed wistfully. "I've only been past three months once. My sister swears I'm flighty."

Trip chewed thoughtfully on his scrambled eggs as Hoshi continued.

"And in the past year I've been out on 2 dates only. I'm beginning to feel like a nun."

Trip nearly choked on his food. "Two?" Opening his mouth he tried to keep a straight face. "Hoshi, I don't think Starfleet is going to cut into your social life."

Hoshi made a face at him. "I know, I know. And to make things more pathetic, both times was with another professor at the university."

"What happened?" Trip asked.

"Nothing obviously." She retorted, before continuing. "On the second date I began to realize he talked an awful lot about his ex girlfriend Megan."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. Tell me about it. It's not that it hurt or anything. I didn't know him long enough to really care, it was just disconcerting. Here I am sitting in front of him while he bawls into his napkin wondering if I'm going to spend the rest of my life as the 'rebound' girl. I knew more about his relationship with Megan than I ever wanted to." Mixing her soda with her straw she continued, "Finally I got so tired of him rambling on about how much he missed her I told him to stop whining and go beg for her forgiveness already."

"And?"

"And he did. Borrowed my communicater and called her up at the dinner table with me right in front of him." Hoshi began to imitate him in a high falsetto voice, "I miss you snookums, I'm so sorry. Boohoo boohoo."

"Snookums?"

Hoshi shuddered. "Yeah, it was pretty disturbing." Picking up her fork, she speared a piece of bacon and brought it to her mouth. A lull in the conversation followed as both began to eat their food.

"Are you?" Trip wondered out loud after several minutes of silence.

"Am I what?" She asked in confusion.

"Flighty."

She tilted her head to the side and thought for a moment, a disheartening shadow passing briefly across her delicate features. "No." She answered softly, her eyes not focusing on any one thing, her mind remembering things past. "I'm not."

Tactfully Trip didn't answer, allowing Hoshi personal space to think. He recognized the expression on her face, and knew there was nothing he could do to help. He had once wore the same face when he found out Natalie had been with someone else on one of their "off" moments. It hurt but he got over it. And with time, he knew Hoshi would also heal. He smiled when an image of Natalie came to mind. God she was beautiful. He didn't think he could ever get tired of seeing that face in his head.

*******************************************

3 months later

"Why are you always so angry at me?" Trip muttered in frustration following Natalie as she stormed about her apartment.

Turning around to confront him she stuck her finger out accusingly at him. "Are you cheating on me?" She demanded.

"What?" Trip asked in shock.

"You heard me the first time." She shouted. "You're always with her." She spat out the word her, as thought it were distasteful to her mouth.

"What are you talking about?" Trip asked. "I've always been faithful to you." He emphasized the word always, ignoring the dirty look Natalie threw at him.

"And that girl you're always with? I've seen you two talking together. How she looks at you. How you look at her. And you live in the same place. Probably to be together without me knowing." She muttered.

"Are you delusional?" Trip nearly shouted, frustrated with Natalie's constant attempts to provoke him. "You know we're working on the translator. She's the head linguist, I'm the head engineer. Of course we're going to talk. And another thing, you know it's a requirement for me to live on Starfleet base. Hoshi and I are not even in the same building."

Natalie winced as she heard Trip mention her name. "So that's all you are?" She asked in a voice implying they were much more. "Work colleague?"

"No, that's not all we are." He answered trying to keep his emotions under control. "We're friends. Much less then you and Eddie."

Natalie looked at him in surprise. "How do you-" She stopped herself from finishing the sentence but it didn't matter anymore.

Silence reigned supreme and a long held suspicion was answered. "I can't believe you." Trip muttered, grabbing his jacket to leave her apartment.

"Where are you going." Natalie asked from the corner of her living room.

"I'm fed up with your bullshit Natalie and at the moment I really can't stand the sight of you." He replied. "So I'm going out, far away somewhere where your bloodthirsty claws can't reach my heart."

"You fucking asshole. You always run away." He heard her scream after him as he walked down her stairs.



Hoshi had spent most of the night going over the work of the other linguists, correcting any mistakes that she found. This is teaching all over again she sighed to herself as she corrected another simple mistake. Many of the flaws she found were minor, but even she knew that they would all add up and severely cut down the efficiency of the translator.

Miserably glancing at the clock, the numbers 4:23am chirped back at her, making her want to lie down and die. Glancing at the pile of data pads in front of her she had yet to go through, she had the urge to cry.

Her body demanded sleep but she compromised for a quick break and coffee. Getting up she stretched her arms and wearily walked out her door towards the messhall.



