CHAPTER TWO
"I've managed to convince the Commander that I'm looking into it, so that gives us another couple of days. I'll try to stretch it as long as possible, which probably won't be too hard." Malcolm told the rest of the band during lunch time the following day.
"Do you still want to keep on going with this then, sir?" Michael asked surprised.
"Yeah, I'm going to get through with this all the way to the end. I thought I made myself clear in the beginning, ensign?" Reed inquired.
"I know sir, I just thought now you and the commander… uhm… never mind." The ensign trailed off, going crimson.
"Never mind what, ensign?" Malcolm snapped.
"Nothing sir. I'm sorry, sir." The ensign stuttered, suddenly finding his feet very interesting.
Malcolm gave him a searching look, before rolling his eyes. What in the hell was that all about?
The rest of the practice went without a glitch, the matter forgotten after only a couple of minutes.
Malcolm's night shift actually didn't start until 22.00 o'clock, so he had plenty of time to meet up with Trip in the messhall that evening. As soon as they both walked into the room, everyone fell quiet for a second, then the buzzing of whispered conversation began along with sideway glances.
"Do I have something between, or something?" Trip whispered laughing.
"Yeah, a huge lump of spinage actually." Malcolm joked.
"Ooh how very thoughtful to lemme know now, Lieutenant."
"All part of the service, sir." He grinned.
They both grabbed something to eat and sat down on a table in a far away corner.
"No but really Trip, what do you think is going on? Ensign Darwin was acting weird today as well."
"Let's find out." Tucker looked around the room and spotted a newly transferred ensign, just getting up from a table next to them. "Ensign Cambridge, could you please come over here?"
"Me sir?" she asked surprised.
"No your long lost twin, of course you!" Tucker said annoyed. "Sit down."
The ensign gulped and did as she was told.
"So tell me ensign, what kind of gossip is being spread about the Commander and me?" Reed asked with his most threatening glare. "And be honest about it, because if I find out you've been lying to us, well… let's just say you might be stuck as ensign for a long, long time."
"Well sirs, it's not a bad thing or anything, everyone is apparently just surprised." She began.
"Ensign, just get to the point, will ya." Tucker told her, really wanting to know what was going on now.
"It's about your engagement, sirs. Congratulations." She told them with a smile.
"Engagement?" they both said out loud, exchanging a worried look.
"Engagement in what exactly?" Reed asked carefully, fearing the worst already.
"In marriage of course. Ensign Van Tiel saw it all." She explained, still clueless to the fact that none of it was true.
"WHAT!" Reed furiously roared. "I'm going to bust her arse straight back down to crewman!" he tried to stand up, only to be held back by Trip.
"Thank you ensign, that was all." The commander told the now very frightened looking woman. Then he took the upset lieutenant by the arm and let him out of the messhall and to his quarters. There he poured him a very strong scotch. "Here you go, Mal. Sit down, ok." He guided him to the couch where they both crashed down. "So Mrs Tucker, that's about the most the outrageous rumor I have heard in my entire life time." He grinned.
"Mrs Tucker indeed. How can they believe that I just allowed you to shag around with all those alien women?" Reed wondered. "I would have showed you the door by the first signs of trouble."
Tucker just lost it laughing, almost falling of the couch. Tears started streaming down his face. "Oh my gawd!" he managed to gasp out between piles of laughter. "I can't believe that is the first thing that comes to your mind."
"Trust me it wasn't." Reed now snarled. "I would never want to be married to the likes of you."
This only made the commander laugh harder.
"I wonder when you got so dense, that you did not even know the difference between an insult and a compliment!" Malcolm continued annoyed, apparently focused on getting a rise out of his superior officer.
"Ooh come on Mal, can't you appreciate the humor of the situation. They believe you and I are married!" Tucker suddenly got a pensive look on his face. "I wonder what ever gave them the idea that we are in love. I mean I thought no one knew of my bisexuality, except the captain of course."
Malcolm gave him a surprised look. "I should have figured you were bi. You just shag everything that comes on your path, don't you?" He added annoyed.
"I do not, Mr Ice-cube. I wonder when you had you're last shag. I guess Starfleet Academy, but I might be too optimistic." Tucker replied, looking at him defiantly.
"That is none of your bloody business, commander." Reed blazed, putting down his glass with a bang.
"Aah bulls eye, ey." Trip retorted.
Suddenly Malcolm's mood seemed to change. His face became an unreadable mask and he quickly stood up to leave. "I'll tell my people tomorrow that it's all just a rumor. I trust you to do the same. Good night, sir."
