Part Three: What Real Men Are
Malcolm Reed was desperate for the evening to be over. He wanted nothing more than to go back over to the Enterprise, take a long hot shower, and then go and shag with his two lovers until they were all senseless.
Instead, he was on this blasted cargo ship, on duty, watching people drink, dance, and make pointless small talk. He wanted to throttle Phlox for suggesting this whole mixer idea. He wanted to throttle Captain Archer for agreeing to it. God, it had been a long week.
First there was the whole incident with the Liandar, who some strange reason thought they were Andorians and fired on the ship. He was proud of his shooting, he'd disabled the ship and Hoshi was able to get through to the Liandar and establish that no, they were not Andorians. There was minor damage to the Enterprise, and in the end, they were able to open up diplomatic contact with a new alien race. Score one point for them.
As they repaired the damage to the Enterprise, they discovered that the phase cannons suffered some sort of short to its systems. Fixing that took three days of double shifts. Malcolm worked himself and his staff to the limit, driven by his determination that the Enterprise would never be helpless.
Just when they'd finished the repairs, the Enterprise had received a distress call. It was from the supply ship they were scheduled to rendezvous with, The Helios. It came under attack from some unknown marauders. The Enterprise arrived in the nick of time, and they destroyed two of the attacking ships. The third they chased off.
Unfortunately, the Helios suffered enough damage that both crews had to work together to make repairs and unload the cargo. At least Trip's engineering staff, working with the Helios' crew, managed to finish their repairs in three days. Malcolm and his staff worked another round of double shifts to repair the new defensive weapons on the Helios. Those repairs took them four days.
When all the repairs were finished, Phlox had suggested to Archer and the Helios' Captain Tawia that they use the now empty cargo ship for a party, and let the two crews lower their stress levels. The two captains agreed to the concept. Captain Archer put Malcolm in charge of the security for the party, to make sure that no fights were started if anyone got drunk.
And all the while, other than being on duty, Malcolm had not seen Hoshi and Trip. The separation was the longest time apart from one another in about six months. It was enough to drive him up a wall.
Looking across the now decorated cargo bay, Malcolm could see Hoshi, talking with Captain Tawia and her third in command, a Lieutenant Reynolds. Tawia looked happy and at easy, but Reynolds looked agitated, and perturbed. Malcolm noted that for later and then he indulged in a moment to study Hoshi. He smiled to himself; she looked so relaxed, so animated, so beautiful. It always amazed him that she could be so open with people and get them to open up. He loved the way her face could light up as she communicated with people. He wondered idly if she was speaking to them in English, or in the African dialect that was Captain Tawia's first language.
Malcolm walked over the the other side of the room, taking in the throng of dancers in the middle of the cargo bay. He marveled at the mix of people. There were groups of three, four, and more dancing together. A small conga line snaked its way through the crowd. Scattered through out were pairs of dancers; men and women, men and men, women and women, either flirting and talking, or moving close together. A few couples were, to Malcolm's inner amusement, were making out on the dance floor. Yes, he surmised, tomorrow's mess hall gossip was going to travel faster than warp speed.
Leaning against the wall, Malcolm saw Cynthia Anderson walk over to Hoshi, who stiffened as the woman said some remark. He saw Hoshi toss back her hair, the look on her face disdainful. He wished that he had Hoshi's remarkable gift of hearing. He wondered what was being said. He saw Reynolds leer at Anderson and they walked off together. Hoshi, he noticed, looked relieved, and continued to talk to Captain Tawia. After a bit, Chef wandered over to join the conversation.
As he let his gaze wander, he spotted Trip over by the make-shift bar. Trip was flirting gently with two of the Helios' female crew members, while simultaneously swapping outrageous jokes with a mix of men from the two ships. He too had the gift of being open with people, his natural friendliness drawing others out. Not for the first time, Malcolm deeply envied both of his lovers and wondered what exactly it was that they saw in him.
Malcolm decided that he'd stood in one spot for too long and started to walk around the cargo bay. As he walked around, he made eye contact with his armory staff who were on duty with him. He flashed a hand signal at each of them that asked: "Any problems?" They all flashed back the signal that said: "No."
Slowly ambling in a circuit, Malcolm saw that Reynolds and Anderson moved over to a small knot of Helios' crewmen. He frowned slightly as she pointed to several of the Enterprise crew, including himself. He knew from Hoshi that she was a gossip and cruel one at that. He made a mental note to keep an eye on her. Continuing on, he observed that there were many small groups alongside of the dance floor, people talking and pointing. Gossip was an integral part of any party. Perhaps he was being too cautious.
