A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Much appreciated.

CHAPTER 4

Hoshi hurried onto the bridge. "Sorry I'm late, sir," she said to Jon as she headed to her station. "I overslept."

She sat down at the communications console and quickly began reviewing its settings. Concentrating on her task, she nevertheless sneaked a glance at the captain. Jon, seated in his command chair with a data padd in hand, was giving her a tolerant smile. She hoped it was tolerant. She rarely, if ever, was late for her duty shift. But she'd gotten to bed well past her usual time the night before, what with getting the cats settled in and the slow but steady stream of visitors who'd come by her cabin to see them after news of their arrival had gotten around. Warp Core and Torpedo had made many friends during their previous stay. Sociable creatures that they were, they had seemed to enjoy all the attention last night.

Batty, on the other hand, had remained aloof and disinclined to interact with anyone. The small black cat had found a spot on top of Hoshi's dresser from which to watch all the comings and goings. She'd even hissed at a few crewmen who'd tried to pet her. The only person she'd allowed to come close to her besides Hoshi had been -- of all people -- Travis. Batty had gone so far as to allow the young man to rub her under her chin, but as soon as she tired of the attention, she'd bitten him, albeit gently, on the knuckle. Travis had taken the hint and had kept his distance from her after that.

Jon hadn't been one of the people who had stopped by to see the cats. Not that Hoshi had expected him to. But she knew he was perfectly aware that the cats were the real reason she'd been late this morning. She half expected a lecture about it. She chanced a look in his direction again. Sure enough, he'd put down the padd he'd been holding, and was on his feet, heading in her direction.

"I understand it's three cats, and not two cats and a bat," he said when he stood in front of her communications console. "Are they all squared away?"

"I think so, sir," Hoshi responded.

"Are they--?" He made a circular waving motion with his hand.

Hoshi understood what he meant. The last time Torpedo and Warp Core had been on board, they'd eventually earned the run of the ship. "Batty's still in my cabin, but I took Warp Core down to Engineering, and Torpedo took off like his tail was on fire the moment I opened my cabin door."

"Probably patrolling the ship like he used to," Jon said with a slight chuckle. "No doubt he'll wind up in the armory later."

"No doubt," Hoshi agreed with a smile, then sobered. "But I don't think he was in a hurry to get out of my cabin so he could wander around so much as he wanted to get away from Batty."

"Uh-oh. That doesn't sound good."

Hoshi shrugged, then stifled a yawn. She hadn't overslept long enough to make up for how late it had been by the time she'd finally been able to go to sleep. "I'm thinking about taking T'Pol up on her offer."

The non sequitur confused Jon. "What would that be?" he asked.

Hoshi glanced toward the science station. T'Pol's second in the science department, a young man whose serious demeanor rivaled the Vulcan's, was currently manning that station. She looked back at Jon. "I'm going to give it another day or two, and see if things settle down. If not, T'Pol's offered to keep Batty in her quarters."

Jon's eyebrows rose. "Settle down?"

Hoshi sighed. "Batty doesn't get along well with the other cats, sir. There was some squabbling last night about who got to sleep where." She absently rubbed her left forearm where she'd been clawed, collateral damage when Batty had forcibly informed the other two cats that she was the only one who was going to share Hoshi's bed.

"And T'Pol said she'd take care of the trouble-maker?" Jon asked.

With a nod, Hoshi explained, "T'Pol said Batty reminded her of a sehlat."

"If I'm not mistaken," Jon said thoughtfully, "a sehlat is a large Vulcan animal with very long fangs."

Hoshi nodded again. She had looked that information up in the ship's database after she'd returned to her cabin with the cats from sickbay. The pictures with the information were of an animal that reminded Hoshi of a cross between a grizzly bear and a saber-toothed lion.

Jon returned to his command chair and sat down, a grin slowly spreading across his face. After a moment, he said, "I never thought I'd see the day T'Pol had a pet." He shook his head. "In any case, it's only for a few days. We should rendezvous with the tug..."

As his voice trailed off, Travis at the helm supplied helpfully, "Four days, fourteen hours, sir."

"Thank you, Travis," Jon said. He looked back at Hoshi. "Four and a half days, and then we can turn the Southern Cross and the cats over to the tug's crew. How much trouble can one cat cause in three days?"

Hoshi decided to eat lunch before she went to her cabin to check on Batty. She sat at a table by herself, salad and a slice of fruit on her plate. As she began eating, she became aware that the other diners' attention had shifted to the area near the door. Malcolm had just entered the mess hall, and as he made his way to the serving cabinets, she caught a glimpse of a black-striped gray tail behind him.

Hoshi continued to watch as, having picked out a selection, Malcolm went to the beverage dispenser. Torpedo, who had been sitting patiently on his haunches while Malcolm had scanned the cabinets for something he liked, stood and walked after him. Torpedo looked at the dispenser curiously, his ears perked forward, as the sound of liquid filling a cup could be heard in the now quiet mess hall.

From across the room, Hoshi could see Malcolm's shoulders rise and fall with a sigh as he looked down at his furry companion. She saw his lips move, and made out the words, "Come on, then." A smattering of laughter accompanied their arrival at her table.

"May we join you?" Malcolm asked, sarcasm leaking into his tone as he emphasized "we".

"By all means," Hoshi said.

Malcolm took the seat opposite her. Torpedo slunk under one of the unoccupied chairs, where he lay down.

"He's been following me around the armory all morning," Malcolm said, following her gaze to the cat on the floor. "In a way, he's acting more like a dog than a cat."

"He probably just needs some reassurance," Hoshi postulated. "Give him some time, and before you know it, he'll be off wandering around all by himself."