"Malcolm wait, I'm sorry." He said, gently grabbing a hold of the lieutenants right arm. "I didn't mean to lash out to you like that. Whoever is going to be your bride, is a lucky woman." He told him truthfully.
This made Reed smile a bit. "Unfortunately there will never be a Mrs Reed."
"Malcolm! Don't talk like that! On this ship alone there are dozens of women interested in you. You, the charming, mysterious, sexy Brit."
"It's nice to know that there are women interested in me, I'm just simple not interested in women."
Now it was Tucker's turn to look surprised. "Wow! I'd never thought…. Wait a minute you're messin' with me, aren't ya?" He asked, pointing an accusing finger towards the lieutenant.
Malcolm only gave him a mysterious smile, before saying good night, leaving no room this time for the commander to rush after him.
Tucker stared at his closed door for a long time, before finally sitting down with a huff. He must be joking, he has been raving about T'Pol for ages. That couldn't have been all a lie, now could it? And why lie about your sexual preferences, it's not like we're living in the 20th century after all.
From that night on Trip saw his friend in a different light, as a world of possibilities had opened before him, perhaps his midnight dreams would no longer have to stay just fantasies.
"Oh my God, Deanna! You won't believe what I've just heard!" Ensign Nancy Baker said in a rushed tone of voice.
"What kind of gossip do you have today, Nan?" Ensign Deanna Fraker asked, lowering the padd she was working on to give her, her full attention as they walked along the corridors.
"You know about Commander Tucker's and lieutenant Reed's engagement, right?"
"Yes." Deanna replied, her ears perking up.
"Well, today I accidentally walked in a heated discussion between them." She started.
"And? What did they say?" Fraker asked eagerly, while nodding a greeting to two of her colleagues as they passed.
"Curious are we?" Nancy said with a smirk. "Apparently the lieutenant is sick and tired of the fact that the commander uses his rank constantly to make him fulfil all Tucker's needs and desires."
"Wow, do you mean there's a bit of a dominance thing going on between those two?" Deanna asked amazed, halting her tracks.
"Yeah major dominance issues. The commander is the Alpha in the relationship, so probably also in bed." She giggled.
Ensign Fraker laughed. "I would have guessed it'd be the other way around. Reed the control freak and all. Either way, brilliant piece of gossip, my friend. I know some people who are dying to hear this…" she grinned.
The next morning Commander Tucker realized that he still had no idea whether Malcolm had been able to break the codes to Cargo Bay One. He wouldn't get a better excuse than that, to be able to visit Malcolm today.
"Tucker to Reed"
"Reed here."
"Report to my office at once."
"Yes, sir." Suspicion started to grow in the lieutenant's mind. Why did the commander needed to speak to him? This better be work related! He was too busy at the moment to satisfy his friend's curiosity.
He briskly walked out of the armory and into the turbolift. In no time he had reached his destination. Where he pressed the chime to announce his presence.
"Aah lieutenant Reed, sit down." Trip gestured him to a nearby chair.
He did what he was told, but remained silent, looking questioningly up to his superior officer.
"Malcolm, it's about last night. You…" Trip started.
But before he could finish, the other man had already jumped out of chair. "Trip, I don't have time for this. What we talked about yesterday was a private matter and I do not think we should waste our time on it, whilst being on duty! I would have thought, that you as a commander, would understand that!" he accused, unbelief showing in his eyes.
"Watch it, lieutenant! I am still your commanding officer!" Trip retorted sternly.
"Then stop pulling your rank on me to satisfy your own bloody needs all the time!" Malcolm now shouted back!
When Trip was about to tell Reed why exactly he had asked him to come here, he looked up to see once again a frightened ensign, who was standing in the doorway looking at them. Apparently she was just trying to sneak out unnoticed, but unfortunately to not much avail.
"Come back later, ensign Baker." The commander told her a bit more harshly than he had intended.
When the ensign in question had left, he turned back to face Malcolm. "If you talk like that to me again, I'll make sure to file in a complaint against you!" he said in a low threatening tone of voice.
"You…" the lieutenant started.
"Shut up! The reason why I asked you here, was not because I wanted to know whether you actually shag men or if you're interested in having a date or not," he started. OK, he had wanted to know about that too, but that wasn't the main reason he had asked the lieutenant here. "No, I just wanted to know whether you had found out anything about cargo bay one, as I have still not received a report."
The lieutenant had the decency to blush now, which made Trip feel a bit guilty as he had been partly correct in his accusations. "I'm sorry, Trip. I just assumed… well never mind. If you want to file in a complaint, I understand. I was totally out of line." He told him, bowing his head in remorse.
"Nah, it's okay. Just lemme speak first, before ya draw yer own conclusions from now on, K?" he said, with a smile, giving his left shoulder a squeeze . "Besides if you can gimme that report now, all will be forgotten and forgiven."
