Chapter 4

Porthos cocked his head to one side as he watched Hoshi rummage through her closet.

"I know it's in here somewhere," she muttered to herself. "I never had the nerve to return it to him."

The beagle had contentedly started to lick himself when Hoshi's triumphant "Ah, ha!" startled a bark right out of him.

"Sorry, boy," Hoshi said as she petted Porthos with her right hand. In her left hand she clutched a Starfleet-issued men's blue T-shirt.

She stopped petting Porthos and shoved Malcolm's shirt under his nose, encouraging the dog to sniff it thoroughly.

"Take a deep breath, Porthos," she encouraged. "Then you can help me track down Uncle Malcolm. I saw him leave hydroponics just a few minutes ago."

Porthos licked the shirt for good measure and then ran over to the door, barking excitedly.

"That's it, Porthos," Hoshi enthused as she secured the dog's leash. "There'll be some cheese in it for you if you succeed."

Exiting her quarters, Hoshi took Porthos toward Malcolm's last known location.

She gave Porthos an encouraging pat as they arrived outside of the hydroponics door.

As soon as the door slid open, Porthos put his nose to the ground and began to sniff loudly.

The dog stopped short, barking as they got to a certain section of the room.

"Roses?" Hoshi asked Porthos. "His secret is roses? Oh, you are so busted, lieutenant."

***

A few hours later, Malcolm arrived at his station on the bridge and looked down to find a single yellow rose with a message attached to it.

"Target practice, 2000 hours. Don't be late," Malcolm read silently to himself.

"Bloody hell," he muttered quietly.

Apparently, the Sub-commander had heard him, because her voice snapped his attention her way. "Is there a problem, Lieutenant?"

"No, Sub-commander," Malcolm said as he looked back down at his panel and locked his eyes on the display.

T'Pol merely inclined her head and went back to her data.

Archer's curiosity, however, was aroused. His armory officer wasn't normally prone to profane outbursts.

Walking over to Malcolm's station, the captain's eyes were immediately drawn to the rose and note shoved off to one side.

"Secret admirer, Lieutenant?" he asked the now blushing Brit.

"No, sir. Merely a reminder for target practice," Malcolm said with a very, very stiff upper lip.

Archer's voice carried far enough for Travis to hear, and the navigator's head whipped around to look back at his two commanding officers.

"Is there something you need, Ensign?" Malcolm asked in his most officious voice, although his increasingly reddened face gave away his discomfort.

"Nope," Travis grinned and turned back around, thinking happily of this newest piece of gossip he had to share.

***

"Computer: Sato personal log.

"Well, Malcolm has been crossed off the list. Turns out his big, bad secret is that he loves to grow roses. Frankly, it's a perfect choice for him; an attractive flower with its own defense system built right in."

Hoshi sat down on her bunk and looked up at Sluggo sitting on the desk next to her with a yellow rose lying in front of him.

"Malcolm was afraid the newsletter would make him look silly, make fun of his job or something. It's supposed to be fun, not mocking, and I promised him Starfleet would not kick him out of the service after reading it."

Hoshi thought back to her cornering the armory officer on the target range.

"Lieutenant Reed, thank you for arriving on time," she had purred as she saw Malcolm walk stiffly toward her.

"Yes, Ensign Sato?" he had asked formally before giving in to the delightedly proud look on her face.

"All right, Hoshi. You win," he had admitted in response to what he saw as the rather smug look on her face. "Just please, no more roses. Travis has everyone thinking I have a secret lover on board. The git probably has a betting pool by now."

Hoshi had had a tough time getting one piece of information out of the reticent lieutenant. Malcolm had all but refused to give up one piece of information: his nickname.

"Lieutenant, I'm about ready to use you for target practice," Hoshi had told Malcolm, only half joking.

Hoshi stood still and her mouth twitched into a devilish smile, knowing full well he was finally going to give in.

"But I would appreciate it if you didn't use my old nickname in the newsletter. Commander Tucker is the only other person to know it and I was drunk at the time," Malcolm had told her.

"It turned out that "Stinky" was the rather embarrassing nickname he had been given during his Public School days in England.

"His most embarrassing moment?" Hoshi continued. "Now, that took him a while to whittle down."

Malcolm had grimaced when Hoshi came to the most embarrassing moment on the ship.

"There have been many, unfortunately," he had said. "But as a whole, I would say Captain Archer is the answer."

Smiling slightly at Hoshi's confused expression, Malcolm continued.

"Damn man should have a bell around his neck as he's gotten kidnapped so often," he deadpanned. "I think I have already set a record for the number of rescues in a year in Starfleet."

Hoshi shook her head and smiled as she brought herself back to the present.

"Dear, dear, Captain Archer. I will enjoy finally pinning you and finding out what you have to hide," she said. "But next on my list is Trip. Computer: End recording."

Hoshi frowned slightly as she got up to get something to eat. Trip had not been himself lately. Withdrawn, almost. The suicide and his best friend's resulting anger had left a lasting effect on the usually jovial chief engineer.

Admittedly, she realized this was one interview she was not looking forward to.