…
Malcolm Reed knew something wasn't quiet right on the ship. He was paid to notice these things. That's what made him such a good armoury officer. That, and being bloody brilliant at blowing things up as well.
The ship hadn't had a hostile encounter for almost a month now. In his opinion, there should be a scoreboard over the view screen. "Haven't almost been killed for ____ hours." Quite funny really. He must remember to tell that one to someone at dinner.
In fact, because of the lull, he had started to unwind. But then, that niggle which settled in his stomach, had started again.
He walked up to one of the panels in his armoury and called up the ship's status. Everything looked alright. Remembering that his American counterpart, the illustrious. Commander Charles Tucker III, who was incapable of speaking the Queen's English, had been modifying systems around engineering, he called up the engineering vitals. But everything looked, well, perfect. If he hadn't known better, he would of though that he himself had been taking care of engineering. Maybe he got bored playing with the ship's wires, Mr. Reed concluded.
Since he was finished with cleaning all of the torpedoes, he decided to go to the bridge and find something to do there. Namely, T'Pol bum watching. And sometimes, he would get a treat when the simply divine Hoshi would have to lean over to pick something up… Ahhh, life on a starship can be tough sometimes.
…
Trip banged his fist down onto Hoshi's panel, startling the Japanese communications officer.
"Damn this, wait. What the? I think that did it…" he said, looking astonished at the panel.
"Everything alright?" Jon asked the two officers staring at the communications panel.
"It looks that way, sir," said Hoshi Sato, still slightly shocked at the persuasive power that Trip's violence at her station. "Thank you very much," she said, checking that all of the functions still worked properly.
"Just a sec, Hosh. I wanna run a diagnostic on it, just to be safe," Trip continued, stopping her hands with his own. She smiled one of her gentle smiles at him, and let him do his work. She leaned back and folded her arms, waiting patiently.
The bridge turned around at the hiss of the door, revealing a very embarrassed Malcolm Reed.
Hoshi looked at him, and smiled a secretive smile which turned embarrassed. His cheeks tinged lightly at she turned back towards the panel. Malcolm reciprocated her movement, walked quickly over to his station and got to work. Brilliant! Now everyone probably knows that you fancy her, Malcolm said to himself
"Captain, Sub-commander, Commander, Ensign, Ensign." He nodded to each officer in turn, trying to dispel the memory of his smile betraying him. They probably didn't notice, Malcolm tried to convince himself.
Little did he realise in his musings the silent exchange between the engineer in and the Captain, permanently sealing his own and Hoshi's fates.
…
"Trip, could you join me in my ready room? I need to discuss that engineering plan that needed some other modification with you," said Jon in his officious voice, desperately trying to keep a straight face.
Trip understood the hidden meaning of the message and replied, "Just a moment." He turned to Hoshi, "If the diagnostic gives you any alerts, comm. me. Otherwise, you just continue working."
"Sure. Thanks Commander," Hoshi replied, and sat back waiting for the diagnostic to finish.
Trip looked around the bridge quickly, and hurried into the ready room before he started to burst out laughing.
"Shh! They might here you!" warned Jon beneath his own chuckles. "You know that Hoshi could hear that white alien thing when the sensors couldn't pick them up. She might be able to hear us!"
"So does that mean we are going to lunch? 'Cause I was kinda hopin' that you would make Chef make some of that Italian lasagne. Com'on? Please?" Trip begged.
"Sure thing, Trip," Jon gratuitously replied. He walked over o the comm and gave Chef the order. Then he turned around to face the slumping Trip who was sitting in his chair. "It'll take a while. Let's take a walk."
Trip followed Jon out the door to the captain's quarters. There, Porthos joined them and they set out for a short tour of the Enterprise. Funnily, Porthos seemed to love sniffing the monotone halls, even though there was no green grass nearby.
"So…" Trip started speaking, but cautiously checked the hall before them to make sure that no unsuspecting crewman heard them. "What exactly are we going to do with them? I mean, what can we do?"
"I was thinking something subtle. Like beginning with telling them that the other one likes them."
"But Malcolm would become too nervous. I mean, he's a stuffy Brit. He'll run back to his quarters and read up on the frat chapter!"
"Good point. How about you tell Travis that you think Hoshi likes Malcolm? You know, say the 'but don't tell him I told you!' liners. Travis is sure to pass it on."
Trip looked at Jon in a surprised manner. I told Travis that I like Katie in maintenance! If I could only keep my trap shut…
"He told me about Lizzie and Phlox, you know. When Liz liked Phlox. Apparently they don't talk anymore. Trip, are you ok? You look kinda pale all of a sudden."
"I just… Never mind. Just some things I have to do in engineering," Trip reassured Jon, as they continued walking.
A crewman appeared, nodding as she passed her superior officers. Waiting until she was out of earshot, Jon and Trip resumed their conversation.
"I know! Lock them into some room together!" Trip exclaimed, stopping to face Jon.
"But Hoshi would try to talk her way out of it and Malcolm would probably kill both of them trying to blast his way out..."
They continued walking.
"What if they contracted some sort of illness and had to be quarantined together! I mean, we could say that it was some sort of dormant space bug. And we could get Phlox in on it as well. He would love it. It would be like an experiment for him." To Jon's slightly unsure face, he continued, "We wouldn't let Phlox give them anything, of course."
"I like it. But its kinda boring. What happens afterwards?"
"I think that," said Trip, his creation running away with him, "We get our trusty Travis to start spreading rumours that something happened. Then we get them to sit together at meals, sit next to each other during movies." Trip paused, stopping in the corridor again. "Are ya sure that we should be doing this?"
"Cold feet? Trip, I know that Malcolm likes checking T'Pol's 'bum' out. But he doesn't really like her like that." Jon said those words trying to convince Trip as well as himself. "He likes reading. Hoshi likes reading. He likes, um, learning. Well, so does Hoshi. They get along together. They complement each other. And if nothing else, this will make them better friends.
"Besides, if there isn't something to distract me soon, I think boredom will drive me out of the airlock."
…
The plot thickens…
Keep on reading!