"So far, so good," he thought to himself. Yet, a voice in the back of mind said that something would go wrong.
Malcolm walked over to Jon Archer, who was standing and talking with Susan Tallchief, the chief engineer of the Helios. Malcolm noted that for most of the evening, they talked only to each other. He wondered if Hoshi and Trip had noticed. One of their pet worries was what Malcolm called, "Jon hasn't gotten shagged in a long time and that's bad." If Malcolm was any judge, the engineer of the Helios would be happy to solve that problem.
As he came closer, he noted that the Captain looked a bit annoyed at the prospect of being interrupted. Still, he needed to make a quick report. "Captain Archer, Lieutenant Commander Tallchief. Sir, I just wanted you to know that everything is fine so far."
"Good, Lieutenant Reed, good. Are you going to be relieved soon and get to join the party?"
"Yes sir, Lieutenant Vasquez will be taking over for me in an hour and a half. However, I won't be joining the party. It's been a very long week and I want to catch up on some sleep. But, thank you for asking sir."
Jon Archer smiled at Malcolm and said, "Well, Malcolm, enjoy your rest then. Carry on."
As Malcolm walked away, he was amused by the Captain's quick dismissal of him. Yes, the Captain did not want be distracted from his tete-a-tete with the stunning engineer. In fact, her hair reminded him of Hoshi's. He gave them no more than ten minutes to discreetly walk out together. Trip would be ecstatic if his best friend got, what was that blasted phrase Trip used two weeks ago? Got his car waxed? Got his board waxed? Bloody hell, he was must be tired if he couldn't remember that ridiculous phrase.
Midway through his circuit around the cargo bay, Malcolm noticed that Captain Tawia was leaving the party with Chef. That was very interesting indeed. Finishing up his walk, Malcolm decided to stand a bit closer to the door leading back in to the main part of the Helios. He glanced at his watch. Three minutes left.
Two minutes later, as a loud dance song started up, Captain Archer and Susan Tallchief quietly left together. Malcolm gave himself a mental pat on the back.
For the next half hour, he made two more circuits around the cargo bay. Afterward, he decided that he could stay for the rest of the time by the door. As he watched the crowd dance, he saw that Hoshi was slowly making her way towards him. He gave her a small smile as she grew closer. "Hi, Malcolm!" she yelled over the music. Then when she reached him, Hoshi leaned in and said into his ear, "How much longer are you going to have to be on duty? I want to go home and try out the new bed."
Malcolm gave Hoshi a puzzled look. "What new bed? You have a new bed?"
Hoshi grinned mischievously. "Don't you remember? Trip's engineering project. The one you had to take to T'Pol all those months ago."
Malcolm stared for a moment and then grinned. "My god, the madman re-built it? When did he have the time? How did he get the parts into your room without being seen?"
Hoshi laughed delightedly. "He's been bringing it in piece by piece over the past week. The hardest part was the mattress, which we had to sneak in at three in the morning. We finally got it all together last night, after Trip rested from pulling his double shifts. Now all we need is you so we can try it out."
"Thank you for waiting for me," said Malcolm softly.
"Malcolm, we'd never do anything without you. We're all in this together." Hoshi gave Malcolm a look that reminded him of the night they had met up in the mess hall, a look filled with love and challenge.
Malcolm smiled at Hoshi, noticing that Trip was making his way over to them. "Here comes the third Musketeer of our little group."
Trip gave them both a big, smug grin as he joined them. "Hey Malcolm, how much longer do you have to be here? Did Hoshi tell you about the big bed? It's callin' out for a test drive."
"I have less than an hour left. Then we can...what was that phrase you used last week at movie night?"
Trip snorted, "...blow this joint. That's the phrase you're looking for."
"Hmm," said Hoshi suggestively, " I know what I want to... blow... later on."
Malcolm could feel his face turn red as he and Trip started laughing. "Hoshi," gasped Trip, "you can be such an evil woman."
"That's why you love me. And really, you two do make it all too easy for me sometimes."
As Trip and Hoshi laughed some more, Malcolm let his attention re-focus on the room. He got to the far corner, what he saw made him tense up. "Oh, that's not good."
Trip and Hoshi immediately stopped laughing. "What's wrong, Lieutenant?" asked Trip, automatically switching into his "Commander Tucker" persona.
"I think Lieutenant Reynolds from the Helios is giving Ensign Lewis and Lieutenant Allen a hard time for dancing with each other. And Ensign Anderson is there with him. She appears to be very drunk. I'm going to go over and see if Sawyer and Castillo need my help. Excuse me."
As he walked away, he heard Hoshi say, "Oh hell, a drunk Cynthia is not a good thing."