"Right, well I managed to break the codes and also check the scanners and there is indeed a group practicing for the party. And before you ask.." he continued, seeing that the commander was opening his mouth to speak. "they asked me to not reveal their identities as they want it to be a surprise."
"But how can I announce them then?"
Malcolm thought for a moment, before replying: "Just call them Seven."
"Seven? How unoriginal is that?" Trip commented, rolling his eyes.
"Well sorry, I just had to make something up here and now." Malcolm replied, annoyed.
"Are you sure they won't mind you just making up a name for them?"
"I don't care. They should be glad I saved their arses by not telling anyone."
"You're totally right of course. Ok that was all, lieutenant. Ooh do you wanna go to movie night tonight?" the blond asked hopeful.
"Asking me out on a date after all, commander." Malcolm questioned, with a mock glare.
"Phoo, if you think of that as a date, then you have never had a proper one." Trip said with an airy huff, before giving him a wink. "Either way, you gonna come or not?"
"Can't tell yet. I'll let you know at dinner time, alright? By the way, I must warn you that by now there is probably a rumour being spread by ensign Baker that you're the dominant alpha in bed." With that he said goodbye, leaving the commander roaring with laughter.
The rest of Malcolm's day had been without a glitch. He even ended his shift only one hour later then he was supposed to, which was quite unique as of late. Actually today couldn't be more perfect as he had a semi-date planned with Trip as well. Unfortunately perfect days like this just didn't occur in his life, so in one way he should have known that something was going to happen which would spoil at least his entire evening…
At 19.00h a freshly scrubbed Malcolm sat down behind his computer to check his messages in a much cheerier mood than he had last time when we checked in on him.
His first message was from one of his academy friends, telling that all was well and that she was expecting another baby, well two actually. It had been big surprise as they had been trying for such a long time now and finally it had happened. Reed enthusiastically replied that he would try to get some time off as soon as possible, and couldn't wait to see her and her belly.
The next message was from the tactical alert group he was a member from, getting him up to date with the latest developments on armoury supplies and tactical instructions.
When he looked at the name of the last mail he was puzzled as to who it was from. He didn't think he knew a Mr Kuklinski. Before he could open it though, the door chimed.
"Who is it?" he called.
"It's me Trip."
"Just a sec," he quickly stood up and opened the door for his friend. "hello, you're early."
"Yeah, I was bored, so I thought why not bother Malcolm a bit earlier than planned." Tucker grinned, letting himself in.
Malcolm gave him a small chuckle. "I just need to finish listening to my mail and then I'll be with you. Just make yourself at home."
"Okidokie."
The armoury officer turned back to his computer and opened the message.
He almost tilted his chair backwards from shock when he saw the face appearing in front of him. It was a man in his late fifties, with black greyish hair, a big moustache, watery blue eyes which were set in an evil glare accompanied by sneer on his thin lips.
"Bloody hell!" Malcolm exclaimed.
"Well, well, well, my dear, dear son. How are you doing on this lovely day?" the man asked with an obvious fake smile. "It took me quite some time to find you. But find you I did, at last. You could not have seriously believed that you could hide from me forever." He sneered. "Trust me, I still have some friends here and there, and well, becoming a senior officer on the newest Starfleet ship isn't really low profile, now is it? I hope you realise that it will now be a matter of time before I find your sister and mother, and trust me I will find them no matter what, so the four of us can have a nice little chat about all the things you have put me through. If you're thinking of getting Starfleet involved in this, then my dear boy by all means do. Only do remember that you have no idea who you can trust and you might as well lead me to my lovely daughter and wife. Good idea, by the way, to get each one of you a different last name. Not that it will do you any good any more, but still, nice try. Either way, we'll have another little chat soon. I'm sure you're looking forward to it as much as I am." seconds later the flat turned black, before the Starfleet emblem appeared.
"Who in the hell was that?" Trip asked worried. He had heard Malcolm curse and had decided to check it out.
"My biological father." Was the short, distant reply.
"Wha… how… but… but I thought he died. You told me he had died when you were very young, that you couldn't even remember him." Trip asked confused.
"I lied."
"Ooh."