"I certainly hope so." Malcolm poked at his Salisbury steak before cutting into it. "I've tripped over him at least four times so far this morning. Every time I turn around, he's right behind me. I know it's good security procedure to have someone cover your back, but this is ridiculous." He put a piece of meat dripping with gravy into his mouth. He chewed the morsel, then said around it, "And I have no idea what's going to happen if Chef finds out there's a cat in his mess hall."

Hoshi smiled. "I seriously doubt Chef will be upset, other than by the fact that Torpedo hasn't come to visit him yet."

"That's right. Chef used to ply him with treats, didn't he?" Malcolm shook his head and took another bite of his food.

Hoshi's gaze was drawn to the door, which had opened to admit Trip. Unlike Malcolm, Trip didn't have a feline escort. After the engineer picked out his food and got something to drink, Hoshi waved him over. As he began to sit down, she said, "Not there."

Trip glanced down, grinning when he saw the reclining cat on the floor under the chair in which he had been about to sit. "Sorry. Didn't know this seat was already occupied."

"How's Warp Core doing?" Hoshi asked as Trip moved to the other open chair at the table. Torpedo, she noticed, kept a wary eye on Trip's feet as he moved around the table and sat down.

"Fit as a fiddle, although not as melodious," Trip responded. "He's gotten more talkative since the last time he was here. How such a big cat can make such a high-pitched squeak is beyond me. He sat on the railing on the warp engine control platform most of the morning, talkin' and tellin' me all kinds of stuff." Trip shot her a wry glance. "Too bad I don't know the language."

"At least he's not constantly under your feet," Malcolm muttered.

"Maybe he's stalking you," Trip said with a grin. "He does look kind of like a tiger with those stripes."

As Malcolm rolled his eyes, Hoshi asked Trip, "Where is Warp Core now?"

"Last time I saw him, he was all hunkered down taking a nap on top of the tools in my tool box." He paused to look around the mess hall. "Where's the third one?"

"Back in my cabin," Hoshi said. "I'm going to check on her after I'm finished here."

"She didn't want to get out when the other two left your cabin?" Trip asked.

Hoshi shook her head. "She didn't seem the least interested."

"Probably just as well," Malcolm said. "I hate to think what she might do to Porthos if they happen to run into each other."

Trip laughed, but Hoshi frowned. "I know," she said. "I've been worrying about that. She's not nearly as sociable as the other two cats." She pushed one of her sleeves up to her elbow and held out her arm. Four bright red parallel scratches stood out against her skin on the underside of her forearm.

"Holy cow, Hoshi!" Trip said. "That little cat did that to you?"

"She didn't mean to," Hoshi said, tugging the sleeve down. "I had to put some space between her and the other two. They weren't really fighting. More like hissing and spitting at each other." She paused, a rueful look on her face. "Well, Batty was the only one hissing and spitting. The other two were just looking at her like they didn't know what her problem was. I grabbed Batty to move her away from them, and got clawed in the process."

"Maybe it's a good thing they're only going to be here a few days," Trip said. "It must be that Batty has thrown a wrench into the equation, mixing up the status quo, because from personal experience, I know Warp Core is pretty tame, even if he does look like a miniature lion what with that fur ruff around his neck."

They all had to return to duty after lunch, so conversation trailed off as they ate. Hoshi in particular needed to hurry if she was to stop by her cabin to check on Batty before she had to be back on the bridge. After being late for her duty shift this morning, she didn't want to be late returning from her lunch break. A few minutes later, she pushed back from the table.

She wasn't in such a rush, however, that she didn't notice that Torpedo had apparently decided to now follow her instead of Malcolm. She held the door to the mess hall long enough for him to slip out after her. He trailed her all the way to the turbolift and entered it after she did.

"You're not going to follow me around the rest of the day, are you?" she asked as she pushed the button to close the turbolift door. "I really don't think the captain would like you on the bridge."

Torpedo didn't reply, other than to blink up at her as he braced himself on splayed legs when the turbolift began to move. When the door slid open a few seconds later, the cat bounded out and raced down the corridor. He came to a stop in front of her cabin.

As she joined him, she looked down at him and said, "She's still in there, you know."

He meowed softly, a small, pitiful sound, and pawed at the door.

Hoshi shrugged. If he wanted back in, so be it, although she wasn't sanguine about leaving him and Batty cooped up together the whole afternoon without adult...ah, human...supervision. She opened the door and stepped inside. Batty was curled up, one tiny paw over her nose, asleep in the center of the bunk. Hoshi turned to look at Torpedo, who had remained outside in the corridor. He was craning his neck, looking around the cabin as his nose twitched rapidly. When he finally spotted Batty, he cautiously entered, the door sliding shut behind him, and silently stalked over to the bed. He stood on his hind legs, putting his front paws on the mattress, to look at the other cat.

Batty must be very sound asleep, Hoshi thought, for the sound of the door hadn't woken her. "Let's not disturb her," she said softly.

Torpedo continued his silent scrutiny for a few more moments, his head bobbing back and forth as he tested the air. Then he dropped his front paws to the deck and walked to the door.

Hoshi let him out. She turned to take one last look at Batty. She could see the small chest rising and falling with the small cat's breathing.

By the time Hoshi turned back and stepped out into the corridor, all she saw of Torpedo was a gray-and-black striped tail disappearing around a curve farther down the hall. Hoshi laughed to herself. Either Torpedo was resuming his habit of patrolling and had checked on Batty to make sure she was all right, or he was making sure that she was still locked up and he wouldn't run into her later. Given the small cat's bossy ways, Hoshi wouldn't be surprised if it was the latter.