Walking as casually as possible, Malcolm caught the eyes of his other people, motioning them to be ready, just in case. He was pleased to see that his staff were well aware of the situation brewing in the corner. As he arrived he heard Reynolds's saying in a nasty, slightly drunk voice, "C'mon you think you're better than me? Because you serve on the Enterprise, or should I say, the Faggotprise? Is that what you all do other there, fuck each other up the ass? Shouldn't be tolerated, you perverted motherfuckers, fuckin' sinners." Reynolds swayed slightly and stumbled.
Three of the Helios' crew members tried to steady him and one said, "Lieutenant Reynolds, why don't you come with us to the galley for some coffee, sir? We think you've had enough tonight."
"Fuck you Tomlinson, fucking little puke. You and Chin and O'Dell, fuckin' jerk-offs, you wanna fuck those stuck-up Faggotprise pricks," slurred Reynolds as he jerked himself away from his crewmates. Helplessly, they shrugged at Malcolm and looked as if they'd heard such bile before.
"Lieutenant Reynolds," said Malcolm in what Hoshi once told him was his softest, but-I take-no-shit Armory officer voice, "the bar is closed for you. You need to start sobering up. Let Chin or O'Dell help you get some coffee."
"Fuck you, you little Limey shit. Jesus! They're letting fuckin' limey fags in Starfleet!"
A very drunk Cynthia Anderson, started giggling. "He's the English stud muffin I tol' you about. He's fucking Hoshi over there an' she's fucking the Commander too! We've got fucking an' sluts galore!"
Malcolm glanced over to a woman he remembered as being friend of Ensign Anderson's, a mortified looking Victoria Brown. She stood in the middle in the now growing crowd of Enterprise and Helios bystanders. He motioned her over to a swaying Cynthia Anderson saying calmly, "Ensign Brown, please take your friend back to the Enterprise and see if you can get her sober."
Reynolds gripped Cynthia tightly as Victoria moved to get her friend. "We're not finished drinkin' and she's not goin' anywhere. You can't order me around, you fuckin' cocksucker." Letting go of Cynthia, he stared defiantly at Malcolm and the rest of the people around him, his body coiled and tight.
It was the change in body language that made Malcolm take a pause. He looked carefully at Reynolds and saw that while the man had been drinking, a lot of his drunkenness was an act. For some reason he was being deliberately provoking. It was time to be careful, because a man looking for fight would do anything to get one.
Keep his tone mild, Malcolm replied, "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I am the senior officer on duty since our captains have retired for the evening. Your captain agreed that I am in charge of keeping this party on an even keel. Therefore, I am ordering the bar closed. Now, as a courtesy to Captain Tawia, I am going to let your people escort you out of here, If you don't go with them, you'll spend the night in the brig."
Reynolds' face twisted into a sneer. "Fuck off! Cynthia told me all about you. Tell me, do you fuck that Hoshi bitch and suck off your Commander? I bet you do. I bet you're the fag whore of the whole fuckin' ship. You couldn't drag me off you little limey bastard, you're not a real man. None of you Enterprise shits are real men!"
The music had stopped and Reynolds' voice echoed across the cargo bay. The laughter of a few Helios crew members followed. The rest of the Helios crew, however, looked either embarrassed, disgusted, or both. The Enterprise crew members looked disgusted, except for Cynthia Anderson, who slid to the floor, giggling drunkenly.
At this point, Malcolm saw that Hoshi and Trip were beside him. He figured he must have really tensed up because they each put a hand on his shoulder. The contact warmed him, calmed him. "Commander Tucker, sir, would you please contact Captain Tawia? I think she needs to be here."
"I was about to do that Lieutenant Reed. Lieutenant Reynolds, you are here by ordered to go with Lieutenant Reed and Lieutenant O'Dell and are confined to your quarters until Captain Tawia deals with you." Trip's face was the most serious Malcolm had ever seen in a non-combat situation.
Reynolds' face flushed with anger. "Screw you," he spat, "and screw the fucking bitch with you too. I'll fucking kick the ass off your tiny ass boyfriend here and then I'll get to you." With that he launched himself at Malcolm and several men who laughingly supported him began to fight with the armory staff on duty. The other Helios and Enterprise crewmembers quickly backed away to the walls of the cargo bay, not wanting start a free for all.
As he smoothly moved away from his attacker, Malcolm saw that Hoshi quickly went over to the comm system by the door to page both captains. He could also see that Trip, along with his armory staff and a mix of the two crews, had easily subdued the other would-be attackers. Reynolds's however, was a different problem. He slipped out from his sleeve a rather nasty stiletto and was wielding the weapon expertly.