"I had to," he said with a sigh, answering the question he knew was in the commander's mind. "My mother, sister and me, entered the witness protection program about 15 years ago, when I was 14. It was a difficult time, they moved us to a completely different continent in a matter of hours. I had no time to say goodbye to any of my friends and family, even our dog had to stay behind. They told everyone we had died in a car crash, in which we were burned unrecognisable. I don't know whose bodies are buried under our names, because they did bury people. Either way we were moved from Australia to England that day and 'till now I had not heard from my father since. I suppose it was all too easy and too good to be true. He has been locked up in prison for 14 years for his deeds now, it's a surprise he hasn't located me before, but then again he must have been monitored closely and his reputation is severely damaged of course. He used to be one of the top men in Starfleet, you know." Malcolm sighed again and looked Trip deeply into the eye. "You must promise me not to tell this to anyone, not even the captain. No one is supposed to know but two persons at WPP."
"I promise, I really do." He said, hugging him tightly. "What do you wanna do now?"
"I need to find a way to send a secret message to my sister, but he will be expecting that. I'm sure he is monitoring all in and out coming messages somehow. I'm not too worried yet, as he can't do anything while he is still in jail. He wouldn't let anyone else hurt us, the situation is too personal for him."
"If I can make a suggestion?" Trip offered.
"Sure."
"What about if I just send a message to her from my console, telling her with some code words what's going on."
Reed looked at him thoughtfully. "I suppose it could work. It's so easy that he would probably hardly expect it. He thinks as I do, and I would have gone for some kind of encrypted message through one of the data-streams or something like that. Alright let's do it right now at message peakhour."
"Okay, does she know who I am, you think?" Trip asked, as he sat behind his computer desk.
"Yes, I've told her about you." Malcolm told him, trying to sound offhanded.
"Really, and what exactly…"
"Commander, there is a more urgent business we need to attend to now!" said Reed, quickly interrupting him.
"Right, sorry." He turned the pc on and started the message.
"Dear Alex. I'm delighted to inform you that Madeline and I are finally getting married. We haven't set a date just yet, but I will inform you as soon as we do.
It came as quite a surprise to me that our almost forgotten cousin wants to come as well. Perhaps you still remember him, his name is Philip and he used to live in Australia, but luckily he has moved to Europe now, so don't be surprised if he sends you a message as well. He's doing great. He apparently made some new friends and has still good contact with some old ones as well. You know I was quite worried when I didn't hear anything from him for over fourteen years, but thankfully blood is thicker than water.
I will contact you soon, when we have an exact date for our wedding. We want it to be as soon as possible, as we can't wait anymore to finally be united as one.
Madeline asked me to tell you, to not say it to anyone else yet and to reply to me alone, because we really want to keep it a surprise for now.
Say hi to Jack for me will yeah.
Lots of love,
Trip"
He stopped recording and looked around to face Malcolm. "Good enough?"
"Madeline and I are getting married? Gods, how in the name do you think of such things?" he wondered, rolling his eyes. "Either way, yes I think she'll understand what's going on. If not she'll probably contact you and ask for further details."
"Excellent, do you want to send a message to your mother next?"
"Can't, she died eight months ago. Let's hope he'll put all his effort in finding her next." Malcolm told him with a small smile.
"I'm sorry." Said Trip showing true compassion to his friend.
"It's fine. I think in one way she was glad, her life had been such a difficult one, you know." The armoury officer replied, with a shrug.
"Gods Mal, you're too much of a private person. You should really talk about stuff like this. It helps."
"I talk to my sister." Came the annoyed reply.
"Alright good, so what do you wanna do next?" Tucker asked, softly brushing a strand of hair away from Malcolm's forehead with his hand.
"Not shagging, that's for sure." He joked, pulling away.
"Geez MAL!" The commander laughed. "Trust me that was the last thing on my mind."
"I need to spend some time alone to figure out what to do next. I'll deal with it after the Captain's party tomorrow. I don't think my father will do anything irrational, until he has found all of us. Maybe he does just want to talk, there isn't much else he can do now anyway."
"I hope ya right, hun. Shall I leave ya alone then so?" Trip asked, his entire demeanour showing that he wanted nothing more than to stay.
"Yes better do, I need some time to think. Also my shift starts at 4.00 h." Malcolm told him, effectively walking him to the door.
"Don't you think you'd better take some time off?" Trip asked concerned, unable to resist to touch his friend, so he softly stroked his back. He wanted to comfort him in some way, but the stubborn Brit wouldn't let him.
"And show that bastard that he is affecting me? Hell no!" Reed huffed. "Besides, I don't need time off, as it's nothing I haven't dealt with before." He opened the door. "We'll go to the movies next week, okay?"
"Sure. Just take care of yourself, alright. Wanna have lunch tomorrow?"
"That sounds nice."
"Brilliant! I don't have that much time, because of all the last minute preparations for the party, but I'll make sure to squeeze ya into my schedule ." He kissed him softly on the cheek. "Take care, alright? And if there's anything, just lemme know."
"Thanks Trip, good night."
"Good night, Mal."