Stumbling towards her quarters Hoshi cursed as some of the hot coffee spilled on her hand. Even after two cups of coffee her gaze was still fuzzy and the floor seemed to move on it's own accord. Two hours she muttered to herself. Just two hours she mentally tried to convince herself as she walked through her door. Too tired to turn the light on she blindly walked towards her desk and set her coffee cup down.

Heading towards her bathroom she opened the door and flicked the weak light on. Standing in front of the sink, she twisted the tap and cupped her hands together to form a small bowl, letting the icy water fill her improv bowl. Splashing the water on her face she ignored the water trickling down her skin and looked in the mirror. Dark under eye circles marred her pale skin and she convinced herself that taking two tiny small hours for a nap wouldn't hurt production.

Yawning she stepped out of her bathroom and walked towards her dresser where she kept her night clothes, pulling down the zipper on her uniform on the way there. Slipping it off her shoulders she let it fall to her waist and pulled off her under shirt, standing their with uniform half on and her bra. Opening her dresser she clumsily rummaged for her hideous bright yellow oversized shirt she had received as a gift many years ago. It was ugly as hell but as Hoshi found out, very comfortable and just big enough to work as a nightgown.

Oblivious to everything around her, her hand landed on a soft piece of fabric and she gleefully grabbed it. Found it she thought to herself as she pulled it out.

A low whistle floated through the air. "There really is no accounting for taste is there."

Hoshi spun around startled, the shirt still in her hand as she made out the outline of Trip in the dim light filtering through from the bathroom. Grabbing the shirt protectively in front of her chest Hoshi stepped forward to make sure. "What are you doing here Trip?" She demanded tightening the grip on her shirt when she saw him step out of the shadow. Blushing as she noticed his eyes blatantly trailing down her body.

Snapping his head up startled, as he heard her voice he had the good graces to blush and give her a sheepish grin. "I knocked?" He offered hopefully as he saw her glare. His eyes were bleak and he looked like shit, the halfhearted smile on his face making him seem even more pathetic.

Sighing Hoshi told Trip to turn around. Quickly she put on her shirt before letting him turn back and face her. Grabbing her chair to face the bed, she motioned him to sit in her chair as she plopped down in her own bed. One hour, she promised herself. I'll sleep for one hour.

After several minutes of studying him, Hoshi broke the silence. "What's wrong Trip?"

"Natalie, Eddie." He croaked and Hoshi instantly understood.

Trip didn't explain anything to her but he didn't need to. Lately he had been distracted with Natalie's friend Eddie, and although he never voiced any suspicions to Hoshi, she had her own doubts and she was sure that Trip shared them.

"How did you find out?" She asked in what she hoped was a comforting voice.

"We had an argument today." He replied. "She accused me of cheating on her."

Hoshi looked at him in surprise, Trip was, well Trip. In the past few months Trip had become a close friend, and she knew no as loyal as him. Undeserved loyalty she thought to herself as she thought of Natalie. "You? Cheating on her? That's ridiculous. I bet you've never even had a disloyal thought about her before." Hoshi replied.

"She thought you and I-"

"Oh." Hoshi answered, seriously in shock. She had never thought of Trip in that way. From the beginning she knew he was taken. He loved Natalie. And she never touched men that were taken, no one ever won in those types of situations. She knew from firsthand experience. "Surely she knows that you and I have never even thought about each other in a non friendly manner." Hoshi continued. "We're friends. Really, really good friends." Looking at the past few months, she knew deep down that the closeness they shared did seem slightly suspicious. The whispers that followed them were speculative yet many.

Trip broke her thoughts with his guilty words. "I have."

Hoshi looked at him in surprise.

"I would have never acted on them. I love Natalie," He continued. "But- I look at you sometimes when we work, and I just think in the back of my head for split seconds; maybe." Burying his head in his hands he mumbled to himself, "I'm no better then Natalie."

"No." Hoshi forcefully said. "I can't even began to describe how you're much better then Natalie. Occasional thoughts of other people are normal. It's acting on them that puts a person in the wrong." She said her voice full of conviction. Reaching towards Trip, she rested on her knees in front of him and grasped both of his hands with her own. Looking up to stare him full on in the face she continued. "You are a good person Trip. One of the best, and nothing you did makes you responsible for Natalie's actions. Nothing. It's not your fault, it's not mine. It's their fault, they choose to cheat."

Trip's eyes dawned with realization. Hoshi had always refused to talk about the one. The one guy she had been with for over three months. The one that made her retreat into herself, refusing the advances of other men.

Staring at the delicate figure before him, her face tilted up towards him filled with concern. For himself he realized. I could fall in love with you so easily he said softly Hoshi barely heard him. Her eyes grew round as his words sunk through and did not bother to try and stop him as he slowly leaned forward to kiss her.