Malcolm waved back the spectators and said, "Reynolds, if you put the stiletto down now, your court-marshal won't be for life with hard labor or worse. If you continue this, it's going to get very nasty."
"Fuck you! No real man is a cocksucker, sleepin' with a bitch slut and an ass-fucker." He slashed at Malcolm, getting his shoulder, and danced away.
Malcolm winced slightly and forced himself not to feel the pain. Realizing that the man was too far gone in his anger, he decided to bait Reynolds until he could disarm him safely. He ducked and swerved and bobbed quickly, making the other man miss.
"Not a real man am I? Let's see, I've served my ship for three and a half years, been wounded several times while protecting my ship and its crew, nearly died several times too. For most people, that would be considered a good sign that I'm a real man. But if I stopped there, I'd be selling myself short."
Reynolds attacked again, making a shallow gash across Malcolm's chest. Malcolm rolled out of the way of another slicing attack and with a quick jump up, kicked Reynolds in the chest. Reynolds staggered, crashed into a some chairs, but was up with his knife still in hand before anyone could subdue him.
Malcolm kept on talking as Reynolds went to attack him again. In the background he could hear doors opening. "You know what a real man is? A real man can love whom ever he wants, shag whom ever he wants and not be afraid. A real man doesn't get threatened by those who are different than he is and doesn't insult them. Doesn't use vile, antiquated, prejudicial words to attack them, either. You, my friend, are not a real man."
"Fuck you! I'll kill you and piss on your grave."
Seeing an opening, Malcolm charged forward, flowing into a roundhouse kick that knocked the stiletto out of Reynolds' hand. He kicked again and moved into a punch that slammed the other man into a wall, stunning him. Malcolm punched Reynolds one more time and knocked him out.
Breathing easily and wincing slightly in pain, he saw that the room was quietly emptying out. Hoshi and Trip were ushering people out the door.
Malcolm turned and looked at Sawyer and said wearily, "Ensign, take this bastard and throw him into the Helios's brig or what ever passes for one. And make sure the others who were trying to start fighting are confined to their quarters."
"Yes, indeed, by all means," said the quiet, lilting voice of Captain Tawia. Next to her stood Captain Archer, looking relived.
Tawia turned to Archer, a sad and bitter look on her face. "I'm so sorry Archer, I didn't think this would happen. Reynolds has made homophobic and other types of repugnant remarks before, but I thought my reprimands stopped him. I was going to have him rotated off my ship when we returned to Earth, and now I'm going to have to go through a formal court-martial. Good God, I had no idea our party would set him off."
"No need to apologize, Captain Tawia. At the time, you handled the situation in way you thought best. It's all we can do. He chose to screw- up and now he'll have to live with the consequences."
Archer turned his attention to Malcolm. "Lieutenant, go back to the Enterprise and get Phlox to look at those cuts. You did a good job, I'm pleased that this didn't turn into a free for all and no one got hurt."
"Except for me, sir," said Malcolm with wry humor. Over by the door, Hoshi and Trip laughed in relief, while Archer and Tawia smiled.
Archer and Tawia started talking to each other and Malcolm blocked it out as he walked to the door. He was so tired. As reached the door, Hoshi and Trip simultaneously enfolded him into a hug. They each held his hands and walked out with him, forgetting that Archer and Tawia might be watching. As the doors closed, they heard Tawia say, "They are a strong triad. How long have they been together?"
They walked down the corridor in silence. Finally, Trip said, "Well, now, the cat's out of the bag."
Hoshi paused their progress down the corridor, giving both Malcolm and Trip a kiss, and then took their hands in hers once again.
"Yes, and I have no clue as to how Jon's going to react," sighed Hoshi. "How about you Trip?"
"Nope, not a one. Not this time."
Malcolm looked at his two lovers and began to chuckle. "What is so funny?" demanded Hoshi. Trip looked at him in askance.
"I just wonder if that bloody bed is cursed. First, T'Pol takes it away from us and then before we can use it, we inadvertently out ourselves to Captain Archer. Let's get me fixed up quickly and maybe we can use the big bed before anything else happens."
"Malcolm, we won't get a chance, because Jon will haul us into his ready room after Phlox finishes patching you up," said Trip.
"I don't know about that. I think that the Captain is going to have to choose between going back to bed with Lieutenant Commander Tallchief or dealing with us right away. Of the two, I'm betting he'll chose to be with her first and deal with us in the morning. What do you think?"
Trip and Hoshi glanced at each other and looked back at Malcolm. "You're right," they said together.
