DISCLAIMER: I do not own Star Trek.
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AFTER THIRTY DAYS - by YANNIK.
Chapter Eleven – HARRY.
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"Hello there!" Tom Paris exclaimed entering the Bridge, light spring in his steps. "What are you all so unhappy about?"
"We're at a dead stop" Harry explained in a low voice. "Engineering is still working out the problem."
"Heh, that's not great." The pilot eyed his console, and turned away from it, to look back at the acting Captain. "And since our Chief Engineer is resting right now, we're not going to get anywhere near Warp within the next couple of hours. So we could as well play some poker, wchat'cha say?"
Harry looked him over with gloomy eyes, but sensed that mood on the Bridge lightened a little. Tom was smiling, there were bright sparks in his eyes.
"Unfortunately we're here not only about flying this ship. We also need to scan our surroundings for any unidentified vessels, enemy or friendly activity, stars, star systems, asteroids wandering through space that we might not be able to escape from right now…"
"Alright, alright" Tom rose both his hands, laughing. "I get it. No poker. But you could at least loosen up a little. Look at the bright part of it! It's your last gamma during this rotation. Tomorrow at this hour you're going to be chasing that one with the dimple again."
"Tom!"
"Did I say anything? Look at me – I'm stuck here until our boss happens to like me again! That's miserable!"
Harry felt stupid. In fact he was feeling that way since that argument they had back in the brig. They discussed it the other night, and Tom held no bad feelings. Actually he claimed he'd forgotten all about it. But Harry remembered, and it still made him feel uneasy. Tom seemed a little different towards him, maybe he believed his best friend failed him?
"Yeah" Mariah Henley answered instead. "And I'm stuck here like until we get back to Alpha Quadrant."
"See" Tom pointed at her. "She's miserable..."
"Not that I complain" Mariah straightened. "I don't think I would like whole that turmoil at alpha shift. Sometimes it seems to be all too much."
"And I like it" Jenkins interrupted. "When I am filling up for Ayala, when he is sick or on an away mission, this is fun!"
"But if you had to do it all the time?"
The crew relaxed. They started talking, comparing their experiences, sharing jokes about the senior staff, despite the fact that two of those sat with them right now... Well Tom wasn't one of the senior staff anymore, but people seemed to think it's just a matter of time and he'd be back where he belonged.
Harry missed those hours he used to spend with Tom joking like this. He just didn't feel courageous enough after that brig clash they had. But maybe Tom's forgiveness was honest, maybe it was worth a try...
"Tom" Harry asked just before the pilot left for the Sickbay, at the beginning of the alpha shift. "Could we work on this new scenario of Captain Proton later on?"
Tom seemed to actually hesitate, but his demeanor shown off a sincere joy.
"Sure!" he exclaimed. "That'd be great. During beta today?"
Harry couldn't be more relieved.
They met at 20:00 hours amd worked for over an hour, preparing the installments for the adventure that would be displayed when all of the characters would be off duty, when the arch appeared, and Chief of Security came in.
"Tuvok?" Tom asked joyfully. "You're going to play Captain Proton? I can't believe that!"
"That's equitable Mr. Paris, because I'm on duty, therefore I'm not here to play" Tuvok answered calmly as usual, and Harry nearly burst out laughing. He saw Tom suppress giggles as well. "There are some fluctuations in the holodeck console, and I need to check and possibly repair the cause of the abnormalities. Please turn off the program."
"Do you need assistance?" Tom inquired as they stood in an empty grided room.
"I might, but I don't want to take away your free time."
"Oh, c'mon Tuvok. You know that working at solving holodeck problems is a leisure activity. Give me the tricoder."
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t.b.c.