And he was.
Malcolm Reed was desperate for the evening to be over. He wanted nothing more than to go back over to the Enterprise, take a long hot shower, and then go and shag with his two lovers until they were all senseless.
Instead, he was on this blasted cargo ship, on duty, watching people drink, dance, and make pointless small talk. He wanted to throttle Phlox for suggesting this whole mixer idea. He wanted to throttle Captain Archer for agreeing to it. God, it had been a long week.
First there was the whole incident with the Liandar, who some strange reason thought they were Andorians and fired on the ship. He was proud of his shooting, he'd disabled the ship and Hoshi was able to get through to the Liandar and establish that no, they were not Andorians. There was minor damage to the Enterprise, and in the end, they were able to open up diplomatic contact with a new alien race. Score one point for them.
As they repaired the damage to the Enterprise, they discovered that the phase cannons suffered some sort of short to its systems. Fixing that took three days of double shifts. Malcolm worked himself and his staff to the limit, driven by his determination that the Enterprise would never be helpless.
Just when they'd finished the repairs, the Enterprise had received a distress call. It was from the supply ship they were scheduled to rendezvous with, The Helios. It came under attack from some unknown marauders. The Enterprise arrived in the nick of time, and they destroyed two of the attacking ships. The third they chased off.
Unfortunately, the Helios suffered enough damage that both crews had to work together to make repairs and unload the cargo. At least Trip's engineering staff, working with the Helios' crew, managed to finish their repairs in three days. Malcolm and his staff worked another round of double shifts to repair the new defensive weapons on the Helios. Those repairs took them four days.
When all the repairs were finished, Phlox had suggested to Archer and the Helios' Captain Tawia that they use the now empty cargo ship for a party, and let the two crews lower their stress levels. The two captains agreed to the concept. Captain Archer put Malcolm in charge of the security for the party, to make sure that no fights were started if anyone got drunk.
And all the while, other than being on duty, Malcolm had not seen Hoshi and Trip. The separation was the longest time apart from one another in about six months. It was enough to drive him up a wall.
Looking across the now decorated cargo bay, Malcolm could see Hoshi, talking with Captain Tawia and her third in command, a Lieutenant Reynolds. Tawia looked happy and at easy, but Reynolds looked agitated, and perturbed. Malcolm noted that for later and then he indulged in a moment to study Hoshi. He smiled to himself; she looked so relaxed, so animated, so beautiful. It always amazed him that she could be so open with people and get them to open up. He loved the way her face could light up as she communicated with people. He wondered idly if she was speaking to them in English, or in the African dialect that was Captain Tawia's first language.
Malcolm walked over the the other side of the room, taking in the throng of dancers in the middle of the cargo bay. He marveled at the mix of people. There were groups of three, four, and more dancing together. A small conga line snaked its way through the crowd. Scattered through out were pairs of dancers; men and women, men and men, women and women, either flirting and talking, or moving close together. A few couples were, to Malcolm's inner amusement, were making out on the dance floor. Yes, he surmised, tomorrow's mess hall gossip was going to travel faster than warp speed.
Leaning against the wall, Malcolm saw Cynthia Anderson walk over to Hoshi, who stiffened as the woman said some remark. He saw Hoshi toss back her hair, the look on her face disdainful. He wished that he had Hoshi's remarkable gift of hearing. He wondered what was being said. He saw Reynolds leer at Anderson and they walked off together. Hoshi, he noticed, looked relieved, and continued to talk to Captain Tawia. After a bit, Chef wandered over to join the conversation.
As he let his gaze wander, he spotted Trip over by the make-shift bar. Trip was flirting gently with two of the Helios' female crew members, while simultaneously swapping outrageous jokes with a mix of men from the two ships. He too had the gift of being open with people, his natural friendliness drawing others out. Not for the first time, Malcolm deeply envied both of his lovers and wondered what exactly it was that they saw in him.
Malcolm decided that he'd stood in one spot for too long and started to walk around the cargo bay. As he walked around, he made eye contact with his armory staff who were on duty with him. He flashed a hand signal at each of them that asked: "Any problems?" They all flashed back the signal that said: "No."
Slowly ambling in a circuit, Malcolm saw that Reynolds and Anderson moved over to a small knot of Helios' crewmen. He frowned slightly as she pointed to several of the Enterprise crew, including himself. He knew from Hoshi that she was a gossip and cruel one at that. He made a mental note to keep an eye on her. Continuing on, he observed that there were many small groups alongside of the dance floor, people talking and pointing. Gossip was an integral part of any party. Perhaps he was being too cautious.
"So far, so good," he thought to himself. Yet, a voice in the back of mind said that something would go wrong.
Malcolm walked over to Jon Archer, who was standing and talking with Susan Tallchief, the chief engineer of the Helios. Malcolm noted that for most of the evening, they talked only to each other. He wondered if Hoshi and Trip had noticed. One of their pet worries was what Malcolm called, "Jon hasn't gotten shagged in a long time and that's bad." If Malcolm was any judge, the engineer of the Helios would be happy to solve that problem.
As he came closer, he noted that the Captain looked a bit annoyed at the prospect of being interrupted. Still, he needed to make a quick report. "Captain Archer, Lieutenant Commander Tallchief. Sir, I just wanted you to know that everything is fine so far."
"Good, Lieutenant Reed, good. Are you going to be relieved soon and get to join the party?"
"Yes sir, Lieutenant Vasquez will be taking over for me in an hour and a half. However, I won't be joining the party. It's been a very long week and I want to catch up on some sleep. But, thank you for asking sir."
Jon Archer smiled at Malcolm and said, "Well, Malcolm, enjoy your rest then. Carry on."
As Malcolm walked away, he was amused by the Captain's quick dismissal of him. Yes, the Captain did not want be distracted from his tete-a-tete with the stunning engineer. In fact, her hair reminded him of Hoshi's. He gave them no more than ten minutes to discreetly walk out together. Trip would be ecstatic if his best friend got, what was that blasted phrase Trip used two weeks ago? Got his car waxed? Got his board waxed? Bloody hell, he was must be tired if he couldn't remember that ridiculous phrase.
Midway through his circuit around the cargo bay, Malcolm noticed that Captain Tawia was leaving the party with Chef. That was very interesting indeed. Finishing up his walk, Malcolm decided to stand a bit closer to the door leading back in to the main part of the Helios. He glanced at his watch. Three minutes left.
Two minutes later, as a loud dance song started up, Captain Archer and Susan Tallchief quietly left together. Malcolm gave himself a mental pat on the back.
For the next half hour, he made two more circuits around the cargo bay. Afterward, he decided that he could stay for the rest of the time by the door. As he watched the crowd dance, he saw that Hoshi was slowly making her way towards him. He gave her a small smile as she grew closer. "Hi, Malcolm!" she yelled over the music. Then when she reached him, Hoshi leaned in and said into his ear, "How much longer are you going to have to be on duty? I want to go home and try out the new bed."
Malcolm gave Hoshi a puzzled look. "What new bed? You have a new bed?"
Hoshi grinned mischievously. "Don't you remember? Trip's engineering project. The one you had to take to T'Pol all those months ago."
Malcolm stared for a moment and then grinned. "My god, the madman re-built it? When did he have the time? How did he get the parts into your room without being seen?"
Hoshi laughed delightedly. "He's been bringing it in piece by piece over the past week. The hardest part was the mattress, which we had to sneak in at three in the morning. We finally got it all together last night, after Trip rested from pulling his double shifts. Now all we need is you so we can try it out."
"Thank you for waiting for me," said Malcolm softly.
"Malcolm, we'd never do anything without you. We're all in this together." Hoshi gave Malcolm a look that reminded him of the night they had met up in the mess hall, a look filled with love and challenge.
Malcolm smiled at Hoshi, noticing that Trip was making his way over to them. "Here comes the third Musketeer of our little group."
Trip gave them both a big, smug grin as he joined them. "Hey Malcolm, how much longer do you have to be here? Did Hoshi tell you about the big bed? It's callin' out for a test drive."
"I have less than an hour left. Then we can...what was that phrase you used last week at movie night?"
Trip snorted, "...blow this joint. That's the phrase you're looking for."
"Hmm," said Hoshi suggestively, " I know what I want to... blow... later on."
Malcolm could feel his face turn red as he and Trip started laughing. "Hoshi," gasped Trip, "you can be such an evil woman."
"That's why you love me. And really, you two do make it all too easy for me sometimes."
As Trip and Hoshi laughed some more, Malcolm let his attention re-focus on the room. He got to the far corner, what he saw made him tense up. "Oh, that's not good."
Trip and Hoshi immediately stopped laughing. "What's wrong, Lieutenant?" asked Trip, automatically switching into his "Commander Tucker" persona.
"I think Lieutenant Reynolds from the Helios is giving Ensign Lewis and Lieutenant Allen a hard time for dancing with each other. And Ensign Anderson is there with him. She appears to be very drunk. I'm going to go over and see if Sawyer and Castillo need my help. Excuse me."
As he walked away, he heard Hoshi say, "Oh hell, a drunk Cynthia is not a good thing."
Walking as casually as possible, Malcolm caught the eyes of his other people, motioning them to be ready, just in case. He was pleased to see that his staff were well aware of the situation brewing in the corner. As he arrived he heard Reynolds's saying in a nasty, slightly drunk voice, "C'mon you think you're better than me? Because you serve on the Enterprise, or should I say, the Faggotprise? Is that what you all do other there, fuck each other up the ass? Shouldn't be tolerated, you perverted motherfuckers, fuckin' sinners." Reynolds swayed slightly and stumbled.
Three of the Helios' crew members tried to steady him and one said, "Lieutenant Reynolds, why don't you come with us to the galley for some coffee, sir? We think you've had enough tonight."
"Fuck you Tomlinson, fucking little puke. You and Chin and O'Dell, fuckin' jerk-offs, you wanna fuck those stuck-up Faggotprise pricks," slurred Reynolds as he jerked himself away from his crewmates. Helplessly, they shrugged at Malcolm and looked as if they'd heard such bile before.
"Lieutenant Reynolds," said Malcolm in what Hoshi once told him was his softest, but-I take-no-shit Armory officer voice, "the bar is closed for you. You need to start sobering up. Let Chin or O'Dell help you get some coffee."
"Fuck you, you little Limey shit. Jesus! They're letting fuckin' limey fags in Starfleet!"
A very drunk Cynthia Anderson, started giggling. "He's the English stud muffin I tol' you about. He's fucking Hoshi over there an' she's fucking the Commander too! We've got fucking an' sluts galore!"
Malcolm glanced over to a woman he remembered as being friend of Ensign Anderson's, a mortified looking Victoria Brown. She stood in the middle in the now growing crowd of Enterprise and Helios bystanders. He motioned her over to a swaying Cynthia Anderson saying calmly, "Ensign Brown, please take your friend back to the Enterprise and see if you can get her sober."
Reynolds gripped Cynthia tightly as Victoria moved to get her friend. "We're not finished drinkin' and she's not goin' anywhere. You can't order me around, you fuckin' cocksucker." Letting go of Cynthia, he stared defiantly at Malcolm and the rest of the people around him, his body coiled and tight.
It was the change in body language that made Malcolm take a pause. He looked carefully at Reynolds and saw that while the man had been drinking, a lot of his drunkenness was an act. For some reason he was being deliberately provoking. It was time to be careful, because a man looking for fight would do anything to get one.
Keep his tone mild, Malcolm replied, "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I am the senior officer on duty since our captains have retired for the evening. Your captain agreed that I am in charge of keeping this party on an even keel. Therefore, I am ordering the bar closed. Now, as a courtesy to Captain Tawia, I am going to let your people escort you out of here, If you don't go with them, you'll spend the night in the brig."
Reynolds' face twisted into a sneer. "Fuck off! Cynthia told me all about you. Tell me, do you fuck that Hoshi bitch and suck off your Commander? I bet you do. I bet you're the fag whore of the whole fuckin' ship. You couldn't drag me off you little limey bastard, you're not a real man. None of you Enterprise shits are real men!"
The music had stopped and Reynolds' voice echoed across the cargo bay. The laughter of a few Helios crew members followed. The rest of the Helios crew, however, looked either embarrassed, disgusted, or both. The Enterprise crew members looked disgusted, except for Cynthia Anderson, who slid to the floor, giggling drunkenly.
At this point, Malcolm saw that Hoshi and Trip were beside him. He figured he must have really tensed up because they each put a hand on his shoulder. The contact warmed him, calmed him. "Commander Tucker, sir, would you please contact Captain Tawia? I think she needs to be here."
"I was about to do that Lieutenant Reed. Lieutenant Reynolds, you are here by ordered to go with Lieutenant Reed and Lieutenant O'Dell and are confined to your quarters until Captain Tawia deals with you." Trip's face was the most serious Malcolm had ever seen in a non-combat situation.
Reynolds' face flushed with anger. "Screw you," he spat, "and screw the fucking bitch with you too. I'll fucking kick the ass off your tiny ass boyfriend here and then I'll get to you." With that he launched himself at Malcolm and several men who laughingly supported him began to fight with the armory staff on duty. The other Helios and Enterprise crewmembers quickly backed away to the walls of the cargo bay, not wanting start a free for all.
As he smoothly moved away from his attacker, Malcolm saw that Hoshi quickly went over to the comm system by the door to page both captains. He could also see that Trip, along with his armory staff and a mix of the two crews, had easily subdued the other would-be attackers. Reynolds's however, was a different problem. He slipped out from his sleeve a rather nasty stiletto and was wielding the weapon expertly.
Malcolm waved back the spectators and said, "Reynolds, if you put the stiletto down now, your court-marshal won't be for life with hard labor or worse. If you continue this, it's going to get very nasty."
"Fuck you! No real man is a cocksucker, sleepin' with a bitch slut and an ass-fucker." He slashed at Malcolm, getting his shoulder, and danced away.
Malcolm winced slightly and forced himself not to feel the pain. Realizing that the man was too far gone in his anger, he decided to bait Reynolds until he could disarm him safely. He ducked and swerved and bobbed quickly, making the other man miss.
"Not a real man am I? Let's see, I've served my ship for three and a half years, been wounded several times while protecting my ship and its crew, nearly died several times too. For most people, that would be considered a good sign that I'm a real man. But if I stopped there, I'd be selling myself short."
Reynolds attacked again, making a shallow gash across Malcolm's chest. Malcolm rolled out of the way of another slicing attack and with a quick jump up, kicked Reynolds in the chest. Reynolds staggered, crashed into a some chairs, but was up with his knife still in hand before anyone could subdue him.
Malcolm kept on talking as Reynolds went to attack him again. In the background he could hear doors opening. "You know what a real man is? A real man can love whom ever he wants, shag whom ever he wants and not be afraid. A real man doesn't get threatened by those who are different than he is and doesn't insult them. Doesn't use vile, antiquated, prejudicial words to attack them, either. You, my friend, are not a real man."
"Fuck you! I'll kill you and piss on your grave."
Seeing an opening, Malcolm charged forward, flowing into a roundhouse kick that knocked the stiletto out of Reynolds' hand. He kicked again and moved into a punch that slammed the other man into a wall, stunning him. Malcolm punched Reynolds one more time and knocked him out.
Breathing easily and wincing slightly in pain, he saw that the room was quietly emptying out. Hoshi and Trip were ushering people out the door.
Malcolm turned and looked at Sawyer and said wearily, "Ensign, take this bastard and throw him into the Helios's brig or what ever passes for one. And make sure the others who were trying to start fighting are confined to their quarters."
"Yes, indeed, by all means," said the quiet, lilting voice of Captain Tawia. Next to her stood Captain Archer, looking relived.
Tawia turned to Archer, a sad and bitter look on her face. "I'm so sorry Archer, I didn't think this would happen. Reynolds has made homophobic and other types of repugnant remarks before, but I thought my reprimands stopped him. I was going to have him rotated off my ship when we returned to Earth, and now I'm going to have to go through a formal court-martial. Good God, I had no idea our party would set him off."
"No need to apologize, Captain Tawia. At the time, you handled the situation in way you thought best. It's all we can do. He chose to screw- up and now he'll have to live with the consequences."
Archer turned his attention to Malcolm. "Lieutenant, go back to the Enterprise and get Phlox to look at those cuts. You did a good job, I'm pleased that this didn't turn into a free for all and no one got hurt."
"Except for me, sir," said Malcolm with wry humor. Over by the door, Hoshi and Trip laughed in relief, while Archer and Tawia smiled.
Archer and Tawia started talking to each other and Malcolm blocked it out as he walked to the door. He was so tired. As reached the door, Hoshi and Trip simultaneously enfolded him into a hug. They each held his hands and walked out with him, forgetting that Archer and Tawia might be watching. As the doors closed, they heard Tawia say, "They are a strong triad. How long have they been together?"
They walked down the corridor in silence. Finally, Trip said, "Well, now, the cat's out of the bag."
Hoshi paused their progress down the corridor, giving both Malcolm and Trip a kiss, and then took their hands in hers once again.
"Yes, and I have no clue as to how Jon's going to react," sighed Hoshi. "How about you Trip?"
"Nope, not a one. Not this time."
Malcolm looked at his two lovers and began to chuckle. "What is so funny?" demanded Hoshi. Trip looked at him in askance.
"I just wonder if that bloody bed is cursed. First, T'Pol takes it away from us and then before we can use it, we inadvertently out ourselves to Captain Archer. Let's get me fixed up quickly and maybe we can use the big bed before anything else happens."
"Malcolm, we won't get a chance, because Jon will haul us into his ready room after Phlox finishes patching you up," said Trip.
"I don't know about that. I think that the Captain is going to have to choose between going back to bed with Lieutenant Commander Tallchief or dealing with us right away. Of the two, I'm betting he'll chose to be with her first and deal with us in the morning. What do you think?"
Trip and Hoshi glanced at each other and looked back at Malcolm. "You're right," they said together.
And he was.